RUN MARTHA, RUN

  Martha thought about it, you fall for a guy you follow him anywhere. You watch the sports he likes, you go to the club you would not be caught dead in for him. She grumbled;
    “You even follow him to a dead planet 200 years before they build the resort he promised to take you to!”
  Martha was meant to be on a sunny beach under a sunshade, a famous Nivarian rum cocktail in one hand and a famous Nivarian spiced sandwich in the other. Neither had been invented yet. That was by far the smallest grievance she currently had.
  The Tardis had landed on Nivarian 4. Martha was already in her bikini and flip flops, sunglasses and a straw hat. The Doctor was in his usual suit. They stepped out of the Tardis to find a large dead base that looked like it had fallen half apart. There was a warm wind and a big board indicating:
              RESORT CONSTRUCTION BEGINNING SOON. FACILITY PURCHASED BY THE NIVARIAN HOLIDAY CONSORTIUM.  
  The Doctor looked at Martha;
    “Slight miscalculation. Just pop ahead 200 years and they will have built it!”
  It was at that precise moment they had realised that The Doctor, true to usual form had landed his Tardis on the single most rickety part of the roof of the old base. There was a wrenching creak and the Tardis as well as a section of roof disappeared into the depths of the base. The Doctor looked at her and looked at the hole;
    “Well, we get to go on a bit of a sight seeing tour after all! We find the old girl then the beach...”

  The Base was really very large. It had tunnel after tunnel after tunnel. Every single one of them looked the same. They were very much a pain to walk around in flip flops and Martha’s feet hurt. 
  When you have seen one dead, alien facility you have seen them all. The place looked like it had been stripped of anything useful decades ago-completely abandoned! Still, all they had to do was find where the Tardis landed. 

  The largest grievance Martha currently had was somewhere around, following her. Martha heard the hissing click of the robotic legs as her pursuer looked for her. She should probably have been quieter... 
  Martha had limited mobility-her second largest grievance but more on that later. She ducked-down behind a half rusted machine. It looked like some kind of pump or motor. 
  The silver monster walked out into the half light. Martha’s spine froze, a Cyberman! It looked like a knight in some ways. The articulated gauntlets, the helmet, the armoured chest plate and the familiar handle bars.
  Martha took a closer look at it from her concealed hiding place. It looked damaged. There was something over half of its face. Martha looked closer and gulped. It was not damage, it was covered by something-it looked like half a leather mask!
  Martha realised then that there was some sort of organic creature attached to its head like a parasite. There were seven or eight tendrils coming out of the leather mass going directly into the Cyberman’s head. The metal around the tendrils seemed to be burnt. The creature had bored into the cyber mans brain!
  The parasitized cyber man turned around and started to walk away. Relieved, Martha got out of her hiding place but she moved too quickly. In the middle of the leathery mass that made up the parasite, an eye blinked open and looked at her. The Cyberman turned around;
    “YOU WILL BE UPGRADED to serve.”
  Martha’s legs were pumping like a track star and she was off down the corridor. The Cyberman had two voices, the usual one then that hissing comment added on afterwards. Martha did not know what would be worse to be converted to a Cyberman just a brain in a bottle, or have one of those parasites bore into her skull. The offer on the table was probably both.
  Martha couldn’t make very good time due to several constraining factors-one, she had no shoes (she had lost her flip flops a while ago also her hat and her sunglasses at the same time) but more importantly her entire torso was trapped in what appeared to be a tight brown leather straight jacket. It tightly hugged her torso from waist to neck and her arms were next to useless. They were folded in front of her, there were two side loops and they couldn’t be budged! 
  The collar pinched and the crotch strap was giving her the wedgie of her life! There was a seam at the back but no zip, poppers, straps or laces could be seen. The same was true of the straps-no buckles or other mechanisms.
  Martha ran up to a door. It was shut. There was a handle so she bent down and gripped it with her teeth. The handle moved, there was a click from a mechanism and the door shifted a millimetre. 
  Martha screeched in frustration and shoulder barged the door. It moved a bit allowing a sliver of light through. She then heard the faint clink of Cyberman feet and kicked the door-it moved a little more.
  The sound of mechanical footsteps was louder. Martha shoulder barged the door again and it moved quite a bit, just not enough, Martha kicked it but it was stuck on something, no movement. Martha heard the footsteps of the Cyberman and she turned, it was just coming into the corridor. She dived for the gap, wedging herself halfway thorough the door.
  Martha struggled & wiggled. She moved slightly forwards but the sound of the Cyberman was closer and closer. If only she had her arms free, if only she wasn’t trapped in the dam jacket!
  She cried out in fear & the adrenalin made her fight harder. The door almost released its grip. The noise of the Cyberman was so close. 
  Bang! Martha was through the door, she hit the floor in time for a mechanical arm to miss her. The girl scooted across the floor into a wall leaned up against it. She stood up, almost overbalanced and her heart thumped in her chest! 
  She started to run again...

