8

Ace’s heart began to hammer in her chest. For all her talk, the sight of so many Daleks in front of the TARDIS doors made her nervous, to say the least.

‘Professor, we have company,’ said Ace.

‘I know. I see them.’

‘Doctor, we require your assistance.’ That note in Pytha’s voice was the closest Ace had ever come to hearing desperation from a Dalek.

‘I’m a tad busy trying to keep the TARDIS upright,’ said the Doctor, initialising the stabilisers.

‘Our long-range deep-space scans are reporting anomalies.’

The Doctor’s head whipped up. ‘What kind of anomalies?’

‘Distant star systems that have begun to … disappear. This is, of course, impossible, but we have checked our instruments and found no malfunctions. And there has been a worrying increase in solar activity from our own sun. We require your presence in the astrophysics observatory. We seek your insight.’

Just at that moment, the ground heaved again.

‘I’ll be right with you,’ said the Doctor. ‘I need to sort out something first.’

‘We will wait and accompany you to the observatory,’ said the Dalek. ‘Time is of the essence.’

‘No need. I know the way. You all go and I’ll meet you there,’ said the Doctor. ‘Don’t worry, Pytha. I’ll fix this, I promise. Trust me.’

The Daleks turned en masse and rolled away. Moments later the Doctor slammed shut the TARDIS doors. ‘We need to get out of here. Now!’ he hissed.

‘You’re not just going to abandon them, are you?’ said Ace, appalled. ‘You promised to help.’

‘Ace, don’t you get it? The stars in this universe are beginning to blink out. And, believe me, when Skaro’s star bites the dust, we don’t want to be anywhere near here.’

‘But, Professor –’

‘Listen to me,’ the Doctor interrupted. ‘We need to get back to the Plexus before that’s wiped out too, or we’ll blink out of existence just like everything and everyone else.’