Mondas Down (Chapter 9)

Chapter 9 (Man of Emotions)

The Doctor ran faster than he had run for a long time. His legs were aching, but he couldn’t stop now. If he did he’d feel sure he wouldn’t be able to start again. He had heard the explosion and it had worried him as it wasn’t that far away, but the sound that worried him more than the explosions was the sound of the two screams - female screams. They echoes through the mountain valley as if calling him and he felt compelled to follow. He had no choice.

Verax and Saragon had tried to stop him, but he had dodged them and pounded into the partially collapsed valley, leaving the camp behind him.

He knew it was stupid. He wasn’t going to be able to fight against the Cybermen, and by all accounts he was about to hit a full on battle zone, but that couldn’t stop him. He had brought Lilly this far, he wasn’t about to let her die on an alien world so far from her home.

He could hear laser blasts getting closer and closer and saw a number of mountain sides shatter and crumble to the ground.

He crouched down behind a ridge as he approached a wider part of the valley. He peered over the top. Standing there was Jaspar and a number of other Mondassians. They were in hand-to-hand combat with the Telosians and they were losing. No matter how many times Jaspar hit the various Telosians with his axe, it didn’t really do much damage. Before long Jaspar and his men would be overrun and then they would take the camp.

Then he spotted the two women lying prone on the ground. He checked that none of them were looking and then edged around the clearing, keeping low and hoping he wouldn’t be spotted.

He eventually reached Holly and Lilly and managed to pull them into the narrower part of the valley and behind cover.

He checked the two of them for a pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. They were simply stunned.

As Lilly began to stir the Doctor looked up. The fighting had intensified and Verax and Saragon had joined in the battle, followed by a partially converted Brax. The Doctor felt sick as Brax grabbed a hold of one of the Telosians and started to struggle with it.

“What…happened…?” groaned Lilly.

“You were stunned,” said the Doctor, helping her to sit up. “Just take it easy.”

“Holly…?”

“She’s fine,” said the Doctor. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Fletcher’s off to commandeer a ship. Chartell has emotions. Roy’s dead. Anything else? Let me think.”

“This is a disaster,” said the Doctor. “Chartell has emotions?”

“Yep. She went Cyber-Ape on the Telosians that had taken us prisoner.”

“Fascinating,” said the Doctor, tapping the end of his chin. “It’s a long held belief that all Cybermen still have their emotions but that they are blocked out. Buried beneath the surface. The Mondassians are closer to their original selves than any of the other factions so it makes sense that their emotions would be less shielded. Even Saragon has been displaying some interesting signs.”

Holly groaned as she opened her eyes. “Roxy….?”

“It’s us, Holly,” said the Doctor.

She rubbed her head and laughed to herself. “I thought I was back home.”

“We need to move. We don’t have time to lie about dreaming,” said Lilly, back to her old self again.

“Welcome back, Lilly,” said the Doctor sarcastically.

“Do not move,” came a harsh, electronic voice from behind the Doctor. They had been that oblivious to what was going on around them that they hadn’t noticed the Telosian creep up behind them.

“The guns have stopped,” said Lilly worriedly.

“Indeed,” said the Doctor.

“Get to your feet,” said the Cyberman, a gun trained on the Doctor’s head.

The Doctor and Lilly helped Holly to get to her feet and then they were escorted towards the clearing where the Telosians had managed to overpower the Mondassians. Jaspar, Saragon, Verax, Brax and the few remaining survivors were grouped together in the centre of the clearing whilst the Telosians kept their weapons aimed at them.

“Mr Brax,” said the Doctor, giving him a welcoming nod.

Brax looked at the Doctor but there was no emotion on his face.

“Well,” said Holly, as she backed up to the group of Mondassians, “I guess this is it. Shortest time travelling traveller ever?” she asked, turning to the Doctor.

The Doctor didn’t know how to respond.

“You will all be like us,” said the Cyberleader. “The Mondassians will be fully upgraded. The Human beings will also be converted.”

“Oh, joy,” said the Doctor. “How many times do we have to come up against each other before you realise that no matter what you say you never seem to win?”

“Don’t push it, Doctor,” said Holly.

“Holly’s right,” said Lilly. “I can’t see a way out of this. Not this time.”

The relative peace and quiet of the valley was broken with an ear-piercing screech of engines from back towards the lake. Holly, Lilly and the Doctor clasped their hands over their ears as a huge ship shot overhead. They followed it’s path as it turned and headed back towards them, descending into the valley.

“It is our ship,” said the Cyberleader. “Who is flying it?”

A voice came over a loud speaker. A familiar voice. “Good evening, gents,” said Fletcher.

Holly grinned and clapped her hands together. Lilly nodded her approval and the Doctor broke into a wide grin.

“Right now I have all of this ships weapons trained on the Telosian Cybermen. If you move a muscle - a hydraulic muscle that is - I will shoot you all down.”

“Give us our ship back,” said the Cyberleader, pointing towards the underbelly of the ship.

“Oops,” came Fletcher’s voice, “you moved a muscle. Get down everyone!”

Everyone but the Telosians dropped to the ground as pulses rained down from the underside of the ship, hitting each of the Cybermen in the chest. They tried to get away, but it was too late. The Cyberleader fell to it’s knees and looked up at his ship.

“I’ve lost too many people today, mate,” said Fletcher. “No more.”

The ship shot out another pulse and the Cyberleader fell to the ground dead.




Fletcher had brought the ship into land at the Mondassian camp and the survivors had regrouped with the Doctor and his companions at the base of the dome.