    “That’s not leather! It’s a vibranium-atamantium-nutronium-carbonite alloy with a nanite pulp designed to look like leather!” The Doctor looked at the reading from his sonic screwdriver. 
    “Can you cut it?” Martha asked, her eyes begging. 
    “Oh no, way no-its harder than a Dalek Dreadnaught’s armour plating!”
  She looked at the Doctor;
    “Who builds a straitjacket out of an indestructible alloy?” Martha tugged at her arms to emphasis her point. 
    “At a guess, someone that doesn’t want their patients to escape easily!” The Doctor retorted. 
  Martha replied sarcastically;
    “Well obviously!”
  The Doctor looked at her;
    “Don’t worry, it’s a simple construction I can unlock it with the sonic screwdriver.” The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at the jacket and nothing happened. 
  He adjusted his screwdriver and kept it going. Martha felt the arms on the jacket get tighter;
    “I though you said it was simple, you’re only making it tighter!” 
  The Doctor looked at her;
    “It’s odd. This device seems to be able to take sonic communication but I think it needs more that one signal to activate it let me just reconfigure my screwdriver.”
  The Doctor tried again, “There you go!” the screwdriver whirred and the collar and the stomach of the jacket got tighter. Martha‘s lips narrowed;
    “Do you even know what your doing or are you guessing?”
  The Doctor made a little adjustment. There was a whirring sound from the sonic screwdriver. The crotch strap got a lot tighter very quickly!
  Martha dropped to her knees, she rolled in a ball on the floor squeezing her legs together gasping;
    “Stop trying to help me!” 
  The Doctor helped Martha back to her feet;
  “Don’t worry! I’ll sort it out eventually. Anyway that’s what you get for fooling around with strange wardrobes.”

  Martha had been running for ten minutes. She ran around a corner and skidded to a halt. There was a Cyberman in front of her. It had to be a different Cyberman as the parasite was on the top of its head in a different place. 
  How many of those monsters were down here? Martha chose a corridor at random and started running, she could hear the sound of stomping mechanical feet behind her.   
  She had to be more careful, especially in her current state. Cries of “STOP do not resist,” “HALT now!” and “YOU WILL BE UPGRADED to serve...”-followed her.

  They had been looking around the complex for about twenty minutes looking for the Tardis when Martha saw a side room. It looked less looted than the rest of the place and she saw some sort of capsule in the middle of the room. It was dusty and dirty but primarily intact. 
  It was a kind of booth and it said AUTO DRESSER. A dress or a pair of trousers was just what Martha needed. A screen activated but it was very dim and she couldn’t see it very well.
  It seemed to show a 3D model of her in her current clothing. Martha touched the image and a menu came up but the picture was fuzzy. She found a selection of jackets but there was no description and the image was not very good. Eventually she found a brown leather jacket that she liked the look of. For some reason she could not access any of the other options menus. Still a jacket was better than nothing she thought.
  
    “PROGRAM COMPLETE. STEP IN WHEN READY.”- the machine chimed at Martha so she did. 
  As soon as she stepped into the booth a clear plastic panel slid around trapping her inside. A blue light shone on her for a second, confirming measurements. A hatch opened and a robotic hand reached out, snatched her sunglasses and disappeared with them back into the machine;
    “Hey, they were designer!” Martha shouted at the machine. 
  A robotic hand caught her ankle and pulled off her left flip flop. Martha tried to reach down to recover it, only to find her hat snatched while she was distracted. She got a hold of the brim of her hat. While she tugged on it the machine got her right flip flop. 
  Martha was furious! The damn machine was undressing her before it provided her with any new clothes! A robotic arm reached out and grabbed her bikini top. Martha screamed defiantly;
    “Oh no you don’t!” She grabbed hold of the edge of the top only to lose her bikini bottoms to another hand. The edge of her bikini was pulled out of her hands. Martha covered herself up. Finally the machine presented her with the leather jacket she had requested.
  Martha held out her arms to allow the machine to give her the jacket she had asked for in the first place. Then she would get the doctor to get the machine to give her, her clothes back. 
  The jacket felt quite nice on the inside. It was lined with a very soft material. Then alarm bells in her head worked out what was wrong with the jacket. Her hands hit the ends of the sleeves and found they were sealed shut. Martha tried to pull back but it was too late! The two halves of the jacket met behind her and snapped together like magnets. It was comfortable but snug. The machine’s arms gently but firmly forced her right sleeve through the left arm loop and the left sleeve through the right arm loop. 
  When the sleeves met behind her, they joined together as the jacket had. Martha cursed as one final robotic hand pulled the crotch strap up between her legs. 
  Fully bundled-up Martha was ejected from the auto dresser, Martha screeched incoherently and kicked the machine but it accomplished nothing, the machine continued to sit there. 
  Martha looked at the display, It was suddenly crystal clear it showed her as she was in the jacket. She tried to use the touch screen with her nose but she brought up a option for various full face hoods with gags and for various leg restraints each more horrible than the last. 
  Martha backed away cursing there seemed to be no option to remove the jacket only trade it for something more severe.
  The girl stepped out of the room and she saw a sign that had fallen on the floor it read:
                         MEDICAL PSYCHIATRY. 
  She stamped her foot and started calling out for The Doctor. Martha heard a response and ran away from the room towards the voice. From an unseen alcove a pair of purple glowing eyes flickered into life. A couple of hands moved.

  Martha continued to run. She had been separated from The Doctor, he had gone down a ladder to get to the Tardis and told her to stay put. She had seen the shadow of a Cyberman and had screamed a warning and had started running, not looking back.   
  Martha heard the clanking of more than one Cyberman behind her-two or three, perhaps more. She ran into a dead end a circular room. Martha’s eyes spun around looking for an exit, looking for a place to hide. 
  Her eyes fixed on a grating, it was too small for a Cyberman but large enough for her. Crawling through it with the jacket on would be no fun, but possible. 
  Martha kicked the grating and it fell off. She dived forwards. It was a snug fit but desperation allowed her to wiggle inside, she could hear the clanking getting closer.   
  Her bottom was sticking out of the vent. She squirmed more desperately as the clanking continued. Martha’s calves stuck out a little more. The clanking got louder.   
  Finally, as the Cybermen got into the room Martha was all the way in the vent. She took a little respite, the sound of clanking in the background then she moved forwards. She squirmed on her shoulders and knees. It was exhausting! After twenty meters there was another grating. A little push and the grill popped out.
  Martha dropped to the floor panting, the room was dark, shadowy and a figure stepped out of the shadows. An armoured gauntlet picked her up by the collar and lifted her skywards. Martha came face to face with a Cyberman’s dead eyes and the one rolling blinking eye of the parasite attached to its face. 
  She screamed;
    “No, please don’t!”
  The Cyberman spoke;
    “YOU WILL BE UPGRADED to serve.”
   The Cyberman’s other hand moved into the dim light. There was another parasite held gently in its grip. Martha got a good look. It had suckers on the inside as well as tooth-like protrusions. Eight tentacles waved in her direction and the parasite held in the Cyberman’s hand blinked at her. Martha whimpered and turned her head away. 

