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DOCTOR WHO: 'CYBERSHOCK'
By Scott Weller
Inside the once benign, heavenly white interior of the TARDIS Console Room, an atmosphere of tragedy now permeates for the blonde haired, open-faced fifth regeneration of that mysterious time/space travelling figure known only as The Doctor, and his two young female companions, Tegan and Nyssa. The danger, terror, fear, and sadness of the last forty-eight hours exploding into a singular cascade that will affect the three of them - Time Lord, Earth human, Trakenite - now and forever. The loss of a friend, a companion, a hero. Adric, young genius mathematician and former Outler thief Adric of Alzarius, the cheeky but resourceful Adric, is gone. A victim of the deadly Cyber menace once more threatening planet Earth and the universe in general with their latest emotion-less, brutal oncoming... and a menace not yet defeated despite their three's best efforts. Two mangled silver Cybermen corpses now lay dead at their feet nearby the TARDIS's central console control column - one of them being the dark piped-ridged Cyber-Leader, who had so taunted and bullied them prior, all to observe their emotional responses with sadistic guile, and ultimately, fatefully. destroyed by the gold edge lining of Adric's now destroyed former badge for mathematical excellence, alongside multiple blasts from its own weapon bravely trained against him/it by the Doctor as he tried but failed in his race against time to save Adric, stranded on a prior Cybermen captured Earth freighter now destroyed whilst entering its mother world's orbit, the ship primed to explode via an all-controlling Cyber device. As ever, the Cybermen, despite their emotionless state, had brought much violence with them, not just physically but emotionally to their victims. And in practical terms too, as could currently be seen with the six-sided console of the TARDIS now laden with Cyber blaster detonation scars, blackened control panels and the near dwindled smoke emanating from such destruction as the Doctor and his companions fight to come to grip with the loss of Adric and whatever unseen actions he had bravely initiated to stop the fixed coordinates freighter from smashing into an Earth back at the time of the Dinosaurs, the Cybermen's horrific plan near completed yet thwarted in one respect, if at the cost of the successful cold-blooded reptilian life forms that had once dominated its vast lands, oceans and skies so successfully for Millennia rather than the humanity race of the far-off future...
"Adric..." Tegan's tears flooded the frontage of her mining fatigues frontage as she and Nyssa so tightly gripped each other in emotional security against the shock of their former friend's explosive demise, their own tears now fused as one, the grief so very palpable on their faces. The look of shock and loss was never more so on the Doctor, either, at this never to be foreseen time for his newly regenerated self, when he had needed all three of his friends so vitally early one. And as he went to approach his comrades-in-loss to share in their sorrow, a rude awakening would bring all three back to the ongoing reality, and still danger...
"Scott to TARDIS, Scott to TARDIS." A desperate male voice, caught amidst static and barely audible, suddenly took the trio by surprise. What was a maturely gruff yet vulnerable tone belonging to Earth solider Lt. Scott was now shouting out in a bizarre muffled and squelched voice from the near Cyber-Leader-crushed communicator device prior left to Nyssa by the small group of Earth soldiers that had accompanied them in the TARDIS, during events following the Cybermen's defeated attempt to destroy the future Earth from an ancient underground cave system. A dark and dangerous system guarded by servantile sentinel androids that would go on to kill so many of Scott's squad, so swiftly, prior to the Doctor and company's unexpected arrival on the doomed Earth freighter.
The desperate voice, nearly fully clouded in static damage, continued..."Doctor? Nyssa? Tegan? Is anybody out there?"
The Doctor, flanked by his friends, rushed to the small black/white lined communicator device, quickly flicked away its back panel, rammed his left middle finger into a batch of wires then turned its broken middle dial clockwise to reply. "We're here, Lieutenant Scott," he replied breathlessly - for a short time he had completely forgotten his former comrades with the demise of Adric. Now the Doctor's voice sounded a pitch higher than normal - a sign to Nyssa and Tegan that they were all still in big trouble! Tegan worriedly yet excitedly came forward wanting to contribute to the conversation, especially after recently physically fighting the Cybermen opposite the human leader soldier, but the Doctor's left hand soon came defiantly up to stop her, whilst Nyssa came further forward to subtly hold her friend's arm. The Doctor continued, still breathlessly, "What's your situation?"
