Doctor Who: Lesson of Freedom

Doctor Who: Lesson of Freedom

By Todd Dias

Imprisonment is a hard thing for anyone to accept. And if you had once the power to travel to any place in the Universe, to any given period in its history, you would see a forced life of exile on the “slow path”, one place one time period, day in day out, as just that: imprisonment. This is where we find the Doctor, hard at work under the TARDIS console humming the theme from Beethoven’s 3^rd Symphony “Eroica”, trying desperately to find a way to regain control of the TARDIS.

Jo Grant entered the TARDIS gingerly with a tray of food. She still was not used to the transition of dimensions between outsides and insides. She brought the tray to a counter on the far wall and set it down. She observed the Doctor hard at work with strange devices and scribbled notes in chaotic array. Never had Jo seen someone so devoted to one’s labour, a genius at work.

“Doctor, I brought you some tea and biscuits.”

“No thanks, Jo.”

“Doctor, you’ve been working on this day and night since we got back from Uxarieus. Don’t you think you ought to take a break?”

“Well, I….I suppose now is as good a time to take a rest seeing as how I am almost done.” He got up, dusted himself off, and poured himself some tea. He then sat down on the couch in the living area. Jo came and sat beside him.

“Doctor, may I ask you personal question?”

“Sure.”

“Don’t you like Earth in the 20^th Century?”

“Of course I do, Jo.”

”Then, why are you so desperate to leave?”

“It isn’t easy to explain. I have spent a considerable number of years traveling to many worlds and civilizations, fought evil and made friends with a variety of beings. In all of this I had freedom, Jo. Now I am on the beck and call of the Time Lords. And what’s worse there is evil that goes on unchecked while I sit here. It simply isn’t fair that the Master can come and go as he pleases while I am condemned to such restriction.” The Doctor was hot with dark emotion at this so Jo tried to get him to resume rationality.

“Doctor, you’ve told me many times that only a child demands that the world be fair.”

“You’re right, Jo. All the same it is a matter of freedom. Now I must get on with it…,” Jo gave him a look of admonition, “…after I’ve had my tea, of course.”

When Jo felt she could trust to the Doctor to keep to his agreed upon break, she left to check up on the Brigadier. Things had been slow at UNIT HQ. The Master being off-world helped minimize the level of malignant extraterrestrial activity on Earth. Maybe the Doctor is right to feel angry, thought Jo. There was no love lost between Jo and Master certainly and the Doctor was needed so many places besides Earth. She returned to the TARDIS after the briefing with the Brigadier to find the Doctor had finished his tinkering.

“Ah, Jo, are you up for a short test flight?”

“You’ve got it working, then?”

“More or less. Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

The Doctor had had the dematerialization codes blocked from his memory but he was able to derive the information from the TARDIS instruments. Though he was still unable to fix the actual dematerialization circuit he could compensate by creating the right effect by reversing the polarity of one or two of the drives. He threw a few switches and the TARDIS dematerialized without a hitch.

“It works Jo!”

“You didn’t think it would?”

“I was merely prepared for the fact that it wouldn’t.”

TARDIS wasn’t in flight long. It rematerialized in just under three minutes by Jo’s watch. She commented on the brevity of the flight but the Doctor assured her that he hadn’t intended on taking her very far. Indeed when he switched on the scanner they saw they were still in the Doctor’s lab.

“We haven’t moved.”

“Looks can be deceiving, Jo. Remember the TARDIS moves not just in three dimensions but in several, not the least of which is time.”

Even as they crossed the dimensional threshold to the outside of the TARDIS, the Doctor’s sensitivity to temporal-spatiality told him something was wrong. Jo didn’t need to be a Time Lord to get the sense of something being wrong either. All her intuition needed was a look at the subtle expression of concern on the Doctor’s face.

“What’s wrong, Doctor?”

“I think I might have made a grave error.”

As he said this Jo saw that there was something amiss visually with their surroundings. The walls of the Doctor’s lab seemed to have a wavy aesthetic, like the horizon on a hot day. The Doctor’s sense of danger was growing. Just then the Brigadier entered the room. Jo greeted him but he seemed not to hear. He looked very cross. He was looking for the Doctor no doubt. He was saying something but they couldn’t quite hear him, as if he was speaking underwater. As he was angrily leaving the room, Jo stepped before him to try and stop him and to her terror he went right through her like a ghost.

“Doctor! Doctor, did you see that!! He walked right threw me…”

“It’s alright, Jo.” He did his best to calm down the spooked Jo. She came to her wits sooner than most. Being a member of UNIT, not to mention having traveled with the Doctor, made her nerves strong to the paranormal. Still it was quite a shock.

“What’s going on?” she asked upon recovering some more composure. “Why couldn’t he see or hear us?”

“We must be out of sync with this point in time. We’re in the cracks between moments. This could be incredibly dangerous. We’d better get out of here.”

“Doctor!! My legs they feel like jelly!”

The Doctor too felt as though he was swimming in gelatin. The dimension they had found themselves in was incredibly unstable. They were in a transitional moment in space-time which was about to collapse. The Doctor and Jo struggle their hardest to get inside the TARDIS which kept the collapse at bay but to escape they would need to dematerialize in a hurry. The Doctor used his sonic-screwdriver to reverse the polarity of his makeshift dematerialization circuit and prayed he could get them home.

The TARDIS materialized in the Doctor’s lab. This time the Doctor was sure they were where/when they were supposed to be. He was even pleased to have the Brigadier arrive to tell him the three of them were to attend a conference in Geneva, the kind the Doctor abhorred. Jo zeroed in on this.

“Still want to rush away, Doctor?”

“Rush, no. I’ve learned that one can accomplish very little constructive through desperation. I will have my freedom, Jo, but it will come with patience. By being intemperate in my resolve to leave I have been a slave to that compulsion, and thus the freedom I wish to gain is ironically lost. I must bide my time and enjoy my stay on Earth, even if I have to endure the insufferable fool, the Brigadier.”

“I heard that, Doctor.”

Doctor Who: The Rani’s Gambit

Doctor Who: The Rani’s Gambit

By Todd Dias

I was sure I set the coordinates for Earth, intending to take Leela on another educational visit. I mentioned in passing Genghis Khan and she expressed a strong desire to meet a warrior of such a high degree. I had my reservations but thought why not. After all I did sort of owe her for taking her to Victorian England. I should have realized you can take the Savateem Warrior out of her habitat, but you can’t take the Savateem Warrior out of Leela. K-9 was experiencing trouble with his mobile unit, so I was in the middle of repairing him when we arrived.

The TARDIS materialized in the heart of a kind of fortress. I was puzzled but this was nothing compared to my reaction at discovering just how far off target we were.

“Ogros relative date 3218!? What?! How can that be?”

“Probability that you made an error: 67%, Master.”

