The Mind of The Daleks

Chapter 17: Computers

The Doctor quickly led the way along the partition until he reached a ladder that was partly hidden in a narrow recess created by two of the machines. Isabel, relieved that they wouldn't have to go back past the Dalek and the worker, followed him up and looked around.

They were now in a space that was cramped and awkward compared to what they had just left. More and larger computers rested on bare metal bars and the floor was formed by long strips of clear plastic that was only just wide enough for the Daleks.

"It's a war computer," the Doctor observed with no apparent reason to reach that conclusion, tapping one of the blank, black walls that formed the narrow passageway. "I can't learn anything else from them here, though."

He went beyond the ladder opening to the end of the passageway where they found a large hole in the plastic floor. Cautiously, they peered over the edge and saw the factory machinery working away below and, directly underneath them, a low square metal platform with three of its sides turned up to form a short rim.

"What's that?" Isabel whispered.

"It's a sort of lift," the Doctor replied, also whispering. "Oh, I do beg your pardon! I believe that you would refer to it as an elevator. The Daleks must use them to go from level to level."

"I was wondering how they used the ladders."

The Doctor cleared his throat reprovingly and then nudged her and stood up. They retraced their steps to the opposite end of the passageway and turned the corner into a long corridor running the whole width of the building. Here any resemblance to the normal world ended. There wasn't so much as a glimpse of dusty New Mexican concrete. Isabel felt that she had left the last familiar thing behind her in the factory level, strange as it had been. All was now futuristic metal and glass and plastic, gleaming faintly. Monstrous computers – all somehow connected – and incomprehensible scientific equipment divided the space into a maze of small regions with regimental complexity. The level of the floor was broken up here and there by ramps that led a few feet up to platforms containing specialized apparatus. The steady, heart-pound throb that Isabel had barely noticed in the last few minutes was louder and now there was also a just-perceptible muttering sound coming from somewhere nearby.

Here, they were forced to move with caution. Somewhere very close, footsteps went back and forth on some mundane task. And then Isabel nearly jumped out of her skin as the harsh tones of a Dalek voice filtered through the walls to her, the words unintelligible.

The Doctor took her hand and gave it an encouraging pat before beginning a slow walk forward. Much of the machinery seemed intended to operate unsupervised; they had gone ten yards before they caught sight of a man bending over to make an adjustment and five yards more before they saw a Dalek hover upward on an elevator platform in an alcove evidently designed for the purpose.

The Doctor soon found something that drew his attention. He stepped into an enclosed space and began a close examination of a large piece of equipment made up of intricate spinning parts and a large laser that blasted intermittent, rapid shots. For a moment he stared at it with keen interest, and then he poked at a dangerous-looking section with a wary finger and turned away.

"They appear to be analyzing soil samples," he observed in a low tone; "local ones."

"Any idea why?" asked Isabel without expecting much of an answer.

"Well, New Mexico is in parts very rich in certain minerals," the Doctor suggested humbly. "I fancy that the Daleks might take an interest in that."

He went on again at a slow pace until they reached a little room off to the right. It was formed of four huge computers of nearly equal size that were arranged to face each other. Here there were more controls; buttons, levers, something that might almost have been a keyboard, and a glowing half-sphere of glass that was lit with occasional, brief bolts of electricity. There were only two screens, however, one a tiny strip that displayed a constant stream of numbers or possibly formulae and the other a large square with four wiggly perpendicular lines over a grid.

Apparently, this room told the Doctor as little as it told Isabel, for he turned away after a moment in frustration.

"Oh, blast their arrogance and narrow-mindedness!" he burst out in growing irritation. "They could at least use a more universal method of computer design, instead of persisting in this bigoted avoidance of any good idea that another race may have! As it is, it's impossible to get any information from these ridiculous contraptions without a direct connection to them or extensive training in their use."

"I thought you knew about Daleks! Don't you know how to use their computers?"

"To be perfectly honest," the Doctor looked at her apologetically, "I could never quite get the hang of it. The Daleks are both cybernetic and sophisticated; they have a unique connection with their computers and use a great many of them. As you see, even using the tiniest of nanochips their computers can be very large and very complicated."

"This place is huge!" said Isabel quietly as she followed the Doctor back out into the long corridor. "Would they really need a headquarters like this just to invade one small city?"

"What a very good question, Isabel," the Doctor said. "It is very peculiar! Shall we try to find out?"

Suddenly he froze and then jerked her arm sideways, pushing her into a narrow crevice off the plastic walkway so that she was forced to perch dangerously on one of the supporting bars. She was about to object but, as the Doctor squeezed himself in beside her, a Dalek came around the corner just in front of them.

It rolled past, its eyestalk focused with single-minded inflexibility ahead, and stopped a few yards further on in front of a tall antenna to make an adjustment to one of the gauges and then picked up a box on the ground nearby with its plunger-arm. After sitting there, totally motionless and to all appearances doing nothing for a few more seconds that stretched forever, it pivoted and rolled back the way it had come.

"Phew!" the Doctor said after a few breathless moments of waiting to be sure that it had gone for good. "A bit - a bit close for comfort, I think! Perhaps it would be best not to go that way." He indicated the turn the Dalek had taken, and then went on past it as if nothing had happened.

It might have been worth going that way, however. Isabel paused at the corner, her curiosity piqued. The strange muttering, whirring sound that she had noticed earlier seemed to be coming from that direction, along with a bluish light that gleamed cold, brighter than any she had yet seen in the building. Isabel had the feeling that something important was in that room – but a Dalek was there too and it was best to stay out of their way. Perhaps there was another way in. She stepped away reluctantly and went on after the Doctor.