Patients were the earliest known form of Cyberman in the Doctor Who mythos. They were Mondasian subjects who had undergone preliminary conversion in order to survive the harsh climates of the worlds they intended to colonize. They appeared in the Twelfth Doctor story "World Enough and Time/The Doctor Falls".
History[]
Creation[]
After a thousand years of occupation by hundreds of Mondasians, Floor 1056 of the Mondasian colony ship had significantly deteriorated, to the point that it was no longer sustainable for organic life. As a result, the staff of the floor's hospital began Operation Exodus, a scheme to transform the people of Floor 1056 into Cybermen, in order to survive both the conditions of the city and the exodus to Floor 0000 to take command of the colony ship. The patients were the early results of Operation Exodus, although the sheer agony they experienced following their cyber-conversions meant that they could not function as a permanent "cure" to the harsh conditions of Floor 1056. The Saxon Master, masquerading as "Razor" after being overthrown as ruler of Floor 1056, secretly incorporated a number of features into the patients so that, upon their successful evolution into fully-converted Cybermen, he could take control of them and use them to conquer the galaxy.
Attacks on the higher floors[]
In addition to escorting people from the city of Floor 1056 to the hospital, squads of patients were sent to the higher floors of the colony ship via its inertia lifts, in order to capture any surviving Mondasians elsewhere on the ship for conversion as well. One squad of patients was sent to Floor 0000 to capture its remaining crew members, including the Captain and chief engineer Franq, although the patients left the ship's janitor, Jorj, behind, due to him being non-human. Another squad of patients was sent to capture the residents of Floor 0507, but never returned to Floor 1056, as the adult farmers of Floor 0507 shot them down at night, before chaining the patients to crucifixes during the day. However, the patients woke up during the day, and eventually broke free again at night, leading to a near-daily cycle of the farmers shooting and imprisoning the patients at night, and the patients breaking free the following night.
Evolving into CyberMondans[]
Following the arrival of the Twelfth Doctor's TARDIS on Floor 0000, a squad of five patients with a surgical table were sent from Floor 1056 to Floor 0000 to capture Bill Potts, the only human amongst herself, Missy, Nardole and the Doctor, after Jorj fatally wounded her. On Floor 1056, the surgeon of the hospital partially converted Bill into a patient, and installed a chest unit where her organic heart once was. Bill eventually woke up a few months later, and found a patient calling out in pain within a hospital ward; although she was nearly caught by the nurse, who muted the patient, Bill followed Razor into his living area. Over the next ten years, Razor explained to Bill the purpose of the patients and Operation Exodus, while hiding his secret intentions to control the Cybermen that the patients would evolve into. During these years, the patients evolved further, no longer depending on medical fluid canisters to speak, and began to develop into the first generation of true Cybermen.
When Bill and Razor broke into the Conversion Theatre one night to find the lift entrances on Floor 1056, they discovered numerous patients, some of whom had evolved to further resemble Mondasian Cybermen, sleeping in wheelchairs; a pair of further developed patients then restrained Bill as the surgeon and the nurse revealed themselves. Realising that Razor had led her into a trap, Bill was then fully converted into a Mondasian Cyberman by the surgeon. Two hours later, the Twelfth Doctor and Nardole accessed the Conversion Theatre after travelling in a lift with Missy from Floor 0000, and discovered the patients and the cyber-converted Bill.
By the time the Doctor, Bill, Nardole, Missy and the Master fled Floor 1056 to Floor 0507 in a shuttlecraft, cyber-conversion factories were being built across Floor 1056, and the Mondasians and patients were eventually processed into full CyberMondans.
Appearance[]
The patients appeared to resemble hospital patients, having not yet undergone total cyber-conversion. They wore white gowns which hid a computerised chest unit bonded to the patient's torso. Their heads were completely covered by plastic sacks that were tied in a large knot at the top of the head. Tubing also fed into the patients' noses from behind their necks, which also sported a plastic, silver band. The patients also wore caucasian gloves over their hands. Many patients were seen attached to a nutrient tank on a wheeled frame that constantly provided them with a bluish-white nutritional fluid.
Behaviour[]
Having only undergone partial conversion, the patients did not behave in the same manner as a complete Cyberman. While mobile, they were only capable of walking with a slow, unsteady gait. They could speak, though they required an external voice box to communicate, which was part of their nutrient tank. Patients could not speak eloquently, either; they usually only spoke broken sentences of a few words. More often than not, their only communication was expressing the pain they were in, which was constant, or begging to be euthanised. Until the conversion centres could produce emotional inhibitors, the hospital staff dealt with the patients' unending cries of agony by muting their voice boxes.
Abilities[]
While far from ideal subjects for battle, the patients' early augmentations had greatly increased their physical strength and durability, in spite of their constant pain. They would use their strength to beat and capture other Mondasians for cyber-conversion and were resilient enough to survive gunfire. On several occasions, Mondasian citizens were able to incapacitate patients and proceeded to chain them up to crucifixes. However, after a number of hours, the patients would always break free and attack again.