Post by Fitz Kreiner on Oct 14, 2009 22:23:20 GMT
10
All Nightmare Long.
All Nightmare Long.
Evans hurried along the corridor from his quarters. He’d been called back from his night off because of emergency situations in the Gravitron control room. There had been more power failures, which he had experienced in his quarters, and suspected interlopers on the outside of the base. His immediate thought was that there could be more strangers like the strange Doctor and his friends that he and Franz had brought into the base that morning. He found it rather hard to believe that there could be other strangers out on the lunar surface, where were they all coming from?
Still, if he was going to be sent on another moon walk, which he had to admit he rather enjoyed, at least he could follow the footprints in the dust to find out what was going on. That is, if they weren’t lost amongst those of the many repair crews who had walked the surface in the past decades.
A crunching under his foot as he walked caused him to stop. There was something on the floor; he could feel it under his boot. Whatever it was, he had definitely squashed it. Turning back, Evans lifted his foot to see the crushed and twisted black plastic. Stooping, he picked it up, and recognised it through its destroyed state; an earpiece communicator. Frowning, Evans looked at it. What was it doing there, and lying on the floor like that? He’d certainly have to mention it to the Chief; he’d know where it came from most likely as he was the one who tended to issue them for repair work. If not him, then van Weesenbeek or Ulrich would be able to shed some light on the matter. They’d be in the dome. Speeding his pace up, Evans walked faster towards the dome. He hoped that because it had been left on the floor it wasn’t too serious a matter.
*
Jess slowly came round to find herself lying on a cold, hard bench, cold metal pressing against her bare back. Her head was throbbing and she was staring up at a bland metal ceiling. She was cold, very cold. Looking down, she saw why; her clothing had been removed and she was only covered by a metallic sheet from her knees to her stomach. She suddenly felt extremely nauseous and self conscious. Where was she? And what was she doing laying here almost naked?
Then she remembered; being attacked in the Moonbase, the electric spark, the metal mask; Cybermen.
“Report.”
Jess looked up at the sound. It was a flat, monotonous, emotional synthetic voice. Then she saw the Cyberman. It looked more primitive than those she had seen before, but then that was nearly two thousand years in the future, but it had lost none of its clinical smell or terrifying appearance.
“Mind analysis will be conducted.”
The Cyberman was looking at a screen, on which there was a metallic array, with a similar “handle” arrangement about the top, like the Cybermen, and a large bulbous centre, which flashed as the voice came from the speakers.
“Proceed. The data will be recorded.”
Jess looked up as a metal spike descended from above her. Her eyes widened as it closed in on her bare chest, thinking it was going to impale her. Inches above her skin it stopped and she almost breathed a heavy sigh of relief, until she realised her voice wouldn’t obey her mind. Her eyes wandered from the spike to movement at the periphery of her vision. She turned her head slightly so she could see the figure, it was a grotesque parody of humanity, no doubt someone who had gone missing from the base and was in the process of Cyber conversion.
The top of their head was covered by a ridged skull-cap, out of which a small lamp protruded, the two “handles” exiting the lamp and rejoining the skull just below the ears, disappearing into the flesh, where scars ran down the side of the neck to the shoulders. Black wiring emerged from the bottom of the scars and looped round into the man’s chest. His chest was opened up revealing the inside of the chest cavity, sealed with a curved and ridged Perspex cover. Inside, metal, plastic, wires and circuits were visible; a small, streamlined clear plastic device pumped a pale red liquid round the tubing inside the man.
Jess looked up at the man’s face and wished she hadn’t. His eyes were gone and replaced by two black sensors, lined with metal plating and wiring to the skull-cap. A silver wire ran out of each nostril and disappeared inside each ear. Thin metal bands protruded from the skull-cap, connected to sensors that disappeared under the skin of his face. His jaw was fixed firmly closed by a metal plate secured over his mouth, with nothing more than a slit, matching those of the fully converted Cybermen. Wiring ran under the skin from the mouth plate to where the Adam’s apple had been removed and replaced with what Jess assumed was the synthetic voice box.
“Prepare for mind analysis and conversion.”
Jess watched the man move to a control panel near the bench she was lying on. His left arm was augmented with technology, thick wires running down the length of it, what looked like small junction boxes at the shoulder, elbow and wrist. At the wrist, three black wires protruded, one disappearing inside the thumb, one in between the first and second finger and the third between the third and fourth. His hand moved as though the wires were giving him three digits, akin to the Cybermen. The convert pulled on a large lever and a whirring sound came from the spike above her chest.
