The Enemy Within X

9. INT. UPPER LANDING (NIGHT)

The Doctor peers through the glass of a window. Peri stands nearby.

PERI
Still no sign of anyone else. It’s just us in this house.

DOCTOR
Lonely, isn’t it?

PERI
What do you think happened to the others? Do you think they’re dead?

DOCTOR
At the moment it’s even odds if they ever existed. They could be right outside this window for all I know.

PERI
Can you see anything?

DOCTOR
No. Pitch dark.

The Doctor straighten up, then suddenly turns and kicks the window violently. He cries out and hops, clutching his foot. He tries to talk through the pain.

DOCTOR
Well, that seems to be that! We’re sealed in!

PERI
Great. So, how long do we wait before we start digging a tunnel?

The Doctor lowers his foot, trying to ignore the pain.

DOCTOR
How long has it been since we woke up?

PERI
How should I know? All the clocks aren’t working, remember?

The Doctor stares at her, clearly not remembering. Realization strikes.

DOCTOR
Ah, yes, of course. The time friction... Of course! That’s how he’s doing it! He’s smashed up the local continuum, spilling temporal distortion all over the area – the proverbial fist into the wedding cake. The TARDIS auto-systems would have kicked in and it would have aimed straight for the source of the distortion....

PERI
To plaster over the hole?

DOCTOR
Yes, to plaster over the hole, but somehow he’s managed to get time to seal around the house like amber! That’s why we can’t break out, because the doors and windows are frozen in one moment of time, a moment when they were intact and until they are released they must stay that way no matter what!

PERI
How did the ghost do that?

DOCTOR
He’s clever.

PERI
He?

DOCTOR
... it. Does it matter?

PERI
You know who the ghost is, don’t you?

DOCTOR
Yes. I know who the ghost is.

PERI
Well who is it?

DOCTOR
Just someone I went to school with.


10. INT. DRAWING ROOM (NIGHT)

Lit with green. The Colonel is sprawled in a chair, looking around him. Sunshine spills through the window. Two CHILDREN are playing with wooden toys at his feet. Birdsong. The Colonel smiles slightly, relaxing. Suddenly there is a cracking noise as the windows are shaken by a gale outside. It is now night. The wind moans eerily. The room is now dusty and decrepit. There is no sign of the children, the shelves are empty, the paintings fading. The Colonel looks around in confusion. The Master stands behind him.

MASTER
Time infects us all.

The Colonel looks at him, confused.

COLONEL
What?

MASTER
Time. Slick and insidious. Time is what drives us towards death. Its presence clogs the very pores of the universe.

The Master smiles and moves to where the abandoned toys are.

MASTER
I have seen the end, Colonel.

COLONEL
The end? Of what?

MASTER
The end. Singular.

COLONEL
Of the world?

MASTER
Of everything, Colonel. The world, sun, the moon, the stars. It all ends. I saw it all end. A sick, infinitely hot crunching of matter – and by that time there is no one left to hear. Once you realize this, it all becomes very simple. Undemanding.

He picks up a toy and crushes it with no effort.

COLONEL
You killed my son.

MASTER
If I did not, the universe would have taken him eventually.

The Colonel is furious. Scary furious.

COLONEL
And that justifies it?!

MASTER
Of course it justifies it.

The Colonel delves into his pocket and pulls out a gun.

MASTER
Ah yes. You see how quickly civilization melts away to let the baser instincts?

COLONEL
You’re some kind of... of ghost.

MASTER
Some kind, yes.

COLONEL
Bring Daniel back.

MASTER
Why should I?

COLONEL
Can you do it?

The Master doesn’t seem to hear him. He repeats the question exactly.

MASTER
Why should I?

COLONEL
Because I want my son back, you miserable scum!

MASTER
Why?

The Colonel stares at him.

COLONEL
He’s my flesh and blood.

MASTER
And? Is that all? You want power. You want control over your family. Control I took away. I understand those feelings. I once attempted to impose order on chaos. But no more. I doubt I would be able to revive your son. And I wouldn’t if I could.

The Colonel snarls and fires three times into the Master’s chest. The bullets smash into the wall behind him. One bullet shatters the glass of a painting. The Master chuckles.

