Mondas Down (Chapter 7)

Chapter 7 (Let Emotions Get the Better of Me)

Chartell and her father stood before the council, their hands clasped together. Chartell squeezed her father’s hand tightly.

“I don’t have anything wrong with me, Dad,” said Chartell.

He looked at her and brushed a strand of blonde hair out of her eyes. “I know, sweetheart. But it’s what they want.”

“I’m only 25 though. I’m fit and healthy.” She looked at the huge box that was strapped to her father’s chest keeping him alive.

“We can’t fight against them anymore, Chartell.”

A man with jet black hair but wearing a full, silver suit with metal struts running down the arms and legs approached them. “You are here for conversion, yes?”

“No, Verax,” said Chartell. “I don’t want to be converted. Why should we have to be?”

Verax looked momentarily sad and then shook his head. “We have no choice. To survive we must continue to upgrade and improve ourselves.”

“Don’t you care?” said Saragon. “Don’t you care what you’re doing to my daughter? I thought you loved her!”

Verax closed his eyes, swallowed hard and then turned away to a couple of waiting soldiers. “Take them to the conversion chamber.”




Saragon stood outside the domed building, staring into the middle-distance. Now his memories were coming back to him. How his daughter had met the man called Verax and fallen in love. Verax was going to marry Chartell, but then bad things happened to Mondas. Verax was put in charge of converting that sector of his town and he had had no choice.

Saragon knew that right now he should be feeling anger, but he wasn’t able to. He wasn’t able to feel anger towards the man that had effectively killed his own daughter.

“Turns out,” said Brax, sipping on a bottle of water, “that that structure keeps this town powered up. It’s like a generator. It also explains how you’re still active after the ship crash landed. You were caught in it’s beam.” Brax smiled. “Or so the Doctor said.”

“Where is the Doctor?” said Saragon.

“He’s inside with Verax trying to convince him to set up a rescue mission, although I can’t see where we’re gonna go. We’re trapped on this planet and that bloke is weird.”

“Verax will not help.”

“Oh? Why not?”

“He was the one who was in charge of conversions back on Mondas.”

“You’re joking?”

“I do not joke,” said Saragon. “He was only a small part in a bigger cog, but he was still responsible for my daughter’s conversion.”

“Sounds like you’re angry.”

“I do not have the capability to be angry,” said Saragon.

“Really? Maybe you ought to get that emotion chip checked out.”

Saragon frowned as Brax walked away. Maybe something was wrong.

“Penny for your thoughts?” said the Doctor, emerging from the doorway behind Saragon.

“I do not understand,” said Saragon.

“It’s an old Earth term,” smiled the Doctor, remembering a fond memory. “You seem to be lost in your thoughts.”

“He’s pretending he’s not angry,” said Brax, who was sat on a tree trunk a little way off.

The Doctor frowned and looked up at Saragon. “Verax has agreed to send out three of his soldiers to help to look for my friends.”

“That’s big of him!” said Brax.

“They have built a community here based on peace. Logic, yes, but peace. They’re not like the others.” The Doctor placed a hand on Saragon’s arm. “You and Chartell could settle here.”

“Chartell may be dead,” said Saragon blankly.

“You don’t know that,” said the Doctor.

“But she may be,” said Saragon.

“What’s the deal with that Verax guy anyway?”

“You mean his face? He tried to replace the cybernetic parts of him with synthetic flesh. Tried to turn himself back, but he’s not had much success.”

“Maybe he is trying to atone for what he did to the rest of us,” said Saragon.

The Doctor didn’t get to probe Saragon’s musings any further. He didn’t get a chance because the town around them was suddenly thrown into chaos by a huge explosion. A huge plume of fire and smoke erupted right next to the dome followed by a number of further explosions. The blast was so strong that it threw the Doctor and Saragon off their feet.

The Doctor was momentarily dazed as he lay on his back staring up at the clear, night sky. And then he could hear screaming from nearby.

Odd, he thought. Cybermen don’t feel pain, so who’s screaming?

And then he realised. He sat up and saw Brax, half of him engulfed in flames writhing around on the floor.

“Brax!” yelled the Doctor, jumping to his feet, whipping his coat off and throwing it over the man. Eventually, after rolling around for an agonising few seconds, Brax stopped struggling and instead let out whimpers of pain, the flames extinguished.

“I need some help over here!” shouted the Doctor to a couple of Mondassians that were looking dazed and confused. “Hurry up!”

The Mondassians stumbled over as Verax emerged from the Dome. “What’s going on?” he said, looking to the sky.

“We were attacked from above,” said the Doctor, removing the cover from Brax. His face was partially burnt and his clothes were blackened and stuck to his flesh, but he was alive.

“It must be the Telosians,” said Verax. He pointed to one of the Mondassians that had assisted the Doctor with Brax. “Jaspar, organise a party. Take Cathtan with you. Find as many weapons as possible.”

