EXT. CITY - GALLIFREY - DAY
The home of the Time Lords. It is a magnificent and eclectic city. No two buildings look the same. It's a hodgepodge, mix and match, collection of skyscrapers and monuments to other civilizations the race of time travelers have encountered throughout history. Versions of Earth's Empire State Building and the Eiffel Tower can be seen to the east among other landmarks that would undoubtedly be as instantly recognizable on their respective worlds.
A massive warship hangs over the city, raining down fire from its plasma canons. A rooftop defense turret pivots and its COMMANDER unleashes holy hell on the invader. Damage is done, but comparable to a pebble against a car door. The combined might of hundreds of such turrets across the city make headway, but the task of taking the ship down before it annihilates the city seems a daunting one at this pace.
DOCTOR (V.O.)
Many years ago, the Time Lords were at war with a race called the Brygosans. Their ruler, Akarnak, likened time travel to a disease that was slowly eating away at the fabric of time and space. This was only after my people refused to sell him the Tardis technology so he could use it to manipulate history in his people's favor. He vowed to destroy us and was very close to succeeding.
A building collapses and burns against the warship's assault.
INT. THE DOCTOR'S LABORATORY - GALLIFREY
As the ground shakes beneath him, the Doctor (PAST DOCTOR) secures an alien specimen inside of a stasis tube, then keys in a command sequence that launches the tube straight down, to perhaps thousands of feet below the planet's surface.
DOCTOR (V.O.)
As part of the Science Council at the time, I was responsible for many active research projects, and it was my job to ensure their safety by storing the data and live specimens in stasis chambers that could be held indefinitely in a safe haven we had constructed near the planet's core.
A frantic elder, LORD RISEIN, bursts through the doors leading into the Doctor's laboratory, followed by TWO SOLDIERS.
LORD RISEIN
Doctor!
Off to the side, the present day Doctor, Rose, and Madam Holu observe the events as invisible spectators.
DOCTOR
Lord Risein, one of our most revered elders, came to me when defeat seemed assured.
Lord Risein crosses the laboratory to speak with Past Doctor.
LORD RISEIN
The Brygosan armada has overrun our satellite network and surrounded the planet. Akarnak himself leads them in his flagship.
PAST DOCTOR
I'm almost done here.
LORD RISEIN
Nevermind that. Our race is on the verge of total annihilation. You once came to the Ruling Council with a plan to secure victory. Could you still implement that plan?
The Past Doctor looks stunned, stops what he's doing. He thinks.
PAST DOCTOR
It is... possible.
LORD RISEIN
Then, I am here to ask you to implement your plan.
PAST DOCTOR
But the Council rejected...
LORD RISEIN
I'm not here on behalf of the Council, not officially.
PAST DOCTOR
I see.
LORD RISEIN
You must understand.
PAST DOCTOR
I do.
LORD RISEIN
If there were any other way.
The Past Doctor nods to Risein, who hands him a keycard.
LORD RISEIN
May the angels forgive you. Know that you have my gratitude.
PAST DOCTOR
You should go. Get someplace safe.
Lord Risein bows and leaves, as do the soldiers with him.
Past Doctor turns and walks over to a computer console, a defeated look on his face. He enters a command we see on the screen: "Recall Dalek".
COMPUTER
Command restricted to level one authority.
Past Doctor scans the keycard handed to him by Risein and waits.
COMPUTER
Access granted. Initiating command.
Past Doctor walks, his head down, over to one of the storage tubes and waits for a chamber to rise up from the planet's core.
Observing from close enough to see, Rose reads the command on the screen.
ROSE
"Recall Dalek"? I don't understand.
DOCTOR
As my people advanced technologically over the years, so did our sense of self-righteousness. We laid down our weapons centuries before our conflict with the Brygosans, relative to their time, and kept only enough to defend our home planet of Gallifrey. At least, that's what we thought. But facing extinction has a funny way of making a race reconsider their moral choices.
While the Doctor and Rose observe Past Doctor's actions, Madam Holu listens intently and tries to hide her amazement.
MADAM HOLU
(under her breath)
Time travelers.
