Part 4 (1/2)

She wore jeans and a denim jacket with big pockets - adventuring clothes. There were lines of tension around her mouth. She looked so businesslike that Jason didn't dare to hug her. It had taken almost an hour to persuade him to stay behind.

'We're just taking a quick look round,' said Benny gently.

'We won't stay for the whole show.'

'I'll be waiting for you,' said Jason, almost keeping the bitterness out of his voice.

Chris and Roz stood about, looking awkward. The Doctor said, 'We'll be materializing aboard the Tisiphone Tisiphone in thirty seconds.' in thirty seconds.'

Benny nodded. She gave Jason a quick kiss. 'I'll talk to you in five minutes,' she said.

She couldn't help smiling as the old, familiar noise of the TARDIS materialization ground through the console room.

The Doctor put his hand on the door control. 'Are you ready?'

he said.

Benny gave him a quick nod. He tugged on the door control, and the big double doors swung open.

Benny stepped out onto the Tisiphone, and nearly walked right into her father.

4 From Here to Paternity

Aboard the Tisiphone, 2543 Stay calm.

The TARDIS had parked itself in a narrow corridor, an access tunnel curving through the inside of the big s.h.i.+p. Dark walls were covered in stencilled lettering. The floor shook.

The air stank of burning electrics and smoke.

Benny steadied herself against the TARDIS, staring at her father.

He looked just like he did in the photo. Except for the battle fatigues. And the soot and the blood. And the blob of grease over one of his cheekbones. And the faintly puzzled expression.

He looked her up and down with those startling grey eyes, raised an eyebrow at her, and walked quickly away down the corridor.

Benny jumped as someone put their hand on her shoulder. She was light-headed, unable to call out after her father, unable to move. Stay calm Stay calm, she told herself, stay stay calm calm.

'He just pretended we weren't here!' she whispered, blinking back tears in the smoky air. 'That's insane. Why?'

The Doctor shut the TARDIS door. 'We still have three and a half minutes to find out.'

They followed Isaac through the s.h.i.+p, which tossed and rolled like a sailing boat in a storm. There were tremendous clanging noises, missiles or energy bolts striking the outside hull. If there was a breach, they might be trapped in a sealed section as the air whooshed out into s.p.a.ce.

He glanced back at them, once. Benny opened her mouth to call out to him through the noise, but he had already turned around, fighting his way along the corridor.

The s.h.i.+p rolled almost onto its side as they reached the entrance to the brilliantly lit c.o.c.kpit. Seen through the front screen, the battle was a video game, all blips and lines of coloured light. Playing out the hologram Benny had watched.

'Reeve and Lawrie aren't answering their intercoms because they're dead,' her father was telling his bridge crew.

'Engine containment looks stable, but the lateral stabilizers are a mess.' He struggled back to the captain's chair.

'We're good for another ten minutes at the most,' said the African woman at what Benny guessed was the engineering panel. 'After that, the emergency stabilizer system's going to lose power, and - what the h.e.l.l!'

She'd seen them. Benny almost took a step backwards into the shadows, but the Doctor's hand kept her in place.

'No,' said Isaac. The African was nearly out of her seat.

'The Daleks' hallucinatory weaponry. Don't let them distract you, lieutenant.'

The other members of the crew swung around, glanced at them, turned back to their controls. Only the pilot, a plump redheaded woman, was still staring. 'Admiral,' she said, 'how do you know they're hallucinations?'

'Because,' said Isaac, without looking around, 'that's my wife.'

The Doctor and Benny glanced at one another. 'Just pretend you're not really here,' said the Time Lord.

'Why not?' said Benny, more hysterically than she would have ideally liked. 'That's what they're doing.'

The pilot yelled as the controls caught fire. She s.n.a.t.c.hed an extinguisher from a hidden panel.

'Options,' shouted Isaac.

'We can make another attack run,' said the lieutenant.

'But it'll leave us helpless. We can pull out of the battle - we might be able to limp back home.'

'Right,' said Isaac. 'I have a better idea.'

The Doctor raised his head suddenly, frowning, as though listening to something.

'The Daleks will expect us to retreat. So we'll give them a surprise.' He was moving his hands over the controls, inputting a course. 'What do you think, helm?'