The Holdarnak Parallax: Lucie’S Song By

The Holdarnak Parallax: Lucie’s Song by

Nic Ford

A story from David Jackson’s Eighth Doctor series, in which the Doctor is travelling with companion Lucie Miller.

‘Lucie’s Song’ follows on from the events of the Consequences story ‘The Holdarnak Spiral’ (http://bit.ly/thsprl) and has parallel stories in ‘Sophie’s Song’ (http://bit.ly/thp_s) and ‘Amy’s Song’ (http://bit.ly/thp_a).

Characters (C) 2011 BBC This work is licensed under Story (C) 2011 Nic Ford the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://j.mp/cc-by or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA. The Holdarnak Parallax: Lucie’s Song Nic Ford (C) 2011

1 INT. THE BALLOON OF AN AIRSHIP. DAY 1 We are inside the huge CIGAR-LIKE ENVELOPE of an AIRSHIP. The skin of the balloon is a light pastel blue, with daylight diffusing through, and is supported by steel ribs and girders that arch high overhead. Along the length of the balloon, smaller balloons - the BUOYANCY CELLS - rest, each holding a pocket of the lifting gas - hydrogen, according to warning labels posted around. These fill the lower half of the cigar. Between these smaller balloons run CAST IRON WALKWAYS: a main walkway running the length of the cigar, down its centre; minor walkways running orthogonally from this, to the sides of the envelope. CAST IRON STAIRCASES leave the central walkway, both ascending and descending. At the far end of the envelope, indistinct machinery - the ENGINES of the airship - can be made out. LUCIE MILLER stands, terrified, on the central walkway, towards the nose of the craft and facing back down to its tail. She takes a glance over her shoulder, through windows in the nose of the cigar. POV with Lucie, through the window: an endless ocean stretching for miles in all directions. Calm, and blessed with bright sunlight - the Indian Ocean on a good day. But nowhere to land in sight. We are flying across a water-world. She turns back, gripping the handrail for dear life and suffering from vertigo. She looks up, down, finding nowhere to run to, and nowhere to escape the terrible feeling that she is about to fall. Instead she chooses to look towards the tail, and the her companion... LUCIE Doctor, I’m not liking this at all!

Ahead of her on the walkway, the DOCTOR - handsome, tall, hair of a romantic poet and dress-sense of a romantic poet who really likes cowboys - is poised like a coiled spring, half crouching and grinning from ear to ear. In his hand, he holds an epee.

Facing him is... well, AN ELEPHANT. Standing upright on two legs, and sporting four arms, two of which hold fencing swords - but nonetheless an elephant. Thick-set. A light blue-grey skin, not dissimilar to the colour of the airship’s envelope. Head and ears relatively small, and the trunk definitely so: while obviously still prehensile, it barely reaches below the creature’s chin. It has what looks to be a deep dueling scar on its right cheek, pushing up behind a monocle that sits on its right eye, and continuing into the brow above it.

(CONTINUED)

It is wearing what can only be described as Edwardian Teutonic finery. A blue tunic, with brass buttons and a high, red collar. A sash, and medals. White, tight-fitting trousers and high black-leather boots.

And it is seething. This is... VOM STROM You will pay, Voctor! You will pay for your insolence!

THE DOCTOR Now, now, vom Strom! I told you what would happen. There are certain things I don’t stand for.

VOM STROM You? Who are you?! I do what I wish! I do not bow to peasants! My vassals are to do with as I will, for I... I am Baron Starkisz vom Strom, Warlord of the Thrandehar and Count Imperator of the Third Vabarisch Hegemony! THE DOCTOR I don’t care if you’re Kaiser Wilhelm on a pogo stick - people trafficking is people trafficking and I shan’t tolerate it. Right now, your erstwhile vassals are setting up home on a lovely new planet far beyond your reach. (BEAT) You know, one of your kind came to Earth once, did no end of good. You really are letting the side down.

VOM STROM Enough, Voctor! The time for talking is over. Now, it is the time for dying! The Baron rushes the Doctor, epees pointing forward and down in a classic attack. The Doctor responds skilfully, parrying the blows from both swords with his own, and pushing the blades away. As the duel progresses, it becomes clear that both combatants are skilled swordsmen. Or swordsphants. The duel pushes back and forth along the walkway, with one moment the Doctor having the upper hand, the next the Baron.

(CONTINUED)

However, it’s not long before the Baron - through the extra sword and sheer mass of attack - starts to gain. Slowly, the Doctor is pushed backwards - and as he retreats, so Lucie has to.

She is pushed back, back, back... until finally there is nowhere further for her to go. She is backed up against the low railings which surround the walkway, close to the nose of the cigar.

In desperation she turns - to find herself facing a clear pane of glass in the skin of the envelope. And through it she can see the familiar, vast expanse of water, the surface of the water-world. LUCIE Look, Doctor, I can’t go any further! It’s just sea, more sea, and a whole bunch of nothing else! Like Southport! Oh, stuffin’ heck! What we gonna do?

THE DOCTOR (STILL ENGAGED IN THE DUEL) Don’t worry... Lucie! If my... calculations are correct... something... will come up... just about... And he lands a blow on the Baron’s side that causes him to reel back in pain, trumpeting. THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) ...now! Lucie turns back to the window, desperate for a way out of the mess. And all of a sudden... LUCIE Nope! Not a blummin’ thing! THE DOCTOR Really? Oh. How disappointing. Oh well...

And he defends himself again as vom Strom rejoins the attack. Suddenly, a loud crack is heard. Lucie turns back to the window to see what is happening - and gasps at the sight.

CUT TO:

2 EXT. THE SURFACE OF THE WATER WORLD’S OCEAN. DAY 2 The AIRSHIP - huge, pastel-blue, languorous in its movements, with an elephant-motif painted on its flanks and huge propellers at its tail - is floating thirty or so metres above the surface of the water-world’s ocean, towards... In the middle distance there is a DISTURBANCE, RIPPLES in the AIR. Another crack - and jagged bolts of lightning shoot from the ripples. Suddenly the disturbance is rent in two: a vertical division, as if a gap between curtains made from newly-appeared storm clouds and lightning. A noise builds. Familiar, but deeper, more resonant - and somehow multiplied: like a thousand TARDISes arriving at once. One by one, SHOPS, WAREHOUSES AND BUILDINGS suddenly pop into existence, emerging through the division and scaling the sides of an invisible mountain that is apparently supporting them. Everything from north-African bazaar analogues to gaudy department stores festooned with neon signage. Within moments it has fully materialised: a Moorish Mont St Michel. And it is teeming with people, from a hundred different planets and species. POV moves up into the air, to get a better view. PAN over, above, around it, to see the full extent of the mountain city: steep sides covered in sandy domes and minarets; gardens and hanging trees dotted about; awnings and flags; on the summit, a lavish GOLDEN TEMPLE OR PALACE. To one side of the mountain-town there is a proper harbour and port, moored in which are a number of vessels: an ocean liner; a personal hovercraft or two; a Viking longship. Bi-planes buzz around the minarets, as does a lone, futuristic ion-drive sporty little number. The place is infused with the sound of a busy market, interspersed with drums and vuvuzelas - there’s a party in town.

The airship is floating towards a pylon, obviously designed for mooring. As it approaches and gently nuzzles, cables and tubes shoot out from the pylon’s base, automagically connecting and securing the airship.

CUT TO:

3 INT. THE BALLOON OF AN AIRSHIP, CONTINUOUS. DAY 3 LUCIE, the DOCTOR and VOM STROM are just as we left them. Lucie is staring, boggle eyed, at the unfolding vision before her. LUCIE Well, bugger me! MAIN TITLES

4 INT. THE BALLOON OF AN AIRSHIP, CONTINUOUS. DAY 4 LUCIE and the DOCTOR are running down staircases, followed by an enraged VOM STROM. They are making headway - but even so, from time to time the Doctor is having to fend off vom Strom’s blows from above. They are conversing in shouts as they run. LUCIE Where are we trying to get to? THE DOCTOR Down! Just down! Out of this airship, and into that city!

LUCIE Yeah, about that... what the hell is that place? THE DOCTOR Unless I’m very much mistaken, Lucie, that’s the Wandering City of Arraki’ish. LUCIE You what?

THE DOCTOR The galaxy’s most opulent market place! Whatever you want - food and drink, perfumes, jewellery, fashion - Arraki’ish... (AND VOM STROM REACHES THEM AND ATTACKS ONCE MORE) ...look, could we discuss this later? I’m a little busy! LUCIE Ooh, I wish I still had my handbag - I wouldn’t half wop His Trunkiness one!

(CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR (FENDING OF VOM STROM’S BLOWS AS HE SPEAKS) Now, now... you know... that violence... never achieves anything! And with that vom Strom makes a mighty lunge, knocking the Doctor backwards onto the floor, and raises his swords to deliver the fatal thrust.

THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) See what I mean? VOM STROM (CACKLING A DEEP, THROATY LAUGH) Ha! Now, you shall pay, Voctor! You shall pay with your... But all of a sudden there comes the sound of a distant explosion from outside the airship. Then an approaching, whooshing noise - and something tears through the skin of the envelope, whizzing to rest in Lucie’s unsuspecting hands. It is a CLOG. Covered in jewels, and obviously designed for an alien foot, but a clog.

It’s steaming a bit - and ticking. Vom Strom and the Doctor freeze, and look in horror. LUCIE (SLOW, DELIBERATE) You know, I’m in an airship, running away from a blue sword-wielding elephant, and trying to get to a city that’s just appeared out of nowhere - I didn’t think my life could get any weirder. (BEAT) But apparently it can. Doctor, why am I holding a clockwork shoe?

THE DOCTOR Lucie, be very, very careful. Whatever you do, don’t do anything with that clog. LUCIE Why? Is it not my colour? VOM STROM Do you not recognise what you are holding, female? That is an n’Mauri battle pump!

(CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR One of the most lethal pieces of footwear this side of the Horsehead Nebula. Seriously, Pan’s People could take out Botswana wearing those! Jiggle it even slightly, it’ll go off. LUCIE Go off? What, like, a bit smelly?

VOM STROM No, you imbecilic human! It will explode! Lucie looks at the Doctor, then at vom Strom, then back at the Doctor - and then, down at the shoe. She shrieks, lifts the shoe in the air... DOCTOR/VOM STROM (AS ONE) NOOOOO!!!!!!! ...and throws it as far from herself as she can. Slo-mo. Muffled, slowed sound. Interleaved shots:

The shoe, arching through the air, hitting a buoyancy cell and exploding. The cell exploding in turn, setting off those beside it too, and on in a chain reaction.

Vom Strom dropping his swords and diving from the walkway. Dropping through a hatch in the envelope below, and disappearing. The Doctor, jumping forward, scooping Lucie in his arms, and diving, with her, through the tear in skin of the envelope. And the whole interior of the airship becoming consumed in flames.

CUT TO:

5 EXT. CLINGING TO THE MOORING PYLON. DAY 5 LUCIE and the DOCTOR are clinging to the mooring pylon to which the burning airship is attached. They are very high up, and Lucie’s vertigo is playing up again - she is holding on for dear life, trying not to look at the thriving market below.

(CONTINUED)

LUCIE Look, I’m sorry, okay? THE DOCTOR Yes, well, it’s done now. A MONOCOPTER flies around behind the pylon. Through its canopy VOM STROM can be seen, shaking his fist at the Doctor. It flies off.

THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) And at least we no longer have the Baron to deal with. LUCIE No - just a choice between a flying inferno or a ten-mile drop. Or we could, you know, climb back in the airship and combine the two - it’s not going to stay up much longer itself!

THE DOCTOR Oh, I think it’ll be all right. Look... All of a sudden beams of light shoot out from the roofs of buildings below, hitting the burning skeleton of the airship. Slowly the flames grow smaller, and the skin of the airship rebuilds itself around the struts of its body. Within seconds the airship is once again as good as new.

THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) There! A TDD! I said there was no problem! LUCIE How...? What...?

THE DOCTOR Come on, Lucie. Let’s climb down. I’ll buy you an Alfarin’zh butty and explain.

He starts to climb down a ladder on the side of the pylon, gingerly followed by Lucie. LUCIE What’s an Alfrin... Alfringey... one of those? THE DOCTOR Don’t ask - you won’t want to know.

CUT TO:

6 EXT. CLINGING TO THE MOORING PYLON, FURTHER DOWN. DAY 6 The DOCTOR and LUCIE are carefully climbing down the metal structure of the pylon. The ground is still a way beneath them. LUCIE (NERVOUS) I really don’t like this...

THE DOCTOR Come on, Lucie. Take a deep breath. We’re really not all that high up. LUCIE Yeah, well, I don’t give a fig about the ’up’ - it’s the ’down’ I’m worried about! (BEAT) Tell me something.

THE DOCTOR I’m sorry? LUCIE Tell me something. To take my mind off the fact I’m... (GRASPS THE STRUCTURE TIGHTER AND CLINGS ON FOR DEAR LIFE - REFUSES TO GO ANY FURTHER) ...oh, piggin’ heck, about a mile in the air! Tell me... tell me where we are, again.

THE DOCTOR Look, if you’ll just... oh, very well. We’re in the Wandering City of Arraki’ish. Avarice incarnate - I really don’t approve. (BEAT) Sorry, have I already said that? LUCIE Don’t think so. Hm. Sounds like my sort of place, this Arraki’ish. I’ve not retail-therapied since Alpha Centauri. And there’s not a lot you can do with huge sun-glasses with only one lens. (BEAT) What do you mean, wandering?

THE DOCTOR I mean it wanders. All across the universe! Just dematerialises from one place when trade lulls, and rematerialises in another.

(CONTINUED)

LUCIE Yeah, right. And my Auntie Pat’s an alien.

THE DOCTOR No, no, it’s true. And it’s not the only one! There are quite a few nomadic space cities roaming the omniverse. Arraki’ish, Barsoom, St Albans, Passthepigs... LUCIE ’Pass the pigs’? There’s a city called ’Pass the Pigs’? Do I look stupid?

THE DOCTOR Not ’Pass the Pigs’: Passthepigs. The Wandering City of Passthepigs. Specialises in low-cost medical supplies for disaster aid missions, and cake. Much more worthy than here - and cake! (BEAT; SHAKES HIS HEAD TO CLEAR IT) Are you sure I’ve not said any of this before?

LUCIE Nah. It’s all new rubbish you’re spouting today, trust me. Lucie starts to relax, and lessens her grip on the pylon. She begins to gingerly climb down again. LUCIE (CONT’D) Wait a mo... did you say St Albans?!

Suddenly, her worst fear: with a shriek Lucie loses her grip and falls from the pylon. As she shoots past the Doctor, he manages to snare out an arm and grab her wrist. And she is left dangling, almost pulling him, too, from the structure.

THE DOCTOR Lucie! Hold on! I’ve got you! LUCIE Doctor! Don’t let go! Oh, don’t let go! THE DOCTOR Don’t worry, I won’t.

(CONTINUED)

LUCIE You better not, buster! Cos if there’s one thing I wasn’t planning today, it’s dying while there’s shopping to be done! But the grip is not good - Lucie shrieks again, as their hands slip slightly, and she drops a centimetre. THE DOCTOR It’s all right! It’s all right! I’ve got you! (BEAT) Now, I’m going to slowly pull you back. One... two... Too late! Lucie’s grip loses its strength, and suddenly the Doctor is holding only thin air! THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) Lucie! NO! And she screams as she plummets away.

7 EXT. ARRAKI’ISH’S BAZAAR. DAY 7 Narrow, winding streets lined with tall, ramshackle buildings constructed from a sandy-yellow mortar. Flat or slightly domed roofs, wooden beams. Small shops and rude wood-and-canvas stalls sit at their base, with colourful awnings leaning forward, and flags, lanterns and bunting strung between.

The streets are crowded with SHOPPERS OF EVERY SPECIES, pushing and pulling in all directions in the search of bargains. STALL OWNERS - again from a hundred planets - lean out, shouting at shoppers, enticing, and occasionally physically dragging, them in.

Every now and then, standing at a corner, is one of the ALIEN PRIESTS, dressed in ornate black and red robes, with a cowl covering its face, holding a tall, cruel-looking gold-and-bejewelled ceremonial weapon. They watch the crowds, but interact little. Certainly, the party-goers and shoppers completely ignore them. And everyone is looking... up. In shock. At something approaching at speed. All of a sudden, two things happen. Firstly, a BLOND MAN DRESSED AS A VIKING runs up in almost a panic. This is LEIF. His eye is on the thing approaching from above. The crowd clears away around this newcomer, giving him space. He braces himself.

(CONTINUED)

Simultaneously, the thing - LUCIE! - falls from above, shrieking. She lands, bottom first, on the awning of a stall, and bounces off - directly into Leif’s arms.

LUCIE Aaaahhhhhhh... oh! She is panting from the shock and exertion of the fall - but has come to be held around the back and beneath the knees - as if being carried across the threshold. She is looking directly into Leif’s face. LUCIE (CONT’D) Oh! Thank... thank you! I thought... I thought I was... dead! You saved me! You’re so... (AND SHE GIVES HIM THE ONCE OVER) ...beefy! Mm! And she cuddles into his neck. LUCIE (CONT’D) Don’t... don’t put me down just yet... the shock... I was so... ooh, really big muscles... yum... Excitement over, the crowd begin to disperse and re-engage shopping mode. The DOCTOR jumps down from the low roof of a nearby building, and runs over to Lucie and Leif. THE DOCTOR Lucie! Are you all right? LUCIE (GRITTED TEETH) Beat it!

THE DOCTOR I thought... LUCIE (STILL GRITTED) I’m fine! Go play with a Dalek for half an hour, yeah? THE DOCTOR Half an hour? LUCIE ’S’all I’ll need... LEIF She is well, I think. Her reactions are... healthy.

(CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR That’s our Lucie! Thank you, by the way.

