DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who, unfortunately D: I own Odie's plot, and Odie's little settlement of immigrants. I am trying to make this story as accurate as possible, but when many sources contradict themselves, according to Doctor Who, I will ALMOST always take the TV-info as the correct.

I really don't like the idea of having an unfinished adventure as the final chapter before my writer's blocks kick in, so I'll do my best to finish up the Moonbase adventure while I can :) I hope you enjoy it!

Now, onwards!

The control center of the moonbase was a hive of activity. The instruments continued to show small drops in air pressure, lasting only five seconds, before they corrected themselves again. But they couldn't find out the cause of it. Hobson had no idea what to do about it.

"Mister Hobson, an air pressure drop again," Joe called to him from the monitor, and Hobson nodded thoughtfully.

"Same as before?"

"Yes, just the same. Lasts about five seconds."

Hobson's brow furrowed once again, as he considered the cause of these freak drops.

"Something's odd. It's not the pumps, I'm sure of that," he mused to himself, before turning back to Joe. "Has anyone asked permission to leave the base?"

The fellow scientist shook his head.

"No. As far as I know, the compression chamber's empty."

Hobson's eyes squinted.

"If I find anybody's been fooling about in there without permission, I'll tear their hides off."

A few seconds passed as the scientists attempted to do their job when Joe announced another drop, but it passed as quickly as the others had.

"I'm going to check over the control loop monitor," Hobson announced, and Benoit looked up, a stoic look on his face.

"Control loop monitor? Huh. I think you're wasting your time," he stated, but Hobson turned to him, his face grave.

"Nothing's a waste of time till we trace this fault, and don't you forget it! You saw what's happening on Earth. We can't afford to miss anything. Now get on with it!" he ordered, and the scientists quickly resumed their duties. Hobson wasn't being unreasonable. They all knew quite well how important their job was, and most importantly, how life on Earth would be implicated if the Gravitron went out of order.

"I think I've found something!" Sam called, and Hobson was at his side in a moment.

"What is it?"

"One of the probe control antennae," Sam replied. Benoit looked out the large glass ceiling of the dome, in the general direction of the probe control antennae.

"Well, what's the matter with it?"

"Well, according to these readings there are at least two pieces of it missing. It's just not coordinating," Sam replied.

"Missing?" Hobson echoed, confused.

"Meteorites?" Benoit theorized, and Hobson frowned.

"Could be. There could be a simpler explanation. Roger, when did these people arrive here?" Hobson asked, turning to his second-in-command. Benoit blinked, confused by the sudden line of questioning.

"The end of period 11 in this present lunar day."

"And when did the Gravitron start playing up?"

"About the beginning of period 12."

Hobson nodded, clearly a theory forming in his head.

"Sam, when was the last time we had anyone outside?"

"During period 13. Two men went outside to realign one of the solar mirrors."

"That's it," Hobson announced while nodding resolutely.

"I'm not quite with you," Benoit speculated aloud.

"Well, it's simple," Hobson replied dryly. "Strangers arrive period 11, the gravitron goes up the spout period 12."

Benoit shook his head.

"I understand. But it can't-" But Hobson didn't listen to him, but rather turned away to talk to some of the others.

"Come on. It's time we put that Doctor and his friend in cold storage," he ordered, and a few of the scientists got up from their consoles to follow him. He then paused, as if he remembered something suddenly, and turned back towards Sam. "Get two men outside to look at the antennae, will you, Sam?"

Sam nodded and got up from his seat to find someone to go outside, just as Ben entered the console center.

"Well, now what is it?" Hobson asked impatiently. Ben's face was not set in a good expression.

"Another patient's gone, sir," he admitted hesitantly, and Hobson's already frayed temper once more flared up.

"What? Come on!" he ordered, leading a small contingent towards the medical bay. Meanwhile, Jules and Franz got ready to head outside the dome and check out the antennae.

In the sickbay, Odie and Polly had both been stirred awake and were currently attempting to wear off the headaches brought along by the Cybermen's electroshocking treatment, as the Doctor was examining slides on a microscope. He was clearly not having any luck.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," he complained loudly, lightly smacking his hands flat onto the tabletop.

"Isn't there any clue at all?" Polly asked, bitter. She couldn't believe that the Cybermen were just wandering in there, grabbing patients off of the sickbeds, and they couldn't prove any of it.

"No," the Doctor replied. "It's a complete blank. All the tests are negative. As far as I can see this whole ridiculous place is completely sterile."

"I'm sure Hobson won't like dat very much," Odie commented from behind the Doctor, seated on one of the now empty sickbeds.

"No, he won't. I simply don't understand it," the Doctor complained, his brow furrowed.

"Doctor, it wouldn't, I mean it couldn't possibly have anything to do with Lister, could it?" Polly asked hesitantly, and the Doctor blinked, his mind taken off of the conundrum with the specimens momentarily.

"Lister?" he asked, confused, as he turned around, facing the young Brit.

"Well, I mean," Polly mumbled to herself. "You did say that you took your degree in Glasgow in 1888. It does seem an awful long time from now, 2070 or whatever it is-" she continued hesitantly. The Doctor smiled, incredulous.

"Polly, are you suggesting that I'm not competent to carry out these tests?" he asked, seeming almost baffled at her display of nonconfidence.

Odie smirked slightly, as Polly immediately started cheering up the foolish old man.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no. I was just wondering if there was anything that Joseph Lister didn't know in 1888 that might possibly help you now," she mused, just as Odie blinked and jumped down from the sickbed.

"Shh! Somebody's coming," she hushed them. The Doctor, Polly and she approached the door ever so slightly, just as voices started flowing towards them. The Doctor's face fell.

