___D_O_C_T_O_R___
_ _ __ /
\\ ^ /|_|/ \ /
\\/ \/ | |\_//
\__________/
The Trial
of a Time Lord
by Robert Holmes
Part Four
The Doctor hurries Peri down a corridor and tells her to hurry along with him
as there isn't much time.
Peri asks how long they've got before this black light thing goes up.
He says there's no telling, and reminds her they've got to pass Queen Katryca
on their way into the castle and make that demented robot see sense after that.
"So, you have returned."
The voice belongs to Merdeen. He has just stepped into the corridor,
standing behind Peri and the Doctor.
The Doctor stops and turns. Peri does as well.
"Merdeen!" says the Doctor, recalling his name as though proud he was able to.
"Missed your train?" he asks a little worriedly as he sees the menacing
expression on Merdeen's face and the crossbow in his hand.
"The train is noisy. We hunt by foot," answers Merdeen.
"What are you hunting?" asks the Doctor.
"You!" answers Merdeen.
Merdeen raises his crossbow towards the Doctor.
The Doctor looks at the bow in surprise.
Merdeen squeezes the trigger and fires.
The shot passes to the right of the Doctor and Peri and hits someone else
straight in the stomach. This person is Grell, who we see is holding a
crossbow of his own pointed at the Doctor, but he drops it suddenly as
he clutches his wound and rolls forward off the small stairway and onto
the floor.
Merdeen swiftly approaches Grell and asks him "Why, Grell? Why?"
Grell manages to stammer, "You. . . . betrayed. . . " before Merdeen
interrupts him and tells him that they were not meant to live like
this and that they were not meant to . . .
Grell body goes limp.
"We should be free," says Merdeen sadly.
The Doctor comes over and kneels down. He checks Grell's pulse and his
expression tells Merdeen that Grell is dead. Peri watches over the
Doctor's shoulder.
Merdeen explains that Grell wanted the glory of the Doctor's capture to
please the Immortal. The Doctor asks Merdeen not to blame himself.
Merdeen looks up and clearly does blame himself, explaining that he's
known Grell for all of the young man's life, and that it was he who
asked for Grell to join the guards in the first place, and he hoped that
one day Grell would see there is no reason for the cullings. He chokes
back tears and looks at Grell's dead face again.
The Doctor says, "Perhaps I can convince the Immortal of that. I must get
to his castle."
Merdeen looks up and warns the Doctor that the Immortal will kill him.
The Doctor says he won't if he still believes he can be of use to him.
He gets up and leads Peri along, telling her there isn't much time.
Merdeen looks in sadness at Grell one more time.
The Immortal repeats his prophecy to Humker and Tandrell.
"The black light system will collapse in upon itself, and we shall all
cease to function."
Humker and Tandrell worriedly get away from Drathro and mutter amongst
themselves by the control console and monitor screen.
Tandrell tells Humker they should leave.
Humker asks where they would go.
Tandrell says he doesn't know, but Drathro is saying that if they stay
for the explosion, they will all be killed, therefore the logical course
is to leave.
Suddenly the monitor screen flicks on with a picture from right outside
the castle showing Katryca and her Tribe of the Free arriving.
Humker calls them, "The Wild Ones," and worries that they're too late.
Tandrell tells him he's always thought he talked too much and yanks him
along with him to the door.
The villagers, including Balazar, stand before the great metal doors leading
into the Immortal's castle.
Broken Tooth walks ahead of everyone else and tries to push the doors open.
He grunts with effort and then tells everyone else that the doors are iron
and will not yield.
Katryca orders that tools be fetched, but Balazar tells the tool-fetchers
to wait as the doors are now opening by themselves.
Katryca steps forward into the empty first chamber, then turns and tells
her villagers to follow her as there is nothing to fear as the Immortal is
dead.
She leads the way to the next set of doors.
The doors into the control chamber open and Katryca and the villagers
enter and then freeze in shock at the sight of the Immortal before them.
"It can't be!" exclaims Katryca.
Unseen by the villagers, Humker and Tandrell run out the door and into
the subways.
"Why have you entered here?" demands Drathro angrily.
Katryca tells Broken Tooth to get the guns.
"Lay aside your useless toys," orders Drathro. "I asked 'Why have you
entered here?'"
Katryca summons up her pride and declares, "We are the Tribe of the Free!"