The Doctor was truly lost. He had successfully evaded dozens of the parasitized Cybermen but he had also successfully evaded wherever his Tardis was left. Thinking on the parasites, it had to be something really powerful to be able to override their control chips. 
  He had to find Martha. She was in a really vulnerable state. Who knew what would befall her still that jacket? It might give the Cybermen some problems harvesting her to be upgraded but it was a faint hope...

  The Cyberman started to raise his hand, there was a clicking behind it. Martha thought it was strange almost like a pair of high heeled shoes. 
    “CYBERNETIC ORGANISM WITH PARACITE DETECTED. PATIENT IN DANGER, LETHAL FORCE AUTHORISED!”
  The Cyberman did not have time to turn around. Something taller than him with four limbs reached out of the shadows. One hand caught Martha another ripped the arm holding her from the Cyberman’s shoulder. 
  One hand crushed the parasite that was being held out towards Martha into a brown paste. The other crushed the other parasite and the Cyberman’s head in one go. 
  Bitter-tasting brown goop splattered over Martha’s face from the crushed parasite. It went in her mouth and her eyes she spat it out.
  Martha was lowered to the floor and a hand delicately wiped her eyes. Martha blinked. She thought her rescuer was an alien woman to begin with but the term android came to her mind. Martha was sure that it was meant to be some sort of nurse, it was probably designed by someone who still lived with their parents in their thirties. 
  The android was tall, about six foot six. She was obviously designed to be able to easily deal with very physically powerful adversaries. Martha looked at herself. She looked like a patient-it had called her a patient, what did that mean?
  The Android had four arms, one set slightly below the other. She had a blue gray tone on her artificial skin, further enhancing her mechanical look. 
  Martha swallowed, what did a ‘patient’ entail around here? The creators had gone a long way to make her very feminine. The android wore a pair of strappy white high heeled shoes that must have been six inches high ending in a pencil thin heel. The android was designed with a pair of shapely sculpted legs. It had a very feminine pair of hips and waist that must have been only fourteen inches wide. The Android had a very well endowed bust. It had a sculpted, swanlike neck, cheekbones to die for and large pouting lips. To Martha this reinforced the notion the designers were nerds who had to build their own girlfriends. 
  Martha stopped looking at the android as a bimbo. It was something else. Its piercing, purple eyes looked at her with intelligence. The Android smiled, introduced herself; 
    “I AM NURSE NIGHTINGALE. I DO NOT HAVE A TREATMENT PROGRAM FOR YOU YET BUT AS YOU ARE CLEARLY A PATIENT I WILL PROTECT YOU. YOU ARE MY RESPONSIBILITY.” 
  The uniform the android nurse wore looked like it was made out of some thick type of rubber. There was a little dust and grime. There were stockings on her legs, a very short tight skirt, a low, scooped neck top that showed a lot of artificial cleavage and the uniform was topped-off by a little nurse’s cap. All a little grubby. 
  Martha looked at the Android;
    “What are you doing here?”
    “I WAS THE ADVANCED NURSE MODEL ASIGNED TO THIS FACILIITY. I PROVIDED MEDICAL TREATMENT WHEN IT WAS MANNED. WHEN THE CYBERWAR ENDED THIS FACILITY WAS ABBANDONED. I WAS LEFT BEHIND.”
  Martha tugged at the straitjacket;
    “I don’t suppose you could release me from this straitjacket?” Martha asked. 
  The android looked at her;
    “I COULD, EASILY BUT YOU WOULD NOT WANT ME TO.”
  Martha was puzzled by the comment;
    “What do you mean, I wouldn’t want you to get out of this bloody jacket?”
  The android looked at her;
    “IF YOU ARE RELEASED FROM THE STRAITJACKET YOU ARE CANCELING YOUR VOLUNTARY COMMITAL. YOU ARE NO LONGER A PATIENT AND I AM NO LONGER COMPELLED TO PROTECT YOU. YOU CEASE TO BE MY RESPONSIBILITY.”
  Martha didn’t want to be out there alone with the Cybermen. She bit her lip considering the possibilities;
    “Are you saying by stepping into that auto dresser I was effectively committing myself for psychological evaluation?” 
    “THAT IS CORRECT. DID YOU NOT READ THE SMALL PRINT?”
  Martha looked at her, her eyes narrowing;
    “What small print?”
  The nurse looked at her;
    “IT IS WRITTEN IN BASE HEXIDECIMAL SCRIPT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN.”
  They were interrupted by more Cybermen. Martha was sure that these were the same ones she had seen earlier and had gotten away from by crawling through the vent. There were four of them. Their right arms moved, gauntlet weapons deployed.   
  Nurse Nightingale stepped in front of Martha. The Cybermen fired in unison. Blue blots of energy hit the android. There were two holes in her dress at the stomach, and a small burnt patch of artificial skin. 
  The burn mark disappeared as if it hadn’t existed. There was a whirring and a green shield was projected around the android. 
    “YOU WILL BE DELETED destroy it.” 
  The following four blasts from the gauntlet weapons bounced harmlessly off the android’s energy shield. 
    “CYBER CONTROLER, WE WILL NEED HEAVY WEAPONS summon additional hosts.” The Cyber man commented.  
    “PATIENT IN DANGER, REMOVE THREAT.” The nurse crossed the distance over to the Cybermen in an instant, her fists crushed the heads of the first two and the second two turned to escape. 
  One Cyberman got as far as turning. The second made it one step before its head was crushed like a grape.
  The nurse turned to Martha, everything but her dress had regenerated;
    “WE WILL NEED TO MOVE. THE CYBERMEN WILL RETURN SOON IN GREATER NUMBERS AND WITH WEAPONS CAPABLE OF DAMAGING ME.”
  Martha looked at the four mangled Cybermen;
    “You have no argument from me nurse!”
    “I WISH ALL PATIENTS SAID THAT,” The android commented. The nurse held out her right hand and a needle extended from the tip of her finger DO YOU WANT A SEDATIVE?”
  Martha shook her head, no. The android picked Martha up and carried her under her arm, there was no dignity there being held like a lap dog but the android could move a lot faster than Martha and moving fast was what counted. 

