Death's Lair

[Dominic Smith]

Death’s Lair

“Something is awakening in the bowels of this ship and if you don’t act soon it will kill you all…”

On a scientific research base floating in the depths of space all is not well. The crew are under silent threat from a menace lurking below deck and anyone daring to venture there is soon dead.

The Doctor and Jo arrive in the midst of a meteor storm and after being found by the machiavellian Captain Stephenson are accused of several crimes they have not committed. Awaiting their trial they try to find out more about the station and after witnessing the abduction of one of the crewmembers they realise the situation is darker that it seems.

Soon they are desperately trying to convince Stephenson of their innocence and warn him that he and his crew are no longer safe. A menace from the depths of hell is awakening below their feet and if the Doctor is not around to deal with it there is nothing in the universe that can stop them…

An original adventure featuring the Third Doctor and Jo Grant

[Dominic Smith]

Prologue

The service hatch hissed shut above his head as he descended slowly into the engine decks of the ship. His quivering hands clasped at the rungs of the warm metal ladder, his skin bathed in the red light of warning lights and air cleansing beams, roasting the atmosphere around him.

Slowly he thought about the mission before him; the gun they had given him being pressured into his skin every time his leg bent in the midst of the descent. He breathed heavily to try and calm himself, stopping every time a hiss or clang rang out around him, sending a shiver down his already petrified spine.

When his foot finally hit the metal grate flooring he gasped. His frightened yelp rang out and echoed in the vast space he had emerged in, bouncing off the reams of pipes and towering machines that hissed and whirred alone.

Almost collapsing in shock as his foot slipped in a weak surrender to the rest of his body, but he slowly hauled himself up the ladder and then turned to look at the multicoloured engine room around him, the suspended gantry he stood on reaching off in several directions, each leading off into what his mind convinced him was a landscape of terror.

Slowly he took his first few steps forward, finding himself at a cross roads in the network winding its way around the expansive decks. He shakily reached into his pocket and drew from within a map of the route he was to take, the route they had given him. Slowly he made his way down to the left, descending another ladder into deeper darkness, unaware that there were cameras watching him.

***

The room was in pitch darkness, save the glow of the engines surrounding the ring of empty space in which the creature sat. Perched on his throne he watched the screen that was suspended on the wall before him, the light of which revealed the ring of hooded figures surrounding him, concealed heads bowed.

On the screen they saw the frightened young man as he slowly made his away around the different engines, continually drawing from his pocket a piece of paper to check his way. He was tall and handsome, hardly matters that really appealed to them, all matter was the same; it was the brain they needed.

Slowly the figure; draped in a thick black cloak with a heavy hood pulled over his head like the minions who surrounded him, his face concealed, raised his left arm to the sky, extended it to the minion nearest to the viewing screen and then viciously motioned to the outer depths of the room.

The hooded figure bowed and then followed the direction his master’s hand indicated, walking into the darkness and stabbing at the wall, activating a door release and stepping into the pool of green light that flowed in from outside. As he stalked away the door closed and the other minions shuffled to fill the gap he had left, as their master sat, transfixed on the screen and the boy it revealed to him.

***

He had been sent by the Captain to make repairs to one of the engines. He wasn’t a technician by any standard but they had told him what to do, remove one of the service panels replace one of the components and then run like hell back to above deck.

So why had they given him the gun?

Staring around at the complex mass of machinery, paranoid that something was following him. It was not long to go now until he found the engine he was to repair, only three more corners and it was nearly over.

So why did that feeling still haunt him?

With sweat pouring down his face and his hands drenching the paper he was holding for comfort, his gateway back home, he finally arrived at the engine he was searching for. At last.

***

The hooded figure, hidden by the darkness, had followed the boy for some while. He kept looking over his shoulder but had never seen him, too frightened to see reality.

When the lad arrived at his destination the hooded figure stood for some time, biding its time. As his victim slowly began his futile work he reached his cloth-swallowed hand into his cloak, making sure he was ready. Then he stepped out.

***

Death stalked the engine decks.

At least that’s what they always said on the decks far above him. So many before him had ventured to the sealed off engine decks and never returned; that’s what scared him so much.

It had been going on long before he had signed up to be onboard, the rumours circulated around the ship every so often. Stories of hooded figures pacing the gantries and killing all those who dared to venture into their lair. Nobody knew where they had come from or why they were there. The Captain denied their existence and he himself had never believed the rumours. Until now.

The figure had stepped out by his side and looked down on his crouching figure as he fell to the floor in panic. After screeching out in surprise, terror and panic he stumbled to his feet and began to stagger backwards with the figure following him.

As his senses began to return to him he fumbled for the gun in his pocket, just as he backed into the very outer hull of the ship. He drew the laser and fired it at the advancing figure. His hand was shaking but nevertheless as his finger pulled the trigger he managed to land the beam of light square on the figure’s chest.

His face fell as the gun made no effect to the hooded omen before him. He tried again but it was too late. As death itself smashed the gun from his hand and drew his own from his dark billowing cloak he screamed his final call for mercy.

He barely caught sight of the shiny metal gun as it aimed solidly on him, straight at his heart. He closed his eyes as the piercing heat ripped through his body, boiling his blood and sending him into convulsions. Slowly he fell to the floor, slumped by the piece of paper that had fallen from his pocket as he drew his gun, his gateway to safety. The figure of death concealed its gun, checked the body for a pulse and then looked over at a security camera watching him, nodding that his work was done.

[Dominic Smith]

Chapter One

“You drag me to the depths of time and space, let me be thrown into cells and attacked by monsters, and not once have you taken me on holiday.”

Jo had been talking ever since they had taken off but the Doctor hadn’t really been listening. He knew she never meant anything by her moaning so he concentrated on setting the coordinates.

“It’s all very well you promising me some blue planet of the something-or-other but so far I’ve seen nothing of the sort. Ever since you got this TARDIS of yours working again I’ve seen nothing but trouble, and a heck of a lot more before that.”

The Doctor murmured to try and make it sound as if he was listening but continued feverously in his work.

“I’ve been threatened by madmen with beards, held prisoner by the devil, pursued by pepper pots with personality complexes and megalomaniac time lords and been confronted by things hell would flinch at the sight of.”

As the console hummed silently and the central column rose and fell to indicate the vast ship was moving the glow of the walls seemed to encourage the Doctor as he continued to dart between the six slender control panels.

“Only last week I managed to find myself stuck in some intergalactic zoo, and all I get in return is a pile of paperwork waiting for me back at UNIT HQ when you take me back home.”

On a small screen laid into one of the console panels the swirling time vortex entranced the Doctor’s eyes. He had missed it so much during his time stranded on Earth but now it was his for the taking, the entire universe; past, present and future was his playground.

“Sometimes I don’t know why I don’t just resign, I could get a nice safe job as a teacher or something. I don’t really know what I’d teach but all the same there’s time to learn. Most of the time all I get to do is sit here on this tea chest watching you run around like a lunatic trying to find more places for us to get into trouble in.”

As the sound of the TARDIS coming in to land roared into existence and faded just as quickly as it had come the Doctor made his final checks of the various dials and readouts.

“And all I really want is for somewhere to put my feet up, gaze at the summer sky and sip a cold drink, I might as well go to Blackpool Pleasure Beach.”

The Doctor finally stood upright and looked over at Jo, who sat on the large wooded tea chest with her legs crossed, head lolled to one side whilst glancing at the floor.

“Never fear Josephine, we’ve landed.”

“Where? The planet Zog?”

“No, the Eye of Orion, one of the great beauty spots of the galaxy.” The Time Lord replied, pulling his long chequered overcoat over his green velvet smoking jacket.

“So we’re not going to end up on some alien planet with a bunch of homicidal three-headed pigs who want to kill us are we?”

“Of course not, the planet Illo’s on the other side of the solar system.” He smiled as he opened the doors, throwing out an arm to allow her to step outside first.

Jo got up, smiling as he gave her a reassuring look and then stepped outside.

***

The large circular room was lined with giant stacks of filing cabinets, each labelled with a long seven-digit code. There was a lower level in the centre of the room, which led to the main circular walkway via a series of steps and in which the TARDIS had landed, a battered handrail sealing off the rest of lowered platform.

As Jo stepped out of the ship her face fell momentarily then faded into a look that seemed to say ‘typical’, in a happy way.

“So much for the Eye of Orion,” Jo sighed before walking up the small set of stairs and looking up at one of the towering filing cabinets.

The Doctor stepped from within the ship and looked around with a look of disappointment and acceptance, before shutting the doors and joining his friend on the upper circular walkway.

“So where are we?” Jo asked, gazing up at the towering files, “some kind of space ship?”

“More like a space station I’d say,” the Doctor said as he looked around at the cabinets before gazing out of a small window showing the stars dotted across the blanket of space. “We’re not moving at any great speed.”

“Definitely not the Eye of Orion then?” Jo smiled and her friend grinned back at her with his kind face, marked with lines of wisdom.

“Not this time.”

Slowly he walked over to a computer bank, laid into one long ringed wall that contained the room and began to jab at the various buttons. Soon Jo was standing by his side.

“What’s that?”

“An information bank,” he replied, “might as well try and work out exactly where we’ve landed.”

As he balanced his head on his chin and rubbed the back of his neck, his face illuminated by the tiny screen, Jo returned to the observation window and began to glance at the sight that awaited her outside.

“You know,” she began, “space really isn’t as interesting as some people might think. Sure the swirly rainbow clouds are nice but really it’s just black with white polka-dots.”

The Doctor was more interested in the information on the screen. He slowly grew impatient as he found himself going in circles with the various consumer-friendly un-informative reams of jargon.

