Mondas Down (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 (Friendly Neighbourhood Cybermen)

By now the entire crew of the Coronation had transferred from their ship to the Cybership, much to Angie Grant’s frustrations. So far Saragon and Chartell had proven to be mostly harmless. The Doctor felt almost guilty for tarnishing them all with the same brush. He had only met the Mondassians a few times and most of his other Cyberman encounters had involved offshoots or Cybermen from alternate worlds.

These were the original and he was beginning to realise that maybe there was more to them than the constant assimilation of other races. After all, if another race had bad leaders - like the Mondassians originally did - it didn’t necessarily mean that the entire race was bad.

Brax, Chartell and Lilly had headed down to the engine room to try and get the damaged systems up and running whilst the Doctor had stayed in the upper decks with Holly, Fletcher and the rest of them.

The Doctor noticed Holly sat against the wall, a look of concentration on her face.

“How’s everything going?” he asked as he slid down the wall to sit next to her.

“It’s good. Thank you,” she said flashing him a smile.

“Then why do you look so disconnected from everything,” said the Doctor.

Holly smiled again, but this time it was a genuine, warm smile. “I guess I didn’t really know what I was letting myself in for. Aliens and spaceships…”

“You did throw yourself at us. Literally,” laughed the Doctor.

“I know, I know. I never expected you and Lilly would be living in a time machine though.”

“I’m going to have to take you back after all this, you know?”

She nodded. “I know. I can’t say I’m not disappointed, but I understand.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“Well,” said Holly, “I don’t actually understand why you have to take me back yet.”

“Lilly and I work better on our own.”

“Do you mean you and Lilly, or just Lilly?”

The Doctor nodded, a knowing smile on his face. “Lilly is very protective of the life we lead.”

“Who is she?” said Holly.

“Who is Lilly?” The Doctor looked up towards the ceiling, lost in thoughts. “Lilly is an enigma.”

“An enigma? Is that what we’re calling grumpy people these days.”

“Lilly has her reasons,” said the Doctor, the smile fading slightly. “She’s been through a lot since I met her, and before as well.”




Down in the engine room Brax was under a large propulsion system whilst Chartell crouched nearby. Lilly meanwhile was sat on a computer bank studying a data pad. She was reading some navigation information that Chartell had shown her.

“How are the engines?” asked Chartell.

“Give me a minute,” said Brax, glancing at her from under the machinery, a screwdriver in his mouth.

“You weren’t that far from Remos, you know?” said Lilly, turning the pad for Chartell to see.

“This we knew about,” said Chartell, “I can only assume that the others arrived there.”

“Well we know what happened to the ones who went to Telos,” said Lilly darkly.

“It was inevitable that a faction would follow the ideals of our leaders.”

“And with your ship dead in the water, there was no way to detect you.”

“Yeah,” said Brax, his voice slightly obscured by the screwdriver in his mouth, “we only detected you by chance.”

“I am pleased that you did,” said Chartell.

“Pleased?” queried Lilly. “That’s an emotion too.”

Lilly wasn’t certain, but she thought she saw a slight smile play across the clothed-face Cyberman, but before she could say anything Brax cried out in glee as a humming sound came from the systems, power flowing back into the engines. He rolled out from under the equipment and got to his feet, his face beaming.

“You fixed it!” said Lilly.

“Everything seems to be in working order,” said Chartell, inspecting the engine systems.

“Good news,” said Lilly. “Now maybe we can get off this crate.”




Back up top the team were gathered around. Saragon thanked Brax who looked pleased as punch.

“Well, I think that’s all the time we have for this little excursion,” said Fletcher, as his team began to suit up again.

“We need to get the power back to the Coronation,” said Grant, “and get back home.”

“It is impossible,” said Saragon.

“I beg your pardon?” said Grant.

“Our ship has drained the power from your ship. There is no way for it to be transferred back without our ship becoming dead again.”

“Terrific!” said Fletcher, shaking his head in frustration. “You said you could help us transfer the power back.”

“That was my initial plan,” said Saragon, “but since I have discovered that the independent generator that powers the ship has been damaged.”

“So we go and help you and then you leave us dead in the water.”

“No, not dead in the water, as you say,” said Saragon. “You may come with us to Remos.”

