A/N: This is a detailed side story for my Doctor Who AU 'Verse. It's 'All About' Jamie and the Doctor. How they met, what adventures they had, and finally why they were parted. It's a prequel to Doctor Who and the Great Eclipse even though I'm writing it now, and mean it to be read in conjunction with Doctor Who and the Tangled Web. This is meant for those folks with no exposure to the second Doctor. This chapter covers the serial "The Tomb of the Cybermen". Scenes that don't have either the Doctor or Jamie directly involved will not be included. Transcripts of the episodes are used as reference for dialogue, along with photonovels where the BBC has lost / destroyed them. Inspiration and Titles come from the T.a.t.u song "All About Us" that was used for the video featuring this ship. This particular episode exists still thanks to Asia TV from Hong Kong. I know, I've got it in my collection. :-D That said, I have taken liberty with the placement of some scenes for dramatic licence.
Thanks to RiverDeep for the story alert listing and to OtherMeWriter for the review. You are right that the Doctor has a hard time of it when it comes to those he's become fond of. He's an amazing character; quickly allowing people into his hearts even though he knows the chances of them surviving his presence is slim. Even Waterfield, once he realized the man was a good soul, got pulled in. In the case of Alpha, Beta, and Dalek Omega I think he tried to not let them in at all, but he couldn't disavow the traits that were so 'Jamie' about them. And he never could deny Jamie…
Part Seven
In you I can trust, It's all about us
A storm had kicked up on the planet's surface as if Skaro were protesting the loss of one branch of its children. This mimicked the internal conflict that the Doctor himself was swimming through at the current moment. He placed his hand on the outside of the battered blue box, caution making him mentally feel out the condition of his time ship as he settled his fingers on the wooden surface. He'd promised to bond deeper with her but the events of the last few days revealed how dangerous that would be. Now he had to decide if he would in fact go through with it or if he'd delay. Verity looked a little worse for wear in his opinion, slightly mistreated and battered, like his own soul, he supposed.
Jamie is trying not to chatter his teeth together, but this world is bleak and cold. He really wants to go inside the TARDIS now, to be – home, at last. He's missed the feel of her against his mind, the calm of her constant presence. But he knows the Doctor must have a reason for his delay as he pauses with his hand one the door before he lifts the key from his pocket and carefully uses it to open the lock. He then curled his arm over Victoria's shoulders and moved her across the threshold. He turned to look at the Edwardian young woman who he had just escorted into the control room. "There we are! Well, what do you think?"
Jamie slipped into the room behind them as Victoria took in the place, unsure if she was going to be able to cope with this or not. It was, after all, quite a shock he'd been told. Then, he hadn't had that problem. He'd accepted what he saw, knowing that his senses would not lie to him. He was not overly sure about how she was going to cope with this though. For her credit, Victoria was stunned. Unwilling to leave, mind, but stunned none the less. "I don't know," she managed to get out. Then she spots the Doctor's downcast expression. Clearly he's quite proud of whatever this is. " I can't believe it. It's so big! Where are we?"
The funny little man is like a clown, enduring and sweet. His face lights up at her semi-acceptance of the room, "Oh it's the TARDIS." He moves around the controls, "It's Jamie and my home, or at least it has been for a considerable number of years," Jamie gets a soft expression at being included in that statement. Yes, the TARDIS is his home now, and he wouldn't have it any other way.
Victoria makes her way to the console where the Doctor is checking instruments, "What are all these knobs?"
Flicking a set of controls the Doctor asks, "What these?"
"Instruments," Jamie tells her. "These are for controlling our flight. You see we travel around in here through time and space,"
"Flight?" Victoria echoes with a light laugh. She can't believe it.
Although it is part a fib, the Doctor jumps to assure her that Jamie has told the truth, "Oh no-no, no-no, don't laugh - it's true. Your father and Maxtible were working on the same problem, but I have perfected a... Ah, rather special model, which enables me – Us – to travel through the universe of time."
At this the pretty gal blinks and frowns, "But how can you? I mean if what you say is true then you must be, er well... How old?"
"Well if we count in Earth terms I suppose I must be about four hundred... Yes, about four hundred and fifty years old," the Doctor gets a mental Really? from Jamie who he rushes to reassure. Victoria and the Scot exchange glances that are both comically similar and worrisome at the same time. "Yes, well, quite. Now, I think Victoria might find that dress a little impractical if she's going to join us in our adventures, Jamie show her where she can find some new ones, eh?" Thete?
That's young still for my people, Jamie. Very young. Its not like I'm going to die on you, my boy.
Jamie looks less than reassured, "Ah, right. This way Victoria..." he leads the new crewmate off toward the wardrobe room but is gone for less time than it would take for the young lady to dress. He grips Thete on the arm and leans in close, "Try to give us a smooth take off, Doctor? We don't want to frighten her." With that he's through the door again, choosing to wait for the young lady instead of remaining with the Doctor.
The Time Lord is slightly put out, "A smooth take off...?" It takes a moment for the buzz from Jamie's touch to wear off and for him to move to the next set of controls, "A smooth take off!? What a nerve!" He lets his mental shields down as he begins the process to place them in the vortex. For a change it is Verity that pulls back from him, lightly brushing against his mind but not pushing for the promised bonding. The Doctor finds this odd but does not question it. Actually it saves him from having to make the decision right away and for that he's grateful. The TARDIS slips into the time stream smooth as silk, for once de-materializing and not fighting her natural instinct to flow with the vortex. It will make it harder to leave, once she decides to do so, but her Doctor needs the safety of this after what he's experienced so she provides it.
The Scottish piper does escort the Victoria to the wardrobe room. And he politely waits outside for her. Well, minus the short fast dash back to the control room that she never even guesses about. The wee Lass is clearly overwhelmed. When she finally emerges with an armload of clothes there's an air of falling apart about her. Jamie takes but one look and offers to take her to the sleeping areas so she can adjust. She is, without a doubt, in need of that. And some soothing over her grief about the sudden death of her father. Jamie rather feels he's not the best person for the job. He's got his own issues to deal with, a Doctor to confront, and he's worried that he might act rashly with how he feels inside at the moment.
Thankfully the TARDIS has shifted some things around, making a small individual room filled with Victorian girlish things that grabs Victoria's attention and rather holds it. "I think this is your room, Lass. The TARDIS, she does things like this for folks she likes." The young woman gives him an owlish look. Jamie sighs. He's put his foot in his mouth again. "Look, I'll be honest with you, I don't know how it works, the Doctor's Time Ship, but I do know that it is advanced enough to share feelings with those that live within it. It's trying to make you feel at home here, Victoria." He prays she just accepts his weak explanation. Otherwise he's going to have to tell her the thing is living, after a fashion, and he's not sure she'd be able to deal with that.
But Victoria has been exposed to Daleks, and science, and her era was one of great scientific advancement, even if it did possess rather tight social mores. So she takes Jamie's words at face value, feeling the wordless invite from the ship itself. Verity knows that the Doctor is grieving too, although not for the same things. She's looking for a distraction, unable to cope herself with the contrast of his sorrow and her own personal anger, unable to see how a handful of Skaro mutants were different from the rest. Quite frankly, Victoria provides it. Once the young woman steps inside her room and closes the door Verity assumes her cat form, dubbed 'Lynx' by another proper lady, Barbara Wright, and proceeds to comfort the girl. Jamie and the Doctor are both clueless about this ability as of yet, and Verity wants to keep it that way for a while longer.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
James Robert McCrimmon did not think of himself as a special individual by any means. He didn't consider himself brilliant or crafty. But he was brave, and sensible, and usually in control of his emotions. Today, however, his control was less than perfect. Or rather it had been for a while now. There were things the Doctor had done, said, hinted at, that made the Scottish piper less than certain about where their relationship was going. The door to Victoria's room had closed with a tiny click. He stood there starting at it until the ship itself gave him the feeling of go away. He didn't even question it. Instead he turned and walked back toward the control room, the wool from his kilt swishing as he caught his pace. He found the little dark haired man just stepping into the hallway as he came around the corner, "We ought to talk."
This causes the intense eyes of the increasingly alien fellow to focus on him. There's a stubborn streak about the Doctor that Jamie knows by look. But the Scotsman meets it with his own determined expression and for once the the challenge goes his way. The rumpled Time Lord deflates a bit. It's been a very difficult couple of weeks for both of them. He almost regrets leaving Alexandra. "Yes. I suppose we do. But – the walls have ears you know. I suspect that our conversation shouldn't be overheard."
Really though, Jamie's getting tired of sneaking about. They were open with each other in Alexandra. He misses that aspect of the place more than anything else, "Why should that matter. She's your ship, Doctor. Shouldn't it be safe in here for whatever might need to be said?"
"I've tried to explain this to you – it's not," the Doctor stuffs his hands into his pockets and marches past the lad with his shoulders down. Behind him Jamie turns on his heel and picks up the set stride. "But there's one place that might be, in here. If I can find it."
"Canna ask?" comes the burr from behind.
But Verity is busy with something, either enjoying her flight in the vortex or communing with another time ship or working out some other obscure problem. In any case, she's not responding to the Doctor's thoughts or questions, much the same way he's treated her since his regeneration. It's making him feel rather mixed, annoyed on one hand that he's worked so hard at breaking down the divide only to have her toss a wall up at him, and relieved on the other that he doesn't have to be the one keeping the distance all the time. "She can't see this room, Jamie. It's the one reason why it's safe." The Doctor knows one location, a special place called the Zero Room, exists near the physical centre of the ship. He can make his way there, eventually. Jamie for his part follows wordlessly. After quite a walk, they round a corner to be confronted by large double doors.
"Is this it? Or have ya ended up in another blind passage?" Jamie asks.
The sound of the lad's voice makes the Time Lord's hearts flutter a bit faster. He looks at Jamie. The expression the Scot is wearing tells much about the nature of the impending confrontation. The Doctor sighs. "Yes. I suppose we should deal with this." He almost shies away from crossing into the shielded room, knowing that it blocks his slight connection with Verity more effectively than his own mental abilities ever could. But Jamie is right at his back, and he doesn't want to block his connection with the lad and cause even more harm to their tattered trust. So he reaches out and snags the Scot's hand with a strength that Jamie can't break and crosses into the room. Once they are both inside he pushes the doors closed and releases the piper.
"Ouch, Doctor. No need to hurt me." Jamie begins kneading out the semi-crushed sensation in his hand as he looks around the rather empty white room.
"Now you listen to me!" This time the Doctor is going to have his say, "Don't you ever call me on my judgement again." He steps in front of the piper and shakes his finger at him, "In situations where we're dealing with things like Daleks I know what their mindset is and you don't. They are cunning, evil, dangerous. More capable of building plans within plans than any other opponent I've ever encountered. Everything I did was an attempt to keep you safe and outsmart them."
That was not what Jamie was expecting. "You used me, Doctor. Manipulated me like I meant nothing! You closed yourself off and didn't give a crumb of anything to tell me otherwise. What was I supposed to feel?" The dark haired man puts an hand over his mouth and turns away. He mumbles something musical that Jamie can't make out. "Don't turn your back on me, Thete." The Doctor ignores the warning in the last sentence and steps away from Jamie, too wrapped up in his sudden feeling of grief to really listen to the words being spoken. "This is a bad habit of yours," the piper grips the rumpled coat and spins the other man around. "Every time you start to lose an argument you begin to ignore the cause of it. Did you prefer Waterfield? Did you want to get rid of me?"
"What?"
"Ya heard me. I asked before if you were tired of traveling with a stupid backward piper an' you sidestepped the question."
"Jamie --" The sentence is cut off with a slight thud and exhale of air. Somehow they've backed against the wall. The Scotsman has clutched both hands into the Doctor's coat almost as if to keep from some underlying urge to commit violence. The Time Lord tries again, Jamie? Never. I never want to get rid of you. The piper looks into the mobile face of the smaller dark haired man and sees overwhelming sadness.
"Let me in. Let me see."
The Doctor shakes his head. "You don't want this burden, Love. Trust me."
"Why can't you let me make that choice? I tell you that I do. I need to be with you. How can I trust you now if you are not sharing with me?" Jamie doesn't even trust himself at this moment to keep from going off and instead of loosening his grip tightens it by twisting his fists in the fabric of the coat.
The Doctor swallows. "I – sent them to their doom. All of the Daleks with the human factor, they'd all be dead now. Everything I touch I destroy."
"That's not true. It's not. There are good things you build up, like – Polly and Ben. Like – us," desperate to make Thete see the truth of it, Jamie does something he's been told to never do inside the TARDIS – he kisses the Time Lord with all the passion he can muster. If the Doctor won't let him into his mind then he'll take what he can from his body. He's been wanting to ever since he backed the Time Lord into the wall at Maxtible's mansion. Somehow he gets the coat half off and the bow-tie at the man's neck loose enough to work the shirt open and expose the left clavicle. He's not really aware of the buttons that go bouncing off or the soft cry of surprise that the other man makes. Jamie's too caught up in his own need to pay over much to the token struggle the Doctor makes as the stronger being is unwilling to physically fight back and further damage their tattered relationship.
"Jamie – please..." Thete's not exactly sure himself what he wants the Scot to do. There's a trill in this lack of control that he's never allowed himself to experience fully before. The built up energy between them is like fire racing over his skin, burrowing through his nerves and not fading as it gets deeper and deeper. It's been too long since the bond they share was allowed full freedom and even now he's trying to suppress it with less and less success. Then the heated moist lips find that spot and his control is shattered with a shuttering flood of intense pleasure/pain. The mental shields fall away and they are one for an eternal moment, suspended forever.
When he rises back to consciousness his clothes are fairly well scattered, his body stiffened and sticky from sweat and other body fluids. Jamie is entangled with him still, molded to his back, skin to skin. The bond is singing with a sense of right that he'd been unaware of missing. He wants to just close his eyes and remain here, suspended in the Vortex forever. Never leaving. Never moving. If he could just capture this fleeting feeling of perfection... even with the memories of the moments before marring it... If he could just hold onto this everything would be OK.
Ben and Polly would understand if they disappeared for days on end. They'd be able to find plenty to do and see inside the ship. They knew the way around and ... wait. Ben and Polly were gone. Then it hit him. Oh no --- Victoria! He blinks in his sudden panic and turns to shake the piper. "Jamie. Jamie! Wake up. We've forgotten about Victoria." The lad groans a bit and the Doctor scrambles to his feet and begins gathering up clothes. "Come on, Jamie. There's no telling what she's been up to while we've been – occupied."
She --? Jamie thinks for a moment that the Doctor is thinking about Polly. But Polly and Ben are gone. Oh, wait. Victoria. "Aye, right." He gains his feet and takes the kilt from the Doctor. Somehow they manage to get their clothes on, even though the Doctor has to pull another shirt from his coat pocket, and rush to the eating area before a sleepy Edwardian lass wanders into the room. There's a announcing ding from the TARDIS as the Doctor hands the girl a cup of tea. Jamie pushes the stack of flat cakes toward her and hopes she doesn't notice anything strange. "Doctor, would that mean we've landed?"
"Um – Yes. Yes it would. But... I'm going to go freshen up before I check on where we've stopped." And with that the Doctor leaves. Jamie echoes that freshening up is a great idea.
