TWENTY ONE

 The remaining officers, along with Cassie Mulligan and Daniel Gilbert had fallen back and converged with other crew members outside the main safety zone. But the Cybermen had also suffered losses; Daniel’s rough estimate meant that another twenty had followed them from the original army down in the storage hold two, not to mention at least another thirty that had boarded the Odyssey and were now in other parts of the ship. Now the depleted Cybermen were concentrating their attack with a vengeance.

 “The more we fight back, the more they do!” Cassie shouted with frustration at Daniel.

 “What’s the Doctor doing? Do you think the Cybermen got him?” Daniel asked anxiously. “But what difference does it make whether he gets the shields down because we’ve still got them on board.” Daniel looked towards Cassie Mulligan who was now in charge, he suddenly felt better he had seen that self-assured look in her eyes before; he knew she had a plan.

 “Captain Mulligan, the explosives are set, they’re primed and ready to go in this section of the corridor.”

 Daniel recognized the voice; he turned round and saw Officer Blake but then Daniel quickly came to conclusion that “Mad dog” Blake was the ideal addition to have in their last line of defence.

 “Well done Blake… But I’m not the Captain of this ship.” Cassie replied bluntly and then turning to Daniel and explaining in her efficient manner. “They were the explosives that we were going to use to break into the Doctor’s TARDIS. They’re going to come in handy. But the explosives aren’t going to be as destructive as the flight deck…But they can still do enough damage.” Cassie’s voice trailed away as she thought of Caleb Tallis and her Captain. “Well we don’t want to damage the infrastructure of the Odyssey.” The commanding officer shrugged. “But I suppose it’s better than nothing.” Cassie turned round to address the rest of her fellow crew members and was somewhat surprised to see Selina Johnson among them.

 “What?” The pretty woman; still dressed in her smart office dress and kitten heels raised an eyebrow and responded defensively to Cassie.

 “Selina what are you still doing here?” Daniel Gilbert was aghast; Cassie folded her arms, she always suspected that he had a soft spot for the blonde P.A. “You should be on the other side of that barrier.” Daniel pointed a few yards away to the seemingly impenetrable bulkhead.

 “All these years you all thought you knew me, a vacuous blonde, only interested in her career.” Selina glared at everyone assembled and then conceded. “Well maybe you were right…But I worked with that man and I had no idea what treachery he was part of and if…If I’d have known maybe I could have stopped Caruthers.” Selina looked at everyone, this time looking for acceptance, her face quivering with emotion. Cassie nodded and smiled with new found respect at someone she had previously considered to be a waste of space. “So that’s why I’m here. You don’t know me, any of you.” Selina turned round and took the gun from Officer Blake; she twirled it defiantly in her hands as though she had been using one for years. “I’ve been practicing.” She smiled, then winked at Blake the security officer. “With a little help.”

 Cassie and Daniel turned to each other, just one last moment before the Cybermen returned in force. Cassie took a deep breath and smiled.

 “Do you know what Gilby? I think it would have been a fantastic date…”

 Daniel took Cassie’s hand; with his eyes downcast he nodded in agreement and then lifting his gaze he smiled at the woman who burned at the centre of his Universe. The sound of marching could be heard in the distance, the two officers quickly snapped out of their reverie and rejoined everyone behind yet another hurriedly constructed barrier.

“This is it; we haven’t got any more tricks left up our sleeves Cass.” Daniel sighed sadly, they glanced at each other, both sharing the same sensation that their luck was running out.  

 “We wait until there are plenty of Cybermen. Then on my order Blake; detonate.” Cassie called over her shoulder, crouching down into a defensive position.  

 “Let’s blow those metal parasites’ brains out!” Officer Blake shouted defiantly, brandishing two guns because one wasn’t enough for such a trigger happy man.  

 “For once Blakey, I heartily concur.” Cassie answered with a wry smile, surrounded by the last outpost of human defenders on board the SS Odyssey. As the first Cybermen stormed into view. Cassie embraced the gallows humour of the situation as she murmured to herself. “Oh well, I never did like Thursday afternoon’s much.”

 And though he had barely met the man Daniel uttered under his breath.

 “Come on Doctor…” As though he was in silent prayer.

 The crew and the personnel of the SS Odyssey opened fire.

