HP/DW: Clarke's Third Law (17.3/20)
Summary: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. So what happens when witch meets scientist, and each tries to teach the other about their brand of magic? Things become a tad confusing. And more than a bit fantastic. Doctor/Rose
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or Harry Potter. I'm not nearly that brilliant.
Note: Rewrites of Rise of the Cybermen and Age of Steel
(Chapter 16 part 2 here)
Chapter 16 (Part 3): Cybermen
He ran after them and the three ended up in what Fred knew to be George’s office. There was a skinny man standing over a computer, shining a small, blue light over it.
“Doctor!” Rose called, running to his side. He looked up from his work, obviously frustrated. Then his eyes landed on Hugo.
“Hugo!” He beamed, excited to seem him. Well, Rose mused, that was a first. He gestured for her brother to come closer. Hugo did so and the Doctor gestured to the sleek computer in front of him. “I’ve been trying to get into this computer for almost twenty minutes, but can’t get past the magical signature check.”
Hugo frowned and began to tap away at the keyboard, face the epitome of concentration. Fred closed and locked the door as he fully stepped into the room. The Doctor frowned when he saw him.
He raised an eyebrow in Rose’s direction, disapproving.
“I blame Hugo,” she said immediately.
“Just like old times,” Hugo said drily, straightening. “Uncle Fred, could you try to get in?”
Fred frowned. “This is George’s personal computer. It won’t let me in.”
“You’re identical twins,” the Doctor realized. “Your magical signatures will be close, if not almost identical.”
“I should be able to use that to get in much more quickly.” Hugo affirmed. Fred pulled out his wand, but didn’t move closer to the computer. He eyed the three of them warily, frown illuminated by the light of the moon streaming in through the window.
“I’m still incredibly confused,” Fred said finally.
The Doctor shrugged. “Understandable.”
Fred looked at Hugo hesitantly. “Something is obviously going on here and you seem to think that the Doctor can do something about it. I’ll help, but I need you to tell me whether or not you trust this man.”
“I absolutely trust him,” Hugo said firmly.
“He’s not some sort of mad man, is he?” Fred asked doubtfully.
The Doctor looked thoroughly amused as Hugo replied again with, “I absolutely trust him.”
At first, Rose thought Fred wasn’t going to help him, but then he shrugged and nudged Hugo out of the way. “I’ve gone on much less.”
Hugo and Fred made quick work of the computer, Hugo getting past the security protocols with only a few flicks of his wand.
“What are you looking for, Doctor?” Hugo asked, as the Doctor once again took over for him. The Doctor shrugged, obviously not knowing himself, and opened up a file. Lumic’s voice came out from the speakers.
“This is the ultimate upgrade. Our greatest step into Cyberspace.”
On the screen, a diagram of what looked to be some sort of robot appeared and the Doctor’s skin paled. Hugo grew excited.
“That’s them!” he pointed. “That’s what I saw.”
“Where?” the Doctor demanded, gripping Hugo furiously by the shoulders and shaking him. “Where did you see them?”
“Outside,” Hugo stammered, surprised. “They were being unloaded from vans.”
The Doctor cursed and ran outside. “It’s happening again!”
Rose caught up with him and grabbed his hand. She demanded, “Whad’ya mean?”
“I’ve seen them before,” the Doctor explained, panting slightly as they entered the main room. The crowd was quiet, not a word escaping them. Rose strained to see over their heads and could just make out the President talking to one of the metal robots she had seen on the computer.
“What are they?” Hugo hissed quietly.
“Cybermen,” the Doctor explained, before taking Rose’s hand and trying to work his way through the crowd.
They made it to the center of the circle, where the President was talking to a Patronus, shaped like a large vulture.
“I forbade this, Lumic,” the President warned.
Dark chuckles emanated from the Patronus. “They are my family, President. Surely you would not have me destroy my family?”
“What are they?” Rose asked. “Robots?”
“Worse,” the Doctor said darkly. He raised his voice. “Why not tell them the truth, Lumic. Who were these people?”
“Nobody important,” Lumic said easily.
“They were people?” George gasped from the side of the room. He looked so horrified that Rose was worried that he would be physically sick.
“Not anymore. They were, until they had all their humanity taken away. It’s a living brain jammed inside a cybernetic body. With a heart made of steel.”
“Why no emotions?” Rose dared to ask.
“Because they hurt.”
“Lumic,” George said angrily, “this was not what we talked about. You said nobody would be hurt.”
