Despite the odds, Jack continued with plan A. Expecting a heated argument with the Doctor, Jack swiftly destroyed the two Cybermen standing guard and rushed into the storage room with their possessions.
"This what you wanted?" said Jack jubilantly and with a smile.
The Doctor pulled everything out of the crate and placed his hand in his right trouser pocket. To his horror, the thing he most wanted now wasn't there.
"My sonic screwdriver; where is it?" he asked hurriedly.
Jack tapped the edge of his phasor rifle.
"Right here" he said with another smile.
At that moment, they heard the lift doors open. The Doctor and Jack looked at each other in horror. Jack immediately jabbed at the door control but, apart from a hideous feeble whirring noise coming from inside the mechanism, nothing happened. Jack cursed under his breath and rushed over to help the Doctor carry Martha out of the room. When they reached the corridor, a squad of six Cybermen marched menacingly towards them. Realising there wasn't time to pick them all off, Jack fired at the ceiling in front of them. It collapsed, alongside a series of heavy pieces of military equipment, burying the Cybermen. Leaving the Doctor to keep hold of Martha, Jack seized the initiative to relieve the Cybermen of their weapons.
What he hadn't countered on, however, was the fact that the Cybermen were not dead. As he walked over one of them, it grabbed his leg and held him back. Jack fired a shot at it and forced his leg out of its grasp. The second time, he wasn't so lucky. As he pressed the trigger nothing happened. Noticing that Jack was writhing in pain, the Doctor came over to help him and, with a mammoth struggle, managed to free Jack's leg. With two of the Cybermen's weapons captured, the Doctor and Jack walked over to Martha.
"What happened to her?" asked a concerned Jack.
"She struggled, so they hurled her into the cell." the Doctor replied, with a great deal of distain and anger in his voice.
Sensing they hadn't much time, they agreed to hide Martha somewhere safe where she could recover. Jack found the perfect hiding place and locked the door. The Doctor tried to add a bit of extra security to the door using his sonic screwdriver, but Jack's prior application of the device had left it completely drained of power, which made the Doctor very unhappy. He scowled at Jack as he pocketed his beloved contraption and paced towards the lift. They were going to get information from Lohan and confront the Cyberleader for the last time. They both prayed that it wasn't too late to complete the former.
When they emerged from the lift on the medical deck they found the area swarming with Cybermen, who quickly turned around to intercept the new arrivals. The Doctor nodded his head at Jack, who was wielding one of the Cybermen's weapons. He had given him permission to destroy it, which Jack sensed, meant a great deal to the Doctor despite the many previous occasions in which he condemned an alien race to death.
Jack quickly fired at the Cybermen, who returned fire. Dodging the fire fight, the Doctor, sensing his opportunity, sprinted down the corridor towards the Operating Theatre with one of the Cybermen's weapons in his arms. Noticing this, Jack fought viciously to keep the Cybermen occupied.
The Doctor peered through a circular window in one of the double doors to the Operating theatre. Inside were three Cybermen performing the full conversion operation on Golgafrincham's President. Carefully, he opened the door and walked in. The Cybermen quickly noticed his presence and determinedly marched towards him.
"Oh I so don't want to do this" said the Doctor quietly as he raised his Cyber-weapon in anger.
Seeing no alternative as the Cybermen approached him, he pointed the weapon and killed them whilst darting around the room. When he had disposed of them he looked solemnly at the three creatures lying on the floor.
Lohan was deeply sedated. It would take a lot to wake him. The Doctor spotted a defibrillator in the corner of the room and looked at it thoughtfully. He knew that he would be taking an enormous risk in using it. It could cause Lohan's heart to stop working, especially since the Cybermen were bound to have used very powerful sedatives. He hadn't much time though. He applied the gel to Lohan's torso and then placed the two paddles on top. He charged the device to a mid-range voltage and discharged the electricity into Lohan's body. With a large gulp, Lohan regained consciousness and stared wide-eyed at the Doctor.
"What did you just do to me?" he said, still struggling for breath.
The Doctor didn't answer him. Instead he looked solemnly at the metal limbs that the Cybermen had attached to his body. Lohan noticed this and was close to tears.
"I'm sorry" said the Doctor "but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you a few questions. Is there a way of stopping them?"
Realising that he had been defeated and sensing that he was close to his final hour of life, Lohan lay on the bed for a while contemplating his situation. The Doctor saw the horror in Lohan's eyes, but pressed him for an answer.
"There's a self-destruct button. It's located in the upper engine room" he replied miserably.
"Are the Cybermen aware of it?"
"I programmed them not to be, but now, well, I'm not sure"
The Doctor stood there for a moment, deep in thought and then began to walk out the room.
"Doctor." asked Lohan feebly "What's going to happen to me? I can't live like this"
"We'll see" replied the Doctor. "We'll see"
The Doctor pushed open the doors and ran back to check up on Jack.
Jack was in the lift, firing his weapon frantically at the Cybermen. He had been badly injured and his skin was burning all over. He barely had the strength to hold the weapon, let alone fire it. The Doctor was a welcome sight as he dashed into the lift and jabbed the lift buttons. The rear panel of the lift was in tatters from the sustained firing as the doors began to close. Soon after the doors closed, Jack collapsed on the floor.
It seemed as though the Cybermen really hadn't considered the self-destruct button concealed amongst the large engines dominating the large, dimly lit room. The Doctor dragged Jack out of the lift and let him rest on the floor to aid his recovery. It wasn't long before Jack gasped back to life again. He looked around him.
"Where are we?" he asked the Doctor.
"Upper engine room" replied the Doctor. "We're here to find a great big threatening button" he added cheerfully.
"Oh, that's great" replied a confused Jack.
It wasn't easy to find and, as soon as they did, they suddenly found themselves surrounded by a group of Cybermen – including the Cyberleader itself. They had been concealing themselves in the shadows; waiting for them to arrive. The Doctor and Jack were temptingly close to the button itself and pinned up against a wall. Jack felt along the wall and discovered a crowbar. Carefully, he lifted it off its bracket whilst the Doctor distracted the Cyberleader's attention.
"So what's the grand plan?" the Doctor asked menacingly.
"All Humans will become Cybermen. You will be like us. We will survive" it replied in its slow electronic voice.
After a nudge from Jack, the Doctor caught on to Jack's plan. He kept the Cyberleader engaged in conversation.
"You always say that" he said excitedly "But it's not really that true. Just look at you – products of a Human scientist. You're very existence is questionable. You don't realise what you really are. Slaves"
As the Cyberleader stepped toward the Doctor, Jack leapt towards the button. The Cybermen grabbed at him, but the Doctor thrust Jack forwards. Jack was just able to smash open the case and press the large button as the Cybermen tried to pull him away. He thumped the button with his fist to make sure. Moments later, the Cybermen relinquished their grip and, with a gunge-like substance spewing from their chest units, dropped slowly to the floor. They were no more.
End of Chapter Nine