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locker_monsterTitle: Echoes (8/10)
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Eleven, Amy, Rory, Amy/Rory
Timeline: Post-"Death of the Doctor" and post-"A Christmas Carol" and pre-"An Impossible Astronaut"
Summary: The Doctor runs into an old enemy, and an old friend, when the TARDIS lands in 18th century Scotland.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to the BBC.
A/N: Once again, a big thank you to my beta
punch_kicker15. You rock!
Chapter One. Chapter Two. Chapter Three. Chapter Four. Chapter Five. Chapter Six. Chapter Seven.
A quick burst of sound waves from the sonic screwdriver unlocked the hatch to the Cybership. The Doctor had no idea what was waiting on the other side, but he stood in front of the entryway prepared to face down a dozen Cybermen. He had battled them in every one of his incarnations across time and space and some of those encounters had cost him dearly. He was going to save Rory and the townsfolk of Glen Beagan; there was no doubt in his mind.
The hatch of the Cybership slid up, plunging the Doctor in a pillar of light. His eyes adjusted immediately to the sudden change in illumination and he expected to see twelve Cybermen pointing twelve blasters at him.
So he was rather disappointed when he was met with an empty bridge.
His gaze flew around the room, taking in the details in under a second. There were, in fact, Cybermen on the bridge. They were just difficult to spot. The Doctor dashed inside and he went to the main scanner in the centre of the room. The globe shaped screen showed only static, giving off a sound like the crashing of waves.
“What happened to the Cybermen?” asked Amy. She looked around dubiously at the empty bridge.
“Here.” The Doctor bent down behind the scanner and with a grunt of effort he pulled a Cyberman into view. The Cyberman was dead weight and he only managed a few steps before he had to let go of the body.
“That’s a dead Cyberman.”
“It’s fine, but stay back,” the Doctor told Amy, pushing his hair out of his face. He knelt down on one knee next to the immobile metal man.
“The last time you said that you were knocked unconscious and I got attacked by a head.” Amy stepped cautiously around him, trying to get a better look without getting closer. She put one of the consoles grouped around the scanner between them, probably thinking she could use it as a shield, when she let out a surprised yelp.
The Doctor shot to his feet and spun around. “What?”
“There’s another one.” Amy stepped away from the console. She frowned. “And there’s another one over here.” She pointed to the next console.
The Doctor peeked his head over the console, looking left and right. There indeed were two more Cybermen laid out on the floor and he could spot the feet of another hidden by the console to his extreme left. Four dead Cybermen. When he had been standing at the hatch they were impossible to see.
“Were they attacked?” wondered Amy. The Doctor didn’t miss the hopeful tone in her voice. If Rory and the others had fought back, then it was possible they were safe.
He turned back to the Cyberman lying at the base of the scanner. It looked like it had collapsed where it stood, its arms and legs in a wild tangle. He would have thought it impossible for a creature made out of metal to be so limp.
The Cyberman’s chest unit was unmarred. There were no signs someone had tried to stab it with a dirk. The Doctor reached out to turn the Cyberman over, thinking there might be damage to its back. He pulled his hands back when they came in contact with the Cyberman’s metal skin. It was hot to the touch. Not the blazing heat of a stovetop, but the sort of heat a rock collected while out in the sun.
A milky white substance had dribbled down the corner of the Cyberman’s mouth and dried into a paste. The Doctor prodded it with his pinkie and some of the substance stuck to his skin. He brought his pinkie up to his nose and took a cautious sniff.
“You better not taste that,” said Amy. She knelt down next to the Doctor. “What is it anyway?”
“Sick.” The Doctor wiped his finger on his trousers.
Amy jumped to her feet and backed away. “That’s just gross.”
“Strictly speaking it’s a mix of lubricant and coolant but that’s beside the point. When you get sick, you throw up because your body is trying to expel something; that’s your immune system kicking in. Or a bad night at the pub. But Cybermen don’t get sick. They don’t have an immune system.”
“So what are you saying? It died from the flu? Isn’t that how the aliens in War of the Worlds died?”
“Herbert had a crafty little mind. Never listened to me either.” The Doctor gripped the Cyberman by the handles on its helmet and tilted its head from side to side. The silver skin had lost its sheen. It was more of a dull grey now. “I don’t think you’re far off about what killed this Cyberman, Amy.”
