Shaker of Bones abased himself at the sculpted, shining feet of his idol.
"Groveling will not solve our new problems Shaman." The voice rumbled low and hollow like a cold demon's speaking from the bottom of a metal well.
Shaker lived up to his name as his body quaked with fear and awe. He didn't stand. He kept his eyes averted. He listened intently, with great trepidation of a coming punishment.
"The agents still have Red Hand's ear. The war that should be commencing...isn't. Your people will be slaves to the white man if you fail me Shaman. But you will not live to see your failure. Do you understand?"
The Shaman nodded, his chin bouncing against the chilly metal floor. "I understand Silver Totem."
The inflection of the deep, rumbling, metallic voice never changed. Predictions of disaster, predictions of prosperity, predictions of victory or defeat where made in the same ominous monotone. The Shaman had come to measure the contents of the words, when dealing with Silver Totem, and not to listen for the rise and fall, timber, and tone that you normally used to detect the speaker's feelings on a matter.
"When the white men are at war with the tribe, the other Silver Totems will come from the heavens and protect your land. Protect the gold in the mountains. This is our promise to you." Silver Totem intoned. "But if there is no war. If a treaty allows the white army to guard the white miners who steal your gold, then it will be difficult for us to protect you."
The old man shuddered with anger...and fear.
"The agents would be dead or gone by now if the new whites hadn't come! The tribe was ready for war and the stranger called The Doctor..."
"The Doctor?" asked Silver Totem. The tall, shining figure turned from the shaman and touched the walls of silver that flashed with colored lights that made up a large part of the inside of the special teepee Silver Totem had the tribe construct for him. "The Doctor, you said?"
Shaker looked up and nodded coming up to his knees before his god.
"He came here with a girl called Leela. She battled our strongest brave and won, so they all were allowed to live by Red Hand's command." The old man swallowed hard. "But this "Doctor" made the girl fight, instead of the agent, West, in exchange for a promise."
"What was this promise?" The words rumbled like doom.
"That...if she won...that they would be allowed to meet you."
The silence was weighted. Like a stone pressing on the old man's chest as he watched the cold, unmoving, lines of Silver Totem for any reaction. It became too much.
"I can kill them myself, if I have to!" I will cut their throats as they sleep in their teepee! I...I..." he stammered helplessly.
"No." came the answer. "I will see them....I will take care of this problem."
The shaman looked surprised, but the enormous relief that poured over him made him too weak to question his luck. He bowed again and scuttled from the tent.
"I will bring them when the sun rises."
"Yes" intoned the deep voice on the other side of the tent flap. "Bring The Doctor to me."
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As the moon rose to the highest part of the sky The Doctor sat by the fire with the two men and sipped the fatty broth he had ladled into a tin cup. He had been given back his sonic screwdriver, his TARDIS key and most importantly...his yoyo and he watched the flames die down in the small ring of stone and pondered the situation he found himself in.
Not that he pondered it too closely. It wasn't unexpected anymore. He hated to admit it, and he would never admit it aloud, but he felt that if these situations didn't find him like a magnet, he would be tempted to find them himself. Whether that was fair to his friends or not, he tried not to question. It was his "job" so to speak. If they accompanied him then they were, technically, on the same mission with him and anything that benefited his homegrown mission, benefited the universal whole...sad as sometimes the results have been for those he has called , friend, student, child, or even spouse.
He gave himself, quite unknowingly, this mission of guardian, protector, straight setter of wrongs, and friend of humanity. It was as natural to him after 800 or so years, as breathing, or the rhythm of his hearts. He could, with no difficulty, take Leela and leave now. But he knew he wouldn't. Once more he propelled himself and someone he cared for towards an uncertain future.
The man, West, sat to his right, having returned from putting the exhausted Leela to bed. He tried not to smile at the discomfort the man obviously felt. He was a very straight-laced chap, handsome, athletic...a lot like Harry...but more serious, much more violent...and smarter. The other man...Gordon...Artemus...he intrigued The Doctor more. Handsome himself, with a dramatic flair the Time lord relished, his dark eyes watched The Doctor with an anticipatory shine and a keen intelligence The Doctor found all too rare in his travels.