DOCTOR
(to Rose)
I submitted a plan to the ruling council to set free a dormant prisoner from a dangerous race known as... the Daleks. My plan was rejected. The Daleks are a hyper-violent and xenophobic race. They seek to conquer everyone they encounter through extermination. They're as adaptable as they are lethal. Even one Dalek poses a threat to the entire universe.
A stasis chamber flies up into the tube next to Past Doctor. This chamber doesn't look like the other one we saw. It is ancient and reinforced with steel, as if constructed more to keep something locked inside than actually preserve it.
DOCTOR
Lord Risein couldn't ask me on behalf of the Ruling Council, because it was a betrayal of everything our society stood for. This had to be done on my own, so I alone would shoulder the burden.
PAST DOCTOR
Computer, lock onto the chamber. Prepare to transmat it directly to the Brygosan flagship.
Past Doctor moves to the chamber and enters an unlock command. Cold gas shoots out from the chamber as the ancient seal is broken. The door swings open and we see inside the hideous organic/death machine hybrid Dalek come to life.
DALEK
Exterminate!
PAST DOCTOR
Computer, now!
The Dalek transmats away.
ROSE
Did it work?
The Doctor closes his eyes and turns away.
DOCTOR
It worked. All too well...
EXT. CITY - GALLIFREY - DAY
The Brygosan flagship's weapons cease their assault. The ship turns away from the city and ascends into the upper atmosphere. When the other Brygosan vessels realize their flagship has been commandeered, they attack. But even the other Brygosan warships are no match for the flagship. The Dalek inside blows them apart.
Time Lords on the ground celebrate the Brygosan retreat.
DOCTOR (V.O.)
That single Dalek took over the Brygosan flagship. I can only assume it killed everyone on board, including Akarnak. When the other Brygosan ships tried to stop it, they were also destroyed. Only, it didn't stop there.
EXT. BRYGOSA - BRYGOSAN HOMEWORLD - SPACE
Tens of thousands of Daleks devastate the armada protecting the Brygosan homeworld and descend towards the planet.
DOCTOR (V.O.)
It replicated itself, creating more and more Daleks. And since there were no other Daleks in the universe, they needed to establish a new homeworld. They chose Brygosa. The Daleks murdered every living thing on the planet, seven billion people, and it was my fault.
The planet Brygosa burns as it is claimed by the Daleks.
INT. RULING COUNCIL CHAMBER - GALLIFREY
Past Doctor stands in judgment as Lord Risein has no choice but to...
LORD RESEIN
If civilization is to mean anything, there can be no justification, even self-preservation, for such a heinous crime. And so it is the judgment of this Council that the Doctor be stripped of his position and banished for all time.
Past Doctor accepts his punishment in silence.
Madam Holu, Rose, and the Doctor watch as Past Doctor is taken away in chains.
DOCTOR
That's why I travel alone, with an occasional companion, but never another Time Lord. It's also why I can never go back home.
ROSE
This is the secret you were keeping from me?
DOCTOR
Well, one of them.
ROSE
But this is the one you were so ashamed of?
DOCTOR
That moment was a watershed moment for me. Since then, I've devoted my life to being a changed person, to helping as many people as I possibly can, and to making the universe a better place. But...
He trails off and looks away. Rose reaches out and cradles his cheek so that he'll look at her.
DOCTOR
It doesn't make it easier.
ROSE
You did what you had to do to save your people, the only thing you could do. Do you think Truman wanted to drop the atom bombs on Japan? He didn't want to kill all those people, but he knew he had to end that war, and he believed that doing so would ultimately save more lives than it ended. You did the right thing?
DOCTOR
You think so?
ROSE
Of course, I do.
He seems suspicious.
DOCTOR
I just... didn't think that's how you would react.
ROSE
I believe in you, Doctor. I believe you are a good man. Sometimes we have to make hard choices, but they have to be made. I feel safer knowing a good man is the one making them.
She moves in closer, intimately close.
ROSE
And you are the best man I have ever met. I trust you. I believe in you.
She leans in close to his lips. He lets his guard down.
ROSE
And I love you.
She kisses him.
