Boom Town
A few minutes after the episode came to a close, Rose wandered back in, looking somewhat more bedraggled and her hair all over the place. Eleven made his way over to Rory and Amy, and sat next to them. River sat on his other side.
Amy let her eyes drift to Rose. 'Bad Wolf, huh? Adoring. I bet you liked her.'
Eleven grinned sheepishly, cheeks flushing, and fiddled with his bowtie. 'I did, yeah. She was there for me when I came out of the war. I was so- so full of hatred, then, for the Daleks, for myself. She made me believe I could be the Doctor again.'
'You're always the Doctor.' Amy said encouragingly, and Rory echoed the sentiment. But Eleven simply frowned. 'Or, you try to be. That's what matters.'
[Lord Mayor's office]
(Six months later, in a large executive office suite.)
CLEAVER: I've checked the figures. I've checked them again and again. Always the same result. The design is not safe. It could result in the death of millions. I beg of you, stop the project right now, before it's too late.
MARGARET: Well, goodness me. Obviously, Mister Cleaver, you're the expert.
'She sounds like she means it. I had a maths teacher just like her once.' Rory said. 'She was always so smug because she knew more than you. If you have to power trip over twelve year olds.'
'Miss Antrigg, right?' Amy covered her face. 'She had nose hairs. That's about all I remember – and her voice. It was like a banshee.'
CLEAVER: Then you'll stop it?
MARGARET: It seems I have no choice. (gurgle) Oh, do excuse me. Civic duties leave little time for a sandwich.
CLEAVER: But you promise you'll stop it, today?
MARGARET: Well, of course. Nothing is more important than human life. What do you take me for, some sort of maniac?
'Maybe, yes!' Clara said. 'Duh!'
'It's a yes from me.' Rory agreed.
CLEAVER: Why, no.
MARGARET: Am I right in thinking you've shown your results only to me?
CLEAVER: Just to you. No one else.
MARGARET: Wise move.
'No!' Amy practically shouted. 'Not a wise, or sane, move, at all! Doesn't she know about witnesses?'
'She should hang it from the sky in a plane, 'say no to the massively dangerous plan of the mayor if you want to not explode!' Clara chimed in.
(Cleaver turns away and wipes his brow.)
CLEAVER: I can't tell you, Mrs Blaine. This is such a weight off my mind. I've barely slept. I couldn't believe my own readings. The scale of it. Destruction like the British Isles has never seen before. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think that someone wanted this project to go wrong. As though they intended to wipe this city off the map. Thank goodness we've got you, our esteemed leader.
(He turns and screams. Margaret has got out of her body suit.)
Donna gave a flat smile. 'Don't turn your back to the possible alien you numpty.'
OPENING CREDITS
BOOM TOWN
[Roald Dahl Plass]
(Mickey arrives at Cardiff Central railway station and heads to the redeveloped Oval Basin. The Tardis is in front of the huge water tower, a very avante garde slab with water pouring down it. Mickey knocks on the door. Jack answers it.)
JACK: Who the hell are you?
MICKEY: What do you mean, who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?
JACK: Captain Jack Harkness. Whatever your selling, we're not buying.
MICKEY: Get out of my way!
'I didn't notice.' Ten almost crowed. 'You're the only person Jack didn't flirt with, Ricky. Count yourself lucky.' He shook his head. At least Jack kind of respected that Rose had a boyfriend – had sort of had a boyfriend – while gallivanting off around the universe with his ninth self.
[Tardis]
JACK: Don't tell me. This must be Mickey.
DOCTOR: Here comes trouble! How're you doing, Ricky boy?
MICKEY: It's Mickey!
ROSE: Don't listen to him, he's winding you up.
MICKEY: You look fantastic.
(Rose and Mickey hug. The Doctor is up a ladder mending something.)
JACK: Aw, sweet, look at these two. How come I never get any of that?
DOCTOR: Buy me a drink first.
JACK: You're such hard work.
Amy and Clara grinned at that. Clearly Rose and Mickey were an item, judging by the way they held each other – and Amy knew what it felt like to come back to a boyfriend after being away in the TARDIS. Clara knew how casually unobservant the Doctor could be.
DOCTOR: But worth it.
'And modest, too!' Clara said pointedly.
ROSE: Did you manage to find it?
MICKEY: There you go.
(Mickey hands over Rose's passport.)
ROSE: I can go anywhere now.
'You could before.' Nine said. 'If you didn't wander off wherever I put you, I could use the psychic paper to get us anywhere. But no. Humans cannot be still for more than six seconds.'
'Hey!' The humans protested. 'We're sat here watching your life story-' Amy and Rory reminded Eleven of something to do with cubes.
'This is not my life story.' Ten said. 'This is a few cherrypicked parts of my life. My life is too long to be watched if we sat here for years.'
DOCTOR: I told you, you don't need a passport.
ROSE: It's all very well going to Platform One and Justicia and the Glass Pyramid of San Kaloon, but what if we end up in Brazil? I might need it. You see, I'm prepared for anything.
MICKEY: Sounds like you're staying, then. So, what're you doing in Cardiff? And who the hell's Jumping Jack Flash? I mean, I don't mind you hanging out with big-ears up there
DOCTOR: Oi!
MICKEY: Look in the mirror. But this guy, I don't know, he's kind of
JACK: Handsome?
MICKEY: More like cheesy.
Martha felt distinctly embarrassed at that. She- like so, so many others- had allowed herself to be charmed with Captain Jack, which was fine in itself, but she'd done so while resenting the Doctor for not returning her feelings, preoccupied as he was with Rose.
She had Mickey now. Watching this – she got the irony. She'd lost the Doctor to Rose, and Mickey had lost Rose to the Doctor. He had travelled with the Doctor, and chosen to leave. He understood how that felt, how it felt like tearing a huge chunk out of yourself. He understood her like no one else could.
JACK: Early twenty first Century slang. Is cheesy good or bad?
MICKEY: It's bad.
JACK: But bad means good, isn't that right?
DOCTOR: Are you saying I'm not handsome?
'No one's saying that, Doctor.' Amy said, and patted his arm.
ROSE: We just stopped off. We need to refuel. The thing is, Cardiff's got this rift running through the middle of the city. It's invisible, but it's like an earthquake fault between different dimensions.
DOCTOR: The rift was healed back in 1869.
ROSE: Thanks to a girl named Gwyneth, because these creatures called the Gelth, they were using the rift as a gateway but she saved the world and closed it.