"You're not from around these parts...are you?"
"By 'these parts' you mean this continent? This region? Or This planet?" smiled The Doctor.
"I'm not a fanciful man Doctor, so it's painful to admit it...but 'this planet'." The man chuckled with the air of someone hoping to be convinced he's wrong and his question was a joke.
Not obliging, The Doctor answered. "Then you are correct. Leela and I aren't from around 'these parts'." He smiled. "Though Earth is, by far, my most favorite planet!"
The man blinked, startled, by the strange confirmation. James West interrupted.
"You'll have to excuse us...but we've had an encounter already with people claiming to be from another planet." The skeptic in West more easy to see. "And these folks turned out to be regular old thieves."
"From Earth?" asked The Doctor, interested.
"Of course, from Earth." West said.
"Wellll..." The Doctor said seriously. "Leela is a mean tempered beastie but never a thief, and neither am I." He sipped his broth, lowering it to add casually. "And we're not from Earth...though Leela's ancestors were."
"Would you care to offer any proof?" West harrumphed.
The Doctor looked up at the moon, which was on a descending arch now and stood up and yawned. "Much too tired. Besides...I fear tomorrow will demonstrate quite enough. Goodnight." And he turned and walked towards the teepee they would be sharing, momentarily put off, as he often was, by the reality that it was not larger on the inside as outside.
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The day dawned with James West, Artemus Gordon, and the girl Leela finding The Doctor helping some giggling women grind corn on stones next to the restoked morning fire. He seemed at ease with the task and the women were impressed by his skill and taken with his jovial persona. He saw them approach and stood up, dusting off his clothes and making his apologies and strode over to meet them.
Before they could greet each other Shaker of Bones and four sour looking braves, including Owl's Eyes, stepped forward.
"You will all come with us now." He said brusquely. "Silver Totem waits for you...Doctor."
The Doctor didn't look surprised, which worried Jim.
"Shouldn't we wait for Red Hand?" he asked.
The Shaman looked scornful. "Red Hand is not allowed to visit Silver Totem. If you wish to see him you will come now...or leave here now. Which do you decide?"
"Take us to your leader..." quipped The Doctor with a chuckle. Jim couldn't help feeling it was a forced laugh. As they walked across the camp toward the far outskirts and the dip in the valley, he spoke to Jim. "Be ready to run...do not let Leela attack Silver Totem and do not go near him or use your weapons on him either. They will have no effect."
The teepee was enormous. Twice as large as the council teepee. Obviously a special construction and once the flap opened Jim could see why. The teepee was not the true structure. They entered a teepee but stood inside a metal, domed, place...room...building. Jim wasn't sure what to call it. It reminded him of a sleeker version of one of Loveless' many labs. Jim immediately looked around for his tiny nemesis, but no one was there. Artemus tried not to reach out and touch the blinking panels and displays with difficulty. And while Jim was not as scientifically savvy as Artie he knew that, somehow, something was not quite...right.
Loveless' inventions had an artistic flair to them...which the smooth unseamed metal dome lacked. The blinking lights and displays were recessed, without seam, in the metal as though grown there, and there was none of the flourish that the diminutive madman loved so much. The room was so smooth and clean of line and design that Jim actually missed the indentation in the far wall, beside a bank of blinking panels that turned out to be, apparently, another room.
The Doctor tensed beside him and laid an arm on Leela drawing her behind him slightly which she took offense to with a scowl. Then Jim saw the motion that The Doctor had somehow sensed before him and he laid his hand on his revolver. He remembered the tall man's warning, but for the moment he drew comfort from the presence of his weapon.
"Did you lose your way Cyberleader?" asked The Doctor in a clear clipped voice which reverberated around the room. "You're not due for your next attack on Earth for another 57 years."
West felt the vibrations through his boots and watched the door warily as the motion that caught his eye became a form that made his blood turn to ice.
As tall as The Doctor, the figure walked with an impossibly erect, and slightly stiff gait. Like an officer's gait while performing a ceremonial review of troops. The creature came into view. Jim immediately shot The Doctor and then Artie a look of disbelief...of hopeful incredulousness. Begging the stranger to tell him this was elaborate bit of trickery. But no. This wasn't a suit of armor, this figure of poured and flexible silver metal, and this...wasn't...human.