Looking down, Jess saw a thin needle slowly emerging from the end of the spike. Jess screwed her eyes up as she felt the cold metal press into her sternum, puncturing the skin. Before she opened her eyes, she felt cold metal sensors press into her temples and the bridge of her nose. She screamed soundlessly as she felt pinpricks of pain from needles emerging from the sensors and intense pain flooded her head and her world became black once again.
*
“Stop,” The voice of the Cyber Planner came from the screen on the Cyber ship. “This female is not to be converted. She knows of us.”
The image on the screen changed to a picture of the Doctor and Tom.
“These are her companions. They know us also. They must be captured for mind analysis. They know our ways.”
The Cyberman turned to the part converted man stood by the controls. A flicker of light flashed between the lamps on the top of their heads. Turning back to the controls, the convert deactivated the controls and the helmet that was now covering Jess’s heady retracted into the top of the conversion bench. With a hiss, the needle retracted into the spike above Jess, before the spike itself retracted into the low ceiling.
“She will be fitted with a control device when the time is right.”
*
Doctor Patrick Miles stormed into the sick bay, Ulrich hurrying behind him, trying to keep up with his boss’s long legs. He could see the Doctor sat at the main desk of the sick bay, hunched over Christina Miles’ computer, paying no attention to anything that was happening about him. Doctor Christina Miles was busying herself amongst the few beds, one of which contained the prone body of the young man who arrived with the Doctor.
“Hello Patrick,” the Doctor said without looking up, making Ulrich almost stumble over his own feet.
“Alright, Doctor,” Miles started, stopping before the Doctor and leaning his fists on the desk so he could tower over the Time Lord, “just how many of you are there wandering about on the surface?”
“What do you mean?” the Doctor asked, sitting back in the chair and steepling his fingers.
“Answer my question, Doctor.” Miles pressed, continuing to stare down the Doctor. “Because if there are more of you on the surface, I’ve got men out there now looking for them and they’ll be arrested straight away.”
Looking up into Miles’ eyes, the Doctor fixed them with his own cool stare, showing no signs of being intimidated by the taller and more powerfully built man. “There’s just the three of us,” the Doctor nodded over to the bed where Tom was lying, “Tom, Jess and I. Why, has someone seen something?” The Doctor’s eyes fixed on Ulrich as he finished his sentence. “Tell me about it,” he added leaning forwards and resting his elbows on the desk and his chin on his hands.
“Erm,” Ulrich faltered. “I don’t know what it was. A man or robot or something; outside on the moon’s surface.”
“Robot?” the Doctor asked, rising to his feet.
“It looked like one. It could have just been some new space suit or something,” Ulrich said, backpedalling slightly, taken back by the Doctor’s sudden interest.
“You said ‘robot’,” the Doctor pressed. “Tell me about it. What did it look like?”
“Doctor,” Miles said, stepping in.
“Not now, Patrick,” the Doctor said, holding his hand up before turning round and fixing him with an intense stare. “If you remember, I’ve said several times how I believe this to be the result of an alien influence, well this could very well give the proof I’ve been looking for.”
Miles opened his mouth to reply, but spotting the look on the Doctors face, decided to close it again and listen.
“It was tall,” Ulrich said, “It looked like a man, but it didn’t, if you get me? It looked like it was metal and it had a face like a robot; two holes for eyes and a slit for a mouth.” Ulrich paused as he looked from the intently fascinated look on the Doctor’s face to the rather incredulous look on Miles’ face. Suddenly feeling very conspicuous and uncomfortable, he shuffled his feet and realised just how ridiculous his story was sounding. “Sorry, I guess I’ve been under a lot of pressure of late, things are getting to me.”
Miles was on the verge of nodding in agreement, when the Doctor suddenly vaulted over the desk and jumped up to Ulrich. “No, go on,” he urged, his eyes wide and seemingly shining in the duller light of the sick bay night shift. Despite their brightness, Miles could see something deeper within them; concern and realisation. “Describe it properly, what did it look like?” he asked.
“Well,” Ulrich said, clearly taken aback by the Doctors sudden outburst, not to mention his jumping over the desk towards him. “Like I said, it was tall, man shaped metal, two holes for eyes, and it seemed to have an instrument panel or something on its chest,”
“And what looked like two handles on either side of its head?” the Doctor finished, gripping Ulrich’s shoulders and staring into his eyes.
“Erm, yes,” Ulrich managed, sounding very shocked. “How did you-?” he started, but the Doctor had turned his attentions away.