Victoria smiles at him, "I think I can find my way to the control room, Jamie. You go ahead."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The Doctor had nearly run to his rather more-used-than-not room, seeing as this body did need sleep more than his last one. What wasn't used much was the bathing area. He rarely did things to make himself feel dirty. But the last argument with Jamie left him with an oddly disturbing compulsion to scrub. Perhaps it was the fact that he'd 'lifted' Jamie's memories of his actions and replaced them with a slight fabrication? There was no need for the lad to feel that violence would get him what he wanted and certainly no need to reward it. Now why did he feel slightly nauseous? The Time Lord shook his head and moved into the shower, deliberately removing his clothing only after they were soaked. He had a closet filled with the same garb. This particular set held no special meaning to him. The water was alternatively warm and cool as it drizzled over his skin and he tried to not remember what had happened. He wanted to forget the Daleks, Alpha, Beta, and Omega among others. He wanted to forget Maxtible and his mad scheme for making gold at the cost of all human history. He wanted to forget Waterfield, mild and manipulated that he was... Most of all, he wanted to take back what he'd done to Jamie and find another way to deal with the situation so that their feelings for each other was a strength not a weakness.
He braced his hands against the wall of the TARDIS, ignoring the tremble in them. Verity pinged him again, informing him that they are no longer in the Vortex. Suspend us here. I'll be there in due time, he thinks to her. She detects that he's troubled and attempts to sooth him. Make the water colder. He reaches for soap and a flannel. Verity gradually cools the spray, noticing that he becomes more mentally centred as she does so. For once she thinks she knows what his problem is. Their long separation, the civil war, the near forced rewrite of human history and the underlying threat to his own existence must have shaken him terribly.
She hopes that dealing with this new crisis won't shatter him.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Jamie and Victoria both arrive at the control room within minutes of the Doctor. They can detect absolutely no change in the strange little man, as he's once again dressed in his typical frumpy frock coat and sky blue wide collar shirt. Jamie has switched his pullover for a button up khaki-styled shirt and his kilt for a different plaid. Victoria's dress of choice is a cute little summery outfit with short sleeves and tiny pin pleats gathering the front of it. The Doctor scarcely glances at them. He's moving around the central column checking readouts. "We're currently in orbit. The planet below looks safe enough, if you are in for some exploring."
Victoria moves to where he's standing, "Where are we?"
"Telos. Although I'm not sure why. Usually there's a reason though," the Doctor replies. "I think we should land and find out what is going on."
"Alright," Jamie says. That settled, the Doctor presses the button giving Verity free reign to land them on the surface. She manages to make a smooth ascent and touchdown. Victoria's knee length dress is rather more fitted than the Doctor would have expected her to wear although she has chosen sensible heels and has a rather roomy patchwork bag. He's not sure this outfit is much better than the full skirts she arrived in. But she seems at ease in it so he keeps his mouth closed, choosing instead to open the doors and gesture his companions out.
The landing point is in rough terrain, but the echoes and clouds from the recent blasting is enough for him to peg the direction they need to go. Seeing Victoria have trouble with the path he takes her hand and begins assisting her. He's moving backwards so Jamie's mental, There's people hiding behind the next rise, Thete, doesn't really surprise him.
Somehow, I was afraid of that. Don't do anything rash.
Now ya know I wouldn't.
The Doctor focuses on Victoria, "Just a bit further, that's right. Climb here. Try stepping in my footprints. Up like this. Over the top. All right?" She nods to him gripping his hand as if she'd fall without it there to guide her. They are just coming level when the sound of movement alerts him to how close the other group is. He turns to block Victoria from the threat.
Two men have moved out from their cover and one has leveled a gun at him, "Hold it right there friend!" The Doctor notes that the one with the gun is a light complexioned fellow, well built and quite fetching. He looks to be perhaps security, or maybe a leader. The other man is darker haired and clearly taking orders from the first. This noted, the sensible thing to do is to pay attention to the one with the gun. His arms rise into the air to show he's got no weapons or intention of posing a threat in any way. Jamie steps around to further protect the lass they are with.
"Well, if you put it like that, I certainly will!" The Doctor blusters out.
There's a few others now coming over he sees, one of which is referred to by title, "Did you hear that professor? English!" The man speaking is wearing a plaid shirt and seems to be the assistant of the group.
The professor, who sports a modest beard, nods, "Yes. All right Hopper."
With this the man holding the gun lowers it much to the relief of everyone there. The Doctor lowers his arms as well, with seeming caution, "Oh, thank you."
They are not fully out of the woods yet, however. The professor seems to be the one in charge here and now he demands some answers from the new arrivals, "OK, who are you and where have you come from?"
Hopper glares at them, "And you'd better have a good story!"
"Aye, maybe you'll not get one!" Jamie counters, matching the man's glare.
Hooper snarls, "Listen fella, we're not playing games!"
The darker haired man that had been quiet before much adds, "You'd better listen to him!"
But the Doctor, typically of him, has already taken in the entire situation, including the not so distant doors and the visible blackened damage to them from the trap being set off. He also can see the body just lying there, ignored, on the ground. The glyphs on either side of the entrance tells him more than he ever wanted to know. He'd better stop this, whatever the plot might be. "Now what's been happening over here?" The sudden switch in mode throws the others off and he quickly covers the distance before anyone can call him on it.
A dusty skinned, dark haired man moves to block the Doctor's path, "He was killed the moment you made your appearance!"
The Time Lord sidesteps the fellow as he speaks, "Ah, and you think we did it." He kneels and studies the body without touching it, "Oh no! I can assure you that we had nothing to do with the death of this man!" none of the others move to stop him now, and he carefully begins a professional examination of the body, looking at the condition of his clothes, his hands and feet, his palms particularly and the melted soles of his shoes. "He appears to have been electrocuted," he finally announces. Then the Doctor glances up at the others, meeting the dusky skinned man's black eyes. " Trying to open these doors perhaps?"
The professor's assistant says to Hopper, "He seems to know all the answers."
The blond fellow has already switched his opinion on these three. He might not like the Scot much, but the funny little fellow seems much more pulled together and intelligent then his own 'boss' is, "Wise guy."
Another member of the semi-uniformed group adds, "I think this fellow must be the member of a rival expedition."
The Doctor clambers back to his feet, "Expedition?"
"We've tried to keep it a secret, unsuccessfully now it appears," the professor adds with a frown.
"Look at him! Archaeologist written all over him!" the other man agrees.
The Doctor runs with it, "Really? Does it show?"
"There, you see?" the unnamed fellow continues "It's impossible to keep a secret in the scientific world!"
Victoria is alarmed, "Doctor, what do you mean?" Fortunately there's too much going on for the others to pay much attention to her confusion.
But Jamie has played this game more often than not, and knows the drill now. After his attempt at truthfulness back in the 1960's and it's near explosive backfire he plays along with the Doctor's scheme knowing that it could be a matter of their lives or deaths at stake, "Tell them Doctor, go on, tell them."
Putting on superior airs the Doctor puffs himself up, "No." The he glances over at the professor, "Not until they tell me what the purpose of their expedition is!"
The man falls for it, blurting out why they are there without even thinking about the challenge, "This is an archaeological expedition. We are searching the universe for the last remains of the Cybermen!"
At his back, Jamie goes taunt with alarm, "Cybermen!" The Doctor knew the metal monsters had to be involved somehow, but to find a group looking for them – well. No wonder they were here. Then the Scot calms slightly, "You mean to say, they came from here?" It helps that he's put a hand on the Doctor's back under his coat and that the Doctor seems to have expected the Cybermen to be here at the least.
"But of course, Telos was their home. This is the entrance to their city," the professor says, as if it is general knowledge. The Doctor raises an eyebrow but says nothing.
The other man adds, "We know they died out many centuries ago, what we don't know is why they died out."
Hopper calls to a few others, "Callum, Rogers, get him back to the rocket, I'll be with you in a minute." As the two uniformed men move to the body and begin retrieving it he turns to the professor and moves him further away from the Doctor's party, "Well that's that. Are you coming back to the rocket with me Professor?"
"What for?" the bearded man asks.
"You're not going on with this are you? Look I don't know if these people have anything to do with it or not, but one of my men has just been killed! You're not paying that kind of money!" From this the Doctor concludes that Hopper is a captain and the uniformed men are his crew, while the others have him on hire.
The professor frowns, "Yes, I suppose that's quite true."
"Come on let's go. We'll wait for you back at the ship," the captain says as he heads back to the rocket.
But the Time Lord has already come to his own conclusion and knows there's got to be a reason he's come here. Something, or someone, is set on changing the course of history and he must set this to an end. The best way to slip a trap is often times going through it. He can't peg which one is the deranged one yet, but he knows he will before this is over. He looks at Jamie who gives him a frown and head shake. But the Doctor cannot run away from the evil that lurks here. "The problem, I take it, is to open these doors, right?"
The dusky skinned man snorts, "Hah, brilliant!"
"That is the problem," the professor agrees. He's rather taken by this new fellow, and immediately trusts him. He sees no issues with sharing the spoils of academic prestige that might come from this study.
"And we would prefer it if you returned to wherever you came from!" says the darker complexioned man as he steers the entire other group even further away. He's attempting to convince the professor that they really do want these three newcomers to leave, but not doing a very good job of it.
Jamie leans over to the doctor and says rather low, "Oi, not very friendly are they Doctor?"
Victoria is more than ready to leave already, "Oh yes, do as he says!"
The Doctor sadly replies, "I'm afraid that that became impossible the moment that name was mentioned."
She blinks at him, "What name?"
"Cybermen!" he tells her.
"Cybermen? What are they?" Victoria asks.
The Doctor ignores her question, "We must stay!"
Of course Jamie knew this was coming but still... "Oh Doctor!"
"Oh must we? I don't like the look of those things at all!" She motions to the glyphs on the sides of the doors, guessing correctly that they are images of cybermen.
The little frumpy man takes her hand and squeezes it as he gives her an apologetic nod. Jamie closes his eyes for a moment and then looks at the Doctor before nodding his agreement. If Cybermen are here, they must be fought, this he knows. It's not exactly what he'd hoped for as Victoria's introduction to this lifestyle, but then nearly getting caught in a flooding Atlantis likely wouldn't have suited her either. The Doctor snags his hand as well for a second and they connect again like two parts of a whole. Victoria doesn't notice the movement as it's behind her and she's still working out exactly what the Doctor intends to do. He surprises her, but not Jamie, when he calls out, "We shall stay and help you with your search."
The dusty skinned man fixes him with a frown, "Perhaps we don't want your help."
"That's just it, you so obviously do, now I'm sure we can agree." At this the professor nods. "I can open those doors for you." With that the Doctor retrieves a device from his pocket.
"It is our problem, and I suggest you take this ridiculous expedition of yours off this planet!" the black-eyed man orders.
Jamie stands up to him this time, "It seems to me that we've got as much right to be here as you have!"
At this the professor steps in, "Of course you have! Mr Klieg, may a I remind you again that you do not speak for this expedition?! I am it's leader, you and Miss Kaftan are only here on sufferance!"
At this Mr. Klieg turns on the bearded fellow, "Oh thank you, and whose money is paying for the hire of that rocket?!"
Miss Kaftan butts in, "Mine!"
"I thought I made it quite clear that your financial support did not entitle you to a say in the running of this expedition!"
Seeing that she's now at peril of being kicked off this party the dusky skinned woman backs down, "Of course it was quite clear, was it not Eric?!"
Eric Klieg also back pedals, "Of course. No-one questions your leadership."
Having watched the power play, and noting fully who the players are, the Doctor beams at the professor, "Ah, good, that's all settled." He brandishes the little rectangular black device with it's small dial meter at the top for everyone to see and declares, "And now we shall open these doors!"
"What?" Jamie tries to catch him as he moves out of range and toward the trapped portal. Thete, have you lost your mind?
The professor cautions, "Now careful man!"
His assistant echoes, "Hey look out!"
And Victoria picks up the alarm, "Doctor!"
The mass outcry does not deter him. Not that he throws all care to the wind, or anything, but-- there's no reason to not at least check the trap on the doors now. He suspects that the charge is fully drained already. And really, if you're going to go searching for cybermen, you should think to have equipment to deal with the various traps that the metal men are so famous for using. He wonders if anyone has thought to test the air here for nanobots. Likely not. He gingerly reaches up and ever so carefully places the device, a magnetic voltometer, against the door. He just as carefully removes his hand and then peers at the voltage readings. Just as he thought. The trap, once sprung was not quickly reset, "It's perfectly safe now." with that he snatches the black box back off the door and slips it back into his pocket.
This action causes the fellow in the plaid shirt to shout, "You'll be killed!"
He's echoed by the professor, "No don't touch it!"
The Doctor, fully sure of his readings and knowing that there's absolutely no electric power running through the handles now, takes a hold of the right door with both hands and tugs. He could get this open, being strong enough, but he's not got the leverage for it. He's just too short. "I'm afraid it's beyond my strength," he concludes.
"Let me Doctor!" the Scotsman offers. He's not fearful now, seeing the smaller man try it and not get zapped. The Doctor steps out of his way and offers him the shot at it. Jamie gives a mighty effort, but frankly it's beyond normal human ability. His attempt doesn't even budge the doors, "Aye, well I've not had much exercise lately."
In the interim the Doctor has spied someone that he thinks has both the leverage and the strength to get the doors open. He's a tall dark man, imposing in his height, and silent for the most part. Not hearing Jamie's excuse for his inability he says, "Quite." then he looks up, way up, at the tall man, "I think here is a gentleman who can open these doors for us."
Miss Kaftan jumps in, still fearful after her last gaff, "He is my servant! I will not have him risk his life!"
"Surely it was for just such a contingency as this that you insisted we bring him with us?" the professor asks her. She glares at him.
But the Doctor sidestepped the entire issue by appealing directly to the fellow, "Oh, there's no danger now, unless of course he's afraid." At the implicated sense of fear the man steps forward, having decided that if this strange fellow and his skirted boy can risk those doors then so can he. He does not step around the Doctor, rather advancing on him. The frumpy gent beams at him, not the least be intimidated, "Oh, no-no, he's not afraid..." Then he backs out of the way so that the tall man has access to the doors. In a show of great power, he manhandles the huge thick things open, one at a time, starting with the right side. After the portal is cleared the others gather around and peer into the darkness beyond. The Doctor suddenly realizes that these crazy people don't even have a wit to be careful, "No WAIT! Wait! I would be very careful in there if I were you!"
The fellow in the plaid shirt looks over at the Doctor, "But why wasn't Toberman killed, why weren't you killed?"
"The poor fellow who died drained all there electricity out through his body, it's perfectly safe to go in there now," the Doctor replies to him.
Eric overhears this, "Come on then, we're wasting time! ...Of course, after you Professor!"
They all swarm into the chamber beyond ignoring the caution that the Doctor has been preaching and continues to, in fact, "But I'd still... I'd still be very careful if I were you, very careful indeed!" He soon realizes that he's not being listened to. He reaches out to Victoria, assuming that she'd be right there with he and Jamie, "Come on let's go and join them." The buzz from the contact makes him glance over at the lad, who seems to have been thinking the exact same thing . The both frown, drop each other's hands and turn to look back at the lass. She's still standing in the exact same spot she's been in, having not moved at all. "Come on Victoria!" he tries. But she seems frozen, so he deflates a bit, realizing that this is not her choice. And perhaps she's not so cut for this as some of the others he's had with him over the years. He moves back to her side, Jamie mirroring his movement. "You look very nice in that dress Victoria."
The maxim to be polite has been so drilled into her that she automatically snaps into the conversation, "Thank you. Don't you think it's a bit...?"
