That afternoon was peculiar, to say the least. Ace had never seen the Doctor in a stranger mood. From the frown lines creasing his face, he was obviously still deeply troubled, but at least he wasn’t quite as jittery. The fact that the Daleks weren’t just pretending to be agreeable but actually were meant that he didn’t have to worry about some kind of imminent ambush.
Ace and the Doctor strolled through the Academy, exchanging pleasantries with Daleks who always stopped to say good afternoon or to ask the Doctor’s advice on their research. And he helped. The Doctor started talking to the Daleks and treating them as fellow scientists. But he never lost his watchful, worried expression.
In the early evening, with the dying light of the setting sun making the tops of the distant mountains look like they were on fire, Tulana found the Doctor and Ace admiring the view.
‘I hear you’ve been having conversations with Daleks instead of zapping them. What changed?’ asked Tulana.
‘These Daleks aren’t like any I’ve ever met before,’ the Doctor admitted. ‘There can be only one explanation. This is some kind of alternative timeline, very different from the one I know.’
‘I was never any good at temporal physics – it gives me a headache.’ Tulana pulled a face.
‘Nevertheless, for whatever reason, the universe has changed,’ said the Doctor. ‘Some things are better, some things aren’t. The planet Sussashia Four has been destroyed so the reticulated sheep of Chonev are now extinct. The Sontarans won the battle of Kharax Rift, the Suxora Empire never fell, but the Kligoric Imperium did. The list goes on and on.’
‘And what caused all that to be different?’
‘I don’t know yet,’ he replied quietly, staring across the plaza at a couple of Daleks allowing themselves to be pushed around by a number of chortling young aliens on a nursery outing.
‘But you think the Daleks are responsible, don’t you?’ Tulana said.
‘I wouldn’t put it past them. They are immensely advanced technologically, and they’re one of the most devious and dangerous races I’ve ever met.’
‘As far as I’m concerned, you’re just a man making up stories.’ Tulana shook her head. ‘You can tell tall tales all day about planets that were destroyed and sheep that became extinct and alternative universes in which Daleks are evil. But that’s all they are – stories. I live in this universe, and the Daleks are my friends. And the one who is a narrow-minded, inflexible, xenophobic bigot is you!’ And with that she stormed off.
Ace watched her go, and then turned to the Doctor. ‘How come every single person, including the Time Lords, thinks that the Daleks are cute and fluffy, but you and I can still remember them doing bad stuff?’
‘Good question, Ace,’ said the Doctor. ‘Something obviously happened while we were trapped in the Temporal Plexus. Some cataclysmic event altered history, but we were shielded from its effects by the Plexus.’
‘Wouldn’t that have to be something enormous?’
‘Not necessarily. If you make a tiny change at just the right moment in time, then everything else follows naturally, like a ripple effect.’
‘The universe can change like that?’ asked Ace. ‘I mean, the whole thing?’
‘It’s incredibly rare – but it happens.’
‘And then what?’
‘Someone has to fix it.’
‘Who?’
‘The Time Lords, usually.’
‘The Time Lords don’t think there’s a problem.’
‘One of them does!’
‘Could it be that you’re being … prejudiced?’
‘I am not!’ the Doctor said, scandalised.
‘Are you sure? You pride yourself on your open mind and your live-and-let-live attitude, but when it comes to the Daleks you’re as single-minded as they are. You told me once that there could be an infinite number of timelines, each subtly different from the next. But you refuse to believe in any timeline in which the Daleks might not be evil. Face it, Doctor, when it comes to the Daleks, you’re as intolerant as the rest of us.’
‘I most certainly am not,’ spluttered the Doctor. ‘I just know what they’re capable of. That doesn’t change, not in any timeline.’
‘See what I mean? I rest my case!’
The Doctor opened his mouth to argue, but then he paused. ‘You’re right. I don’t like them. The faint whiff of ozone when they move makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I hate the silent way they glide about. I hate having hundreds of years of memories of every evil, rotten, violent, tyrannical, genocidal plot they’ve ever conceived.’
‘Then maybe you need to stop living in your memories and open your eyes and start living in this world,’ Ace told him. And with that she walked off to catch up with Tulana, leaving the Doctor gazing at a group of children sitting cross-legged round a Dalek, listening to it telling them a spooky story.