After a few seconds, he withdraws from her.
DOCTOR
Madam Holu.
ROSE
She's gone.
He looks around.
INT. SUITE - MADAM HOLU'S HOUSE OF EROS
With the Doctor cocooned in the web, Madam Holu speaks the words the Doctor is hearing inside of his hallucination, where he thinks he is speaking to Rose.
MADAM HOLU
Madam Holu left when she realized you were mine all along. She didn't want to stand between us anymore. You and I were meant to be together. Even she knew that.
Holu cradles his cheek and runs her fingers through his hair.
INT. BEDROOM - ROMANTIC COTTAGE - NIGHT
The Doctor and Rose stand together by a fireplace. He's shirtless and she's wearing sexy blue lingerie that perfectly accentuates her curves.
ROSE
She didn't even fight it. She was happy for you, for us.
DOCTOR
She was an impressive woman.
Rose wraps her arms around the Doctor's neck and nibbles on his chest.
ROSE
So am I.
He puts his arms around Rose and kisses her.
INT. OFFICE - MADAM HOLU'S HOUSE OF EROS
Prime Minister Covunami, his hair ruffled and the top button of his shirt unbuttoned, speaks from Greevo's communication screen. Greevo puffs away at a fresh cigar. The gangster appears almost stoic except for the way he squeezes his eyelids shut every time he blinks, a sign that he's growing impatient.
COVUNAMI (V.O.)
You can't possibly expect me to agree to this.
GREEVO SHANBOR
You will if you value your daughter's life.
COVUNAMI (V.O.)
What about the men guarding the shipment of the warhead?
GREEVO SHANBOR
They'll be killed in the ambush, of course.
COVUNAMI (V.O.)
Those men have families, too!
GREEVO SHANBOR
And I'm sure their families will be delighted to know that they died heroes, fighting to keep the world safe from people like me, but they will die, just as long as you make sure to divert the attention of your intelligence agencies and keep the threat level lowered.
Brick enters carrying something behind his back. There's panic all over his face. He stands in the corner and waits his turn. Greevo sees him, picks up on the henchman's worried expression, but keeps focused on the task at hand.
GREEVO SHANBOR
Look, I'm not asking you to kill them. My men will do that. I'm just telling you to do nothing to stop it.
COVUNAMI (V.O.)
How do I know my daughter is even still alive? I want to speak with her. I want to see her.
GREEVO SHANBOR
In two hours, when we've taken possession of the warheads. The clock is ticking, Mr. Prime Minister. You have your orders.
Greevo presses a button and the transmission cuts out.
GREEVO SHANBOR
(to Brick)
What?
BRICK
The Prime Minister's daughter is gone. Mooey and Doryt are dead.
GREEVO SHANBOR
How did this happen?
Brick shows him Rat the Mic's shell hands.
BRICK
We found these in the dungeon.
Greevo raises an eyebrow to the shell hands.
GREEVO SHANBOR
That's absolutely disgusting. He ripped off his own hands?
BRICK
No, they're hollow inside.
Brick shows Greevo Shanbor that the hands are hollow.
BRICK
It's a shell. The lawyer monk must also be some sort of crab or something. This must be how he broke free of the chains.
Greevo stands and backs Brick into a corner.
GREEVO SHANBOR
So, you're telling me that this man who doesn't exist in any known identification database, who shows up out of the blue and infiltrates my establishment on today of all days, who by your own admission appears to be little more than a complete and total moron, somehow managed to kill two of your best men and free the Prime Minister's daughter while I'm arranging to extort the government for two nuclear warheads? Is that what you're telling me, you parasite-infested, rock-brained, incompetent, piece of vomit?!
Greevo strikes Brick repeatedly with his cane. The henchman can only raise his arms to protect his head over and over again.
GREEVO SHANBOR
Find them! Now! If she gets word back to her father who we are, they'll send the whole damn military against us! And that's if we're lucky!
BRICK
Yes, boss!
Greevo stops striking Brick.
GREEVO SHANBOR
Why are you still here?
BRICK
Are you done beating me, boss?
GREEVO SHANBOR
Go, gods dammit!
