To my surprise, the Warrior seemed unperturbed by the Omni-Voyant's suggestion of double genocide. In fact, he even welcomed it.
"The atrocities committed by both sides of the War... There is little difference between my people and the Daleks anymore. Each doing anything for the sake of victory, without consideration for the collateral damage."
"Then, you see things from our perspective, Doctor? You see what must be done, why we must embark on this sordid mission?"
"No! You can't, Doctor!" I yelled. How could he even contemplate such an action. Double genocide?! Maybe this man was further removed from the Doctor than I had thought.
"Do not call me that!"
"Doctor! Warrior! Whatever, it doesn't matter. You cannot do this, please! It's genocide!" I was begging him to reconsider. "If you wipe out your people, you will never have existed either!"
"Would that be such a great loss?" he said softly. I realized then, he had a death wish! This man hated himself so much, so full of regret and pain, that he was searching for a cause he could die for. He was so twisted by the War that he didn't care about survival, he wanted only to end the fighting. By any possible means. There was no way I could convince him otherwise.
While I stood, stunned and staring, the Warrior continued to converse with the Omni-Voyant.
"Shall we pay a visit to your control centre then? I'd like to inspect your paradox engine for myself. Not that I don't trust you of course, but temporal engineering can be so fiddly, you know?"
"Certainly Time Lord. Follow me."
We travelled through a maze of white corridors, each one indistinguishable from the previous and littered with identical offshoots. I knew that there was no way I'd find my way back to the TARDIS alone. I hoped that the Warrior remembered, assuming he didn't erase his own existence in the meantime. Was I just to be collateral damage for him, in the end? We travelled for what felt like miles, and as I remembered the sheer scale of the craft, we probably had. After a while the Warrior slowed his pace minutely, hanging back from our guide to whisper to me.
"I appreciate your concern, but I'm appalled by your lack of faith."
"You have a plan then. I mean, one that doesn't involve temporal genocide?"
"Something tells me we're not getting the full story, but I have a sneaking suspicion about what's really going on. Follow my lead, OK?"
With that, he caught up with the Omni-Voyant, and started to walk ahead of it.
"Please follow me. It is easy to get lost in these corridors." It spoke, it's voice just a little to harsh. Could it be making a threat?
"I just fancy stretching my legs, it's fine." responded the Warrior. "I'm used to walking at a faster pace. Hmm, this way, I think." He announced, turning right.
"No!" It exclaimed, expressing a marked increase in emotion. "The shortest path is this way."
"If you have nothing to hide, then what's the issue with a little detour?"
"It is.... That path leads only to our nourishment halls. It is irrelevant." It sounded nervous now.
"Excellent! Sounds educational! What do you say, Arven? Fancy sampling an Omni-Voyant canteen?"
By now I had twigged his plan, so I agreed with some vigour. Our guide sighed as it realised it had no choice. We all followed the Warrior's lead. Shortly after, we entered a wide open room. The blinding whiteness of the decor was broken by glowing patterns spread across the walls, blinking rhythmically.
"Oh, very good!" Announced the Warrior, as he flung open the doors. "Nice try, a real cutting edge effort, but really... Did you expect a perception filter to fool me? Telltale haze in the corner of the eye. Not to mention, I'm more than familiar with the layout of your corridors. I've been here often enough."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Why tell when I can show?" The Warrior drew his sonic screwdriver and activated it. With a low buzzing, it interfered with the perception filter. With a shimmer, I saw the room for what it really was. The walls were curved, and covered in a kind of bronze honeycomb pattern. Control terminals and interfaces were scatted around the room, each with large spherical controls as opposed to buttons and switches. The room was in fact full of aliens who had been previously hidden. Aliens which inhabited metal travel machines. Aliens bred for war. We were in a Dalek command ship.
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