"Almost there," the Doctor exclaimed as the green and black cloud contracted in on itself, taking the few remaining ships with it. Inside the TARDIS sparks erupted from the mushroom shaped console and the roundels on the walls. Wires fell out of their housings on the ceiling and the hat stand fell over on top of the Doctor.
"What about the other ships? The ones that got through? What can we do about them?" Hannah picked the heavy hat stand up as best she could.
"I'm not sure, we'll have to sort all this damage out first before we can go anyway." The Doctor looked at her forlorn companion. "However I think a nice cup of tea is in order first, don't you?"
Hannah laughed as she headed to her room to find Lucky and let him have a run around and a bowl of milk if he didn't misbehave too much. She did feel a little bit better but there was a hole in her heart, a Claire shaped hole that may never completely heal.


Hannah looked at her reflection in the mirror for a second and saw the bags under her eyes and the sallow look of her skin. There was no other way to do this, none at all. Slowly and methodically she turned the hot tap on and waited for the steam to cover the mirror. Then she picked up the wafer thin razor blade.


"Proceed at once," the Cyber Leader ordered.
"Yes Leader," the Cyber Lieutenant responded.
The Cyber Warship continued on its path through the shrinking anomaly. One by one the fleet of ships exploded as it was ripped apart by the time winds.


The Doctor headed back to her room, it was late and she was actually tired for once. Passing the bathroom she noticed water coming out from under the door. She tutted, Hannah must have left the tap dripping again. The door was locked but a quick application of the sonic screwdriver soon unlocked it. The sight in front of her shocked her to the core; Hannah was lying on the floor in a puddle of blood soaked water. The blood was pouring from the large slits in her wrists. "You stupid, stupid girl." The Doctor muttered as she knelt down to see if Hannah was breathing, then feeling for a pulse.
Using pieces of a nearly fresh handkerchief the Doctor staunched the bleeding as best she could, before dragging her drowsy companion to the console room and landing the TARDIS at the nearest hospital.
"Help me!" the Doctor shouted to two off duty nurses. They put Hannah into a wheel chair and took her inside. The distraught Time Lady locked the TARDIS doors and followed them inside.


"We are proceeding as planned Controller," the Cyber Leader informed the Cyber Controller.
"This is excellent news. Once we arrive we will be able to upgrade Mondas and we will conquer the Earth within hours."
The ship shook and trembled as it narrowly avoided a wave of time.
"With the Earth colonised our safety as assured. The Cybermen will become the dominant life form in the galaxy." The Cyber Controller dismissed the Leader. "Soon now Doctor, soon you will pay for all you have ever done to me."


The wait was long and the Doctor felt so alone. Nurses came and went, bringing her the odd cup of tea but they didn't stop to chat and the Doctor needed distracting. "Why didn't I see this coming?" She asked herself. "Why?"
"Are you Doctor Doe?" a blue uniformed nurse asked finally.
The Doctor stood up when she heard her assumed name. "Yes, yes I am. How's Hannah? Is she going to be alright?"
The nurse gave the blonde woman a brief run down of Hannah's condition. "She's lost a lot of blood, but your quick thinking saved her life. You can see her, but only for a short time."
"Thanks," the Doctor said to the nurse as she entered the relative privacy of the small room. "Hello," she said softly. "I can't stay in here long, but I'll be outside in the foyer if you need anything."
"I miss her so much," Hannah croaked weakly. "I want to be with her."
"Shush," the Doctor said. "You need to rest. I know you miss Claire, I know you do but she wouldn't want you to do this now would she hmmm?
"I guess not Doctor, but all I feel is hurt." Hannah lay back on the bed.
"I'm the Doctor, fixing problems is my speciality. We'll get through this, you and I. I have to go now, try and get some sleep okay?" The Doctor closed the door behind her and headed back towards the waiting room and the waiting copies of Hello magazine.


"Leader, there is a problem. We are experiencing turbulence." The Cyberman reported the growing storm in front of their flight path."
"Go around it," the Cyber Leader ordered.
"Not possible, the fleet would be destroyed."
"Then navigate through it. Cyber Technology is more than adequate for the situation."
"Yes Leader," the Cyberman responded before plotting a course through the storm.


