The Doctor did not seem too concerned about the arrival of the Cybermen. After being alerted to the attack on the TARDIS, he was determined to find it and no army of thugs was going to get in his way. The Cyberman Police force did not pillage the camp - they merely stood firm encircling it. From amongst the mass of metal men appeared a blonde haired man wearing a uniform that signified high office within the Police force. The man signalled to the three closest Cybermen to round up the Doctor, Martha and Jack. He appeared unconcerned about the rest of the camp folk.
Two hours later the Doctor, Martha and Jack were back inside the compound. This time, however, they had been taken to the Presidential palace for an audience with the President himself. Standing beside them were three Cybermen, who kept a close eye on the strangers. The Doctor sat impatiently, hoping to have an audience with the President - he did enjoy confronting the chief bad-guy. It wasn't the same for Martha and Jack though; the tall silver robot figures were quite a terrifying sight.
Moments later, Charles Valli opened the door to the President's office. He signalled to the Cybermen to escort them into the office. The Doctor stood up and paced towards the office door. Martha and Jack did the same in order to avoid the Cybermen man-handling them. Charles stopped the Cybermen outside the office door and closed them shut behind him.
Sat at the desk of the large, well polished office was a lean, tall, dark haired man wearing glasses. On the wall behind him was a large painting of a man wearing a white lab coat. Beneath the painting was a plaque that read: "Paul Lohan: 2965 – 3055".
"My grandfather", announced the man at the desk to the intrigued threesome standing in front of him, "Paul Lohan. He was the founder of this great colony".
He pointed towards a kind of large, thick translucent clipboard which lay on a shelf at the edge of the office. The Doctor picked it up, looked at the menu and selected the entry marked "Diary of Paul Lohan".
The Diary of Paul Lohan. March 29th, 3032.
The day has finally arrived. Four hundred and fifty people plus crew boarded the ship three hours ago. I find this enterprise strange when I remember my situation thirty-two years ago as a lowly hypermarket technician. It will take a month to get to planet 2213. I've got the next thirty days to decide on a name for the place.
The crew are quite pleasant though some of the passengers have felt space sick. I'm quite surprised I'm not one of them. This is a new experience for me also. That's it I suppose. Hopefully I'll have more to write tomorrow.
"Interesting read this" commented the Doctor after about ten minutes. "So this grandfather of yours left Earth to create a world of good looking people?"
"Yes" Replied the President proudly.
"Well, that's one interpretation of his diary" replied the Doctor lazily. "You see, I reckon he was just a lonely man desperate for attention myself. He didn't really want a race of blonde beauties, just some mass appreciation."
The Doctor paused.
"I'm the Doctor by the way", he said sternly.
The mood turned sour as President Lohan considered the Doctor's comment a challenge to his authority.
"You know nothing of my grandfather!" he retorted.
Charles Valli advanced towards the Doctor. Jack intercepted him and held him back. Martha was quite worried that the Cybermen standing guard outside would burst in. Luckily, they didn't.
"Why have the Earth government sent you here?" boomed President Lohan. "Want to turn us into a puppet government do they? Well, you won't make me!"
The Doctor considered this point. It would diffuse the situation if he told the truth – they had landed on the planet by mistake. But he was too good at poking his nose in and wasn't going to allow the genocide to continue.
"The Earth Government hasn't heard from you for a while" he said "They are concerned. Frankly, so am I."
Martha broke up the conversation. She was more interested by the man in the painting. "Why did a guy like him want to set up a city of his own anyway? Surely with the money he had, he could have just got himself a big house and busty blonde like the rest of 'em?"
President Lohan turned and looked at Martha.
"It was his dream" he said. "He had no money when he left University. When he finally discovered the emotional inhibitor, he could get what he wanted."
"Bingo!" exclaimed the Doctor loudly. "I thought I'd heard the name Paul Lohan somewhere. They wanted him out didn't they, hmm? All those people with anything slightly wrong up top - he shoved something on them to keep 'em 'sane'. He was resented."
"You'll never leave this planet to tell your friends" replied the President, sneering. "Charles – take them for conversion"
The Cybermen entered the room and dragged the Doctor, Martha and Rose away. Once they had been taken away President Lohan picked up his communicator.
"How is the ship coming along?"
Back at the Sherwood camp Rhea was getting edgy. The Policemen had not moved since the Police chief had taken the three off-worlders. Did they have orders to trash the place? Did they have any plans at all? The answer soon came. The Policemen advanced towards the settlers and began to round them up. Rhea dashed towards her shack and gestured wildly at the geek to follow her. She had to stop them. Somehow.
"Did you figure out a way to control them?" she asked the geek hurriedly.
"Not really" he replied. "There's a control signal, but it's protected by something.
Outside, the fire fight began. People were fighting for their lives knowing that, if they were caught, they would be processed and turned into Policemen. Rhea was desperate for a solution.
"I think I know how to do it!" announced the geek excitedly "It's a number; a special number." He paused in thought. "6879760. It's 6879760!"
Frantically, he entered the number into his radio mechanism. Outside, moments later, the fire fight stopped. Rhea rushed outside to see what had happened. The Policemen were clutching their heads and falling slowly to the ground. They were dying in agony.
As they got nearer and nearer towards the conversion chamber, the Doctor, Martha and Jack could hear the screams of people being cut up and put into metal cases. There was no escape for them - they were about to be converted.
End of Chapter Four