INT. MAINTENANCE BAY

Rose and the Doctor stare down the barrels of three assault rifles held by dillzens, pink skinned "maintenance workers". They are FILIPA, the calm and logical of the group, IGOR, the brute, and their enigmatic leader, REX.

Filipa keeps her rifle up, but uses her other hand to scan the Doctor and Rose with a small medical scanner.

FILIPA
It says she's human.

REX
Human? Let me see that.

He takes it from her and reads from the display.

REX
You are human.

ROSE
That's right, that's me, proud human. That's a good thing, yes? Then, I'm that. And you are?

She offers Rex her hand as a sign of friendship. He sticks the gun in her face.

REX
The one pointing a gun at you.

Rose backs up, all the way to behind the Doctor.

ROSE
Right. Thought I recognized you.

Rex points the scanner at the Doctor.

REX
Two hearts, no pancreas, and... what the hell is that? So, you're not human.

DOCTOR
Thank heavens, no.

REX
In fact, this thing isn't sure what species you are.

DOCTOR
"This thing"? Tell me you don't know what it's called.

REX
I don't have to know what it's called to know how to use it.

DOCTOR
Is that why you're holding it upside down?

REX
Am not.

DOCTOR
Sure, don't listen to me. I'm just the one who knows what it's called.

REX
And I'm just the one with the gun.

DOCTOR
You've mentioned. But what you've failed to mention is that you're standing on a Class 10 Mass Space Station, one with suppressor nano-bots injected into the air by the ventilation system. These nano-bots float on the air like little pixie flies and just so happen to suppress all energy weapons fire as part of the station's security measures.

The Doctor smiles, confident he's just poked a hole in Rex's coup. Not to be deterred, Rex casually points his rifle at a nearby bucket and mop. He pulls the trigger and a concentrated beam of red energy disintegrates them into ash.

DOCTOR
But clearly you've disabled the injectors, which is probably why you disguised yourselves as maintenance workers in the first place, so I'll stop talking now.

REX
Yeah, good call, chief.

FILIPA
(to Rose)
Who are you? There are no humans working for The Net. The I.U.A.W.C.P. would never allow it.

ROSE
Well, I, um... there's a good explanation for that.

Struggling to come up with one, she looks to the Doctor for help. He smiles at her, eager to hear whatever she comes up with.

ROSE
And... well...

She motions for him to jump in any time he feels ready. He just smiles, enjoying watching her twist in the wind. She curls her lip at him.

ROSE
He's the Doctor.

REX
The Doctor?

ROSE
Yes.

FILIPA
And that makes you... the nurse?

DOCTOR/ROSE
No.

ROSE
More of his, um...

DOCTOR
Companion.

The dillzens all nod, understanding.

FILIPA
Oh. You're his sex slave.

IGOR
Should have known.

ROSE
What? No-no-no-no...

The Doctor lets out a belly laugh.

DOCTOR
Ha! I rather like that one.

Igor punches the Doctor in the face. He goes down.

ROSE
Oh.

The Doctor checks his nose for blood. He finds a dab of pink.

DOCTOR
Not as fond of that, though.

ROSE
Doctor, are you okay? What'd you hit him for?

FILIPA
It's okay, dear, you don't have to worry. You're free now. He can't hurt you anymore.

ROSE
But he hasn't...

Filipa takes Rose's hand and brings her over to "their side". The three of them keep their rifles pointed at the Doctor, who stands, still inspecting the pink from his face.

DOCTOR
This isn't blood. Not my blood. Not anyone's blood.

He looks at Igor's hand. There's a smudge across the knuckles, revealing brown skin underneath.

DOCTOR
Hey, you're not pink. You're not dillzens at all, are you? You're humans.

REX
Actually, we're more than that. We're party crashers.

INT. GRAND OBSERVATORY – SPACE STATION NEW ROME

As the delegates mingle, twelve "dillzens" surreptitiously surround the room, including all of the exits. One of them, HELGA, an engineer, pushes an equipment cart over to the elevator shaft. She speaks into a pin embedded in her collar.