"It's Mister Hobson, out for blood. Ours," he exclaimed, wringing his old hands in a nervous fit. "Look busy. Quick!" he exclaimed, running hastily towards the microscope, and Polly started clearing the beds. Odie just fell into the background, leaning against one of the bare pieces of wall away form the central part of the room. Hobson had never paid much attention to her anyway.

"That's as might be," Hobson argued, clearly focused on Ben who was walking right behind him. "But that's the third person to disappear in the past few hours. It's completely illogical. Single beds, no way to get out."

"Do you mind?!" the Doctor suddenly cried.

"What?" Hobson asked, confused.

"Would you mind standing away from the door and allowing it to close? The slides, the dust," the Doctor fretted, and Odie bit her lips together to stop herself from smirking again. Hobson made his way to the Doctor.

"Okay. It must be you people. We've got some straight talking to do, you and I-" he started, clearly intending to argue with the Doctor, but the Doctor was so busy with play at business, he didn't even offer the man a glance.

"Polly," he called, without lifting his eye from the microscope.

"Yes?"

"Another boot."

"Right."

Hobson frowned.

"Do you hear me?" The Doctor hummed in response but was clearly not actually listening.

"This is extraordinary," he murmured to himself, just as Polly handed him another boot, which Odie was pretty sure he'd already examined, but Hobson didn't know that. "Thank you."

"Now look here-" Hobson clamoured as he moved behind the Doctor to not be in the way. The Doctor, of course, saw this as his cue to be even more of a bumbling fool as he purposefully tripped over Hobson's shoe on his way to gather some of the old slides.

"Excuse me, please," he murmured. "We are trying to help you, you know," he said, clearly unhappy with the distractions.

"Help? Is that what you call it?" Hobson echoed, clearly in disbelief. "You can all get off the moon now."

Polly reacted to this, outrage in her pretty features.

"Now, wait a minute, you said-"

"I don't care what I said."

"Ah!" the Doctor suddenly exclaimed. This, of course, caught Hobson's interest like a fish on a fishing hook.

"Found something?"

"I think perhaps I have," the Doctor murmured in concentration.

"Really?" Hobson asked, hope in his voice, as both he and Polly leaned in close to peer at the microscope together with the Doctor. This, of course, triggered a fit from the bumbling old man.

"Yes, I may be onto something, but I must have some room," he cried, frustrated. "How can I work under these conditions? Now out, please!" The Doctor began an exaggerated attempt to send the Moonbase personnel out the room, vividly pushing Hobson and company out the door. "Come along, outside. I'm trying to work in here! Ben, see that they stay outside," he asked, just as the door closed. Polly went to his side.

"Doctor, did you mean that?" she asked, hopeful, as the Doctor walked back to the middle of the room in his now trademark stiff gait, wringing his hands all the while.

"What?"

"You've found something?" Polly pressed, and the Doctor sighed deeply, worry creasing his features.

"Oh, Polly, I only wish I had," he complained, smiling haplessly. He then turned to his young friend. "Why not make some coffee to keep them all happy while I think of something?"

"All right," Polly agreed, amicable, as she patted the Doctor's arm before moving towards the kitchen area. This left Odie and the Doctor alone, something Odie had been waiting for ever since she woke up, and had first seen the panicked eyes of her old friend.

"Doctor-" she began, but she was cut off almost immediately.

"Don't ever do that to me again." Something in the Doctor's voice, something so sad and so afraid, made Odie's heart contract in pain, but indignation also spread on her face.

"I didn't choose to get shot-" she protested in a shrill voice, and the Doctor turned around raising his hands above his head in exasperation.

"I know, I know. But-" he began, before letting the sentence hang in the air. The two looked at each other's faces, waiting for the next words to form. In the end, the Doctor smiled, gently. "Just, be more careful."

Odie smiled widely and nodded, skipping to her old friend and grabbing his raised hands in her's.

"I will. Now, let's see if we can't do somethin' about this Hobson-guy."

After a brief strategy meeting (which basically entailed the Doctor wringing his hands, complaining childishly and Odie smiling bemusedly) the two of them exited the sickbay to face the music. Hobson was on them like a hawk.

"Here, Doctor. You've completed your examination?" he asked, and the Doctor nodded, hesitantly.

"Yes, just about," he replied.

"Turned the base upside down, poked into everything?"

"Yes, clothes, boots, food."

"And you've found?"

The Doctor nodded multiple times to himself.

"Absolutely nothing."

"Just as I thought," Hobson concluded, and the Doctor had the (in)decency to smile pleasantly at this.

"Oh, thank you."

"So, what I told you still stands-" Hobson concluded, just as Polly brought along a tray with coffee and sugar perched on top. The Doctor's smile immediately widened, as he ignored Hobson.

"Ah, coffee. Splendid. Thank you, Polly. I think we could all do with a cup," he announced, grabbing a cup for himself. Polly offered Odie a cup, which she turned down.

"Benoit, you'd better go outside and see how Jules and Franz are getting on," Hobson announced, and his second-in-command left them, just as Polly handed him a cup of coffee. "Well, Doctor-" he began, but was immediately cut off by Polly.

"Sugar?"

"Oh, thank you," he accepted, and she gave him a couple of teaspoons.

"It's very hot," she warned, before walking to her old friend. "Doctor, what about you?"

"Thank you, Polly," he accepted.

"Well, Doctor, as I was saying, you've had your chance and you've come up with absolutely nothing. Now I want-" Hobson began his demands, but just as he did so, no. 15 took a swig of his coffee, groaned and collapsed onto the floor. Odie startled first.

