CAVERN OF DEATH

Chapter 16

Surrounded by a phalanx of two dozen Daleks, the Doctor had his hands bound behind his back before being taken away. Just before they reached the door, the command Dalek rolled forward to intercept them.

"HALT!" It ordered the guards.

Turning to the Doctor, the command Dalek regarded him silently, it's eye stalk moving up and down.

In response, the Doctor raised curious eyebrows.

"May I be of any assistance? We have a special offer on handcuffs today." He said, turning around and flapping his hands to show them off. "Buy one and you get another half off. How about about a pink fluffy pair? Perfect for Dalek Valentine's day." Still, the commander said nothing. The Doctor shrugged. "No? Tough customer, eh?There goes my commission."

"YOU SPOKE OF THE ONE WE HONOR AS THE FIRST DALEK." It finally said to the Doctor.

Rolling up to the command Dalek, Davros said, "What are you doing? I ordered the Time Lord to be taken to a cell!"

Ignoring Davros, the commander questioned the Doctor further, "YOU CALLED THE FIRST DALEK A HU-MAN. WHAT DID YOU MEAN?"

"Davros created you, true. He even used his own DNA. But he's not a Dalek. Look at him!" The Doctor nodded his head at Davros. "He's nothing like you! He's got human hands. A human head. A human brain. I'd say he had a human heart, but there's nothing but stone in there, now. Davros in not Dalek. He is a human scientist. The ugly truth is that your lot were not created by a Dalek. But by a man."

"Do not listen to him!" A suddenly wary Davros shouted. "He is only trying to confuse you. I am Dalek. I have always been Dalek."

"YOU LIE, DOCTOR!" Protested the Dalek.

"You know how you got your name?" The Doctor argued, "I'll tell you. It's the name of Davros' own people, the Kaled's. Spelled backwards."

"The Doctor is only trying to make you doubt my leadership. Do not listen to him." Davros cajoled the commander, "You were given above average intelligence. Make use of that. See through the Doctor's ploy."

"Pfft! Nice try, Davros." The Doctor snorted. "I'm simply stating the facts, commander. Just be thankful that his people weren't named the Tarf's. That would be embarrassing. Though maybe not to a Slitheen."

"WE DO NOT POSSESS SUCH INFORMATION." The commander admitted.

"No, of course you don't." The Doctor nodded. "History is written by the victors and the obsessed, and goes unread by the lazy and the mindless. Question is, which one are you?"

"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE QUESTION!"

"Right. Yes." The Doctor said, as if he expected that response. "And of course it wouldn't ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, there's a reason this information was withheld from your memory core?"

"I told you to ignore the Doctor." Davros spoke to the commander accusingly. "Why do you insist on standing here, listening to him prattling on about history? History is nothing. It is the past. Where it belongs. Forgotten. I had ordered you to remove him to his cell! Why is this not being done?"

The commander swiveled to stare at its creator. After a short pause, it said, "AND YET DAVROS, YOU YOU HAVE GIVEN US INFORMATION ABOUT PAST BATTLES. SO THAT I AND OTHER DALEKS MAY LEARN BETTER METHODS OF FIGHTING. IS THAT NOT WHAT YOU WOULD CALL, 'HISTORY'?"

"Oooh, touchè." The Doctor winked at Davros. 'Another point to me, I think."

Turning from Davros, the commander asked, "HOW DO WE KNOW THIS INFORMATION IS CORRECT, DOCTOR?"

"Because you have it straight from the lips of the Oncoming Storm himself. I was there. On Skaro. In the final days of the war. The Time Lords sent me there to commit genocide. To destroy that first batch of Daleks before they were ever created. And I nearly did."

"AND YET, YOU DID NOT. YOU FAILED." The commander almost seemed to gloat over this fact.

"Ah, but I didn't fail. I made a choice. The contact wires were in my hand. All I had to do was move my fingers, and the Daleks would be erased from history. At the last moment, I chose not to touch off that explosion. Much to my everlasting regret."

"Yes, Doctor," Davros sneered, "you value life too much to wipe out an entire species. And that is your weakness."

"No." The Doctor frowned, "I did it because I didn't want to become someone like you, Davros." Hanging his head, he gave a tired sigh. "But in the end, maybe it made me something even worse. I don't know."

"ENOUGH! TAKE THE DOCTOR AND DAVROS TO THE HOLDING AREA." Ordered the commander.

The protests of Davros could be heard all the way down the tunnel where the Daleks kept the cells. A few minutes later, the Doctor found himself shunted into a small room with the barest of amenities.

Looking at Davros in his chair, the Doctor grinned and said with undisguised relish, "Dibs on the top bunk."

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