Everyone stared at the Doctor.
"The Cybermen were driven to extinction," he said to himself, his voice hollow and his eyes wandering away into the distance. "But then, from out of nowhere, they were back. Now we know why, don't we? Now we know. I never saw this coming, though..."
He spun around once more and advanced on the Cyberman, his fury spurring him on and his eyes flashing dangerously; and, incredibly, the creature took a step back in the face of his rage.
"You stripped my TARDIS for parts?" he said, furiously. "How dare you!"
"It was necessary."
"To send a distress call across time?" he said, still bristling with anger.
"Yes."
"But how? How? Even with the artron energy converters and the tremendous power this ship was generating, you couldn't possibly have opened a breach in the time vortex. You'd never manage it without a focal point to determine the...the..." He wound down, his eyes widening, then slapped a hand to his cheek as understanding struck home. "Oh, I've been a complete idiot. You used the Cybermat, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"So this was my fault."
There was no reply, which was probably for the best. The sudden, ringing silence was eventually broken by Prentice, who raised a hand to forestall any further outburst from the Doctor, who looked as if he were on the verge of apoplexy.
"Does it really matter?" said the captain, surprisingly calmly given the circumstances. "Listen, right now I couldn't care less when or where they've come from. We still have to find a way to deal with them, don't we?" He glanced around at the others and lowered his voice a notch. "Well then, let's get on with it," he added.
Their whispered conference was interrupted by the Controller, who approached the Doctor and held out the circuits.
"You will repair your craft," it said.
The Doctor looked startled for a second, but reached out and retrieved the components, dismantled them swiftly and efficiently and then slipped them into his pocket. And then he looked up into the creature's black, soulless eye-sockets, his expression tinted with quiet determination.
"You won't get away with this, you know," he said.
The Controller raised an arm and pointed toward the rear of the hold as its subordinates spread out, surrounding the humans. The Doctor's mouth twitched, but he said no more, and merely beckoned to Prentice before walking away. The Cybermen followed close behind, shoving the rest of their prisoners along.
Only once the captain had reached his side did the Doctor speak again, this time in a silken murmur.
"What do you have in mind?" he asked.
"There's a loading hatch at the back of the hold," said Prentice. "If I can slip away from them I'll set it to open on a thirty second delay. Do you think you can distract them long enough?"
"Possibly," said the Doctor, looking deeply concerned. "But what about the others?"
"Get them into the TARDIS and bar the doors."
"It's very risky," the Doctor muttered.
"I know it is, and if I had any better ideas, believe me, I'd say so. But no matter what happens to us," the captain went on, earnestly, "we can't let the Cybermen take your ship. It would be the end of everything."
"Yes. You're right," the Doctor admitted, his shoulders sagging.
They came at last to the wide clearing space at the far end of the hold, where the TARDIS stood, its frosted windows casting a soft and subtle glow to all four sides in the relative gloom of its surroundings. The Doctor stopped in his tracks and stared at it, his expression settling at last. And then, to everyone's bewilderment, he reached into his inside pocket and pulled out his recorder.
"I do hope you don't mind," he said, turning to address the Controller with a reticent smile. "Only it is rather traditional to play a hornpipe before boarding."
"You will not – " it began, but the Doctor had already put the instrument to his lips and was playing a lively little tune, the mellifluous notes echoing around the open space.
Humans and Cybermen alike watched this performance in increasing bemusement. Argus felt a tingle in her mind, and she realised after a second or two that the chip was still receiving data from the collective, registering their unaccustomed confusion and transmitting it to her. She was determined not to waste the opportunity, and she homed in on this feeling, amplifying it as best she could and then feeding it back into the network. She didn't know exactly why the Doctor was playing the fool, but while he was, she intended to make the most of it.
Meanwhile, Prentice had been drifting slowly out of the circle. He glanced around, found himself out of the Cybermen's line of sight at last and then ducked behind a stack of boxes, which provided some cover. These shielded him from view as he hurried along the starboard side, close to the hull of the ship, and finally – here he let out a soundless sigh of relief – emerged next to the access panel for the loading hatch doors.
Lifting the cover, he keyed in the override code and then activated the timer, glancing over his shoulder nervously. He could still hear the merry strains of the Doctor's recorder, and assumed that the distraction was still working perfectly. Then, as the door lock flashed to red and started to count down, he sprinted back along the aisle and burst back into the gathering at full speed, seizing the Doctor's arm and motioning to the others to head for the TARDIS.
