Peaceful Passings Care Homes, the latest fashion in end of life care, also potentially the biggest opinion divider. Martha Jones is suspicious, and enlists the help of the man she can trust the most. What they discover could have serious ramifications for the future of the human race. EPISODE 1 Peaceful Passings, the new care home which has hit the world by storm. It's the first of its kind, a global chain of care, specialising in end of life care. Inundated with large number of dying people, it quickly took off, becoming a phenomena in a matter of months.
Initially, it only offered its services to those who were single. A strange criterion for choosing patients, but it worked. Now though it takes everyone. With a small one off payment that covers your care until you die, and also your funeral cost, it has rapidly become an intriguing preposition. Especially for those who know they are on borrowed time.
It has it's critics, some of the more cynical ones suggesting that the Peaceful Passings Residential Homes, are just a front for illegal euthanasia. However, this claim remains unproven. The only evidence is that no patient seems to live any longer a week after entering the care home.
Not that that wouldn't be expected, given that all patients admitted are in the very end stages of their lives. Furthermore, all autopsies and burials (believed to be cremations) are handled internally by Peaceful Passings. Whilst convenient for all parties, it means no body and no cause of death. This in turn draws suspicion.
The people still seem to be fond of the homes though. Following the RadiCorp disaster, the government didn't want to lose any more face, by going against the public. Especially not now that a solution to the crisis was in place, put forward by President Obama himself. So opinions on Peaceful Passings was divided, the only certainty, it is here to stay.
EPISODE 2 Martha Jones didn't trust that it was a legitimate operation. She had raised the issue with her superior officer at UNIT. The response she received was typical, something she had grown to expect from her boss, who was trying to impress. He was juggling an upcoming electoral candidacy along with his UNIT duties. As a result his hands were tied, he had to act in a way that would get him votes, and that didn't include investigating against public opinion.
Martha hadn't expected him to be supportive of the idea though. He had told her that deep down he knew that something wasn't quite right, and that she should investigate. He advised, that for his sake and her, that she did so without any attachment to UNIT.
There was no way she was doing it alone, so she sought the help of the one man she knew she could trust the most. The man with whom she had traveled the stars, the man who had saved worlds, the Doctor. If anyone could get to the bottom of this mystery, it was him.
She had heard of the death of Sarah Jane Smith, a spared a thought for Luke, who was all alone now. She couldn't pretend to know them well, as she had only met them during the Dalek invasion of Earth, the day the planet moved. She knew the Doctor would be at the funeral, so that is where she headed.
She found the TARDIS parked in the graveyard of the church. She tried her key, expecting the Doctor to have changed the lock since she left, but was pleasantly surprised to find that the door opened. She got that feeling again, everytime she entered the ship, she had missed it, that wonderful feeling of awe, joy and strength. It had been redecorated and looked stunning, she walked to the console and leaned against it.
After a few minutes the door opened, and a man entered. He was dejected and glum, he stood depressed with both hands on the door, leaning towards it, with his back turned to her. He looked different, totally different, yet somehow he was instantly recognisable as the Doctor.
She spoke, "Doctor, I need your help"
EPISODE 3When the Doctor heard her voice, he changed, as sudden as a click of the fingers. The emotional swing from sorrow to ecstasy, appeared unnatural. She had seen it before, when she worked in the hospital, she called it "putting up a false front". Patients did it when their loved ones visited, to mask their pain and save worries. This is what the Doctor was doing for her.
In her experience, it was best to play along. His joy at seeing her again seemed genuine enough, and it would mean that he wouldn't be alone. She reflected for a few seconds on the thought of him travelling alone.
After some general conversation about how they had been and the usual nonsense, she filled him in on the situation with the Peaceful Passing residential homes. She remembered from her time with him, how much he loved a good mystery. She had never seen him more excited than when they went to visit that abandoned house which held the Weeping Angels, or as he tried to figure out what the ATMOS system was.