"Doctor," she said, a warning in her voice, and the Doctor quickly put down his coffee as some of the other scientists moved to their fallen comrade.

"Don't touch him!" the Doctor exclaimed, alarmed. "Let me look." He skirted the collapsed man cautiously, and sure enough, black lines were hastily spreading across the man's skin, starting from the mouth and neck.

"Here, Charlie and you, what's your name, Ben, give us a hand to get him into the medical unit," Hobson ordered.

"Try not to touch his skin," the Doctor agreed. Franz and Ben lifted no. 15 while making sure to cover their hands, and then Odie realized something. She turned towards Hobson, who still held his cup of coffee.

"Don't drink that," she ordered, smacking the cup out of his hand.

"What the hell?" Hobson complained, looking at the split beverage.

"It's the sugar," Odie warned, looking at the half-dissolved sugar grains in the spilt coffee.

"Of course!" the Doctor realized. "Well, don't you see? That's why the disease doesn't affect everyone. It's the sugar. Not everyone takes it!" Hobson's eyes shone with acknowledgement, and he turned to look at the coffee tray. The Doctor quickly intercepted him. "No, don't touch it," he warned, using some forceps to pick up the sugar dispenser and he quickly carried it into the medical bay. He poured some sugar onto a microscope slide and prepared it.

"What are you doing?" Hobson asked from behind the old traveller, and the Doctor smiled coyly.

"Just be patient," he bade, as he put his one eye to the microscope. A few seconds passed before a victorious expression dominated his weathered features. "Just as I thought! A large neurotropic virus."

"What, like the space plague?" Hobson asked, petrified with fear. Odie wasn't sure what 'space plague' he was referring to, but it must've been awfully bad.

"No," the Doctor replied, standing up straight as he clapped his hands together. "It's a large, infective agent that only attacks the nerves. That's why the patients have got these lines on their faces and their hands. It follows the course of the nerves under the skin," he explained, an amicable look on his face.

"That's all very well, but how did it get in here?"

"Oh, it is the Cybermen," the Doctor stated, not a shadow of doubt in his voice. "I believe they have deliberately infected the base."

"My men have searched every square inch of the base," Hobson said, clearly not buying into the whole Cyberman-business at all. But at that very moment, the Doctor's face turned fearful, and Odie straightened up. She suspected that she and the Doctor was starting to have the same notions... "There's no space to hide a cat, let alone a Cyberman! Anyhow, how did they get in?"

"One moment," the Doctor said gravely, leading the group a bit away from the center platform. Polly noticed that Odie was walking around like pins on needles, and she frowned a bit.

"What is it?"

"You say you searched all the base?" the Doctor repeated.

"Yes. What of it?"

"Every nook and cranny?"

"Yes!"

"No chance of anyone hiding anywhere?"

"None whatever."

The Doctor and Odie had but to exchange a single look, and they knew they had both come to the exact same conclusion at the same time. If the entire base had been searched, and there were no Cybermen anywhere, that could only mean one thing. The Cybermen were hiding somewhere that hadn't been able to be searched. And the only place that the Moonbase personnel hadn't been allowed access...

"What about in here?"

Odie's voice was shallow, almost hushed, as her eyes glided over the sickbay. The place that had practically been the travellers' home since they arrived at the Moonbase less than 24 hours ago now seemed so alien, so dangerous to her eyes.

Hobson's face contorted.

"Well-"

"Did they?"

"Well, there were always people in here, so they probably-"

"Did they search in there?" the Doctor demanded, patience wearing thin.

"No!"

Polly shivered a bit at the implications. Surely there couldn't be a Cyberman hiding in the room with them all along? They would've noticed it! Wouldn't they?

"But there's nowhere in here they could hide," Polly said, ashamed to admit her voice was turning shrill. The Cybermen were bad memories to all of the travellers, and the party all turned around and started cautiously wandering around the sickbay, their eyes leaving no nook untouched. It seemed safe and Cyberman-free. Right until they arrived at a bed, covered by a blanket. It was supposed to be a patient. Only standard equipment for the Moonbase personnel didn't include large silver boots.

"Pol-" Odie warned, instinctively moving in front of the Blonde brit, who had covered her hands the moment she saw the boots.

"Oh, no. No, no, no," she whimpered, as the Doctor stepped out in front of the rest of his friends, pushing them back through the room with his back turned to them.

"Back," he repeated in a gentle whisper, as Odie's hand locked around Polly's wrist.

"Polly, get behind me," she ordered, just as the Cyberman threw back the blanket and leapt out of the bed, his weapon at the ready.

"Stand back. Stand back from that door!" it ordered. Its voice was much more mechanical than when the travellers had last met Cybermen. There was no trace of a human voice in it anymore.

"You're right," Hobson breathed, eyes wide in both surprise and fear. "It is them." From behind them, Bob rushed towards the Cyberman armed with a metal bar. Odie was about to raise her voice, stop him, but before she had the time to say anything, a shot was fired from behind Bob. Another Cyberman had stepped out of the storage area, and Bob fell to the floor, smoke billowing up from his back.

"No!" the Doctor cried, as Hobson fell to the floor next to his subordinate.

"Remain still," the first Cyberman ordered.

"You devils," Hobson said with contempt in his voice. "You killed him! An unarmed man." Odie stepped forward a tiny step to grab Hobson's elbow and gently pull him to his feet.

"Please, shut up," she murmured. "Insults don't work on 'em." One Cyberman turned to the other.

"See that they remain there," one ordered.

"Yes."

The first Cyberman, the one who had made the order, tapped a device on his chest.

"Operational system two now complete. Operational system two now complete. Ready to start Operational system three."