“Leela, tell your smart-alec tin pet that when I want his opinion I will ask for it!”

“Apologies, Master.”

“Ogros relative date 3218? Where have I heard that before?”

“Perhaps you have been here before, Doctor,” Leela postulated.

“Yes, possibly,” I murmured absent-mindedly. “Who’s up for a good wa- err ahh constitutional? Sorry K-9 I promise I’ll have you up and about as soon as we’re done with this lot. ” Leela was game to satisfy my curiosity. Poor K-9 was too but I promised to make it up to him.

We walked very cautiously down a corridor. There was something troubling me about all this, but it was so vague I hadn’t a clue what it was. Leela seemed to sense that I was ill at ease, but adopted a hunter’s stance as if stalking her prey. Soon things would begin to fall into place.

Round the corner came two Ogrons dragging a struggling third. I motioned to Leela for to follow them. They entered a room that from the outside looked to be a kind of laboratory. Then I heard a familiar female voice say:” Put him in the chair. Fool! Restrain him! There. Now switch on!” There was a blood-curdling scream the kind that even after centuries of battling evil you’re never quite prepared for.

“Now you have seen for yourselves the effectiveness of my method,” She said to an unknown party. Unknown but I had my suspicions. As I expected there came in an equally familiar metallic voice: “YOUR METHODS ARE SATISFACTORY. “

I hazarded a closer look to confirm my suspicions. Sure enough there were two Daleks in the lab with none other than the Supreme Dalek, in all his black-gold glory, on a video screen. More to the point I recognized the visage and the mind of the female in question. She said in reply to the Dalek Supreme: “Then you will give me what was promised?”

“WE SHALL.”

I motioned to Leela to follow me out of there in a hurry. Once we got to a place of relative security the questions came pouring out of Leela.

“Who were those metal creatures and what were they doing to those ape-people, and who was that woman?”

“In order: the ‘metal creatures’ were Daleks, some of my worst enemies. They were with the help of that woman conditioning the Ogron or ape-people as you called them.”

“Conditioning?”

“Turning into slaves.”

“But who was that woman?”

“One of my people. The Rani.”

“What are we going to do?” Leela asked this believing this was just another fight against evil. I was sorry to disappoint her.

“We will do nothing.”

“But these creatures are your sworn enemy and this Rani is a traitor to your tribe for dealing with them.”

“Would that it were that simple. It’s a question of the Laws of Time. Relative to me this has already happened, and therefore I cannot interfere.”

“Relative? I do not understand.”

“Let me explain. You see that rock over there by the wall. To it, the wall is close, but to us the wall is far away.”

“So?”

“So time is like that too. It is dependent upon how you experience it. To the Daleks and Ogrons this is happening for the first time, but to me it has already happened. I have already been a part of this time stream. To interfere would be to change history...my own history at that. This is forbidden.”

“But the Rani…”

“She’s a wild card but it makes no difference.”

“Doctor it is not like you to shy away from battle.”

“I’m not. We’ll just have to adjust our strategy that’s all.”

I pulled out my pocket TARDIS tracker. I built it to help me find the TARDIS after the time I materialized the TARDIS in a large Labyrinth. (It took me four days to find it again with only jelly babies to eat. I was very nearly put off.) I didn’t see why I couldn’t use it to find another TARDIS.

“What are you doing?”

“We’re going to bug the Rani’s TARDIS.”

“Bug?”

“Put a device in her TARDIS so we can follow her where she goes after this.”

“Oh. OH”

“You see I haven’t given up the fight yet.”

“I am sorry for doubting you, Doctor.”

“Well it’s easy to do when you don’t see all the cards”

“Cards?”

“A lesson for another time. Let’s go.”

Finding the Rani’s TARDIS wasn’t difficult but we met with a slight challenge: an Ogron on guard to the room housing her TARDIS. Leela wanted to do things her way but I insisted on non-violent methods. I approached the Ogron.

“Ah, just the chap. I was just wondering if you could tell me the time. Well you see I have a very important appointment to keep and as you can see my watch is broken.”

I pulled out my mother’s watch very slowly getting the Ogron’s focus. I reached out with my mind and swung the chain hypnotically.

“Can you hear me Ogron?”

“I…hear you”

“Good. Listen to me very carefully you are in a deep state of hypnosis. When I snap my fingers you will go into a deep sleep. When and only when, I snap my fingers again you will awake with no memory of having ever seen me. Have you heard?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” SNAP. Into a deep sleep he went.

I told Leela to keep watch. The Rani was taking no chances as the door to the room with her TARDIS was locked. Fortunately I always have my sonic screwdriver. Pressing on the handle sent sonic vibrations into the highly complex lock, undoing it. “Haha, good old sonic screwdriver.” I went into her TARDIS opening it with my own key, and wasted no time planting the device, and got out. I relocked the door with my sonuc screwdriver. Leela and I walk ed away from there, when we were out of sight, but not out of the hearing range of the Ogron, I snapped my fingers. We moved quickly back to my TARDIS and entered the void waiting for the Rani to make her move.

I programmed the TARDIS to home in on the device and made sure to give myself enough distance. I wanted to catch her in the act. Soon her TARDIS moved and I was on it. We materialized on Metoshir IV with a humanoid population of foragers. I shuddered to think of what evil the Rani could commit on a relatively innocent world. Leela and I moved with stealth. We spotted the Rani setting up equipment. By the looks of I thought it looked like all the mechanisms needed to create an atmosphere bomb, used in biological warfare. I told Leela to wait for me to give her the signal to act. She followed but kept a ways back as agreed. The Rani was looking through a scope, with a canister in her hands.

“Well now, this is a treat, Ushas…or what was it you call yourself?…ahh yes…The Rani.”

“Doctor. To what do I owe the pleasure? Shouldn’t you be off interfering in the affairs of some greater ‘evil’ like the Daleks, Cybermen, or that fool, The Master rather than annoy me with another lecture on morality?”

“Funny you should mention the Daleks. I should have recognized your handiwork in the Ogrons all those years ago.”

The Rani just gave me a blank glare.

“Quite ingenious reducing an aggressive race to docile servitude without negating their effectiveness for war. Really quite amazing.

The Rani continued to stone wall me. So I cut to the chase.

“What were you doing it for hmmm? What did the Daleks give you?”

“What makes you think they gave me anything?”

“You never did anything without some kind of gain to your unethical experiments.”

“Ethics has no relevance to scientific endeavour, Doctor. It only gets in the way.

“I beg to differ!”

“Of course you do but what is a pacifist like you going to do to stop me? You never could before.”

“Ohh haha…This time is different.” I came in closer and whispered: “This time I’m not alone.” I nodded to Leela who took the Rani from behind.

“Now answer the Doctor’s questions or I will stick this janus thorn in your heart.”

I took the canister from her and waited for her to answer.