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Artemus Gordon stared at the creature. Bi-pedal..mansize and limbed, though as sexless as a plank. Smooth, matte silver and glistening metallic in places, the face or it held Artie's attention though it was expressionless and mask-like. Like the Kachina Doll Owl Eye's had described it as. Flat. Slightly oversized. The mouth was a mere two inch slash below where a nose should be, but wasn't. The eyes were two red, balefully glowing circles and there was no hair...just a helmet that appeared to be part of the creature and the only part of the creature a color other then silver. Two coils of thick tubing in a matte black finish on either side of the blank and chilling face. The only other feature that was distinct to the smooth body was a small square box with thing vented slashes that sat in the center of the thing's broad chest, a small blue light blinking in a rhythm that made Artie think of breathing.
"What the hell is it?" he hissed to The Doctor. "Some sort of automaton?"
The Doctor said nothing.
"I am Cyberleader 4 of the Cyberman Collective 2 2 5 Alpha Zed. I am not an automaton. I am part of the cyber-organic mind unit sent to assist the eventual assimilation the inferior creatures of this planet into the perfected collective." The rumbling voice spoke in words that suggested indignation but there was no inflection to indicate the degree, or even IF this was a correct assumption. In any case Artie didn't like the sound of it.
"But something went wrong...didn't it Cyberleader?" The Doctor smiled grimly. "Your ship is damaged...you are alone here. You are cut off from the collective mind...aren't you?"
The metal man was either not versed in maintaining secrets, or did not recognize an interrogation when it saw one, or it was supremely confident and unconcerned with what they knew of its situation. "That is correct. The temporal functions of my time ship have ceased. My reports to the collective have not been...productive. I have modified my programming to secure the gold in the region, and preserve anonymity until the collective sends a rescue ship."
The Doctor nodded as though commiserating with the lonely traveler, but his words were far from sympathetic.
"So you're busy betraying people and killing people in order to keep yourself hidden."
"Correct." The creature rumbled. "But that is unnecessary now that you are here...Doctor."
The Doctor's eyes widened just a tad.
"You will give me your time ship Doctor or I shall kill your companions."
"Time ship!" Artie and Jim both exclaimed.
The Doctor ignored them. "I'm afraid that is impossible Cyberleader. Since I'm quite aware that you will kill them in any case."
The creature looked at the Doctor without motion There was a sudden whirring and a beam of light lanced from the red eyes and Artie and the others watched in horror as Shaker of Bones opened his mouth to scream but crumbled to the floor a blackened starburst patten burned into his chest.
"You are correct Doctor." Cyberleader nodded stiffly. "You have used your Time Lord technology to meddle in the affairs of the Cybermen one too many times, you are an enemy of the collective in whatever new face you appear in and your companions are recorded in our history to be as big a danger to us because of your influence. While you exist, it is the duty of the collective to identify and destroy you...and those who follow you." The red light began to build in the creature's eyes again and Artie had no idea who would be its next target. "But the indigenous life forms of this time are not my concern for now. Return me to my time Doctor and they will be spared. Only you...shall be eliminated."
The Doctor bent his head low and seemed to contemplate the demand. Leela bristled next to him and the creature's eyes flared and Jim, instinctive to the nature of a showdown, in whatever form it takes, recognized signs only a gunslinger could puzzle out. He grabbed the girl's arm and yanked her backwards and spun her out the tent flap to the outside just as another bolt of red light burned the vacated air beside The Doctor.
As the heated air cooled Artie moved like the trained magician he was and threw the ball he had retrieved from his sleeve at the creature's feet and it erupted in thick blue smoke. Another flash of red light burned Artie across the right shoulder as he reached for the Doctor to extract him from the teepee as well but the odd man took aim with the strange metal stick tipped with the red crystal and a whine pierced the air and the blasts of red stopped long enough for them all to escape the strange "ship" and be half way to the tree line at the bottom of the mountain slope before Silver Totem decided it was time to leave his anonymity behind and leave his teepee in an attempt to chase them.
