Rose is lying on the floor of a darkened room, in a beam of light. She is just starting to regain consciousness. She looks around, bemused, with a just-woken-up look.
"Rose get up cmon, up," Abby says pulling her up by her arm.
"What happened?"
"I don't know. I can't find the Doctor and Jack."
A guy with a name tag walks over to them. his name is Rodrick
"Remember, do what the Android says. Don't provoke it. The Android's word is the law."
"What d'you mean, android? Like... a robot?"
She looks around as a voice calls out. Abby and rose to look around confused.
"Positions, everyone! Thank you!"
"We were travelling. With the Doctor and a man called Captain Jack...? The Doctor wouldn't just leave us... " Rose says to Rodrick
"That's enough chat! Positions! Final call!"
She is standing next to an inactive robot, which is being attended to by technicians. The robot stands on a platform around which are six podiums, the contestants milling around.
"Good luck!"
Rodrick smiles slightly in anticipation and looks at Rose and then at Abby
"But we are not supposed to be here."
" Well, it says your names on the podium, Rose and Abby.."
"But that's not possible who did this happen, where are they," Abby asks
They look round at their surroundings... the technicians and Floor Managers are still attending to the inactive Android.
"Rose! Rose, this looks very familiar, It can't be. This looks like the..."
"Android activated!"
The Android springs to life, raising her face.
"Oh, my God. The Android. The Anne... Droid." Rose says
"Welcome, to "The Weakest Link"! Cue theme music." the ann droid says
"Abby what do we do, we have to find the doctor!"
"Give me a minute! We need to play the game whilst I think okay. It's just a quiz show what's the worse that can happen."
"What do you remember, how did we get here," Rose asks
"I remember us all laughing at something Jack said. There was a bright light, it felt like I was being pulled back. I tried to grab you and Jack but couldn't, then I woke up not long before you. we need to find the doctor. Just need to find a way out."
"17... 16... 15... thank you, people, transmitting in 12... 11... 10... "
"All right then. What the hell? I'm gonna play to win!" She smiles.
"Here comes your competitive side, haha" Abby laughs
Rodrick looks distractedly at them, clearly thinking they are slightly mad.
"And cue!"
"Let's play "The Weakest Link"!"
Music, lights. the game starts.
"Start the clock."
"Agora, the name of which basic foodstuff is an anagram of the word "beard"?"
" Bread."
"Correct. Abby, in the Pan Traffic Calendar, which month comes after Hoob?"
"Is it... Pandoff?"
"Correct, Rose, in maths, what is 258 minus 158?"
"One hundred!"
Rose looks extremely pleased with herself.
"Correct. Rodrick... "
"Bank."
"Which letter of the alphabet appears in the word "dangle" but not in the word "gland"?"
"E."
"Correct! Colleen, in social security, what D is the name of the payment given to Martian Drones?"
As the game went on Abby and Rose had most of their answers wrong. A few of the contestants did. It came to the point of voting. They both voted for Fitch.
"So, Rose. What do you do?"
"I just travel about a bit. with my sister, Abby. I suppose."
Rodrick, holding up a card saying 'Fitch', glances sideways at her.
"Another way of saying "unemployed"."
"No."
"Have you got a job?"
"Well... not really, no, but... "
"Then you are unemployed! And yet, you've still got enough money to buy peroxide. Why Fitch?" with this Abby looked at rose and couldn't hold in her laughter any longer, she mouthed a sorry to Rose
"Uh... I think she got a few of the questions wrong."
Fitch is staring at the ground, tears running down her cheeks
"That's all."
" Oh, you'd know all about that."
"Well yeah, but I can't vote for myself, so it had to be Fitch..."
Fitch sobs silently. Rose doesn't understand. She's disturbed, confused.
"I'm sorry... that's the game. That's how it works... I had to vote for someone."
Fitch ignores her and addresses the Anne Droid. he's terrified.
"Let me try again, it was the lights and everything, I couldn't think," Fitch begs
"Rose something doesn't feel right... why is he soo upset"
"Idunno.."
