Chapter Two: Satellite Rock

Year: 2277
Location: Vault 101, Capital Wasteland

"Come on, you've got to wake up!"

Jocelyn's eyes fluttered as she woke up, and she stared at a gray, sterile ceiling, highlighted by a harsh and artificial light. Alarms blared out in the hallway. Something had gone wrong.

She sat up from her bed, stupefied and half-tired. She found a close friend standing in front of her. Dark hair tied into a ponytail, peachy skin, and hazel eyes; Amata took up a lot from her father, the Vault's overseer. Like Jocelyn and everyone else in the Vault, Amata wore a blue jumpsuit with a gold line running around her collar and down the middle of her chest.

"Huh? What's wrong, Amata?" she asked, still a little drowsy.

The overseer's daughter breathed deeply, trying to settle her nerves. "You've got to get out of here! Your dad is gone, and my father's men are looking for you!"

Jocelyn stared out in disbelief, and all sleepiness vanished instantly. "What do you mean, my dad is gone? He…"

"I mean he's left the vault! I don't know how, but he's gone and my father…" Amata hesitated. "He's kind of gone crazy."

Jocelyn was dumbstruck. "I've never seen you so scared in your life, Amata. What happened?"

"It's Jonas… they killed him! My father's men. They took him and…" Amata's voice wavered, and her eyes watered, she nearly fell to her knees. "Oh my god. You have to leave, now!"

"Oh my god. Are you okay?" Jocelyn asked as she helped her friend up to her feet.

Amata nodded and looked back at her. "Yeah. Don't worry about me. I'm just sorry you had to find out like this. I know Jonas was your friend. But we've got to go now! My father's men will be here any minute!"

Jonas had been around for as long as she remembered. As her father's assistant, he always helped him in her father's research. Hell, she even remembered the dorky smile on Jonas's face when he told her of a surprise from her dad on her 10th birthday. And he kept that smile when he took a picture of her with a radroach she killed with her new BB gun.

And now… now he was dead. For what? Why did her father leave her behind with a man who snapped? What led him to set out to the outside world?

"That's impossible. My dad couldn't have left. The door's sealed shut." Jocelyn had her mouth agape. He couldn't have just left. Could he?

"Not anymore, apparently. But… are you honestly telling me you had no idea your dad was leaving? He really didn't tell you?"

Jocelyn shook her head. "No. I had no idea he was planning to leave."

"Oh." Amata was surprised at her answer. "I'm sorry. I'm sure he had his reasons. Maybe Jonas was supposed to explain everything to you? But it doesn't matter. I can help you escape. I have my own plan!" She sure sounded confident.

"Escape from the vault? How?"

"Listen. There's a secret tunnel that leads directly from my father's office to the exit. You'll have to hack the computer in his office to open it." Amata pulled a small box of bobby pins out of her pocket and gave it to Jocelyn. "Use it to get in. That's how I always get in," she said with a wry smile.

It was either escape to the world outside to find her father or stay here and have the Overseer's men execute her. Jocelyn's lips curled after coming to that conclusion. "Sounds like a plan. Let's get out of here!"

"Oh, one more thing." Amata gave Jocelyn a blocky laser pistol along with its holster. "I stole one of my father's guns. I hope you won't need it, but you'd better take it just in case." She also gave her several fusion cells.

Jocelyn lifted the pistol in her trembling hands. Mint condition, like it had never been fired before. She had no problem killing radroaches and other pests. But a human being, people she knew all her life? She wasn't so sure.

She looked back at her friend. "Thanks, Amata. I promise I'll use it as a last resort."

Amata nodded. "Okay. I'll try to meet you at the exit. Watch out for security. Good luck!"

Amata made a beeline for the exit. Jocelyn put the holster on her right thigh and placed the new pistol in it. She looked around the room and grabbed a baseball bat and her old BB gun, with its pellets, on the desk. If she didn't stop, she would forget to grab some spare Vault jumpsuits, her baseball cap, and the 14th issue of Grognak the Barbarian. On the way out, she grabbed a stack of stimpaks from the first aid kit at the door.

She stopped and looked back at her bedroom. There would not be any going back. Amata made that clear. She would need to get out of here and find her father. Hopefully, he had some answers.

With a sharp intake, she stepped out of her room.

