Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ DOCTOR WHO: APOUKALUPSIS (Revelations) ❯ HOMECOMING ( Chapter 7 )

Episode7

HOMECOMING

Homecoming - A piece of home, away from home. Gallifrey! Or at least a version of it. The Doctor takes his companions to Gallifrey. Little does he know that his oldest enemies are about to make an appearance, along with some new ones!

Scene 1:

The year - 4034.12 Delta of the first quarter of the year 5 Billion. 1100 light years away from New Earth; a good few moments drive through the time-tunnels. Deep, within deep space, floats a mass of land, encased in Pyrodium Glass, the width of a planetary crust, where the Tardis Lands. Like a snow globe in deep space, a little piece of Gallifrey swivels bright around this new alien sun. Still the Shining World of Seven systems, there could be seen burned ruins of the mountains Solace and Solitude, with half a citadel in the background.

Within the valley is a big building, made of darkstar metal. The whole building has similar darkstar shields running parallel on both sides. The Doctor and the companions enter the building, guarded by heavy security in full battle gear, along with a few Judoon escorts (helmeted). On the far corner of the building, the Tardis gets hoisted and parked in a storage bay of its own, surrounded by similar bays full of alien shuttles and crafts.

Xylok: Destination reached. Indexing. The remains of Gallifrey. Making possible matches to all known and collected records of Gallifrey.

Daniel: Doctor, what is this place?

Doctor: Welcome to The Glass House! The Biggest collection of alien artefacts in five known universes.

Layla: Wow!

Daniel: Glass house?

Doctor: Why? What's wrong with 'The Glass House'? It's not like I can name it Winkle's Wonderland! Not yet anyway.

Daniel: Nothing. Its just a bit basic for you. Alien like you, ..I thought it would be something spacey like Spock or Jedi-like.

Doctor: Jedi?

Daniel: So, this is home..eh?

Scene 2:

[To the instrumental tunes of Simon & Garfunkel - Scarborough Fair, with a bit of Gallifreyan flare at the end]

[Layla makes a video journal with Xylok]

Xylok: Recording.

Doctor: Yeah, well it used to. Gallifrey! In the mighty Constellation of Kasterborous. The technological marvel of at least 3 known and surrounding universes and a pocket universe, given any day in any alternative time stream. The Shining World of Seven Systems. Where the winds could never run stagnant and there was no such things as complete darkness for miles. The Jewels of the sky. 'Homeworld' and 'Cloneworld' to utilitarian classes of all humanoids and the Great houses, also to moon cats, killer cats, wambats, woprats, yaddle fish, gargantosaurians, little tuskers and colorful flutteroids..and yet the best of the worlds. With its two moons Pazithi and New moon PlitzDonnia, it was a wonder to look at. And on the continent of Wild Endeavour, where the winds would blow gently by you, over watching most of the land, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, covered in a dome, stood the mighty Citadel of the Gallifreyan chapter of the originating Time Lords.

Daniel: What happened? World War or something?

Doctor: Oh, hundreds and thousands. And Galactic wars. And the Citadel stood strong through all of it. Until it didn't. The Master happened. He destroyed Gallifrey when he found out an unbearable truth about us.

Layla: What truth?

Doctor: ..That we were not so perfect after all.

Layla: And that warrants this!?

Scene 3:

[They have reached and are standing over a second-floor glass deck that looks over both sides onto the burned mountains Solace and Solitude]

Doctor: I have been asking myself the exact same thing....

Daniel: But how come it is sized like an Asteroid, Doctor? Shouldn't it be bigger?

Doctor: Well it used to be. Now this is all left salvageable. All versions and Cloneworlds are gone. At least for me. No matter how many parallel Gallifrey I find out there; No matter what new miracle or drastic changes in time itself restores my world, This- this little world would always be what's left of my true piece of home. I brought back a piece in time, literally from the ends of the universe.

Layla: You seem calm about it? How long has it-

Doctor: Oh not long, compared to me and Time Lord standards. But this isn't the first time I had the sense of a loss of home. I have had practice.

Daniel: Soooo, what happened?

Doctor: I restored this world, well what was left of it anyways. Me and my dead wife started a collective that safeguards all kinds of Alien artifacts. I made out a solid AI out of her living consciousness.

Layla: YOUR WHAT?

