The Coriolis Explosion (Ten/SJ)

People had been getting cooked in elevators.  Not very many, but it was an odd enough thing she had noticed.  In 1979, it was difficult to get international news, but she had connections.  It had taken her six days to find a pattern, and a pattern it had been exactly, represented by red pushpins in her cardboard globe.  The next day she'd spent with a mad scientist who owed her a favor.  The pattern was a microwave, as it turned out, and she persuaded Dr.Rosencrans to calculate the position of the emitter.  Scotland indeed.  It took her two more days to figure out how to break in.  She wished she had a sonic screwdriver so badly her hands had clutched at empty air again as she'd made her plan.  Dressed in black and armed with a camera, she snuck in through the door she'd managed to lodge some chewing gum in.

It took her 20 seconds to set off the alarm, and it annoyed her that she did not know how she'd done it.  It must have been some sort of alien technology, for 37 seconds after sneaking in a side door, she found herself in their grip.  Oh, they looked human, the probably were human, but it only took a few seconds to see that the lights were on but nobody was home.  Soldiers that moved as if programed.  She lost the speed test, trying to escape before they could drag her back into the building.  Suddenly, inevitably, they were dragging her to some sort of light up contraption, and no one listened to a word she screamed.   Was she about to be roasted like the other victims?  Was this the end?

They tied her in, and got out of the way as the thing began to hum.  She was near to harmonizing with it as the sound built, and then the world went away.

She could not have been more surprised when she was suddenly elsewhere.  She was in some sort of clear, reclined pod.  It felt like it was spinning, but she knew that was just the transport.  She recognized the twist in her gut from rough travel through the vortex.  Perhaps it was that very understanding that saved her the next.   There was a bright light going off repeatedly to her right accompanied by a thick sizzling sound.  The pod that held her was jerking in sequence to the right, heading straight for whatever phenomenon was occurring   up ahead.  She kicked her way out.  One glance showed her how lucky she was to escape whatever bolt of energy was zapping the head of pod after pod.  Pods that were filled with people less lucky than herself.   Her brain shot in six directions, looking for a solution.  The thing in the room she understood entirely was the conveyer.  With careful timing needed and not enough time, she reached between pods as though between train cars, and yanked out slick spool after spool that managed the belt tension.  Soon, it doubled on itself, overran, then snagged.  

Someone was coming.  She slipped down a vent, hoping no one would notice the missing grate.  It was a tight fit, but all the better for her.  It was less likely they'd think to look if someone had escaped that way.

She had four minutes of terrible journey in the odd twisting vent before she found a room without sentience in it. There was a  strange and wild variety of peoples, many of whom she recognized, populated this place, and she'd even spied species she knew did not get along working side by side with each other.  Eventually though, she found a place where she could only hear intermittent jets of steam, and see some sort of large mechanism.  It throbbed.  Engines? Spaceship engines often throbbed, she thought.  A good a place for mayhem as any.  It took one more length of vent before she found a loose grate.  It was right behind some sort of dark crate, but there was enough room to wiggle her way out like an angel worm.  

Her eyes were closed for 16 seconds, looking back over the craziness of the last 7 days that had lead her to this moment. Warm painted wood was under her hand and cheek.  Smooth.  She flickered her eyes open to see it was blue.  Very blue.  Very . .wooden.  When she looked up, she might have fallen that instant if she wasn't half wedged between the wall, and the TARDIS.

"What do you mean i cannot have more than two quarts of derlius acid?!" A voice cried out across the dark halls of the spacecraft before being quickly overshadowed by countless other voices and eventually a reply, "It's universal law, i'm sorry". Turning the corner of the hall, one could see a great opening in the ship, a center market square where countless bodies huddled over merchant stands on three different levels. In the center stood a great monument art statue, its mighty base standing on what appeared to be glass, endless stars and galaxies off in the distance and passing ships zooming past, later to dock or exit the galaxy via hyperspace.

However, among the seemingly endless stands and people, one merchant in particular was receiving more attention than any of the others. His stand housing countless devices and nick nacks, as well as a glimmering white pod on display and a particle gun hoisted up above a case for all to see. In front, a three stock eyed alien verbally fought the merchant, "I've been stationed her on the intergalactic trade market for years. Now you are saying i cannot sell some of the stuff i have?!" the merchant protested, "Yes. It is against intergalactic law" the alien retorted, "Sanctioned by whom?!" the merchant spat. "The Shadow Proclamation" A voice answered from behind the three eyed alien, a thin man, a long brown trench coat hanging down to his white converse sneakers, a brown blue pin striped suit laying beneath the coat. His eyes burned into the merchant's like the sun before they glanced off to the alien beside him, "I'll take it from here" he told him, the alien nodded, "Kept him busy for you boss".

The merchant gulped, "Listen..i..i had no idea the Shadow Proclamation was keeping ties on me, i-" he began to plea, "Oh come on, don't give me that" The Doctor cut him off, "You've been here for years. I've watched you. But come on! That's a class five temperal transference pod. Outlawed in over ten galactic districts and your telling me you didn't know?" The Doctor continued, gesturing to the glimmering white pod with his head. "T-take it if that's what you want! I just don't want Shadow Proclamation in my face all the time" The merchant replied, "No" The Doctor quickly hissed, "Then what do you want?" The merchant asked. "I know a time jump was made from inside of this ship" The Doctor began, leaning forward on the stand in front of him, "I need from where and by who"; the merchant peered around the market square before looking back to The Doctor, "Time jumps are extremely rare..not many even know about it. How do you...who are you?" he asked.