“And become like you?!” spat Roy.

“That is not what Saragon said,” said Chartell, interrupting.

“We ain’t living with you folks,” said Brax with an incredulous chuckle.

“Okay people,” said the Doctor, who was already beside the TARDIS. “My ship is capable of taking everyone back instantly.”

“We need to go back with the ship, Doctor,” said Fletcher. “It has all of our data and records not to mention questions will be asked if we turn up a month early without a very valuable ship.”

“How about this then,” said Holly, feeling a little more confident now. “We go with the Cybermen to Remos and then once they’re safely on the surface we can transfer the power back to the Coronation and you lot can fly home.”

“There’s no guaranteeing what we’ll find when we get there,” said Grant, her voice rising in pitch slightly.

“We won’t know unless we go,” said the Doctor. “And after all, it could be quite an adventure.”

“No, Doctor,” groaned Lilly, leaning her forehead against the TARDIS.

“It shouldn’t take more than a few hours to get there,” said the Doctor, grabbing Lilly’s pad and showing the others. “If you really want to get your ship back then it’s the only way.”

Fletcher looked at the Doctor, then the Cybermen and finally Grant.

“It’s your call, Captain,” said Angie, refusing to meet her eyes.

“It seems we have no choice.” He looked at Saragon and held up a finger. “But any tricks and we will take you down.”




Somewhere in the far reaches of space, cold, emotionless eyes observed a star-chart on a large, computer screen. A three-fingered metallic hand pressed a button beside the screen and focused in on a digital image of the Mondassian ship with the Coronation docked alongside it. The ship was moving, slowly, but it was definitely heading somewhere.

This was their chance. Their chance to locate the missing colony. To locate Remos and bring the race back together…




They were about an hour into the journey to reach Remos when it happened. The Doctor was hunched over a navigational control console inspecting the complicated controls and systems with Saragon at his side, watching intently.

“You seem curious,” said Saragon.

“I am curious, Saragon,” said the Doctor, standing up straight to face the giant. “In all my travels I’ve never had the chance to actually stop and examine any kind of Cybership.”

Saragon did not say anything. He continued to stare at the Doctor.

“I was there at the birth of your race and at Mondas’s demise,” said the Doctor sadly. “But always your race comes back. Just like the Daleks.”

“You keep mistaking us with the other factions.”

The Doctor sighed. “I know. You have to forgive me, Saragon, but it’s difficult when you’ve fought so many bad variations of your kind.”

“I…wish…to change your opinion of my race.”

“I hope your wish comes true,” smiled the Doctor sadly.

The room was thrown into chaos when the ship suddenly lurched violently, throwing everyone off their feet. Brax smacked his head against a metal railing and Rick was at his side instantly with a medical kit.

“What the hell was that?!” said Holly, racing up to the Doctor who was struggling to get back on his feet. “Were we hit?”

“No,” said Chartell, checking the readings. “The engines have exploded.”

“We fixed them,” said Lilly, joining the Cyberman at the console.

“We patched them up as best we could,” said a dazed Brax.

“Can we get to the Coronation?” asked Fletcher. “We can redirect the power back to our ship.”

“That might be a bit difficult,” said the Doctor, gazing out of a porthole.

Outside the ship the Coronation had been shaken free, splinters of the docking tube glittering in space like dust particles. The rocket slowly tumbled further and further away, sparks coming from the side of the ship.

“It must have been damaged by the blaster,” said Grant in disbelief.

“The TARDIS!” said Holly. “We can get out that way.”

“Ah,” said the Doctor, looking out of the porthole again.

Holly felt her heart sink and fear creep up inside of her as she saw the blue TARDIS tumbling away from them.

“What happened?” said Lilly as the ship began to rattle and tilt forward.

Saragon checked the readout. “We lost that section of the ship. I am afraid we are dead in space.”

“Not dead in the middle of nowhere though,” said Natalie, checking the navigation console. “Look.”

On the screen was a flashing yellow dot.

“Well, we’ve arrived at Remos,” said the Doctor, “but the gravitational pull of the planet is going to pull us down.”

“We’re going to crash?” said Holly, worriedly.

“We’re going to crash,” nodded the Doctor.

To be continued...