JACK: But closing a rift always leaves a scar, and that scar generates energy, harmless to the human race
DOCTOR: But perfect for the Tardis, so just park it here for a couple of days right on top of the scar and
JACK: Open up the engines, soak up the radiation.
ROSE: Like filling her up with petrol and off we go!
JACK: Into time!
DOCTOR + ROSE + JACK: And space!
MICKEY: My God, have you seen yourselves? You all think you're so clever, don't you?
DOCTOR: Yeah.
ROSE: Yeah.
JACK: Yep!
Rose had the decency to look embarrassed by the whole affair. It was unfair of her to leave Mickey out, and separate him from their little group, but she hadn't meant to. She just hadn't thought.
Mickey and Martha looked at each other and broke into a perfect, mocking rendition of "love is an open door" from Frozen. The TV froze while they did so.
[Roald Dahl Plass]
DOCTOR: Should take another twenty four hours, which means we've got time to kill.
MICKEY: That old lady's staring.
'Old ladies are always judging you for something.' Amy grumbled.
'Probably because you're doing something judge-worthy!' Eleven hissed back. She smacked him in the shoulder.
JACK: Probably wondering what four people could do inside a small wooden box.
MICKEY: What are you captain of, the Innuendo Squad?
(Jack makes a gesture and starts to walk away.)
MICKEY: Wait, the Tardis, we can't just leave it. Doesn't it get noticed?
'Yeah, luckily, it does.' Clara said. 'Makes it much easier to find him when he goes AWOL.'
JACK: Yeah, what's with the police box? Why does it look like that?
ROSE: It's a cloaking device.
DOCTOR: It's called a chameleon circuit. The Tardis is meant to disguise itself wherever it lands, like if this was Ancient Rome, it'd be a statue on a plinth or something. But I landed in the 1960s, it disguised itself as a police box, and the circuit got stuck.
'And here I thought you just liked the colour.' Donna said. 'Nice to know I've been flying in a machine that doesn't know how to calibrate to it's surroundings. Perfect ship for this dumbo – he doesn't exactly blend in, either.'
Amy poked Eleven's bowtie.
'You should have seen some of his earlier faces.' Clara said. 'I'm sure there are logs on the TARDIS somewhere – along with the pictures of companions we definitely did not say you could take.' She poked her Eleven's bowtie, too.
'It's to remember you by!'
'What, big brain like that, as you so love to tell us – and you forget things…' But she trailed off. The man who forgets. 'You wouldn't dare forget me.'
MICKEY: So it copied a real thing? There actually was police boxes?
DOCTOR: Yeah, on street corners. Phone for help before they had radios and mobiles. If they arrested someone, they could shove them inside till help came, like a little prison cell.
JACK: Why don't you just fix the circuit?
DOCTOR: I like it, don't you?
ROSE: I love it.
'You're in an independent man.' Amy said. 'Wait, check with Rose before you answer me.'
MICKEY: But that's what I meant. There's no police boxes anymore, so doesn't it get noticed?
DOCTOR: Ricky, let me tell you something about the human race. You put a mysterious blue box slap bang in the middle of town, what do they do? Walk past it. Now, stop your nagging. Let's go and explore.
Clara remembered the Cybermen. She remembered the people taking pictures whenever they put a horse and carriage out in the streets – the crowd around every anachronism. Probably the TARDIS liked the attention.
ROSE: What's the plan?
DOCTOR: I don't know. Cardiff, early twenty first century and the wind's coming from the east. Trust me. Safest place in the universe.
'You jinxed it.' Rose said gloomily. 'You always seem to sniff out trouble. And a good thing, too, else earth would be kaput.'
'Doctor, you don't know what safe looks like. But I suppose it would be boring if you didn't. And I wouldn't have such good legs.'
[City hall]
(Mayor Margaret Blaine is making an announcement, with the scale model of the power station centre stage. The banner above her reads - The Blaidd Drwg Project.)
MARGARET: This nuclear power station right in the heart of Cardiff city will bring jobs for all. As you can see, as Lord Mayor, I've had to sanction some radical redevelopments. No photographs! What did I say? Take pictures of the project by all means, but not me, thank you. So, Cardiff Castle will be demolished allowing the Blaidd Drwg Project to rise up, tall and proud. A monument to Welsh industry. And yes, some of you might shiver. The words nuclear power station and major population centre aren't exactly the happiest of bedfellows. But I give you my personal guarantee that as long as I walk upon this Earth, no harm will come to any of my citizens. Now, drink up. A toast. To the future!
'And when you leave earth.' Rose glowered. 'Cow.'
ALL: To the future!
MARGARET: And believe me it will glow.
'Because it's- because it's radioactive-' Mickey said.
'Yup, we all got that.' Martha said. Clara was grinning to herself.
CATHY: Excuse me, Mrs Blaine? My name's Cathy Salt, I represent the Cardiff Gazette.
MARGARET: I'm sorry, I'm not doing interviews. I can't bear self publicity.
'She didn't want me to find her.' Nine said proudly. 'Running scared.'
'Her running scared almost liquified my planet!'
CATHY: But are you aware of the curse?
MARGARET: Whatever do you mean? Cathy, wasn't it?
CATHY: Cathy Salt. That's what some of your engineers are saying, that the Blaidd Drwg Project is cursed.
MARGARET: Sounds rather silly to me.
CATHY: That's what I thought. I was just chasing a bit of local colour. But the funny thing is, when you start piecing it all together, it does begin to look a bit odd.
MARGARET: In what way?
CATHY: The deaths, The number of deaths associated with this project. First of all, there was the entire team of the European Safety Inspectors.
MARGARET: But they were French! Its not my fault if Danger Explosives was only written in Welsh.
CATHY: And then there was that accident with the Cardiff Heritage Committee.
MARGARET: The electrocution of that swimming pool was put down to natural wear and tear.
CATHY: And then the architect?
MARGARET: It was raining, visibility was low. my car simply couldn't stop.
CATHY: And then just recently, Mister Cleaver, the government's nuclear adviser.
MARGARET: Slipped on an icy patch.
CATHY: He was decapitated.
MARGARET: It was a very icy patch. I'm afraid these stories are nothing more than typical small town thinking. I really haven't got time. If you'll excuse me.
Clara giggled. 'Sorry, not funny.' But she carried on laughing.
CATHY: Except, before he died, Mister Cleaver posted some of his findings online.
MARGARET: Did he now?
CATHY: If you know where to look. He was concerned about the reactor.
MARGARET: Oh, all that technical stuff!
CATHY: Specifically, that the design of the suppression pool would cause the hydrogen recombiners to fail, precipitating in the collapse in the containment isolation system and resulting in a meltdown.
