Doctor Who: Tomb of the Cybermen by Gerry Davis

he?'
    'I'm not sure, Jamie.' The Doctor sounded equally awed. 'I think he must be their leader.' He searched his memory for the right word. 'I think they call him their Controller.'
    The Cyberman finished climbing out of the cell and stretched up to his full height of seven feet—some three inches taller than the giant Toberman.
    Klieg could contain himself no longer. All his carefully laid plans had now come to fruition. He stepped forward confidently, facing. the black-headed Cyberleader.
    'I am Klieg. Eric Klieg. You may have heard of me. I am the President of the Brotherhood of Logicians. We planned for this moment—many, many years ago.'
    There was no answer from the huge Cybercontroller and his waiting half circle of Cybermen. With their black eye holes and impassive metallic masks for faces they might have been a group of space-age statues.
    Klieg looked around, a trifle uneasy at their complete lack of reaction, then plucked up courage and moved closer.
    'Don't you understand. You are alive because of us. Because of me! I reactivated you.' He pointed to the control board.
     
    'Don't listen to him!' Professor Parry started forward but the Doctor held his arm and motioned him to keep silent. Neither the Cyberman nor Klieg seemed to have noticed the interruption.
    'Now that you are alive again, you can help us. We need your power, you need our mass intelligence.'
    There was still no reaction from the waiting Cybermen. Klieg became annoyed with them.
    'Are you listening to me? I released you. You belong to me...
    Ah!'
    The Cyberman Controller's huge steel hand shot out and gripped Klieg by the shoulder in an agonising grasp. The man gasped, his face whitening, his eyes widening in pain, as the Cyberman slowly pushed him down to a kneeling position in front of him.
    'Now, you belong to us.' He looked over Klieg at the others.
    'All of you!'
    The Cybermen turned at an unspoken command of their leader and, with slow deliberate steps, started walking towards the Doctor and the others.
     
    9

The Cyberman Controller
    The Controller of the Cybermen raised his hand. The Cybermen stopped, facing the humans. Silence: Everyone and everything looked at the Controller, waited for him to make the next move. But he stood still, as if welcoming a response from the humans.
    'How did you know that we would come to release you?' asked Professor Parry. 'You could have remained frozen for ever.'
    'The humanoid mind,' said the low vibrating chord that was the Controller's voice. 'You are curious.'
    'As I thought,' said the Doctor. 'A trap. A very ingenious trap, too.'
    'What do you mean, ingenious?' asked the Professor, confused.
    'Don't you see—they only want superior intellects—that's why they have made the trap so complicated. If it was too easy, everyone could have wandered down here.'
    They looked at the great gleaming figure that stood before them. It seemed to nod slightly, like a god who chooses for the moment to be benign.
    'We knew intelligent life would visit our planet. some day,'
    said the Controller.
    'And we've done exactly as you calculated, haven't we?' said the Doctor. 'Followed your directions to the letter. You should be very pleased. What else can we do for you? Perhaps we can go now?'
    'We cannot let you leave,' said the Controller loudly. 'You belong to us.'
    His voice echoed and vibrated in the cavern and along the corridor.
    Above the hatch, where the terrible voice did not reach, Victoria had fetched Captain Hopper and Callum from the orbiter and the two of them were examining the controls. Victoria was impatiently trying to hurry up the slow, deliberate Captain. But Hopper, seeing Kaftan's unconscious body on the floor, and still suspecting the Doctor and his entourage, wouldn't be hurried.
    'Come on, quickly,' she said. 'You must find ,the opening device for me. I don't know which it is.'
    'Now hold hard, young lady,' said the Captain. 'I'm not pulling any levers until I know just what it's all about.'
    'I