“Nobody was hurt,” the Patronus said.
“What about all those people?” the President asked. “Who were they?”
“Hopeless. Homeless. Wretched. They were nobodies, useless until I saved them and elevated them. I gave them life eternal. And now, Mr. President, Mr. Weasley, I leave you in their capable hands.”
The Patronus dissipated and a Cyberman stepped forward to take it’s place.
“You will be upgraded,” intoned it’s sharp, metallic voice. Rose heard no emotion, no feeling. If she hadn’t known better, she would have argued that there was no way that that machine could have ever once been human.
“Into what?” the Doctor questioned.
The Cyberman slowly turned it’s head to him. “The next level of humankind. We are Human Point Two. Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us.”
George stepped forward. “I’m sorry what’s been done to you. I knew Lumic had been working on something, but had I known the full extent of his experiments, I would have stopped him immediately.”
George turned to the crowd. “Listen to me. This experimenting ends tonight.”
George raised his wand and went to aim a spell at the Cyberman. He waved his wand. Nothing happened. He tried again.
He raised his eyes to the Cyberman, face aghast. “What have you done to my wand?”
“All magical abilities have been blocked. You cannot fight. You cannot escape. Upgrading is compulsory.”
The muttering of the crowd increased and Rose pushed herself closer to the Doctor, not sure about what would
happen next.
“And what if we refuse?” the President questioned strongly.
“Don’t,” the Doctor said quickly. Rose frowned and looked at him, confused. He was never one to surrender.
“Why?”
“What if we refuse?” the President repeated.
“You will be deleted,” the Cyberman said simply. Before Rose could think to ask what that meant, the Cyberman grabbed the President by the neck. A sharp electrical shock surrounded him, bathing him in bright blue light. The Cyberman let him go. He fell to the floor, obviously dead.
The crowd, which had been barely calm before, now flew into a panic. They began to scream and run.
“Angelina!” called George, running to his wife. The Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand and tugged her towards one of the open windows.
“Hugo!” she cried over her shoulder. Her brother, seeing her, grabbed their Uncle and pulled him along as well. Exiting the house through the window, they emerged in the front yard. Screaming could be heard behind them.
Rose tried to head back, but the Doctor held her tight.
“We can’t just stand here!” Fred argued. “My family is in there-”
“There is nothing you can do for them,” the Doctor said firmly. They ran up the slope of the driveway, but were greeted by a row of Cybermen.
“Other way!” the Doctor panicked, yanking Rose’s arm hard to turn her the other way. If her shoulder was still attached to it’s socket by the end of this, it’d be a full blown miracle.
“The side gates!” Fred ordered.
They sprinted towards the direction he pointed to. Through his shallow breathes, Fred began to ask the Doctor questions.“Who are you? How do you know so much? What the hell is going on?”
“You wouldn’t believe me in a million years!” The Doctor called. He skidded to a halt and Rose almost ran into him. They were facing yet another row of Cybermen.
“They’re everywhere!” Hugo said needlessly. They could all see that for themselves. The Cybermen were advancing on them when two figures jumped out of the bushes.
“Get behind us!” called Hugo-but not Hugo. The parallel version of Hugo. He and his friend held up guns, firing into the group of Cybermen, stopping them from advancing, but only for a moment.
“Bloody hell,” Fred groaned. “This has got to be a dream. A ridiculous, impossible, terrifying dream.”
“It’s not,” denied Parallel-Hugo, “Because if it was, you’d probably be waking up right about now.”
The Cybermen stepped closer. Parallel-Hugo raised his gun again, but the Doctor held up his hand. “Put the guns down. Bullets won’t work on them. Neither will your wands.”
The other young man ignored them and continued to fire wildly. It did nothing to stop the onslaught. The Doctor grabbed the young and yanked it downward, glaring angrily. “Stop! Just stop!”
The Doctor raised his hands. “We surrender, hands up.”
Rose and the rest of their group raised their hands, acting out of a mixture of shock, desperation, and trust.
“See? We aren’t fighting back. We’re good stock, available for upgrade.”
The Cyberman in front didn’t say anything. Finally, it beeped out, “You are rogue elements.”
The Doctor’s face scrunched up in confusion. “But this is a surrender!”
“You will be deleted.”
“Listen to me! We’re surrendering!”
“You are inferior. Men will be reborn as Cybermen, but you will perish under maximum deletion.”
The Cybermen raised it’s arm and reached for the Doctor. Rose grasped her brother’s hand, terrified.
