The Doctor and Delphine I

Chapter 9

"Run!" He yelled as we ran as fast as we could away from the Cyberman, skidding around corners and sonicking doors with the screwdriver and looking over our shoulders every couple of seconds, in case the cyber army caught up with us. We came to a sudden halt when we reached a colossal rectangular shaped hall, which looked as if it could fit twenty football stadiums inside. The walls were full of what appeared to be cells, each one housing a Cyberman. There were hundreds of upon thousands of the things behind thick glass, and many more of them, marching defenseless people wearing blank expressions down the corridor behind me. I swallowed and looked over at The Doctor, who looked just as worried as I did. "Intruder! Intruder!" a chorus of the voices yelled, turning their sinister silver heads over to look at us. "Oh..." was all the Doctor could say, as a look of grim realization crossed his face. "You are not Cyberman. How have you gained access to our ship?" a louder voice demanded. I looked up, to see a Cyberman about a hundred feet tall, standing high above the others in the middle of the vast room. "Ahh, well," the Doctor spoke, craning his neck to look up into the face of the metal giant. "You must be the Cyber Leader. I am The Doctor, and I'm here to stop YOU upgrading the people of earth!" He shouted up at the leader, a seemingly relaxed look on his old yet young face. Though I knew full well he wasn't relaxed. He was wringing his hands together nervously, his brain obviously working tirelessly on a solution. The Cyber Leader didn't care of course. "Take the young female. She will be upgraded as she is thought to be compatible" Two metal hands clamped onto my shoulders. "Doctor!" I screamed as I was dragged away from the timelord and out of the room. I kicked and tried to wriggle my way out but the Cybermen just held on tighter. "Delphine! No!" he exclaimed, and his pained yells were the last sound I heard before I was dragged down the dark, unforgiving corridor.

"I won't become Cyberman. I won't let you! I will kick your butt before you have a chance!" I exclaimed, weakened by my struggling, tears threatening to fall down my cheeks. "Threats are useless. You will be upgraded, like it or not" was the cold reply I received, as I was dragged into a hall of cubicles, each one filled with the piercing screams of helpless humans. My nose was inches from the cubicle, and I prepared for what would be the end. "Scanning process, initiated." The Cyberman said as flashes of light began to blind me. "What the..." I said as my name flashed up in silver, along with the words 'Age 18, part human. Time Lord and Sirenic DNA detected.' along with my picture from this year's yearbook. "She is not compatible, delete, delete!" The Cybermen began to yell as I was knocked out by a Cyberman falling on me. "Delphie! Delphine! It okay, hi, hey!" A worried voice rang through my head. I opened my eyes wide and stared up into the relieved (and rather frightened) face of The Doctor. A smile was all that I managed to do before the blackness once again consumed me. When I woke again, I was under soft, cream-colored sheets. I groaned as I got up. "How on earth did I get here?" I mused, looking down, seeing my clothes in a pile on the ground. Quickly, I checked under the sheets, to see me in the hospital dressing gown the Cybermen put me in and also a tweed jacket which started from my shoulders and reached halfway down my thighs. I sighed, laying back down in relief. "I was expecting a 'thank god I'm alive', but at least you're awake now... and alive..." a relieved voice said as I looked up instantly to see The Doctor, sitting at the foot of the bed, looking distantly at the wall next to me. He looked worn out and despaired, his dark hair everywhere, suspenders hanging from their clips on his trousers, shirt sleeves rolled up. I sighed, and gave him a sort-of hug, wrapping my arms around his torso and resting my head on his shoulder. "It's not your fault. I mean, you did save me," I said as I sat back. "Yeah, I suppose," he replied, giving a tired laugh. He sighed looked at me. "Does this scare you? The close-to death thing?" he asked, looking serious. "Oh, no way! Not with all the stuff I've put up with in my life, this is just a breeze!" I said, and he gave a sigh of relief. "Now help me, I don't feel like moving at all. This feels like I've just run three triathlons," I said, "What happened to the Cybermen then?" I asked him.

"Turns out they were heading towards a black hole. There was a lot of 'The black hole has pulled us in. Escape is futile. The Cybermen will rise again!' sort of thing, before I went back to the TARDIS, somehow materialized around you and brought us back to the edge of space," He replied, shrugging."Oh. Fair enough. Not exactly dramatic, then." I say back. All of a sudden, I remembered about the whole half human, time lord and sirenic DNA detected thing. "Did you see my scanning screen?" I asked, sitting at the edge of the bed. "No, what did it say?" He asked expression confused. "It said: Half Human, time lord, and sirenic DNA detected," I said, pulling my red hair back. I waited for a response from the Doctor but never got one. "Timelord? That's not possible, all of us died out" He said, helping me down. I sighed not knowing what to say, but soon giggled, readjusting the jacket onto my much smaller shoulders. The arms carried on way past the tips of my fingers, and it reached the bottom of my dress. He chuckled, opening a door that lead to the TARDIS console room. I stepped in and closed the door behind me. "So, if what the Cybermen are saying is right, then I'm kind of like you?" I asked as he nodded. "If, and only if, they're right," He said as I smiled a little. "It would be nice to change my look once in awhile I suppose. Beats dying!" I laughed, and he grinned at me.

"One more thing...when I've been at the hospital, why haven't any of the nurses said anything about my heartbeat being a bit odd?" I asked, as he gently took hold of my wrist and began checking for my pulse. He shrugged and pulled up my medical records, which were bare for the most part. "You've been to the Doctor's 4 times, once in birth, immunization till you were three and a 13-year-old check-up," He said. "And your heartbeat...they wanted surgery to check it out" I nodded as I remembered my brother saying something about that. "Yeah, they didn't want me to go because they didn't want the hospital asking too many questions," I said as the Doctor sighed. "Also, whenever I did fitness at school they said my pulse was about 200 beats a minute, which isn't normal...is it?" I asked. He returned my hand and pulled up an x-ray scanner thing. "It is for someone like you," he said, showing me a screen, swiping it along to reveal my pulse and oxygen levels and that kind of thing."See, even though you're barely half timelord, you've got two hearts. And, because your body is stronger than a human's, your heartbeat is twice, sometimes even three times faster than usual," he explained, pushing the screen around to the other side of the console. "Cool!" I smiled. "And the sirenic DNA?" I asked as The Doctor shrugged. "Modified in your case; you probably didn't get the terrible looks and you haven't killed me by singing yet... so..." He said as I smacked his arm. "Thanks, that makes me feel a whole lot better," I said as he laughed. "I'm guessing you can probably influence the way people feel when you sing," He said as I nodded in understanding. "So, where next, brother?" I asked as The Doctor smiled. "You'll see." He said as he pulled down a lever.