“Useless computers,” he muttered and joined Jo by the portal, staring out into space.


“Find anything useful?” she asked.

“Not really, it’s a science base although it wouldn’t say what kind of science. It launched about seven years ago from Earth in the year 3045.”

“Wow”, Jo replied but without heartfelt joy, “long after my time.”

“Ah, but you must remember that you’re a time traveller Jo”, the Doctor said with a bounce to his voice, “you and I walk in eternity.”

She turned and smiled again at him, he returned the happy gaze as she returned to the portal, her face falling as he looked down upon her from his towering height, admiration and camaraderie pouring from his eyes, before directing them again at space.

“But how long can an eternity last”, Jo sighed and the Doctor’s face fell. He took a deep breath and looked hard at the scene outside, noticing a shower of dark lumps falling past a distant sun.

“Take a look over there Jo,” he said and pointed to the spectacle, “That’s a meteor storm, good thing we didn’t fly into that or we’d have been even further away from the Eye of Orion.”

“Maybe we’d have landed on Metabelis 3 instead,” she smiled and then walked away from the window, focusing again on the towering filing cabinets.

The Doctor smiled and he followed her, pulling her close in an embrace. “Don’t worry, we’ll get there eventually.”

***

It was some moments later, when the Doctor had returned to the information bank and Jo had begun sifting through the contents of the filing system that there was a loud bang as the outer door of the room, which the Doctor had found locked, was flung open.

Several military types entered and crouched on the floor, guns aimed at the Doctor and following Jo as she ran over to join her friend. A decorated man entered and walked slowly over to the small handrail that held the lowered floor level and the TARDIS.

His gaze shifted from the ship over to the open filing cabinet and as he walked over to push it shut he finally stalked over to the Doctor and Jo, cancelling the information housed on the computer screen.

“Well, you wait seven years for someone to prosecute and then two come along at once,” he smiled as he looked the two travellers up and down.

“And you are?” the Doctor asked in a sharp tone.

“Captain Stephenson,” the man replied coolly with a hint of pleasure at the idea of having prisoners to question, “and you must be the intruders I’ve been told about.”

“What?” Jo asked from the Doctor’s side.

“My sergeant saw you arrive in this blue pod of yours via the security cameras, said you’d started sifting your leisurely way through our private information,” he explained. “Would you mind telling me why?”

“We were trying to find out where we’d landed”, Jo stuttered but the Doctor put a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s alright Jo, I’ll handle this.”

“Oh will you?” Stephenson asked in a sarcastic tone, “You can excuse yourselves of trespassing, attempted sabotage and murder?.”

“I beg you’re pardon?” the Doctor asked upon hearing the last claim but before he could continue a violent lurch sent them all stumbling across the room. Jo fell to the floor but the Doctor helped her back to her feet as Stephenson grabbed onto the handrail and then looked defiantly at the Doctor as another lurch sent them stumbling once more.

“Sir, it’s a meteor storm, we’ve drifted into one,” a soldier replied from the portal.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Stephenson replied snidely, “we’re stationary, we’re not even in orbit, they must have been brought onto us, by our little saboteur friends no doubt. I told you they were up to no good, they’re probably trying to cover up their little escapades on the engine decks.”

“Of all the stupid notions”, the Doctor snapped. “We’ve only just arrived here, and you’re accusing us of murder?”

“And sabotage”, Stephenson reminded him.

“And how exactly am I supposed to use a pre-programmed information banks and a few filing cabinets to bring an entire meteor storm onto one space station?” the Time Lord asked bitterly as the turbulence died down with a series of weakening jolts.

“Oh you’ll tell me eventually,” Stephenson snarled and motioned for his men to come forward. “Take them to my office”, he ordered and the Doctor and Jo were grabbed by their arms, pushed by the uniformed men out of the room with Stephenson following on behind, locking the door behind him.

They emerged in a long metallic corridor, pipelines and wires lining the dirty stained walls. Lights flickered dimly and the air was filled with the sounds of hisses and clangs from distant machinery. Emergency alarms rang from far away and the marching of the soldiers on the metal room echoed around them.

“Now what?” the Doctor asked bitterly, struggling with his two guards but to no avail.

“Interrogation of course”, Stephenson smiled sadistically, “my favourite. And just to make things a bit more interesting…” he tailed off as he turned and hit a button on a control panel next to the door he had just closed.

As he did so there was a loud hiss, a rush of air and a large thump. The Doctor managed to claw his way forwards, out from the grasp of the soldiers and as Stephenson motioned for his men to leave him he looked into the room with distain.

The lowered midsection of floor had fallen away, revealing the depths of space and a vacuum of air. The TARDIS was nowhere to be seen and as Jo arrived by the Time Lord’s side asking what was wrong her question was answered by the sorrowful sight that awaited her.

Out of the observation window they had first seen the meteor storm through, drifting away from the outer hull of the space station was the TARDIS; jettisoned.

[Dominic Smith]

Chapter Two

The Doctor and Jo were marched away in silence, their hands raised above their heads. As Stephenson led the way around the ship two of the soldiers marched behind the prisoners, pointing their guns into the captives’ backs.

The station seemed remarkably unimpressive to Jo, the walls were all metallic, covered in grills to protect the deep veins of heavy wires and pipes that shot off to places unknown.

The Doctor made no eye contact with anyone as he walked along, his lips were pursed and his eyes had lost the sparkle Jo loved so much and as he walked Jo could sense his misery.

Soon they arrived at what Jo presumed was the heart of the space station. The corridor split into two walkways, which lined the perimeter of a giant cylindrical chamber. Looking into the wide-open space before her she could see the hundreds of other walkways that lined the chamber, leaving a huge gaping round void in the middle.

As they walked around the giant space Jo looked down over the safety rail to gape into the pit beyond. What seemed like miles below was a giant round red disk, blocking the cylindrical pit.

“What’s that?” Jo asked, craning her neck to try and get Stephenson’s attention.

“It seals off the engine decks,” he replied simply, “As if you didn’t know”.

“Look I keep telling you we’re not saboteurs,” the Doctor snapped and Stephenson cam to a halt.

“Well we’ll soon see to that,” he replied with a sinister smile, before reaching over and pressing a few buttons on a control panel mounted on the wall next to him.

As the panel bleeped away a grimy door set into the wall slid away and light flooded into the gantry as the inside was left for all to see.

The Doctor and Jo were marched inside and as the door closed behind them Stephenson sat down at a desk that was set by the wall opposite the doorway.

The room was remarkably clean unlike the rest of the station, shining white walls lined with luscious pot plants and metallic cabinets full of files and reports.

As Stephenson drew breath to speak a guard entered with a frantic look on his face. He flung himself before the desk and with a gasp began to talk.

“Sir, the engine decks are setting of the warning alarms, we’re running out of fuel.”

“There’s no need to panic,” Stephenson said with sarcasm, “Just switch to the economy value stuff, it won’t last as long per unit but it’ll work all the same.”

“Yes sir,” the young man replied and with a gasp he ran back onto the gantry outside.

“So,” Stephenson sighed as he pulled a whisky bottle from the desk draw, pouring the contents into a glass sitting by his desk lamp, “Are you ready to talk yet?”

“I’ve nothing to say to you,” the Doctor said bitterly as Stephenson sipped his drink.

“You were seen illegally teleporting into a top-secret area, which makes you stowaways,” he began in a chirpy voice. “You tamper with a computer station and moments later we’re hit by a meteor storm, which makes you saboteurs. And moments before you arrive I get a report of a death down in the engine decks, and you’re telling me you have nothing to do with any of this?”

“We landed here by mistake,” Jo appealed, “And like the Doctor said those meteors were deflected by a gravity pocket.”

“If there was a gravity pocket we would have detected it,” he assured her as he sipped his drink again.

“Judging by the state of this ship I’m surprised you even know where you are,” the Doctor quipped emotionlessly.

“I advise you to hold your tongue,” Stephenson said snidely before downing the last of his drink. “Now perhaps you will tell me why exactly why you have killed a member of my crew?”

“We haven’t,” Jo said with alarm.

“Not you,” Stephenson snapped before staring at the Doctor, “You.”

The Doctor looked at him with a deadly look then glanced straight ahead at the blank wall.

“Very well then,” Stephenson said as he drew breath and began filling out a form with a gold-encrusted pen, “It looks like we’ll have to put you on court marshal. You’ll need to provide your own defence council, until then you’ll be spending your time in the brig.” He finished writing, put down his pen and handed the form to a guard, who took it out of the room and off to be processed.

“Actually sir, they are entitled to free reign of the ship,” came a voice from the back of the room. Sure enough a middle-aged woman dressed in a uniform stepped up to the desk and gave the captain a reasoning look.

“Do you really think Doctor Kindle that I’m going to let these murderers set off on my ship?”

“You can put them in tracer-cuffs, track wherever they go and make sure they’re not up to any trouble.”

Stephenson sighed and his face turned sour, “No way.”

“You are under orders to do so sir, under the peace proclamation of 2045.”

Stephenson gave her a look of thunder and then snatched another form from a tray on the desk. He scribbled out the different tick boxes and thrust it at another guard who followed the other’s pattern. “Very well, but be it on your head Kindle. Get them cuffed and out of here.”

Two more guards walked forward and placed a metallic ring around the Doctor and Jo’s left wrists, which beeped as they were locked shut.

“If you so much as breath in the wrong direction,” Stephenson warned, “You’ll live to regret it.”

The guards led the two captives away and the woman called Doctor Kindle followed. As the door hissed closed and the guards made a move to heard the Doctor and Jo away Kindle stepped forward and began to protest.

“It’s alright,” she stuttered, “I’ll show them around, keep an eye on them.”