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"Groveling will not solve our new problems Shaman." The voice rumbled low and hollow like a cold demon's speaking from the bottom of a metal well.
Shaker lived up to his name as his body quaked with fear and awe. He didn't stand. He kept his eyes averted. He listened intently, with great trepidation of a coming punishment.
"The agents still have Red Hand's ear. The war that should be commencing...isn't. Your people will be slaves to the white man if you fail me Shaman. But you will not live to see your failure. Do you understand?"
The Shaman nodded, his chin bouncing against the chilly metal floor. "I understand Silver Totem."
The inflection of the deep, rumbling, metallic voice never changed. Predictions of disaster, predictions of prosperity, predictions of victory or defeat where made in the same ominous monotone. The Shaman had come to measure the contents of the words, when dealing with Silver Totem, and not to listen for the rise and fall, timber, and tone that you normally used to detect the speaker's feelings on a matter.
"When the white men are at war with the tribe, the other Silver Totems will come from the heavens and protect your land. Protect the gold in the mountains. This is our promise to you." Silver Totem intoned. "But if there is no war. If a treaty allows the white army to guard the white miners who steal your gold, then it will be difficult for us to protect you."
The old man shuddered with anger...and fear.
"The agents would be dead or gone by now if the new whites hadn't come! The tribe was ready for war and the stranger called The Doctor..."
"The Doctor?" asked Silver Totem. The tall, shining figure turned from the shaman and touched the walls of silver that flashed with colored lights that made up a large part of the inside of the special teepee Silver Totem had the tribe construct for him. "The Doctor, you said?"
Shaker looked up and nodded coming up to his knees before his god.
"He came here with a girl called Leela. She battled our strongest brave and won, so they all were allowed to live by Red Hand's command." The old man swallowed hard. "But this "Doctor" made the girl fight, instead of the agent, West, in exchange for a promise."
"What was this promise?" The words rumbled like doom.
"That...if she won...that they would be allowed to meet you."
The silence was weighted. Like a stone pressing on the old man's chest as he watched the cold, unmoving, lines of Silver Totem for any reaction. It became too much.
"I can kill them myself, if I have to!" I will cut their throats as they sleep in their teepee! I...I..." he stammered helplessly.
"No." came the answer. "I will see them....I will take care of this problem."
The shaman looked surprised, but the enormous relief that poured over him made him too weak to question his luck. He bowed again and scuttled from the tent.
"I will bring them when the sun rises."
"Yes" intoned the deep voice on the other side of the tent flap. "Bring The Doctor to me."
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As the moon rose to the highest part of the sky The Doctor sat by the fire with the two men and sipped the fatty broth he had ladled into a tin cup. He had been given back his sonic screwdriver, his TARDIS key and most importantly...his yoyo and he watched the flames die down in the small ring of stone and pondered the situation he found himself in.
Not that he pondered it too closely. It wasn't unexpected anymore. He hated to admit it, and he would never admit it aloud, but he felt that if these situations didn't find him like a magnet, he would be tempted to find them himself. Whether that was fair to his friends or not, he tried not to question. It was his "job" so to speak. If they accompanied him then they were, technically, on the same mission with him and anything that benefited his homegrown mission, benefited the universal whole...sad as sometimes the results have been for those he has called , friend, student, child, or even spouse.
He gave himself, quite unknowingly, this mission of guardian, protector, straight setter of wrongs, and friend of humanity. It was as natural to him after 800 or so years, as breathing, or the rhythm of his hearts. He could, with no difficulty, take Leela and leave now. But he knew he wouldn't. Once more he propelled himself and someone he cared for towards an uncertain future.
The man, West, sat to his right, having returned from putting the exhausted Leela to bed. He tried not to smile at the discomfort the man obviously felt. He was a very straight-laced chap, handsome, athletic...a lot like Harry...but more serious, much more violent...and smarter. The other man...Gordon...Artemus...he intrigued The Doctor more. Handsome himself, with a dramatic flair the Time lord relished, his dark eyes watched The Doctor with an anticipatory shine and a keen intelligence The Doctor found all too rare in his travels.
