Today was a special day. A day they wanted no disturbance, but knowing their luck they’ll end up hanging from a helicopter over a volcano. That hasn’t happened to them yet, but Sam insists it will one day. Today was special because exactly a year ago, they regenerated.

“I can’t believe you guys survived with me for an entire year. Especially with me always running off.” Sam said, sitting on her orange couch. They were all enjoying TARDIS tea with a chocolate cake they all baked together this morning. Even Vincent helped and without anyone asking, which was rare. The cake looked horrible though. The entire thing flopped and fell, so now with a bottle chocolate sauce for each, they made it into some sort of milkshake. Sam took her piece in a bowl and dumped almost the entire bottle out and mixed it together. She ate it with a spoon.

“I can’t believe we survived either.” Roni said with a nod, chocolate sauce dripping from his chin. Sam laughed. It was incredibly funny to see that, especially with him being a Silence. Something similar happened with Simon. His tentacles got stuck to each other with sticky chocolate. Toby and Sam tried to help get it out, which was futile. Their hands were full of chocolate that stuck together. Everyone laughed at them, but they didn’t make any attempt to clean their selves up. It was to funny.

“14 years travelling together. I wouldn’t go back and change anything.” Simon said, surprising them all a bit. They laughed, just as their entire morning went. With laughs. Their minds were far from the kitchen with practically exploded from their earlier experiment with cake.

“Yes, 14 years and we still haven’t kill each other. It’s a miracle!” Toby said and everyone chuckled along with him Vincent even smiled, which was hidden by his tentacles.  

“940 years. Best 14 years of my life.” Sam said with a nod. Suddenly, as if wanting to ruin it all, the monitor flashed. Everyone looked at it. Unknown number, appeared on the screen.

“Uhh…” Sam said, looking at her companions.

“We should probably answer it.” Allen said and Sam nodded. Simon got up to answer it before coming and sitting down again. A face flashed onto the screen. A familiar pale face with her rhinos standing behind her.

“Ah, Lady Shadow Architect! Have you heard about our chocolate mess and decided to arrest us?” Sam said, clearly high on sugar. She raised an eyebrow.

“No…I have a request of Soldier?” She hesitantly said, examining the odd picture in front of her, debating whether or not it was a good idea to call her for help. Sam frowned at the name.

“A request?” Sam repeated, and she nodded.

“Yes...Since when does she have companions?” She asked and Sam’s eyebrows shot up.

“This must be early in your time line. It’s been 14 years that we have been travelling together, and Lady Shadow, I’m Soldier. Just a new incarnation. The name’s Sam, if you please.” She said and Lady Shadow nodded.

“I see now. Alright then.” She acknowledged.

“You have a request?” Sam repeated.

“Ah yes. It seems the planet Alpha-Z9 is experiencing a little…technical problem, and no one seems to be helping. We here at the Shadow Proclamation can’t do much with tech, we can only arrest. So I decided to take you up on that offer from 800 years ago. It took quite a while to find you, but we found you.” Lady Shadow explained.

“Alpha-Z9? A few days ago we were also called by you, but a future you, to help on Alpha-X6. I’ve also heard that Alpha-B10 exploded.” Sam said with a frown.

“Yes, it seems that one by one the Alpha planets are falling into crisis.”

“By who?”

“Don’t know. But we know it’s not the same people. It’s someone different each time. Alpha-B10 exploded because of Slitheen.” Lady Shadow explained.

“Slitheen? Why?” Sam questioned.  

“After they exploded the planet, they took the remains and sold them for fuel.” She explained.

“For money? Well, Slitheen are greedy.” Sam nodded.

“We called you because our own forces are busy on other Alpha planets. We would like to save all these planets, if we could.” Lady Shadow said and Sam sighed.

“If we must.” Sam said with a sigh, not wanting their fun day to end.

“I’ll send you the coordinates. Thank you.” Lady Shadow said before the picture faded.

“UGH!” Sam groaned, as did the others.

“We must help.” Allen said and the other nodded.

“What’s so special about the Alpha planets?” Toby questioned.   

“They all hold rich minerals. Alpha-B10 had a lot of fossils, so a lot of fuel. Alpha-X6 had variables, which is the reason for all the trade. Alpha-Z9 has a lot of metal, which is the reason for their high technical advancement. At the begging, all of the Alpha planets were together in one galaxy. They drifted away into far galaxies over time.”

“So their rich in minerals? Well, I guess that does make them important.” Toby said with a nod.

“There’s one Alpha planet they placed ultimate security around and no one lives on it. It’s just like the bond planet, it’s unknown.” Sam explained.

“Why?” Owen questioned.

“Because the entire planet is made of Dalekanium. Now come, let’s clean ourselves up so that we can go visits Alpha-Z9. Oh and wear thick shoes.” Sam said before going to work. Once they were all finished with cleaning themselves and the TARDIS up, the stood ready in the console room. Sam typed in the coordinates from the monitor and they were off. Once they landed, Toby was first at the door. He was fascinated by these Alpha planets. He opened the door and his eyes went wide. Imagine a Robot city, where the buildings and houses and every single thing was made out of metal. That’s how it looked .Not a living thing with flesh in sight.

