Cyberman: Alone Among the Stars (Episode 3: BioDrol)

The PDA entries in this story were prompted by the game “Alone Among the Stars”, you can download it Here.

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There is comfort in the idea that a Cyberman is just a robot; when you look at a Cyberman, it's all you can see, a cold metal exterior, the sounds of pistons extending and reverting, covering for the fizzing sound that can only be heard if you were to foolishly press your face against the metal. It acts inhuman, therefore it can't be human. This was reinforced during the Cyber Wars, which made it significantly easier for soldiers to kill them (emotionally not physically, piercing the metal was still a challenge). To some extent, the Cybermen wanted to believe this too, but for a different reason; to them, a robot is peak performance, never illogical, never inefficient, superior to humans, separating themselves from humans made it easier for the Cybermen to plan mass conversions for them once they left Mondas.

Unfortunately for them, they are not robots. Beneath their metallic flesh, a pulse resides, a pulse nurturing the remaining human tissue underneath- the scraps of flesh they couldn't get away with removing. They could replace the organs, but they couldn't replace the brain; if they did, they'd be limited to being robots when they could be so much greater, so they had to keep that brain and they had to keep it alive. How?

BioDrol; a nutrient paste used to preserve tissue and keep it functioning. 

When Tauron entered that ship, he knew where the BioDrol was stored and knew how it was used, which unnerved him to no end. Today (he stuck to 24 hour days despite there being no practical reason anymore, he never slept and he wasn't on a planet), he knew the supplies of it were running short. Looking at the terminal, he sought places to find the resources used to make BioDrol.

Several planets blipped up on the screen; the reason BioDrol was affective was because most planets had what was needed to make it so taking over said planet would also allow the Cybermen to sustain themselves. Most of these planets however were flagged as being inaccessible. After the Cyber Wars, most planets with sentient life would kill Cybermen on sight, it'd take an army to get past them and he wasn't part of an army- he didn't want to be either.

Eventually he settled on a planet with no recorded sentient life - Nurimonous 9.

***

He landed in a Jungle and began scanning around for BioDrol components, marching forward out of some habit he wasn't sure where he learned. 

***

In my foolishness, I saw light on the top of a cliff and spent hours climbing to it. The thin strands of plant matter that made up the fields were glowing a shade of purple. They are of no direct use to my current objective, providing not even a single chemical that can be used to create BioDrol, so I'm happy to report that 6.5% of them in this patch were unknowingly destroyed upon my entry.

***

On the side of the cliff was an impractically placed village. Wooden beams propped it up on the side of the cliff. Of course there was no-one there, why would there be, half the village had fallen into the abyss below and I cautiously climbed towards this now-ruin. 

***

His limbs were in agony; usually the suit would produce chemicals to dull these sensations, and unfortunately they were doing so already. Without them, a Cyberman would also be able to feel the pain of their remaining limbs being forced to work with the robotics. He sat on the ground, waiting for his limbs not to ache. This must've been the first time in months he's felt the need to rest.

***

I looked toward the other end of this abandoned village, a monument of some kind attached to both ends of a canyon. The inscriptions were unintelligible to me. The Cybermind keeps tabs on all living languages for use during invasions, so this means the society is long dead. Yet still, the giant smooth blue pill-shaped thing lodged in the canyon taunted me.

***

By the tree that was in the middle of this line of a village, there sat a peculiar form of avian, beak lined with remnants of razor sharp teeth. It Squawked at me. I don't remember when, but I must've killed it, I had unconcsiously climbed the tree and grabbed it... It sits now, dead and broken in my hand.

***

They dropped the desecrated animal, continuing their march across the abandoned village. There was a feeling of concern creeping around their mind, they felt as if there were a pit in their stomach for the first time in months. They just didn't remember doing this. They had climbed a tree, killed the bird and didn't remember a thing, it was like when you zone out while driving a car... He wondered whether or not the animal was killed intentionally or accidentally, was this the fate that would fall upon other living things it came across? Maybe it was good he could only find abandoned planets.

***

In the distance, I saw a glacier with fungus growing on it. Odd.

***

I opened the pill-like monument with brute force, there was clearly a code that could be solved but I didn't want to waste time. In it was some form of symbiotic life-form, a black moving ooze. This was the vital part of BioDrol the scanners picked up for here. I Grabbed the container.

***

Back on the ship, the BioDrol had been finished and was being pumped through the Cyber-suit. In an instant all the pain, the guilt, the loathing, it was like it had gone away... They would've worried that these sensations were gone for good, but why would they want to?