Plague of the Cybermen ( novel ) Plague of the Cybermen was one of three Eleventh Doctor novels published in April 2013 . Publisher ' s summary . When the Doctor arrives in the 19th - century village of Klimtenburg , he discovers the residents suffering from some kind of plague - a ' wasting disease ' . The victims face a horrible death – but what ' s worse , the dead seem to be leaving their grave s . The Plague Warriors have returned . The Doctor is confident he knows what ' s really happening ; he understands where the dead go , and he ' s sure the Plague Warriors are just a myth . But as some of the Doctor ' s oldest and most terrible enemies start to awaken he realises that maybe – just maybe – he ' s misjudged the situation . Plot . In the village of Klimtenburg , just as another storm is about to begin , Stefan is digging a grave for one of the many villagers who has been the latest victim of Klimtenburg ' s mysterious plague . His shovel strikes something which he unearths and finds it to be a metal arm – which starts moving . It grabs Stefan ' s throat and kills him by strangulation . In Gustav ' s tavern , the villagers finally begin to notice a stranger who they have seen around the village before , but not paid him much attention to . When they learn the man is a doctor – " the " Doctor – Old Nicolai and Klaus take him to investigate some of the death s . Collecting a schoolteacher named Olga along the way , the group examines Stefan ' s body which is missing a leg , which the Doctor notes has been cut off expertly . They then go to examine Magda who is dying of the plague . Her body is discoloured and she is wearing a Talisman . The Doctor asks about it and Olga explains that Vadim , one of the first victims , found many metal pieces near the churchyard and his wife Nefta made them into jewellery . Many of the villagers have one . The Doctor identifies the Talismans as pieces of metal from a Hapthoid reactor unit and the plague is actually Hapthoid Radiation Sickness . They leave to collect the rest of the Talismans to stop others catching the sickness , leaving Magda who has already died . In her living room which also acts as her classroom , the Doctor and Olga convince one of her pupils , Jedka , to give up her Talisman . With the help of the other children , all of the villagers ' Talismans are quickly collected . The Doctor then decides to investigate the source of the metal and when Olga tells him Stefan wasn ' t the first to be murder ed by the “ Plague Warriors ” , the Doctor fetches Klaus and Nicolai and goes to search the churchyard . They dig up Liza ' s grave and find her body stolen from her coffin and the entrance to a tunnel has been left open . Before getting the chance to search it , some town guards arrive and tell the Doctor he has been summoned to Klimtenburg castle . Another storm begins as the Doctor and Olga arrive and the guard captain , Caplan , takes them to Lord Ernhardt who asks for help with his ill son Victor . Victor is found in bed , being tended to by his mother Marie Ernhardt ( who is thought of as a witch by the villagers for never apparently ageing ) but the Doctor is interrupted from examining him by the arrival of an old man known as the Watchman who has tended to Victor before the Doctor ' s arrival and is opposed to the idea of anyone else treating him . All are made to leave while the Watchman tends Victor alone . In the passage way , the Doctor is full of questions but he asks too much for Lord Ernhardt who becomes stressed and angry . He punches a wall and manages to dislodge a brick . In response , the Doctor takes of Lord Ernhardt ' s glove , revealing that he has the hand of a Cyberman . The Doctor and Olga make to leave the castle but the Doctor takes the underground passageways as a detour instead of using the main door . They discover the Watchman ' s workshop , containing clocks and watches ( from which he derived his title ) as well as more scraps of Cyber metal but they are forced to hide when two men – one named Worm and the other the village butcher Drettle – arrive carrying Liza ' s body and they dump it on a table before leaving . The Doctor examines the body but hides again when the Watchman arrives and begins speaking to an unseen figure with the voice of a Cyberman . The Cyberman overheard the Doctor and Olga and warns him they are still present . The Doctor and Olga charge out the workshop before anyone can give chase . The two run deeper into the passageways , eventually catching sight of Worm and Drettle again and they begin following them . As they do , Olga tells the Doctor the legend of the Plague Warriors . During an unusually ferocious storm , something fell from the sky and crashed into the church . The villagers investigated but they found nothing and the church had been a ruin ever since . The Doctor believes this is more than a story . They end up at the crypt where they find Stefan ' s body missing as well . They exit the passages and tunnels at the ruins of the church . He finds a lightning conductor – guarded by a Cyberman . They retreat back into the tunnels and are rescued through a hole in the ground by Klaus . Later , as the Doctor and Olga rest and recover , the Doctor goes for a quick walk and returns with anti - radiation pills for all the villagers . He then reveals his plan to Olga of going back into the tunnels . On the way , he mentions Bubonic plague and how it came to be associated with the legendary Plague Warriors after the object , really a Cyber Ship , crashed into the church . The Doctor hypothesises that the Cybermen who survived the crash began scavenging any materials they could find in attempts to recover . The pair eventually come across the Cyber Ship where Drettle and Worm are scavenging Cyber parts for the Watchman . The ship is in emergency lighting as it stores power collected from the lighting storms , caused by the Cybermen seeding the atmosphere to create storms . The Doctor guesses the ship is either a colonisation ship or a military vessel as the two of the come across dozens