"You're not from around these parts...are you?"
"By 'these parts' you mean this continent? This region? Or This planet?" smiled The Doctor.
"I'm not a fanciful man Doctor, so it's painful to admit it...but 'this planet'." The man chuckled with the air of someone hoping to be convinced he's wrong and his question was a joke.
Not obliging, The Doctor answered. "Then you are correct. Leela and I aren't from around 'these parts'." He smiled. "Though Earth is, by far, my most favorite planet!"
The man blinked, startled, by the strange confirmation. James West interrupted.
"You'll have to excuse us...but we've had an encounter already with people claiming to be from another planet." The skeptic in West more easy to see. "And these folks turned out to be regular old thieves."
"From Earth?" asked The Doctor, interested.
"Of course, from Earth." West said.
"Wellll..." The Doctor said seriously. "Leela is a mean tempered beastie but never a thief, and neither am I." He sipped his broth, lowering it to add casually. "And we're not from Earth...though Leela's ancestors were."
"Would you care to offer any proof?" West harrumphed.
The Doctor looked up at the moon, which was on a descending arch now and stood up and yawned. "Much too tired. Besides...I fear tomorrow will demonstrate quite enough. Goodnight." And he turned and walked towards the teepee they would be sharing, momentarily put off, as he often was, by the reality that it was not larger on the inside as outside.
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The day dawned with James West, Artemus Gordon, and the girl Leela finding The Doctor helping some giggling women grind corn on stones next to the restoked morning fire. He seemed at ease with the task and the women were impressed by his skill and taken with his jovial persona. He saw them approach and stood up, dusting off his clothes and making his apologies and strode over to meet them.
Before they could greet each other Shaker of Bones and four sour looking braves, including Owl's Eyes, stepped forward.
"You will all come with us now." He said brusquely. "Silver Totem waits for you...Doctor."
The Doctor didn't look surprised, which worried Jim.
"Shouldn't we wait for Red Hand?" he asked.
The Shaman looked scornful. "Red Hand is not allowed to visit Silver Totem. If you wish to see him you will come now...or leave here now. Which do you decide?"
"Take us to your leader..." quipped The Doctor with a chuckle. Jim couldn't help feeling it was a forced laugh. As they walked across the camp toward the far outskirts and the dip in the valley, he spoke to Jim. "Be ready to run...do not let Leela attack Silver Totem and do not go near him or use your weapons on him either. They will have no effect."
The teepee was enormous. Twice as large as the council teepee. Obviously a special construction and once the flap opened Jim could see why. The teepee was not the true structure. They entered a teepee but stood inside a metal, domed, place...room...building. Jim wasn't sure what to call it. It reminded him of a sleeker version of one of Loveless' many labs. Jim immediately looked around for his tiny nemesis, but no one was there. Artemus tried not to reach out and touch the blinking panels and displays with difficulty. And while Jim was not as scientifically savvy as Artie he knew that, somehow, something was not quite...right.
Loveless' inventions had an artistic flair to them...which the smooth unseamed metal dome lacked. The blinking lights and displays were recessed, without seam, in the metal as though grown there, and there was none of the flourish that the diminutive madman loved so much. The room was so smooth and clean of line and design that Jim actually missed the indentation in the far wall, beside a bank of blinking panels that turned out to be, apparently, another room.
The Doctor tensed beside him and laid an arm on Leela drawing her behind him slightly which she took offense to with a scowl. Then Jim saw the motion that The Doctor had somehow sensed before him and he laid his hand on his revolver. He remembered the tall man's warning, but for the moment he drew comfort from the presence of his weapon.
"Did you lose your way Cyberleader?" asked The Doctor in a clear clipped voice which reverberated around the room. "You're not due for your next attack on Earth for another 57 years."
West felt the vibrations through his boots and watched the door warily as the motion that caught his eye became a form that made his blood turn to ice.
As tall as The Doctor, the figure walked with an impossibly erect, and slightly stiff gait. Like an officer's gait while performing a ceremonial review of troops. The creature came into view. Jim immediately shot The Doctor and then Artie a look of disbelief...of hopeful incredulousness. Begging the stranger to tell him this was elaborate bit of trickery. But no. This wasn't a suit of armor, this figure of poured and flexible silver metal, and this...wasn't...human.