MASTER
You see? Consequences are irrelevant! Something it took me an embarrassingly long time to work out for myself.

He advances on the Colonel.

MASTER
Once I realized that, I was free. Free to let my desires reign. I can indulge the darkness of my soul. Because it doesn’t matter, one way or another. I don’t wish to conquer the universe. Not any more.

The Colonel is now visible scared of the Master – as much by what he’s saying as much by his supernatural presence.

MASTER
I only want... destruction.

COLONEL
So you killed my son?

MASTER
Your son killed himself.

COLONEL
You drove him to it!

The Master nods thoughtfully. He sounds surprised and pleased with himself.

MASTER
Yes... I did, didn’t I? And unlike the universe, I gave that death meaning. I took enjoyment in the blood spilled. More than some accident, or old age would. Would you like to see the end of everything? To see what I’ve seen? To understand how meaningless it all is? Life without pain has no meaning. So you have a choice – to suffer the pain or be the one that inflicts it.

The Colonel, gritting his teeth, aims the gun at the Master’s head and pulls the trigger. The Master doesn’t miss a beat.

MASTER
I can see you yearn for the latter. Promising. Quite promising.

Struggling to control himself, the Colonel lowers his gun.

COLONEL
If I can, sir, I’ll kill you.

The Master is gone. The Colonel is left alone.

MASTER (VO)
I wish you joy of it.


11. INT. SHORT CORRIDOR (NIGHT)

The Doctor moves quickly down the steps, talking all the time.

DOCTOR
So that explains all the inexplicable noise, footsteps, knocking, creaking gates, voices... that presence we kept feeling, like we were being watched, not to mention the electrical interference and even full-blown visual apparitions. Psychic imprinting with a healthy dollop of temporal narcosis. Don’t you think?

PERI
And what about all the stuff about birds and Sphinxes?

DOCTOR
A poem by William Butler Yeats. Lovely Irish man, rather gullible. He believed that human history was divided into eras of 20 centuries in length, that the birth of Christ ushered in one such era and it would end on the turn of the century when a New Messiah appeared.

PERI
The Sphinx?

DOCTOR
Yes, and heralded by enormous desert birds.

PERI
Maurice said he saw some of them.

DOCTOR
Yes, well, what else was it Maurice said? That Daniel loved that poem? Think about it. Perhaps the ghost isn’t as undiluted as we thought. There must be some neural bleed back, some of Daniel’s thoughts getting mixed in with the parasite. Something minor like The Second Coming would be ignored, just froth on the surface.

PERI
So the era of Christianity isn’t about to end?

DOCTOR
Not like that, no. That’s the trouble with this mess – there are just as many random coincidences as there are genuine signs and portents, and the difficulty is in separating a given event from one or the other.

PERI
Maybe it’d work better if you told me who the ghost is?

DOCTOR
And maybe it wouldn’t.

PERI
Why don’t you just tell me?!

DOCTOR
Maybe it’s best for you not to know. Did you think of that?

PERI
Doctor, we’re trapped with this psycho ghost and you’re keeping things from me.

DOCTOR
You’re very clever, Peri. I’m sure you can work out. Someone we’ve met before, someone bearing a grudge, someone who died but has come back with a complicated scheme that uses mass slaughter, sadism and time manipulation. Someone who knows our secrets, knows what we’re afraid of and is prepared to use that knowledge. Answering to the name Dominus. Except it’s not Dominus, just the way Daniel’s confused thoughts perceived it.

PERI
Dominus...

Her eyes widen in realization.

PERI
Why didn’t you tell me sooner?

The Doctor avoids her gaze.

DOCTOR
Because I didn’t want to believe it was true.

The Doctor takes a deep breath.

DOCTOR
It’s the Master.


12. INT. BEDROOM (NIGHT)

The room is lit by the hallucinatory green glow. Emily is struggling to open the windows.

MASTER (VO)
It's hopeless.

Emily whirls around. The room seems to dip and sway, but she is alone.

EMILY
What? Who’s that?!

MASTER (VO)
You are aware of that, are you not?

EMILY
What do you mean? What’s hopeless?