MARGARET: Who's been doing her homework?
CATHY: That's my job.
MARGARET: I think, Cathy Salt, I think you and I should have a word in private.
'Oh, don't go with her.' Clara said. She didn't sound hopeful.
[Corridor]
MARGARET: Oh! My little tum is complaining. I think we might have to make a detour to the ladies.
CATHY: I'll wait here.
MARGARET: Oh, come on. All girls together.
'Why is that?' Mickey asked, dumbfounded. 'You always travel in packs. It's bizarre.'
'To avoid being attacked by a slitheen, duh.'
[Ladies washroom]
MARGARET: So, you were saying. These outlandish theories of yours?
(Margaret dashes into a cubicle. There are squelchy sounds.)
CATHY: Sounds like we got here just in time.
'Oh, so gross.' Amy said. 'Of all the aliens, I could not stand to be one of- them.'
'That's racist.' Nine said.
MARGARET: Continue.
CATHY: Well, I don't know much about nuclear physics, but from what I could make out, Cleaver was saying that the whole project could go up worse than Chernobyl.
(Margaret unzips her forehead. Cathy notices the light under the door.)
CATHY: Is there something wrong with the lights?
MARGARET: Oh, they're always on the blink. I can't tell you how many memos I've sent. So, Chernobyl.
CATHY: Apparently, but a thousand times worse. I know it sounds absurd, there must be so many safety regulations. But Cleaver seemed to be talking about a nuclear holocaust. He almost made it sound deliberate. I mean, we're hardly the Sunday Times, we're only the Cardiff Gazette, but we still have a duty to report the facts.
'That can't be right.' Amy said. 'There's no way one nuclear power station can wipe out humanity. Wipe out earth, whatever.'
'Maybe an alien one could.' Clara said unhappily. 'Maybe we ought to bomb the living daylights out of Raxacoricofallapatorius. Just…yeah, perhaps not.'
'How come you can say it without even trying?' Rose complained.
'I'm a lot older than you.'
MARGARET: And you're going to print this information?
CATHY: Are you all right? You sound a bit.
MARGARET: Sore throat. Ahem, ahem. Just a little tickle. But tell me, do you intend to make this information public?
CATHY: I have to.
Amy was struck with a sudden and horrible thought. The Slitheen, in a way, reminded her of the Doctor in that moment – evil, of course, unlike the Doctor – but she got the sense this…Margaret didn't want to kill the lady. She was asking questions in the same way the Doctor asked someone to stop before he stopped them forcefully – giving them the chance to fall upon his mercy.
That didn't sit right…at all.
MARGARET: So be it.
CATHY: Mind you, my boyfriend thinks I'm mad. We're getting married next month, and he says if I cause a fuss, I could lose my job just when we need the money.
MARGARET: Boyfriend?
CATHY: Jeffery. Civil Servant. He's nothing exciting, but he's mine.
Amy smiled a little to herself. Rory. The Last Centurion. Very exciting. But even if he wasn't – well, he was hers, and that was what mattered.
MARGARET: When's the wedding?
CATHY: The nineteenth. It's really just to stop my mother from nagging, but the baby sort of clinched it, I suppose.
MARGARET: You're with child?
Of course, that stopped her. Amy was reminded again of the Doctor – of the way he was with children. She'd asked the Doctor, once, if he had children himself, a family, but he evaded the question in a way that sent a very clear message. Yes.
(Margaret sits on the toilet.)
CATHY: Three months. It's not showing yet. Wasn't planned, it was an accident. Nice accident, though.
MARGARET: Congratulations.
CATHY: Thank you. How about you? You got any kids?
MARGARET: No.
CATHY: Is there a Mister Blaine?
MARGARET: Not anymore. I'm all on my own. I had quite a sizeable family, once upon a time. Wonderful brothers. Oh, they were bold. But all of them gone now. Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm cursed.
Are there other Time Lords?
Not anymore. I'm all on my own. There were a lot of them, once upon a time. Wonderful people. Oh, they were brilliant. But all of them gone now. Maybe you're right.
Maybe I'm cursed.
Amy shot Eleven a look. He was very still. Unblinking, as if he faced down an angel.
CATHY: No, no, I don't think so. Not really.
MARGARET: You're very kind. If you don't mind, I might be a while. You run along. Perhaps we could do this another day.
CATHY: Are you all right?
MARGARET: Fine!
CATHY: Okay, I'll tell you what. I'll leave my details with your office. Thanks for talking.
MARGARET: Thank you.
(Cathy leaves the sad Slitheen still in the cubicle.)
Yaz was surprised to find that she pitied this slitheen. She looked so crestfallen. Yaz had a tough time with her family, found them all to be a bit demanding, but if she had to live without them…she didn't know what she'd do. What would be the point them? She could feel the phantom emptiness. Grief at the mere thought. Perhaps she took things for granted rather too much.
Lost them a long time ago.
[Restaurant]
(On a small jetty.)
JACK: I swear, six feet tall and with big tusks
DOCTOR: You're lying through your teeth!
ROSE: I'd have gone bonkers! That's the word - bonkers!
JACK: I mean, it turns out the white things are tusks and I mean tusks! And it's woken, and it's not happy.
DOCTOR: How could you not know it was there?
JACK: And we're standing there, fifteen of us, naked-
ROSE: Naked?!
JACK: And I'm like, oh, no, no, it's got nothing to do with me. And then it roars, and we are running. Oh my God, we are running! And Brakovitch falls, so I turn to him and I say-
MICKEY: I knew we should've turned left!
JACK: That's my line!
ROSE: I don't believe you. I don't believe a word you say ever. That is so brilliant. Did you ever get your clothes back?
(The Doctor snatches a newspaper from the man at the next table and reads it.)
JACK: No, I just picked him up went right for the ship, full throttle. Didn't stop until I hit the spacelanes. I was shaking. It was unbelievable. It freaked me out, and by the time I got fifteen light years away I realised I'm like this.
DOCTOR: And I was having such a nice day.
(The Doctor holds up the front page of the Western Mail, with the picture the photographer took of Margaret.)
'Busted!' Graham said.
[City hall foyer]
JACK: According to intelligence, the target is the last surviving member of the Slitheen family, a criminal sect from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, masquerading as a human being, zipped inside a skin suit. Okay, plan of attack, we assume a basic fifty seven fifty six strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you go face to face. That'll designate Exit One, I'll cover Exit Two. Rose, you Exit Three. Mickey Smith, you take Exit Four. Have you got that?
DOCTOR: Excuse me. Who's in charge?
