INT. FACTORY – CYBERMEN BATTLEHEAD

The Brygosan refugees quiver and shake behind their leader, Theelia. She stands with her arms outstretched, also afraid, but with a defiant maternal instinct to protect her people.

At a distance, just inside the jail cell, holds a forced smile so as not to appear threatening. She motions for them to come with her.

ROSE
Come on. It's okay. I promise.

THEELIA
(angry)
Reeow ta so ka! Vret sop too nay I!

Theelia hisses at Rose, like a feline protecting its young. In response, several of the reserve Cybermen sub-units move in behind Rose and take up position in a line across the length of the entire cell. The Brygosans cower in fear. Rose quickly turns and holds her hands up to the sub-units.

ROSE
No. No, stay back. They haven't hurt me. I'm fine.

The sub-units stay put.

ROSE
(to Theelia)
See, they listen to me now. They're not going to hurt you. I won't let them. I control them.

THEELIA
Vret sop too nay I!

ROSE
Right. We have got to find you a new tune, lady. Maybe some Michael Buble.

THEELIA
Buble?

ROSE
Nevermind. How can I get you people to trust me?

Rose looks back at the sub-units. She motions to one of them.

ROSE
You, come over here.

Sub-Unit 14 marches over. The Brygosans cower some more, but there's nothing Rose can do about that.

ROSE
(to Sub-Unit 14)
What's your name?

SUB-UNIT 14
Sub-Unit 14.

ROSE
Yeah, that's awful. I'm gonna call you... Arnold. No, Arnie. Arnie, put up your hands and open them, palms facing me.

Sub-Unit 14, henceforth known as "Arnie", raises his hands, palms facing Rose. She does the same and begins playing "pat-a-cake" with him.

ROSE
Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker's man. Bake me a cake as fast as you can...

Theelia and the Brygosans watch, confused. Rose smiles bigger.

ROSE
(to Theelia)
See? He's playing with me. Not a bad guy. Bad guys don't play pat-a-cake.

Rose stops.

ROSE
(to Arnie)
Okay, Arnie, I want you to jump up and down.

Arnie jumps up and down. His heavy metal feet make a loud "clank" sound every time he lands on the ground.

ROSE
Now, tap the top of your head with one hand and rub your stomach with the other.

Elsewhere in the factory, Doctor Two stands by the door as sub-units return carrying pieces of the world ender. One of them holds the pieces of the real hyperchain core. Doctor Two points over to a table and workstation that are bolted to the ground.

DOCTOR TWO
Put it together over there.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Doctor Two looks around for the source of the loud clanging noises. He wanders over to the jail cell and stands in shock at the sight of all the reserve sub-units around Rose jumping up and down while tapping the tops of their heads and rubbing their stomachs. The Brygosans hold their ears.

Rose waves her hands at the sub-units. She has to scream over the noise.

ROSE
Okay! Okay, guys! Bad idea! Didn't think that one through! Stop jumping!

They stop jumping. Doctor Two walks over.

DOCTOR TWO
What are you doing?

ROSE
I'm trying to show the Brygosans that the Cybermen aren't a threat. I can't get them to come out of the cell.

DOCTOR TWO
So you're trying to make them go deaf?

ROSE
I'm open to suggestions.

DOCTOR TWO
If the plan is to flush them out, I could probably whip up a quick gas pellet.

ROSE
Not helpful.

DOCTOR TWO
I thought you said you missed the jokes.

ROSE
I say lots of things. Hey, do you think the Cybermen know the Brygosan language?

DOCTOR TWO
(impressed)
Hm. Hadn't thought of that.

Doctor Two notices Arnie standing nearby.

DOCTOR TWO
You, sub-unit...

Doctor Two checks out Arnie's ass.

DOCTOR TWO
...14. Do you understand the-

ROSE
His name's Arnie.

Doctor Two shoots her a look.

ROSE
After Arnold Schwarzenegger. He played the Terminator.

DOCTOR TWO
You're trying to get these people to trust you and you went with nigh-indestructible killing machine?

ROSE
They don't know who 'the Terminator' is.

DOCTOR TWO
You couldn't have gone with Data, from Star Trek?

ROSE
Tell ya what, you can name the next kid, if we ever have another.

DOCTOR TWO
Or Threepio?

ROSE
Doctor.

She rolls her eyes.

DOCTOR TWO
So, Arnie, do you understand the Brygosan language?

ARNIE
Affirmative.

DOCTOR TWO
Ah, perfect. Please upload the language decrypting matrix for the Brygosan language into the Tardis database.

ARNIE
Uploading.

ROSE
Does that mean we'll be able to understand each other, now?

DOCTOR TWO
It should.

ARNIE
Unable to comply.

DOCTOR TWO
What's the hold up?

ARNIE
Access denied. Transfer refused.

Doctor Two removes his scanner and works at the controls.

DOCTOR TWO
That's odd. She's refusing the transfer.

ROSE
Why?

DOCTOR TWO
I'm not sure. I'm going to try and override it.

He works.

DOCTOR TWO
Nope. She's not letting me in. There's some sort of primary firewall in place.

ROSE
Can you work around it?

DOCTOR TWO
Luckily, I'm that good. A little backdoor here, a little brute force code there, and...

ARNIE
Transfer accepted. Uploading matrix.

DOCTOR TWO
Fantastic.

An ear-shattering SCREAM! It's Rose! She grasps the sides of her head, as if trying to keep it from exploding, then collapses. Before Doctor Two can help her, the ship bucks onto its side, the lights flicker, and everyone inside the factory is thrown.