"Desperate!" was the unforgettable response from Scott, his voice more audible. "Our escape pod was hit by the blast reach from the freighter." It was clear that Scott and his female colleagues voices, working in the background to frantically stabilise the vessel and alter course, were being violently lurched about. "We've taken severe damage, Doctor." There was a pause, as, controlled panic in his voice, he was clearly looking at the small escape pod's turbulence-damaged control panels. "We're out of control and heading towards the atmosphere. We have only minutes." An older woman's voice could now be heard in the background to Scott, imploring, "Please help us, Doctor." It was Briggs, the striking seasoned redhead captain of the once Earth freighter. Briggs who'd once dominated the ship and its small but loyal crew with her blunt, forceful personality, before the Cybermen were uncovered aboard it, and who'd now lost everything. Not just her ship, but her command, her career, her bonuses and her crew. And now her life was at the edge of non-existence!
On the TARDIS viewscreen, their doomsday plight was more than evident as the small escape pod approached the Earth's upper atmosphere. "We're coming!" the Doctor's blue eyes, which were once of confident steel when he destroyed the Cyber-Leader, now showing mild fear and panic as his neural peptides worked quickly to override such feelings - his breathless energy, authority and spirit returning as his tall, Edwardian-coated frame leapt across the control consoles clicking buttons, turning switches whilst guiding Tegan and Nyssa to join him for emergency duties across the six-sided console room, swiftly sweeping dust and debris away from control damage with his coat collars, adjusting and rerouting the damaged systems as his companions worked quicky to his orders and advice like never before, operating various switches indicated by their whirlwind-at-work guide. There was no way they'd let anyone else die today! The various sounds of the damaged TARDIS came back to life, beeping and blooping until a whole new series of noises from its power systems flooded the room. As the Doctor switched his two middle fingers into a cross for luck, he shouted the final instructions to his equally breathless companions as they coordinated their efforts in rescuing the freighter's stricken escape pod, now seen even more rapidly approaching the Earth's Van Allan Belt, of which its sides and small under carriage were now starting to turn orange and dispatch shards of burning heat animatedly outwards, followed by radiation contamination.
Almost grasping the escape pod, it was then that a sudden explosion knocked our trio almost off their feet within the seeming trans-dimensional safety of the Console Room. The TARDIS now attacked by a circular spinning wheel vessel coming into view as the Doctor adjusted the screen settings. He remembered: "The escaped Cyber troops!" They'd previously seen a wheel-like craft with some kind of weapon appendages departing the vessel before the planned doomsday - a vessel with a crew which had nowhere else to go to in this time period millions of years in the past, long before Mondas, the Cybermen's original home planet, evolved and its people began Cyber conversion of themselves. With only the now shattered realms of Prehistoric Earth beneath them, where they would surely die out, and with no way of communicating with their other selves millions of years into the future, it was clear that the lone Cyber vessel had logically decided that it had no choice but to attack.Their plan to try and damage the TARDIS and attempt some way of boarding her, their only way back to the future and the security of the massive Cyber space force that had been heading towards future Earth in the wake of the Freighter plot - the deceased Cyber Leader's ongoing communications to the Doctor and his companions before its demise clearly relayed on to them via the once existing Cyber Matrix that had operated at close range to the TARDIS. The Cyber ship may not be a massive craft, but its potent missiles could do some damage, especially with the TARDIS systems so vulnerable right now...