The guards looked at each other then nodded before stomping off around the gantry that lined the cylindrical central chamber.

“Thanks very much,” Jo sighed with a smile as she shook Doctor Kindle’s hand, “I’m Jo Grant, and this is the Doctor”, she said as she turned to the brooding form of the Doctor.

“I’m Doctor Sarah Kindle,” Kindle introduced and shook Jo by the hand. She turned to the Doctor, who’s stone face broke to a reluctant smile and rubbing his neck he returned her gesture.

“Charmed.”

“Well I suppose you’d better come with me”, Kindle smiled, “There’s precious little else to do around here.”

As she began to walk off away from the cylinder chamber and deeper into the grimy depths of the ship the Doctor and Jo followed.

“Why are you helping us?” Jo blurted out.

“You’d rather I didn’t?” she replied with a smile.

“Well it’s very nice of you, it’s just everyone else seems to think we’re murders and saboteurs.”

“Oh they’re just overreacting. Like you said it was probably a gravity pocket that brought on the storm, and you don’t strike me as killers.” She smiled again as the Doctor stepped up to walk by her side.

“So what is it you all do here Doctor Kindle?” he asked with the happiness returning slowly to his voice.

“We monitor the minerals found in local meteors, this sector of space is famous for them.”

“How long have you been out here?”

“About six years. An advance crew initially launched the station and carried out preliminary tests seven years go then we came onboard twelve months later for the full scale operation.”

“And was Stephenson in the advance crew?”

“Yes, he and a few others but the rest aren’t around any more, just him and Doctor Henderson the chief scientist.”

“What happened to the others?” Jo chipped in from behind.

“Dead, only half of them were left when we arrived and the rest began to disappear. Nobody knows where.”

“You’ve never tried to find out?” the Doctor asked.

“Rumour is they were taken below to the engine decks, and nobody goes down there if they can help it.”

“Why?”

“Death stalks the engine decks.”

***

The Doctor and Kindle talked for a long time as they walked off to her office. Kindle explains that the engine decks were sealed off before she and the others arrived, and Stephenson and Henderson refused to explain why.

She explained that there had been several abductions over the past few months, and rumours of hooded figures ascending the service ducts and then stalking off to the engine decks.

As conversation turned to the scientific aspects of the station; what they did and how they did it, littering the air with complicated technobabble, Jo began to tire and turned attention to the wristband the guards had attached to her wrist.

It was made of a rather heavy metal that weighed her wrist down to her side. There were several buttons marked with different symbols that made no sense to her and there was a gaping hole for a key that would release it.

She realised there was nothing she could do to try and break it open and the Doctor was in a world of his own at the moment so she gave up and began to stare around the interlocking corridors, until a shadowy figure caught the corner of her eye.

She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw a black-hooded figure lurking off down another corridor glancing around from within it’s deep hood before stalking off.

Jo turned to warn the Doctor but he was already gone from the corridor, having turned with Doctor Kindle to make haste towards her office and talk further about scientific gobbledegook.

Jo sighed and then shot of down the corridor she had seen the hooded figure in and as she glanced around chose her path and ran off.

She could make out the swishing cloak turning corners ahead of her and as she chased, checking the route behind her she breathed heavily as she began to tire.

As she continued to run the figure made haste away from her, leaving her behind. She emerged in a wide-open space with several corridors leading off of it.

Glancing down each corridor in turn she could see no trace of the creature and sighed in defeat when suddenly a piercing scream hit her ears.

She hurtled down one of the corridors towards the scream as it died down to a throaty groan. She emerged in a dead end where several crates were piled up and at the end of the short gantry suspended above storage decks below the hooded figure held a young girl in its grasp.

The figure saw Jo and drew its gun, aiming it at her but missing as she hurriedly ducked behind the stack of crates.

It punched a button on a nearby control panel and a service hatch in the wall slid open, revealing a gaping hole in the wall. It bundled itself inside and pulled the girl with it its gun still aimed at Jo.

As she cowered in fear the creature hit the button again and the hatch sealed again, leaving the corridor silent bar the frightened breathing of Jo.

As she got up and ran to the control panel she hit the button the creature had activated and then watched as the service hatch opened again. She poked her head inside to see a ladder attacked to the wall inside, and nothing down below.

She withdrew her head and closed the hatch as she remembered what Doctor Kindle had said, about death stalking the engine decks far below.

Death had claimed another victim.

[Dominic Smith]

Chapter Three

Jo ran as fast as she could away from the service hatch and back through the various corridors, back to the cross-section where the various walkways interlocked.

Just about remembering which one led back to the way she had come moments before, the image of the hooded figure abducting the technician still fresh in her mind.

She emerged in the corridor Doctor Kindle had led her down and continued to run for her life, rejoicing when she heard the murmured rumblings of the voice of the Doctor.

She arrived in a flustered at the doorway to Doctor Kindles shining silver office, Kindle sat at a research bench and the Doctor sitting behind inspecting different devices piled high on a table.

“Doctor…I’ve seen it…” she panted and both of the scientists turned to look at her. The Doctor got up from his seat and placed his hands on her arms in an attempt to calm her.

“Now calm down,” he said softly and steered her onto a stool at the table he had been seated at seconds earlier, “Now what have you seen?”

“A technician…she was taken by this thing wrapped in a dark cloak…dragged into a service hatch.”

“What?” the Doctor exclaimed.

“This figure draped in a dark hood, it abducted this technician girl and clambered into a hatch stuck into the wall, it must have climbed down below decks.”

“You mean you actually saw one of the abductions?” Kindle asked.

“It was like you said, it just took a member of the crew. I tried to stop it but it fired a gun at me. I hid behind some crates and when it had gone I opened the hatch. There was a ladder inside but nothing else.”

“Look just relax,” the Doctor said with a soothing voice.

“But we’ve got to tell someone,” Jo said hurriedly.

“If you tell Stephenson he’ll use it as evidence against you. Just wait until your trial, it’ll stand up better.” Kindle soothed.

“But that girl…”

“Once they’ve been abducted they never come back, there’s nothing you can do,” Kindle replied.

“We could follow it.”

“And once you’ve been to the engine decks you’ll not come back. No-one ever does.”

***

Doctor Kindle made Jo a hot cup of coffee before returning to her work. The Doctor made sure his companion was of good health then began to ask Doctor Kindle more questions.

“So what is the exact function of the station?”

“Ten years ago a meteor storm struck Earth and the minerals the rocks contained were found to be very rare indeed.”

“So you came out here trying to find more?”

“Exactly, we traced where the storm had come from and came out here.”

“And have you found anything?”

“Of course not, over three hundred storms and not a single half-precious mineral.”

“Well why don’t you just go back home?” Jo asked from her corner.

“Because Stephenson won’t give in, he keeps wanting us to go deeper and deeper into space, if this mission proves a success he’ll be hailed as a hero.”

“Selfish idiot”, the Doctor muttered.

“I wouldn’t say too much Doctor, you never know when he might be listening,” Kindle said with a wicked smile and as the Doctor returned it she sighed and rubbed her tired eyes.

“You’ve been here too long,” the Doctor said almost sadly.

“Seven years and I’ve done no more than test rock samples,” she sighed, “I lay in bed at night watching cockroaches climb the walls and every day all I see is endless space.”

“You’ll get back someday”, the Doctor said calmly as he put his hand over hers.

“Not at the rate Stephenson’s insisting upon,” she replied, “We’re at least half a million miles further form Earth than we should be, it’ll take a year to get back home and the fuel we’re using would prove a miracle if it lasted a week.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re using the emergency supplies. It’s only about sixty percent compatible with the engines, we make a huge waste with each liquid tonne we burn up, give it a few months and we’ll be stranded.”

There was a long silence as Kindle completed her experiments before packing up her notes and filed them away. The Doctor sat thinking to himself and Jo slowly drank her coffee, which was cold by the time she was done.

“So,” Kindle sighed as she leaned on a bench to face the Doctor and Jo, “what do we do now?”

“I beg your pardon,” the Doctor said with a slight confusion as Jo walked over to stand by his side.

“Well I’m done here for the night, and you two have got a court case to settle tomorrow, you might as well make a start.”

“Oh he won’t prepare anything,” Jo sighed as she looked at Kindle with a lopsided smile, “He’ll go in there, confuse them with a load of long words and with bound he’ll be free.”

The Doctor gave her a tired smile then glared at the ground in concentration.

“Actually I think there’s another matter to attend to.”

“What?” Kindle and Jo asked in unison.

“Doctor Kindle, tell me more about these abductions.”

***

Once Doctor Kindle had arranged some chairs and made some more coffee the three friends sat in the laboratory and began to talk.

“When we arrived only four of the original crew were left. Stephenson, Henderson, another scientist named Kingstrom and the Chief Engineer Carlisle.”

“What happened to Kingstrom and Carlisle?” Jo asked.

“Carlisle died in an accident a while back, a circuit backfired and he fell from one of the gantries. As for Kingstrom…”

“He was abducted,” the Doctor concluded and Kindle nodded.

“Then the rest of us arrived and after that the abductions started. Stephenson refused to talk about the missing members of the original workforce and refused to let the others mention it either.”

“So you don’t know what happened at all between Stephenson and the others arriving and then the rest of you a year later?” Jo asked.

“No, all we found out from Carlisle was that Stephenson ordered him to seal off the engine decks shortly before we arrived, then a while afterwards he had his accident.”

“What?” the Doctor asked with a sharp voice.

“Like I said, he fell from a gantry.”

“No, about the engine decks.”

“Oh, well Carlisle was asked to seal them off, that’s what the big blockade is in the main chamber.”

“Why did Stephenson ask him to do it?”

“He never said, just said he wanted them sealed off for safety reasons.”