JACK: Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir.
Clara frowned slightly. Her Doctor had absolutely blown up when Danny had called him "sir" or referred to him as a soldier. But Clara supposed this was close to the war, or the end of it that they'd seen in the Dalek episode. Whatever he'd suffered as a soldier obviously hadn't truly settled in yet.
JACK: Sorry. Awaiting orders, sir.
DOCTOR: Right, here's the plan. (pause) Like he said. Nice plan. Anything else?
JACK: Present arms.
(They each pull out a mobile phone)
DOCTOR: Ready.
ROSE: Ready.
MICKEY: Ready.
JACK: Ready. Speed dial?
DOCTOR: Yup.
ROSE: Ready.
MICKEY: Check.
JACK: See you in hell.
[Outside the Mayor's office]
(The Doctor speaks to the young man sitting at a desk by the door.)
DOCTOR: Hello, I've come to see the Lord Mayor.
IDRIS: Have you got an appointment?
DOCTOR: No, just an old friend passing by. Bit of a surprise. Can't wait to see her face.
IDRIS: Well, she's just having a cup of tea.
DOCTOR: Just go in there and tell her the Doctor would like to see her.
IDRIS: Doctor who?
'Oh, don't start.' Clara groaned. Eleven was grinning. He did whenever anyone asked him the question – he knew most people would die not knowing.
DOCTOR: Just the Doctor. Tell her exactly that. The Doctor.
IDRIS: Hang on a tick.
(Idris goes into the Lord Mayor's office. A tea cup smashes on the floor. Idris comes out again.)
Amy burst out laughing at that. 'Right, that's what I want people to do when they hear me coming from now on. Pond? Amy Pond? And they just- drop everything and kneel before me. Wait, what does that say about me?'
'Everything.' Rory said. 'Nothing! It says nothing.'
IDRIS: The Lord Mayor says thank you for popping by. She'd love to have a chat, but, er, she's up to her eyes in paperwork. Perhaps if you could make an appointment for next week?
DOCTOR: She's climbing out of the window, isn't she?
IDRIS: Yes, she is.
They were all laughing at that.
[Lord Mayor's office balcony]
DOCTOR: Slitheen heading north.
[City hall]
ROSE: On my way.
JACK: Over and out.
MICKEY: Oh my God.
[Lord Mayor's office balcony]
(Idris wrestles with the Doctor as Margaret climbs down a ladder.)
IDRIS: Leave the Mayor alone!
(Meanwhile, Rose runs into a clerk carrying a pile of papers, and Jack leaps over a tea trolley. Mickey crashes into a cleaning woman.)
'Graceful as a kitten on catnip.' Martha said fondly.
[City hall car park]
(Margaret reaches the bottom of the ladder and takes off her brooch. She starts to run but sees Rose coming towards her, snarls and removes her right earring. Then Jack comes running from the opposite direction. The Doctor finishes with Idris and sees her running in the only available direction - across the front of the building.)
DOCTOR: Margaret!
(The Doctor gets down the ladder as Margaret removes her other earring and puts it with the first and the brooch. The chase is on.)
JACK: Who's on Exit Four?
ROSE: That was Mickey!
MICKEY: Here I am.
DOCTOR: Mickey the idiot.
ROSE: Oh, be fair. she's not exactly going to outrun us, is she?
(Margaret vanishes.)
JACK: She's got a teleport! That's cheating! Now we're never going to get her.
ROSE: Oh, the Doctor's very good at teleports.
(The Doctor holds up his sonic screwdriver and Margaret reappears, running towards them. Vanish, reappear. Vanish, reappear.)
DOCTOR: I could do this all day.
MARGARET: This is persecution. Why can't you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?
DOCTOR: You tried to kill me and destroy this entire planet.
MARGARET: Apart from that.
'She should not be this funny! She's a planet-killing maniac!'
[City hall]
DOCTOR: So, you're a Slitheen, you're on Earth, you're trapped. Your family get killed but you teleport out just in the nick of time. You have no means of escape. What do you do? You build a nuclear power station. But what for?
MARGARET: A philanthropic gesture. I've learnt the error of my ways
'If only people did that.' Ten said miserably.
'You did.' Rose pointed out. 'In both extremes. You went from "everything has it's time and everything dies" to "time lord victorious" and the found a happy medium. You're always changing, and mostly for the better.'
DOCTOR: And it just so happens to be right on top of the rift.
MARGARET: What rift would that be?
JACK: A rift in space and time. If this power station went into meltdown, the entire planet would go (suck boom)!
'Well, that certainly- streamlines the process of my planet being turned back into space-dust.' Rory said sourly.
'I'm not totally against Leadworth being sucked into a black hole' Amy said thoughtfully.
DOCTOR: This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity.
ROSE: Didn't anyone notice? Isn't there someone in London checking this sort of stuff?
MARGARET: We're in Cardiff. London doesn't care. The South Wales coast could fall into the sea and they wouldn't notice. Oh. I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I've gone native.
'And we're very nice natives!' Yaz said. 'She should have showed herself to some conspiracy nuts. Alien in a human skin suit? They'd definitely think Mark Zuckerberg was a slitheen. Er… he isn't, is?'
'Nah.' Thirteen said. 'Maybe. Yes? Who knows.'
'You know!' Ryan protested, but 13 tapped her nose mysteriously and winked at them.
MICKEY: But why would she do that? A great big explosion, she'd only end up killing herself.
'Maybe this is some stupid revenge suicide.' Clara suggested. 'Like that Baker girl.'
MARGARET: She's got a name, you know.
MICKEY: She's not even a she, she's a thing.
'Now, that's racist.' Missy said.
DOCTOR: Oh, but she's clever.
(The Doctor pulls the middle section out of the model and turns it over to reveal electronics.)
DOCTOR: Fantastic.
JACK: Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?
DOCTOR: Couldn't have put it better myself.
'No, you couldn't of.' Donna sighed.
JACK: Oo, genius! You didn't build this?
MARGARET: I have my hobbies. A little tinkering.
JACK: No, no, no. I mean, you really didn't build this. Way beyond you.
MICKEY: I bet she stole it.
MARGARET: It fell into my hands.
'River says that.' Eleven said. 'It definitely means stole.'
ROSE: Is it a weapon?
JACK: It's transport. You see, if the reactor blows, the rift opens. Phenomenal cosmic disaster. But this thing shrouds you in a forcefield. You have this energy bubble, so you're safe. Then you feed it coordinates, stand on top, and ride the concussion all the way out of the solar system.
MICKEY: It's a surfboard.