Despite the attacks, of which a further shudder almost launched them all side ways from the console and its ever moving time rotor, the Doctor was pressing on as his companions grasped what he was doing with certain instruments. "You're doing what the Master did!" shouted Tegan in remembered excitement as the freighter escape pod exterior now ablaze, and its see-through interior within, suddenly took shape, the sound of the TARDIS rematerializing heard with the pod's entry into the Console Room: the Doctor having re-channeled its ability to work on an outside frame. "Get them out of there on my signal," the Doctor once more shouted hurriedly to his attentive companions, as they saw the gaining shape solidity of the vulnerable and near-exhausted physical forms of the four survivors inside the pod, all desperate to survive: the grumpy-looking moustached Scott (his now bewildered-by-it-all frame and facial attitude greatly reminding the Doctor of his old friend Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart!), his only surviving battle comrade (the TARDIS crew were never quite able to pin down his name) bruised and bloodied from Cyber conflict, the grey/blonde haired navigator and second-in-command of the now destroyed freighter, the once cool and collected Berger, and the face of the small framed but mighty Captain Briggs, all showing as much surprise as the aforementioned Scott, mixed with pure time running out panic on their faces, as too were the Doctor's companions with the materialisation- the outer shell and escape hatch barely visible over the fully realised frames. "Now!" shouted the Doctor, stabilizing a control switch then racing with his companions began to pull the foursome out of the now rapidly disappearing, dying escape pod, of which flames in and out of materialisation had manifested around it. Tegan was soon to describe the experience of pulling them through the materialisation vortex grip as being like wading through invisible treacle, a weird sensation as Lt. Scott was finally retrieved into the solid roundel-filled environment around them, joining his friends as their desperate to escape bewilderment proved successful. Tegan and Nyssa were tending to the foursome when once more the Cyber attacks continued on the TARDIS, the Console Room shuddering as one of the rear console panels started crying out sparks, with Nyssa running to obtain a nearby fire extinguisher.
Just as soon as it had arrived, the pod frame had vanished completely. Departing from the others, Briggs was soon with the Doctor, now back to the console whilst she intently gazed at the viewscreen. The escape pod re-appeared in the Earth's atmosphere, afire from the Van Allen Belt, reacting like a spinning top with its approaching demise. With only seconds to spare, the Doctor and his new passengers, still winded from their experience, were speechless as the pod finally disintegrated. And as the Cyber ship continued its attack, the white interior light of the Console Room around them briefly turned an eerie orange, the Doctor, holding onto the nearest console side, swerved the TARDIS away from the Van Allen Belt with such speed that the Cyber vessel was suddenly unable to pursue and attack any further, its fiery fate within it also awaited! Physically floored by the fast motion of the TARDIS, its occupants picked themselves up to watch the consumption and destruction of their Cyber foes with intense satisfaction, especially Tegan, murmuring with satiated revenge, "That one's for you, Adric," her once immaculate make-up once more damaged around her watery eyes. The Doctor soon put a consoling arm around her shoulders. "Brave Heart, Tegan!" he said subtly, watching the last quick remnants of the Cyberman's fiery demise.
As the new quartet of visitors got used to their incredible surroundings, notably Berger and Briggs, and with things settling down, Scott asked the Doctor where Adric was, presuming him to have been rescued earlier, and wanting to thank him for all his efforts on the freighter. It's then that the crestfallen escape pod survivors hear the shocking news of the young boy's demise and how the TARDIS crew were not able to rescue their friend in time, of which Tegan has a sudden impulse, a look on her face as an idea builds in her mind, a 'what if?' moment ready to form.
At the last point of contact with the Cyber fleet assembling in space behind the freighter before its disappearance into the past, the Doctor concludes that the threat to the future of Earth remains. Scott has bargained that in the time that the freighter had been first detected on collision course with the Peace Conference, the important gathering would surely have been suspended, with time brought to them with its disappearance into the past. Even now a force of vessels will likely have been mobilized against the returned Cybermen threat. If only they could help. "No sooner said than done, Lt.!" said the Doctor determinedly, almost fused to the console, adjusting, overriding and re-locking coordinates, followed by a swift banging of the bottom of his right fist into the console, with a resultant twanging noise from the bowels of the colourful centre Time Rotor beginning anew from its former stationery position above the past Earth, its time traversing mechanism rising and falling with better efficiency than a few hours back. The vessel and its owner in synch with each other like never before, thinks Nyssa, as she and Tegan bring chairs and water to their almost killed friends. A vigilant, eager to return home yet battle ready Scott remaining close by the Doctor, gun slung over his shoulder, watching him, ready to assist in the unlikely event that the alien traveller might need it.
