Writer:
Russell T Davies
Director:
Colin Teague
Producer:
Phil Collinson
Music
by: Murray Gold
Additional
music by Scissor Sisters
Broadcast
30th June 2007
ONE
YEAR LATER
Freedom fighter, Tom
Milligan, waits along the shoreline in the dead of night for a special
package. In coded response he waves the
lamp in his hand side to side beckoning the boat to shore. The boat reaches a
few feet from the shore and Martha Jones, dressed covertly like a member of the
Resistance force, jumps into the shallow water, thanking the two men who
delivered her safely. She runs across
the quiet beach towards Tom. It’s been
365 days since she had last set foot on British soil.
She asks his name,
impatiently, time is of the essence.
Once given, Martha explains that she has to meet with a Professor
Docherty. Tom tells her that she works
in Nuclear Plant 7, and can get her inside.
But when Tom asks her why Docherty is so important, Martha informs him
that it’s too dangerous to know more than that.
Tom tells her that she’s
a bit of a legend, travelling across the Atlantic.
“Martha
Jones is going to save the world. Bit
late for that!”
“Citizens
rejoice. Your lord and master stands on
high, playing track three.”
Aboard the Valiant, the
Master wheels the old Doctor around the flight deck in his wheelchair to the
music of ‘I Can’t Decide’ by the Scissor Sisters. He wheels him towards a porthole and stares
out at the world below.
“It’s
ready to rise Doctor, the new Time Lord Empire.” Toclafane hover past the window as the Master
fails to achieve a response from the Doctor.
“It’s good isn’t it? Isn’t it
good? Anything?” He waves a hand in front of his fellow Time
Lord’s face but no response. As the
Master stares out of the window at the Toclafane he realises how the creatures
broke the Doctor’s hearts, ever since he worked out what they were.
“They say Martha Jones has come back home!”
The Doctor turns to face the Master.
“Why would she do that?”
“Leave her alone.”
“You said something to her didn’t you? On
the day I took control, what did you tell her?”
“I’ve only one thing to say to you. You know what it is.”
The Master doesn’t want
to hear and promptly pushes the Doctor in his wheelchair away from the porthole
window, and while the tannoy reveals that the Valiant is reaching Zone 1
airspace, he releases his grip on the wheelchair and it rolls into a wall and
stops.
Francine Jones is cleaning
around the table and chairs in the conference room while an armed guard keeps
watch.
“Come on people, what are we doing?”
Calls the Master. “Launch day in 24 hours.”
The Doctor signals three
fingers against his leg to Francine who walks out of the room and back towards
the lower deck where her family are working.
She passes Clive busy with a mop and signals 3 fingers, Clive signals
the same when Tish passes him with a tray of food for Captain Jack Harkness, who
has been forced to stand for the entire year, chained by the wrists to stout
posts on either side, on Lower Deck 2. Jack’s
normal white t-shirt is stained a dirty brown, his face is caked in dirt but he
still manages to keep his spirits up and that of Tish Jones’.
“Smell
that sea air, makes me long for good old British fish and chips.” He says as Tish sets down the tray. “What
do I get, cold mashed swede. Some hotel,
last time I book over the internet.” He replies as he takes his first mouthful of
food from Tish who cracks a tired smile.
She signals 3 fingers against the metal food bowl. Jack winks his acknowledgement.
A statue of the Master
stands tall on a mountainside. Tom leads
Martha safely through a quarry to view one of the shipyards. Seeing the statue, Martha tells Tom that
Saxon had his face carved into Mount Rushmore.
The shipyards cover the entire South coast of England with rocket
stations, taken from buildings, cars, anything that the slaves can strip and
make into the metal rockets, with their fiery red tips.
“You
should see Russia - Shipyard Number One.
All the way from the Bering Strait, there’s 100,000 rockets getting
ready for war.” Martha explains to
Tom about the millions of species living out in space, who have no idea of what
the Master has planned. Tom’s a little surprised that Martha would know of life
on another planet, even more surprised that she’s been beyond Earth, or to the
fact that she’s met Shakespeare.
From behind the statue
of the Master, two Toclafane fly towards them.
Martha drops to the ground and holds her breath, while Tom gives them
his identification and why he’s there.
The Toclafane upon hearing Tom’s credentials tell him that soon he’ll
have plenty of work as a doctor, before flying off laughing like children.
Tom looks back at
Martha.
“They
didn’t see you.”
“How
do you think I travelled around the world?”
She lifts out the perception filter key to show him. Martha explains to Tom how the Archangel
Network has a sublevel filter that makes the Master able to hypnotise people
into believing in Saxon. The key also
hid Martha from detection.
“But
I can see you.”
“That’s because you wanted to.”
Martha insists they need
to find the Docherty woman quickly, but Tom tells her that they will have to
wait for the shift to change, when enquiring after the time, Martha tells him
it’s nearly 3pm.