The situation drew his interest as she expected, but not quite in the same way as she remembered. Perhaps it was his new regeneration, slightly different to his previous. More likely, she feared, that something had riled his cage, took the heart out of him. So she needed to act fast.
As instructed by her, the Doctor set the TARDIS controls for the nearest Peaceful Passings, and pulled the lever, with a shout of "Geronimo"
EPISODE 4Martha wheeled the Doctor into the reception area in a wheelchair. The plan was simple, she would admit him to the home, under the false premise of a torn spinal chord. Then when he was placed in the general living area, he'd get up, open the window and let her in. Simple, no one would expect a man in a wheelchair to go for a walk.
Martha's initial assessment of the reception staff, was substandard. They seemed distant and lacking in interest, certainly not the type of people who you would trust with the care of your loved one. They all wore an earpiece, large and silver, probably used to communicate with the clinical staff, if someone was experiencing difficulties. They used a similar setup in any hospital which she had worked in during her medical training.
As if on cue, a man wearing a white coat with a stethoscope around his neck and an earpiece in his entered from a side door, which Martha assumed led to his office. She could see from the door he was the head doctor of the care home. His name, Dr. C. Mann along with his moustache gave him a very German appearance. His accent however was that of an English Gentleman, "We will look after your loved one, making sure he is comfortable in the remainder of his life, and has a peaceful passing".
Martha informed him that she was Martha Smith, and this was her husband John. She told of how he had been diagnosed with a tumour of the spinal chord at the C3 level, meaning he was paralysed, unable to talk and had only a few days to live. "Would he be accepted?"
Dr. Mann repeated her question "Would he be accepted?" He paused for a minute as if waiting for a reply, before saying "Yes!"
EPISODE 5 Their plan worked a charm, given that the care home seemed horribly understaffed, Martha suspected that they would have free roam to investigate. She was correct, all that stood between them, in the public accessible area of the care home, and the private side, was a code locked door. A simple swish of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver, and they were in.
Most notable was a change in the ambient temperature, and the lighting. It was darker, damper and colder, conditions you would expect in a factory rather than in a care home. The corridor was about twenty metres long and led to a main double door marked "Infirmary". Along the corridor there were several side doors, five on each side. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume, that these were the residents rooms. She worked out how small the rooms must be, and spared a thought to all those poor souls, sitting in the living area subjected to this, ill and dying, and now mistreated.
She didn't get long to think, as they heard a handle going on the door behind them. It was accompanied by Dr. Mann's voice, "I am forever forgetting that damned pass code, can't we do away with it?". The Doctor gestured Martha towards the side doors, as the ran up the corridor trying the doors on each side. As it turned out, there was only one unlocked, on the Doctor's side, closest to the infirmary. They barely made it through the door, as the entrance door opened.
Leaving the door slightly ajar, they watched as Dr. Mann wheeled a patient through the corridor an into the infirmary ward. They decided to follow, and see what was going on. But as they got to the door, it too was locked.
Martha put her ear to the door, to see if she could hear anything, nothing! The Doctor spoke, he sounded excited, "There appears to be some sort of sonic field. Now this is interesting, it is blocking out sound from that room, but didn't anyone ever tell them, I'm the sonic master." Martha's disapproving glance was met with an, "Ok, I am never saying that again.
He pulled out his sonic once again, pointed it into the air, shouting "cover your ears" before pressing the button. The resultant sonic boom was large enough to blast open every door in the corridor open. It was only as the ringing left their ears, that they heard the piercing screams and sounds of active drills.
EPISODE 6Inside the room, Dr. Mann stood beside a surgical chair. It was tilted away from her, so she couldn't see its occupant. Around the chair was an array of surgical equipment, drills scalpels and numerous other sharp tools. The screams were coming from the chair, and they were screams of pure agony. She had heard people in pain on the wards before, but this seemed a whole level of magnitude more than anything she had ever heard.