“Patrick, this is very important,” he said, dashing round to the tall Welshman, “Organise your chaps, get those men outside in and then you’ll need to thoroughly search your base.” Pausing, the Doctor turned and paused beside Tom’s bed, looking down at his unconscious friend.
“What are we looking for?” Miles asked.
“Anything out of the ordinary,” the Doctor replied turning back to Miles. “Search everywhere; look for tunnels, what could be holes in walls. And I mean everywhere, even places which are always manned.”
“Why, what are we looking for?” Miles asked again.
The Doctor was now sat back down at the desk skimming through the medical files that he had been reading before, muttering to himself. “They all mentioned the same thing, even Tom. They were right; they are out there, coming for them. This is an experiment, but why, why are they doing this?”
“Doctor,” Miles almost shouted, leaning over the desk towards him again, “Will you answer me?”
“But what do they want Patrick?” the Doctor asked, looking up at Miles. “What are they planning, why are they doing this?”
“Why are who doing this?”
“Cybermen, Patrick, Cybermen,” the Doctor replied, getting back to his feet and crossing over to where Tom was lying. “Why didn’t I see it before, Tom basically told me that they were here. I should have seen it.”
“Cyber,” Miles began before pausing confused. “What are you on about?”
“Seven months ago, Tom was captured by the Cybermen and part converted,” the Doctor explained, “I managed to rescue him with a bit of help and remove the implants. But he’s been suffering recurring nightmares about them. I should have realised, it’s more than just PTSD; he’s acutely attuned to them.”
“Doctor,” Miles cut in again, “I don’t mean about that. Cybermen, they died out a hundred years ago. Everyone knows that. They attacked Earth and their planet was destroyed. It’s a history that every school kid is taught.”
“That’s not important right now Patrick,” the Doctor replied, “The fact is they’re here, and I would put a pound to a pile of Gumblejack that they’re the ones behind the disappearances as well. I’m afraid to say, Patrick, that there’s a very strong chance that your missing crewmen are now dead, or worse, being turned into Cybermen.”
“What?” Miles exploded, turning round to follow the Doctor about the sick bay. The Time Lord was now rounding Christina and checking other beds.
“I’m sorry to say it, Patrick, but that’s what the Cybermen do.” Pausing the Doctor turned round to face Miles and looked him up and down. “What are you still doing here, Patrick? We need to get a full search of the base, immediately. We need to find where they’re getting in and where they’re hiding, because I’m sure that they’re about here somewhere.”
“Are you trying to tell us that we have these Cybermen on the base and they’re the cause of the Space Madness?” Christina asked, stepping over to where the Doctor was stood looking at Miles.
“Exactly,” the Doctor said, lightly bouncing from foot to foot. “And we’re still just stood around pontificating, when we should be searching for how the Cybermen got into the base and finding out what it is they’re up to.”
“Chief?”
The small group of Miles, the Doctor, Christina and Ulrich looked round as Evans stumbled into the sickbay, almost tripping over his own feet as he saw the small group turn round to face him.
“Erm, chief,” he started again before faltering.
“What is it?” the Doctor asked, noting the look on the man’s face and stepping round Miles.
“I, erm, found this, lying in one of the corridors,” Evans said holding out his hand, revealing the crushed and twisted earpiece communicator. “I was wondering why it was there.”
“Why are you asking me?” Miles asked, scratching his head. It was still reeling from the Doctor’s revelation about the Cybermen.
“You have to sign them out, chief,” Ulrich prompted.
“Oh, of course,” Miles sighed, mentally chastising himself for forgetting. “I got them out when we were looking for your friend here.” He said, gesturing towards Tom.
“Who did you give these to?” the Doctor asked, taking the crushed communicator from Evans.
“Just us,” Miles said. “Like I said, when we were looking for your friend here, you, me, the girl,”
“Jess,” the Doctor breathed, cutting Miles off. Raising his hand to his ear, he activated his own communicator, which was still sat underneath the curls of his hair. “Jess, can you hear me?” he asked. In reply, the twisted broken piece of technology in the palm of his hand crackled and hissed as he spoke. “Where exactly did you find this?” he asked, turning to Evans.
“Corridor thirteen, heading to crew quarters,” Evans replied.
The Doctor turned to Miles, already knowing the answer and not even needing to ask the question. “Where I put your quarters,” Miles confirmed, nodding solemnly.
“Come on,” the Doctor cried, dashing past Miles and running to the door that led to the dome, his coat tails flapping behind him.
“Where are we going?” Miles called out, turning to follow.
