A Worthy Successor (short story)

A Worthy Successor was the fifth story in Cyberon. It was a short story written by James Hornby and James Wylder. Being an explicit crossover with the P.R.O.B.E. series, it was later republished as such in the P.R.O.B.E. anthology True Origins.

The story depicted Giles becoming the leader of P.R.O.B.E., an important development in the chronology of the series, and also acted as a direct sequel to The Last Dose. It story also saw a plethora of licensed concepts cameo in the Vault, which in of itself was licensed from Gary Russell.

Summary
June 2014: in a small collection of offices in a "swanky government building" in Parliament Square, Giles, a technician, is concentrating on Box, all while the sweltering heat beamed through the window. Giles can't effectively take apart Box in the heat though, as the perspiration causes him to loose his grip. He gives up, opting to get a small nap instead, but immediately an alarm clock goes off — causing Giles to fall off his chair — and he remembers that he needs to go the P.R.O.B.E. Archive. And he cannot be late. Going through the building — which was, for once, quiet — towards the lift to the archive. In the archive, Giles sees that the contents has been moved to accomdate a table and two chairs, of which Giles sits in the furthermost, and looks at his interviewer, who tells him that a new P.R.O.B.E. director must be appointed prior to her retirement to Spain with her partner, and preferably not by decided by someone chosen by the Defence Secretary who'd be "hell bent" on shutting P.R.O.B.E. down. So the interviewer wants to make the case to appoint Giles as the new director. Giles thinks that Archie MacTavish would be a better choice, but the interviewer tells him that while Archie is a good field agent, he isn't a good leader. To make her case to the Defence Secretary airtight, she tells Giles to recite the Cyberon incident at the Vault in March 2011, when he and Archie investigated a series of deaths that were being covered up.

March 2011: Giles drives a car through the Northumbrian countryside in the rain, Archie as his passenger, towards the Cheviot Hills, the location of the Vault. They've been sent by Patsy Haggard to inspect the site, as two scientists have died, but nothing has been officially reported despite every person in the site being heavily monitored. Giles speeds along, driving into the secret tunnel that serves as the entrance to the Vault.

Archie is impressed by the staggering design of the Vault, and thinks to himself about just how far the government will go to hide things from the public. In the foyer, seeing a security guard, Donovan, sitting next to a desk, near a lift, and the guard quickly askes them for identification; the duo show them their ID cards, stating that they're from P.R.O.B.E., and Donovan quickly relaxes. Donovan radios in the director, Director Vanessa Hardcastle, who vents her frustration over the radio having been disturbed. Two minutes later, Vanessa arrives in the foyer, and she and the duo introduce themselves. Giles tells her that they're here to do an inspection, altough Vanessa was unaware of this, and she offers to have thme wait a while so their head scientist Miles Werbiansky can give them a guided tour, but having had this trick pulled on them before, so they tell her they'd like to do the inspection immediately, Vanessa hesitantly accedes.

June 2014: the interviewer asks Giles if he knew what he was getting into at the time, and he replies no by shaking his head, although he does say that his research into what is stored in the Vault beforehand, with memories connecting to the "Philadelphia incident" that stuck with him. The interivewer asks him what "tipped him off", and Giles tells her that is was something he only glanced out at first.

March 2011: after the long journey underground in the lift, Giles and Archie enter a large warehouse filled with shelves containing unearthly artifacts. Vanessa tells them it's only one of many, whilst showing them a Noth laser scythe, although Giles isn't interested, wanting to prioritise solving the murders. She tells Giles that the deaths were accidental — Patricia and Zufran were disintergrated by a Helicron matter gun, and because of their lack of families, and that the necessary procedures were taken afterwards, Vanessa didn't feel it worth documenting, although Giles is uncertain. She decides to continue showing certain objects to Giles and Archie. While Archie focuses on the items, Giles's attention is elsewhere, as he sees a pair of guards go through a door numbered "AA23" with food.

Giles and Archie convince Vanessa to show them something more relevant, and she leads them to the cold storage, flashing Hernandez her badge before placing it on a sensor to gain access to the room. Inside, they walk through a hallway while putting on parkas, then entering the main room, which is a large, circular morgue with numbered doors. Vanessa stops at one, and begins to recite a story, much to Giles and Archie's confusion. She tells them of a little girl, isolated in her room, who would transform into a wolf once a month, and that one day, the girl escaped, but was shot shortly after. As Vanessa finishes, she pulls out the gurney containing the girl's body, and Giles is revolted. Vanessa then brings them to Miles Werbiansky, while Giles also wants a full list of what's in the Vault.

