Okay, a very late update, but I finally got it out! Enjoy!
Chapter Seven: Nightmare in Silver
Ember's first thought when she landed was that she was going to die, because she was on the moon!
It took a second for her to realise that she was breathing - actually, she was gasping in mild panic - and to realise that she wasn't drifting off into space. Looking around more carefully as she calmed down, the brunette realised that it was all for show: it looked real enough, even with a fake US flag hanging straight as though there was no gravity, fake rocks of various sizes scattered about, and a silhouette of half the Earth that was a bit too close to have been the real thing. There was even a fake base not far off, and the biggest giveaway was the big sign saying 'Spacey Zoomer' with a picture of a rocket, though the sign itself was tilted as one corner had lost its battle to stay attached.
Ember looked around again in the hopes of finding someone - maybe a curator or tour guide or something - when a familiar wheezing sound made her smile. She turned just as the Tardis faded into existence about five feet away from her. Once it was settled, the door opened and the Eleventh Doctor stuck his head out, grinning when he spotted the brunette instantly.
"Ember!" He called, hopping out of the blue box and over to her to sweep her up in a hug. He was quick to spot the ring on her finger and gave a little cheer as he pulled her in for a kiss, which made her laugh.
"Oi, keep it clean," Clara's voice made them break off the kiss and look to see the young woman step out of the Tardis with two children; a boy and an early teenage girl who already looked bored. "I've got Angie and Artie here, so no hanky panky."
"Alright, alright. Well, here we are!" The Doctor declared, throwing his arm out as he pulled Ember onto one of the smaller rocks. "Hedgewick's World! The biggest and best amusement park there will ever be, and we've got a golden ticket! Eh? Eh? Fun!"
Clara raised a brow at him as he seemed unable to stop himself from dancing on the spot, pulling a giggling Ember with him. "Fun?"
The teenage girl rolled her eyes. "Your stupid box can't even get us to the right place. This is like a moon base or something."
"We can take you straight home if you think it's that's stupid," Ember shot back. She did not like anyone dissing the Tardis, regardless of who or why.
"It's not the moon," the Doctor tried to explain. He even stooped down to scoop some of the 'moon dust' off the ground and let it fall to demonstrate.
"Actually," Artie began, "I think it does look like the moon, only... dirtier."
"Hey. Guys. It's not the moon, okay? It's a Spacey Zoomer ride, or it was."
Ember looked around. The boy was right: the place did look a bit more dirty than she would expect out of an amusement park.
Wait... an abandoned amusement park? Clara having two kids to watch? Then that meant...
Just as the realisation hit her, one of the larger rocks that was nearby seemed to move - or rather, part of it did like a door, and a middle aged man wearing a top hat and a suit stuck his head out to look at them.
"Psst!" He hissed at them. "Excuse me. I don't suppose you happen to be my lift off planet? Dave's Discount Interstellar Removals?"
Clara shook her head. "Afraid not."
The man grumbled. "They were meant to be here six months ago. Well, that's Dave for you, see? Unreliable."
Before anyone could ask anything, a new, female voice cut through the air. "Stay where you are!"
"Oops!" The man hid inside the rock again just as several people wearing military uniforms appeared from the fake base, running up to the group and pointing guns at them. Clara was quick to put herself between the guns and the children while the Doctor did the same for Ember.
The blonde woman who'd spoken earlier, clearly the one in charge considering the golden pin on her vest, spoke again. "Throw down your weapons and identify yourselves!"
"No, no weapons! Golden ticket!" The Doctor was quick to retrieve said ticket from his pocket, bouncing on the spot. "Spacey Zoomer? ...Free ice cream?"
The woman was not impressed. "Who are you? This planet is closed, by Imperial order!"
Nodding, the Doctor did a small spin on the spot so he could get his psychic paper to show them. "How's this?"
With a quick look, the woman seemed to relax at what she saw. "Oh. Welcome, Proconsul. I wish they'd told us you were coming. Any news of the Emperor?"
Ember nudged the Doctor and shook her head to prompt him. "Oh, the Emperor! No, no. None that you'd, uh..."
"We pray for his return. If there is anything you need, my platoon is at your service."
"Right. Righty-o. Well, carry on, Captain."
Nodding and saluting, the captain turned to rest of her group. "Platoon, let's move out! On the double! Two, three, four! Two, three, four!"
They marched off, looking a little less coordinated than one would expect from military, and the Doctor looked at Ember curiously.
"Emperor?" He asked.
Ember shrugged. "Sometimes even kings need a break."
Nodding, the Doctor turned away, only to quickly turn back and take her hands, looking at the bandages that were still wrapped around her palms. "What's this?"
"Oh, had a mishap. Turns out I can fuse sand into glass," Ember shrugged, "but I was too angry to smooth out the shards, so I got a few scratches."
The Doctor looked like he wanted to ask more, but it was at that moment that the fake rock opened again and the man from before stuck his head out once more.
"Have they gone?" He asked. When the Doctor confirmed it, he seemed to relax. "Uniforms give me the heebie-jeebies. Come on. They can't stop me being here, but they don't like it." The man led them past the fake base, revealing a view of an entire amusement park.
"Ha, ha! You see? I told you it was amazing!" The Doctor cheered, only to frown. "...Well, it used to be."
The park was in disarray. Clearly it hadn't been in use for a long time, as the rides - including a massive rollercoaster and Ferris wheel - looked rusted and on the verge of collapsing, with grass and weeds growing through the cracks in the concrete.
Ember tilted her head, focusing her senses. To her relief, it seemed that the elements were fine here. No bad taste in her mouth or deadly rags out to strangle them. And from where she was looking, a nice double moon in the night sky.
"It closed down," the man said, bringing her out of her thoughts. "Wish I'd known that before I landed here. But let me show you my collection." He gestured for them to follow him back. "Come along. Follow me. This way. This way in, come on!"
He led them to and into the rock he'd hidden in, revealing a few steps that led into a large room with comfortable furniture, life sized wax figures and chandeliers giving the room a soft, warm glow.
The Doctor was practically vibrating in amusement, and Ember could feel it in their held hands.
"Welcome to my show," the man introduced, though he had to pause to cough. "Webley's World of Wonders! Miracles, marvels and more await you. I am Impresario Webley. You see before you waxwork representations of the famous and the..." he pulled off a cloth covering a wax figure of an alien, "infamous. Anybody here play chess?"
Immediately the Doctor put his hand up, but he was ignored as Webley instead approached the children. Ember giggled as she reached out to lower the raised hand, shaking her head with a smile as the Doctor turned their hands so he could kiss her knuckles.
"Perhaps you, young man?" Webley asked Artie, who nodded.
"Actually, I'm in my school chess club."
"Ah. Follow me." He led them across to an archway, where there was a small table with a chess board all set up. On the opposite side of the table was a form covered in a blanket. "Now, let me demonstrate to you all the wonder of the age, the miracle of modernity. We defeated them all a thousand years ago, but now he's back, to destroy you. Behold... the enemy!"
With a flourish, Webley whipped off the cloth, revealing roughly human-shaped robot that straightened slowly and looked in their direction.
The Doctor recognised it instantly, grabbing Clara and Ember by the arms and pulling them to the ground with him. "Cyberman! Get down!"