At a few minutes to 3pm,
the Doctor puts his plan into operation.
The Master enters the flight deck and contemplates who should give him a
massage, from his selection of women in his harem.
Below deck in Level 2,
Jack pulls at the metal bars securing the chains to the wall. Grabbing a hose he slows a soldier by aiming
the hot steam directly at his face.
Clive throws water on the electrics below deck, affecting the
engines.
“CONDITION
RED, I REPEAT CONDITION RED!” The
tannoy shouts alerting the Master.
Francine collects up the
Master’s coat from the table in the Conference room and tosses it to Tish who
in turn gives it to the Doctor, who riffles through the pockets for the laser
screwdriver and aims it at the Master. Realising
the plot the Master raises his hands.
“I told you, I have one thing to say.”
The Master begins to laugh.
Down below decks Clive
is captured and slammed against the metal grille wall while Jack is cornered
and killed by firing squad.
“Isomorphic
controls!” The Master replies,
lowering his arms as the Doctor helplessly presses the controls with no
effect. The Master takes back control
and punches the Doctor, knocking him to the ground. To prove his point he fires a laser shot at
Francine, catching her in the arm and orders her to apologise. She cries out her apology several times
bitterly.
“Unless
it’s Saint Martha, siding with the Doctor is a very dangerous thing to do.” The Master replies as a warning, as he’s
helped into his jacket by his battered wife, Lucy.
He helps the Doctor into
a swivel chair, and while seated on the table, pushes the seat around with his
foot as he reminds the Doctor of the time he was waging a Time War, battling
Sea Devils and Axons. “He sealed the Rift at the Medusa Cascade
singlehanded. Look at him now...stealing
screwdrivers! How did he ever come to
this...? Oh yeah, me!” The Master guffaws.
Again the Doctor wants
the Master to listen, but the Master once again doesn’t wish to hear.
“No
it’s my turn. Revenge! A dish best served HOT! And this is a message for Miss Jones.”
Two spheres fly towards
a desolate white brick building. Tom
cuts the fence to the shipyards chain link fence and both he and Martha run
towards the same building. Inside is
Professor Alison Docherty, losing her cool with a cathode ray tube screen.
Tom introduces them both
but Docherty couldn’t care less if Martha were the Queen of Sheba.
“Televisions
don’t work anymore.” Martha informs
her.
“God
I miss Countdown. Never been the same
since Des took over.” Docherty
ponders on the plural for Des before telling the pair that there’s to be an
announcement from their Lord and Master!
Banging the screen again
it flickers into life and a static black and white image appears revealing the
Master addressing the world from the Valiant.
“My
people, salutations on this, the eve of war.
Lovely woman! But I know there’s
all sorts of whispers down there.”
Jack pulls at his
restraints again.
“Stories of a child walking the Earth,
giving you hope. But I ask you, how much
hope has this man got? Say hello
Gandalf!”
The camera hones in on
the Doctor’s face.
“Except
he’s not that old. He’s an alien, with a
much greater life span than you stunted little apes. What if I suspend your capacity to
regenerate? All 900 years of your life...what
if we could see them?” The Master
sets the laser screwdriver and aims it at the Doctor. The screaming begins again, and Jack,
Martha’s family, Martha, Docherty and Tom and the world watching, see the
Doctor age until he is nothing more than a creature similar to Dobby, poking
its head out from the top of the shirt.
The Master appears a
little unsure of his actions, but it soon passes as he focuses on the camera.
“Message received and understood Miss
Jones!” The broadcast ends.
Martha smiles as despite
everything, the Doctor is still alive, so there’s still Hope!
“Fifteen
satellites all around the Earth, still transmitting, that’s why there’s little
resistance. He’s still broadcasting a
telepathic signal that keeps people scared.”
“You could just take them out.”
Tom says.
“You
could with 15 ground to air missiles, got any on you? Besides, we’ve got enough military action
with the Toclafane.” Docherty
replies.
“They’re not called the Toclafane, that’s
the name the Master made up.”
“What are they then?”
“That’s
why I came to find you, know your enemy.”
Martha replies looking back at Docherty.
“I’ve got this.” Martha holds up a computer disk in a case.
“No-one’s been able to look at the sphere
close up, they can’t even be damaged, except once, the lightning strike in
South Africa brought one down, just by chance.
I’ve got the readings on this.”
Martha held out the disk to Docherty.
Docherty slams her hand
against the unit that begins to show up the readings for the Toclafane. Tom wonders if this was why Martha travelled
the world. Docherty had heard that
Martha had travelled the Earth in order to build a weapon.
The results of the
Toclafane readings come up on the screen.
‘:\,
A current of 58 point kiloamperes, transferring a charge of 510 megajoules
precisely.’