“Delete. Delete. Delete.”
(Chapter 17 here)
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or Harry Potter. I'm not nearly that brilliant.
Note: Rewrites of Rise of the Cybermen and Age of Steel
(Chapter 16 part 2 here)
Chapter 16 (Part 3): Cybermen
He ran after them and the three ended up in what Fred knew to be George’s office. There was a skinny man standing over a computer, shining a small, blue light over it.
“Doctor!” Rose called, running to his side. He looked up from his work, obviously frustrated. Then his eyes landed on Hugo.
“Hugo!” He beamed, excited to seem him. Well, Rose mused, that was a first. He gestured for her brother to come closer. Hugo did so and the Doctor gestured to the sleek computer in front of him. “I’ve been trying to get into this computer for almost twenty minutes, but can’t get past the magical signature check.”
Hugo frowned and began to tap away at the keyboard, face the epitome of concentration. Fred closed and locked the door as he fully stepped into the room. The Doctor frowned when he saw him.
He raised an eyebrow in Rose’s direction, disapproving.
“I blame Hugo,” she said immediately.
“Just like old times,” Hugo said drily, straightening. “Uncle Fred, could you try to get in?”
Fred frowned. “This is George’s personal computer. It won’t let me in.”
“You’re identical twins,” the Doctor realized. “Your magical signatures will be close, if not almost identical.”
“I should be able to use that to get in much more quickly.” Hugo affirmed. Fred pulled out his wand, but didn’t move closer to the computer. He eyed the three of them warily, frown illuminated by the light of the moon streaming in through the window.
“I’m still incredibly confused,” Fred said finally.
The Doctor shrugged. “Understandable.”
Fred looked at Hugo hesitantly. “Something is obviously going on here and you seem to think that the Doctor can do something about it. I’ll help, but I need you to tell me whether or not you trust this man.”
“I absolutely trust him,” Hugo said firmly.
“He’s not some sort of mad man, is he?” Fred asked doubtfully.
The Doctor looked thoroughly amused as Hugo replied again with, “I absolutely trust him.”
At first, Rose thought Fred wasn’t going to help him, but then he shrugged and nudged Hugo out of the way. “I’ve gone on much less.”
Hugo and Fred made quick work of the computer, Hugo getting past the security protocols with only a few flicks of his wand.
“What are you looking for, Doctor?” Hugo asked, as the Doctor once again took over for him. The Doctor shrugged, obviously not knowing himself, and opened up a file. Lumic’s voice came out from the speakers.
“This is the ultimate upgrade. Our greatest step into Cyberspace.”
On the screen, a diagram of what looked to be some sort of robot appeared and the Doctor’s skin paled. Hugo grew excited.
“That’s them!” he pointed. “That’s what I saw.”
“Where?” the Doctor demanded, gripping Hugo furiously by the shoulders and shaking him. “Where did you see them?”
“Outside,” Hugo stammered, surprised. “They were being unloaded from vans.”
The Doctor cursed and ran outside. “It’s happening again!”
Rose caught up with him and grabbed his hand. She demanded, “Whad’ya mean?”
“I’ve seen them before,” the Doctor explained, panting slightly as they entered the main room. The crowd was quiet, not a word escaping them. Rose strained to see over their heads and could just make out the President talking to one of the metal robots she had seen on the computer.
“What are they?” Hugo hissed quietly.
“Cybermen,” the Doctor explained, before taking Rose’s hand and trying to work his way through the crowd.
They made it to the center of the circle, where the President was talking to a Patronus, shaped like a large vulture.
“I forbade this, Lumic,” the President warned.
Dark chuckles emanated from the Patronus. “They are my family, President. Surely you would not have me destroy my family?”
“What are they?” Rose asked. “Robots?”
“Worse,” the Doctor said darkly. He raised his voice. “Why not tell them the truth, Lumic. Who were these people?”
“Nobody important,” Lumic said easily.
“They were people?” George gasped from the side of the room. He looked so horrified that Rose was worried that he would be physically sick.
“Not anymore. They were, until they had all their humanity taken away. It’s a living brain jammed inside a cybernetic body. With a heart made of steel.”
“Why no emotions?” Rose dared to ask.
“Because they hurt.”
“Lumic,” George said angrily, “this was not what we talked about. You said nobody would be hurt.”
“Nobody was hurt,” the Patronus said.
“What about all those people?” the President asked. “Who were they?”
