THE TICK-TOCK PARADOX

Chapter 11

As River lead Amy and Rory around the last corner leading out of the prison, she accidentally stepped on a pressure plate. Hidden underneath the floor, it's instruments were set to detect any non-Dalek weight. Since all Daleks—except for the Central Command Dalek, weighed exactly the same, the pressure of River's foot on the sensor automatically triggered an alarm. The three of them stopped cold, as a hooter began to echo through the prison block.

“Oh dear,” River said softly, “Looks like we're about to be exterminated.”

The Doctor's face was beaded with sweat. It wasn't that it was warm in the lab where he was working, so much as the fact that the instruments he was working on were delicate and complex. One wrong setting on his sonic screwdriver could literally unravel time throughout the universe. It didn't help that he had two Daleks standing over his shoulder, carefully watching his every move.

Around him, the lab was as sterile looking as the rest of the ship, with function taking precedence over form. Its white walls were lined with banks of computers, while in the centre of the room black tables held various measuring instruments and glass beakers filled with coloured fluids. There were no chairs or other comforts. The Doctor had to work on the machinery sitting cross-legged on the hard floor.

His sonic screwdriver hummed, as the Doctor sonicked some red and black wires held in his other hand. The green glow from its tip reflected in the Doctor's face, as he held them close to make sure he was working in exactly the right place.

“Is it really necessary for you two to stand so close?” The Doctor muttered crossly, “It's a good thing you lot don't have proper mouths, I'd hate to know what your breath smells like. Bet it doesn't half stink. I'd lay odds at the bookmakers that not one of you has brushed your teeth in a thousand years. If you lot still had teeth, that is.”

“It is necessary.” The Dalek on his left, said. “Daleks do not have need of teeth. Teeth are a weakness.” Remarked the other on on the right.

“Oh, I dunno' about that.” The Doctor told the Dalek on the right. “I love my teeth, me. Great for biting into a toffee apple, and very handy for smiling. You can do a lot with a smile. Make someone's day better, you can even save a life with just a smile. It's amazing what a little kindness can do, you know.”

The pair of Daleks merely stood watching at him, neither one stirring or speaking.

“Not exactly preaching to the choir, am I?.” The Doctor said to himself with a resigned sigh, turning back to the task at hand.

Whomever of his people designed this weapon, he or she had made it so that only a fellow Time Lord could truly grasp its inner-workings. Like many things invented on Galifrey, the device was a combination of old and new, cobbled together in an intricate mathematical patten. Encased inside a black box the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, were a conglomeration of micro-fiber optics, an anubian abstract chronograph, nano-technology, copper wiring and old-fashioned brass clockworks.

“Doc-tor!” Came the voice of the Central Command Dalek, as once again its image flickered on a screen above the Doctor's head.

“Oh, what is it now?” The Doctor muttered, not bothering to look up. “Can't you see I'm busy? Nag-nag-nag, that's all you do. You sound like an old fish wife.. Though I imagine your fish and chips would be really rubbish, and I dread to see what you'd call mushy peas...”

“Silence! Do not interrupt me when I am speaking!” The Command Dalek bellowed angrily.

“Oh yeah? What're ya' gonna' do? Exterminate me?” The Doctor said, raising dark, angry eyes to glare up at the screen. “Then who's gonna' make this new weapon of yours actually work, ey? 'Cos if I don't set this exactly right, everything dies. Not just you and me and every human being, but everything. You understand? The entire universe, all that ever was, is and ever will be, will cease to exist. Time itself will unravel like a cheap jumper from Asda, and there will be nothing. Not even the blackness of empty space. So sod off and let me get on with my work!” With that, the Doctor went back to sonicking the wires, completely ignoring the Daleks.

“You have exactly one hour to finish your work, Doctor.” T he Central Command Dalek told him. “Then one of your companions will be brought before you and you will watch the human die.” With that, the screen winked out, and the Doctor was left alone again with his two guards.

The Doctor pretended to be engrossed in sonicking the wires, but in reality, he'd changed the setting so all the screwdriver was doing was making lots of noise. He needed time to think. Why were the Daleks suddenly in such a hurry to have him finish the device? He was forming a idea, and hoped it was the right one. Now, all he needed to do was keep looking busy...

It was dark, musty and cramped for space. Rory felt hot, had sore knees and was growing increasingly unhappy. He had to admit though, that he couldn't complain about the view. Rory was last in line, crawling on his hands and knees inches behind Amy's bottom. Using a small penlight, taken from the same hidden pocket as the vial of perfume, River lead them down yet another ventilation duct. As she did, Rory prayed that neither of the girls was prone to farting when under stress.

“I can't believe I'm doing this.” Amy muttered. “I feel like I'm in some kind of film cliché, escaping from the villains through ventilation shafts.”

“Yes, and those villains will find us and kill us, if you don't shut up, Amy!” River scolded her.

After what seemed to be hours, yet was really no more than twenty minutes, River finally found an exit she deemed was safe. They seemed to be in some sort of storage area. Amy and Rory started looking for a way out. River was busy checking for more surveilence equipment. Amy was asking where they were, when River shushed her. She hated being shushed, and was about to protest. But then common sense took over and Amy did as she was told.

River had shushed Amy because she'd thought she'd heard something. She motioned for Amy and Rory to hide behind a stack of large metallic storage bins. River was too far away from the bins, and instead crawled back into the darkness of the air duct. A door slid open on the other side of the room, which in the darkness they'd somehow missed. Framed in the open doorway was the bulk of a Dalek. River watched the blue light of it's artificial eye swivel back and forth, searching the room.

Meanwhile, in the prison holding area, four Daleks converged on River's former cell. They saw the Dalek guard inside. It was moving back and forth with a pendulum motion. It swung over to the cell bars when it saw the other Daleks approach.

“Hey guys, how's it hangin'?” it said cheerfully.

“What are you doing?” Demanded one of the Daleks.

“I am shaking my bootie, baby.” The tripping Dalek told them.

Stop! Such actions are not within your parameters!” The Dalek ordered.

“Chill out, man! I'm having too much fun.” The Dalek in the cell responded.

“You are defective. Prepare to be exterminated!” The Dalek told it.

The Dalek in the cell ignored the others, and began to swing back and forth again, singing, “Ah-ah-ha-ah, stayin' alive, stayin' alive...”

The cell block lit up with green light, as the whine of four Dalek guns echoed in the corridor, followed by the sound of the hallucinating Dalek exploding out of existence.

The voice of the Central Command Dalek suddenly filled the corridor. “Report!”

“The prisoners have escaped.” The Dalek who'd just ordered the execution said. “Their guard was damaged and has been exterminated.”

“The Doctor must complete his work on the device.” Their commander told them. “He must not know that they are no longer under our control. Find the prisoners! Find them or you will all be exterminated!”

Inside the storage area, Amy and Rory were crouched down behind a bin, holding their breaths as a Dalek came trundling towards them. As it rounded the corner of the storage bins, it saw them. Rory instinctively put himself in front of his wife.

“Stay where you are! Do not move!” The Dalek screeched.

Taking great care, River crawled out of the square hole in the wall. The position of the Dalek was such that it could not see her. She went towards it in a crouch, intent on spraying the Dalek with hallucinogenic perfume, the same as she did with their now-dead guard. Silently working her way behind it, River reached into her pocket for the bottle. Her hand came away empty. The vial was gone!

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