“But that main chamber serves as a ventilation shaft for the engines, blocking it off causes a safety breech not prevent one.”

“That’s what some of us said but we found out no more about it. Robert McAllister got the post of Chief Engineer but he was told not to tamper with the blockade.”

“So what about the abductions?” Jo asked.

“Well they’ve been going on ever since we arrived. Every so often someone disappears and anyone who talks about it gets court-marshalled.”

“But that’s absurd!” Jo said with an intake of breath.

“And you just accept these disappearances?” the Doctor asked.

“We have to. Like I said Doctor I’m tired, I’m fed up of working here and I’m fed up of anything to do with this station. We all are.”

“But surely you…” Jo began but she was interrupted when a blood-curdling scream. The three friends glanced at each other before the Doctor led the stampede out into the corridor and along one of the corridors.

As Jo ran behind the Doctor and Kindle she realised they were taking the same route as she had run before when she had first seen the hooded figure that took the female technician.

Soon they were in the same corridor, suspended above the storage decks. The Doctor was walking slowly forwards and Kindle was standing by the pile of crates.

As Jo stood by Kindle’s side the Doctor took one side step revealing the hooded figure Jo had seen before. This time it was holding a young boy in its grasp, its cloaked arm holding him in a headlock, bringing him to his knees.

“No listen,” the Doctor began as he slowly made his way towards the figure, which had its gun raised, ready to fire.

“Doctor, be careful,” Kindle warned in a hiss and in response the Doctor signalled behind his back for them to take cover.

“Let him go,” he ordered the figure but already it had activated the service hatch, which hissed open and made Jo’s stomach turn.

“Oh no,” she squirmed.

“I said, let him go,” the Doctor repeated but the hooded figure had had enough. It re-aligned the aim of its gun and the Doctor ducked to the ground.

In a swish of it’s cloak the figure was gone, the boy along with him. The Doctor got up and made a move to follow it down the service hatch, but as he did so he screeched in pain and clutched at his wrist.

“What is it?” Jo asked as she and Kindle rushed to his side, the service hatch hissing closed before them as they kneeled down to aid the fallen Time Lord.

“My wrist, it was agony,” he replied as he rubbed the flesh of his arm, revealing the handcuff Stephenson had had placed on he and Jo when they were captured.

“It emits electrical impulses when you try to venture out of the zone permitted by the operator.

“Stephenson obviously didn’t want me to get to the engine decks along with the creature?”

“Of course not, like I said nobody returns form the engine decks, if you went down there he wouldn’t have somebody to court-marshal,” Kindle added as she and Jo helped the Doctor to his feet.

“Or is it something deeper?” the Doctor pondered.

“What do you mean?” Jo replied.

“I’m still not convinced about those engine decks being sealed off. They weren’t isolated for safety reasons, it was for something else, and I want to know what.”

[Dominic Smith]

A bit later than planned, here's chapter four

Chapter Four

It was some time later, after Jo had managed to fight for a few hours sleep and the Doctor had began to think about their oncoming trial that the guards were sent to find them.

Doctor Kindle sat slumped over her desk asleep but as the guards shuffled around to pick up the Doctor and Jo she awoke, before following them out of the laboratory.

As they walked around the grimy corridors, escorted by the hisses of pipes and distant whirring of drills, as well as the disparaging looks of the other members of the crew.

As Jo looked from one face to another of the passing people, she could see through the harsh judgemental looks and see clearly the sheer terror that consumed them, they knew what was happening with the abductions but were too scared the say anything. Stephenson had seen to that.

After walking around the main chamber, the Doctor taking the chance to gaze down at the locked off engine decks, they descended in a clattering lift and arrived in a large dull grey room, a sort of anti-chamber for what was to come.

The guards activated a door on the other side of the room and light poured into the small room, as the Doctor and Jo were marched inside by the guards and Doctor Kindle followed.

The room was, like the rest of the space station, was metallic and lined with pipes and conduits, leading off to the rest of the station. To their left was a three tier raised platform, the middle of which was raised far above the ground, and all three were ringed in metallic grating.

Lining the other three walls was a u-shaped series of benches, again cordoned off with a heavy mesh of metal, and in the centre room a small metal table with two chairs.

The benches were slowly filling up with people and as Doctor Kindle took her place at the far end of the room the Doctor and Jo were placed in the two lower-raised platforms either side of the central one.

Soon the room was full and as the guards took their places across the chamber two men came in and sat at the table, one of whom was Henderson, the chief scientist.

“All rise in court”, came a disembodied voice, “Judge Stephenson will now reside over the case, with Chief Scientist Henderson standing for the prosecution.”

Slowly Captain Stephenson, a smarmy look on his face, entered and sat at his chair in the middle platform. Everyone sat down again but the Doctor remained standing.

“And what of our defence?” he said in a deep booming voice, but a heavy-handed guard brought him down onto his chair.

“You will provide your own defence council, as you were told the last time we met.” Stephenson said slowly, relishing every word. “Now then, we will hear first of all from the prosecution, with Chief-Scientist Henderson please stand.”

Henderson got to his feet and after a smile aimed at Stephenson and what Jo defined as a slight wink, began to walk forward slowly.

“You are intruders,” he said sharply with contempt as he leaned on the Doctor’s stand and looked over at Jo. “You are saboteurs and murderers.”

“Objection!” the Doctor spluttered as he got to his feet, only for the guard to throw him back down again and Stephenson to shout out his overruling in reply.

“You were seen arriving in an unlicensed craft in an unscheduled landing, which makes you intruders. Minutes after you arrive you tamper with a service screen and a meteor storm falls on us, which makes you saboteurs.” Henderson reeled off as he paced around his table, at which the other man sat and penned down everything he said.

“And murder?” the Doctor asked dryly. The guard looked over at him and he smiled back before settling his stony face back on Henderson, who raised one of his eyebrows.

“The machine you arrived in looks to be more than capable than holding a few bodies.”

“That is untrue,” the Doctor boomed.

“Then let us see inside,” Stephenson chimed.

“That is out of the question,” the Time Lord replied.

“He is hiding a guilty conscious, if he won’t let us look inside he must be trying to hide something…the bodies,” Henderson said confidently as he looked around at the people seated in the stalls.

“That’s a lie, we’ve got nothing to do with those abductions,” Jo chimed in with a desperate look on her face. The guard beside her slammed her back into her chair from which she had elevated herself from and then nodded to Henderson.

“Abductions?” Henderson said slowly as he walked towards her, “not murders?”

“What?” Jo asked in confusion.

“You said they were abductions. I told you they were murders, you know more than you’ve letting on aren’t you?”

“But they are abductions, I’ve seen them.”

“What?” roared Stephenson from his podium.

“I saw it happen, twice. There are these giant hooded figures; they’re armed with guns. They took two of the technicians and dragged them down through the service hatches.”

“She’s insane,” Henderson snapped but before he could draw breath to continue Doctor Kindle rose to her feet.

“She’s telling the truth, I’ve seen it as well,” she said, her tired throat croaking as she spoke. All eyes in the room turned to her and Jo looked up at Stephenson, hoping the new testimony would convince the judge.

“Your words are invalid Doctor Kindle,” Stephenson said with contempt, “You have spent too long with these prisoners, they have warped you way of thinking.”

“That’s not true!” she urged in reply.

“Silence in the court!” Stephenson snapped, “Has the prosecution finished?”

“There is no else to say your honour,” Henderson replied. “I have spoken the truth and there is nothing else to it, but to please the court I would request that we observe the security camera footage of the intruder’s arrival.

“Very well.”

One of the guards turned off the lights and another wheeled on a dusty bow mounted on a trolley, which Jo supposed was a projector.

As the guard flicked a series of switches the film began to run, projected onto mid-air. The film was silent and as the picture came into focus the Doctor and Jo could see the record room they had arrived in.

Sure enough the TARDIS faded into view and the two travellers stepped outside, and began to walk around, examining the filing cabinets and the observation portal.

“If we speed up the film,” Henderson said and sure enough the pace of the picture quickened, “We can see that the male prisoner begins to activate the service screen in the record storage room, and moments later…”

The image began to shake as the meteor storm hit the station, and Jo relived the terrible turbulence that had befallen them, swallowing hard to keep her stomach steady.

The image faded as Stephenson led the two travellers away to his office. The guards wheeled away the projector and turned the lights on again. Stephenson addressed some of the notes on his desk and the clerk scribbled away as the trial unfolded.

Henderson looked defiantly at the Doctor, who had fallen silent for some time and then back at Stephenson. “The prosecution rests.” He slowly took his place back at the desk and folded his arms in triumph.

“Defence may now make its case,” Stephenson said with a distinct lack of interest, not even looking up from his desk. The Doctor and Jo looked up at each other and the Time Lord got to his feet.

“This trial is a joke,” he almost yelled with venom as he looked around, “The evidence is utter poppycock, there is no proof of what the prosecution has claimed and any grain of truth is dismissed as wrong.”

“You’d do well to try and please the court,” Stephenson said dryly before looking down at his work, signing what Jo suspected was their execution order.

“My companion and I landed here by accident and nothing more. If we had been intruders do you really think we’d land in full view of a security camera?”

Doctor Kindle looked around, hoping to see the jury mutter in agreement with the Doctor’s words but they were doing no such thing, probably bribed by Stephenson. That or threatened.

“The screen I accessed is a central-controlled information service, it cannot allow to access forbidden files without confirmation by a living moderator, sabotage is completely impossible.”

“Then how do you explain the meteor storm hitting the station? It was thrown off course, drawn by your handiwork,” Henderson chimed, much to the delight of Stephenson.