“Verax, is that wise?”

“Is what wise?” said Verax, as he hefted Brax up in his arms and began carrying him into the Dome.

“Going to war with the Telosians?”

“The Doctor is right,” said Saragon, who had picked himself up from a nearby shelter he had landed in and followed them into the Dome.

“I have the final say on this,” said Verax as they entered the Dome and Verax laid Brax down on a table. He gestured towards another Mondassian. “Seeth, make sure he is cared for.”

“Yes, Verax,” replied Seeth.

“They have attacked us from above, Doctor,” said Verax, looking down at the man. “I am not prepared to let that go unpunished.”

“You haven’t met the Telosians,” said the Doctor. “They are not like you. They are cold, emotionless and logical.”

“And we are not?” said Verax. He pointed down at the Doctor. “Don’t mistake our peaceful intentions as weakness. We can kill without a single thought.”

“I don’t doubt that,” said the Doctor, “but you could end up wiping this entire colony out.”

“Let me deal with that,” said Verax, as he pushed his way past Saragon and the Doctor and back outside.

Outside the dome Jaspar was standing in front of a squad of twenty Mondassians, each armed with various different weapons - axes, weapon-dishes and even tree branches.

“Look at this rag-tag bunch,” said the Doctor to Saragon. “They don’t stand a chance against the Cybermen.”

“We are Cybermen,” said Verax. He had overheard the Doctor.

Saragon nodded. “Verax has a point. If they don’t fight back then the Telosians will simply decimate this place, upgrade the survivors and take them back to Telos.”

“I know, I know” said the Doctor, exasperated.

“So what do you suggest they do?” said Saragon. “Give up or go out fighting?”

Saragon was right. There was no arguing with the Mondassians. If they didn’t fight then they would be wiped out. He couldn’t advocate a civil war, but he understood why they were doing it.

The Doctor watched on as Verax and Saragon began coordinating battle plans with Jaspar and his troops. It was a situation he wasn’t going to have any control of, but he knew that he had to rescue Holly, Lilly and the rest of the Coronation crew from what was about to become a battleground.




Holly was almost asleep when Lilly woke her up. She jumped and almost banged her head on the wall she had been leaning against.

“What is it?” she said, feeling disconnected from their surroundings.

“Something’s going on?” said Lilly. She slid over to Chartell and Fletcher and woke them up.

“What’s happening?” said Holly. The Cybermen were busy milling around, exiting and re-entering, checking readings on data pads and crosschecking figures.

“Hey,” said Lilly, “what are you up to?”

The Cyberleader turned to look at the group of Humans. “We have discovered a colony across the mountains. We have attacked them.”

“Why?” said Holly. She became fearful. That was where the Doctor had headed. She didn’t really know him that well, but she felt he was the only chance of actually getting through this and getting back home.

“We will lure them out of their camp and we will upgrade them.” The Cyberleader stepped a little nearer to them. “You will also become like us.”

“What if we don’t want to become like you?” said Holly defiantly.

“Waste of time arguing with them, Hols,” said Lilly.

“You have no choice.” He turned to leave.

“Have you met them before?” said Holly. “Because you seem to know what we should and shouldn’t be doing.”

“I haven’t met them before,” she said, “but I know of them. Anyone who travels with the Doctor gets to know all of his favourite enemies.”

“Great,” said Holly, leaning her head back against the wall.

Fletcher slid over to them. “We need to try and make a run for it,” he whispered.

“We don’t stand a chance,” said Natalie. “All due respect, sir, but where are we going to run to?”

“Where the Doctor and Brax went to.”

“The same place that’s just been attacked. I don’t think so,” said Lilly.

Another Cyberman entered and grabbed Chartell by the shoulders, hauling her to her feet. Chartell didn’t flinch as the Cyberman’s hand flipped down to reveal the same metallic needle as before.

“Wait!” said Holly, leaping to her feet.

Another Cybermen knocked her down and she fell hard on the ground.

The four looked on in horror as the Cyberman moved it’s hand towards Chartell’s forehead. “She will be the first to be upgraded.”

Chartell felt different as she felt the needle pierce her cloth skin. Not cold and logical. Not resigned to her fate. She felt…angry. She didn’t want to become like them. She didn’t want to become cold and emotionless. But wasn’t she already cold and emotionless? She felt…confused. Angry and confused. Emotions she hadn’t felt for many, many years.

Why am I feeling emotions? she thought to herself.

Chartell made a split decision - she didn’t want to become like them. She let the emotion rise up inside of her. She let the anger and the fear take over and used it to her advantage. Her hand snatched up and grabbed the Cyberman’s arm, twisting it out of the way and the needle out of her forehead.

The two Cybermen were caught off guard as Chartell twisted further on the Cyberman’s arm and ripped it out of it’s socket. The Cyberman stumbled to the ground as the other tried to grab Chartell. She threw a punch at the face panel and dented it, causing the Cyberman to stagger backwards.

