Chapter 6 (Logic vs. Logic)
The path between the mountain range was becoming more and more narrower and they had lost the light. The Doctor, Brax and Saragon held up brightly burning torches to guide their way, but it was much too treacherous now.
“We cannot stop,” said Saragon.
“Saragon,” said a weary Doctor, “you may have super-human strength and stamina, but even I reach a point where I have to rest.”
“I’m with the Doctor, Big Man,” said Brax, sitting himself down against the mountainside. “We’ve lost the light. We need to rest.”
“The structure is just ahead,” said Saragon, gesturing upwards at the silver structure, barely visible in the darkness.
“It ain’t going anywhere,” said Brax.
“Look,” said the Doctor, “I know you’re eager to get to your people, but we have to rest.”
“I will carry on ahead.”
“No,” said the Doctor. “We don’t know what to expect.”
“Just sit down, Saragon,” said Brax.
“I have no need for sitting.”
“Maybe not,” said Brax, “but you’re making me feel uncomfortable.”
Thirty minutes passed and Saragon had opted to remain standing on guard. The Doctor and Brax had started drifting off, when Saragon became aware of a sound from up ahead. It sounded like a low drone and it was getting louder.
Saragon’s eyes searched the landscape. Although he still had Human eyes, they had been significantly improved upon to include night vision, zoom and focus. His eyes focused on a shape in the distance. It was some sort of shuttle pod and it was heading their way.
Saragon grabbed the handles of the dish that was fixed to the bottom of his breathing apparatus. He would be ready if it was unfriendly.
“Wake up,” said Saragon bluntly.
The Doctor and Brax didn’t stir.
“Wake up!” said Saragon, louder this time.
The Doctor jumped and then flinched, opening one eye to see Saragon standing over him. “What is it?”
“Something is coming towards us,” said Saragon.
The Doctor grabbed a pair of glasses from in his coat pocket. They had a small dial on the side and he turned it activating night vision in his glasses. “It’s almost on top of us. Some sort of shuttle.”
Brax had woken up now and was looking to see what the commotion was about.
“Flag them down,” said the Doctor.
But, before they could do, a bright beam of light shot down on them, temporarily blinding them.
The Doctor shielded his eyes against the light as the beam slowly lowered as the craft came in to land.
His eyes adjusted to the light and he could see tall figures leaving the craft. There were four of them, each of them identical to Saragon and each of them with their disc guns ready to be fired.
“We’re here to see you,” said the Doctor, taking the initiative.
“What are your names?”
“I’m the Doctor, this is Brax and this gentleman here is one of your own kind - Saragon.”
The lead Mondassian walked up to Saragon and their eyes locked for what seemed like an eternity. And then the Mondassian extended it’s arm forward.
“Welcome to Remos.”
“A happy reunion,” smiled the Doctor.
“So far,” said Brax under his breath.
“We need to help her,” said Holly, as the Cyberleader aimed his gun at Chartell’s head.
“We need to stay the hell away from them,” said Lilly.
“Who are they?”
“Cybermen,” said Lilly with an annoyed voice.
“I know that,” said Holly, “but they look different.”
“They’re the Telosians,” said Lilly. “The other faction that broke away. The bad ones.”
“Oh great,” said Holly.
“Holly’s right, though,” said Natalie, “we do need to help Chartell.”
“Absolutely not,” said Angie. “Our priority is to keep safe until the Doctor returns.”
“But she hasn’t done anything wrong,” said Natalie. “What makes her any different from us?”
“That’s enough,” said Angie.
“Natalie’s right,” said Fletcher, causing Angie to snap her head around to look at him, “we need to help her.”
“Listen, Captain Suicide,” said Lilly, looking up at him, “these are Cybermen. The deadly ones. The ones who invade planets and convert others into them. You can’t just stroll up to them and demand Chartell back.”
“Wait!” said Holly, squinting in the darkness, “something’s happening.”
Two of the Cybermen had grabbed Chartell by her shoulders and another was knelt down beside her. It’s hand had been replaced by some sort of large, metal needle.
“Please stay back. Please!” cried Chartell.
“What the hell are they doing to her?!” said Natalie.
“Not only that,” said Lilly, “but she’s got emotions.”
“What?” said Fletcher.
“Listen to her. She’s begging them. Pleading them.”
The Cyberman with the appendage began pressing it into Chartell’s forehead causing her to scream out in agony.
“That’s it,” said Holly. “Let’s go!”
