‘This is only an advance party,’ explained the Doctor. ‘No doubt, there are other ships out there, monitoring our own.’
‘All waiting for instructions from the Cyber leader,’ guessed Clara.
The Doctor couldn't possibly be sure. ‘I think they're cunning,’ he said. ‘They can either choose to invade the Earth, or go on the assumption my TARDIS is the most powerful ship of its kind.’ He paused a moment in thought. ‘They're not far wrong,’ he added.
~~~
Chapter Eight: No going back
The Doctor re-set the controls. The Cyber leader hadn't noticed. Clara had wanted to know more, but the Doctor was playing everything so close to his chest. He had re-jigged the co-ordinates. Their destination had changed.
He was nervous. He could see the Cybermen watching him closely, but even they had little knowledge of what the TARDIS could do.
Suddenly, there was a terrifying jolt aboard the TARDIS, and it was then the Cybermen realised what the Doctor was doing: The TARDIS was materialising. But this was no ordinary landing. The cloister bells had alerted the Cybermen to some terrible threat of danger, and they realised that it was the Doctor attempting to thwart their plans.
‘What's happening?’ shrieked Clara, struggling to stay on her feet as she slipped and tumbled into the arms of a Cyberman.
‘Clara…no!’ yelled the Doctor. He made a run towards her but was held back by their leader. ‘Don't you harm her,’ snarled the Doctor at the very top of his voice. ‘If you do, I will never help you.’
He elbowed the Cyber leader, forcing him back, as he reached for the doors. There was a thump as the TARDIS touched ground, and the Cyber leader fell backwards freeing the Doctor from his grip.
‘Stop him!’ he ordered, sending his guards after him. ‘He cannot be allowed to escape!’
Exiting his ship, the Doctor realised what he had let loose, screaming for an existence on Earth. Creatures swam and crawled out from the rift, creating terror and chaos across Cardiff.
Having shaken off the Cybermen, Clara appeared close behind the Doctor. She peered over his shoulder, looking out from the TARDIS. There was thunder, and lightning, and wind, smoke and snow. The rift was open, and it had been the Doctor's doing.
‘You did this!’ she said. ‘I can't believe you've sacrificed the human race to the monsters from the rift…’
‘Well I had to do something,’ admitted the Doctor. ‘Come on!’
The sky was filled with the most unusual things. Their origin: planets far beyond the opening of the rift.
‘Out there?’ she complained. ‘What about the TARDIS?’
‘It's alright, the controls respond to me alone,’
‘So without you on board,’ noted Clara, ‘the Cybermen are stuck here?’
‘Yes, exactly!’ exclaimed the Doctor. ‘Now hurry up!’
Clara exited the blue box and closed the doors after her. ‘Where are we going?’ she asked.
‘Well, we're in Cardiff, aren't we?’ huffed the Doctor, ‘and UNIT are here, so what do you think?’ he asked.
‘I see,’ she said, after a moment's thought. ‘What about the rift?’
‘Think of it as a diversion,’ he replied.
‘And what about Kate?’ she wailed after him.
‘I've no idea,’ he answered. ‘But after we've rallied the troops, I'm sure we'll find out.’
He glanced back at his ship. He observed the destruction of the rift, of what it was doing to the TARDIS. It was keeping the Cybermen back, and that was all that mattered.
The Cybermen had failed. Tasked with capturing the Doctor, they had failed to detain him, but the TARDIS was theirs. However they could not do with it as they wished. To do so, the Doctor had to be taken prisoner.
‘Inform Cyber-control that there have been difficulties,’ ordered the Cyber leader.
The Cyber lieutenant obeyed. ‘What of the Doctor and his companion?’ he asked.
‘We must not be seen to be weak,’ declared the Cyber leader. ‘We will threaten to destroy this world, forcing the Doctor to give himself up.’
‘Understood,’ his minion responded.
‘Instruct the Cyber army to prepare for an invasion of Earth,’ declared the Cyber leader. ‘We will use the Cyber Kings to show the people of this world the might of the Cybermen!’
~~~
The Doctor and Clara had been given access to a lecture hall in Cardiff City. It was there UNIT had settled in and made their forward base. They had spoken of how and why they had returned, and cleared up the confusion as to why Kate had disappeared.
Once their lecture was over, all UNIT personnel readied themselves for action. Told of what the Cybermen had in mind, they had to be ready for any such eventuality. A member of the taskforce stepped forward. He was inclined to. He was Kate Stewart's second best, and he had been informed of the Doctor's arrival.
His name was Ryan Mitchell, and he had served with UNIT for over six years as a Sergeant. Like Kate, he too had met the Doctor. He knew of his activities, warned him of the dangers, but it was too late for all that.
Clara was rather drawn to him. He was young, dashing, though she left the questions being asked to Ryan.
‘What can be done about the creatures that have escaped from the rift?’ he asked, with some trepidation.
‘They're not our main concern,’ answered the Doctor. ‘We must deal with the threat of the Cybermen first.’ he told him.
‘And what about Kate?’ questioned Ryan, ‘I need to know that she's alright!’
Ryan turned to his men behind him. ‘You two,’ he said, selecting two of his finest officers. ‘Gather your things, you're coming with us!’ he ordered.
The rift was active, and Cardiff was doomed. The sky was filled with beings from another world, and the TARDIS was occupied by the most ghastly of creatures. As the Doctor and his close allies reached the doors, they suddenly stopped dead in their tracks.
The ground beneath their feet shuddered, and the world appeared to rise and fall around them. It was then that the Cyber Kings appeared.
END OF PART ONE
written by
NATHAN MULLINS
copyright 2014
artwork by
COLIN JOHN
copyright 2014
