Hi guys, I'm back. God I can't believe it, I've gone from chapter 95 to 100 in one day. There must be something wrong with me, either that or I'm bored out of my skull. It's 12:18 on Sunday well technically Monday 13th July, I started this story almost exactly a year ago, which means I started series 3 with Rose round about a year ago too. As soon as this is finished, my plan is to complete Series 3 with Rose and then decide what to do at that point. Anyway, I won't bore you any longer, that and I don't know how much longer I'll be able to stay awake for.
The Doctor walked off into Yvonne's office and grabbed a chair. "Sorry?!" Yvonne asked"Never mind!" the Doctor said "As you were."
"What, is that it?" She asked
"No!" he said "Fair enough. Said my bit. Don't mind me. Any chance of a cup of tea?"
"Ghost Shift in twenty seconds."
"Mm!" he said "Can't wait to see it!"
"You can't stop us, Doctor." Yvonne said suspiciously
"No, absolutely not!" said the Doctor and then he turned to Jackie "Pull up a chair, Rose! Come and watch the fireworks." Jackie went and stood behind the Doctor's chair
"Ghost Shift in ten seconds. Nine... eight..." Yvonne was uneasy, she stared at the Doctor. He simply raised his eyebrows at her, daring her to do it. "Seven... six... five... four... three... two..." She broke
"Stop the shift." Yvonne ordered "I said stop."
"Thank you." the Doctor said
"I suppose it makes sense to get as much intelligence as possible." She said "But the program will recommence, as soon as you've explained everything."
"I'm glad to be of help."
Yvonne turned to the room "And someone clear up this glass." she said and turned back to the Doctor "They did warn me, Doctor. They said you like to make a mess." She disappeared into her office.
--
Rose walked down a corridor, still following the man from a distance. She broke into a jog as he rounded a corner, hearing the sound of a door opening and closing. She peered cautiously around the corner and then approached the door. She thought for a moment, and then kissed the psychic paper before pressing it against the lock as Yvonne did. The door slid open. She walked slowly in to the sphere chamber. Just like everyone before her, she seemed hypnotised by it. Rajesh spotted her and approached her
"Can I help you?" he asked
"I was just..." she said without taking her eyes off the sphere
"Try not to look." Rajesh said "It does that to everyone. What do you want?
"Sorry." Rose said, thinking fast "Um... they sent me from personnel. They said some man had been taken prisoner. Some sort of Doctor? I'm just... checking the lines of communication, did they tell you anything?"
"Can I see your authorisation?" Rajesh asked
"... Sure." Rose said hesitantly. She handed him the psychic paper, he checked it
"That's lucky." he said. Rose smiled "You see, everyone at Torchwood has at least a basic level of psychic training." Rose's smile faded "This paper is blank. And you're a fake." He pressed a com. button "Seal the room. Call security." The doors closed "Samuel? Can you check the door locks? She just walked right in."
Samuel turned around and Rose was surprised to see that it was Mickey.
"Doing it now, sir." he said. Rose stared at him. He put a finger to his lips and gave her a thumbs up sign, grinning.
"Well. If you'd like to take a seat." Rajesh said
Rose nodded, seemingly lost for words.
--
Yvonne was sitting at her desk with a laptop in front of her. "So these ghosts, whatever they are - did they build the sphere?" she asked the Doctor. Her eyes lingered on the Doctor's feet which were crossed on the desk, but she decided to let it pass. He'd thrown himself in a chair and he looked completely relaxed.
"Must have." he answered "Aimed it at this dimension like a canon ball."
Rajesh's voice came from the computer "Yvonne? I think you should see this. We've got a visitor. We don't know who she is, but funnily enough, she arrived at the same time as the Doctor." he said. The Doctor's face twitched, Yvonne turned the laptop around so the Doctor could see Rose and Rajesh on the screen. Rose was looking comically into the camera
"She one of yours?" Yvonne asked.
The Doctor thought that denial would protect his wife, so he said "Never seen her before in my life." and shook his head
"Good!" Yvonne said "Then we can have her shot."
The Doctor sat up suddenly "Oh all right then, it'll be worth a try." he said "That's... that's Rose Tyler."