"In fact, with three answers wrong, Broff was the weakest link in that round, but, it's voting that counts."
"I'm sorry. Oh, please... oh God, help me!"
He looks wildly around at his fellow contestants, pleading for help they can't give. Rose and Abby look at him, still completely in the dark. Rodrick looks away. Broff sobs silently into the board he is holding up. Rose glances back at the Anne Droid.
"Fitch, you are the weakest link. Goodbye!"
The Anne Droid's mouth opens, and a gun protrudes from it. Without a moment's hesitation, it fires, a thick and fast bolt of yellow/gold light. Hits Fitch - and she is gone. The gun retreats into the Anne Droid's mouth. Rose looks back, having hidden her face, to see only smoke billowing where Fitch once stood.
"And we've gone to the adverts. Back in three minutes... "
"Rose, we need to find the doctor. NOW!" Abby says in a panic
" What's just happened?" Rose asked
"He was the weakest link. He gets disintegrated."
Rose is uncomprehending. She makes a small noise in the back of her throat. Abby is standing still looking pale with shock. Rodrick rolls his eyes.
"Blasted into atoms."
"But we voted for her. Oh, my God. This is sick."
Her words ring around the silent studio. The contestant's glance at her.
"All of ya, you're just sick! We are not playing this..;"
Suddenly Broff stands up
"I'm not playing! I... I can't do it."
The Anne Droid turns to him slowly. Broff leaps off his podium and tries to run for it.
"I'm not... please, somebody let me..."
"You are the weakest link."
She fires. Broff disappears in mid-run.
"Goodbye."
The gun retreats into her mouth. Rose and Abby stare, mouths open, shocked and disgusted. Rodrick shuffles, uncomfortable. The Anne Droid turns back to the remaining contestants.
"Don't try to escape. It's play... or die." Rodrick says.
"Rose, what do we do, we are stuck"
"I guess we keep playing"
As the game goes on more and more contestants get eliminated. Somehow Rose and Abby and Rodrick remain.
It is on to the last round of voting before the head-to-head both Abby and Rose have voted for Rodrick. They both looked very apologetically at him.
"You are the weakest link. Goodbye!" Rodrick averts his eyes, and with a blast of the gun, he is gone.
" Going to the break! Two minutes on the clock."
Rose looks tired and fed up. Abby begins to panic as she realises that she needs to choose inly one of them is going to leave.
"Just a reminder, we've got solar flare activity coming up in ten."
Abby wipes her board clean. Rose turns to her.
"Thought of anything yet"
"Yes, I have just followed my lead okay. Ae continue to play the game and I'll tell you when."
"Are you sure"
"Positive" Abby knew how this was going to end and she knew Rose was not going to be happy. Abby looks around the room and sees the logo. BAD WOLF CORPORATION.
"Rose look.." she points to the logo
"We keep hearing those words everywhere we go. Bad Wolf. If the Bad Wolf is in charge of this quiz, then... maybe I'm not here by mistake. Someone's been planning this..."
"Rose I'm gonna get us out of this, I promise"
"I know you will"
The alarm that the break is over sounds above them.
"Let's go"
"Let's finish this"
They stand at their podium and the light begins to go off and the android move and speaks.
"Let's begin, Abby, in geography, the Grand Central Ravine is named after which Ancient Britain City?"
The TV footage shows a scoreboard on the screen. Rose has one tick so far, and this is Abby's first question.
" Is it York?"
"No, the correct answer is Sheffield"
Abby takes a deep breath, she didn't want it to seem too obvious to Rose what her plan is. She didn't want to risk her getting hurt. She still held out hope that the Doctor and Jack would arrive just in time.
"Rose in literature, the author of "Lucky" was Jackie who?"
"Stewart."
"No, the correct answer is Collins."
A cross for Rose.
"Abby, the oldest inhabitant of the Isop Galaxy is the Face of what?"