BRICK
Yes, boss!
Brick runs out.
In an absolute rage, Greevo snaps his cane over his knee and throws the pieces across the room. He overturns the table, then takes a second to breathe. He slams his hand on the comm station.
GREEVO SHANBOR
Holu, answer me!
Madam Holu's face appears on the screen a few seconds later.
MADAM HOLU (V.O.)
I'm still working with that man you sent up. He's fascinating.
GREEVO SHANBOR
He's also very likely a government agent.
MADAM HOLU (V.O.)
Oh, I don't think so.
GREEVO SHANBOR
Yeah, well, his friend just pissed all over my plate.
MADAM HOLU (V.O.)
Literally?
GREEVO SHANBOR
No, not literally, it's a gods damned expression! Whatever you do, you keep him there, and you be ready to slit his throat immediately if I need you to. Do you understand?
Holu hesitates.
INT. SUITE - MADAM HOLU'S HOUSE OF EROS
She looks back at the Doctor and the baby spiders crawling all over his face. Is that concern in her eyes? Concern for the Doctor?
GREEVO SHANBOR (V.O.)
Are. You. Hearing me. Madam!?
Madam Holu turns back to her comm screen and nods.
MADAM HOLU
I'll be ready, Greevo.
GREEVO SHANBOR (V.O.)
Good.
Her comm screen goes dark.
Holu takes a deep breath and looks back at the Doctor. She strides over with intention and stands in front of him.
MADAM HOLU
Doctor? Doctor, where are you? Where are you, right now?
His eyes are glazed over, pale. He doesn't blink. A little drool dribbles out the side of his mouth.
DOCTOR
I know this place.
MADAM HOLU
Doctor, where are you?
She moves her ear closer to his lips to hear the soft words that escape.
INT. BEDROOM - ROMANTIC COTTAGE - NIGHT
It is dark. Rose is alone in a bed with silk sheets. She lifts her head up and looks around.
ROSE
Doctor, where are you?
At an open window, the Doctor is sitting on the sill staring up at a full moon. She sees him from the bed, stands up, and walks over. She watches his forlorn stare for a moment and sits opposite him on the sill.
ROSE
Where are you, right now?
DOCTOR
I know this place. It's Earth, England, around the 1530's, if I'm not mistaken, judging by the position of the stars. Somewhere, King Henry the Eighth is probably cheating on his wife while plotting how to legally justify executing her. But here, sitting in this window with you, all I see is the beautiful and peaceful countryside of a world with nothing but potential. Beauty and peace together. It's so easy to get lost in it, to imagine that nothing is truly wrong with the world as long as you have those two things to spare.
ROSE
It is beautiful.
DOCTOR
How did you escape the other me?
ROSE
The other you? I don't understand.
DOCTOR
The other Doctor, the one from the past, the other me. The one who attacked us. The one who took you away.
ROSE
You know how.
DOCTOR
No, I don't. I can't even imagine how you would have done it, and found a way back to me. And that's the problem, isn't it? It's because I can't even imagine it that it just doesn't work; the Euphormia.
She looks away.
DOCTOR
The Euphormia helps you feel what you want to feel, believe what you want to believe. It opens you up to the possibilities of your dreams, your wants, your desires. It heightens all of those sensations, even induces hallucinations so that you can wrap yourselves up in them good and tight and forfeit reality for something more... pleasurable.
ROSE
Something like that.
DOCTOR
But you're not a mind-reader. You can suggest things and my brain will fill in the rest, so long as I can imagine it. And as much as I believe in Rose, I can't imagine how she would have escaped him and gotten back to me.
Rose's image morphs into that of Madam Holu, wearing the same clothes.
MADAM HOLU
You are a complicated man, Doctor. You could imagine yourself an old man, having lived the better half of your life as my husband, but you can't imagine the love of your life finding her way back to you. What's that like?
He looks up at the moon, lifts his hand up as if he were going to reach out and touch it.
DOCTOR
It's right there.
But, of course, he can't touch it. He lets his hand drop.
MADAM HOLU
We have to go.
DOCTOR
Are we in danger?
MADAM HOLU
Yes.
