Fabula
S22E2 · Attack of the Cybermen Part 2

Controller orders Doctor’s capture

The Cyber Controller arrogantly dismisses Lytton’s defiance as the Cyberman guard confirms the time vessel’s arrival. Upon learning of the Doctor’s escape, the Controller’s demeanor shifts from cold calculation to seething fury. He immediately orders a citywide manhunt, risking exposure of his schemes against Earth and time itself. This decree ignites a desperate, multi-faction chase as every character races to locate the Doctor before the Cybermen do. The controllers insatiable need to neutralize the Doctor forces all other conflicts into overdrive, escalating stakes across the episode.

Plot Beats

The narrative micro-steps within this event

2

The Cyberman reports the time vessel's approach to Telos, and the Controller orders it to land and have the Doctor brought to him.

anticipation to action ['Cyber Control']

The Doctor's escape is discovered, prompting the Controller to order a search.

calm to urgency ['Cyber Control']

Who Was There

Characters present in this moment

6
Flast
primary

Focused determination to exploit the Doctor's disruption while maintaining operational control of her weaponry

Flast actively prepares a desperate countermeasure in response to the unfolding chaos, her measured actions contrasting with the Controller's overreaction. She wields the sonic lance as a tool of liberation while anticipating Cyber weakness in this volatile moment.

Goals in this moment
  • Facilitate the Doctor's disruption of Cyber operations
  • Preserve the sonic disruptor as a valuable resource
Active beliefs
  • The Doctor's escape creates opportunities for resistance
  • Cyber systems have exploitable weaknesses
Character traits
calculated determined prepared
Follow Flast's journey

Cold certainty shattered into blinding fury, masking deep insecurity about the Doctor's escape undermining Cyber supremacy

The Cyber Controller stands frozen with shock upon learning the Doctor has slipped his grasp, his composure evaporating as seething fury replaces cold calculation. He immediately pivots to issuing venomous orders, leveraging his absolute authority to turn a tactical setback into an all-out purge mission.

Goals in this moment
  • Neutralize the Doctor before he can interfere with Cyber temporal plans
  • Reassert absolute control over Cyber operations on Telos
Active beliefs
  • The Doctor represents an intolerable temporal threat that must be eradicated at all costs
  • Any failure to prevent his escape constitutes catastrophic weakness for the Cyber collective
Character traits
ruthless authoritative reactive rigidly domineering
Follow Cyber Controller's journey
Supporting 2

Unshaken by the Controller's outburst, maintaining calculated indifference to the Doctor's escape despite the urgency

The Cyberman guard dutifully reports the time vessel's impending arrival and confirms the Doctor's status as planned, maintaining doctrinal adherence even as the Controller's rage unsettles the chain of command. His mechanical adherence contrasts sharply with the Controller's emotional breakdown.

Goals in this moment
  • Relay accurate status updates to maintain system functionality
  • Fulfill monitoring duties without deviation
Active beliefs
  • Timely reports are essential to Cyber operations
  • Emotional reactions undermine operational efficacy
Character traits
doctrinally precise emotionally detached obedient reporting
Follow Cyberman Subordinate …'s journey
Bates
Captain
secondary

Heightened tension mixing hope for escape with dread of Cyber retaliation

Bates, Stratton, and their companions collectively feel the time vessel land on Cyber Control's roof, recognizing this external event as a catalyst that could change their immediate fate. Their alignment with Lytton's rebellion creates tension between survival tactics and potential alignment with new opportunities.

Goals in this moment
  • Seize any chance to break free from Cyber captivity
  • Reach the time vessel as a potential escape route
Active beliefs
  • The Cybermen's control is weakening in this moment
  • Their best hope lies in desperate action rather than passive survival
Character traits
alert opportunistic reactive
Follow Bates's journey
Griffiths

Griffiths exists off-stage but hears the time vessel land on Cyber Control's roof above him, further confirming the urgency of …

Commander Lytton

Lytton remains absent but is directly invoked through the Controller's venomous condemnation, his defiance serving as catalyst for the Controller's …

Objects Involved

Significant items in this scene

5
Sonic Lance (Sewer Disruptor)

Flast activates the sonic lance and combines it with vastial in preparation for imminent action, transforming the device into an unstable explosive tool. This act of sabotage is timed precisely to coincide with the Controller's distraction over the Doctor's escape, creating a critical vulnerability in Cyber security.

Before: Stored in dormant state in Cryon storeroom, inactive …
After: Empowered with vastial in a closed box, now …
Before: Stored in dormant state in Cryon storeroom, inactive but maintained
After: Empowered with vastial in a closed box, now ready for deployment
Cybermen Temporal Time Vessel

The Cybermen's time vessel serves as both an external threat and timed disruption, its landing on Cyber Control's roof confirmed through dialogue and sensory cues. The vessel represents a temporal wildcard that intersects with the Controller's panic over the Doctor's escape.

Before: En route to Telos with encrypted Cyber protocols
After: Landfall confirmed on Cyber Control's roof, activating emergency …
Before: En route to Telos with encrypted Cyber protocols
After: Landfall confirmed on Cyber Control's roof, activating emergency response protocols
TARDIS Console Time Display

The TARDIS console monitor indirectly facilitates the Controller's confirmation of the Doctor's escape by displaying the storeroom's open state, though this is an inferred function rather than direct appearance. Its presence underscores the Cybermen's technological dependence in tracking threats.