Year: 2286?
Location: Unknown

The Doctor blinked in surprise, but going by that toothy smile of his, he was quite happy to answer. "Well," he said as he clasped his hands together. "Normally people don't ask. They just go all 'Oh!' and 'Ah!' and 'It's bigger on the inside!'"

"You haven't answered my questions," Jocelyn replied.

"For why it looks like a blue police box, it's meant to adapt to its surroundings. But the thing that's supposed to make it work broke. On why the inside is bigger than the outside, that might be an extraordinary and involved answer, but I will do my best to answer. One moment." The Doctor raised his bony index finger and rushed off to a nearby stairway leading to a level below. She wasn't quite sure if she should call out to get his attention, but he came back up with two featureless cubes in his hands, one larger than the other.

"To start things off, insides and outsides are not in the same dimension." He placed the larger one on the console and stepped back. "From your perspective, which box is larger?"

"The one on the console," she answered, pointing at the box.

"Technically that's correct," the Doctor replied. "But from where I'm standing, the box in my hand is larger than the one on the console. If you keep that same distance away and have it here, the larger one can fit inside the smaller one."

Jocelyn raised a finger in protest. "But that doesn't—" She internalized the irritated grunt that almost escaped her lips. "Are you talking about different dimensions?"

"Yes. That's trans-dimensional engineering," the Doctor answered before placing both cubes back in the cabinet below. "We're in the TARDIS. Short for Time And Relative Dimension in Space."

"We're in in a time machine?" Jocelyn noted. Her gaze went off in a slightly different direction.

"Yes. Does that help?"

"I—yeah, but…" Jocelyn tilted her head before setting her eyes on the Doctor. She wasn't sure what to make of him. "Is it possible to travel between different universes?"

"Speaking of which…" The Doctor couldn't finish his sentence before approaching the console, bringing the monitor from the other side to this spot. Jocelyn stepped behind him as he pressed a series of buttons and flicked some switches, his eyes focused on the screen. She leaned forward as words appeared on the screen.

DATE: APRIL 14TH, 4356

More words appeared on the screen.

RIFT DETECTED

SEVERITY: LOW BUT RISING

SIZE: SLIGHTLY LARGER BUT STILL SMALLER THAN BELGIUM

"Belgium? That small Pre-War nation?" Jocelyn wondered with furrowed brows and narrowed eyes. She was so glad she paid attention in class at Vault 101, unlike Butch.

"Bit anticlimactic, I know," the Doctor replied, still studying the screen, his face stoic yet indecipherable.

"So what kind of rift are we talking about? Did it bring you here?"

He shrugged.

"Do you have any idea where it is?"

After the Doctor pressed more buttons, the words on the screen now read:

LOCATION: UNKNOWN

The Doctor sucked his cheeks in, disappointed. "Oh. That's… unfortunate."

There was a knock at the door. Once, then twice, both urgent. As their attention was brought to the door, they exchanged looks. With a tilt of her head, Jocelyn urged the Doctor to go check it out, which he did by opening the door.

A man barged in, bumping into the Doctor. He was pale with combed dark hair, reaching down to the base of his neck while his angular chin sported a short beard. A hunched posture and a worried look in his eyes would tell her and the Doctor that there was a lot on his mind or something terrible was going on.

"Oh, so sorry," said the man with an English accent after dusting off the shoulder of his green uniform. "What in God's name took you so long?"

The Doctor arched an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"Well, I saw the TARDIS appearing, so I…" The man stopped himself and cleared his throat before straightening his posture. "My apologies, sir. I'm Dr. Alexander Rand. I'm the administrator of the Icarus UGIT station."

"What's UGIT?" Jocelyn asked.

"United Galactic Intelligence Taskforce. Used to be called the United Intelligence Taskforce back in the day," Dr. Rand answered.

"They're the ones that defend Earth from extraterrestrial and supernatural threats," the Doctor finished. The administrator offered his hand, and the Doctor shook it. "A pleasure, Dr. Rand. Mind telling us what's going on?"

"Well, uh…" Rand hesitated as he snapped his fingers and paced around. "Do either of you know a thing or two about the Ania?"

The Doctor shook his head. "What are they?"

"Well… Imagine if… itsy-bitsy organisms—whole colonies of them—are able to bond with any crystalline or amorphous solid. They latch on the glass; they rely on glass. They're one of the deadliest predators in the universe. They're quick on their feet and can rip apart any flesh in seconds."

Jocelyn stepped toward the two men. "What do these Ania look like?" she asked.