" ... A bit short?" He cuts her off, trying to keep her focused, "Oh I shouldn't worry about that, look at Jamie's"
The piper been ribbed enough by Ben to have his hackles rise a bit, "Hey I'll have you know..." but the Doctor gives him a significant look and he gets the reason behind the statement, "Oh, aye." They manage to do a slight bit of flirting over her head for a moment.
"Come along, come along, lets go and see what the others are doing shall we? Come along," the Doctor and Jamie both snag the nearest arm, sliding their other across her back. That they actually make contact with each other too is besides the point. It seems now that their bond is back to normal, and they both want to keep it that way. They guide the young woman forward into the the very large interior past the doors. It's an amazing transformation that occurs once the Edwardian gal is through the portal. The lights have come on, and it rather reminds her of the Doctor's ship because of the size and alien nature. There's buttons, levers, dials... everything is sleek and metallic. She quickly gains her bearings and pulls free to look around. The Doctor watches her for a moment and then thinks to Jamie. Well done.
I've had a good teacher, Jamie thinks back before he too begins to take the place in. The Doctor's mental touch stays with him, as though facing these things once more requires all the support he can get. Jamie does not deny him that as he moves around the edge of the room, carefully plotting out every part of it in his mind so that if need be he can move through it in the dark. Victoria's expression has taken on a look of wonder, "Mercy, just look at this place!"
Indeed, the Doctor is looking. This chamber alone is quite large. He guesses though that things are not what they seem. It's doesn't look like a city entrance to him. Cybermen don't need tables, for example. They don't really need to rely on levers and switches. In fact he expected that the advanced creatures would have more of an intuitive system of direct link-ins if this was all for personal use. No. This is something else besides. But what? He moves to the right to where the wall long control panel is, noting the side doors to either end of it. There's a power dial above it, currently set to stasis, which is particular in its own right. Two of the expedition are already studying the layout, "These controls are of their earlier dynasty." No, they are not, the Doctor thinks as he glances at them. Rather they are quite 'retro' looking. As if this were all set up for some purpose, as yet unknown.
The professor's assistant counters, "Not so very early as all that by the look of it. Look John!" he points out a design that keys this to the very late period.
John gets rather annoyed with him, "Yes, I'm quite capable of making my own deductions thank you!"
"All right!" the fellow in the plaid shirt throws his hands in the air and moves away. He knows he's right. He also knows that as the junior member his observations are not going to be listened too.
Jamie steps up behind him, having finished his pre-battle analysis of the room, "Have you ever seen the like of it Doctor?" Scenes of previous encounters flash between them through their connection. There's nothing exactly like this no. But near enough for Jamie to realize that this is not a 'city' by any means. He's pressed the Doctor to be more open with him and can't complain about the influx of information, much of which goes right over his understanding. Still, it's very easy to get caught up in the mental stream and he's grateful for the Doctor's spoken words.
"Not exactly Jamie, but very nearly."
Before Jamie can ask for clarification the professor calls from the hatch on the other side if the room, "Now that we're all here..." The causes everyone, the Doctor included, to move over to him. " - now that we're all here, I think we'd better take stock of the situation." At this he gets a sea of nodding heads. "This appears to be a dead end, the only way out appears to be through that hatch."
Miss Kaftan asks, "Are there no doors?"
"No, apart from the entrance," the professor insists.
Jamie can feel the Doctor getting ready to burst everyone's sense of ego at any moment, even before the his voice rings out, "And the other two, of course."
John turns to look at him, "Two other doors?"
It's like putting a genius in with Idiots, sometimes, Jamie thinks. He knows there are other doors. He's felt them from the change in air drafts as he made his circuit of the room. How can these people call themselves observant? "Oh yes, one in that section, and one in that section over there." The small dark haired Time Lord gestured to the two silver panels to either side of the control bay. "Activated, I imagine, by this simple logical system over here." With that he moves down to the far set of levers and glances at them before making a seemingly random set of movements with them, "Um, here we are, I think..." The right door slides open smooth as silk. For something several centuries dormant it moved like it was made yesterday. "Ah splendid, splendid! A simple logical gate." A few more levers are shifted and the left door also opens. Jamie tries to suppress the eye roll over how smug Thete is feeling at the moment.
Eric steps over to them, "Doctor, you seem to be very familiar with this place."
"Oh no, not really, it's all based upon symbolic logic of the same as you use in computers. The opening mechanism for this door... An OR gate I think you call it-"
He's rudely interrupted, "Yes, yes, I see that, but how did you know in the first place?"
"Oh I used my own special technique," he's not going to needle this fellow, no... he won't. Unless...
"Really Doctor, and may we know what that is?"
Unless the fellow deserves it. And it seems perhaps he does, "Keeping my eyes open and my mouth shut." With this the Doctor snags Jamie by the hand and moves away from Mr. Klieg. Jamie sends him a wave of approval before the the cool fingers release his with a slight feeling of amusement.
Meanwhile the professor is organizing, "We're far too many to explore together, I think we'd better divide up." He turns to John, "If you, Mr Viner would take," he motions to the right side portal, "that door with Jamie and Mr Haydon." John Viner nods. The professor continues, " Mr Klieg, the Doctor and myself will make up the other party."
Thank goodness for women's lib, the Doctor thinks as Victoria steps in, "Well what about us?"
"I think the women had better remain here," the bearded man states.
Again, Victoria protests, "Oh rubbish! We can make a party!"
At this Miss Kaftan adds, "Certainly, with Toberman to guard us we need fear no-one." At this the tall dark man steps up to her side.
The professor blinks and then agrees, "Right, er, Mr Klieg, will you take them along with you?"
"I prefer to stay here." The dusky skinned man is still smarting from the Doctor's insult.
"As you wish. Er, Mr Viner will you go along with the women?" the professor asks.
While John is put off by the change in crew he graciously concedes, "If you like..."
At the very least he gets a look of gratitude, "But get back to the spacecraft by 16:30. You all know the temperature drops at night, so we'll meet back here at 16:25. If anyone is missing that'll give us an hour to look for them before we have to leave," the professor orders.
It's not a very long time, really. John is eager to get in as much looking about as he can, "Come on then, we might as well try that opening over there." this is, of course the left door not the right one. He assumes that Jamie and Mr. Haydon will still get that route.
Behind him Miss Kaftan snatches the younger woman's hand and tries to rush her that direction too, "We'd better keep close together."
Victoria slips her hand free, "Erm, I'm all right thank you." They head off through the portal.
Meanwhile Haydon is happy to have gotten 'lead' in the second party, "Come on Jamie."
Jamie glances to the Doctor. Keep your eyes open and your mouth shut, that's good advice. The Time Lord winks at him. Jamie turns to the other young man, "Right." The pair head down the right side passage.
The professor has turned his attention to the hatch, "Now to concentrate on this, whatever it is. This hatch must lead somewhere and there must be some opening mechanism." He turns to the Doctor, who has thus far provided them with the most headway. If anyone can solve this, the funny little man can. "Erm, what was that about symbolic logic, any ideas?"
The frumpy fellow turns from the left door to look at him, "No, not really. I think it's about time we gave Mr Klieg a chance to show off his archaeological skills," this is punctuated with a broad grin and chuckle, "I love to see the experts at work, don't you?"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Jamie can't deny that this place worries him. He knows these creatures caused the Doctor to die once. He knows that it's a fight that can't be walked away from. There's a reason for all of it, but he's not sure that he's the one to be trying to figure parts of it out. He follows Haydon into the room at the end of the hallway, noting that it is a rather short dead end. "Hey, you know it's just struck me, all the corridors in here are as light as day, yet there are no windows!"
"Alpha mason phosphor," the other man says, continuing happily when Jamie expresses confusion, "It's a lighting system that never goes out, works by letting cosmic rays bombard a layer of barium..."
It doesn't help much... "Oh aye. That, eh..."
Lucky for Jamie, Haydon doesn't seem to notice his total lack of comprehension. "Point is, what was this room used for?"
Something small and silver catches Jamie's eye. He bends down to pick it up, "Well possibly for raising caterpillars." It's the other fellow's turn for confusion, but Jamie shows him what he's found, "Like this one."
Alarmed, Haydon cautions, "Hey, for heavens sake watch out until you know what it is!"
Jamie knows its something Cyberman related. He also knows that it seems inert. He knocks it on the head with a knuckle, "Och, it's as dead as a stone!"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Klieg's taken a seat at the table with a notebook and pen. He's trying to work out what the Doctor knows already, and being less than successful at it. The professor been as giving as he can, having never anticipated that this would end up being about computer code. "Well?" he finally asks.
"Well, the basis of this code is binary to digital conversion with a intervening step involving a sort of Whitehead logic," Eric informs him. Then he continues, "Well, once this first series is complete, there is no more to be done!"
The fellow has totally missed the mark. Perhaps he should try to make them stop? The Doctor considers this, "Yes, but why do it at all?"
Flabbergasted, the professor looks at the smaller gent, "Really Doctor, for an archaeologist you seem to be curiously lacking in curiosity!"
Frankly this entire thing smells, like a Time-Lord-catching trap... He blurts out, "Some things are better left undone, and I have a feeling that this is one of them!"
"What do you mean by that?" asks the man that has been struggling with formula for the last few hours.
The Doctor's next words stab his effort like a razor sharp knife, "Well it's all too easy isn't it?"
This causes an uproar, "Easy?! Everything here is designed to keep their secrets, whatever they are, insoluble!" counters Klieg. And the professor backs him up, even though his words are rather overlooked.
"Insoluble?" The Doctor says, amazed. "Oh I wouldn't say that..."
"But take this mathematical sequence for example. I'm really no nearer to it's solution, I've tried every possible combination, now you'd hardly call that easy!" Eric continues.
The Doctor takes the offered pad, pulls his own pencil, and reads over the notations as if it's children's play on numbers (which for him, it is... but that's another matter altogether). He finally says, "Yes, well, what you've done here is mostly right." The 'expert' makes a sarcastic bid of thanks and the Time Lord casts him a sideways look of annoyance. He's going to explain this to him once and see if he gets it. Then he's going to wash his hands of it. "You see if you take any progressive series it can be converted into binary notation. Now if you take the sum of the integrants, and express them as a power series, the intercese show the basic binary blocks! Only I wouldn't do it if I were you..." Eric blinks. It was – easy... How did he over look such a simple thing? The Doctor repeats, " Oh no, I really wouldn't do it!"
Klieg shakes his head and begins to cross the room with excitement, "Of course, you're right!" He can see now just by looking how to make this work. He begins working the series of levers and buttons, "Look! Sum between limits of one and nine one integral into power series, yes! yes! Then you differentiate..." The long sleeping cyberman 'city' begins to revive, a deep vibration of alien power rumbling into wakefulness deep below them. The Doctor looks at the dial and takes in the information now lighting up. To the right lies a weapon's testing center. To the left a rejuvenation chamber. And far below... storage areas. And now they all have power.
"You fool! Why couldn't you leave it alone!" the Doctor admonishes Klieg. It's really aimed as much at himself as it was the other man. He should have kept his mouth shut.
The professor catches himself as the room rumbles, "What's happening?"
"I dunno..." the Doctor fibs, "Perhaps the Cybermen aren't quite as dormant as you imagine! We must find out what has happened to the others!"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
While Haydon has been exploring the room, Jamie has been keeping an eye both on him and carrying around the metallic caterpillar. He glances over at something, noticing the vibration coming up through the floor and then catches movement out of the corner of his eye. He stares down at the mental creature again but it's still and quiet, just as dead as it was before. It's enough to make him comment on it however, "That's strange, I could swear that that thing moved." He taps it, just to make sure.
The young man with him snorts a bit, "You're seeing things old chap! Come and look at this, the whole control panel is active suddenly. I don't know which button to press first!"
That makes the Scot suddenly very careful, "Oh, I wouldn't touch it if I were you!"
"I think I'll try this one," Haydon says as he moves a lever. "Nothing!"
But Jamie's more observant, "Hey wait a minute, what's happening, it's getting dark..."
"Hey look at the far wall!" The wall is alive with hypnotic patterns...
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The Doctor can feel that Jamie's not in danger, intensely curious about something, almost to the point of feeling compelled, but not in danger. He can't feel Victoria, though. She's not connected to him the same way Jamie is. And unlike Ben and Polly, he has no idea how keen her sense of danger is. Because of this when Viner comes back into the main room babbling about not being able to get the door open, he is already five steps down the left hallway. He spots Miss Kaftan moving from the coffin like door back to the controls and quickly moves to stop her as she sets about pulling levers and pushing buttons. If he didn't know better he'd say that she's already worked out exactly how the logic dictates which controls do what. He catches her hand, "I wouldn't touch the projector controls if I were you, someone might get hurt!" she glares at him as he moves the last lever back into the power down position
Then Viner, who was right behind him, says, "There must be some way to release it Doctor." and her face transforms into innocence, as if she's trying to pull over that her actions were solely designed to get the door open.
The Doctor is not buying her unspoken story. He lets go of her before he's tempted to crush her hand and turns to the controls himself, "Yes there is, now let me see..."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
James McCrimmon figures he's in a bit of trouble. He can hear the other man calling, "Jamie, Jamie don't watch it!" but it's really rather too late. He's transfixed and not even the foreign weight of the watch on his wrist can pull him out of it.
He can hear his own voice as though someone else is speaking, "I must, I must, I can't seem to take my eyes off it." It's as if he cannot control his own body, or like he's not in it at all... Maybe he's retreated to his link with Thete? Somehow the pattern is getting larger, and he's not seeing anything else but that, "I don't want to take my eyes off it... I don't want to take my eyes off it..." There's a hand on his arm, tugging him, but he's not able to respond to anything other than the call to move forward.
"Stop, Jamie!"
But the closer he gets the less control he has, and now even his mouth slips from him, and his awareness is limited to a sense of compelled understanding, "Yes, yes, I see it now!" Although what it might be he doesn't know... suddenly the wall goes blank. He's standing there blinking trying to make sense of what just happened.
"Are you alright?" Haydon asks him.
Jamie's not sure. He rubs his head and tries to remember what he was doing and where he is, "Oh... where have I been?"
"You've been under some form of hypnosis," he's informed.
But that makes no sense. He knows this even without what he's seen in the Doctor's mind about these creatures, "That's ridiculous, what would the Cybermen want with a hypnotising machine?!"
Haydon takes this as a good point, "Yes, you're right, it must be for something else! Wait a minute, know what it could be?" He waits for Jamie to prompt him to continue, "Some kind of target! I remember reading about this somewhere, they used to have something like it on Earth, years ago."
This makes even less sense then the hypnosis. Confused, Jamie quires, "But how does it work, which bit do you aim at?"
The fellow in the plaid shirt is on a roll now, fully sure he's deducted the correct thing, "There's a subliminal centre which you're trained to see..." Jamie tries to get him to explain in more detail but he's already moved to the testing phase, "Come on, lets run the whole thing again and see what happens, but keep your eyes off the wall! Now you work the controls this time, and I'll watch."
Jamie's none too sure, he's not even positive he fully understands what Haydon is looking for, but he's trusting, just as he is with the Doctor. If Haydon wants it done he'll do it, "Right."