  The Doctor noticed the parasite too late, he was to busy thinking about his girls the Tardis and Martha. It dropped from the ceiling straight onto his face. The creature was strong far stronger than a Cyberman or a Cybercontroller but he was a Timelord, he could resist it. It would not get into his mind. Still, this was inconvenient! Given a little time he would be able to fight it more effectively and get his body back.

  The nurse had found an abandoned office and put Martha down, Martha looked at the nurse;
    “So have you got any idea what to do?”
  The nurse reached-out and stroked her face;
    “KEEP MY PATIENT SAFE, THERE ARE MANY CYBERMEN.”
  Martha looked deep into the nurses eyes;
    “My friend The Doctor is out there, he needs help. Can you do anything?”
    “I CANNOT ACTIVELY SEEK TO HELP YOUR FRIEND AND KEEP YOU SAFE.”
    “We have got to help him, I cant leave him to those parasites!”
  The android looked at her;
    “THE ONLY COURSE OF ACTION IS TO WAIT, TO HIDE, TO FIGHT AND RUN.”
  Martha looked at the nurse;
    “Can you call any help?” 
  The nurse spoke;
    “I HAVE A SHORT RANGE COMMUNICATOR ONLY. I CAN REACH AS FAR AS A SHIP IN ORBIT BUT THERE ARE NONE I AM AWARE OF.”
  Martha stood up;
    “That’s not good enough we need to find my friend now!”
  The nurse looked at her;
    “I CANNOT ALLOW YOU TO ENDANGER YOURSELF. I MIGHT GAG AND HOGTIE YOU TO PREVENT ANY MORE FOOLISHNESS.”
  Martha challenged her;
    “Gag me with what?”
  The nurse put her upper palms together then pulled them apart. From the index fingers a material stretched out like silk Martha backed away shaking her head.

  The Doctor found his mind was a funny place to visit, but he would not want to live there. He was inside a mental facsimile of the Tardis. Another Doctor stepped into the room. The other Doctor had a parasite plastered to his face. The Doctor ran over to the control panel, he pulled a lever. 
  Outside the Doctor’s body his left leg twitched. The Infested Doctor ran over to the controls and pressed a button. Outside of his mind the Doctor’s arm moved. The Infested Doctor looked at his counterpart;
    “All I need is your body.” 
  The Doctor walked up to the Infested version of himself and punched him;
    “Not today!” The Infested doctor stood up and lunged at him.

  Martha couldn’t offer the Nurse any conversation, her lips were stuffed with artificial silk and cleaved with a wide strip of the same material that had been wrapped around her head multiple times. 
  They had heard some noise so were quietly moving away. When they got into a corridor there were eight Cybermen, two of them at the back had large shoulder-mounted weapons that resembled bazookas. Martha was pushed into a doorway. The Android tackled the first Cyberman, pulling his head off and crushing it between her hands. There was a chorus of, “DELETE eradicate!” The two Cybermen carrying heavy weapons let blasts of powerful energy loose, the other five shot at the android with their standard guns. 
  The android had her shield ready. It took two hits from the heavy weapons then failed. 
  The android advanced again. A second Cyberman fell, he was literally pulled in two. The two Cybermen with heavy weapons fired again but the android held up another cyber man, blocking one shot and destroying a third. 
  The second shot found its mark. Her left lower arm was blown of at the joint. The android twisted, she literally kicked off the head of one Cyberman and pummelled a fifth to death. 
  The two heavy weapons fired at almost point blank range. The android lost her upper left arm at the shoulder but she was able to kick the sixth cyber man into the line of fire blocking the second shot. 
  Only the two Cybermen with heavy weapons were left and they fired again. One shot blasted her left leg away at the knee, one shot grazed her face denting her skull. The android fell forwards, her remaining arms pulled the Cyberman apart. The android pushed away from the falling cyber man at the last one standing. 
  The Cyberman fired the heavy weapon barrel at point blank range and the blast cut the android in two, her hips and waist fell, her upper torso was clamped to the last Cyberman. 
  She reached out and crushed the last Cyberman’s head. Her torso landed and rolled;     
    “INITIATE SECONDARY REGENERATION.” Her eyes went dim.
  Martha started to panic. She was alone, she was gagged, she was in a straitjacket in a place full of Cybermen and parasites! She didn’t know where The Doctor was and her guardian had just been ripped to shreds. 
  Martha saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She feared a parasite. It was one of the severed hands from the android. It was crawling across the floor, a second later the second hand started moving. A cable snaked out of the androids torso and after five seconds it connected to her hips. The two sections started being pulled together. Martha was amazed! The android’s body was regenerating at a phenomenal rate, after twenty seconds the androids spine (for want of a better word) was reconnected! 