"They're shaped like lizards, larger than your average household dog. Some of them vary. Tail length, the shape of the head, width… You name it," the administrator answered. "Several of them disappeared a couple of months ago. They didn't break free from their containment, nor did they sound any alarms. They just… disappeared, like that." He snapped his fingers together. "Why? You've found them before?"

The Doctor nodded grimly. "We've encountered them before."

"I see. But that's not all." Alexander took a deep breath. "We're also having problems with the Cybermen."

The Lone Wanderer furrowed her brow. "Cybermen?"

"It's best if I show you." The administrator left the TARDIS in a hurry, and the Doctor followed.

As she slipped back inside her power armor, Jocelyn stepped out of the TARDIS. Looking around, this room matched what she imagined a CEO would have. Large, open space between a singular, a futuristic door and a wooden desk carved so well it almost looked natural. And no executive office would ever be complete without an extravagant red carpet laid out beneath her feet. The holographic-looking globe of an alien planet on the desk was just the cherry on top.

She turned to her left toward a window encasing the entire wall before her. Out there, she saw a blue sun shimmering in the starry, black void of outer space. The star vastly dwarfed over a smaller celestial body that was wreathed in an atmosphere that gave off a sickly, green-brown glow. She couldn't exactly tell what surrounded the planet, but it let out a beautiful gleam to it.

All this about outer space and being in a space station reminded her of Mothership Zeta and her crew. With that, her heart sank just a little. Last he heard of them was years ago, back when she traveled to the ruins of Chicago. She couldn't get a hold of them, nor could she use the beacon at the Capital Wasteland to teleport her up to the ship. With everything that had happened since Chicago, she could only assume the worst.

"If you're done gawking about, we could use you for a moment," Alex called out, snapping Jocelyn out of her thoughts.

She followed her gaze to the Doctor and the administrator standing in front of a giant floating screen. "What is it?"

"We have a bit of a problem." The Doctor clapped his hands together.

"Clearly, that's understating what I've said," Alex added. "Two problems, in fact."

"What's the first one, then?" she asked.

"Cybermen," the administrator answered while looking at her. "You said you wanted to know what they are, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

The administrator turned to the screen and tapped on it as if it was solid, conjuring footage of a group of humanoids in silver armor, shooting beams from their light bulbs on top of their heads at men and women in a large lobby. Their faceplates were flat, having beady circles for eyes and thick lines for mouths. A moment later, one of them trained their eyes on the camera. A light appeared on their head and the feed cut off. Only static remained before Alexander swiped the video off the screen.

This whole time, Jocelyn looked on in horror. Deep inside her was an urge screaming and whimpering at the back of the mind to turn away, not to watch it any further. But she won't. She had seen things far worse than this.

The Doctor turned to look at Jocelyn before she could say a word. "The Cybermen were once human, like you." He paced around, left to right. "Driven by survival, they augmented themselves with cybernetic implants. Perfectly sound idea but unfortunately, they added in more and more cybernetics, stripping away all the organic parts, becoming obsessed with converting every other life form in the universe. They provided an ultimatum: convert or die."

"Sounds like that's what the Brotherhood is afraid of. The endpoint of technological process without restraint," Jocelyn muttered. The more she thought about these Cybermen, the more it looked… wrong in so many ways. "How many of these Cybermen are there?"

"Enough to be called an army. Maybe an entire fleet," Alex replied. "If we don't stop them…"

Jocelyn looked at the administrator and uttered the words she never thought she would say in a long time, "Then we need to take care of them before people get killed."

"You're brave, I'll give you that. But here's another thing." He raised his hand and moved it to the right of him, bringing up an image of the planet to them. With a tap on the planet's image, it revealed a pulsing red dot near the equator, where a large cloud had formed. "There's an anomalous signal that's been agitating the Ania colonies for months."

"There are colonies of these creatures?" Jocelyn asked in surprise. "How did this signal agitate them?"

With a wave from Alex's hand waved, an image of a massive, eight-legged, creature appeared. Its glass-like scales were of all colors, its underside rimmed with shards long enough to be a few inches above the ground. Jocelyn couldn't help but compare it to a dragon from fantasy books and fairy tales but with those tree-like limbs on its back wings.

