Legacy of the Daleks by John Peel

England in the late 22nd century is slowly recovering from the devastation that followed the Dalek invasion. The Doctor’s very first travelling companion – his granddaughter, Susan – is where he left her, helping to rebuild Earth for the survivors. But danger still remains all around…

While searching for his lost companion, Sam, the Doctor finds himself in Domain London. But it seems that Susan is now missing too, and his efforts to find her lead to confrontation with the ambitious Lord Haldoran, who is poised to take control of southern England through all‐out war. With the help of a sinister advisor, Haldoran’s plans are already well advanced. Power cables have been led down a mineshaft, reactivating a mysterious old device of hideous power. But has the Dalek presence on Earth really been wiped out? Or are there still traps set for the unwary?

The Doctor learns to his cost once again that when dealing with the evil of the Daleks, nothing can be taken at face value…

This is another in the series of adventures featuring the Eighth Doctor.

1: Knight’s Gambit

2: The Campbells

3: Eminent Domain

4: The Pit

5: Domain London

6: Death in the Line of Duty

7: Secrets

8: Transformations

9: Journeys End In…

10: The Trap

11: Death – and Worse

12: Countdown to World’s End

13: Zero Hour

14: The Gates of Hell

15: Happy Endings?

First Epilogue

Second Epilogue

Author’s Note

For Kate Nation,

and for Joel and Becky

1

Knight’s Gambit

Becca had wandered further from home than she had intended. The woods were dark and threatening about her, thick twisted trees hiding who‐knew‐what. Some of the village men had killed and skinned a lion in the woods only a month or so ago, and she knew there could well be more waiting for her in the gloom.

But Becca was eight now, and she had confidence in her own abilities. She had her bow, and a quiver almost half filled with arrows, and she knew how to use them. A full‐grown lion might not take much notice, but she could certainly scare off anything smaller.

Besides, she had to find out where Serenity’s kittens were. They were even less safe out here in the woods than Becca was. The half‐wild cat had been visiting the farm more and more often during her pregnancy, looking for whatever handout she could get. But Becca had only noticed the feral cat a couple of times in the last fortnight. From her shape, Becca could tell Serenity had given birth, and today she had followed her. Serenity rarely lived up to her name, but it had been the biggest and best word Becca had known when the cat had first come around, and somehow it had stuck.

Serenity herself refused to stay on the farm, even though she would have been very handy. The rats had bred strongly again this year, and were constantly after the grain. One or two cats about the place would keep them down, but with the price of cats on the market these days, Becca’s father simply couldn’t afford one.

So it was up to her. If she could find Serenity’s litter, she could take one or two of them, and raise them. They would then stay on the farm, unlike Serenity, and make it their home. They’d keep the rats down, and Becca would be a heroine. How proud her parents would be of her!

Which wouldn’t stop them from killing her if they found out how far she’d gone into the woods, of course. Becca couldn’t plead ignorance, because staying clear of the woods had been one of the earliest lessons drilled into her. Her father had told her, as he puffed on his pipe half filled with the rare tobacco, ‘Them woods have never been the same since the Daleks, young girl. When I were a lad, you could play in there with nary a worry. But since the Daleks…’ He had shaken his head. ‘Stay clear of them woods.’

Since that first cryptic warning, he’d unbent enough to explain a little more. ‘When the Daleks invaded,’ he informed her, ‘they killed off most of the people here on Earth. Almost everyone I grew up with were dead. They seeded a plague from space that ruined the world. Corpses piled up faster’n we could bury them. I lost my best friends and my first girlfriend that way. But, looking back, them might have been the lucky ones. After the plagues were over, the backbone of the country were broken. Nothing worked like it used to; there weren’t enough people to keep more than the barest necessities going. And then they came – the Daleks.’

He’d sunk back into his memories now, and Becca had listened, spellbound. He didn’t like talking about those evil days much, and Mum never spoke of her experiences. ‘I were five then, younger than you. Me mum had died – not of disease, but because food were short, and she’d tried to scavenge some. A looter killed her for what she’d found. So me dad and me tried to get along. That was when the saucers came.’ She remembered the darkness in his eyes. ‘You young ’uns have never seen a Dalek, and I pray you never do. Metal, they are, as tall as my shoulder. There’s a living thing inside them, but you’d hardly know it from the way they acts. Hate‐filled, they are, cold and evil. They put everyone they could to work in their camps. Some they made into living robots, controlling them by helmets. We called them Robomen, because they were more like robots than men. They did whatever the Daleks told them, because their souls were gone.

‘The Daleks were up to something here in England, but it were as bad all over the world. We didn’t really know it at the time, because almost everything had been destroyed. A few had radios, and heard broadcasts, but Daleks destroyed every radio they found and killed anyone using them. They didn’t want humans to get together and fight them. But we did… oh yes, we did. A lot of us died, but so did the Daleks.’

Becca nodded solemnly. She’d been warned any number of times that when she was bad ‘the Daleks will come and get you’. Even though she knew they were real, it was so easy to put them in the same class of creatures as dragons and fairies. Fine for children’s stories, but not the sort of thing you believe in when you’re eight years old. ‘But if they’re all dead,’ she asked, ‘where’s the harm in the woods?’

‘They left a lot of stuff behind them,’ her dad explained. ‘They brought… things with them. And some of them got loose.

‘And then there’s the worst stuff,’ he added, brooding. ‘The Artefacts.’

‘Artefacts?’ Becca asked. She’d never heard that word before. ‘What’s an artefact?’

‘The Daleks tore up the countryside. They built all sorts of strange things that we still don’t understand. There’s nowt as dangerous in all this world as the Dalek Artefacts. So you must stay out of the woods at all times, Becca. The Daleks have caused the death of too many that I love.’

And now, here she was, ignoring his explicit commands. But they really needed those kittens. Without them, there might not be enough food for the approaching winter. Her parents would understand – surely they’d be pleased with her?

Serenity had been cautious as she headed through the trees, but she didn’t seem to be too bothered by Becca’s presence. Half‐wild she might be, but Serenity liked her. Becca didn’t think for a second that Serenity didn’t know she was being followed. The cat was too canny for that. So she wasn’t objecting today, which made Becca feel better.

Just ahead was an old house. It had mostly fallen apart owing to weather, time and neglect. There were so many places like this, all over. The village had more than a hundred houses that had been abandoned. There weren’t enough people yet to fill more than a few dozen homes. Becca was used to seeing these shells, and Serenity headed straight for this one. It would be the perfect place for her to hide her litter. With mounting excitement, Becca moved through the overgrown garden, and clambered into the house through the same broken window the cat had used.