The Doctor smirked, "I'm The Doctor" he replied, "I'm a Time Lord..one of the last..well..in this universe..of an ancient race. If you look for an authority above me, there isn't one, it ends with me. I've seen the beginning and end of the universe and i am standing here asking you for you help...now where can i find who's responsible?". The merchant hesitated for a moment, taking in all the information before peering around once more then handing The Doctor a card, "Level 2, room 115..you didn't hear about it from me" he whispered. The Doctor nodded and sauntered to the center of the market square, glancing from the card given to him then up to the second level, his eyebrow arching.

After a moment's collapse, her legs got their starch back.  Her thoughts were tumbling. It was great he was here.  It was bad he was here, it was great . . . . .well, you knew you'd found trouble on a Galactic scale when the Doctor decided to show up.  This was going to be no easy fix.  But then again, the Doctor was here.  Her odds for survival may not have changed, but it was going to be more fun this way.

All of that she thought to herself as she made her way around to the front of the TARDIS.  One more look over her shoulder reassured her that no one was about.  Then she turned back, again over-come by the familiarity of it all, and rapped  her knuckles on the TARDIS door.

"Doctor!" She half hissed in a stage whisper.  "Doctor! Its Sarah Jane! Are you in there?!" She got up on her toes and blocked out the light to see in the window  even though she knew there was nothing really to see.  Disgruntled, she eased down on her heels, but rapped and hissed some more. Last she knocked in more more somber fashion, the side of her head resting on the TARDIS.  "It's Sarah."

It did cross her mind that if the Doctor was here, and that big zapper was here, then he was likely closer to it than to his TARDIS.  Well, she couldn't go back there, and she couldn't just stay here waiting.  Her big plan when she first realized she'd found the engine room had been to destroy this ship.  However, it seemed a radical choice if the Doctor was here.  She wouldn't mind too much doing herself in for a worthy cause, but the Universe just might miss the Doctor.  It would have been a balance of lives, how many would she have to kill here to save countless more lives from, apparently, around the whole Universe? This place had to be stopped.  No, she couldn't wait here.

The elevator hissed open with the echoing sound of an electronic ding; the white converse shoes of The Doctor the first thing to step out before the rest of his body followed after. Glancing down both sides of the diverging hallway in front of him, The Doctor looked for any sign of number markers to aid in his search for the room. First there was a sign, the intergalactic number system etched onto it with small arrows pointing which way they were. The Doctor read it closely before turning down the right and sauntering down the hallway, his eyes shifting from the door numbers to the hallway in front of him as he walked.

To his left firmly stood a series of rails, stopping anyone from falling down two stories and on to the market square floor beneath. Echoes of endless bargaining, drunken laughter and arguments called out to The Doctor as he glanced down to the market square. Seemingly endless bodies hoarded the various vendor stations and designated portions of the square based on what they were selling, making it nearly impossible to see the ground floor.

115 Finally the illusive number appeared before The Doctor's range of sight, turning on his heel, The Doctor turned to the door. Endless thoughts about what could be behind the door spiraled through his mind as his hand reached for the door handle. Then suddenly voices rang out from behind it, The Doctor quickly shifted to the side and hid just beside the window as the door creaked open. "We need to move it to a secure location" One voice insisted, "But the boss told us to wait here until he arrived!" another retorted before a pause then began again but now in a whispering tone, "We cannot afford another Roswell on Earth..remember that? It gave the humans our technology and now look where they are. If we are to get this to the customer then we need to follow protocol...otherwise we'l be converted just like Jimmy was". Suddenly a form shot from the corner and stormed off towards the elevator, the other quick to follow him. Now was his chance; The Doctor jumped at the opportunity and bolted into the room before the door closed shut behind him. His eyes shot wide open in disbelief, "What..." he hissed, "But..but that's..that's..impossible".

From her pocket, she took out her lipstick, a surprisingly multinational tool. Right now, she needed to send a message. She flipped off the cap and wrote write across the front. She was smiling when she did it, in part because she knew it would annoy him.

"Dear Doctor,
I'll need a ride home please."
She wrote, and signed her name more legibly that usual. Then she added
"P.S. Trouble", realizing ruefully that now it looked like 'Trouble' was her last name.

This was not a good place to hide, she was to obviously out of place. What she needed now was to figure out how she could slip in from the edges of this strange, zombie-like work force. Maybe all she had to do was study them and pretend to be like them. She hoped that would work.Then she started working her way out of the engine room, giving one more rueful glance at the TARDIS. Some small and selfish part of her wanted to just get in it and be safe, leaving all this mess behind.

"Where are you?" she implored with a complex mixture of annoyance and hope. It was hard to turn her back on the TARDIS and return to the fray, but she would never be able to forgive herself if she didn't. She listened hard and followed any sound that wasn't mechanical. That way she eventually wound up in the Engineering section. Someone hit the alarm, spotting her, and she as on the run again. Luckily, the fellows who hit the alarm was all arm and no leg, and she squirted herself out onto a populated gangway. It was unexpected to be surrounded by community and commerce. She'd expected more Zombies. There were enough variety of species, she hoped they were used to seeing humans as well. She had a sinking feeling, however, and she whispered to herself, wondering how she'd ever find her friend.

"How big is this ship?"

(P.S. It's not sonic lipstick, it's L'Oreal's "vagabond mauve" )

The Doctor slowly walked into the room, his eyes wide with shock and horror and utter surprise. In the center of the room stood a silver tube, steaming pipes on the outside, glowing buttons and a red hue emitting from it. Extending out his arm, The Doctor hovered his hand over the machine before yanking it back as well as a cautious step away from it. "How can it be here..." He mumbled, "It's...it's..just a myth-" he stopped as a voice hissed form the shadows of the room, "No" it retorted.

