9 Gallifrey Exhumed.
1. The Hologram.
The Doctor, and his companions, Ommera and Crystelle, are in the Tardis Control room.
"It was really great to be able to help those people," Crystelle says.
They are happy having just helped people and are looking forwards to another useful adventure helping people. Sound familiar? But it doesn't always work out that way.
Ommera had met the Doctor after she wandered into the Tardis on her home planet thinking that it was a museum.
Crystelle had been of comfort to the Doctor in an earlier episode.
Suddenly, in the Tardis Control Room, a hologram appears. The Doctor instantly recognises the face. The Master is just laughing.
"The Master is playing with us," the Doctor says. "Just how extensive is his game?"
The hologram disappears. The three are alone once more. The mood has changed. Before, they were all happy that they had helped others. Now, the Master is involved. They recognise that they are all just a part of his game. Even all of the work they have just done helping those people was likely to be because the Master had caused their problem in the first place (see the previous episode "Manned Visit").
"While we are just firefighting, picking up the messes that he makes for us to tidy up, we are just wasting our time," the Doctor says. We need to tackle the source of the fire."
"The Master knows I don't like crabs… from somewhere," the Doctor says. "So, he's sent these crabs to torment me."
"Why does he do these things?" Crystelle asks.
"He is just so jealous of me," the Doctor says. "I have been told that I am special in all of the universe. And he hates that." The Doctor is mid thinking about the Master and what might be the Master's thought process. There is much more that he could say than the brief summary he has shared, but it is a starting point.
"You are really special," Ommera says. She embraces him. She was going to go on to say, "and that's lovable," but the Doctor is standing straight and tense, so her embrace goes nowhere, and she backs off. Sometimes she wonders if she means much to the Doctor. Other times he tells her, yes.
"I really want to protect you," the Doctor says. He relaxes and embraces Ommera. They rub noses. "I'm sorry, I was miles away then."
"If we change something from earlier in my timeline, it might change what the Master does after that," the Doctor says. "There are so many things that I might change, but what might really affect the Master?"
"You told us that he destroyed Gallifrey. Is there anything left?" Crystelle asks.
"After destroying the people, what I object to him destroying the most is the library and its contents," the Doctor laments.
"What can we do to change things?" Ommera asks. "Surely there is something we can do?"
"Let's go to Gallifrey to visit to see what's left," the Doctor decides. This isn't a decision he takes lightly. He will have to see places that he has grown up in and loved, now in a state of destruction and decay. Yet he has hope. Some glimmer of how such destruction might be averted, even after he has seen it. If the Master thought, even for a moment, that all was not destroyed, then he would have wrecked even that. Pre-changing things would be perilous. The Master could appear and challenge any action that they did. His retribution would be swift and total.
For his companions, it seems more like a day trip out. The reality of the destruction hasn't met their eyes.
The Tardis grinds. The trio step out onto the ruined wasteland that is now Gallifrey.
Ommera puts her arm around the Doctor to be of comfort to him, only to find that Crystelle has also had the same feeling.
Slint was such a small, stable place for Ommera. Slint was her home planet. This city on Gallifrey looked much larger.
"How many people lived here?" Ommera asks.
"A million," the Doctor says.
"Shall we look to see if there are any survivors?" Crystelle asks.
"The Tardis scan shows that there are no signs of life." The Doctor is extremely sad about this, devastated. But he is calm and matter of fact to help him to deal with the loss. He dared not face it full head-on.
"Doctor, can you show me where you grew up, please?" Ommera asks.
They walk half a mile along debris strewn roads beside wrecked buildings. The Doctor turns to go through a modest metal gate.
Ommera stops. She looks at the gate. "How long ago did this destruction happen?"
"Three months," the Doctor says.
"It was well kept until then," Ommera says.
They go on into a small courtyard.
"Where did everybody go to?" Crystelle asks. "There are no bodies, no bones. Where would they have gone to?"
"There are underground shelters. They would have gone there."
"Can we go and see what happened there?" Ommera asks.
The Doctor pauses. He has a plan forming in his mind. "I have a plan. If we go to the underground shelters it may spoil my plan."
The Bot.
They start to walk back towards the Tardis.
A fluttering noise attracts Ommera's attention. "What's that noise?" Instinctively she pulls the Doctor and Crystelle into a doorway to hide.
"A flying bot," the Doctor says. "Someone's keeping an eye on the city ruins."
"Will it try to kill us?" Crystelle asks.
"That depends on who put it there and why," the Doctor says. "We should avoid being seen by it. Thank you Ommera."
The bot carries on without pausing.
They reach the Tardis.
"I wonder why the Tardis found one of the few remaining trees to hide behind," Ommera says.
"If it knew there might be bots, it would hide," the Doctor says.
They go into the Tardis.
"What's the plan?" Crystelle asks. Rather a leading question when the Doctor might only just be forming a plan.
"I have a number of very tricky plans. None are ideal. All carry some degree of danger and difficulty.
What plan would you come up with? How might it work? No plan is perfect!