Curse of the Cyberons (audio story)

Curse of the Cyberons was a Cyberon short story by Chris McAuley, crossing over with the universe of Bram Stoker's Dracula, as developed by McAuley with Stoker's descendant. It was originally written for the charity Doctor Who Annual 1988 released by Terraqueous Distributors. Although the Annual was otherwise unlicensed, the Cyberons' appearance was endorsed and promoted by BBV Productions. It acted as a companion to Arcbeatle Press's Cyberon, fleshing out the Cyberon War and reusing the rank of Cyberon Controller introduced in Flight of the Cyberons.

In August 2022, BBV gave the story an official commercial release within the Audio Adventures in Time & Space. It was performed by Terry Molloy, best-known as the voice of Davros. Although he was the only cast member, it was not a mere reading of the book, with sound effects used throughout to match the narrative and a voice filter being used to enable Molloy to voice the Cyberons themselves.

Publisher's summary
In the depths of space, an ancient dark force of the past encounters evil forces of the future - the Cyberons!

Plot
The Demeter, an Earth Alliance cruiser, is transporting a high-security stasis pod from an Alpha Centauri base to a secret space station orbiting Mars where new weapons against the Cyberons are being developed. However, they are ambushed by a group of multiple Cyberon battlecruisers. Captain Tom Williams tries to coordinate a response, but knows that his forces are outnumbered. When the Cyberons transmit a call to surrender and let them board The Demeter, Williams decides to acquiesce while telling Commander Walker to ready her troops, hoping that, while they were outmatched in space battle, his crew can hold off the Cyberons within the ship long enough to send out a distress call.

Williams makes his way to the hangar, hoping to participate in the battle himself, but when he gets there, the Cyberons are already routing his men, with his security chief, Brady, being beheaded in front of him. A Cyberon recognises him as the captain and talks him into surrendering and helping them take custody of the artefact The Demeter is transporting. Williams accepts, hoping to still get a chance to activate the ship's self-destruct system. They make their way to the freezing cryogenic chambers, lined with stasis pods, where Williams's attempt to make a run for it fails, with him instead pushed by the lead Cyberon towards the artefact — an evil-looking, humanoid head, covered in cybernetic implants and data ports connecting it to the computer of the ship.

It has already been placed inside a thawing tube to be brought out of cryo-stasis. The process finishes, and, as soon as the tube opens, the head's eyes snap open. Questioned by the Cyberons, the head identifies himself as Dracul. He confirms that he is unharmed by his 66-day-long stasis, and has, in fact, been conscious the entire time, hearing everything that happened across the ship. He also tells the Cyberons he knows who they are and what they can do. The Cyberons explain that they need a new, durable, intelligent Cyber Controller, and wished to convert him into one. Dracula accepts and immediately demands a new body, with the Cyberons immediately complying and wiring the head onto a specially-constructed, imposing cybernetic body. When the process is complete, a victorious Dracula, announcing his intention to "take [his] rightful place as a galactic leader amongst the treasures contained in the stars", finally kills Williams to mark the occasion. "The New Cyberon Era had begun."

Characters

 * Captain Tom Williams
 * Chief Brady
 * Commander Lynn Walker
 * Doctor Michaels
 * Dracula

Crew

 * Written by Chris McAuley
 * Performed by Terry Molloy
 * Sound design & Producer: Bill Baggs
 * Theme music: Mike Neilson
 * Cover art: James Lee
 * Cover design: Warren Lewis
 * Original Cyberon design: Terry Cooper

Worldbuilding

 * The war between the Earth Alliance and the Cyberons has been going on for "almost a century". In the last few decades, the Alliance has gained more of an advantage, but it is a pyrrhic victory as planets liberated from the Cyberons' control always turn out to have been reduced to lifeless mechanical wasteland by the occupation.
 * The Demeter has ion shielding.
 * Each Cyberon battlecruiser's main weapon is a photon pulse gun. Its fire is referred to as photon blasts.
 * Williams's side-arm is a laser pistol which he had "augmented with pearl ivory grips for better stability". Others in the crew wield blasters.
 * The Demeter is equipped with turbo lifts, but they don't work once the ship's power supply is depleted.
 * Cyberon science officers have a "blue symbolic marking" on their necks to identify their rank.
 * Centuries ago, Dracula was borne to the shores of England on a sailing ship also called the Demeter. He eventually killed its captain.

Continuity

 * Cyberons are said to be able to rewrite their victim's minds using "electronic waves". Cyberon technology had previously been shown to incorporate psycho-wavelengths. (PROSE: The Blue Scream of Death)
 * Dracula is turned into a Cyberon Controller. (PROSE: Flight of the Cyberons)
 * A version of Dracula survives into the far future and takes control of a space-faring empire. Similar events were foreseen as a possible future by Godfather Morlock of Faction Paradox, who suspected that Dracula's forces became the Enemy. (PROSE: A Bloody (And Public) Domaine)