The Closing of Doors

Part Four

"What's the plan?" Camille asked quietly, walking over to lean against the console next to where Cai was working.

"Undetermined," he spoke, his voice little more than a rough, somewhat nasally murmur. "We must stay here as long as we can. I am not leaving here without trying to take him with us."

"Wait!" Camille exclaimed in a harsh whisper, which was useless because the other Dalek could hear her regardless, "You want to convert him? Like, turn him good?"

Cai took a moment to consider his own pool of emotional thoughts. Finally, he decided on what exactly he was feeling, and which word he could use to describe it. Bleakly, he uttered a phrase that would be considered immensely offensive to any Daleks within earshot, "I hope to." It rang within him, and he then decided that his own choice of words pleased him.

The human looked over at the black Dalek. The way the lights were hitting him from that angle, he looked smaller, insignificant. His eyestalk was pointed towards them, but Camille didn't feel as though he was really watching; it gave the impression that the Dalek inside the casing was absent, off in his own world of thoughts. She smacked her lips and considered the idea, "So, is he an old friend or an old enemy? I'm getting a lot of mixed signals here."

"I do not know. I never knew, truly," Cai turned his eyestalk, making eye contact with Camille. She was a little less than eye-level the way she was leaning. "Pure Daleks have no concept of friendship. Currently, it stands that he is an enemy. But I still have hope," he emphasized the word again.

"So you think there's a good way to change him?" Camille inquired.

"I hope so," Cai answered, his concentration back on the computer.

"Yeah, I got that bit," Camille muttered quickly, "But do you think he'll really turn for good?"

"Hope," he insisted, offering his new favorite word with an urgency. He wished to draw Camille into realization with its definition, but her doubts were too strong--he could feel her skepticism, and it was mutual.

"Alright, alright," she sighed, glancing at Ayl. The name Cai had chosen for him certainly suited him; it sounded like the drink called ale, and the Commander was just as bitter. His eyestalk had been tracking with their voices, looking at her when she would speak and shifting to her Dalek companion as he responded. He was definitely listening now. "I think he'll be a rough turn," she whispered.

"I concur," Cai muttered as though he could possibly be letting out a discouraged sigh.

Cai spent the next few minutes briefing on the monitors. (Secretly, he had finished his task; now he was stalling, but he didn't wish Camille to know this. Overwhelmed with the urge to protect her from fear, along with the argument that she was remarkably strong and could possibly handle it better than he could, he decided it best to hide his own hesitation for the time being.) Camille, leaning against the wall to the right of the bronze Dalek, was able to sense what sentimental value Cai had for his old battle computer. She assumed that it was probably the only part that he missed from his past life. However, watching Ayl's eyestalk shift around the room, she became paranoid that he might be scheming. Slowly, she became impatient with Cai for remaining so silent and decided she should try to talk to Ayl herself.

"So," she primed her weapon again to make a show of power as she walked closer to the black Dalek. She stood tall, trying to act as fearless as possible, "Ayl." The Dalek remained silent, staring her down menacingly. She felt herself shrinking away, but she couldn't come up with anything good to say. She had talked up to aggravated Daleks plenty of times—there was no good reason for awkwardness to strike her now. "What were you trying to accomplish, mucking about on Cai's computer?" she finally inquired, regaining her confidence.

The Dalek at first didn't wish to respond, but as the rage filled his stomach, he felt desperate to damage the human with anything he could manage. Ayl grudgingly spat out his answer as though to attack her with his words, disgusted that the inferior human had the effrontery to address him, "The Strategist kept his tactics for possible infiltration in the data banks!"

"Ha!" Camille exclaimed in realization, "You thought you could pull the old enemy-defeats-itself card! Nice job on that one, look where it got you."

"It would not have worked," Cai pulled away from the console and spun to face them, his voice calm and collected, a sharp contrast to Ayl's. "I wiped it before I left."

Ayl remained silent, as though trying to hold onto the last of his dignity.