HELGA
In position.

On cue, Rex bursts through the maintenance bay doors and fires several shots into the air. Other dillzens follow his lead and also fire into the air, herding the crowd into the center of the room.

Helga hacks into the elevator computer using two metal clamps and a kind of laptop. The lights in the room dim to an emergency setting and the television screens on stage flicker out. Blast shield doors seal the room on all sides, leaving the shaft guarded by Helga the only way in or out.

REX
Everyone in the middle. Now!

Igor pushes the Doctor at gun point and forces him in with the rest of the hostages. Filipa keeps Rose with her and the two women follow Rex onto the auction stage where they are met by a panicked Grizzy.

GRIZZY
What's the meaning of this? Who are you people? I demand an explanation.

REX
Here's my explanation.

Rex shoots Grizzy. The blue man disintegrates to ash. Rose looks away, mortified.

ROSE
Oh my god, he killed that man.

FILIPA
He's doing what he has to do.

The crowd screams with fright as they huddle together.

REX
Everyone shut up! Shut your fat, rich, mouths and get down on the ground.

The crowd quiets. The Doctor, near Jabe and Cassandra, sits on the ground. Jabe follows his lead, but Cassandra refuses.

CASSANDRA
I will not denigrate myself by squatting.

DOCTOR
Cassandra, how many surgeries do you think it will take to put you back together after every atom in your body is ripped apart at the molecular level?

She relents with a huff and sits amongst her slaves.

Meanwhile, Helga approaches the stage and addresses Rex.

HELGA
It's done. No one gets in or out without us knowing.

REX
The monetary depository?

HELGA
We're in.

Rex smiles, then turns to Filipa.

REX
You know what to do. Good luck.

FILIPA
You, too.

Filipa takes Rose by the hand and leads her to the elevator shaft. The Doctor watches, but is powerless.

ROSE
Wait, where are we going? I want to stay with the Doctor.

FILIPA
You can't. You'll be safe with me. You're no longer bound to his will.

ROSE
Doctor!

The Doctor sees Rose struggling and raises his hand, as if to tell her 'no, go with Filipa'. She understands, and relents, entering the elevator without further resistance. But her expression is one of sheer fright. He smiles at her to try and calm her, to assure her that everything will be all right, but the elevator doors shut on her still looking terrified.

Rex claps, drawing everyone's attention back on him.

REX
All right, ladies and gentlemen and robots, it's an honor and a privilege to be addressing you on this truly historic occasion. You all are the wealthiest people in the known universe, here to welcome the Earth into the interstellar marketplace for the very first time, and to stake a claim to your cut. There's just one little hiccup. There are people living on that planet, and we sort of have a problem with other people telling us what to do, who to be, and taking our stuff.

JABE
(under her breath)
Not another insurrection.

DOCTOR
Another?

JABE
This happens from time to time. It's very irritating.

The Doctor seems confused.

REX
So, here's what's going to happen. Earth is going to remain independent, free to choose its own path going forward. There will be no declaration. But you all came to participate in an auction and far be it for me to deprive you of your high society fun. Unfortunately, it seems I just shot the Auctioneer, so there appears to be a job opening available. I nominate myself. I accept. The position has been filled. Here's how it's going to work…

Helga works at her computer and the two television displays on either side of the stage turn back on. Instead of information pertaining to the Earth and its resources, they now display a list of the delegates, with financial information on each one. As each name is highlighted, an image of their face is enlarged (or just their head, if they have no face).

REX
Each of you, one at a time, is going to be put up on the auction block, and your competitors are going to get to bid. You cannot bid on yourself. Whoever wins the auction gets to choose the fate of whoever's on the block; you can choose to take all of their money and kill them, or you can let them keep both their money and their life. The house keeps the winning bid, due to the fact that we've hijacked the auction house's monetary depository, through which you have all registered your many fortunes. Whoever wins the bid is next to go on the block, unless they've been on the block before, or don't have any money left, in which case they will be deemed exempt and set free.