"Boe! The Face of Boe!" Abby remembered the multiple conversations she had regarding him with the doctor and rose. A few seconds of silence in which the Anne Droid and Rose both stare at her.
"That is the correct answer." Rose is seen taking a sigh of relief.
"Rose in history, who was the President of the Red Velvets?"
The scores are equal.
"Hoshbin Frane."
"That is the correct answer."
Rose is one-up. The Anne Droid turns her head sharply to Abby
"Abby, in food, the dish Gaffabeque originated on which planet?"
" Um... is it... Mars?"
"Nope, the correct answer is Lucifer."
Abby gets a cross. Rose looks at her sister and abby mouth its fine, carry on. Rose nods back.
"Rose, which measurement of length is said to have been defined by the Emperor Jate as the distance from his nose to his fingertip?"
"Would that be a goffle?" Rose answers with a shrug.
"No. The correct answer is a paab."
Rose gets a cross.
"Abby, in fashion, Stella Pok Baint is famous for what?"
"Shoes."
"No. The correct answer is hats."
Rose is still one ahead and there's only one question left for each of them...
"Abby time is running out what do we do..."
"We carry on" Rose notices the sadness is her eyes but carries in it doesnt click with her what her sister is planning to do.
"Rose, in physics, who discovered the Fifteen-Dash-Ten Barric Fields?"
"San... Hazeldine."
"No..."
Rose gets her final cross the last question is now up to Abby. She looks at her sister with tears starting to filler her eyes.
"Im sorry, im soo sorry. Find the Doctor and Jack okay."
"Abby whats going on, what the matter"
The andriod continues questioning, Abby misses the question, but faces the android.
"I dont know"
The last cross appears by Abbys name. realisation hits Rose.
"NO! NO! ABBY YOU CANNOT DO THIS! NO"
" ROSE STOP!. When u see the Doctor, tell him, tell him im so sorry."
"NO!! NO!!"
Suddenly, the Floor Manager turns to look at a point off-set, the Doctor, Jack and Lynda barge in through the door which is just too far away...
"Rose! Abby!"
"Abby, you leave this life with nothing..."
" Stop this game!"
"I order you to stop this game!"
"We're live on air!"
The Doctor runs across the wide expanse of floor as fast as he can. Abby lift her head and looks at the doctor, she knew there was no point in running she would never make it, she gently pushed Rose to make sure she was well out of the way of the beam, Rose stumbles forward but she quickly tuns around to face Abby.
Abby looks at Rose. a small sad smile reaches her face.
"i love you, and look after them pair." Abby says nodding to the Doctor and Jack.
Abby turns her gaze to the Doctor. a tear streams down her face as she looks at him.
"You are the weakest link. good bye"
The Anne Droid turns her head and her jaw hinges down, the disintegrator beams shoots out, hitting Abby squarely in the chest And with a scream, Abby is gone, mere feet away from the Doctor. Jack takes off towards the set, raging.
"What the hell did you do to her?"
The Doctor walks pass Rose and crouches down to the pile of dust that was Abby. The smoke clears. There's a moment where he's absolutely in shock... the voices in the background are meaningless to him. He picks up a piece of the dust between his fingers, feeling it... he's just staring - broken, hollow.
"Back off! Rose! Rose! come here"
Rose in shock turns to Jack.
"Shes...shes gone. She made it so i would win. That i wouldnt die... shes... shes... Jack shes gone" Rose says as she collapses in tears.
"I need security and I need it here right now! It's this lot... "
A security guard appears behind the Doctor.
"Don't you touch him! Leave him alone!"
The security guard pulls the Doctor to his feet and places a gun to his head. The Doctor has lost the will to resist. He just lets him do it.
"You killed her! Your stupid freaking game show killed her."
His voice is distant to the Doctor. He's staring at the pile of ashes while his hands are tied. He looks empty. A tear is glistening in his eye.
"Sir, I'm arresting you under Private Legislation Sixteen of the Game Station Syndicate."
And his voice fades away as the Doctor is lost inside his own head.