Doctor[ignoring and overlapping]:..That task wasn't easy, but I had help. A lot of help. There were a few people that felt they were indebted to my help and services over the years. Well I say 'people', I mean-....[stares at the companions]. Any who. World saved, Restoration done. I needed authoritarian force for the safekeeping. So I contacted the disgraced chapter of the Judoon that ran a cold case to capture me over the years. We resolved some stuff. A bit violently of course. A whole lot of running to and away. Then they were contracted to safeguard and transit pieces into the collection, along with a few other security companies and installations.

Layla: Who maintains it, full time?

Doctor: The facility is fully automated. We had the Charlotte Lux Corporation look after the Glass House. Oh they had everything. By now they had automated security as good as most security churches and military installations throughout the galaxy. They had improved battle gear for the contracted Judoon and other species. The Judoon, although space thugs on hire, are very loyal to whatever cause they take up. They have security magna-grabs and compartmental lockers. They have gravity lock bars and full body scanners. They have the best non-lethal stunners. I should know! They have the best security check ring platforms and auto-scan dais. They have aid-nodes and interactive robots from the 51st century with 200000 assimilated forms of languages throughout the Glass House. They have two new libraries inside. And a little corner shop for souvenirs. Oh,.. I LOVEEEE corner shops! They also have a huggeee repurposed Command Node called CAL that looks after everything. 

Layla: CAL?

Doctor: Charlotte Abigail Lux, an old friend. She was humanoid proto-node kept on massive life-support. I enhanced her systems and gave her a new suite here. She can even download her node into new living metal robotic bodies and come out for a stroll. She also looks after a biomechanical terabyte server made form old Gallifreyan tech room that houses a version of my dead wife, River. Well her AI version.

Layla: Sorry little bit of ask....Again, WHAT?

[The Doctor smirks at them amusingly].

Doctor: Oh.....River. Now that's quite a tell. You would have liked her. Spoilers!

[Further on, ..Going through a series of artefacts]

Doctor: Ancient Thal weapons. The last original steam converter from the Weapon Forges of Villengard. The Sacred Book of the Order of the New Universe from the Delerium Archives; so basically everything after Amy and Rory got married. Amy....Weapons printer from Thoxarian Battlecruiser, A Cybus Cyberhead. A Mondasian regenerative bodysuit. A few broken Cybermen shells. The Commonwealth Token from 2245 belonging to one Jim 'The Fish'. 3D painting recreation of Gallifreyan Citadel. The only surviving copy of the real picture of Dorian. The holy grenade of the Last Archbishop of - Ohhh, River.

[He stops at a huge 3D picture of River on the wall, from their moments at the Singing Towers]

Layla: Is that her? River? She is gorgeous.

Doctor: You have no idea. Hell in high heels and just as sweet.

Daniel: Doctor what's that?

Lights come out from the rims of a huge gate, further down a room, in an erratic pattern. They slowly advance towards it.

Xylok: Layla Robbins. Life forms detected.

Doctor: What? That couldn’t be. All the Judoons are where we left them behind. Not a lot of them are allowed beyond this point.

Xylok: Multiple life forms detected. And non-organic heat signatures.

[They have arrived to what looks like reinforced cargo gates, with new logo and holo-consoles]

Doctor: Nothing out of the ordinary. Although by the looks of it we have new management in the premises.

Scene 4:

Turns out the Oustarhagen Systemgesellschaft, a German company from early 2002, also known as the Osterhagen Systems Corporation had become a global conglomerate by end-3051, away from the purview of most. Now it deals in N-bomb guidance systems, convoys, pangalactic security and tactical needs. The Charlotte Lux Corporation subleased areas and assignments to other corporations, galaxy wide. Among those, Osterhagen Systems Corporation have been trying to stage a two-year long hostile takeover with others. While Charlotte's humanoid proto-node along with River, and most collections are safe, there seems to be massive military presence guarding parts of the facility. The Doctor is surprised to hear the name 'Osterhagen' after so many years, and at the fact that it took him so many years to finally sense out where the name comes from. Seeing unloaded specimens of empty N-bomb warheads capable of destroying massive ships at one go, the Doctor realizes that while Martha put her efforts to bench the Osterhagen project, the principle had carried on. In a slow-motion reveal the Doctor finds something that fills with him utter dread. He staggers at his feet and hurries the companions away, when he finds there are Daleks on board.

Scene 5 and continued

Doctor: Well of course there are Daleks! What would a trip back home even mean without the Daleks!

Daniel: What's a Dalek, Doctor? Those clumsy salt-shaker robots?