"That's the Ania queen. Think of her colony like how a bee queen overlooks a bee colony," the Doctor explained. "What we found on your Earth were stragglers. The RobCo employees have sealed them off in the basement. I can imagine, most of them went docile because they couldn't bear the reality without their queen. It would be like a child growing up without their parents' guidance. Feral, alone, afraid. Because if they weren't…"

He pointed at the screen, now showing a room with crystals growing over the metallic floor, walls, and ceiling.

"You're containing them. For what purpose?" Jocelyn asked.

"To save them. Icarus is a research station. While the planet's impossible for colonization due to its sulfuric atmosphere and constant volcanic eruptions, its unique minerals make anyone willing to harvest the planet and exploit its inhabitants for a quick buck," Alex added. "But the Ania are dangerous. Some of Montreal's men were injured one time when one of the big ones broke out."

"Montreal?" the Doctor asked incredulously. "That's a bit of a silly name, isn't it?"

"Max Montreal. He's the Chief Head of Security. Bit of an arse, but that's his job," Alex answered. "Outside of that, he's pretty cool. You just have to get used to it."

The Doctor had his hand on his chin as he contemplated his answers. After a moment, he said, "Take me to the planet. We still need to find out what's wrong with the Ania hive queen."

"I'll come along," Jocelyn added.

The Doctor shook his head. "That would be nice, but no. I have to do this the only way I know how."

"And that is?"

"Talk some sense into it," he stated, shrugging. "Well, in a way, I suppose. Trust me on this one, okay?" Despite the Doctor giving her a wink and a smile, she still wasn't quite so certain.

"You certainly have this inspiring effect on people, Doctor," Alexander commented before looking at her. "What about you, then?"

Jocelyn looked at the administrator. "I guess I'll help take care of these… Cybermen."

"Okay," Alex acknowledged with a nod. "You'll rendezvous with OMI and Dr. Sami Yoko. They'll fill you in on the—"

"Wait. Stop. Stop right there." The Doctor pointed at the administrator. "OMI? What's OMI?"

"Omni Mutual Intelligence for short. They're mostly into linguistics and communication, but everything else? You'll be very grateful for them. We paid them for their job, by the way." Alex cleared his throat. "Then it's settled, I take it?"

Both the Wanderer and the Doctor confirmed their decision. "Yes," they said separately.

"Max and his team will provide you with backup, Doctor." Alex tapped on the right side of his head, pressing his fingers against an earpiece. "Max, get your team ready and set up an expedition. The Doctor will join you in a moment."

And with that, the administrator and the Doctor made their leave. Jocelyn's eyes followed the Doctor and Alex before looking back at the blue sun and the planet. She still tried to wrap around what she agreed to. It had been years since she was being all heroic, doing big things for everyone, saving lives and all that.

"I have a bad feeling about this," she said to no one in particular.

Planet: Ania
System: Icarus
Cluster: Rico
Type: Rock
Mass: .8 Earth Mass
Orbital Distance: 25 AU
Orbital Period: 12 Earth Years
Keplerian Ratio: 0.5-1.5, varying on time of year
Radius: 4,103.19 km (2549 miles)
Day Length: 8 Earth Hours
Atmospheric Pressure: 1 atm
Surface Temperature: 50 ° C
Surface Gravity: 0.56 g
Satellites: n/a

The Doctor sat in the back of the shuttle, his body bracing against the harness as he was sandwiched between two of Max's security team members. The shuttle itself was small, only enough to fit a dozen people.

Save for him and Max Montreal, everybody's armor was the same; camo gray with padding all over their bodies and armed with blocky pulse rifles. The Doctor had his orange hazmat suit, or a spacesuit as he insisted to Clara one time.

One moment, Montreal, a broad-jawed, black-haired man in armor fancier than the others, was ready to make a speech. Next, alarms blared out as a sudden force brought the shuttle out of course. Max flew off his feet with a surprised yelp, his hands maintaining a firm grip on the railing planted on the ceiling as the others rocked forward and collided with the harnesses.

A long, crystalized limb smashed through the front, crushing the pilot into nothingness before he could do anything. The limb retracted, showing three long, giant talons as it disappeared into the green mist.

"Ah hell, that's the queen!" the pilot exclaimed with wide eyes through his visor. "Better hope we make the landing!"

The shuttle landed on solid ground. Every piece that still hung on the shuttle broke off with each bounce before it came to a grinding halt. The Doctor looked up after swinging the harness up, finding Max checking on the others. With the front gone, a fourth of the team went missing. Everyone else was too injured to move.

