MISSING IN ACTION
Chapter 10 The camera zoomed away from the close ups of River and Rory, and panned to the left. There in the not so far distance was the mining company's dome, with the raging Howling stirring up the dust nearby. "Oh my god, Rory! River!" Amy shouted at the screen. She threw him a panicked look. "Doctor, we have to get them out of there before that thing notices them!" "Thank you very much for stating the obvious, Amy." he responded politely. "Question is, why are they tied up in the first place, hmmm—? Write on one side of the paper only. Extra credit Margatha, if you can tell me what's really going on here. Though I have the nasty feeling we're about to find out." As if on cue, Altaar's image appeared on screen, in what appeared to be a small room with stark barren walls He was flanked by four Daleks. Only, he didn't at all appeared to be alarmed by their presence. Instead, Altaar gave the Doctor a huge, satisfied smirk. "Well, well, if it isn't the Oncoming Storm." Altaar sneered childishly. "That is what the Daleks call you, isn't it? The all powerful, incorruptible, unstoppable Time Lord." He paused and made a rude noise. "Got that shielding to work, did you? Too bad. I had hoped that by killing off all of our tech support, it would allow the Howling to do its work. Oh dear. Now it'll have to be satisfied with just your friends, won't it? Tsk-tsk. What a shame. Of course, if it doesn't take your friends, I can always use this." He said, holding up a lethal looking proton rifle. The Doctor didn't stir. He only mutely stared at the video screen, his face dark with anger. "Aw, what's the matter, Doctor? Can't think of any clever banter to spout at me?" Altaar baited him. "Clever remarks would be wasted on you, Altaar. But, if you insist." The Doctor shrugged, then leaned in towards the video camera and said, "The only difference between you and and every other idiot, is that you've got a gun in your hands." "Ah. That's more like it." Altaar laughed. "You killed them, Altaar? But...I saw it, it was the Howling. How was that your fault?" Margatha said. "Who do you think controls the Howling, girl? Do you really believe that this creature has followed us from planet to planet, all the way back to normal space, merely on a whim? The deaths today, like all the deaths before them, were simply collateral damage. Bah! Why am I wasting my breath on you? You're too young to understand about such things." Altaar told her dismissively. "Oh there we go, there's the Overlords I used to know. I see you people haven't changed much after all, Altaar. One minute you're all group hugs and sharing cake recipes, then suddenly it's pass around the knives and look out behind you, Caesar." The Doctor scowled. "Your face and body may have changed Doc-tor, but your hide-bound Prydonian morals haven't." He replied, "Still playing the hero. But I played with you, this time. You've become such a puppet to my whims, you might has well have strings attached." The Doctor opened his mouth to replay, but Amy had other ideas. "Look, this insult fest may be a big turn-on for you Doctor. But, what I want to know is, how do we get Rory and River back?" "They're not coming back, girl." Altaar told her. "No one is." "What's that supposed to mean?" Amy asked warily. "I think he means he's willing to commit to the genocide of his own people, just to get at me." The Doctor spat out angrily. "Isn't that right, Altaar?" "You're not going to chastise me for that, you hypocrite!" Altaar snorted. "You killed off your people to get rid of the Daleks. I'm killing mine to get rid of you. You're no different than I am. Our race was a noble one, we could have been the absolute rulers of time. Before you came along. You may have prevented our annihilation by the Galifrey High Council, but you destroyed us, nonetheless." The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "That's rich, Altaar. Might I remind you, that before your ancestors decided to destroy everything in existence, the worst problem they had was Uncombable Hair Syndrome." "Have a care, Doc-tor. You've killed countless of times, then ran away in your TARDIS at the first opportunity. How are you different than I, Time Lord?" "The difference between me and you, Ataar, is that I didn't want to kill. I only had two choices, both of them bad. I had to choose, twice, whether to let my people live as the only species in existence, or to stop the destruction of time and save every other life form that ever existed. And I live with that decision every day. And it hurts, Altaar. When my people died, a part of me died with them. You kill, because you've become so self-absorbed, you don't have the mind or character to care about anyone else any longer." "I care about the honour and pride of my people! Which you stripped from us when you took away our technology. We could have ruled the entire cosmos, if not for you!" Altaar thundered. "The Temporal Overlords were brilliant. They could have been so special in the universe." The Doctor shook his head sadly. "Instead,. They chose not to see outside themselves, but to blindly forge ahead with their plans irregardless of everything else. They'd lost the courage to care, I suppose. Because it's easier, isn't it? No effort involved with not caring. Just do whatever the hell you please and damn the consequences to others. Go on and pootle through your lives, sheep-brained, obtuse to all other life around you. Which is really sad. Because you miss out on so much, that way. In the end though, your people were hoist by their own petard. Because they lacked the courage to feel any responsibility for their actions. And that, Altaar, was the true cause of their downfall " "You did this to us, Doc-tor. I hate you with all my hearts. I've hated you for twelve hundred years. I've watched our once-great civilzation slowly die. My people are not much better than cattle, now. Or humans." "Oy!" Amy protested. "You alone were responsible for our downfall. The Time Lords were too weak to go after us themselves. If you hadn't of interfered, we would have become the most powerful beings in the universe." Altaar spat out angrily. " It was only after the Temporal Overlords decided to pursue their own self-serving desires—and got twigged for it, that they were forced to face the consequences of their actions." The Doctor answered. "Let the chips fall where they lie, Altaar. I'm not your mother. I'm not picking up after the mess you lot made of things. You got a second chance from me. That's something I don't do, any longer. So consider this the first and only warning: Stop this. I mean, right now. Just back up the lorry and find an alternate route. Preferably a nice, peaceful one. I recommend a pleasant little drive through the Gower Pennisula. Lovely bit of road, that." "How very self-righteous." Altaar sniffed. "I'm sure that last little monologue will be a nice addition to your biography." "Listen to me. I'm asking you nicely this time. Let everyone go. Please. You've got me. You don't need them. I do whatever you want, just leave my friends and the rest of your people alone." The Doctor pleaded, aware that he was trying to reason with an unreasonable, and not especially sane, man. "Hmmm—let me think about it..." Altaar said sarcastically, tapping his chin with the end of the proton rifle. "Would you like to be alone with your thought?" The Doctor asked dryly, guessing what Altaar's answer would be. "Before the sun sets, everyone on this planet is going to die, Doctor. Including me." Altaar said triumphantly. Behind him, the Doctor heard Margatha gasp with shock, but he kept his eyes on Altaar. "And if the Howling doesn't get you, my little Dalek pets here, will." "They don't obey orders from other species. Not even their own creator, Davros." The Doctor said, staring hard now at the quartet of Daleks. "This lot will obey my every order, Doctor. I took out everything inside that was Dalek, and turned these things into my own personal robot army. Complete with the original weaponry." "You should know better than to tinker with Daleks, Altaar. Next to me, they may be one of the cleverest species in the universe." "You know, I'd really like to continue this conversation with you, Doctor...oh, who am I kidding?" Altaar laughed. "No I wouldn't. And now, I think I'll introduce the Howling to those two out there. I want you to suffer, Doctor. As I and my people have suffered for countless generations. I want to to watch your friends die."
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