THE MOONBASE

This 4-episode story takes place after the incomplete story The Underwater
Menace and is the second story featuring the Cybermen. Jamie was not in the
original script and thus is not involved in most of the story.

Sources: photonovel (DWB #85 Jan91), video (#2,4)

Summary by Tom Wilson

Main Characters: Doctor #2, Ben, Polly, Jamie, Hobson, Benoit, Nils, Ralph,
Dr. Evans

EPISODE 1

   Intending to go to Mars, the TARDIS lands on the moon. Everyone puts on a
spacesuit before leaving. Polly sees the flash of a landing spaceship, but no
one knows what it is. Polly takes a big low-gravity jump, followed by Ben.
Jamie jumps too far and flies over a ridge. He crashes into a plastic dome. Two
men emerge and carry him inside. The others climb down and also enter the dome.
   Inside the dome, men are busy in a weather control room. One collapses onto
the floor, the veins in his face are black. Hobson and Benoit talk about the
sickness that several men already have. The Doctor, Ben, and Polly come in and
they just want to get Jamie and leave. Hobson lets Polly see Jamie but keeps
the Doctor and Ben for questioning. Hobson shows them a huge probe called the
Gravitron. The Doctor reasons that this caused the TARDIS to go off course.
   An alarm sounds and a man in the Gravitron room collapses. Another man takes
his place. A call from earth describes the loss of weather control. During the
conversation, Nils detects that someone nearby is monitoring the call. Inside
the spaceship every word is heard. The Doctor and Ben are escorted to sick bay.
The Doctor looks at the others in the sick bay and thinks that the illness is
not real. The Doctor sends Ben back to the control room to keep an open ear.
   Hobson tells Benoit about two drops in air pressure before Benoit sends Ben
to the stores room to help Ralph. In the stores room, Ralph is disposing of a
broken sack. He hears some noise and there is a tall shadow. Ben enters and
tells Ralph to take it easy. While Ralph is getting milk and sugar, he sees a
silver, three-fingered gloved hand. It touches his head and he collapses. The
figure catches him and carries him off. Ben wonders where Ralph went.
   In the sick bay, Dr. Evans, who is ill, screams about a silver hand, and he
then apparently dies. The Doctor goes to talk to Hobson. Ben tells Hobson about
Ralph. In the sick bay, Polly sees a shadow and screams. The Doctor and Hobson
enter. They notice that Dr. Evans' body is gone. The Doctor and Hobson leave
and Polly goes to get Jamie water. Jamie sees a Cyberman come toward him and it
extends its arm toward him as the episode ends.

EPISODE 2

   The Cyberman stops. It picks up a motionless patient and leaves the sickbay.
Polly sees it as she enters and screams. The Doctor and others enter. Polly
says it was a Cyberman but Hobson does not believe her. Hobson sends two men
to look for the missing bodies. He is fed up with the Doctor's nonsense stories
and tells him to leave the base. The Doctor will not since he says there is
evil here. The Doctor says he will examine everything in search of an answer.
   Hobson and his men leave. The Doctor tells Polly about earning a medical
degree in Glasgow 1888 from Joseph Lister, and tells Ben to gather things for
him to examine. In the Gravitron control room, Hobson and the men try to find a
problem with the Gravitron tracking. Finally there is a call from earth which
relates weather problems there. Benoit suggests shutting down the Gravitron,
but Hobson is ordered not to by earth control. After the communication ends,
the men return to checking the equipment.
   While the Doctor and Ben are away from the sickbay, Polly sees the Cyberman
again. She moves away from it as it extends it arm toward her. A giant spark
arcs from its hand to her head. She falls to the floor. The Cyberman reaches
for Jamie but sees the head wound he has. Instead, he picks up another patient
and leaves. The Doctor enters and rushes to help Polly to her feet.
   In the control room, Sam says there is another drop in air pressure. In the
stores room, a pile of sacks fall over revealing a hidden entrance. Through it
comes a Cyberman. The air pressure returns to normal. Sam tells Hobson that the
probe control antenna is missing two pieces. Hobson sends two men to fix it.
   The Doctor cannot find any answers, but tells Hobson otherwise to stall for
time. Outside, the two men are working on the antenna. They do not see two
Cybermen approach and are killed by them. The Doctor tells Hobson that he has
no answers. Polly comes in with coffee. One of the men drinking coffee falls
over in pain. The Doctor deduces that sugar is what is causing the so-called
disease. Not everyone takes sugar so not everyone has been affected. The Doctor
looks at the sugar under a microscope, confirming his suspicions. He wonders
how the Cybermen got in. Hobson assures him that they have searched everywhere.
The Doctor asks about the sickbay and Hobson admits they did not search there.
   Everyone goes to the sickbay and looks around. They see large boots in a
bed. The sheets are flung aside and a Cybermen springs to its feet. It draws
its weapon and points it toward them as the episode ends.

