THE INVISIBLE HAND

CHAPTER TEN

With a sad look, Donna took off Nab’s coat and draped it over the face of the dead man.

“I’m sorry, Nab.” she said quietly, as went to stand next to the Doctor. “at least he’s at peace, no one can hurt him anymore.”

Nab only nodded dumbly, and with tears in his eyes, he knelt beside his friend and held a hand already growing cold with death. The Doctor looked down at the body.

“I had a long scarf like that, once.” He casually commented. Donna gave the Doctor one of her looks, and elbowed him in the ribs.

“Ow!” he exclaimed indignantly, before it dawned on him what she was on about. It wasn’t always easy keeping up with human emotions, especially the females, even if one was nine-hundred and six years old. He looked sadly at Nab.

“I’m sorry about your friend. I was too late to save him.” he amended somberly, before fixing a determined stare at Donna. “But, no more.” he said to her. “This little ‘game,’ isn’t going to end sudden death, not if I have anything to say about it!"

The echoing threat of the Dalek came bouncing off the rocks again, nearer this time. Looking about him, the Doctor pulled Nab to his feet, and then gestured to Donna to head back up the path.

“It’s not safe here, we’ve got to move. Come on you two!” he shouted, striding on his long, lanky legs up the narrow track.

They were rounding a bend in the trail, when suddenly, the bearded young man who’d attacked Donna on the mound of stones, stepped into the path. Apparently, he still thought he was a monster, because he began waving his arms about and roaring like an angry beast.

Nab was no longer under the spell of the hypnotic drug in his brain, and saw that it was another one of his homeless mates. He began to walk towards the young man, but the Doctor touched Nab on the arm to get his attention.

“Wait. Better let me take care of this.” The doctor said quietly but firmly.

Slipping the sonic out of his pocket, the Doctor put on his glasses and made some slight adjustments to it. He then aimed the sonic at the approaching young man. The tip glowed blue and gave a low buzzing noise, and as it did, the young man clutched his head and fell to his knees.

The bearded homeless man looked up and saw Nab and the others. His face was confused and frightened.

“Wha–? What’s going on? Where is this place? What’s happened?” he cried out.

“What did you do?” Nab cried, as he handed the now barely flaming torch back to Donna. He then ran to help the injured man.

But, wide-eyed, he slid to a halt as a another creature approached behind the kneeling man. Only, this one wasn’t an animal, and it wasn’t a figment of the Mondo Leader’s mind control. It was tall and metallic. It was a Cyberman.

“Nab!” Donna yelled, surging forward, but the Doctor barred her way.

“Stay back!” the Doctor yelled, his eyes growing ever worried at the thought of one terrible enemy in front, and one behind.

They all looked on, horrified and helpless, as the Cyberman grabbed the kneeling man by the shoulders.

“You are inferior stock. You will be deleted!” it said in an emotionless electronic voice. “DELETE”! DELETE!”

Blue-white energy charges flowed out of the cyberman’s hands into the man’s body. The homeless man gave out a single, short cry of pain and terror, before dropping dead onto the floor.

“What the hell–?” Nab said, too stunned by what he’d seen, to move.

The Doctor looked wildly about him for an escape route. Dawn was barely a promise in the sky, but the Doctor’s sharp alien eyes noticed a faint track leading to the cliff tops. It was the same one that Donna had used, earlier in the evening.

“Run!” the Doctor yelled, taking the torch from Donna, shepherding both her and Nab before him, back towards the cliff trail. “This way, it’ll slow it down, it’s our only chance!” he called out to them.

As they ran to the cliffs, Nab stumbled on his sore ankle and fell. His hand slammed into a small rock, bruising it. Donna stopped to help Nab up, and as the man looked down at the rock which hurt his hand, he gasped. Donna couldn’t understand what her companion was staring at. Then, she saw it too.

“Nab, is that what I think it is?” she asked him, as she helped him to stand. He’d picked up the rock and was looking at it in the palm of his open hand.

“Come on you two! Shake a leg!” The Doctor called, glaring at them impatiently. “What are you waiting for, an engraved invitation to next year’s Cyberman’s ball?”

