Chapter 10

The Doctor and Caelix were led down winding hallways, taking all sorts of turns at forks, going up and down stairs. Caelix tried to figure out where they were going, but he lost track at some point. He'd just have to relly on the Force to help him when they made an escape. At least he hoped they would be escaping. The Doctor seemed confident, but so far the odds didn't look good.

Finally they stopped in a large room lit with blue lighting. Up ahead there was a silver chair that vaguely resembled a throne. On it sat another cyberman, slightly bigger than the others with black portions on his head, instead of all silver. It was the only distinction between it and the others.

The cyberman turned towards them as they came in. It stood.

"Doctor."

"That's me," the Doctor said simply.

"Kill him," the cyberman leader ordered.

"What?" Caelix questioned.

He wasn't the only one. The Doctor had a few things to say about it. "Wait what? You're telling you don't need me for anything? You usually do."

"You have your uses," the cyberman admitted. "But keeping you alive has always been a mistake. You have proved this on many occupations through time and space." Caelix made a confused face, trying to figure out why the cyberman chose that wording. It seemed odd. He didn't have much time to think about that though, before the cyberman turned to him. "As for the Jedi, they will not be upgraded. They must be deleted."

"And that's why you can't kill me," Caelix said, struck be a sudden idea.

The Doctor turned to him. He was a little confused, not knowing Caelix's plan, but also worried. It was already familiar from what other companions had done.

"You are a Jedi, you must be deleted," the cyberman told him.

"But there are a lot of Jedi in the galaxy, and not just the ones in the captial," Caelix explained, hiding the nervous feeling he was getting. This was a big risk, but he had to try something or they'd both die right then and there. "They're spread throughout the galaxy, and if you know anything about Jedi you'll know you need one to find the others."

He crossed his arms, pleased with himself. Of course as an apprentice he wasn't the ideal choice, but he was hoping the cybermen didn't know that, or did know he was better than no Jedi at all.

The cyberman leader stared at him, without any facial expressions or any emotions to sense it was impossible to know what was going on inside its head.

It turned to the other cybermen. "Just the Doctor."

"No, if you kill the Doctor I won't help you," Caelix instantly countered.

"There are other Jedi," the cyberman pointed out.

"At the rate you're going there won't be any other alive."

Caelix felt his lips twitching into a smirk at the same time he felt his stomach drop, hoping that wasn't true. He also hoped no one would point out Carrie still lying in the hall.

"Besides," the Doctor added. "It's not exactly like you can expect Caelix here to use your technology. Completely different galaxy."

"Very well." The leader of the cybermen turned to the group that ascorted them in. "The Jedi is to locate the other Jedi, take the Doctor with him."

The cybermen nodded and led Caelix and the Doctor out of the room. Caelix looked up at the Doctor, despite his own height the Doctor was still taller. The Doctor turned to him. 'You shouldn't have done that', his look said.

Caelix tried to contact with him mentally then. He wasn't sure how well it worked, but considering the Doctor's mental powers Caelix figured even if he didn't get the words across he'd get the general message.

You better think of a way out of this, Caelix thought. Because I'm not locating anyone for the cybermen.