The other man prepares for his experiment and says, "OK press the buttons!" And Jamie does, careful to not stare at the patterns himself again.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Some time has passed, and the Doctor has puzzled out the slightly different controls in this room. He's very concerned that Victoria is suffocating inside that coffin like chamber, but dare not risk her further. "Yes I think this is the sequence. Stand by to let her out will you." Viner crosses over to the closed door, quite concerned. Miss Kaftan, however stays hovering over the Doctor's shoulder. He decides to treat her like a simple child, physically moving her so that she can't see what he does, "And if you, my dear, would stand well clear, thank you! Right!" Once he has her out of the way he turns back to the controls and pushes the single lever needed to open the door. Victoria splutters for air, gasping and fearful. Viner offers her his hand and she shies away from him. The Doctor swiftly crosses to her and helps her out of the alcove, "Victoria, are you alright?" She clings to the odd little fellow like there's no tomorrow for a long moment until she feels him return her hug. "It's all right."
"Oh!" she half sobs, "Oh I..."
He runs tiny circles on her back, "Get your breath. Its alright. It's alright now..."
She glares over at Miss Kaftan, "I-I I didn't like that very much Doctor!"
"No, I don't expect you did. You'll have to be a little more careful in future won't you? Now come along, we must go and see whether Jamie is, alright, come along," he says as he escorts her away from Viner and Kaftan. He suspects that the dusky skinned woman knew exactly what she was doing, and he does not like it one bit.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
They are finally ending this sequence, Jamie thinks. They've tried almost everything. There's dozens of patterns here, but none give any clue as to what the room is for. The wall fades to black. Finally. Jamie relaxes a bit. Then Haydon asks, "Is that all?"
Well, it's not. And there's something about the final button he's been avoiding, but he couldn't say exactly what that might be. "Aye. All except this big button here, what does that do?"
"I'm not sure, but we'll soon find out. I'm going to trace the source of these shapes, there must be a projector somewhere. Look, when I give the word press the button."
He's got misgivings, honestly, "The big one?"
But Haydon has taken charge and is positive that he can solve this minor mystery, "Yes, maybe it works in conjunction with the others."
As the man in the plaid shirt moves back to the far wall Jamie tamps down his feelings of misgiving, "Right, ready when you are." There are times when he feels so very simple and very stupid in comparison with all these advanced, learned people and their big complex words. Surely Haydon knows what he's doing.
"OK, go ahead." At this Jamie presses the button and begins going over the sequence that they'd used before. The lights dim as they have other times, and the pattern starts up on the wall. So far there's no seeming difference with the button pushed.
Then he hears Thete, "Oh Jamie, don't touch that control!"
Jamie doesn't dare take his eyes off the control panel, not even to look at the doorway, "Already have. What's the matter Doctor?"
The only concern that the Doctor is transmitting to him is reversing the sequence before something very bad happens, "Well which one was it?" But he's crossed into the room is standing behind Jamie and the energy between them is sparking across the distance and Jamie is rather distracted by it.
"Which one what?"
Before the Time Lord can explain the trap in the room goes off. It happens so fast that aside from a swoosh, a zap, a thud, and a scream, he's not sure exactly what has happened. When the lights go up Haydon is on the floor, smoking horribly. He catches he breath and forces his awareness down to Jamie and Jamie alone, "What exactly happened here Jamie, what did you do, what sequence did you use?"
Jamie is nothing if not astute. He might not fully understand all the big words but he can tell the Doctor is focused on him and him only. He attempts to match this in order to communicate effectively, "Sequence, how do you mea..? Oh you mean these! Oh, well, I-I just pressed that button and pulled this lever a-a-and then that lever there."
The professor and Viner are both behind Victoria, who has wisely refused to come into the room until she's sure it is safe. "Doctor, I... do you think you could spare us a moment? I..." then he spots his assistant on the ground,"Haydon! What's happened?" Which is what the Doctor is trying to figure out... If they would just shut up and let him get the information from Jamie as to what they were doing.
Viner nearly screeches, "He's dead! Don't you see he's dead!? It's this damn building! It's alive, it's watching us! It'll get us all - we've got to leave! We've got to get out this building, it's deadly! They'll kill all of us if we don't get back to rocket!"
The professor turns to the distraught man, "Alright Viner! This is terrible. How did it happen?"
But there's another thing that catches the Doctor's attention, "They?"
"The Cybermen! Didn't you see it?!" Viner cries. Even the professor's attempt to talk him down lack success, as he continues, "I tell you it was a Cyberman in this very room, and it came out from over there! That that screen thing."
"Cybermen? A live Cyberman? My dear Viner, they've been dead for the last five hundred years!"
Jamie remembers now, seeing the Cyberman too, "Yeah he's right!"
"Keep back, you'll bring it out again!" John protests.
But the Doctor is more interested in what killed Haydon, as he knows the shot came from behind, "The question is, what killed him." Convincing the others however might be a bit more tricky.
"But you saw the Cyberman, Doctor," Viner says.
"I saw something. Poor Haydon was looking at that screen in the direction we all were, right?" He is asked why he's stating something so obvious. The Time Lord frowns, "Not so obvious when you consider he was shot in the back."
Jamie mirrors his frown, "In the back?" This is enough to draw the others into the room.
"Are you sure Doctor?" asks the professor.
Really. The small oddly dressed fellow kneels down and rolls Haydon over, "See for yourself. Now if the Cybermen didn't shoot him, what did?" Viner and the professor take over examination of the body as Jamie helps the Doctor to his feet. He finds himself drawn to the back wall, "The answer, I think, lies over here. Jamie!"
"Yes Doctor?"
Please try, dear boy. "Can you remember exactly what you did, what sequence you used?"
The piper gives him an expression that is half frown and half pout, "Oh I'm not sure Doctor."
The cool hand settles on his upper arm, as those earnest, grey-brown eyes catch his own bluish-green ones. The Doctor has faith in his mind, that he knows exactly what he did, "You must try. I want to-to repeat it all when I give the word."
"Oh very well." Can't I just think it to you?
No, Jamie. We must prove this danger so that professor Parry leaves this place for good.
Viner budges in, "You're crazy man, you'll bring that.. that thing out again!"
"Maybe, I don't know. Now, Jamie!" He has walked the piper back to the controls and then moved over to a safe-ish spot that is distant enough to not have crackling psychic energy surging between them. Really this bond business is getting out of hand if he must maintain such a steady contact with the lad to prevent it from overloading like this. "Whenever you're ready."
Jamie misses the presence and warmth that the tingling connection gives him. He'd much rather have the Doctor standing closer, "Aye, anytime Doctor."
The Doctor looks at Parry and Viner, "Now there is a distinct element of risk in what I'm asking you all to do, so if anyone wishes to leave they must do so at once." Both men stand and stare at him. Jamie actually takes a step or two away from the panel before the Doctor catches his arm, "Not you Jamie!" The flow re-established between them allows Jamie to send the need for the smaller man to stay closer.
Viner appeals to the Scot, "Can't you stop this, he'll kill us all!"
But Jamie knows better. In fact without finding the cause of the blast, he figures he'll be blamed for Haydon's death even though he protested, a bit weakly, he admits, but protested non the less, the entire experiment. This is the Doctor's underlying reason for repeating it. With this in mind he turns back to the controls and begins trying to remember the pattern he'd been using. The Doctor snags both the professor and Viner, steering them back to where Victoria still waits by the door, "Not if you go back against that wall in that corner there, now please." He then comes back over to where the piper is, "Right Jamie!"
The Scotsman takes this as a signal to begin. The Time Lord is close enough to be providing him with a sense of grounding and ability. The faith in his knowledge and retention of what he's observed. Just like helping put the TARDIS back in order, this is a puzzle. He can remember the steps. One thing he does not do however, is push the large button first. Instead he can tell that it turned on the system, and needs to be left on. He gets to the dual levers and moves them. At this point the Cyberman slides back out of the wall and there's a swooshing sound and a blast that leads the the Cyberman lacking his head. The entire thing makes Victoria vent a scream in fear. He feels the Doctor reach past him and turn the system off before it can complete the sequence, freezing both the target and the gun in their places. He turns to see the Doctor approaching the 'live' weapon in the wall. "Now... GET BACK Doctor!"
Victoria is just as concerned, "KEEP AWAY!"
The Time Lord appreciates how protective his companions are, really he does. He's pulled his pencil from his pocket and is taking a careful look at the weapon. It's a late model, built at the height of the Cyberman's power. What is it doing here? "It's alright, I-I think... I think it's alright now. Yes. You see it's-it's just a mock up, a-a model." He glances over just in time to see professor Parry reaching for the opposite gun held by the decapitated Cyberman target. He rushes over to the fellow and catches his arm, "Now no-no don't touch that! That gun may be wired up too."
Parry looks over at him, "It's a trap."
Shaking his head the Doctor counters, "No I don't think so. This is a-a testing room for weapons." He indicates the inert Cyberman target, "This is a purely robotic Cyberman. There's no human material inside it at all, he's a target..." He turns Parry away from it, "...for weapons." Jamie's voice drifts into his mind, Haydon said he though the wall was a 'subliminal' or something sorta target thing. Or a hypnosis machine. But he couldn't make out what was there. Was it really in vain, his death?
The little man walks back to the piper's side. No Jamie. Not in vain. He was right, but Cybermen would have used this to test that their senses were not susceptible to such weakness. He turns Jamie toward the door. They have seen quite enough.
Parry looks to Viner, "Let's get this poor fellow back to the control room, shall we?" They lift the body and head back to the main room.
Now that everything has stopped and the lights are on, Victoria spots something silver on the floor, "Oh what's that?"
Jamie looks down where she's currently picking the small worm like metal object up off the floor, "Some wee creature I found on the floor there."
To her it looks like a child's toy, or something that has fossilized over time, "It's a fossil."
The Time Lord moves over to the two of them, catching Jamie by the wrist and thinking, Keep an eye on Klieg. After sending Jamie out the door he turns his attention to what Victoria is holding, "Now Victoria, let me see that." She holds it up to him, so he can get a good look. He takes it and fiddles with it a bit, noting that it's fully capable of motion, "Yes, it's-it's certainly inactive, but it's not a fossil." Victoria is completely interested, so he places the small worm like robot back in her hand and pulls his diary/notebook out and flips to the section on Cybermen. The drawings are quite good, she notices, although the language is not one she knows. She has to wait until the Doctor begins speaking for her answers. He turns the creature so that it has the same angle as the picture, "Ah here we are, it's a Cyber-Mat."
"Well what's a Cybermat?"
The Doctor points at the worm, "It's one of those." He pockets his book and makes a motion for her to toss it away, "I'd leave it alone if I were you. Come along." He doesn't really pause to make sure she does so, heading back to the main room, fully sure that she will. After a second Victoria catches up to him. "Do remember to keep a careful eye on Miss Kaftan. I don't trust her, Victoria."
"I will, Doctor. I'll be much more careful of her."
They come into the main chamber to find Parry and Viner still trying to figure out where to put the body of his downed assistant, "Right, we'll lay him over there."
As they settle the body down out of the way and mostly out of sight near the hatch, Miss Kaftan spots them and moves over, "What has happened here?"
Parry's already taking stock of who is there, leaving John to answer her, "There's been a terrible accident, he's been shot!"
"Right we're all here. Will we all sit down for a moment Mm?" He motions everyone to the central table. The call goes out for Toberman, who quickly joins them. Only Eric remains too engrossed in his work to listen. The professor gets back up and taps him on the shoulder, "Mr Klieg."
"Leave me alone, can't you see I'm working, or have you forgotten the purpose of this expedition?" the dusky toned man snips.
Parry stiffens and then orders, "This directly concerns my expedition, you will kindly take your place!" It seems as though there's going to be further argument but Klieg grudging takes a seat at the table. Parry steps to it's head position, "Right, I'll come straight to the point. I have reluctantly decided to abandon the expedition and return to Earth."
The other members of the expedition erupt in protest, but Eric's is the loudest, "You can't do this now!"
He motions them to quiet, "I feel as strongly about this as you! This expedition has been my dream for many years. But there were those like Mr Viner here who said that more preparation was needed," at this the fellow indicated nods in agreement, "-more men and equipment. I refused to heed their warnings and the result is that two men have died." It's not enough to stop the rise of protest that he's forced to speak over, "I'm sorry, but we must leave at the first available conjunction. We'll take back all we can for study, of course; but that is my decision and that is what we must do!"
Klieg jumps to his feet, "I insist that...!"
Parry overrides his insistence with a firm shout, "MY DECISION IS FINAL! We leave when the north hemisphere is tangential which will be..." He pulls out his pocket chronometer and tabulates the time on it, "Eighteen forty-two." This makes Eric storm away from the table in anger. Parry turns as everyone else begins to rise as well. Of them only Viner is happy with the decision (and the Doctor, but he's hiding it well). Captain Hopper arrives with a load of supplies that are deposited near the wall, and begins to move toward Parry with his own set of bad news. Perry speaks first however, "Ah, captain Hopper, just the man. Kindly be prepared to blast off at eighteen forty-two."
This gets the professor an eyebrow raise and a firm, "No."
"I beg your pardon? -er - Did I hear you right? You are paid to take orders Captain Hopper," Parry addresses him.
Hopper is pretty sure that the professor is not to blame, as he has no clue as to what is going on, "Not impossible ones I'm not."
"What do you mean?"
Hopper eyes the group over, "I mean the fuel pumps. Some character has balled up the lot!"
The Doctor fears that turning on the power has woken up something deadly and inhuman on Talos, "Or some-thing."
The captain can't discount that, but it doesn't really matter. "Well whatever it is it's practically wrecked out chances of getting off this crummy planet!" Suddenly everyone has the sensation that perhaps they are being manipulated by forces beyond their reasoning.... Could the Cybermen still be in control here?
Hopper looks over at the body. Haydon. "I'll take him back to the ship. And I'll let you know more when I return. There's no way any of you are getting onto that rocket until the crew gives me a progress report. I've brought some supplies for you, so you have something, at least." He loads the body up and leaves. All they can do is wait now to see how long it will take to fix the fuel pumps. The Doctor draws Jamie and Victoria over to the steps and settles down with them. Viner slumps at the table. Miss Kaftan and Klieg both seem to hover by the control bank with Toberman nearby. Parry paces.
John finally raises his head, "I don't care what any of you say, I utterly refuse to spend the night on this planet!"
The Time Lord tells him, "I don't think any of us has a choice."
"Well at least we can get out of this sinister building. W-I've recorded all the necessary details, I suggest we all go back to the rocket," with that he starts for the door.
Hopper and one of his men arrive with even more supplies, catching Viner before he can make it outside. The sun is starting to go down now, and it's beginning to cool off. "You make very bad suggestions, did anyone ever tell you that?" He blocks Viner's path only to be shoved to the side.
"I insist."
The captain glares, "You do a lot of insisting. Well I'm going to tell you something now. The first guy that sets foot on my rocketship will stop the repair work just like that." he punctuates the sentence with a powerful finger snap. The professor asks how long the repairs will take. Hopper sighs. "Working non-stop without interruption to get that rocket operation, I'd say... maybe... seventy two hours." This is pushing it, as it could take longer, depending on what they find as they work. He's met with outcries of protest. Growling he turns to Parry, "Now look, I can't afford to waste any more time with you guys, but I'll give it to you just once more OK? Now you may not know this but we'll have to practically pull that ship apart to fix the damage. And there's no room for all of you on board - especially with you insisting all over the place. No room to work, gottit?!"
Viner sputters, "But that's impossible! We'd all be out of our minds after spending three days in this place! Have you any idea what it'll be like for us having to spend our time in this deadly building?"
"Well it's not exactly peaches back on the ship! Until I find who broke into the rocket -"
"Or what -" the Doctor inserts.
Hopper clenches his fists, "Ooh, who broke into the rocket, I'm going to be keeping a round-the-clock watch on the ship. I'm going to get off this planet with my skin still fitting tight - all over, alright?"