“WAIT!” said Angie as Fletcher, Natalie and Holly broke cover and ran towards the group of Cybermen, Natalie and Fletcher with their blasters in hand.
“Holly, wait!” said Lilly, chasing after the dark-haired woman.
Fletcher muscled in and shoulder-barged one, only to be knocked back as if he had hit a brick wall.
“Remain still,” said the Cyberleader, grabbing Holly by the arm.
“Let go!” said Holly.
“Remain still or I will remove your limb.”
Another Cyberman grabbed Natalie and Fletcher and twisted the blasters out of their hands.
“What are you doing to her?” said Natalie, as she broke away and crouched in front of Chartell, who was looking a little confused.
“She will be like us,” said the Cyberleader.
“She’s already like you,” said Fletcher, who was now looking up at the barrel of his own gun.
“She is of primitive design. She must be upgraded.”
“Please…please…” said Chartell.
Holly wasn’t sure, but she was certain she could see tears welling up in Chartell’s eyes.
“We must take these back to the ship,” said the lieutenant.
“Are there any more?” asked the Leader.
“No more have been located,” it replied.
Angie and Roy watched from their cover as the rest of them were escorted back into the jungle.
“Idiots Are Us,” said Angie under her breath.
“Shouldn’t we rescue them?” said Roy.
“You’ve just seen what they can do,” said Angie. “No, Roy, I’m afraid they’re on their own. We wait for them to clear out then return to the original camp site and wait for the Doctor to come back.”
The little girl skipped down the street, stopped, took a few steps back and then crouched down over the small, yellow flower that had grown up through the gap in the pavement. She looked at it intently, the beautiful, bright yellow almost dazzling her in the artificial sunlight.
She touched the petals. They were soft and she smiled.
“Ah, there you are,” came a voice from up ahead.
She looked up to see a tall man with a beard and short brown hair. He was already wearing his black robes and she smiled when she saw him.
“Daddy,” she said, running up to him and flinging her arms around him.
“Hello, sweetheart,” he said, giving her a tight hug. “Your mum said you’d ran on ahead.”
“I wanted to see you before you did the sermon.”
“I know, sweetheart. I had to leave so early this morning. I needed to see the doctor, remember?”
The little girl suddenly looked upset. “How will you be able to breathe?”
“It’s nothing to worry about. They take my bad lungs out and give me some new ones. Some mechanical ones. I’ll be absolutely fine.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.” He tapped her on the nose and she laughed. “In a few years we’ll all be wearing things that make us better. It’s the way forward.”
“As long as it makes you better. That’s the main thing.”
“Exactly. And you know I’ll never stop loving you, sweetheart.”
“Oh, Daddy,” she said, rolling her eyes at him.
“Now run along back to your mum,” he said.
She turned and ran, stopped and looked back at him. “I love you, daddy.”
“I love you too, Chartell.”
Chartell opened her eyes, but didn’t say anything. The needle had been removed from her head, but the pain was still there. Whatever the Cybermen had tried to do hadn’t been completed. She felt so sad and the dream hadn’t helped. No, it wasn’t a dream. It was a memory.
“Are you okay?” came Holly’s voice.
“I am fine,” she said.
“Okay. If you need anything just let us know.”
Chartell didn’t respond.
Holly frowned and shuffled herself back to where Lilly was sitting with Fletcher. They had escorted them back to the crashed remains of the Mondassian ship and had put two guards on them whilst the Cyberleader and others had gone back outside. They hadn’t even bothered to remove or cover up Rick’s body.
“What are you doing?” said Lilly.
“What do you mean?” asked Holly, not quite grasping what had rattled Lilly’s cage this time.
“You’re trying to comfort a Cyberman,” said Lilly.
“Oh come on, Lilly. I know you can be cold, but you can see she’s in discomfort.”
“Me? Cold? You don’t know the half of it, kid.”
“Kid?!”
“Alright now ladies,” said Fletcher, holding his hands up between the two of them. “Perhaps we should try speaking to Chartell. She’s clearly not like the others.”
“Talk, talk, talk,” said Lilly with a shake of her head.
“Well what else would you have us do, eh?” said Holly. “Fight? Because we can’t fight those things. The most we can hope is that the Doctor finds the other Mondassians and brings them back to rescue us.”
“And what’s to say they aren’t just as hostile as these ones?”
“She’s got a point, Holly,” said Fletcher.
“Because Saragon said that they didn’t all hold the same ideals as each other. Just like the Human race. Some are bad, some are good. Some are emotional, some are emotionless,” she said, looking at Lilly.
