Friday, March 9, 2007

The Twin Dilemma XI

63. INT. AZMAEL’S TARDIS (DAY)

Azmael opens the door. The Doctor emerges, carefully, face riddled with concentration as if controlling his body is near impossible. Once outside, he turns and faces the others, but does not register their presence.

PERI
D-Doctor?

DOCTOR
My life closed twice before its close
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me.

AZMAEL
Doctor?

DOCTOR
Emily Dickinson. Poem number one thousand seven hundred and thirty two.

Peri takes a step forward and the Doctor suddenly shouts in anguish.

DOCTOR
Thou craggy knob! The very core of my being is on fire with guilt and rage or maybe just indigestion!! Excuse me while I miss the sky.

He collapses, convulsing. Peri bends over him.

PERI
You said it’d fix him.

AZMAEL
No I didn’t. Only his body.

The Doctor convulses again and seems to recover.

PERI
Doctor...

DOCTOR
I’m all right, Jamie!

PERI
Peri.

DOCTOR
Peri. Is it Tuesday?

PERI
How should I know?

DOCTOR
Yes, yes yes. I know you.

PERI
I’m Peri.

DOCTOR
I know that, Jamie. I mean you.

He points at Azmael.

AZMAEL
I’m sure we’ve never met.

DOCTOR
Azal? No... That’s not it. Azael? No, just a second. Azazel?

AZMAEL
His mind is splintered.

DOCTOR
That’s it! Is it? Yes, it is – Azmael! Cardinal Azmael, tutor at Prydon Academy, the architect of the Cultural Revolution, short lived albeit.

AZMAEL
You’re unbalanced.

DOCTOR
Am I?

The Doctor leaps to his feet. All fatigue and sickness gone.

DOCTOR
I’d stake this life on it. You’re Azmael. It’s an honour, sir.

AZMAEL
The honour is all yours.

DOCTOR
That is what I meant. But... you’re dead, aren’t you? Peri, am I hallucinating?

PERI
Hard to tell.

DOCTOR
But you died, sir. On Gallifrey.

AZMAEL
Is that what they told you?

The Doctor is horrified.

DOCTOR
You’re not surprised. You were part of it. You sold out!

AZMAEL
What do you mean?

DOCTOR
That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? The new High Council let you go on the condition you never came back and then told the rest of Gallifrey that you died in that impulse staser rampage... you doctrinaire! You back-stabbing treacherous coward!

Azmael grabs him by the lapels.

AZMAEL
And who are you to pass judgement on me?

DOCTOR
One of your students, sir.

AZMAEL
I had thousands of students. And you I do not recall.

DOCTOR
I am known as the Doctor, sir.

AZMAEL
Not known by me. Who are you?

The Doctor is deflated.

DOCTOR
The Doctor! Thete! Theta Sigma. Don’t you remember?

Azmael releases the Doctor, disgusted.

AZMAEL
Not particularly. The hoardes of mindless sheep paraded for me each class was not something I considered worth remembering.

DOCTOR
We remembered you, sir.

AZMAEL
Did you? And did you do anything about it?

DOCTOR
What part of the phrase ‘Cultural Revolution’ escaped you, sir?

AZMAEL
The one that you said was short-lived. The Time Lords don’t change.

DOCTOR
Don’t they? The Time Lords have pledged to protect races weaker than themselves, to allow civilizations to grow and develop at their own pace. Oh, they’ll always claim they never interfere, but there are terrible things in corners of the universe and the Time Lords will not shirk in their responsibilities.

AZMAEL
And what visionary lead the Time Lords out of their rut?

The Doctor steps closer to Azmael, now doing the intimidation.

DOCTOR
Me.


64. MODEL SHOT

We see Earth from space.


65. SPECIAL INDICENTS ROOM (NIGHT)

More chaotic. A tired but alert Elena stands by the communicator. A sillibant voice is heard.

ALIEN
Estimated time of arrival in Trilop Major approximately two hours.

ELENA
You must improve on that. Use your emergency supplies.

ALIEN
That is inadvisable.

ELENA
The forces at Joconda are under attack and need urgent assistance!

A beat.

ALIEN
Very well. Emergency storage now being tapped in. Communication is no longer possible. Will contact again when arrived. ETA one hour and reducing.

The voice turns to static, then silence. Elena speaks softly.

ELENA
I just hope it’s quick enough.


66. INT. AZMAEL’S TARDIS (DAY)

As before.

AZMAEL
You’re a newly regenerated maniac probably off Gallifrey for the first time. I don’t have the patience or the opportunity to listen to your fevered rantings now or ever.

DOCTOR
Time does change people. First the High Council, and Mestor, who will you sell your soul to next, Azmael? Cyber Controller? Dalek Emperor? General Sontar? The Terrible Zodin?

Noma strides into the TARDIS.