The Doctor smiles knowingly and echoes, "I see. Alright."
"Now. It gets cold at night. I've brought anoraks, more food. Blankets. There's enough supplies for you all for 3 days here." He gestures to the pile. "I'll let you know when we're ready to take off." With that he departs.
Eric Klieg seems rather – smug, "As we have to stay, we might as well finish our job and fully explore down there - that is if the Professor has no objection?"
Suddenly, with three days to fill and nothing really to pass the time – it seems like a good idea to make the best of things to Parry, "We have no alternative it seems."
The Doctor frowns, "Well well-well can't, can't we all just stay here? It seems a pleasant enough room to me."
Jamie pokes at him, "Hey-hey, you speak for yourself."
Eric tags on, "Of course you can leave here anytime you please Doctor."
"H'oh yes, I was forgetting I-I can can't I?" the little man admits. Although he's not intending to leave until he sure the threat here is eliminated.
Victoria cast him an amused expression, "But you're not going to are you Doctor?"
"No. Not just yet awhile, no. Er, but you and Jamie can go back to the TARDIS if you wish."
She shakes her head, "I'll stay with you."
"Er, Jamie?" he looks over at the piper.
While Jamie wants to go, he knows the Doctor won't leave yet, and he better hang around to keep the meddling fellow out of trouble, "Oh, I'll stay."
Pleased as can be, the Doctor squeezes his hand, "Good." Jamie sighs at the sensation of warmth that the touch gives him. A feeling of total honest devotion. He almost thinks that if he had insisted on leaving, the Doctor would have gone. But then he'd feel guilty. This is the Doctor's life, what he strives for. Fighting the evil here must be done and they are the ones that must do it. He lets the Time Lord pull him to his feet. "Now, er," He lets go but wanders over to where Klieg is puzzling out the controls still, "I think it's about time we gave Mr Klieg some help."
"Thank you, I think I can manage."
Toberman steps in to block, "Stay."
Jamie looks up at the taller man, "Hey, let the Doctor past or I'll..." Toberman is wise enough to know not to threaten Jamie directly, choosing to instead threaten harm to the smaller man he's loyal to. The Doctor puts on hand on Toberman's wrist as he lifted slight by his shirt front. Jamie jumps in even further, "Yes, well... let the Doctor past."
The Doctor is, as of yet, unharmed. He tries to sooth the Scot, "It's okay Jamie." Then he says to Miss Kaftan who has been watching the exchange with interest, "Your colleague has er, very strong hands."
She looks pleased that he's noticed, "Very strong."
"Enough to do a great deal of damage if let loose in the er right place," he adds. The dusky skinned woman thinks about this and then signals Toberman to let him go. Toberman decides he rather likes the Doctor, even if his goals conflict with those of his mistress. He steps aside and lets the little man and his friend pass. The Doctor spares him a smile and moves to investigate what Klieg is doing.
The presence of the frumpy fellow reminds Eric of what he'd said before and the pattern he's looking for seems to fall into place, "That's it! I've got it!" He rushes over to the table where Viner and Parry are. "Finally boolean function of symbolic logic!"
The Doctor trails him, hoping the man is wrong. "Logical, yes..."
Miss Kaftan says, "Everything yields to logic. Our basic assumption, Doctor!"
"Really?" He asks her.
Then Eric rattles off his theory, "Six, cup B four... If and only if...C is cup function of two A." Excited by this he rushes back to the controls and attempts to open the hatch. Nothing happens.
The Doctor says, "I think perhaps your logic is wearing a little thin."
Flustered, Klieg looks back at his pad, "I must have made a mistake. I-I'll do it again more carefully." He moves back to the table, rips out the sheet he was working on before, finds a clean page and starts the calculations all over. Parry and Viner go back to their discussion as to what might exist down that hatch. The Doctor motions for Jamie and Victoria to settle down to wait. It's going to be a long night.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
It's near sunrise when Klieg's excitement rouses the napping party which has broken into the blankets and food if nothing else, "Six, cup B four... If and only if... C is cup function of.... Ah, that's it, two F not two A!" The Doctor moves over to the controls as the other man does. He repeats his formula, " Six, cup B four... If and only if... C is cup function of.... two F, " He operates the levers that correspond but doesn't notice the Doctor press a button at the far end while he's not looking, providing the final missing bit of logic that this puzzle really needs. The room responds with a higher pitched hum and the hatch that's been bedeviling them swings open.
"The hatch!" Victoria points.
"I've done it! I've done it!" Eric nearly dances in jubilation.
The Doctor catches Jamie's eyes as he says jovially, "Congratulations."
"Yeah, but Doctor y..." Jamie begins. The Time Lord makes a slight movement that cuts him off. No one else notices. Thete? Why are you helping them?
Because, Jamie. I need to know for sure who the enemy is. I suspect but don't know. Besides, if this is what I think it is the machines and stores below us must be destroyed too. The piper makes a face at him as professor Parry moves to congratulate Klieg, "Excellent! Now to work. It'll be extremely cold down there, we shall all need to put on warm clothing. Mr Viner, will you see about the anoraks?"
As Viner moves to the gear, Eric hastens to confirm, "Ah just a moment - are we all going down?"
"There is safety in numbers," he is told.
But he has another reason to ask, "The er, women as well?"
At this Parry thinks a bit, "Oh, they of course will stay here. Er, in case of trouble, contact the rocket."
Victoria wants to stay with the Doctor. He manages to get her to stay above. Miss Kaftan wants to keep Toberman up above. He manages to get her to let him go down. As the dark skinned man heads down the ladder the Doctor looks at Victoria one final time, "Remember what I said. Be careful." She nods. He descends into the cold metallic passage below.
Upon reaching the bottom, Parry calls, "Hurry up there, we've no time to linger. It's extremely cold down here even with these anoraks." The Doctor signals Toberman to go and pauses to fashion his cloak.
He reaches the others as Jamie says, "Aye you obviously knew what to expect."
"Well, which way do we go?" the Time Lord asks, deferring to Klieg as he wants to find out exactly what the man is up to. The fellow indicates a path that the Doctor's keen eyes pick out as leading to Drone storage. "Yes," he agrees. The party heads that way.
Soon the passage gives way from a metal maze to a large open room. It's bitterly cold here, frost covering the surfaces and crackling underfoot. Jamie blinks at the change, "Hey, what on Earth?!"
The professor takes in an astonished breath, "Behold gentlemen, the tombs of the Cybermen!" He's looking at a triple story wall, made up of cubicles, stacked one on another. They are heavily iced over.
The Scot turns to the Doctor, "Tombs? I don't see any tombs."
"In there Jamie, frozen forever," the Time Lord points toward the iced over wall. " All their evil locked away with them. And so it must remain."
Eric says gleefully, "Like a gigantic honeycomb, like bees. Waiting the signal to arise from their winter sleep."
The small frumpy figure turns on Klieg with force, "A signal that they're never going to get!" At least he knows now what the plan might be. He hopes to Time herself that he's wrong.
Viner brushes off the argument, "We'd better get busy, every thing's got to be recorded. It's too cold to stay down here for long."
"Unless we find some way to warm things up..." Eric mumbles. He turns his attention fully to the near control panel, quickly noting that the logic is different here. It will take him some time to plot it out and he hops Kaftan can give him that time. Right on cue the hatch thuds shut. He smirks.
Everyone else is too concerned to bother him, with the meddlesome Doctor's Scottish boy leading the fruitless charge, "What was that?"
"It sounded like the hatch!" Viner and Jamie go rushing off to investigate.
They return in what seems too short a timespan to Klieg. The Doctor catches the panicking Viner by the shoulder and looks for Jamie, "Well?"
"Oh what's the use, we're trapped down here now. We'll never survive down in this cold! It's closed. What have they done that for? What are they playing at up there?!"
The Doctor shakes him, "Well where's Jamie?"
"He went up the ladder to try it out."
The Doctor releases the man and heads back to find Jamie himself. Jamie is just setting foot on the metallic floor as he comes up, "It's closed."
"Come here. We'll get out of this."
"I canna make anyone hear..." The Doctor cuts Jamie off by placing his finger over his lips. Thoughts flow between them through the connection that are like instant sex without the risk of frostbite. Jamie lets it sooth away his fear and hugs the smaller man in gratitude. They sneak back to the others.
The conversation reveals that Viner is still panicked and worried. He's trying to get Parry to comprehend the dire situation they are in and is not being very successful. Meanwhile Jamie sends to him that Eric is very calm, too calm. The Doctor knows this. He pats Jamie on the arm and captures his hand. "Klieg doesn't seem to be very worried," he says to announce their return.
The dusky skinned man agrees, "No, I'm not Doctor."
"It won't open and I can't make anyone hear," Jamie restates.
Klieg rolls his eyes. This is just too easy. "Of course, there is an easy way out of this. You're forgetting your logic. If it closes it can be opened from... from here."
The Doctor smells a rat, but wants to catch him in the lie, "Conveniently labelled in symbolic logic I suppose?"
"Right. are we ready? I shall now operate the sequence."
"If it is the opening device," the Doctor cautions. Parry gives Klieg the go ahead.
Nearly laughing with glee he says, "It's obviously an opening device of some kind Doctor."
Jamie pulls away and heads off down the passage with, "I'll see if it works then." followed by, "Go ahead!" Klieg operates the device. Jamie replies, "Nothing happening out here." He returns to the others to find Eric looking over the controls again.
Soon the professor notices something strange: "Water!"
"Aye, it's getting warmer," Jamie observes. Then he notices something terrifying, "Hey look behind you!"
The tombs are thawing. "The ice is melting," Viner states, "Look! Look at the honeycomb! There's something inside."
The Doctor finds himself stepping back, unable to keep the fear he feels at bay. Jamie moves in front of him and says what they all know to be true, "They're Cybermen."
"Jamie, come back," the Time Lord's voice has a bit of a shake in it. Jamie swallows and steps back until he can catch the Doctor's hand, hidden by the kilt. Not that it matters, Parry and Klieg are both too awestruck to realize the danger.
"It is them. Gentlemen they are perfect! This is unique in archaeology!"
Soon however the jubilation turns to shock, as the cybermen reveal that they are, in fact, still very much alive, weakly moving behind the membranes that divide them from the outside. Viner spots them first, "No, no... they're moving. We must shut it down." He dashes to the controls and somehow manages to reverse the heating effect. This causes the movement to slow and the ice to start to reform. But John is not done. He wants to lock Klieg out of the controls somehow and is trying desperately to encrypt them.
Klieg turns and watches him for a second, then realizes that he's actively working against him, "What are you doing, keep away from that!"
Instead of backing away Viner starts working yet another layer of encryption over the sequence, "No!" He's too busy, too desperate, to look and see that Klieg has pulled a gun on him.
"Hold on, if you just understood --" Kleig begins. Viner shakes his head. Parry moves to stop Kleig and the fellow makes his threat, "The next one to move and he will get killed."
The Doctor catches Jamie by a fistful of his jacket, "No!" The Scot struggles against his hold, meaning to do bodily harm to the armed man if he can get his hands on him.
Eric doesn't want to shoot a fellow member of his guild, really he doesn't, but if he can't get him to stop... "For the last time I'm asking you to get away from those controls!"
Viner continues with his encryption, nearly done with the second layer. Just a few more strokes... the gunshot rings out and he feels the burn of it as he falls, the final lever of his lockout happening to slide into place as he hooks his arm around it. It's the last thing he does in this life.
Shocked, the professor runs over to him, "Viner...Viner...Viner!" It's too late. The life has fled from his eyes. He looks back at Klieg, "YOU'VE KILLED HIM!"
"Move him away from the controls if you must, professor. I've no desire to kill you too, yet." Eric needs time now to undo the cypher placed over the original controls. Parry snags Viner's body by the shoulders and drags him backwards so that he's near the Doctor and Jamie, stopping at the small man's feet. The entire time he keeps his eyes on the gun.
"He's mad!" the Scot says as he tries again to get close enough to disarm Eric.
The Doctor catches him again and forces him, rather gently but firmly, to his knees. Its the first time that Jamie is truly aware that the Doctor is stronger than he is. "Jamie!" Instead of protesting, Jamie suddenly understands that the Doctor is protecting him. He reaches up and curls his fingers in the man's shirt under his coat and cloak. At this he feels the push let up and he slowly stands, half inside the cloak with his arm around the Doctor's back.
Parry stands, "Haydon dead, and now Viner. What kind of a man are you?!"
The encryption is rather weak, and Eric is able to break it easily. "Back... Keep back!" He keeps the gun on the others as the tombs thaw again. This time no one will stop him. "And we can see what happens - as the Professor says, this is a unique archaeological event. It would be such a pity to miss it!"
"You know Doctor, I have a feeling that that man planned it all along. He knew that control wouldn't open the hatch," Jamie says to Thete.
The Doctor pulls him closer, "So did I Jamie."
"What? You knew, Doctor?" But of course the crafty bugger knew... Jamie doubted if any of this surprised the Time Lord at all. He's not angered, precisely because for once the Doctor is being completely open with him.
"I wanted to know what he was up to," the frumpy man said with a frown.
"And now you know Doctor," Eric says as if it's a crow of triumph.
Professor Parry counters, "We know nothing." He points to Viner's body, "This is the action of a lunatic!"
"Lunatic? Not at all Professor, a necessary detail, that's all."
"But why?!" the distraught scholar pleads.
Eric Klieg looks at him with pity. "Logic, my dear Professor, logic and power. On Earth the Brotherhood of Logicians is the greatest human intelligence ever assembled. I, Viner and Kaftan are all part of this, as you well know. He turned his back on our goals. So death came for him. You know however, that intelligence is not enough. Oh no. It's not. We need power. Power to put our ability into action. The Cybermen have this power. I have come here with the Brotherhood's blessing to find it and use it."
Shocked now, Parry says, "So that was your motive in financing my expedition!"
"Exactly! Your complete lack of er, administration made it ideal for our purpose!"
The Doctor shakes his head, "And you think that the Cybermen will help you?"
"But of course - I shall be their resurrector!" It's nearly this exact moment that the sounds of ripping membrane draw their attention back to the tombs. Really it's a misnomer. These are not tombs as much as they are delayed birthing chambers. Stasis. And it is not a resurrection that is taking place, but a trap being sprung. The Doctor can only see one way through this now. He must hope that Toberman retains enough humanity to save them all. It's a pity, really. The fellow has such promise. Jamie can't take his eyes off the horrible sight of all the released Cybermen assembling on the main floor, having made their way from the cubicles and down the ladders. He wants to hide Thete from them as they turn and take in the humans that are against the wall. But they have another horror to witness first.
The Cybermen walk towards them a bit then turn and cluster around the center lowest door. They first salute each other, then prepare for the final emergence, secure in the knowledge that these humans pose little threat. But for one. They need another to deal with him. Jamie watches the strange behavior and then whispers, "What is it?"
The Doctor is focused as intensely as he is, as the Cybermen ease open the final door of the tombs. What unfolds is a very different sort of Cyberman. "I think it's their-their leader...their-their controller, Jamie." The Scot looks from the monstrous event occurring in front of them to the very scared Time Lord next to him. He looks back to see that the being is a full head taller than the normal kind, without the special breathing and machine like chest piece that Polly had so handily exploited. Its got a tall almost cone-like transparent reddish-silver dome, lit with must be superior computing power. It's much like he sometimes imagines the Doctor's brain must look, all alive with intelligence and energy. The Controller steps into the center of the Cybermen drones as the salute it. It is clear that the this one is transmitting and receiving data and orders all without a word being spoken.