"You are vassals!" shouts Drathro. "Outside the law! Outside the plan!
You have brought disorder where order reigned!"
Broken Tooth brings his rifle to bear, but Drathro grabs it and shatters it.
"I am Katryca!" cries the Queen. "Queen of the . . . "
She screams in pain as Drathro the Immortal clutches her throat and layers
of golden lightning flow over her face. Broken Tooth tries to help by
prying his arm off of her, but he finds himself screaming and paralyzed
by the power as well.
The lightning flashes fade and Katryca and Broken Tooth's faces look like
they've been carved up by thousands of little razors. Their dead bodies
slump to the floor.
"You cause me to waste energy!" accuses Drathro. He orders Balazar and
the villagers to leave and wait outside where they will be culled in
accordance with the plan.
Balazar begins to attempt to apologize, but Drathro shouts him down
and tells them not to attempt to hide as his guards will track them down.
Balazar leaves and the other villagers follow, taking the bodies of
Katryca and Broken Tooth with them.
Humker and Tandrell rapidly traverse corridors, trying to find the way out.
Humker says he remembers these subways from his childhood.
Tandrell asks if this is the way to the surface.
Humker tells Tandrell he said he remembers the subways, not where they led.
Tandrell reminds Humker that if they don't find the surface, Drathro will
send the guards after them.
Humker assures Tandrell they'll be OK as first Drathro must deal with
the Wild Ones and then the explosion. . .
He trails off as the Doctor interrupts them both, coming from the further
down the corridor with Peri and Merdeen in tow.
"Ah! Tumker and Handrail!" declares the Doctor. He asks them where they're
off to, and Humker tells him they are leaving. Tandrell adds that Drathro
has said there is going to be an explosion. The Doctor tells him he knows.
Tandrell tells him its a mechanical fault.
Humker insists its electronic.
Tandrell tells the Doctor that there is now a constant external discharge
from one pole to another.
"Then I may only have minutes," says the Doctor. He tells Peri and Merdeen
to come along and he heads towards the castle, leaving Humker and Tandrell
to stare at their backs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The evidence is interrupted again, and the Doctor tells the Court how
he didn't appear to be hurrying in the last sequence, but that the
deceptively easy gait he uses covers the ground at amazing speed.
The Inquisitor tells him she did not interrupt the evidence just to commend
the Doctor's athleticism.
The Doctor looks a little surprised, and tells her she can if she likes
and that he'll gratefully accept all compliments.
The Inquisitor doesn't like the Doctor's attitude and reminds him again
that this is a serious trial.
"It is *not* serious!" he shouts, leaping to his feet and stamping.
"It's a farce! A farago of trumped-up charges!"
"You will have the opportunity in due course to rebut any or all of the
Valeyard's charges," says the Inquisitor impatiently.
"Oh, the Valeyard's charges!" rolls on the Doctor. He turns to address
the Valeyard. "I always thought Valeyard meant 'learned court prosecutor.'"
"And so it does," answers the Valeyard.
"Not in your case sir," rages the Doctor. "Your points of law are
spurious, your evidence weak, verging on the irrelevant, and your
*reasoning*. . . quite unsound! In fact your point of view belongs in
quite another place. Perhaps the mantle of 'Valeyard' was a mistake.
I would therefore *suggest* that you change it for the garmant of quite
another sort of yard, that of the Knacker's Yard, for your argument is
as *tired* and as *worn out* as the poor unfortunate creatures that end
up there!!!"
"You will apologize at once!" demands the Inquisitor.
The Doctor turns back to her. "For telling the truth? Never!"
The Valeyard stands up, for the first time visibly angry, but he seems
to keep the anger seething behind his eyes, using it to power his argument.
"The Doctor is well-known for these childish outbursts! I do not find the
bramblings of an immature mind offensive!"
"Immature?!?" yelps the Doctor.
"It is that particular state of mind that has made it necessary for you to
be brought before this Court!" fires the Valeyard.
"Immature!" shouts the Doctor, turning his anger into his argument as well.
"I was on Ravolox trying to avert a catastrophe! The deaths of several
hundred innocent people!" He turns to address the jury, waving his arms
as he speaks. "Surely not even in the eyes of **Time Lords**, can that
be deemed either "immature" or a crime!!!!"
The Valeyard shouts just as loud as the Doctor. . . .
