"Well, Jo, what did you think to the glimpse of your recent past?" the Doctor asked his travelling companion.
Jo smiled from the other side of the six-sided console at the centre of the TARDIS. "It wasn't exactly as I remember it," she admitted.
Their most recent adventure had taken them to 1959 London, where the Doctor had helped the British Rocket Group to repatriate an alien. Jo had been eight years old in 1959 and it had been interesting seeing London then through adult eyes.
A bleeping noise from the console caught both their attentions. A bulb flickered into winking life as well.
Jo asked the obvious question. "What is it, Doctor?"
"Intergalactic distress call," replied the Time Lord, operating controls rapidly. "I'm trying to pinpoint the location now."
Jo stood back and watched him work. He dashed round the console, flicking switches and pressing buttons seemingly at random. His green velvet smoking jacket flapped around him as he moved.
"Got it!" he exclaimed with a grin of triumph. "The planet Pakesh, second sector, late 26th Century, Earth time."
"So, are we going to answer it?" Jo inquired.
"We're already on our way," the Doctor told her, rubbing the back of his neck. "Can't ignore an intergalactic distress call. It wouldn't be, well, cricket."
***
"Why do we always land a long walk away from the action?" Jo complained, as they walked along a dusty path between two rows of large crops.
"Well, I suppose the TARDIS doesn't want us to walk straight into trouble," the Doctor told her.
"So, we have to walk a mile or two first before getting into trouble," Jo concluded, but with a half smile that showed she wasn't really complaining.
"Yes, I suppose so," the Doctor replied, returning the half smile.
Jo was thoughtful for a moment. "You say this is an Earth colony?"
The Doctor nodded. "Pakesh was established in 2496 as part of the expansion programme that led to the Earth Empire in later years. It's basically a farming colony, with no real mineral wealth to exploit. The colonists export cereal products to other Earth colonies in the sector."
"Thanks for the future history lesson," Jo said. "Any idea why they sent the distress call?"
"None," the Doctor answered honestly. "But we might have soon." He pointed ahead to where a settlement had come into view at the end of the pathway.
***
"There's nobody home," Jo commented as they walked down the dusty main street of the small settlement. Indeed, there was no sign of life from the nearby plastic domes and wooden shacks.
"Very odd," the Doctor said. He had paused to examine one of the domes. "Look at this, Jo."
She peered over his shoulder at the scorch marks in the plastic. "Weapons?" she asked.
The Doctor nodded grimly. He looked about him. Across the street one of the wooden huts had a ragged hole blasted in its side.
"There has been trouble here, Jo. And recently too."
Jo noticed it first. A glint of silver in the sunlight. As it came into clearer view, she gasped, drawing the Doctor's attention.
He uttered one word, but made it sound almost like a curse.
"Cybermen!"
***
Jo took in the details of the Cyberman in the second after the Doctor uttered the name. It was tall; over six feet. It looked like a robot, being entirely silver in colour, but something in the fluidity of it's movement suggested it was more than just a robot. Its face was a blank mask, with empty holes for eyes. Each eye had a smaller hole beneath it, almost like a tear.
Jug-like handles protruded from the sides of its head. The mouth was just a thin slit. There was no sign of ears or nose.
The Cyberman brought up its weapon, levelled at the two friends. There was nowhere to run.
The blast of an energy weapon sounded close by and Jo closed her eyes, waiting for death. But instead, she felt the Doctor grab her arm, pulling her along.
"Come on, Jo," he called.
She opened her eyes. More energy blasts sounded. But they were not directed at her and the Doctor. The Cyberman was firing down the street, where she could now see a small group of men firing back at it. The Doctor was pulling her towards them.
The Cyberman noticed them fleeing and fired in their direction. The wooden hut behind them exploded into thousands of fragments.
The Doctor and Jo reached the relative safety of a makeshift barricade, behind which the attackers were based. One of them broke off from firing to talk to the newcomers. He was tall, with a long, thin face ending in a wispy beard. His dark hair was long and tied back, to avoid it getting in his way.
"I'm Jon Palmer, from Pakesh City. Are there any more survivors?"
"We've not seen anybody," the Doctor told him.
Palmer looked crestfallen, but only for a moment. He called to the others.
"Fall back, men. These two are the only ones left."
Under the blanket of covering fire, they sprinted towards a couple of skimmers parked at the edge of the village.