“As I have said before it was caused by a gravity pocket, and before you ask it will not have been detected by your scanner because it is only detectable on ultra-powerful frequencies, incapable of being received on this station.”

“So how can we prove what you say?” Stephenson droned.

“The frequency will have decreased by now as the pocket collapses, if you open out a radial sweep from the scanners you will find a pocket of disturbance measuring above norm.”

“Indeed,” Stephenson sighed and made no effort to note the suggestion down.

“And as my companion has said we are not responsible for the abductions. I myself have seen some sort of figure abduct a member of this ship’s crew, and drag them down into a service shaft, if you go down to the engine decks…”

“We will not return, and that no doubt is thanks to your doings,” Stephenson snapped before packing away his files and getting to his feet, the rest of the court following suit. “You have claimed some rather farfetched ideas Doctor,” e continued as he checked a piece of paper to confirm the name, “And I need time to mull them over.” His tone was unconvincing, “The court will break session to discuss the trial and decided sentence.”

He left the room and slowly the stalls emptied as the others followed. The guards left, stationing themselves on the other side of each door, leaving only the Doctor, Jo and Doctor Kindle standing in the courtroom.

“It’s no use, we’ve had it,” Jo sighed as she joined the Doctor over by the stalls where Doctor Kindle was seated with her head in her hands.

“I’m so sorry, I should have…” Kindle began but the Doctor placed a hand on her soldier.

“Doctor Kindle there is nothing you could have done,” the Time Lord said in a sympathetic tone before smiling weakly at Jo.

“What will we do?” his companion asked.

“The least we can do is try to stop these abductions, if we can prove we have good intentions we might be able to get ourselves off of the hook.”

“How?”

“I need to find out more about that hatch…”

“You’ll need to talk to Robert McAllister,” Doctor Kindle explained, “He’s the chief technician. He should have the original plans, you can take a look at them.”

“That’s presuming he’s willing to help,” Jo sighed.

“Oh he’s harmless, just a boy really,” Kindle sighed in sympathy for him, “First you need to get out of this farce, if Stephenson has his way he’ll have you killed.”

“I’ll think of something,” the Doctor said staring at the floor, as a door behind them hissed open. The guards entered and the jury returned, filing into the stalls and taking their seats.

Henderson and the clerk sat at their desk than stood again as Stephenson entered, taking his place on the central podium. The Doctor and Jo returned to their stands and as the court was seated Stephenson took to his feet to deliver sentence.

“The court has reached a decision…” he began but he was not to finish.

An almighty crash thundered from different places across the room, as every door gave way. Members of the jury screamed and as they realised what was going ran for their lives towards the doors, but it was too late.

From every single doorway figures draped in deep dark hoods stormed into the room. Their guns raised they forced the jury to run in terror back to the stalls, joined by Henderson and the clerk.

Doctor Kindle looked at the Doctor and Jo in panic as they hid in their stands, Stephenson doing the same. As the screams of the jury filled the air the hooded figures opened fire, blasting them down with ease.


All comments greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dominic

[Dominic Smith]

I Finally got round to writing the next chapter today, I hope you like it.

Chapter Five

The blistering hot rays of light blasted across the room and Jo could feel the heat as one thundered into the metal barrier she, the Doctor and Kindle had hidden behind.

The Doctor squatted beside her with his head balanced on one of his hands. Slowly he rubbed the back of his neck, as he always did when he was in deep thought.

Doctor Kindle braved the occasional glance over the barrier as the jury ran around, trying to avoid being killed. Some were grabbed by the hooded figure not firing their guns and were beaten across the necks to stop them struggling.

She slumped down to her knees and fought back the urge to be sick as another of the trial observers were struck down, boiling blood filling their throats as they dropped down dead and dragged away.

“What are they?” Jo struggled to bring the Doctor out of his concentration and talk to her, it was a comfort.

“I’ve no idea, but that’s not what’s important,” he replied as he looked up at her, double-taking at the fear in her eyes and placing a hand on one of hers, feeling her pulse steady ever so slightly.

“Then what is important?” Doctor Kindle asked above the sounds of blasting and screaming.

“The fact that they’ve never attacked this way before,” he said with a slight awe, “it’s only been one or two abductions by a single figure. The attacks then increase in frequency and eventually this happens…”

“They’re growing stronger!” Doctor Kindle concluded in horror and the Doctor nodded.

“Exactly.”

“So what do we do? If we stay here much longer we’ll be killed,” Jo cut in and the Doctor peered over the edge of the barrier, watching as the onslaught came to a blinding conclusion.

“Just wait,” he replied and slowly got to his feet.

“Doc…” Jo began but Kindle put a hand to her mouth, realising the Doctor was onto something.

Slowly the Time Lord got up and began to pace out of the stands. The firing had stopped and the bodies had been collected, the hooded figures dragging the corpses and unconscious mounds out of the courtroom.

More guards arrived and the Doctor ducked down as the hooded figure opened fire. More corpses fell to the ground as the lucky ones retreated back to the corridor. The bodies were collected and dragged away and with two hooded guards covering the others they slowly began to leave.

The Doctor made a move to follow them but as he did something jumped out at him from the stalls opposite to the ones Jo and Kindle were still squatting behind.

Stephenson tried to grab his lapels but the Doctor made a move to defend himself. The noise of Stephenson’s growl called the figures back to the room to investigate and as Jo jumped up to see what had happened, one of the hooded guards raised its gun.

The Doctor kicked it from its hand but with a blow to the stomach the Time Lord was thrown to the floor, and Stephenson followed moments after.

It felt as if he had been winded with a steel bargepole and as the Doctor curled up in pain the hooded figure that had lost its gun stormed forward and grabbed the speechless Jo.

Dragging her out of the stalls the hooded troupe continued their retreat as human guards flooded into the chamber, now littered with burning marks where laser shots had gone awry. The chamber door hissed closed and the Doctor staggered to his feet as Kindle ran over to tend to him.

“Wait here,” the Time Lord told her as he winced, straitening his back and making a move for the door, “Keep an eye on him.” He flicked his head towards Stephenson, still writhing in agony on the floor and then walk out, where the hooded demons had been moments before.

Slowly he staggered out into the corridors and away in the distance was the last shadow of the retreating group. Gradually gaining his proper stance again he hurriedly followed and eventually he was only metre away from them.

Making sure to take cover behind pillars and machinery as he went he followed them until he found himself treading familiar ground, back at the gantry above the storage decks beside the service shaft.

Again hiding behind the crates he watched as each of the hooded figures, a dead body slumped over their shoulder, descended into the depths of the ship. Jo was no longer struggling and the Doctor could see that she had been knocked unconscious like some of the others.

As she was taken deep down below decks the last of the figures looked around, gun raised and then descended down into the shaft, allowing it to hiss closed behind it.

The Doctor waited a moment as the clanging of the figures descending died away then ran over to the hatch. Opening it he could see the last figure way off in the distance and then made a move to follow it, forgetting about the handcuff around his wrist.

It released a piercing pain across his arm and he stumbled back onto the gantry, clutching his wrist. The hatch door hissed closed as Doctor Kindle ran into the corridor. She knelt down beside the Time Lord and helped him to his feet. Slowly she led him away from the gantry, looking on as he glanced over his shoulder at the hatch.

“There’s nothing you can do,” she said and led him away.

***

Arriving back at the courtroom the Doctor and Kindle found Stephenson ordering his guards into different places around the ship. As he realised that the two scientists had returned a disgusted look spread across his face and he turned on the Doctor.

“This is your doing!” he barked and the Doctor looked back at him in disgust, “You and your hooded minions.”

“Do you really think that I’d let those creatures take my own friend?” the Doctor yelled back.

“They are your friends, every last one of them,” Stephenson spat.

“Now you listen to me,” the Doctor began in a controlled tone, his voice quivering. “Those things are not of my design, they are dwelling in the bowels of this ship and are growing in strength.”

“Really?” Stephenson scoffed but the Doctor was backing him against a wall, and panic was slowly appearing in the deeper realms of his smile.

“They are the one who have been abducting this crew, and they are growing stronger. Their numbers are increasing and they’re getting confident. Something is awakening in the bowels of this ship and if you don’t act now it’s going to kill you all.”

Stephenson had lost his smile, “What is it?”

“I don’t know, but it’s dangerous, and it’s got my friend.”

“Oh, so you care now that you’ve got something to loose?” Stephenson said but it was a step too far. The Doctor glared at him, staring right into his soul. Stephenson’s blood ran cold and he was frozen to the spot. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m going after her,” the Doctor announced and returned to Doctor Kindle, “I’ll need a map of the service decks.”

“You can’t go down to the service decks, those cuffs won’t allow you.” Stephenson blurted out from his corner.

“Then remove them,” the Doctor almost spat and held out his hands. Stephenson looked from the handcuffs to the Doctor’s face and then, without breaking his line of vision, made a gesture for one of the guards to step forward.

“You, remove them.”

The guard hesitantly stepped forward and under the harsh glare of the Doctor entered the release code. The handcuff jerked open and the guard took them away from the Time Lord’s wrists.

“Right,” the Doctor said as he flexed his wrists, rubbing the sore where the metal had rubbed against his skin. “I’ll need a map of the service decks and something to arm myself with.”

“We don’t have a map,” Kindle admitted.

“And you must be mad if you think I’m giving you a gun,” Stephenson said lyrically. The Doctor gave him another look that silenced him and another nod of the head saw to one of the guards handing over his gun.

“Doctor Kindle, if you’d be so glad as to draw me a map…”

***

“You can’t do this,” Kindle said as the Doctor made his way to the service hatch on the gantry.

“I have to. Jo is down there and there’s every chance that she’s still alive.”

“But what if she’s not? You’ll get killed.”