“Way to go, Chartell!” said Natalie with glee.

“I will not be like you,” said Chartell with a growl. “I am not you!” She kicked out at the first Cyberman and then brought her foot down on it’s chest unit, causing it to explode and splutter. White goo poured from the chest unit as the second Cyberman threw itself at her.

She swung her elbow around and struck the dented Cyberman in the chest. She then grabbed the handles at the side of the head and with a huge yank she ripped its head from it’s shoulders.

The others looked on in horror as white goo sprayed out from where the head had been. Chartell threw the head to the ground and remained in an attack stance, breathing heavily.

Fletcher got to his feet and put a hand on her shoulder. She swung around and was about to hit him when she realised who it was.

“Easy. Easy,” said Fletcher. “It’s over.”

“What happened?” said Natalie.

“I felt emotion again,” said Chartell. She looked at the group, visibly relaxed and then her odd, cloth mouth twisted into a strange shape that looked almost like a smile. “I felt emotion.”




Angie Grant and Roy Hobbin watched as a number of Cyber shuttles lifted up from the jungle and headed out across the lake and in the direction of the mountains. They had watched earlier as a single shuttle had taken off and they had watched on in horror as an explosion had gone off in the distance.

“That doesn’t look good,” said Angie. “We need to try and rescue our people.”

“That’s if they’re still alive,” said Roy solemnly.

Angie looked at him. “Look, Roy, I know you’re grieving, but you’re also an officer. You need to pull yourself together.”

Roy looked at her and smiled. It wasn’t a friendly smile though. It was an accusing smile. “You know that old thing about feeling what your twin feels?”

Angie nodded.

“Well I felt it. I felt it when that metal beam sliced through Rick. And I felt it when he died. It felt like my heat had fallen apart.”

“Roy-”

“I feel like half a man now. Even less of a man that those Cyber-things.”

Angie wasn’t sure what she could say to him. Rick and Roy had been close. Twins were generally close anyway so she didn’t really have any idea what he was going through. She had lost her older system to the Teskian Flu five years ago and it had devastated her.

There was a commotion from up the beach. Angie looked on as A number of Cybermen emerged, walking backwards, from the jungle, firing shots from their guns into the trees. She frowned and then almost fell over when she saw Chartell emerge, skilfully dodging the laser blasts and taking out the Cybermen with a number of drop kicks and punches.

She grabbed one of the blasters from a fallen Cyberman and started blasting at the remaining ones. When all was quiet Holly, Lilly, Fletcher and Natalie came out from their cover in the jungle.

“They’re alive!” said Angie. She turned to Roy who looked as distant as he had been so far. “They’re alive!”

Angie and Roy had made their way back along the beach and reunited with the rest of the team. Holly had explained how they had escaped with Chartell’s help, taking out the remaining Cybermen, but that a squad, led by the Cyberleader, had headed out towards the Mondassian camp.

“Can you all swim?” said Fletcher to the team, reasserting himself as the leader again.

They all nodded. Holly became thankful for taking those swimming lessons when she had turned 15. Before then she hadn’t ever dared to try and swim. She had a fear of the water after she nearly drowned on holiday in Spain when she was just 9.

“Are you telling me we’re going into the lake?” said Lilly.

“That’s correct,” said Fletcher, looking out across the lake.

“Dangerous,” said Angie. “We can’t go swimming into a war zone.”

“War zone or not, Brax and the Doctor are out there. I don’t know much about the Doctor, but I want my team back together so we can figure out a way to get home.”




Back at the camp the Doctor stood over Brax, who had been hooked up to a life support unit, wires attached to his chest and a plastic oxygen-type mask over his mouth. He was fast asleep, but his breathing was laboured.

Verax walked up behind the Doctor. “He is dying.”

“He is not dying,” said the Doctor sadly.

“Even you must admit the facts,” said Verax.

“I should never have brought him out here,” said the Doctor. “I don’t even know anything about him.” The Doctor noticed some charred paper sticking out of Brax’s trouser pocket. He plucked it out and turned it over. It was a photograph. Although partially burnt, the Doctor could see a beautiful, dark-haired woman, her hand under her chin as she blew a kiss. On the back it read ‘Happy travelling, Space Boy, Love Samantha.”

The Doctor closed his eyes and returned the photo to Brax’s pocket.

“There is a way to save him,” said Verax.

“No,” said the Doctor, walking away.

“We can convert him.”

“No,” said the Doctor again.

“It will save him,” said Verax.

“I said no,” said the Doctor, turning and facing the huge man. “I don’t know much about him, but I know that Harry Brax would rather die than become an emotionless giant.”

“I don’t think you understand what I am saying, Doctor. I will save him. Not because you say yes or no, but because I need him. I need more warriors from the coming battles. So, with or without your consent, Brax will become like us.”

To be continued...