Fletcher emerged from the ship with Natalie, Angie and Chartell. Fletcher grinned as he saw Holly and Lilly.

“I thought we’d never see you again,” said Holly.

“I couldn’t leave you lot behind, could I?” he laughed.

“Thank you,” said Verax, extending his hand.

Fletcher looked at it curiously and then shook it, nodding at the half-human man.

“Chartell!” said Verax, noticing her for the first time.

“Is that surprise in your voice?” said the Doctor.

Verax stopped himself from going over to Chartell and then looked at the Doctor for an answer.

“I think our emotions are starting to break through,” said Saragon, answering before the Doctor could.

“We must work on this. Find the fault,” said Verax anxiously.

“Who says it’s a fault?” said Chartell. She put her hand on Verax’s shoulder. “Maybe this is what we needed.”

“We can never be the people we used to be,” said Verax. “I tried to turn myself back.”

“Then you know that this is the right thing to do,” said Chartell. She smiled at him.

He closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what?” said Chartell.

“Sorry for what I did. Sorry for my part in all of what happened to us.”

Saragon put his hand on Verax’s other shoulder. “We must work together now. We must protect ourselves from the threat of the Telosians.”

“They’re right, Verax,” said the Doctor, smiling at the trio. “Before today I thought that all Cybermen were the same. Cold, brutal and emotionless. You have all proved me wrong.”

“I have one question though?” said Natalie.

“Go ahead,” said Verax.

“Can we keep the ship?”




Some time later Brax was sat in the dome, looking at his partially converted cybernetic arm, turning his hand over and over.

“Are you okay?” said the Doctor, standing silhouetted in the doorway.

“I am functioning as normal,” said Brax.

“You know what I mean.”

“I feel no emotion,” said Brax, coldly.

“The ship’s about to leave.”

“I cannot leave.”

“Dig down into yourself, Brax,” said the Doctor. “Don’t you want to go back to Samantha?”

“She couldn’t love me like this,” said Brax. “I am a Cyberman now.”

“Maybe when your emotions resurface -”

“I would be branded a freak,” said Brax. “Something to be examined and locked away.”

“I could help.”

“Let my team go. Rick and Roy died. Let me just be another casualty of this mission.”

The Doctor sighed and turned to walk out. “I’ll miss you, Man of Steel.”

Brax’s mouth almost curved into a smile, but he stopped himself. “I’ll miss you too, Doctor.”




Saragon, Chartell and Verax watched as the Telosian ship lifted off from the clearing and blasted off into space.

Chartell turned to face Saragon and smiled. Saragon touched her mouth and then his own and then broke into his own smile.

Verax watched the two of them. It was a strange situation, but he was determined that his people would survive, and now he was more determined than ever.




On board the ship the Doctor stood beside Natalie as she programmed in the navigational controls.

“Chartell showed me how to fly this thing,” she said. “We’ll get back quicker.”

“Good,” said the Doctor. “Remember to tell those back at the NESP about what happened to Rick, Roy and Brax.”

“We will,” said Fletcher.

There was a beeping coming from a nearby console and the Doctor rushed over. “Well?”

Angie Grant looked up from a small monitor and smiled. “Your blue box is out there, Doctor.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you!” said the Doctor, skipping away.

“Thank god for that,” said Holly, looking at Lilly.

“Silly girl. I never doubted it,” said Lilly, but she glanced at Holly and had a twinkle in her eyes.

Holly smiled back.

Is the ice officially broken? Holly thought to herself.

“Where will you go now?” said Fletcher, as the Doctor, Lilly and Holly clambered into the Coronation’s spacesuits to begin their spacewalk from the Telosian ship to the TARDIS.

“Well, I’ve got to get Holly home.”

“We still don’t know anything about you,” said Natalie.

“Join the club!” said Holly.

“That’s just the way I like it,” said the Doctor, giving a mock salute to Fletcher.

“Be careful, won’t you? All of you?” said Fletcher. “Home may be safer than out here.”

“Well, my captain, our destiny is in the stars, at least mine and Lilly’s. Home right now is an impossibility.”

Epilogue

It had been a good few weeks, but they had arrived back at the NESP headquarters. Fletcher, Angie and Natalie had been grilled for hours about what had happened. Where had the Hobbin twins gone? Where was Brax and what the hell had happened to the Coronation. They told the truth, of course, but the only thing they remained silent on was the whereabouts of Remos. They also decided to remain quiet about the Doctor and his friends.

Fletcher sat before one of the council members. A stern looking man in a suit. He had a high forehead and receding hairline, but looked quite handsome despite looking like he had never cracked a smile before.

“You lost a valuable piece of equipment.”

“Ten a penny,” said Fletcher. “They’ll build more ships.”

“And you’re sure there was nobody else with you?” said the man.

“Absolutely not,” said Fletcher.

“Very well then, Captain Fletcher, you can go.”

Fletcher nodded and got up to leave.

The man grabbed his arm. “But if I find out you’ve been lying to me there will be trouble.”

Fletcher pulled his arm away and frowned. “There was nobody else, sir. Nobody at all.”

“Good,” said the man, suddenly breaking out in a smile. “I suggest you all get yourselves checked out.”

“Will do, sir.”

“Go and see a doctor.”

Fletcher’s head snapped around, he hesitated a moment and then exited the room.

The man leaned back in his chair and chuckled to himself.




The End

Doctor Who: Resurrection returns in two weeks time in "Prisons in the Sky".