DOCTOR
This hurt me.
MADAM HOLU
Of course, it did. But it also felt good.
DOCTOR
I asked you to break me.
MADAM HOLU
But that isn't what you wanted.
He walks away, over to the bed. She watches him as he pulls on a shirt, then laughs at himself.
DOCTOR
This shirt isn't even real, is it? I probably could have just imagined it onto my body and it would have appeared. I'm not really getting ready to leave here.
MADAM HOLU
I fulfilled my end.
DOCTOR
I wanted you to tell me how I could avoid turning into him.
MADAM HOLU
The other you?
DOCTOR
The other me. I'm vulnerable. The humans put him into a cage and tortured him for years and he came out a monster.
MADAM HOLU
A monster? Like someone capable of annihilating an entire race?
DOCTOR
That was war.
MADAM HOLU
Yes, and you still haven't forgiven yourself.
DOCTOR
I have.
MADAM HOLU
Not for the act. For the fact that you'd do it again.
She chuckles. It's all breath, no sound.
DOCTOR
You find this funny?
MADAM HOLU
I find you funny. Good men are funny, yes. You came to me all judgment and condemnation, thinking yourself better than that other man out there from whom it was your holy duty to protect the universe. You put yourself up on that pedestal, but the funny thing about men who think they hold a monopoly on moral righteousness is that they always have a secret darkness within that scares the hell out of them. I'll admit, yours is bigger than most, and I applaud you on your reformation, but the truth is, when the chips are down, you'll do just about anything to save lives, even the bad thing.
DOCTOR
Saving lives is a bad thing to you?
MADAM HOLU
To me? No, I think it's wonderful, but you don't, not when it costs you your conscience. And that's not something you can grow back. Once you've dented it, the memory is always there. You are corrupt from then on. And that's you. That's what he is, the other you, the you from the past. Without knowing anything about the circumstances that brought him into existence, I already know the whole truth, the one you can't bring yourself to admit.
DOCTOR
Which is?
MADAM HOLU
He's not the one who changed. You are.
DOCTOR
But he and I share the part of history where we made the decision to release the Dalek against the Brygosans.
MADAM HOLU
But there is one thing you don't share, isn't there?
DOCTOR
Yes, he got locked up, and I didn't.
MADAM HOLU
No, you got Rose, and he didn't.
The Doctor is stunned, so hit by her statement that he sits down on the edge of the bed. She waits for it to sink in a little, then walks over and sits next to him.
MADAM HOLU
Tell me I'm wrong.
He stares down, at nothing in particular, thinking it over.
MADAM HOLU
Okay. Tell me how it happened.
He continues to stare as we flashback to...
EXT. PARKING LOT – ST. JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY – DAY
The late spring sun reflects off the hood of a mini-van inefficiently packed with dirty laundry, small furniture, and a television. There's a breeze in the air. It blows a few wisps of blonde hair across Rose's face as she steps out into the sun from the gray stone dormitory. She drags a red suitcase behind her, the tassel from a graduation cap tied to one of its buckles.
Nearby, two people stare at her from the ivy cloaked corner of a chapel. One of them is the Doctor, who observes Rose with pursed lips and forlorn eyes. He turns to his companion, the woman with him, and sees the same face, the same features, but not the same youthful exuberance. His companion is also Rose, a Future Rose, not much older than the one in the parking lot loading her suitcase into a car, but certainly less vibrant.
DOCTOR
I'm serious. You could start over new from the day you graduated college. You could convince her to take the normal life. I can make the nightmare never happen. If that's what you want, go to her. Go to her, now, and tell her to stay away from me.
The Doctor offers her a reassuring smile, nods. She cries, visibly hurt by this for some reason.
FUTURE ROSE
I won't remember you at all?
The Doctor shakes his head 'no'.
DOCTOR
If anyone asks you about the Doctor, all you'll be able to say is... "Doctor Who?"
Future Rose continues to cry.
FUTURE ROSE
Will you remember me?
As Future Rose cries, the Doctor looks back at the younger Rose in the parking lot. She smiles, laughs. She's so full of life compared to the sobbing and disheveled mess in front of him waiting for an answer.