It was a few hours later when someone else dropped by to see her. "Hello, I'm Doctor Nick, I'd like to have a word with you about Miss Sinclair."
"Is she okay?" the Doctor panicked. "She looked fine to me before."
"No, no, no. Your friend is recovering fine. In cases of attempted suicide we always assign a psychiatrist to help the patient with their mental traumas. Could you tell me a little about what you feel is the problem?"
"That could be tricky, you see her girlfriend was killed recently in a terrible crash. It really was horrific and there was nothing we could do to prevent it."
"You were there too?" Doctor Nick asked.
"Yes, Hannah and Claire travel, travelled with me a lot. I'm their guardian angel you might say. I thought Hannah was learning to cope, but it seems I was wrong. Terribly wrong."
"You must not blame yourself Miss Doe."
"Please call me Doctor," the Doctor asked the charming psychiatrist.
"Okay Doctor, why do you feel responsible?"
"Well the self destruct mechanism had started on the space ship and I felt that there was not enough time to find Claire and make it back to the TARDIS in time. I had to hope that Claire made it to a life pod with Captain Conrad, which she did. However the pod must have malfunctioned because it was all but destroyed on impact, Claire only lived a few minutes after that crash landing, her injuries were just too severe."
"Do you know how that sounds Doctor?" Doctor Nick asked the strange blonde haired woman.
"Yes, there's a blue box out there. Why not pop your head inside and tell me that it's impossible to be bigger on the inside than the outside? If that doesn't work you can lie down on this chair and tell me about your mother."
"Very well, just to humour you." Doctor Nick agreed.


"There is a problem Leader," the Cyber Lieutenant informed the Leader. "We are being pulled out of the time vortex, back into reality. The storm is too unstable.
"Are we near the designated co-ordinates yet?" the Leader asked.
"No, we are not yet at our designated position," the Cyber Lieutenant responded.
"You have betrayed us," the Leader stated, raising its weapon at the Cyberman and firing. "Betrayal is unacceptable." The Leader turned to the nearest Cybermen. "You are promoted to Lieutenant, do not betray us."


The Doctor stood behind the slack jawed psychiatrist. "I told you it was bigger on the inside didn't I? Do you want to see Hannah's room while you're at it? Maybe the bathroom too where I found here? I would let the constables inside but I fear that the dears would need your help before their task was complete."
"I need fresh air," Doctor Nick announced, clutching his chest and running towards the open doors.
"The TARDIS can have that effect on people sometimes." The Doctor called after his disappearing figure. "I do hope she's going to be okay," the Doctor worried out loud to herself. "Maybe I should get her a bunch of flowers to cheer her up?" She said trying to be optimistic. "Get a grip Doctor." She told herself. "Flowers are an empty gesture, what she needs is a soft toy." The Doctor smiled to herself. "That's it Doctor, something cute and totally girly."


"This cannot be!" the Cyber Controller stated. "We are too late? Mondas is no more?"
"We came out of the vortex too early," the Cyber Leader confirmed.
"Then we attack the Earth now, show them no mercy. See to it."
The Cyber Leader did not move. "I have a suggestion Controller. We know how to open a portal into the vortex now, we should complete the journey ourselves."
"Unacceptable," the Controller stated flatly. "The risk is too severe, the losses would be unacceptable."
"We do not have the resources to attack the Earth and our sensors indicate that there are two incarnations of the Doctor in this segment of time."
"Proceed then Leader, we will survive." The Controller rested back in its alcove and the heavy steel shutter closed in, then the energy transfer began.


