Chapter 10
Marissa walked up to the receptionist.
Okay, just, you thought this out, just stay calm.
"Hi, I'm Marissa Cooper. I'm the head of the social chair at Harbor High."
The receptionist nodded cheerfully.
"And, well, we have a dance coming up, and I was wondering if maybe International Electromatics has any, umm, neat stuff we could use. It would be great publicity!" she beamed.
The receptionist smiled.
"Why, that sounds lovely. Just leave your number, I'm sure management will get back to you" she replied in an artificial sugary voice perfected by the citizens of Newport.
"Uh, the dance is coming up soon. Is there any chance I could meet with someone now…?"
The receptionist shook her head.
"I'm sorry, we're very busy at the moment, setting everything up."
"Oh. Well, thanks anyway."
Marissa sighed when she left the building. Nancy Drew she wasn't.
"Good initiative" she heard.
She turned to see the Doctor, standing near an opened door marked 'Employees only.'
"However, I find the direct approach works more."
- -
Once again, Luke Ward looked around the restaurant to make sure there was no one he knew.
"Jesus, Luke, relax" said Julie. "Trust me, no one we know goes here. Too cheap."
Luke nodded. He knew he should relax; Julie Cooper was the ultimate Newpsie, and she knew how this town worked. Still…
"I'm sorry. I'm just nervous-"
"Listen, Luke, I know, you probably think this is wrong, but you know what? That is just another example of the Double Standard."
"Huh?"
"Think about it. How many times do you see young women with some man who by all rights should have died years ago? And no one was bothered when I dated Caleb Nichol. But when a woman wants some new meat, oh, how dare she!?"
Luke nodded. He guessed that made sense.
"Well, it's less Newport I'm concerned about, and more Marissa. She's been through a lot, and I don't think she would take our…relationship well."
Julie rolled her eyes.
"Oh, so I have no say about who my daughter dates, but she gets veto power over me" she grumbled.
"You should lay off Ryan" said Luke. "He's a good guy."
"Oh, a lesson in being nice to Ryan from the guy who beat him up his first night in Newport."
"Yeah, and he still helped me when my dad was outed."
Julie mumbled something and looked around. She noticed two men walking in a robotic matter.
"Get a look of those two" she gestured.
Luke turned to see the two men, who were wearing earmuffs for some reason.
"What the hell is with those two? We just had a heat wave!"
The two men paid no attention to the gossiping couple. Their heads were filled were signals and instructions. The Doctor's companion, Ace McShane, had been sighted nearby. They were to capture her; the Doctor would be forced to give himself up.
She was in the company of three humans: a blonde male, a male brunette, and a female brunette. They were not to leave witnesses: they would be killed.
- -
Marissa kept looking around as she followed the Doctor.
"Don't worry, I have much experience going through corridors" the Doctor assured her.
Still, Marissa was nervous. She decided to ask the Doctor a question, to distract her.
"So these…Cybermen, what are they?"
The Doctor stood thoughtfully for a moment.
"There is a cosmic phenomenon, called Twin Planets. Don't feel bad about never hearing of it, your race hasn't discovered it yet. Essentially, it's when two planets, formed at the same time, develop in almost exactly the same way. Identical shape, identical landmass, even identical species.
"Earth is, well, was a twin planet."
Marissa was astonished.
"So, Earth had a twin?"
The Doctor nodded affirmatively.
"Yes, and just like Earth, it came to be ruled by a race of hairless apes with the fortune to develop a large brain and thumbs. They would name their planet Mondas.
"However, they developed much faster than their counterparts on Earth. While your race was still learning how to control fire, they were building pyramids and coliseums. While humans were just starting to form communities, the Mondasians were in the midst of an industrial revolution. At their height, their technological capability was roughly comparable with yours now."
"So…" began Marissa. "What happened to them?"
"Mondas suffered some sort of celestial cataclysm. As a result, it was dislodged from its orbit around the sun, and drifted into space, becoming a rogue planet."
"What?" Marissa interrupted. "I'm not a science nerd, but even I know that doesn't make any sense!"
The Doctor was annoyed at the interruption.
In order to survive, the Mondasians were forced to go underground."
The Doctor then paused.
"The Mondasians started to augment themselves with mechanical parts. It started innocently enough, synthetic limbs to replace lost ones, a mechanical heart when the original breaks down. Eventually, however, a scientist, Doctorman Allen, found a way to fully merge flesh and machine. The result was the Cybermen."
He motioned her to an elevator, and they entered it. As they went down, the Doctor continued.
"They had the strength of ten men. They could live for hundreds of years, and could survive the vacuum of space. And all they had to give up were their emotions."
"Why?" asked Marissa.
"Well, if you were to ask them, they would tell you that emotions are a weakness, something that clouds the mind. But that wasn't the reason, at least not at first."
"What was the reason?"
The Doctor looked at her.
"Think about it, if you were to become a Cyberman…your body would be changed completely. It would no longer feel like your body; it would be covered in metal. You would have a voice, you would no longer sound like yourself. In short, you would lose your identity, no one would recognize you as Marissa Cooper anymore, not even yourself. Think about it, you could look in a mirror and not instantly know where you were!
"The Cybermen rid themselves of emotion, Marissa, because otherwise they would go mad."
"But why do they want to take over Earth?"
"The Cybermen have a fear of going extinct. As such, they have conquered worlds and converted populations to fill their ranks. The Cyber Empire reached its height in the 26th century, when it was opposed by an intergalactic alliance, lead by the Earth Empire."
"Wait, you mean they-"
"Yes, these Cybermen are time travelers, as am I. They hope to conquer your planet now, and prevent it from becoming a threat to them in the future" the Doctor stated matter-of-factly. The elevator stopped.
"Ah, this is our floor."
Marissa gasped at what she saw. It was full of cryogenic chambers, hundreds of them. And in each one of them lay a Cyberman.
She then noticed the Doctor's distress.
"Oh, dear."
"What's wrong?" she asked, trembling.
"They're much further along on their plans than I thought. Come, we have to get out of here."
Then, they heard the tubes start to open.
"You are the Doctor. You will be brought to the Cyber-Leader!"
"Resistance is useless!"
"You will become like us!"