Before: Active monitoring of Status Quo including Cyber Control's …
After: Remains operational but now reveals Doctor's breach of …
Before: Active monitoring of Status Quo including Cyber Control's secured storeroom
After: Remains operational but now reveals Doctor's breach of containment
Vastial

Vastial is strategically combined with the sonic lance by Flast to create a temporal explosive, its volatile properties waiting to detonate upon Cybermen contact. The object becomes a calculated weapon against Cyber security protocols and personnel.

Before: Stored in chill-stable state as contraband weapon within …
After: Integrated with sonic device, warehoused in container, primed …
Before: Stored in chill-stable state as contraband weapon within Cryon reserves
After: Integrated with sonic device, warehoused in container, primed for deployment
Storeroom Door to Cyber Control

The storeroom door stands ajar in its frame, its mechanical state revealed on Cyber monitors as a sign of breached security. The door's position confirms the Doctor's escape route while serving as proof to the Controller of systems failure.

Before: Secured by blast lock as part of Cyber …
After: Ajar, revealing internal breach and confirming Doctor's escape
Before: Secured by blast lock as part of Cyber control protocols
After: Ajar, revealing internal breach and confirming Doctor's escape

Location Details

Places and their significance in this event

3
Cryon Storeroom

The Cryon Storeroom serves as a provisional resistance armory where Flast prepares the sonic disruptor's vastial payload. This cramped, freezing chamber becomes a tactical staging ground as external chaos from the landing vessel seeps through walls and floors.

Atmosphere Biting cold thinning the air into palpable tension, steam curling from heated sabotage tools while …
Function Clandestine storage and armory for resistance assets hidden beneath Cyber infrastructure
Symbolism Represents Cryon defiance turned to weaponry, cold survival transformed into tactical exploit
Access Cybermen presence tolerated but non-essential personnel restricted; resistance maintains secret access
Steam drifting from heated metal as pungent vapour Emergency heater casting fractured light across trapped ice crystals
Cyber Control Tower

Cyber Control Tower functions as the Cybermen's operational nerve center where absolute authority is enforced. The Controller's seizure of power here catapults the facility from cold efficiency to reactive chaos as containment fails and desperate factions converge.

Atmosphere Frozen protocol shattered by raw emotion, emergency lights stripping power from calmness while urgency pulses …
Function Central command hub regulating temporal and physical security operations
Symbolism Represents Cyber domination and fragile control, a stronghold whose cracks expose systemic vulnerability
Access Restricted to Cyber hierarchy with surveillance ensuring compliance
Emergency lighting strobing violet over industrial surfaces Control panels flickering with status updates on Cyber failures
Telos (Ice-Bound Cyber Homeworld)

Telos provides the fractured moon setting where Cyber arrogance faces sudden collapse. The inhospitable surface, riven with wind-scoured rock and Cyber spires, becomes a contested battleground once containment fails and factions scramble across its dangerous expanse.

Atmosphere Permafrost breathes shivers through alloy flooring, ice groaning underfoot while mechanized hums clash with natural …
Function Planetary stage for desperate chase across extreme terrain and Colonial architecture
Symbolism Once a haven for Cyber exploitation, now a site of temporal reckoning where schemes unravel
Access Cybermen control enforced via sensor grids though indigenous paths remain hidden
Time vessel landing shudder transmitted through icy bedrock Fractured spires casting jagged shadows over corridors

Organizations Involved

Institutional presence and influence

2
Cybermen

The Cybermen enforce the Controller's vengeful manhunt order through subordinate units, deploying surveillance protocols and personnel to triangulate the Doctor's position. The organization's hierarchical rigidity fractures under reactive emotion as operational precision yields to punitive rage.

Representation Through the Controller issuing orders and Cybermen guards relaying updates and executing searches
Power Dynamics Exercising absolute authority while revealing systemic vulnerability through containment failure
Impact Demonstrates how blind adherence to doctrine can erode operational integrity when emotionally compromised leadership disrupts …
Internal Dynamics Tension between doctrinal obedience and emotional reaction to perceived failure
Neutralize the temporal threat posed by the Doctor’s escape Reassert command authority across Telos operations Hive-mind obedience enforced through doctrinal programming Tactical deployment of cyber-technology and forced labor
Cryons

The Cryons operate clandestinely within their ruined stronghold, using stolen Cyber assets to prepare for decisive action. Flast’s sabotage of Cyber containment protocols reveals the remnants of indigenous resistance transforming cold storage facilities into centres of temporal warfare preparation.

Representation Through Flast's targeted sabotage with stolen Cyber equipment adapted as resistance weapons
Power Dynamics Subjugated yet leveraging local knowledge and stolen resources to challenge Cyber dominance in critical moments
Impact Shows indigenous survival strategies adapting despair into tactical advantage despite near-extinction
Support the Doctor's disruption of Cyber temporal plans Preserve resistance assets for decisive actions against oppressors Sabotage through stolen technology Stealth access to restricted Cyber spaces

Narrative Connections

How this event relates to others in the story

What led here 1

"The Controller orders the time vessel to land and have the Doctor brought to him immediately after detecting its approach—this escalates the confrontation and leads directly to the Doctor’s capture being discovered and the search to begin."

Flast betrays crew to detonate Cyber Control
S22E2 · Attack of the Cybermen Part …
What this causes 1

"The Controller orders the time vessel to land and have the Doctor brought to him immediately after detecting its approach—this escalates the confrontation and leads directly to the Doctor’s capture being discovered and the search to begin."

Flast betrays crew to detonate Cyber Control
S22E2 · Attack of the Cybermen Part …

Key Dialogue

"CONTROLLER: You are foolish, Lytton. You could have saved yourself from pain. I told you you would tell us everything. Now you will become as we are."
"CONTROLLER: The time vessel is approaching Telos, Controller."