  The Android’s eyes lit up again. Her jaw twitched back into place and the dent in her skull filled-out. The artificial skin grew back and its artificial hair started growing, it was as if there was no damage. As the android’s torso filled-out her mechanisms regenerated. 
  A cable slithered-out and connected to her severed leg. It was slowly drawn back to the android’s body. The metal shell over her stomach repaired itself then the skin flowed back in place. 
  One of the arms had reached her. Nurse Nightingale picked it up and reattached the it. Her knee joint regenerated until the damage could not be seen. The nurse slowly stood up and walked, limping to collect her last limb. A few seconds and it was connected five more and the android had stopped limping. Martha noticed that the nurse could not regenerate her uniform it had been substantially abbreviated. The nurse walked over and picked up both heavy weapons. The Cybermen could barely carry them but nurse Nightingale handled them with ease. Martha was relieved that the nurse was one tough bitch.   

  The Doctor continued his fight with his Infested self. They rolled around the floor of the facsimile of the Tardis. His mind truly was funny! Cybermen entered at the request of the Infested duplicate.
  They had no power, no ability here. The Doctor concentrated and the Cybermen were gone. He grappled with his Infested self;
    “This isn’t your day, sunshine!”
  The Infested Doctor noticed that he was shrinking, he was loosing the fight. The Doctor continued to concentrate. The Infested Doctor looked up at his counterpart;
    “I will win.”
  The Doctor was moments from beating the infested version of himself. The parasite dropped off from his head and The Doctor’s eyes flew wide. The parasite started to crawl away but The Doctor stood up and squashed it under his heel;
    “Not today.” 

  Martha was still gagged. the nurse was cuddling her and stroking her hair;
    “THERE WAS A WAR WITH THE CYBERMEN. THIS WAS ONE OF THE FRONT LINE BASES. THE CYBERMEN LOST, THEY WERE DEFEATED BY RUTHLESSNESS AND NUMBERS. ONE OF THE CYBERMEN’S LARGE SHIPS SURVIVED. ITS ENGINES WERE DAMAGED BUT IT LIMPED TO THIS PLACE. THEY HID, WHAT BETTER PLACE THAN ONE THAT HAD PREVIOUSLY OPPOSED THEM? TWENTY THOUSAND CYBERMEN WAIT BELOW. THEY NEEDED A DECENT SHIP OR ANOTHER WAY OFF THIS WORLD, THEY WERE PREPARED TO WAIT.”
  Martha nodded.
  The android continued;
    “AGENTS OF ANOTHER POWER-ONE CALLED THE GRAY MAN-THE LAST OF HIS KIND, CAME AFTER THE CYBERMEN. HE CAN ALSO BE SUBTLE, HE SAW AN OPPORTUNITY. HIS AGENTS DEPLOYED THE SELF REPLICATING PARACITES. THE CYBER MEN COULD NOT DETECT THEM UNTIL THEY HAD ALL BEEN Infested AND TURNED. WORSE, THERE ARE ABOUT TWO MILLION OF THE PARASITES IN THE CAVES BELOW THE CYBERSHIP.”
  Martha would have preferred it if the android had not told her this.

  Finally, the Doctor had found his girl. He ran over to check she was okay. The Tardis had come to a stop at the bottom of a large pit. The pit almost looked like a service pit for a docked star ship. 
  He got near her, she looked okay;
    “There‘s my girl.”
  The Doctor bounced-off a strong green force field that sprang up as soon as he approached the Tardis. Sitting on his behind, he fished out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the force field, an annoyed look plastered over his face.

  The Cyber Controller sat in the heart of the Cyber Ship in the middle of the main bridge. He was on a chair with many cables and feeds going into it. The Cyber Controller had a larger cranium and a stronger body, he also had a dozen of the parasites infesting his body. His mind was stronger and required more effort to control. He looked at a monitor;
    “SUBSTANCIAL THREAT kill kill DETECTED STANDARD DELETION METHODS HAVE FAILED kill it kill it DEPLOY UPGRADED ADVANCED CYBERMEN kill it now.”
  In one room of the ship were twenty upgraded Cybermen. Their bodies were less bulky, there joints more complex. They had been substantially modified. There were parasites attached to their heads but there were also organic creatures wrapped around there torso’s, on their shoulders were crystal like growths. 
  On the Cybermen’s arms there were more growths irregularly sticking out. The upgraded Cybermen moved as one. The vines on there chassis back and front moved and pulsated, the crystals glowed and blue force shields formed around them. The first of them in line raised their hands. The organic creatures attached to their forearms squirmed then two incredibly powerful bolts of energy struck the wall. Their weapons functioned.

  The Doctor was sure it was the Cybermen or whatever was infesting them that had created the shield. They were cutting off his escape. The likely source of the shield would be where the Cybermen came from. 
  A base like this had large hangers that went deep to prevent the ships being attacked from orbit. It was a secure location, there would probably be a cyber base or ship there. He would have to find it, sneak past the cyber men or whatever was controlling them, turn off the shield and sneak out. 
  He found it odd that they had not posted a guard on the Tardis...