[The Doctor has crept on to a systems and maintenance console by an empty hangar, and hacks it with his sonic. The sonic relays back information to the Tardis research console and databanks, which send massive data back to the Doctor's round glasses.]

Doctor: Those salt shakers are killers known as Daleks. Mutated beings called Kaleds encased in metallic casings. All their emotions removed. All of it.... nothing but rage and hate. They are the ones that caused this! Time War! The end. The beginning of the end on Gallifrey! They have destroyed galaxies just to enforce their will. Ended wars that would take years to even contemplate or even get at. They are sheer raw power. A force of destruction. They are as bad as it gets. You think the Master is bad. [Both of them nod]. Well the Dalek is the one species even the Master ran from.

Daniel: How come we have never seen one before?

Layla: I have. We all have! Back home. I even have those designs in my journal. Well not those exact ones.

Daniel: You have a journal?

Xylok: She means an encrypted holo-file within me. That she scribbles on. She has done it since the age of 14.

Layla: Yes I do. SHUT UP!

Daniel: No we didn't. [Mimics]Shut up!

[While working the console]

Doctor: Yes you have. Now both of you shut up! Honestly how do you people keep forgetting!? Blimey! Have I rebooted worlds that many times? Although.. Layla is right. This is not the original Dalek design or pilot. This is a cheap drone copy of a Dalek Scout called the Travel Machine, that the humans tried to make a long time ago. Well not that long from your point of view, I guess. Apart from the massive branding and logo, Osterhagen has upgraded the Mark IV Travel Machines out of of a composite of Darkstar metal and industry-grade Dalekanium to have massive force-shields, a barrier frequency modulator with field generators, new sensor globes, concealed missile array, drone autocannons, laser discs and trip-lasers. It also has a carbon-aluminum composite winch and sustainable thrusters. So basically a death trap but without the pilot.

Daniel: So no danger?

Doctor: Don't be so sure..!

[They have been found by A Heavy-weaponry variant with two Osterhagen Dalek scouts, OST-D221 AND OST-D223. Layla tries to run back left, but the famous ray demolishes a crate near her, as a warning shot].

OST-D223: Open voice-box array. [In proper Dalek voiceover] The.Doctor.is.ordered.to.follow.us.to.the.holding.bay.compartment.

Doctor[sarcastically]: Oh the nostalgia!

Daniel: And if we don't?

OST-D223: You.will.be.exterminated!

[Deep within the panopticon, they enter a heavily reinforced holding bay. Gagged and bound by manacles they hear Daleks communicating with each other as they pass by-]

Osterhagen Dalek[OC]: Open voice-box array. Protocol1.is.now.active.Guard.the.Doctor.from.Protocol1.Protocol1.is.now.active.

[There are big white labs with crude Dalek-constructions going on. Instead of the general color, the Dalekanium is being coated smooth black. There are organic slabs of green or yellowish-brown mutated creatures, inside the semi-open casings. With white robotic arms flinging and re-calibrating around them.]

[They pass a few more doors and into the lab.

..Where they meet the Doctor Zeuss (played by neat-freak and spoiled version of Sacha Dhawan, sporting rich glasses and a coat)]

Dr. Zeuss: Hello!

Doctor: WHAT!?

Dr. Zeuss: Ah! Doctor, Welcome! We have been expecting your timely intrusion. This way please [to the Daleks and the guards]

Doctor[efforts]: HOW CAN YOU-? WHY THAT FACE? ..But I always thought he got it from..No, but that can't-

Dr. Zeuss: From Agent O of International delegations and compartmentalized researches, MI6? No? We do our homework Doctor. Maybe, at last. But subconsciously from me. It wasn't the then-Masters' first trip to Osterhagen Systems Corporation. He even tried a few jab at us with his Tissue Compression Eliminator when we back-stabbed him in a deal. He probably doesn't remember it. His regeneration was short lived when he was shot with a 20mm Dalekanium blunt-force bullet. Well, let bygones be bygones. We have been waiting for you.

Doctor[efforts in manacles]: Really? Cause I was not sure I'd come myself. And who would you be? How do you know who I am? How do you know so much? People do not usually know me....and what do you mean timely intrusion?

Dr. Zeuss: Everybody here has been taught something or something else about the infamous 'Doctor' through the Time Webs. Almost all your adventures. Come now, Doctor. You must have heard of me and my team.

Daniel: Infamous you say! Usually we have to introduce him as our weird space uncle from the ship Galactica.