The Cyberman was slowly walking towards them, and the Doctor wasn’t fancying their chances if it got too close. He came up beside them, and then saw what Nab was holding.

“That won’t do you one bit of good you know, if that Cyberman gets any closer.” The Doctor reasoned with Nab, “So let’s you and me and Donna leg it out of here, yeah? You can play with your pretty rock, later.”

As the sky lightened, the Doctor put out the sputtering torch, and helped Donna and the now badly limping Nab, up the steep cliff-top path. Half way up, he looked down. True to form, the Cyberman was following….which was just what the Doctor wanted. He was standing on a narrow ledge, and when the three of them had arrived at that ledge, the Doctor sent Donna and Nab onwards to the top of the cliff, and stayed where he was.

Standing back a short way from the edge of the precipice, the Doctor, coat-tails unfurling in the wind, stood tall and resolute, calmly waiting for the Cyberman. He didn’t have to wait long. A sliver hand gripped the side of the cliff, as the creature pulled itself up on to the ledge.

“You took your own time getting here.” the Doctor addressed it with a genial smile. “You need to hit the cyber-gym a bit more, do wonders for your love life. Oh wait.” The Doctor amended, no longer smiling, “You lot can’t have a love life, you can’t have anything truly worthwhile, can you?”

“What is this love you speak of? What is its value?” the Cyberman asked.

“That’s one of the hardest questions to ever plague the universe, but I think I quite like how a lovely lady I once knew described it. She said; ‘Love doesn’t make the world go round, but it does make the ride worthwhile.’” the Doctor quoted.

“This love is a mode of transport?” The Cyberman asked emotionlessly.

“In a way, yes. It can lift your heart and your spirit to the highest realm it can go.” His eyes narrowed. It’s a feeling!” The Doctor spat out, leaning towards the creature. “One of the most wonderful emotions in the whole of the universe…only, you can’t know that, can you? You may have the brain of a human inside that metal body of yours, but you’ll never be human again. You’re just a machine now. No love, no hope, no serenity. No ambition, or curiosity, or dreams. Nothing to drive your forwards. You’re zeros. You serve no purpose. A fruit machine has more life in it than you lot do.”

“We have purpose.” the Cyberman droned, “Our purpose is to upgrade the human race and to delete all inferior species. The universe will be uniform. All the same. That is what we exist for, to make everyone like us.”

“And what happens when you achieve this goal of yours, hmmm-?” the Doctor asked it. “You’ve made the whole of the universe Cybermen. Answer me this: what will your purpose be, when there are no more inferior species left for you to convert?”

For a moment, the Cyberman seemed actually flummoxed by the Doctor’s question. Which gave the Doctor the critical moment he needed. Because, while he’d been talking to the Cyberman, he’d been inperceptively leading it towards the edge of the cliff.

Hoping to throw the Cyberman off balance and have it fall off the cliff, the Doctor pulled a cricket ball out of his coat pocket, and threw it at Cyberman. Only, the Cyberman caught it handily.

“Whoops. That didn’t quite go as planned.” the Doctor muttered. “I believe these emotions are called ‘chagrin,’ ‘embarrassment,’ and,” he added, looking at the tall silver figure advancing on him, ‘fear for one’s life.’

“Your primative weapon is useless, Doctor.” the Cyberman taunted.

“Yeah, it just hasn’t been the same since my fifth regeneration. This regeneration, my sport seems to be snooker.” the Doctor said ruefully, tugging on his ear.

Donna and Nab watched in silent horror, as the Doctor was seemingly trapped, his back against the cold, hard rock, with the Cyberman’s outstretched arms less than a meter away. Suddenly, something gold and shiny hurled itself through the air, and lodged in the Cyberman’s eye.

The creature let out a roar, as its hands clawed at the eye, it’s head thrashing back in forth in what almost seemed like human agony. The Doctor watched as the Cyberman stepped back into the open space past the edge of the cliff, and disappeared.