Methodically the origin of the voice crept from the realm of darkness and entered the line of sight of The Doctor. The man's dark beard covered the majority of the lower half of his face and his dark brown colored eyes burned into the soul of The Doctor as he glared him down. "It is a religion...a following" The man continued, "They came to me from across the stars..searching out for help. And i gave it to them..i gave them countless conversions to their religion. The greatest religion known to any species...feared by all species", "What?" The Doctor hissed, "The Cyber religion" the man replied with a grin, extending both arms out to his side as two Cybermen marched and stopped to stand next to him.

She forgot all about finding the Doctor. He would just have to find himself. All other thoughts went out of her head when she felt it.

She felt it right in the floor. Pound pound pound pound. Pound. And again. She crouched, pressing her fingertips to the coolness of the metal deck plate. Marching. Something heavy marching, and she had her suspicions. Whether they were correct or not, if there was marching that heavy going on, she better go find out what it was that instant.

With all the focus of a lady who's teakettle is whistling shrill, she started winding her way to follow that intermittent sound. Sometime soon, it stopped and was no more as though they had all come to attention. But she was close enough. She'd found the less populated byways. Utilitarian. Folks on serious business. After the second being gave her a suspicious look, she looked for a lonely place. And she went down under heavy deck plate, staying to the shadows, crawling about on her stomach and knees, she slipped through a space no one expected someone to be. It was then she heard the marching, different marching, but heading her way none the less. She rolled tight up against the wall, turned so she could see what came above through the grate. These were no zombies. Sharp eyed and quick footed a platoon of them marched right over her. And went past.

She pressed her cheek and ear against the floor of the vent shaft, and her arms crossed in front of her to touch her skin on either side. There she lay with her head down, holding her breath even, trying to catch a ghost of metal on metal and which way they might be coming from.

Her head jerked up, hair half a tumble in her face and her eyes wide.

"Cybermen" She whispered to herself, then went on. They would have to know how many they were up against.

They.

He was here somewhere.

"We've converted the lower levels of the ship already..you know, engine workers, waiters, insignificant people" The man continued, pacing around the room, his hands elegantly cuffed together down in front of him, "Insignificant?! Those people had lives!" The Doctor roared, "And now they have better ones! The Cyber Initiative only wishes to enhance their lives..to..upgrade them if you will. These people deserve so much more than the retched lives they live now..wouldn't you trade your life for an upgraded one?". The Doctor shook his head, "You strip every single bit of humanity they have and replace it with mechanisms and wires and you're telling me that's a better way of living?" he replied with a cold glare, "What are you doing with that machine? Why do the Cybermen need to travel through time to get someone?".

The man grinned widely as he stopped his pacing and faced The Doctor, "Important figures have been laid throughout history..we simply...upgrade them after their end comes. Sometimes we have to speed it up like a handful of individuals..Lincoln, Kennedy..Diana", The Doctor froze, "People that the human race would have become far more advanced if they survived. So they had to be deleted..their remains brought to us and upgraded". "And to think" The Doctor began, breaking away from his bewildered state, "I thought the Daleks were the worst things in this universe....the Cybermen are just as bad now. But there is one thing you still cannot match with the Daleks".

The man eyed The Doctor curiously, "What do you mean?" he asked, "The Daleks don't monologue" The Doctor quickly replied, tucking his hands nonchalantly into his pockets, "You see, instead of having to figure out your plan, you just blabber it out to me. So now i know exactly what i gotta do. One, save whoever you brought back from time. Two, destroy this machine and every single Cyberman on this ship and most importantly...save every single person on this ship". The man smirked, "And how are you going to do that?" he hissed, "With a little bit...of Allons-y".

Kicking the machine to the side of him, The Doctor used it's plummet to the floor as a distraction as he bolted out of the room while the man and the two Cybermen rushed to the side of the machine and hoisted it back up to it's upright position. The man sighed as he looked out to the open door of the room, "Activate the drones in the lower levels..it's time to do a ship wide conversion" he ordered the Cybermen behind him.

Snowshoes for Cybermen.  An odd thought, but it was indeed what went through her head as the metal man who had found her stomped on the deck plate she was under, then lifted his foot again, quarter ton grate stuck to the sole.  That little surprise threw off her timing, and instead of darting farther down underneath, she had to pop up, out, and dash between it's legs.  It was as strong as a Lorry, but a Cyberman was not quite as fast as a human.  Only her pale face and throat really shone as she ran, for she'd gone out all in black.  I
t was not as bright here, as though she'd reached enemy territory.  In a panic, she ran, looking first for shadow, looking second for emptiness.  She had silence and speed on them.  A short while of snooping later, and she thought she'd found the main corridor they were emerging from. She was going to have to find some sort of control center and disable it.  She'd been timing the waves of them, regular as clockwork, and just two minutes later she was sprinting down the now-empty corridor, hoping to make the corner before the next wave came.

It seemed an unreasonable thing to do but every moment she waited, people she was supposed to be protecting were dying terrible deaths, and no doubt the humans below were equally vulnerable.  Had the Doctor already tried and died?  When she was halfway down the hallway, a human fellow in a suit and sneakers came around the corner, running as hard as she. She wondered if he knew how little time there was to escape, seconds before another pair of Cybermen would stomp through.  

"Go Right! Down and Right!! Hurry!" she was shouting at him even as she ran toward, bent on running in to whatever he was running out of. Frankly, she figured it was a good sign.

Go Right! Down and Right!! Hurry!