Webley waved his hands. "No need to panic, my young friends! We all know there are no more living Cybermen. What you are seeing is a miracle!"
Ember gently pulled her arm free and got up, slowly followed by the others as they looked at the Cyber better. Now that they were properly looking, they realised that it looked very beat up; the silver metal was tarnished, dented and scratched, one of the handles on its head was missing, and it didn't seem to be able to move from the waist down. It barely seemed able to move at all, actually; its moves jerky and slightly off.
Webley nodded proudly. "The six hundred and ninety ninth wonder of the universe, as displayed before the Imperial court, and only here to destroy you at chess."
The Doctor, ever the cautious one when it came to Cybers, was scanning the robot with his Sonic. He did not want to leave the slightest chance of one being around him or the children. He opened the back panel of the robot and looked inside, finding a minimum of electronics and no signs of the usual inner workings of a Cyberman.
"Careful now," Webley said. "An empty shell, and yet it moves. How?"
"Magic?" Angie asked, though she didn't sound like she believed that herself.
"That might well be, young lady, but a single penny wins you five Imperial shillings if you can beat this empty shell at chess."
Ember spotted movement out of the corner of her eye and looked, just in time to see something tiny and possibly silver slip away on a wax blowfish head model. She narrowed her eyes.
"I haven't got a penny," Artie admitted, "but I've got a sandwich."
Webley considered it before he nodded. "All right, take a seat. It is free of all devices, and yet it has never been beaten. Would you like to make the first move, young man?"
As the boy played against the robot, the Doctor moved to stand behind Ember and put his arms around her waist while resting his head on her shoulder. He used the closeness to speak to her quietly so that they didn't interrupt the game. "Any hints?"
"It's harmless right now because the one controlling it isn't out to kill," the brunette replied. "But that can change. It only takes a tiny bug."
The Doctor nodded to show he'd heard her, watching and wincing as Artie made a fatal move that cost him the game. "That's a fool's mate."
Webley either didn't hear him or didn't care. "If you can tell me how it works, I'll give you a silver penny."
Angie looked thoughtful. "I think you do it with mirrors?"
"Hmm, mirrors. Clever girl. Well, let's see, hey?" The Doctor scanned the robot again. "Low tech. It's a puppet. Monofilament strings, which means the brains are in..." he leaned down to the table, opening the side... and revealing a little man tucked inside, holding an obvious remote control.
The little man waved sheepishly at the Doctor. "Hello."
"Hello."
"I'm the brains."
"Hello."
"Give us a hand." The little man, with the Doctor's help, climbed out of the seat and stretched. He was dressed like a World War One air pilot. "They call me Porridge. Oh, it's good to be out of that box."
Admitting defeat, Webley turned to Angie and made a motion like he pulled a coin from her ear. "For you, Miss, an Imperial penny."
The Doctor was about to comment on how technically it was him that figured it out, but movement caught his eye; small silver bugs slightering across the floor to disappear under a table. He looked at Ember, seeing that she'd also noticed, and frowned.
Webley, who like Clara and the children hadn't noticed the bugs, led the group back into the main room, where another two figures were covered with cloths. There was a sign in front of them that read 'The Great Enemy' as he pulled off the cloths to reveal two more Cybers, though these ones were standing straight. "I have not one but three Cybermen in my collection."
The Doctor left Ember's side to check them himself, using his Sonic and finding little to no tech in each of the robots. They weren't going to be moving on their own, that was for sure, but if what he'd seen was what he was suspecting...
"Is that the King?" Angie asked, looking at a wax figure if a tall man in a royal cloak and crown.
"Emperor," Porridge corrected. "Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, etc, etc, the forty first. Defender of Humanity, Imperator of known space."
Clara tilted her head. "He looks a bit full of himself."
Ember smirked. Most royals tended to be, with exceptions.
Porridge looked up at Clara. "Don't say things like that about the Imperial family. You can end up on the run for the rest of your life."
"They don't sound very nice," Artie said.
For a moment, it looked like Porridge was going to protest, but he let it go, instead turning to encourage them out of the room. "Go on. If the kids want to ride the Spacey Zoomer, then I can operate the gravity console."
The group followed, though Angie had to be called as she'd lagged behind a bit and Webley had decided not to join them in favour of waiting for his lift. They made their way back outside while Porridge fetched a remote control, using said control to manipulate the gravity so that the children would float and bounce around like they really were on the moon.
Ember ended up joining them, laughing as she did a midair backflip. She knew that things were going to get rough soon, but she wanted to at least have a little fun first. Not to mention, being seemingly weightless felt familiar to her, reminding her of more than one of her dreams.
"Smile!" Clara called, taking pictures of the children with her phone. "Say, Spacey Zoomer!"
"Look at us, Doctor," Artie called in delight. "We're flying!"
"Having a good time?" The Doctor smiled, happy to see Ember looking almost carefree for once. With her knowledge of future events, he knew that she had a lot of pressure on her most of the time. And that was before one factored in the increasing powers she was gaining and the past she'd yet to remember. It was enough to drive many to madness, but he was proud of the fact that this woman, who'd once thought of herself as worthless, had come so far.
However, seeing the brunette smiling and laughing... it made him almost wish that a certain event didn't have to come, even though he knew it had to happen sometime...
His train of thought was interrupted by Porridge ending the ride, and Artie was grinning widely as he spoke. "I think that was the most fun I've had in my whole life!"
"It was..." Angie, who'd also been smiling, caught herself and tried to looked only mildly impressed. "...okay."
Ember shook her head as the Doctor took her hand and wandered a little. She couldn't help muttering "see if we take you out again" under her breath, smirking when she felt two squeezes on her hand.
Thankfully, Artie didn't seem to hear her comment. "Clara, I think outer space is actually very interesting."
"Right," Clara nodded, leading the children back to the Tardis. "Wonderful day out, Doctor, but time to get the kids home."
"Yeah. Er, no..." the Doctor replied without looking back at her, scanning the area with his Sonic. "Not actually ready to leave..."
Clara paused. "Why not?"
"I don't know. Reasons."
"What reasons?"
"Insects. Funny insects. I should add them to my funny insect collection."
"You collect funny insects?" Clara asked, slightly doubtful.
"Yeah, I'm starting to..." The Doctor looked at Ember, feeling her squeeze his hand twice to indicate that he was on the right track. "Right now."
After insisting that they needed to stay, the Doctor and Clara were setting the kids up to have a nap on a couple of sofas in Webley's room. The man himself was nowhere to be found, but that didn't concern them.
It did concern Ember, however. She had thought she could persuade the man to join them on the ride, but he'd vanished before she had the chance to talk to him.
Porridge brought Artie a glass of water as the children were tucked in on the sofas. Angie was clearly bored. "How long do we have to stay here?"
"Not long," The Doctor replied, scanning around with his Sonic again. "Have a nap. I'll wake you when we're ready to leave."
Clara smiled at the children. "Sleep well."
The lights were switched off as the adults left the room, though the Doctor had to go back to give the children one more warning not to wander off. Ember had to hide the smirk; the quickest way to get anyone to do something was tell them not to do it.
When the Doctor returned to the adults, the group of four made their way back outside. Clara, Ember and Porridge wandered a little further away as the Doctor examined different things with his Sonic.