The 4 of them are taken to and interrogation room the Doctor is slammed roughly against a gate as he is searched. The Doctor is completely unresisting, past caring. The sonic screwdriver is wrenched from his pocket. The Doctor is turned roughly back to face the security guard, who brandishes it in his face.
"Can you tell us the purpose of this device, sir?"
No response. The Doctor isn't even looking at it. Rose, Jack, the Doctor and Lynda are sat on a bench in a prison cell as they are interrogated.
"Can you tell us how you got on board?:
"Just leave him alone... " The Security Guard grabs her chin, silencing her.
"I'm asking him."
He releases her and turns to the Doctor.
"Sir? Can you tell us who you are?"
The Doctor is against a wall having a convict's photo taken. First from the front, the camera flashes. He turns to each side and the camera flashes twice more, the sound echoing in the silence. The Doctor is still numb, still dead.
They are back in the cell.
"You will be taken from this place to the Lunar Penal Colony, there to be held without trial, you may not appeal against this sentence."
Rose,Jack or the Doctor move or make any acknowledgment to this statement, but Lynda shifts uncomfortably.
"Is that understood?"
No response. The Security Guard goes to the gate and opens it.
"Let's do it."
All four of them leap to their feet. Jack punches and kicks his way through the gate. He tosses one guard aside, the Doctor throwing another easily against the wall, knocking him out. They all grab weapons and leave. An alarm goes off.
Jack, Rose, Lynda and the Doctor pile into the lift.
"Floor 500."
The Doctor releases the safety catch on the huge defabricator he is now holding. His face is dark, and hurt still evident on his face. The lift zooms upwards...
"Doctor, she told me to tell you she was sorry.. before it all happened. She wanted you to know she was sorry."
"Rose dont!" the Dctor say abrutly.
The lift doors open. All the staff turn around, and the Doctor, Jack Rose and Lynda all stride out, armed to the teeth.
"Okay! Move away from the desk! Nobody try anything clever. Everybody clears!" jack shouts.
The staff scatter as the Doctor strides towards the Controller as though he has tunnel vision.
"Stand to the sides. And stay there."
" Who's in charge of this place?"
"... 18... 19... 20..."
"This Satellite's more than a Game Station."
"79... "
"Who killed Abigail Tyler?"
"All staff are reminded that solar flares..."
"I want an answer!"
"In delta point one."
"She can't reply."
The Doctor abruptly swings the gun around to the staff, making them all flinch
"Don't shoot!"
"Oh, don't be so thick. Like I was ever gonna shoot."
And he tosses the defabricator to the Male Programmer.
"Captain, we've got more guards on the way up. Secure the exits, roae you go with jack.
"Yes, sir!"
"You, what were you saying?"
"But... I've got your gun."
"Okay, so shoot me. Why can't she answer?"
"She's, um...Can I put this down?:
"If you want, just hurry up."
"Thanks. Sorry. Um... the Controller is linked to the transmissions. The entire output goes through her brain - you're not a member of staff so she doesn't recognize your existence."
"What's her name?"
"I don't know. She was installed when she was five years old. That's the only life she's ever known."
"Door's sealed. We should be safe for about ten minutes." Jack says as he return with Rose following.
"Keep an eye on 'em."
"But that stuff you were saying about something going on with the Game Station, I think you're right."
Jacks device bleeps. He reads it and looks around.
" Unauthorized transmats... it's been going on for years."
"Show me."
Captain Jack places his hand on the door to Archive Six.
"You're not allowed in there! Archive Six is out of bounds!"
"Do I look like an out-of-bounds sort of guy?"
He places his hand on the pad and the door opens.
"Solar-flare activity at delta point zero..."
"If you're not holding us hostage, then open the door and let us out. The staff are terrified. "
"That's the same staff who execute hundreds of contestants every day..."
"That's not our fault, we're just doing our jobs."
"And with that sentence, you just lost the right to even talk to me. Now back off."
He sounds disgusted, his voice rising. Lynda flinches and the Female Programmer stares at him. One of the screens goes static and the lights flicker off, the sound of the power winding down.