The Doctor halted as the words rang through his head, the voice so familiar but yet so distant both in time and physical distance. Turning around, his eyes widened, the form of Sarah Jane running back to the room he had barely escaped from. "Sarah!!" He called out, both his body and voice rushing out towards her in a desperate effort to stop her from running into the mastermind behind the attack on the station.

Roars of frantic people echoed throughout the hallways, the merchant square was now being cleared by Cybermen who tried to scoop up as many passing civilians as they could. Ships jetted out into deep space, thankful they escaped the slaughter. Their forms disappearing from the wall sized window to the side of the merchant square. Cybermen stomped and marched through all levels of the station, groups of six killing and or grabbing all in their way. The ones that ran were quickly cornered off by more and more groups until they had nowhere to run and the Cybermen got what they wanted. Delete! Delete! You will be upgraded!!

Once he was close enough to her, The Doctor grabbed Sarah's hand and pulled to the side just as the man exited the room. His eyes glaring around him before storming off with his two other Cybermen in the opposite direction. Holding Sarah back, The Doctor stepped out in front of her and checked the room to make sure nobody was inside before turning back to her, "The time jump that brought you here is inside of that room but i can't do anything with it unless i bring it back to my TARDIS...and dragging that thing through this station isn't exactly stealthy.".

She was pelting to reach the doorway she intended to duck in before the next wave came through, not sparing another thought for the tall, rangy man in the suit.  Until he called out half her name. But somehow, it sounded whole.

 It stopped her in her tracks, and after a half second hesitation, she whirled around to face him.  Stunned, she found herself judging him as he ran toward her.  There was nothing about him that could not be the Doctor. She couldn't tell until she could see the whites of his eyes.

"I knew it!" She whispered to herself broke into a run back in his direction.

Of course he was here, scampering around in the worst of it like he always was. She reached for him as he did her.  Their hands slid together and locked.  With a sharp half turn that spun her in, he pulled them around the corner and out of sight.  She let go his hand and pressed herself flat against the wall, a wild hope in her. A hope that had had time to dim since she first saw the dear TARDIS down in the engine room.  

At least if it wasn't him, it was someone nice.  As the Doctor had explained to her once, when a cause is just there are those who will fight and they will find you.   Whomever this was, he had found her.  She wasn't alone in this.  

He stepped back to the hallway, and she moved tight on his heels, the adrenalin in her system and the growing, muffled wails below, no more than whispers yet, made her want to start running again, but the tall man's arm came to angle across her like a subway turnstyle.   It was him . .oh please, this had to be him.  He looked in the room, then back to her.   Brown eyes, wide open.  Expressive eyebrows, and a gee gaw's shock of hair that spiked every which way made his face so  . . naked.  It was the way he co-conspired with her without second thought that really began to drive it home. The Doctor was no ordinary man.  And talk of the TARDIS clenched the deal.  She caught his left wrist hard in her hand. "There isn't any time for that now! Somethings happening down below! Listen!"  

Her eyes searched him, the cut of his suit, his fanciful footwear, the intensity of his eyes. Had he died so soon? It had only been a year since she'd seen him. Had he died on Gallifrey?  There was no time for proper greeting, but she held hard on his wrist.

Brown eyes. She didn't realize they wouldn't always be blue.

The Doctor stopped as Sarah had instructed him, gazing out aimlessly as he intensely listened to the screams and shouts echoing from below them. "They're starting a station wide conversion" He concluded, sniffing and turning to Sarah as he stopped listening and shifted his attention to the task at hand, "Sarah i need you to listen to me. This is very important". Grabbing her at her shoulders, The Doctor bent over so that he was eye level with her, "They've seen me. They know what i look like, just tap into past Cyber-link knowledge of The Doctor and there's my face but they haven't seen you. You're the key to getting that data to the TARDIS" he stopped as he peered behind him to see if anyone was there, "I can download the data of this Cyber-link code into my sonic screwdriver. From there i need you to take it to the TARDIS. Snap your fingers, should open up for you..if it doesn't just talk to it. She'l remember you..should anyways. Plug the screwdriver in and let it do it's work..we'l see where that takes us and go from there".

Nodding, The Doctor turned his body and bolted into the room, quickly peering around to see if anyone and anything is inside. Empty. The Doctor shifted his attention to the device in the center of the room, running up to it and quickly scanning it with his sonic screwdriver, "Alright..this may take a while" he mumbled before lightly sticking it into an open slot and holding the button down. Electricity surged through the screwdriver and device as the sonic downloaded all the required data. It would take a little bit more than a few minutes...

She studied his face as he listened.  It didn't look like him, but it was him; the look of concentration on his face, a dawning horror tempered only by how quickly he must be thinking now,  Not a thought to save himself, or even to save her.  They both knew that this had to be stopped here and now, if they ran, it would only delay things for a little while.  At some point they'd have to fight, so they'd do it here while it was still small enough for the pair of them to make a real difference.  To stop the slaughter.  Stars how she hated Cybermen.  

And how she loved him as he leaned in and loomed at her, his eyes grabbing at hers as surely as his long fingered hands took her shoulders in a gentle cage.  She found herself giving a small, sharp nod with each fact and task he gave her.  The knots in her gut started to untie. The Doctor had a plan that sounded a whole like more plausible than the suicidal run she'd been contemplating.  If she'd known that the TARDIS might open to a snap of her fingers, would she be hiding there now? No . .no.  Still, the thought of the warm sanctuary the TARDIS held pulled at her heart.

"Right!" She agreed, blowing out a tense breath between pursed lips.  If he was sending her on such a dangerous journey, things were very dire indeed.  Her eyes flickered to his, giving him her most serious look and straight face. "Wouldn't it be nice if I had a sonic of my own?" she asked then flicked a smile on at the very end.  

