'Sir.'
'Yes?'
'We're receiving a transmission from the Solar Glacier, sir.'
'Put it through.' said Gardener. Almost as soon as he had spoken, he turned to the others. 'If you'll excuse me.' They nodded assent.
'This is Captain Gardener,' he said, speaking into the screen. Or at least, that was what he tried to say. He wasn't sure how far he got. Almost as soon as the picture appeared on the screen, the Ice Warrior started speaking at him.
'You have tricked us.'
'What?'
'There is no Dalek fleet. You have tricked us.'
~~~
'We have the artefact.'
'Excellent. Bring it to me.'
'Alert! Alert! Ice Warrior warship entering the system!'
'What? That's not possible. The Ice Warriors shouldn't be involved in this. I don't know how Ice Warriors sensors work. I...I...They'll be able to see straight through it! No! We have to get out of here! Take the artefact straight to the ship.'
'At once.'
He looked up panicked, but then slowly the panic abated as he realised something. Ice Warriors and Humans did not get on. The Ice Warriors would assume this to be a human trick. He was safe. But, just in case he should leave as soon as possible. No time to pack. It would look like he would have to leave all the stuff behind. Pity, it was good quality stuff. But at least the gem would get him his money back.
~~
'Are you telling us, that you can't see that Dalek fleet?' asked Gardener, trying to work out what was going on. 'Are you sure your sensors are working?'
'Our sensors are fine. The reason we can not see the Dalek flet is because there is no Dalek fleet to see. You have tricked us.'
'What? Why? For what reason?'
'I do not know. But you have tricked us.' The picture flickered out. Gardener looked at it for a second, then thumped the table. Then he swore. Loudly. When he had finally regained his composure, he flicked the intercom.
'Anderson?'
'Sir.'
'Check the sensors. Then get me the Solar Glacier again.'
'What is going on?' asked the Draconian, leaning across the table. 'Why are they accusing us of treachery?'
'I have no idea. But I'm going to find out.'
~~~
'So that's what it's doing. Clever. A board band signal that tricks certain scanners into thinking that there is a whole fleet there. Very clever. We'll soon put a stop to that.' The Doctor had reached out and tapped a few commands into the TARDIS. 'That's better. Now, I wonder what would be so important to go to all this trouble for.'
'What trouble?'
'Well, someone, somewhere, has created the illusion of a Dalek incursion on this planet.
Why?' Leela opened her mouth to say something but was cut off as the TARDIS, in her own way, provided the answer. It started beeping. The Doctor raced across to the other side of the console,and turned the alarm off.
'That energy source is on the move. So that's it.'
'Where is it going?'
'A ship more likely.'
~~
'Satellite is now being blocked. Humans are now detecting the satellite.'
'That is not possible. There is no way that they can...' He stopped speaking, his mind in turmoil. This was not going well. Everything was falling apart. He had to avoid panicking. It would not help. He should still be able to get away. He should still be able to get away.
'Sensors readings are confirmed. Humans are scanning the satellite.'
'Ship status?'
'Ship will be ready in three rels.'
'Good.' He stood up and set off to leave the room.
~~~
'What? How can a whole Dalek fleet vanish?' exploded Gardener the minute he was told the news. The other Captain's had similar reactions, but his was by far the loudest. The other Captains quickly started trying to contact their ships and get confirmation of this. It seemed far too strange to be true.
'The same way that it appeared presumably.' came the response from Anderson.
Gardener's gaze froze. 'That's not funny.' he said.
'It wasn't meant to be. Anyway, we've picked something else up on the scanners. It might explain things...'
'What is it?'
'Well, we're now picking up a satellite. It would seem to be designed to trick our sensors. To tell us there was something else there. Like a whole battle fleet.'
'You telling me that this has all been some sort of elaborate illusion?'
'Yes, I am rather. I did tell you there was something wrong...'
'She is right,' said the Draconian. 'The device would appear to be designed to affect Draconian and Human sensors. Whoever designed this obviously did not expect the Ice Warriors to appear. And it appears to be Human technology. You put that together with the odd behavour of the Daleks...' He trailed off, letting the others complete his thought. Most of them were unsure about the implications.
'Great. Anderson, contact the Ice Warriors and tell them...'
