To The Moon and Back [A Doctor Who fanfiction]

The Wooden Enemy

I was jolted to the ground as the shaking in the TARDIS stopped suddenly. I looked up to see the Doctor standing over me, a big grin on his face. "Sorry, the first ride is always a little strange for everyone." He helped me up and I dusted myself off. "What do you mean, everyone?" I asked him suspiciously. He pursed his lips. "We'll get to that later." He said, walking towards the door. "Now, shall we meet the enemy?"

I walked over to him and he pushed open the door, holding it open for me. "After you," He said, gesturing outside. "I haven't agreed to help you with anything, yet." I said, smirking and crossing my arms. "Maybe I don't want to meet the enemy. Maybe I want you to take me home." He closed the door. "Well do you want to help me?" He asked, matching my smirk. "I don't know, maybe a breath of fresh air will help me decide."

I pushed open the door, taking a step outside of the TARDIS. I stopped short when I saw the wooden walls and short wooden ceiling. I looked around to see wooden pipes running across the walls. I looked back at the Doctor as he followed me outside, closing the TARDIS door behind him.

"Where are we?" I asked him, taking another look around. "Well I told you it was a spaceship, didn't I?" He said, walking over and standing by me. "We're on the enemy's spaceship." He took a look around, spinning in a circle, his face contorting into an even more confused look with each degree he turned. "Well that's new." He said softly, clenching and unclenching his hands.

"Okay, I think I'll sit this one out." I said, turning back to the TARDIS. "Oi! You said you'd consider helping me!" The Doctor said, reaching out and grabbing my arm. "Yeah, but after my first breath of fresh oaky air, I've decided to wait in the TARDIS." I responded, struggling to get out of his grasp. "Plus, I don't even know what we're up against!" I added.

He let go of my arm, reaching into his jacket pocket and taking out the small device with the green tip. "What's that again?" I asked. "Sonic screwdriver, remember?" He responded, fiddling with it. He pointed it at the ceiling, looking right at me and pressing a button on the side. The tip immediately lit up and made a loud buzzing noise. He looked up at it, and grabbed my arm again, dragging me around the corner. He pointed down the hallway at the wooden, coffin shaped cases lining the walls with little windows in each of them.

"There you go. That's what we're up against." He said. I took a cautious step down the hallway, peering at the cases.

"What are they?" I asked, walking up to one and looking inside the window. Inside the case was a humanoid looking creature, with strange handles coming out of it's helmet like head, and an emblem embedded on it's chest. If it weren't completely wooden, I'd say that it looked like a robot.

"They're Cybermen." The Doctor said from behind me. "Well, wooden Cybermen. I haven't seen them wooden before." He added, walking over to me and glancing at the Cyberman in the case before walking over to the next one.

"What're they doing in these cases?" I asked, still peering at the case. "Recharging, I think." He said, walking over to each case, examining the Cybermen. "But why wooden? Why is everything wooden?" He knocked on one of the cases. "How is it all wooden?" His forehead wrinkled in confusion and he shook his head.

Suddenly, a slight whooshing sound came from all of the cases, as if air was being let out. "Doctor, what's happening?" I asked, backing away from the case I was standing by. "They're charged." He said solemnly, walking over to me, never taking his eyes off the cases.

"Well, let's get out of here!" I said, turning to run back to the TARDIS. He grabbed my arm. "No! We have to figure out what's going on here and stop it! These Cybermen are a serious threat to Earth!" I struggled against his grasp as one by the doors to the cases slowly slid open, letting out massive puffs of frosty air. "Well, they're a threat to us too!" I said.

He yanked on my arm and I stumbled towards him. He grabbed both my hands and looked back towards the cases. All at once the Cybermen stepped out, turning to look at us with their mechanical, unblinking eyes. "Intruders. Delete. Delete." They said in unison with their deep, robotic voices.

"Okay, time to go." He said, turning and running back towards the opposite hallway, me in tow, our hands still tightly grasped together.

We turned the corner only to see even more Cybermen emerging from the cases surrounding the TARDIS. "Oh, that's not good." He said, his eyes darting back and forth between the two hallways.

"Look! There's a door!" I pointed at a door a few feet from us. "It's locked." The Doctor said, quickly glancing at it. "So? Use your screwdriver!" I said, looking worriedly at the approaching Cybermen. "I can't! It doesn't work on wood!" He responded frantically. I stopped for a second, looking at him exasperatedly. "Well that's highly impractical." I said.

"It uses sonic waves so it only works on machinery and technology." He said, his eyes darting between the two groups of Cybermen marching towards us. "Well, use it on the Cybermen!" I said, backing into the corner. "I can't! They're wood-"

He cut himself off as a look of realization dawned on his face. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at each group of Cybermen in turn, activating it. The Cybermen stopped in their tracks, standing straight up then tilting their heads down, the lights in their eyes going dark.

The Doctor bounced around giddily, laughing and waving his hands about. He walked over to me briskly, putting his hands on the side of my face and kissing me on the top of my head. "You're a genius!" He said, looking me in the eye, smiling from ear to ear.

"What? What are you talking about?" I asked him and he walked over to one of the Cybermen, waving his hand in front of it's face, obtaining no response. "You told me to use my sonic on the Cybermen, but I thought it wouldn't work because I thought they were entirely wooden! But then I thought: if they were entirely wooden, what was in their heads? They had to be getting their orders from somewhere, and wood doesn't conduct electricity, so there had to be some piece of technology in their heads! Switch that off, and you shut down the Cybermen."

He rubbed his hands together cheerfully, his eyes dancing with joy. "Now we just have to get to the control room to shut down the entire base. That way, the Cybermen will no longer be threatening life on Earth." He clapped his hands and gestured down the hallway with the cases we saw first. "Shall we go save the world?"