Soon enough, the coordinate backtracking TARDIS materialised at its next space/time coordinates, finding itself as an outside observer to a space war of multi-coloured laser blasts and exploding ships, as a small force of Earth/Alien delegates vessels courageously fought the pristine silver Cyber warships, vessels that looked as coldly logical and efficient in construction as their builders, with help helpfully on the way against such a powerful, emotionless enemy.
The Cyber warships have already taken lots of damage, a state which intensifies as ships' literally break apart unleashing dying Cybermen into the chaos of space brutality, but they seem to be holding their ground despite several more unified alliance vessels joining the conflict against them. The view leaves Tegan horrified, having never seen or been involved in a war before, let alone a space war, and witnessing the huge loss of life with each destroyed human/alien vessel. With prior warning about to be given to the human/alien forces to move away from their oncoming co-ordinates (helped by a a special coded communications channel set up by Nyssa and Scott), the Doctor began readying his new coordinates to help the protector group, planning to use his TARDISes shield energy as a directed force against the attacking silver foes, the vessel so-far seemingly insignificant to the aligned Cyber ships they'd be approaching.
Even Briggs and Berger, monitoring the TARDIS power and control systems graphics readouts, proved able to help the Doctor around the six-sided console. As ever in her nature, Briggs tried to dominate and tell the Doctor what to do, of which he'd firmly remind her: "On your ship you gave the orders, but now you're on mine..." which generates some small humour between the heroes and the briefly flustered Briggs, a moment temporarily breaking the tenseness of their ongoing situation. Scott and Tegan, taking over from Nyssa, who was now working alongside the Doctor, with the surviving guards (Seaton or Foster? It was hard to follow) were further coordinating the attack plan with the human forces as the Doctor broke off briefly from his work and surveyed them all at their own unique tasks. "Do you know," he tells his comrades-in-battle. "This is the first time that this ship has ever had a full crew!" Though proud of this moment, only Tegan can bring the Time Lord back to the reality of their situation with that familiar subtle scowl of hers...
Now slowly pulling out in reverse from the battle, the human ships had not given the game away as to their plan as the Cyber force pressed on. With Nyssa working on the power convergence circuits, having gained more experience with the TARDISes overall controls in the last few weeks, the time was now. "Here we go," said the Doctor, once more relying on what Tegan called "his rackety old TARDIS" within a point in Earth's history that would prove significant.
As the TARDIS disappeared and the familiar groaning sound of the Time Rotor began again, the Doctor was readying the power distribution as the vessel suddenly appeared directly in the path of the enemy fleet, its weapons swiftly locking on at the blue box, as Nyssa soon declared. It was then that the Doctor turned a switch with flippant ease as the TARDIS environment went into low power, its primary energy fully channeled as its outside frame suddenly spun like a whirling dervish as its temporal shield power, combined with other re-routed internal energies, lashed out at the attacking Cyber force, literally tearing through their dozen remaining ships like a knife through butter, as explosions large and small sent the silver ships into oblivion, though some of the Cyber vessels behind the main force had managed to regroup, their systems and heavy weaponry still incredibly damaged by the intensity of the blast as the spent out TARDIS slowly came to a dead halt in space and the vengeance-fulled human/alien vessels began to chase the retreating enemy, later dispersed into the darkness of space like ethereal ghosts. As Nyssa, opposite the Doctor, kept an eye on the various console readings, she couldn't help but turn to the viewscreen to see the powerful carnage being wrought from the TARDIS, and as she turned back to her work she was sure she'd witnessed a hint of revenge and darkness in the Doctor's face, albeit briefly, with the demise of one of his oldest enemies, a plague throughout the universe, as he would later call them.As brief but colourful explosions brightened from the screen, Scott had further news that more re-enforcements had arrived from space warp to begin their pursuit. The Cyber threat was surely finished as the Doctor walked up to Tegan, who was now looking towards the blue green world that was forever home. An Earth once more safe thanks to them, and thanks to the bravery of their lost friend.
