THE TICK-TOCK PARADOX

Chapter 13

Taking a wary step back, the Doctor watched as his two Dalek guards turned their gun arms towards him. The image of the Central Command Dalek which had been hovering above them, flickered out. It was proof to the Doctor that the Dalek leader was so confident of his imminent death, that it couldn't even be bothered to watch.

“So this is how it ends.” The Doctor said to no one in particular. “Not with a bang or a whimper, but with a zappy noise from a greeny Dalek death ray. Well boys,” he shrugged at the two guards, “this looks like the end of the trail for the old Doctor.” Then he smiled. But it wasn't a pleasant grin, and an angry, almost mad look came into his eyes, “Oh, but wait. I'm the Oncoming Storm. Or, have you forgotten that? I've survived two hits by your weapons in the recent past, and yet here I am, alive and well. That's very cool, don't you think? Which begs the question: am I really fated to die by your hands, or do the complexities of time and the universe have other plans for me?”

“The Central Command Dalek has ordered to you die, Doctor. We will obey.” The right hand Dalek spoke, it's voice strangely shrill. Yet, they hadn't killed him. In fact, that particular Dalek guard actually backed away from him, as if it were suddenly afraid of the Doctor.

You must be exterminated! Exter-min-ate! Exter-min-ate!” The other Dalek spoke, almost insanely, Abruptly surging forward to make the kill.

Without warning, the Dalek's head blew off, sending bits of metal and green flesh whistling past the Doctor's head. The Doctor instinctively had thrown himself aside, and saw out of the corner of his eye, the second Dalek getting the same treatment.

They'd come in from one of the air vents near the floor, on the opposite side of the lab. It had been out of the Dalek's field of vision, but not the Doctor's. Even before he'd started to speak to his guards, his extra sensitive hearing had caught the relatively quiet movement of his three friends crawling through the air ducts. That's why he'd kept talking to his guards, so they wouldn't notice.

“Cutting it rather fine, weren't you?” The Doctor rudely asked River Song, as she and Amy and Rory came surging across the room to be happily reunited with him. He broke into a smile, and hugged them, asking, “Is everyone alright?”Amy? Rory? River didn't get you into any trouble, did she?”

“Me? Get them into trouble? Who's the one who brought them here?” River asked indignantly, cradling a Dalek gun in her arm.

She'd taken the weapon off the Dalek she'd strangled in the storage hold. Then, River had carefully hacked into the ship's computer terminal, and found a path through the air ducts which presumably lead to the lab where she suspected the Doctor was being held. At least, that area showed maximum security settings on its door.

“They were in one of those American fried chicken shops! You know, the one with the old geezer wearing the tacky 'tache. What was I supposed to do, just leave them there?” The Doctor replied with a shudder. “Now if it'd been a chippy, that would've been completely different. Can't go wrong with good old fish and chips. Safe as houses.”

“If we could just focus for a minute, Doctor.” Rory interrupted. “Aren't the Daleks going to check to see if you're dead by now?”

“Erm—probably, yeah.” The Doctor conceded.

At that very moment, an alarm began to sound. The Central Command Dalek's voice seemed to come out of nowhere, and be everywhere. It announced that the prisoners were escaping and, as the Doctor put it; 'surprise, surprise'; that they were to be exterminated. River, Amy and Rory immediately headed back to the air ducts.

“Don't bother,” the Doctor said, “the Daleks are probably already monitoring every centimeter of duct work on this ship. We'll have to find another way back to the TARDIS.”

“Thank God for that. My knees were beginning to feel like raw beef mince.” Amy said, relieved despite their desperate situation. “I'm telling you right now, Rory,” she scolded her husband, “if you ever move us into a home with heating or air ducts in it, I will so divorce you.”

“Erm--?” Rory looked at his wife askance.”I really don't think now is the time to be discussing our future home buying plans, Amy.”

River looked around. She saw no other escape route from the lab, except the opening to the air vents and the lab's single door. Rory and Amy also looked around the room, trying to find an obvious escape route.

“It's impossible, Doctor.” River said worriedly, “It's either the air ducts or the front door.”

“You're forgetting something, River.” The Doctor told her.

“What's that?” She asked. Oddly, he seemed unusually calm. She hoped that was a good sign.

“Oh, I do hate to drop names, that's so positively gauche. But, in this case, I'll make an exception; Houdini in New York, Xenocanter the Great on Pentaxico II, Pen and Teller in Vegas.”

“What?” Rory asked, not following the Doctor at all.

“Ah!” River said, catching on immediately. “Misdirection!”

“Exactly!” The Doctor replied, nodding his head sagely.

“Sorry.” Amy said, looking baffled. “What are you two on about? Is this some kind of secret code?”

“No. But that's not a bad idea. It means, Amy,” The Doctor responded, giving her a mischievous wink, “That I'm going to make us all disappear.”

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