'Already done. They're not too sure they believe you. One of them still seems to believe this is a plot. At the moment cooler heads are prevailing.' she smiled, aware that she had made an awful pun. Then the smile vanished, and she was deadly serious again. 'But we can't guarantee that will remain the case.'
'Right. Good. Prepare a landing party. I'm going down there.'
'I would request that we join you.' aid the Draconian.
'Shall I invite the Ice Warriors as well?' asked Anderson from nearby.
'All right. Fine.' said Gardener. Neither of them were quite aware who he was talking too. Both took it that they were talking to them. Anderson walked off, while Gardener slowly sat down and shook his head.
'You seem confused.' said the Draconian, leaning forward.
'Aren't you?' asked Gardener.
'Yes. But I am more relieved.'
'Relieved? Why?' Gardener said as he looked up and across the table. His surprise was clear. What did they have to be relieved about?
'If we are dealing with a Human impersonating Daleks, we are not dealing with Daleks. That must be a good thing.' Gardener just looked at him. Then he looked down at the table again.
'Is it?' he muttered.
~~~
It was a space port, or the closest that this planet could get. It was almost entirely deserted, and totally devoid of human life. The sole movement came in the ominous form of the done of the Daleks, or whatever they were. In the middle of the space port, strangely incongruous amongst the enforced neglect was a new ship. It stood proud and alone, taking centre spot with ease. After all, there was nothing to compare it too. The only thing competing for someone's attention were the half finished buildings. Against them, any ship would look good. Suddenly, there was a noise. A thousand elephants seemed to be descending in a tornado. The noise faded. The ship was no longer alone. Standing next to it just as proud in its own, idiosyncratic way, was the TARDIS.
~~~
The Ice Lord came off the shuttle and looked around. He was clearly suspicious of something. This could be difficult thought Gardener. The Draconian had no such qualms, walking straight over to the Martian and bowing.
'Thank you.' said the Draconian. 'Your arrival saved us from falling prey to a great deception.'
'Yes, so you say. But what purpose could this deception have?'
'I don't know. That's why we're going down to the planet.'
'There had better be something there. Otherwise...' The threat hung in the air like some sort of dark cloud. Gardener didn't know what to say, so rather lamely, he just pointed in the direction of the shuttle they were going to take.
'If you would come with me.'
~~
'Ah. Here we are.' said the Doctor, looking at the screen.
All Leela could see was the same thing she had been seeing for the last five minutes. 'maybe now we'll get some answers.' Then she saw it, coming towards them, holding something between them, were two of the creatures the Doctor had called Daleks. It looked like they were carrying a lowing gem. Just behind them walking along, was a man.
The Doctor reached out and grabbed the door control. He stalked off, wearing that determined look that indicated something serious was up. Leela, with little choice, followed.
~~~
'Wait a minute, what's that?' asked Gardener looking at the screen.
'An energy source, isn't it?'
'Yes. Where is it coming from?'
'Let's go and have a look.'
He looked at the ship, glad to be finally getting away from this planet and going home. He could finally have a decent shower and some proper company. Decent conversation again. It had been too long since he had talked to people, but more important than that, there would be no sand. If he never saw any sand again he would be more than happy. Suddenly, he stopped. Something was in the way. Something he had never seen before.
'What is that?' he asked, looking at the blue box that had appeared in the runway.
'Unknown.' said one of his servants, 'Object does not match any recognition parameters. Human shuttle has entered atmosphere! It is now descending on this position!'
'Where did it come from?'
'Unknown. Object is now opening.'
'What?' He looked on, surprised and shocked as a figure walked out of the box. The figure was tall, curly haired and had an odd dress sense. A felt hat, a strange dark red coat coat that had seen better days, and a very, very long multi-coloured scarf were just some of the finer points of his ensemble. Where had this man come from?
'Where did you come from?'
'In there,' the Doctor said pointing to the TARDIS, which, as he spoke, was disgorging another passenger. Almost absently he wondered how they managed to fit. 'I'm the Doctor, and you are?'
'I'm Charles Harris.' he found himself answering before he could catch himself, the strange man stuck a hand out and, rather against his will his hand was enthusiastically shaken. Then the man's face returned to its previous deadly serious state.