NOMA
I see you are recovered.

His voice changes.

NOMA/MESTOR
Time Lord.

DOCTOR
Ah. Mestor. How nice. You feeling better? Now, this scheme of yours. Kidnap the twins for their mathematical skill, add Azmael’s TARDIS linked to that generator matrix out there, plus a starving planet and what do we have?

PERI
A mess?

DOCTOR
A Time Shifter, Peri. The ability to fast forward and rewind time precisely as one chooses, like a running film in either direction.

PERI
What good will that do?

DOCTOR
Eternity in an hour, Peri. Harvest season every day, all the tedious waiting cut out.

AZMAEL
We can save Joconda with it.

DOCTOR
Pretty foolish to let it get this bad, Azmael.

AZMAEL
What happened to ‘sir’?

DOCTOR
Guess, ‘sir’.

NOMA/MESTOR
Are you quite finished?

DOCTOR
We’re all finished, Mestor. Azmael’s been complaining about your plan to shift the flow of linear continuity on Muston and Senial. VERY impressive. But that Minister chap mentioned a fleet, not the small flotilla you wiped out. They’re probably on their way here. Viston seeds and chacaws won’t stop them. You seem determined to destroy this planet, don’t you?

NOMA/MESTOR
You tell me.

DOCTOR
I will. What’s more, if I can hold my mind together after what you did to me, I might be able to help you.

AZMAEL
And how can you help?

DOCTOR
Well, refolding the time continuum is not for amateurs, you know. The Sylvest Twins may have the mathematical skills but I have the empirical knowledge.

So saying, he strides out of the doors.


67. INT. OPERATION CONTROL (DAY)

One of the Jocondan guard swings to face the Doctor as he emerges from Azamel’s TARDIS. The others follow, including Noma who is now himself again.

JOCONDAN/MESTOR
What do you mean?

DOCTOR
The practical experience that can guarantee success. One tiny flaw in the calculations, one missed bit of data by the Shift Computer and time could fly off in any direction – canceling us out of existence either way.

NOMA
Better Joconda is destroued than we slowly starve to death.

JOCONDAN/MESTOR
I already have a Time Lord to serve me.

DOCTOR
I’m rather special as Time Lords go.

JOCONDAN/MESTOR
Indeed. You are sadly lacking in charisma.

AZMAEL
You’re being very foolish, Doctor.

DOCTOR
It’s debatable who the fool is. If you intend you blow up this corner of the universe, then I’ll leave you to it. Although I’m sure wouldn’t be disappointed in having me around. Well? Are you interested in my aide?

JOCONDAN/MESTOR
Why should I want you to help me?

The Doctor is speaking with a passionate gleam in his wide, staring eyes.

DOCTOR
I’ve spent 700 years saving the universe. Wasted all those centuries defeating half-hearted, badly-thought-out lunatic masterplans. This time will be different! This time I'm going to face an actually COMPETENT scheme -- even if I have to fix and enhance the plans and hand it to you on a plate! I believe I was brought here to aide your cause!

Everyone is now staring at him, wondering if he’s gone nuts. Even Mestor sounds uncertain.

JOCONDAN/MESTOR
Brought by whom?

The Doctor gives them a truly deranged smile.

DOCTOR
Providence! Who else?

The Jocondan laughs.

JOCONDAN/MESTOR
Then you may serve me, Doctor.

AZMAEL
This is my TARDIS and my project.

JOCONDAN/MESTOR
Not for much longer.

DOCTOR
And unlike you, Azmael, I’m happy to help with this ridiculous scheme.

PERI
You can’t be serious!

The Doctor stares at her and speaks slowly in a deep voice.

DOCTOR
I have already spoken.

AZMAEL
If you make just one error, time itself will shatter.

The Doctor waves his hand airily, shrugging.

DOCTOR
Oh, who cares about that?

PERI
What about all the innocents out there?

The Doctor glares at her.

DOCTOR
Who in this life is purely innocent?

PERI
Well, not you that’s for sure!

Two guards cross the room and grab Peri by her arms, dragging her back from the Doctor.

JOCONDAN/MESTOR
You may serve me, Doctor, but should I sense any deception on your part and you shall not live to regret it. Remember. I shall be inside your minds. Wherever you are.

The Doctor seems only half listening.

DOCTOR
Oh, absolutely. But before we start work, I want Peri to stay here with us.

JOCONDAN/MESTOR
Why?

DOCTOR
To assist me.

JOCONDAN/MESTOR
Her mind contains little.

PERI
Hey!

JOCONDAN/MESTOR
Bar a scant knowledge of botany. Certainly nothing that would assist you in your task.

PERI
When he says ‘assist’, he means it metaphorically.

JOCONDAN/MESTOR
Does he?

PERI
Oh yeah.