They needed no further prompting. Jamie grabbed Victoria's hand and pulled her along, and Argus brought up the rear. Reflex had her reaching for her pistol as the Cybermen lumbered in hot pursuit, but as her hand dropped to her holster and found nothing but empty air, she remembered that it had been confiscated; and in that second, the Controller gained on her and raised its hand.
Then Prentice was at her side once more. He drew his weapon and fired without the slightest hesitation, and the laser blast struck the creature in the shoulder, sending it staggering back into the others. Without waiting to see if he'd inflicted a mortal wound, he fired again and again, and the hold was filled with flashing light and the painful crackle and snap of electricity.
"Get to the TARDIS," he shouted above the din. "I'll hold them off!"
"I'm not leaving you!" she yelled back.
"I'll be right behind you. Now go!"
Reluctantly she obeyed, and caught up with the Doctor and his companions at the open doors of the TARDIS. Jamie reached out and hauled her inside, and then turned back as Prentice holstered his pistol once more and raced for the doors himself. He crossed the threshold just a few steps ahead of the Controller, and then he and Jamie turned and heaved at the doors with all their might, shoving them closed and leaning on them as the creature started to beat its fists against the old police box.
"Can ye no' get the doors locked?" Jamie panted, redoubling his strength. The Cyberman was immensely, nightmarishly powerful, and his feet slid across the floor as the doors groaned and then opened an inch or two under that furious assault. Growling with effort, Jamie managed to close the gap once more, but he had precious little fight left in him now, and it could only be a matter of seconds before the creature was upon them.
The Doctor was at the console, and had finally managed to reconnect the door lever despite the fact that his hands were shaking from an overload of nervous energy. He threw it at once, and then waved at Jamie and the captain.
"It's all right," he said, exhaling loudly and painfully, looking fit to collapse as he leaned heavily on the console. "It's locked out now."
The two men edged away from the doors at the Doctor's instigation, although they moved slowly and gingerly, fully prepared to reapply their strength at a moment's notice. The loud thumping continued unabated, but the doors remained closed, and Jamie finally unwound his muscles, at least a little. And then Prentice, remembering himself, checked his watch.
"Five seconds," he said, lifting his gaze once more. But the Doctor was one step ahead of him, and had activated the external scanner, which showed them a view of the hold, the Cybermen milling in confusion as they watched their leader attack the TARDIS.
The bay doors opened, and at once, the hold was filled with a screeching, bellowing, hurricane-force wind as the air rushed headlong into the vacuum of space. Several of the Cybermen were swept out immediately, flailing helplessly as they disappeared into the interstellar void and were quickly lost to sight in the darkness. The Controller desperately grabbed for the TARDIS doors, but a split second too late, as it too was tumbled head over heels by the merciless blast before being sucked out of the ship.
The captain approached the screen, his eyes fixed on it, his gaze as cold as steel. Only one Cyberman remained, grimly hanging onto a stanchion mere metres from the open doors. Without the slightest surprise, he realised that it was his former captive. He watched as it struggled against its fate, and then, moving hand over hand, dragged itself upright and began to make its way toward the TARDIS in the teeth of the vicious gale.
Just then, a blaring klaxon started to sound, and Prentice jerked his head up sharply.
"It's the safety cut-out," he said, flatly. The ship's automatic system was designed to seal all the airlocks in the event of imminent de-pressurisation. Above the open doors, a red warning light began to flash, and he knew that they would close at any moment.
He turned away from the screen and hung his head, drawing a slow and very deep breath. When he finally looked up once more, he saw the Doctor studying him with apparent equanimity. But there was a wealth of understanding in those soft blue eyes...as well as an ocean of sadness.
"Promise me you'll take care of her," said Prentice, straightening his spine.
The Doctor nodded. "I promise," he said.
The captain turned to Argus now and took her head between his hands, kissing her softly and tenderly, and then he drew back a little and gazed into her eyes, which were filled with confusion so profound that it hurt his heart; and yet, he thought to himself, she had never looked more beautiful than she did at that moment.
"I love you," he said, simply and quietly, and then headed for the doors without looking back, just as the Doctor threw the switch.
The air rushed out of the TARDIS, bearing him along with it as the doors slammed shut behind him, and he lost his footing at once as he was swept toward the doors, which were already starting to close. He flung out his hands and grabbed for the Cyberman as he went past, and then wrapped one arm around the creature's neck, hanging on tightly. It choked and squealed and fought like a thing possessed, clawing at his arm, but he reached up and inexorably prised its hands loose from the stanchion, first one and then the other.
"What did I tell you?" he snarled. "We die together!"
Then they were gone.