“They gave me a rare biochemical, a byproduct of their production process. The fools didn’t realize I could create a virus that can cause mutations similar to their own. I could create a race subservient to me and then no one could oppose my experimentation.”

“I’ve heard that kind of talk before, Rani. It is the rhetoric of failure. Now tell me how to destroy it or I might improvise my own way.” I started to juggle it. I could see the fear in her eyes when she said: “You fool it is highly contagious!”

“Then tell me how to destroy it.”

She acquiesced, giving me the full chemical breakdown. But as I was writing it down Leela was distracted and the Rani stuck the janus thorn in Leela’s arm making a getaway. I quickly put the canister in my pocket and carried Leela to the TARDIS where I synthesized the antidote both for the poison and for the virus once Leela was taken care of.

“I’m sorry Doctor.”

“There’s no need, but I do hope that you’ve learned a valuable lesson about the use of janus thorns.”

“I have but I allowed the enemy to get away. That is unforgivable.”

“Not really. I had no means of detaining her anyway. In any event we’ve stopped her from using that nasty bit of work on those people and I couldn’t have done it without you. This calls for celebration, does it not, K-9?”

“Affirmative, master.”

“The forests of Esend are just the place for a good fishing expedition. Or hunting if you prefer but NO janus thorns!!”

Doctor Who: Orb of Destiny

Doctor Who: Orb of Destiny

By Todd Dias

For many countless eons, they have watched over creation, guiding many a people along, like the Muses of Greek Mythology, in their first stumbling steps towards civilization and giving inspiration to the myths and legends of peoples the Universe over. These immortals are like guardian angels to the rest of civilization. Including Time Lords. Where Gallifreyans merely observe, the people known as the Mvier are an active part in the shaping of things. They helped humanity grow from just another anthropoid to a cultured race. They helped bring about the divide in the collective consciousness that lead the Time Lord race to become a highly powerful, highly intelligent race. But they too are a passive race when it comes to challenging evil. Their task is but to inspire civilizations and aid in the creation of ideals that challenge evil but they never take it on themselves. They have no power to do so, for you see theirs is a creative force which is derived from a Sacred Orb, which was given to them by the Guardian of Light in Time. This Orb was entrusted to them for their benevolence. The Orb contains an awesome power indeed comparable to the Key to Time, the difference being that the Orb gives the Mvier the longevity, and their creative, magical power, but it is not ultimately controlled by them. The Key to Time once possessed grants absolute controllable power to the person who possesses it. All the same, the Orb in the wrong hands would be disastrous nonetheless. Its mysterious powers could be harnessed for evil.

Like the Time Lords, the Mvier keep themselves hidden away on their home planet of Mveera but unlike the Time Lords they have no defenses. They rely on their own stealth and a naïve belief that no one would want to attack them. But this as we shall see is not so.

For a relatively shorter period of time, but relative to them a very long time, the Sontarons and the Rutans have been at war. Nobody really knows why a race of clones and a race of amorphous blobs would want to fight to the extinction of the respective species. The Doctor once conjectured that it was something as juvenile as a bar fight over a table, but for whatever reason their war has been going on for so long that the reason itself has passed from memory of an actual event into racial myth.

As part of their failed attempt to invade Gallifrey in a bid for supremacy, the Vardons searched the Universe for the Time Lords but before they found Gallifrey, they found Mveera. They made note of it, and the power its people commanded but ultimately found Gallifrey a more viable option. Their mentality was that Gallifrey must have a greater reward of power because of its elaborate defense system. Still their eyes were on the Mvier as a second target. The Vardons were defeated by the Doctor but their discovery did not go unnoticed. For you see, the Vardons were being used by the Sontarons. The Sontarons made sure they knew everything the Vardons did and this included the knowledge of the Mvier. In cases of centuries of conflict, espionage is well to be expected. The Rutons thus also knew of the Mvier through their spies. But it doesn’t stop there. The Sontarons soon learned that the Rutans knew of the Mvier, and soon there was a mutual knowledge of each others knowledge. And a race to Mveera began. But the Rutans and Sontarons were not alone.

En route to Mveera, the TARDIS flew with The Doctor and Ace.

“You can’t be serious.”

“What?”

“Guardian angels…that’s ridiculous, Professor.”

“Well it’s just an analogy. What they really are is a sort of evolutionary vanguard… people who aid in the development of species that have the potential to grow into civilizations. They monitor us, give reminders here, inspiration there and are truly amazing people.”

“So why are we going there? Can’t the “evolutionary vanguards” take care of themselves?”

“We’re going, Ace, because they are in danger and they are not even aware of it. For all their power they have no concept of violence or even, when it comes to it, evil.”

“You mean they’re goodie-goodies,” Ace asked cynically.

“I prefer to refer to them as benevolent, Ace, but benevolence won’t save them.” The Doctor got that dark look in his eyes that Ace had grown to be wary of. So she decided to try and lighten the mood in her own idiom. “So who are these toe-rags that are coming to cause trouble?”

“’Toe-rags’” the Doctor smiled, “is a good way to describe them. Just two races out to destroy each other. Nothing more than an annoyance, but if they get their hands on the source of the Mvier’s power, things could really become unpleasant.” The Doctor had deliberately kept Ace in the dark about the Orb as it is a closely guarded secret. No outsider was to know about it.

Approaching Mveera, the Sontaran spherical ships volleyed with Rutan fleet as each tried to be the first to reach the planet. As one got the advantage, the other quickly made up the difference. So slowly but surely they both reached the planet’s orbit and there began anew the struggle to be the first to set out onto the planet.

The TARDIS materialized in the heart of Mveera. It seemed to Ace to have the aesthetic of a Tibetan Monastery with all the Mountains and the barebones living quarters of the Mvier. The Doctor explained that they lived a life of self-less service believing in the greater good over the individual. They were approached by an elderly elvish-looking creature with an innocent half-smile on his face. “Welcome, friends. What brings a Time Lord and a humanoid to our humble home?”

“How’d they know you are Time Lord, Professor,” Ace whispered to the Doctor.

“Few races know of us,” answered the acutely-hearing Mvier, “few races need know of us. But we know a Time Lord when we see one.”

“As to the latter, you are correct,” responded the Doctor. “As to the former, you seem to be having trouble keeping yourselves hidden if Sontarons and Rutans are fighting at your doorstep.”

“They, I can assure you, are no threat, my young Time Lord friend. They couldn’t possibly know of…our secret.” He looked at Ace with mild apprehension as he said this last part.

“And I can assure you they do. I must see the Orb.”

“Orb?” thought Ace aloud and caught looks from the Mvier and the Doctor both which suggested in varying degrees and reasons that she should have stayed quiet.

“The Sacred Orb of Mveera. I have come from the High Council to see it is safe.” The Doctor produced the Seal of Rassilon to corroborate his claim. “You would not like me to invoke the 3^rd Treaty of Rassilon, would you?”