“To find the Cybermen,” the Doctor’s voice replied from outside the sick bay, “they’ve got her, and I’m not letting them hurt another of my friends.”
*
Jess awoke in a darkened and cold room. Shuddering she pulled the silver blanket closer around her before her brain kicked into gear and she realised where she was. The Cybermen! She was a prisoner inside their spaceship and naked, with only the blanket, the blanket she had covering her when she was on the conversion table. The conversion table! The spike that had impaled her through her chest! Her heart thumping, Jess cautiously removed the blanket and looked down at herself. She couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Tentatively, she ran her hand down her chest; where the needle had struck her was tender, but there wasn’t a mark to be seen.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Jess pulled the blanket around her again and looked around. There was a crumpled pile of cloth near her. Looking closer in the gloom, she saw that it was her own clothes. Quickly and without a second thought, she pulled them on. Her bra and strap top seemed to be missing, but that was the least of her worries. There were parts of her clothing that were stretched and ripped; she assumed that was where the Cybermen had undressed her. Picking up her plaid shirt, she saw that the buttons where she had buttoned it had gone. The only way she could put it on was to button up the top buttons that were still there and then tie the loose ends around her middle.
Fully dressed, she pulled her knees up to her and hugged her legs, sitting with her back firmly against the wall. A sense of foreboding and horror was gripping her. She didn’t even know how much time had passed and if the Doctor was looking for her. She thought that she’d acquired some fine tuned senses since joining him, although she couldn’t tell whether the cyber ship was in flight or on the lunar surface. She wasn’t even aware she was whimpering until she realised it was the only noise she could hear. Taking a deep breath to try to calm herself, she realised it wasn’t her.
Looking through the gloom, she could make out another figure curled in the opposite corner. They were sat up, but curled into the foetal position, rocking gently back and forth. Crawling slowly across to the figure, Jess sat down beside him. She could see better now she was closer, he was chewing at the skin at the side of his finger, as she’d seen Tom do some time ago now, only this young man had bitten so hard, several of his fingers were raw and bleeding. There was dried blood and teeth marks on his lips, presumably where he’d been biting them. His eyes were wide and fearful. He was clearly suffering from the “Space Madness”.
Fighting the urge to ask if he was alright as she knew that he wouldn’t be, Jess gently brushed the man’s hair back from his face. He jumped and turned to look at her, as if seeing her for the first time. His eyes were red and bloodshot and his cheeks glistened with tears.
“It’s ok, it’s going to be alright,” Jess said, not sure whether she quite believed that, putting her arm round him and pulling him into her.
Like a small child, the man threw his arms around her, and buried his face into her chest and started to sob violently. Jess could feel a lump rising in her own throat. She could only imagine how terrified the poor man must be, although it didn’t take much, she was rather scared herself. Gently shushing the man, in a soothing tone, she stroked his hair softly and rocked gently back and forth, in a manner she remembered her mother doing to her many times when she’d skinned her knee or suffered another injury or been upset or ill.
Glancing up at the door, she wondered how long the Cybermen were going to leave them there, and what they were going to do with them. She had no idea why the Cybermen had halted what they were doing, although she was rather grateful they had. She was wondering all this when the door slid open revealing a silhouetted figure; a Cyberman. The young man in her arms looked up at the sound, and started to scramble away behind her at the sight of the silver giant.
“What do you want with us? Why are we here?” Jess demanded, getting to her feet. She could feel the knot of terror in her stomach, the same one she’d felt when she last encountered the Cybermen.
Ignoring her, the Cyberman strode into the room and round her to the young man who was now cowering in the corner, sobbing uncontrollably and crying out in terror. Reaching down, the Cyberman picked the man up with one large hand, and lifted him bodily into the air.
“What are you doing with him?” Jess screamed at the creature, hitting at its powerful metal limb. “Answer me, damnit!”
Still ignoring her, the Cyberman marched the young man out towards the door. Scared about what might happen to him, Jess launched herself at the Cyberman, who batted her away as casually as someone swatting a fly. Jess hit the wall with a force that knocked the wind out of her.
“What’s your name?” She screamed out to the terrified young man.
“Kyle,” the man replied, reaching out to her and trying to twist in the Cyberman’s vice-like grip. “Please, don’t let them,”
Getting to her feet, Jess made a dash for the door. “I’ll help you, Kyle; I’ll do all I can!” she shouted. She knew as soon as the door slid closed and the terrified young man’s screams died that there was little she could do for him. The chances were he was about to become a new recruit into the Cybermen ranks.
