The Mind of The Daleks

Chapter 22: Return

Episode 1

Part 4

The Dalek rolled into the warehouse.

The conditioned slave turned and strode over to the office door. He paused before going in, then suddenly stooped–and picked up one of the cases of dalekanium that Isabel had arranged with care next to the doorpost. Isabel, hiding outside, bit her lip to keep from crying out in protest. After a second or two, the man straightened up, leaving the box in its place, and turned to scrutinize the parking lot. He stopped and stared directly at the car that Isabel and the Doctor had arrived in.

Without a sound, the man swung around and walked into the office.

Isabel could keep still no longer. She bounded up the steps and to the door before it could swing shut; if only she could somehow slip past, she might reach the Doctor in time to warn him of the danger.

Ridiculous. What she should do was go back to the car and drive away –get help from whoever would come. But that was out of the question; the Doctor, even after only a few hours, was a friend and he was in danger.

Inside the office, all was dark and stagnant as before. Isabel glanced around warily and then crossed to the archway, debating whether to make a detour to the desk drawer where the Doctor had left the gun.

"Halt!" commanded a voice behind her.

Isabel whirled around with a squeak to see a man step out from the door of the inner office. He didn't have a gun for some reason, but he was at least a foot taller than she was and much stronger – and coming closer, slow and menacing. She edged backward toward the hallway, glancing rapidly from the man to the way of escape behind her.

"Halt!" he said again. He made a sudden movement and grabbed her by the arm.

Isabel cried out in pain and surprise, and glanced up at his face, now faintly illuminated by the light from beyond the hallway. She gasped in horror. It was Mackenzie Donavan.

"You are here with the Doctor!" he said in the flat voice of the conditioned Dalek slaves.

Isabel tried to squirm away, her fear mounting, but his grasp was too tight.

"You must be exterminated!" the man stated. "The Doctor must be exterminated!"

"No!" Isabel managed to say, trying desperately to remember what the Doctor had done. "No! You don't have to obey them. You are Mackenzie Donavan."

"The explosive traps that you set are useless!" declared Mackenzie Donavan, ignoring her interruption. "The Doctor has already failed! The Doctor will be exterminated!"

"You are Mackenzie Donavan!" she said again, horror and sadness bringing tears to her eyes as much as pain did. "You were fine earlier. You were – you were okay! What have they done to you?"

"The Doctor has already been found out," went on the man who had been Mackenzie Donavan, talking over her and forcing her back against the wall. "The Doctor's petty plan has been halted. The Doctor will be exterminated. Now!"

"No," said Isabel, trying to get her hand into her pocket, hopeless. "The Daleks will be stopped! They are weak; you are stronger than them, Mackenzie!"

"The Doctor will be exterminated! You will be exterminated! You are an enemy of the Daleks!"

"Yes!" Isabel insisted in a whisper. "The Daleks must be stopped; you know that! Let me go, please!"

"You will be brought to the Daleks and exterminated!" He twisted her around into the hallway.

Isabel bit her lip and struck.