"That's just the solar-flares. They interfere with the broadcast signal, so this place automatically powers down. Planet Earth gets a few repeats. It's all quite normal."
"Doctor..."
"Doctor?"
He hasn't heard the Controller and is still sore with the Female Programmer.
"Whatever it is, you can wait."
" I think she wants you."
The Doctor spins around to look at the Controller at the other end of the floor.
"Doctor... "
The Doctor hurries over to stand before her. She is still staring straight ahead with her milky eyes.
"Doctor...? Where's the Doctor?"
"I'm here."
"Can't see. I'm blind. So blind. All my life, blind. All I can see is numbers, but I saw you."
"What do you want?"
"Solar-flares hiding me. They can't hear me... my... my masters, they always listen but they can't hear me now. The sun... the sun is so bright..."
"Who are your masters?"
"They wired my head, their name is forbidden. They control my thoughts, my masters... my masters, I had to be careful. They monitor the transmissions but they don't watch the programmes. I could hide you inside the games."
Everyone is listening to her intently.
"My friend died inside your games."
"Doesn't matter."
"Don't you dare tell me that"
"They've been hiding. My masters, hiding in the dark space, watching and shaping the Earth... so, so, so many years... they've always been there. Guiding humanity, hundreds and hundred of years... "
"Who are they?"
"They wait. They plan and grow in numbers, they're strong now. So strong, my masters..."
"Who are they?"
" But they speak of you. My masters, they fear the Doctor."
"Tell me! Who are they?"
But at that moment, the Controller gasps. The power flickers back on, and she goes back to counting.
"20... 21... 22... "
"When's the next solar-flare?"
" Two years time"
"Fat lot of good that is."
JACK emerges from Archive Six
"Found the TARDIS!"
"We're not leaving now."
" No. But the TARDIS worked it out."
He shoves the Male Programmer out of his chair.
"You'll wanna watch this."
The Doctor turns around to watch.
" Lynda, could you stand over there for me please?"
"I... I just wanna go home."
"It'll only take a second. Could you stand in that spot, quick as you can?"
Lynda complies, and stands in an empty area of floor.
'Everybody watching? Okay... three, two, one... "
He presses a button and a disintegrator beam shoots down from the ceiling and hits Lynda. There's nothing left but a billow of smoke.
" But you killed her!" Rose shouts
"Oh, d'you think?"
He presses the button again, and Lynda reappears next to the Doctor, slightly dazed but completely unharmed.
"What the hell was that?"
The Doctor looks to Jack for an explanation.
"It's a transmat beam. Not a disintegrator. A secondary transmat system."
And the Doctor is realising what he's trying to say... his eyes light up...
" People don't get killed in the games! They get transported across space! Doctor, Abby is still alive!"
" she alive" Rose asks in disbelief, Jack nods.
The Doctor laughs with ecstatic relief. They throw their arms around each other, grinning madly, so happy.
Abby is lying on the floor unconscious. After a few seconds, she begins to stir. she's inside a spaceship, which is humming ominously. She sits up, sees something...
"Where am i" something glid towards her. The alien backs her against a wall. She tries to edge sideways, but is stopped by a plunger shooting out.
"I know what you are, my sister has told me all about you"
Back to the broadcasting station.
"She's out there somewhere!"
"Doctor!"
It's causing her pain to communicate with the Doctor and betray her masters, but determined, she carries on
"Co-ordinates five point six point one..."
"Don't! The solar flare's gone, they'll hear you!:
"Point four three four... no my masters, no! I defy you! Stigma seven seven...:
She screams. The Doctor looks up, and the wires she was attached to fall away, empty. There's nothing left but dust.
"They took her."
The Controller reappears on the floor of the spaceship. There are holes all over her body where the wires once entered her. She stands, her blind eyes staring forward. She's defiant, proud. to her left stands Abby against the wall.
"Oh, my masters..."
And in the shining wall behind her, a Dalek glides towards her.