Leif abruptly drops Lucie, who looks quite pee’d off at the separation, but tries to regain her dignity by brushing her clothing down and adjusting her hair. LEIF I saw the sky ship burn. I came to do what I could for the wounded and dying. I thought there would be more casualties, but... THE DOCTOR ...but the city repaired the airship before anything untoward happened. A TDD - a Temporal Defence... Defender - turned back time. (BEAT) I’m the Doctor. And the plummeting cuddle-bunny you saved... LUCIE Hey!

THE DOCTOR ...is my good friend Lucie Miller. While you are...? LEIF (REGARDING THE DOCTOR QUIZZICALLY) My name is Leif, son of Eric the Red. THE DOCTOR Leif Ericsson, eh? Well, Leif... (HE INDICATES A CAFE) ...let me buy you a coffee. He puts one arm each around Lucie’s and Leif’s shoulder, and walks them towards the cafe. As they leave...

LEIF So, you are the second Doctor I’ve met today. But he knew the gods.

THE DOCTOR Oh, I know gods. I’ve been a couple, for that matter... The Doctor and Leif enter the cafe. But just as Lucie is about to do the same... she is suddenly pulled around.

(CONTINUED)

Before her is A GIRL - blonde, pretty, slightly shorter than Lucie. When she speaks, it is with a middle-class London accent.

GIRL Tell him to chuck it. LUCIE Wh... what?

GIRL When he finds the rock, tell him to chuck it high. Really high. He’ll know what it means. LUCIE He... he will? Who will? GIRL (GRINNING) Oh, you know who. The one who fancies himself.

LUCIE Yeah, well, that could be either of them.

GIRL The one who really fancies himself!

The girl looks down towards the cafe, seeing the Doctor and Leif inside. GIRL (CONT’D) Now, go have coffee with Leif. And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do! And she smiles and runs off, disappearing into the market. CUT TO:

8 INT. ARRAKI’ISH CAFE. DAY 8 LEIF and the DOCTOR are sitting at a table. Leif sips at a mug of coffee; the Doctor is eating a greyish stew.

LUCIE enters through the door, looking over her shoulder at the absence of disappearing girl. She sits down beside the other two, and takes the mug of coffee waiting for her.

LUCIE Got a message for you.

(CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR Really? From whom? LUCIE No idea. Some girl. You’ve got to chuck a rock. THE DOCTOR Really? At whom?

LUCIE Still no idea. When you find it, chuck it high - that’s all she said. (BEAT) Find a lot of rocks, do you?

THE DOCTOR Not so many, no. You’re sure it’s for me, this message? LUCIE Oh yes, no doubt about it. (SHE LOOKS AT THE DOCTOR’S STEW) And that’s your fringey stuff, is it?

THE DOCTOR Akfarin’zh. An Ishlin delicacy - want to try? LUCIE Okey-dokey...

She puts out her hand to take the Doctor’s proffered spoon - but Leif stops her, and shakes his finger as if to say ’no’. THE DOCTOR Wise man. It’s revolting. But very nutritious. LEIF So, Doctor. The airship. How...?

POV moves to the conversation between Leif and the Doctor. THE DOCTOR We’re in Arraki’ish, yes? One of the Wandering Cities. Can you imagine the temporal engines needed to move a mass this size through time and space? LUCIE (OOV) Doctor...

(CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR Well, the TDD is an extension of those engines. A TDD ray - Temporal Defence... Do-er. Creates a localised time inversion in the vicinity of the airship - anything inside reverts to a few minutes before. Explosion diffused.

LUCIE (OOV) Doctor... THE DOCTOR And everything’s back to normal. What is is, Lucie? Is there something the...? The Doctor and Leif turn from the sight of the repaired airship, to face Lucie. POV pulls back to include her. She is standing, terrified, as an ALIEN PRIEST - lizard skin, flicking tongue, scared red eyes - holds her arms behind her back, with a knife pressed into her throat. LEIF Stop! Leave the girl!

PRIEST She is here! She is the defence! THE DOCTOR The defence? What exactly is she defending? And what against? PRIEST She comes with me. The priest backs away, dragging Lucie with him. The Doctor and Leif move torward them - but the priest responds by pressing the knife harder into Lucie’s throat. She whimpers a little. LUCIE Ow! Look, Doctor, maybe you should just hold back, yeah? LEIF (THREATENING; BRANDISHING A SWORD) Leave the girl! Leave her now!

LUCIE Thanks for getting all manly, Leif! And any other time, I’d really appreciate it, but...

(CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR There really is no need for this, you know.

But just as he finishes speaking, he doubles over in pain, source unseen. PRIEST She is the defence! She shall sing, and the Holdarnak shall be sated! Leif looks between the Doctor and Lucie, not sure who to go to first. The priest takes the opportunity to disappear out the cafe door with Lucie.

THE DOCTOR (THROUGH GRITTED TEETH) Ah... just like Brillig! Not again! LEIF What is happening to you? THE DOCTOR I should have thought that were obvious! I collapsed for some reason, and Lucie’s been kidnapped. (BEAT) Whatever knocked me over had the feel of something temporal about it. Maybe an eddy from the city’s time engines?

LEIF The priest talked of ’the holdarnak’. What is a holdarnak? THE DOCTOR I’m not sure. I know the word, from somewhere, though. LEIF Hm. It is a thing of evil, of this I am certain. (BEAT) Are you able to walk? THE DOCTOR Just about. LEIF Good. We should find your friend Lucie before the warlock takes her to the Niflheimr. He runs off in the direction the priest left with Lucie, followed somewhat gingerly by the Doctor.

CUT TO:

9 EXT. THE BAZAAR. DAY 9

LUCIE is being dragged by the ALIEN PRIEST through the streets of the bazaar. The priest has lowered the knife from her throat, and as a consequence Lucie has regained some of her composure, and is struggling.

LUCIE Gerroff me! Lemme go! PRIEST You are the defence! You shall sing!

LUCIE Sing? I’ll sing all right! Drag me around like that any more, buster, and I’ll sing your stuffing legs off!

The priest slaps Lucie across the face with the back of his hand. She sprawls on the floor, and puts her hand to her cheek where the welt is beginning to appear, looking up at the priest disbelievingly.

PRIEST You will be quiet! You will come with me, you will be the defence, and you will sing. Until then, you will be quiet!

The priest roughly drags Lucie back to her feet and makes to pull her away. The DOCTOR and LEIF suddenly emerge from around the corner. Seeing Lucie, Leif immediately runs to her - but the priest is too quick, and raises the stiletto again. His eyes are wild. Dangerous. Scared. PRIEST Back! Back!

LEIF Let her go! The girl is with us. She is no threat to you. THE DOCTOR (NONCHALANTLY) Now, now, Leif. Lucie’s not a threat - she’s an opportunity! (TO THE PRIEST) Isn’t she? Cos she’s the defence.

(CONTINUED)

PRIEST (DOUBTFUL, NERVOUS) She... she is the defence. Yes. She shall sing.

THE DOCTOR Ah! Singing as a defence mechanism. What an enlightened attitude to conflict resolution. But what will she sing, eh?

PRIEST The song of defence. She shall sing, and the Holdarnak shall be sated.

THE DOCTOR Of course! The Holdarnak! Great ones for song-based sating, the Holdarnak, if I’m any judge. Which I’m not.

PRIEST It shall be sated... THE DOCTOR Well, obviously. Holdarnak. Funny word. One of yours, Leif? LEIF I do not believe it is of my language, Doctor.

THE DOCTOR Don’t worry, I have a feeling it will be. (BEAT; TO THE PRIEST) Let Lucie go, there’s a good chap. Hm?

LUCIE (NERVOUS) Yeah, what he said. Let me go! PRIEST She is the defence. She shall come with me. LEIF (LOSING HIS RAG) Let. Her. Go!

PRIEST (NERVOUS HIMSELF NOW, ALMOST IN TEARS. WANTING TO LET LUCIE GO, BUT KNOWING HE CAN’T.) The Holdarnak... she is the (MORE) (CONTINUED)

PRIEST (cont’d) defence... without her, it will... she is the defence! For a moment, it is a stand-off. Then Leif lunges forward to grab Lucie. But the priest, lizard-quick, pulls her away and pushes the stiletto harder into her throat. There is, perhaps, the minutest trickle of blood, and Lucie gasps in fear. The Doctor reaches for Leif, pulls him back. The priest, wild eyed and now obviously scared, looks from one to the other - and then, suddenly, darts backwards, pulling Lucie with him, towards a small, corroded GATE between two stalls. He pulls her through. Leif pushes forward to follow - but as he does so, a whip cracks the air in front of him. One more inch, and it would have slit his nostril. The Doctor and Leif look up - to see that they are facing THREE MORE PRIESTS IN SIMILAR ROBES standing on rooftops and astride awnings. Angry, beweaponed priests.

One priest is holding two swords, in the manner of VOM STROM earlier. THE DOCTOR You know, this is really getting tiresome. Leif has had enough. Drawing his own sword, he faces up to the priests - a roaring beserker. He is about to attack - but the Doctor pulls him back.

THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) No, Leif, no! That’s not the answer! LEIF It is an answer - the gods’ answer! THE DOCTOR Well, when you’re a god, you can use it. In the meantime... we’re running!

The Doctor pulls a protesting Leif back, and the pair leave as the priests follow. CROSS-FADE TO:

10 EXT. A BACK-STREET OF THE BAZAAR. DAY 10 LEIF and the DOCTOR run into another of the Bazaar’s streets. This one is quieter than most, darker and damper, more forbidding. It is full of rubbish, and something akin to rodents foraging in bins. Both the Doctor and Leif are running. Leif - outwardly the fitter of the two - is gasping for breath, and has to stop and bend to regain composure and an appropriate level of oxygen in his blood. The Doctor has barely broken a sweat. LEIF The enemy... has retreated. THE DOCTOR Or, to put it another way, we lost them. (HE GROPES IN HIS POCKET, AND PULLS OUT...) Fancy a Curly-Wurly? Lucie keeps putting sweets in my pocket in case I need an energy boost.

LEIF (IGNORING HIM) I do not think it’s us they were interested in.

THE DOCTOR No. They’re after Lucie. LEIF She is strong. She will survive. (BEAT) She scares me a little. THE DOCTOR Oh, she terrifies me. And now she’s the defence. She’s going to save Arraki’ish from the Holdarnak. Apparently. LEIF But why? Is she a warrior? A witch?

THE DOCTOR Undoubtedly both. But I don’t believe that message has reached all the way out here yet. (BEAT) Got it!

LEIF What? You’ve got what! THE DOCTOR Holdarnak! Yes, of course! The locusts from the other side of (MORE) (CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR (cont’d) hell - I’ve met it, or them, before! (BEAT; MUSING) And now it’s here! The Holdarnak is here!

LEIF I do not understand. THE DOCTOR (GRINNING, LOOKING AROUND) No. And why would you? And yet, I think you gave it its name. So, maybe this is where it begins. The Doctor turns back to Leif - but he’s not there! CUT TO:

11 INT. ARRAKI’ISH TUNNELS 11 The PRIEST pulls LUCIE through dark, dank tunnels, cut from the living rock and echoing as water drips. The tunnels are low - the pair have to stoop as they progress. Lucie struggles as she is pulled - but the priest is unrelenting. They arrive at an aperture, and the priest pushes Lucie forward to look through it. It opens into a larger cavern, the inside of which is indistinct. We don’t get to see what Lucie sees. LUCIE Wow! Just... wow! As she is looking, the priest fishes a pendant from his robes. It is a dark gemstone, glowing with a sickly inner light, hanging from a rough leather cord.

As Lucie is gazing in wonder, the priest slips the pendant over her head. As it drops onto her chest, Lucie visibly enters a trance state, her eyes closing. Her skin starts to glow with the same sickly inner-light of the gemstone.

CUT TO:

12 EXT. A BACK-STREET OF THE BAZAAR. DAY, CONTINUOUS 12 The DOCTOR is in the back-street where last we saw him, just having noticed that Leif was missing. THE DOCTOR Leif? Leif, where are you?

(CONTINUED)

Suddenly he is pulled backwards, a hand clamped over his mouth and an unkempt arm around his chest. His legs are kicked from under him, and he is pulled behind some bins.

The owner of the arm slowly lets go of the Doctor, and turns him round, still crouched behind the bins, to face him. He is humanoid, short, looking to be around sixty. Thin to the point of malnutrition. His skin is grey and waxy, his hair thinning but wild, and a dirty white. A tramp.

He is wearing priests robes - but old, ragged ones, tattered so as to be hardly holding together at all. His face contains a permanent rictus of paranoid fear - but it is quite hard to tell this, because he is wearing a battered leather flying helmet and huge goggles over his eyes that magnify the pupils grotesquely. He has a huge handle-bar moustache. Cardinal Biggles. This is the PILOT. He slowly, shakily raises his forefinger to his lips. Shh!

PILOT (WHISPERING) Be quiet! They’ll hear you! Yes!

THE DOCTOR (ALSO WHISPERING) Who’ll hear me? PILOT The priests! Yes! The ones dressed like me! Dressed like Pilot! THE DOCTOR The ones Leif wanted to kill? But you’re not one of them. You don’t want us dead. PILOT Yes! Not dead! THE DOCTOR Well, good. A far healthier attitude. Tell me, where’s Leif? PILOT Come!

THE DOCTOR First tell me... PILOT Come! Come!

(CONTINUED)

And he half beckons, half pulls the Doctor through a manhole in the middle of the road. Into the citadel’s sewers.

Just as they drop out of sight, there is a dreadful, tearing shriek - fingernails down blackboards but several registers lower. And the citadel shakes. CUT TO:

13 INT. THE PILOT’S LAIR. CANDLELIT 13 A small, crowded, ancient SEWER TUNNEL, long since disused - arched, built from brick and dripping with condensation. The room is dark, but littered with ancient oily candles casting a dim but warming light around the place. Health and safety nightmare. The walls are ancient brick and rock. The roof is low, and in places it bulges ominously, with tree roots pushing through occasionally. BOOKS and BOOKCASES are strewn everywhere, as are old pieces of MOTH-EATEN FURNITURE and exotic ALIEN PIZZA BOXES. An OLD OAK TABLE, intricately carved with alien designs (which, if one were to inspect too closely, reveal it to originally have been involved in sacrifice, orgies or both) is covered with dusty GLASS TUBES and CHEMICAL APPARATUS. In one corner is a COMPUTER TERMINAL that looks as though it’s been made out of AN OLD CASH REGISTER AND SOME STRING. Behind it is a large STEAMPUNK MAINFRAME COMPUTER, all flashing lights and brass pipework, things spinning.

The room is still shaking from the aftershock of the quake. A BRASS HATCH swings up and open, halfway up one wall. LEIF shoots through it, landing on an old sofa. He hardly has time to draw breath before he realises someone else is shooting through the hatch too: he rolls to one side in the nick of time as THE DOCTOR shoots down, and lands where Leif was moments before. He himself also moves quickly to one side, to allow the PILOT similar ingress. THE DOCTOR So, we’ve found Leif. Good. Because that means there’s no need to waste any time before asking what is now probably a far more important question: what was that?

PILOT She comes. Yes! She is here!

(CONTINUED)

The Pilot moves across to the table containing the chemical apparatus. His movements are urgent, agitated, with little nervous shakes as he goes. His walk is a waddle, but a damnably quick one.

He starts to meddle with the apparatus, turning on a Bunsen burner here, opening a valve to let a steaming, brown liquid through there.

THE DOCTOR Who? Who comes? And why the earthquakes - does she just like to make an entrance? The room shakes again, as another quake hits the city. A muffled repeat of the shriek can be heard from outside. Candle flames flutter, everything hanging shakes, dust falls from cracks in the ceiling. PILOT (LOOKING UP WARILY) She is close! Oh, she is very close, yes! LEIF Who, old man? Who?

The Pilot turns to the Doctor and Leif. He is now holding three exotic glasses containing the steaming brown liquid. PILOT Tea?

CUT TO:

14 INT. THE PILOT’S LAIR. CANDLELIT. CONTINUOUS 14

The PILOT, the DOCTOR and LEIF are sitting on the floor, cradling the cups of tea. PILOT She talks to me, you know. The Queen.

THE DOCTOR The Queen of the Holdarnak talks to you. PILOT She is the Holdarnak. Yes! She is the Queen. LEIF Your words are meaningless, old man. Queen of what? What is Holdarnak?

(CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR The Holdarnak. As I told you, Leif, they’re the locusts that live on the other side of hell. Or, more accurately, a gestalt extra-dimensional entity made up of unremitting rage and obscene power. (BEAT; LEIF HAS NOT UNDERSTOOD) They’re evil, Leif. Pure evil.

LEIF Loki’s children? They are Loki’s children? THE DOCTOR The best analogy yet, I think. And I’ve met them before. With Jo. She sacrificed herself to save the universe. Well, one of her did. (BEAT) Look, it was complicated. But apparenly it’s not over. It’s here, in the city! PILOT In my city. I made this place. (HE INDICATES THE TERMINAL, THE COMPUTER) I made Arraki’ish.

THE DOCTOR You? You made this? PILOT Yes! All mine! I made the engines, yes, I made the controls. I am the Pilot, I made the city fly! The Doctor ponders a little, then gets up to look at the computer, plays a little on the terminal.

PILOT (CONT’D) (SUDDENLY SAD) But the priests, they don’t let me fly any more. Don’t let me see my engines. My lovely engines. Yes, they say I am dangerous. THE DOCTOR (MUSING) Dangerous? Well, of course you’re dangerous! You’ve built engines that can suck a mountain through space and time! That’s more than dangerous - that’s genius! To have created engines like this... the Higgs-capacitors alone...

(CONTINUED)

The Pilot suddenly becomes enthusiastic - it’s a long time since he’s been able to talk about his beloved engines. He jumps up, joins the Doctor.