She slipped into the room behind him, glad she was having this safe respite. He went right to work, pouring himself into it.  She came right up to brush elbows with him, her eyes on the Sonic as well as if they were looking at a campfire together.  After a dry, short, secretly  amused moment, she batted his elbow. "Its good to see you,  Doctor." she said, her eyes looking for his now.

The Doctor turned to Sarah as her elbow touched his, grinning widely as he looked into her eyes, "Yeah" he replied in a whispering tone, holding back the urge to embrace her in a hug. Before he could do anything more, the sonic screwdriver lit up with life, marking the download was complete. The Doctors grin exploded onto his face before the sound of metal footsteps echoed up towards his ears and the grin faded just as quickly as it appeared. "You will be deleted" A voice rang out from behind The Doctor and Sarah Jane, it's hinges hissing as it's arm extended outwards towards the two forms standing in front of the machine.

Quickly glancing back over his shoulder, The Doctor peered from the Cyberman and the machine as another spark jumped from the machine and into the sonic screwdriver. Suddenly an idea came into mind, turning on a light bulb as he shouted, "Sarah get down!!". Ripping out the sonic from the slot just as another spark got sent to it, the sonic held onto the charge to where the electricity was the only thing still connecting it to the machine. Spinning around, The Doctor pointed the sonic to the Cyberman and at the same time, flipping the electric current from between the machine and the sonic to the Cyberman instead.

A beam of electricity smacked the Cyberman like a brick wall just before it fired at The Doctor. The Cyberman shook and began to cry out before it's head exploded and it's body collapsed to the ground beneath it. Slowly The Doctor stood up, sighing with relief and surprised as he looked down at the smoking body of the Cyberman, "I can't believe that actually worked" he sniffed with a slight chuckle, "Brilliant" he mumbled before turning to Sarah, "Care to lead the way?" he asked her as a sudden smile burst onto his face.

He felt like a matched magnet that had come in her range.  It was a physical effort to stay distant from him, but there was no time for such distractions.  When he smiled back at her, it was as if he'd never been away.  That old thrill came back.  When they worked as a team, they could do just about anything.  They might even survive this.

As if to punish her for this stray thought, death itself strode up behind them like a tank with legs.  The Doctor drew a sharp breath, and she knew he was about to call her name.  She figured it would be a quick goodbye, and she hoped it would be funny. She could use a laugh just about now.  As for her part, a terrible chill sweat had instantly broken out across her shoulders, and for this instant couldn't even quite draw breath to scream. He did indeed shout her name, but it was followed by an unexpected 'get down!'

He was doing something desperately quick with the Sonic that made her flash a hand in front of her face against a spray of sparks.  Sarah Jane didn't get a chance to see what it was he was doing though, she was too busy darting downward and ducking under the desk.  All for the best, for there was quite a blast over her, though it sounded more like a Cyberman's blaster than any sound she'd ever heard the Sonic Screwdriver make.  The sound tore through her as though she'd been shot, for she was certain it had torn through the Doctor in more substantial fashion.  Her scream and the Cyberman's twisted together as the Doctor's body fell toward her, his coat blocking out the light, blocking out the metal man that would no doubt soon be her death as well.

Her fear had stretched out those three seconds into paragraphs of emotion. It was a whole new indent when the Doctor's body didn't continue to fall, but instead settled weightlessly into the gap between her and massive amounts of metal that were crashing to the floor and making it shake under her.  She found herself with a double fistful of her friend's fine coat, and was pulled up with him as he got back to his feet.

"I can't believe that actually worked" he observed so casually it chilled her. "Brilliant."

The Cyberman was about as dead as a Cyberman could be, a a giant, smoking toy soldier that smelled of scorched metal and cooked fat.  Brains.  Brains were mostly fat, and that was pretty much the extent of organic matter in that terrible creation.  No second chances for whomever's burning brain that was.  She let go of the Doctor's coat and swallowed hard.

"I can't believe you're wearing those shoes. Questionable." She quipped.  Her trepidation was gone as fast as it had come when he smiled at her.  He'd been so close to death, and had somehow saved them both with a screwdriver and lightning fast intelligence.  It's a Cyberman.  Just one Cyberman, and you need to stop them all.  

She was awfully glad their paths would be side by side for a little while.  She reached out for the Sonic Screwdriver, wishing she was reaching for his hand.

"Care to lead the way?"

"Good thing you've come up narrow this time," She flashed a smile at him. "I've got a straight cinch in to the passenger section, the underground city . . .did you see it?"  Good gracious, if there were only time to stop, to talk, to share her excitement about all of that.  A civilization on a ship that nearly tasted of the streets of London, 1981, smack in the middle of space, or sea, wherever they were.  She'd made her way to the doorway and peeked around it's edge.  There was a single human crossing distant through a side hall, so she looked back to the Doctor.

"Is that where you're going?    In her head, she was counting down when to peek again. She had hoped he was headed somewhere less dangerous than the passenger section, but it seemed unlikely that he'd be off hiding somewhere else when humans were dying in droves. He would go right for the thick of it, she bet, reluctantly.

"I need to get to my TARDIS" The Doctor spoke back to Sarah Jane, peering over the corner of the room and hallway to see if any Cybermen were nearby before turning back to his old companion, "My sonic downloaded the override code for the emotional inhibitors..if i can get it to my TARDIS it can broadcast a signal". Looking back out, The Doctor glanced from the left then to the right before bolting down the left and steering close to the balcony so he was able to peer over as he passed by.

