Kaluki frowned at the shiny chrome figure standing in front of her acquaintance. "What is this, target practice?"

"Something like that," said IT

"Are you going to do anything to stop these things from killing everyone on earth, or are you just going to let everyone die?"

IT glared silently at the robot.

After sulking for a few moments like this, he let out a sigh like she'd just asked him to take out the garbage. "I've got an idea. C'mon." And he slowly shuffled out of the glass box.

Shaking her head, Kaluki followed him, annoyed by the loose slippery feel of her crocs. "Is there any way you can get me some sneakers? Boots? Anything?"

"I've got some stuff in my TARDIS," IT said with a smirk.

She cringed. "Do you have a working washing machine in there?"

"I might."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. What's the plan?"

IT pressed a switch on the side of an air hockey table and a holographic city appeared on the surface.

"Is that Kansas City?"

He nodded. "I've been tracking these things for awhile. You're looking at output from several strategically placed sensors I planted around town."

He highlighted a glowing cube in between a major street and a set of train tracks. "Bannister Annex. There's a lot of activity around here. More than likely, they took over the KCPL facility and are using it to power their replicating machines."

He highlighted a second one in the center of the downtown area, framed by the Bartle Hall convention center and the Truman Sports Complex.

It was a tall, old looking building with a pair of gray slab shoulders and a glass peak shaped like a prism. "Old Man Changing Colors. The executive headquarters for KCPL. Admittedly not a power source, but the infrastructure seems to interest them, so I've seen a few Cybes around the perimeter."

He pointed to the sculptures on top of the stadium shaped convention center. "`Sky stations.' I'm sure you're familiar with these eyesores. Contrary to popular belief, they weren't put on Bartle's towers merely as some half assed attempt to appease civic architectural beautification codes. Those so-called `sculptures' actually are Trojan horses for the Cyberman invasion."

He made the first station glow. "Combination homing beacon and alien satcom."

He illuminated the second. "Energy capacitor."

The third lit up. "This communicates with the ground units."

Instead of explaining the fourth, he highlighted a hill near an amusement park.

"What's the fourth one do?" Kaluki asked.

"Nothing. It's actually a sculpture."

She frowned.

"So what's this hill?"

"Corporate Caverns. I noticed some activity around here, too. About only a tenth of that space is actually occupied by businesses. The rest is just a garage with stalactites. Great place to keep an invading force, but I'm not sure how they can communicate. You ever tried to listen to the radio in a cave?"

He shut off the display.

"Is that it?"

"That's plenty enough on its own."

She sighed. "So what's the plan?"

"Let's start at Bartle. How are you at climbing?"

Kaluki backed away in horror. "No! Oh hell no!"

He shrugged. "You got a better idea?"

She shuddered. "Get me some damn boots."