The Elder decided that it was best to grant this request. He bid them wait outside while he prepared the Orb.

“Professor,” Ace whispered, “What are you up to? The High Council didn’t send us. Or was I asleep during the summoning again?”

“I must see the Orb,” the Doctor replied. “Trust me.”

At this point the Sontarons and Rutans both arrived on Mveera, and began moving their troops to out maneuver each other on as they approached the temple-village.

The Elder beckoned for the Doctor and Ace to enter the inner chamber that housed the Orb. Ace was blown away by a sense of harmony as they approached a rich tapestry on the far wall. In the centre of it the was sphere the size of an English football. It glowed with a living energy. The Doctor approached it in a reverent manner, and knelt before it it and said: “Sacred Orb of Mveera, I come before you as your humble servant.”

The Orb now seemed to radiate with even more life, which seemed to excite the Elder. The Doctor retained his impassive face and humble stance. “Doctor, you are here at last, at the time of crisis.”

“Incredible,” Ace heard the Elder whisper in awe, “the Orb has not spoken in centuries.”

“You walk the path of destiny, Doctor,” the Orb intoned cryptically. “Do you intend to see it through?”

“To the end,” the Doctor affirmed.

“Then rise, and do as you must.”

The Doctor rose and moved closer to the Orb. Despite hearing the Orb implicitly giving the Doctor permission to do just what he was doing, the Elder felt the sway of millennia of dogmatic devotion, and could not allow an outsider to directly approach the Orb. Even the Mvier as noble as they are have faults, the Doctor thought sensing the sentiments of the Elder who was moving to stop him. “I must insist, Doctor that you not touch the Orb.’

“Do you want the Sontarans or the Rutans to have it?”

“There is no way they could know about it, let alone be able to get to it.

“That’s where you’re wrong. They’re on their way here, they…”

The Doctor was interrupted by the sound of an explosion. “Umm, Doctor,” Ace said, “I think they’re here”

“Good.” The Doctor said as he grabbed the Orb from its centre and walked out of the inner chamber. Ace, trusting the Doctor’s motives without really knowing what they were, blocked the Elder from stopping the Doctor as he left with the Orb. “He knows what he’s doing…I hope.”

Outside the Rutan-host were fighting with the Sontaran troops marring the stark yet sublime beauty of the temple-village. The Doctor came out and yelled: “STOP!!!!” The authority in his voice caught their attention, and kept it by saying in an equally authoritative tone. “I am the Doctor, President-Elect of the High Council of the Time Lords, and I order you to stop!! That’s better. I hold the Sacred Orb of Mveera. It is I who will decide to whom it will go. ”

A Rutan representing the collective came forward and said “Doc-tor…you will give the Orb to us to bring to the Queen of Ruta, the Great and Majestic Matrix!“

The Sontarans were not so formal. “We claim the Orb for the Sontaran Empire!!”

This started the conflict up again, but the Doctor was quick to halt it: “Stop!! I have made my decision!” He lifted the Orb high over his head, closed his eyes and allowed the Orb to work through him. This was the result.

The Rutans saw the Orb disappear, and then reappear in the hands of the Sontaran commander, who ordered his troops to return their ships and head for home victorious. The Sontarons saw the Orb fly out of the Doctor’s hands into the Rutan-Host scout ship, the Rutan-Host themselves dematerialize, and their ship take off. Each of them believed the other had the Orb and they began to pursue each other away from Mveera To Ace and the Mvier the Orb left the Doctor’s hands to return to the tapestry. They saw the Sontarans and the Rutan-host expedite from Mveera with great fervor. The Doctor looked pleased. He twirled his umbrella in triumph.

“Doctor, what did you do?” Ace asked incredulously.

“I used the Orb to heighten my Time Lord mind-power to convince them that other has the Orb. They will chase each other to the ends of the Universe and eventually forget all about the Orb and resume their age old war far away from the Mvier.”

“We cannot thank you enough, Doctor,” the Mvier Elder exclaimed. “You are indeed a man of destiny, as the Orb proclaimed.”

The Doctor and Ace said their goodbyes to the thankful Mvier, and they entered the TARDIS.

“Professor, what was all that talk of destiny? It’s not like you to believe in some mumbo jumbo like being bound to a certain fate.”

“Destiny just means being sent along on a journey with certain provisions and adversity to face. We are all called to do something with what we are given, something that gives our lives meaning and purpose.”

“But the Orb said you particularly walk the path of destiny. It was you who would be the one to save them from invasion. Why? Because you’re a Time Lord?”

“Ace, I am far more than just a Time Lord. You should know that by now.” He said this and smiled. He tapped her nose paternally and began the dematerialization sequence.

Doctor Who: Nemesis

Doctor Who: Nemesis

By Todd Dias

Part One: Rescue and Reunion

Through Time and Space the TARDIS flew, navigating stars and celestial dynasties with ease. If the Doctor ever stopped wandering, it would feel like an eagle, used to flying through the wide-open country of an Arizona sky, suddenly caged.

The Doctor was sitting cross-legged, with his eyes closed, meditating. He had in recent times, well within the last few decades relative to him, started to return to some of his old mentor’s teachings having succumbed to feeling a certain amount of angst accumulated over many centuries. Eight incarnations of sentient life can really wear a Time Lord down.

“Sometimes,” the wise old man had said, “our greatest enemy is ourselves”. What he meant was that we are apt to be dominated by identifying with our thoughts and emotions. The Doctor was now mindful of his thoughts and feelings allowing them to be what they are, and knowing that they are no more who he is than the breath of which he was also watchful. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” the Doctor said aloud, repeating his mentor’s words verbatim as he concluded today’s session. He laughed, having now felt relaxed and took a cup of tea freshly dispensed from the food synthesizer.

“Well where are we off to now, old girl? I suddenly feel an urge to visit an old friend. Perhaps, Steven Taylor on that whatzitcalled planet, or Earth and visit the old brig, or…” The Doctor’s thoughts were interrupted by a flashing alarm on his console.

“Uh-oh, somebody’s in trouble, old girl…another TARDIS…well I know just what to do.” He flicked a few switches here and pressed buttons there, and pulled a large lever marked Vortex-tractor initiator. The Doctor’s TARDIS pulled the other TARDIS through some kind of opening…a CVE into another Universe, the Doctor thought the Doctor absentmindedly. Then he realized who it must be.

The two TARDISES formed a link and the Doctor’s company came aboard. The Doctor was overcome with joy as he came to the door.

“Romana!! K-9!! How long has it been? This is a splendid turn of events! I was just sitting here having some tea…oh dear me, where are my manners, would you like any tea…some cakes? I made a fresh batch today.”

“Doctor?”

