(ROLL OPENING CREDITS)
1. INT. AZMAEL’S LAB (DAY)
A re-edit of the cliffhanger. The snarling DOCTOR is advancing on PERI, who is transfixed by his madness like a rabbit in the headlights.
DOCTOR
You are evil. THOROUGHLY evil.
PERI
Doctor stop it!
She backs away. He closes in.
DOCTOR
An alien spy! Sent here to spy on me! And we all know the fate of alien spies...
PERI
Doctor, this is beyond a joke...
The Doctor seems to snap out of it. The moment Peri relaxes, the Doctor lunges at her and begins to throttle her.
(FINISH OPENING CREDITS)
(THE TWIN DILEMMA)
(EPISODE FOUR: ENDGAME)
2. INT. AZMAEL’S LAB (CON’T)
As before. Peri is struggling to fend off the Doctor, but starting to pass out.
DOCTOR
No! I’m not letting you hurt anyone else! I’ve lost everyone thanks to you!
Peri moves her right knee violently. The Doctor groans and Peri smacks both his ears with her hands. Kicking him away, Peri scrambles to her feet. The Doctor grabs her by the neck, and one of her flailing fist smashes him in the face. Peri turns and shoulder charges him against the console. A mirror falls and strikes the floor, shattering. The Doctor is beginning to laugh hysterically and he slowly closes in on Peri.
PERI
One step nearer and I cripple you!
DOCTOR
I lost all of them because of you!
PERI
What?
DOCTOR
My friends are gone and dead and they aren’t coming back!
PERI
And that’s YOUR fault! Not mine! YOU killed Kamelion! Turlough left YOU for ME to look after! I never even met the others. I don’t know if I can stop you killing me, but I’m not taking the blame for YOUR mistakes!
The Doctor looks hurt. Then he shrugs.
DOCTOR
Well, in a perfect universe...
He lunges at her again. Peri grabs a chunk of mirror and slashes the Doctor’s cheek with it. He howls and lets go. Peri shoves him back. He lands on the floor, blood running from his face and a crazed animal look in his eye. Before he can move, Peri dives on top of him, pinning him to the ground. The Doctor twists to throw her off... and sees his reflection in the mirror. He stares at it in horror.
DOCTOR
No...
The reflection becomes that of Mestor. The reflection begins to chant, faster and faster.
MESTOR
Kill... kill... kill! Kill! Killkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkillkill!
DOCTOR
NO!
The Doctor screws up his eyes and a blue glow seeps from his face.
MESTOR
NOOOO!
The reflection of Mestor blurs, fragments and disappears. The scream echoes and re echoes into meaningless noise which fades to silence. The Doctor is still sprawled beneath Peri, too exhausted to move. She is shivering with rage, high on adrenaline.
PERI
If you touch me again I will slash you to pieces. And if you change into someone else, I’ll slash him and over and over again until it stops. You hear me?
She grabs the Doctor’s hair and wrenches his head up. The Doctor is completely dazed, he has less than no idea what the hell is going on. Peri holds the shard of the mirror up against his throat.
PERI
I SAID, DO YOU HEAR ME?
The Doctor’s too out of it to even register his danger.
DOCTOR
Course I can hear you... What happened?
PERI
You tried to kill me!
The Doctor looks like he’s about to pass out.
DOCTOR
That’s not good at all, is it?
He does pass out. Peri, shaking, drops the shard of the mirror. She’s cut her hand. She tears some material from her jacket and begins to bandage it, breathing hard.
3. INT. COMMUNICATIONS ROOM (DAY)
FABIAN struggles with the controls. The MINISTER watches on while HUGO stands by the door on guard. It has gotten slightly brighter.
FABIAN
No good. The power’s too low to activate the screen.
MINISTER
And now we don’t even know if you’ve managed to kill the rest of us while committing suicide. Brilliant work, General!
FABIAN
Don’t winge at me, Minister. You’ve sacrificed a whole star system and our flotilla for a bit of cheap public relations points!
HUGO
And you’re about to lose a great deal more.
MINISTER
What are you driveling about now?
The Minister turns to face Hugo, who is aiming his gun at them both.
FABIAN
What the hell are you doing, Lieutenant?!
HUGO/MESTOR
If you wish to live long enough to find out, you will obey me.
MINISTER
Lang?
HUGO/MESTOR
I am Mestor the Magnificent! And my ascension to godhood is only just beginning!
4. INT. OPERATIONS CONTROL (DAY)
JOCONDANS stand guard over ROMULUS and REMUS. Before them, DRAK holds SYLVEST still while NOMA aims a gun at his face. AZMAEL paces up and down.
ROMULUS
Whatever it is, father, tell them!
REMUS
We don’t want you to die.
ROMULUS
You’re the only one who cares.
REMUS
Not like mother.
