Part 32 (2/2)

Suddenly, Lesterson jumped to his feet on the far side of the lab. 'And I could tell you who moved it,' he said, cheerily.

The Daleks spun around to face him. 'What are you doing in here?' the first one demanded.

'I came to help you,' Lesterson replied. 'I know that you are the superior beings.'

As the Daleks regarded Lesterson, the Doctor pushed the other end of the cable home in the junction box. Then he grabbed the loose end of the wire he had disconnected.

Ben looked at him expectantly, but the Doctor shook his head: stay where you are! stay where you are! Then, carefully, making no sounds, the Doctor began to inch his way towards the generator, trailing the wire to the junction box beside him. Then, carefully, making no sounds, the Doctor began to inch his way towards the generator, trailing the wire to the junction box beside him.

'Why do you want to help us?' the Dalek demanded of Lesterson.

The scientist smiled insanely. 'I am your servant,' he announced, in a stiff impression of their own voices.

'We do not need servants,' the Dalek replied. It raised its gun.

Lesterson stared at the Dalek in confusion. 'Surely you wouldn't kill me?' he said. 'I gave you life!'

'Yes,' the Dalek agreed. 'You gave us life. We give you death.' Its gun spat..

The deadly jolt of power shook Lesterson. As it cut off, he dropped lifelessly to the floor. The Daleks turned from him and moved towards the workbench again.

Polly and Ben were directly in their view now. The guns inched upwards.

Frantically, the Doctor rammed home the wire he held into the generator linkages. He gave the unit a quick smile that was suddenly wiped away when nothing happened.

Had he miscalculated? In a frenzy, he jumped up at the panel. The power was turned off. Of course! Lesterson had said he'd shut it down, without effect.

The Daleks whirled around to gun down the Doctor.

Feverishly, he twisted the power modulator to full setting.

There was a whine as the generator came to full power.

In the centre of the room, the two Daleks suddenly began to spin in unison. Their lights strobed, and smoke began to emerge from every crack in their casings. Both issued mechanical screeches that increased in intensity.

Then, in a flash of light and thunder, the domes of both Daleks exploded.

Quinn and Bragen whirled around as a Dalek moved into the office.

Its gun was aimed. 'Exterminate all humans!' it said.

Quinn was staring at his own death.

In a whine of mechanical agony, the Dalek suddenly went into some kind of frenzy that ended with billowing smoke and in explosion as its top half erupted in flames.

'What happened to it?' Bragen asked, astonished. 'I don't know.'

'It appears that your friend the Doctor was successful after all,' Bragen said.

The guards were retreating down the corridors away from the Hub. An endless stream of Daleks was converging on the small area. In a few moments, they would all be dead.

Then the Daleks began to spin on the spot, in some kind of wild dervish dance. Smoke and fire spat from their casings, and then they all blew apart.

The bewildered guards stared at the ma.s.ses of blazing metal.

Quinn stared at the burning Dalek, elation flooding into him. The Doctor had done it! The Daleks were all being destroyed! Despite the sickening stench emerging from the body of the machine, he felt a huge wave of relief.

Then Bragen hit him from behind. Quinn fell to the floor, the machine gun clattering from his fingers. Bragen scooped it up and stood over his fallen foe. There was a fanatical gleam in Bragen's eyes.

'Now I shall restore law and order on this planet.'

Disgusted with his stupidity, and with Bragen's megalomania, Quinn shook his head. 'Not ”your” law, Bragen. That's finished for good.'

'You'll obey me,' Bragen insisted, swinging the gun to cover Quinn. 'Or you will die'

'Your day is over,' Quinn replied. 'No one will obey you now.' After all he had been through, Quinn had no fear of what was to come.

Bragen's face twisted in fury. 'I am still the Governor!'

he snarled, and tightened his finger on the trigger.

A shot rang out, but Quinn felt nothing. Then the gun rattled as it hit the floor in front of him. Quinn looked up.

Bragen, his face a mask of pain, held a hand clutched over his right shoulder. Blood was spurting from a gaping wound there, flowing over fingers and uniform in a bright flood.

Valmar, still panting from his efforts to reach the office, stumbled into the room. In his hand he held one of the dead guard's pistols. It was trained on Quinn.

'Valmar,' Bragen began. His voice had lost some of the imperiousness now, as he struggled with pain. 'You must do what I say and '

'Enough!' Everything that had happened here in the past few days was Bragen's fault, Valmar knew. The rebellion, the oppression, the murders, even the powering of the Daleks had been because Bragen had wanted a weapon. And Janley's death had been directly due to Bragen. Without remorse, Valmar fired again.

Bragen choked on his own blood and staggered forwards. Then his heart gave a final spasm. Valmar's third bullet went through his brain, killing him instantly.

'Thank you,' Quinn said, climbing to his feet. He looked down at Bragen's body. 'It was a near thing.'

'He deserved it,' Valmar said, without pity. Then he threw the pistol down in the pool of blood. 'Enough of guns. We have so much to do.'

Quinn nodded and offered his hand. 'We must rebuild together.' Valmar accepted the grip. 'What is the extent of the damage?'

'I don't know,' Valmar replied. 'I don't even know if it's possible to repair. So much devastation...'

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