“It is the Doctor-master, mistress, only his physiognomy has changed due to…”

“Yes, K-9, I know that he’s regenerated…

“4 times since we last met…”

“I merely meant that your new incarnation is quite…different.”

“Different in a good way I hope,” said in an innocent and somewhat insecure manner.

Romana couldn’t help smiling at the sad puppy face of the boyish young man the Doctor had become.

“Of course, Doctor.”

“But how are you doing these days…how goes the business with the Tharils?

“That’s what brings us back to N-Space. We’ve made some headway but it is a complicated problem that requires infrastructure to maintain the changes we’ve implemented, and that means we need help from the Time Lords.”

“I see.” The Doctor knew the Time Lords were not going to be easily persuaded. More to the point he knew Romana knew this but must make her case anyway, knowing also that she could be tried and convicted for her intervention which stood as a direct violation to Gallifreyan law. Now it was Romana’s turn to play the sad face game.

“I could use your help.”

“Of course, Romana…it won’t be easy but we’ll do what we can. Together. Now I was serious about tea and cakes.” He extended his arm and the pair of them plus K-9 came into the living area of the Doctor’s TARDIS for tea. The Doctor set course for Gallifrey but he made sure that course was long and winding as he and Romana would need time to formulate a plan of action.

Part Two: Homecoming.

Within the dimensionally transcendent walls of the TARDIS, Romana and the Doctor discussed strategy.

“I really do feel that we should introduce the case my way,” the Doctor said.

“Still the same, aren’t you, Doctor, patronizing and egotistical.”

“Not at all. I just know how to deal with the High Council. I’ve been offered the Presidency numerous times, you know? Once we’ve got your hearing, the floor is all yours. I won’t be anything but an advisor, which you probably won’t even need.”

Romana sighed. “I’m sure you’ll be all you need to be, Doctor. I just don’t know if I am up to the direct approach. I may not look it but I am getting on in years. I’ve been able to control my regenerations such that I am able to keep roughly the same body.

“It always was such a pretty one too. It suits you, it really does.”

Romana laughed. “That’s not what you said when I first took it on.”

“Well I was young. I hadn’t yet developed a sense of style. And I didn’t appreciate good company while I had it.”

They were now looking at each other in the eye for a long time, communicating on a number of physical, subliminal and even psychic levels. Suddenly Romana looked away remembering her responsibilities.

“What is your proposal, Doctor, besides giving the Castellan a fright by materializing in the Panoptican?”

“Well you have to admit we would have their attention.”

“What’s to stop us from being arrested on the spot?”

“This.”

“A copy of the Seal of Rassilon?”

A kind of badge of a Presidential Candidate. I made sure they gave me one last time.”

“But, even if you are a candidate, what makes you think they’ll listen.”

“I have one or two friends on the High Council. A little nepotism here, a small measure of influence there, add a surprise entrance and bingo, we’ve got ourselves a hearing.”

“You do know how to stir things up, I’ll give you that much.”

The TARDIS materialized in the Panoptican. Alarms rang and the Doctor and Romana were greeted by a patrol of the Chancellery Guard.

The Doctor was delighted. “Well this is a splendid welcome, isn’t it Romana?”

“Who are you?” the leader asked aggressively, or as aggressively as young Gallifreyans can.

The Doctor looked genuinely hurt. “Don’t tell me you don’t recognize me, after all this time…,” he reached to pull something out of his pocket his tone suddenly turned serious as he produced the seal of Rassilon and said, “Perhaps you’ll recognize this.”

“Forgive me, my lord…”

“Announce us to Chancellor Flavia, if you would be so kind.”

“Of course, my lord.”

Romana pulled the Doctor aside as they walked towards the Chancellor’s office. “Why the Chancellor, why not the President?”

“The Chancellor is one of the friends I alluded to. We don’t want to bother the President just yet. We need to gather our supporters first. “

They entered the Chancellor’s office. If Chancellor Flavia was at all shocked to find that the alarms were about the Doctor’s arrival she hid it well. “Doctor this is indeed a pleasant surprise, but you could have chosen a more civilized approach to get in touch with me.”

“Well, you know how bureaucratic the Council is about getting an audience, even with friends, (We are friends are we not? Oh good) well I’d have to wait a quarter of a century while the ink dries on the paperwork”

“Surely that is an exaggeration, Doctor.”

“Yes, I suppose so, but the matter is grave.”

“What is the matter?”

“Allow me to introduce Lady Romanadvoratrelundar to present the case of the Tharils.”

Romana began speaking at length about the Tharil and the work she had been doing to help with their plight. As she began speaking, though, a cold chill went down the Doctor’s spine as he felt the presence of a familiar but elusive evil nearby. But he turned his attention to what Romana was saying. The Tharils, she told the Chancellor, are leonine mesomorphs who are time-sensitive. They can traverse the Time Winds unscathed. In a time long ago they abused this power creating an Empire based on slavery and conquest. Now they are the ones who have been enslaved and exploited for their ability to traverse the Time Winds. Romana had worked hard to liberate the Tharils and had helped set up a government for them but she was unable to stop the slave-trade. Worse yet the slavers were able to use the Tharils to gain access to CVEs to travel to N-Space. With this power at their hands all of this Universe could be at risk.

“So there you have it, Madam Chancellor, we need to outlaw the enslavement of the Tharil. I’ve done all I can but this requires infrastructure that I alone cannot provide.”

“We certainly have the ability to monitor the situation but as to involvement, that requires a decision from the High Council. I shall put forward a motion for a hearing as soon as possible.” Knowing the Doctor as Chancellor Flavia did, she knew it would be best to make sure that this happened as immediately as was prudent. She knew how impetuous he was.

Elsewhere, in the Great City, a solitary figure in robes, lurking in the shadows, was also made aware of the Doctor and Romana’s arrival. “So, Doctor, you’ve returned at last.”

Part Three: Phantom Menaces

It took some days for the Chancellor to arrange a session of the High Council. If anyone expected that this would be the usual sort of meeting that was more about pedantic posturing than with issues of vital living importance than they were in for a surprise. As it was more than one Cardinal was nervous at the onset of the proceedings. Every time the Doctor returned from his wanderings, all order in the Gallifreyan society was shaken to its core, and for a people that regards order in the highest, this surely was a matter of much agitation.

The proceedings began and Romana gave her statement. There was an immediate response that she was breaking the Cardinal Law of Gallifrey. But Romana had won over a few supporters saying that they allow the Doctor to roam the Universe yet will not allow a Time Lord to aid in matters concerning time. A debate ensued. The Gold Usher was naturally the mediator but the Lord President too seemed to remain in reserved judgment

The Doctor was uncharacteristically silent during the proceedings, he seemed preoccupied. He was in fact getting the sense that something was going on. He couldn’t put his finger on it. But what he could see was one Time Lord in particular who obviously prepared very hard for this debate as he was most vocal. If he didn’t know better he could have sworn he’d squared off with him before…but that was impossible.