When asked if Docherty
can recreate this, the professor smiles and nods.
“Right then Dr. Milligan, we’re going to get
us a sphere.”
Outside of the unit,
Milligan fires three shots into the night sky, within minutes a Toclafane
appears and gives chase. Milligan runs
along a pre-planned route, meeting up with Martha and Docherty who prepares the
charge. The unwitting Toclafane falls
into the trap and is electrocuted with the same charge as that of a lightning
bolt. It drops to the ground.
“That’s
only half the job, let’s find out what’s inside.” Says Docherty.
Below deck in the cells,
Francine plots to kill the Master. “If I have to wait a hundred years, I’m
going to kill the Master.”
Jack has a gun
permanently directed at him as he is once again chained to the posts.
“One
day, he’ll let his guard down. One day.” Francine says. “And
I’ll be there.”
“No, that’s my job.” Says Clive. “I
swear to you, I’d shoot that man stone dead.”
“I’ll get him, even if it kills me.”
“Don’t say that.”
Says Francine.
“I
mean it.” Says Tish, adamantly. “That
man made us stand on deck and watch the islands of Japan burning. Millions of people. I swear to you. He’s dead.”
The Master stands in the
doorway of the Conference room with Lucy, who wears a beautiful red dress and
stares towards the birdcage housing the sleeping Doctor.
“Tomorrow they launch.”
He calls to the old man. “We’re opening up a rift in the Braccatolian
space. They won’t see us coming. It’s kind of scary.”
“Then
stop.” Advises the Doctor pulling
himself up.
“Once the Empire is established. When there’s a new Gallifrey in the heavens,
then it stops.” He says entering the room. He pauses at the cage. “The drumming! The never ending drum beat. Ever since a child, I looked into the
Vortex. It’s when it chose me. The drumming, calling me to war. Can’t you hear it? Listen, it’s there now.” The Master looks directly at the Doctor. “Tell
me you can hear it Doctor. Tell me.”
The Doctor grips the
bars of the cage and looks directly back at the Master. “It’s
only you.”
Just then, a Toclafane
enters and instantly settles on the stand rising from the centre of the
table. “Tomorrow the war! Tomorrow we
rise, never to fall!”
“You
see...” Says the Master.
“I’m doing it for them. And you
should be grateful, after all, you loved them so very, very much.”
At the factory Docherty
using a knife begins to slit down the segments of the outer casing of the
sphere.
“It’s
some sort of magnetic clamp.” She
says. “Hold on I’ll just trip the...” Setting the knife down and removing
her head light, she begins to prise it open, a segment at a time. Inside is a shrunken head attached to wires
and cables and a mouthpiece, a self sufficient life force.
“Oh my god.”
Docherty exclaims in horror.
Martha and Tom peer at the open sphere but all three leap back in shock
as the eyes snap open. It’s alive!
“Martha?
Martha Jones?” The Toclafane calls
out. Martha and Docherty exchange
glances.
“You
know who she is?” Tom asks
curiously.
“Sweet
and kind Martha Jones. You helped us to
fly.”
“What do you mean?” Asks Martha.
“You
led us to salvation.”
“Who are you?”
“The
skies are made of diamonds.”
Martha recoils in
horror, it can’t be him, it can’t be Creet.
“We
share each other’s memories. You sent
him to Utopia.”
“Oh my god.”
“What’s he talking about?”
Asks Tom.
“What are they?” Docherty asks.
“Martha,
tell us, what are they?” Tom
demands.
Martha looks at him, at
them both. “They’re us, they’re human. The
human race in the future.”
“I took Lucy to Utopia.”
The Master tells the Doctor. “The Time Lord and his human
companion. I took her to see the stars,
isn’t that right. Sweetheart?”
“Trillions of years in the future, to the
end of the Universe.” Lucy replies as if in a trancelike state.
“Tell
him what you saw.”
“Dying.
Everything dying. The whole of
creation was falling apart, and I thought, there’s no point, no point in
anything, not ever.”
“This is all your fault.”
The Master accuses the Doctor.
“I’d
sort of worked it out with the Paradox Machine.” Martha explains to Docherty and Tom. “The
Doctor said before the Master came to power, he said...’When the Master stole the TARDIS, the only
thing I could do was fuse the co-ordinates.
I locked it permanently. He can
only travel between the year one hundred trillion and the last place the TARDIS
landed which is right here, right now.’ “The Master had the TARDIS, this time machine,
and the only other place he could go was the end of the universe. So...he found Utopia.”
“You
should have seen it Doctor. Furnaces
burning. The last of humanity screaming
at the dark.” Says the Master,
sombrely.
“The
Utopia Project was the last hope. Trying
to find a way to escape the end of everything.” Says Martha.
“There
is no solution. No diamonds. Just the dark and the cold.” Laments the
open sphere.