The Doctor sat on the edge of Hannah's bed, fluffy bear on standby as Hannah woke up. "Good morning sleepy head." She smiled. "You have a visitor." She produced the bear and handed it over. "They don't allow pets, but I know Lucky misses his mummy."
"Lucky!" Hannah exclaimed. "I forgot to feed him. I'm a lousy mother as well as a pathetic human being."
"I fed him." The Doctor showed off her bandaged hand. "His fingernails could do with a trim though. And for what it's worth, you're still my best friend Hannah. Not even Mr Cuddles compares to you."
Hannah tried to laugh. "I beat a rabbit? I'm touched. So where do we go now for here?"
"You're not going anywhere for a long while." The Doctor comforted Hannah. "Not until you get well again."
"I'm discharging myself Doctor," Hannah revealed. "They're against it, but they can't stop me. That is if you'll have me back."
"I see." The Doctor stood up slowly. "Do you intend to do this again young lady? I'm not sure I can handle a repeat performance. You nearly died and you're going to pretend nothing happened."
"I'm alive, thanks to you Doctor," Hannah replied. "I just didn't stop to think, it hurts so much inside. I keep thinking so many things all the time. I don't know what to do, I just wanted it all to stop." Hannah pulled the Doctor towards her and sobbed on her shoulder. "I need to go somewhere and do something and I need your help. I can do it by myself if you don't want to get involved, but the airfare back to the States is pretty costly."
"You want to go home don't you?" The Doctor realised Hannah's intentions.
"I need to pick up some stuff from my apartment, before the landlord gets someone else in and sells my gear."
The Doctor stood up again. "I think you should stay in here a while longer."
"One way or another I'm going home Doctor, you can either help me or get the hell out of my life altogether," Hannah shouted at the impeccably dressed Time Lady.
"I can't leave," the Doctor announced slowly. "You're my best friend, I'd follow you into hell if that's what it takes to help you get through this. I am not going to bury another friend though, so you had better promise me that you're not going to pull any more of this crap on me okay?"
Hannah smiled and handed the toy bear to the Doctor. "I'll get dressed and we can blow this joint. Hospital green isn't my colour. I'll try and get one of those sexy uniforms if we see any."
"This is the location," the Cyber Leader announced. "We will enter back into reality here."
"Yes Leader." Punching the necessary controls the navigator began to find a weak point where they could punch a hole through the maelstrom.


Zoe jumped for joy as the last of the Cybermen's spaceships were destroyed. "It worked," she yelled and the Doctor hugged her in joy.
The Brigadier smiled. "Exactly as you predicted, a chain reaction of explosions."
Major Branwell wanted to know how Zoe's calculations were so precise. "It's fantastic, how do you do it?"
Zoe explained everything to him. "Well, it's all quite logical really, hardly any calculation needed at all. Except the simple stuff like speed, angle of descent, and relative positions of the spaceships."
"Can't we keep her on, sir? She's much prettier than a computer!" Sergeant Peters asked the Brigadier.
The Doctor's smile turned to a frown. "Look Brigadier, there's more of them!" The Doctor pointed to the cloud of ships on the radar scanner.
"Where in the blue blazers did they come from?" Lethbridge-Stewart demanded.
"There's too many of them." Zoe screamed. "They've beaten us."
"There's not enough time to get back to the TARDIS and signal them." The Doctor mused quietly to himself. "Not that they would do much good, even if they could act. Brigadier, you must telephone Geneva and organise the total mobilisation of the Earth's armed forces under the direct authority of the United Nations."
"I can't," the Brigadier announced. "They're still out of it thanks to that sound wave Vaughn's radios emitted."
The Doctor's smiled faded. "Oh dear." He pulled out his recorder and gave a few tentative notes of Abide with me.
"There must be something we can do?" Zoe pleaded. "Can't we escape in the TARDIS?"
"Yes Doctor, get Miss Herriot and Mr McCrimmon to safety at least. That's an order." The Brigadier pointed at the RAF Hercules prepping for launch on the runway.
"I can't abandon the Earth Brigadier," the Doctor announced.
"Corporal Benton!" Lethbridge-Stewart barked and returned the NCOs salute. "Take these civilians back to England on the mobile HQ. Make sure they get to safety, even if you have to do it at gunpoint."
"Yes sir," Benton replied. "Come on Doctor, Zoe. Once he's made his mind up there's no point arguing."


"We have arrived too early," the Cyber Leader realised. "This is the first assault on the Earth. Should we aid our earlier expedition Controller?"
"Proceed," the Cyber Controller ordered. "The total domination of Earth is assured, it is logical."
"We have located the presence of an alien," the Leader informed the controller.
"Is it the Doctor?"
"It is. He defeated the original wave of Cyber Warships."
"He will not defeat these advanced destroyers. Begin the invasion at once."