Suddenly, the screaming stopped, accompanied by the sound of breaking restraints. This was then followed by the thud of a metallic boot hitting the ground. The occupant of the chair stood, it was a man, a man clad in metal. But not really a man, a robot, Martha didn't know. "Cybermen", exclaimed the Doctor, "Run!"
The Cyberman took notice "Intruder Alert, intruders will be deleted, delete." .
As the Doctor and Martha turned to run, they found their path blocked by nine advancing Cybermen, one from each of the locked doors in the main corridor. The Doctor paused for a moment, thinking what to do next, looking for a way out, formulating a plan.
"Wait just a moment, look at them Martha, just look at them. You call that a march? Cybermen march, these guys look they have had a few too many drinks on Christmas Eve. Not helping sorry. Hang on, they're faulty. Why are they faulty? Faulty, why faulty? How?" At that, with a huge grin, he shouted "FAULTY!" As he dragged Martha to the floor.
They had barely hit the ground when a barrage of phaser bullets of the Cybermen pierced the air above their heads.
EPISODE 7 The Doctor jumped to his feet again, as he heard the noise of metal striking the ground.
"Stop him". The Cyberleader of the faulty group pointed in the direction of Dr. Mann. At that, the Doctor stretched out his leg tripping Dr. Mann, just before he reached a big red panic button on the wall. The Doctor withdrew his sonic screwdriver from his jacket, and waved it through the air. It amused Martha to watch him dash about like an excited child mumbling incoherently about closing teleport channels and more Cybermen coming.
When he was done, Martha gestured to him in the direction of the Cybermen.
"Oh them? They're on our side".
The stunned look on her face said it all, "And did you know that Doctor?"
"I didn't, I guessed. I know, I know, I could have got us killed. But didn't you see how they walked? They're not normal Cybermen, and they are beautiful. They are faulty, but not bad faulty, good faulty. Yes that's it, good faulty, my guess is something went wrong in the conversion process. Am I correct?"
"Yes Doctor, you are correct. We have memories of our lives before, we are still human. But we are not in pain anymore, we have been delivered from our suffering. The Cyberman designated Cyberleader spoke for them all.
"No pain, Brilliant! Now what went wrong, let me think, what's changed? I've never seen anything like this happening before, so what is it?" He paused for a moment, " Oh that is brilliant, fantastic."
As he smiled to himself, Martha wondered if he was rewarding himself for his genius. "What is, care to explain to the rest of us?"
"It's simple really, this care home used to take only those who had no one else, because no one would notice if they turned them into Cybermen. If you have nobody, no one will miss you when you are gone, one of the tragic realities of life ." He paused for a moment, thinking of the tragedy of all who died in this room, how horrific their final moments must of been. He continued, "But then they expanded, the Cyber Empire got greedy. They took people who were married. People with wedding rings, gold wedding rings, and don't Cybermen just love gold. It affected the upgrade process, destroying both the persona dampeners and the emotional inhibitor. The mighty Cybermen, beaten by love, again. Ha!"
The Cybercontroller intervened, "it is of no relevance, the more pressing issues are what we are going to do about Dr Mann and the Cyberfleet currently in orbit above the planet."
EPISODE 8 "Oh, Doctor Mann, see that earpiece he is wearing? I've seen that before, I should have recognised it, but I wasn't thinking Cybermen. Anyway, it's not an earpiece, it's a bioneural manipulator, probably attached straight into his brain stem. I don't think he has much choice. Wait did you say Cyberfleet?"
"Catch." Dr Mann spoke for, he had removed his earpiece and playfully threw it in the general direction of the Doctor. "When the history of this day is written, let it be known that I did what I did because I chose to do it! Comprende? The day of reckoning is upon, the cyber judgement is coming, it is so close. The fleet is assembled, the numbers are sufficient, and the attack is primed. Once this world has fallen, I shall have my reward."