Cybermen marched through the marketplace, zapping people left and right and snatching up the ones they deemed worthy of upgrading. Horrifying screams and yells echoed throughout the space station; ships could be seen jetting away into space from the large wall sized window looming over the market square. Extending his hand back to Sarah, The Doctor made a quick turn into the elevator and pressed the floor button, waiting for her to enter before allowing the doors to hiss shut.

Had he changed his mind?  Had he been unable to send her alone as he'd first planned? How many would die if they stayed together?  Then again, how many could possibly survive if she hadn't been able to made it back to the TARDIS alive on her own with the information in the Sonic as they needed?  She'd been rialing herself with determination, but as she looked down at the carnage below, she felt a shudder of doubt. Doubt or not, she had an urge to argue with him then and insist they divide and conquer. it may have just been bravada, but she wasn't certain she could help it, not with so many dying so. Surely he could have found an immediate way to slow down the carnage and stall while she went for the TARDIS. She felt a sudden wave of guilt. Thankful guilt because she rather did enjoy living.

Unless she found some way to be brilliant in all of this,  she was going to slow him down.  Their eyes met, and she wondered what he was thinking.  

Then it didn't matter, for he took her hand.  It was enough to clear her thoughts and move her feet.  They'd figure it out from here together, despite the potential cost.   They slipped into the elevator, and she held his hand a little tighter.  

"You're going to stop them by giving them. . .  . " she started, sounding skeptical.  Her voice dropped as understanding came "-their emotions back . .oh . .I think I see."  She swallowed hard.  It was horrible and perfect and full of hope all at the same time. All they'd have to do is hurry. "Doctor! Even if we stop them . . .we'll still have the cult to deal with! And the factions down on Earth sending folks here!  That is how I got here!"

She was doing the best she could to not hear the metal muffled screams, and the booming of marching half ton feet.  It wouldn't help if she let herself be afraid.  She took a step closer to him until their arms pressed together.
 
"And what about that frozen flavored yack yogurt from Tizzet you promised me before you dropped me off so abruptly a kilometer from my house?"

Somebody had to do it.

The Doctor smirked as Sarah took his hand and in return he held her hand firmly before swinging his arm over her shoulder in a half body hug, "Don't worry Sarah, i've got it all worked out..well...sort of" he replied as the elevator doors hissed open. Turning to Sarah, The Doctor pulled away for the hug to place his hands at her side, "Now, soon as you see the que, you shoot over to the engine room. I will give you enough time to make it there...use the shadows and be brilliant. I believe in you Sarah, always have". Finishing with a smile, The Doctor turned and sauntered out of the elevator, nonchalantly placing his hands into his pockets.

Walking out to the center, The Doctor stood by the wall sized window, peering out to the star filled sky, then stopped. "Hello Cybermen!!!!" He proclaimed suddenly, shooting his arms out to his sides with a huge grin. Immediately he caught the attention of the Cybermen within the marketplace, beginning to march towards him along with all other Cybermen on the second floor and within hearing distance. "You are The Doctor. You will be upgraded!" A Cyberman roared as it stopped in front of The Doctor, his fist slamming into it's chest before extending out to The Doctor, "Oh come on! I've seen better plans then this! The horrifying Cybermen! Terrorizing a merchant space station? Come on! What are you really doing here? You can tell me".

Glancing over to his left, The Doctor looked back to Sarah inside of the elevator and flashed her a quick wink before looking back to the massing group of Cybermen around him. Cyber units from upstairs peered over the railings that encircled the merchant square, both fully converted Cybermen and half converted people, all glaring at him. Suddenly a man stepped forward, brushing past the Cybermen like they were nothing but overgrown toy soldiers. "Here he is at last!" The man proclaimed, "The Doctor! Come to join the Cyber initiative! At this moment in time we don't have a Cyber Planner...and you would make a perfect fit".

He tucked her in closer, catching her under his arm.  She was given the privacy to hide her face in his jacket a moment, and let the real fear she felt show on her face.  She didn't want him to see it. His words were enough to rein herself back in to control.   She felt better for it though.

She was ready to break from him as the doors came open, her reaching for the sonic and bracing herself resolve.  Before her heart could come out her throat and her feet out the door, he was instantly there between her and the corridor of carnage.  Instead of looming over, he bent right down in to her face, feeling near and very dear to her.   His eyes were saying all the words they had no time for.  His hands on her sides kept her grounded; kept her from bolting like a rabbit, she held his forearms in turn.  She went from being drenched in her dread to feeling a galvanization of hope.  They could do this. They could do anything.

"It will be a snap." she said, full of self amused imp and determination.  The funny part was, of all the things in the plan, it was opening the TARDIS with a snap of her fingers that seemed the most fantastical.

"Don't get caught." She said, with serious encouragement, wondering how he was going to draw them off.  This incarnation of her friend was tall, but didn't have quite the leg of the one she knew best.  

Her mouth popped open in a perfect o of shock as she saw him enact his crazy plan.  She went in a flash of his great coat like a haphazard magician's assistant, and sank into shadow as quick as she could once she was certain he had every eye.  From then on, she did her best not to look at anything too closely.  It was easy enough to identify the the different factions, the consumers and the consumed, without bothering to meet the visage of any gradient of victim that ran screaming through this soup of despair.

She didn't help anyone but herself.  They all depended on her, whomever was still standing in the end. She'd seen the Doctor have to do the math far too many times, and knew he was right, no matter what a poor excuse for a human being she thought as she slipped through the inhabitants.  She didn't have to outfox the Cybermen.  She only had to outrun the other humans.  And she did, darting this way and that as well.  More and more it seemed were turning to go in the direction she'd come from.  

