13 Novella 1

Woman

You don't know how you do it. It's like being pulled from deep water, gasping as pressure changes inside your skull and you are struck with an almighty headache.

But something in your head is screaming and fighting against the voice, and you seem to be winning.

Your eyes water and you find you feet turning your body in the opposite direction and pulling you forward of their own accord, past the waiting lines of people behind you and back out through the door you came in.

You are sent reeling to the ground as the metal headset vibrates and growls, and you cover your ears against it. You hear an audible crack and sense it loosen slightly. Abruptly it stops and you find yourself panting on the polished floor, cold sweat drenching your neck and palms, shaking uncontrollably.

You barely have time to process all this however when you catch a strangled cry emanating from the room you started in. You stumble to your feet and take off. Something about the scream, it was fearful and too innocent.

"No stop it! Stop it! I work for you, I'm one of you, no please don't do this!" It's a young woman, Sheffield accent with a hint of something more foreign, and you believe she is the same woman who winked at you earlier. She screams again and you catch more as your feet pound along the squeaky linoleum towards the raucous.

"DOCTOR!" She cries "Doctor help me!" You almost halt, believing she is calling for the brutal woman in the first room, but something about the way she calls the name changes your mind, like she is calling for a saviour or an angel.

You slide to a stop and burst through the door. Where this confidence came from you have no idea, but the scene in front of you is the young terrified woman and two guards pinning her down, attempting to thrust her onto the dentist-like chair.

Instinctively you seize a restraint and wrap it in one movement around the mans wrist; he is pulled towards the bed and off the woman. She turns with one arm free now and thumps the other man in the neck before she knees him in the groin. So she's had training, that was clear.

She is bleeding from her shoulder and her clothes are ripped, but the restrained man is pulling at the straps with apparent success.

Without thinking of anything but the moment, not Abi, not Jay, not the pain in your head or your gasping lungs or this Doctor person, you grab her wrist and pull her towards you.

"Run"

You take off down the corridor towards the exit, getting closer and closer-

A woman suddenly jumps out from a room to your left and sends you sprawling to the floor with the other woman in tow. You seemed to have obtained an endless amount of bruises in the last couple of hours alone. You roll over gasping again to check on your accomplice- and find yourself eye to eye with the hazel eyes of the woman who sent you flying in the first place. She looks over at you, apparently very puzzled, but with a childlike hint of charisma.

"Ouch" she says almost playfully.

"And you are?" She asks politely as though you had met in any normal situation other than this one.

"(Y/n)" you reply, too stunned to come up with a false name as usual when asked. The woman breaks into a wide smile, blonde hair bobbing, lilac long coat draped around her, all slightly charred in places. A frown takes over as she inspects the other woman.

"Yaz what happened" she says, now forcibly calm. So they knew each other, so this must be-

"They know you're here" says Yaz as the blonde woman helps her to her feet "they caught me trying to break in and tried to turn me too, that's when (Y/n) here stepped in" both women look at you as you stand a little self consciously.

"Well thank you (y/n) for helping out" she says brightly as though you had held a door open for her, then she frowns seriously and begins talking at immense speed.

"So they realised I'm here and that I'm going to stop them, which is why they've gone ahead with stage two, but it's not ready yet... so they're temporarily muting the brain circuits instead of fully upgrading to ensure they have some guaranteed cyber men by the end... still controlling but how? Neurotransmitters? Nerve pulses or maybe an interruption of brain waves? No I'm missing something, oh think Doctor think, you're supposed to be good at that part, actually you're not bad at lots of things, poetry, art, ice cream making... stop, right, what am I missing... what am I- oh"

You are still trying to comprehend what she has just said when you realise she is staring at you, or more specifically, your metal headpiece.

"How did you get out? They're inescapable, believe me I know, but you're functioning! What happened, what's different about you?" She whips out a metal bleeping device and begins to scan you with a yellow light.

You flinch and take a step back, but the other woman- Yaz -grabs your hand and squeezes it in comfort.

"Of course" she whispers, ceasing the scanning of your face "emotion, always emotion... but still, you shouldn't just be able to break free... something must have already been wrong with your brain to be able to resist..." you gulp and feel bile rise in your throat, gagging ss you realise what is still happening while you are stood here talking.

"Please... Abigail is in there" you stutter which snaps both their attention.

"Right I'm on it, (y/n), whatever is different with your brain, it saved you. Come with me." She grabs your other hand and takes off down the corridor, pulling you through doors and past more whistling pipes and machinery until you reach what is clearly a control room.

The Doctor then proceeds to type at astronomical speeds on a keyboard while Yaz stands guard at the door.

Your mind wanders desperately as screens pop up all around, until a shout from Yaz gets your attention.

"Doctor they're coming!" She calls urgently. You glance at The Doctor who is frowning in concentration until her head snaps up at you.

"It's not working, I thought it would work... I'm going to have to do it... I'm sorry (Y/n), I don't want to have to ask but I have to..." she looks extremely troubled and you hold your breath.

"I need emotion. The strongest human emotion you can come up with. Please (Y/n)- raw emotion, I need you to picture Abigail, and what you are feeling right now. It could just save all 700 people down there, I'm sorry but I can't do it because I'm not human."

You recognise the plea in her eyes and brush aside the non human comment. So you breathe and block out the sounds of- marching metal? And as The Doctor clips metal wires to your broken head piece you allow your mind to go to Abigail, three floors below you, alone and terrified, exactly where you so callously left her.

The thought brings tears to your eyes that roll steadily down your cheeks, and you feel your heart physically ache. She was still down there, you could see the memory clearer now of her blank face stepping into that brutal chamber. The tears begin to fall thick and fast as you realise you are probably too late.

With that your headpiece begins to glow and crack, you can see it through your eyelids, until it peels off completely and crashes to the floor.

You tentatively open your eyes to find a smiling Doctor embracing you and whispering "you did it (Y/n), you saved them!" then pulling away to presumably check on Yaz. You check the camera screens and witness everyone from that main factory floor blinking in surprise at their surroundings. Yes, you had done it, all three of you, but especially this mysterious Doctor.

You could save Abi.

That's when you feel the first set of explosions.