Heavy-weapons Dalek drone: The.prisoners.except.the.Doctor.will.not.engage. Or.they.will.be.exterminated!

Doctor: Lively. No..not even a clue. Who are you?

Dr. Zeuss: Well that is disappointing. Anyhow. That's trivial now. I am Doctor Zass Zugguler Zeuss. I know! Mouthful for even a protoBabylonian prison colonist. Chief scientific advisor of Project Genesis at Osterhagen Systems Corporation, and the most senior board member.

Doctor: What is it with you people- with Daleks and 'Genesis'? Its a proto-Indo-European word. Its not a gift from Copyright genie for something sinister you know.

Dr. Zeuss: So you recognize them?

Doctor: I should. I have put a lot of work into facing and tormenting them. So have they trying to burn me down.

Dr. Zeuss: Oh, but they couldn't. They couldn't ever.

Doctor: What do you mean couldn't. It's Daleks. Despite whatever vile and rubbish you choose to call them - travel machines! You put a mutated designated driver and the first thing it does is kill you, then Me!

Dr. Zeuss: Oh, but they can't Doctor. They can't. They have had thousands of years of wars. They have shot you down. They have come face to face- even Davros has. But the death-blow never DID land, did it? You'll see soon.

Doctor: What?

Dr. Zeuss: How hid you like the modern touch? and the voice?

Doctor: Uncanny. Original voice matrix?

Dr. Zeuss: Yes, of course. Little bit of pet-project.

Doctor: What did you do with the Master?

Dr. Zeuss: Oh, we transported him back to your precious Earth in a replicated shuttle. We relocated him near this person you refer to as O, a face he wouldn't even subconsciously forget any soon.

Doctor: Why?

Dr. Zeuss: Because we were instructed to. By someone who knows the Master and his tactics very well. His retaliatory tendencies were bound to kick in, and he found his agenda in O's face, that he could use to torment you. Two birds with one stone, I guess. Plus we were instructed to stick to the established chain of events. A part of him remembered that he had been to some version of Gallifrey recently. So he went searching at the ends of the universe, or so we've heard. We can all see the effects of that.

Doctor: Instructed by who? More to the point- What is Osterhagen even doing here. Last I checked you were com-

Dr. Zeuss: Commencing a planetary self-destruct system with N-warheads, nuclear, I guess you used to called them. But General Sanchez and his team were shot down during the then Dalek Invasion. Yes.. I know the history. Surely you did not consider that the end? And WHO? Ooooh, dangerous territory. You should know better.

Daniel: Mate, up until minutes ago we weren't even expecting you here!

[Gets zapped]

Heavy-weapons Dalek drone: Cease.communications. Or.you.will.be.exterminated!

Dr. Zeuss: Like a broken record. I know. There are some revolutionary instincts you cannot ignore when fitting a biomechanical prokaryotic template with a stolen voice matrix.

Doctor: Is that what you do? Steal and outrun?

Dr. Zeuss: No, Doctor. What we do is systematically conquer.

Doctor: Not if I have something to say about it!

Dr. Zeuss[waves hand sassily]: Because you are the Doctor. You are from Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous! I know, quite the fanfare! How foolish of us to go after the guy with a high sense of morality and savior-complex when the Master returned empty-handed from us, shot two times and a partial loss of memory!

[Nods at the Daleks and both companions get short-zapped]

Doctor: Stop it! What do you want?

Dr. Zeuss: Nothing for now. It's about what you want. To know about us am I right? [Smiles crookedly]

Dr. Zeuss: You are wondering what are they doing out here, a bunch of New Humans with other races, that even the Judoons aren't touching. How did a takeover get so ugly? In one corner of the Glass house that the nobody knows about. Or was it about CAL all along? Maybe professor Song and her knowledge? [Eyes the Doctor]. Don't worry Doctor. They are of next to no consequence to us. Not even your name.

Doctor: What do you want from Me?

Dr. Zeuss: [With holo-slideshow] To teach Doctor. You see, the Osterhagen project of Earth wasn't our origins. It wasn't even our proper middle ages. Oustarhagen was a German village that nobody knew much about in those days. Dive deep into the 22nd century Earth intranet and even they would give you wrong info about when it was found. You know how it is. If it doesn't concern you, if doesn't exist to you. Well.. actually YOU wouldn't. Everything bothers you. 