Worse yet were cracks forming on the Doctor's faceplate and Max took notice. He gasped to breathe for air. "Let me get that fixed right now." The security chief went for a container nearby that read 'Repair gel'. Swinging it open, he grabbed a canister and sprayed the gel on the faceplate. Within seconds, the cracks vanished.

The Doctor let out a gasp as he found himself able to breathe again. "Thank you."

"Just doing my job."

A roar bellowed and echoed outside the wreckage of a shuttle, causing the ground to shake. The Doctor went past Max and hopped down from the ship. He looked upward, finding the massive crystal creature raising its head to the sky, its jaw with its many, many teeth wide open.

The Doctor knew this problem was far larger than anyone would realize.

Back at the station…

The elevator raced down. Jocelyn noticed it was slower than she thought. Was it just her or did these Cybermen sabotage it somehow?

She was alone in this circular and nearly pristine elevator. She felt cramped in her power armor. Only the transparent door in front of her gave her the view of the station's inner works, and that was very brief as each floor sped by. She wasn't certain if she could tolerate that cheerful bit of music looping on repeat. How anyone could tolerate that for so long would be a mystery to her. Still, she had occupied the time by checking her weapons.

The Wanderer brought up her holorifle and cocked it. Inside, the barrel was filled with four fusion cells, enough for a full round before reloading. That alone brought relief to her.

As she was about to check on her plasma pistol, the Glock-like MPLX Novasurge, a sound chime on an interface next to the door. She brought her hand up in front of it, only to yank it back somewhat when the interface brought forth a moving image of a woman in a uniform like Alexander's but red. The Japanese woman looked young, somewhere in her twenties, with fair skin and dark brown hair.

"Hello? This is Dr. Yoki Sami, chief engineer," the woman spoke, looking at Jocelyn. "Are you receiving this?" Her form flickered and simmered.

Jocelyn's hand tapped on the interface, the button reading 'respond'. "Signal's a little spotty, but I read you loud and clear," she replied.

"We need help with—" The engineer's image flickered once again. "—ybermen have sabotaged the—Only way to disable the overload is at the reactor—."

Jocelyn's eyes grew wide under her helmet as worry started to set in. If what she inferred was right, then not only would many people die, but the station's destruction would certainly cause chaos in its vicinity. "Are you and OMI safe?" she asked.

"I'm sorry? I didn't catch that."

"Are you two somewhere safe?" Jocelyn repeated.

"Yeah, but not for long. I—"

There was a booming sound playing through the speakers, soon followed by the elevator rating for several seconds. Jocelyn stumbled as she lost her footing for a second. As she regained her balance, she saw the chief engineer's expression on her face turned into that of fear.

"Oh no…" Sami muttered as she turned her head toward the source of the noise. The quality of the engineer's image worsened to a point the Wanderer could barely tell what was going on.

"Dr. Yoko, just hold on as long as you can!" the Lone Wanderer exclaimed. She tried to say more, only for Sami's image to vanish.

Jocelyn let out a sullen sigh as her shoulders slumped. She hoped the elevator would bring her in time. After what seemed like minutes to her, it thankfully did stop as the door slid open in front of her.

"Now arriving at Engineering," a cheerful masculine voice toned out of the intercom.

She stepped outside of the elevator, the stack of holorifle pressed against her shoulder. It was a good thing this weapon had night-vision; there was little in the way of lighting. Looking down the scope, she found the elevator had brought her down to a three-way hallway, each walkway fashioned by a series of pipes and thick wiring. Some of the pipes were leaking with thick steam, obscuring her vision. Moving around a little informed her it shouldn't be cramped for the size of her armor.

But which way should she go? Left, right, or forward? What did Alexander say about which way to go? "As soon as you get out of the elevator, take a left," she remembered the administrator instructing her. "That way, it should give you easy passage to the main reactor room, but hurry. We don't have much time.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed a dark but small sphere hanging down from the ceiling. A blinking red light had followed her every step. The Wanderer couldn't help but wonder who was watching her through that camera. Was it the administrator safely at his office while keeping tabs on any survivors on the station, or was it the Cybermen tracking them down?

At the bottom of her heart, she hoped it was Alexander. He brought himself to direct anyone still alive to the escape pods, should the worst come to pass. Doctor, you better make it through this.