  The android detected something, she gently put Martha down and with a quick twist Martha found her ankles tied to her thighs. She squealed in indignation as the nurse got up and patted her on the head and left. Five advanced, Infested Cybermen headed through the base. Nurse Nightingale looked at the Infested Cybermen-they were enhanced with The Gray Man’s technology. 
  She had to fight dirty to keep her patient safe. 
    “DELEATE kill!”
  The android fired the two heavy Cyber weapons and the first advanced, Infested Cyberman lost his shield and kept walking. The android fired again and the advanced, infested Cyberman was ripped to pieces.
  Two shots hit her own shield and it failed. The nurse started running forwards, her own momentum propelled her up the wall. Her hands worked on the two Cyber weapons setting them to overload. She disappeared into the ceiling pipe work as the two heavy weapons landed at the feet of two of the Infested Cybermen. The whole compartment was filled with an explosion. 
  The Infested Cybermen looked around, two of them were left;
    “TARGET NOT FOUND. SEARCH find kill.”
  The android dropped-down behind one Cyberman. She pushed through his shield, causing the crystals emitting it to fracture. She grabbed hold of the Cyberman and swung him around so that he faced the other Infested Cyberman.
  The android held the Cyberman’s wrists, from her index fingers needles jammed into the creatures. The android pumped drugs into them, causing them to fire. The other Cyberman was taken out by his compatriot and the android crushed the last cyber man in her embrace.

  Above the base, there was a wave of black energy. A ship twenty meters long entered the atmosphere, it looked strange, black. It was shaped like an apple seed but with four spikes ten meters long in an x shape. The ship moved like a living animal there was a pulse. The sides moved and undulated it slowed as it came to the surface the living ship deployed a dozen tentacles as landing gear it landed, stuck and stayed in place. A hatch opened like an empty eye socket. 
  The Gray Man stepped out of the ship. Two clones carrying pistols of some sort were with him, flanking him.

  Above the base a device had waited. It had patiently been in orbit for many years. As soon as The Gray Man stepped out of his ship the device detected him and activated. The cloaking field that concealed it deactivated. The jamming field that helped it hide was also gone. Its thrusters directed it towards the base, its main propulsion fired .
  The device started hurtling towards the planet at a phenomenal speed. Shielding and construction neutralised the heat of entering the atmosphere. The device was silver in colour, shaped a little like a tent peg a point at one end and large flat plate at the other.   
  It was also one hundred feet long and the spike struck the ground just outside the base. It was like someone driving in a giant tent peg from heaven. It buried fifty feet into the ground half in half out. 
  Below the base, inside the Cyber Ship The Doctor felt the ground shake. Martha looked nervous as the ground shook, the nurse hugged her reassuringly. 
  Strangely there was hardly any dust cloud. A powerful force field sprang up around the spike. The end of the spike began to glow blue, it sent a signal into space. Somewhere inside the base The Gray Man brought his hand to his head there had been a twinge of pain, he stood up straight, he snapped his fingers and almost twenty thousand cyber men responded to the call.

  The nurse returned. She released Martha’s legs and un-gagged her. Martha looked at her, eyes narrowing angrily;
    “What the bloody hell is going on? You owe me an explanation!” Martha shouted.   The android looked at her;
    “EVERYTHING IS IN MOTION. IT WILL NOT MATTER IF I TELL YOU. THE GRAY MAN HAS COME TO PROTECT HIS INVESTMENT FROM DISRUPTION. HOWEVER, HE HAS FALLEN INTO A TRAP. THE GRAY MAN HAS AN ENEMY WHO OPPOSES HIM AND HIS DESIGNS ON GALACTIC DOMINATION. AGENTS OF AN ENTITY KNOWN AS THE CORE HAVE PLACED A DEVICE IN ORBIT. AS SOON AS THE GRAY MAN ARRIVED IT TRIGGERED. THERE IS A JAMMING FIELD. THE GRAY MAN CANNOT USE HIS VORTEX TO ESCAPE. AS I SPEAK THE SERVANTS OF THE CORE ARE ARRIVING IN OVERWHELMING NUMBERS.”
  Martha looked at the android;
    “What about me and The Doctor, where do we figure into this?”
    “YOU WERE A COMPLICATION. THE DOCTOR WAS A MEDDLER. HE COULD HAVE DESTROYED THIS PLACE AND RUINED THE TRAP. HIS TARDIS COULD HAVE BEEN A WAY FOR THE GRAY MAN TO ESCAPE. THE CORE DOES NOT LIKE ANY COLATERAL DAMAGE. THE DOCTOR CAN LOOK AFTER HIMSELF. YOU NEEDED TO BE PROTECTED.”
  Martha looked indignant;
    “So you put me in a straight jacket?”
    “YES, IT WAS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD. THE TARDIS AND THE DOCTOR ARE SEPARATED BY A FORCE FIELD PROJECTED BY THE CORE. WHEN THE GRAY MAN IS DEAD YOU WILL BE FREE TO GO.”

  The spike acted as a powerful teleport relay. A fraction of a second after it was in place a signal was sent from outside the system. 
  Suddenly hundreds of robots the size of large dogs appeared in a blue glow. They were the shape of a scorpion. Artificial segmented sections moving as one, eight chunky armoured legs and two pincers at the front shaped like arms with three pronged manipulators on the end. 
  They had an enlarged torso with a cluster of three purple eyes mounted on the front of the robots. Their tails ended in what looked like a very heavy duty welder, they were clinically white, an almost porcelain finish on the segments. 
  A second later, with a blue glow hundreds of white globes two foot across appeared in the sky they were featureless apart from a small black spot on the surface. Green shields surrounded them.  
  The sentry bots and the globes charged into the base, into the waves of Cybermen. The sentry bots were crude they charged forwards, fast firing there tail guns or ripping at the enemy with their hands. The Cybermen fell quickly to them but they fought hard. 
  Their standard weapons took their toll. Four or five Cybermen fell to each sentry bot then the sentry bot was destroyed. It mattered little for every robot destroyed a second later one was teleported in to take its place. The globes emitted a thin red energy beam that literally cut a Cyberman in half. They had none of the physical durability of the sentry bots but with their shields they could take a dozen hits from the Cybermen’s standard energy weapons. 
  They were taking out three Cybermen for each globe. Again, as they were destroyed more were teleported in to replace them.

