Cosmo || Doctor Who

23 : Too Much Love Will Kill You

However, it meant that the black haired boy's view on the machine race was tainted. The only Dalek he'd ever encountered was a war survivor as well as a victim of the abuse Van Statten had subjected it to. It had been weak and uncooperative. He could only imagine what a confident, untampered creature may react like. Would it kill them without discrimination? Or would it all be drawn out like an execution?

Jack's eyes never left the Dalek. "One minute they're the greatest threat in the universe, the next minute they vanished out of time and space."

"They went off to fight a bigger war." The Doctor deadpanned. "The Time War."

"I thought that was just a legend." He stared with this burning intent, because he wanted to know everything that he could. His childhood had been engulfed in a world of stories all rotating around the Time War.

"I was there, the war between the Daleks and the Time Lords, with the whole of creation at stake." He didn't talk about it much, and now that he was, EJ's ears pricked up. "My people were destroyed, but took the Daleks with them. I almost thought it was worth it, and now it turns out they died for nothing."

  "There's thousands of them now, we could hardly stop one." Rose reminded, though it was very fresh in their memory. "What are we gonna do?"

  Suddenly bright and optimistic, the Doctor beamed. "No good stood round here chinwagging. Human Race, you'd gossip all day."

  EJ pulled a face, as if it was an insult. "Hell yeah, I would."

  "The Dalek's have got the answers, let's go and meet the neighbours."

  He jumped towards the doors as the others attempted to hold him back. "You can't go out there!"

     It came to no use as the Doctor bounded into the Dalek ship, with no weapons to defend himself. EJ followed after with no means to stop. Keeping him safe was his first priority, but the others had more self-preservation. They waited in the doorway, looking out, and suddenly EJ wanted that little more coverage.

     It was as soon as they saw the Doctor that they began to scream as loud as their machine lungs could manage. Exterminate. It echoed around the room like some sort of chant. They fired at the Tardis, but the shield kept them safe, for a short distance. It was some relief.

     "Is that it?" The Doctor asked, unimpressed. "Useless! Nul points! It's alright, come on out, that forcefield can hold back anything."

  Thoughtlessly, Jack remarked. "Almost anything."

  "Yes, but I wasn't going to tell them that, thanks."

  "Sorry."

     So, he looked at them, the Daleks, with fury in his mind. He was like a tutor, in some ways, as he turned back to his friends with all of the answers that they would never know without him.

     "Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek homeworld?"

  EJ shook his head. "Obviously not."

"The Oncoming Storm." It was ominous, and the Thompson boy could hardly align the name to the Doctor. Then, he looked at them in the eyestalk. "You might have removed all your emotions, but I reckon, right down deep in your DNA, there's one little spark left. And that's fear. Doesn't it just burn when you face me? So tell me... how did your survive the Time War?"

EJ wondered what sort of backhanded nonsense they might come out with. The idea that they even needed any help to survive sounded insulting to them.

    But a deep voice boomed at them, and the Doctor span on his heels. "They survived through me."

Their eyes followed the sound into the darkness where they found a Dalek unlike any of the others. It was as tall as the ship, humongous and monstrous. It had tubing which led down to a small glass jar where the octopus-like creature resided.