EXT. BLUE BOX SUPERMAX – FULTON – DAY
We follow a transport flyer to the landing pad outside the towering blue cube supermax. It lands.
INT. TRANSPORT FLYER - BLUE BOX SUPERMAX - DAY
Rat the Mic clutches a briefcase to his chest as he looks through a window at the prison outside. He's the only passenger.
He exits the flyer from the side door after it lands.
INT. SECURITY ENTRANCE - BLUE BOX SUPERMAX
Rat the Mic enters through the first gate and walks up to a second. Hewfatha, the same security woman from before, glares at him through the glass. He notices the vitriol behind her bronze stare.
RAT THE MIC
Hi, Hewfatha.
HEWFATHA
ID through the slot.
He slides her his identification through a slot in the window.
RAT THE MIC
How's Jothee?
HEWFATHA
Nuh-uh, don't you try and make small talk with me, you little piece of trash.
She slides his ID and a clearance pass under the slot. He looks disappointed as he scoops them up.
RAT THE MIC
Thank you.
HEWFATHA
I hope you choke and die.
RAT THE MIC
Nice seeing you again.
He walks away.
INT. MONITOR'S OFFICE - BLUE BOX SUPERMAX
Renqu waits for Rat the Mic by the window. Rat the Mic sees this and is intimidated, but approaches anyway.
RAT THE MIC
I'm here for consultation with inmate 61887.
He hands Renqu his pass. Renqu hands him back a sign-in sheet.
RENQU
Gonna be a minute. Sign this.
Rat the Mic accepts the sign-in sheet and signs. We hear faraway screams and thuds; sounds one might hear while two conspicuously absent guards work over a prisoner in the next room.
Punches. A crash! A thud.
Renqu stands there, staring at Rat the Mic, as if nothing is happening.
RAT THE MIC
I'm really not the only one who hears that, right?
RENQU
We have a fly problem.
The sounds of the beatdown cease. Enormous Guard and Burly Guard emerge from a nearby door, their knuckles bloodied. Enormous Guard winks at Rat the Mic as the two of them walk by.
Renqu motions to Rat the Mic.
RENQU
You can follow me.
INT. CONSULTATION ROOM – BLUE BOX SUPERMAX
The Doctor is seen strapped to a chair, a bloody mess. He's wearing the skin-tight red clothes with bulbous girdle around his midsection. The table in front of him is broken in half down the middle, as if someone had been thrown through it... probably him... okay, definitely him.
Across from him sits Rat the Mic, waiting...
RAT THE MIC
Doctor? Did you hear what I said? Valor's dead. And he wasn't trying to help you at all. On the contrary, he was trying his very best to hurt you.
DOCTOR
(soft)
Hit me.
RAT THE MIC
What?
The Doctor looks up.
DOCTOR
(louder)
Hit. Me. Punch me in my face. Kick me in my stomach. Beat me until I can't breathe. Hurt me until I forget what anything else feels like.
RAT THE MIC
Did you hit your head?
DOCTOR
Dammit, hit me!
RAT THE MIC
Don't tempt me!
Rat the Mic throws his briefcase against the wall and paces the room.
RAT THE MIC
Did you pick that fight with the guards?
The Doctor shrugs.
RAT THE MIC
Unbelievable. I go from one suicidal nutjob to the next.
DOCTOR
One to the...? Is someone dead?
RAT THE MIC
Have you really not been listening at all? Valor, Doctor. Valor jumped off the roof of the clinic.
The Doctor blinks, perplexed.
DOCTOR
No, he didn't.
RAT THE MIC
I was standing right in front of him when it happened.
DOCTOR
What were you doing at the clinic?
RAT THE MIC
I don't know. All right? You told me to argue the evidence. I had some questions. I thought, maybe if I went there, took a look around.
DOCTOR
You're lying.
RAT THE MIC
I'm a lawyer.
DOCTOR
A pretty lousy one.
RAT THE MIC
How the hell would you know?