"You can kill me. For I have brought your destruction."
"No dont! Stop! she innocent"
The sound of a ray gun. We can see right through to her skeleton as she glows negative, and then she slumps to the floor, dead. Abby looks at shock at the body on the floor.
Back on satellite 5 Jack is sitting at one of the computer terminals, the others gathered around him.
'Look, use that. It might contain the final numbers. I kept a log of all the unscheduled transmissions"
"Nice... thanks... Captain Jack Harkness, by the way..."
" I'm Davitch Pavale."
"Nice to meet you, Davitch Pavale..."
"There's a time and a place"
"Doctor are you saying this entire set-up's been a disguise all along?" Rose asks.
" Going way back. Installing the Jagrafess a hundred years ago. Someone's been playing a long game. Controlling the Human Race from behind the scenes for generations. "
"Click on this."
The Doctor takes it, points it upwards, and clicks. An image of an empty expanse of space materializes above thier heads.
"The transmat delivers to that point. Right on the edge of the solar system."
' There's nothing there. "
" It looks like nothing. 'Cause that's what this satellite does. Underneath the transmission, there's another signal..."
"Doing what?"
"Hiding whatever's out there. Hiding it from sonar, radar, scanner..."
They all stare up at the blank expanse of space.
"There's something sitting right on top of Planet Earth... but it's completely invisible."
Lynda chews her lip.
" If I cancel the signal..."
He presses a few buttons, and when he looks back at the screen, the expanse of space is no longer empty. Right in front of them is a spaceship, revolving slowly. The Doctor stares at it, eyes wide.
"That's impossible. I know those ships... they were destroyed."
"Obviously, they survived."
"Doctor who did? Who are they?" Rose asks.
"Two hundred ships. More than two thousand on board each one. That's just about half a million of them."
"Half a million what?"
"Daleks."
"No! but Abby shes over there..."
‐--
Dalek enters an area on the spaceship, where several others are crowded.
" Alert! Alert! We are detected!"
"It is the Doctor! He has located us!"
Abby is huddled against the foot of the wall, stares around at them all, her eyes wide.
"Open communications channel!"
A Dalek swivels around to face Abby.
"The female will stand. Stand!"
Abby stands. The Dalek looks up and an image materializes in mid-air: the Doctor, Rose Jack, Lynda, the Male Programmer and the Female Programmer all staring back at Abby and the Daleks. Abby breathes a sigh of relief that they are all safe.
--
The Doctor is grim, looking at the three Daleks flanking Abby with distaste.
"I will talk to the Doctor."
"Oh, will you? That's nice. Hello!"He waves at them mockingly, his fake grin fading rapidly.
"The Dalek Stratagem nears completion. The Fleet is almost ready. You will not intervene."
"Oh, really? Why's that then?"
"We have your associate. You will obey or she will be exterminated."
Abby, try to not to look scared, looks up at the Doctor on the screen.
"You do not risk the life of billions for me. they are more important, you are more important, Doctor." Abby shout at the screen.
"The female will remain silent!"
"Or what!?"
"You will be exterminated"
"What is your reponse doctor!"
A smile plays at her lips. she knew by the look on the Doctors face he had a plan.
" No." As one, Jack, Rose, Lynda, the Male Programmer and the Female Programmer jerk their heads in his direction.
" Explain yourself. "
" I said: no."
"What is the meaning of this negative?"
" It means: no. "
"But she will be destroyed."
" No! Cos this is what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna rescue her."
Abby listens, the pride evident in her eyes. The others glance at him in awe.
" I'm gonna save Abigail Tyler from the middle of the Dalek Fleet, and then I'm gonna save the Earth, and then just to finish off, I'm gonna wipe every last stinking Dalek outta the sky!"
"But you have no weapons! No defences! No plan!" with this Abby turns her face from watching the screen to speak to the Darlek.
"Yeah. And doesn't that scare you to death?" she laughs.
"Abby?"
"Yes, Doctor?"
"I'm coming to get you."
He clicks the device, and the communication line closes.