Mobile conversion unit

Mobile conversion unit s were a type of Cyber-conversion unit used by the Cybermen of the Cyber-Mainframe.

Appearance
As Josh Carter described them, mobile conversion units resembled giant metal spiders. They possessed at least six legs, which connected to a large, circular "belly", a Cyber-conversion chamber. (AUDIO: Code Silver)

Functions
Mobile conversion units were used by the Cybermen of the Cyber-Mainframe as a highly fast method of performing Cyber-conversion. In particular, they were used as part of the dimension seeding protocols; the Cybermen would form a bridgehead from one universe to another and would secure a foothold, with mobile conversion units being used to slowly increase the Cybermen's numbers. However, this was described by a partially-converted Petronella Osgood as "slow", as the Cybermen did not convert many people when securing an initial foothold on a universe; indeed, one Cyber-Commander analysed that of the 93% of humans eliminated on the Fortress Island of N-Space, 64% of the humans had been deleted, and only 29% had been upgraded.

Despite this flaw, mobile conversion units were also useful as a form of hunter drone; Cyber-Controllers could broadcast updates through the Cyber-Mainframe to them containing medical data on a small number of individuals at one time, and the mobile conversion units could locate the priority targets and instantly convert them. However, the mobile conversion units' scanners could not detect their targets if they were hiding in an area protected from deep-range scans, although their logic circuits could be used to calculate whether or not the targets were still within scanning range.

Weaknesses
In terms of physical weaknesses, mobile conversion units, like most Cybermen, could be destroyed with grenades. (AUDIO: Code Silver) They could also be temporarily shut down if their power connection to the Cyber-Mainframe was severed. Additionally, their power supply, like those of the other Cybermen, could be poisoned, such as if their power connection attempted to draw power from universe where the Cybermen's attempts at dimension seeding failed. (AUDIO: Master of Worlds)

They could also be highly pre-judgemental when identifying the species of an unknown target. For example, one mobile conversion unit identified Josh Carter as human based on his dialect alone; this mistake would later prove vital to Josh's survival when another mobile conversion unit tried to upgrade him, (AUDIO: Code Silver) as Josh was able to use his Nestene enhancements to quietly take command of the conversion spider and discharge its power supply as an attack against the conversion unit itself, a Cyber-Controller, a partially-upgraded Osgood and several other Cybermen. (AUDIO: Master of Worlds)