  The Bio ship received a signal and it lifted off from the ground, a red force field forming around it. A hatch opened and five bat-like creatures about eight feet across at the wing flew out. 
  The bat-creatures formed up behind the Bio ship like a fighter escort. The Bio ship moved past the spike. It flew a bombing run against the spike, dozens of rugby ball shaped objects were dropped by the Bio ship. They exploded like cluster bombs around the base of the spike, they did not affect the shielding. 
  The spike shot-out a blast of blue energy and one of the bats disintegrated. The other four bats circled the spike spitting balls of red hot plasma at it. The Bio ship turned around and started firing red balls of energy at the spike, the shields absorbed them. The spike blasted three bolts of energy simultaneously and two of the bats evaporated, the shield on the Bio ship cracked. The Bio ship sped up, it turned around for another run. The spike fired another three bolts and the last two bats exploded,  the Bio ship exploded like a ripe tomato popping.

  The Doctor slowly crept about the corridors of the Cyber Ship. He had been able to avoid literally thousands of Cybermen hurrying off in waves to fight someone else. He had deactivated or bypassed all security measures. The Doctor stepped into the core of the ship. The infested Cyber Controller looked at him;
    “DELETE kill!”
  Four sentry guns mounted on the ceiling targeted The Doctor. With a flick of his sonic screwdriver they targeted the Controller and fired. The Doctor looked for a force field controller. A Cyberman missing one arm staggered into the control room. A female android with four arms followed it, she had the Cyberman’s arm in one of her hands. She smacked the Cyberman over the head with its own arm and the Cyberman dropped to the floor. 
  The android looked at The Doctor then moved on. The Doctor walked through the ship watching androids and administrators tearing into the Cybermen. The Cybermen in the ship all seemed to be dead. The androids were teleported away.

  Deep below the base below the Cyber Ship there was a vast cave. Literally millions of brown eggs six inches across filled the bottom of the cave. They each contained a sleeping Parasite. There was a blue glow and an android was standing there. She was carrying a large silver canister. 
  The android set the canister down, pushed a red button then was teleported away. A second later the canister expanded to a giant ball of fire wiping out everything in the cave. The Gray Man felt the death of his creations and was not pleased. 

  Nurse Nightingale looked at Martha;
    “THE BATTLE IS GETTING RATHER HEATED. I WILL NEED TO PUT YOU OUT OF HARMS WAY.”
  Martha didn’t like the sound of that;
    “Hey let me g..”-was as far as she got when the android clamped one hand over her mouth. The android took Martha to the auto dresser and placed her inside. The unit sealed and a strong green force field appeared around it. Martha was inside the booth a screen showed up it has a 3D model of her body with the straight jacket. The booth projected an image of a tight brown hood no eyes no mouth onto the model and Martha shook her head. An image appeared on the screen, a red decline and a green accept. The green was already selected there was a clock ticking down. 
  Martha shouted decline. The machine did not seem to hear her. Martha went to push the decline button with her nose. At the last minute the buttons swapped places and Martha pushed the accept button. She did not have time to swear as the hood engulfed her head. It self tightened cutting out all light the gag was lager and expanded pneumatically inside her mouth to muffle all cries. 
  A few minutes later the nurse came back;
    “THE DANGER HAS PASSED. I RECOMMEND A NICE MASSAGE TO HELP RELIEVE THE STRESS.”
  Martha felt the pod open. She was taken out and laid down.The android began to massage her legs. The nurse’s hands roamed up and down Martha’s legs she could feel her muscles un-knotting, the nurse’s hands roamed higher.

  The Gray Man and his two clones were outside the cyber ship with a four of the Infested upgraded Cybermen. He considered his options, something teleported behind him. Precise white energy blasts hit the four cyber men they were partially disintegrated. 
  The two clones spun around and fired their energy pistols at a small object about three feet tall, the shots bounced off shields. Two more blasts from The Core and the clones fell, holes in their chests. 
  The Gray Man pulled two pistols from his jacket. He fired them at The Core but hey did nothing and he tossed them to one side. The Core fired back. 
  The Gray Man was wearing a personal shield but it spluttered and died-the emitter on his belt toast. The Gray Man threw something that looked like a cross between a baseball and a small octopus at The Core. The Core detonated it midway between them. The blast was sufficient to push The Core back and to floor The Gray Man. 
  The Gray Man shifted. In half a second his hands blurred, thumbs sprouted on the opposite ends of his hands, his forearms seemed to shimmer and split. 
  He had four hands from doubled-up elbow joint! From his knuckles, long spikes emerged. His legs bent in the opposite direction long curved claws extended. 
  Four long bony tendrils shot out of The Gray Man’s back. His jaw split at the bottom in two. Inside his jaw was another jaw.
  His eyes glowed amber and from the back of his head two-foot tendrils extended. A long bony tail extended from the base of his spine tipped with a harpoon-like spike from his tail. A stream of energy hit The Core’s shield from his four back tentacles they formed crystals on the tips and projected energy at The Core. 
  The Gray Man spat a stream of freezing liquid at the shield his hands projected molecular acid from nozzles.
  The Core returned fire and a shot blew off one of The Gray Man’s arms at the shoulder. Another shot hit his hand at the wrist blasting it to pieces. Two of his back tendrils were blasted off and then his tail. 
  The Gray Man tried to activate his vortex generator to escape but there was nothing, it was being jammed. The next blast from The Core hit him in the neck, his head was severed and The Gray Man staggered back. His head hit the floor and rolled. The Gray Man’s right hand came up and a jet of black goo covered The Core’s shield. The Gray Man picked up his severed head and ran for the Cyber ship. The goo covering the core evaporated.