The Earth had been visited by the Sontarans many times, who have been willing to build an outpost on Sol-3 in like - forever, considering how feeble and weak earthlings are to them. But they have been thwarted or interrupted every time by our glorified guest here. The Doctor. Prominent of those times were Linx of the Jingo Clan of the Fifth Army Space Fleet. And then commanders of his brethren clan, many years forward, that set up Temporal Commands to set up shop during the Flux. Commanders Riskaw and Skaak, killed off by human intervention. There have been other Sontaran clan batches that tried to face and defeat the Doctor, specially during the Great Alliance. The 212th New Clan, I suppose. They even learned pulsar and sonic technologies to defeat the Doctor. And changed their armor. The Doctor even took a pet from one of their disgraced clone batches. But they failed as well. When the spaceship of Linx crashed in the 13th century, it wasn't the first time a dumb and brute Sontaran had made bad calculations about re-entry and stabilizer sustenance speeds in an alien atmosphere. About a century back, another Sontaran of unknown origins, Commander Lionis and his Battle trainee Maddox had made the trip and the same mistake, out on an inquisitive hunch into our 13th colony of the Outer Rims of Space. Back then a part of the Commandent transmission protocol, an universal translating-crystal from the Sontaran scouts, broke apart from the pod. The trajectory led it to the outskirts of the village Taravouldt that came to be known as Oustarhagen, where a little skirmish was going on. The whole village caught on to a radiation-poisoning from the crystal. The Sontarans of the Mutter's Spiral had made it in such a way that the translation crystal works for all, but only they could use it without bodily harm. Maybe it was a measure for the Rutan host. For 23 days the village suffered from the poisonings, while their skin melted off in small lumps each day. While their internal organs would boil and the livers would give away in a splash implosion after a day or so. They thought it was some curse. Most of the village was dead by then, before he came. The Retterand. Savior. Stories would have it he was celestial. Nevertheless, he saved the remaining population by absorbing the excess radiation with a gimmicky in his hand. Turns out he wasn't godly, only just really powerful. But he came from the stars. He imparted whatever he knew to the village elder, Oustarhagen Allson Weingartenloch, who along with the rest would go on to become his humble servants; even model their own little village around a church for him. For a period of seventeen years on and off he would teach them everything in slow succession. Oh, everything! From planets, to friction to buoyancy. To forces to light. To practical flight to reaches of space, life elsewhere, space travel, sustained flight mechanisms, faster-than-light principles. To basic survival guides through everything. Knowledge nobody should have had that early. Not just mere biology or birds-and-bees. But alien biology- what it could mean to have life elsewhere and what it would be like. What their own life meant. Devil in the details. And then somebody comes and tells them that all of it is actually out there, and nobody would stake you for believing it. The Retterand was more than any god they ever knew. They would soon become the village of Oustarhagen, under the elder's guidance, who was one the first human during his time to live for a period of 103 years. 

These practices continued for generations. They were stronger than the Templar Security Churches and the Anglicized Labor Camps and outposts. Modern bodies like Torchwood, Unified Intergalactic Task Force, Church of Kormal Kardinal Mainframe and the SJAF Archives had nothing on them, considering how much they knew and their maxi. They robbed a total of 87 caravans, Church convoys and foreign Sultans. That too with 20th century phase guns and shifter-grapnels provided by the Retterand. Would you believe that? 87! The pure machoism! By the years end they had a treasure trove in a suppossed cave near the ancestral hills of Weingartenloch, to feed the village for years, plus surplus. An then some! But they kept a low profile and even lower numbers. The population never actually rose more than 500, and about a third of them would always be followers of the Retterand.

[While reaching and working a computer]