PILOT Ha! Yes! The Higgs-capacitors were the first technical challenge to... THE DOCTOR And the harmonic oscillation matrices! Chrono-fractal geometry! That must have been... PILOT So hard! So difficult, yes! Pilot ran out of crayons, writing those equations! THE DOCTOR (NOW ALSO ENTHUSIASTIC) And what about the temporal dampeners? How did you solve the problem of chronic inertia? The Pilot looks bemused at the Doctor.

THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) (STILL ENTHUSIASTIC; WILLING THE PILOT TO ANSWER) Tell me you solved the problem of chronic inertia!

And now the Pilot looks slightly embarrassed. THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) (SUDDENLY SEVERE) Because if you haven’t solved the problem of chronic inertia, every trip you take would spew out raw artron radiation into the interstital void... The Pilot’s bottom lip starts to tremble.

THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) (BEGINNING TO GET ANGRY) ...which would exponentially weaken the intra-dimensional membranes jaunt by jaunt... (BEAT) ...causing the merging of multiple realities into a single zero-point event! Or to put it another way... boom!

(CONTINUED)

The Pilot is now sobbing silent tears. The Doctor approaches him, puts his arm round his shoulders. THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) Well. You weren’t to know the ramifications. How could you? My people barely understand them. And anyway, right now we have other priorities. Tell me, Pilot, where’s Lucie?

PILOT They say I am wrong! The Doctor throws his arms in the air in disgust and defeat. Walks away. Leif takes over.

LEIF You are wrong about what, old man? PILOT About her! About the queen! She talks to me, she talks to the priests! Yes! But she says different things!

LEIF Her words to you... they are different? To those things she tells the priests? PILOT (WHISPERING, LOOKING AROUND NERVOUSLY) She tricks the priests! Yes! She tells them the defence will save them from Holdarnak! From her! But it will bring her!

LEIF Bring her? The girl will bring her? Here? PILOT She tells them that the girls’ song will be the defence! Yes! She tells them that the girls’ song will close the breach. The song, yes!

LEIF And that is why they want Lucie. This ’Holdarnak’ - it has told them to find her?

(CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR Quite so. But why Lucie? Why, indeed?

PILOT She lets the Holdarnak in! Yes! LEIF She sings, and Loki’s children pass from Niflheimr into this realm? THE DOCTOR Well, if ever one girl could attract the gods, it’d be Lucie. But even so...

PILOT Not just her. All the singers. All the girls, yes. THE DOCTOR (ROUNDING ON THE PILOT AGAIN) All? All the singers? PILOT There are other singers. Yes, other girls, other defences. (BEAT) With the other you’s. THE DOCTOR The... other me’s? (BEAT; THINKING IT THROUGH) Pilot, I need you to be very, very careful. Tell me exactly what the Holdarnak Queen told you. PILOT First, she tells me how to make the engines. Next, she tells me to search for the defence, yes. (BEAT) But then, her voice changes. She tells me it is lies. She tells me the defence is the Holdarnak’s way here, yes! And she tells me... He stops. He looks at Leif and the Doctor, unsure as how to proceed.

Another quakes hits. Another muffled shriek. The Doctor moves in close to the Pilot, takes his lapels in his hands. His eyes demand answers urgently.

(CONTINUED)

PILOT (UTTERLY TERRIFIED) ...she tells me her name is Jo! CUT TO:

15 EXT. THE BAZAAR. DAY 15 SHOPPERS and SHOP KEEPERS are running in panic, trying to escape the city. As they do so, another EARTHQUAKE strikes, coupled with the same tearing shriek. Panic. But we notice a PRIEST turning from the panic, and start to, almost calmly, walk the other way. Back up the hill. Towards the temple. He is joined by others. One by one, ten by ten, soon hundreds of priests are coming out of the woodwork and heading to the temple. CUT TO:

16 INT. THE PILOT’S LAIR. CANDLELIT 16

The PILOT is hunched on the floor, sobbing a little. LEIF has his arms around the little man, but his attention is on the DOCTOR, who is pacing up and down, working it all out.

Dust falls and the walls shake slightly as further quakes hit. LEIF I do not understand, Doctor. This Jo - she is your friend, yes? And now she is with the Holdarnak? THE DOCTOR (DISTRACTED) Jo, yes. She sacrificed herself to save the universe. Well, an older her did. Went through the interstitial aperture with the Holdarnak entity. (BEAT) Sounds like she survived, and is fighting the thing. Good old Mrs Jones! LEIF I do not understand your words, Doctor. But we are no closer to finding Lucie! You have a plan?

(CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR Not as such. You? LEIF We fight! THE DOCTOR Hm. I prefer mine. (BEAT; TURNS ON THE PILOT) So, there are other defences, and other me’s.

PILOT Other you’s, yes. All in the now. LEIF They are here, now, these other Doctors? PILOT Not the here. Just the now, yes. Different time-lines, different you’s. Same now. Same me’s but different paths, different you’s. All here, yes. All roads lead to Rome. LEIF This makes no sense. No sense at all. I say, we find her, and fight the foe! THE DOCTOR No, Leif, I rather think it does make sense. Not much, admittedly, but enough. Suppose this city, Arraki’ish, this whole place, has been created by and for the Holdarnak. It’s a gate. A plan. A long game. Arraki’ish is a way of bringing me to where the Holdarnak can use me. LEIF You? Then why take the girl?

THE DOCTOR I’m not sure. Yet. But think it through: This whole place is a dream pushed into the mind of a brilliant man, to make him invent a machine which will travel through time and space... LEIF He dreamed this city, and made it true?

(CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR Exactly! But with a piece missing! A deadly mistake, which causes the interstitial barriers between dimensions to weaken every time a journey is made. So that she can get through. PILOT Yes! She made me do it! Yes!

THE DOCTOR Only, it’s not enough. She needs me. A time traveller. The time traveller. Because my presence here will weaken the membrane more. LEIF So, this Holdarnak creature can challenge the gods - but needs you to hold its shield the last league? I do not believe it is so strong, and yet so weak. THE DOCTOR Well, I am something special... but even so...

PILOT Not him, yes. She doesn’t need him, yes. She needs hims. Lots of hims!

THE DOCTOR (FINALLY GETTING IT) Oh. Oh, that’s clever. So clever I should have thought of it. Each of me - all the me’s - come. Nothing so much on our own, but each weakening the barriers between dimensions just a little bit more. All of me, of us, together, bending the laws of time until they shatter, and let the locusts through. (BEAT) You know, I think we should get to the heart of this, and see. Pilot, where are these magnificent engines of yours?

CUT TO:

17 INT. ARRAKI’ISH CAVERN 17 We are in a LARGE CAVERN beneath the citadel - but close in to one wall, so that the details of the size and contents of the cavern are not visible to us. The PRIEST is here, with LUCIE, still glowing, silent, eyes closed. TWO OTHER PRIESTS are here too. The Priest fits a harness around Lucie, a strange, alien design. He steps back to join his comrades. They kneel before Lucie. They chant. Slow muttering to begin with, but continually growing in volume, ferocity, urgency.

PRIESTS Holdarnak! Holdarnak! Holdarnak! (CONTINUES) Lucie’s eyelids snap open - to reveal not eyes, but bright, burning orbs. Her face takes on an angry, agitated look. Slowly, she seems to become weightless. Her hair raises from her shoulders, hanging in the air as if in zero gravity. Her arms gently float up and away from her body. She bobs up and down, more floating in water than standing on the ground - her feet barely keep contact with the floor. The priests continue to chant, their voices becoming more urgent, the chant increasing in speed.

And in time with the chant, Lucie’s glow pulses. The speed of the chant, with the pulses of Lucie’s glow, increases - like a spinning top winding up as it is pumped.

At the top of each chant, Lucie’s glow is so bright that her form is masked. But as the glow recedes with the pulse, we can now see that Lucie’s face... has changed. With each pulse it cycles: Lucie; then a different woman; then another - the GIRL who accosted Lucie in the bazaar; and another; and another. Round and round and round. And Lucie’s feet leave the floor. She begins to rise. CUT TO:

18 INT. ARRAKI’ISH TUNNELS 18 The PILOT leads the DOCTOR and LEIF swiftly through caves and tunnels cut into the rock of the citadel.

THE DOCTOR (OVER SHOULDER TO LEIF, AS THEY MOVE) It’s not me - well, it is me, only not just me. It’s multiple me. LEIF You are one of a raiding party. This I understand.

THE DOCTOR No, no, no, it’s more than that. And in many ways, less. There’s only me, but I’m here any number of times. I exist multiple ways in time and space. And we can overlap. Only, we shouldn’t. LEIF Because?

THE DOCTOR Because we just don’t get on. And more importantly, the universe could implode. In fact, normally reality doesn’t let it happen.

LEIF Then there is no issue? THE DOCTOR No. Because in Arraki’ish, it’s gone wrong. The barriers are breaking down. And the Holdarnak’s using that to get me... and me, and me, and me, etcetera etcetera etcetara ad infinitum... to come here too and weaken it more. Time is distorting around me! LEIF You and the girl. You are destroying this realm?