“I can at least find out more about those creates, who they are and what they’re up to.”

“Would you sacrifice your own live for the good of this godforsaken space dump?” Kindle was almost speechless. Te doctor said nothing but stopped in his tracks and placed a hand on her cheek. He could feel her blush as he looked deep into her eyes and then continued on his way.

As they arrived on the gantry the Doctor took from his pocket the small drawn map that Kindle had cobbled together. He re-folded it neatly and placed it in his pocket before taking the gun from his belt.

Opening it and checking the ammunition store his face fell for a split second before rationalising the situation. He hurled the gun across the gantry and into the pile of crates as Kindle looked on in confusion.

“Empty,” he said simply.

“Well…I’ll get you another one…” Doctor Kindle turned to leave but the Doctor grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Doctor Kindle,” he gazed again into her eyes and felt her muscles relax in his grasp, “I’ll be fine.”

She smiled weakly and as the Doctor checked his pocket for the map again he removed a torch from his jacket. Testing that it worked he thought for a second and slowly put it on a ledge beside him.

“Should be light enough down there.”

On the point of breaking down Doctor Kindle watched as the Doctor clambered into the service shaft and steadied himself on the metal ladder. He opened his mouth to say something but no words came to his mouth. He looked down at his feet and smiled again, before beginning his descent and letting the service hatch hiss shut behind him.

Doctor Kindle ran forward and pressed her hands against the hatch. The distant clanging of the Doctor’s shoes on the ladder rungs faded from her ears and as she began to weep Stephenson entered the corridor.

“You have work to attend to Doctor Kindle,” he said sternly in a clear voice.

“But the Doctor…” Kindle began, but Stephenson raised a hand to stop her, his authority regained now that the Doctor had gone.

“To your work Doctor Kindle,” he said again in a smarmy tone. Kindle let go of the service hatch, wiped away her tears and glared at Stephenson as she began to make her way back to her laboratory.

Stephenson waited until he was sure she had gone and then stepped closer to the service hatch, no audible sign that the Doctor was inside. He picked up the torch and looked over it coolly as his face twisted into a smile.

“Goodbye Doctor.”

[Dominic Smith]

Chapter Six

She could see nothing.

She could feel nothing.

There was nothing.

In the landscape of her mind Jo could see nothing at all, just a black void. She was sitting alone, arms clasped round her legs, her face lowered.

Slowly but surely the landscape began to throb, her own mind burst open and closed, her thoughts getting caught up in the crossfire. Her memories slowly began to return to haunt her, and even in her curled up shape she could not evade them.

Large domed machines gliding around with piercing battle cries, ape-like warriors with a powerful grip towering over her and a maniacal laugh of pure evil reigning over it all, the man she feared the most…the Master.

His laugh cut through her like a knife, and she screamed for it to stop. His pointed features lifted to the sky in triumph and his hollow eyes bore into her soul.

“STOP IT!” she screamed and his smile faded, his eyes widened and looked deeper into her being, taking control.

“You will obey me…”

“No…no…NO!” she tried to leap at him, every cell in her body wanting to hurt him, make him suffer and pay for what he had done to her and so many others, but as she did so, the throbbing increased.

Every morbid creature that plagued her mind began to blur, but the cruel laughter began again. She screamed to be let out, to return to normality and as she was thrown into the air, floating above a mass of evil, out went the lights.

***

As Jo awoke in her cell she let out a cry for help. As she sat up she couldn’t work out where she was but as she remembered what had happened in the courtroom she realised she was in a cell.

Sure enough as she realised where the door was she could see the grim outline of one of the hooded figures watching her, and a quick glance around told her that she was not alone.

Hearing a distant cough she could see that there were at least two dozen people in the large but dark room, some of whom were still unconscious but many were wide awake, glaring at either her or the guard outside.

As the hooded figure lurked away more light pooled into the room and Jo could see that it was completely blank, solid metal with no features whatsoever. One of the other prisoners slowly and cautiously crawled over to where she sat and put a hand on her shoulder.

She began to reel back but as she realised he was one of the missing technicians and as she looked at the scratches the captors had marked him with she relaxed slightly.

“Try not to move about too much,” he warned in a comforting tone, “It’ll make you dizzy.”

“Where am I?” Jo spluttered

“A storeroom in the engine decks,” the man said as he followed her glance around the room.

“What do those…things…want us for?”

“Well now we’re prisoners...”

“And then?”

“Well then they take you away…and you don’t come back.”

“What do they do to you?”

“That bloke over there’s the only one who’s ever seen it, tried to make an escape and saw them leading a group of people off out of the cells, he saw it all.”

“What happened?” Jo asked, and when he told her, her blood ran cold.

***

The Doctor made his way slowly but surely down the seemingly endless service ladder, his sweaty hands slipping on the rungs.

After pausing to regain his composure he glanced down and could just about see the metal floor of the decks below. Once again he began his journey and began to worry about Jo.

She had been in trouble before and he had always managed to save her, but there was something about the space station that made him descend the ladder with greater haste.

As his foot finally hit the metal grating he gave a sigh of relief. Looking around he mopped his brow and took out the little hand-drawn map with which he had been provided.

Choosing his route he cautiously began to make his way between the different engines, all whirring away with an almost deafening roar.

As the Time Lord looked away from his map he glanced into an inspection screen on one of the giant engines he saw the state of the insides.

Giant lumps of half-processed fuel were sticking to the sides of the tanks, and the toxic fumes were being thrown out of the tanks by the extractors. The mechanisms inside were spinning away with no fuel to use, and many were on the point of collapse.

“Half-efficient fuel,” the Doctor muttered and then moved on, the lines of the map smudging with his ice-cold sweat.

***

The technicians name was John, and after Jo had introduced herself and calmed from the things he had told her about the fate they would soon face, she began to explain about the Doctor, and how he would soon be down to help.

“I think our way is a safer bet,” he told her and after seeing the confused look on her face he led her over to a dark corner of the room, “Look.”

On the floor, almost completely concealed by shadow was a hatch, bolted to the metal tiles. However as Jo looked on she could see that the bolts were some distance from the floor, as it someone was undoing them.

“Beneath that hatch is a system of tunnels that lead back up to the main decks,” John explained, “A bit more work and that thing will be open, we’ll be free.”

“How much more work?” Jo asked.

“Just watch…Mike,” John whispered and another prisoner, a younger man, came out of the shadows. Producing a hand-made instrument he crouched over the hatch and began to slowly but surely undo one of the giant bolts. After a few minutes of tense watching Jo almost shrieked with joy as the bolt began to tilt and Mike plucked it into his grasp, throwing it to John who brandished it and smiled.

***

The Doctor was on the brink of running as he continued his journey; occasionally stopping to check he had made the right turning. As he caught sight of each of the massive engines he sighed in almost anger at the state the machines were in.

Some time later he emerged in a wide-open area, facing a heavy metal door with a makeshift sign plastered on the front. Cautiously he stepped forward and looked at the sign, which was marked ‘CONVERSION CHAMBER’.

“Must be for the raw fuel,” he pondered and glimpsed inside the room, but as he realised exactly what was going on inside his hearts skipped.

***

Between stopping to make sure the guards didn’t get wise to what was going on and taking a break from the heavy work, it was an hour before he four bolts were all free. Slowly Mike slid back the hatch and peered into the darkness beyond.

“It’s not too much of a drop, and it looks like there’s a ladder leading down to the floor, shouldn’t be too hard to get us all down there, there’s even some lights to guide the way,” he whispered in excitement. John held up a hand to silence him and watched as a guard slowly moved past the door, checking to make sure they weren’t being watched.

“Alright, off you go,” he instructed and Mike disappeared below level. Reluctantly Jo followed and after the short ladder trip she felt her feet touch down on the cold metal floor, rusted away from the years of neglect.

As Mike had said there was a long row of lights leading off into the distance and after a few moments more of the prisoners were joining them in the tunnels.

As John instructed to follow the others down every few minutes he signalled and led the others off into the darkness, with Jo close at his heels.

Sneaking through the pools of light they made their way far away from the opened service hatch. Jo’s breath rattled with nervousness but her mind was drawn to something else, which John had also noticed, a door set into the side of the tunnel, bathed in light. Creeping over to it John and Jo peered inside, and were taken back by what they saw.

The room was unlike anything on the rest of the space station, it was bathed in a clinical light and the shiny metal services glistened to the eye.

The room was lined with two rows of what looked like pods, each sealed shut with a dark figure concealed behind the semi-transparent door. A ladder led to the upper row and beside each pod was hung a dark billowing cloak, the disguise of the abductors.

One end of the room was filled with computer banks, all flashing away and pumping out data readings onto the highly polished floor. Jo looked on as the figures concealed within the pods slowly began to move, and as John issued fro the others to carry on their journey with Mike at the lead, he stayed with Jo to watch the unfolding scene.

Slowly the nearest figure began to stretch, revealing it’s full towering height. As it came to realise the confines of it’s pod it grew restless, and with an overwhelming power that made Jo jump from her skin, it punched a hole in the pod’s front, revealing a grasping metal hand.

***

The Doctor reeled back from the sight within the chamber and took cover behind one of the large engines as the sound of the guards returning filled the air.

Three guards appeared, one forming the leader of the march and two standing further behind, holding a struggling technician in a powerful grip.

The first opened up the door of the Conversion Chamber and the other two began to push the other inside, despite his blood curdling screams he cried in protest.

The Doctor’s eyes grew wide as his fears were realised, and as he turned to make an escape he flew straight into another of the towering guards. It held out an arm to grab him and a struggle ensured.