AZMAEL
Tell them, Sylvest. Or I kill you and take what I need by more cruder methods. But just as effective and far, far more painful.
ROMULUS & REMUS
Father, please.
Sylvest swallows nervously.
AZMAEL
Noma...
Noma nods and puts his finger on the trigger. An agonizing pause.
SYLVEST
All right! All right! I’ll do it!
AZMAEL
Tell them.
Noma lowers the weapon and he and Drak shove Sylvest towards the Twins.
SYLVEST
Boys...
ROMULUS & REMUS
Father?
Sylvest looks the most uneasy we’ve ever seen him. So it’s bad.
SYLVEST
No. I am not your father. I never have been your father. In any possible way, shape or form. You don’t have a father. You don’t have a mother. You were not born from a human being. Because... because you’re not human beings. Either of you.
The Twins stare at him, unable to comprehend.
ROMULUS & REMUS
Then what are we?
SYLVEST
Alone? Nothing. Together, you are the most powerful computer intelligence ever created.
5. INT. AZMAEL’S LAB (DAY)
The Doctor is unsteadily trying to walk the length of his room. He looks very pale and ill. Peri is as far away as she can get, hugging herself as if cold and looking at him with the dirtiest look you can find pre-watershed. The Doctor is mumbling to himself.
DOCTOR
Impossible... In-built resistance to any sort of violence... except in self defence... and even then... only a modicum... a modicum of force...
PERI
You had another of your fits.
DOCTOR
No... not a fit... Not that time... Mestor... He got inside my head. Just a sliver. Enough to destablize everything. And you, you, you were able to get through... Focus things. That’s why he had to kill you. Why he made me... and I...
PERI
And all that stuff about Tegan and Turlough and Kamelion? Blaming me for that?
The Doctor, panting, looks at her miserably.
DOCTOR
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.
PERI
Yeah, well I don’t accept it.
DOCTOR
But Mestor’s gone now! I purged him from myself... You can see that can’t you?
Peri’s anger is building.
PERI
No I can’t!
DOCTOR
Don’t you see, he’s gone! It was him who wanted to kill you and we stopped him!
PERI
Only when I beat you! You would let him kill me.
DOCTOR
No! I couldn’t! Not to you...
PERI
YOU TRIED TO KILL ME!
DOCTOR
But I didn’t! You’re safe!
He’s getting angry too, starting to breath easier.
PERI
You could have killed me, you maniac!
DOCTOR
That’s beside the point!
PERI
NOT FOR ME, IT ISN’T!
She jabs him roughly in the shoulder. He backs away, wincing as she punctuates her fury.
PERI
I can’t regenerate! If I get killed that’s IT! I don’t GET a second chance!
The Doctor snatches her hand before she can prod him again. She gasps in pain.
DOCTOR
If you wish to travel with me then that is something you must come to terms with.
PERI
LET GO OF ME!
6. INT. OPERATIONS ROOM (DAY)
As before. Sylvest is rambling, apologetically at the Twins who stare back sadly.
SYLVEST
Ever since the days of the Dalek War... The, the Earth Empire wants to change its approach to defense. Resources have been stretched to the limit. Instead of pursuit ships and force walls, the President has authorized the development of security robots. Making war robots is not the difficulty... though it is very difficult.
AZMAEL
Get to the point.
Sylvest nods, eyes closed.
SYLVEST
For the robots to be effective they need perfect coordination between them. The place where we were was a research station trying to construct a hyperspace network to connect every single robot. But any computer at the heart would make mistakes. It’s what computers do. They can never truly be perfected. But computers are no match for the human brain – it’s the greatest lie of the Cybernetic age. The brain is always more powerful than any computer. If the brain uses more than ten per cent of its power, if used efficently... we have something a thousand times more capable than any given computer.
ROMULUS & REMUS
But we are not human.
Sylvest wipes his eyes, trying to keep his voice steady.
SYLVEST
No. But your brains are. Specially grown, interfaced into a mechanical accelerator and plugged into the finest and most sophisticated android bodies money can buy. All the other test subjects went mad or simply never gained consciousness or rejected the electronic nervous system completely. The brain needs to be in a body, to receive stimulus we know will be accepted. So we made your bodies and let your minds think you were normal people growing up on Earth. To let you have free will. Until they take it away from you and use every fibre of your minds to defend the Earth Empire. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.
ROMULUS & REMUS
It’s not true.
SYLVEST
It is. I was being backed by all sorts of people. Empire military, android builders, hardware specialists, computer programs. All you remember, all we did, was just to keep your psychospoor healthy until your systems were sufficiently advanced. But you grew up so quickly, you started seeing through the cracks in that false life. I’m sorry.
The Twins, in unison, sink their heads as if in sorrow.
SYLVEST
Boys? Boys!
