EXT. KING YOOLI'S PERSONAL TRANSPORT – SPACE
A modest-sized but luxurious cruise ship sails up from the Plaptoo station and veers toward the planet.
INT. CONFERENCE ROOM – KING YOOLI'S PERSONAL TRANSPORT
A three-dimensional holo-image of King Yooli's face juts out from a vid-screen on the wall in front of a long conference table. At the table, nearest the screen, sits Lagyot with a pile of notes and intelligence reports in front of him. Prince Teezu, meanwhile, sits at the far end of the table, deep in thought.
The Doctor walks in from the only door, drying his hands off with a small towellette.
KING YOOLI (V.O.)
An assassination? This is an outrage. Who would do such a thing?
LAGYOT
We've received no threats on Teezu's life. Intelligence also came up with nothing.
The Doctor approaches Teezu and waves his hand in front of the Prince's face to make sure it doesn't glow blue. It doesn't, but the towellette does. Satisfied, he looks for a place to trash the towellette, but can't find one. He shrugs, crumples it up, and sticks it in his pocket before sitting down at the table across from Lagyot.
DOCTOR
We don't have any leads at the moment. The scanbots technology isn't rare, but it is expensive. Very expensive. Do you have any rich political enemies?
KING YOOLI (V.O.)
Doctor, I am a king and a very successful businessman. My best friends are rich political enemies.
DOCTOR
Cheesed any off recently?
LAGYOT
Mastiff.
The mention of Mastiff's name piques Teezu's attention, but only for a moment. Only the Doctor notices.
DOCTOR
Who is Mastiff?
KING YOOLI (V.O.)
Minister Mastiff is the elected chief of the Farmers' Labor Union. He and I have had a... tumultuous relationship, to say the least, but he would never target Teezu.
LAGYOT
At the last labor negotiation, he threatened to sever your legs from your body with a scythe so he could pick your pockets.
KING YOOLI (V.O.)
Mastiff is a maniac and a fool, but a coward who strikes from the shadows?
LAGYOT
Then, why do recent transit logs, supplied to me by the station's commander, indicate that his personal shuttle docked at Plaptoo twelve hours prior to the explosion?
DOCTOR
It's worth asking the question.
The king hesitates.
KING YOOLI (V.O.)
Very well. I'll contact him via the comm. relay.
DOCTOR
It'll mean more if we do it in person.
LAGYOT
I agree.
KING YOOLI (V.O.)
All right.
LAGYOT
I'll inform the pilot we'll be headed to Mastiff's compound after dropping off the Prince at the palace.
Lagyot stand and heads for the door.
PRINCE TEEZU
I'm going with you to Mastiff's compound.
KING YOOLI (V.O.)
Out of the question.
DOCTOR
That's a terrible idea.
LAGYOT
If Mastiff is behind this, we'd only be putting you back in harm's way.
PRINCE TEEZU
It is my life. To be a man, one must stand up to his adversaries, to show them you are not afraid of them. Isn't that what you have always said to me, Father? That to be a king, one must first learn to be a man?
They wait for King Yooli to respond.
KING YOOLI (V.O.)
Very well.
DOCTOR
I don't like this.
LAGYOT
Your majesty, I vehemently oppose...
KING YOOLI (V.O.)
Your objection is noted, Lagyot. Now, do as my son commands.
Lagyot bows and leaves to inform the pilot.
KING YOOLI (V.O.)
Teezu...
The Prince's eyes turn to the holo-image of his father.
KING YOOLI (V.O.)
My son, do not despair. We will find the ones who did this and, when we do, they will pay with their lives.
Teezu's eyes turn away. He stays silent. King Yooli looks disappointed.
KING YOOLI (V.O.)
Good luck, Doctor. Let me know as soon as you find anything.
King Yooli's image fades to gray and freezes on the screen, solid like a statue.
Before the Doctor can say anything, Teezu stands and leaves. The Doctor follows.
INT. LOUNGE – KING YOOLI'S PERSONAL TRANSPORT
A pair of Teezu's royal bodyguards rest on the c-shaped wraparound couch embedded in the recessed flooring of the lounge. As the Prince emerges from the conference room, he steps around the center circle and over to the far wall where he presses a button on a panel hidden behind the mini-bar.
At once, the image of space on the other side of the hull is projected across the entire wall. The image of the fast approaching emerald planet is crystal clear, except for when you're close enough to make out the edges of hanging picture frames.
The Doctor steps around the couch and sidles up next to Teezu, who has found a seat in a personal leather chair overlooking the planet. The Doctor whistles, impressed.