THE DOCTOR This realm, Asgard, Niflheimr - the whole web of time! The same events - these events, happening now, here, today - occurring to different versions of myself at (MORE) (CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR (cont’d) different points in my own time line, but at this single point in Arraki’ish’s, the universe’s, time line. Simultaneously coincident and sequential. An impossible parallax! LEIF But if you have been here before... are here now, but before... why do you not remember? THE DOCTOR Because that’s what she’s done! These events haven’t happened yet - not to me, not to my past selves, not to my future selves. So far, there’s nothing to remember.

PILOT You are here. All the you’s. Jo tells me. (BEAT) The Queen, she needs three. Three is enough. Three Doctors, and she can break through. (SINGS) Three... is the magic number! LEIF And there are more than three of you here?

THE DOCTOR Yes, Leif, I believe there are. Maybe hundreds of me. CUT TO:

19 INT. ARRAKI’ISH’S ENGINE ROOMS 19 The ENGINE ROOMS of ARRAKI’ISH - enormous chambers hollowed from the living rock, deep in the heart of the citadel. The network of caverns is natural but pyramidic, mimicking the shape of the mountain city it supports above. And it is uncannily huge: so big its extent can’t be seen. Murky, dank, almost misty, with ancient STONE AND METAL ENGINES looming so high into the air that their tops are invisible. Everything implies age, coldness, loneliness. Very Kurt Geiger. All greys and blue-blacks, all dripping with moss and condensation. Electric terminals sit at the top of engine blocks, throwing shocks of static electricity at each other. Huge pistons move slowly, so slowly, at the

(CONTINUED)

behest of leviathanic flywheels. The noise as these parts move is mechanical, rasping, groaning; but as one such groan fades away to be replaced by another, it’s almost a keening. The saddest whale-song.

From time to time, steam hisses from cavities in the mechanics. But there’s no heat to it - steam that would chill rather than scald. Condensation drips everywhere. The engines appear to be a mass of pipework and mechanics, with no attention to order; but with a little study, they show themselves to be vaguely symmetrical, fitting the cavern they inhabit like a small hand in a somewhat larger glove. Slowly but surely, the design of the engines draws attention to a point about half a mile into the air, and in the perfect centre of the cavern.

And there’s something there! Hanging in the air at exactly that point... something that shimmers, shines brightly, flashes from one configuration to the next, almost too fast to perceive. LUCIE. Amongst others.

Dotted around the cavern, on rocks, on engines, anywhere there’s space, are PRIESTS. Hundreds and hundreds of them, a huge variety of species. Urgent and angry. chanting in time with the flashing of the hanging figure, almost too fast to make out the words.

PRIESTS (CHANTING) Holdarnak! Holdarnak! Holdarnak... (CONTINUES UNDER)

The PILOT is here, having stepped through a crack in the rock which provides an entrance. He is followed by the DOCTOR and LEIF, who emerge from the crack to stare, awe-struck, around the cavern. They are pulled down behind a rock by the Pilot, to hide from the priests.

LEIF (WHISPERS) Where in Loki’s name are we?! PILOT (WHISPERS) My engines! Yes! THE DOCTOR (WHISPERS) The engine room. This is where Arraki’ish gets the power it needs to move around. And Pilot, may I say you have not failed to impress!

(CONTINUED)

LEIF The priests are here. Many priests!

PILOT They are needed, yes. To tend the engines. Great care, these engines need. THE DOCTOR Or the universe goes fwoom. Yes, we remember. (BEAT) But why the chanting? LEIF It is a chant of war. I recognise it. PILOT It is the ritual. She is close, and they must stop her. The ritual empowers the defence, yes. This is the lie she told them, yes. THE DOCTOR Really? And they believed her?

He stands, no longer caring about remaining concealed. Loud and proud. THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) (CLOSE TO SHOUTING; HE WANTS TO BE HEARD) Because I don’t believe a word of it! Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m of the six-impossible-things- before-breakfast school, and wandering cities, inter- dimensional invasions and the Pilot’s unique fashion sense are all grist to my personal incredulity mill.

The priests are still chanting - but slowly, they are turning towards the Doctor to see where the interruption to the ceremony is coming from. Snarling as they chant. THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) But a chant? To make some floaty girls sing a monster away? No, utter rubbish. So, what I find myself asking myself is, why? Why chant at all, if the purpose is nonsense? And I answer myself, because that’s not (MORE) (CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) (cont’d) really the purpose at all. (BEAT) That’s not a chant of defiance...

And now he has everyone’s attention. The priests, the Pilot, Leif... THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) (NOW ALMOST WHISPERING) ...that’s worship!

The Pilot is terrified, cowering in a corner. Leif comforts him. THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) The Holdarnak shall be sated. Not by the defence holding it off... but by it letting it in! Oh, not your fault, Pilot, you weren’t to know. We’ve all been conned, everyone of us here. You, the priests, me... especially me. In fact, I think you were the least credulous of us all. You couldn’t be bought. You just wanted your engines, your glorious engines. These others, she bought them, and me she enticed over. But you - all you did was the one thing she didn’t expect. You let Jo in. Well done, you! One of the priests suddenly pulls a long-bladed knife from his robes and rushes at the Doctor. But before he can reach the latter, he is felled by a bright beam of light from above. The Doctor snaps his head to look up at the beam’s source: the shimmering form hanging at the apex of the engines, above. She is still glowing, still pulsing, her arm held forward, as if having thrown a thunderbolt. And although far away, we can now more easily make out the fact that she is still cycling through a sequence of female figures, one of whom is Lucie, another the girl from the bazaar. She opens her mouth to speak - or rather, to sing: her voice is a choir, a hundred female voices singing the same words at the same time. A soft, lilting song, with something of the cadence of Gregorian Chant. Her voice is always calm, soothing. She is the... HOLDARNAK QUEEN Leave him. He is mine. I have been so patient.

(CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR Aha! And right on cue! Welcome back - assuming that really is you, of course.

HOLDARNAK QUEEN This is a projection. The females, conjoined across the time-lines, allow a small part of my consciousness through. But the membranes are fracturing. Soon I shall be able to pass into your dimension. The son-sisters shall feast. The priests must hold back their urges till then.

THE DOCTOR Well, it’s frustrating, waiting for you all these years. All this running around with knives trying to murder me, they’re just letting off steam. Leif here does it all the time! HOLDARNAK QUEEN They will be happy soon. When the son-sisters take them.

THE DOCTOR The son-sisters. Do I remember that name? Not sure. Your family? HOLDARNAK QUEEN The son-sisters are Holdarnak. We are one. We are hungry. THE DOCTOR Well, it can take it out of you, planning to invade an entire other universe for aeons. You’re undoubtedly peckish. (FEELS IN HIS POCKETS) I’ve probably got some licorice all-sorts here somewhere. Another present from Lucie!

HOLDARNAK QUEEN You are as I imagined. As Jo told me. I shall enjoy consuming you.

THE DOCTOR Ah, yes. How is Jo? And where, for that matter? And when can I have her back? (BEAT) And Lucie. Especially Lucie. And whoever else you’ve got in there: Polly? Liz? Erimem? Tegan? How many (MORE) (CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR (cont’d) lives have you squandered on this pointlessness? HOLDARNAK QUEEN They are... delivered of your worlds. Taken from your times. They are no longer your concern. The Doctor shakes his head. Laughs.

THE DOCTOR Oh, but you’re wrong: they’re my only concern. They’re my friends. And they’re part of this universe. My universe. The one you want to consume. And as I am sure Jo told you - you should listen to Jo - this universe suffers my protection. You see, contrary to popular belief around here... I’m the defence.

A pause. And then... HOLDARNAK QUEEN That is not what I see. I see only destruction in your wake. Sadness and suffering, death and disease. I see a breaker of worlds. And suddenly, she throws her arms forward again, shooting once more a beam of light. It catches the Doctor, envelopes him, raises him slightly off the floor. And it is painful. He gasps in pain, his face is a rictus of agony. The light begins to pulse, more and more strongly, in time with the sequence of female forms making up the Holdarnak Queen. And as it does, so the Doctor’s form changes with it, into a sequence of images of his other incarnations. Except... Flash! The Third Doctor, on Peladon, on horseback hunting Aggedor, skewering the beast... Flash! The Eleventh Doctor, cowering on the ground, head in hands, as the Atraxi destroy the Earth... Flash! The Fifth Doctor, destroying Castrovalva with a cricket bat and a bucket of hand grenades... Flash! The Tenth Doctor, arms around Baron vom Strom, as they toast each other with champagne... Flash... flash... flash...

(CONTINUED)

The sequence ends, and the Doctor falls back to the floor, panting and exhausted. THE DOCTOR That is not how it happened! Nor will happen! Not any of it! HOLDARNAK QUEEN You think you are safe, in your time-line. One universe, one true path, forever cut off from all the others. The other possibilities, the other turns that could have been taken, they can never come for you. But the walls are breaking down. There is no truth, now. There is only... perspective. THE DOCTOR That... shall not happen! I shall not allow it!