The Doctor was filled with a bitter anger. He began shouting at Dr. Mann, "You fool, you honestly think that that the Cybermen will reward you? Tell me, how many Peaceful Passings homes are there? Each one having a person like you, I highly doubt the Cybermen will reward all of you. Besides, do you even know what classifies a reward to them? Making you like them. All those people you have killed, each and everyone of them. I won't let that pass."
Dr. Mann started to laugh, "Don't you see Doctor, it is all me! I'm not really here, I am clone, we are all clones. The real Dr. Mann is in cryosleep on the Cybership. He controls us all, and we do his will." He smiled an evil smile, " Besides, I haven't done anything wrong, when they chose to enter this home and sign a disclaimer. That's consent Doctor!"
He was still smiling as the Cybercontroller placed his hand on Dr Mann's shoulder. "We did not consent, you made us like this, you will be punished. Delete!" . A blue wave passed through Dr Mann's body as he shook and spasmed, before falling in a heap on the floor.
The Doctor spoke to Martha, "Come on, let's leave".
"Where are you going?"
"To the Cybership, I have to stop them. Stay here until I get back." The Doctor and Martha left heading for the TARDIS.
EPISODE 9
"Come on Cybership, where are you?" The Doctor was playing with the TARDIS controls, hitting buttons and pulling levers frantically. "Gotcha, oh and aren't you beautiful, a type seven cyber cruiser. This is good Martha, this is very good". He noticed the puzzled look on her face, so continued, "Well, when I say good, it is never good to have a Cybership in orbit, but if you had to pick one, it would be that one, you see it's a simple transport vessel, no weapons." At that he pulled the lever activating that famous sound of the majestic blue box disappearing.
As the TARDIS rematerialised onboard the Cybercruiser, the Cybermen stood in battle formation. The ship was vast and metallic, it consisted of one large room with several smaller outlets on each of the walls of the octagonal main room. At the centre of this room was a large raised platform, it wouldn't be appropriate to describe it as a throne, because that would imply sitting. A more apt description would be a pulpit, but not one for preaching. Stood here was a Cyberman, different from the others, giving off an air of importance. This Cyberman was black, his body resembling an earth substance known as Carbon Fibre. Another noticeable feature of this Cyberman was his lack of arms, instead streams of wires which could be traced all over the ship, fed into his torso. He was a Cyber Commander, the highest ranking of Cyberman, second only to the Cyber Planner.
As the Doctor and Martha exited the TARDIS, the Cyber Commander spoke, his voice deeper than most Cybermen, "You are trespassing on Cyber property, state you intent of face execution"
"I've never met a Cyber Commander before!" The Doctor could not hide his excitement at meeting a new creature, however such action were frowned upon by Martha who was well aware of the gravity of the situation. "Well, Cyber Commander, or should I call you Dr. Mann? Cause that's who you are, am I right? Well anyway, I came to offer you a choice, I always give choices, so here's yours! Either you can leave now, or I will stop you, if you touch one more person, if you harm anyone, you will feel my wrath."
The Cyber Controller paused for a moment while contemplating his response. The silence that ensued was only occupied by the magnetic hum of the ship and the occasional crackle of a static discharge. "We did nothing wrong, we had consent from all individuals. We delivered them from a life of suffering and pain that was approaching its end into the eternal life of the cyber empire. Our primary objective is survival, the survival of our race. As such, I have concluded that I shall accept your offer and leave this planet in peace." .
The Doctor was dumbstruck, no one has ever taken his walking away option. He exchanged blank looks with Martha, "I gave my word, I will stand by it. I expect you will too." He turned towards the TARDIS, "Let's go Martha."
As they headed to the TARDIS, they could hear the sounds of the Cybermen manning the decks, following the orders of the Cyber Commander. A few words were audible coming from the centre of the room, engine status maximum, thruster ports optimal, cyber leader on the bridge, imminent impact. The sounds of a Cybership, Martha found them quite comical.