"What does-" Polly began asking, but Odie shook her head.

"I don't think he's talkin' to us, Pol," she said quietly. "I'm pretty sure that device works as a transmitter." After the Cyberman was done conversing with whoever was on the other end of that line, he turned to the Doctor.

"You are known to us," it stated.

The Doctor frowned. He had better be, since the entire affair with the Cybermen last time had practically killed him from exhaustion! How terribly rude it would've been had they forgotten him.

"And you to me."

"Silence." The Cybermen looked over the band of humans. "Who is in command?"

Hobson stepped forward, a bit hesitant in his movements.

"I am."

"You will be needed."

"What have you done with my men?" Hobson demanded. Polly was fairly certain he wouldn't like the answer.

"They will return."

"They're not dead?" Hobson asked, hope in his voice, but this hope was extinguished entirely by the Cyberman's next words.

"No. They are not dead. They are altered."

"Altered?" Ben echoed. He was certain death was a far more preferable fate. "What have you done to them?"

"They are now controlled."

Hobson's previous hope now turned to anger, as he approached the Cyberman.

"If you do anything to my-"

The Cyberman raised its weapon a bit.

"You will do nothing."

While this conversation was going on, the other Cyberman was walking about examining the patients, and finally made it to Jamie's bed. Polly could feel Odie tense up in front of her, and instinctively grabbed her upper arm. Odie might've been the strongest fighter of them all, but Cybermen were a bit too much to fight emptyhanded. At her touch, Odie's muscles slackened slightly, as though her thoughts were transferred to the other girl through touch.

"This one has not received neurotrope X. Stand back," the Cyberman ordered, and Polly stepped a tiny step forward, but still not enough to leave Odie's back.

"Please, leave him alone," she begged. The Cyberman turned towards them, and Odie shifted a bit, as though to shield Polly better. "His head is hurt. He's had an accident," she explained, ensuring her voice did not lose power, even though her legs felt weak enough to buckle beneath her.

"His head?" the Cyberman echoed. "Then he would be of no value." It then turned towards its comrade. "The others are ready for conversion."

The other Cyberman nodded.

"You will now take us to the control centre," it said, directed at Hobson, whose face immediately turned defiant.

"I'll be damned if-" he began, but the Cyberman once again made a show of its weapon, and Hobson bit his defiance back. His eyes still showed a clear will to fight back, but for now, they really didn't have a choice. "It's through here." Hobson led one Cyberman and the Doctor through the door, but when the younger time travellers made a move to follow them, the other Cyberman bared its weapon.

"You will remain here," it ordered, and Odie saw the Doctor look back for a second. She shook her head briefly, but the Cyberman saw it. Thankfully, it misunderstood. "If you leave you will be converted like the others." Once it had ensured that they had understood its warnings, it followed the others towards the control center, and the three young humans were left to their own devices.

They remained silent for a few seconds, ensuring that they were truly alone, before Ben turned towards the two girls.

"I don't like that word converted," he announced, and Odie nodded, agreeing full-heartedly with the young man.

"It doesn't sound promisin', does it?" she asked, before turning to Polly, a proud smile on her face. "Though, I think you just saved Jamie's life, Pol."

Polly blinked, confused.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Odie grinned, patting Polly's shoulder.

"I think the Cybermen thinks his concussion is a bit more serious than it actually is," she explained, just as her face turned grave once more. "As for the rest of us..."

In the control room, Benoit was starting to worry about the two men they had sent outside to repair the antennae. They had not yet reported back, and Benoit decided it was about time to hear their voices.

"Surface party, come in please. Surface party, come in please. Surface party, come in," he tried a couple of times. Only static replied. He frowned. "We are not receiving you. Over." Static once more, and Benoit was starting to get worried. He looked over to Nils. "Can we see the control antenna from here?" he asked, but the Dane shook his head.

"No, Roger. It's just around that first block outside the main port," he replied, and Benoit sighed. So much for getting to them from inside.

"Well, we'll have to send someone else out so get ready to-" he deemed, but just as he was about to give the order, Hobson entered the control center again. Followed by mechanical monstrosities from old children's tales. The scientists were about to fetch weapons, but Hobson quickly interjected.

"Get back! Get back! These things are lethal!"

As if to prove his point, one Cyberman brandished his weapon.

"No one will move. You will remain still. If you move you will be killed."

"What are they? How did they get in?" Benoit asked, alarm in his voice.

"Silence. We are Cybermen. You will listen!"

It was clear that no scientist in the control center had expected that answer.

"But you were all killed!"

"We are going to take over the Gravitron and use it to destroy the surface of the Earth by changing the weather," the Cyberman announced, clearly not the least bit interested in the humans' misconceptions about its race. The Doctor race fell in horror.

"But that will kill everybody on the Earth."

"Yes."

The most terrifying part of the Cybermen was the absolute callousness with which they could announce their intention to commit genocide.

"You're supposed to be so advanced. Here you are taking your revenge like, like children!" Hobson exclaimed, and the Cybermen turned to him.

"Revenge? What is that?" they asked.

"A feeling people have when-" Hobson began explaining, but the Cybermen lost interest immediately.

"Feelings? Feelings? Yes, we know of this weakness of yours," they admitted. "We are fortunate. We do not possess feelings."

"Then why are you here?" Benoit asked.

"To eliminate all dangers."

"But you'll kill every living thing on the Earth," Hobson attempted once more, but this just made the Cybermen nod.

"Yes. All dangers will be eliminated."