Only a fool would dare interrupt. Klieg is apparently that fool. "I... am Klieg, Eric Klieg. I have brought you back to life. We of the Logicians have planned this. You are alive because of us. Now you will help us." Not only is he ignored but it seems as though it might stay that way for some time, "We need your power, you need our mass intelligence. Are you listening? Do you understand me? Now that I have released you..." Sometimes it's stupid to allow ego to control intellect. This certainly is the case here, as Klieg finds when he goes to hit the Controller and ends up in the creature's superhuman grip. He screams as he forced to the floor, "ARGGHH... Let me go!" His pleas, just like his demands, fall on uncaring computerized ears, "I set you free!" It's only after the Controller has made a point of its superior strength that it release the injured man. Unused to pain, he clutches the nearly broken arm and cries, "It was our plan!"
The Controller studies the small group. It is fewer than calculated for. However... there is a prize here, if they can outsmart it. He decides to attempt conquest through use of their human emotions first. "YOU BELONG TO US. YOU SHALL BE LIKE US."
Ever inquisitive, one of the humans puzzles, "How did you know that we would come to release you? You could have remained frozen forever!"
Time is of no consequence in the bigger game of survival. And the Controller knows that they must survive. "THE HUMAN MIND. YOU ARE INQUISITIVE."
The one that is special, the one that could lead the Cybermen to domination over the universe says, "Ah I see a trap! A very special sort of trap too."
The other human, the first one that spoke without demand turns to the one the Controller knows as 'Doctor' and asks, "What do you mean special trap?"
"Well don't you see, they only wanted superior intellects, that's why they made the trap so complicated!" the one known only as 'Doctor' says.
"WE KNEW THAT SOMEBODY LIKE YOU WOULD COME TO OUR PLANET SOMEDAY." Controller tells them.
'Doctor' replies, "Yes, and we've done exactly as you've calculated, haven't we?"
"NOW YOU BELONG TO US," Controller intones. It is meant specifically for 'Doctor'. The game of the mind has began. It will take all the computation power accessible to out-calculate this one. The Controller turns back to his drones as he begins planning how to win this without knowing all the parameters that 'Doctor' might call upon. He's a tricky carbon-based entity.
Jamie silently waits until it's a sure thing that the Cybermen are completely involved with whatever they are doing, "Could we not make a run for it Doctor?"
"No-no, we wouldn't even reach the ladder, it's too risky," the Time Lord says. Parry is out of his league here, far beyond anything he expected to encounter. He asks what they can do, since the situation seems as hopeless as it gets. "We'll play for time, wait our chance. Leave it to me," Jamie clenches his fist as the Doctor approaches the CyberController. After a moment he clears his throat, "Ahem... Excuse me. May I ask a question? Why did you submit yourself to freezing?" the boldness of the Doctor's move causes the Controller to spin and advance. "Er, you-you don't have to answer that if you don't want to..."
The Controller both wants to crush this being and absorb him. The Cybermen could be invincible if they had the Doctor's mind at their lead. "TO SURVIVE. OUR HISTORY COMPUTER HAS FULL DETAILS OF YOU."
Alarmed the Doctor backs up a step. These Cybermen know who he is. "Oh, how?"
"WE KNOW OF YOUR INTELLIGENCE."
"Oh, thank you very much... Ah yes, the lunar surface!" Behind him Parry is looking over at Jamie with confusion. This makes no sense to him.
The Controller spills all the details, however. Revealing more about the Doctor's past and perhaps his future than he realizes. "OUR MACHINERY HAD STOPPED AND OUR SUPPLY OF REPLACEMENTS BECAME DEPLETED. YOU HAD DESTROYED OUR FIRST PLANET AND WE WERE BECOMING EXTINCT. TIME AND TIME AGAIN WE PLANNED TO REPLENISH. TIME AND TIME AGAIN YOU STOOD IN THE WAY."
"So that's why you attacked the Moonbase!"
Jamie frowned, "W-what use will capturing us make? You'll still become extinct."
"WE WILL SURVIVE. WE WILL SURVIVE. NOW YOU WILL HELP US." the Controller stated. "YOU WILL BECOME THE FIRST OF A NEW RACE OF CYBERMEN. YOU WILL RETURN TO THE EARTH AND CONTROL IT." Parry sets up a protest worthy of a crowd but the Controller drones on over the top of it, "EVERYTHING WE DESIGNED HAS BEEN CARRIED OUT. THERE WILL BE NO MISTAKES."
Jamie shook his head, "A new race of Cybermen? But we're humans, we're not like you!"
The Controller looks at the lad, one that has been with 'Doctor' many, many times as they were set back again and again on their plans. The one known as 'Jamie'. It gives the Controller a thrill when it intones, "YOU WILL BE." It sends the Drones over to move the captives into a more defensible location.
The Doctor is caught first, "Oh no-no keep away! Keep away, keep away from me!" Somehow Jamie slips away and makes a dash for it. One of the Drones heads after him. The Doctor is gripped by two drones who drag him forward into the main chamber, "Let me go of me! If you would let go I'd stand still!"
Behind him Toberman is pleading as well, "Please, please, please let me go! Let me go!" The fight between the CyberDrones and the dark skinned man ends when he's tossed into a stack of barrels and goes still.
Jamie is dragged in unconscious. The Doctor is forced forward to a machine that scans him, "Oh if you would let go of me. I would be still! Please! You're breaking my arm! Oh!"
The data that the machine spits out is troublesome. "TO STRUGGLE IS FUTILE." The -alien- is moved away. Another carbon based man is moved into his place. Controller must tabulate this new data. What does this mean? 'Doctor' was listed to take the place of Supreme Control. But there is something incorrect with his readings. It is not expected or planned for. Parameters have changed. New data indicates altered logic is required. After the scans are completed, Controller calls the Drones into a conferring circuit again.
A long while passes. Several hours, at least. Most of the day, at the most. He's unsure. He's not really paying attention to the passage of time at the moment. It's a sin, for sure, among his kind. But the Doctor has other things to worry about...
First Toberman, then Jamie revives. The Doctor is somewhat curled, reeling from the scans still, fully able to recall every tiny bit of information that the scans picked up. It's recorded now. Not just that he's got Jamie with him, but evidence that can be turned against him. Unless he destroys it. He's grateful that no one else can read the Cybermen's cryptic language. Oh, what can he do? Jamie senses he's shaken and slides up against him. He curls his arm around the lad's shoulders. Should he tell? Can he afford to? Does he deserve to hide this? What would Jamie think? Would the lad leave him?
What makes you think I'd leave you?
The Doctor grips his shoulder a bit tighter, I've put you into danger yet again. And this time I don't know for sure if we're going to be slipping out of it.
Sure we will. I have full faith in you, Thete.
The Doctor leans his head against Jamie's shoulder but doesn't reply. He doesn't dare block the link, and he doesn't dare think about what happened while Jamie was still unconscious. Instead he closes his eyes and tries to work out a plan suited to the current situation instead of looking more to the impossible future. After a moment Jamie's head settles against his own, the heat of it warming him right through. It's just so right. He can't deny it. If Parry or Klieg think the behavior is strange neither say anything about it. Currently the Doctor doesn't care a wit. If Jamie wanted to crawl inside his clothes he'd let him. It's nearly shocking how much caution he's tossed to the wayside since that scan. But it's done now. If they are going to get caught and bad things happen he might as well deserve his punishment, right? And there he goes again – not focusing on what he can solve now. Grrr.
What scan?
The Cybermen scanned all of us. Mine seemed to cause them some delay in whatever plans they had formulated. The Doctor sees no reason to not tell Jamie at least some of the truth. Luckily, it's enough.
Ah.
They sit for a while longer, Jamie content to catch the musical whispers of the Doctor's thoughts as the whip past him. He knows Thete's not sleeping even though his eyes are closed. He also knows he wants to hold this little strange man forever, never letting go. He can't, of course. But that doesn't mean he doesn't want to. He glances up and sees Toberman watching and smiles at him. Surprisingly, the large dark skinned man smiles back, seemingly fine with the situation. He wants to assure him that they will make it out of this. But – there's a reason the Doctor wanted Toberman here, and he has a feeling it's because the Doctor sees the fellow's fate. For some reason he keeps picturing the man with three fingered sliver hands. Jamie blinks that away as the Time Lord hugs him tighter.
Then the drones move, making their typical salute, and Jamie realizes that he's seeing Toberman with Cybermen hands. He swallows and feels the Doctor straighten. He settles back as the Cybermen's Controller and one Drone approach them. "WE HAVE DECIDED HOW YOU WILL BE USED."
Klieg gets to his feet, "Yes?"
Controller focuses on him, " YOU ARE A LOGICIAN. OUR RACE IS ALSO LOGICAL. YOU WILL BE THE LEADER OF THE NEW RACE."
Thinking that he's gotten wind of an alliance, Eric asks, "You will listen to my proposals, then?"
"YES, WE WILL LISTEN. BUT FIRST YOU WILL BE ALTERED." This makes Klieg start backwards. The Controller reasons, "YOU HAVE FEAR. WE WILL ELIMINATE FEAR FROM YOUR BRAIN. YES, YOU WILL BE THE FIRST." It catches Eric by his uninjured arm and drags him toward the waiting table.
The Drone points at Parry, "AND YOU WILL BE THE NEXT." Parry tries to get out of the thing's reach but it catches him and drags him forward. "YOU WILL BE LIKE US." the Cyberman's words override Parry's protestations. It fashions a tighter grip and the professor screams.
The Controller gets Klieg turned over to other drones and says to the Doctor, Jamie and Toberman, "TO DIE IS UNNECESSARY. YOU WILL BE FROZEN AND PLACED IN OUR TOMBS UNTIL WE ARE READY TO USE YOU. YOUR LIVES WILL BE SUSPENDED. PREPARE THE TOMBS."
Toberman says, "They're going to freeze us!"
"Not me!" Jamie intends to go down fighting.
The Doctor snags him by the shirt, "No Jamie, they're coming back!" But before he can actually give Jamie a reason to not go down fighting a series of explosions go off around the cavern. This tosses the Cybermen into a state of confusion. They are expecting damage and there is none. It's not logical. Toberman rushes forward to free Klieg. Parry slips away from the cluster that had been cornering him. The smoke from the grenades begins to fill the room.
Captain Hopper shouts, "Come on you guys, run for it!"
Jamie concurs, "Lets get out of here!"
In the smoke filled confusion only the Doctor knows the route. He manages to find Parry and somehow gets Jamie to him, but looses Hopper in the process. Parry calls, "J-Jamie."
"Talk later." Jamie tells him as he presses her 'kerchief to the man's face to help with the smoke.
Moments later the Doctor seems to step out of nowhere, "Is he alright?"
"Aye, I think so. Which way is it from here? I can't remember."
"That way," the Time Lord points.
Jamie looks at him, "Are you sure?"
The Doctor opens up the link further so Jamie can sense him leading back to the hatch, "No I'm not sure, but just try it!" The words are spoken with exasperation and in total contrast to what Jamie senses as the truth."I'll be with you in a minute."
"Alright," the Scot guides the professor back to the now open hatch in a run.
Meanwhile the smaller man is looking for Captain Hopper. "This way!" he calls once he finds the blond man, "We've got to stop them!"
"Block off the tunnel perhaps?" It's a half decent idea, if they had another year or so to carry it out. They don't.
The Doctor shakes his head, "No-no we can't do that. The hatch, we must get there first! Come on!" Hopper is more than happy to follow him back to the hatch.
It's a struggle to get up the ladder as the tunnels were still quite cold even though the main chamber had thawed. It's taken them rather a long time to get back to the hatch, really part of the Doctor's plan to throw the Cybermen off the correct trail. Hopper has not noticed that the little man has gone back again, looking for Toberman against all odds. He shouts at Jamie who's at the top of the climb, "Hurry up can't ya? For Pete's sake get a move on!"
Jamie coughs and then shouts back to him, "Oh my hands are freezing!" The metal rungs of the ladder are even colder and more dangerous than before, nearly skinning his hands as he climbs. Parry loosens his jacket and uses the sleeves to pad his hands from the supercooled metal.
"Come on, come on get up!" Hopper would climb right over these blokes if he had less honor.
Parry chokes a bit, "I can't see through this smoke!"
Victoria's voice comes from above them, "JAMIE! ...What's that smoke?"
Jamie happily calls back, "VICTORIA!" He finally makes it through the hatch and turns to catch Parry and haul him out, "Come on Mr Parry. Come on - quick! You stand back."
Behind him is Hopper, "The Cybermen! They're right behind us!" The Doctor, unable to find Toberman but having found a Cyberman makes a hasty dash down the last stretch of clear hallway and then begins rapidly ascending the ladder. The Drone behind him is surprisingly quick and he barely avoids being caught before he clears it's reach. It doesn't give in, however. Instead it too begins to climb. Above him the captain's voice echoes back, "As soon as the Doctor's up, slam down the hatch!"
Another voice more distant shouts, "Okay! Standby!"
Jamie's never been so happy to see the Doctor's face as he is the moment the strange little fellow appears over the edge of the hatch. But he can tell that there's something wrong, almost right away, "Oh! Argh! He's got my leg! Oh-oh!"
Almost in unison, Hopper and Jamie jump to his aid, each grabbing an arm and helping to wrestle him out of the Cyberman's grasp. "Oh Doctor! come on! come on!"
"Oh! It's no use!" The Doctor figures this is the end.
Jamie mentally shouts, No! "Oh, get up! Pull!" This makes the doctor kick which forces the Drone to climb until its behind the Time Lord to avoid his feet. It then tries to catch his shoulders to pull him back down. Only Victoria begins pounding on it with a thermos of all things and it actually overloads slightly from the varied input. It wobbles, giving up the grip it had on the Doctor's cloak. While the silver monster is catching its balance the Doctor slithers away from its reach. Having lost the Time Lord it catches, with both hands, the female hitting it.
"Jim, close the hatch!"
Jamie calls to the lass, "Victoria!" The hatch starts to close. Soon the Cyberman realizes that it is closing, and it releases the female with one hand and attempts bracing the door and pulling her in at the same time. Only the hatch keeps pressing down and the female seems willing to rip her clothing if necessary. Then Victoria spins and slips from the coat she was wearing. The Cyberman is tossed a bit off balance but manages to catch itself. It turns it's attention to keeping the hatch open, trying to use itself as a wedge. The effort causes it to begin smoking. However, the hatch is made better and has less parts to break. The solid thick metal eventually wins the battle, closing with a rather final thud. "Got it!"
Victoria throws herself at the Doctor. "Oh!" is all he can manage with the force of the impact.
Then the Cybermen on the other side begin beating on the hatch. It causes everyone on the other side to jump with alarm. The hatch dents, but does not give. After a few more blows the attempt stops. Victoria hugs the Doctor tighter, "It was horrible! It was so strong!"
Jamie comes around and puts a hand on her back, "Aye, it's all right Victoria, You're all over now."
The professor seems a bit better for having some fresh air and a cup of something hot. Once he's settled he says, "That was a near thing, is anyone missing?"
Only Hopper seems aware of it, "Yes! Klieg, Viner, and Toberman. They're still down there!"
Parry moans, "Oh dear. Well, Viner is dead." This causes Hopper and Callum to both sit down. At this rate they are going to be transporting more dead than alive. Slowly they all settle at the table, Victoria keeping the Doctor close by and Jim keeping a gun on Miss Kaftan. Then there's a soft tapping from the hatch. Hopper leaps to his feet. "Don't open it, it may be the Cybermen!" the professor cautions.