“Should’ve probably warned you about that.” Sam said as she came up from behind him.

“That’s why you wanted us to wear thick shoes. Because everything is made of metal and with the sun…” Allen said, tracing off. Sam stepped outside and onto the metal ground. When saying that everything was made out of metal, that meant the entire surface of the planet.

“There’s no oxygen here but just like with languages, the TARDIS makes it so that we can breathe here.” Sam explained as they joined her outside. The TARDIS disguised itself as a metal arch, and with the Chameleon Circuit and Perception Filter, no one will dare walk under it. They were at the edge of town, so it will be easy to find the TARDIS later again.

“A technical fault? In this place? That’s like a World War.” Toby said, looking around at all the robots that had noticed them but walk on.  

“Yeah. But it makes it a little easier to track it down, since everyone is involved somehow. It’s like one giant network.” Sam explained before walking up to a robot woman who was passing by.

“Excuse me. We are here to help solve some technical problem. Can you maybe tell us what has been happening recently?” Sam questioned and she nodded. These robots were more flexible than stiff and they had emotions…in a way.

“Of course. It’s been a month now. Every day about 10 Z9’s go out of control and are take not the scrap yard.” She answered.

“Which robots specifically?” Sam questioned.

“Well, the daily IRIS tells us that their more business Z9’s than any other.” She said and Sam nodded.

“A specific company, or just overall?” Sam asked.

“Well it’s more business than others, so it’s everywhere. Everyone is afraid for their lives. I am so glad someone finally came.” She said and Sam nodded.

“Thank you, we’ll do our best.” Sam said and they walked away.

“Scared for their lives? What life? They have lives, their machines!” Roni exclaimed.

“Technophobia much? Don’t let them hear you say that. They could start a court session with the Shadow Proclamation against you, you know.” Sam said with a nod.

“I’m not afraid of technology.” Roni said in confusion.

“Xenophobia then.” Sam said as they walked onwards.

“I’m not afraid of them. I just don’t like machines who are alive.” Roni said, his eyes examining the streets. Sam faked gasped in horror.

“You don’t like my darling TARDIS then?” She asked in horror. Roni’s eyes went wide in regret.

“Wait, no, I didn’t mean it like-.”

“I know. I don’t like robots either. Cyborgs are okay, but not robots. But most of the future universe do have robots, so I guess we can’t really do anything about it.” Sam said with a sigh.

“Are Cybermen considered robots or cyborgs?” Simon questioned in thought. Sam looked at him.

“Not one. Cybermen have their own category.” Sam said and Simon nodded. Sam suddenly stopped at a robot park where Z9’s and K9’s were all walking about. K9’s were loyal robot dogs. Although their origin is not from Alpha-Z9, their design made it here and became the main pet.

“Why are we here?” Toby asked.

“We need to find something different in Z9’s. Something that might be physical to indicate which Z9’s go out of control.” Sam said.

“Like?” Owen asked.

“Um…maybe some Z9’s are a different metal. Maybe some have a metal bird or something . Anything!” Sam said.

“Like earpieces?” Simon asked.

“Yes, like earpieces. Although I can’t think why they would need earpieces if they are one giant network. Sort of like the Ood, but they can but tabs and firewalls in this network.” Sam explained.

“Exactly why I noticed them.” Simon said, pointing at a Z9 with two K9’s. Sure enough, this Z9 had an earpiece in his robotic ear that had a flashing blue light.    

“Simon, you are a genius!” Sam said, grabbing his head and kissing his forehead before letting him go.

“What do we do now then?” Allen questioned.

“We follow him, naturally.” Sam said with a smile. The Z9 started to leave, so Sam and the rest followed. The Z9 did nothing out of the ordinary. He walked around, chatted with a few Z9’s, sat on a bench and tweaked a broken bird he found, anything you can imagine an ordinary robot to do. Sam and the rest were bored out of their mind. He did nothing interesting. He was now walking to a large business building, when he suddenly stopped. His earpiece then flashed red and his robotic eyes turned red. He clenched his fists and punched the ground, creating a mini crater. Sam’s eyes were wide as Z9’s scrambled away from the mad one. An earpiece that gives you abnormal strength.

“Now that is cool.” Sam said with a nod.

“Alright. We need to get that earpiece.” Sam said and Allen nodded. He stepped out from behind the building and send lightening into the Z9 before he even could turn around. Sam ran over and grabbed the earpiece.

“Let’s go.” She said and ran away, before the Z9 authorities got here. They sat behind a building, not far from the scene so that they could follow the authorities to the scrap yard afterwards. Sam examined the ear piece with an indifferent expression.

“This is to easy.” She said with a shake of her head.

“What do you mean?” Owen asked.

“The earpieces can easily be spotted by anyone, so why haven’t anyone else noticed before? Never mind that, why are they immediately taken to the scrap yard and not first investigated? It’s been a month and the Z9 authorities aren’t doing anything. Why?” Sam said, more in thought to herself. She looked down at the earpiece.

“We need to find out where these earpieces come from, and what they do to the robots.” She continued.

