#I don't know how many other unemployed people there are in america - hundreds of thousands? but 20k more is even worse for everyone

[abbygrabska]

Daleks In Manhattan

We step out of the Tardis.

“Where are we?” Martha asks.

“Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely. Martha, have you met my friend?” We look up to see the Statue of Liberty.

“Is that…? Oh my God! That’s the Statue of Liberty!”

“Gateway to the New World. ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to break free…’”

“That’s so brilliant. I’ve always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new…”

We walk to the edge of the island with a view of the Manhattan skyline. “Well, there’s the genuine article. So good they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. No wonder it didn’t catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam.” “I wonder what year it is, ‘cause look, the Empire State Building’s not even finished.” I point at the building in question.

“Work in progress. Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around…” Martha picks a newspaper out of the trash, “November 1st, 1930.”

I take the paper from her, “You’re getting good at this.”

Martha starts talking again as I read the headline.

“I think our detour just got longer.” I show them.

“‘Hooverville Mystery Deepens’.” Martha reads out loud, “What’s Hooverville?”

We stroll through the park.

“Herbert Hoover, 31st President of the USA, came to power a year ago. Up till then, New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then…” “The Wall Street Crash, yeah? When was that? 1929?” “Yep. The whole economy was wiped out overnight. Thousands of people unemployed. The huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So they ended up here in Central Park.” I tell her.

“What? They actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?”

We quickly arrive at Hooverville.

“Everyone lost their jobs. Couldn’t pay rent, lost everything. There are places like this all over America. You only come to Hoovervile when there’s nowhere else to go.”

There’s shouting from further in. Two men are fighting.

An older black man steps out of his tent and pushes the two men apart, “Cut that out! Right now!”

“He stole my bread!” The first man shouts.

“That’s enough.” The older man looks to the other man.

“I don't know what happened. He just went crazy.”

The first man lunges at the second but is held back.

“That’s enough. Now think real careful before you lie to me.” The second man hesitates, “I’m starvin’ Solomon.” Solomon holds out his hand and the man reaches under his coat, pulling out the bread and handing it over.

“We’re all starvin’.” He breaks the bread in half, “We all got families somewhere.” He hands each man a half, “No stealin’ and no fightin’. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago, I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together! Now matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It’s all we got.”

“Come on.” The Doctor motions for us to follow, “I suppose that makes you the boss around here.”

“And, uh, who might you be?” Solomon asks.

“He’s the Doctor, I’m Abby, and this is Martha.” I introduce.

“A Doctor.” Solomon scoffs, “Well, we got, uh, stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you’re the first doctor. Neighborhood gets classier by the day.” He warms his hands over a fire.

“How many people live here?” Martha asks.

“At any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society, black, white, all the same. All starving.” He laughs, “So you’re welcome. All of you. But tell me, Doctor, you’re a man of learning, right? Explain this to me.” He points to the Empire State Building, “That there’s going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that, and we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?” Solomon throws coffee dregs onto the fire.

“How do you know that men are going missing? They must come and go all the time.” I ask.

Solomon goes into his tent, motioning for us to follow, “Someone takes them. At night. We hear something. Someone calling out for help. By the time we get there, they’re gone. Like they vanish into thin air.”

“And you’re sure someone’s taking them?” The Doctor asks.

“Doctor, when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don’t leave bread uneaten, fire still burning.” “Have you been to the police?” Martha tries.

“Cops have never cared about the homeless.” I shake my head.

A young man sticks his head inside the tent, “Solomon, Mr. Diagoras is here.”

We all walk outside, to where a man with slicked hair is talking to the men of Hooverville.

“I need men. Volunteers. I gotta little work for you and it sure looks like you can use the money.” “Yeah. What’s the money?”

“A dollar a day.”

The men grumble.

“What’s the work?” Solomon asks.

“A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel that collapsed and needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?” “A dollar a day? That’s slave wage you ass. And I’m gonna guess not everyone comes back up, do they?” I scoff. Diagoras doesn’t even look at me, “Accidents happen.” “What do you mean? What sort of accidents?” The Doctor asks.

“You don’t need the work? That’s fine. Anybody else?” Diagoras asks.

The Doctor raises his hand.

“Enough with the questions.” “Oh, no, I’m volunteering.” I raise my hand next.

“I’ll kill you for this.” Martha whispers to the Doctor. Solomon and the young man raise their hands as well.

“Turn left. Go about half a mile. Follow Tunnel 273. Fall’s right ahead of you. You can’t miss it.” “And when do we get our dollar?” Frank ask.

“When you come back up.”

“And if we don’t?” “Then I got no one to pay.” “We’ll be back.”

We start to walk down the tunnel.

Frank looks around, “We just gotta stick together. It’s easy to get lost. It’s like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here.” “So what about you, Frank? You’re not from around these parts, are you?” Martha ask.