The Doctor shakes his head, " No, no it's too soft. It must be Toberman and Klieg."
Captain Hopper looks at the Doctor, "Ah you're crazy!"
"You're right, we can't leave them down there, even if they are killers," Parry concedes.
Jamie shakes his head, "Oh, they're probably both frozen solid by now."
The knocking is repeated, and Miss Kaftan urges, "You must let them up. They must be saved!"
"Yes, they're more dangerous down there than they are up here!" the Time Lord tells everone.
Hopper is alarmed by this, "What? Well, Okay Jim." Callum indicates he's ready and the captain says, "Okay let her go!"
As the hatch is opened the Doctor moves Kaftan further away from the controls, "Excuse me please."
Eric alone scrambles out from the frozen passages below, "Close it! Close it – quick!" Kaftan asks after Toberman and is told, "They've got him!" The hatch thumps down again.
The Doctor confronts Klieg, "You still think you can form an alliance with the Cybermen?"
"If I'd only been in a stronger position to bargain with them!"
The answer is enough for the others to insist on them being locked away. They choose a room and send them both into it at gunpoint. Once Callum returns Hopper says, "Now, if I don't get back to the rocket, we're not going to take off inside a week." Parry wants to get away from here and tries to work out an arrangement to return to the ship. The captain shakes his head, "I told you before, not till I'm operational again. I'll let you know when that is." Jamie is trying to figure out what is wrong, because he can feel that something is – off. The Doctor is telling him not to worry, that it's nothing major when Hopper interrupts them, "I don't think we'll have any more trouble with your friends down there."
The Doctor makes a face, "We shall see." Hopper leaves. Callum stays. It's likely just as well. The group mills about, with the Doctor spending rather more time inside the controls, physically, then out. He's got ideas about what the CyberController might be planning and is fully engaged in trying to out-think the machine. Sometimes to do that one must work a little chaos into the mix. Soon night falls and the party sets themselves up a rotation for watch. He chooses to take a shift after Victoria and settles down once the others are sleeping. Miss Kaftan's coat has been given to Victoria to replace the one she gave to the Cyberman. The party is rather spread out in the most uncomfortable positions the Doctor has ever seen humans sleep in. In fact he'd guess that Jamie's form is where it is more because the lad couldn't stay awake any longer more than anything else. He rubs his face, aware that he's over-napped, yawns and tosses his hands in the air as Victoria levels the gun at him, "Oi, I'm on your side - remember? Hey, why didn't you wake me? I should have been on watch half an hour ago!"
She lowers the weapon, "I thought you should rest."
He gets up and crosses over to her, "Why me?"
She shrugs, "No reason really."
"Oh I think I know, is it because I'm..."
"Well, if you are 450 years old you'll need a great deal of sleep!" Victoria states.
He smiles at her, "Well that's very considerate of you Victoria, but um, between you and me, I'm-I'm really quite lively actually ah, all things being considered." Then he changes the direction of the conversation after a pause, "You happy with us Victoria?"
"Yes I am. ...At least, I would be if my father were here."
He offers his hand, "Yes, I know, I know."
She takes it and gives him a sad smile, "I wonder what he would have thought if he could see me now."
"You miss him very much don't you?"
There's no denying that her life has been changed forever, and that there's no going back with it. She's not the innocent she was -- "It's only when I close my eyes. I can still see him standing there - before those horrible Dalek creatures came to the house. He was a very kind man, I shall never forget him. Never."
The Doctor wouldn't want her to forget, but he does want the pain to lessen. "No of course you won't. But, you know, the memory of him won't always be a sad one."
"I think it will. You can't understand, being so ancient -- " His expression makes her rephrase, " I mean, so old. You probably can't remember your family."
"Oh, Oh yes I can when I want to. And that's just the point really. I have to really want to, to bring them back in front of my eyes. The rest of the time they-they sleep in my mind, and I forget. And so will you." She gives him an uncertain look. He reads it loud and clear, "Oh yes you will. You'll find that there's so much else to think about. So remember; our lives are different to anybody else's, that's the exciting thing. There's nobody in the universe can do what we're doing. Hmm. You must get some sleep and let this 'poor old man' stay awake." She smiles at him. The Doctor hugs her and then watches her settle down to sleep, adding his cloak over her like a blanket. He walks through the room, checking on the others before taking her post at the table, gun in hand, although he doesn't intend on using it. A nudge on his shoe makes him look downs and he spots the Cybermen's next attempt against them. "Jamie, Victoria, Callum, wake up, wake up!" He's already on his feet, having tipped the one Cyber-Mat onto it's side and searching for others.
The responses range from snores to Victoria's nearly instant wakefulness, "What is it?" He shakes Jamie by the shoulder and then spots the Cyber-Mat moving toward Callum.
By the time the Doctor has gotten in range it's clear that the creatures are using some form of electronic nerve interface to control human reactions. "Callum, Callum!" He gets no response from the fellow under attack.
Victoria takes over shaking Jamie awake, "It's one of those terrible things again!"
"Don't move Callum, don't move!" The Doctor needn't have worried on that point, really as the fellow is rather stunned. But he keeps talking as the slowly reaches for the Cyber-Mat. He then makes a fast swipe sending the offending metallic worm-like robot flying away with one hand and tugging Jim to his feet with the other. "Now get back to the controls all of you! Steady, don't make any sudden movements," he orders as he moves to the professor. Callum, Victoria, and Jamie all do as told. "Parry, Parry, wake up Parry, wake up."
"Wha?" the professor asks half asleep still.
The Doctor tugs him off the steps, "Wake up, don't panic. Come back with us, steady. Now we'll all go in the other room and lock them out!" Parry has to fight a sense of panic at the approach of the clearly Cybernetic creatures.
Reaching the control bank the Doctor begins to direct everyone to the power room. They are cut off by the Cyber-Mat that was attempting to interface with the Doctor. Victoria can't help herself and screams. Jim panics at this, "Let's... get out of here! T-the main doors! No look!"
There's another one of them silver worms moving toward them from that side. "Oh, Doctor. We're trapped!" Victoria points out.
"Back against the controls, everybody!" the Doctor orders. They do as told. More of the Cyber-Mats appear. Then the Time Lord remembers the cable he'd detached earlier. He swiftly tugs one end lose and makes a half-circle with it. "Here, give me a hand, quick!"
"Wha-what?" Parry stammers.
"Lay this down on the ground. Come on!" He's got no time to explain.
Jamie frowns, "They'll go over it Doctor!"
Even without help, he keeps on working at a frantic pace. He gets to the far side of the control bank and plugs the cable back in, making a circuit with it. "Come on!" he dares the Cyber-Mats to come at him.
"Let's blast the filthy things!" Jim cries. Three shots to a Cyber-Mat however is a waste of ammo.
"You're wasting your time, there are too many of them! Now do what I say, come back!" Callum steps back inside the length of cable. The Doctor pulls a lever, turning on the circuit. The cable smokes from the load. "There you are, you see!" The Cyber-Mats are totally thrown for a loop from the raw electrical current running through the cable. Given enough time the conflict causes them to short out and effectively kneel over. Only after they are all smoking ruins does the Doctor shut off the power.
"What are those creatures?" the professor asks.
The Doctor looks at him, "Well, they're a form of -of metallic life. They home on human brainwaves and attack."
"Urgh! Are they safe now?" Victoria wants to know.
Now that they are all rather internally toasted... "Oh yes, quite safe now. The er, power cable generated an electrical field and confused their tiny metal minds. You might almost say that they've had a complete metal breakdown." This comes with a rather goofy grin. Jamie pulls a face and groans. "I'm so sorry Jamie." But he can't help the smile that resurfaces.
"What about Klieg and Kaftan? They probably attacked them as well!" Victoria suddenly sends up the alarm. The professor picks it up and the Doctor decides that they should check. But before they can reach the door the two that had been locked away reveal that they are safe, and armed...
Klieg glances at the solution to the Cyber-Mat problem, "Most ingenious Doctor. Now, let's see what you can do against this!" He aims the cyberman weapon and fires, although the Doctor is pushed clear of the blast and Callum takes the shot in his shoulder. Victoria screams as the man falls. The professor moves to the downed man. "Keep back!" Eric orders. Then he aims at Parry, "Your gun." It is reluctantly given to Kaftan.
"You've killed him you murderer!" Parry accuses.
Callum has passed out, and is not dead. Eric knows this, "No, he is fortunate, I spared him!"
Jamie is holding Victora, but that doesn't stop him from drawing attention his way, "Hah, you mean you missed him!" The Doctor puts a warning hand on his arm.
"Silence! I could have destroyed him if I wanted to!" then Klieg turns to Miss Kaftan, "Shall I kill them now?"
She shakes her head, "No, no, that will not be necessary." She walks into the group, "I'm sure the Cybermen will have a good use for them. You will make excellent experimental specimens!"
Jim moans as he regains consciousness. Victoria frets, "Oh let me help him please!"
"No tricks!" Klieg warns.
Jamie lets go of her and she kneels down to check on Callum. The Doctor frowns, "You still think that you can bargain with the Cybermen?"
"Certainly!" the madman says as he crosses to the controls and activates the hatch. It opens as he crosses the room again speaking, "And this time on our terms!" when he reaches the open portal he leans over and shouts down it, "I wish to speak to the Controller! I wish to speak to the Controller!" This he does over and over again until the sound of approaching footsteps echoes back at him, "They're coming! And now gentlemen you will see how I shall use the power of the Cybermen!"
The Doctor scoffs, "Use maybe, but you'll never control the Cybermen."
After a moment the Controller rises up over the edge of the hatch with Toberman behind him. Miss Kaftan has to jolt her 'partner' out of his delusions of glory, "Eric, behind you!"
He turns and levels the gun, "Stop! You know what this can do to you!" Sure enough the Controller does stop. It does know what that weapon is capable of. "That's better. Now you are under my control. We know you that you must be revitalised or you will perish. If you agree to my terms I will let you survive."
"I WILL LISTEN."
Miss Kaftan makes a suggestion, "Make them release Toberman."
"If you think they'll listen to you you're even dafter than I thought," Jamie tells her. She snarls and levels her gun at him. He defiantly stares her down. The Doctor tries to tug the Scot back,
"Silence! Sit down." Klieg orders Jamie, Parry, and the Doctor. The all sit. Then he turns back to the Controller, "First, you release our man."
The Controller turns to face the dark skinned man and releases him, sort of, with a telepathic command. Slowly Toberman climbs free of the hatch and rather zombie-like moves down the steps until he's positioned to the side of them. Kaftan greets him, "Toberman, it is good that you are back, watch them." He doesn't move, or blink, or acknowledge her in any way.
Jamie's seen this before. He leans over to the Doctor, "Doctor he seems, uh..."
"Yes Jamie, yes," the Time Lord agrees but shushes the piper because clearly Kaftan and Klieg don't see the signs.
The exchange between the Doctor and Jamie has taken Klieg's attention off the Controller. It's moved from the hatch to the steps and is advancing on him. Just in time Klieg levels the gun on it again, "Stay where you are!" It stops. Klieg boldly moves toward the Controller, getting almost within reach, "No, do you agree to accept our plan?"
"Plan?" echoes the Time Lord.
"The conquest of the Earth," Klieg gloats.
The professor gets to his feet, "What? You must be out of your mind! "
Eric orders, "Silence!" then he turns back to the Controller, "Your answer?"
It's what the Cybermen have been attempting for centuries. Of course it's going to accept. The Doctor can hear it coming even before it is stated. However, he knows that Klieg has no idea what he's bargaining for. "WE ACCEPT. WE WILL GIVE YOU SOME OF OUR POWER DEVICES."
"Good! I knew an understanding could be reached. I shall let you be revitalized. To survive it must be now. Come forward – slowly," Klieg commands. Although Kaftan warns him to take care, he's too high on his own ego to realize that the Controller will say anything to get into the energy chamber at this point. "Leave this to me!" The professor tells him he's out of his mind crazy. This makes Klieg rethink just a bit, " Do you think so? Then perhaps you and your colleagues had better join him! Oh go on, go on!" The gun is waved in their faces but as Victoria moves to stay with them he snatches her by the arm, "The girl stays with us!"
Miss Kaftan shuts the door as the Doctor shouts, "No!" After a moment the Time Lord frowns and turns to follow the Controller into the room at the end of the hall. They really have no choice. By the time they reach the room it's painfully clear that things are rather dire for the Controller. It's trying, and failing, to get into the just-slightly-too-small alcove.
Parry, who is on top, the Doctor (being in the middle), and Jamie (on the bottom) watch from around the door at the rather comical and fading progression. Jamie finally says, "He's too weak to get in!"
This is quite true, the Doctor agrees. The Controller does seem really rather weak at the moment. He fondly pats the piper on the head, "Quiet Jamie." Suddenly a plan occurs him. It might not be the best of plans, or the safest of plans, but it is a plan... and it might buy them some time. The Scot catches his coat as he steps out from their hiding place. The Doctor reassures him that he knows what he's doing, and once free of the lad's grip tiptoes over to the Controller. The tall silver creature doesn't even respond to his approach. It looks like for a second that the Doctor might tap the Controller on the shoulder. Jamie sends him a warning feeling about that action and the little man changes his mind, "Ahem, you seem to be in trouble."
"THE ENErGy LEVels ARe Low... WE WiLl SURVive. YOU WIlL HeLp us. YOU WILL Help uss..."
The Doctor figures this fits right in with his plan... "Er Yes, certainly! Ahem, Jamie, Professor..."
Jamie frowns, "You don't mean to say you're actually going to help them?"
"Surely not! You can't support these creatures!" the professor adds.
The Time Lord figures he deserves this lack of trust, and he won't ask Jamie to trust him blindly again having abused it now. No, he needs to prove himself again. But he can't – tell them what the plan is because of he does then the Controller will know. So instead he gives Jamie a look that reads 'I've got a plan' and says, "I think it best. Come on." Jamie reads the look and motions Parry over. Although the professor has no idea what is going on he helps the other two men get the oversized Controller into the coffin like alcove. "Come along That's it, up there and in!"
The Controller says, "YOU UNDerstanD thE MachIne."
And of course the Doctor does. "Yes, one moment." He moves over to the controls.
Jamie tries to stop him, "Have you taken leave of your senses? Now let's go and help Victoria!"
"In a moment," the odd little fellow says. He then calls to the Controller, "Now, are you ready?" He gets a signal from the Cyberman. He gleefully flips some levers, starting up the machine and closing the Controller inside the nearly immovable door. He then moves to keep the machine from actually recharging the menace, "Well now, where would you rather have him, in or out of there?" Jamie blinks as he gets what the Doctor has done. Then the Time Lord says, "Only we must make sure that he stays in there."
The three men mobilize to ensure that the coffin like door cannot be opened. Every wire or cable they can wrench free is put to use in binging the thing closed. Unfortunately someone trips a unknown control on the panel that causes the emitter to rapidly jerk about and start to smoke as it overloads. "Keep back, it's smoking! Turn it off, it's out of control!"
Jamie says, "I told you you shouldn't have touched it!"
Parry rushes to the panel with the goal of powering it down, but before he can it falls still on its own. "I think there must be some sort of internal timing mechanism. Jamie, I hope you made those ropes secure," the Doctor says.
"Och, the King of the beasties himself couldnae get out of that one!" the Scotsman counters. He's not worried.