As she followed the Doctor into the TARDIS, the doors slammed closed behind her. The ambient lighting had changed to red, casting eerie shadows across the control room. The Doctor was frantically playing with the controls, a deafening drone of the ships Cloister bell drowned the main control room. A look of terror occupied the Doctor's face.
EPISODE 10 "Okay, that's odd, the TARDIS is in impact mode, shield at maximum, all power diverted to maintain external shielding." The Doctor was confused, and that didn't happen very often. "I can't move her, not enough power. What? Cybermen don't have this sort of weaponry, how are the doing this?". The Doctor walked towards the TARDIS door, misplacing his footing on the steps and stumbling into the door."Let's go ask them, shall we Martha. We had a deal, I want to know why they broke it."
The Doctor struggled to open the door, as if the TARDIS was resisting his advances. When he did manage to pry it open, the console room was drowsed in an intense orange light, so intense that Martha had to look away and cover her eyes, yet still she could she the imprint of the light on her retinas. Accompanying the light was an immense heat, causing the room to heat like a sauna and steam to hiss from the gratings in the floor.
Martha could have been forgiven for thinking that they had flown too close to the sun. Alas, they hadn't moved, and the Doctor with his unparalleled intellect could piece together exactly what had happened. All that separated them from the nuclear explosion was the TARDIS shields, and they would not last forever. He closed the door and walked towards the main console. Martha had seen him show many emotions, both good and bad, but she had never seen him ashamed before, and she didn't want to see it again. With a shake if his head, he muttered one word, "Humanity"
**********
"Direct hit Mr President, the ship is destroyed."
Mike Miller, or The Tactician, as he now used stood in the NATO base, he had just watched as the nations agreed on bombing the Cybership with their entire nuclear array. "Mr President, I advised you not to, I hope you get away with it, the universe isn't very forgiving."
************
Back in the Peaceful Passings care home, the TARDIS materialised in the room with the nine Human Cybermen. The Doctor had seen enough death today, it was time to offer new life. His original intention was to deactivate them, but given today's events, he was not comfortable committing a further genocide.
As Martha led the Human Cybermen into the TARDIS, to take them to their new home, the Doctor took one final survey of the room. It was then that he spotted it, out if the corner of his eye, a room he hadn't noticed before. He laughed to himself, dismissing it as him being busy with the Cybermen. His intrigue got the better of him and he entered the room through its old scratched wooden door. After a few moments, Martha popped her head around the TARDIS door telling him to get a move on. "Coming now, just a moment"
**************
Deep in space, high above the earths atmosphere sat a space ship. Not a very memorable spaceship, not a stylish Ferrari of space travel. Just a simple ship.
A smaller one man space ship approached the larger vessel. This one was more memorable, and that was putting it nicely. It was feared across the cosmos. It belonged to Thaing Narfo, the most feared bounty hunter of the age. He had found the salvage of a lifetime, and he was going to ask a hefty price, his clients could afford it, they owned RadiCorp after all.
"Madame Kovarian! I have the key you were looking for". He had been summoned to the bridge of the ship.
"Good, escalate the plans, begin the final stages, test the weapon." It always bugged him, that she never looked at him while talking instead delegating orders to the creatures around her. He often wondered if she was really in charge.
He coughed to attract her attention. "With regards to my fee, Madame?"
She looked directly at him, she looked him up and down, how he wished she hadn't, he say the inherent evil in her eyes as grinned a mad grin saying" Ah yes, your payment.........Kill him!" Her laugh was the last thing he ever heard.
*****************
"Where to now Doctor?" Martha was eager to move on.
"The Bermuda Triangle, we are going to solve the mystery." The Doctor had been obsessed with the Bermuda Triangle since visiting the room in the care home. Martha had quizzed him on what was inside, all she got back was that it was his room. As if reading her thoughts the Doctor spoke, "Nothing more than just a messed up man all along" he pulled several levers on the TARDIS console "Moving on!"