'Are you responsible for this?' asked the Doctor. The man nodded and as he did so, he leaned forward and almost conspiratorially whispered in his ear, 'Why?'
'What?'
'Why go to all this trouble? I presume that the satellite was your work?'
Charles found himself nodding in spite of himself.
'And all those robot Daleks?'
'How did you know they were robots?'
'They didn't try and kill me.' the Doctor paused, 'So why did you go to all this trouble?' The Doctor stopped and looked down at the gem. 'Ah. Did it have something to do with this?' he grabbed the gem and looked at it.
'Leave that alone,' said Charles,'That is the G'has'hra.'
'Human shuttle is now approaching this position.'
'No. The G'has'hra was destroyed.' the Doctor's voice was deadly serious. Then smiling again, he looked at the object again and added, 'It's a very good copy thou.' putting the object back in the holder.
'How do you know?'
'Human shuttle is approaching at great speed!'
'I was there. It really is a magnificent copy. Pity it'll decay now that it's been exposed to the planet's atmosphere.'
'What? It can't be decaying!'
'Human shuttle is approaching at some velocity! Suggestion - Depart this area at once! Human shuttle will arrive in two minutes.'
'Ask your robotic friend.'
'Scan the G'has'hra. Is it decaying?' he asked. There was silence as the Dalek-robot started scanning the device. It looked up when it had completed it's analysis.
'Scan indicates that the G'has'hra is decaying at an exponential rate. It will be completely oxidised in ten rels. Human shuttle will arrive in one minute. Suggestion. Leave this area at once!'
'No! That's not possible! Repeat the scan!'
'Scan has 98.9% accuracy. The G'has'hra will be destroyed within 11 rels.'
'No. No. No.' If he said something else then, it was drowned out by the sound of engines. The human shuttle craft had arrived. By this point though, he didn't care. Just when it seemed like everything was in his grasp, he had lost it all. He had lost it all. He had nothing.
~~~
Years later, when Gardener recalled the scene, he was still astounded. Nothing in his training could have prepared him for what happened when they had arrived:
They had landed right next to what appeared to be two Daleks. Right, fine, fair enough. They had expected something like this all along. But these two Daleks weren't doing anything, just holding a glowing gem and watching over a sobbing man. If that wasn't enough, standing next to the starnge scene were two others.
Both of them were weired in themselves, the first because of his bohemian dress sense and commanding manner, the second as she appeared to be a savage. When you combine these two with the Daleks and the man...of course, both the Draconian and the Ice Warrior knew what was going on. The minute they clapped eyes on the strangely dressed man, they simply said, 'The Doctor' as if that explained everything. It didn't help in the slightest.
~~~
'So, you are saying that he created a whole army of Daleks just to scare the colonists off?' asked Gardener, pushing all his weight down on the table. The Doctor seemed too oblivious to the Captain's threatening body language, and was quite calmly sat, feet on table, looking up at him.
'Actually, it was about six, but you have the general idea, yes.'
'Why? What did he need to scare them off for?'
'He was mining. They might have noticed. People tend to notice the ground moving underneath them.' Gardener looked down at this infuriating man and started counting to ten to control him temper.
'What was he mining for?'
'The G'has'hra What the heck is the G'has'hra. The real one was destroyed several thousand years ago.'
'The G'has'hra? What the heck is the G'has'hra?'
'An ancient object of immeasurable power.'
'Aren't they all?' asked Gardener.
'No, not really.'
'Alright. So he went through all this trouble to get the G'has'hra.'
'Yes.'
'And it failed because of the Ice Warriors turning up?' The Doctor faced cracked into a smile and he leaned forward.
'Yes, it did rarther. You see thefact that you two are having those problem over Mars made him think that they wouldn't help. He seemed to completely forget that some things might force you two to forget your trivial little differences and act together.'
'Like Daleks.'
'Like Daleks.' said the Doctor, nodding. 'You know, I've just realised something,' he said, leaning forward across the table.
'What?'
'This proves me right. The existence of the Daleks might be a good thing.'
'What?!'
'After all, they brought you and the Ice Warriors back together. Thus preventing a rather bloody war. Maybe you should that Charles rather than imprison him.' He smiled and reached into his pocket. 'Jelly baby?'
written by
HUW LLEWELLYN DAVIES
copyright 2010