HOLDARNAK QUEEN You have no choice. It is happening now. You have made it happen, breaker! You bring me here! LEIF No! HOLDARNAK QUEEN Foolish human! Did you think this was just an entertainment? All this was planned! The many Doctors... their arrival in this place where the different paths touch, their need to save the females, their vision of their different selves... they are an abomination, a blasphemy on reality. The omniverse will tolerate only so much before it fights back, and when it does I shall be let in. In moments the walls here shall collapse, when reality finally chokes on the breakers’ multiple presence. And then I... I shall emerge!

The priests - silent up until this point - slowly, one-by-one, start to pick up the chant again. Holdarnak! Holdarnak! Holdarnak! It starts as a murmur - but within only a few seconds it has, once again, gathered speed and volume.

(CONTINUED)

Again, the pulses of the figure pick up speed, the female forms alternating at an increasingly quick rate. All of a sudden, there is another quake and an almighty thunderclap, just as when Arraki’ish itself materialised. A rent appears, a tear in the fabric of reality, as if the scene in front of them were no more than a sheet of paper hanging in space. The tear is vertical, cutting right down the centre of shimmering form, and extending several metres in the air. The sides part a little to reveal beyond...... grey. A dark, dismal, befogged nothing, a featureless void.

And then... a leg emerges. Black, chitinous, multi-segmented, metres long and half a metre thick, covered in coarse, black hair. The appendage carries a glass-shard bladed tip, a vicious, sharpened spike. The leg curls through the tear, curves round into this reality and pulls at the sides of the gap, pushing them back and opening it further. Another leg joins it, pulling a different part of the gap back. And another. And another. More and more.

Something sweeps through the gap, and sails around the air on tattered, black-leather wings. Rows of sharpened teeth and bitter red eyes. Screeching. It swoops down to the ground and attaches itself to one of the priests. The priest screams and goes down as the creature envelopes it. Another comes through. And another, and... soon the entire cavern is filled with these banshees, the HOLDARNAK SON-SISTERS, screeching hate and consuming priests. The priests panic. The Doctor squats down with Leif and the Pilot, against the rock they are cowering behind. PILOT (TERRIFIED) What... what are they? LEIF Loki’s children. The family of the Holdarnak. The locusts.

THE DOCTOR So I should imagine! The son-sisters!

(CONTINUED)

LEIF Doctor, we have to stop this! It is without honour! It is carnage! THE DOCTOR And I fear that this is the least of it! A son-sister swoops down, nearly attaching itself to the Pilot, but turning away at the last moment. It is too much for the Pilot. He snatches himself away from Leif and scuttles out from behind the rock, screaming into the shadows. LEIF Pilot! Come back! Odin’s raven, he’s gone! THE DOCTOR Leave him, Leif, we have bigger fish to fry. We cannot allow her to fully emerge. If only there were some way to... of course! LEIF What? (DUCKS, DODGING A SON-SISTER) Do we fight? Do we storm their defences? Please tell me that we fight! THE DOCTOR In a manner of speaking, yes. We use the TDDs, the Temporal Defence... Defence. Whatever. If I were beside that control panel over there... (INDICATES A PANEL ON A ENGINE IN THE MIDDLE DISTANCE) ...I could reroute the power and focus the rays down here.

LEIF What, turn back time? Close the tear, send the Queen back, before she’s even begun?

THE DOCTOR Well, she won’t fully understand the rules of this universe, yet. If we’re lucky - and if the omniverse remains on our side a few moments longer... What I need is some kind of diver... LEIF At last! The gods have been waiting for you to give me this moment!

(CONTINUED)

Leif jumps up, pulls out his sword, waves his arms around and roars like a beserker. He conspicuously attacks priests away from the control panel, and draws the others towards him.

He gains the focus of the son-sisters: they start to swoop towards him, trying to gain purchase - but miraculously failing, again and again. The Doctor edges towards the control panel on the far side of the cavern. He reaches the engine block containing the control panel; the panel itself is ten metres above his head. Looking over his shoulder to check on Leif, he starts to climb... But just as he gets in reach of the panel... he hears a scream. Urgently looking around, he locates Leif... surrounded by a pool of cruel, white light, cast from the chitinous legs of the emerging Holdarnak Queen. Leif screams again.

And she has not just noticed Leif: a moment later, a second beam is cast, catching the Doctor and pulling him from the side of the engine block, throwing him hard to the floor below. He grimaces and yelps in pain - both from the burning light, and the impact of the fall.

Slowly but surely he is dragged back up the wall to the balcony, the light both pulling him and restraining his action. The cavern has quietened down - why? The Doctor and Leif slowly stand, and look around at the priests. Each is quiet. Each is unnaturally passive. Each is under the control of a son-sister, clawed into his or her back. HOLDARNAK QUEEN Did you think you could win, breaker? You are the architect of your own demise. You have created the destruction of your dimension, at my hand. You should be proud. Your work... is done!

The Doctor hangs his head. LEIF Lady - if lady you are - I have known this man a day. Two of him, in fact. And I know this - his work is not done. But the Doctor is silent. HOLDARNAK QUEEN And at last, the breaker is silent. How many species have (MORE) (CONTINUED)

HOLDARNAK QUEEN (cont’d) tried to defeat you before? When all they need do, like the Holdarnak, is wait for you to defeat yourself?

Slowly, the Doctor raises his head. Looks straight into the tear in space, straight into the void, looking the Queen in the metaphorical eye. And he grins.

THE DOCTOR One! HOLDARNAK QUEEN Have you not finished, breaker? THE DOCTOR Two! HOLDARNAK QUEEN You have more? THE DOCTOR Oh, much more. You see, I won’t have this. I say ’no’. And best of all, it’s not just me! I’m not the only one. (BEAT) Three! And suddenly, all hell breaks loose again. Beams of light - different ones - flash around the room. The TDD! Leif swivels, to stare at the control panel! The Pilot! Sweating, panting, all panic and anger, fear and fury. Running his hands across the controls, causing beams of anti-time to shoot out from the terminals at the top of the engine blocks. PILOT (FAR) (SCREAMING FURY - AND PROBABLY THE FIRST TIME HE’S USED THIS WORD) No! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! THE DOCTOR Ha! Good for you, Pilot! I knew you wouldn’t let us down! LEIF The old man! He has returned!

THE DOCTOR His beloved engines - he wouldn’t leave them, now, would he? And I had a hunch he was listening! We just had to show him what to do!

(CONTINUED)

LEIF She returns! To the other side of hell! THE DOCTOR Yes, she does! (BEAT) Except...

Bolts of TDD ray shoot into the walls, floor, ceiling. Sometimes they hit a priest, causing a son-sister to fly off, screaming in pain and fury as its host hits the floor, dead.

One beam hits an engine, which resonates like a bell. Dong! But none reach the tear. It’s erratic, chaotic. And it’s not achieving what it needs to.

THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) It isn’t working! (SHOUTS) Pilot! Focus! Focus it on the tear! LEIF He... he cannot! It is not working! HOLDARNAK QUEEN Your pathetic attempts to stop me fail, breaker!

THE DOCTOR The focusing mechanism must be out. Maybe if I... He searches in his pockets and brings out the sonic screwdriver. Points it at the distant panel and makes to press the trigger... But nothing happens! In fact, there is no trigger. Looking down the Doctor sees that he is not, in fact, holding his sonic, but rather...

THE DOCTOR A stick of Blackpool Rock? Oh, Lucie, what have you done?! And another beam hits the resonating engine. Dong!

LEIF What do we do?! THE DOCTOR I... I don’t...

And a third beam hits the engine. Dong! And it explodes. And the Doctor looks down once more at the stick of rock.

(CONTINUED)

THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) ’When you find the rock, chuck it high’...

LEIF What? THE DOCTOR That girl - the message she delivered via Lucie...

And he throws the stick of rock high, high, high into the air. Slow down, silent, as we follow the rock spinning through the air.

It hits a TDD ray, and disappears from view for a few moments before coming out the other side. Back to normal speed - or faster! The spinning rod flashes blindingly as it arcs back down to earth... straight into the Doctor’s hand. But... it’s no longer the rock! THE DOCTOR Well, that’s handy!

It’s a sonic screwdriver. Not the Doctor’s, or at least, not this Doctor’s - but recognisably a sonic. The Doctor raises it before him, looks at it wonderingly. Leif, too, stares quizzically at the thing.

LEIF What... what is it? THE DOCTOR That, Leif, is just what the Doctor ordered...

And they both look up at the Holdarnak Queen. Leif gulps. The Doctor raises the sonic toward the control console - and fires.

Almost immediately its effect is seen. The control panel at which the Pilot sits fizzes and sparks, and suddenly, all the TDD rays coalesce on one point. Straight away the Pilot is at the controls again, playing the engines like a pipe organ, hands like whirlwinds across the controls.

LEIF (CONT’D) What... what did you do? THE DOCTOR Something that all my selves are rather adept at - a little DIY.

