To be NEAR Eros

Episode One
by Harry Hayfield

The TARDIS materialised with it's customary thump and the Doctor looked out on the scene that greeted them.

"Hmm" he mused looking at the scanner, "Seems the right place, how about the right time?". He checked the TARDIS's clock.

Peri entered and looked over the Doctor's shoulder. "Where are we?" she asked

"Eros!" said the Doctor.

"Eros?" asked Peri, perplexed.

"Yes, the asteriod Eros. 7.45pm UTC February 11th 2001"

"And?" asked Peri, wondering what the Doctor was on about

"I'd thought that I would bring you here to see the first landing on an asteriod" he said, his eyes fixed on the console.

Peri looked at the scene outside the TARDIS. "Well", she said, after a long pause, "Does that make us the third then?"

The Doctor looked up. "Third?" he asked

Peri pointed to a small lump sticking out of the ground, the Doctor looked closely and gasped.

"By Rassilon" he said, and with that dashed into the recesses of the TARDIS, emerging in a space suit. "Stay here" he said and programmed the doors to act as an airlock.

Outside the TARDIS, the Doctor could see the universe in all it's glory but he had other concerns.

He jumped across to the lump and started digging. As he did so, he came across an insgina that made his hearts freeze in terror.

"Cybermen" he thought..

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Episode Two
by The Sixth Doctor

The Doctor uncovered more powdery dust away from the Cyber-technology. It gently floated away in the extremely low gravity. With the gravitic equalisers the Doctor was safe from the possibility of getting up too fast and floating away. The cloud of dust floated past the TARDIS like mist. The Doctor glanced back to his ship. Hopefully Peri would have the sense to stay put. The Doctor smoothed the last of the dust away and saw what was a sarcophagus like object that must have been there some time. What was it the Cybermen intended? The Doctor pondered a second before looking for a way to prize the object open.

Many miles above the Doctor, delicate manoeuvres were taking place to bring the satellite down to the surface of the asteroid. Nasa technicians working like artists, guiding the fragile speck of human ingenuity down to the surface of an alien body.

There was a dull thump of a small lock releasing.
"Eureka!" called the Doctor to no-one. There was no way sound would carry in this environment other than the dull vibrations the device now gave off.
"Well well well, what have we here?" mused the Doctor, lifting a small sphere out from the container. It glowed and pulsed an eerie cyan in the airless void, the Doctor's thick gloves trying to keep a purchase hold on its smooth surface. The Doctor looked back at the container, also within was a typical cyber-control relay. "Ah ha!" exclaimed the Doctor. "A gravitron beam. He looked up and saw the dot of light that was the approaching NEAR probe. "It is a good job the TARDIS materialised upon this rock, otherwise who knows what this sensor would do with the weight shift?" The Doctor had encountered such devices before. They were a clever type of mine, perfect for asteroids. If a craft lands, the shift in the gravity of the body, no matter how slight would trigger the device. The TARDIS was a clever old thing, it probably knew and was masking its weight. But usually these devices had all sorts of anti-defusing protection. With a burst of light, the container burst into life menacingly.
"Oh my..." the Doctor breathed, realising his release of the gravitron core had triggered the device.

Peri sat watching the Doctor from the console room, what was he doing? Alarmingly, the console was registering something, grunting and burbling. She looked at the neon lights but they were meaningless to her. All she could tell was that it sounded bad.

A flash of energy arced menacingly at the Doctor's gloved arm. The device had electrified itself and become tamper proof. The Doctor looked back towards the probe, it was approaching quickly now, vague details could be made out. If it landed now there could be disastrous consequences, he had to stop the device. He held up the gravitron core. It continued to glow, the patterns and pools of light on its surface reflecting the distortion of the gravity around it. A thought struck him, and he ran with the sphere back to the TARDIS.

Peri looked up as the dusty space suited figure of the Doctor burst in. In his hands was a glowing orb, it was a pretty blue colour.
"What's that?"
"A device for measuring gravity," replied the Doctor hurriedly, tapping instructions into the co-ordinates bank.

Final approach commenced, the probe orientated itself to match the greyed surface it was about to land on. data passed to and thro furiously as it communicated its journey with its masters. With a graceful spin it descended perfectly towards the mottled ground of Eros.

The TARDIS Materialised again in deep space, the Doctor released the doors and held up the device.
"I think Peri, my last incarnation was better suited to this kind of activity." With that he fast bowled the core out of the doors, through the airlock shield and out into space. Devoid of a surrounding gravity, the device went cold and black. With it, the device on the surface shut down.

The ground sped by. The probe prepared for its imminent landing.

The Doctor cut a final wire on the Cyber-device. "There you are Peri, all harmless." Silently and smoothly, the NEAR probe passed overhead, its last few feet of clearance diminishing as the Doctor and Peri watched. "What would have happened if you had not bust that thing?" asked Peri pointing at the cold grey container.
"I think we stumbled across a beserker. Might be obsolete and unimportant but we can't take the risk. My guess is its an automated Cyber-recon post, maybe one of many in the area. But this one won't be listening any more." Peri peered at the universe through her visor.
"Good" she said gazing at the stars, then looked at the landed probe. "Back home this sort of thing was always so exciting, out here it all seems a bit insignificant."
"I wouldn't say that!" proclaimed the Doctor. "Remember Peri one day humans spread out into the universe colonising and expanding across the galaxy. If it were not for the first few steps like this, none of it may ever happen. Come along, the Cybermen are a problem for another day. I want to see how the celebrations are going back at Nasa. I can tell them what an excellent landing it made!" The Doctor walked back into the TARDIS. Peri paused a moment to look at the Probe, going about its scouring and analysing. She wondered if it had a camera, and if it had seen them. How would the Doctor explain that to the experts back on Earth? She smiled and entered the TARDIS.

The End.

