‘Well..,’ he said, ‘we’re here now, so we better take a look around, don't you think?’
Turlough’s face didn’t really look like he agreed, but he nodded. That said, the Doctor continued:
‘I think it’ll be best if we stick together. Wouldn’t like to be alone in a place like…’ He suddenly stopped. It was so sudden that it sounded like a recording stopping in the middle of a word. I turned to where I figured the Doctor was standing, to see what was wrong, but he was gone.
‘Doctor?’ No response. ‘Doctor!’ I started to get frightened. ‘Turlough! The Doctor is...is...’ I trailed off, as I suddenly realised that Turlough wasn’t there either. I almost panicked, but somehow I managed to calm myself a bit by taking deep breaths. I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t going to make my situation any better by just standing there, so I began walking. I wandered around, alone in the dark, when suddenly I heard a scornful laughter.
‘Who’s there?’ I asked, but I didn’t get an answer. The laughter just continued. It got louder and louder until it seemed to come from all around me. For some reason, it made me upset. It shouldn’t have, but somehow, I was convinced that whoever the laughing person was, he was laughing at me, and that made me upset. I didn’t want to hear any more so I pressed my hands over my ears and ran. I don t know how long I had kept running, but as I did so, a thought suddenly occurred to me. What if, whatever had infiltrated the Mind World had turned it from a place of dream to a place of nightmares? Yes, that was it! There was no person laughing at me. Not really. It was my nightmare, made real by the power of the Mind World.
No sooner had I come to this conclusion, then I stopped and, as I lifted my hands of my ears, the laughter was gone. I continued walking at a slower pace, at one point I jumped as I thought I saw a spot of blue light flying past me at high speed. I spun around looking in all directions, expecting something awful to come out of the shadows, but there was nothing. After a while, I managed to relax and was about to move on, when I suddenly heard to familiar voices.
‘Blood! Too much blood!’ came Melissa’s shaky screams from my right.
‘Food! Where’s my food!?’ came Audre’s whiny sobs from the other direction.
I stood there, trying to decide which of the girls I should go to, when I heard a sound coming from behind me. I turned around and took a step back when I saw a domed metallic figure rolling towards me from the shadows.
‘Halt!’ The creature said in a voice that sent shivers down my spine. ‘Do not move!’ It said, but I couldn’t help myself. I kept backing away from it. ‘Stay where you are or you will be exterminated!’
‘DALEK!’
The creature spun around quickly and I looked up to see that the Doctor was standing on the other side of it, with a furious glare in his eyes. I had never seen him look so angry, and though I had not known him long, it shocked me.
‘So you’re behind this,’ He said in a low voice.
‘You are the Doctor! You are an enemy of the Daleks!’ the creature shrieked.
‘Oh yes,’ the Doctor responded, ’and whatever you’re trying to do here, I’m going to stop you!’
‘It is the Doctor! He must be exterminated!’ the creature screeched again, ‘Exterminate!’ A new, but much similar voice came from my right. ‘Exterminate!’ and then another from my left. Two other creatures, identical to the one in front of me, came out of the shadows from both sides. ‘Exterminate! Exterminate!’ Their yells filled me with fear.
‘Todd, RUN! RUN!!’ The Doctor yelled and he didn’t have to tell me twice.
‘What are those things?’ I asked breathlessly as I caught up with him and continued to run as fast as we could from the menacing metal forms behind us.
‘Daleks,’ came the reply, ‘…creatures of pure evil. Inside each of those metallic shells is a hateful living creature, set to exterminate any who oppose them.’
‘Sounds very nice,’ I said sarcastically.
The Doctor opened his mouth to answer me, when I wall suddenly appeared between us, out of nowhere, separating me from both him and the Daleks. I began to bang on the wall, while calling for the Doctor, but there was no response. I turned around and was surprised to find Taylor, the male test subject, standing only a few meters from me.
I moved closer, and a chill went down my spine when I saw his face. It was still and pale, his eyes looking empty, starring at nothing. ‘Taylor?’ I shook the boy, but his didn’t respond. At least, not at first, but after a few seconds I could hear him mumble something.
‘Nothing...there’s... nothing.’ he said.
‘Oh, Taylor,’ I said, exasperated. I was just about to make a second attempt to snap him out of it, when Turlough suddenly came running towards me from the shadows.
‘Help! The wolf! It’s after me!’ He yelled.
‘What wolf? Turlough, what wolf? I don’t see anything,’ I said, but just as the words left my mouth, I heard a howl, coming from out of the darkness.
‘Over there!’ said Turlough, pointing in the direction from which the howl had come from. ‘Come on! We have to get away from here!’ The boy grabbed my arm, to pull me away in the opposite direction, but as we turned around, we were faced by another of those Dalek creatures.
‘Intruders detected !’ it shrieked.
‘Oh no! Not them too!’ Turlough whined beside me.
‘Move!’ the Dalek ordered and not wanting to be exterminated, we did as it said.
‘Move!’ it said again.
‘We are moving!’ I answered.
