Once, centuries ago, it had been a great fortress. the foundations laid by the refugees from the original homeworld. Sitting on his knees on the cold, hard floor of the musty stone chamber, Brother Gareth sweated and cried as he prayed to the Wonderful and Eternal Lord-Friend Joshua, He Who Cared. "Lord-Friend," Gareth whispered, "please help me."
The Great Elder Books told of how the old homeworld had been beautiful. And also of how the evil of its people became so great and unbearable, the star it orbited grew angry and sick, until it spat the planet away into the darkness and lesser stars to drift forever. Some of the people left the suffering world in mighty space vessels in search of a new home. One such contingent surveyed thirteen planets, none of which could be theirs. But Brother Gareth recalled the saga How the crew and passengers of that ark heard the words of Joshua the Lord-Friend, sent by the soul of that far distant star to comfort and guide the wanderers to the fourteenth planet...Their new home. That was how it was written; that was what Gareth believed.
Gareth believed in the Lord-Friend so much, he decided at an early age to devote his life to Him, and what He stood for. So he entered the House Monastic, and for a while was content. It was when war broke out among the states, and then the death tolls...That was bad enough. Gareth and his brethren offered the sufferers in the conflict comfort...Even after their commanders started replacing their soldiers' destroyed limbs and organs with machines, so they could keep fighting. But then the war ended, and people continued incorporating machinery into themselves, even when they did not need to. It was a fad...then a religion unto itself. Flesh, blood...then eyes...faces...souls...all replaced by "holy" tech. Everyone looking the same, acting the same, thinking the same. Gareth and his brothers of the cloth went into the city one day to tend to the poor and unwell, and he saw them, marching through the street, the sunlight glintingon metal where once had been skin. He heard the un-converted cheering, loving that which was no longer capable of love. He heard the name of the new breed chanted jubilantly: "Cybermen...Cybermen...Cybermen..."
That gave him nightmares for nights on end. It only got worse when the Prime-Father, He Who Spoke For the Lord-Friend, opened a vid-link to all the monastic units one day, and showed that he had unfergone total Cyber-conversion. Gareth remembered him, a kindly and elderly man with gold-amber eyes, not dissimilar to his own. So wise and trustworthy. Now he addressed every single one of the believers from behind a metal, emotionless mask: "You will be like us."
Did Joshua speak to Gareth? He could not say for certain. But he knew, onenight as he lay sleepless in the dormitory that, like it or not, he had to go. So, as quietly as he could, this lone monk fled across the bleak moors, through the dark forests, until he finally stumbled onto the decaying ruins of this ancient edifice. In the darkness, his tears spilled onto the cold stone floor, and he prayed aloud: "Joshua...Lord-Friend...Help me...Save me from what is happening..."
Brother Gareth fell asleep with tears in his eyes, and his tears brought forth nightmares. Horrible dreams of his flesh being ripped away in a hellish factory, along with his spirit. Until the few shreds left of him were housed in a metal parody of his old body, and he said "We are Cybermen...You will be like us. Cybermen...Be like us...like us...like us..."
As he awoke, he knew he had screamed, because it still echoed in the old chamber, and his throat felt raw. And Gareth saw, in the faintest glimmers of early dawn, that he was no longer alone. Kneeling beside him was a woman, her hair the lightest gold, and next to her was a young boy. The woman put her hand on Gareth's shoulder as she spoke. "It's okay. I'm the Doctor, and this is my son, Ian. What's your name?"
"G - G - Gareth," he stammered. "Brother Gareth."
"Why are you here, Brother Gareth?" the boy called Ian asked him. "When me and Mum first arrived, we didn't think anyone could live here. Where is here, anyway? What world is this?"
What world? An odd question, Gareth thought, but he answered the boy's query anyway. "It has ever been known as Planet Fourteen, though my distant ancestors were from Mondas. As for why I'm hiding in these ruins, it is on account of the unholy blasphemies called Cybermen."
On hearing these words, an expression of dread appeared on the Doctor's beautiful face. "Planet Fourteen...Mondas...Cybermen..." she murmured, the colour draining from her cheeks. "This is Planet 14, when the Cybermen rose here..."
"You've been here before, haven't you, Mum?" Ian asked her, his tone betraying the anxiety brought on by the fear radiating from his mother.
"Yes, Ian," the Doctor replied, "I have...Or, rather, I will." She looked intently at Gareth. "Gareth, I've got good news and bad news. Bad news? Your world is basically finished; the Cybermen are gonna take it all. I am a traveler in space and time, I've seen the future, believe me. The good news: I can save you from what's coming, if you come with me and my son. Will you trust me?"
Ian held out his hand. "Please, Gareth, come with us?" Gareth looked at him and the Doctor, felt the sincere kindness and compassion emanating from them. So he took Ian's hand, stood up, and both of them followed the Doctor out of the hall, all of them shortly coming to a strange, bulky, blue object with four sides and a flat roof, and a door which the Doctor opened with a key.
When Gareth saw the interior, he went weak at the knees. "Doctor," he said, "Did Joshua send you? Is this...Heaven?"
The Doctor grinned as she replied "It's the TARDIS. But it could be Heaven..."