Hannah unlocked the door and went inside. "Home sweet home," she announced. "Are you coming inside?"
The Doctor popped her head through the door. "It's very cosy," she said finally, looking for the right words to say.
"Most of my stuff's in here." Hannah pointed to the living room where her TV and collection of chick flicks lived. "I have a few boxes somewhere, we can drop the stuff I don't want off at a charity shop or something."
"I like this dress." The Doctor held up a sexy black number with a neckline that was almost indecent. "Are you sure you don't want it?"
"Sure Doctor." Hannah looked at her pulling dress and tried to hide the pain. "Get rid of it."
"If you don't want it I'd like to have it," the Doctor said, intending to put it aside for Hannah when she got her confidence back.
"Isn't that kind of skanky? You're over two thousand years old and all."
The Doctor chuckled. "This me is barely two years old."
"I hate to upset you, but you do look a little old for two," Hannah commented. "I do know a way to take your mind off of it though. She opened the refrigerator door with a large formal gesture. "Behold the chocolate cake."
"I think it's died of natural causes," the Doctor said as she examined the decayed remains. "Everything inside has gone off."
"Swell." Hannah cursed. "Just my rotten luck."


The Cyber Leader led a squad of Cybermen down a set of steps near the landing site. Aiming at the fleeing humans it opened fire with the stun bolts, bringing them down quickly and efficiently. Many of them would be converted into Cybermen and it was illogical to waste materials that served their purpose.


Tobias Vaughn sat at his desk as three Cybermen burst in. "I knew you would come for me," he stated softly.
"You are partially converted, the procedure will be completed."
"No!" Vaughn shouted. "I must retain my human mind."
"Humanity is irrelevant, you will become like us." They grasped the partially converted human and placed a blank-faced helmet on his head. Within seconds blood, bone, tissue, strands of white hair and chunks of brain slopped wetly out of the mouth and eyeholes.
The Cyberman ripped the human garments off to reveal it's cybernetic body underneath. It pulled on the thin membrane of armour over the exposed flesh and circuitry and fastened it up. "Resistance is useless," it stated blandly. The human known as Tobias Vaughn, was no more. He had become exactly like the Cybermen.


Pain flared in the Doctor's head. She reeled forward and managed to catch herself from falling by using a chair. "There's...something happening. Time is being changed. I can ... feel the power of it. It's screaming in my head."
"What can we do?" Hannah asked hysterically. She looked outside of her Miami apartment to see the streets and building flickering with dancing lights.
The Doctor screamed and collapsed to the floor. She rubbed her hand under her nose and saw her own blood on the palm. "Get me into the TARDIS, it will block it out."
"The street, it's changing," Hannah shouted. "There's people running everywhere, my god the police are opening fire on a bunch of looters. This is terrible, what's happening?"
The Doctor pulled herself to her feet. "Oh just the end of the world," she said casually. "Get your things, we have to go now."


"Doctor!" Jamie shouted as he ran over to greet the Doctor, Zoe and Benton. "What's gaun' on? There's all these ships everywhere and Cybermen."
"Come on Jock," Benton said. "We're going to the TARDIS. You three are leaving this planet one way or the other. Brigadier's orders."
"This is highly inadvisable," the Doctor protested. "We must use the emotion machine to defeat the Cybermen."
"Yeah, well that's my job Doctor. Yours is to save the Universe. Earth is the Brigadier's responsibility."
"Won't you come with us?" Zoe asked the corporal. "Humanity must survive one way or the other."
"Sorry Miss, but once I see you lot off I'm having a crack at them with the emotion machine. Try and take as many of them with me as possible." Benton pushed Zoe into the invisible Time Machine. "Now go, please?"


