A Man of Two Minds

A Man of Two Minds was a novel written by Jackson Lake and published in 1860. It featured "the Doctor", "Mr Smith", and the Cybermen. Though ostensibly fictional, many speculated it was actually an autobigraphical account of Lake's true experiences. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters) Jackson Lake did in fact have a period where he believed himself to be the Doctor and encountered the Cybermen. (TV: The Next Doctor) The alientologist Justin Richards included an excerpt from the novel in his alien exposé The Secret Lives of Monsters. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters)

An Extract of the Novel
“a sword from a display on the Reverend’s wall. So armed, the redoubtable Mr Smith turned at once to do battle with the metal demon. But even as he struck out at the creature, a second, identical to the first, appeared. Smith was driven back, his sword-blows as nothing to these demonic beast of metal.

The Doctor himself, meanwhile, remained in a fugue. Smith’s words and the memories stirred from finding the strange apparatus had him all befuddled. Again, it was as if he was two people within a single body. Two minds vying for control. And yet, there was a memory that stirred which might help.

As the air resounded to the noise of sword on steel, blade on metal man, the Doctor hunted desperately for the infostamp which Smith had been forced to discard when the Cybermen attacked. A last, he spied the device, and gathered it up with an urgency born of desperation. If he could but recall how he had tampered with the device before, then perhaps all was not yet lost.

But the Cybermen were driving Smith back up the stairs, despite his bravery and skilled swordsmanship. As they reached the upper floor, it seemed that all was lost. The two metal men closed in, as they thought, for the kill. They were to be disappointed.

For at that moment, the Doctor finally managed to open the capped end of the infostamp device. A lighting fire was emitted, blazing across the room to strike the Cybermen. With a noise that cracked the ears and echoed round the building, their metal heads exploded into fragments. Smith stepped back amazed. The Doctor calmly returned the cap to the device’s terminus. The two fingered, devoid of head, crumbled lifeless to the floor.

For several moments, all was silence. Then the urgency of their situation bore down upon the two comrades in arms, and”