“Without
human invention that had sustained them over the eons, it had turned in on
them. They cannibalised themselves.”
“We made ourselves pretty.”
“They regressed into children but it didn’t
work. The universe was collapsing around
them.”
“Then the Master came with his wonderful
time machine to bring us back home.”
“But that’s a paradox. If you’re the future of the human race, then
you come back to murder your ancestors, you should cancel yourselves out. You
shouldn’t exist.”
“And that’s the paradox machine.”
Replies Martha.
Inside the cannibalised
TARDIS the Master works on his project and laughs at his ingenuity.
Aboard the Valiant the
Master continues to tell the Doctor about his plans.
“Only
my Masterpiece, the living TARDIS, strong enough to hold the paradox in place allowing
past and the future to collide in infinite majesty.”
“But you’re changing history.” Growls the Doctor. “Not
just Earth, but the entire universe.”
“I’m a Time Lord, I have that right.” The Master replies pompously.
“But
then why come all this way just to destroy?”
“We came backwards in time, altogether, the
brand new Empire, lasting one hundred trillion years.”
“With me as their master, Time Lords and
humans combined. Hadn’t you always
dreamt of that, Doctor?”
“What
about us, we’re the same species, why do you kill so many of us?” Asks Tom.
“Because
it’s fun!” The sphere laughs
maniacally.
Tom shoots it dead!
The Master rises from
his chair and faces the Doctor in his cage.
“The human race, the greatest
monsters of them all.” As he walks
away towards Lucy, he stops and turns. “Night then!”
“I think it’s time we heard the truth Miss
Jones.” Says Docherty some time later, in her own
quarters. “Legend says you travelled the world to find a way of killing the
Master. Tell us is it true?”
Martha sits in silence
for a moment or two before opening up.
“Just
before I escaped, the Doctor told me.”
She pauses again. “The Doctor and the Master, they’ve been
coming to Earth for years, and they’ve been watched. There’s UNIT, there’s Torchwood, all studying
Time Lords in secret. And they made
this...” Martha explains opening up
the case that cradles a weapon. A hand
gun with four cylindrical metal rods that when loaded contain four coloured
bottles of poison.
“All
you need is to get close.” Says
Tom. “I could shoot the Master with this.” He says raising his pistol.
“Actually.” Docherty places her hand over Tom’s arm. “You
can put that down now, thank you very much.”
“It’s not so easy to kill a Time Lord.”
Martha goes on to explain. “They can regenerate, literally bring
themselves back to life.”
“Ahh the Master’s immortal. Wonderful!”
Sighs Docherty.
“Except
for this,” Martha shows the pair the four chemicals that slot into the
gun. “Inject him, it kills a Time Lord – permanently.”
Tom looks at the
weapon. “Four chemicals? You’ve only got three.”
“Still
need the last one, because the components of this gun were kept safe, scattered
across the world and I found them. San
Diego, Beijing, Budapest and London.”
Docherty takes great
interest in the weapon.
“And where is it?”
Tom asks.
“There’s
an old UNIT base near London. I’ve found
the access codes Tom, you’ve got to get me there.”
“You can’t go across London in the dark,
it’s full of wild dogs, we’ll get eaten alive.
We can wait till the morning and go with the medical convoy.”
“You
could spend the night here.” Offers
Docherty but Tom declines, telling her they can stay in Bexley for the night at
the slave quarters. He thanks her for
her help and heads for the door.
Martha thanks her too
and kisses her on the cheek. As Martha
is about to leave Docherty asks her: “Could
you do it? Could you actually kill him?”
“I’ve got no choice.”
Replies Martha.
“You
might be many things but you don’t look like a killer to me.”
Martha lingers for a
moment before leaving with Tom.
Through the darkened
city streets, Tom and Martha keep to the shadows and move with stealth,
avoiding the armed soldiers patrolling the empty streets.
Inside the slave
quarters, Martha meets the civilians, huddled together, cold and hungry. Tom tells her of their living conditions, how
in each house there are 100 people packed in and sent away each morning to work
in the shipyards.
“Are you Martha Jones?”
Calls out one slave.
“Yeah that’s me.”
“Can
you do it, can you kill him. They said
you could kill the Master. So can you,
tell us you can do it, please.”
The cacophony of pleas
from the slaves surrounds Martha until Tom asks them to let her be. But Martha tells him it’s fine, if they want
her to talk, she will.
At the Nuclear Unit
Professor Docherty pulls open the mesh frame door containing a High Voltage box
revealing an Archangel Network communication device.
“Access Priority One. This is Professor Alison Docherty.”
“State your intent.”
“First of all I need to know about my son.”
“State your intent.”
“Is my son still alive?”
“State your intent.”
Docherty considers for a
moment. “I have some information for the Master concerning Martha Jones.”