"Was this really the biggest amusement park in the universe?" Clara asked, eyeing the rusting walls and the weeds growing out of control.
"Yeah," Porridge replied. "Hedgewick bought the planet cheap. It'd been trashed in the Cyberwars."
"Who were we fighting?"
"Cybermen. Technologically upgraded warriors. We couldn't win. Sometimes we fought to a draw, but then they'd upgrade themselves, fix their weaknesses and destroy us. It's hard to fight an enemy that uses your armies as spare parts."
"You beat them, though," Clara pointed out. "Beat them or you wouldn't be here. How?"
Porridge looked up at the sky, pointing in a specific direction. "Look up there. That corner of sky. What do you see?"
Ember looked. The sky was beautiful, with the stars and swirling galaxies, almost like an artwork. But at the upper far right, there was a change; it was like whoever had drawn this beautiful scene had made a mistake in that spot and had tried to rub or blur it out in the hopes of it going unnoticed, but instead left an even more bold spot that now could not be missed.
"Nothing," Clara said, looking at the spot herself. "It's just black. No stars, no nothing."
"It used to be the Tiberion Spiral Galaxy," Porridge explained. "A million star systems, a hundred million worlds, a billion trillion people. It's not there any more. No more Tiberion Galaxy. No more Cybermen." He looked solemn. "It was effective."
Ember couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness as she stared at the spot. While she understood the reasons, it almost hurt to know that a whole galaxy had to be destroyed to save the rest of the universe.
Clara shared the sentiment. "It's horrible."
"Yeah," Porridge agreed. "I feel like a monster sometimes."
"Why?"
"Because instead of mourning a billion trillion dead people, I just feel sorry for the poor blighter who had to press the button and blow it all up."
"An entire, beautiful galaxy," Ember murmured, just loud enough for the pair to hear. What surprised them was that twin tears had trailed down her face seemingly without her knowledge as she continued to stare. "All those stars, the planets... the life... All of it, gone in an instant..."
Clara was about to ask her if she was alright when the Doctor suddenly called over to them from where he'd spotted something. "Clara, did you tell Angie she could go to the barracks?"
"You know I didn't," Clara said, then frowned. "She hasn't..."
"She's just gone in there," the Doctor told her.
"Come on," she said, turning to leave with or without them. Porridge and the Time Lords were quick to follow, though Ember had by then realised she'd shed tears and quickly wiped them away before the Doctor noticed.
Making their way to the barracks, they found most of the troops sorting random equipment. Clara saw the teenage girl among them first. "Angie! Angie!"
The girl rolled her eyes as she turned. "She always has to turn up and spoil everything. I wasn't doing anything. Why can't you just leave me alone?"
"Because it was her that brought you here. So while you're here, you're her responsibility," Ember shot back, making the girl look at her in surprise. "And if you don't like or respect that, then you will be treated like the child you're acting like."
Angie looked flabbergasted, clearly not used to having someone call her out like that. She was about to make a retort when there was a crash, making everyone turn to look towards the entrance...
Only to jump in fright at the sight of a humanoid robot standing there.
"Cyberman!" The captain yelled as the Doctor got out his Sonic. "Attack formation!"
One of the troops - a fat man with blue paint on his face - tried to rush the Cyber, but was easily swatted aside like he was nothing. Another trooper grabbed a nearby chair to defend with. Other troops pushed a table onto its side to make a barrier.
The captain looked around, flustered. "No! Attack formation, quickly!"
The troops eventually began to shoot at the robot, which didn't move except to stumble a bit when it was hit in the chest. However, it easily straightened as it spoke. "Upgrade in progress..."
Clara turned, intending to grab the teenager as the Doctor pointed his Sonic. "Angie!"
The next few seconds were suddenly a blur. The Cyberman moved so fast the others looked like they were standing still. Even Ember couldn't stop it. In less than a second, it had moved past the troops and their makeshift barricades, scooped Angie onto its shoulder and sped out the back way, leaving only Angie's fading scream behind.
"Angie!" Clara yelled again, trying to run after the Cyber, but the Doctor was quick to pull her back with a call of her name.
"That was a Cyberman..." the captain breathed, shaken. "But they're extinct..."
"Listen to me. I will get her back," The Doctor said firmly to Clara before he turned and approached the woman in charge. "Captain, a word please. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I take it your platoon doesn't do much fighting."
"What do you expect?" The woman muttered, but they still heard her.
"What?"
"We're a punishment platoon. It's why they sent us out here, so we can't get into trouble."
Ember smacked herself on the forehead. "Well, looks like trouble found you. Funny, that."
The Doctor couldn't help but agree. "Right, right, well, okay. As Imperial Consul, I'm putting Clara in charge." He took the insignia badge the captain was wearing off her and pinned it to Clara's jacket. "Clara, stay alive until I get back, and don't let anyone blow up this planet."
Clara looked puzzled as the Doctor turned to leave. "Is that something they're likely to do?"
"Get to somewhere defensible."
"Where are you going?"
The Doctor turned back to look at her. "I'm getting Angie, finding Artie and looking for funny insects. Stay alive. And you lot," he pointed at the troops, "no blowing up this planet!"
Ember quickly pat Clara on the arm, smiling when she met her gaze. "I'll go with him. But here's a hint; try not to shoot next time you see us."
She didn't give the girl time to question it, quickly running to catch up with the Doctor. They were mostly silent as they backtracked to Webley's attraction, which was eerily silent.
"Artie?" The Doctor called, getting no response. Ember pat him on the arm and gestured to a small table, and when he looked, he found one of the tiny robot bugs sat still on it. He approached and leaned down to its level. "Firstly, if anybody's watching this, those children are under my protection. I'm coming to get them. And secondly, little metal machine..." he smirked. "You are beautiful."
Ember rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's the word I'd use."
The Doctor shook his head and got out his Sonic, disabling the bug and then picking it up by its tail to look at it. "Not even a Cybermat any more, eh? Cybermites."
"Less to use power on," Ember said, moving to the chess room. "Saving it to move something bigger at the right time."
That made the Doctor follow, to see that the Cyberman that had been sat at the table was no longer there. He scanned the area with the Sonic and got the results quickly.
"Now, there's a local transmat link open to your home. If I can just find the frequency..." he was surprised when he and Ember were suddenly beamed to another location: a large, metal room with a podium in the centre. "Okay, that really shouldn't have worked."
"Doctor," Artie suddenly called, but what was disturbing was that his voice was neutral and devoid of any emotion. "Help us."
The Doctor was quick to see Artie and Angie standing to one side, but that was it: The children weren't restrained at all, but they were just standing there, staring blankly ahead of them. "Angie? Artie?"
"Stand by mode," Ember said, pointing to the little metal devices attached to the left temple of each child. "They're fine for the moment, and this is reversible. Unlike him."
The Doctor saw the brunette looking behind him and turned, to see Webley approaching. What made him wary was the cybernetic components covering the man's right eye and hand. "Webley..."
"We needed children," Cyber-Webley said, "but the children had stopped coming. You brought us children. Hail to you, the Doctor," he put his right fist over his heart in the traditional Cyberman salute. "Saviour of the Cybermen!"
Ember bristled. "Not if we have anything to say about it."