DOCTOR
Because you're a nobody looking to make a name for yourself. If you were a good one, you'd already have a name.
RAT THE MIC
And you're a psychopath, suicidal, murderer who may very well be responsible for everything bad that's ever happened.
DOCTOR
Right. I do feel bad about that.
RAT THE MIC
And, by the way, "the Doctor" is not a name. It's a profession, which means you don't have a name either.
The Doctor mimics Rat the Mic, mouthing the words "you don't have a name either".
DOCTOR
Why did you really go to the clinic?
Rat the Mic huffs, picks up his briefcase.
RAT THE MIC
What do you care? To you, I'm just a lousy lawyer, anyway.
DOCTOR
Prove me wrong.
RAT THE MIC
How did you get stuck in that cryochamber in the Vault? How did you even get down there from upstairs?
DOCTOR
I told Valor...
RAT THE MIC
What you told Valor was you were trying to rescue the people down there and hid inside when the Tonades showed up. But that doesn't make a lick of sense. If Rose escaped in the Tardis, how come she didn't use it to go back in time and rescue you? Why would you come back to this time at all? Why not go back a year and rescue everyone then? If you were hiding in that chamber, why was it locked? How come the nurse thought you were already down there?
DOCTOR
Those are stupid questions. You're a stupid person.
RAT THE MIC
Ahh! You... you... maddening man!
Rat the Mic bangs on the wall to get out.
RAT THE MIC
Hey, out there. I'm ready to go!
He turns back and points at the Doctor.
RAT THE MIC
They're gonna burn you alive. I am the only person standing in their way. You might want to think about cooperating with me at some point so I can actually help you.
Renqu opens the forcefield to let Rat the Mic out. Just before he leaves, the Doctor shouts after him.
DOCTOR
Rat...
Rat the Mic stops. For the first time, the Doctor called him by his name and not just "Mr. the Mic".
RAT THE MIC
What?
DOCTOR
You said you were doing this to get a name for yourself. Now, you're offering to actually help. Which is it? You doing this for you or for me?
RAT THE MIC
I want to help.
The Doctor nods.
DOCTOR
Then, would you do me a favor?
Rat the Mic listens.
DOCTOR
Would you tell the guards I banged their mothers last night and I'm looking forward to trying out their girlfriends?
Rat the Mic turns and leaves.
INT. RAT THE MIC'S OFFICE – FULTON
Rat the Mic is seen sitting with his face down on his desk.
Trigette sits across from him, a pile of notes in her lap. She reads from them.
TRIGETTE
And I moved up the cross of the human Raylene to first position on day twelve. I thought about pushing her to the end of the day, sort of leave them with the image of the new mother and baby to go home with, but I'm not sure we're really going to win the sympathy card, here. I figure, lead with sentiment instead. What do you think?
Rat the Mic's voice sounds muffled from his face being pressed against the desk.
RAT THE MIC
What are we even doing?
TRIGETTE
What do you mean?
Rat the Mic sits up, leans back in his chair.
RAT THE MIC
I mean, what are we doing? We can't win. They're going to kill him and he doesn't even care. You should have seen him at the prison.
TRIGETTE
It's not about him. It's about getting our names out there. It's about our faces on the live-feed across the known universe.
RAT THE MIC
But we're going to lose. Badly.
TRIGETTE
That doesn't matter. You said it yourself. No one's going to blame us. He's guilty. I've already been contacted by head hunters from three different law firms across Westonlofur.
RAT THE MIC
You have?
Trigette nods.
TRIGETTE
As soon as this trial's over, I am done with this civil service crap. I'm putting a down payment on a mansion.
Rat the Mic breathes deeply, then exhales loudly.
RAT THE MIC
This just isn't going the way I thought it would. I saw a man kill himself. A hero.
TRIGETTE
It must have been horrible. Did he say why he was doing it?