The Proceedings were running hot but Romana held her own. Finally a recess was called to allow the Lord President to gather the evidence and make an address, perhaps to open up new questions to pose to Romana and the opposition.

“You kept your word, Doctor.” Romana was surprised that he hadn’t tried to jump in.

“What’s wrong?” she asked seeing a pained look in his eyes.

“I’m not sure. I get the sense that something isn’t quite what it seems. That Cardinal, I’m certain I’ve run into before…as an adversary.”

“Oh Doctor you’re just paranoid.”

“I wish that were so, but my feelings tell me something is wrong.“.

“Why don’t you go for a walk or something? Clear your head.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’ve been meaning to go to the Zero Room in the Zarzonian quarter and relax. My own was jettisoned years ago.”

The Doctor walked to towards the Zero Room, but the sense got stronger and stronger until he rounded the corner at there was the leader of the opposition…lying dead.

Part Four: Mind-war

The Chancellery Guard was prompt in arresting the Doctor. The Doctor put up no defense, his mind was still trying to piece together what his feelings were telling him. He knew who this person was, both the killer and the victim but it just did not add up, it was just impossible.

He caught a glimpse of Romana as he was taken away. The concern in her eyes was heartbreaking. The Doctor withdrew into himself as he was placed in his cell allowing his mind to regroup for what he needed to do. When the time came he sat on the floor and meditated reaching out with his mind. It was greeted by another mind, the mind he was looking for, one he was intimately familiar with for part of him was who he was. The mind he connected to was the Valeyard’s.

The Valeyard was the distillation of the Doctor’s dark side. He was believed killed when, after he tried to prosecute the Doctor and steal his regenerations, they fought in the Matrix. What the Doctor didn’t know was that he had taken over the Keeper of the Matrix’s body and was subsequently stealing body’s in the High Council manipulating it. He had the Lord President under his thumb, and was just vying for power and waiting for the Doctor to return so he could at last take on a stable body. Now the Doctor knew who his opponent was, but how could he prove it?

The next day the Doctor received a surprise visitor. It was the Lady Inquisitor at his last trial. She came to offer legal aid to the Doctor. She might believe me, thought the Doctor, so he told her.

“Doctor, we both know that the Valeyard was killed in the Matrix.”

“I tell you my mind touched his. He’s up to something and he wants me out of the way.”

“It’ll be difficult to prove.”

“Not if you give me access to the Matrix itself.”

“I’m truly sorry, Doctor but that is something I simply cannot do.”

Later on Romana came and told him something that shocked everybody but she knew somehow wouldn’t surprise the Doctor: The Lord President was implicated in the killing of the Cardinal. Evidence in the matrix was brought to light that the Doctor was working for the Lord President to execute the Cardinal to keep the High Council from fragmenting. The Doctor would, according to an elaborate plan documented in the Matrix, later be acquitted.

“It sounded ludicrous but because it was in the Matrix they believed it,” Romana said with disgust.

“It’s in the Matrix because he put it there,”

“Who?”

“The Valeyard…a distillation of my darker nature. He wants two things: to rule Gallifrey and no doubt he is a candidate for Presidency. Now that the President’s out of the way he’ll have it, but he needs something else. Me. He needs my regenerations. I need access to the Matrix so I can confront him.”

“Well, there is always the usual approach,” Romana laughed. The Doctor knew what she meant. The Doctor exchanged with Romana a familiar bag of jelly babies for K-9’s whistle. Romana used the Doctor’s favourite trick of misdirection consisting in distracting the outer guards by offering them jelly babies while K-9 came in quietly blasted the inner guards setting the Doctor free. The Doctor put on a Red Uniform and pretended to escort Romana out.

“We still make a good team! Thanks for the rescue. Now comes the hard part: gaining access to the Matrix.”

“How do you plan on doing that?”

“I’m afraid we haven’t the time for subtle methods. K-9, blast anyone who moves against us….low setting, please. I have enough to answer for as it is.”

“Affirmative, Master.”

“Romana, I need you to find the Chancellor and bring her to the Panoptican.”

“Is this wise, Doctor? Surely he wants you to connect with him in the Matrix.”

“True but this way I am dictating the circumstances. If he wants a confrontation, it’ll be on my terms. Chancellor Flavia will be there to witness anything that happens and will have the authority to do whatever necessary should things go awry.”

“Good luck, Doctor.”

“And you, Romana.”

The Doctor and K-9 moved with stealth through the halls. They met with little resistance until they got to the Panoptican. The Guards didn’t stand a chance against

K-9’s superior firepower. The Doctor generally preferred not to rely on these methods but in times of desperation sometimes it was all he had to fall back on. The Doctor found the connection to the APC and linked himself with the Matrix, just as Chancellor Flavia arrived.

“What is he doing? Stop!”

“Trust me, Madame Chancellor,” Romana urged, “the Doctor knows what he is doing. Be patient and all will be revealed.”

And so it was, as the Valeyard met the Doctor inside the Matrix the APC screen displayed them both.

“So Doctor, you have been forced to use the Matrix and now you are mine. I have grown in strength now, enough to do this.” The Valeyard used the sheer force of will, mind-power and the connectivity of the Matrix to force his essence upon the Doctor. A battle of wills ensued. The Doctor tried to push back the Valeyard with all his might with some success but the Valeyard kept coming back. Sheer force of will wasn’t going stop either one. Only mind-power and the right focus.

“Give it up, Doctor, you know I am the very personification of your evil.” The Doctor focused upon the good in his nature but the Valeyard used the Matrix to show him all the destruction the Doctor has caused, the lives lost. Images showed the total destruction of the Daleks and the Cybermen, but also of those closest to him that had been sacrificed. Adric’s faced burned in the Doctor’s mind. Through the Valeyard’s mind-power and manipulation of the Matrix the Doctor was forced deeper and deeper into his darker nature which underlies all his noble acts and values. But here at the brink of darkness and obliteration, the Doctor found the truth of his being. The words of his mentor came back to him. The whole is greater the sum of its parts. The Doctor was more than any violent act in his crusade against evil. In fact he was more than his crusade against evil. He thought of all the people whose lives he’d touched, and how they had each benefited from their time together. With his mind-power he projected the faces of all his companions. He concentrated his mind on the people and that things that have given his life meaning, his mentor especially, and found within him the strength to utterly defeat the Valeyard, who, as the antithesis of these things, could not could not cope with such an absolute flooding of the positives of the Doctor’s life. The Valeyard’s marauding essence disintegrated. The Doctor disengaged from the Matrix.

“Are you alright, Doctor?” Romana said.

“Perfectly,” the Doctor exclaimed, sounding as cheerful as ever. “In fact so wonderful I think that I shall be off. How about it, Romana? How does attending an Operetta in gay ol’ Paris sound?”