Dr. Zeuss: By early 2000, they had everything a body that would interact with YOU should have. Deep-tissue replicator and scanners, Matter-printer, temporal engines, phase-shifters, weaponries from other species, protection against invasive and armed hostilities. Even stolen human weapons that they started perfecting. Gravity bombs, cluster bombs, laser-guided weapons and microwave technologies. And outposts at all major cities. Soon, with the Retterand's help, they began travels in time and space. Their numbers grew, with orphaned and abandoned species of aliens from every corner of the universe. Not all the early operations were a success. Many died too. But with significant output. [Slides towards him]Did you know that the seventh scout detachment team went back to the Second Dalek War? To the planet Auros? You,..you were there[poke]. Imagine that.. from Weevil hunters and out of time travellers to the Dalek war itself, in the 26th century. The local population thought they were there to save them but they were there only for the loot. When almost enough Dalekanium and other techs had been salvaged, they quickly burned the whole place down, with some of the older and weaker recruits still on the ground. 'No spoils for others' they used to say, was the motto; or the Famous Osterhagen principle of the old. The greatest degree of sacrifice to become stronger; considering the circumstances they met the Retterand in, which only made them stronger. Plus, it ain't a crime if you weren't even there. Too much machoism! [Keeps poking] And you and the sky troops thought that it was a self-sacrifice of the planet to stop it from falling into the Dalek's hands. You really were gullible. From that point forward, the 'Osterhagen principle' evolved. We were ready to nuke the Earth to avoid anybody discovering about us. So we built the Osterhagen project and the Osterhagen Key. The greatest degree of sacrifice and all. The Osterhagen name stuck around cause it was an anagram, for 'Earths' Gone'. So it fit the bill. While the village of Osterhagen had only about 700 souls back then, the Osterhagen Systems Corporation and followers of the Retterand had totally shifted paradigms to outer space. We settled anywhere and everywhere. You name it- Galaxy91, The Bad Wolf Observatory, Casablanca, Barcelona, to Raang Aa'Khat asteroid in the Kodion belt. The only problem was cryogenically storing the human physiology and keeping it viable and active in deep space. We learned about Lux Corporations' efforts to store and sustain a proto node, indefinitely. The one you called CAL. We helped with the funds to see where it goes. We also funded the manufacture of Sardicktown with ship parts from the decimated Star Ship Damascus SS 5020 and Colony ships from the past. But we found out that they just used permanent fog bank inside special chambers for cryo-freezing, nothing the world hasn't thought of a thousand times more. We also took an additional interest in Sweetville, but they failed us too. But the Retterand came in time to save us all. He had already acquired time fluid to add to the cryo-liquid. He also provided us with suits to thaw us out from the inside, that helped us survive. He told us that we shouldn't have wasted resources on these projects anyways. They all tried to preserve life and avoid illness in some way, but they were already flawed to begin with.

Doctor: What do you mean?

Dr. Zeuss: Don't you see Doctor. They were caused due to YOU!. Your presence! They were flawed because they weren't singular events. The were what the Reterrand calls Time Variations. They were all space-time irregularities caused by the unsupervised travel of a Time Lord and his capsule - YOU. Timey-wimey you call them, I think. The Retterand says that you say stuff like that a lot. Space and time folding on itself to have similarity in events around a single parameter in time - You. All three instances had a variable- a girl or woman named Abigail. And all three instances where preserving some form of life involved, with you saving the day. And you think that's a coincidence?

Doctor: But that's not possible.

Dr. Zeuss: It's more possible than you think Doctor. These aren't paradoxes. These are real events. And you in the center of it all. Only because you never knew Time itself was alive and Time Variations can happen.

Doctor: What do you mean time is alive?

Dr. Zeuss: It means exactly as it sounds. The Retterand says so. You'll find out soon enough when you meet him. Oh you and your police box has caused more Time Variations than you'd ever know.

[He gets up and stretches]

Daniel [sotto]: Boy he can talk!

[Layla nods]

Dr. Zeuss: So much history, Doctor. So many revelations. So much that is yet to come this season. Makes you wonder if leaving Gallifrey was ever even worth it, does it not? I mean what did you ever achieve, except for the usual flair of galactic heroism and one-liners? It’s as if your own very presence incites the existence of monsters, does it not!? Almost as if they exist because you do. Makes the monsters worth the Doctor.

Doctor: Who is he?

[A Dalek beeps]

Dr. Zeuss: What?

Doctor: Who is he?

Dr. Zeuss: The Retterand?

Doctor: Yes, you keep mentioning him almost as if with utmost devotion.

[A Dalek beeps, again]

Dr. Zeuss: He is the one pulling the strings and you dangling by it. He has been a lord to civilizations. He has been a godsend to those lost in space and time. He has been our leader. He has been the benevolent benefactor of the New Shadow Proclamation Agency itself, guiding them through possibilities in time. It's a wonder it took you so long to ask. We've always known him as the Retterand. You on the other hand know him as-

[ZZzzznnnngg! Death-ray from behind!]

Doctor: Nooo! What did you do?

OST-D221: Protocol1.is.now.active.Guard.the.Doctor.from.Protocol1. Disintegration ray has been used.

Doctor: I can see that!

Daniel: What? What does that mean? What is protocol 1?

