Free Doctor Who: Prisoner of the Daleks by Trevor Baxendale Page A

up.'
     
Cuttin' Edge powered up his laser and stepped forward.
     
'Wait!' cried the Doctor. 'Just one more thing. Don't forget that machine is also a life-support system. Open it up and you'll kill the creature inside.'
     
Bowman shrugged. 'Like I'm worried.'
     
'It's murder.'
     
All eyes turned on the Doctor, and he knew exactly what they were all thinking. Bowman said it out aloud: 'What about Stella? What do you call that?'
     
'You some kinda Dalek sympathiser now?' asked Cuttin' Edge bitterly.
     
'No. It's just...' The Doctor took a deep breath. 'It's just not right. I won't be a part of it.'
     
Bowman's lip curled as if his every worst opinion of the Doctor had been confirmed. He turned back to the others. 'Let's get on with it.'
     
Cuttin' Edge moved in with the laser, but Koral stepped forward and blocked his way. Puzzled, he switched off the laser, and the Doctor felt a surge of hope.
     
But Koral simply said, 'I wish to do this. For Stella.'
     
'It's OK,' said Bowman. 'Let her.'
     
Metallic claws sprang out of Koral's fingertips. They glinted, razor-sharp in the electric light. She stepped up to the Dalek and, turning her hand flat like the blade of a knife, pointed her fingertips at the centre of the shoulder section. It was here that the two halves of the weapons platform met, and, below this now that the Dalek was suspended upside down, the sections of the neck. There was an almost invisible join, less than a hair's breadth. Koral's red eyes narrowed as she concentrated and then, with explosive force, jabbed her fingers into the Dalek. The claws penetrated the metal with a flash of angry sparks.
     
There was no response. The Doctor was both appalled and fascinated. He realised that the claws must be diamond-hard and incredibly sharp, but even so – that kind of effort required immense mental focus and physical power.
     
Koral inserted her claws in the gap she had made and then suddenly, apparently with little effort, began to pull the two sections apart. At first the metal protested with a hideous grinding noise, but then, with a loud hiss of escaping gas, hydraulic motors opened the Dalek from within. Segments of armour split away, shifting on concealed hinges and slides.
     
Now the creature inside was visible. Something pale and wet moved like a slug among the exposed machinery, recoiling from the light.
     
'Get it out,' ordered Bowman.
     
Scrum and Cuttin' Edge picked up a pair of long metal staves, like boathooks, and approached the Dalek.
     
'Don't do this,' the Doctor urged them.
     
But they ignored him. Cuttin' Edge, grimacing in distaste, prodded the mutant creature a couple of times. The creature shrank back in its housing, but there was no escape. Scrum, his hands shaking, crouched low and inserted the end of his stave as well, trying to gain some kind of leverage.
     
And then, gradually, the creature began to emerge as they gouged it free like an oyster from its shell. It was accompanied by a foul stench, a smell of pure wrongness , of something rotten sealed away for too long.
     
Instinctively, both Scrum and Cuttin' Edge backed away. Whether this was due to fear, or a strange kind of respect for their captive, it was impossible to tell. Cuttin' Edge dropped the stave and drew his blaster, a look of utter revulsion on his dark, sweating features.
     
Koral watched carefully, cautiously, ready to strike at a moment's notice. Bowman simply stood, arms folded, his face impassive.
     
The Dalek oozed slowly out of its cradle, leaving a thick film of mucus behind. There was a long, obscene sucking noise and then, all in a rush, the rest of the creature emerged. It plopped out in a tangle of slippery tentacles, some over a metre in length. It didn't fall onto the floor. Something caught inside the machine and the Dalek hung there, dripping slime, swaying from side to side. One of the tentacles reached down to the floor and rested there, unmoving.
     
'Is it dead?' Bowman asked.
     
'Damn