“I’d love to Doctor but I have responsibilities.”

“Indeed you do,” sighed the Doctor glumly. So glumly Romana almost reconsidered.

“Talking of responsibilities, once again there is a vacancy in the summit of the High Council…”

“Oh no, we all know how this scenario plays itself out. Tell you what, Romana here is a far better candidate than I am, and before you object Romana, being President has the advantage of influence over policy in areas regarding, say, time-sensitive leonine mesomorphs. Good it’s settled. I’ll be off.

“Doctor,” Romana called him back.

“Yes.”

“Thank you,” she exclaimed sincerely and hugged him.

“It was lovely to see you again, and you too K-9.”

After a long goodbye, the Doctor entered his TARDIS and a wheezing and groaning sound resounded and then faded away.

Doctor Who: Infection of the Cybermen

Doctor Who: Infection of the Cybermen

By Todd Dias

On and on through the vortex the TARDIS flew, passing through the ages like a school of fish through the ocean’s waves. Within its dimensionally transcendental confines, the Doctor and his companion, Ace, were embarking on another impossible journey. But something weighed heavily on the Doctor’s hearts.

“Professor?”

“Hmmm?”

“How long are you going to go on sulking?”

“I’m not sulking…I’m brooding…there’s a difference.”

“Yeah, but, like, what’s there to brood over? So you wasted a score of scumbags. Shouldn’t you be celebrating or something?”

“Taking a life is nothing to celebrate, Ace, even if it was the entire Dalek race. There are consequences to every action”

“If it’s the Time Lords you’re worried about, I’m sure you can explain,”

“It’s not the Time Lords…it’s just…oh I don’t know. I sometimes think I should just give up this heroism and go back to intergalactic tourism.”

“How about it, then, Professor?”

“How about what?”

“How about we go on holiday?”

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. I didn’t take you to the Eye of Orion already, did I?” Too many incarnations and companions to sort out in my poor 900+ year old head, he thought.

“No.”

“Well, it is a beautiful place. You might find it dull, though. No ‘scumbags’ to ‘waste’”

“I’m game if it’ll cheer you up.”

“I’ll set the coordinates then.”

The Doctor entered the coordinates into the impossibly complex console. He then sat down in his favourite chair and sipped the Earl Grey tea that he had dispensed from his food synthesizer. He was pleased that it was actually tea that was dispensed this time and not that dreadful zuber-ale. He found that in this incarnation he was somewhat intolerant to alcohol. He pulled out his book on the Origins of the Galaxy, the 400^th edition. Still horrendously inaccurate, he thought. Ace meanwhile retired to her room to listen to her favourite Billy Idol record and prepare a fresh batch of Nitro-9, despite the Doctor’s insistence that there would no need to mindlessly blow things up where they were going. “Always pays to be prepared,” was Ace’s retort. All the while the TARDIS flew on, seemingly obeying the command to take its passengers to the Eye of Orion.

But the TARDIS is more than a machine. The Doctor had said this on a number of occasions, but even he did not fully appreciate the truth of his words. The TARDIS is highly sensitive and over the centuries of being in the Doctor’s service it had grown to understand him and the situations he preferred to find himself in. It sensed the Doctor’s angst, and knew that the only thing that would cheer him up was a problem to be solved. As it passed through the vortex it found just such a problem. The TARDIS materialized aboard a space station.

The Doctor had long given up naïvely expecting to land where he programmed it to, but all the same he was taken by surprise at how far off target they were.

“What part of ‘the Eye of Orion’ didn’t you understand, you silly old thing?” he admonished grumpily, but only slightly, like a parent to a young child who doesn’t know any better. Ace, like many of the Doctor’s companions, often questioned the Doctor’s sanity when he spoke to the TARDIS as if it was a person, but she let it go, and asked where they were instead.

“We seem to be aboard a stationary vehicle in the Zolest solar system. There was an interesting colonist migration in these parts from Earth last time I was here…”

“And that was when?”

“I really don’t know. From their point of view it might have been the future. In that case we’d better proceed with caution.”

“You mean there’s danger?” Ace gleamed with excitement at the prospect of using her fresh Nitro-9.

“Perhaps. But I was referring to avoiding time paradoxes.” The last thing the Doctor wanted was another hearing in front of the Time Lords, even though he usually got out of any serious trouble by saving their ridiculous posteriors. Still, he’d prefer not to go through those particular motions if he could help it.

The Doctor went to the coat rack and put on his plaid scarf, brown overcoat (it is cold in space, you know), and hat, and also took his trusty umbrella from its hook. Ace meanwhile put the Nitro-9 in anti-perspirant cans and loaded them in her backpack. She put on her button-laden leather jacket, and took up her trusty baseball bat. She was tempted to bring her ghetto-blaster but knew the Doctor would only give her a big long lecture about noise pollution. He just didn’t have any appreciation for good music like the Sex Pistols. They exited the TARDIS together

Given that they had intended to go somewhere relaxing, you can imagine their reaction given the scene in which they entered:

Shouts and dying screams, blasters firing but all this from Ace and the Doctor’s perspective was coming from just down the hall. Ace was thrilled and pulled out her Nitro-9. The Doctor frowned but knew that you can’t argue with the situation you find yourself in, just figure out a way to deal with it. But to deal with a situation you need to know what it is. They were soon acquainted with the situation.

Round the corner came two young soldiers running from…a Cyberman. Or rather a partly constructed Cyberman. It was missing certain features like outer casing but the distinctive head pieces was there. Ace wasted no time and threw a can of Nitro-9 at it…wiping it out completely.

“Ace!” she said in self-congratulation.

“I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but you’d better come along with us,” said one of the thankful soldiers. They obliged. They moved to an area of relative security where more of the soldiers were.

“Who are these people?” their commanding officer asked both in shock and annoyance.

“I don’t know sir but that they saved our lives”, said one of the two.

“My name’s Ace and this is the Professor” Ace said.

“Doctor,” he corrected.

“Not THE Doctor?” The C.O. queried.

“Well if you mean someone who travels through space and time in a blue box saving people from all kinds of nasties, then yes I am.”

“I was but a girl when I heard of how you defeated a troop of Sontarons flying through this area, by convincing them that the Rutons held a secret weapon on the volcanic world of Scanos…a world that was just about to have a major series of eruptions. Amazing.”

“Well, outwitting Sontarons is child’s play but tiresome nonetheless.”

“I had hoped for a miracle and now I see we have been granted one.”

“We shall see. What is the situation?”

She explained how the Human Colonists, after the Sontaron affair, built this station to throw a giant force field around their new home planet. This kept the odd marauding alien race from invading. Then the Cybermen came. Though they were unable to penetrate the force-field, nor directly attack the station, they found a way to infiltrate the station.

“Well, don’t keep us in suspense,” the Doctor said here where she paused.