(CONTINUED)

And slowly, the coalesced rays rise. Up to the tear.

HOLDARNAK QUEEN No! Noooooo! Panic. The remaining son-sisters try to disengage themselves from the priests, to fly back up to the Queen. Some tear up to where the Pilot works at the controls. They shear into him, all fangs and claws. He tries to fight back - but to no avail. To the Doctor’s and Leif’s horror, he screams his last, and goes down in a flurry of wings and screeching.

But it is too late to stop the TDD rays now. As the ray hits the tear, it starts to close. Son-sisters fly into it, and are immediately repelled, falling, broken, to the floor. The chitinous legs start to withdraw, falling over each other in an effort to escape. One fails and is cut off, twitching as it falls away. The tear is finally shut - but it’s not over. Where the tear was, now the pulsing, shimmering form can again be seen. And it is no longer singing: now it utters a banshee wail, as the pulsing speeds up more and more and more, until the individual faces can no longer be seen...... and it explodes! A ball of light! And a single, indistinct, female figure is left comatose on the floor beside the Doctor and Leif.

THE DOCTOR Quick, we should get out of here. He picks up the fallen girl, and carries her from the room. Moments later he is followed by a panting Leif. CUT TO:

20 EXT. A BACK-STREET OF THE BAZAAR. DAY 20

The DOCTOR emerges from a gap in the wall, and places the SLEEPING GIRL on the floor beside him. He sits back, panting too. LEIF emerges too. There is anger in his eyes.

LEIF The Pilot! He died a hero’s death! THE DOCTOR He died. He saved us, all of us... and he died. (BEAT) Hush, Leif. He’s with his engines. It’s what he would have wanted.

(CONTINUED)

LEIF It should have been me! Honour is for warriors, not smiths!

THE DOCTOR (PATTING LEIF ON THE BACK) Oh, there’s going to be plenty more honour and adventure in your life, Leif. I’m pretty sure of that.

Leif looks down at the girl. A double-take, and... LEIF That is not Lucie! Where is the girl Lucie?

And he’s right - the girl on the ground is not Lucie, but rather the girl who accosted her in the bazaar earlier. THE DOCTOR What? (LOOKS) Hello. And who are you? The girl starts to come round. GIRL Where... where am I? (OPENS HER EYES BLEARILY) Who... who are you? THE DOCTOR I’m the Doctor, and this is my friend Leif. And you are...? GIRL (WOOZY) Nah, you’re not the Doctor. You dress too well. (STARTING TO COME ROUND) Weird and pretentious, but well. And his hair’s all floppy. Yours isn’t flo... oh, it is. She suddently sits up properly - and suddenly she’s lucid.

GIRL (CONT’D) What do you mean, you’re the Doctor? Where is he? What have you done with him?

LEIF I can vouch for him. This man is the Doctor. Or one of him. GIRL And you are?

(CONTINUED)

LEIF Leif, son of Eric the Red. GIRL Of course. Mountains appear out of nowhere, priests kidnap me - I meet the discoverer of America! Why not? THE DOCTOR Listen, I am the Doctor. (BEAT) But I’m guessing that I’m not your Doctor. Um... He clicks his fingers. And the TARDIS, as if by magic, appears.

GIRL Oh. My. God. You are... I mean, he is... I mean, you’re each other? Aren’t you?

LEIF Yes, he is. But you are...? GIRL My name’s Sophie. Sophie Whitaker.

CUT TO:

21 INT. TARDIS CONSOLE ROOM. 21

SOPHIE is sitting on a stool at the console, sipping at a mug of tea. LEIF is beside her, and they are chatting. The DOCTOR comes through the TARDIS doors, smiling. THE DOCTOR All right, what’ve you two been doing? SOPHIE Just chatting.

LEIF She has told me many things, many adventures. With you. The time... The Doctor stuffs his fingers in his ears.

THE DOCTOR Stop! Don’t say anything! It’s vitally important I don’t learn anything of my own future!

(CONTINUED)

SOPHIE So, tell us what you’ve been doing instead, then.

THE DOCTOR Ah. Well. It occurred to me... there are a hundred and one ways the Holdarnak gestalt could have got me here. A thousand! And none of them need Lucie... or Sophie... to be turned into a floaty singy thing, not one! LEIF And this means...?

THE DOCTOR This means, we were very, very lucky. Because if the Queen had chosen one of those other routes, there’d be no-one here, right now, to deliver the message.

SOPHIE What message? THE DOCTOR The one I’m going to ask you to deliver to Lucie. Because, if you don’t, I don’t get told I need to throw the rock. Which would mean I don’t catch my other self’s sonic screwdriver, and therefore fail to repair the focus control. Ergo, no TDD and the universe goes pop. Us and reality getting out in one piece all rather hinged on the Queen using my companions in that particular way... SOPHIE (SUSPICIOUS) So, what did you just go do?

THE DOCTOR Oh, I spent a summer’s afternoon with Mrs Jones - my friend Jo. Cup of tea, slice of cake. Well, for me - she had a milk stout. And I... um... suggested that when the inevitable happened, when she got sucked through, she should... propose a few things to the queen.

(CONTINUED)

LEIF By the gods! You made her do it! You made her bring Lucie, Sophie, the others, here! It was you, not the Queen! You! SOPHIE You... you used me! Us! LEIF And what was Jo’s answer? THE DOCTOR She said, "All right, lovey, if that’s what you want. But you’re not the first to ask." And then she tried to get me to join her in the Rhododendrons, for some reason. But I think she understood... He looks at Leif, then at Sophie. Sophie starts to snigger. SOPHIE All right, Machiavelli. Time to go home, I think.

THE DOCTOR Certainly. Right after you’ve delivered that message for me... CUT TO:

22 EXT. THE BAZAAR. DAY 22 The DOCTOR, SOPHIE and LEIF are peering around the corner of a building.

SOPHIE ’When you find the rock, chuck it’? It’s not very Bourne Ultimatum, is it?

THE DOCTOR Oh well, best keep it simple - those are the words that were used, after all. The Doctor hands Sophie the sonic screwdriver he caught.

THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) Here, you should have this. I believe it belongs with you.

(CONTINUED)

SOPHIE Oh, that looks familiar! I expect he’ll be wanting it back.

THE DOCTOR Yes, I shall. SOPHIE Listen. If it’s so dangerous, you knowing about the future... what about me? Doesn’t you meeting me cause my Doctor problems? Shouldn’t he know me before he met me? THE DOCTOR Don’t worry - I’ll make sure I forget you. You’ll just be someone I have a vague feeling I ought to meet. I have some yogic techniques that I’ve been saving for just this sort of circumstance. Taught to me by the Buddha himself - or as I knew him, ’Dave’. SOPHIE Dave? The Buddha’s true name is Dave?! THE DOCTOR Long story. Suffice it to say, he was a stockbroker from Walthamstow till I met him. Fell through a time-fissure with nothing but a tea-towel and the Little Book of Calm. Some people just know how to make the best of things.

Sophie looks at the sonic thoughtfully, then grins and sticks it in her jacket pocket. She pecks the Doctor on the cheek. SOPHIE Bye, then. Lovely to meet you. I’ll give you your regards. THE DOCTOR Best not. I may start asking questions.

SOPHIE Like I’ve ever been able to stop you before...

The Doctor grins too, and Sophie moves away.

(CONTINUED)

Follow her up the street. She is now too far away to be heard, walking towards and then talking to a surprised EARLIER LUCIE as an EARLIER DOCTOR AND LEIF enter a cafe.

Sophie finishes, and runs further on. THE DOCTOR Quick, Leif. Before we’re seen! He pulls Leif back round the corner, to where the TARDIS is parked. Hidden from view. THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) Only one thing missing now. (LOOKING AT HIS WATCH) One... two...

And LUCIE appears from behind the TARDIS. LUCIE Have they moved on? Are we safe?

THE DOCTOR Yes, I think so. No chance of an accidental meeting, and all that embarrassment.

LUCIE Good. I’ve had enough of that sort of thing for one day. She fishes in her pocket, and pulls out the stick of rock. She takes a bite off the end, no care for the sanctity of teeth. LUCIE (CONT’D) Ooh! Weird! Ever since Kalidics took over, they’ve tasted weird!

LEIF So Doctor, Lucie... I must take my leave. LUCIE Are you sure you won’t come with us? I’m sure we could find a bunk... (GIVES HIM THE ONCE OVER AGAIN) ...somewhere... LEIF No... no, I must return to my ship, and journey on. Somewhere, a new world waits for me. THE DOCTOR You have no idea how true that is...

(CONTINUED)

Lucie punches the Doctor on his arm. THE DOCTOR (CONT’D) Just write the saga, Leif. Tell the world of the locusts from the other side of hell. The Holdarnak. Because someone in my past needs to hear the name. Lucie gives Leif a huge hug, and then opens the TARDIS door. LUCIE (CONT’D) Shall we go? She enters, and the Doctor follows her in. The doors close. Leif laughs, and turns to walk away. And as he does, the TARDIS dematerialises. END CREDITS

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