OST-D223: Protocol1.is.our.primary.function.The.Doctor.must.not.know.the.Retterand.Those.who.break.Protocol1.would.be.exterminated!

Doctor: At last, your usual true self! Extermination at all costs.

OSTD223: We.are.not.true.Daleks.We.are.not.drones.For.sake.of.Osterhagen.systems.we.are.travel.machines.But.we.are.not.prokaryotic.templates.as.they.say.

We.are.Daleks.of.New.Genesis.We.only.serve.the.Retterand.

Doctor: How?

OST-D223: We.have.been.upgraded.by.the.Retterand.We.only.serve.the.will.of.the.Retterand.

Doctor: Why did you have to kill him?

OST-D223: He.woud.not.shut.up.Those.who.break.Protocol1.would.be.exterminated!

Daniel: And you only noticed that he talks NOW!?

Layla: Seriously! Shut up!

[Causing a distraction during their conversation, the Doctor takes a shot at his manacles, freeing his wrists. He sonics and overloads spare batteries to cause a localized explosion and escapes along with the others.

The smoke from the explosion is vented out automatically, in bulk, which gets noticed by the Judoon outside. They charge in to find what has happened. They initially think the Doctor has caused some ruckus, but understands the situation better once the Daleks come out firing.]

DALEKS: Exterminate.them! Exterminate.them!

[While the rest stay hidden, an all-out war commences. A fearsome one! The new Daleks have a peculiar style of fighting, winching their way forward and gliding with small thrusts in turns. But they are a force to be reckoned with. More deadlier and flexible than ever, they overpower the Judoons easily. A few Judoons even drop and land near the Doctor and his group.]

[The Doctor rushes out with his sonic raised and battles it out with the Daleks. Layla and Daniel cower and guard themselves behind a slab of barricade with hooped barbed wires running over them, near the barracks.

The Doctor kneels at half-length and dodges a Dalek-blast. A Judoon blast blows of the top of the Dalek. The Doctor takes up a plunger and gun-stick, forcefully dislocating them with a rough pull. And starts fiddling with his own sonic.]

Doctor: Wave form prism...wave amplifier. Heavy duty function drums. Done. Anechoic chamber...and . Here. We. Go

[He has set part of the broken-down gun-stick to the anechoic chamber of the sonic. He claps it and presses it down a few times. It makes a gradual sound and sets in.

He proceeds and goes on blasting the Daleks, wherever he could lay his eyes at. He goes shooting blast emissions, helter-skelter.

Three Daleks charge at him in slow motion, but one soon gets taken out. The Doctor points his sonic straight at the right incoming Dalek, decisively and unshakably. He blasts another Dalek down.

Both the Judoons and the Daleks are watching what is happening. In a confused, and disorderly haste, some of the enemy forces glide and move out of view. One of the Daleks behind, to the extreme right of this battle scene, fires disintegration shots at the companions. It misses them, but chips away most of the slab and disperses a lot of dust and shrapnel.]

Layla: Doctor!

[The Doctor notices what is happening. He runs and glides to a few feet near them. He points his sonic, straight at the shooting Dalek. While advancing, the Dalek steps on a helical pressure pad and gets launched up. It stabilizes itself and glides along to where the group is. Still shooting at them.

The Doctor hurries them to cover, on the other side of the slab. The Dalek is very near now. A single shot chips away the slab more and almost decimates one of its faces. The Dalek tries to shoot the Doctor but misses by two shots.

The Doctor kneels down on one knee and presses his sonic at extreme close proximity to the Dalek gun-stick. A blast-pattern emission is caught mid-flight. A red and yellow bolt can be seen, driven back and from in the same place in air. The swooshing sound, like the passage of air through a thin space, comes to a rest. And the bolt becomes a bar of yellow and red lines, with a slow and constant reverberation in air. A rebound force of air can be seen, thrusting back into the gun-stick, as if stuck in time.]

Doctor: Enhanced sound energy gun. Made from your shtick. And my sonic.

[The Dalek starts vibrating, in parts, little by little.]

Doctor: You Kaleds have a very generally humorous theme of disintegrating at first go. When you can do so much more.

[The Dalek starts to feel the pain and makes little mutated squeals. Layla and Daniel raise their head and remove their hands from the ears to see what is going. Daniel is on her right, covering her from a slight elevation. Both seated flat on the ground, behind the slab.]

Doctor: I have high output power cells. Right now, the feedback sound is making your whole telemetry excitable, vibrating and phasing. More than it should. More than you should.