Arriving at Miles's office, Archie asks if Miles's is "green" due to the new nameplate on the office door, and Vanessa clarifies that he isn't, rather he's recently transistioned. Inside the office, which is messy, Giles introduces himself to Miles, who is trying (albeit unsuccessfully) trying to disassemble an alien device. Miles hands Giles a thick binder, the inventory of the Vault, upon Giles's request; going throguh the binder, Giles notices that Cyberon is among the contents, and Miles tells him that they're collected from the London and Philly incidents. Vanessa and Miles lead them to anther part of the facility, the low-risk storage, where the drug is contained. Vanessa shows them the crates with bravado, but stops when she sees the looks on the others' faces; one of the crates is on its side, having been used as a chair, and the Cyberon fluid is leaking, flowing into a grate...

Characters
(In order of appearance)
 * Giles
 * Interviewer
 * Archie MacTavish
 * Donovan
 * Director Vanessa Hardcastle
 * Guards
 * Hernandez
 * Miles Werbiansky


 * Abigail
 * Kimball

Referenced only

 * Interviewer's partner
 * Defence Secretary
 * Martyn Townsend
 * Patricia
 * Zufran
 * Ellie

Continuity

 * The P.R.O.B.E. HQ is located in Parliament Square. (WC: When to Die)
 * It has been nearly a month since the Paul Reynish case. (HOMEVID: When to Die)
 * The Defence Secretary is looking to appoint a new P.R.O.B.E. director because the incumbent and her wife are retiring to Spain. (HOMEVID: When to Die)
 * In March 2011, Dr Haggard was unable to aid P.R.O.B.E. in their investigations because her "old friends at Geneva" had stationed her on their Moonbase. (TV: Death of the Doctor)
 * Giles believes the moonbase had been built in the 1970s. Planning of the base did start in the 70s, (AUDIO: The Cloisters of Terror) but it was actually built sometime in 2006. (PROSE: Guinevere One, Horror of the Space Snakes)
 * The Vault was built around the 1970s, (PROSE: One Cold Step, Beast of Fang Rock, Mind of Stone) and ran by Martyn Townsend, who tried to make a race of super soldiers to take over the world. (PROSE: The Scales of Injustice)
 * The contents of the Vault were relocated to another facility nearby in the 1990s. (AUDIO: Tales from the Vault, The Screaming Skull)
 * The Vault contains four levels, with the fourth being a once-secret creation of James Gore. (PROSE: Night of the Intelligence)
 * Giles refers to the "Philadelphia incident" in 2014. (PROSE: Silver-Tongued Liars)
 * The Vaults contains objects concerning the Helicron, (PROSE: Crushing Reality) the Hytherians, (PROSE: Collective Unconscious) the Christmas Needle Agreement, (PROSE: A Bright White Crack) the Retconning Crocodiles, (PROSE: Resurrection of the Author, Auteur's Abecedarium) Kaetannan, (PROSE: The Eternal)
 * Miles is working on a device made by the Gendar of Gendar. (PROSE: She Came From Another World!)
 * Miles mentions that the Cyberon in the Vault is from the London (PROSE: Cyberon, The Last Dose) and Philadelphia incidents. (PROSE: Silver-Tongued Liars)
 * Archie asks if the London incident involving the Cyberons was anything to do with Canary Wharf before being cut off. (TV: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday, PROSE: Silver-Tongued Liars)
 * Miles believes the Cyberon share a common ancestor, (PROSE: Flight of the Cyberons) but they're separate species. (PROSE: The Blue Scream of Death)


 * Five years later, Giles mentions that Haggard put him in charge of P.R.O.B.E.. (WC: Shadows of Doubt)


 * The Vault contains the corpse of a human soldier that has been ravaged by the claws of a Yeti. (TV: The Web of Fear)
 * Haggard refers to "the infamous Dr. Smith". (TV: Spearhead from Space et al.)
 * Giles wonders if he could persuade Sir Andrew Williams to recruit some additional members to the PROBE team. (PROSE: She Came From Another World!)