The Doctor gently took her by the arm and moved so that the podium in the centre was between them and the converted man. "How did you survive? The park has been shut down for years, and the war long since ended."
Cyber-Webley seemed all too willing to explain. "As the battle raged between humanity and the Cyberiad, the Cyberplanners built a Valkyrie, to save critically damaged units, bring them here and, one by one, repair them."
"The people who vanished from the amusement park," the Doctor mused, "they were... spare parts for repairs."
"We've upgraded ourselves. The next model will be undefeatable."
"Nothing's undefeatable."
Cyber-Webley probably would have shrugged if he had the emotion to do so as he turned to approach the children. "We needed children to build a new Cyberplanner. A child's brain, with its infinite potential, is perfect for our needs. But we no longer need the children." He turned to face the Time Lords. "The Cybermites have been scanning your brain, Doctor. It's quite remarkable."
"Also completely useless to you," The Doctor pointed out. "Cybermen use human parts. We're not human. You can't convert non-humans."
"Well, that was true a long time ago..." The reply made the Time Lord smile, but then the next bit took that away. "But we've upgraded ourselves. Current Cyberunits use almost any living components."
He suddenly lunged, throwing two handfuls of the Cybermites on the Time Lords. Ember had tried to catch them all herself, but it seemed that her move had been anticipated.
The mites on the brunette were quick to reach her head and attempt to force their way in. Ember screamed, closing her eyes as something inside her reached out...
Webley almost jumped when the brunette suddenly flinched and screamed, sparks of what looked like electricity shooting around her. To his further confusion, the Cybermites he'd thrown at her fell away, twitching and writing in apparent pain before suddenly bursting into flames that rendered them to ashes in seconds. Ember dropped to one knee and held her head as she glared up at the converted man.
"Don't... ever do that again," she all but growled. She really hated it when something tried to get into her head, physically and metaphorically: it gave her a headache and made deeper instincts flare out of her control. "Or I'll-"
She was interrupted by the Doctor giving a yelp as he straightened, and to her dismay there were now silver metal components on the left side of his face, tiny blue lights flashing.
"Incorporated, yes..." he murmured, and Ember stilled. He still sounded like the Doctor, but there was an edge that didn't sit right with her. "Ah... Unfamiliar pulmonary set-up, nervous system hyperconductive, remarkable brain processing speed!" He hopped over to Webley, grinning and patting him on the shoulder. "Ho, ho... Amazing!"
"What shall we do with the girl?" Webley asked, drawing attention to Ember. "She seems to be able to resist the Cybermites."
"Interesting..." the Cyber controlling the Doctor mused thoughtfully, but then he flinched as the Time Lord fought back. "Get out of my head!"
In his mind, the Doctor confronted the Cyber. The area looked like deep space, and there was a line between his mind and that of the Cyber. His side was golden while the Cyber's was blue.
"Stop rummaging in my mind!" The Doctor continued, stepping up to the line like it was a wall between them.
The Cyber version of the Doctor matched him; now it looked like a mirror showing good and evil. "Just you try and stop me." He glanced to the side to see several images of Clara in the space between the two minds; her Victorian persona, a chained-up Dalek and the current one. "Ooo, who's Clara? Why are you thinking about her so much? Aren't you married?"
"Enough!" At the Doctor's call the images disappeared, leaving a blank space.
"Fascinating. A complete mental block," The Cyber complimented. "Highly effective."
In the real world, Ember had heard everything they said. She was just recovering from fighting off the mites as the Cyber took control of the Doctor's body.
"Relax, relax! If you just relax, you will find this a perfectly pleasant experience." The Cyber practically danced around the room, making a beckoning gesture toward the brunette, who would have found it amusing if it was really the Doctor doing it. "You are being upgraded and incorporated into the Cyberiad as a Cyberplanner. Agh!"
He flinched as the Doctor took control again. "Get out of my head!"
Back in the 'mindspace', the Doctor turned on the spot, looking at the streams of light between them. "What is this place, a network? A hive? You're getting signals from every Cyberman everywhere. How many of you are there?"
The Cyber version of the Doctor didn't answer, and that disturbed him. In the real world, it gained control again.
"Oh, this is brilliant! I'm so clever already, and now I'm a million times more clever!" He danced around again, and Ember tilted her head as she watched. "And what a brain! Not a human brain, not even slightly human." He paused in his dancing to poke Webley in the forehead - who didn't react at all - and then leaned on the central console. "I mean, I'm going to have to completely rework the neural interface, but this is going to be the most efficient..." He jumped up onto the central console and struck a pose with his arms out. "Cyberplanner!"
"Oh, please!" Ember finally said. "That's the best you can come up with?"
"Not a great name, that, is it? I could call myself... Mister Clever."
"Or just shorten your first idea into initials, like CP or something."
"So much raw data..." he suddenly paused. "Time Lords... There's information on the Time Lords in here! Oh, this is just dreamy! Wait..." he tilted his head as though listening to something, and then he looked at Ember with interest. "Eternal? That's what you are?"
Ember shivered at the look he was giving her. She normally didn't mind the Doctor looking at her like that, but when she knew it wasn't him, it made her nervous.
The Doctor had had enough, it seemed, using the limited control over his own brain to his advantage in the mindspace. It could also have been a tactic to get the Cyber's attention off of Ember. "Right, I'm allowing you access to memories on Time Lord regeneration."
"Fantastic!" Mr Clever practically gushed as he watched the Doctor's previous ten faces flash in the space between them, the knowledge that each face was the same person before him and how it was possible making him grin.
"I could regenerate right now," The Doctor continued, and the grin fell as realisation clicked. "A big blast of regeneration energy, burn out any little Cyberwidgets in my brain, along with everything you're connected to. Don't want to. You use this me up, who knows what we'll get next? But I can."
In the real world, Ember decided to chip in. "Oh, and don't forget me. You take full control of the Doctor and I'll make sure you don't even leave this room. Doctor, I know you can hear me; show him what I can do."
The Doctor did just that, showing the Cyber in his head memories of what he'd seen Ember do... even things she herself had not experienced yet.
Mr Clever frowned, understanding how serious the situation was. "Stalemate, then. One of us needs to control this head. We're too well balanced."
"What did you say?" The Doctor jerked into control. "No, no, no, no, no. I heard you. Rhetorical device to keep me thinking about it a bit more. Stalemate?"
"We each control forty nine point eight eight one percent of this brain. Point two three eight of the brain is still in the balance." Mr Clever explained in their mindscape, glancing at an image of a brain with a section of gold and a section of blue in equal size, along with a much smaller section of grey. "Whoever gets this gets the whole thing."
"Do you play chess?" The Doctor suddenly asked.
"The rules of chess are in my memory banks. You're proposing we play chess to end the stalemate?"
The Doctor nodded. "Winner takes all. Nobody can access that portion of the brain without winning the game."
"I'm sure your dear Ember would not play fair even if I win, considering what she's done for you."
Ember was tempted to ask what he'd seen, but right now was not the time. "I promise I'll leave you to it if you win."
There was a moment of pause as the Cyber Planner considered his options. From what the Doctor had shown him, Ember was well known for keeping her promises, even if it was made towards someone she didn't like. There was little to no evidence to suggest that she would go back on her word.
"And how about I sweeten the deal?" Ember continued. "If you play by the rules and win, I'll let your little bugs convert me too."