Martha sits a quarter of
the way up the staircase in the slave quarters and tells the people a story.
“I
travelled across the world, from the ruins of New York to the fusion mills of
China, right across the radiation pits of Europe. And everywhere I went I saw people just like
you, living as slaves. And if Martha
Jones became a legend, then that’s wrong, because my name isn’t important. There’s someone else, the man who sent me out
there, the man who told me to walk the earth.
His name is, the Doctor. He has
saved your lives so many times and you didn’t even know he was there. He never stops, he never stays, he never asks
to be thanked. But I’ve seen him. I know him.
I love him! And I know what he
can do.”
Suddenly a slave bursts
into the house.
“It’s
him, oh my god it’s him. It’s the
Master, he’s here.”
“But he never comes to us, he never walks
the ground.”
“Hide her!”
Martha is covered with
work coats as she lies flat against the staircase, gripping the banister
spindle, fear etched across her face.
The Master and his
uniformed and armed squad walk the dark streets of Bexley, he calls out to
Martha. The Toclafane are also
patrolling. Tom primes his pistol and
peers out of the letter box at signs of trouble.
“He
walks among us. Our Lord and
Master!”
“Martha!
Martha Jones, I can see you!” He says in a childish voice. “Out you come little girl, come and meet
your master.” Still Martha doesn’t
show. “Anybody? Nobody? No. NO?
Men, positions. I’ll give the
order, unless you surrender.” The
Master waits. “Ask yourself, what would the Doctor do?”
Beneath the coats on the
stairs, Martha stops fearing the Master, she takes hold of the perception key
and lifts it over her head. She glances
at the people around her, and walks past them, and places her hand on Tom’s
shoulder before she leaves.
Martha steps out into
the night air to rapturous applause by the Master.
“Oh yes!
Very well done! Good girl! He trained you well. Bag!
Give me the bag.” He instructs. Martha takes a step towards the Master but he
insists she remains where she stands and simply tosses the bag towards
him. Armed with his laser screwdriver he
destroys the bag in one solid blast.
“And
now good companion, your work is done.”
He aims the laser screwdriver directly at Martha, who braces herself for
the end. Tom runs from the house,
distracting the proceedings, he yells as he runs towards the Master, weapon
primed but is shot down by the laser meant for Martha and is killed instantly.
The Master laughs yet
Martha remains impassive.
“But
you, when you die, the Doctor should be witness.” He feels the cool air on his face. “Almost
dawn, Martha. And planet Earth marches
to war.”
Aboard the Valiant, all
are assembled in the Conference room as Martha is pushed forward by two armed
guards. She walks up the centre of the
room, first glancing at her parents, then to Jack, detained by an armed guard,
and then to the Doctor, who despite his predicament welcomes her back with a
knowing smile. The Master turns to face
her and she him, stopping at the foot of the steps, awaiting her fate.
“The teleport device.”
The Master demands. “In case you thought I’d forgotten.”
Martha fishes out Jack’s
Vortex Manipulator, from her pocket and tosses it up to the Master.
“And
now, kneel.” He orders of Martha who
does as she’s asked. “Down below, the fleet is ready to
launch. Two thousand ships set to burn
across the universe.” The Master
calls to order. “ARE WE READY?”
“The fleet awaits your signal, rejoice!” replies a voice over the tannoy.
“Three
minutes to align the Black Hole Convertors.”
The countdown begins
from 181 seconds.
“I
never could resist a ticking clock.”
The Master smiles. “MY CHILDREN ARE YOU READY?”
“WE FLY AND BLAZE AND SLICE!” They reply in unison.
“At
zero, to mark this day, the child Martha Jones will die. My first blood. Any last words?” He laughs.
“No? Such a disappointment this
one. In days of old Doctor, you had
companions who could absorb the time vortex.
This one’s useless.” He
primes the laser screwdriver. “Bow your head.” He instructs Martha. “And
so it falls to me,” (124
seconds) “as Master of all, to establish from this day a new order of Time
Lords. From this day forward...”
Martha laughs.
“What?
What’s so funny?”
“A gun?”
“What about it?”
“A gun in four parts.”
Martha continues looking up at the Master.
“Yes,
and I destroyed it.”
“A gun in four parts scattered across the
world, I mean come on, did you really believe that?”
“What do you mean?”
The Master asks.
“As
if I would ask her to kill.”
“It doesn’t matter; I got her exactly where
I want her.” The Master says.
“But
I knew what Professor Docherty would do.
The Resistance knew about her son.
‘That’s
why I had to come, know your enemy.’
I told her about the gun, so she would get me here. At the right time.” Martha says.
“But
you’re still going to die.” Laughs
the Master.
“Do
you know what I was doing, travelling the world?”
“Tell me.” The Master humours
her.