Palmer took the controls of one, with the Doctor, Jo and another man on board. The other three men piled into the other skimmer.
Lifting the skimmer into the air, Palmer brought it around in a slow circle over the village, giving the other man aboard the chance to provide covering fire for the other skimmer. It too lifted into the air, banking to join the first.
As Palmer pressed the control stick forward, they heard a muffled explosion beside them. Turning sharply, all four aboard saw the second skimmer wheeling away from them, ablaze. The Cyberman had found a target.
"Damn," Palmer cursed. He pressed the control further forward, increasing their speed. The journey was completed in silence.
***
"So, you're not actually colonists?" Palmer asked.
"No," the Doctor replied. "We came in response to your distress call."
"Well, excuse me for being blunt, but you're not exactly the kind of rescue team we were expecting."
The Doctor smiled. "No, I don't suppose we are. But I have experience fighting the Cybermen."
This made Palmer sit up and take notice. "You fought in the Cyber War?" he asked.
The Time Lord shook his head. "I abhor war and violence in all their forms. But there are some evils that must be fought, whatever the cost. The Cybermen are one of those evils."
"It's a shame you feel that way about war, Doctor," Palmer said.
"Why?"
"Because by answering our distress call, you've landed yourself and your young friend right in the middle of one!"
"Well, at least now we know the nature of your distress," Jo said.
"How long have the Cybermen been here?" the Doctor asked Palmer.
"Just under a week. They have systematically wiped out the villages to the north of Pakesh City, getting ever closer."
"Are there many here?" Jo wanted to know. "We only saw the one."
Palmer smiled slightly. "They have a very small force. That's why they are here, to convert humans to swell their ranks."
"I assume the armaments you have are no use against them?"
Palmer shook his head. "Nothing we have will scratch them. If help does not arrive soon, all is lost."
The Doctor lapsed into deep thought. You could almost see the cogs whirring beneath his shock of white hair.
"Why was there only the one back at the village?" Jo asked Palmer.
"A sentry to catch any survivors or lone investigators. It must have thought you two were easy prey."
"Charming!" Jo commented. The long haired colonist smiled.
The Doctor snapped his fingers. "I might just have a solution. Tell me, do you have access to many carpenters?"
"Yes, we have a number of them in the city," Palmer replied, mystified.
"Artists?" the Doctor inquired.
"A few people I know paint in their spare time. Why?"
"Oh, just an idea. Now, could you give me a lift back to the village where you found us?"
"Of course, but that Cyberman will still be there."
"That's alright, I want to be a mile or two beyond the village anyway. Now, when can we start?"
***
The Doctor and Jo were back in the TARDIS console room. The Doctor opened a wall locker and began rummaging through it.
"I'm sure they are here somewhere," he muttered to himself.
"Can I help?" Jo asked, feeling a little left out.
"It's alright, Jo. I've got them." He emerged from the cupboard, holding up a couple of objects. "Not really my kind of thing, but I'm glad I kept them now."
They were about to leave when the Doctor paused. "I nearly forgot."
Jo was about to ask what had he nearly forgot, but he had already disappeared through the inner door of the TARDIS.
He emerged a minute later, clutching a leather pouch.
"Should I ask what that is?" Jo inquired.
"All in good time, my dear," he told her, pocketing the pouch.
They left the TARDIS and went to rejoin Palmer at the skimmer. As they came in sight, they saw him wave frantically.
"Come on, quick. The Cybermen are coming!"
Jo looked beyond the skimmer to see six silver aliens bearing down on the craft. She didn't need the Doctor's urging to run for it.
They piled in quickly and Palmer hit the thrusters. The craft lifted into the air quickly, followed by a couple of poorly aimed blaster bolts.
Dodging more bolts, they banked away from the Cybermen and headed back for the city.
"The guard in the village must have alerted them when we flew over," Palmer said when they were out of range.
"How many Cybermen are on this planet?" the Doctor asked him.
"Not many more than you've just seen. We've counted eight at most."
The Doctor looked thoughtful. "Not a full scale conversion unit, then. Probably a harvesting mission."
"Harvesting?" Jo inquired.
The Time Lord looked at her grimly. "Yes, Jo, harvesting. They capture humans and take them somewhere to be converted into Cybermen."
"That's horrible!" Jo exclaimed, shuddering.
"Yes," mused the Doctor. "It is, isn't it?"