Mr Clever looked at her with interest now, ignoring the Doctor's refusal of that term. "I'm listening."
Ember stood straight. "The Doctor has shown you what I can do, right? Imagine having that power upgraded into the Cybermen. There'd be nothing to stand in your way. So how about it?"
The Doctor forced himself into control to speak. "Ember, I can't agree to that!"
"That's why I am," Was the reply. "Besides, I believe in you."
"Oh..." The Doctor reluctantly nodded, already knowing that the Cyber wouldn't take anything less now that the offer was on the table. "Fine."
In their mindscape, Mr Clever reached out and shook the Doctor's hand. "You can't win."
"Try me."
"You understand, when I do win, the Cyberiad gets your brains and memories. All of it. And all of Ember's powers too."
Ember was beginning to get dizzy at the constant jerking the Doctor's body was doing with each switch of controller. She imagined this is what a toy felt like when two children fought over it.
"When I win, you get out of my head, you let the children go, and nobody dies." The Doctor boomed. "You got that? Nobody dies!"
In no time, Ember had retrieved the chess board from Webley's room and set it up on the central console. She was reluctant to leave the Doctor alone with the enemy, so she reminded the Cyber of her promise to destroy him if he took full control of the Doctor.
She wasn't fully sure she could bring herself to actually do it, but she only had to convince the Cyber that she would.
And it seemed that her bluff worked, as nothing had changed when she returned. Now she was stood on the other side of the console to watch.
"There. That was easy. The game has just started," the Cyberplanner said as he made his first move. "Doctor, why is there no record of you anywhere in the databanks of the Cyberiad?" A pause. "Oh, you're good... Oh, you've been eliminating yourself from history. You know you could be reconstructed by the hole you've left?"
The Doctor, when he got in control, looked thoughtful. "Good point. I'll do something about that."
"You also neglected to remove the Great Fire from the database. Why?"
Ember looked up at that. She'd been curious about that too.
The Doctor shook his head. "I had a thought that knowing about her would deter you from trying to fight her. You must have records of your past encounters with her."
Mr Clever made a sound of agreement. "Indeed we do. She's quite violent when she's cross, isn't she?"
"You don't know the half of it," The Doctor replied, sending Ember an apologetic look that easily told her that he couldn't elaborate on that right the moment.
"I'm gonna find out sometime," she grumbled, but let it go.
"The rules of chess allow only a finite number of moves," Mr Clever pointed out, bringing them back to the more important situation at hand. "And I can use other Cyberunits as remote processors. You cannot possibly win."
"I can," The Doctor replied, using the conversation as a distraction while he controlled his right arm to reach for something in his pocket. "I know things you don't. For example, did you know very early versions of the Cyber operating system could be seriously scrambled by exposure to things, like gold, or cleaning fluid? And what's interesting is, you're still running some of that code."
Mr Clever raised a brow. "Really. That's your secret weapon? Cleaning fluid?"
"Nope. Gold!" The Doctor quickly slapped the golden ticket he'd pulled from his pocket onto the implants on his face, forcing the Cyber within to lose control as he shook himself. "Oh ho, ho! Like a charm!"
"You memorised where the pieces are, right?" Ember asked, not bothering to wait for the answer as she swept the chess pieces off the board and into her jacket that she'd bunched up like a pouch.
"Of course!" The Doctor looked her over. "Is it bad that I found that a bit... exciting?"
"What, me sweeping the table? Get your head out of the gutter!"
The Doctor shook his head again to clear it, being careful to keep the ticket on his face. "Right! You, Cyber Webley, and you kid things. I'll bring the chessboard. Let's get out of here!"
Grabbing the board, the Doctor followed Ember out of the Cyberlab and back into Webley's room, where they quickly made they way out and across the park to the castle - Ember had known where to find the humans - and found Clara with the troops, who promptly pointed their guns when they saw the implants on the Doctor and Webley.
"Don't shoot, don't shoot, I'm nice!" The Doctor yelped, pulling Ember behind him while holding the chess board like a shield. "Please, don't shoot! Hey, Clara, you haven't let them blow up the planet. Good job!"
"Did you get the kids?" Clara asked, not seeing the mentioned children as she was busy holding a large gun at them, as well as noticing the metal on the Doctor's face. "Are they all right? What's going on? "
"Ah, a bit of a good news, bad news, good news again thing going on. So, good news, I've kidnapped the Cyberplanner and right now I'm sort of in control of this Cyberman." The Doctor gestured at Webley.
"Bad news?"
"Bad news, the Cyberplanner's in my head. And, different bad news, the kids are, well... it's complicated."
"Complicated how?"
"Complicated as in walking coma." The Doctor raised the board again in fear of getting smacked as he ducked away.
Clara looked shocked at the sight of the children standing there blankly. "Please tell me you can wake them up!"
"Hope so!"
"Other good news?"
The Doctor lowered the board. "Well, in other good news, there are a few more repaired and reactivated Cybermen on the way, and the Cyberplanner's installing a patch for the gold thing." He paused. "No, wait, that isn't good news, is it? Er, so, good news, I have a very good chance of winning my chess match!"
Ember rolled her eyes.
Clara didn't quite understand the last bit; what did chess have to do with anything? "What?"
"I'll explain later. In a bit of a hurry. Get me to a table, and somebody tie me up! Need hands free for chess. And immobilise me, quickly."
Ember pat Clara on the arm. "Just nod and agree. Go get some rope, and we'll explain as we tie him down."
About twenty minutes later, the Doctor was in the throne room of the castle, tied to a chair with thick ropes. Clara was just finishing the knots at the back while Ember put the final pieces of the chessboard back into place on the board that now rested on a table before the Doctor.
If she'd known how to play the game - at least more than the basics of what each piece could do - she might have been tempted to rig it in the Doctor's favour. But then again, if the Doctor could remember where the pieces had been, the Cyber in his head would too, and Ember didn't want to have the Doctor forfeit because she tried to cheat.
"Right, that's good," The Doctor tested his bounds, finding that he could only move his hands enough to reach the chessboard. "I won't be able to move, but hands free. Good."
Clara was still trying to wrap her head around the situation. "You're playing chess with yourself?"
"And winning." The Doctor's left hand suddenly came up and pulled off the golden ticket, instantly frowning. When he spoke next, it surprised the woman to hear a northern accent. To Ember, it sounded similar to his Ninth self. "Actually, he has no better than a twenty five percent chance of winning at this stage in the game. Some very dodgy moves at the beginning." He glanced to the side as Clara moved into his line of sight. "Hello, flesh girl. Fantastic. I'm the Cyberplanner."
"...Doctor?"
"Afraid not. I'm working the mouth now. Allons-y!" Ember felt her lip twitch up slightly at the Tenth Doctor's favourite phrase. "Oh, you should see the state of these neurons. He's had some cowboys in here. Ten complete re-jigs."
Clara put it together quickly. "You aren't the Doctor."
"No, but I know who you are. You're the impossible girl. Oh, he's very interested in you."
"Why am I impossible?"
"Hasn't he told you? The sly devil. At least Ember has a reason." Mr Clever glanced at the brunette before he focused on Clara. "Oh, dear me. Listen, soon we'll wake. We'll strip you down for spare parts, then build a spaceship and move on."