“You may have noticed how…incomplete the Cybermen are aboard this station.”

“We only saw the one but if they are all like that…”

“What of it?” Ace completed the Doctor’s sentence where he trailed off in thought, no doubt trying to piece it together himself.

“Those Cybermen are, or were, some of my troops.”

“What?” Ace exclaimed

“They must have figured out a way to convert humanoids without being present themselves,” the Doctor postulated darkly.

“Correct, Doctor. They had those disgusting cybermats hidden in our supplies. They carry some kind of infectious agent that converts whomever they infect into Cybermen.”

“Must be some kind of techno-organic virus,” the Doctor thought aloud.

You can help us, then?” The C.O was hopeful.

The Doctor sighed inwardly. He just could not get away from the role of wandering guardian angel.

“I shall need a sample of the virus.” His wish was all-too-soon granted.

“Cybermat!” Someone shouted.

The Doctor pulled out of his pockets a freezing agent that held the cybernetic rodent in place. In his other hand was a syringe, which he used to extract the virus. He took another curious object out of his pocket: It looked liked a metallic net. He squeezed out the virus onto the net-like thing and with a quick wave of his hand, the net came together into a glowing sphere.

“Shield-generated container;” the Doctor explained, “handy when dealing with infectious agents.”

“What are you going to do, Professor?”

“I shall study it. Look for weakness, etc. Meanwhile, I think the C.O. could use your special skills.”

“My skills? You mean ‘wasting scumbags’?” Ace asked, a little skeptical of the Doctor’s sudden esteem of her aptitude for blowing up the enemy.

The Doctor winked in affirmation. He could be an insufferable bore, and a serious grump, Ace thought, but when he believed in you, for whatever reason, it meant the Universe.

Ace and a squad of troopers did a patrol of the corridors of the station looking for cyber-converts. Ace put her pyrotechnic skills to use taking out a number of the ones the squad found. “Brutal!’ She had exclaimed with some degree of excitement. But that excitement was tempered when a cybermat appeared on their way back and leapt onto the soldier to her left’s neck infecting him.

The transformation was as horrific to witness as it was to experience first hand. The poor soldier writhed and screamed in agony as his was invaded until he was covered in living technology and screams no longer sounded human but metallic. Ace soon realized that this was the problem these people were facing: they’d wipe out as many cybermen as they could (in this case all of them), only to have more be generated out of your very comrades. After Ace used her last canister of nitro-9 on what Ace hoped was the last convert, the squad fell back to their makeshift HQ, and found the Doctor still tinkering with the virus. He seemed, to Ace’s annoyance, to be enjoying himself.

“Professor…”
“This is extraordinary…”

“Doctor!” she said more forcefully.

“What is it?”

“We’re doing our part wiping out these…things” She was going to say ‘scumbags but she was starting to appreciate what the Doctor was saying about the taking of a life. All the same this realization didn’t take away the frustration she felt. “What have you been doing?”

“Well, if you must know, I’ve done a complete analysis…”

“And?”

“And although the virus only attacks organics, not technology, the virus is both technological and biological in nature.”

“So?”

“So it can be given commands like any other binary operated construct, it also obeys the laws of biology. And before you say “so?” in that infuriating tone, this is what it means: I can get it to replicate itself beyond the point where it can sustain itself, and will leave the host’s body which will create an anti-body in the host. I can replicate the anti-body and immunize the entire station. “

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

“What?”

“Don’t you need a ‘host’ to infect?”

“Oh yes…of course…Very good, Ace. Very bad, ‘Professor.’ I’ll need a volunteer.”

“A guinea pig, more like.”

“Well…umm…sort of”

“I’ll do it, Professor, but you’d better be right.”

Ace had said when she first met the Doctor that she wasn’t scared of anything.

.Truth be told she had this put to some serious testing. She realized something else, something the Doctor once mentioned in passing about courage: that one could only be courageous in reference to a situation that brings about fear, that is you feel afraid and yet find it within you to do what must be done. So she bit her lip and allowed the Doctor to inject her with the virus. The Doctor in turn called upon all the Divine Spirits of the Universe to grant to him the courage and faith that he was right.

The virus overtook her and it was every bit as painful as she expected it to be.

The Doctor meanwhile pulled out his sonic-screwdriver. He pulled down on the handle and the vibrations manipulated the nanos in the virus ordering them to grow more and more and thus it grew to an enormous size…too large to sustain itself any longer within Ace’s body, so it let it go, and crumbled when it found nothing to sustain it.

The Doctor came to Ace’s side with great concern.

“We did good didn’t we, Doctor?”

“Better than good, Ace. You did very well.”

The Doctor isolated the antibody and created the vaccine and injected it into the remaining crewmembers and soldiers aboard the station. This made it safe to round up the cybermats. The Doctor pondered further though. All this seemed to him, who had much experience dealing with the Cybermen, to be just another attempt to soften the humans defenses while they find alternative ways of breaking through the defenses. This was just the test of the virus. If it was successful they would have the base and could deactivate the field and move to infect the colony. But the Doctor wasn’t convinced that the force field would hold them off for long. If they broke through, the Doctor couldn’t immunize everybody, so the danger was still very present. The only thing he could do was strike at the root. And that meant laying a cunning trap.

The sense that the Doctor had was that all this spoke of a desperation to get to the Colony when they had the entire Cosmos to exploit, suggesting that the Cybermen of this era must have dwindled resources. Certainly they had created a fascinating virus but it was far from miraculous. They must be close and waiting for the signal to start the invasion. If he was right, he could catch them all.

He took the helmet piece from one of the dead Cybermen, cleaned it and put it on his head and met the connection from the probe to his head. He had learned long ago from an old hermit how to control his mind, to open it up and project it outward. He took several deep breathes and waited upon the silence like his mentor taught him. He then channeled his thought-waves through the helmet to communicate with the Cybermen reporting that the mission was a success and that they may begin landing their troops.

He signaled the C.O. to drop the force-field.

As the Cyberfleet moved within the field, the Doctor signaled the C.O. to raise the field, but slowly. The Ships were first surrounded then engulfed in the force-field which grew in power until the ships exploded in brilliant lights until they were all destroyed. Ace didn’t sy it but she knew this was another act of violence that the Doctor despised but was forced to commit.

“Well,” he said stoically, “that’s that.” He and Ace said their goodbyes and they walked to the TARDIS.

“Doctor?” Ace said after much thought

“Hmm”

“Is this…I mean…are you…?”

“Am I alright, you mean? I detest violence, Ace. But I can’t sit by and allow evil to go on while I twittle my thumbs. So yes I am alright. Now I believe you and I have a date with the Eye of Orion…if that’s alright with you,” addressing this to the TARDIS. Ace laughed and they entered. The door closed and a familiar wheezing and groaning sound resounded the station and then left it behind.