She flinches as she sees the Master standing in the shadows of the corner. He steps out into the bilious green light.

MASTER
Life. Life is hopeless. Consequences are irrelevant. You and the rest of the universe spend all of your limited time trying to hold on to it, but it life is by definition guaranteed to slip through your fingers in the end. It’s what life does. Always.

EMILY
We all die some time.

MASTER
Some sooner than others.

EMILY
We have to try and make the best of it. Live life to the full.

MASTER
A quaint notion. But I don’t have to die. Unlike you.

EMILY
I don’t believe you.

MASTER
You should.

EMILY
The Doctor’s mad. Did you see his clothes? And his eyes? Quite mad.

MASTER
Is he? Or are you the one that’s mad... talking to a ghost, after all.

EMILY
No one can cheat death.

The Master grins a feral grin. He whispers.

MASTER
Except me. I have turned back death. I have seen beyond the mortal coil. Beyond the boundaries of the reality of this universe. A liberating experience.

EMILY
What did you see?

MASTER
Horrible things. Things for which your language could never describe. Words are wholly inadequate. Sights that gnaw at the mind until there is nothing left. But I can tell you that it is not a lonely place. There are... creatures. In the dark. Waiting for you to join them.

EMILY
I don’t want to join.

MASTER
You have no choice in the matter.

EMILY
You did. You must have. Otherwise, how did you come back?

MASTER
I am not like you. They want your soul, Emily Fforde-Jones.

EMILY
How did you escape them?

The Master smiles like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

MASTER
I had no soul to offer.


13. INT. SHORT CORRIDOR (NIGHT)

The Doctor and Peri sit on the stairs, quiet and brooding. Peri finally remembers how to speak and breaks out of her thoughts.

PERI
He’s dead. You said he...

DOCTOR
I never said that.

PERI
Yes you did!

DOCTOR
Did I? I suppose I must have. I was wrong.

PERI
How can you be wrong about something like that?!

DOCTOR
His survival instinct was always overdeveloped. He didn’t let death stop him last time, why should he now?

PERI
So, what, he’s come back to haunt us? I mean, literally haunt us?

DOCTOR
It seems so.

PERI
But... WHY?!

DOCTOR
He hates me.

PERI
That’s it?!

The Doctor looks at her, serious.

DOCTOR
It’s all he has. And, seemingly, it’s all he needs.

PERI
And he’s doing all this... making all of us suffer... just because of you?

DOCTOR
If you like.

PERI
No, I don’t like! What did you do to him to make him hate you so much?

DOCTOR
I don’t know.

PERI
Oh, that’s a lie. I can tell! What did you do?

DOCTOR
What does it matter? You won’t be able to use it. The Master is insane, Peri. Insane. No logic, no psychological ploy is going to stop him. You can’t appeal to his better nature, you can’t reason with him. He is malice. Nothing else. Not any more.

PERI
So he wasn’t always like that?

DOCTOR
Not at the start. We were friends. Good friends. We were... at university together.

PERI
Where Azmael taught?

DOCTOR
Azmael? Oh, yes. Azmael. Yes, he was one of our teachers. And we despised our society. So dull, routine, boring, unimaginative. So we left Gallifrey - on the same day, by the same means, but we never expected to see each other again. But we did. Kept bumping into each other, as if the universe wasn’t big enough for us to play nicely.


14. INT. LECTURE ROOM (DAY) B&W

THE SECOND DOCTOR and ZOE stand in a lecture hall with various STUDENTS wearing military uniforms of various ages. The Second Doctor is with a balding SCIENTIST, overlooking a strange machine fitted to a stand. All are wearing white visors.

SCIENTIST
And since we have now exceeded the time allotted for this demonstration I suggest you all continue to your next assignment.

SECOND DOCTOR
Oh thank you, hah. Come along Zoe.

There is a sound of an alert, and two black-clad GUARDS rush into the room. The Second Doctor stands back and moves his visor up, so that it sits on top of his head like a pair of sunglasses. THE MASTER enters, dressed as a war chief with a golden medallion.

WAR CHIEF MASTER
Was the experiment successful?