"Have you no mercy?" Benoit cried, fearing for his family down on Earth. The Gravitron was so powerful, a slight imbalance could easily wipe out an entire country. If the Cybermen were to use it for the sake of purposeful genocide, it could destroy the Earth as they knew it.

"It is unnecessary," it decided, before turning to the other Cyberman. "Keep watch on them." And then the Cyberman who was clearly in charge moved away, possibly to activate the communicator again. Hobson saw some of his subordinates eye their chance for an attack, but he raised a hand.

"Don't rush him, Nils," he warned. He had seen the outcome of one such attack before. He would rather not see another.

"Operational system four. Operation system four."

"Operational system four complete. Entry to base now completed."

This caught Hobson's attention.

"Entry? How did you get in?"

The Cyberman turned around.

"It was very simple. Only stupid Earth brains like yours would have been fooled."

"Go on," Hobson requested, and for once, the Cyberman was being cooperative.

"Since we couldn't approach direct, we came up under the surface and cut our way in through your store room, contaminating your food supply on the way. A simple hole, that's all."

Hobson widened his eyes. To his great chagrin, he had to admit that the Cyberman was right. They had never even considered that.

"A hole! That explains those sudden air pressure drops we've been recording!"

The Cyberman nodded.

"Clever. Clever. Clever."

In the sickbay, the three younger time travellers were just waiting, when suddenly their number jumped. Polly was looking at her battered finger nails, lamenting the state of them and how she really needed to do some damage control once they finally got back to the TARDIS, and then Jamie tried to get out of bed. She jumped up, alarmed.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" she demanded, prepared to push the Scotsman back into bed again, when the alertness of his eyes shocked her into stopping. She smiled slightly. "You seem to be better."

"Aye, I feel myself again," Jamie reckoned, a determined grin on his face. Odie stepped over to him, not entirely convinced.

"You ought to lie back," she said, and Jamie turned towards her to complain.

"But I'm better!" he said energetically, just in time to put his hands to his head. "Oh, my head."

"Yeah, well take it easy, mate," Ben said with a sheepish look on his face, and Polly smiled.

"At least, you know it's not your McCrimmon piper, anyway."

The three more modern of the travellers smiled a bit at that, as Jamie nodded.

"It had me worried though, I admit that."

"Yeah, those Cybermen have got us all worried, mate," he announced. "We've see them in action before."

"They must have some weakness!" Polly said, and Ben looked back at her.

"They have, don't you remember? They can't stand radiation."

Odie immediately saw the flaw in that plan, however.

"You figure radiation's just lyin' about then?"

Ben shrugged.

"There's the Gravitron power pack, but that's thermonuclear. No one can get near it once it's going."

"Why not?" Polly asked, confused, and Ben turned to her, a patronizing look in his eyes that irked Odie to no end.

"Well because Duchess, the temperature inside is about four million degrees, that's all."

"Well, in my day, they used to sprinkle witches with holy water," Jamie suggested, and Ben turned to him, exasperated.

"Fat lot of use that would be on them."

But actually, as it turned out, Jamie was actually pretty helpful as he'd turned on the switch in Polly's brain that Odie liked to call 'The Brilliant Idea-switch'.

"Sprinkle. Holy Water," she muttered, and Odie raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Guys?"

"Yeah?"

"What are the Cybermen covered in?" the blonde girl asked, and Odie groaned at the memory.

"Metal. It hurts like hell to be smacked by 'em," she revealed, and Polly's face fell.

"Oh." A few seconds passed as she thought, before she looked up at them again. "What about that thing on their chests? You know, the part which replaces their heart and lungs."

"Some kind of plastic, I think," Ben speculated. Apparently, this was just what Polly wanted to hear, as a big grin spread on her face.

"I thought so," she said triumphantly. Her fellow travellers all looked at her, blank. "You see, it's simple. Nail varnish remover dissolves nail varnish. Nail varnish is a plastic. So we do what Jamie says. We sprinkle them, see?"

Ben shook his head.

"No, I don't. Clear as mud if you ask me."

Polly sighed.

"Well anyway, I'm going to try an experiment," she exclaimed, and Ben and Odie exchanged confused glances.

"Yes, Professor."

Back in the control center, the Doctor was forming his own hypotheses. After all, the Cyberman had to have a weakness. Even if it wasn't radiation they would rely on to combat them this time around, there had to be something else that could defeat them. He just had to find it. Just as his brain was considering his 51st plan (which he ultimately discarded, as he realized it was entirely unreliable), a Cyberman led three of the missing patients from the sickbay into the room, all wearing a metal helmet.

"Jules! Doctor Evans!" Hobson cried, joy in his eyes. "I thought he was all dead. I thought they were all dead."

Benoit frowned, eyeing the metal helmets suspiciously.

"Better if they were by the look of it."

"You will leave your places," the Cyberman ordered, and all of the scientists still working the Gravitron consoles left their stations to go stand by the wall. It then turned to Hobson and Benoit.

"You will move. Tell the operators in the power unit to come out. Now," it ordered, and though it pained Hobson to do so, they didn't really have a choice. He approached the intercom to address the power control crew who were still stuck behind the transparent glass wall, staring helplessly at the scene happening on their side.

"All right, you can all see what's happening," Hobson said, helplessness in his voice. "Come out. Leave the machine and don't try anything."

The power control crew left the Gravitron and joined their comrades by the wall, and the Cybermen turned to one another.

"They will now take over the Gravitron power unit," one ordered, and the other acknowledged. The three converted scientists filed into the power room as they were, causing Benoit to react in horror.

"But you can't send them in there without the protective helmets!" he protested.

"Why?" the Cyberman asked.

"The machine produces very intense sonic fields," Benoit explained. "Without the helmets, those men will be insane in a few hours."