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Artemus Gordon stared at the creature. Bi-pedal..mansize and limbed, though as sexless as a plank. Smooth, matte silver and glistening metallic in places, the face or it held Artie's attention though it was expressionless and mask-like. Like the Kachina Doll Owl Eye's had described it as. Flat. Slightly oversized. The mouth was a mere two inch slash below where a nose should be, but wasn't. The eyes were two red, balefully glowing circles and there was no hair...just a helmet that appeared to be part of the creature and the only part of the creature a color other then silver. Two coils of thick tubing in a matte black finish on either side of the blank and chilling face. The only other feature that was distinct to the smooth body was a small square box with thing vented slashes that sat in the center of the thing's broad chest, a small blue light blinking in a rhythm that made Artie think of breathing.
"What the hell is it?" he hissed to The Doctor. "Some sort of automaton?"
The Doctor said nothing.
"I am Cyberleader 4 of the Cyberman Collective 2 2 5 Alpha Zed. I am not an automaton. I am part of the cyber-organic mind unit sent to assist the eventual assimilation the inferior creatures of this planet into the perfected collective." The rumbling voice spoke in words that suggested indignation but there was no inflection to indicate the degree, or even IF this was a correct assumption. In any case Artie didn't like the sound of it.
"But something went wrong...didn't it Cyberleader?" The Doctor smiled grimly. "Your ship is damaged...you are alone here. You are cut off from the collective mind...aren't you?"
The metal man was either not versed in maintaining secrets, or did not recognize an interrogation when it saw one, or it was supremely confident and unconcerned with what they knew of its situation. "That is correct. The temporal functions of my time ship have ceased. My reports to the collective have not been...productive. I have modified my programming to secure the gold in the region, and preserve anonymity until the collective sends a rescue ship."
The Doctor nodded as though commiserating with the lonely traveler, but his words were far from sympathetic.
"So you're busy betraying people and killing people in order to keep yourself hidden."
"Correct." The creature rumbled. "But that is unnecessary now that you are here...Doctor."
The Doctor's eyes widened just a tad.
"You will give me your time ship Doctor or I shall kill your companions."
"Time ship!" Artie and Jim both exclaimed.
The Doctor ignored them. "I'm afraid that is impossible Cyberleader. Since I'm quite aware that you will kill them in any case."
The creature looked at the Doctor without motion There was a sudden whirring and a beam of light lanced from the red eyes and Artie and the others watched in horror as Shaker of Bones opened his mouth to scream but crumbled to the floor a blackened starburst patten burned into his chest.
"You are correct Doctor." Cyberleader nodded stiffly. "You have used your Time Lord technology to meddle in the affairs of the Cybermen one too many times, you are an enemy of the collective in whatever new face you appear in and your companions are recorded in our history to be as big a danger to us because of your influence. While you exist, it is the duty of the collective to identify and destroy you...and those who follow you." The red light began to build in the creature's eyes again and Artie had no idea who would be its next target. "But the indigenous life forms of this time are not my concern for now. Return me to my time Doctor and they will be spared. Only you...shall be eliminated."
The Doctor bent his head low and seemed to contemplate the demand. Leela bristled next to him and the creature's eyes flared and Jim, instinctive to the nature of a showdown, in whatever form it takes, recognized signs only a gunslinger could puzzle out. He grabbed the girl's arm and yanked her backwards and spun her out the tent flap to the outside just as another bolt of red light burned the vacated air beside The Doctor.
As the heated air cooled Artie moved like the trained magician he was and threw the ball he had retrieved from his sleeve at the creature's feet and it erupted in thick blue smoke. Another flash of red light burned Artie across the right shoulder as he reached for the Doctor to extract him from the teepee as well but the odd man took aim with the strange metal stick tipped with the red crystal and a whine pierced the air and the blasts of red stopped long enough for them all to escape the strange "ship" and be half way to the tree line at the bottom of the mountain slope before Silver Totem decided it was time to leave his anonymity behind and leave his teepee in an attempt to chase them.
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