EPISODE 3

   A second Cyberman enters and shoots one of the men who tries to rush them.
The first Cyberman communicates with another via a transmitter and says that
stage 2 of the plan is completed. The Cyberman says he recognizes the Doctor.
He says that the missing men have been altered. The other Cyberman examines
the other patients. He says Jamie is of no use because of his head wound. All
but Ben and Polly go to the control center. The three missing men are fitted
with metal skull caps and are tested for control.
   In the control room, Benoit is trying to contact the men fixing the antenna
when everyone comes in followed by the Cybermen. Benoit says that all Cybermen
were destroyed with Mondas. The Cyberman says that they travelled from Mondas
and now come from Telos. They have come to take the power from earth and will
use the Gravitron to destroy everyone on earth. They Cybermen communicates with
another again and says that stage 4 is completed. The Cyberman explains that
they entered the dome by cutting through the floor, causing the pressure drops.
   In the sickbay, Jamie awakes. He, Ben, and Polly discuss ways to fight the
Cybermen. They think they can spray acetone on the Cybermen's chest units. They
head for the control room. A Cybermen leads the controlled men into the control
room. They are told to operate the Gravitron controls. The Doctor finds that
the men are being controlled by high-pitched sounds. He also thinks the men are
needed because the Cybermen are avoiding the Gravitron's radiation or gravity.
   The Cyberman hears Ben, Jamie, and Polly outside the door. The Doctor moves
the sonic controls as a distraction. They burst into the room squirting the
liquid at the Cybermen, whose chest units begin to dissolve. The Cybermen fall
and struggle as if dying. The caps are removed from the controlled men.
   Outside, the Cybermen assume the plan has failed and prepare to attack.
Benoit goes out to find the other two men. He finds their suits. Nils says he
sees a Cyberman outside. It chases Benoit back to the dome door. He makes it to
the door with the Cyberman right behind him. Ben is in the air lock in a space
suit. He throws a bottle of liquid at the Cyberman. It collapses and dies.
   The ship's location is finally detected with RADAR. Hobson looks through a
telescope and sees an army of Cybermen marching toward the dome carrying some
huge unknown apparatus as the episode ends.

EPISODE 4

   The Cybermen march to the crater ridge surrounding the dome. The Cybermen
contact the dome via the radio, telling the men inside to surrender. Hobson
tries to contact earth but the Cybermen are damaging the antenna. Hobson says
that a relief rocket will be coming since communication has been broken.
   In the space ship, the Cybermen see the rescue ship heading toward the moon.
While they prepare to deal with the rescue ship, the Cybermen send a control
signal to the altered men. Dr. Evans puts the cap back on his head. He goes
into the Gravitron control room unnoticed. He knocks out the man controlling
the Gravitron and repositions the Gravitron according to the Cybermen's orders.
   Everyone in the control room watches the rescue ship on the scanner. The
ship changes course away from the moon. The ship is out of control and heading
toward the sun. The Doctor finally figures that the Gravitron may have caused
the problem. They see Dr. Evans in the Gravitron room. The Doctor sends Ben
and Jamie to the sickbay to find the other men.
   As the men begin to exit the sick bay, Ben and Jamie block the door. While
Hobson is trying to talk to Dr. Evans, he receives a message from the Cybermen
demanding their surrender or the base will be destroyed. There is a loud bang
and a strong wind blows. Everyone grabs for oxygen masks as the air is rushing
from the dome. Hobson removes his jacket and plugs the hole in the dome. That
is soon sucked out and the hole is then blocked with a food tray.
   Dr. Evans is unconscious in the Gravitron room. He is taken out and control
of the Gravitron is regained. The Doctor looks at the hole that was made by a
laser blast. He sees that another Cyberman ship has landed. The Cyberman radios
and says they have one last chance to surrender. The Cyberman counts to ten and
then a shot is fired from another gun. The beam is deflected up and over the
dome. The Cybermen are confused. Another shot is fired and the same thing
happens. The Cybermen pack up the weapon and march toward the dome. The Doctor
suggests pointing the Gravitron at the Cybermen. The Cybermen begin to float
up away from the moon's surface and moments later have floated out of sight.
   Hobson and his men rush to get things back in order. The Doctor and his
companions leave unnoticed. They go back to the TARDIS and dematerialize. On
the scanner they see an image of a giant claw as the episode ends.