of compartments containing hibernating Cybermen . Before too long , some Cybermen gain enough power to wake up and give chase to the Doctor and Olga . One of the Cybermen is fought off but the other , aided by Cyber Wolves ( converted dogs that went missing from the village ) , continues its pursuit . Caught off guard , Drettle is killed by the Cyberman and Worm is killed by the Cyber Wolves but the Doctor and Olga manage to outrun them and head back to the Watchman ' s workshop . The Watchman is less than happy to see them . The Doctor looks behind a curtain and finds a damaged Cyberman ' s head which begins screaming when exposed to light . The same head has been instructing the Watchman on all his recent projects , acting as a sort of Oracle . Lord and Lady Ernhard appear to find out what is going on when another Cyberman invades the workshop , holding a power converter , declaring “ We will revive . ” Lord Ernhardt confronts the Cyberman and gets into a fight with it , eventually destroying it as the Doctor grabs the power converter , but then the Oracle takes control of Ernhardt ' s cybernetic hand . The Watchman is killed and the hand goes after the power converter but Lady Ernhardt manages to tear it off and smash it . The Doctor does the same with the power converter but he realises the power has already been sent to the Cyber Ship . Escorted by Caplan and the guards , the Doctor and Olga head back to the tavern where a plan of attack is devised . The villagers will act as a distraction for any Cybermen while the Doctor and Olga infiltrate the Cyber Ship again and disable the power . A quick strike is made in the tunnels but when more Cybermen turn out to be active than the Doctor and anticipated , the strike force retreats back to the surface . The Doctor rallies the villagers again and Lord and Lady Ernhardt show up to fight as well . Lady Ernhardt goes with the Doctor and Olga while the villagers fight off the Cybermen in attempts to drain their power from the Cyber Ship . He gives Olga another anti - radiation pill and takes one himself , but not to Lady Ernhardt who is shocked when the Doctor reveals she is a robot . The real Marie Ernhardt died at childbirth and the Watchman built another with her memories . Just then , a Cyberman guarding the churchyard attacks but Lady Ernhardt , despite receiving some damage herself , rips it apart . The Doctor patches her up and then quickly slips deeper into the tunnel . At the castle , the defending villagers wait at the gates are watched by the Cybermen . Then half of the Cybermen turn away . Lord Ernhardt realises they must be going to back to the tunnels so they can emerge from the castle and attack on both sides . Ernhardt rushes the defenders inside to collapse the tunnels . The Doctor rejoins Olga and Marie , hoping he was successful in what he did but the tunnels collapse , trapping them with the Cybermen , one of which approaches them chanting “ Delete . Delete . Delete . ” The battle continues at the castle gates as the Cybermen begin scaling the hillside . Caplan manages to send a Cyberman tumbling down to the ground but watches as it gets back up and begins climbing again . In the tunnels , the Doctor , Marie and Olga manage to dig their way past the rubble and they meet up with Klaus and Lord Ernhardt . They collapse the rest of the tunnel , burying the perusing Cyberman . The villagers begin struggling to continue the fight and so the Doctor orders a retreat into the tunnels while he goes to save Victor Ernhardt who he finds has the body of a Cyberman , hence why the Watchman was unwilling to let anyone else examine him . Klaus and Nicolai oversee the retreat of the villagers as the Cybermen advance through the courtyard . Jedka demands to know where her father is but no one can give an answer . Meanwhile , the partially - converted Victor is freed from the control of the Cyber - network by the Doctor ' s sonic screwdriver . He takes Victor to a high point of the castle , hoping to charge him with lightning with can be used to overload the Cybermen with a sudden blast of energy once Victor is reconnected with the Cyber - network . Some Cybermen follow them up the tower but Marie arrives to help . She throws one of the Cybermen off the edge of the castle – and herself with it . Victor is energised but , not connected to the Cyber - network , there is no effect . As the Cybermen begin to reach the hiding villagers , the Doctor and Victor are taken to the Watchman ' s workshop where the Doctor is ordered to repair the power converter . But the Doctor reveals the Watchman ' s Oracle , which the Cybermen had used to manipulate the Watchman into helping them revive without the Watchman truly knowing what he was doing . Victor grabs the head and is reconnected with the Cyber - network , sending the burst of energy through the Cybermen and causing them all to explode . The villagers in the tunnels are also saved but Victor , drained of his energy , dies in his father ' s arms . The villagers emerge from the castle and inspect the remains of the Cybermen . Jedka is fearful for her father until Caplan , presumed dead , reunites with his family . The Doctor spends the next day in the workshop and later ensures Lord Ernhardt that the Cyber Ship powered down after the Cybermen exploded , that the radiation would fade in time and all materials in the workshop were destroyed or made safe , but he recommends that the tunnels are sealed . Ernhardt thanks him as he leaves . As he does , someone else appears at the doorway – a rebuilt Marie Ernhardt . The Doctor meets up with Olga and Klaus who are on a walk since the weather has improved . He notes they are holding hands but offers no further comment . Without a proper farewell , he heads back to the TARDIS and takes off . He shows signs of weariness and thinks to himself , “ I ' m getting too young for this sort of thing , ” and continues his lonely travels . Audio release . The story was released as an audiobook read by David Warner , with Nicholas Briggs providing the voice of the Cybermen .