No reaction. Noma puts away his gun.
NOMA
Automatic shut down completed.
AZMAEL
Just what we needed.
SYLVEST
What?
AZMAEL
With their personalities fully functional, we couldn’t exploit their brains. Now their free will as you put it is gone when you told them the truth, we have access to the most powerful central processing units anywhere.
The Twins blur out of focus and slowly begin to fade away to reveal skeletal robot-androids in the same position. Sylvest deflates as they ‘decloak’. Azmael crosses to the one that was Remus.
AZMAEL
Now, time is running out.
He twists the robot skull violently and lifts it off.
AZMAEL
Joconda WILL survive!
7. INT. AZMAEL’S LAB
The Doctor is holding Peri still. Peri winces, unable to move. She’s got tears in her eyes. She chokes back a sob.
PERI
You tried to kill me you jerk!
The Doctor roughly releases her. He sneers at her.
DOCTOR
I saved your life, Perpeguilliam. Your life is mine. I can do with it as I choose.
PERI
Not if you ever want to be able to walk again.
DOCTOR
And if you want to live long enough to be proved right, follow me. We have work to do.
Peri looks at him with a new definition of hated.
PERI
And that’s all you’ve got to say?!
DOCTOR
You wouldn’t accept an apology, so I’ve decided to prioritize saving the universe over soothing the irretrievably damaged ego of a spoiled American brat like you!
Peri swings to slap him. The Doctor snatches her hand.
DOCTOR
LATER! Now, COME ON!
He storms out, yanking Peri after him.
8. INT. PALACE CORRIDORS (DAY)
The Doctor strides down the corridor, still pulling Peri with one hand and wiping blood from his cheek with another. The injury is healed.
PERI
WILL YOU LET GO OF ME!
DOCTOR
Peri, we have got to move!
PERI
And do what? How are you going to stop it!
DOCTOR
By understanding what’s going on Peri. Knowledge is the best weapon we have.
PERI
Yeah, well I’m on the side of chunks of broken glass!
DOCTOR
Oh, so you know what Mestor’s up to, do you?
PERI
Of course I don’t you madman! And niether do you!
DOCTOR
Don’t I? If you bothered to use your brain, even you could work out what Mestor intends to do. We know what his plan is, don’t we?
PERI
To destroy Joconda.
DOCTOR
He was doing that already. So why go to all these elaborate lengths to offend Earth? Why does he need THEM to pull the trigger when he is more than capable of doing it himself?
Peri, despite herself, is calming down and thinking.
PERI
Because... he doesn’t have their weapons?
DOCTOR
So he needs Joconda to be struck by Baston torpedoes. But if he was insane and wanted to blow the whole place up, why send for the twins and fake this experiment? If the twins were just the trigger to start a war, why use them in the Time Shift anyway?
PERI
To fool Azmael?
DOCTOR
That idiot couldn’t stop him in any case. No, Mestor wants Joconda to be destroyed... but ONLY when it is caught in a time experiment.
PERI
But why?
The Doctor stares at her, unable to believe she doesn’t know.
DOCTOR
A very, very big bang! Of many magnitudes greater than an ordinary planet death!
PERI
What good will that do Mestor?
DOCTOR
Because if he hides in the astral plane, he will survive while this planet and every last thing upon it will revert to a single basic substance, a protoplasmic gel. And when Mestor leaves the astral plane, he can assume control of that gel and do anything he wants.
The enormity of it hits Peri.
PERI
And then no one can stop him?
DOCTOR
I wouldn’t want to try. But until the explosion occurs we have a chance of beating him.
PERI
So we stop the explosion?
DOCTOR
If we can. We’ve got to stop the time experiment – without that, if Joconda IS destroyed, then Mestor at least is defeated.
PERI
And we’re going to stay here if that happens?
DOCTOR
I am. You can go back to the TARDIS if you don’t trust me to win.
PERI
Did you win on Androzani?
DOCTOR
Did ANYONE win on Androzani, Peri? Look, either you can help me or run for your life. Make your decision.
Peri stares at him.
PERI
Do you really think we can stop this?
DOCTOR
Yes. I do.
PERI
Then I’ll help. But you don’t touch me again.
DOCTOR
You don’t trust me any more.
PERI
I can't trust you any more.
The Doctor looks at her, finally showing the hurt he feels.
DOCTOR
Come on.
They hurry off down the passage.
9. MODEL SHOT
We see the space fleet moving between the stars. There are two types of ship – a tubular, silver type and a green, coral-like, fish-shaped sort.
10. INT. SPECIAL INCIDENTS ROOM
This is shown on the screen. ELENA is speaking into a communicator.
ELENA
This is a top priority message for Admiral Thezpal. Proceed with extreme caution. General Fabian and Minister Azlan are still alive and on the surface. Advise proceed with extreme caution and prepare for immediate withdraw. Repeat!