"Sorry." Rose said as she waved "Hello!" The Doctor waved back
"Well, if that's Rose Tyler, who's she? Yvonne asked
"I'm her mother." Jackie answered
"Oh, you travel with her mother?" she asked
"He kidnapped me." Jackie piped up
"Please, when Torchwood comes to write my complete history, don't tell people I travelled through time and space with her mother..." he said
"Charming." Jackie said
"I've got a reputation to uphold!" the Doctor replied. The ghost shift started. Yvonne stood up and addressed the staff
"Excuse me?" she said "Everyone? I thought I said stop the ghost shift." They ignored her, staring straight ahead. "Who started the program? But-- I ordered you to stop! Who's doing that?!" she asked, as she pointed to the lever which was rising upwards on it's own. "Step away from the monitors, everyone." No one moved, they just continued typing. Yvonne began to panic "Gareth, Addy - stop what you're doing, RIGHT NOW. Matt. Step away from your desk. That's an order! Stop the levers!" Two scientists ran over to the levers and struggled to push them back down. "Stop the levers!"
"What's she doing?" the Doctor asked
"Addy? Step away from the desk." Yvonne said as she followed the Doctor. The Doctor stared at her and clicked his fingers in front of her face, but Adeola did not react "Listen to me. Step away from the desk."
"She can't hear you." the Doctor said as he observed the computer screen "They're overriding the system." The Doctor, Jackie and Yvonne stared anxiously at the blank expanse of wall. "We're going into Ghost Shift." The light brightened.
--
"Yvonne, I thought you said the next Ghost Shift was cancelled." Rajesh said into the com. Mickey, who was checking the locks glanced over his shoulder "What's going on?" He asked but got no reply "Yvonne?" The whole chamber suddenly shuddered, the disturbance had come from the sphere "It can't be." He, Rose and Mickey went over to it. Another crash came from within. "It's active!"
--
The Doctor was staring at Adeola's ear-piece "It's the ear-piece controlling them." he said "I've seen this before." He took out the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and stood up behind her "Sorry. I'm so sorry." He held the sonic screwdriver to the ear-piece, deactivating it. Adeola screamed with pain and slumped over her desk, dead. Matt and Gareth did the same as though all the ear-pieces were connected.
"What happened? What did you just do?" Yvonne asked
"They're dead." the Doctor answered
"You killed them." Jackie said
"Oh someone else did that long before I got here." the Doctor said turning to the computer
"But you killed them!" she insisted
"Jackie, I haven't got time for this." the Dctor said angrily
"What're those ear-pieces?" Yvonne asked reaching out to touch them
"Don't." the Doctor said
"But they're standard comms. devices - how does it control them?" she asked
"Trust me, leave them alone." the Doctor said
"But what are they?" She asked again. She took one of Adeola's ear-pieces and pulled it. It cam right out of her head. A trail of brain tissue was attached to it. "Urgh! Oh, God! It goes inside their brain!" she said sounding revolted and she dropped it
"What about the Ghost shift?" the Doctor asked
"Ninety percent there. It's still running. Can't you stop it?" Yvonne answered
"They're still controlling it." the Doctor replied "They've hi-jacked the system."
"Who's they?" Yvonne asked. The Doctor took the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and held it flat on the palm of his hand, turning slowly "It might be a remote transmitter but it's gotta be close by. I can trace it." He darted off, evidently receiving some kind of signal from the sonic screwdriver. "Jackie, stay here!" Yvonne followed him, her laptop left forgotten on the desk, Rajesh was speaking into his webcam. The words 'Sphere activated' flashed on the screen. "We've got a problem down here." Rajesh tried again "Yvonne, can you hear me?" The sphere vibrated "Yvonne, for God's sake - the sphere is active! The readings are going wild! It's got weight, it's got mass, an electromagnetic field - it exists!" He jumped and turned around after hearing a crash behind him. The door was closing "The door's sealed. Automatic quarantine - we can't get out!" He rushed off and Rose and Mickey were left looking up at the sphere.
"It's all right, babe." Mickey said "We beat them before, we can beat them again. That's why I'm here. The fight goes on." The sphere continued to vibrate
"The fight against what?" Rose asked
"What d'you think?" Mickey replied. They stumbled as two violent crashes emit from the sphere, which shook the chamber
--
The Doctor walked down a corridor, letting his sonic screwdriver guide him. Yvonne followed. She stopped two passing soldiers. "You two - you come with us." she said
"Yes, ma'am."
--
The scientists were trying and failing to push the levers down. Jackie squinted as the light became brighter.
--
The Doctor, Yvonne and the two soldiers reached the curtained area.
"What's down here?" the Doctor asked Yvonne
"I don't... I dunno, I think it's building work." she answered "It's just renovations."
"You should go back." the Doctor told her
"Think again." Yvonne said. She followed him, gesturing for the soldiers to do the same. The Doctor stopped pushing the curtains aside as the sonic screwdriver bleeped. He stared at it. "What is it?" she asked "What's down here?"