***
The Cyberleader felt nothing as the skimmer disappeared towards the human city. Not anger at the failure to capture another three humans, nor frustration at their escape. Instead, it moved on to the next item for examination.
"Scan that object and run it's pattern through our databanks," it ordered, gesturing towards the tall blue box.
"Yes, Leader," replied one of its troops.
Soon, the Leader thought, this world would belong to the Cybermen. But it felt no triumph at the prospect.
***
The Doctor handed over the objects he had retrieved from the TARDIS to Jon Palmer.
"I need your carpenters and painters to run up as many exact copies of these as you can," he told the man.
"I recognize this," Palmer said, turning one of them over in his hand.
The Doctor nodded. "I thought you might. Now, when you have the copies made, I'll outline my plan."
***
Due to the efficiency of the Cyber race, it only needed eight of them to crew the large collection ship. Command could have sent a conversion ship to this world, but they required large crews, and troops were thin on the ground. That was why they needed humans.
Having to chase them through settlements was very inefficient, so when a group of nearly fifty landed a short distance from the ship, the Cyberleader came as close to being pleased as he ever got. Which actually wasn't very close at all.
The leading three of the group were the humans that had escaped from them near the village the day before. The leader did not smile at this irony.
"You will serve us. You will become like us," the Leader informed the humans.
"I don't think so," said the tall male with white hair. "We're here to remove you from this planet!"
The Leader did not smile. It did, however, note the misplaced heroics of the humans, which had been recognised in the species before.
The white haired male spoke again. "I'm sure you will recognise these," he said, gesturing to the guns that all the humans were holding. The Leader had not really noticed them before, knowing that humans possessed little that could harm its race.
Now it looked closer at the guns. It came as close to flinching as a Cyberman ever does.
"Yes, that's right," said white hair again. "These are Glitter Guns, developed during the Cyber War to fire either liquid gold or a fine spray of gold dust. And, as we all know, gold clogs up your workings, doesn't it, old chap?"
As if on cue, one of the humans, a female, fired and a Cyberman went down, clutching its chest unit. The mechanical scream was cut off as coolant erupted from the prone form.
"What do you want of us?" the Leader asked. He knew that logically his force was outnumbered. Fifty humans armed with Glitter Guns would be more than a match for his force, now reduced to seven.
"Leave this world in peace," the white haired man said. "And release those you have prisoner before you go."
The Cyberleader considered. Better to leave this world for now and return later with a larger force, than to be destroyed for no reason. That would be inefficient.
"Very well. We will release our prisoners." He waved a hand at one of his sub-ordinates, who lead some of the armed humans into the ship to receive their fellows. The white haired male went too, though the Leader noticed he carried no gun himself. Curious.
Within half a cycle, it was done. The humans were released and the ship was ready for take off. We shall return, the Leader thought as the ship lifted off.
***
The colonists cheered as the ship disappeared into the sky above Pakesh. Palmer grinned at the Doctor.
"It worked!" he exclaimed. He shook the Time Lords hand vigorously, then tried to hand him his gun.
"No, thank you," said the Doctor politely. "Never touch the things."
"But it's yours," protested Palmer. "You gave it to me."
"Then keep it. They were just a couple of relics I collected somewhere years ago. Never used them."
"Good job they didn't call our bluff," Jo said, knocking her wooden replica against the side of the skimmer, making a hollow sound.
"What's to stop them coming back with reinforcements?" Palmer asked, suddenly sombre.
"Well," said the Doctor, rubbing the back of his neck, "I left them a little something. A bag of gold dust in their oxygen filtration system."
"I thought they didn't need oxygen," Jo reminded him.
"They don't," the Doctor told her. "But their prisoners did. It's pumped all over the ship. I made sure they can't switch it off." He looked regretful. "I hate taking life, any life. But creatures like the Cybermen tend to take the choice out of my hands."
***
"Leader, we have a report on the object we scanned."
"Report."
"Records indicate it is a TARDIS, piloted by a Time Lord known as the Doctor."
The Leader made an instant decision. "Return us to Pakesh. We will capture the Doctor and his craft."
The Cyberman at the helm moved to comply, but found he had a tightening feeling in his chest. He fell back from his post, venting coolant foam.
Around the bridge, more Cybermen fell. The last one standing was the Leader, who realised too late that the Doctor had beaten them again. He didn't feel angry as he died.