“Oh, you could talk.” Frank chuckles, “No, no, I’m from Tennessee, born and bred.” “So how come you’re here?” “Uh, my daddy died. Mama… couldn’t afford to feed us all. So, I’m the oldest, up to me to feed myself, so I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There’s a whole lot of runaways in camp younger than me. From all over; Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas… Solomon keeps a lookout for us. So, what about you? You’re a long way from home.” “Yeah, I’m just a hitcher too.” Martha answers. “You stick with me, you’ll be alright.” He smiles.

“So this Diagoras bloke, who is he then?” The Doctor asks. “A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now it seems like he’s running most of Manhattan.” Solomon tells him.

“How did he manage that, then?” “The rich get richer off the backs of the people they exploit.” I smile at him.

“Whoa!”

There's a blob on the ground giving off a sick green light.

“Is it radioactive or something?” The Doctor sets down his flashlight and crouches beside it.

I cover my nose and mouth, “It’s rank, whatever it is.”

The Doctor slips on his glasses and carefully slips up the slimy blob.

“And you’ve picked it up.” I observe, “I hope you know you’re not holding my hand until you’re thoroughly sanitized.”

He sniffs it, “Shine your torch through it.” I do.

“Composite organic matter. Martha? Medical opinion?” Martha looks at it, “It’s not human. I know that.” “No, it’s not. And I’ll tell you something else. We must be at least half a mile in and I don’t see any sign of a collapse, do you? So why did Mr. Diagoras send us down here?”

“So where are we now? What’s above us?” Martha’s gaze flickers up.

“Well… we’re right under Manhattan.” “We’re way beyond half a mile. There’s no collapse, nothing.” Solomon points out.

“That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?” “No shit.” I say.

“So why did he want people to come down here?” Frank asks.

“Solomon, I think it’s time you took these three back. I’ll be much quicker on my own.” We hear squealing echo in the tunnels.

“What the hell was that?” “Hello?!” Frank shouts, only for me and Martha to shush him.

“Frank.” Solomon chastises.

“What if it’s one of the folk gone missing? You’d be scared, half-mad down here on your own.” “Do you think they’re still alive?” I ask.

“Heck, we ain’t seen no bodies. Maybe they just got lost.” Frank points out.

We hear more squealing.

“I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that.” The Doctor walks a little ahead of us.

“Sounds like there’s more than one of ‘em.” “This way.”

Solomon looks down a different tunnel, shining his light down it, “No, that way.” The light of Solomon’s flashlight catches a huddled figure on the ground.

I look back at the Doctor, “Doctor…”

He rejoins us. “Who are you?” Solomon asks.

“Are you lost? Can you understand me? I’ve been thinkin’ about folk lost…” Frank starts to walk forward, but the Doctor stops him.

“It’s all right, Frank. Just stay back. Let me have a look.” He walks towards the figure, “He’s got a point, though, my mate Frank. I’d hate to be stuck down here on my own.” The creature squeals. “We know the way out. Daylight. If you want to come with us.” He squats and shines a light on the creature's face, “Oh, but what are you?”

Solomon looks on in confusion, “Is, uh, that some kind of carnival mask?”

“No, it’s real.” The Doctor answers before speaking to the pig man, “I’m sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Now who did this to you?”

I look and more pig men have filled the opposite end of the tunnel, “Doctor!”

The Doctor backs up towards us.

“They’re following you.” Martha observes.

“Yeah, I noticed that, thanks.” He reaches us, “Well then everyone… run!” We race down the tunnel to a cross-section where Marth stops in confusion, “Where are we going?!”

“This way!” The Doctor turns right, stopping at the mouth of a joining tunnel, “There’s a ladder!”

The Doctor climbs up the ladder and uses his sonic on the lid.

Martha and I follow up.

Solomon climbs the ladder, shouting to Frank.

Something must have happened because Solomon shoves the Doctor aside and closes the lid, “We can’t go after him.”

“We gotta go back down! We can’t just leave him!” The Doctor argues.

“No, I’m not losing anybody else! Those creatures were from Hell! From Hell itself! If we go after them, they’ll take us all! There’s nothing we can do. I’m sorry.” A blonde woman steps out from behind a shelf, a gun pointed at us, “All right then. Put ‘em up.”

Martha and I put our hands up. The woman cocks the gun, “Hands in the air and no funny business.”

The Doctor and Solomon do. “Now, tell me, you schmucks, what’ve you done with Laszlo?”

“Uh, who’s Laszlo?” I ask.

“Laszlo’s my boyfriend, or was my boyfriend until two weeks ago. No letter, no good-bye, no nothin’. And I’m not stupid.” She waves the gun around as she talks, “I know some guys are just pigs but not my Laszlo. I mean, what kinda guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?”

“It might, might just help if you put that down.” The Doctor suggests.