RAT THE MIC
I don't know. He sounded happy. He blamed the Doctor for everything the humans did and he was happy they were going to kill him. He was looking forward to that. Is that where the universe is? Even when we get what we want, things have gone to such hell, we have to throw ourselves off a roof?
TRIGETTE
He was just nuts. A lot of soldiers who were at Earth when it happened suffered terrible PTSD.
RAT THE MIC
Yeah.
He thinks. She watches him, as if she can see the wheels turn inside his head.
TRIGETTE
What?
RAT THE MIC
Hmm?
TRIGETTE
You're thinking something.
RAT THE MIC
It's just something Valor said. We were talking about his promotion. I congratulated him and he made it sound like it wasn't such a great thing. He called it "just another door that won't open".
TRIGETTE
Yeah? So?
Rat the Mic turns to the computer at his desk and keys something in.
RAT THE MIC
Computer, pull up all information regarding the Varaka colony in sector 817.
Trigette stands and walks around the desk so she can see what turns up on his computer screen.
TRIGETTE
What's the Varaka colony?
RAT THE MIC
That's where they were transferring Valor as part of his promotion. It says here, Varaka is at the very edge of known space, orbiting the outer rim of a black hole.
TRIGETTE
Eesh. That's the hind end of "nowheresville". You couldn't pay me enough to live there.
RAT THE MIC
It's an anti-matter research facility of absolutely no strategic value. They were burying him.
TRIGETTE
Why would they want to bury the hero of Zira? He did everything they wanted. He captured four humans, discovered the Vault, got them the Doctor, and even turned over the files they needed about the Doctor's past.
RAT THE MIC
But they were the ones who buried those files in the first place. They didn't want this trial. They wanted to hang the Doctor as a human lover and move on with their lives. They wanted to forget. Valor wouldn't let them. Because they wouldn't let him forget about Earth.
TRIGETTE
I still don't see where you're going with this.
Rat the Mic thinks some more.
RAT THE MIC
Valor called it "another door that won't open", because they were going to keep screwing him over. The "door" that wouldn't open, as he called it, was opportunity. But there was another door that wouldn't open for him... the door on the Doctor's Tardis.
Rat the Mic looks through his notes.
RAT THE MIC
He tried to open it, but couldn't. When it did open, it was the Doctor who had opened it, just before he shot Valor. Later, after the Doctor got away, Valor had Sergeant Kale and his men try and force the thing open with explosives, drills, you name it. But they couldn't open it either. Only the Doctor could open it.
TRIGETTE
Is this something that helps us? Hurts us?
Rat the Mic sifts through his notes again and finds a particular pad of interest. He shows it to Trigette.
RAT THE MIC
This is a list of everything the Tonades recovered from the Vault. Look at line thirty-seven.
TRIGETTE
(reads)
One cryochamber, empty, locked.
She shrugs.
TRIGETTE
So?
He smiles. Her eyes widen.
TRIGETTE
Oh my god, it's...
He nods.
TRIGETTE
But if he's had an out this whole time, why did he put himself through all this?
RAT THE MIC
Because the Doctor is the one person for whom the past isn't a closed door.
Trigette looks confused.
INT. COURTROOM – FULTON
The Honcho, wearing the red of a prisoner, is seen on the witness platform. He's conspicuous about not looking at the Doctor. The Doctor himself has been cleaned up but is badly bruised all over his face and sits funny in the chair, like he can't get comfortable.
K'Renn approaches the witness platform.
K'RENN
So, then, the idea was to rescue the humans from the Vault so you could re-populate the human race on another world, is that correct?
THE HONCHO
Yes.
K'RENN
You don't like the Doctor, do you, darling?
THE HONCHO
No, I don't. He betrayed me, and my people. He used us as a distraction so he could get back to his Tardis. He pretended like he was going to help us, but he was really just helping himself.
K'RENN
But he saved your life. He performed the surgery to replace all of your organs.
THE HONCHO
He's the reason I needed that surgery to begin with.
K'RENN
But let's get down to the nit and grit of it all, shall we? You're a human, isn't that right? A filthy, disgusting, evil human?