"How many hours?"

Benoit shook his head, as he ran some quick calculations.

"Twelve, possibly."

"Then there is no problem," the Cyberman announced, and Benoit's eyes widened in confusion.

"Why?"

The answer chilled him to his bones.

"Our purpose will be achieved before that."

"But what about the men?" he asked, horrified, and the Cyberman turned his back to him, clearly having lost interest in the conversation.

"They will be disposed of."

The Doctor had been watching this exchange with a mild amount of interest, as he had been edging ever so slowly to the R/T unit. Once he made it, he slowly turned up the volume, but when a Cyberman turned around to watch the prisoners, he quickly reset it again.

"Prepare to align the field rectors," one Cyberman ordered, and the controlled humans obeyed. "Main power into vortex generators now. Servo pumps to full pressure."

"Why did they go to so such trouble?" Hobson whispered, and the Doctor blinked, his thoughts having been in an entirely different place. He turned to face the human supervisor.

"What do you mean?"

"Why didn't they operate the controls themselves?" he asked, and the Doctor looked back at the Cybermen, determined to try out his latest hypothesis. He edged back to the R/T unit when he was certain that none of the Cybermen were watching and adjusted the volume and pitch once more. The controlled men by the Gravitron started to lose their coordination, moving sluggishly and haphazardly as they attempted to follow their instructions.

"What is happening?" one Cyberman demanded.

"There is loss of control," another replied, and the Doctor nodded smugly.

"Thought so," he muttered quietly to himself. "Sonic control. That should be easy." He reset the dials and edged back to the other prisoners. "Funny. Funny. Go to all that trouble to make the men do the work. Why? Do it themselves, easy. They're using the men as tools. Why? Don't know. Yes, I do though. There must be something in here they don't like. Pressure? Electricity? Radiation? Maybe. Gravity! Now there's a thought. Gravity. Oh, yes. Gravity."

He was wringing his hands while muttering, as a gradual victorious grin spread on his face. Now, he just needed a distraction.

"Start probe generators. Realign the probe. Probe field to full power now," the Cyberman ordered.

"They'll devastate the whole Earth when that field takes hold," Hobson said, his eyes constantly seeking out the weather map of the Earth to check on his home planet. Benoit's eyes did the exact same thing.

"We've got to do something!"

And then, suddenly...

"Earth Control calling Moonbase. Come in, please."

Everyone in the room froze, apart from the workers in the Gravitron room. One Cyberman turned towards the prisoners, his weapon bared.

"Remain still."

The prisoners did as asked.

"Hello, Moonbase. Come in, please."

"You will all be silent," the Cyberman instructed.

"Moonbase, come in, please. Hello? Reading on five centimetre band. Come in. Your last routine signal was not received. Over. We are not receiving you. Over. If you hear us and cannot transmit, fire sodium rocket. We shall see flare."

The Cyberman with the bared weapon turned on Hobson.

"What does that mean?"

"It's a distress rocket. It ejects sodium into space and then the sun lights the sodium into a yellow flare," the human explained.

"What will your Earth do if they do not see the flare?" the Cyberman inquired. Hobson shrugged.

"Well, they'll think we're all dead. They'll do nothing," he informed, and the Cyberman turned towards the transmitter.

"Standing by to observe flare. Standing by."

The Cyberman turned the transmitter off, its interest waned, and Hobson smiled at his fellow prisoners.

"If they don't get our next transmission, they'll send up a relief rocket."

In the sickbay, Polly had almost finished preparations for her little experiment, as she put down a multitude of various bottles on the desk.

"Ben?" she asked, summoning the blonde man to her side.

"Yeah?"

"What is nail varnish remover?" she quizzed.

"It's a sort of thinner, something like acetone I think," Ben replied. Polly nodded eagerly.

"Acetone, of course. Great, we've got some of that, right?" she asked, quickly looked through the bottles she had gathered. Odie looked around the bottles on the desk and quickly grabbed one of the outer ones.

"This one, ain't it?" she asked, and Polly's grin widened.

"Exactly! Now, keep your fingers crossed," she instructed, and the others backed away from the desk. Polly poured some acetone into a small tray before dropping some plastic into the clear liquid. She smiled victoriously as she saw the plastic dissolve. "It's works!" she cheered.

"But I still don't know what you're on about," Ben said. The young woman turned to her fellow travellers, an excited gleam in her bright eyes.

"If we can sprinkle some of that on their chest units, it might help to soften them," she explained, and now Ben and Odie also caught on.

"I get it! You mean it'll clobber their controls or something!" Ben cheered along.

"Yes, that's it."

Odie frowned, touching her chin with a few of her slender fingers.

"How do we know that this'll melt their plastic, though? Space plastic is different than Earth plastic, right?" she suggested, and Polly frowned a bit.

"I hadn't thought of that," she admitted. Attacking the Cybermen without a guarantee that their plan would work would be almost suicidal. Ben wasn't so easily deterred however, and he clapped his hands. Ben wasn't the type to come up with plans on his own, but once a plan had been suggested he was usually good for updating it and reworking it to fit a multitude of situations.

"Just a moment though, if we make up a mixture-" he began, and Polly nodded.

"Of all the solvents," she finished, and the two of them both turned to the bottles that Polly had been gathering.

"What have we got?" Ben asked.

"Benzene, ether, alcohol-" Polly started listing as she and Ben started pouring the contents of the more potent liquids into a large flask, and Odie smirked.

"Sounds like a right cocktail..."

"Yes. Wait a minute, how are we going to throw it at them?" Polly asked, confused. Having a mixture of all of these dangerous compounds just strewn about the base would be a hell to clean up later, not to mention probably health threatening.