JACK: A pan-dimensional surfboard, yeah.
MARGARET: And it would've worked. Id have surfed away from this dead end dump and back to civilisation.
MICKEY: You'd blow up a whole planet just to get a lift?
MARGARET: Like stepping on an anthill.
'I'll pour ant poison your ugly head-' Clara spluttered.
DOCTOR: How'd you think of the name?
MARGARET: What, Blaidd Drwg? It's Welsh.
DOCTOR: I know, but how did you think of it?
MARGARET: I chose it at random, that's all. I don't know. It just sounded good. Does it matter?
DOCTOR: Blaidd Drwg.
ROSE: What's it mean?
DOCTOR: Bad Wolf.
ROSE: But I've heard that before. Bad Wolf. I've heard that lots of times.
DOCTOR: Everywhere we go. Two words following us. Bad Wolf.
ROSE: How can they be following us?
Amy opened her mouth, and shut it again, not sure how to phrase the question. If Rose was Bad Wolf, no wonder it was following them. But how had that happened? When did Rose gain the ability to leave messages throughout time?
Clara remembered that day. The Great Intelligence had grabbed the Doctor and tried to fling him into the rift. She stopped it, how exactly, being wiped away by the massive energy surging from the rift, but at a cost. She'd been struck by lightning moments after she defeated the Intelligence, carried away by paramedics. It had killed her.
(There is a nasty pause as they consider it.)
DOCTOR: Nah, just a coincidence. Like hearing a word on the radio then hearing it all day. Never mind. Things to do. Margaret, we're going to take you home.
JACK: Hold on, isn't that the easy option, like letting her go?
ROSE: I don't believe it! We actually get to go to Raxa. Wait a minute! Raxacor
DOCTOR: Raxacoricofallapatorius.
ROSE: Raxacorico
DOCTOR: fallapatorius.
ROSE: Raxacoricofallapatorius. That's it! I did it! (They jump about excitedly.) MARGARET: They have the death penalty. (The mood is immediately killed.) MARGARET, CONT'D: The family Slitheen was tried in its absence many years ago and found guilty with no chance of appeal. According to the statutes of government, the moment I return, I am to be executed. What do you make of that, Doctor? Take me home and you take me to my death.
DOCTOR: Not my problem.
'Doctor!' Amy said. It- she would have liked to think her Doctor – Eleven – wasn't that cold, or callous, of others life. It would seem the effect the Time War had on him was unforgiveable. But she supposed Margaret was about to destroy a planet of which the Doctor was very fond, and maybe she deserved it. But it still-
It didn't seem very Doctor-like to just let it happen. To not even try. He killed this woman's whole family. And yes, they were a danger to others, but… she was losing track.
The Doctor had mercy, even when it was unfeasible. He always believed people could do better, if only someone gave them the chance. But she remembered in Mercy, his hopelessness as he got into her face- how many people have died because of my mercy?
She supposed, being a Time Lord, in a time machine, dashing around the universe, you had to be judge, jury, and executioner. You had to tear things, bad things, out at the roots, make sure they could never come back, and never hurt anyone again, and still remain someone others could look up to. What would she have done? Hardened her heart and given her over to her people? Or give her another chance? The more she watched, the more she realised she didn't really know the Doctor. She knew one version of him in a very long line, and she wasn't even sure if that was his real self, or if he put on a hero façade to keep little Amelia Pond from despair. River had once told her to hide the damage from him, that he couldn't cope with it – but River was short-sighted. And wrong. And self-centred.
It was the Doctor that hid the damage from them, from fragile humans he took throughout the universe to show them, to see, that wonder was still to be found. To keep him a good person. It was the Doctor who had hundreds of years to hide, to weigh him down – and yet he kept the face of a twelve year old, and he tried not to let anything show. Because it scared them, and then they left, and he couldn't be alone. He'd told her. The wonder of space had gone away from him. He'd suffered too much to see how beautiful it was when a star exploded into a supernova. She supposed that would happen to anyone, if they existed long enough.
[Tardis]
(Night has fallen.)
MARGARET: This ship is impossible. It's superb. How do you get the outside around the inside?
'Dimensional engineering.' Ryan said proudly. Of course, how they did it was a mystery. The Doctor had tried to tell him, but he had fallen asleep halfway through the four-hour speech.
DOCTOR: Like I'd give you the secret, yeah.
MARGARET: I almost feel better about being defeated. I never stood a chance. This is the technology of the gods.
Ten scoffed. 'They certainly thought so.'
DOCTOR: Don't worship me - I'd make a very bad god. You wouldn't get a day off, for starters. Jack, how we doing, big fella?
'You're too soft to be a god.'
JACK: This extrapolator's top of the range. Where did you get it?
MARGARET: Oh, I don't know. Some airlock sale?
JACK: Must've been a great big heist. It's stacked with power.
DOCTOR: But we can use it for fuel?
JACK: It's not compatible, but it should knock off about twelve hours. We'll be ready to go by morning.
DOCTOR: Then we're stuck here overnight.
MARGARET: I'm in no hurry.
ROSE: We've got a prisoner. The police box is really a police box.
MARGARET: You're not just police, though. Since you're taking me to my death, that makes you my executioners. Each and every one of you.
MICKEY: Well, you deserve it.
MARGARET: You're very quick to say so. You're very quick to soak your hands in my blood, which makes you better than me, how, exactly? Long night ahead. Let's see who can look me in the eye.
(No one.)
'She was going to burn 7.6 billion people.' Ryan said determinedly. 'By sending her to her death, how many planets do you save from her hatred of ants? It's saving countless. Worth it. I'd look her in the eye. Wouldn't even blink.'
'Yeah, we all know how you feel about it, Ryan.' Thirteen said, quietly.
'One genocidal Slitheen versus entire planets? Yeah, I think they're a bit less blood-soaked.' Martha agreed.
[Roald Dahl Plass]
(Mickey looks at the water tower. Rose joins him.)
ROSE: It's freezing out here!
MICKEY: Better than in there. She does deserve it. She's a Slitheen. I don't care. It's just weird in that box.
'Bit more than a box!' Eleven said, disgruntled.
ROSE: I didn't really need my passport.
MICKEY: I've been thinking, you know, we could go have a drink. Have a pizza or something. Just you and me.
ROSE: That'd be nice.
MICKEY: And, I mean, if the Tardis can't leave until morning, we could go to a hotel, spend the night. I mean, if you want to. I've got some money.
ROSE: Okay, yeah.
MICKEY: Is that all right?
ROSE: Yeah.