“But we just saw what they do. They make the robots go out of control and that somehow gives them abnormal strength.” Owen said.

“Yes. But why? That’s the question. Why? And why does it all seem so simple? It should be more complicated than this.” Sam said , confusing her companions.

“It’s a trap. This is somehow a trap.” She said and then a hovercraft appeared with police Z9’s on-board. They took the body of the Z9 and placed it on the hover craft before flying away. Sam and her companions ran after it, as fast as they could.

“We can’t lose them!” Sam yelled as they ran. Sam ran slower until she stopped when she saw the crap yard.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” She said once she was the it. It was more of a factory then anything. A factory to create what looked to be Cybermen bodies.

“Oh no…their smarter than I thought.” Sam said.

“What do you mean?” Simon asked, not yet seeing what was in front of their eyes.

“Look at the guards. Their Cybermen. And this place is secluded. I always wondered, where all the metal came from, but now it’s obvious. They give earpieces through business robots and once they’ve ‘gone mad’, the authorities take them here, and if you didn’t see it, they also had earpieces on. The Cybermen can create 10 Cybermen bodies from this factory each day and store them or ship them out.” Sam explained to them.

“And what do we do?” Allen asked Sam. She huffed.

“No idea. My mind is telling me to call the Shadow Proclamation, because what can we do? Alpha-D is closed off because it’s made of Dalekanium, no one thought about this place as the Cyberman factory.”

“So they have to close it off?” Toby questioned.

“Maybe.” Sam took a deep breathe.

“Let’s go back to the TARDIS. Lady Shadow said they can’t do much with a technical problem, now I don’t know about you, but this isn’t a technical problem. This a harvest.” Sam said and turned around, in the direction of the TARDIS. The others followed. Not exactly knowing what was going on in her mind. Sam ran to the TARDIS while the others silently followed. She entered the TARDIS long before them and contacted Lady Shadow again.

“Ah, miss Sam, that wasn’t exactly long.” She said in surprise when Sam’s face appeared.

“Exactly. I think it’s a trap an di especially don’t want to run straight into it.” Lady Shadow frowned.

“How so?”

“The scrap yard isn’t exactly a scrap yard. A Cyberman body factory.” Sam explained.

“A what?” Lady Shadow gasped slightly.

“They give out these earpieces to business Z9’s and once they go out of control, authorities who also wear earpieces take them to the factory. That way they can successfully make 10 Cybermen bodies a day, and no one questioning disappearances and keep to themselves. Because of that the Cybermen  think that nobody will come help, and they might possibly have barriers around the entire planet, like Perception filters. And the Z9’s are so in their own world that they don’t realize the earpieces, thinking it’s a sort of upgrade, which probably sounds ironic. That’s why the Cybermen aren’t so afraid of keeping it hidden, instead it’s out in the open and no one seemed to notice.” By now her companions were inside, listening to all the detail she had not told them.

“Cybermen have a factory on Z9. We’re probably going to have to close off the entire planet while we sort this out. Well then, thank you for your assistance Sam but you are no longer needed. We can take care of the rest.” Sam nodded, still deep in thought.

“But there’s one more thing that I would like to request of you, for this weekend.” Lady Shadow said, causing Sam to frown.

“Yeah?” Sam asked, unsure.

“The official trial about Cyborg rights starts this Saturday. As you know we need 298 member planets and 39761 affiliated worlds. Because Gallifrey had fallen and they had once one of the strongest councils, we would still like Time Lords to at least attend, if not partake. We have decided on that.” She explained.

“What about the Doctor?” Sam questioned.

“He will also be attending, but at a later stage. This is going to be the largest trial we’ve held in 800 years, but I’m sure your aware of that.” Sam slowly nodded.

“Alright then. If I must represent a dead planet.” Sam said but Lady Shadow just stared.

“Thank you Sam, and good bye.” The image faded. Sam leaned her arms on the console in thought.

“Cyborgs…great.” Sam said before standing up and walking to the corridor. She had no intention of doing something else today. Her mind was too deep in thought about it all. The disappearances of Alpha-X6, the Cybermen factory on Alpha-Z9, and now a Cyborg rights trial she had to attend. The Shadow Proclamation had just suddenly appeared and is asking Sam to do all these things. But what stirred Sam the most was the difference. The difference between doing a task or adventure on your own accord, or doing it for the authorities. Sam couldn’t do much if it was assigned by the Shadow Proclamation, she could only use her knowledge to work things out that they could not or prove their suspicion correct. They did everything after that. They handled the situation after they knew what it was. They were the universal police after all. But in honesty, Sam thinks they don’t do much. So many planets  with so many problems, the Shadow Proclamation doesn’t do much. Especially with all the invaders of Earth. Their only doing something now because of the possible extinction of the Alpha planets, and now only do they realize it, when the problem is so big it will take a while to solve. And they want to do it on their own. Although Sam did have a debt to repay, it’s done now. She’s only going to do the Cyborg rights because that’s something she believed should be resolved, and because Gallifrey deserves representing. But why they would even come to her for Alpha-X6 is a mystery. Everything about the Shadow Proclamation is a mystery in Sam’s eyes.