"Well, in bottles, I suppose," Ben mumbled, before snapping his fingers. "Now just a tick though. I've got a better idea." He disappeared into the storage area for but a few seconds, before coming back into the sickbay. Polly was already busy stirring their cocktail, as Ben held up various spray bottle, causing Odie to frown.

"What's that?" she asked, and Ben blinked.

"Oh, you don't use these in 1949?" he asked, and she shook her head, a tad confused. Ben went to her side and showcased one of the bottles.

"So, this here's called a 'Spray Bottle'. This bottle holds the stuff that puts the fire out and this cylinder pushes gas into the bottle so that stuff squirts out here. Now, all we've got to do is to undo it," he explained, and once he'd unscrewed the lid, both he and Odie recoiled from the smell coming from the liquid already inside it. "Phoar," Ben complained, before turning the bottle upside-down in the nearby sink. "Empty it and fill it with Polly cocktail."

"I've got it all ready here," Polly replied, coming over with a large flask of a mysteriously colored liquid.

"Good. What did you put in it?" Ben asked, and Polly blinked, as she began pouring 'Polly cocktail' into the spray bottle.

"Let's think. Benzene, ether, alcohol, acetone and epoxy-propane," she replied.

"Blimey, one of them should do it," Ben reckoned with a grin, as the spray bottle had filled up. "Now, we'll need another one of these," he reckoned, and Jamie jumped up from the bed.

"Right, I'll get it."

This caused the two Brits to immediately go to him to try and get him to sit down again.

"No, you stay where you are, Jamie," Ben instructed.

"Jamie, you're not well enough," Polly chimed in, but Jamie smiled proudly.

"It takes more than a wee crack on the head to keep a McCrimmon down," he replied, and Ben shook his head.

"Look mate, we don't want you cracking up on us," he said, a patronizing look on his face. "I'm sure Polly's very impressed-"

"Look, I said I was better," Jamie interjected, squaring off against the British sailor. "Would you like me to prove it to you?"

"Any time, mate."

Odie groaned audibly.

"Men."

"I'm with you, Odie," Polly agreed, a humourless look on her pretty face. "Look, come on. Haven't we got enough trouble without you two fighting each other?" she asked, pushing the two testosterone-filled idiots away from each other.

"I go," Jamie maintained, stubbornly, and not wanting to antagonize the girls, Ben relented.

"Oh well, come on then," Ben instructed, handing Jamie a new filled spray bottle. The two men headed towards the entrance but stopped when they realized the girls were following. "Not you, Polly. This is men's work," Ben said, stopping the blonde Brit, and then he saw that Odie had grabbed one of the spray bottles off of the table, filled with Polly cocktail.

"Then you won't mind if I just grab me one of these-" she said with a sweet smile, and Jamie frowned.

"Odie, you're-" he began, but Odie's smile immediately fell, and her dark eyes centered on the Scotsman. Something in them made him shut up.

"If you're goin' to tell me I can't participate in 'men's work', I'll knock you out flat," she growled, and Polly smirked.

"Good one, Odie."

"Thanks."

The group moved out of the sick bay, and Ben frowned when he realized that Polly was trailing behind them, holding on to Odie's arm.

"Polly. I thought that I told you to stay behind!"

"I'm coming with you," Polly said, stubbornly.

"You'll maybe get hurt. Now go back," Jamie joined Ben, but Polly was adamant, and you could tell so by the crinkle on her smooth forehead as she faced down the Scotsman.

"I'm coming with you and that's flat! You still need someone to look after you!"

Jamie scowled.

"I don't want-" he began, clearly about to go on about some bull about how he could take care of himself, and didn't need no woman to look after him. But before he could do so, Odie stepped way into his personal space, pushing him back a bit.

"Cut the crap, Jamie," she ordered, her voice cold. She had met plenty of men over her travels, but rarely had she met any as aggravating as Jamie could be. She was well used to sexism where she came from but travelling in the TARDIS and seeing the future had given her some perspective. And she was so over taking crap like this. So long as she was there, no one was going to tell her, or Polly, what to do based on their gender. "Pol's comin'. If either of you two have an issue with that, we can go two-on-two back in the TARDIS and see which team wins out, eh?"

Polly smiled as the two men looked at each other. Both seemed like they wanted to object, but clearly none of them relished the idea of fighting Odie. They had both seen how that would end.

Polly grabbed Odie's hand, squeezing it slightly as a 'thank you'.

And Odie squeezed back.

The four of them stopped in front of the door leading into the control center and glanced at each other. Ben, Jamie and Odie all clasped their spray bottles close, afraid to drop them and alert the Cybermen.

"Now look, we've only got one chance," Ben said quietly. "When I open the door, drop down as low as you can, aim these things at their chests and squirt like mad. Right?" he asked, looking around at the little gathering. Jamie and Odie both nodded.

"Right."

"Understood," Odie agreed, looking back at Polly. She was smiling, though her cheeks had gone pale with fright. "Stay behind me, yeah?"

"Got it. Be careful guys."

They all nodded.

"Now get ready," Ben ordered, before turning to the switch opening the door. When he stretched up to reach the switch, the spray bottle scratched lightly against the wall, but it was enough. Within the room, one of the Cybermen turned around.

"Someone is there," it said, but just as they turned a high-pitched noise made the controlled men within the Gravitron chamber freeze. This made the Cybermen turn around again.

"The beam is jammed," the other Cyberman announced, alarmed, as they turned towards the R/T unit where the Doctor stood, his hands innocently clasped behind his back. This was when the door behind the Cybermen slid open, revealing the Doctor's young companions.

