Lorna was pacing up and down the storeroom, past boxes of beer and unpopular crisps. She had no idea who Simon was, but she certainly believed he was senior— some way above the level where he could make sure she'd never work with the company again. More people than she liked to think of skipped meals to keep their children fed; she'd felt so lucky that she wasn't yet among them. It wasn't just a job; the Doctor didn't see that. She'd never understand how much a person could have to lose.

"Do you eat, Neo?" she said to the Cyberman. She turned round to where he was tied up—

—to see the sonic wire that had bound him unravelling and falling away, and his odd plastic body slowly starting to rise.

"Congratulations," he said." You have been selected for an upgrade. You will be redeemed."

"About that," said Lorna, getting behind a box. "I've thought it over and emotions; they're pretty good, when all's said and done. I think – if it's all the same to you – that I'd like to just keep my brain."

"We're afraid it is not the same to us. You will be redeemed."

"Neo," said Lorna, "Neo, please! I don't want this! I want to love! Oh, God," she said, "I want to love!" A million feelings burst up inside her, emotions about what losing emotions would mean. Lorna didn't let people see her cry, as a rule, but she was unable to keep it in now.

"Please," she wept. "I want to love."

"We're sorry," said the Cyberman.

"LIAR!" said Lorna. "You're not sorry! You can't even feel what it is to be sorry at all!"

"No. But soon you won't feel sorry, too."

It swept boxes away with its arms, fruit and packets of carrots rolling to the floor.

Redeem, said the Cyberman. Redeem."

The monster advanced towards the wall where Lorna wept.

"LORNA!" the Doctor was shouting. "I can't let this happen again! I can't lose someone else to them!"

"But you can," said Simon in his calm and victorious voice. "That's the thing about you, Doctor. You're so used to winning, you don't realise you can lose, and you're so familiar with getting what you want you don't notice when things aren't going to go your way."

The shop door swung open as someone else entered, and the Doctor stared with horror at who it was.

"You see," said the someone, "in more ways than one—

—"you've already lost," finished Simon. He smiled at the newcomer who looked exactly the same as him, but with extra lines on his forehead nd a small shot of grey in his hair. His own self, from not too far in the future.

"A bold new vision for our company, but without the tech to get there," said the older Simon. "So get to the future where they've already made it, and send it back to make that future happen. Now, you might say that's breaking the laws of time, but we'd prefer to call it—"

"—innovation," said the younger Simon. "And let's see where that vision led us, Doctor. Let's see the world where man was replaced by machine."

Both Simons fiddled with a small gadget on their wrists, and a strange hum began to fill the air.

"Thank you for your time", said the checkout machines all together, "thank you for your time."

The ordinary street behind the glass of the shop window began to distort and bend, and a new world appeared as the building moved into the future…

"No!" said the Doctor. "NO!" She ran over to the plate glass and squashed her face right against it, looking out to a world where humanity no longer ruled.

It had been silly at first, the rise of the checkout machines. People had looked at them and laughed about how they'd do all the jobs one day, before forgetting about them and carrying on with their lives. But many of the creatures the Doctor had fought had been silly, until the moment that they'd started to kill. All that needed to happen was for people to not see the threat, and to keep not seeing it until it was just too late…

Two Simon Joneses cackled and laughed to each other.

The Doctor stared up at the dark and laser-red sky.

This adventure continues in THE THINGS THAT ARE HUMAN.