“Gold! As poisonous to these Cybermen, as it was to the originals!” The Doctor grinned up at Nab. “Thanks for that!” He went over to the edge and looked down.

As he did so, a silver hand grasped the Doctor’s dirty trainer, throwing him off-balance. The Doctor fell, but his hand caught the edge of the cliff. He managed to kick the Cyberman off before it could kill him, and it crashed on to the rocks, a little over ten meters below.

“Doctor!” Donna shouted, making her way towards the path that lead down to the cliff. “Hang on, I’m coming!”

But, it was too late. She watched in horror as the Doctor’s finger’s slipped and he, too, fell.

“No!” Donna screamed. Nab came beside her and tried to pull Donna back up to the cliff top. “What are you doing? Let go of me!” she yelled at him,. “The Doctor may be still alive, I have to go and find him.”

“Look, Donna!” Nab replied, pointing a finger at the landscape below. The Dalek had appeared, and was rolling along the floor of the wastelands. “I’m sorry about your friend, I truly am. But, there’s nothing you can do. The Doctor said that thing was dangerous. Don’t let his sacrifice to save us, have been in vain. We’ve got to find someplace to hide, before that thing sees us.”

Donna took one last, agonized look back at the edge of the ledge, where the Doctor had fallen.

“Doctor, if you can hear me, I’ll find you!” As she struggled back up to the top of the cliff, she sighed and looked at Nab. “Did I just sound like some lame film heroine?”

The two of them headed for a rock outcrop a short distance away. The rocks were huge granite slabs which lay askew against each other. Possibly evidence of some odd volcanic activity long ago. One of the slabs of rock leaned against another, affording just enough room for Nab and Donna to squeeze in underneath.

Nab and Donna had only just settled underneath the cold, hard slab, when the Dalek came swooping down from the dawn sky. The deep red of the rising sun, reflecting off of the Dalek, turned it’s copper-tinted plating the colour of blood.

The Dalek landed about twenty meters away. The pair of them tensely watched in silence, as it stood there, swiveling its eye-stalk. Then, it trundled away from them in the opposite direction. Donna let out a relieved sigh.

“Well, at least we’re safe for a while.” she said to Nab, as they watched the Dalek disappear into the distance. “You stay here, I’m going to see if I can find the Doctor.”

“I wish you wouldn’t.” Nab said anxiously. “If that thing can fly, what’s to stop it from taking to the sky again? It would spot you plain as day out there, you’d stand out like a sore thumb.”

“Oi! This is a fine time to be taking the mickey out of me for my hair colour!” Donna exclaimed indignantly.

Nab only rolled his eyes and trudged back towards the cliff trail down to the ledge where the Doctor had fallen. Sighing, Donna followed him. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see what waited her. Surely if the Doctor had been unhurt, he’d have found her by now.

They’d just reached the path, and were about to climb back down the cliff, when Donna sensed a movement below them.

“Doctor?” she called out, hopefully.

But, instead of the Doctor, the domed copper-coloured head of the Dalek slowly rose up from below. It hovered in the air, at face level with Donna and Nab. Together, they involuntarily backed away in fear.

“HALT! DO NOT MOVE!” The Dalek commanded them.

It rose and landed on the floor just a meter away from the pair of humans. It regarded them silently for a moment, before swiveling its eye-stalk towards Donna.

“You said the name of our enemy, the Oncoming Storm. Where is the Doctor? Speak! Talk, or the human male will be exterminated! Where is he? Tell me!” The Dalek ranted dementedly at her. Donna was about to deny any knowledge of the Doctor’s whereabouts, when she suddenly changed her mind.

“Actually, he’s right behind you.” She said smugly, tilting her head at it with a smirk.

“You LIE!” The Dalek screamed, almost sounding terrified.

Swiveling around backwards, the Dalek turned to look anyway….and had a long, wide knit scarf thrown over it’s eyestalk. It whinged in protest.

“VISION IMPARED! CAN’T SEE! HELP ME!” It protested.

The Doctor, a bit dirty and worse for wear, then pushed hard against the Dalek, moving it towards the edge of the cliff.