‘I think it might be talking to the other boy.’ Turlough suggested, pointing at Taylor.
‘Move!’
‘He can’t hear you!’ I yelled at the Dalek, ‘He appears to be in some kind of trance.’
‘Make him move or you will all be exterminated!’
I moved back towards Taylor, slowly, so not to alert or antagonize the Dalek. As I reached him, I put my hands on the boy’s shoulders and gave him a light push. To my surprise he responded to this by taking a step forward.
‘Hurry!’ the Dalek shrieked impatiently.
‘Alright,’ I answered, pushing Taylor to where Turlough was standing, after which the Dalek lead the three of us into the darkness ‘Doctor!’ I exclaimed as I saw him standing together with Melissa and Audre, surrounded by Daleks, with what looked like a giant one in front of them. The Doctor looked up at us when he heard me.
‘Todd! Turlough! How nice of you to join us!’ He said with mock cheerfulness.
‘Have all the humanoids been assembled?’ The giant Dalek asked in a voice that was much lower than the others, but just as chilling, if not more so.
The Dalek that had lead me and the two boys here responded. ‘Yes. Six life signs were detected and they are all here.’
‘Excellent!’ the giant Dalek said at that.
I stared at it and the Doctor must have detected the question in my eyes, as he gestured towards it and said; ‘Let me introduce the Dalek Emperor.’ with the same mock cheerfulness as before.
‘Be silent Doctor!’ boomed the creature.
‘Silent! Silent! Silent!’ echoed the other Daleks. The Doctor drew a deep breath but said no more.
‘I shall signal our Allie on the outside. It is time we entered the real world.’ said the Dalek Emperor.
‘What Allie?’ I asked, feeling a mix of confusion and fear, but I never got the answer to my question, as at that moment a shining hole suddenly appeared in the darkness.
‘It is time,’ the Dalek Emperor said again ‘We shall take full control over Project Mind World and use it to create a world where we are the supreme rulers of the universe!’
‘No! You can’t do this. Doctor we stop them,’ However, before the Doctor could say anything, the deep voice of that big monstrosity sounded again.
‘Too late!’ it bellowed, ‘The gate is open! Daleks! Go now!’ and one by one, the Daleks entered the light and disappeared, after which the Emperor turned towards him. ‘You shall remain here, Doctor. You will not be able to stop us this time,’ he said, before he too entered the shining hole, which started to shrink as he had done so.
‘Quickly !’ The Doctor yelled. ‘Into the light, before it disappears!’ He ran into the hole and we followed. Melissa, Audrie, Turlough, Taylor and me. Or rather... that’s what I wish had happened. Oh, the Doctor did run into the light, as did Melissa, Audrie and Turlough, but not me. I only just about managed to push Taylor through the hole, before it closed completely, leaving me here... alone.
For me, the adventure was over now. Yes, it was an adventure. An exciting, and crazy, but scary and right out horrifying adventure. It was that adventure, that lead me here, to this cold, dark place.
I had an adventure with the Doctor, but not any more.
Or rather, a monster. You.
You’re my monster. The tentacled creature called a Dalek .
That’s right, you’re a Dalek . Though not a real one of course.
You’re just a figment of my imagination, conjured up from my mind.
You may not even look like a real Dalek. After all, I’ve never seen what they actually look like under their tank like armor. I only have the Doctor’s description to go on.
He’s fighting them now, I know he is . The Doctor and the Daleks fighting over the human race.
‘Todd!’
‘Doctor?’
‘Todd! Can you hear me?’
It is the Doctor! Well, his voice at any rate. But where is he?
‘You should see a light coming from the same direction as my voice!’
‘Yes! I can see it, the light!’
‘Move towards it!’
I did as he said. I moved into the light, closing my eyes as I’m enveloped in it.
‘Todd? Todd wake up!’
I open my eyes again... and there I am. Back in the access room, surrounded by the others. The Doctor in front of me, looking relieved. Dr Sniders and the girls, standing on one side of the Doctor, and Turlough, Taylor and Captain Alden on the other.
Hold on. There’s someone missing. Where’s Miss Carlyle?
The Doctor gives me a pained look and opens his mouth to give me an answer, but it’s Doctor Sniders who speaks it.
‘She’s dead. She was working for the Daleks, helping them to enter and exit the Mind World, but in the end they turned on her. I stare at him for a moment, before I turn back to the Doctor, who nods.
‘The Daleks are vicious creatures. Not even their allies are safe from their destruction.’
‘But they’re gone now?’
‘Yes! Partly thanks to Dr Sniders actually. He has apparently encountered them before and had a few tricks up his sleeve. That’s not to say I didn’t have a hand in their defeat myself, but...
‘Doctor, can we go now?’ Turlough interrupts the Doctor, who turns to his friend and then back to me, giving me an apologetic smile.
‘Seems my companion is getting impatient’
‘Then you must go.’
I stand up and offer him my hand. He takes it, with a slightly disappointed look in his eyes, before he turns his back to me and leaves the room, Turlough following closely behind him.