What could the Doctor possibly be doing?  She really hoped he wasn't dying for her. Dying for them all.  

She used the sonic to open a locked door, and slipped inside.  

Well.

She'd been looking for the South Croydon football team.  She didn't expect to find them naked hanging in bunk stacks of some sort of medical tables.    They all sat up at once, Big Joe Pickard bumping his shaved head on the table above him.

"Hi." She said, then bolted for the opposite door, having to chose to see if she could outrun these blokes, or going back out to the sudden slaughter she'd avoided in the corridor.

Out of the corner of his eye, The Doctor spotted the shadow of Sarah Jane bolting by the Cybermen's gaze, bringing a smirk to his face before peering back to the man in front of him. Rubbing the back of his head, The Doctor comically played off contemplating the man's offer before turning around and jumping up on the stage, where entertainers had previously been playing. The man and the Cyberman rushed forward, stopping at the edge of the stage as they looked up at The Doctor. "Well..." The Doctor began, placing both hands into his pockets as he rocked side to side on his heels "Frankly i'm going to have to say no. Mainly because your just so plain dumb! I mean come on! The Cyberman demand fear across the universe! Floating around in your mighty ships..but then you decide to stop here...you decide to stop here and begin killing innocent people!! And that's where you went wrong!".

Suddenly The Doctor burst with new found rage and anger towards the Cybermen and the man below him on the stage, "Because you've forgotten your place!" he continued, "No matter what you tried to do, no matter what face i held, i have stopped you time and time again. And when you begin to kill innocent people by the masses, you have just wrote yourself a world of trouble!". The man chuckled, joining The Doctor on the stage via the steps, a grin plastered across his face, "Doctor Doctor Doctor" he started, shaking his head, "You will join us whether you chose to or not Doctor. You...your friend...and every single person in the universe will join us!".

The man quickly reached into his pockets, ready to flip something out before The Doctor jetted off of his back heel and propelled out to the Cybermen. From one helmet to the other, The Doctor hoped on top of one Cyberman to the next with surprising ease. The Doctor grinned happily as he jumped from head to head before one Cyberman turned and caused The Doctor to fall. As The Doctor hurtled to the metal floor beneath the legs of the Cyberman in front of him, The Doctor extended out his arms to ease his fall. With a semi-soft roll and a forceful push back up to his feet, The Doctor dashed to one of the nearby hallways, lasers zipping over and around him as he ran, "Get him!!!" the man roared.

She easily outran them. Their bodies seemed fine, but each and every one of them had some horrible metal hat with a handle on it on their heads and a meaty looking graft of metal something or another was clearly jammed where their eyes had been. Like Zombies, they tottered relentlessly after her. The real problem they caused was that she couldn't hide anywhere for more than a few seconds before they'd show up pointing her out like duck hunting dogs.

By the time she found the hatch back into Engineering, she was dripping in sweat and had nearly run out of wind. Sarah Jane stripped out of her jacket and simply threw it down. There were enough bloody shreds of clothing laying around now that she figured one more wasn't going to give anything away.

Like a knife through hot butter, the Sonic got her back into the throbbing heat of the heavily mechanized bay, sweat on her shirt drying almost instantly and making it feel as though the short hairs in her nose were crisping. Apparently there were more crew around now because it didn't take long before she was spotted. Not by Cybermen nor humans. The sad combination of both which sent such chills through her she didn't mind the heat for a moment. After a brief game of tag, all the while with Sarah Jane trying to orient herself and remember where the TARDIS was, she found herself down a dead end of a path with quite a long drop at her back. The thing before her had large, blinking metal bits for ears. It was her only hope. Sarah Jane thrust herself forward and leapt right up, leaping into an embrace with the thing. She jammed the Sonic right into it's ear and cranked hard on the adjust.

She was pleased to have landed on top as the cyborg creature went down, and horrified to see the bloody tears running down the sides of it's face. She would never forget the sound of it's crying.

Sarah Jane broke into a run again, her own cry bursting out as she caught the top of the TARDIS over the tops of some other metal thing ahead.

Home free. Almost.

And what of the Doctor?

The Doctor spun around a corner, a laser bolt roaring by him and striking the wall with sparks flying out from the metal wall upon impact. Nearly falling over him his spin to avoid the shot, The Doctor used the next few steps to try and regain his balance before breaking out into his full stride once more. Engine room..engine room.. He thought to himself as he turned yet another corner, not only to avoid more shots from the persistent Cybermen behind him, but also to try and confuse them on where he was going. But it was becoming more confusing to him than the Cybermen, especially after another turn.

Stopping, The Doctor peered around the hallway, trying to find anything to help him find out where he was inside of the space station. Then the cries of Sarah Jane echoed throughout the hallways and pipes of the station, grabbing not only The Doctor's attention but also the man's. The Doctor's eyes widened and he quickened his pace towards the cries while the man just simply grinned widely, "Find her!" he ordered two nearby Cybermen, "Find her before The Doctor does! Quickly!!". "Sarah!!" The Doctor yelled, turning and bursting through a service door to a series of stairs that lead down another level of the station. The heat increased, the sweat upon his brow increased and began to fall down onto the floor as he continued to go down the stairs to the engine level of the station.

They seemed to come from no where and everywhere, these fully fledged Cybermen that were still so fresh their metal carapaces were leaking blood at the joints. Out the eyes.  They were holding tools, and they did not look like they wanted to fix her with them.  They were holding this and that metal device ready to hurt her with them.  It was quite a lot to deal with.  More of them began to stand up out of the steam softly billowing near the floor.