CASSANDRA
That's ridiculous. The only way that could ever happen is if we bid everything we have and then set the person free. We'd be penniless.

REX
But morally righteous, my dear. You will have sacrificed everything for someone else's money and life. And if you're lucky, maybe, just maybe, they'll find it in their heart to take pity on you.

The Cybermen converse amongst themselves through a series of binary beeps and whistles. Following a heated exchange, the CYBERMEN LEADER addresses Rex. He speaks in halted utterances.

CYBERMEN LEADER
Why bid? What? Is to? Be Gained?

REX
A fortune. You're all going on the block at some point. You could walk out of here right now, completely broke, or you could walk out of here with your money. Better yet, you could walk out of here with someone else's money. All it's going to take is one act of charity, or perhaps cowardice, from your competition. Besides, if you don't play my game, I'm going to shoot you. We're going to start with the wealthiest of you.

Rex surveys the screens, which lists the delegates in order from most to least wealthy. The name at the top of the list is…

REX
And according to your bios, that would be Mobbles and The Head, of the Excream.

Everyone turns to look at Mobbles and The Head. They look nervous.

REX
It'll just take a few minutes to calibrate the auction house computers. In the meantime, feel free to talk amongst yourselves, work up a little strategy, make some deals, for all the good it will do you.

He hops down from the stage to speak with Helga. The Doctor watches Rex closely as the rest of the delegates rush into half-baked, on the fly alliances.

INT. ELEVATOR SHAFT

Rose stands as far away from Filipa as possible, which isn't very far at all considering the confines of the elevator. Filipa removes from her jumpsuit a small device no larger than a egg. She twists it open and a light from inside each half shines outward like a flashlight ray. She bathes in the light, and it cleans the pink from her skin.

ROSE
Who are you people?

FILIPA
We're part of the Human Sons and Daughters of Liberty Movement. We're freedom fighters, trying to keep Earth free from tyrannical races with far superior technology to our own. They've been coming to our world for thousands of years, trying to seize control through everything from abducting people, to impersonating our leaders, to brute force invasion. They've unleashed plagues on our world, instigated wars in an attempt to fool us into wiping each other out, and manipulated political regimes. Now, they're back again, trying to sell us off to the highest bidder like we're some sort of commodity. We're the ones who fight back.

ROSE
By killing innocent people?

FILIPA
Grizzy wasn't innocent.

ROSE
He wasn't armed, either.

FILIPA
Were you armed when the Doctor abducted you?

ROSE
I wasn't abducted.

FILIPA
Oh? Then, what were you doing with him?

ROSE
He's just a traveler. He invited me to go with him and I did. It was my choice.

FILIPA
Was it? No offense, but you don't exactly look old enough to be an astronaut. You're a civilian, aren't you?

ROSE
Yeah.

FILIPA
That's what I thought. And let me guess, one day, out of the blue, a man shows up in your life unlike any other man you've ever met before. He's an alien, not a bad looking one either, capable of traveling to other worlds, and showing you wonders like you've never seen. Opens you up to new possibilities and makes your old life look humdrum. And he tells you that you can go with him, if you'd like, and all you have to do is perform a few favors for him here and there. Service his needs.

ROSE
No, it's not like that at all.

FILIPA
Isn't it?

ROSE
No.

FILIPA
Then what exactly is it you do for him? Do you cook? Clean? Check under his bed at night for monsters?

ROSE
I don't know... I... I'm his partner.

FILIPA
Partner in what? What exactly are you good for that he would need you as a partner? He has a spaceship that can go anywhere in the universe and enough money to buy entire planets. I can see why you wanted to go with him, but what the hell does he want with you?

ROSE
I...

Rose thinks, and the more she thinks, the worse she feels.

ROSE
… don't know.

FILIPA
So, how can you be sure you're not a slave?

The elevator comes to a halt and the doors open. Filipa exits. After a second of hesitation, and self-contemplation, Rose follows.

-To be Continued...-