6. Earlier.
As they approach the Tardis, Meran steps ahead of the girls and the Tardis opens to his touch.
They troupe in, and Alyssa needs to put her acquired clothes somewhere.
"Meran, where should I put these clothes?"
"There's a whole Wardrobe section in here; I'll take you there."
"What?" Alyssa almost screeches. "A Wardrobe Section and you didn't tell me?" .
"You didn't ask! And I never thought about it. But now you need somewhere to put your clothes... I'll take you there." He feels suddenly flustered; she's put him on the spot. .
Alyssa follows Meran out of the console room.
They leave Rimba all on her own...
Rimba has heard stories of battles with Cybermen from her parents. They've been friends of Alyssa's family for years, and her father, Ben, would tell her how he was killed by a Cyberman, but had somehow regenerated in time to help the others on that victorious adventure (ref. 12).
Rimba is curious. Do Cybermen actually exist? she thinks.
Then she thinks out loud. "Where do Cybermen live?"
The monitor screen starts to display information about Cybermen to Rimba. She's surprised, then fascinated.
"Where is Cyberium One?" she asks.
The screen overlays information about Cyberium One and exactly where it is.
"Can we go to Cyberium One and have a look at their riches?" she asks.
A strange zizzing noise is audible briefly, then it stops.
The Console screen clears and displays their current position. "Cyberium One" it says boldly and neatly at the top of the screen where previously it had said "Tinsel". Below that it just says "Vaults". The picture on the screen has changed, too, and shows stone vaulted ceilings and stone walls.
A pile of something glinting attracts Rimba's eyes. "What's that?" she asks.
The screen zooms in on the glinting pile and a caption appears, "Gold". The Cyberium One Bank stock of gold!
Rimba is far too tempted to possibly resist racing to the Tardis door and looking out.
The view is the same as on the monitor screen.
As no-one is about, she runs to the pile of gold and picks up a bar of it. It's extremely heavy and she struggles bringing it back to the Tardis. She lays it at the edge of the Console room near the door. Greed glitters in her eyes as she dreams what she might do with it back at home!
Rimba thinks out loud again. "How can we get all of that pile in here?" she asks.
The zizzing sound is heard briefly again, but this time the whole stack of gold appears in the middle of the Tardis Control room.
But greed again grips Rimba. Wrong as it is, she again thinks out loud. "Can we put this gold in my house at home?"
The zizzing is heard, and the Console screen shows her bedroom at home. The gold is still in the Control room with her, so she thinks something's not working. "Bother!"
Rimba's sense of adventure takes over. "Can we go to Cyberium One again, please, but not to the vaults - they're too boring!"
The pile of gold disappears from the Tardis Console room. She sighs, but at least she still has sight of the one piece of gold she'd carried. She little imagines that the gold stack was left behind in her bedroom at home! .
When the Tardis left her bedroom it left the gold behind… But Rimba doesn't recognise that.
A dull grey-brown path passes near where the Tardis has parked itself, just a short distance away. A group of Cybermen are trudging along it headed up by another Cyberman. Could that be real?
More cautiously, Rimba steps to the door, opens it a little and peers out. She can hear the trudging boots in the mud.
She closes the door again! Her heart is beating much faster and more furiously than she had ever known it.
This is a real adventure!
Later.
Chloe stares at the monitor screen in horror.
What are they possibly doing on Cyberium One?
Where are the others? Where's her sister Alyssa? Where's Uncle Meran?
She dashes to the kitchen but there's nobody there. She dashes to the sleeping quarters, but there's nobody there.
More thoughtfully, she dashes back to the Control room and approaches the Control console.
"Tardis, where are Alyssa and Meran?" she asks.
Two dots appear on the screen, moving slowly away from the middle of the screen along a mud path.
"Tardis, can you show me what's happening, please?"
The screen then shows a hundred Cybermen who have surrounded a few humans and are marching them towards a fearsomely well-fortified castle.
Chloe groans. Her sister and uncle have been captured by Cybermen. This looks hopeless!
Can Chloe do anything against the might of the Cyber Army?