Post by Oldmankrondas on Mar 20, 2011 23:34:00 GMT
Joseph Fairfax was seeing everything at once, the blackness of the night sky, great revolving orbs, distant, unfamiliar landscapes, squat metal pepperpot creatures barking terrible threats, potato headed soldiers marching forward. Throughout all of this, a wooden box, coloured the deepest blue he had ever seen. The images sped up until they were just flashes and then it stopped, and Joseph Fairfax was standing on a hill overlooking a vast town made up of grand marble structures.
'Beautiful isn't it?' the Doctor was standing behind him.
'Yes...where...where are we?'
'The planet Athenia, well....we're in my memories of the planet Athenia but, semantics....' the Doctor clasped his hands together and strode towards the edge, looking down at the buildings below. 'This is before the days of fire, of the silver fields of the Cyber Conversion chambers. Before the lush purple grass beneath your feet was turned brown and grey.' the Doctor turned to face Fairfax, his face solemn and clicked his fingers.
Suddenly, the beautiful surroundings became just as the Doctor described, the sky was burning, the grass dried out and dead, shimmering silver huts as far as the eye could see. 'What happened here Doctor?'
'You'd call it scientific advancement. I call it a Cyberman invasion fleet. This is what they'll do to Edinburgh and the wider world if you allow them to.' the Doctor replied.
With a jolt, the Doctor and Fairfax were back in Holyrood park. 'They said it would improve humanity, cure sickness.'
'In their eye holes it would Professor, but trust me, the Cybermen remove everything it means to be human, to be any race. All defining characteristics cut out in the conversion process.' the Doctor sighed, thinking of the amount of times he had seen it happen. 'Is that what your wife and child would want Professor Fairfax?'
Fairfax bowed his head, ashamed to have been so utterly misled, to bring his country and the wider world, so close to destruction. 'How do we stop them?'
The Doctor grinned widely, clapped his hands and the sparkle in his eyes was back. 'I thought you'd never ask Professor!' he indicated for them to get back inside the carriage. 'We take your bell jar cadavers to Holyrood Palace.'
Fairfax's face fell. 'Excuse me? You want me to march my creations right up to the King and hand him over to the Cybermen?'
'Yes. Well...no...but some of it yes. Currently the Cybermen are engaging Major McCallum's soldiers at Edinburgh Castle. I need to reverse the transmat beam and send the Cybermen back to whichever rock they crawled out from under. To do that, I need to get on board the Cybership. And to do that, we need to have the Cyber Leader believe you're still on side.'
Fairfax nodded slowly, sort of understanding what the Doctor was planning, amid mentions of transmat beams, and Cyberships.
'So we get inside the Palace, you send the signal to the Cybership, they transmat down, I use the sonic to reverse the beam sending me to the ship. Yes?'
Fairfax nodded slowly again.
'Excellent! I'll drive.'
The Doctor pulled the carriage to a halt just outside the gates to Holyrood Palace, brandishing Fairfax's invitation at the guards who promptly opened the gates and ushered them inside the grounds.
The carriage came to a stop just outside the doors where a group of staff awaited their arrival. The Doctor stepped down from the cab, pulling the door open to allow Fairfax and his remaining bell jar cadaver to exit the carriage. The most senior looking figure amongst the group stepped forward. 'Good morning Professor Fairfax, I'm Havers, one of his Majesty's closest aides. If you and your assistants would like to step inside we'll get underway as quickly as we can.'
'As I'm sure you're aware, His Majesty has shied away from public life in the last few months. This is because he has become quite ill.' Havers began. 'If your new machines will be able to prolong his life he will be most grateful.'
Fairfax nodded modestly. 'I hope they will Mr Havers. My original experiments were able to bring corpses back to life.' He looked to the Doctor who was glancing out of the window casually. Fairfax could not believe how calm this man was, as if all of this was an average day to him. 'However, I am in possession of a device which may assist his Majesty in breathing better.'
Fairfax looked to the Doctor again, who was shaking his head. He sighed, and moved over to the table and opened his bag. From the bag, he produced a small silver box which the Cyberleader had given him months ago. Tubes ran from the sides of the box, and Fairfax tried to remember the instructions he had been given.
'You would need to operate on the King to fit the device of course?' Havers asked.
Fairfax nodded. 'I trust you have a medical team who would be able to assist in the operation?' He gulped, surely the Doctor should be stepping in to stop all this by now?
The Doctor was moving away from the window now, producing a thing silver tube with a light on the end of it. He aimed it at the device in Fairfax's hand, emitting a whirring sound. Eventually the device began warming up and humming in his hand. 'That's the signal....' the Doctor replied to a question he hadn't yet been asked. '....upon coming in contact with human tissue it would send the Cybermen here to collect the King and finish the conversion process. I just used the sonic to confuse it into thinking it had fused with your flesh, et voila, one Cyberman paramedic team en route!' The Doctor grinned, clearly very pleased with himself.
