The Mind of The Daleks

Chapter 12: Arrival

"So, what's our plan once we get there?"

"Ahem," the Doctor replied diffidently. "Well, I'm afraid that I don't quite know. This worthless little invention of mine won't be much good anymore, so I will have to access some of their computers. That means that we will be going into their base of operations. I might need your help, you know."

"Okay... But the closer we get, the less I like the idea of seeing one of those things up close again. It's what I came along to do, but it's scaring me – and I don't care if that makes me sound like a coward."

"It's a perfectly understandable sentiment," the Doctor assured her. "I don't like the prospect, myself. But I will do my best to keep you from the worst of the danger."

"Thanks, but – um – well, like I said, it is what I came along for. Anyway, if we don't deal with the Daleks now, they're going to go on hurting people."

"Exactly. That" he added parenthetically, "is the substance of justice."

There was a brief silence again. They were moving out of an area of town with a lot of stores, churches and residences and back into an industrial neighborhood filled with larger businesses, warehouses and factories, closer to the freeway. Isabel glanced down at the display on the GPS and noticed that they were getting very close to their destination, which it had decided at last to show.

"Almost there!" Isabel said in a voice that she didn't intend to be dark and gloomy; but realizing that it was, she added, "Slowly they approached the fatal lair of the evil villains, walking stoically and with undying resolve into certain doom, disaster and death, to hopefully sneak past the worst danger to reach the computer of evil villains long enough to learn their plan for conquering the world."

"Well, you needn't put it quite like that!" the Doctor remarked, dismayed. "It isn't certain death that we're headed for, you know."

Isabel chuckled and then grew serious again. "What I still don't understand, though, is why you didn't just wait for the police. If you're working with the feds, they'd have listened to you and we might have had some help with this."

"Some little help, perhaps." the Doctor sounded grim as he took a turn that the GPS considerately informed them would bring them within two miles of their destination. "But every person to respond to the emergency call would be needed to help our fellow prisoners."

"But they could have radioed for help!"

"They wouldn't have gotten any. And there would have been all sorts of questions that I have no time to answer. So I didn't wait. Anyway, the authorities will have their hands full glossing over that story."

"Wait a minute," Isabel protested in disbelief. "You mean they're gonna do nothing? You can't just ignore fifty people being hijacked and forced into slavery and beaten and some of us killed by alien-robot-cyborg things!"

"No, you can't," the man gave her a brooding glance. "But I'm very much afraid that a good many people would like to. You will find, Isabel, that it simply doesn't do to ask for governmental interference. It results in nothing."

Isabel stared at him in astonishment for a few seconds, then blew out her cheeks in an exasperated and confused sigh and commented as an aside; "Great. Another huge topic and I can't ask questions because we don't have the time."

"Well, never mind, it doesn't really matter," said the Doctor with an unexpectedly charming grin. "And anyway, I have a few questions of my own. For instance, how is it that such an inquisitive and intelligent person as you are finds academics uninteresting?"