“Give me a hand Donna, I need help shifting it.” the Doctor grunted, “These things aren’t exactly made of plywood and plastic, you know!”

Together she and the Doctor pushed the Dalek over the edge of the cliff. It gave a long, drawn out grating, almost human-sounding scream as it was smashed upon the jagged rocks below. As the Doctor straightened, Donna hugged him joyously. Right before she punched him in the arm for not letting her know he was OK, sooner.

“How did you get here? Did you teleport or something?” Donna asked him. Then, she hugged him again. “I thought you were dead!”

“I took a shortcut,” the Doctor shrugged, returning the hug. “I’m fine, really. Shaken but never stirred.”

Just then, the air before them shimmered. The Mondo Leader appeared, flanked by two of his commando-style guards.

Sighing, the Doctor gave Donna a look.

“Never waste time in a hug.” He said regretfully. “Oh well,” the Doctor shrugged, “hands up everyone. We’ve been captured.”

“What? By him?” Donna asked, arms raised, looking at the small, red conker-headed figure in the gold lame suit and cloak.

“By none other than the Mondo Leader,” the Doctor said, slightly sarcastically.

“Not Mondo Leader,” the man grinned at the Doctor. “Navalatamay! I made Mondo Leader go far away!”

“The what? Is this some kind of joke? Are you having me on?” Donna asked the Doctor in quick succession, not really expecting an answer.

“Is it really you?” The Doctor asked Navalatamay, grinning with relief. “Well done, I knew you had it in you.”

“Navalatamay bring help! See that Doctor does not need it! Navalatamay very happy!” The man in the gold suit said, looking up at the Doctor. Then, he looked sad.

“Navalatamay prisoner, must go away now. Did bad, bad things. Turned myself in, turned Sipar in, asked for help. They say Navalatamay must go to special hospital. But,” he added, “I have something for you before I go.”

The little red man produced the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. The Doctor’s face lit up as he palmed his beloved instrument.

“Oh you beau-ty!” he said lovingly, “Without my sonic, I feel like Wyatt Earp at the OK Corral without his six-gun. And, believe me, been there, done that.

Without warning, a grating “Exterminate!” came from below them.

The two guards and the Doctor ran to the edge of the cliff. The Dalek lay below, trying to raise itself upright. It’s casing had been slightly cracked in the fall. Not enough to render the creature harmless, but enough to damage the connection to its servo-motors.

One of Navalatamay’s guards took a shot at the Dalek, but missed, sending chunks of rock flying. The Dalek didn’t miss, however. The guard screamed as the Dalek’s death ray enveloped him in green light, showing his skeleton. The man dropped the laser rifle and fell over the side of the cliff.

The Doctor lay prone on the floor, and squinted as he carefully aimed his sonic at one of the tiny cracks in the Dalek’s outer casing. Slowly, the crack began to widen and white smoke trailed out of the domed head. Donna and the others watched, as the Dalek suddenly exploded in a flash of yellow light.

Later, back in the Tardis, Nab stared at the strange interior of the ship. He turned to look at Donna.

“Is this another one’a them illusions as well?” he asked her, confused. “If it is, it’s a good ‘un. I could use that to put on a show at Blackpool.”

“I’ve set the coordinates for London, year 2010. You’ll home in no time, it’ll be like you’d never left.” the Doctor said from his place at the console, where he was controlling the ship. He’d cleaned himself up, and had changed into his blue suit and red trainers.

Donna had also changed and was wearing a long black skirt and grey top. The Doctor had offered Nab his pick of anything in the Tardis wardrobe, but the man was too overwhelmed to take the Doctor up on his offer.

“Ain’t got a home no more.” Nab said quietly.

“Well,” the Doctor drawled, “maybe that will change.”

Nab only gave the Doctor a skeptical raise of his eyebrow. Which raised even higher, when the Doctor pulled out something from his pocket and handed it to Nab.

“I know you gave it to the Cyberman, but he didn’t need it, and, well, I thought you might want this back.”

It was the lump of pure gold Nab had found lying on the ground.

THE END

Back                         Home                              Doctor Who Main Page