 The Gray Man entered the control room of the Cyber ship. He set the thrusters on maximum, the hanger doors to open and all power to shields. 
  The Doctor saw the ship preparing to launch. He dived into an escape pod. The pod landed fifty meters from the Cyber ship. 
  The hanger doors shook and half opened. The Cyber ship was absolutely massive, two thousand, four hundred meters in length. It was heavily damaged but could still take off. The Gray Man reattached his head as tendrils from his body directly interfaced with the ship. 
  He punched the ship through the partially-open hanger doors. The spike started firing blasts of blue energy at the slowly rising ship. A few rockets were fired back but did little.
  The Gray Man cursed the ship as it tilted to one side. He adjusted the thrusters and it continued to rise. The ships shields were below fifty percent as The Gray Man edged it into the atmosphere-he just needed to get out of range of the jamming device...
  Two giant, armour-plated dreadnaughts three kilometres long dropped out of faster than light travel. They were two giant cylinders with thirty boxy weapons clusters along the sided. Their exit point was just above the base, they were the last part of the trap. 
  They immediately targeted the Cyber ship and started firing rail guns and plasma weapons, they started to wear down the Cyber ship’s remaining shields. The Gray Man tried to return fire. A couple of gun turrets responded and a few missiles streaked towards the ships. 
  Dozens of rockets were fired from both ships they would impact the Cyber ship in seconds. The Gray Man watched his shields going down to almost nothing. Then the wave of missiles hit, shields failed and his ship’s armoured hull took a beating. 
  The two dreadnaughts powered-up more weapons. Pulses of energy hit the Cyber ship and the two dreadnaughts moved to intercept.
  The Gray Man saw his hull deteriorate. The ship started to vent atmosphere and the engines failed. The Gray Man saw hundreds of missiles heading for him. 
  The inertia was enough, finally the ship was out of range of the jamming device and The Gray Man hit his belt. The black vortex formed, he dived into it as the missiles hit converting the Cyber ship to a cloud of scrap metal. The two ships scanned the debris and then jumped back out of the system.

  The escape pod’s lid exploded. Gingerly, The Doctor held a Cyberman’s severed head out of the hatch Nothing, he looked out. There was a nurse android standing there, she gestured to The Doctor;
    “MARTHA IS SAFE. THE CYBERMEN AND PARASITES ARE NO MORE. PLEASE FOLLOW ME.”
  The Doctor kept an eye on the android. He was lead to his Tardis. Martha was standing outside, still in the jacket. A small robot on tracks about three feet high stood there, another nurse and an administrator. One of the other androids had called her an administrator she had six arms and an articulated snake tail rather than a body below the waist.
  Martha looked at The Doctor;
    “Can some one let me out of this please?” 
  The administrator turned around;
    “HAPPY TO OBLIGE.” Her palms activated like sonic screwdrivers, six at the same time. The straitjacket released Martha, dropped to the floor and rolled itself in a tight ball. Martha realised she was wearing nothing under the jacket. Her mouth formed a big wide startled O. Her hands flew to cover everything up. The Doctor handed her his jacket.
  He looked at the androids;
    “Okay, can someone tell me what is going on?”
  Text was projected onto a wall:
    YOU ACCIDENTALLY WALKED INTO A TRAP DESIGNED FOR ANOTHER.
  The Doctor was angry;
    “So for your little trap you put my friend in danger? You didn’t warn us or let us leave!”
  More text was projected:
    SORRY FOR THE TROUBLE BUT I CANT HAVE YOU REMEMBER THIS INCIDENT. 
    “What do you mean?” 
  That was as far as he got before one of the nurses jabbed him in the side of the neck with a needle extending from her finger tip. A split second later Martha got the same treatment. 

  The Doctor woke up and his head hurt. He could remember heading for Nivarian, the luxury beach resort with Martha in tow. He could not remember anything else. His head really hurt. He was in a fancy hotel room sitting in a comfortable chair. He looked down. He had an empty bottle of nivarian rum extra strength in one hand and an empty glass in the other. 
  The Doctor had two chains of flowers draped over his neck and a funny-looking party hat on his head. He pulled the hat off.  He looked over to the window. There was a beautiful sunrise, his eyes hurt. He stood up and there was a clinking sound.   
  There were a dozen bottles of Nivarian rum on the floor all empty. Also a lot of sandwich wrappers. The Doctor checked in his pocket, he pulled out half a famous Nivarian spiced sandwich. He shrugged and tucked into the spiced treat. 
  Now where was his girl? The Doctor looked across the room. He could see the bathroom door open and the edge of the Tardis. He had parked the Tardis in the bath room? She appeared to be draped in chains of flowers. The doctor scratched his head. There was a groan from the bed, Martha Jones sat up. The Doctor looked at her blood-shot eyes, she seemed as hungover as he was. 
  She was wearing a cone shaped red and white striped party hat with an elastic band under her chin.
  Martha had a grass skirt on and there was a set of L plates draped over her neck front and back. 
  She groaned loudly, in her mouth was a muffling 2 ¾ inch red rubber ball gag strapped tightly in place. Over her torso was a tight white straight jacket, arms and crotch strap were very secure. Martha looked at The Doctor accusingly, he shrugged;     
    “I guess we had a crazy time last night?” 
  Martha thought to herself, ‘I bet he checks on the bloody Tardis before un-strapping me.’