Rat the Mic stands.
RAT THE MIC
Your honors, I object. The prosecution is name calling.
K'RENN
As a human, the witness has no rights. I can call him whatever I want.
GRAND JUDGE
Overruled. The prosecution may proceed.
K'Renn smiles and stares back at the Honcho, who glowers right back at him.
K'RENN
That's what you are, isn't it? A wretched, vile, zet? A klem? What else do they call you people? A grease tongue? A murdo? A limp hair?
THE HONCHO
I am a human.
K'RENN
In fact, you're scheduled to be executed, because you're a human. It's illegal to be a human. A crime. Your very existence is a crime.
THE HONCHO
No, it's not!
K'RENN
I can show you the law.
K'Renn throws up a holo-image of the actual law.
THE HONCHO
I don't care what the law says. That law is nothing more than legalized bigotry.
K'RENN
But it is the law. Because you're a human, you deserve to die. So, when the Doctor threw you to the Tonades, what he was actually doing was the right thing. It was practically his civic duty.
THE HONCHO
He promised to help us.
K'RENN
Which would have been against the law.
THE HONCHO
We needed him! We couldn't do it without him and he promised, but then he betrayed us.
K'RENN
You'd kill him, if you could.
THE HONCHO
With my bare hands.
K'RENN
Making you just another murdering human, in a long line of murdering humans, betrayed by the Doctor and driven to criminality and barbarism because of the personal rivalry between your people and him. I have no further questions for this witness.
K'Renn marches back to his station and sits. Rat the Mic stands.
RAT THE MIC
When you were captured, there was practically an entire legion of Tonades on that floor. Why would you go back there?
THE HONCHO
I already told you, the Doctor said we could use his Tardis to escape the lockdown, but then he left us behind.
RAT THE MIC
Your honors, at this time, I'd like to transmat into the courtroom item thirty-seven, recovered from the Vault at the Zira Clinic.
GRAND JUDGE
Acceptable.
A cryochamber transmats into the courtroom in between the Doctor's throne and the witness platform. The Doctor examines it carefully, his interest piqued.
RAT THE MIC
(to the Honcho)
According to Tonades reports, the Doctor was found locked in a cryochamber, like this one, down in the Vault. If you're saying he escaped with Rose in the Tardis from level forty-two, how did he end up in the Vault?
THE HONCHO
You'd have to ask him. We were separated.
RAT THE MIC
I'm asking you.
THE HONCHO
I don't know. Maybe he forgot something down there and got caught going back to retrieve it.
RAT THE MIC
What could he have forgotten?
THE HONCHO
I don't know. You'd have. To ask. Him.
RAT THE MIC
It just seems like your story doesn't add up. If he betrayed you and abandoned you, why was he still there?
K'RENN
Your honors, the witness has already indicated that he doesn't know.
GRAND JUDGE
(to Rat the Mic)
Does defense have any other questions for this witness?
RAT THE MIC
(to the Honcho)
Did you lock the Doctor in the cryochamber when you were in the Vault?
THE HONCHO
What? No.
RAT THE MIC
You've already said you don't like the Doctor. You testified that you originally wanted to repopulate the human race with Rose Taylor, but she rebuffed you. Maybe you were jealous. You needed the Doctor out of the way.
THE HONCHO
That's not true.
RAT THE MIC
But we only have your word.
THE HONCHO
That's not true. The other humans can tell you.
RAT THE MIC
But the other humans are humans. Grease tongues. They're liars. They can't be trusted. Everyone knows that humans can only ever be trusted to help other humans. They hate other species. And you hate the Doctor.
K'RENN
Your honors, does the defense have any proof to corroborate this absurd theory?
RAT THE MIC
Yes, your honors, I do. It is my understanding that these cryochambers can only be locked by someone outside of the chamber once a person is placed inside and the door is closed. This prevents someone from accidentally locking themselves inside. If I can be allowed to demonstrate...
The Grand Judge nods.