They were on the last trip, Hannah had most of her CD's safely tucked away in the TARDIS but there were a few knick-knacks left and her cheese plant looked recoverable. The Doctor seemed steadier on her feet but not 100%.
The Doctor put the box next to the others and yawned. "Time for a nice cup of tea she said to Hannah. Then we can sort out this changing history business."
Hannah picked up her nun's habit and smiled. "This was Claire's favourite. She used to play the novice and I really think you don't want to hear the rest of that story," she said blushing and smiling.
"It is the Doctor," a Cyberman exclaimed. "We must take him alive."
"Oh no you don't mate," Benton shouted, blasting it with the weapon. "Lets see how you like this sunshine."
The Cyberman reeled as a wave of illogical data flooded it sensors. It felt confused and uncertain. It was scared of the human! What else could it do but run away? It turned and fled, screaming hysterically.
"Go on mate, run for it. One less of you lot to deal with." Benton took aim at the next Cyberman but before he could fire another one of them grabbed the weapon from behind.
"You cannot defeat us," the Cyber Leader intoned. "Resistance is useless. You will become like us."
Benton yelled in pain as the blank faced Cyberman chopped at the side of his neck and he saw stars.


"Doctor, dematerialise," Zoe almost screamed in panic.
"The controls are jammed," the Doctor responded, frantically pulling on the dematerialisation lever.


"Doctor, dematerialise!" Hannah screamed at the giddy figure of the Doctor.
"My brain is jammed Zoe," the Doctor responded, frantically trying to retain her balance, composure and dignity. She slipped on her composure, lost her balance and fell on her dignity.
"I'm not Zoe," Hannah replied. "I knew a Zoe a while back, nice ass but a crap lay. She got involved with drugs and got killed in a drive by."
"Language," the Doctor chided Hannah. "Sorry to hear about your friend." The Doctor tugged at the lever and finally it came loose. "There we are." She smiled. "There's life in the old girl yet, and in the TARDIS too it seems."
"So what's the situation?" Hannah watched as the streets of Miami changed in front of her eyes. It became a bland structure of steel and glass. "Oh," she whimpered. "Good job I went to the can before we left."
"That's the situation Hannah, the Cybermen have changed history. They've turned the Earth into their new Mondas." The Doctor stared at the sterile landscape for a few seconds. "Somehow we've got to stop all this from ever happening."
Hannah rounded on the Doctor. "It's okay for you to change history isn't it? But not to save Claire's life huh? If you change history then we're going to save Claire first," Hannah shouted hysterically at the Doctor, fresh tears flowing down her face.
"Don't you think I want to?" the Doctor shouted back. "Don't you think I spend every single second of the day thinking about it? I want to believe me. I want to so much that it chews me up inside. My hearts can barely contain my feelings. I want to save her so much, but I can't and I'm sorry. The Cybermen have changed history, we are merely going to ensure that they do not."
"What if Claire was meant to live? Have you thought of that? Maybe by not saving her you're the one changing history."
"I can't save Claire," the Doctor said. "I am forbidden to interfere."
Hannah said nothing but fled in tears to her room.
The Doctor swore in fluent Sontaran at herself. "I could have handled that better," she said to herself before setting the TARDIS's co-ordinates.
Hannah sat on the edge of her bed and dabbed at her waterlogged eyes with a damp tissue. Hearing a noise she looked up to see the Doctor standing in the doorway.
"Hi," the Doctor said. "Can I come in?"
"Come to make sure I don't try something stupid again?" Hannah demanded.
"Yes." The Doctor replied truthfully. "I'm concerned about you." She walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed beside her young friend. "You have to understand that there's something's I can't do. Not because I don't want to, but because there are very good reasons that don't make much sense right now to you or me but they're there to protect us. You've seen how much the Earth has changed already; right now all of future history is being rewritten. People's lives are changing; whole planets are being affected. The Universe might not survive the pressure being put on such a strong temporal nexus as the Earth. Now imagine what would happen if that happened constantly? Imagine how much damage would be caused as people's lives change radically from second to second. That's why we discourage time travel among the less developed races. They're not ready for the responsibility or the heavy burden. In an ideal world Claire would never have been put in danger and the two of you could live happily ever after. It's not an ideal world though. Injustice, hatred and evil permeate the Universe and they must be fought. I've been fighting it all my lives and there's not a day I don't think about the friends I have lost along the way. Some days the pain of those losses is tangible and I know I shouldn't cling to the pain but I'm afraid to let go, afraid to forget their faces."
Hannah put her arm through the Doctors and rested her head on the Doctor's shoulders. "I think I understand what you're saying but right now I don't want to feel reasonable. All I want is her back and she's never going to do that is she?"
"No," the Doctor whispered. "I'm sorry. Look at me, I'm crying now." The Doctor rubbed the mascara and tears from her eyes. "Are you up to a spot of defeating the Cybermen? I know revenge is a base and shallow motive but if it helps you get through this...?"
She thought about it for a few seconds and imagined the Cybermen rounded up against a wall and shot. She smiled. "One for Claire," Hannah said as she stood up. "Lets sort those metal bastards out once and for all."
"Language," the Doctor reminded her companion yet again. "It's not lady-like to swear like that. I've a good mind to wash your mouth out with coal tar soap."
"Screw that Doctor," Hannah laughed. "I don't feel particularly lady-like right now."
"In that case, you'll be needing this." The Doctor handed Hannah a small heavy bag. "Aim for the chest panel and face. I'm going to change into something more comfortable and less practical."
"Cool." Hannah smiled, pocketing the gold dust. "Any leftovers and we can make earrings."