“I
told a story, that’s all. No weapons,
just words.” (60 seconds) “I did
just what the Doctor said. I went across
the continents, all on my own and everywhere I went, I found the people and I
told them my story. I told them about
the Doctor and I told them to pass it on, just spread the word so that everyone
would know about the Doctor.”
“Faith and hope, is that all?” The Master grows tired of the tale.
“No,
because I gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said. ‘Use the
countdown.’ (30
seconds)
“Nothing
will happen. Is that your weapon?
(17 seconds) Prayer.”
“Right across the world, one word, just one
thought at one moment. But with 15
satellites...”
The Master suddenly sees
a flaw with his plans of domination. “What?”
“The Archangel Network.” Says Jack.
“A telepathic field, binding the whole universe
together. (8 seconds)
All of them, every single person
on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. (5 seconds) and that word is DOCTOR.”
The Master rises to his
feet as the countdown reaches zero. A
bluish white glow emanates to his left as the Doctor begins to rejuvenate,
returning to his younger self.
“Stop it.
No no no you don’t...”
Jack moves forward,
closes his eyes and utters the Doctor’s name, followed by others in the room,
including Lucy and Martha, repeating over and over. Across the world millions of people do the
same, from all walks of life, strengthening the telepathic field, enabling the
Doctor return back to his former self.
“Stop
this right now. STOP IT.”
“I’ve had the whole year to tune myself into
the psychic network, intricate it’s matrices.”
“I ORDER YOU TO STOP!”
Shouts the Master but his words go unheeded.
Mass chants across the
world echo throughout the network, blowing the illusion of Harold Saxon,
breaking the link.
“One thing you can’t do is stop them
thinking.”
Martha and Jack laugh
happily to see their Doctor return to normal.
“Tell
me the human race is degenerate now.”
The Doctor is wrapped in a glow of psychic energy and rises off the
ground, hovering towards the Master. “When they could do this.”
Martha takes her leave
and rushes to the warming and welcoming embrace of her family.
The Master undefeated,
raises his laser weapon at the Doctor and fires at him, but it merely bounces
off the protective shield surrounding him.
Undeterred he turns the weapon on the Jones family but the Doctor using
psychic energy snatches the weapon from the Master’s grasp sending it sprawling
across the floor.
The Master yells at the
Doctor about how unfair he’s being.
“And you know what happens now.”
“NO.” The Master doesn’t want to hear it. He backs away, stumbling down the steps and
back against the wall, a manic fear upon his face. “NO! NO!”
He waves the Doctor away as if batting flies, before cowering in the
foetal position, whimpering, as the Doctor walks over to him, crouches down
beside him and wraps his arms around him.
“I
forgive you.”
Within the protective
embrace of the Doctor, the Master realises he still has one more weapon in his
arsenal.
“My
children.”
“PROTECT THE PARADOX!”
The Toclafane head back in a mass exodus towards the Valiant and the
paradox machine.
The Doctor leaps to his
feet and gives Jack the order, the Captain with a squad of soldiers runs to the
TARDIS as the Toclafane make a beeline for the ship.
With the Doctor’s back
turned from him, the Master pulls out the teleport device in order to make his
escape, but the Doctor is one step ahead, and they tussle for the device,
teleporting out of the ship and onto the ground below, near to the ship yards
primed and ready to fire across the universe.
“Now
we end this Doctor.” The Master
yells as he stands near the edge of the cliff at his rockets of destruction
below. “NOW IT ENDS.”
Jack runs with a crew
through the levels to the TARDIS while Martha and Tish look at the controls on
the bridge to try and stop the advancement of spheres.
“We’ve
got control of the Valiant, you can’t launch.”
“Oh but I’ve got this.”
The Master unbuckles the watch from his wrist. “The black hole converter, inside every ship, if I can’t have this
world, Doctor, then neither can you. We
shall stand upon this Earth together as it burns.”
Three Toclafane protect
the TARDIS as Jack and the squad arrive and open fire. Nothing penetrates the hard exterior shell of
the sphere. The swarm of Toclafane
converge on the Valiant. Jack realises
he’s got no choice but to fight the spheres alone and runs towards their blades
and lasers, firing his gun till he reaches the ship.
“Weapon after weapon after weapon, all you
do is talk and talk and talk.” Says the
Doctor as he walks slowly towards the Master, maintaining eye contact. “But after all these years, and all these
disasters, I’ve always had the greatest secret of them all – I know you. Explode these ships, you kill yourself,
that’s the one thing you could never do.” The Doctor holds
out his hand for the Black Hole converter.
“Give that to me.”
The Master hands the watch to the Doctor.
Jack cut to ribbons
finally enters the TARDIS and catches his breath. Then without further delay, opens fire on the
Paradox Machine, destroying it. The
actions cause disruptions on the ground, and both Time Lords lose their
balance. The Doctor grapples with the
Master for the VM and both return to the Valiant.