DOCTOR
That's some view. Mind if I have a seat? Good, thank you. Don't mind if I do.
The Doctor plops down in the matching chair opposite Teezu.
As the ship pierces the upper atmosphere, bright red flames dance across the projected image. The picture dims accordingly, so as not to blind everyone in the room.
PRINCE TEEZU
Sometimes, I can almost feel the flames as we enter the atmosphere.
Teezu closes his eyes to meditate.
DOCTOR
That's not disturbing at all. Then again, it can't be easy growing up the son of a king; constantly being compared to him, pressured to fill his shoes, and all the while trying desperately to grab hold of some kind of identity for yourself. I remember my father, despite the fact that he died so long ago. He was twelve hundred and change when I was born. Here I was, this little nothing, and he... he knew everything. What was I to him? It was daunting.
PRINCE TEEZU
Is this the part where you pretend to know what it's like in order to nurture some kind of bond between us that'll make me trust you?
DOCTOR
I would have thought I earned your trust after I saved your life. You're welcome, by the way.
The Doctor waits for some kind of reaction. When he gets none...
DOCTOR
What were you doing on that station?
PRINCE TEEZU
I don't have to answer your questions.
DOCTOR
You'd been there before, fairly regularly. Someone else knew that, which says to me you were meeting someone.
Teezu opens his eyes.
PRINCE TEEZU
No one knew. I didn't go there to meet anyone. Just the opposite. I liked going to the station because no one knew me there. I could disappear into the crowd and no one would give me a second glance. On Hipto, my every move is scrutinized. Every eye is always on me. It's all about appearances, especially for my Father. On Plaptoo, I could be invisible.
ROSE (V.O.)
Liar.
INT. TARDIS
The Doctor shakes his head while in the middle of not only telling the story but also braiding Rose's hair.
DOCTOR
Am not lying. That's what he said.
ROSE
Not you. I'm calling him a liar. I grew up with the most overprotective and overbearing mother of all time. Okay, that's probably an exaggeration, but I swear that woman once put me on a leash, and not one of those cute little toddler ones that wraps around your wrist, either. An actual dog leash. I don't even know where she got it. We never had a dog.
He finishes braiding her hair like Dorothy. She turns around.
ROSE
Kids don't sneak out of their parents' house to go be all emo by themselves at a mall food court. They do it to meet up with their stoner friends at a party, or a concert, or to hook up with their boy or girlfriend they're seeing behind their parents' backs. He was probably shacking up with some chick Daddy Yooli didn't approve of. Am I right?
DOCTOR
Are you going to let me tell the story or did you want to take it from here?
ROSE
I remember this one time, I was fifteen years old, and there was this boy from my Earth science class; Randy Hutchinson. God, he was cute. He was also two years older than me. He wasn't very bright. Got left back a few times. Anyway, Jackie and his mother didn't really get along. I was so in love with him. I used to sneak out of the apartment all the time and go hang out with him in the parking lot behind the ShopRite. Nothing happened. Okay, second base happened. He had a car.
She grabs her own breasts.
ROSE
But these hadn't really come in yet. So, it wasn't the thrill for him it would be now. We ended up breaking up, which was good for me, because he knocked up Carie Simmons the next year. It was this whole big thing at school. But the point is that Prince Tissue-
DOCTOR
-Teezu.
ROSE
Teezu was lying to your face.
DOCTOR
Yes, he was, and I suspected as much at the time, but pressed the issue no further. He wasn't really going anywhere and there was the little problem of the Ziger-class attack fighter that started shooting at us.
EXT. SKY – HIPTO – DAY
As King Yooli's personal transport descends through the atmosphere, a cube-shaped fighter craft one-quarter its size peppers it with rapid intermittent laser fire. The blasts ignite when they come into contact with the ship's net-like amber shields.
INT. LOUNGE – KING YOOLI'S PERSONAL TRANSPORT
Prince Teezu and the Doctor instinctively duck as the fighter outside shoots at the holo-wall. The ship rocks against the blasts, knocking them out of their chairs. The holo-image flickers out and it returns to looking like an ordinary wall.
DOCTOR
(to Teezu)
Get strapped in.
The Doctor leaves just as Teezu's royal bodyguards collect the Prince and secure him on the couch as it transforms into something more crash resistant, with a roll cage.