The TARDIS materialised inside the command ship, its arrival was detected immediately but the Cyber Controller ordered its troops to let the Doctor explore for a few minutes. "Soon now Doctor, very soon." It said to itself.
The Doctor's blonde head emerged first from the TARDIS and she looked left and right before committing the rest of herself to a decision. She had changed out of her usual crushed green velvet suit for a long peach and pink flowery skirt and a clingy pink top. Hannah followed on, still dressed in her jeans but sporting a cool Rockbitch t-shirt. She also checked to make sure that the coast was clear.
"Where are we going?" Hannah whispered.
"The command deck I would imagine. See if we can disable the fleet from there."
"That's your plan?" Hannah gasped.
"What's the matter? You were quite prepared to die the other day."
"That's not funny." Hannah glared at the Doctor's back, right between her shoulder blades.
"It's not meant to be," the Doctor explained. "It's called shock therapy. It's supposed to make you realise what a selfish bitch you've been."
"Now look at who's swearing," Hannah jibed. "Or is that more 'therapy'?"
"More therapy I'm afraid. This way I think." The Doctor opened a steel hatch with the sonic screwdriver. "Hmmm the batteries are getting low." She reminded herself to buy some more the next time she was passing through 22nd centaury Earth. I must be the only person to actually drain Ouroboros batteries."


"Soon now Doctor," the Cyber Controller hissed.