No response. A timid TECHNICIAN approaches ELENA.
TECHNICIAN
They must have shut down the communications net to conserve power. It will be reactivated once they are in orbit around Joconda.
ELENA
I know. But I don’t know if it will be soon enough.
11. INT. PALACE CORRIDORS (DAY)
The Minister and Fabian are being marched down the corridor by Hugo at gunpoint.
MINISTER
What do you want?
HUGO/MESTOR
You will confirm your intent to the war fleet to destroy this planet.
MINISTER
Why? What good will that do?
HUGO/MESTOR
You will obey me. Or suffer death by embolism. Or worse.
The Doctor steps out of the shadows behind Hugo.
DOCTOR
Works in theory.
He karate chops Hugo in the neck. Hugo spins around, but the Doctor jabs him in the neck with Venusian Karate move # 1. Hugo’s eyes bulge as he tries to move. Peri snatches the gun out of his hand when Hugo comes to life. Fabian, from behind, grabs his arms.
FABIAN
That’s mutiny soldier.
DOCTOR
Black, bloody mutiny.
The Minister runs off through the tunnels. Together they steer Hugo towards and alcove and hurl him into the darkness. There is a pause and then a crashing noise. Fabian looks at the Doctor in surprise.
FABIAN
General Fabian.
DOCTOR
I’m known as the Doctor, pleased to meet you!
They shake hands.
PERI
I’m Peri, now RUN!
They turn and run down the corridor in the opposite direction to where the Minister went. A moment later, bleeding from a head wound, Hugo lurches out of the shadows, turns and marches stiffly after the Doctor’s group.
12. INT. OPERATIONS CONTROL (DAY)
Drak places the skull head of Remus in a socket in the main tube. The socket illuminates and Drak places the hatch over it. The other Jocondans are checking controls. Azmael emerges from his TARDIS, clearing his face with rag. Sylvest sits next to the headless skeletons, sobbing into his hands.
DRAK
All circuits now online, Master Azmael.
NOMA
Satellites confirm that all eco-acceleration systems have activated.
AZMAEL
Good. I’ve managed to jury-rig a power connection. We’ll have just enough power to perform the first operation, but no more until I’ve repaired the ship.
NOMA
How long will that take?
AZMAEL
Weeks. Maybe more. It’s not really my field. But this is our one chance and I don’t intend to waste it. Activate power cycle!
DRAK
Activating.
The bright lights turn a sinister green. A mechanical throbbing begins. At that moment, the door opens and the Doctor, Peri and Fabian enter.
DOCTOR
Stop this!
DRAK
Not you again.
AZMAEL
I won’t stop Doctor. This is the one hope for Joconda. I will not sacrifice any of my people. Never again! Not like Vitrol Minor!
DOCTOR
I’m sorry. But believe me, this is not the way!
Jocondan guards grab Fabian, the Doctor and Peri.
FABIAN
I order you to stop this operation.
DOCTOR
You’ve been on this planet too long, Azmael! You’re out of touch! I should warn you all, two regenerations ago I trained to be one of those Shaolin Monks that fly around on wires. I could kill you ALL with the subtlest pressure from my thumb!
Everyone stares at him.
PERI
I don’t think they believe you.
DOCTOR
I was afraid you’d say that.
The door opens behind them. Hugo enters, gun raised.
DOCTOR
It’s all going wrong again. When was the last time things went right?
HUGO/MESTOR
Too late, Doctor. This is where I win. This is where you die. And you cannot prevent it from happening.
DOCTOR
You’d be surprised how many people tell me that. But it always ends up the same. And it will for you, too. I will stop you, Mestor.
HUGO/MESTOR
No. You won’t.
13. INT. PALACE THRONE ROOM (DAY)
MESTOR and the CHAMBERLAIN are present. Two JOCONDAN GUARDS are also present.
MESTOR
That was predictable, Doctor.
CHAMBERLAIN
May we share the joke, Master?
MESTOR
No.
CHAMBERLAIN
How right you are. What business of it is mine to enquire what amuses the Great Lord Mestor?
The Chamberlain exhales slowly. That was close.
14. INT. OPERATIONS CONTROL (DAY)
Noma steps forward, gun raised. He too is now consumed.
NOMA/MESTOR
Activate the Time Shift!
AZMAEL
We need another few moments to charge up.
DOCTOR
Things will go wrong. They always do.
NOMA/MESTOR
No they won’t, and if you attempt to interfere, Doctor, I will kill Peri Brown.
PERI
And if I interfere?
HUGO/MESTOR
I’ll kill the Doctor.
14. MODEL SHOT
We see the huge dishes glowing brightly. In space, the fleet appears in the distance.
to be continued...
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