 Anna Bailey had been travelling with the Doctor for a long time now and had learned and experienced many things on her travels. Though the main concern forefront in her mind was, things never stay quiet for long. Never trust the silence, if it’s quiet for too long then something is bound to happen soon…Everyone had climbed in silence for the rest of the way, each lost in their own tortured thoughts, thinking of missing family and friends. Adam had taken them on a different route to what Anna had remembered, a few moments back they had passed an intersection, a crossroads; the wind was groaning eerily, she assumed it was the air conditioning but Anna was glad to pass through that section of tunnel. They had finally reached the end of their journey, Anna was relieved to feel the artificial light on her skin and couldn’t wait to stretch her limbs as she watched Adam remove the grating. The safety conscious Adam, peered out cautiously, then stepped out slowly, surveying the area before he beckoned Molly outside. After that initial explosion, everyone, even Anna  had become complacent in the tunnels, lulled into a false sense of security while they had been concealed inside, the group had been concentrating on the dangers out in the open…Though with thousands of humans locked safely behind the safety zones, humans were a scarce commodity for the enemy and you underestimate the Cybermen at your peril….Molly was next to climb out and Anna turned her head and smiled at Sally behind her, Sally smiled back and raised her eyebrow as if to say “Thank God we’re finally getting out of this wretched tunnel.”  Anna did not protest this time as she felt Adam’s strong hands upon her shoulders, gently helping her out. Anna was halfway out when she heard an odd clattering sound coming from behind, growing louder and moving at incredible speeds…Then all of a sudden Sally screamed out.

 “For God’s sake move. Get out quickly!” Adam swiftly responded to his cousin’s cries as he yanked Anna out of the tunnel. But it was too late for Sally Tallis who let out a panic stricken scream. “It’s got me!”

 Adam’s eyes widened with horror as he stared inside and saw a Cyberman in the tunnel, its steel hands closed like clawed manacles around his cousin’s ankles. The Cyberman was trying to pull her away and back into the tunnel, while Sally held onto the edge of the opening, her arms shaking and the knuckles on her hands whitening with the effort.

 “No!” Adam cried as he grabbed hold of Sally’s hand, while Anna and Molly quickly realizing what was happening; both grabbed Sally’s other hand. And the three of them pulled together, Adam had wrapped his other hand around Sally’s torso, that’s how the three of them remained for what seemed like minutes, time ground to a standstill as the group was locked in this deadly tug of war to free Sally. Though the Cyberman was strong, the combined strength of the three of them managed to pull Sally closer to the exit but they still couldn’t free Sally from its relentless grasp.

 Just when the group thought they were beginning to make some progress, Sally let out an agonized cry as if her body was being torn in two. Then the young woman looked at all three of them in turn, the tears rolling down her face as she shook her head and mumbled softly.

 “Let me go. Save yourselves.”

 “No I won’t… I won’t let you go Sal.” Adam repeatedly shouted in his anguish but the group could already feel Sally loosen her hold, she looked up again and shook her head at her cousin, in an act of final bravery she relaxed her grip. That was all the Cyberman needed as it pulled Sally away into the darkness. In a heartbreaking moment she closed her eyes and her head had slumped over to the side as though she had slipped into unconsciousness but she looked more like a lifeless body. Adam let out a yell of anguish and was about to climb in and chase after them, when Anna grabbed hold of him and roughly turned Adam round to face her.

 “Adam, there’s nothing we can do. There might be other Cybermen lurking in those tunnels.” Anna shook her head, the tears rolling down her cheeks. “I can’t…”Anna’s voice broke off as she stared down the vacant passageway gripped by a terrible despair, only too aware that it could have so easily have been her at the back.

 After a few seconds Adam nodded numbly, wiping his tears away with the back of his hand. Molly was in great distress as she wept, Anna placed an arm around the young girl in an attempt to console.

 “What is Sally to you? She’s not your cousin!” Molly snapped, surveying Anna’s tears and pulling herself away with disgust.

 “No she isn’t.” Anna’s conceded bitterly, her eyes glinted harshly at the young girl’s as her thoughts shrieked loudly. “Oh if only you the pair of you knew…Sally was part of me as well!…”  And though they could not read her mind, there was something in the way that Anna had spoken which unsettled the two siblings.            

 The three of them stopped suddenly, pulled away from their distress as they listened with all their might to the sound of steel footsteps again. There were Cybermen still lurking down in storage hold two, it was impossible to tell how many.

 “We should never have come down here.” Adam Tallis admitted gravely, looking at the remaining two in the slowly diminishing group but in that moment he was determined that he would not lose anyone else as he pulled himself together again. “We need to find our weapons.” His eyes flashed challengingly at Anna but this time she nodded in agreement. The three of them ran off into the towering containers, the perfect hiding place. The Cybermen may have been cold, ruthless hunters but this area was etched into Adam Tallis’ soul. In their hearts they all carried Sally Tallis, the family could not admit defeat and if there was any chance of seeing her again, the enemy had to be defeated.  And somehow that also meant they had to find their way onto the Cybership.