SCIENTIST
Partly, partly. But the specimen showed signs of mental unbalance after the process.

WAR CHIEF MASTER
Then the modifications were NOT successful?

SCIENTIST
But I think we've found the cause. One of the students has been extremely helpful to me, er, that one over there.

The scientist points. The Doctor, who still has his visor perched upon his head, grins modestly. The Master glares coldly at him as he recognizes him. The Doctor recognizes him back and is panicked.

DOCTOR
RUN ZOE, RUN!

The Doctor pushes his way through the surprised students, and rushes away, Zoe following him.

WAR CHIEF MASTER
STOP THEMMM!

The squad of guards fight through a gang of confused students in hot pursuit.


15. INT. SHORT CORRIDOR (NIGHT)

As before. Peri is now pacing. The Doctor has not moved.

PERI
That plan you said earlier. About stealing soldiers – it was him, wasn’t it? And you ruined the plan, cause, I mean, you’re you.

The Doctor, lost in thought, doesn’t reply.

PERI
That’s not enough for him to hate you this much.

DOCTOR
No.

PERI
So what happened?

DOCTOR
It doesn’t matter.

PERI
Why won’t you tell me?

DOCTOR
All right, Perpeguilliam. I sold him out, Peri. I betrayed him. I was the one that started it. It’s all my fault. The Master’s insane, hate-driven and a mass murderer but I was the one that struck first.

PERI
Why?

DOCTOR
It would be fairer to say I sold myself out as well. The Master had got in deep with a massive attempt to conquer the universe. The first of many, as it turned out. It all went down hill from there.


16. INT. WAR ROOM (NIGHT) B&W

A large chamber with a Y-shaped relief map. The Second Doctor is nervously wandering around the place. The War Chief Master watches on, unimpressed.

WAR CHIEF MASTER
You may have changed your appearance, but I know who you are.

SECOND DOCTOR
Oh do you?

WAR CHIEF MASTER
Your machine is a TARDIS. You're too familiar with it's controls to be a stranger.

SECOND DOCTOR
I had every right to leave.

WAR CHIEF MASTER
Stealing a TARDIS? Oh I'm not criticizing you. We are two of a kind.

SECOND DOCTOR
We most certainly are NOT!

WAR CHIEF MASTER
We were both Time Lords. And we both decided to leave our race.

SECOND DOCTOR
I had reasons of my own.

WAR CHIEF MASTER
Just as I had.

SECOND DOCTOR
Your reasons are only too obvious - power!

WAR CHIEF MASTER
We can bring peace to the galaxy - and you can help. You see, I'm not the cold-hearted villain you suppose me to be. My motives are purely peaceful.

SECOND DOCTOR
You have given these aliens our science and our knowledge to carry out this disgusting plan!

WAR CHIEF MASTER
We are going to bring a new order to the galaxy; one United Galactic Empire!

SECOND DOCTOR
An empire of slaves! With you as one of it's rulers!

The War Chief Master grins at the thought.


17. INT. WAR ROOM (NIGHT) B&W

The Second Doctor and the War Chief Master stand before the bespectacled WARLORD and his entourage of guards. The irritating SECURITY CHIEF is also present.

WAR CHIEF MASTER
I know this man, he is a fugitive from the Time Lords.

SECURITY-CHIEF
As you are.

WAR CHIEF MASTER
That's right, as I am.

WARLORD
Did you bring him here?

WAR CHIEF MASTER
No, he arrived by chance.

The Warlord turns to the Second Doctor.

WARLORD
Did the Time Lords send you?

SECOND DOCTOR
No.

WARLORD
Have you informed them?

WAR CHIEF MASTER
He dare not, that would betray him.

WARLORD
If he helps us destroy the resistance, if. His life will be spared. I hold you responsible for the success of the plan. Failure will mean death - to both of you.

The Warlord exits with the other. The Doctor checks they are gone for a moment.

SECOND DOCTOR
I never promised to help you!

WAR CHIEF MASTER
But you will. You have no alternative!

SECOND DOCTOR
But to help people like THAT conquer the galaxy?

WAR CHIEF MASTER
Not people like THAT. People like US! I intend to take over as Supreme Galactic Ruler. You can help me to rule - if you will cooperate.