"Quickly, go and get their chest things!" Ben cheered, as Jamie and Odie sprang ahead. While Ben attacked the closest Cyberman, Jamie and Odie teamed up against the Cyberman which was closest to the Doctor. As soon as the Polly cocktail was sprayed onto the Cybermen's chest units, they started bubbling and dissolving. The Cybermen clutched helplessly at their chests, mechanical screams echoing around the room, before they fell lifelessly to the floor. Odie was at the Doctor's side in a flash.

"Doctor, you okay?" she asked, and the Doctor nodded hastily, gesturing to the still paralyzed workers in the Gravitron room.

"Quick, get those things off their heads!" he ordered, and while Odie kept a watchful eye on the lifeless Cybermen, Ben, Jamie and Polly all went into the Gravitron chamber and removed the men's metal helmets. This caused them to pass out instantaneously. Now the Moonbase personnel were on the move.

"Come on, get to your places!" Hobson bellowed, and every single scientist started moving as the travellers dragged the collapsed men out from the Gravitron chamber. "Quick, there's not a moment to lose. We've got to get the Gravitron down to safe level."

"What about those poor men?" Polly asked, and Hobson turned to her.

"Shift them along to the medical unit, quick as you can!" he ordered, and the Doctor nodded.

"And be careful."

Odie and Jamie were put in charge of carrying the three unconscious men to the medical bay, as the others struggled to gain control of the Gravitron once more. They were understaffed, and Benoit suddenly recalled something.

"Before all this, we lost contact with those two men outside," he informed Hobson.

"Well, send someone else out," he ordered, and Benoit shook his head.

"Can't spare anyone. I'll go myself," he announced. Benoit and Hobson technically operated the same controls within the control center, so there was no sense keeping them both in there.

"Field strength is stable, isn't it?" Hobson asked, and Benoit checked.

"Yes. Yes, it's all right."

Hobson nodded. He would rather not have to send Benoit out there on his own, but he had no other options.

"Keep in R/T contact and be quick," he ordered.

"Right."

Benoit went out to get suited up, and Hobson turned to Nils.

"Hook your controls into Joe's channel, then get up into the dome and keep an eye on Roger when he's outside," he instructed, and the Dane nodded. They would rather not lose another member of their team to the Cybermen.

Nils kept an eye on Benoit as he moved across the empty landscape outside the dome, and soon word came back to them.

"Hello Base, Hello Base. I've found them. At least, I've found their suits. They got them, I'm afraid."

A brief moment of sombre silence passed in the control center as they all grieved their fellow men. But then, Hobson's eyes cleared. There would be time to mourn later.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about that now. You'd better come inside as quick as you can," he ordered.

"I will."

An alarmed voice called down from Nils' observation post.

"Sir, sir! There's one of those things outside. He's after Roger Benoit," he yelled, and Hobson turned to the R/T unit.

"You hear that, Roger?" he asked.

Outside on the moon's surface, Benoit started twirling around himself, hoping to see the Cyberman in question, but all he could see was grey ash and a dark sky.

"Yes, I did, but he must be mistaken. There's none to be seen around here," he announced, but barely had these words escaped his lips before a Cyberman appeared menacingly from behind a ridge, its weapon drawn. Benoit felt his blood freeze in his veins. "No! No!" he screamed, as his life passed before his eyes. The faces of his family, his parents, his wife, their unborn child... To think he should die here, so far from everyone he loved... The universe could be cruel.

Or so he had thought, but when the Cyberman attempted to fire his weapon, nothing happened. Benoit was still very much alive, and the Cyberman examined its weapon.

"Did you see that?" Benoit gasped, his breath stuck in his throat. "Those things don't work in the vacuum!"

He turned to run back to the dome, as fast as the space suit could carry him. On the other side of the airlock Ben was dismantling a fire extinguisher to get at the glass cylinder inside of it.

"Why can't you squirt it at them like you did just now?" Polly asked, panic in the pit of her stomach. She didn't like the idea of Ben going out there one bit, but he was adamant.

"Because duchess, it would evaporate in the vacuum before it hits them," Ben explained, as he filled the glass cylinder with the rest of the Polly cocktail. Once there was nothing left in the spray bottles they had left in the control center, he nodded resolutely. "There, now come on," he asked, as Polly and Odie, who had returned from the medical detail, helped him into a space suit.

"Just be careful, yeah?" Odie asked as she helped him into the space boots, and Ben smiled smugly.

"See, you do care," he teased, and Odie frowned, just as the oversized fishbowl was put over Ben's head.

"Shut it," she replied, and Ben ran out into the airlock. Through the window, he could see Benoit being chased by the Cyberman. The gap between them was getting smaller all the time, and Ben knew it was only a matter of time until the tin man would catch him. Just as Benoit reached the airlock door, Ben opened it and exited in Benoit's place. Ben threw the glass cylinder at the Cyberman's chest unit as hard as he could.

It broke and covered the metal man in a cloud of vapour.

"Come on, quick," Ben called, hurrying back inside the airlock. They closed the doors behind him while watching the Cyberman. It flailed around as its chest unit dissolved. In the vacuum, no one could hear it scream.

Almost done! The Moonbase will have just one more part after this one, in which the Doctor and Odie will have a heart-to-heart and the Doctor will come up with a very dangerous plan, as per usual! :D

I do like Jamie as a companion, but he can be quite oldfashioned, and as Odie's own view of the world gets more and more modern with every adventure, she is starting to have a problem with some things she never really thought of before. That could pose some issues in the future, but that time that sorrow ;)

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next one!

xXxStarfished