Taking careful steps on the walkway, she noticed a faint red glow traveling through the little holes below her feet. At every passing moment, the light grew slightly brighter. There was also an echo throughout the hallways, and Jocelyn could barely hear a deep, booming voice blaring out, "Main reactor room compromised! Requesting repairs!"

She picked up the pace, dashing down the walkway. She didn't care if the noises she made would attract the attention of either the Cybermen or the Ania. Or maybe both. As cliché as it sounded, it was a race against time. Not only was the chief engineer and the robot in danger, but the reactor would also soon go into a meltdown.

It wasn't long before she couldn't take another step without something or someone shooting at her. As she entered a rather large room with rows of consoles, interfaces, and construction lights, a blue plasma beam grazed her left shoulder, chipping the top of the piece.

"Del-ete. Del-ete!" a monotonous voice chanted.

The Lone Wanderer looked up and saw three Cybermen aiming their wrist-mounted guns at her as they descended a wide staircase in unison.

Jocelyn aimed with her holorifle and activated her Pip-Boy's VATS—Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System—increasing her accuracy. Her perception of time had slowed down, adrenaline pumping through her body, her heartbeats pounding against her eardrums.

Two shots and two clusters of holographic cubes whistled through the air, leaving behind blasts in quick succession as they flew straight into the one standing in the middle. The Cyberman's head combusted into a million pieces made of metal and brain matter flying in all directions. The rest of its body fell and slid down the stairs. The others paid no mind to their fallen comrade and continued their push.

They both fired at the same time. Before she knew it, both shots hit her, one in the chest and the other in the head. She stumbled back and there was a loud crack as she closed her eyes for a second. She shook off her daze and opened her eyes, finding her visor had cracked open, exposing her now-angry right eye.

It will be a long night for her to fix her power armor once this was done.

With a furrowed brow and clenched teeth, the Wanderer charged forward, hip-firing her rifle at the nearest Cyberman in the chest before slamming into it with her right shoulder. The impact had sent it rolling towards the console, smashing into it as sparks flew all around. "We… are… superior…" That Cyberman twitched and stuttered as electricity overloaded the cyborg's systems before giving it a quick death.

In a single motion, her super sledge in one hand and her rifle in the other, she swung the hammer at the remaining Cyberman with one hand, and its chest caved inward. For a second, the Cyberman looked down at its chest as if it was shocked by the turn of events.

"This can-not be… p-p-oss-i-ble…" With its broken arms, the Cyberman tried to fire before it met its fate, its head ripped clean off from the swing of her hammer.

People said she was fierce in battle, but with some cybernetic implants and the T-60 power armor, she bet she could wrestle a Super Mutant Behemoth to the ground and make it cry uncle.

With the last Cyberman down and out, she left the room, loading two fusion cells into her gun. They were stalling her, but she made short work of them.

Now back in the dark hallway, there was a crunching sound as she took a stop. She stopped and lifted her foot, finding that crystals were growing on the metallic floor, walls, and ceiling.

As impossible as it seemed, Jocelyn couldn't help but find it fascinating somehow.

She followed the trail of crystals, which traveled down the hallway before taking a sharp right. She wasn't quite sure if she could follow the trail, but the sounds of gunfire and growls convinced her otherwise.

She followed the trail, and it led her to a wide long path that went to a door sealed by the crystals trailing from the ground. There was a flashing yellow light at the top, with a pack of feral Ania growling as they closed in on two people, one human in a red jumpsuit and one not human. One of the Ania laid on the floor, seemingly dead.

Dr. Yoko was there, slumped against the wall behind her with a pistol in her hand. She was alive but injured. There were pieces of glass sticking out of her right leg. As for her robotic companion, the best way she could describe the robot was a person with a terminal for their head. They wore a black-and-orange padded jumpsuit with gloves of matching colors, the black on their palms. Only the terminal screen displayed a pair of simple eyes and a line for a mouth, with fins at the base of their face.

"Oh, hello!" The robot's screen flashed a smile as they noticed the Wanderer stepping in. The glass creatures also turned their attention to her. "I am OMI, short for Omni Mutual Intelligence, and we would be very grateful if you would help us."

Jocelyn didn't say anything as she readied herself for combat. However, she realized not only the Ania had their attention on her, but they went past her in an instant. Her brow furrowing under her helmet, she looked over her shoulder, finding a lone figure standing at the other end of the hallway with a staff in hand, the lighting behind them casting a great shadow before them.