“Hopeless. Homeless. Wretched. They were nobodies, useless until I saved them and elevated them. I gave them life eternal. And now, Mr. President, Mr. Weasley, I leave you in their capable hands.”
The Patronus dissipated and a Cyberman stepped forward to take it’s place.
“You will be upgraded,” intoned it’s sharp, metallic voice. Rose heard no emotion, no feeling. If she hadn’t known better, she would have argued that there was no way that that machine could have ever once been human.
“Into what?” the Doctor questioned.
The Cyberman slowly turned it’s head to him. “The next level of humankind. We are Human Point Two. Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us.”
George stepped forward. “I’m sorry what’s been done to you. I knew Lumic had been working on something, but had I known the full extent of his experiments, I would have stopped him immediately.”
George turned to the crowd. “Listen to me. This experimenting ends tonight.”
George raised his wand and went to aim a spell at the Cyberman. He waved his wand. Nothing happened. He tried again.
He raised his eyes to the Cyberman, face aghast. “What have you done to my wand?”
“All magical abilities have been blocked. You cannot fight. You cannot escape. Upgrading is compulsory.”
The muttering of the crowd increased and Rose pushed herself closer to the Doctor, not sure about what would
happen next.
“And what if we refuse?” the President questioned strongly.
“Don’t,” the Doctor said quickly. Rose frowned and looked at him, confused. He was never one to surrender.
“Why?”
“What if we refuse?” the President repeated.
“You will be deleted,” the Cyberman said simply. Before Rose could think to ask what that meant, the Cyberman grabbed the President by the neck. A sharp electrical shock surrounded him, bathing him in bright blue light. The Cyberman let him go. He fell to the floor, obviously dead.
The crowd, which had been barely calm before, now flew into a panic. They began to scream and run.
“Angelina!” called George, running to his wife. The Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand and tugged her towards one of the open windows.
“Hugo!” she cried over her shoulder. Her brother, seeing her, grabbed their Uncle and pulled him along as well. Exiting the house through the window, they emerged in the front yard. Screaming could be heard behind them.
Rose tried to head back, but the Doctor held her tight.
“We can’t just stand here!” Fred argued. “My family is in there-”
“There is nothing you can do for them,” the Doctor said firmly. They ran up the slope of the driveway, but were greeted by a row of Cybermen.
“Other way!” the Doctor panicked, yanking Rose’s arm hard to turn her the other way. If her shoulder was still attached to it’s socket by the end of this, it’d be a full blown miracle.
“The side gates!” Fred ordered.
They sprinted towards the direction he pointed to. Through his shallow breathes, Fred began to ask the Doctor questions.“Who are you? How do you know so much? What the hell is going on?”
“You wouldn’t believe me in a million years!” The Doctor called. He skidded to a halt and Rose almost ran into him. They were facing yet another row of Cybermen.
“They’re everywhere!” Hugo said needlessly. They could all see that for themselves. The Cybermen were advancing on them when two figures jumped out of the bushes.
“Get behind us!” called Hugo-but not Hugo. The parallel version of Hugo. He and his friend held up guns, firing into the group of Cybermen, stopping them from advancing, but only for a moment.
“Bloody hell,” Fred groaned. “This has got to be a dream. A ridiculous, impossible, terrifying dream.”
“It’s not,” denied Parallel-Hugo, “Because if it was, you’d probably be waking up right about now.”
The Cybermen stepped closer. Parallel-Hugo raised his gun again, but the Doctor held up his hand. “Put the guns down. Bullets won’t work on them. Neither will your wands.”
The other young man ignored them and continued to fire wildly. It did nothing to stop the onslaught. The Doctor grabbed the young and yanked it downward, glaring angrily. “Stop! Just stop!”
The Doctor raised his hands. “We surrender, hands up.”
Rose and the rest of their group raised their hands, acting out of a mixture of shock, desperation, and trust.
“See? We aren’t fighting back. We’re good stock, available for upgrade.”
The Cyberman in front didn’t say anything. Finally, it beeped out, “You are rogue elements.”
The Doctor’s face scrunched up in confusion. “But this is a surrender!”
“You will be deleted.”
“Listen to me! We’re surrendering!”
“You are inferior. Men will be reborn as Cybermen, but you will perish under maximum deletion.”
The Cybermen raised it’s arm and reached for the Doctor. Rose grasped her brother’s hand, terrified.
“Delete. Delete. Delete.”
(Chapter 17 here)