She had not heard them because they were so very fresh.  Like terrible infants, they were taking their first steps eagerly to her, hands outstretched.  They were screaming at her.  No, she realized, those were her own screams echoing in her ears.  She turned and bolted.  She was fast enough to squirt out between two of them, neither of whom reached her, but their arms and hands collided with each other behind her.

Sarah Jane darted to a forest of pipes and gauges that had never been built for something the size of a Cyberman to get through.  Not at any speed.  Here she had the advantage, swinging through the maze of pipes almost like a monkey through trees, using the metal forest to help swing her around corners as she ran along.  She knew what she was good at.  Still they were never more than a couple of turns behind her as she worked her way through this country kitchen-sized field. Every time one of those heavy blows hit, pipes would bend and shoot steam that caught the odd, jewel colored light all around her, and yanked more screams out of her like a soldier who couldn't stop blinking when his gun went off.  Miraculously, she popped  out at the other end, entirely whole.  Better yet, she could see the tip top of the TARDIS, just as she had hoped.    Having barely broken her stride, she took off in it's direction, only to be stymied by a long wide bank of some sort of large, half-enclosed machinery she couldn't get over, she'd have to go-

Was that the Doctor?
Had she just heard him call her name?

"DOCTOR!!!" He was alive! "DOCTOR!!" She was alive! It was going well!  

Other than these stray Cyber-creatures that were even now rising in the mist. She was cornered.

"Call THEM OFF! Call THem BACK!!" She insisted, half shrieking as she had to dodge quickly.  
"DOCTOR!" If only he could get her one more distraction she could do it.  She wished that there were not so many of them between he and she, it seemed, but there were only two near her way to the TARDIS.

She remembered she had the sonic and aimed it at a valve near the closest Cyberman.  The little thing took wing on a jet of steam, but made the air sing much more closely to herself than to the creature.  Bad idea, enough of that.  She ran a few steps backwards, unable to look away from the thing coming at her.

The Doctor was attracted to Sarah's calls like a moth to a flame, Oh how i've missed those calls he thought to himself as he darted down the final flight of stairs and burst through the door. Immediately he was greeted by the backs of two Cybermen, their forms turning around to face him as he backed up with widened eyes. "Delete! Delete! Delete!" They roared. But then, just before his legs rushed him away from danger, the second and third calls from Sarah echoed through the halls and made their way to The Doctor's ears.

"That's all i need" He reassured himself before inhaling and taking a mad dash at the two Cybermen. Just before they shot, The Doctor's body sunk like a rock to the floor, his long trench coat allowing him to slide through the open legs of one of the Cybermen just as they fired. Tumbling to his feet, The Doctor grinned as the Cybermen spun around, their arms re-extending out to him, "Haha! Brilliant!" he thought out loud as he turned and made his way down the hall in front of him.

Pipes, steam and nearly impossible acts of parkour were required as The Doctor progressed through the engine level of the space station. Faint screams and shouts of remaining passengers echoed through the metal based cylindrical objects sprawled across every available area. It seemed like he was going on forever, the hope of finding Sarah beginning to fade before her last cry came to his ears. She's close!! He concluded based on how well he could hear it, his eyes shooting wide open and energy now peeking. Turning one last final corner, a wall of scrap metal lay in his way, unused pipes and metal stacked on top of one another forming a make shift wall. Not caring what lay on the other side, The Doctor began to move parts out of the way before he was finally able to go through, and we he did, the image of Sarah appeared before him.

Trapped by incoming Cybermen, the TARDIS so close. The Doctor peered between his time machine and companion before making a quick decision, "Oi!!" he called, immediately grabbing the Cyberman's attention, "Why bother upgrading her? When you can upgrade the best thing on this ship?" he asked the Cyberman. "The Doctor will be upgraded! The Doctor will become the new..Cyber Planner!!" The Cyberman roared, turning its back on Sarah and marching over to The Doctor, "Go" The Doctor whispered.

A auto could go right along as well as you please, then stall over the train tracks. Nerves? Fate? God of Glitches? It did not matter. She skinned her palms as she went down. It was far to easy to calculate the 3 and a half seconds it would take for the Cyberman to be upon her. By the count of 2, the Doctor was there.

He peeked up cheeky as you please and just in the nick of time. As hard as Sarah Jane had been trying to escape them, it was appalling to hear her friend jeer them into attack. He dangled himself like tender bait before them. She was still half in shock with it when his voice gently lashed to get her to move. She shot weightless to her feet, suddenly spurred.

If he died now, would she be able to come back out and get him? What exactly would happen if they converted him, then he regenerated? Would his new body be instantly impaled with prosthesis and alloy, only to die again and again until his last regeneration as she watched on? No. Somehow, she would find a way to keep that from happening.

Then she stood before the TARDIS, hand automatically reaching for her chest only to remember she was not wearing a key there.

Snap her fingers?

Her face was full of doubt. Her heart was full of hope, her eyes were to the brim with desperation as she stood before those blue doors and snapped her fingers. It was only death at her heels that allowed her to leap so quickly through the doors as they opened, dumbfounded as she'd been. She slammed the door shut behind her, feeling a tearing swift pain in her scalp.

As the door shut, the Cyberman was left standing there on the other side holding a fine lock of dark hair torn from the roots. In her haste Sarah Jane got ahead of herself, slipping and falling up the most impressive gangplank she'd ever seen. She was up on the bounce, hardly noticing her own stumble.

Why was the control column so large? What the hell had he been doing in here? It was a fleeting thought her eyes ripped across the controls, looking for the right place to jam the sonic in.