INT. BEDROOM - ROMANTIC COTTAGE - NIGHT
Madam Holu listens to the Doctor recall the past events.
DOCTOR
It was too much for her. I tried to protect her, but she asked to go home.
MADAM HOLU
And you brought her back?
DOCTOR
Like I promised from the beginning.
MADAM HOLU
Then what happened?
Flashback to:
EXT. PARKING LOT – ST. JOSEPH'S UNIVERSITY – DAY
The Doctor looks into Future Rose's eyes.
DOCTOR
Of course, I'll remember you, and I'll miss you.
She melts a little.
DOCTOR
… Just like I remember and miss all the wonderful people I've met throughout history and throughout the universe.
She sulks, deeply hurt. She turns away from him.
DOCTOR
I'm sorry if I ever hurt you, Rose.
FUTURE ROSE
Goodbye, Doctor.
Future Rose turns and runs for Jackie. The Doctor watches her go, sad.
FUTURE ROSE (O.S.)
Mom! Mooom!
JACKIE (O.S.)
Rose?
The Doctor, satisfied with the reunion, turns away. He walks disappears around the corner.
INT. TARDIS
Forlorn and alone, the Doctor steps up to the Tardis command console. It hums like a heartbeat and is the only sound in the room. He puts his hands over the console, preparing to enter in a new time destination, but stops. He doesn't know where, or when, to go. Or does he?
He smiles and punches in the time and space coordinates.
INT. BEDROOM - ROMANTIC COTTAGE - NIGHT
The Doctor takes a breath before admitting his misdeed to another for the first time.
DOCTOR
I didn't want her to go, but I couldn't ask her to stay, being in that much pain. I thought, maybe I could do it better this time. I knew where not to take her. I knew I could treat her better. So, I went back in time and I took my past self's place. I knocked him out and left him somewhere I thought he'd be safe. Then, when she thought he was going with him, she was really coming with me another time around.
Madam Holu shakes her head and smiles.
MADAM HOLU
The things we do for love. Only the other you wasn't safe, was he?
DOCTOR
Someone must have found him. The FBI or someone took him prisoner. Eventually, he found a way to break out. He killed everyone in the building. It spiraled out of control from there.
MADAM HOLU
So, where he got a jail cell, you got Rose. But the darkness was always inside you, Doctor. The difference is, you have Rose to bolster your conscience, to be your heart.
DOCTOR
She has a good heart.
MADAM HOLU
I'm not here to cast judgment, and I caution you not to either. Any other man would have done the same thing you did to save your race. I imagine, thrown in jail and tortured for years, any man would do what he did to their jailors. This other you is not the bad version of you any more than you are the good version of him. You're basically the same person. You're the Doctor, a generally good, overly competent, genius willing to do whatever it takes to save lives and make the universe a better place.
He looks up at her, reassured by her statement, but perhaps needing more.
MADAM HOLU
Maybe the only real difference is that instead of being the cold, calculating, professor type, the Doctor with Rose is just a Doctor with a little more heart.
DOCTOR
I need to fix this.
MADAM HOLU
Yes, you do. But to do that, you need to be alive, and Greevo Shanbor wants your head on a plate.
She slaps him.
INT. SUITE - MADAM HOLU'S HOUSE OF EROS
The Doctor wakes up, still cocooned, to Madam Holu bearing down on him with a sword. He closes his eyes and turns away as she...
... expertly slices the webbing to free him of his cocoon. He drops to the ground like a stone.
DOCTOR
Ow.
She helps him up.
MADAM HOLU
You all right? The Euphormia still kicking your butt?
The Doctor shakes his head.
DOCTOR
No, I'm good. I'm all right.
MADAM HOLU
Good.
The door to the suite is kicked in. Brick and several enforcers run in carrying weapons, which they point at the Doctor. Madam Holu presses the sword to the Doctor's neck.
MADAM HOLU
You'll need to be cognizant to answer Greevo's questions.
The Doctor puts his hands up and surrenders.
END CREDITS ROLL
-End Episode 10 - Serial, To be Continued...-
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