18. INT. SHORT CORRIDOR (NIGHT)

As before.

DOCTOR
I couldn’t stop it. So I called in the Time Lords to do the work I couldn’t.

PERI
Sounds smart to me.

DOCTOR
Not when you, like the Master, are a wanted criminal exiled from society. I knew they’d fix the problem like that.

He snaps his fingers.

DOCTOR
But while they were there they’d try to kill two birds with one stone and get the pesky renegades at the same time. I gave us away. And once I did that, there was nowhere in time and space we could hide from them.

He rubs his eyes as if tired.

DOCTOR
There was no other way.


19. INT. WAR ROOM (DAY) B&W

It’s the sight of a battle. Bodies are sprawled everywhere. The Second Doctor, the War Chief Master, JAMIE and REBELS are present.

WAR CHIEF MASTER
Doctor, you mustn't call them in or it will be the end of us. They'll show no mercy!

ZOE
What did he mean Doctor? Who mustn't you call?

SECOND DOCTOR
The only people who can put an end to this whole ghastly business and send everyone back to their own times. The Time Lords.

JAMIE
Wha? Who are they?

SECOND DOCTOR
They're my own people Jamie.

JAMIE
Oh, well that's alright then.

ZOE
But it isn't alright - is it Doctor?

SECOND DOCTOR
No it's not Zoe, but I'm afraid that there's no alternative.

The War Chief Master is restrained by the rebels.

WAR CHIEF MASTER
Don't do it Doctor, you can't! You know what will happen!

The Second Doctor looks up in surprise.

SECOND DOCTOR
He's gone! He must be trying to get away before the Time Lords get here!


20. INT. LANDING BAY (DAY) B&W

The War Chief Master is surrounded by the Warlord and guards. In a single movement the War Chief Master leaps onto the ramp and runs up, but is cut off by another two guards who appear from the doorway.

WARLORD
Kill him!

The guards simultaneously open fire on the War Chief and he is consumed in the combined energy bursts, slumping and rolling down the ramp. He screams.


21. INT. SHORT CORRIDOR (NIGHT)

The Doctor stiffly stands up and starts to pace, stretching.

DOCTOR
He survived of course. He always does.

PERI
He regenerated?

DOCTOR
Eventually. When the Time Lords arrived in force, they caught him too. They were surprisingly efficient, all things considered. But they didn’t take kindly to myself or the Master getting mixed up in the affairs of others. Time Lord justice... I’ve seen better.

PERI
So you became an exile? That’s why you can’t go home.

DOCTOR
More or less. The Master suffered... worse than I did. He never really forgave me.

PERI
That’s it?

DOCTOR
Does it matter? No, Peri, it wasn’t that, it was because, when we were naïve youths barely in our first century, I beat him at chess. I came top of the class. I got an air car for my birthday. I played truant one day and was never caught and he tried it and got shamed in front of his family. There are a million reasons you can come up with.

PERI
So, he was jealous?

DOCTOR
Envious. Maybe. I did do better than him at many things. But it wasn’t a contest, Peri. I wasn’t trying to prove anything, I never set out deliberately to undermine him. Maybe that was the point. Maybe if I HAD cared, if I HAD wanted all the success the Master wanted... NEEDED. He wanted to be the best at everything, and always came short. On top of that, I couldn’t care less.

PERI
You said you got kicked out of university.

DOCTOR
Too little too late. Not everything comes down to ACADEMIC success, you know.

PERI
What? Did you steal his girlfriend or something?

The Doctor double takes.

DOCTOR
Certainly not! What do you take me for?

PERI
OK, OK... but if this thing is so important... You never talk about him!

DOCTOR
I thought he was dead.

PERI
So? You talk about Turlough and the others, and Daleks and Cybermen...

DOCTOR
Maybe that’s it. Maybe that’s what drives him on. To destroy me, the person that couldn’t care less if I never saw the Master again. The person that beat him all those times. He wants me dead, but I don’t care about him as long as no one else gets hurt. He spends centuries plotting my destruction, I don’t give him a second thought. Is that the most unforgivable sin?