MICKEY: Cool. There's a couple of bars around here. We should give them a go. Do you have to go and tell him?
ROSE: It's none of his business.
They were sort of- awkward. Amy was reminded of how Rory was when he first came into the TARDIS – defensive, suspicious, and outsider. And of course he was suspicious of the Doctor. Young, attractive, in spite of the bowtie and the tweed suggesting sex and romance were far from his mind – damn, she should have realised that earlier – and spiriting his fiancée off to the far reaches of the universe? Anyone would be on edge.
And she hadn't done much to help ease him in. She'd been young, yes, young and star struck, but she would regret how she treated him early on for the rest of her life.
[Tardis]
(The Doctor watches Mickey and Rose on the scanner.)
'You shouldn't watch people like that, it's rude!'
JACK: So, what's on?
DOCTOR: Nothing, just.
MARGARET: I gather it's not always like this, having to wait. I bet you're always the first to leave, Doctor. Never mind the consequences, off you go. You butchered my family and then ran for the stars, am I right? But not this time. At last you have consequences. How does it feel?
The cleric had said a similar thing in the caves beneath the Byzantium. That after the Doctor flew away in his box, he was left with the family of the people the Doctor had failed to save. They were soldiers, of course – they signed up, trained, for dangerous missions – and like Nine had said, he was not a God.
But it was still raw. The bitterness the woman held had been voiced by many others, whose life had been touched by the Doctor but only briefly, and people who were not to blame for anything wicked. The Doctor did his best. But sometimes his best wasn't good enough. He was an alien, same as the things he fought.
Amy supposed, as a human, that she assumed that alien, meant – capable of things humans weren't, and while that was true, she'd have no way of getting out of three quarters of the things the Doctor found himself in, she often forgot that the Doctor fought aliens. Cleverer, more advanced, older, more – armies- and yes, yes, he had consequences. She had never seen him sleep. Did he dare?
She imagined she might have been just like the woman, if the Doctor had never come back for her. How her bitterness might have turned to hate, wonder souring as the years passed. She had felt it. She didn't remember much of the quarantine planet, having been there two times at once, but sometimes, the ghost feelings remained. Sometimes she felt a blistering hatred towards the Doctor – for making her wait. For Melody.
'I'm sorry-' Eleven stood up. And he was gone, rushing out the door. Amy stood up, meaning to follow- but Clara beat her to it.
DOCTOR: I didn't butcher them.
JACK: Don't answer back. That's what she wants.
'She just wants to get a rise out of him.' Rory said hollowly. 'Like a bully. You did what was right.'
DOCTOR: I didn't. What about you? You had an emergency teleport. You didn't zap them to safety, did you?
MARGARET: It only carries one. I had to fly without coordinates. I ended up on a skip in the Isle of Dogs. It wasn't funny.
DOCTOR: Sorry. It is a bit funny.
'Poor Wales.' Bill said.
MARGARET: Do I get a last request?
DOCTOR: Depends what it is.
MARGARET: I grew quite fond of my little human life. All those rituals. The brushing of the teeth, and the complicated way they cook things. There's a little restaurant just round the Bay. It became quite a favourite of mine.
DOCTOR: Is that what you want, a last meal?
MARGARET: Don't I have rights?
'I think not!' Graham said. 'She's not a human. No last meal, no phone call, just justice for the people she killed. Husbands. Wives. Children. For them. She should be dealt with, for them.' He was remembering Grace. How angry he'd felt towards Tim Shaw.
JACK: Oh, like she's not going to try to escape.
MARGARET: Except I can never escape the Doctor, so where's the danger? I wonder if you could do it? To sit with a creature you're about to kill and take supper. How strong is your stomach?
'It's lucky you can't escape the Doctor.' Mickey said sourly. 'Otherwise what could you get away with? Obviously the Slitheen family have the death penalty for a reason. Then they escaped it and decided to try and destroy earth. So the Doctor came. Then she escaped, and rather than learning, she decided to try again. She's had her second chance, and her third. It's her own fault.'
DOCTOR: Strong enough.
MARGARET: I wonder. I've seen you fight your enemies, now dine with them.
DOCTOR: You won't change my mind.
MARGARET: Prove it.
DOCTOR: There are people out there. If you slip away just for one second, they'll be in danger.
JACK: Except I've got these.
(Jack holds up two bangles.)
JACK: You both wear one. If she moves more than ten feet away, she gets zapped by ten thousand volts.
DOCTOR: Margaret, would you like to come out to dinner? My treat.
MARGARET: Dinner in bondage. Works for me.
(And so Jack is left to carry on mending the Tardis whilst the two couples go out for their dinners.)
'That showed her.' Martha said. 'I don't care how big her claws are, she won't get under the Doctor's skin.'
[Bistro 10]
MARGARET: Here we are, out on a date, and you haven't even asked my proper name.
DOCTOR: It's not a date. What's your name?
'Oh, gross.' Amy said.
MARGARET: Blon. I am Blon Fel Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen. That's what it'll say on my death certificate.
'Blimey, who has time to say that?'
DOCTOR: Nice to meet you, Blon.
MARGARET: I'm sure. Look, that's where I was living as Margaret. Nice little flat, over there, on the top. Next to the one with the light on.
(The Doctor turns to look and she puts some powder from her ring into his wine.)
'Doctor-' Rory said, alarmed. If she poisoned the Doctor, it would be easy for her to escape.
MARGARET: Two bedrooms, bayside view. I was rather content. Don't suppose I'll see it again.
(The Doctor swaps the glasses over.)
DOCTOR: Suppose not.
MARGARET: Thank you.
DOCTOR: Pleasure.
MARGARET: Tell me then, Doctor. What do you know of our species?
DOCTOR: Only what I've seen.
MARGARET: Did you know, for example, in extreme cases, when her life is in danger, a female Raxacoricofallapatorian can manufacture a poison dart within her own finger.
(She points. The dart flies and the Doctor catches it.)
DOCTOR: Yes, I did.
MARGARET: Just checking. And one more thing. between you and me.
(They look around then lean forward so Margaret can whisper.)
MARGARET: As a final resort, the excess poison can be exhaled through the lungs.
(Margaret starts to exhale. The Doctor uses a breath freshener on her.)
DOCTOR: That's better. Now then, what do you think? Mmm, steak looks nice. Steak and chips.
Yaz found herself grinning in spite of everything.