As the Doctor began to piece the different information together and come to the conclusion that had been forced on him, it all made sense; the arm that struck him that felt like metal, the botched conversion chamber behind him, and the sight before him revealed in the struggle.

The figure had had its hood ripped down and as the glare of the light died down the Doctor saw something he had hoped never to see again…a Cyberman.

[Dominic Smith]

It's been a while...

Chapter Seven

As the metal hand flexed its cold steel fingers Jo tried to run. Her brain urged her to move on but her legs refused to move, she was rooted to the spot. In the distance she could here a faint rattling but all she could really concentrate on was the shining arm slowly extending from within the pod.

As more of the creature revealed itself to her she could see that it was vaguely humanoid, in shape at least. The arm was encased in different linkages of metal, tiny mechanisms aiding the ridged movement.

The arm bent as the fist clenched, and almost in tune to that rattling Jo had buzzing in the back of her mind it creaked, reaching for the heavy lock that held the pod door shut. As it hissed open a heavy mist poured from within, and as a massive figure slowly moved forth Jo’s mind momentarily broke free from the disturbing sight before her. The rattling was getting louder, getting closer. It was gunfire.

***

The Doctor marched between the two guards that had dragged him to his feet after the Cyberman he had struggled against had replaced its hood. His mind was buzzing with so many questions; why were the Cybermen here? What were they planning? And what had thy done with Jo?

He knew the crew had been abducted for conversion purposes, but surely they would have identified Jo as a rogue element. This ship was several hundred years in her future and a simple blood sample would identify that. The Cybermen longed for purity, and although the conversion process would eliminate differences, they would still want to know more.

As he was led away along the maze of engines he thought of how useless his map would be now. The lines had already blurred somewhat with the sweat of his hands, and now he could feel the small lump of paper as it pressed against his leg with every step.

Soon they were reaching the deeper and darker areas of the engine decks, where ancient machinery whirred away with almost deafening noise, yet it was not enough to drown out the metallic clanging of the relentless march of the Cybermen.

As the Doctor began to fully understand exactly how botched the space station was; an amalgamation of so many other starships and space stations, he realised they were slowing down. The Cyberman ahead of him came to a halt in a pool of shadow, and the one marching behind him flung out an arm to grasp the Time Lord’s shoulder, making sure he was dead in his tracks.

From within the shadows a seething hissing began to sound and light pooled onto them as a hidden doorway slowly slid open, smoke from the machinery inside engulfing them for a moment, as the Doctor waved it away and the procession continued inside.

***

Jo turned to where John was still standing. She had almost forgotten he was with her and suddenly she felt that much calmer. His mouth was open in blatant surprise and shock at the goings on inside the pod room but as he too realised the rattling not so far behind them was in reality a shower of gunfire, be turned and took Jo’s hand.

“Come on,” he said in a whispered panic, and after they both gave one last glance to the room before them, and the metal man now almost fully emerged from its cage, they ran.

“What is it?” Jo asked as they ran through the service corridors, in and out of the rays of light given off by the flickering ceiling lamps.

“The guards must have followed us down”, John panted as he stopped to make sure they were still fleeing from the bloodshed. Screams of the dead and dying pierced the air and Jo began to heave, saved only by the stopping and starting of the chase.

“How do we get out?” she asked between breaths

“With haste, I hope?”

“What?”

“There should be another service hatch around here somewhere, we’ll climb out of that and try to get back above deck.”

“Let’s hope the designers didn’t skimp on the service hatches,” Jo panted, but she broke into a scream as she was stopped dead in her tracks. John tried to turn and run the other way but a bullet pinned him to the ground as the guard that had stepped out before them fired its gun.

It grabbed the petrified Jo and with a grip of steel pulled her back the way she and John had come. As they progressed Jo could see more bodies slumped in the shadows of the corridors and more guards marching along the network of services chambers, culling those who tried to get away and rounding up the others who dared not move.

As Jo and her captor approached the service hatch the prisoners had opened Jo remembered the pod chamber she had seen. As they approached the door in passing she tried to look away, but her curiosity got the better of her and she slowly turned to look inside.

Suddenly the glass of the door shattered, showering over the two of them and the creature Jo had seen emerging from the pod reached out to grab her. Clasping her around the throat she let out a stifled scream, and glanced in horror into the creatures face.

The small holes for eyes in the heavy steel helmet bore into her and as the creature tried to rid her of her last breath her captor did something she would not have expected in a million years. Clutching the arm that was clasping her throat it slowly pulled it away, giving it a warning glance from within its heavy draped hood.

The arm retracted and the metal creature retreated back into the room. As it returned to the rack of cloaks clamped to the wall Jo realised it was the robotic murderers who were concealed within the robes. She turned and tried to look into the face of her captor but it made no effort to reveal itself, instead pushing her on back to the service hatch.

***



The Doctor knew he was facing the Cyber Controller before the smoke began to clear, and he confessed to himself a slight apprehension to see what incarnation he had taken now. The Cybermen had a lust for upgrading themselves and as they found more and more ways to augment the remains of their once-human forms, they also began to perfect the battle armour they had hidden themselves inside.

The first thing he noticed as the ice-cold mists cleared was the ring of hooded Cybermen surrounding him, parted only by a cumbersome figure still shrouded in the fog. As the Time Lord squinted to see he what sat before him he almost gasped.

The Controller was sat on a metal throne, cobbled together from the safety guards on the different engines, fashioned to make it look more impressive than its component parts implied. The Controller himself was bigger than most Cybermen and his body seemed to shine with the dim lights dotted around the room. His helmet bore a sterner expression, the eyes still seemed to shine with the human warmth they once carried but still it was hard to see past the deep pools of hate.

The top of the helmet was a clear Perspex cover, and the human brain could still be seen pulsating away, beating with metallic fluid that replaced warm blood, wired with electrodes that controlled the gears and pistons within the armour of it’s body; a sick mind.

“Time Lord,” it said with a long drawn-out whirring voice. The mid-high pitched synthesised vocal seemed to relish the words.

“What are you doing here?” the Doctor asked sternly, contempt seething from his words in an attempt to mask the underlying sympathy he still felt as he gazed upon a converted metal soldier.

“We will survive…we must survive…” came the cold reply.

“I gathered that from the conversion chamber. Still striving to outlast eternity.”

“The Cyber race is still strong, our armies are spread out across the stars with a million-strong army.”

“But yet you still can’t let go can you?”

“Our task is to take the Earth and its planets. Our purpose is to seek and destroy. Our moral is to conquer and convert. The Cyber race will purify the universe and no one will stand in our way.”

“You just don’t understand do you? The Cybermen have tried and failed, the universe has built barriers against you. Every attempt you make is thwarted from the start. You’ve had your time.”

“The Cyber army will not surrender, we will conquer…”

“…nothing. There are more races out there than you can image. More creatures than you could dare to tamper with.”

“We know our threats. We know the troubles we face and we know how to over come them. Cyber-kind will blast them from the face of existence.”

The Doctor sighed. It was no use. They couldn’t accept that they were doomed from the start. The Cybermen had tried to conquer the galaxies more times than he could remember. The universe had grown old as they strived to take control. The Earth was the thing they craved more than anything but they were doomed to fail.

Too many weaknesses had taken their toll; too many changes had left them frail. The human will power they needed was trailing away. With every new breed of converted warriors the human brain was slowly cut down and computer chips were replacing it to become the more dominant side to their being. They were inefficient, they were running down.

But still they were determined.

And there were still questions to be answered.

“Why did you come here?”

“We needed to restock, we needed to rebuild.”

“You were crippled.”

“Our forces had been weakened by the powers of the Kilarnick forces. We needed to convert new Cyberman matter.”

“But something went wrong.”

“The toxic fumes of these ships engines closed down the organic matter of Cyber power. We were left in hibernation until the energy sources were changed.”

“The fuel sources of the engines. The exhaust fumes restimulated your brain matter didn’t it?”

“Some warriors survived…”

“…the latest upgrades…”

“But the majority of Cyber power was left to rest. Those who survived continued to build our armies, and now I have risen again to lead them, the Cybermen will once more dominate the universe…”

The Doctor could say no more. He believed the Cybermen were doomed to die but for some reason the Controllers words seemed to grate his soul. There was still one spark of hope for the race and one spark of terror left for the universe to face in facing them. The army had hundreds of specimens up there above the engine decks to control and it would not be hard to gain a few thousand more.”

“Take him to the holding chamber. He will be dissected before conversion.”

The two Cybermen that had led him in began to march him back into the corridors again and as he began his walk back amongst the engines he watched the emotionless Cyber Controller sitting motionless on his throne, a silent air of terror surrounding him.

***

Jo sat and looked at the heavy locks that had been placed on the service hatch to stop another escape. The complicated intricacies were dominated by the heave chains running between each lock, ensuring not even Superman himself could not move the slab of metal.

After some time Jo began to come to terms with what had happened below in the service corridors. John was dead, probably still slumped on the hold hard floor. She wept but managed to contain herself as the remaining few prisoners looked gloomily at her, and the door of the cell screeched open.

“Doctor!” she cried as the tall sturdy figure of her friend made its way inside. They embraced and as Jo rested her head in his chest she felt safe at last. “What happened?”

“We’re in danger Jo; the whole of this station is.”

“From those creatures?”

“Yes.”

“But Doctor, I’ve seen what’s really inside those hoods. There are these massive robots…”

“Cybermen Jo, not robots.”

“What’s the difference?”

“The Cybermen were human once Jo. They were from a planet twinned with Earth and looked no different from you.”

“What happened?”

“They became sick,” he said as he sat down on the hard metal floor, rubbing his neck before clasping his arms around his hunched up knees. “In order to survive they augmented themselves with metallic parts. Deep inside those metal suits are the remains of a human body.”

