The Closing of Doors

Part Seven

Because Cai had Ayl's weapons disabled, all of Ayl's power had been diverted to his shields. For this reason, he didn't die with the shot; instead, he screamed in agony as the shock of power surged through his armor.

"No!" Camille, realizing what she had just witnessed, jumped for her partner, shouting, "They'll detect the weapon fire!"

Cai didn't move; looking at him, cold and solid in his Dalek casing, it was hard to tell that he was even alive.

"They'll know we're here, it's his plan!" Camille panicked, rushing without guidance to cower next to the Stratagem Computer. Strangely, the machine made itself too clear in her peripheral vision as though calling her, and she had a terrible urge to touch the interface....

In the very center of the room, Cai was still; on the inside, his mind raced underneath his closed eye, thoughts and emotions swirling around him like stars. He didn't dare say anything, he didn't dare even think. The lump of flesh buried in the metal felt sick, paralyzed, and there was not even a shiver in his tentacle-like limbs.

Meanwhile, Camille also fell silent. On the other part of the room, her hand twitched on the small, translucent dome that was the interface for the Stratagem Computer. The computer's telepathic interaction with its user recognized the subtle connection between its old owner, the Strategist, and the young foreigner it found before it. It marked the human an ally and allowed her access to use it. A Dalek computer communicates with its user through means of honing in on brain signals, so, naturally, the Computer showed Camille exactly what she subconsciously yearned to see: who Cai was before he was Cai.

All of sudden, information surged into her mind: numbers, names, data. It was too much and too fast, and she recoiled from the machine with new knowledge in her head--knowledge that she knew Cai would never want her to know.

The bronze Dalek wrestled desperately with self-loathing; his heart beat far beyond normal parameters, and he found that he no longer had to the willpower to prevent his life-support systems from administering sedatives. The feeling of uselessness only increased as the drugs clouded his already petrified mind. Some part of him urged himself to move, to respond, to do anything, but he simply couldn't bring himself to. It was all crashing down; in the end, he lost his self-control, and Camille had discovered that he was hiding his past. There were countless lives that he had ordered his subordinates to end, and couldn't stop hating himself. Now Camille knew that there was something more--what if she was afraid of him? This question hit home with an agonizing wave of dread that even the sedatives couldn't prevent.

In the rush of numb emotion, his mind was too unfocused to cast any recognition to the fact that some obscure external sensors of his were detecting the approach of a squadron of angry enemies.

"Stay where you are, do not move! You are prisoners of the Daleks!"