It was right then that it occurred to Clara what he meant. "More Cybermen..."
Mr Clever nodded "They're waking from their tomb right now. You can either die or live on as one of us."
Ember glanced down, spotting that the Doctor's right hand had somehow grabbed a pencil and was scribbling the words 'hit me' on a notepad.
Clara apparently hadn't noticed. "The Doctor will stop you."
"He can't even access the lips," Mr Clever began, only to have his head snap to the side from a strong slap by Ember, forcing the Doctor into control. "Argh! Ow! Oh, that hurt. No, stop! Enough, Bit of pain, neural surge. Just what I needed. Thank you!"
Ember smiled. "It was either me or Clara, and I can make it up to you later."
"Oh, I like the sound of that..."
"Oi, focus!" Clara rolled her eyes. "Why am I the impossible girl?"
The Doctor waved her off. "It's just a thing in my head. I'll explain later."
Clara, knowing that he probably wouldn't explain later, let it go. "Chess game. Stakes?"
"If he wins, I give up my mind and he gets access to all my memories, along with knowledge of time travel. Also, Ember will let them convert her so they can gain her powers. But, if I win, he'll break his promises to get out of my head and then kill us all anyway."
"That's not reassuring!" Clara said.
"No."
"Please tell me you can fix whatever happened to the children."
"Children. Yeah. They're fine. I mean, right now their brains are just in stand by mode."
"That is not fine!"
"Listen, right now they have a much better chance of getting out of this situation alive than you do."
Clara paused. That wasn't something she'd expect the Doctor to say. "Which one of you said that?"
"Me. Cyberplanner. Mister Clever." That confirmed it. "Now, if you don't mind, I have a chess game to finish, and you have to die, pointlessly and very far from home. Toodle-oo." He waved the fingers of his left hand at her before proceeding to ignore her.
Ember pat Clara on the shoulder. "Trust me, the kids are fine. Go. I'll watch them."
Reluctantly, Clara left to prepare the troops. Ember moved to the other side of the table and watched as the Cyber planned his next move, then let the Doctor take control.
"I really don't want to lose this..." he murmured, glancing up at her. "I couldn't bear it if they took you."
"Then it's a good thing that you won't lose, isn't it?" Ember replied. "I have faith in you."
"Did you know about the Cyberplanner?"
Ember nodded. "Yes, and before you ask, I wanted to stop it. I thought I could jump in the way to catch the mites, but I didn't expect Webley to throw some at me too."
The Doctor nodded, accepting the answer. "I suppose you can't give me any hints?"
"Sorry, but anything I tell you will probably be heard by the Cyber." The brunette stood and walked over to the window to look out at the park.
"You know, he's keeping so many secrets from you..." That made her turn to look back at the Doctor, but it wasn't him speaking now; it was the Cyber within. "I could tell you all of them, if you want."
Ember raised a brow. "And why would you tell me?"
"Because you'd want to know, wouldn't you?" The Cyber replied, seemingly fiddling with a random chess piece like he was bored. "Have you never wondered what he isn't telling you? He's your husband, after all. He's shown me what you've done, but you clearly don't know yourself. That's unfair, if you ask me."
Ember turned her head to look outside again, catching sight of a ripple in the moat surrounding the castle. A quick reach out with her senses told her that the water was now electrified, as she'd been expecting Clara to do. "Well, I didn't ask you. And of course I wouldn't know certain things I've done: I haven't done them yet."
The Cyber tilted his head thoughtfully. "But don't you want to know? Clara isn't the only one he's constantly thinking about; his thoughts often seem to centre around you, and a question of when something is going to happen."
Ember looked at him again, curious. She'd noticed that the Doctor had been watching her, especially after they were married; clearly he was concerned about something in her future, especially since he'd asked her specifically to tell him when she wasn't able to remember certain events. Now, based on the Cyber's words - if they were truthful - it was becoming apparent that there was something coming in her future that the Doctor had already witnessed, and therefore was watching for the signs. The question was, was it something good or bad?
The brunette pursed her lips for a moment. "And you're just going to tell me about it? What's the catch?"
"Well, we could trade," the Cyber replied. "You could help me, and then I'll help you."
"Seriously?" Ember asked, almost failing to resist the urge to laugh. "Let me get this straight: you think that I'm going to help you kill my husband, those children and everyone else on this planet and then beyond, in exchange for information that may or may not be true?" She held up a hand before the Cyber could speak. "Nice try, but no thanks. Yes, the Doctor is keeping secrets from me, but I'm doing the same to him. And we're not doing it because we want to or to hurt each other. We're doing it because we have to, and to protect each other. So get on with it; you've got a game to play and not win."
The Cyber wearing the Doctor's face frowned, but after holding her gaze for several seconds, he turned his attention to the game again. It wasn't too long later, well into the game, when the Doctor visibly flinched.
"Stop that," he muttered. "I felt that."
"Of course you did." The Cyberplanner replied, not concerned at all. "It's time to get up. Wakey, wakey, boys and girls. Wakey, wakey."
Somewhere, hidden beneath the abandoned amusement park, an army of Cybermen activated and marched forward from their multilevel cryogenic chambers, heading out to find the humans.
"There's something that's been bothering me," Ember said, drawing the Cyber's attention. She was looking thoughtful as she wandered back to the table. "The Cybers out there, I get. They're all a bit generic with their 'emotions are illogical' and 'you will join us' bull, but that's what they do. It's what they're supposed to do."
"So, what's bothering you?" Was the question, but it was unclear if it was the Doctor or the Cyberplanner asking.
Ember tilted her head as she met his gaze. "You."
"Me?"
"To be more specific, I mean the Cyberplanner. I'd have thought you'd be the same or worse than the others, but you're different." Ember took a moment to look over the man before her. "Obviously you're more advanced, and you're in charge, but... you behave differently. That always made me wonder. Why do you dance around, get excited, even come up with a name for yourself? If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've evolved an identity, a personality all of your own..."
"That's impossible," Mr Clever replied, looking away from her.
"Considering what you've learned about the Doctor and me, even you have to admit that anything is possible."
There was a pause, and then he met her gaze again. "Why were you crying?"
Ember blinked, thrown off by the abrupt change in topic. "What?"
"Before the female child was taken. When the little human was explaining the destruction of the Tiberion Spiral Galaxy. You were crying."
So the Doctor had noticed that she'd cried. Ember had thought - and hoped - that he hadn't. "I don't have to answer to you."
"No, you don't," Was the conceded answer, albeit reluctantly. "But I'm not the only one asking. Why?"
Ember looked down at the chess board, pretending to examine the possible moves as she thought of what to say. Finally, she reached over and picked up one of the pieces that had been removed from the game - a pawn - rolling it between her hands absently. "...I don't know. It just happens, sometimes. I could be looking at or hearing someone talk about something and it just..." she trailed off for a moment, and then she stood up. "As much as I want to know, I have no guarantee that anything you tell me is true. Excuse me."
She turned and left before the Doctor or the Cyber could reply, needing to get some fresh air. She quickly found the courtyard and the troops preparing for battle, and she approached where Clara and Porridge were standing at what looked like a cauldron over a fire.
Porridge saw her coming and used a ladle to fill a cup with what looked like soup. "Here, you must be hungry."