INT. COCKPIT – KING YOOLI'S PERSONAL TRANSPORT
The PILOT veers left and right, trying desperately to avoid the weapons fire of the attacking craft. Meanwhile, in the copilot's chair, Lagyot screams at a man over the communication link. He is MINISTER MASTIFF, a grizzled man with some hard wear and tear on his middle-aged bones.
The Doctor stumbles in.
MINISTER MASTIFF (V.O.)
Do you think me a fool?
LAGYOT
By firing on the king's personal transport, you've committed an act of treason punishable by death, Mastiff. So, yes.
DOCTOR
Oh, is that Mastiff? Hello, I'm the Doctor. Very nice to meet you.
The Doctor waves.
MINISTER MASTIFF (V.O.)
It is Yooli who has committed treason, against his own people!
LAGYOT
King. King Yooli.
MINISTER MASTIFF (V.O.)
Oh, is it hard? Is it hard, Lagyot, to fit your horse in that tiny cockpit so you can sit on it while talking down to me?
The sound of an EXPLOSION!
PILOT
Our port side's been hit. Stabilizing thrusters are compensating, but I can't hold this altitude. Another direct hit and we'll have to veer off or land.
DOCTOR
Doesn't this thing have any weapons?
PILOT
This is a luxury transport. Defensive capabilities only.
MINISTER MASTIFF (V.O.)
I'm not going to let you continue to poison our crops.
LAGYOT
Those are ridiculous, unfounded accusations. Why would the king purposely sabotage his own economy?
DOCTOR
That's a fantastic question. Perhaps, we could clear this up like gentlemen. On the ground. With less shooting, and definitely no crashing or exploding. Hmm?
LAGYOT
We're only here to ask you a few questions. Allow us to land. I will explain everything. Frazzit, we have Teezu onboard!
Mastiff hesitates.
MINISTER MASTIFF (V.O.)
Teezu is onboard your ship?
LAGYOT and DOCTOR and PILOT
Yes!
Mastiff turns to someone off screen and waves them off.
EXT. SKY – HIPTO - DAY
The cube-shaped attacker ceases fire and veers away.
INT. COCKPIT – KING YOOLI'S PERSONAL TRANSPORT
Everyone in the cockpit relaxes.
MINISTER MASTIFF (V.O.)
I didn't do it.
DOCTOR
Then, you have nothing to lose by answering a few of our questions.
MINISTER MASTIFF (V.O.)
I will send you coordinates where you may land. No weapons.
Mastiff's signal cuts out.
LAGYOT
I don't like it. We should head for the palace and return with reinforcements.
DOCTOR
If Mastiff's the one trying to kill Teezu, he could have just blown us out of the sky. You've got to think it out rationally.
The Doctor turns for the door. Lagyot appears unconvinced.
EXT. MASTIFF'S COMPOUND – DAY
Embedded on the border of fields of pale yellow wheat and a maroon forest is Mastiff's compound, a power plant like storage and processing facility guarded by huge walls with guard towers like a prison. Mastiff's ship is already on the ground and five of his men wait with him outside the gates to the compound.
Also with him and close by his side are his son and daughter; GERUND (21) and AKAELA (19). They all wear dark green and black laborer uniforms, emblazoned with a wheat logo on one side of the chest. Mastiff's children are beautiful specimens, a testament to how he might have looked when he was younger and had less years of toil behind him.
King Yooli's personal transport lands nearby and the rear of the craft opens up into a ramp. The Doctor, Lagyot, Teezu and his bodyguards all exit the ship. The Doctor pays close attention to Teezu and is the only one to notice the glances the Prince exchanges with Mastiff's children. For their part, Akaela offers a surreptitious but warm smile back. Gerund's jaw merely tightens.
Lagyot motions for the Prince and his bodyguards to hang a few steps back. He and the Doctor proceed up to Mastiff.
LAGYOT
Mastiff.
MINISTER MASTIFF
Lagyot. Doctor... whoever you are.
DOCTOR
Pleased to meet ya. And these two are?
MINISTER MASTIFF
My son, Gerund. My daughter, Akaela.
DOCTOR
Great.
Suddenly, the compound gates open and twenty more men, these ones armed with plasma rifles, come pouring out. They surround Lagyot, the Doctor, Prince Teezu and his bodyguards before anyone has time to react.
DOCTOR
Hey, that's not fair. You said no weapons.
MINISTER MASTIFF
Yes, well, it's much easier to subdue someone when they're unarmed, isn't it?
Before the Doctor can further protest, one of Mastiff's men strikes him across the temple with the butt of his rifle. The Doctor goes down.
-To be Continued...-