“Seriously? It died from a cold?”
The Doctor rose to his feet and he darted around the nearest console, quickly checking the other three Cybermen. They all looked like they had collapsed where they stood. The consoles they were working on were burnt out, likely from a power surge, but the damage was a few days old. “Think more along the lines of a virus, one that can be passed from Cybership to Cyberman.”
He continued to talk to Amy as they walked off the bridge. Earlier he had thought the Cybermen were behaving strangely and now he knew why. “It’s the perfect weapon. You disable the ship and its crew at the same time. Leave a virus unchecked and it can destroy entire civilizations.”
With Cybermen falling dead and the ship falling apart they would need new recruits and any old settlement was fine as long as it had able bodies. It was just coincidence, and bad luck, that the Cybermen had landed near a hamlet where one of the inhabitants knew a thing or two about marauding metal men. Acceptable losses weren’t so acceptable if the local population could wipe you out before you could make off with a few stolen bodies.
“Great,” muttered Amy, her voice not without a hint of sarcasm. “Maybe the Cybermen will be too tired and fevered to fight back.”
The lights in the corridor flickered, briefly throwing them into darkness. As the owner of a ship in constant need of repair, the Doctor knew a thing or two about ship maintenance. The Cybermen would be re-routing power to necessary systems, hoping to keep what functionality they did have. He listened carefully to the flow of energy through the conduits of the Cybership, like he was trying to follow a river back to its source. As he and Amy walked further along he noticed the room at the far end of the corridor hummed faintly; it was the telltale sign of higher energy output. If the Cybership was immobile, then it wasn’t the engine room that lay beyond the door.
“That’s the last thing we want,” said the Doctor, making his way towards the room at the end of the corridor.
“Okay, you lost me there. What?”
“When you have sick humans, too many to look after, where do you put them?”
Amy seemed dubious about this line of questioning, but she answered him anyway. “In a hospital.”
The Doctor took a second to locate the door release. “Exactly. You put everyone in one place. Eight Cybermen in one room.” He slammed his hand down on the panel to the right of the door. “We’d be dead in an instant.”
The door slid aside with a slight hiss. The Doctor took one step forward. Then he paused.
Eight Cybermen stared back at him.
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Eleven, Amy, Rory, Amy/Rory
Timeline: Post-"Death of the Doctor" and post-"A Christmas Carol" and pre-"An Impossible Astronaut"
Summary: The Doctor runs into an old enemy, and an old friend, when the TARDIS lands in 18th century Scotland.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to the BBC.
A/N: Once again, a big thank you to my beta
punch_kicker15. You rock!Chapter One. Chapter Two. Chapter Three. Chapter Four. Chapter Five. Chapter Six. Chapter Seven.
A quick burst of sound waves from the sonic screwdriver unlocked the hatch to the Cybership. The Doctor had no idea what was waiting on the other side, but he stood in front of the entryway prepared to face down a dozen Cybermen. He had battled them in every one of his incarnations across time and space and some of those encounters had cost him dearly. He was going to save Rory and the townsfolk of Glen Beagan; there was no doubt in his mind.
The hatch of the Cybership slid up, plunging the Doctor in a pillar of light. His eyes adjusted immediately to the sudden change in illumination and he expected to see twelve Cybermen pointing twelve blasters at him.
So he was rather disappointed when he was met with an empty bridge.
His gaze flew around the room, taking in the details in under a second. There were, in fact, Cybermen on the bridge. They were just difficult to spot. The Doctor dashed inside and he went to the main scanner in the centre of the room. The globe shaped screen showed only static, giving off a sound like the crashing of waves.
“What happened to the Cybermen?” asked Amy. She looked around dubiously at the empty bridge.
“Here.” The Doctor bent down behind the scanner and with a grunt of effort he pulled a Cyberman into view. The Cyberman was dead weight and he only managed a few steps before he had to let go of the body.
“That’s a dead Cyberman.”
“It’s fine, but stay back,” the Doctor told Amy, pushing his hair out of his face. He knelt down on one knee next to the immobile metal man.
“The last time you said that you were knocked unconscious and I got attacked by a head.” Amy stepped cautiously around him, trying to get a better look without getting closer. She put one of the consoles grouped around the scanner between them, probably thinking she could use it as a shield, when she let out a surprised yelp.
The Doctor shot to his feet and spun around. “What?”