"I wonder what's in here?" The Doctor pondered with all the subtlety of a brick.
Hannah had a quick look inside and almost lost yesterdays dinner. "Urgh," she moaned. "Pieces." She tried to cover her mouth. "Feel sick."
The Doctor pulled Hannah away. "The Cybermen are partially organic, when these organic components breakdown they need to be replaced. The best way to achieve this is to harvest certain key parts from those unfit for conversion. Sometimes I wonder which of them is the better off in the long run."
"Doctor, you can stop talking now." Hannah felt the lecture did not help any, in fact it was making her feel worse.
Closing the door the Doctor continued down the corridor. She came to another door and she went inside. "Ah, hello I'm the Doctor." She introduced herself to the Cyberman.
"At last Doctor, we meet again," the Cyber Controller stood up. "Please sit down."
Hannah wandered in and saw the tall silver robot. "Oh great, captured by a talking toaster oven."
"Come in and sit down Hannah," the Doctor gestured. "Its not every day one meets the Cyber Controller."
"Come now Doctor, you used to know me very well. We used to see each other every day. Only then you didn't call me Cyber Controller."
"Oh really?" The Doctor popped her feet onto the thin metal table. "What did I call you?"
"You used to call me David," the Controller informed the Time Lady.
The colour drained from the Doctors face. "No, you can't be David. I destroyed the thing they turned you into, both times."
"I am the product of superior Cyber Technology Doctor. We do not succumb to death so easily." The Cyber Controller looked at the shocked Time Lady.
"David is dead," the Doctor insisted. "He was killed by you lot. I don't know why you've done this but you're not him."
"Do you remember how we used to explore the Universe Doctor? The places we saw? The people we met? That life is behind me now, but when we conquer Earth we will forge a new and greater life for all of humanity. We will survive."
"You're Claire's brother right?" Hannah put two and two together and got the gold dust ready in her hand. "Can you make sure she survives the Sundowner mission? The Doctor refuses to break these dumb laws." She had to distract it long enough so that she could strike before it could react.
"You have love for Claire? It is a weakness. When you become one of us you will feel only the strength that purpose, discipline and obedience give you."
"Screw that tin can features. Chew on this." Hannah flung a handful of the gold dust at the Cyber Controller. She saw the look on the Doctor's face. "What?" she asked. "I had to ask, okay? I told you I'm not in a reasonable mood right now. Anyway I needed a distraction." The Cyber Controller lunged at Hannah but she sidestepped its clumsy move and kicked its prone figure with her foot. "Take that," she said.
Green fluid poured out of the mouth and eye sockets as the Cyber Controller picked itself up off the floor. The Doctor aimed her sonic screwdriver into its face and turned it up to the highest setting. She stifled a smile when the head exploded in a shower of sparks and green slurry.
"Now to stop these merry silver menaces from interfering in Earth's history for now." The Doctor left the small room and headed towards the bridge. "You'd better go back to the TARDIS and wait for me there Hannah." She announced. "We may need to get out of here in a hurry and you haven't healed enough to handle the stress."
"What if I run into a group of tinplate features?" the stressed out Hannah asked.
"Hide," the Doctor advised. "I don't want to find you plugged into a conversion chamber undergoing a double mastectomy."
Hannah gulped. "Me neither. I'd have to get plastic surgery or my bras wouldn't fit me. Hey maybe I could get a size larger?" When the Doctor didn't respond she got the message hand headed back to the TARDIS.
The bridge was oddly deserted, which was a surprise. Quickly she slipped over to the navigation console and typed in new co-ordinates. She had just finished when a large silver hand came down on her shoulder.
"Do not resist," the Cyber Leader intoned. "Resistance is useless."
"I know, I know. I've heard it so many times now. I suppose you're going to kill me now?"
"You know our ways," the Leader replied. "You will become like us. We need a new Controller, you will serve in that capacity."
"I don't think so." The Doctor replied. "I rather like my body the way it is. It's so much better than anything you can offer."
"Organic life is wasteful, you will be more efficient."
"I'd rather be pretty gorgeous than pretty bionic." The Doctor responded as she watched a Cyberman reset the navigational controls.
The Leader used logic to persuade the Doctor to see its point of view. "You will live forever."
"Who the hell wants to live forever? I'm over two thousand years old and I've seen and done more than you can ever comprehend and yet when my time comes I'd rather die than become like you."
"You do not have a choice," the Leader explained logically.
"There's always a choice Cyber Leader. It's realising that you do have a choice that separates the living from the clockwork."
"What do you mean?" the Leader demanded.
"Ha, that's stumped you hasn't it? You can't work it out can't you? I double-filed the entry path. Once tin man number three, over there, reset the controls the navigation computer changed them back again."
"No!" the Cyber Leader shouted. "Kill her."
"Now who's being emotional?" The Doctor taunted before running towards the door, gunfire zipping past her in all directions.


"Run Doctor," Hannah said as she watched the events from the safety of the TARDIS. She cradled Lucky in one arm and used the other to operate the screen controls. "You can make it Doctor."


The Doctor's heels clattered on the steel floor as she ran for her life. Her chest heaved as she fought to get air into her lungs and she cursed her choice of skirt over more practical trousers. She saw the TARDIS up ahead and Hannah standing in the doorway. Only fifteen metres to go when a Cyberman stepped in front of her.
"Resistance is useless," it intoned. "You will become like us or you will be eradicated."
Hannah screamed as the Cyberman knocked the Doctor unconscious and started to drag her over to a conversion chamber. Then suddenly the floor fell out from underneath her feet as the fleet were flung out of the vortex. Recovering, Hannah looked up to see the Cyberman lying on top of the Doctor. If the situation hadn't been so serious she might have laughed. The Cyberman was heavy but she managed to lever it off the Doctor somehow before she dragged the Doctor's body back to the TARDIS. The stitches in her wrists popped one by one and blood started to soak the bandages over her wrists but she ignored it, she had more important things to worry about. "I'm not going to lose two friends to you bastards," she cried as she heaved the Doctor over the threshold and closed the doors. She pressed a few buttons at random, like the ones she had seen the Doctor press many times before and then she operated the lever that made the TARDIS go to all the strange places.