"The crime was in being there, Doctor! Your immaturity was in not
realizing you had broken a Cardinal Law of the Time Lords! Your
presence initiated the whole chain of events that we have witnessed!"
The Inquisitor, much more quietly, interrupts and thanks the Valeyard
for it was that point about the relevance of the testimony that she had
intended to raise.
"My pleasure, Inquisitor," nods the Valeyard.
The Doctor declares this ridiculous.
The Inquisitor asks if they may continue as she is growing tired of this
"empty banter."
The Valeyard is deflated a little, and he sits down and restarts the Matrix.
The Doctor, the Inquisitor, and all the jurists turn to watch the picture
above the gallery on the Matrix screen. It shows the Doctor, Peri, and
Merdeen approaching the villagers and Balazar who are standing outside
of Drathro's castle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prosecution Interface One "The Mysterious Planet"
Continued
The Doctor asks Balazar what has happened, and Balazar replies that these
are woeful times for the Tribe of the Free, as the queen is dead.
Peri sighs and asks how it happened. Balazar tells her the Immortal one
struck her down with a bolt of lightning.
The Doctor asks where he is now, and Balazar answers that the all-powerful
one is inside his castle.
Peri asks why the Immortal let Balazar and the others go, and Balazar
tells them they are waiting to be culled.
The Doctor tells them they're going to all be culled if he doesn't get
inside the castle. He runs between two villagers and addresses a camera
near the door. He tries to get Drathro to listen, notice he's there,
and open the door for him.
Merdeen lowers his head and tells the Doctor its no good doing what he's
doing as he can only speak to the Immortal through a communication box.
The Doctor remembers that Drathro doesn't entertain much, and rushes
Merdeen to take him to the nearest such box.
Dibber leads the way carefully around a subway corner with his gun ready
to fire at anyone who gets in the way. Glitz walks casually behind him
with his map stretched out over his own gun.
Dibber begins to ask about what they're going to do when they find the castle,
until Glitz asks Dibber to stop so that he can rest as he is exhausted.
He stops in the middle of the corridor and sets his gun down.
Dibber asks him that if they ever do find the castle and knock out the L3
robot, how does Glitz know that they're going to find these secrets that
Glitz keeps on about.
Glitz asks Dibber if he'd have spent all the time, effort, and a small
fortune if he wasn't certain on this point.
Dibber agrees to this, but goes on to suggest that after five hundred years
they might not be worth anything.
"Do me a favor, Dibber," says Glitz, leaning down to pick up his gun, "The
sleepers found a way into the MBDLEP! MBDLEP!, the biggest net of
information in the. . . "
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What is going on?!?" demands the Doctor at the latest bleeped-our portion
of soundtrack on the evidence.
The evidence stops rolling as the Inquisitor turns in her chair to tell
the Valeyard that the same question had formed in her mind.
The Valeyard tells her like he did before that the information there is
for her eyes and ears only.
"Something else it is not in the public interest to reveal?" asks the
Inquisitor.
"Exactly, my Lady," says the Valeyard with a hint of a smile on his face.
The Doctor declares this a charade, and demands to know what possible
reason there could be for not sharing the information with the Court if
it was known to those two rogues on the screen.
The Valeyard tells the Doctor that this Trial is only concerned with
his actions and their consequences, and nothing else, and that wider
issues, if any, are not within their terms of reference.
The Inquisitor tells the Valeyard a little testily that this is something
she should decide.
The Valeyard tells her he knows this, but that his own instructions were
to only pursue matters pertinent to the central issue.
The Inquisitor says she accepts that, but she would still like to see
the last sequence again. The Doctor says he agrees.
The Valeyard sits down and replays the evidence for them all to see again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prosecution Interface One "The Mysterious Planet"
Continued
"Do me a favor, Dibber," says Glitz, reaching down for his gun. "The
sleepers found a way into the MDBLEDEP! MDBLEDEP!, the biggest net of
information in the Universe!" He picks up the gun at last and walks
slowly down the tunnel, with Glitz following and listening.
"Do you think they were nicking recipes for making chutney?" asks Glitz.
Dibber agrees with this, but asks if Glitz knows what the secrets are.
"Facts, my son," says Glitz. "Figures. Formulas. Travelling faster
than light. Anti-gravity power. Dimensional transference. Scientific
stuff like that. Worth a fortune!"