Ember took the cup without thinking, looking down at it but not actually seeing it. "Thanks..."
"How's the Doctor?" Clara asked, holding a cup of her own.
"As well as an be, but I'm not very good at chess so I can't really tell who's winning."
"Can we get rid of the Cyber even if the Doctor loses?"
"We won't have to find out."
Porridge tilted his head, somewhat recognising the look of deep thought on the brunette's face. "Something on your mind?"
Ember paused, looking at the smaller man. "It's complicated. To put it simply, I'm a mystery. Something happened to me a long time ago and I don't remember the details."
"What can you remember?"
"Scraps. I've had dreams for a while now that might be memories, but I can't quite piece them together. Every time I get an answer, it opens up two more questions. It's frustrating, especially when you know certain people know the answers and can't tell you."
Porridge blinked. "Someone knows and isn't telling you? Why?"
Ember sighed, closing her eyes to try to calm herself. She mentally told herself to cool it as she let out a long breath. "Like I said, it's complicated."
"Oi, Clara!" The Doctor's voice suddenly called from within the castle; it was strange how easily his voice carried. "Clara! Ember!"
Clara put her cup to one side. "I'll see what he wants. Call me if there's any change."
Ember did the same with her cup, turning to follow the woman into the castle. Porridge took the cups with the intent to keep the contents warm for later, only to pause as he looked into Ember's cup.
The cup and its contents had cooled much quicker than it should have...
Clara and Ember entered the throne room, both raising a brow at the sight of the Doctor grinning at them cheerfully like he wasn't in a battle for his own mind.
"Hey!" He called as they approached. Clara, Ember, there you are. Now, quick rundown. What's our weapons strength?"
Clara snapped her fingers in the faces of Angie and Artie, but neither of them so much as blinked. "One big gun, five of those hand-pulser units and a shiny black bomb that implodes the planet."
"Yeah. Yeah, that one. Now, tell me, does it happen possibly to have a remote triggery thing?" When Clara pulled the remote from her pocket, he nodded. "Brilliant. Pass it here."
Clara almost obeyed out of trust, but held back at the last moment. "No."
The Doctor tilted his head. "Why not?"
"In case you're not you right now. Or even if you are, just in case."
Ember smirked. "Never trust a madman with a bomb, unless he doesn't intend to use it."
If the Doctor understood the hint, he didn't show it. "Oh, don't worry. The Cyberplanner's hibernating between moves right now. Shush."
Clara leaned forward slightly, keeping the remote well out of reach. "Prove you're you. Tell me something only the Doctor knows."
"Clara..." The Doctor lowered his voice like he was going to tell a secret. "I suppose... I'm the only one who knows how I feel about you right now. How funny you are. So funny... and pretty. And the truth is, I'm starting to like you in a way that is more than just-"
He didn't get to finish, because Clara cut him off with a solid slap that almost matched Ember's earlier strike.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" The Doctor yelped, But he was grinning. "Yes! It's me. That really hurt. How did you know that was him?"
"Because even if that was true, which it is obviously not, I know you well enough to know that you'd never betray Ember like that." Clara replied flatly as she moved to straiten up. "Finish your stupid game!"
"Clara, look out!" Ember cried, but she was a split second too late as the Doctor's left hand shot up and grabbed Clara's wrist right as it was in range.
"Doctor, let go."
"I can't," The Doctor winced, trying to fight back and failing as the grip shifted. "He's got control of the left arm. Argh, argh, no! No!"
With a bit of a struggle, his left hand managed to pry the remote trigger away from Clara, slamming it onto the table until it broke into pieces.
Clara backed off, a little intimidated by the sheer strength she'd just witnessed. "Doctor?"
The Doctor struggled. "He got what he wanted. He destroyed the trigger. My move."
"What do you mean, he got what he wanted?"
"He means..." the tone in his voice made it clear that it was Cyber in control. "Good news, boys and girls. They're here!"
Ember narrowed her eyes. "Clara, go. You'll know the signal when you see it."
Clara didn't reply verbally, choosing to leave the room quickly to face the threat. The Cyber, still in control, looked part amused and part bored.
"I've learned so much from you, Doctor. It's been an education. But now, it's time for the endgame." He made his next move, and then gently nudged the white queen on the board. "They're nearly here. Now, you can take my bishop and keep limping on for a little longer, or you can sacrifice your queen and get the children back. But it's mate in five moves, and I get your mind."
"You're not gonna win," Ember retorted, confidently moving to face him on the other side of the table.
The Cyber tilted his head. "You say that, but you also said that he won't lose. You're lying to one of us."
Ember copied his head movement. "You sure about that?"
The Doctor took control, finding strength in the brunette's behaviour as he moved the piece into place to be taken. "Take my queen, and give me back the children."
"Emotions." The Cyber scoffed. "Can't you see what a foolish move that was? You've lost the game."
"Kids back now!"
There was a buzz sound, and then the two children dropped to the floor. Ember only gave them a curtesy glance as they slowly woke up.
"Emotions, Doctor," The Cyber said again, "all for two human children you barely know. And it was a pointless sacrifice anyway. So, Doctor, do you think the children's death will affect your relationship with Miss Clara?"
"It probably would, but they're not gonna die," Ember retorted. "The game is almost over."
Right at that moment, Porridge ran into the room, carrying the large box that housed the bomb that would destroy the planet. He froze as Webley finally moved.
"Welcome to Webley's World of Wonders, children," he said, seemingly cheerful as he turned to the humans. The Cyberplanner was almost giggling under his hand. "Now presenting delights, delicacies... and death."
Angie looked up in fright. "Doctor!"
Porridge, armed with a hand pulse device, ran over and grabbed Webley's leg, but he was easily kicked off and thrown aside, landing nearly under the chess table. It hasn't been completely in vain, however, as the cybernetic parts on Webley's face sparked and he fell over.
"Angie, are you okay?" The Doctor called to the teen, but he didn't wait for an answer. "Just look after Artie, okay?"
Ember looked long enough to see Angie guide her brother to one side before she faced the chess table again. "Three."
The Doctor glanced at her before addressing the Cyber in his head. "Your move. But before you take it, just so you know, sacrificing my queen was the best possible move I could have made. The Time Lords invented chess. It's our game. And if you don't avoid my trap, it gives me mate in three moves."
"How?" The bold statement unnerved the Cyber, especially added with the smirk Ember had on her face. "How?!"
"Oh, come on. Call yourself a chess playing robot?"
"How!?"
"You figure it out," The Doctor began to smirk in a way similar to Ember's. "Or don't you have the processing power, hmm?" Then his face fell as he felt the shift. "What are you doing?"
"Doctor. Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor," the Cyber taunted. "I'm pulling in extra processing power. Three million Cyberbrains are working on one tiny chess problem. How long do you think it's going to take us to solve it?"
"That's cheating!"
"No, no, no, no, no. Just pulling in the local resources."
Ember raised a brow. She didn't speak, but that alone tipped the Cyber off that there was something he was missing.
Then the results came back. "There's no way you can get to mate in three moves."
"Three moves," the Doctor insisted. "Want to know what they are?"
"You're lying. It's impossible..."
Ember finally spoke. "I've been saying it all along; anything is possible. You won't win, and the Doctor won't lose. In case you didn't notice, I never specifically said someone was going to win or lose."