Zoe jumped for joy as the last of the Cybermen's spaceships were destroyed. "It worked," she yelled and the Doctor hugged her in joy.
The Brigadier smiled. "Exactly as you predicted, a chain reaction of explosions."
Major Branwell wanted to know how Zoe's calculations were so precise. "It's fantastic, how do you do it?"
Zoe explained everything to him. "Well, it's all quite logical really, hardly any calculation needed at all. Except the simple stuff like speed, angle of descent, and relative positions of the spaceships."
"Can't we keep her on, sir? She's much prettier than a computer!" Sergeant Peters asked the Brigadier.
The Doctor smiled and clapped his hands together. They had managed to save the Earth from the Cybermen.


Hannah found a new bandage and replaced the blood soaked ones. She had dragged the Doctor all the way to her bedroom and heaved her up onto the bed. Hannah sat on a chair and read to Lucky, who seemed more interested in one of the Doctor's scarves than the story so she put the book down.
"Please finish," the Doctor said. "I want to know what happens next."
Hannah jumped up and down, almost dropping Lucky in the process. "I wasn't sure you'd make it. I was so worried," Hannah confessed. "I guess I know how you felt, you know after you found me."
"We'd better get those wounds seen to," the Doctor announced. "For some reason my needlepoint just isn't what it used to be."
"That may be a problem," Hannah said. "I sort of pressed some buttons and then dematerialised us. I have no idea where we're going."
"Do you know how long it took me to fix that problem last time? Two me's. Ian Chesterton should never have touched those controls."
"I'm sorry, I was just trying to help."
"That's exactly what he said. You're not his reincarnated spirit are you?" the Doctor teased Hannah before producing a chocolate coin out of her ear. "It shouldn't take me too long to work out where we are."


Hannah applied the special blue liquid the Doctor had given her. She poured it onto the scabbed over cuts and it hurt like buggery, even more so in fact. She stifled a scream as the pain turned into a burning sensation. Quickly the scabs fell off to reveal fresh scar tissue. Hannah was amazed, even if her hands hurt. She headed to the console room to say thank you.
"Doctor, look they're better." Hannah showed off the scars. "Thanks a lot."
The Doctor switched the large screen on and pointed to it. "Take a look at our friends."
The screen showed the Cybermen crash landing on a barren moon. The image blurred as it fast-forwarded. It showed the Cybermen salvaging their ships, building a massive cube-like structure. The cube sped off into space where it captured ship after ship. The inhabitants were given some cybernetic modification.
"Witness the creation of a new race. It seems the Cybermen's memory was deleted, so they created a new identity for themselves. They have seen the synthesis of organic tissue and machine components as the ultimate form of life. These new people call themselves the Borg."
Hannah felt creeped out, in a way they were even worse than the Cybermen because they looked partially normal. "Will they threaten Earth?"
"Not for a long while yet. They're on the opposite side of the galactic core and so they cannot see Earth but one day they will grow to be a major threat to Earth. History is now back on track, so to speak. By averting one change to the time stream we stopped a second one. The fight against the Borg unites a lot of races mankind doesn't know exist yet together against them. Oh and I must apologise to Kathryn the next time I see her."
"What do we do now?" Hannah asked the Doctor.
"We close the rest of those Temporal Fissures before the Daleks, or anyone else get their grubby little protuberances in them. We can't afford to go through this on a weekly basis can we?" The Doctor paused to breathe in. "I quite fancy a cup of tea, what about you?"
"I fancy a nice holiday where we don't get attacked, mugged or otherwise threatened by unsavoury characters at least until the second week." Hannah had just the bikini in mind.
"I'll see what I can do." The Doctor set the co-ordinates and they were off on their way.


Something stirred, something ancient beyond measure. It flexed its leviathan body, as it's sleep came to an end. It roared aloud with its awakening and the nearby stars themselves shattered into a hundred supernovae.