Lilly’s face looked like it was going to explode. “Do not mistake me for a normal Humanoid,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Then why don’t you tell us a little more about yourself,” said Holly. “Tell us some more about you and the Doctor, cos I’m damned if I can work the both of you out.”
“When the Doctor is ready, he will tell you, but you’ll be back on Earth by then and we won’t have to see you again. As for me - you’ll never get anything out of me. We’re not friends. I don’t like you and I most certainly wouldn’t save you if one of these things attacked you.”
“Maybe you should have thought about that when you were comforting me earlier on when the ship was crashing.”
Lilly didn’t answer, she looked away from Holly. Holly knew she had hit a nerve. As insufferable as Lilly was, she knew there was a warmer heart in there somewhere. She just couldn’t decide if she had the desire to find the real person or not. Something had happened to her, but she couldn’t for the life of her work out what it was.
The sun was rising behind the mountains by the time the transport had returned to the structure. The structure towered over a small town full of brick and wooden buildings. All around there were, what the Doctor could only assume, generators with cables snaking out of them and into the ground. He theorised that it must have been how these particular Mondassians kept themselves powered up. He also wondered if the double-arch had something to do with it all.
The transport touched down beside a large, domed building made out of battered, metal parts. The Mondassian that had greeted them motioned for them to leave the shuttle, and then he escorted the Doctor, Saragon and Brax towards the building.
The Doctor looked around him. All around where Mondassians, watching them with curious eyes. Some were busy doing jobs like building fires and others were constructing small structures out of wood and scraps of metal.
“Keep going,” said the Mondassian as they went through a small door in the dome and into a larger chamber.
Sat in the middle of the dome, flanked by two Mondassians, was a different kind of Mondassian. This one didn’t have the distinctive “handle bars” on the top of it’s helmet and there was no lamp either. It had also removed the dish-like weapon. It’s face was the strangest. The cloth had been removed and replaced by what looked like rubbery skin. It looked almost Human.
“Lord Verax,” said the Mondassian, bowing his head slightly. “These were sighted headed towards the town.”
The Human-like Mondassian, Verax, nodded at the first Mondassian and then stood up. He looked a little unsteady on his feet and he frowned at the Doctor’s party.
“It’s good to meet you,” said the Doctor.
Verax walked a little from his chair and looked at each of them in turn. The Doctor could see his pale, grey eyes studying each of them intently.
He stopped at Saragon and spoke. “What is your name?” His voice still had the electric buzz about it, but it didn’t have the same sing-song that the others had.
“My name is Saragon.”
“The lost ship,” said Verax.
“That is correct. Our ship was following the flight path to Remos when we encountered engine failure and then ship-wide failure. These Humans reactivated us.”
“Where is your ship now?” asked Verax. “We could use it’s parts in continued construction.”
“It broke up and is on the other side of the lake,” said Saragon.
“How many survived?”
“Only myself, and another, Chartell, is lost in the jungle. There is a group of Humans as well.”
Verax’s eyes narrowed. “Your names are familiar.”
“On Mondas I was a clergyman. Chartell is my daughter.”
Realisation dawned on Verax’s face. “I remember you both. I was very…close to your daughter.”
“She was only 25 when she was converted by the council.”
Brax spoke up. “This reunion is all very touching fella’s, but we’ve got more of our people out by that lake who need our help.”
“They are all dead,” said Verax, looking at Brax.
“Dead? What do you mean? They can’t be,” said the Doctor.
“During the night we detected another ship touch down in the jungle. On closer inspection we discovered that it was also of Cyber origin.”
“Another Cybership?” said the Doctor, confused.
“What is your name?” said Verax, crossing over to the Doctor.
“My name’s the Doctor.”
Verax nodded. “When we landed on this planet we did out very best the keep it’s whereabouts secret.”
“Why?”
“Because those of us who travelled to Remos did not believe in the cause of the Council on Mondas. We believed we should all be free. Our beliefs never changed when we arrived on Remos. We masked ourselves from the detection of other Cybermen. The Telosians were cold and logical. If they had discovered us then we would have been made to think the way they think.”
“Are you telling me that that ship that landed in the night is full of Telosian Cybermen?”
“That is correct,” said Verax. “And we believe it is your ship, Saragon, that led them to us.”
“Hang on,” said Brax, “what does this all mean?”
“It means,” said the Doctor, “that we might be about to be caught up in a Cyberman civil war.”
To be continued...
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