[Mermaid Quayside]
ROSE: The Doctor took me to this planet a while back. It was much colder than this. They called it Woman Wept. The planet was actually called Woman Wept, because if you looked at it, right, from above, there's like this huge continent, like all curved round. It sort of looked like a woman, you know, lamenting. Oh my God, and we went to this beach, right. No people, no buildings, just this beach like a thousand miles across. And something had happened, something to do with the sun, I don't know, but the sea had just frozen. In a split second, in the middle of a storm, right, waves and foam, just frozen, all the way out to the horizon. Midnight, right, we walk underneath these waves a hundred feet tall, made of ice.
'Hey, we went there.' Martha said. 'Wait-'
MICKEY: I'm going out with Trisha Delaney.
ROSE: Right. That's nice. Trisha from the shop?
MICKEY: Yeah, Rob Delany's sister.
ROSE: Well, she's nice. She's a bit big.
MICKEY: She lost weight. You've been away.
ROSE: Well, good for you. She's nice.
MICKEY: So, tell us more about this planet, then.
ROSE: That was it, really.
Amy found herself cringing slightly at the awkwardness, as Rose clearly thought her and Mickey were still a thing, and that's why she'd asked him here.
MARGARET: Public execution's a slow death. They prepare a thin acetic acid, lower me into the cauldron and boil me. The acidity is perfectly gauged to strip away the skin. Internal organs fall out into the liquid, and I become soup. And still alive, still screaming.
'Oh, that's just mean.' Clara said, wondering back in, Eleven in tow. 'There's no need for that, unless they like…eat babies.'
She caught Eleven's eye.
'They don't...?' She pulled a face. 'I suppose that's not surprising.'
DOCTOR: I don't make the law.
MARGARET: But you deliver it. Will you stay to watch?
DOCTOR: What else can I do?
MARGARET: The Slitheen family's huge. There's a lot more of us, all scattered off-world. Take me to them. Take me somewhere safe.
DOCTOR: But then you'll just start again.
MARGARET: I promise I won't.
DOCTOR: You've been in that skin suit too long. You've forgotten. There used to be a real Margaret Blaine. You killed her and stripped her and used the skin. You're pleading for mercy out of a dead woman's lips.
MARGARET: Perhaps I have got used to it. A human life, an ordinary life. That's all I'm asking. Give me a chance, Doctor. I can change.
DOCTOR: I don't believe you.
So, when faced with consequences, the Doctor went through with other peoples. If he had to deal with someone more than once – his mercy was gone. No wonder the Daleks made him so angry.
[Mermaid Quayside]
MICKEY: So, what do you want to do now?
ROSE: Don't mind.
MICKEY: We could ask about hotels.
ROSE: What would Trisha Delaney say?
Rose winced at how childish she sounded. She hadn't treated Mickey very well at all.
MICKEY: Suppose. There's a bar down there with a Spanish name or something
ROSE: You don't even like Trisha Delaney!
MICKEY: Oh, is that right? What the hell do you know?
ROSE: I know you, And I know her. And I know that's never going to happen. So who do you think you're kidding?
MICKEY: At least I know where she is!
ROSE: There we are, then. It's got nothing to do with Trisha. This is all about me, isn't it
MICKEY: You left me! We were nice, we were happy. And then what? You give me a kiss and you run off with him, and you make me feel like nothing, Rose. I was nothing. I can't even go out with a stupid girl from a shop because you pick up the phone and I comes running. I mean, is that what I am, Rose, standby? Am I just supposed to sit here for the rest of my life, waiting for you? Because I will.
ROSE: I'm sorry.
'Wait.' Amy said quietly, almost to herself. 'Doctor… is that why you bought Rory? So that wouldn't happen to me? Us breaking up?'
Because one half travelling – witnessing the magic of the adventure – and the other left behind on earth – that would break down any relationship. The Doctor had seen it happen, had seen Rose leave Mickey behind for him, fall in love with him, and as soon as she'd kissed him he'd realised he couldn't let that happen again, and bought Rory on board. She couldn't imagine life without Rory – but if she'd left him behind, she would eventually have barely been able to remember life with him. Mickey obviously deserved to move on from Rose, but his declaration that he would wait for her…well, that struck a cord.
Rory would have waited for her, however long she strung him along for. Would have been there the sparing times she ventured home. And it wasn't fair. She had been selfish. The Doctor, as ever, had been selfless. Had thought ahead, solved the problem, dealt with Rory's distrust. God, she loved them. Her boys.
[Bistro 10]
MARGARET: I promise you I've changed since we last met, Doctor. There was this girl, just today. A young thing, something of a danger. She was getting too close. I felt the blood lust rising, just as the family taught me, I was going to kill her without a thought. And then I stopped. She's alive somewhere right now. She's walking around this city because I can change. I did change. I know I can't prove it
DOCTOR: I believe you.
MARGARET: Then you know I'm capable of better.
DOCTOR: It doesn't mean anything.
MARGARET: I spared her life.
DOCTOR: You let one of them go, but that's nothing new. Every now and then, a little victim's spared because she smiled, because he's got freckles, because they begged. And that's how you live with yourself. That's how you slaughter millions. Because once in a while, on a whim, if the wind's in the right direction, you happen to be kind.
Amy felt her eyes widen, a chill down her spine. The Doctor said it with such casual conviction. He knew. But the Doctor didn't kill people. He pressed one button, one time, and there was no chance there to let anyone go. So he must be recounting behaviour he'd seen in others. He'd come close enough to murderers of that degree that he knew exactly how they got away from him. And he so wished they felt guilt, guilt like he did – that they had to find some desperate way of dealing with it, like he did.
He didn't want to accept people could do what he did without guilt. He wanted to believe they were all better than that.
MARGARET: Only a killer would know that. Is that right? From what I've seen, your funny little happy go lucky little life leaves devastation in its wake. Always moving on because you dare not look back. Playing with so many peoples lives, you might as well be a god. And you're right, Doctor. You're absolutely right. Sometimes you let one go. Let me go.
'It only leaves devastation if you're evil.' Rose snapped. 'If you're a good person, you've nothing to fear from the Doctor.'
[Mermaid Quayside]
MICKEY: I'm not asking you to leave him, because I know that's not fair. But I just need something, yeah? Some sort of promise that when you do come back, you're coming back for me.
(Deep rumble.)
ROSE: Is that thunder?
MICKEY: Does it matter?
ROSE: That's not thunder.
[Bistro 10]
MARGARET: In the family Slitheen, we had no choice. I was made to carry out my first kill at thirteen. If I'd refused, my father would have fed me to the Venom Grubs. If I'm a killer, it's because I was born to kill. It's all I know. Doctor, are you even listening to me?
'That's horrible.' Martha said. 'Maybe…'
DOCTOR: Can you hear that?