INT. TARDIS

Doctor Two's workstation explodes. A series of little explosions erupt all around the circumference of the room. The power core grinds to a halt and goes dark, cold.

INT. FACTORY – CYBERMEN BATTLEHEAD

Gravity fluxes out of control as the factory turns on its side. Bolts and support struts to one of the assembly line conveyor belts strains under the pressure. Metal twists and bends until it snaps like twigs. The entire conveyor belt falls the length of the floor and smashes apart three sub-units.

Sentience takes advantage of new leverage and rips free of her cable restraints.

Doctor Two ducks behind a workstation as one of the Brygosans comes falling out of the jail cell and nearly decapitates him. As the room turns, he holds on and frantically searches for...

DOCTOR TWO
Rose!

He finds her, unconscious, her body laid out across the side of a workstation. Above, he sees Sentience crawling towards Rose like a spider crossing a web towards its prey. He looks around for a way to reach Rose first, but instead spots out of the corner of his eye the hyperchain core, the real one, about thirty feet away in the opposite direction. It has fallen from the table and is wedged between some spare equipment. The turning gravity threatens to dislodge it. If it does, the core will drop from a considerable height, which could crack it and cause the ship to explode! There isn't time to save both the core and Rose.

Gritting his teeth, Doctor Two has no choice but to turn away from Rose and go after the hyperchain core. With gravity turned on its head, he leap frogs and swings through the ship, avoiding falling objects, debris, and bodies as he goes.

The hyperchain core hangs perilously on the edge of dropping. Meanwhile, above the core, another one of the conveyors appears on the verge of breaking free.

Sentience scoops up Rose.

Doctor Two dives for the core just as it tips over the edge. The conveyor above detaches from what used to be the floor and heads straight for him.

Sentience pulls Rose over her shoulders and escapes through an air vent.

Doctor Two grabs the hyperchain core as it falls, grabs one of the legs of a nearby table that is bolted to the "floor", and climbs underneath. The massive conveyor unit ricochets off the table, ripping a piece off the top, then flies by, destroying two more sub-units and crushing one of the Brygosans in the process.

INT. ATMOSPHERE RECYCLING CENTER - CYBERMEN BATTLEHEAD

The room is dark, lit only by the dim turquoise light from an independent power core that runs from floor to ceiling. Wires connect the core to air filtration and conditioning units, each one about the size of a firetruck. These are connected to vents that distribute air throughout at least a section of the battlehead.

On the ground, next to one of the conditioners, Rose is unconscious until a loud SNAPPING is heard nearby. Her eyes open at the sound and her expression quickly turns to panic. She rolls her head along the ground, left then right, to try and see why she can't move the rest of her body.

ROSE
Hello?

The SNAPPING stops.

SENTIENCE (O.S.)
Hello.

ROSE
I can't move.

SENTIENCE (O.S.)
It is a side effect of the shutdown. You should regain your motor skills in time, should you remain alive long enough to do so. Do you know your name?

ROSE
Rose.

Rose looks around for the source of the voice, but due to her limited range of motion and the low light in the room, she can't find Sentience.

SENTIENCE (O.S.)
Do you know where you are?

ROSE
I'm on the battlehead.

SENTIENCE (O.S.)
Do you know what section this is?

ROSE
Where's the Doctor?

In the shadows, we can barely see Sentience's body as she rips off her own leg at the thigh joint, the same one the Doctor damaged at the knee. She tosses away the discarded limb as if it were garbage, then bends down. On the ground next to her is a badly damaged sub-unit with a piece of metal stuck right through its face. She detaches the sub-unit's leg and installs it onto herself.

SENTIENCE
Your Doctor left you, again. He abandoned you. It is now up to us to save this ship from oblivion. But I am no longer connected to the ship and require your assistance.

Sentience steps forward, out of the shadows. The sub-unit's leg is longer than her other leg, so her walk is disjointed. The sub-unit's leg isn't the only part she's "borrowed". She's also replaced one of her arms and her chest plate, just to name a few, giving her the appearance of a mutated Frankenstein-esque robot abomination. She drags what's left of the damaged sub-unit over and drops it near Rose.

ROSE
Oh my g-

Sentience climbs on top of Rose and straddles her. She grabs Rose's throat.

SENTIENCE
Translation matrices tend to be built around the same fundamental programming. Knowing this, the Brygosan race ingeniously developed a language whose matrix, when fully formed, is a progressively self-replicating virus. Your Doctor was unwise to override your ship's firewall protection. That act has crippled both our vessels, and you as well. We must perform a full system reboot, but as I am no longer connected to the ship, I don't have access to the information that tells me how to do that anymore. Since you were able to control my sub-units, I know you were previously connected. It is in your best interests to prove to me that you still are.

Sentience looks at the damaged sub-unit.

SENTIENCE
This is Sub-Unit 21. He is badly damaged and in a great deal of pain. Order him to deactivate himself.

ROSE
But won't that kill him?

SENTIENCE
He is incapable of following any other commands. His motor functions have been too badly damaged. His processing unit is inert. But all sub-units have an independent self-destruct system and his is still active. It is the only command he can follow. Prove to me that you are still connected to the ship, and thus still useful to me, and order him to deactivate. Or I will "deactivate" you.

Rose looks over at Sub-Unit 21. His body twitches. Oil leaks from the piece of metal in his face, pools in one of his eyes, and then drips down his face. It almost makes it look like he's crying.

-To be Continued...-