Aboard things are
changing, the Valiant is unstable, papers are flying all over the place. Outside of the ship, the Toclafane disappear
in a haze. Martha loses her balance on the
Bridge and falls into the arms of the Doctor.
Both are pleased to see the other.
As the changes begin to happen outside of the ship, time being reset,
the Doctor instructs everyone to get down on the ground. He holds onto Martha and laughs excitedly.
The Master clings to the
railings. A pistol slides up towards
Francine. People on the ground are blown
backwards, until they vanish completely.
The world is being reset, returned to busy, bustling cities full of
people, full of life. The shipyards
disappear, the land returns to lush green fields and countryside. All is back to normal.
The Doctor jumps to his
feet once everything has settled and looks out of the Bridge windows.
“The
paradox is broken, it’s all gone back, one year, one day and two minutes past
eight in the morning.”
“This is UNIT central, what’s happened up
there. We just saw the President
assassinated.”
“Just after the President was killed but
just before the spheres arrived.
Everything back to normal. Planet
Earth restored. None of it happened, the
rockets, the terror, it never was.” Says the Doctor.
“What about the spheres?”
“At the end of the universe.”
He replies.
“But
I can still remember it.” Says Francine.
The Master slowly gets
to his feet.
“We’re at the eye of the storm. The only ones who will ever know.”
The Doctor pauses, then spies Martha’s Dad and bounds over like an eager
puppy. “Oh hello, you must be Mr Jones, we haven’t actually met.”
The Master makes a break
for the exit, as Jack arrives at the doorway.
He grabs a hold of the Master and frogmarches him back into the room.
“Woah
there big fella, you don’t want to miss the party. Cuffs!”
he orders, and with the Masters hands behind his back snaps a pair of
cuffs on. “So what do we do with this one?”
He asks the Doctor.
“We kill him.”
Says Clive.
“We execute him.”
Says Tish.
“NO,
that’s not the solution.” Says the
Doctor.
“Oh I think so.”
Says Francine, the gun from the ground, firmly in her hands, tears in
her eyes at the treatment she and her family have been put through for a whole
year. “Because all those things, they still happened, because of him. I saw
them.”
The Master goads her
into pulling the trigger.
The Doctor manages to
talk Francine out of it, telling her that she’s better than this. Francine crumbles, lowering the gun and the
Doctor comforts her before handing her over to Martha.
“You
still haven’t answered the question.
What happens to me?” The
Master spits contemptuously.
“You’re
my responsibility from now on. The only
Time Lords left in existence.”
Jack strides over to the
Doctor. “Yeah but you can’t trust him.”
“No, the only safe place for him is the
TARDIS.”
“You mean you’re just gonna keep me?”
Says the Master.
The Doctor nods. “If
that’s what I have to do.” He turns
to face Jack. “It’s time to change. Maybe I’ve
been wandering for too long. Now I’ve
got someone to care for.”
A shot rings out and the
Master staggers back, bent over. The
Doctor rushes to his aid gently easing him down onto the ground. Lucy Saxon holds the smoking gun, still in
what appears to be a hypnotic state.
Jack orders her to drop the gun and slowly and carefully takes it from
her.
Cradled in the Doctor’s
arms the Master once again laments on being shot by a female.
“I
didn’t see her.” Admits the Doctor.
“There
you go, dying in your arms, happy now?”
“You’re not dying, don’t be stupid, it’s
only a bullet, just regenerate!” The Doctor says.
“NO.”
“One little bullet, come on.”
“I guess you don’t know me so well. I refuse.”
“Regenerate, just regenerate, please. Please just regenerate, come on.”
“And spend the rest of my life imprisoned
with you?”
“You’ve got to, come on. It can’t end like this. You and me, all the
things we’ve done. Axons, you remember
the Axons, and the Daleks.” The Doctor
tears up. “We’re the only two left,
there’s no-one else. REGENERATE!!!”
“How
about that, I win!” Says the
Master. He struggles against the pain of
the wound but also the pain in his head.
“Will it stop Doctor, the
drumming. Will it stop?”
The Master’s eyes close
and he dies in the Doctor’s arms.
Stricken by grief at being the last of his kind, the Doctor openly
displays his emotions and cries against the Master’s dead body while those
onboard can only watch.
In a remote part of the
world, the Doctor lights the funeral pyre containing the Master. It burns fiercely. After a while the Doctor casts away the
burning torch and walks away.
In a park minding her
own business, Alison Docherty is approached by Martha Jones and given a bunch
of flowers.
“Just
to say, I don’t blame you.”
“But who are you?”
Asks Docherty.
In Cardiff, leaning
against the railing overlooking the Plass, with the Senedd and the red bricked
building behind them, Captain Jack Harkness, the Doctor and Martha stand in
quiet contemplation.