Rat the Mic walks over to the cryochamber. The Doctor looks on with great curiosity.
Rat the Mic keys in a code on the cryochamber console, then pulls on the handle. The door doesn't budge. He pulls harder. Nothing.
K'Renn chuckles to himself at Rat the Mic's misfortune.
RAT THE MIC
I'm... sorry, your honors. I seem to be having a little...
Rat the Mic places his foot on the cryochamber and tries to yank the door open. It won't open.
RAT THE MIC
I'm sorry, your honors. I keyed in the right code. I don't know why it's not opening.
Rat the Mic shoots a look at the Doctor, who takes the hint.
DOCTOR
You're not pulling on the handle right.
RAT THE MIC
I think I am. I'm doing it-
DOCTOR
No, you have to-
RAT THE MIC
Like this?
DOCTOR
No, you've got to push it up, then over.
RAT THE MIC
Like this?
DOCTOR
No, you're, that's not it. You're doing it so wrong. Can I just show him?
Grand Judge rolls her eyes.
GRAND JUDGE
Does the prosecution have any objections?
K'Renn thinks to himself, skeptical. Rat the Mic, the Doctor, and Trigette anxiously await his response.
K'RENN
No, your honors. That's fine.
GRAND JUDGE
Lower the forcefield.
The pink forcefield around the Doctor's throne lowers. He stands up and walks over to the cryochamber. He walks with a limp.
RAT THE MIC
(to the Doctor)
You're the only one who can open it?
The Doctor nods.
With everyone watching intently, the Doctor keys in a phony unlock code and wraps his hand around the handle. Rat the Mic looks over his own shoulder, at Trigette standing at the defense station. He smiles at her one last time.
Before anyone can react, the Doctor opens the door, shoves Rat the Mic inside and jumps inside himself, closing the door behind them.
INT. TARDIS
Rat the Mic's jaw drops as he sees the inside of the Tardis for the first time. The Doctor, meanwhile, locks the Tardis door. We can hear banging on the other side, but he doesn't seem too concerned. He limps over to the command console and starts keying in coordinates.
RAT THE MIC
It's so much bigger on the inside.
DOCTOR
How did you know?
RAT THE MIC
I couldn't figure out how you could be in two places at once. Then, I realized, you're the one person who actually can be in two places at once. Two Doctors, two Tardises.
The Doctor smirks.
Rat the Mic takes a few steps closer to the command console. From his pocket, he pulls a small energy handgun and points it at the Doctor.
RAT THE MIC
Now, convince me not to shoot you in the head.
The Doctor stops what he's doing and turns.
DOCTOR
I needed to know where they went; Rose and... the other me.
RAT THE MIC
This whole trial, everything you put yourself through, this was just a reconnaissance mission for you?
DOCTOR
To be fair, I was under arrest. It's not like I could have left whenever I wanted. Plus, the other me took my Tardis and I didn't know where his was. I should have known there was another one out there when I dialed into the operating wave to shut off the clinic's security monitors and got the old remote interface template.
RAT THE MIC
Wait a minute, this other you is from the past? I thought...
DOCTOR
It's complicated. Are you going to shoot me or do you want to make a name for yourself?
Rat the Mic thinks.
RAT THE MIC
I could make a name for myself by shooting you. In case you missed it, you're the most evil person in history.
DOCTOR
Or you could make a name for yourself by helping me save the universe. How would you rather be known? As someone who shoots bad people? Or as someone who saves good people?
RAT THE MIC
Shooting you gets me a name now.
DOCTOR
But helping me has the added bonus of being super dangerous and probably getting yourself killed in the process. How can you possibly pass that up?
Rat the Mic smiles and lowers his weapon.
RAT THE MIC
Where do we even start?
DOCTOR
Not where. When.
The Doctor throws a lever. We hear the ethereal gears turn.
END CREDITS ROLL
- End Episode 8 - Serial, To be Continued...-
* As always, feedback/reviews are appreciated. *