Peri shrugs.


22. EXT. OUTSIDE RT CONTROL ROOM (DAY) B&W

The gantry outside the control booth of a radio telescope. The THIRD Doctor whirls around as with a wheezing, groaning sound, a bowler-hatted middle-aged TIME LORD appears hovering in the sky and floats over until he stands before the Doctor.

TIME LORD
I came to warn you. An old acquaintance has arrived on this planet.

THIRD DOCTOR
Oh? One of our people?

TIME LORD
The Master as he calls himself these days.

THIRD DOCTOR
That jackanapes! All he ever does is cause trouble! You’re sure he’s here?

TIME LORD
We tracked him on the monitors. Then there was some kind of alien interference and we lost contact.

THIRD DOCTOR
Is his TARDIS still working?

TIME LORD
I’m afraid so. He got away before it could be de-energized.

THIRD DOCTOR
Lucky for him.

TIME LORD
Don’t be bitter, Doctor. Your punishment was comparatively light.

The Third Doctor snaps, furious, as he looms over the Time Lord.

THIRD DOCTOR
Whatever I’ve done, I too am still a Time Lord! Do you know what it’s like to be restricted to one TINY planet, one LIMITED era of time?!

The Time Lord shrugs.

TIME LORD
It IS your favorite planet, after all.

The Third Doctor tries to control his temper.

THIRD DOCTOR
Why did you take the trouble to warn me?

TIME LORD
The Master knows you’re on this planet, Doctor. You interfered with his scheme and he has sworn your destruction. He'll certainly try to kill you, Doctor. The tribunal thought that you ought to be made aware of your danger.

The Third Doctor sneers.

THIRD DOCTOR
How very kind of them!

The Time Lord takes a deep breath to control his patience.

TIME LORD
You are incorrigibly meddlesome Doctor. But we've always felt that your hearts are in the right places.

The Third Doctor folds his arms.

THIRD DOCTOR
There’s more to it than that, isn’t there?

The Time Lord glances around, as if checking no one is watching.

TIME LORD
You and the Master will inevitably come into conflict. If, in the process, he should be captured – or destroyed - then...

THIRD DOCTOR
I see. You want me to do your dirty work for you!

TIME LORD
Your sentence will com up for review one day, Doctor. Any service you have rendered the Council will be... considered. But be careful. The Master has learnt a great deal since you last met him.

THIRD DOCTOR
I refuse to be worried by a renegade like the Master. He's a...

The Third Doctor shrugs, temporarily unable to think of an insult.

THIRD DOCTOR
He's an... unimaginative... plodder!

The Time Lord is unimpressed.

TIME LORD
His degree in cosmic science WAS of a higher class than yours.

Abashed, the Third Doctor rubs his neck.

THIRD DOCTOR
Yes, well, er, yes, well I...I was a late developer.

SIXTH DOCTOR (VO)
We’ve been trying to kill each other ever since.


23. INT. UNIT LAB (DAY) B&W

The third Doctor looks up as the DELGADO MASTER steps down the metal staircase in the corner, holding his tissue compression eliminator.

DELGADO MASTER
Good afternoon, Doctor. I hope I'm not interrupting anything important?

THIRD DOCTOR
No, no, indeed not. You've come here to kill me of course?

DELGADO MASTER
But not without...considerable regret.

THIRD DOCTOR
How very comforting.

DELGADO MASTER
You see Doctor, you're my intellectual equal...almost. I have so few worthy opponents. When they've gone, I always miss them.

THIRD DOCTOR
How did you get in here?

DELGADO MASTER
Oh, don't be trivial, Doctor. I see you've been working on the Nestene Autojet. My own small contribution to their invasion plan.

THIRD DOCTOR
Mmm, viscous, complicated and inefficient - typical of your way of thinking.

DELGADO MASTER
Now, come, come Doctor. Death is always more frightening when it strikes invisibly. It's a shame that you can't be here to enjoy the chaos and destruction with me. Goodbye Doctor.

He aims the implosion device at the Doctor.

THIRD DOCTOR
Don't worry, he's not going to kill me.

DELGADO MASTER
That is your last mistake.

- to be continued...