As the shadowy figure went into a combat stance, the staff in both hands and to their side, the glass creatures pounced at the figure, only for one of them to be knocked aside with a swing of the staff. The grunts the figure made sounded masculine with a slight metallic echo to it as another Ania leaped onto the stranger.

Seeing it clawing and chewing on the stranger, the Wanderer aimed her Holorifle and, with the help of VATS, fired once at the glass creature. As the creature turned its back against her, a cluster of holographic cubes collided on it, and it let out a pained yelp. Its grip now weakened, the stranger tossed aside the Ania to his left, crashing into the pipes.

For a second, Jocelyn thought she saw a flash of silver through her scope. Lowering her file, the light flashed a bright yellow, confirming her assumption. In front of her was very much a Cyberman, much to her dismay. Unlike the others she fought and killed, however, this one had what seemed to be silver clothing underneath his chest piece. His head was rounder and squarish than the usual Cyberman.

"Thanks for helping me out." Something about this tipped her off. His voice wasn't like the monotonous, robotic, and sing-song ones the rest of the Cybermen have.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear…" she heard OMI muttered.

Jocelyn turned around to look at Sami as she tried to get up to her feet, seething in pain, the look in her eyes turned wide-eyed when she looked up at the stranger. "Oh hell! Cyberman!" she cried and raised her pistol at the strange Cyberman.

The Cyberman dropped his staff like a bag of bricks, the clanging sound it made echoing down the hallway, and raised his hands in the air. "Whoa, okay! Let's not get hasty here! If it helps, I will surrender."

Jocelyn just stood there, stunned and silent, as she gave the Cyberman a strange look. Well, if anyone could see the look on her face underneath her helmet. She was not expecting that response from a Cyberman, of all things. "What?" she asked, confused. "That doesn't seem…"

"Logical, right?" the Cyberman guessed, finishing her sentence. He chuckled slightly, which confused Jocelyn even further. "It's what I've told the Doctor once a long time ago: to hell with logic!"

His attention was then brought to something moving around, like someone sweeping pieces of glass around. Jocelyn, as well as the others, turned around to see a seemingly dead Ania on the floor now standing on its legs.

"Excuse me for a bit." The Cyberman, without warning, swiftly picked up his staff and dashed, leaping over Jocelyn. The sudden force pushing her down made her grunt a little, and struck at the Ania, piercing through its body. The glass creature let out a death wail before he pulled the staff out and crushed its head into a million pieces.

He stood up and latched his staff to his back. "Maybe now I can earn your trust."

"That would be wise of us to do so, methinks," OMI agreed, wrapping one of their arms around the engineer's shoulders as the robot and Yoko began walking. "Just one question: who are you?"

"It's Kroton," the Cyberman answered. "So what are you three up to?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Dr. Yoko demanded before nearly tripping on her bad leg.

Even taking a casual look made Jocelyn realize the wound would get infected without treatment. "Don't move, all right?" she requested, gently holding onto Sami's leg. Sami let out a pained grunt in response as Jocelyn dug into her fanny pack and pulled out one of her stimpaks. "Ready?"

Sami stared at the syringe incredulously. "What's this?"

"It's a stimpak. Speeds up your healing process," Jocelyn explained. "Now hold still."

The engineer flinched at first, but she relented and relaxed, allowing Jocelyn to gingerly drive the syringe into her forearm. The red liquid inside traveled to her bloodstream, and the cuts and gashes all over her leg all washed away, pushing the shards out as the skin on her leg stitched itself back together like cloth in a sewing machine.

"That's… an interesting medical application," Kroton commented, watching the engineer taking one step, then two, before continuing onward at a hurried pace.

"Indeed," Sami agreed before glancing at Kroton. "Look, I appreciate you didn't attack us. Right now, we need all the help we can get. We need to get to the main reactor room. Your brethren…" She caught her breath before continuing. "…the Cybermen have sabotaged it. The sooner we get there, the more likely we can stop it before it can cause catastrophic damage to the station."

"You'd think you would have some sort of safety measures, innit?" Kroton replied with a shrug.

Two dots and a straight line appeared on OMI's screen. They didn't seem to be amused at the sentient Cyberman's remark. "How rude of you!"

The robot passed by, glancing at the Cyberman before catching up to the engineer. Before Jocelyn could catch up with the others, she looked back at the Cyberman while standing a good foot or so taller than him. "You know the Doctor?"

"Indeed, I do," the renegade Cyberman answered. "Long story."