“There’s another one.” Amy stepped away from the console. She frowned. “And there’s another one over here.” She pointed to the next console.
The Doctor peeked his head over the console, looking left and right. There indeed were two more Cybermen laid out on the floor and he could spot the feet of another hidden by the console to his extreme left. Four dead Cybermen. When he had been standing at the hatch they were impossible to see.
“Were they attacked?” wondered Amy. The Doctor didn’t miss the hopeful tone in her voice. If Rory and the others had fought back, then it was possible they were safe.
He turned back to the Cyberman lying at the base of the scanner. It looked like it had collapsed where it stood, its arms and legs in a wild tangle. He would have thought it impossible for a creature made out of metal to be so limp.
The Cyberman’s chest unit was unmarred. There were no signs someone had tried to stab it with a dirk. The Doctor reached out to turn the Cyberman over, thinking there might be damage to its back. He pulled his hands back when they came in contact with the Cyberman’s metal skin. It was hot to the touch. Not the blazing heat of a stovetop, but the sort of heat a rock collected while out in the sun.
A milky white substance had dribbled down the corner of the Cyberman’s mouth and dried into a paste. The Doctor prodded it with his pinkie and some of the substance stuck to his skin. He brought his pinkie up to his nose and took a cautious sniff.
“You better not taste that,” said Amy. She knelt down next to the Doctor. “What is it anyway?”
“Sick.” The Doctor wiped his finger on his trousers.
Amy jumped to her feet and backed away. “That’s just gross.”
“Strictly speaking it’s a mix of lubricant and coolant but that’s beside the point. When you get sick, you throw up because your body is trying to expel something; that’s your immune system kicking in. Or a bad night at the pub. But Cybermen don’t get sick. They don’t have an immune system.”
“So what are you saying? It died from the flu? Isn’t that how the aliens in War of the Worlds died?”
“Herbert had a crafty little mind. Never listened to me either.” The Doctor gripped the Cyberman by the handles on its helmet and tilted its head from side to side. The silver skin had lost its sheen. It was more of a dull grey now. “I don’t think you’re far off about what killed this Cyberman, Amy.”
“Seriously? It died from a cold?”
The Doctor rose to his feet and he darted around the nearest console, quickly checking the other three Cybermen. They all looked like they had collapsed where they stood. The consoles they were working on were burnt out, likely from a power surge, but the damage was a few days old. “Think more along the lines of a virus, one that can be passed from Cybership to Cyberman.”
He continued to talk to Amy as they walked off the bridge. Earlier he had thought the Cybermen were behaving strangely and now he knew why. “It’s the perfect weapon. You disable the ship and its crew at the same time. Leave a virus unchecked and it can destroy entire civilizations.”
With Cybermen falling dead and the ship falling apart they would need new recruits and any old settlement was fine as long as it had able bodies. It was just coincidence, and bad luck, that the Cybermen had landed near a hamlet where one of the inhabitants knew a thing or two about marauding metal men. Acceptable losses weren’t so acceptable if the local population could wipe you out before you could make off with a few stolen bodies.
“Great,” muttered Amy, her voice not without a hint of sarcasm. “Maybe the Cybermen will be too tired and fevered to fight back.”
The lights in the corridor flickered, briefly throwing them into darkness. As the owner of a ship in constant need of repair, the Doctor knew a thing or two about ship maintenance. The Cybermen would be re-routing power to necessary systems, hoping to keep what functionality they did have. He listened carefully to the flow of energy through the conduits of the Cybership, like he was trying to follow a river back to its source. As he and Amy walked further along he noticed the room at the far end of the corridor hummed faintly; it was the telltale sign of higher energy output. If the Cybership was immobile, then it wasn’t the engine room that lay beyond the door.
“That’s the last thing we want,” said the Doctor, making his way towards the room at the end of the corridor.
“Okay, you lost me there. What?”
“When you have sick humans, too many to look after, where do you put them?”
Amy seemed dubious about this line of questioning, but she answered him anyway. “In a hospital.”
The Doctor took a second to locate the door release. “Exactly. You put everyone in one place. Eight Cybermen in one room.” He slammed his hand down on the panel to the right of the door. “We’d be dead in an instant.”
The door slid aside with a slight hiss. The Doctor took one step forward. Then he paused.
Eight Cybermen stared back at him.
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