Despite the shock truly brought to the fled Cybermen, where there should have been further congratulatory cheers from the TARDIS occupants, the atmosphere remained generally solemn once the vessel materialised inside the hold of one of the command freighters, and further so when the body of the Cyber murdered Dr. Kyle had been removed from the vessel, her departing body bag carried gently and respectfully by two Earth soldiers whilst watched by a teary-eyed Nyssa, who had oh-so-briefly gotten to know the young archaeologist who'd wanted to help her friends so much. And then there were the two destroyed Cybermen, whose massive, technologically-augmented bodies the military scientific teams were eager to get to work in analysing - these particular Cybermen being unlike anything they'd encountered previously. Tegan looked at the removal with distaste in her mouth, feeling nauseous as a strange smell emanated from their decayed bodies, the mouth chins within their helmets, the only indications of their once humanoid selves, now corroding in a strange form of rigour mortis.
Now ready to return to more familiar surroundings, Scott, his fellow soldier, Briggs and Berger would part company from the travellers. Never one to forget the heavy losses of this day, Scott nodded his head in thanks to Tegan and Nyssa, then told the Time Lord, "I'm truly sorry about Adric, Doctor. He disobeyed my order. We couldn't stop him." There was a pause as the Doctor looked slightly away from Scott. "We owe him," the tall. confident leader continued, now looking to Tegan and Nyssa, "And you all, so much," before saluting the trio and determinedly leaving the vessel with his battle comrade. Then came a tender shaking of hands from a relieved Berger and Briggs, as well as an unexpected peck on the cheek of 'thanks' to the Doctor from the former, her face equally serious and sad.
"An intriguing space vehicle you have, Doctor," said Briggs, trying to lighten the mood somewhat, taking one last look at the environment around her, before reaching the open doors of the console room with Berger in tow. "I'll be fighting my way back to get a commission, have no fear. But with the Company it wont be easy. If thing's don't work out... perhaps you could put in a word? A partnership, perhaps? Your technology could make us all rich, y'know," she said semi-seriously. The Doctor frowned, giving a polite smile once again as he shook goodbye with her. It was a case she was never going to win."Come on, Berger," Briggs said with her matronly air. "We have lots to do!" Almost through the doors they both gave a final parting wave to their former war colleagues.
Letting a release of de-stressed air from his lungs, the Doctor grabbed hold of his nearby bulky tool kit, informing his friends quietly, respectfully - the aftermath air still cold, "I won't be long, there's a couple of final things to do with the authorities, help them disable the Cyber Matrix in those bodies. And I have to check the outer plasmic shell of the TARDIS after those Cyber missile volleys." The solemn look had returned to his friends as the fierce and emotional events they'd endured had come to a head. Not knowing what more he could say at present, he passed through the double doors, his trainers squelching on the floor with the rapid movement, not looking back as he departed. With Nyssa starting to pull away power cords so as to take them back to their original shelter, Tegan suddenly found herself all alone in the TARDIS, amongst the blinking lights and subtle humming instruments of the ever-impressive Console Room. She was about to join in and help Nyssa, after changing back from the late Dr. Kyle's overalls to her regular and comforting 1981 air stewardess outfit, when the tip of her boot dislodged something on the dirtied white floor surface. She knelt down and saw what was left of Adric's badge for mathematical excellence, given to him so long ago before his journeys in the TARDIS, and which had been prior used by the Doctor for its unique gold lining to defeat the evil Cyber-Leader.
Gently, delicately trying to rescue the lone pieces in her hands, what was left to gather soon slipped through her fingers, disintegrating further into near nothingness. And as that happened, amidst a near silent cry of "Oh, no...", the memories of her now-gone friend came through - of the dangers they'd traversed, the heavy rows that had been ultimately made-up between them, and the often fun and wonder that they had all shared alongside the still mysterious, eccentrically amused Doctor in the TARDIS.
It was then that Tegan Jovanka, the seemingly indomitable 'mouth on legs', wept once more...
The End
This story is dedicated to the 1982 cast and crew who made Earthshock such a memorable and All-Time Classic Doctor Who adventure.