Jo gasped and grimaced before turning back again to her friend.

“What can we do?”

The Doctor gave her a weak smile. No matter how desperate the situation got Jo knew something had to be done. That’s what he admired. It was what he looked for in a friend, someone to lift his soul when it seemed to him there was nothing left to do. He glanced over at the heavy locked hatch.

“You’ve escaped already?”

“Didn’t end well I’m afraid.”

“Well you’ve got me now. And it’s time we were leaving.”

[Eryx]

Wow. I'm really enjoying this. When is the next installment?

[Dominic Smith]

Thanks for taking the time to post a reply, glad to hear you like the story.

As for a next installment, I'm not sure as I'm kind of busy at the moment, but with a bit of luck I should be getting the next chapter done by the end of the week.

Thanks again,

Dominic

[Eryx]

No worries. I started to look through last night before bed and became quite hooked. I think you have the 3rd Doctor perfectly. I was able to easily put his voice to his dialogue without having to try and force it in my mind. Not an easy thing to do I tend to find.

I'll keep an eye out for the next chapter.

[The Thinker]

I'm waiting until it's finished before I read it fully. That reminds me, I've got one lying around incomplete too.

[Dominic Smith]

OK so it took me a while to do the next chapter

Nevertheless now I've got a little more free time on my hands I'm determined to push on and try and finish this story before starting on a new one I've got waiting in the pipeline.

I've not written much fiction in a while so you'll have to forgive me for being a little bit rusty...

Warning: This chapter gets a bit gory in places

Chapter Eight

“Are you ready?” the Doctor’s voice, slightly hushed, echoed around the room and through the darkness he could see sullen faces nodding back at him. He glanced once more at Jo then stepped backwards into the darkness, as a rhythmic metallic thumping from outside began to grow louder and louder.

As the noise reached a peak it came to a sudden stop. Jo’s heartbeat was drumming in her ears and as a loud screeching from the outside of the room signalled that the door was about to be opened, she realised that it was her cue.

The door whined open slowly and the red and green glows of light poured into the room, proving little help to Jo’s nervous transfixed eyes. A towering figure draped in a cloak slowly stepped forward with a nerve-wrenching thud and as the creature stepped forward the dim light of the cell illuminated its face.

The cloak had been pulled slightly back and from within Jo could see a shining metal face. Two deep dark eyes pierced the smooth metal plate, and the mouthpiece of the creature sat unmoved. As it advanced, carrying in it’s metal hands a try of stale food and murky water, Jo couldn’t help but glare into the eyes of the creature, the endless darkness that seemed to deny what the Doctor had told her. There was no humanity there surely?

Through those empty sockets she could swear the only sight to be seen was the back of the helmet. There were mo eyes, no windows to the soul, no sign that beneath the plating, the screws and soldering, there was a real person, still living and breathing, still wanting to be free.

As the creature turned, causing some of the prisoners to flinch at the sight of their captor, Jo’s trance was broken. Past the sturdy guard, now putting down its tray, she could see the Doctor’s face looking at her with wide eyes. He nodded for her to continue and, glancing at her floor whilst shuffling her feet, she clenched her fists and with a deep breath she drew courage.

“Excuse me,” she said in a shaky voice and the creature turned to her. With a burst of unfounded courage Jo ran forward and spun the creature where it stood by grasping its cloak. As it turned Jo whipped away its cover and with a flourish of cloth the Cyberman stood for all to see.

The entire creature was made of metal, in places it looked as if it had a skin suit made of metallic fabric. On the shoulders plated armour helped give the creature a sturdy physique and across the body tubes and wires ran in different directions, presumably keeping the creature alive.

Suddenly the creature leapt forward, it’s cold soulless eyes fixed on Jo’s. It moved it’s cold steel hands to grasp her throat but before Jo could even scream the Doctor flew forward and covered the creature in it’s thick cloak. Stumbling it fell to the floor

“Quick, now!” the Doctor called and moments later he, Jo and the other prisoners were fleeing down the corridor outside.

No sooner had they escaped the Cybermen were opening fire. Discarding their cloaks they blasted all those in sight.

“What do we do now?” Jo cried above the sound of screams.

“We need to get above surface again,” the Doctor replied, peering around the corner of the passage to check the coast was clear, “this way.”

Dodging the shots of Cyber Guns and shielding their ears from the screech of gunfire and shrieks, the two friends sheltered below one of the massive engines.

“Now listen Jo, I need you to stay here,” the Doctor began.

“But I can’t…” Jo retorted but the Doctor was insistent.

“Look I’ll only be along the corridor, I need to find a service hatch. Stay here and I’ll be back soon.”

Keeping a hawk-like glance on the pandemonium around him the Time Lord strode away leaving Jo alone. Shivering, she slowly began to realise a light was shining on her from across the corridor.

Getting up she approached a heavy metal door facing her, and read the makeshift sign attached to it:

CONVERSION CHAMBER

Peering inside the room Jo was sickened by the site before her. Inside, bathed in shades of blue and red light, those chosen by the Cybermen were forced screaming into deep galvanised chambers.

The Perspex doors revealed the truly awful process they underwent. Giant knives lowered and pierced the sweat-ridden skin. Sinking deep inside the cheeks the blades drew back, forging rivers of blood that ran down the prisoners faces.

Rotating blades ground away features such as the nose and ears, leaving the mangled remains to hang limply beside the bloodstained faces.

Heavy bolts were fired into their necks and shoulders, tubes of fluid being shot into the central veins of the captured victims. Their sickening screams were muted by electronic components being inserted violently into the throat.

Finally, only all human traits had been scorched and cut and ground away, the metal armour was fixed to the pitifully misshapen bodies. Jo looked on, as the remaining skin seemed to ripple, turning a vile shade of grey that made the humans scream once more, only this time in an awful robotic screech.

The final addition was a blank heavy helmet, jammed onto the prisoner’s heads in a vile crunch of the human skull.

Looking around the room, barely able to control her heaving, Jo glanced as another pod opened, revealing the finished Cyberman figure, stomping into the middle of the room, picking up a gun and marching off to fire at the escaped prisoners.

“Jo come away from there!” the Doctor cried as he returned from his search. Taking her arm he embraced her fatherly as she wept into his shirt.

“How could they?” she sobbed

“It’s what they do Jo. Grind away the human and replace it with nuts and bolts.”

“You mean the people I escaped with?”

“I’m sorry.”

“I feel sick.”

“It’s alright Jo I’m here now. And we’re going to stop this, I promise.”

She looked up at his warm face and together they smiled, before walking off arm in arm to locate their escape route.

***

“You let them go down there you bloody fool!”

“Doctor Kindle if you do not guard your tongue…”

“You’ll what? Report me to Mission Control? I look forward to it, at last a chance to let them know what a fool they put in charge of this ship!”

“I am warning you Kindle, one final time, guard your tongue or I’ll send you down there with them.”

Doctor Kindle stood half-stunned half-angered, looking into the stone cold glance of Captain Stephenson. An awful crooked smile crossed his face and she had to restrain herself from striking him.

“Now listen,” he began in that awful authoritative tone she so despised, “there has been some unusual activity in the engine decks, some sort of energy leakage has caused them to malfunction, we need McAllister to investigate.”

“And why are you telling me this?”

“He’s the Chief Engineer.”

“And?”

“I want you, Doctor Kindle, to find him and tell him to get to the nearest service hatch…”

“You’re not sending that poor boy down there?”

“I do not need your comment Doctor Kindle, either go and find him or pack your bags. It’s a long way back to Mission Control and if you die due to lack of Oxygen in the escape pod it’ll take no time at all to make it look like an accident!”

Kindle forced back her tears of anger and had to stop her self from swearing. She turned on her heel and left, marching off into a corridor.

Turning a corner into a deserted section of the ship she finally let her emotions get the better of her. Braking down in tears she tried to wipe them away on her sleeve but it was not long before she was distracted.

A thumping sound was emanating from a service hatch beside her, and when she opened it she could hear voices coming from below. Her face beamed.

“Doctor!”

***

The Doctor and Jo had managed to find a wide enough service tunnel to ascend to the surface. Slowly climbing up the metal ladder they went in silence until Jo spoke up.

“How much further?”

“Not long no Jo, a few more yards.”

“These things must be miles long!”

“Not far off Jo, we should be just below the big seal now, just leaving the engine decks.”

He continued to climb but nearly let go of the ladder’s rungs when he heard his friend scream. The noise pierced the air and when he glanced down he realised why.

A Cyberman had followed them up the ladder and was only feet away from catching them.

“Hurry Jo!”

They two sped up but the Cyberman was just as quick. The Doctor eventually reached the top of the shaft and pushed the seal aside, clambering out onto the giant roof of the engine decks.

He pulled Jo off of the ladder just as the Cyberman grabbed her ankle. Screaming again she rolled onto her front and picked up a metal bar lying beside her.

She began to bludgeon the icy hand grasping onto her and eventually the grip relinquished. The Doctor managed to throw the hatch down onto the creature and began fastening it.

“What now?” Jo gasped.

“We need a power cable.”

He grabbed hold of one running up the wall beside him and pulled until it detached itself. Sparks flew across the surface of the giant seal as the Doctor jammed the cable onto the small hatch.

The Cyberman’s screams rang out around them but faded as the creature fell from the ladder and plummeted down to the engine decks below.

“Oh it’s over!” Jo breathed.

“Not yet Jo, the Cybermen are getting stronger, if we don’t act fast they’ll be swarming the whole of the ship in no time.”

“Then what must we do?”

“I need to speak to Stephenson, mark my words Jo, he’s hiding something.”

***

Let me know what you think, all comments welcome

Dominic