MARGARET: I'm begging for my life.
DOCTOR: No, listen, shush.
(The glasses begin to vibrate, then the plate glass window shatters. Customers scream.)
[Mermaid Quayside]
(People flee the exploding street lights and windows. Rose runs.)
MICKEY: Oh, go on then, run! It's him again, isn't it? It's the Doctor! It's always the Doctor! It's always going to be the Doctor. It's never me!
Amy clutched at Rory's hand. Things had turned out fine. She'd managed to have him and the Doctor- that came out wrong, but the Doctor had sat them both down and explained, rather excruciatingly, that this regeneration had zero interest in that sort of thing and Amy had thought she was going to die from embarrassment – and not trample over people's feelings in a way that couldn't be talked out. They'd been in couple's therapy for a while, and it seemed to be working.
[Roald Dahl Plass]
(Margaret can't keep up with the Doctor.)
MARGARET: The handcuffs!
(He waits for her, then takes it off.)
DOCTOR: Don't think you're running away.
MARGARET: Oh, I'm sticking with you. Some date this turned out to be!
(Energy is streaming from the Tardis into the sky.)
DOCTOR: It's the rift. The rift's opening!
'Safest place to be.' Martha said. Sort of. Objectively. Safe was relative.
[Tardis]
(Things are going sput! Cracks open up in the plaza.)
DOCTOR: What the hell are you doing?
JACK: It just went crazy!
DOCTOR: It's the rift. Time and space are ripping apart. The whole city's going to disappear!
'Well, that rings a few bells. Most of them alarm.' Rory said sarcastically.
(Bang! Rose runs into the plaza and sees what is happening.)
JACK: It's the extrapolator. I've disconnected it but it's still feeding off the engine! It's using the Tardis. I can't stop it!
DOCTOR: Never mind Cardiff, it's going to rip open the planet.
(Rose enters.)
ROSE: What is it? What's happening?!
MARGARET: Oh, just little me.
(Margaret takes an arm out of her body suit and grabs Rose.)
MARGARET: One wrong move and she snaps like a promise.
'Okay, from a life-not-in-danger-anymore standpoint, I have to admit that's pretty funny.' Rose said.
DOCTOR: I might've known.
MARGARET: I've had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it. You, fly boy, put the extrapolator at my feet.
'Again.' Clara said. 'Gross.'
(Margaret tightens her grip on Rose's neck. The Doctor nods and Jack obeys.)
MARGARET: Thank you. Just as I planned.
ROSE: I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station.
MARGARET: Failing that, if I were to be arrested, then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. So the extrapolator was programmed to go to plan B. To lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift. And what a power source it found. I'm back on schedule, thanks to you.
JACK: The rift's going to convulse. You'll destroy the whole planet.
MARGARET: And you with it!
(Margaret stands on the extrapolator.)
MARGARET: While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom. Stand back, boys. Surf's up.
(The Tardis console cracks open and bright light hits Margaret.)
DOCTOR: Of course, opening the rift means you'll pull this ship apart.
MARGARET: So sue me.
DOCTOR: It's not just any old power source. It's the Tardis. My Tardis. The best ship in the universe.
'You two need infinite rooms.' Amy said teasingly.
MARGARET: It'll make wonderful scrap.
ROSE: What's that light?
DOCTOR: The heart of the Tardis. This ship's alive. You've opened its soul.
MARGARET: It's so bright.
DOCTOR: Look at it, Margaret.
MARGARET: Beautiful.
DOCTOR: Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light.
(Margaret relaxes and Rose gets free. Then she looks up at the Doctor, smiling.)
MARGARET: Thank you.
(Margaret disappears into the light. The empty bodysuit crumples onto the extrapolator.)
DOCTOR: Don't look. Stay there. Close your eyes!
(The Doctor closes the console.)
DOCTOR: Now, Jack, come on, shut it all down. Shut down! Rose, that panel over there, turn all the switches to the right.
(Energy stops pouring into the sky.)
DOCTOR: Nicely done. Thank you, all.
ROSE: What happened to Margaret?
JACK: Must've got burnt up. Carried out her own death sentence.
DOCTOR: No, I don't think she's dead.
ROSE: Then where'd she go?
DOCTOR: She looked into the heart of the Tardis. Even I don't know how strong that is. And the ship's telepathic, like I told you, Rose. Gets inside your head. Translates alien languages. Maybe the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts.
'I suppose you find out.' Rose mumbled. 'How strong it is.' And of course, Rose's "raw thoughts" were – save the Doctor. At all costs.
(The Doctor finds a large egg with dreadlocks on the top inside the bodysuit.)
DOCTOR: Here she is.
ROSE: She's an egg?
DOCTOR: Regressed to her childhood.
JACK: She's an egg?
DOCTOR: She can start again. Live her life from scratch. If we take her home, give her to a different family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be all right!
JACK: Or she might be worse.
DOCTOR: That's her choice.
ROSE: She's an egg.
DOCTOR: She's an egg.
Amy and Clara found themselves grinning happily; the Doctor was restored. Margaret had another chance. The Doctor had listened – he'd remembered her name, of course he had. Even when he delivered her to her death, he would make sure he knew her. Because the Doctor was kind, where he could be. Kinder than all of them.
ROSE: Oh, my God. Mickey.
(Rose runs out and across the cracked plaza, back to Mermaid Quay where ambulances are taking away the injured. Mickey is watching from the shadows as she goes up to a paramedic and asks a question. Mickey walks away. She returns to the Tardis alone.)
'I was in one of those Ambulances.' Clara said, matter-of-factly. 'I died though.'
'What?!' Rose said sharply.
'It's a long story. You'll probably find out.'
DOCTOR: We're all powered up. We can leave. Opening the rift filled us up with energy. We can go, if that's all right.
ROSE: Yeah, fine.
DOCTOR: How's Mickey?
ROSE: He's okay. He's gone.
DOCTOR: Do you want to go and find him? We'll wait.
ROSE: No need. He deserves better.
DOCTOR: Off we go, then. Always moving on
JACK: Next stop, Raxacoricofallapatorius. Now you don't often get to say that.
DOCTOR: We'll just stop by and pop her in the hatchery. Margaret the Slitheen can live her life again. A second chance.
ROSE: That'd be nice.
The episode cut to black on the sombre note of Rose examining her choices – but Mickey walked over and gave her a hug.
'I don't blame you.' He said. 'We're good, Rose. I swear.'
And she smiled at Martha. He did deserve better. He deserved Martha – more than the Doctor, at any rate.