“Hunh?” She realizes she’s still holding the gun, “Oh, sure.” She tosses it to a chair, “Oh, c’mon. It’s not real. It’s just a prop. It was either that or a spear.” “What do you think happened to him?” Martha asks,

“I wish I knew. One minute he’s there, the next, zip, vanished.” “Listen, ah, what’s your name?” “Tallulah.” She answers.

“Right, um, we can try and find Laszlo, but he’s not the only one. People are disappearing every night.” The Doctor tells her.

“And there are creatures. Such creatures.” “Whaddaya mean ‘creatures’?”

“Look. Listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is,” He removes the blob from his pocket, much to my disgust, “because then I’ll know exactly what we’re fighting.”

Tallulah leans back, “Yech!”

Tallulah is in costume, putting on her makeup for her performance.

Martha and I sit, watching.

“Laszlo… He’d wait for me after the show, walk me home like I was a lady. He’d leave a flower for me on my dressing table. Every day just a single rose.”

I stand and walk over beside her, “Haven’t you reported him missing?”

“Sure. he’s just a stagehand. Who cares? The management certainly doesn’t.” “Can’t you kick up a fuss or something?”

I shake my head at Martha’s words, “You’re forgetting what year it is.” “It’s the Depression, sweetie. Your heart might break, but the show goes on and if it stops, you starve. Every night, I have to go out there, sing, dance, keep goin’. Hoping he’s gonna come back.” She breaks down.

I hug her, “I’m sorry.” Tallulah pulls away from the hug and wipes her eyes, “Hey, you’re lucky, though. You got yourself a forward-thinking guy with that hot potato in the sharp suit. Still, ya gotta live in hope. It’s the only thing that’s kept me going ‘cause…” She lifts a white rose from the dressing table, “Look, on my dressing table, every single day.” “You think it’s him?” “I don’t know. If he’s still around, why’s he bein’ all secret like he doesn’t want me to see him?”

Martha and I stand in the wings watching the show.

I see a pigman who looks different from the others standing in the opposite wings, just watching. I turn to Martha, “Go get the Doctor.”

She nods, a little confused before walking off.

I cut across the stage, hiding between the showgirls.

Tallulah shouts at me, “Get off the stage! You’re spoiling it!” “But look.” I point off-stage at the man, “Over there!”

The pig man realizes he’s been spotted. Tallulah screams and he runs off.

I run after him, “Wait!” I follow him through the halls, ending up back in the prop room.

He’s gone.

Someone grabs me from behind and I scream.

I end up in the tunnels again.

Two pig men push me against a wall, “Let go of me!”

More pig men come by with humans in a line, one of which is Frank.

“Abby.” I hug him, “You’re alive! I thought we’d lost you.” A pigman pushes us to keep moving, “All right! We’re moving.” “Wait. Where are they taking us?” Frank asks.

“To their leader of course.”

“What are they keeping us here for?”

“Not sure yet.” I whisper.

The pig men guarding us start squealing nervously.

“What’re they doing? What’s wrong? What’s wrong?”

A Dalek glides into the tunnel.

I get very tense.

“You will form a line. Move.”

The pigmen push everyone.

“Just do what it says, everyone, okay? Just obey.” I tell them.

“The female is wise. Obey!”

A second Dalek arrives, “Report.” “They are strong specimens. They will help the Dalek cause. What is the status of the Final Experiment?” “The Dalekanium is in place. The energy conductor is now complete.”

“Then I will extract prisoners for selection.”

A pigman brings an older black man forward. 

The Dalek extends his sucker towards the man’s face, “Intelligence Scan. Initiate. Reading brain waves. Low intelligence.” Two pigmen pull him away.

They go down the line until they get to Frank, “Superior intelligence.” It turns to me, “Intelligence scan. Initiate. Superior intelligence. This one will become part of the final experiment. Prisoners of high intelligence will be taken to the transgenic laboratory.”

The Doctor and Martha fall in like between me and Frank, while the pig man I saw acts like one of the guards.

“Just keep walking.”

“Glad to see you again.” I glance at the pig man, “Laszlo, I assume.”

We are brought into some sort of lab.

“Report.” “Dalek Sec is ready for the final stage of evolution.” “Scan him. Prepare for birth.”

“Evolution?” The Doctor wonders quietly, before turning to Martha, “Ask them what’s going on.” She looks at him, “Me? Don’t be daft.” “They’ll recognize us.” He motions between himself and me.

She takes a deep breath, “Daleks, I demand to be told. What is this Final Experiment?”

“You will bear witness.” “To what?” “This is the dawn of the new age.” “Waht does that mean?” “We are the only four Daleks, so the species must evolve a life outside the shell. The Children of Skaro will walk again.”

Dalek Sec’s shell powers down and the casing opens to reveal a human-dalek hybrid. The clothing is unmistakably that of Diagoras. The head is similar to a Dalek body with a mouth, one eye, and tentacles. The hands are almost claw-like.

“What is it?” Martha asks.

Dalek Sec speaks slowly, “I am a human Dalek. I am your future.”