[The Dalek can hardly make a sound beyond the occasional squeals.]

Dalek: Doc-tor!

Doctor: Oh, don’t get exhibiting non-programmed sentimentally now, of all moments. Let’s go back few years shall we? Before I was the Storm. The year was 1702. And I was The Magician. Now I was very bad at magic and the caravan probably would have thrown me out. Do you know I earned my corn so successfully though? Cause I was worse at magic than I was good at science. You should know! I had no wands or equipment of my own. But I had a gimmicky – a long-range Mark II sonic field disruptor. And I knew the basic principality of magic, was to excite the molecules to such a level, that they combust. Burst to flames. And soon the Magician was a fan-favorite. Shall we bring back the classics?

[The Dalek is caught in a strong pull of sound energy and is almost sucked in to the edge of the periphery of the concentric waves and energy circle coming from the sonic. The Doctor is basically controlling the motion of the mutant-shell, like levitating it. But instead, he gives it a small thrust backwards. He is about to do it, when his eye catches the glances of Layla and Daniel. A few Judoons are watching nearby]

[Realizing the extent of his dragged-out violence, the Doctor clenches his jaw and looks away after a while. He powers up his sonic briefly. A shrill sound comes off. Instead of prolonging it’s pain, thick green liquid from the prokaryotic template of the mutant seeps out and flows down the side of the casing. Suddenly, with a short bang, the mutant inside goes splot! And the casing breaks apart. Only pieces of the black-coated Dalekanium are left, along with the eye-piece. The eye-piece has a big zigzag crack through it.]

[Thud! A whole wall blasts open. And new Daleks swarm in. Another fight ensues. With a concussive Dalekanium grenade and a few trip-lasers, most Judoons fall. With only a few Juddons left, all hope seems lost. When suddenly they hear a high-frequency whistle. Reinforcements have arrived! A Judooneese Talwak drop-ship lands with a whole platoon of marching armored Judoons. With a drawn-out battle that lasts a little longer than expected, the Judoons take the Daleks 10-to-1. Some Daleks however flee the scene.]

Architect: Doctor. As expected, you are always in the middle of trouble.

Doctor: Not that I am complaining, but the Time Web?

Architect: Yes. Agency policy. SPI has added filters to monitor time possibilities in past or future where even our name gets mentioned. As ashamed I am even to mention this, we have been reviewing what everybody says about us, in order to build a better and likeable version this time around. This person called Zeuss triggered an alarm that came from Timescale somewhere near 4034Delta of year 5 Billion. We saw the whole conversation.

Doctor: Saved by public-pandering and PR moves. Now that's a new one even for me! Usually I get saved by a platoon of Judoon, on the Moon, near the..[stares and stammers] lagoon.

Architect: Whaaaat?

Doctor: Nothing. Well got to go. Got to dash. A lot to digest. Lives to save. Time to explore. I would thank for the help but its partially your mess too. You need some help with the outcast Judoon? They were under my protection. I owe it to them and their Judoonese clan anyways.

Architect: It is alright. We owed it to them to not let go in the first place. Doctor. What are you going to do?

Doctor: About what?

Architect: The Time Web? We are going to close down our chapter of the Time Web. SPI will operate independently, with what knowledge it already has. But from the looks of it, something like Osterhagen Systems Corporation would not just have a single installment. We already have reports of time field fluctuations everywhere.

Doctor: I came back here because I was warned that the I might have answers about the Time Web because it descends from my own heritage. From what is left of it at least. Now I have half a mind not to. I don't know if I could take on the burden of more secrets today.

Architect: For what it's worth we are sorry for your losses Doctor, time and over. And for the little part we played in it today.

Doctor: I'm sorry too, for your losses today.

Architect: You know, before you go you could try the CAL's new wing. The River Song Room of Archaeology and Planetary installments.

Doctor: Archaeology!?

Architect: It has the replicated Tardis Data Core and the Diary of Spoils, kept only for your viewing. It might just have some records.

Later, as the Doctor gazes blankly through the observation deck, he is rejoined by his companions, who discuss the reminiscent surprises and struggles of the day. He tells them why he really came here and that he found nothing in the replicated Tardis Data Core or the remains of the Gallifreyan hard drives throughout the city on Time Webs. By definition he understands what it is and how it has been operating, but not who made it and why. They ask him if their worries are over for now; he thinks it's just getting started....