There was a series of bright flashes across the room, as Cybermen began appearing in the grand chamber of Holyrood House.
'Beautiful isn't it?' the Doctor was standing behind him.
'Yes...where...where are we?'
'The planet Athenia, well....we're in my memories of the planet Athenia but, semantics....' the Doctor clasped his hands together and strode towards the edge, looking down at the buildings below. 'This is before the days of fire, of the silver fields of the Cyber Conversion chambers. Before the lush purple grass beneath your feet was turned brown and grey.' the Doctor turned to face Fairfax, his face solemn and clicked his fingers.
Suddenly, the beautiful surroundings became just as the Doctor described, the sky was burning, the grass dried out and dead, shimmering silver huts as far as the eye could see. 'What happened here Doctor?'
'You'd call it scientific advancement. I call it a Cyberman invasion fleet. This is what they'll do to Edinburgh and the wider world if you allow them to.' the Doctor replied.
With a jolt, the Doctor and Fairfax were back in Holyrood park. 'They said it would improve humanity, cure sickness.'
'In their eye holes it would Professor, but trust me, the Cybermen remove everything it means to be human, to be any race. All defining characteristics cut out in the conversion process.' the Doctor sighed, thinking of the amount of times he had seen it happen. 'Is that what your wife and child would want Professor Fairfax?'
Fairfax bowed his head, ashamed to have been so utterly misled, to bring his country and the wider world, so close to destruction. 'How do we stop them?'
The Doctor grinned widely, clapped his hands and the sparkle in his eyes was back. 'I thought you'd never ask Professor!' he indicated for them to get back inside the carriage. 'We take your bell jar cadavers to Holyrood Palace.'
Fairfax's face fell. 'Excuse me? You want me to march my creations right up to the King and hand him over to the Cybermen?'
'Yes. Well...no...but some of it yes. Currently the Cybermen are engaging Major McCallum's soldiers at Edinburgh Castle. I need to reverse the transmat beam and send the Cybermen back to whichever rock they crawled out from under. To do that, I need to get on board the Cybership. And to do that, we need to have the Cyber Leader believe you're still on side.'
Fairfax nodded slowly, sort of understanding what the Doctor was planning, amid mentions of transmat beams, and Cyberships.
'So we get inside the Palace, you send the signal to the Cybership, they transmat down, I use the sonic to reverse the beam sending me to the ship. Yes?'
Fairfax nodded slowly again.
'Excellent! I'll drive.'
*
The Doctor pulled the carriage to a halt just outside the gates to Holyrood Palace, brandishing Fairfax's invitation at the guards who promptly opened the gates and ushered them inside the grounds.
The carriage came to a stop just outside the doors where a group of staff awaited their arrival. The Doctor stepped down from the cab, pulling the door open to allow Fairfax and his remaining bell jar cadaver to exit the carriage. The most senior looking figure amongst the group stepped forward. 'Good morning Professor Fairfax, I'm Havers, one of his Majesty's closest aides. If you and your assistants would like to step inside we'll get underway as quickly as we can.'
*
'As I'm sure you're aware, His Majesty has shied away from public life in the last few months. This is because he has become quite ill.' Havers began. 'If your new machines will be able to prolong his life he will be most grateful.'
Fairfax nodded modestly. 'I hope they will Mr Havers. My original experiments were able to bring corpses back to life.' He looked to the Doctor who was glancing out of the window casually. Fairfax could not believe how calm this man was, as if all of this was an average day to him. 'However, I am in possession of a device which may assist his Majesty in breathing better.'
Fairfax looked to the Doctor again, who was shaking his head. He sighed, and moved over to the table and opened his bag. From the bag, he produced a small silver box which the Cyberleader had given him months ago. Tubes ran from the sides of the box, and Fairfax tried to remember the instructions he had been given.
'You would need to operate on the King to fit the device of course?' Havers asked.
Fairfax nodded. 'I trust you have a medical team who would be able to assist in the operation?' He gulped, surely the Doctor should be stepping in to stop all this by now?
The Doctor was moving away from the window now, producing a thing silver tube with a light on the end of it. He aimed it at the device in Fairfax's hand, emitting a whirring sound. Eventually the device began warming up and humming in his hand. 'That's the signal....' the Doctor replied to a question he hadn't yet been asked. '....upon coming in contact with human tissue it would send the Cybermen here to collect the King and finish the conversion process. I just used the sonic to confuse it into thinking it had fused with your flesh, et voila, one Cyberman paramedic team en route!' The Doctor grinned, clearly very pleased with himself.
There was a series of bright flashes across the room, as Cybermen began appearing in the grand chamber of Holyrood House.
