The Time Traveler and The Immortal

Mistletoe Doesn't Always Mean Kissing Part 3

The vent shaft was tight and it took a lot of effort not to swear and hit the walls as I crawled. I was glad I wasn't claustrophobic or the tight space that was pushing my arms into my sides and my head low would be frightening and the whole plan would go up in smoke. As I crawled my heart beat for Melody who was bravely infiltrating the ranks of the cyber-children. The thought of her being discovered made me crawl faster. As I continued I wondered why The Doctor didn't just go back in time and stop Baldur from hitting the station.I feel like he just wanted the adventure.

Swearing, I crawled through the dark bowels of the station. Occasionally the darkness was punctuated with shafts of light, lines cutting through the blackness when I passed over on under a grate. Over my head, I could hear the heavy footsteps of Cybermen walking in formation and the light pitter patter of the children cyborgs. Again I thought of Melody concealed and hidden as a cyborg child and I thought of Sam, Jimmy seemed so lonely without him or Mary even with the constant attention of Mistletoe and the rest of us. I finally stopped crawling when I reached a grate that let the hum of electricity and machines into the small space.

I inched the grate open and pulled myself out at a snail's pace. There were Cybermen a few meters away from me and they had their backs turned. Grateful that they hadn't upgraded to have eyes in the back of their heads I slipped over past the control panel, it's buzzing and whirring covering the slight noises I made and the blinking lights and buttons and levers distracting me for brief seconds. I got my body ready to run in the direction that had the least amount of Cybermen. I recalled Mistletoe and Jimmy's information about how to hide in the closets and in stacks of toys as I took a deep breath. I had faced down Vlad the Impaler and plague and evil lords and ladies alike. Calming myself I stole a breath before crying out.

"Hey Tinmen, am I in OZ or did you take the wrong yellow brick road?" As soon as the words left my mouth I curse at their stupidity but the Cybermen guarding the control panel turned, my words having their desired effect. I may have imagined it but I thought I heard The Doctor's laughter. As soon as they saw me the Cybermen started advancing and I wasn't about to put my immortality up against the Cyberman upgrades so I ran.

As I ran I attracted the attention of the other Cybermen patrolling and almost all of them abandoned their stations in favour of chasing me down. The plan was working.

I dashed through the shadowy toy store. Almost from every shadow a new Cyberman appeared and joined the chase. This had better be a big enough distraction. I ran until I reached an area so far away that no more Cybermen pulled themselves from the shadows and all I could hear were the thundering footsteps that followed me. At this point, I thought that The Doctor and the rest of the team were probably fine and I could stop the whole distraction. Taking advantage of my lead and the fact that none of them were using anything above normal speed I slipped behind a shelf and with one foot as I passed pushed open the door to what seemed like a shop that sold tree houses. I ran as fast and as quietly as I could until I was sure that I was alone and then climbed the shelves and jumped across the tops of the shelves just to be sure.

When I finally made my way back to the control panel, The Doctor, Mistletoe and Jimmy were at work on the button and switches and levers. In the distance, I could see the statue like silhouette of the cyborg children and I felt like my gaze zeroed into the form that seemed like Melody. I turned back to The Doctor as he flicked a switch and pushed a button.

"How much longer until it's shut down?" I asked as I glanced back at the shadows where I had come from, praying that I wouldn't see the sharp figure of a Cyberman.

"Not much longer," The Doctor replied, he looked over at me noticing my worry and giving me eyes I was sure I'd seen on a puppy. "Just need to override the firewall and find a way to stop the children from being fried along with the rest..."He was cut short by the sound of the elephant feet of a Cyberman, of the sound of two sets of feet.

I spun around and saw Mistletoe, Jimmy and The Doctor follow my movements a split second later. I saw the shadows almost part as two Cybermen appeared as if they had been made from shadows before.

The Cyberman that seemed to be the leader reminded me of grubby windows. His metal suit was stained and rusted and coated in dust and grime. He moved as if his joints were rusted and blocked. He was also somehow short for a Cyberman and he seemed to take up no air in the room. He would have been no threatening with his appearance seeming like he had just crawled out of a rubbish bin had he not had eyes that glowed like small suns or hot coals. His eyes seemed to give out light like a torch and I when his gaze dropped onto my face I could feel his gaze like any other human. I could feel the way he let his eyes drag over my body and my face that seemed so alien with the way that Cybermen usually just fixed you with black hole eyes and made the way they looked at you seem as if they were an empty house.

The second Cyberman was like every other one we had seen. He was still tall and still shiny and silver. But the way he differed from the rest of them was the gold wiring that was creeping up his body and over his face in a mix of the same design, I had seen on the cyborg children and what I felt like was a steampunk starry night. Unlike the leader with eyes like hell, this Cyberman seemed polished and upright. A general in the army or a teacher's pet.

"Baldur," Mistletoe exclaimed and The Doctor looked hard at the new Cybermen that had approached, fear in his eyes as well as thrill from the adventure.