The Cybermen (singular Cyberman) were a civilization of cyborg lifeforms.
Cybernetics
The Cybermen were originally human, but became cyborgs, mixtures of organism and machine similar to the Borg. In a process called "cyber-conversion", which was slower than Borg assimilation, they removed their organs and the flesh from their bodies, and replaced these with mechanical and cybernetic counterparts. They retained the human brain and other vestiges.
From the 23rd to 24th centuries, their design changed markedly.
The Cyberman was immensely strong, able to break heavy doors, crush phasers with their hands and lift and throw full-grown humanoids. They were also resistant to the full power of a phaser. However, they were vulnerable to gold dust, which interfered with their respiratory systems and left them open to attack. (TNG - Assimilation² comics: "Issue 3", "Issue 8")
Technology
Like the Borg, the Cybermen used a fleet of starships to aid in their conversion of other life. These Cyber-ships were wheel-shaped. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 2")
Personality
The Cybermen were ruthless and determined, and devoted to survival by any means, particularly conquest and cybernetic conversion. They captured others and forcibly converted them into Cybermen, while destroying those who were threats to them. (TNG - Assimilation² comics: "Issue 3", "Issue 5")
Organization
The Cybermen were organized into the Cyberman Empire, linked by the Cyber-web. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 8") A Cyber Controller was a high-ranking leader of the Cybermen. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 3")
- A lower-ranking Cyber-Leader of the earlier variety of Cyberman appears in the TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 3", as evidenced by its black headpiece and "handle bars". However, it has not been identified as such within a Star Trek source.
History
A product of parallel evolution, the Cybermen arose in many universes (though not the primary universe), converting any organic species they found into Cybermen. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 5")
The Doctor had had several encounters with the Cybermen and knew them well.
In the late 2260s, three Cybermen of the earlier type infiltrated an abandoned relay station on Aprilia III and dominated the Federation archaeologists working there. They used a device inserted in the ear to control them: during the day, they were docile and unemotional; at nights, the devices blocked sensory input to the brain and the victims stood catatonic. On stardate 3368.5, while investigating a lack of communication from the team, Captain James T. Kirk, Mister Spock, Doctor Leonard McCoy and Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott, working with the Doctor, discovered the mind-control and attempted to free the researchers, before the Cybermen attacked. A battle ensued, but the Doctor knew of their weakness to gold and applied his sonic screwdriver to Kirk's communicator to generate a handful of gold dust to disable the lead Cyberman. The Cybermen were defeated and the researchers were liberated. Kirk later arranged for a garrison of Starfleet Security personnel to protect the archaeologists against further Cyberman incursions. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 3")
The Cybermen were somehow able to alter history and bring the two universes together so they could forge an alliance with the Borg to aid them in their conquest and gain their technology. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 4") Prior to 2368, the Cybermen entered into this alliance with the Borg. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 1") Though initial attempts at merging went smoothly, the two factions retained a lingering hostility, aware that one collective would inevitably attempt to assimilate the other. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 6")
The Cybermen remained unknown to the Federation until, on stardate 45635.2, a joint Borg/Cyberman assault force attacked the Federation planet Delta IV and quickly overran it. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 1") The USS Enterprise-D responded to a distress call there and ran into the fleet. Following a brief threat from the Cyber Controller, the fleets attacked and the Enterprise fled into the Paertes Nebula while the Borg/Cyberman fleet moved on to another _target. (TNG - Assimilation² comics: "Issue 2", "Issue 3") The Borg–Cyberman fleet were on a course towards Earth, but stopped at Cogen V to assault that world and capture the Cogenians. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 4")
The unexpected arrival of the Doctor forced the hand of the Cybermen. Aware that their foe could stop them, the Cybermen acted with haste, locating a backdoor in the Borg executive library, they stripped most of the Borg of their higher functions, while also taking care to eliminate backup libraries, while recycling the individual Borg drones for parts. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 6")
The Cyberman ships then totalled the Borg fleet, and took the Cogenians for cyber-conversion before warping off to the Delta Quadrant to assimilate the majority of the Borg. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 4")
To defeat the Cybermen, the crew of the USS Enterprise-D joined forces with the Doctor, boarding the Cyberman flagship via the TARDIS and slowing it down enough for the Enterprise to catch up and attack with a gold-infused particle beam, crippling the craft. Via the Cyber-Controller and the Conduit, the away team was able to restore the Borg Collective who promptly set the Cyberman fleet to self-destruct. With no foothold, the two universes drifted apart once again, ending the influence of the Cybermen in the primary universe. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 8")
Alternate future
In a timeline where Jean-Luc Picard refused to ally with the Borg, the Cybermen fully assimilated their counterparts and were able to use their newfound power to upgrade the major species in both universes in less than two centuries. (TNG - Assimilation² comic: "Issue 5")
Appendix
Within the Doctor Who universe, the origin of one kind of Cybermen was among the Mondasians. In the Star Trek universe, in the VOY short story: "Ambassador at Large", the name "Mondasian" is given to another cybernetic race of similar appearance, dwelling in the Delta Quadrant.
External links
- Cyberman article at Tardis Data Core, the Doctor Who wiki
- Cyberman article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.