The Doctor has used the distraction to move his right hand down to grab the hand pulsed from Porridge, who was at his feet. He then got out the Sonic. "Move one, turn on sonic screwdriver. Move two, activate pulser. Move three, amplify pulser." He quickly used the Sonic on the pulser and got it on his hand. "See you!"
The Cyber tried to stop him with the left arm, but Ember quickly grabbed it by the elbow to thwart him as the pulser was placed on the cybernetic implants on the Doctor's face. "That's cheating!"
A shock made the Doctor's body slump for a second as Clara and two of the soldiers ran into the throne room, and then the Time Lord sat up, the Cyber parts gone as he smirked and tweaked his bow tie. "Just taking advantage of the local resources. Ah, hello! Can someone untie me, please?"
"Do you think I'm pretty?" Clara asked.
The response was instant. "No. You're too short and bossy, and your nose is all funny."
"Good enough," Clara was about to move when she saw that Ember was already ahead of her; using a small plume of flame to burn the ropes at the back of the chair. "What happened to the Cyberplanner?"
"Out of my head and redistributed across three million Cybermen right now, and about to wake them all up, kill us and start constructing a spaceship. We need to destroy this planet before they can get off it." The Doctor jumped up once he was freed and ran over to where Porridge had left the bomb, quickly examining it. "Okay, it has a fallback voice activation."
One of the two remaining soldiers frowned. "The Captain... but she's dead."
Everyone looked unsure of what to do. Except Ember, who smirked again.
"I think you should ask Porridge." Everyone but Ember turned to look at Angie, who had spoken.
"Why?" Clara asked.
"Well, he is the Emperor. I bet he knows the activation codes." Angie rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. It's obvious. He looks exactly like he does on the coin, and on the waxwork, except they made him a bit taller, but look, am I the only one paying attention to anything around here?"
"You are full of surprises. Porridge?"
The short man sighed. "She's right."
"So you can save us?"
"We all die in the end. Does it matter how?"
"What do we do?" One of the soldiers asked.
Porridge sighed. "I don't want to be Emperor. If I activate that bomb, it's all over."
"And if you don't, three million Cybermen will spread across the galaxy." The Doctor pointed out. "Isn't that worth dying for?"
"Doctor -"
"Three million Cybermen!"
Ember held up a hand. "Which are now active again and being led by a pissed off Cyberplanner, by the way."
Porridge sighed again, resigning himself. "The bomb, the throne, it's all connected. I just have to say 'this is Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, called Longstaff the forty first, the Defender of Humanity, Imperator of known space. Activate the Desolator.'" There was a click as the bomb lit up. "And it's done. It'll blow in about eighty seconds. Easily long enough for the Imperial Flagship to locate me from my identification, warp jump into orbit, and transmat us to the State Room."
There was a flash of light, blinding them all, and then the entire group found themselves on the deck of a large spaceship, complete with a window that took up the front and showed the planet in the distance. The deck was large and open, with a few control panels and a massive pedestal in the centre with a throne on it.
The Doctor glanced around. "Nice ship. Bit big. Not blue enough. Listen, there is a large blue box at coordinates six ultra nineteen P. I need it transmatted up here right away."
Porridge nodded, turning to one of the officers at the controls. "Right. Did you get that?"
As the officer worked to retrieve the Tardis, the group watched the planet pensively while Porridge counted the remaining seconds.
"Seventy eight, seventy nine..." and then the planet imploded, the impact softened with the lack of sound. Farewell, Cyberiad. You know, it was good to get away. Good to be a person and not to be lonely, or Emperor of a thousand galaxies with everyone waiting for me to tell them what to do."
"Can't you run away again?" Artie asked. It had been more or less the first time he'd spoken since being freed from the Cybers.
Porridge shook his head. "They'll be keeping a close eye on me this time. That's what happens when you're Emperor. Loneliest job in the universe."
Clara shrugged. "You don't have to be lonely."
"I don't..." The short king turned to the woman. "Clara, will you marry me?"
Everyone looked surprised at that, except for Ember, who was trying not to laugh.
"What?" Clara blurted.
"He said-" Artie began, but his sister gave him an elbow to the side to shut him up.
Porridge ignored them, putting all his attention on Clara. "You're smart and you're beautiful, and I've never met anyone like you before. And being Emperor won't be as hard if you're by my side. And you'd rule a thousand galaxies."
The Doctor almost timidly leaned over, looking a bit uncomfortable. "This sounds like an actual marriage proposal. Tricky. Now, if you want my advice-"
"You, not one word. This is between me and the Emperor." Clara cut him off with a stern look before looking at the king again. "Porridge, I don't want to rule a thousand galaxies."
"Yeah. Silly of me."
"I'm really sorry."
"But that's stupid." Angie said. "You could be Queen of the universe. How can you say no to that? When someone asks you if you want to be Queen of the universe, you say yes. You watch. One day, I'll be Queen of the universe."
Ember shook her head, looking out of the front window as the space outside. "You don't have to own the universe to enjoy it. You just need to experience it, see and live it yourself."
Everyone looked at her with varied expressions. Clara and the other humans looked a little confused by her words, Porridge looked a little wistful, but the Doctor was watching Ember with an unreadable look. It was like he wanted to say something but was frustrated that he couldn't.
Porridge finally spoke up after a moment. "Of course, I could have you all executed, which is what a proper Emperor would do."
Ember bristled, her thoughtful look gone in an instant at the sound of a possible threat, but before she could speak, the Doctor quickly put and arm around her in a side hug as he replied. "You're not actually going to do that, though, are you?"
If Porridge saw the brief flash of annoyance on Ember's face before it passed, he didn't point it out as he chuckled. "Go on, get out of here, all of you, before I change my mind."
With that, the Doctor led Clara, Ember and the children out of the deck and back to the Tardis.
Back in the Tardis, the Doctor had brought his human companions back to their home on Earth. There had been a fleeting joke that he'd get it wrong, and he was more than happy to find that that wasn't the case.
"Thank you for having me," Artie said as he smiled. "It was very interesting."
The Doctor grinned. "My pleasure. Thank you for coming." He then turned to Angie. "Now, I've got something for you. It's not from me, it's from the Tardis. New phone."
The teen accepted the device with a nod. "Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"Sorry I said this box was stupid." Angie said right at Ember, who blinked at the acknowledgement but nodded with a smile.
"Bye."
The children left the Tardis, likely to end up sleeping in their rooms soon. Clara then turned to the Time Lords. "Thank you, Doctor."
"For what?"
"Kid's day out. Getting us off the planet alive. Whatever you were doing with the Cybermen. Good night. See you next Wednesday."
Ember was about to reply when she felt the familiar burning sensation. "Oh, looks like I'm off. See you guys later!"
A flash later, and she was gone.
Sorry for what probably looks like a rushed ending, but this chapter was harder for me to write than I expected, considering I liked this episode.
Anyway, I wish I could give you guys a firm date to expect the next chapter, but I can't make a promise right now. Things have taken a turn for the more stressful lately and I'm struggling a bit. But I will not leave this unfinished. I want to get it done.
Next Time: Ember's going way back to the early days to meet young and old friends. Can she handle the heat, and help others handle the pressure? Stay tuned!