DOCTOR
If I am to do my best work, it will be useful for me to have a certain inner tranquility. And that tranquility is only inspired by the presence of Peri here.

PERI
I’m his intellectual prop.

The Doctor glares at her, scandalized.

NOMA
A very pretty one.

DOCTOR
SILENCE, WRETCH!

Noma jumps at the sudden mood swing. Everyone takes a step back from the Doctor, who is now shaking with rage.

DOCTOR
You stupid bubble-brained slime crawling idiots! Apsaheinsons! You’re all apsaheinsons! I AM SURROUNDED BY APSAHEINSONS! We’ve all gone to a LOT of trouble to get to this point and that is ALL the trouble I intend to have. We are going to use the Time Shift to turn Muston and Senial into larder worlds, send these stunted geniuses back to where they came from and avert a war. You will leave us in peace to work and provide us with a bottle of good voxnic to drink. If you don’t then YOU, Noma, will be the first to die! Now get out of here as fast as your legs can carry you – WHILE YOU’VE STILL GOT LEGS TO KICK WITH!!!!

Most of the Jocondans leg it. The one possessed by Mestor sways as his presence leaves him, then he runs out. Noma is left, near speechless with rage.

DOCTOR
You don’t seem very popular. HAVE YOU GOT FOWL PEST?!?

NOMA
You will suffer for this humiliation. All of you.

The Doctor steps forward, quiet and menacing.

DOCTOR
Childish threats are best left to children, Noma.

AZMAEL
Go away. We have work to do.

NOMA
The Lord Mestor can kill you all the moment he wishes it!

Noma turns and strides out with as much dignity as he can.

PERI
He’s a slug. How can he kill anyone?

AZMAEL
By triggering an embolism in their brain.

PERI
Embolism?

AZMAEL
Little bubbles go very well in champagne and purgatives but not in the blood.

The Doctor is staring blankly into space.

PERI
Doctor?

DOCTOR
What?

PERI
What’s a ‘apsahigh...’

DOCTOR
‘Apsahienson’. It’s a descriptive word used by the Malvordenites of the planet Malvordae in the eleventh galactic cluster beyond Andromeda. It means "a person with a head full of sky". Rather interesting, really, considering the Malvordenites don’t actually have any heads as such...

The Doctor is now relaxed and cheerful again. Peri shakes her head.

PERI
You’re a complete loonbag!

The Doctor’s good humor vanishes.

DOCTOR
I just saved your life! AGAIN! And mine as well, plus letting us both into the heart of this abberation and small thanks to you! Poor pusillanimous Peri, what a pitiful performance!

PERI
What’s wrong with you?

The Doctor blinks, totally surprised.

DOCTOR
Nothing is wrong with me.

PERI
What has Mestor done to you?

DOCTOR
Nothing! I’m at the peak of mental health, I’ve never been better!

PERI
Never been better? You’re brash, egotistical, arrogant and disgusting!

DOCTOR
Hah! You missed out God-like, all-knowing and sexy!

He twirls and strides away with a flourish.


68. INT. PALACE CORRIDORS (DAY)

A troup of Jocondans march past, followed by the Minister, Fabian and Sylvest, then more Jocondans. They come to a halt at a junction.

SYLVEST
I was sure they were going to tear us to pieces.

MINISTER
Don’t be stupid. They spared us for a reason and your’s is obvious – if the Twins are refusing to cooperate, what better leverage can you have than their own father? It’s ironic: the one of us with the best chance of survival fears most for his life.

SYLVEST
That’s not irony, Minister, that’s natural selection. What about you two?

MINISTER
If the Master of Joconda wants to stop the fleet, he’ll need us.

FABIAN
He couldn’t guarantee they’d listen to just one of us.

SYLVEST
So we’ve lost basically.

The Minister gives his stomach churning smile.

MINISTER
Not yet. Not by a long shot.

Hugo steps from behind a pillar, holding a Jocondan gun. He fires once and the Jocondan closest to the trio cries out and collapses, quite dead.

HUGO
General! Come on! Run for it!

Hugo shoots down two more Jocondans. The rest scatter. The Minister and Fabian run to join Hugo. One of the shot Jocondans comes to life and rugby-tackles the slower Sylvest, dragging him to the ground. Fabian hestitates.

MINISTER
Leave him – they need him alive, remember!

Fabian, torn, turns and follows the Minister. With a parting salvo, Hugo follows. They race down the passage to where the open hatch is located.

HUGO
In there!

The Minister wastes no time. As the Jocondans start to march down the corridor after the fugitives, we see Hugo scramble through the hole and drag the hatch closed. The guards wander past, unseeing.


69. INT. VENTILATION DUCT (DAY)

The other side of the hatch. The three humans sit in the gloom listening to the loud footsteps slowly fade to silence. Their breathing eases as they calm down.

FABIAN
Lang, how did you get here?