"Ear-pieces, ear-pods, this world is colliding with another." the Doctor said "And I think I know which one."
All of a sudden, the shadows of Cybermen standing behind the curtains surrounded them, getting into position.
"What are they?" Yvonne asked quietly
"They came through first." The Doctor said as the Cybermen slit the curtains with their hands. "The advance guard." The Cybermen stepped through the curtains and began to march towards them. "Cybermen."
The two soldiers fired their bullets at the Cybermen, with no effect whatsoever. The Doctor and Yvonne tried to escape another way, but they were surrounded.
--
Another crash emitted from the sphere.
"We had them beaten, but then they escaped. The Cybermen just vanished".Mickey said as there was another crash"They found a way through to this world, but - so did we."
"The Doctor said that was impossible." Rose said, staring at him in shock
"Yeah, well it's not the first time he's been wrong."
"What's inside that sphere?" Rose asked her ex, ignoring the comment about her husband
Another crash.
"No one knows. Cyber Leader, Cyber King, Emperor of the Cybermen... whatever it is..." Mickey said, grinning "He's dead meat."
"It's good to see you." Rose said, smiling as she nudged him
"Yeah." Mickey said "It's good to see you too." he smiled
Another crash.
--
The Cybermen led Yvonne and the Doctor and Yvonne, who had their hands behind their head, back to the rift chamber. "Get away from the machines - do what they say, don't fight them!" the Doctor said
The Cybermen revealed their weapons and shot one of the scientists dead.
"What are they?" Jackie asked sounding terrified
"We are the Cybermen. The Ghost Shift will be increased to one hundred percent."
The Cyberman clamped a fist to its chest and the lever rose once more, beginning the Ghost Shift.
"Online."
"Here come the ghosts." the Doctor said as the light brightened
--
The ghosts stepped out of thin air, accompanied by the sound of Cybermen marching.
--
Rows and rows of Cybermen marched out of the light
--
"Can anyone hear me? Come on, I need help down here!" The entire chamber was shaking accompanied by booms from the sphere. "I need--"
The sphere stopped vibrating. Rajesh joined Mickey and Rose, Mickey removed his lab coat and pulled off his ear piece. "Here we go."
Rajesh put his glasses on. As they watched, smooth cracks appeared in the sphere as it opened. Light spilled from the gaps.
--
"These Zybermen - what've they got to do with the ghosts?" Jackie asked
"Do you never listen?" he asked his mother in law "A footprint doesn't look like a boot!"
"Achieving full transfer."
"They're Cybermen. All of the ghosts are Cybermen." The Cybermen continued to march from the light, slowly becoming more defined. "Millions of them. Right across the world."
The ghosts on the factory floor are shown in their true form, Cybermen. Hundreds of Cybermen stood in the light, ready for war.
"They're invading the whole planet."
"It's not an invasion, it's too late for that." the Doctor said "It's a victory."
They looked round at the laptop as it started bleeping. "Sphere activated. Sphere activated. Sphere activated. Sphere activated."
The Doctor looked at it, brow furrowed.
--
The light continued to spill from the sphere. "I know what's in there. And I'm ready for them. I've got just the thing." He retrieved a weapon that he had been hiding under a counter, and then positioned himself in front of the sphere. "This is gonna blast them to Hell." Mickey said
"Samuel, what are you doing?!"
"The name's Mickey. Mickey Smith." he said "Defending the Earth." He cocked his gun as the sphere parted further
--
"What I don't understand is Cybermen don't have the technology to build the Void Ship, that's way beyond you." the Doctor said to a near by cyberman "How did you create that sphere?" he asked
"The sphere is not ours." the cyberman answered
"... What?" asked the Doctor sounding stunned
"The sphere broke down the barriers between worlds." the Cyberman said "We only followed. Its origin is unknown."
"Then what's inside it...?" The Doctor asked
"Rose is down there." Jackie said fearfully
--
The top part of a familiar looking alien emerged from the sphere... "That's not Cybermen..." Mickey said, sounding confused
Four Daleks came out of the sphere "Oh my God."
"Location: Earth. Life forms detected. Exterminate!" Mickey aimed his gun at them. Rose stared at them in wide eyed fear. "Exterminate! Exterminate! EXTERMINATE!" The Daleks cried as they advanced
TO BE CONTINUED...
Okay, that's army of ghosts, I'm going to work on Doomsday now. That is after I've gotten myself some toast and a glass of water.
TTFN
Julie