The Doctor is rather sure they should be. But he trusts the lad, "Good!" They fall silent for a moment. Then the thudding starts. It doesn't worry him... until the Controller puts his fist through the door. This worries him. He motions for them to get under cover. "Oh!" Parry swears. The rest of the Controller comes through the lid. The binds don't even give it pause. "Jamie, remind me to give you a lesson in tying knots sometime." The piper raises an eyebrow at him. Not that type of lesson.
The Controller surveys the room, spots their hiding place and comes around to block them, "YOU WILL REMAIN STILL." then it sends a strong telepathic signal through the wall to it's drone. This signal ends up raising the door. The Controller orders the non-cyberman in the room with it to exit to the main chamber.
Jamie calls Victoria over even though the Doctor shushes him. She eagerly joins them, "What's going on?" the Time Lord shushes them again. Now things might get tricky...
The Controller reveals that Toberman is under his influence, and it tells her, "CYBERMEN DO NOT PROMISE. SUCH IDEAS HAVE NO VALUE." then he orders her to open the hatch. This causes Kaftan to turn on the metal monster and fire her gun. The shots bounce off. It tells her, "THAT GUN WILL NOT HARM ME." before it returns fire and kills her with a more effective weapon.
As the Controller opens the hatch the Doctor calls to Toberman, "Look what they've done! You're not like them, you're a man like us! You must help us! He has killed Kaftan! You must help us!"
His attempt is ignored in favor of calling re-enforcements, "YOU WILL REPORT TO THE SURFACE."
Only Toberman is listening. Something inside him is still human enough to feel something. And the Doctor's words tap into this. He turns on the Controller and they end up fighting. The Cyberman's gun is dropped in the scuffle and Jamie quickly snags it. They watch as Toberman gets the upper hand and manages to short out enough of the Controller to render it inactive. But the Doctor is also watching the open hatch and just as the first of the Drones appear he shouts, "Jamie, the hatch!"
The Scot might not be technologically advanced, but he can fire a gun, even if it is one far beyond his era. He pegs off the top drone and then runs over and pushes it back into the stairwell. While he's looking another comes into view and he shoots it before it can even reach the ladder, "There's another one Doctor!" He fires once more and there's a third clanging sound.
"Are there any more?"
Jamie shakes his head, "No, It's gone quiet. I'll close the hatch."
"No, wait a minute. I'd better go down there," the Doctor says catching him.
Victoria rushes over, "Oh no-no! Not again."
The Time Lord looks at her, "It's the only way to make sure." Besides he must destroy those scans. This couldn't be any more perfect an opportunity.
"Then I'll go with you," Jamie insists.
The Doctor takes his hand. "No wait. You stay and look after Victoria. I'll take somebody else," Although Jamie doesn't like it he finds himself looking at Toberman. He glances at the Doctor and nods. The Time Lord moves over to the half-Cyberman, "Toberman, you see what these creatures have done to you? They've tried to make you like them! Do you understand? They've tried to make you their slave, they just want to use you! They are evil, think of Kaftan!"
Once again, he manages to hook into something that is still human inside the dark skinned man, "Yeah!" he rumbles.
"They must be destroyed, d'you see? Evil must be destroyed! Now... come!" The Doctor leads him back to the hatch.
Toberman nods and growls, "Destroooy!"
The Doctor gets him to follow him down the hatch, "Come! Come on! Come on!" Parry calls out that he wishes them luck, and the little dark haired man says, "Thank you."
Jamie frowns and holds out the weapon, "Doctor, the gun!"
"I shan't need that."
After the two have disappeared Jamie looks at Victoria and says, "He should have it! Hey – where is it?" The gun is gone. Jamie frowns and then decides to head down the hatch himself after he notices Klieg is missing.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
He's back again where that forbidden data was revealed to him. He knows it must be destroyed. He wants to make sure that there is no chance the Cybernmen will ever rise from here to share that secret with anyone. He says to Toberman, "Ah, move quietly, they're all dormant, see."
But Toberman has one thing on his now very limited mind – annihilation of all Cybermen. He screams, "EEEVIL!" in his naturally deep voice and sets to smashing one of the pieces of equipment. It's the scanner.
"No quietly! They're only asleep, they're not frozen yet!" This calms the dark skinned half-Cyberman down for a while. "Now, you watch them. I have things to do. Ah yes, let me see..." The Doctor sets to work on eliminating the data in the data banks, replacing information with blocks of blank data. Then he sets to re-freezing the Cybermen. "Yes!"
Then a voice rings out, "Stand clear of that! You're freezing them!"
Glancing up, the Time Lord looks at Klieg. The dusky skinned man has the Cyberman weapon leveled on him. "Klieg!" At that Eric moves to the controls and waves the Doctor back. He reverses the last sequence he observed the little man do. "No! no, you'll wake them up!"
"That's exactly my intention! You still don't understand do you? Their Controller is dead, now I shall control them. They'll do what I say!" the madman smiles with an air of triumph. "You see Doctor, yours is the privilege to witness for the first time the union between mass power and my absolute intelligence!" At this Jamie gives himself away, and Klieg calls, "Who's that? Come out! Come out, or I shall kill this man!" The gun is placed right between the Doctor's hearts. Seeing that, Jamie slowly steps out with his hands raised. Klieg could have guessed. "Oh. It's you. Over to that wall - all of you." The Doctor steps back to the piper and they press against the wall. "All of you!" Klieg repeats. This gets Toberman to back to the wall as well. With them safely out of the way, Eric turns his attention to trying to figure out what else the Doctor might have done, "Now..."
The Time Lord can't let him recover that data. The only thing he can do is distract him, "Yes, as you say, such a combination between intelligence and power would make you formidable indeed! Why you'd be commander of the universe with your brilliance! It-it makes the imagination reel with the possibilities!" Jamie curls his hands in the Doctor's coat but keeps his mouth shut, even as he wonders once again what it is that the Doctor is up to.
Klieg lowers the gun in surprise, "Why Doctor, if I had only known you shared my imagination. You might even have worked for me!"
"Perhaps it's not too late?!" the little man inquires.
Jamie is shocked, "Doctor!"
"No Jamie, don't you see?" The Doctor turns his full attention to the piper even as the Cybermen begin to rouse and move in preparation to re-emerge again from their cubicles, "Don't you see what this is going to all mean to those who come to serve 'Klieg the all powerful'? Why, no country, no person would dare to have a single thought that was not your own! Eric Klieg's own conception of the... of the way of life!" Jamie suddenly gets the underlying disgust in the Doctor's words and nods in agreement.
"Brilliant! Yes... yes you're right. Master of the world!" The expression on Klieg's face is one that is like that of a child in a candy store who has been told they can have everything and anything there that they want.
The Doctor narrows his eyes and glowers at the man's back, "And now I know you're mad, I just wanted to make sure."
This angers the fellow. He goes off into a rant that the Doctor and Jamie both tune out until it seems to be near the end, "-- And so you have forfeited your right to survival. I shall make an example of you to all who question my intelligence, and the supreme power of the Cybermen!"
The Doctor rolls his eyes, "You know I've heard all this before somewhere."
Jamie adds, "You know your trouble? You talk too much."
"Oh you're stupid! You still think your puny minds can survive against us?! You're decadent, weak! Do you know that? Weak!" Klieg rants.
"Alright. Go ahead, kill us," the Time Lord offers.
This cause the madman to raise the weapon, realize he's being manipulated, and then lower it, " No, I have a better idea, much better idea. I shall leave you to the Cybermen. I'm sure they'll have some use for you," laugher echoes through the cavern, "Or part of you!" Only he's not been paying attention to the Cybermen who have been advancing on him. The closest one grabs him and gets him into a headlock. He screams. It crushes his head and neck and then turns it's attention to the controls in an attempt to reestablish the data stream before it is lost forever. Toberman rushes forward, knocking the thing away from the controls. The Doctor sees his chance.
"Quick Jamie. These two levers together."
The Scot is right with him, mirroring his movements until he gets to near the final lever, "I-I can't shift this one."
"What? You've got to trip that first," the Time Lord indicates the locking mechanism which Jamie disengages. The battle between Toberman and the Cyberman rages on behind them as they finish. It ends with the Cyberman ripped nearly in half, rather messily. The Doctor pauses to settle his suddenly rebellious stomach, "Last time they were frozen for five centuries. This time it must be forever!" He turns his attention to scrambling the controls so that no logic will ever get them to operate again. Jamie stands guard over him, just in case. The Cybermen that were out retreat to the call of sleep. As the temperature begins to drop again both men turn to watch the thick ice reform over the honeycomb-like tombs, that are once more filled with immobile silver figures.
It's too cold to linger, but Jamie spends a moment at the ladder before they ascend into the main room above just hugging the Doctor and trying to settle himself before they face the others. And although he's shivering he nearly forces the little man to climb up before him. Victoria's greeting is the best music he could have ever hoped for, "Oh Doctor!"
The little fellow both tries to reassure her and help Jamie who is quite frozen out of the hatch. "Here we are Victoria, safe and sound." He motions to Parry, "Close the hatch."
Jamie follow the Doctor down the steps, greeting Hopper as he comes back into the Cyberman's entrance to what he hopes will be their final eternal resting place, "Hello!" His feet are still quite sluggish from the cold however and he trips on the steps tumbling forward into Victoria, " ...Oop!"
Luckily for him she's stronger than she looks, "Ooh!" and the Doctor is still close enough to turn and keep them both from a nasty fall.
He's treated to a strong jolt of energy from the contact that makes his head spin, and a teasing grin, "Hah, there we are."
The hatch that has been the source of much of their trouble makes a final close. Jaime looks at the offending step, "Oh!" He pulls away from the Time Lord before he does something rash.
The Doctor's mind is already on wrapping this up. "Now then," he says as he crosses over to the controls. The panel opens to his touch and he begins reworking the hardwired system. "Now, the best thing about a machine that makes sense; you can very easily make it turn out nonsense. Yup." The others watch him for a while, and he finally finishes the 'repair' and straightens, "Now I think you'd better all go outside."
The professor can't contain his curiosity any longer, "Why, what are you going to do Doctor?"
He has no reason to not tell the fellow, "I'm going to re-electrify the main doors. Only this time I'm going to include the hatch and the control panel." Parry can see the wisdom in this and agrees with the course of action. The Doctor finishes with, "Anyone touching any of them will get a considerable shock - in fact a fatal one."
"I see," Parry says.
The Doctor smiles and shoos them out, "Now everyone outside." Jamie plants his feet, he's not going anywhere. The Time Lord raises an eyebrow at his unspoken challenge and tells Hopper and Parry, "And please take him with you, I shall be glad to see him outside."
Callum, Victoria, the captain, and the professor all move to the exit. Jamie still refuses to budge. Victoria calls to him, " Jamie!"
"No, I'll stay with the Doctor," the Scot tells her.
She can see clearly that he's not going to do anything more or less than he wants to do. She is getting away from this deadly place. "Oh all right."
The little alien glances over at his human and shakes his head. He needs to get this done then before time runs out. He trusts Jamie to keep his eyes open for any changes. The work proceeds at a steady place and finally he announces, "There we are, that's done." He moves to the hatch so that he can wire it up. Jamie stays right with him, feeling a bit more protective than he normally does. That completed The Doctor says, "Now we just have to close the main doors and the circuit is complete." He then heads to the door controls to make sure that they will recharge instantly.
"Oh, thank goodness for that," Jamie agrees. Then something tickles at his awareness and he turns to see the Controller getting back to its feet, "Doctor!" The Time Lord doesn't respond fast enough, "Doctor!" He shakes the fellow's shoulder.
This causes the frumpy man to turn and spot the Cyberman. It's on the other side of the table, but they must get past it to get out. The one fortunate thing is that the shorting the Controller took before has all but eliminated the charge it gained from being rejuvenated. It's moving quite slowly. The Doctor figures that given a choice and a chance to catch one of them it will go for him not the piper. It's a bet he must take. "Jamie. You go that way and I'll go this way, that way at least one of us will have a chance. When I say run, run." Jamie nods. They slowly advance on the table. Then the Doctor makes a feint, coming briefly into the Controller's reach to make it veer his direction, darts back and shouts, "RUN!" Jamie dashes past, ducking to avoid the Controller as it attempts to switch targets and snag him. The Doctor takes advantage of this to time his own dash past it. The two men make it to the main doors just steps past each other and both begin shoving the doors closed, "Quickly!" Then the Doctor remembers his trap, "Wait, stop!" to punctuate the risk he jerks his hands off the door.
Jamie shouts, "What?"
"We'll get a shock!"
The piper snatches his hand away too, "Gah!"
"We must find something to insulate." he cast about frantically then spots something, "I know, that shoring timber over there! Hurry up! Hurry up he's coming!"
Jamie dashes to pick up the wood, "Okay Doctor!"
Moments later they are both holding the timber across the doors and desperately trying to ease the large metal portal closed, "Oh dear! We must keep him inside or else all our work will be wasted!"
The circuit is not complete, and the Controller has no fear. He reaches the doors and begins pushing against them, gradually gaining on their effort, forcing the doors back open. The Doctor even puts his back into it, struggling with all his superior strength, desperate to keep the Controller inside. Jamie slides in the sand, "I can't hold mine, come on!"
"You must do!" the Doctor orders him.
Suddenly a shadow falls across them, "Oh! Toberman!" Jamie says as the dark skinned half-Cyberman moves them both out of the way and puts his metallic hands on the doors.
"WE MUST SURVIVE. WE MUST SURVIVE," the Controller chants as it struggles against the superior rage fueled strength of the Done turned traitor.
Toberman puts more effort into closing the passage, "You are evil!" The doors inch closer together, closer to contact. The power in them practically arcs through the gap as it narrows.
"Toberman come away!"
Jamie echoes the concern, "Careful! You'll get killed man!"
But Toberman knows he's dead already, has been since the transformation began. He keeps at the doors, willing to die to keep the universe safe from this horror, "They shall never pass Toberman! The door is closed!" The power from the circuit jolts through him as the contact is firmly completed. As his life fades he know that the Controller too will die. It is enough, he thinks, to have done some good out of the evil almost unleashed here.
Parry and Hopper reappear as the dark skinned man finally falls to the ground, "How terrible, another life gone!"
Captain Hopper wants to leave, now. They've got enough of the work done to get them home, considering the extent of the loss of life, "C'mon Professor, blast off in nine minutes." He won't be taking Toberman back with him. He technology riddling his body is best left on Talos to rust away. He looks at the Doctor's group, "Well, anybody coming along for the ride?"
Victoria counters, "Ah - We have our own flying machine, thank you."
The blond bloke raises an eyebrow at her, "Flying machine?"
She raises her nose slightly, "At least it works."
Hopper shakes this and the confusion off, "Ah, let's go!"
Parry looks over at the fellow, "Right..." then he looks back to the odd trio that somehow managed to skim through this with little damage. He'd been right to trust the little gent. It had saved his life. "well... Goodbye Doctor, I'm sorry it had to end..."
The Doctor shakes his hand, "I know." they nod at each other. The Doctor would phase this planet out of time if he could. But he can't so he just bids the humans on their way, "Goodbye."
After the expedition is out of sight Jamie looks at the Time Lord, "Now that really is the end of the Cybermen isn't it Doctor?"
He surely hopes so. He needs the entire event to stay dead and buried for all time, "Yes Jamie." But then... how did Toberman get out? The question makes him frown, "On the other hand, I never like to make predictions. Come along." He leads them back to the TARDIS and they depart from Telos.