“Time was every single person here knew your
name. Now they’ve all forgotten you.”
Says Martha.
“Good.”
Jack takes his
leave. “Back to work.” He says
ducking through the railings.
“I really
don’t mind though. Come with me.” The Doctor offers, after letting bygones be
bygones.
“I
had plenty of time to think, that past year – the year that never was.” Jack casts a glance towards his base. “And I
kept thinking about that team of mine.
Like you said Doctor – Responsibility!” He says looking back at Martha and the
Doctor.
“Defending the Earth, I can’t argue with
that.” The Doctor suddenly takes hold of Jack’s
wrist strap and makes some adjustments amidst Jack’s protests.
“Hey
I need that.”
“I can’t have you walking around with a time
travelling teleport. You could go
anywhere, twice, second time to apologise.”
“And what about me, can you fix that?”
Jack asks. “Will I ever be able to die?”
“Nothing I can do. You’re an impossible thing Jack.”
Jack laughs in
agreement. “Been called that before.”
He steps away from the pair and turns back to salute them both, winking
at Martha. “Sir! Ma’am!” He receives a salute back from them
both. “But I keep wondering, what about ageing? Cos I can’t die but I keep
getting older. The odd little grey hair,
you know. What happens if I live for a
million years?”
Laughing the Doctor
replies: “I really don’t know.”
Jack laughs again,
admitting vanity. “Sorry, yeah, I can’t help it. I
used to be a poster boy back as a kid in the Boeshane Peninsula, tiny little
place. I was the first one ever to be signed
up for the Time Agency.” He
impresses the Doctor and Martha. “They were so proud of me. The face of Boe they called me.” Jack laughs.
“I’ll see you.”
He leaves Martha and the
Doctor stunned.
“NO!”
“Can’t be.”
“Definitely not, no.”
Both laugh at the
possibility.
Inside Martha’s Mum’s
house the family relive the horrors of the year that never was. It’s not easy for them to recover quite as
quickly as the Doctor or Jack, or Martha for that matter. Francine glances out of the window at the
Doctor beside his ship, she smiles back at him before returning to her family. The Doctor returns to his ship and walks
around the console before resting back on the seat, feet on the controls.
A few moments later,
Martha exits the house. She makes a
phone call to the hospital, requesting Dr Tom Milligan and is immediately put
through. She smiles as she hears his
voice, but hangs up before speaking.
Composing herself, she enters the TARDIS. The Doctor immediately leaps off his seat and
begins the usual wild ramble around the console, offering Martha distant
planets or back through Earth history to Charles II or Henry the Eighth.
“I know, Agatha Christie, I’d love to meet
Agatha Christie, I bet she’s brilliant!” The Doctor calms
down when he realises Martha isn’t as excited as he is to fly off into the
distant sunset. “OK?”
Martha smiles and
nods. “I just can’t.”
“Yeah.”
“I spent all these years training to be a
doctor and now I’ve got people to look after.
They saw half the planet slaughtered and they’re devastated. I can’t leave them.”
“Course not.” The Doctor grins. “Thank
you.” He embraces her. “Martha
Jones you saved the world.”
“Yes I did.
I’ve spent a lot of time with you, thinking I was second best, but you
know what? I’m good.” She laughs.
“Are you going to be alright?”
“Always, yeah!”
The Doctor lies.
“Bye!” Martha says kissing the Doctor’s cheek and
stepping from the ship. But a moment’s
pause and she returns. “Cos the thing is, it’s like my friend
Vicky, she lived with this bloke...”
Martha explains. “She loved him, she did, she completely
adored him, spent all day long talking about him.”
“Is this going anywhere?”
“Yes.”
The Doctor nods
apologetically and lets her continue.
“Cos
he never looked at her twice, I mean he liked her, and she wasted years of her
life. While he was around she didn’t
look at anyone else. And I told her, I
said to her time and again, ‘Get out!’
So this is me, getting out.”
She dug into her pocket and threw a spare phone to the Doctor who caught
it deftly. “Keep that, cos I’m not having you
disappear. Cos if that rings, when that
rings, you’d better come running, do you hear?”
“Got it.”
“I’ll be seeing you again, Mister.”
The Doctor grins at
Martha as she leaves. He returns to his
console as Martha returns to her family.
The Doctor sets a course for a new destination.
As the fire continues to
burn, the Master’s ring falls into the ashes and is collected up by a woman
wearing red nails. The Master is heard
laughing into the darkness.
As the Doctor flicks
switches on the console, the boom of a ships’ horn bellows throughout the
TARDIS. The Doctor is thrown off his
feet and falls between his seat and the rail behind it. A life belt rolls into view. Surprised the Doctor turns it over to reveal
the name of an unfortunate ship. The
Titanic!
“WHAT?”
The
End!
©BBC Doctor Who 1963
©BBC Torchwood 2006
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