10

‘How do we get back to the Plexus? I thought the whole thing about it was that you couldn’t work out where you were or how to navigate in there?’

‘Normally, yes, but in this case, we’re simply backtracking to where we’ve already been twice before.’

Ace sighed. ‘Doesn’t all this time-travel stuff make your head hurt?’

‘Frequently!’

‘Hold on a second,’ said Ace. ‘If this whole mess was caused by two TARDISes getting tangled up, aren’t we now adding a third TARDIS?’

‘No, because I realise now that we were the other TARDIS that you saw when we were originally stuck in the time vortex. I thought what you saw was just a temporal echo or an image from the Plexus time loop, but I was wrong. That second TARDIS was us re-entering the Plexus, so at least I know we’ll find our way back into it. And, once there, I’m going to have to pick the exact right moment to restore the chrono-dynamic parity. I have to make sure that the other TARDIS gets free without altering the universe to do it.’

‘And how will you do that?’

‘The exact moment the other TARDIS targets the star, I’ll put us in the way and target it with intermittent chrono-dynamic pulses. That should provide them with enough energy to break free without destroying the star.’

‘What about us? Could we get stuck again?’

‘If I time it exactly right, the timeline of the two TARDISes will merge into one and emerge from the Plexus unscathed. But if I miscalculate, I could destroy the TARDIS.’

‘Which one?’

‘Both of them.’

Sorry she’d asked, Ace swallowed hard.

The Doctor ran his hands over the controls and the TARDIS screeched and wheezed and reappeared in the Plexus, the one place in the universe Ace never wanted to see again. The Doctor switched on the viewscreen and the familiar image of a police box appeared briefly.

‘So that’s us, before you blew up the star?’

The Doctor nodded. ‘About one minute before – if my calculations are correct.’

‘And you’re absolutely, totally, for-definite sure that this is the only way?’

‘Yes. And once we’re out of the Plexus, I’ve preset coordinates to our next destination.’

The sixty seconds dragged by. Ace stared at the other TARDIS on the viewscreen, and thought about Tulana and peaceful Daleks and a universe that the Doctor said should never have existed.

‘Here goes!’ the Doctor shouted.

There was the blinding flash, which took Ace by surprise even though she was expecting it. The force lifted her off her feet before slamming her back down again. Forewarned, Ace knew what was going to happen – a wild, crazy, uncontrolled flight followed by a bone-jarring halt. This time the Doctor was prepared too. He brought the TARDIS under control almost at once. They’d escaped the Plexus, but had the Doctor’s plan worked? Had the universe been restored to ‘normal’? Through the viewscreen Ace saw space debris – asteroids, some the size of continents back on Earth, and vast chunks of rock floating before them.

‘Where are we?’ she asked.

But before the Doctor could confirm their exact location, a ship appeared on the screen and swung round in a graceful arc to point head-on at the TARDIS.

‘Aha!’ said the Doctor.

There was a burst of static, before a harsh, grating voice filled the control room.

‘YOU HAVE INVADED OUR SPACE. YOU – WILL – BE – EXTERMINATED!’

Ace shuddered as she recognised the voice, and watched as two missiles streaked away from the battle cruiser, heading straight towards the TARDIS. There was no gentleness now – all trace of friendliness gone. There was no attempt at diplomacy or debate. These were the Daleks the Doctor and Ace knew only too well – the merciless killing machines that had burned a thousand planets and enslaved half the galaxy.

‘Ah yes, the Daleks I know and detest, still protecting what they feel is their part of the galaxy, even though there’s nothing here but rock. The universe makes sense again,’ said the Doctor as he set the controls to allow them to slip away into space and time before the missiles could hit their target.

‘Professor, where is this?’

‘Skaro – or what’s left of it. There’s always a Dalek battle cruiser or two in the vicinity.’

‘You set our destination for Skaro?’ Ace asked, astounded.

‘Just to make sure that things were back to normal,’ grinned the Doctor.

Ace watched the missiles approach. The Doctor threw a switch with a flourish and the image of the Dalek ship and the missiles started to fade from view as the TARDIS dematerialised.

Even as they slipped away, a Dalek voice grated on triumphantly. ‘DETONATION IN TEN RELS. YOU CANNOT ESCAPE.’

The viewscreen faded to black, and the echo of the Dalek’s last strident, grating taunt died away. ‘ALL ENEMIES OF THE DALEKS MUST DIE …’

‘So, Professor, Tulana never even got a chance to be born,’ said Ace, her eyes glistening. ‘The Daleks are back to being murderous psychos. This is the universe as you know and understand it. But is it really an improvement?’

The Doctor stared at the screen. The view was star-filled now and peaceful. His hands gripped the edges of the console so tightly that his knuckles were white. ‘Ace, we experienced something I thought could never happen, in any timeline. Peaceful Daleks who were a force for good. Maybe, just maybe, in time that will happen in this universe too.’

‘D’you really think so?’ said Ace.

‘A few days ago, I would’ve said no without hesitation,’ the Doctor admitted. ‘But now all we can do is hope. And, when you get right down to it, that’s a good start.’