Until We Burn | Dr Who

Chapter One Hundred and Three: Birth of a King

A Cyberman awaits us in the cellar but is easily incapacitated with another blast from an infostamp.

Skipping most of the stairs down, the Doctor strides purposefully up to the machine in the middle of the room. It is half as big as me and lights up the room, flickering blue and red. The bobbled gold plating on its sides is instantly recognisable. "Must've been guarding this," he calls to us, crouching to admire it. "A Dimension Vault. Stolen from the Daleks again, that's how the Cybermen travelled through time. Jackson, is this the thing you couldn't remember?"

His breathing is more laboured now as he stumbles towards it. "I don't think so. I'm— I just can't see. It's like it's hidden."

I rest a hand on his shoulder to steady him. "It's okay. We'll figure it out."

Huffing, the Doctor slaps the side of the machine. "Not enough power." He jumps up again and leads the way to the other side of the cellar. "Come on. Avanti!"

We enter a tunnel and I have to stop so as to not hit my head on the low ceiling. The low light puts me on edge and I reach aimlessly in front of me for the Doctor's hand. He takes it and gives me a light squeeze. Rosita clears her throat. "So what do the Cybermen want?"

"They want us. That's what Cybermen are, human beings with their brains put into metal shells. They want every living thing to be like them."

A noise grows in the distance of the tunnel — a grinding of machinery. We follow the red glow that pours into the shadows like blood. The noise gets louder and louder until we find ourselves at the mouth of the tunnel. A giant chamber lies beyond us, crowded with old machinery.

"Upon my soul," Jackson breathes, sickened by the sight.

"What is it?"

"An engine of some kind," I reply.

We crane our necks to see further up the height of the room. A massive metal duct runs all the way up the centre of the chamber, with an array of cogs fixed to its exterior, turning ceaselessly. The entire room must be at least fifty feet deep. The energy the Cybermen are producing with this kind of equipment must be off the charts. The Doctor frowns. "They're generating electricity. But what for?"

Unbothered, Jackson goes for one of the infostamps on his belt. "We can set them free."

He quickly discourages him. "No, no, no." Following him, we come to a circular screen on one of the tunnel walls. He puts on his glasses to study the string of red numbers scrolling across it. "Power at ninety per cent. But if we stop the engine, the power dies down, the Cybermen will come running."

The screen starts to glitch, the numbers bleeding into one another. I give it a light slap but nothing happens. "What's going on?"

"Power fluctuation. That's not meant to happen."

Watching on in confusion, Jackson looks to us for an explanation. "It's going wrong?"

"No, it's weird," he says. "The software's rewriting itself. It's changing."

I lean in to get a better look. "Maybe they're making the final touches? Fixing errors?"

No sooner have I spoken, the screen crackles and I narrowly avoid a spray of sparks. The Doctor dodges, too, but his interest deepens. "What the hell's happening? It's out of control!"

"It's accelerating," Jackson gasps as the numbers flicker again. "Ninety-six per cent, ninety-seven."

Rosita glances nervously between the three of us. "When it reaches a hundred, what about the children?"

"They're disposable. Come on!"

Sprinting through the chamber and into the next, I am hit with a wave of scalding heat. The red light is far more intense here. There must be hundreds of children here, all turning great wheels and shovelling coal into the furnaces. We waste no time, rushing to the centre of the room, yelling for their attention. "All of you out, now! D'you hear me? That's an order!"