Hugo looks at him for a long moment, clearly thinking as quick as he can.

HUGO
The raid on the complex. They were using some teleporter machine, a stardis or something. I smuggled myself aboard and when it landed in the palace, I snuck out again. I’ve been scouting the area, trying to find the twins.

The Minister is impressed. Not much, but he’s impressed.

MINISTER
Commendable conduct. Now what?

HUGO
What do you mean?

MINISTER
Now we’re stuck in this air duct, what are we going to do now?

HUGO
I dunno!

FABIAN
We’re alive and we’re free, Minister. Count your blessings.

MINISTER
Before, when we were prisoners, we had an opportunity to study our opponent safe in the knowledge he had no reason to kill us. If this escape attempt has annoyed him enough, we are in more danger than ever before.

FABIAN
Assuming we don’t suffocate in here first. Have you worked out a layout of the palace itself, Lang?

Lang grins, very embarassed. Fabian sighs.

FABIAN
I thought not. What have you discovered?

HUGO
A few supply cupboards, all empty, oh, and an ACC.

MINISTER
A what?

HUGO
Auxiliary Communications Centre.

MINISTER
I know what an ACC is. Do you know how to find it?

HUGO
Yes.

MINISTER
Than we have our plan.

FABIAN
Contact Earth and warn the fleet?

MINISTER
Yes.

HUGO
But the Jocondans’ Master... It’s too powerful.

MINISTER
Once the war fleets are warned of his abilities, the balance of power will tilt in our favor. Whatever he is capable of, I doubt he could destroy the fleet once the first salvo of Baston torpedoes are fired.

FABIAN
He could bounce them back?

The failsafes would trigger an explosion automatically. He’s lost.

FABIAN
ONLY if we can warn Earth.

MINISTER
Well now, that depends on whether there are still any guards outside.

Fabian and Hugo exchange looks and then turn and carefully lift the hatch.


70. INT. PALACE CORRIDORS (DAY)

It’s clear. Hugo, Fabian and the Minister emerge.


71. INT. OPERATIONS CONTROL (DAY)

The Doctor has removed a hatch from the side of the main tube and is peering into it. The others watch on, troubled. Azmael is sipping from a bottle of voxnic.

DRAK
Everything is in readiness, Master Azmael.

AZMAEL
The final element is on it’s way, apparently.

The Doctor stands up.

DOCTOR
Remarkable. There’s no focussing crystal, no comupter control, no internal regulation... This machine has no way of adjusting or calibrating the time field. Just an on/off switch. It’s a bit of abstract sculpture with the potential to rip causality apart.

PERI
Is that what you need the twins for?

AZMAEL
Yes.

DOCTOR
Why? The control system of your TARDIS could do just as well.

AZMAEL
Block transfer computation requires the originality of the living mind.

DOCTOR
You could have at least made a start on it! As an auxilliary control system, a back-up? You haven’t even tried to get this thing working without the Twins and I have absolutely no idea why you would help build a contraption like this! You must know it won’t work.

DRAK
Lord Mestor designed it.

DOCTOR
And Master Azmael approved it? Passing the blame is feeble, Drak.

AZMAEL
Rather like your attempts at wit, Doctor.

DOCTOR
When I want your opinion, Judas Iscariot, I’ll kick it out of you!

PERI
Oh, leave him alone, Doctor. What did he do that was so bad, anyway?

DOCTOR
I thought even you would understand that, Peri. He sold out, that’s what he did. Sold out. And people died fighting for the belief in him. I believed in him! I agreed with him so much I would never have even considered leaving Gallifrey. And all of it a pack of manipulative lies from a lackey of the High Council.

AZMAEL
Same as ever. Protesting at the top of his voice about events he has no idea about.

DOCTOR
Oh, shut up, Aldrich Ames! I’m busy trying to work out why the Godfather of all caterpillars wanted you to make this heap of temporal ironmongery. There’s method to Mestor’s madness and there’s something... Something important...

The Doctor looks up at Peri suddenly.

DOCTOR
About you, I’m sure.

PERI
What? What about me? Was it bad?

DOCTOR
Something about you... and Eden. Yes, the Gates of Eden. Ring any bells?

PERI
You mean that old Bob Dylan song?

DOCTOR
Song? Song? SONG?! What song would that be?

Peri is deadpan.

PERI
The Gates of Eden.

DOCTOR
Oh. That song. No... no, something else. Something... malignant.

The Doctor watches Peri wander off, suspicion in his eyes.

DOCTOR
As I wait for succeeding kings
And I try to harmonize with songs
The lonesome sparrow sings
There are no kings inside
The Gates of Eden


72. INT. PALACE CORRIDORS (DAY)

Hugo creeps down the passage, gun in hand. Checking the junction is clear, he waves on Fabian and the Minister, and they hurry onwards.

to be continued...

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