Dibber asks how they're worth a fortune. Glitz puts his gun down again
and tells Dibber slowly that they're going to sell the information to
a government here and a federation there as they're all in the market
for this sort of high-tech information.
Dibber stands and thinks about this for a while. Glitz picks up his gun
again. He advises Dibber not to think about it in case he gives himself
a hernia, and leads the way on down the tunnel.
Merdeen, Peri, Balazar, and the Doctor approach a box mounted on a wall
of a tunnel. Merdeen presses a button on it and an unseen speaker gives
only static. Merdeen presses it again and tells everyone that the
Immortal doesn't always answer.
"Yes, Merdeen?" answers the Immortal.
Merdeen looks into the camera part of the box and informs him he's brought
the Doctor to him as he was instructed.
The Immortal tells him to show him, and the Doctor moves in front of the
lens. He tells Drathro that he's come to help him. Drathro answers that
the Doctor is too late.
Drathro watches the Doctor's image looking up at him on his monitor screen.
He is saying that if he believed it was too late he wouldn't have come.
Drathro says he's only here because Merdeen found him.
The Doctor tells Drathro he came voluntarily, as he thinks there's still
time to repair the black light system.
Drathro considers for a second and tells the Doctor to present himself at
the portals to the castle, alone. The Doctor disappears from view in a
hurry.
Drathro next calls for Merdeen again. Merdeen appears and asks what he
wants. The Immortal orders Merdeen to assemble the guards and cull all
the organics who stand waiting outside the castle.
Merdeen says he will tend to it immediately.
The monitor switches off and Drathro turns and shouts for the absent Humker
and Tandrell.
The Doctor has already left, but Peri tries to convince Merdeen that he
can't follow orders and kill all those innocent people.
Balazar agrees with Peri, adding that Merdeen has seen the truth, and it
would be murder to kill them.
Merdeen points out that he can't free them either.
Peri suggests he just leave them for the present. Merdeen tells her the
Immortal will kill him. Peri reminds him that everyone's in danger if
the Doctor is right.
The Doctor opens the interior doors to the control room, regards Drathro
for a second, and then enters all the way. With the doors shut behind
him, he looks at the black light system machinery from where he is and
tells Drathro he can already tell the system is defunct and that he's
going to have to shut it down. He moves for the controls as though to
do so immediately, until Drathro orders him not to shut it down.
The Doctor protests that this is the only way.
Drathro points out that if the system is shut down, he too will cease.
The Doctor points out that is the system is allowed to run wild and lead
to termination point, as Drathro puts it in an interjection, that he'll
cease then along with everything else around here.
Drathro tells the Doctor this does not matter as everything he sees around
him is his creation.
The Doctor points out that there are several hundred people also here.
Drathro insists that the "work units" only exist to serve him, and that
without him, they will have no function.
The Doctor thumps the console in frustration and accuses Drathro of not
being able to see beyond the end of his tin nose.
"Is that abuse?" asks Drathro.
The Doctor circles the console to talk to Drathro from a nearer distance.
He tries to explain that he is only a robot, and that the people outside
are living creatures with rights to their lives.
Drathro asks the Doctor to explain why.
The Doctor says that he can't in Drathro's terms, as his programmer seems
to have forgotten to include moral values.
Drathro insists that he does know of values, and asks if the Doctor's
point is that organics are of more value than robots.
The Doctor, somewhat reluctantly, says this is so if Drathro wants to look
at it like this.
Drathro then asks why he is in command of organics if it is they who are
of greater value.
The Doctor points out that without organics there wouldn't be any robots,
as there'd be no one to create them.
Drathro accepts this, and says this shows that robots are more advanced
and therefore of more value.
The Doctor looks up at Drathro and can't think of what to say next.
Peri, Merdeen, and Balazar run up to the main iron doors to the castle
and find them shut solid. Peri asks Merdeen if there is another way
into the castle. He asks what she means as though this were something
no one had ever thought about.
"You know, like a back door or something," Peri explains.
Merdeen tells her there are only the big doors.
Peri insists there must be another way in, and Merdeen asks why she wants
to know. Peri tells him the Doctor might need help, so she's got to get
inside.
Balazar suddenly remembers that there is a ration chute. Merdeen agrees,
explaining that every day the Immortal sends out food to the work units,
and that it might lead into the castle.
Peri tells Merdeen and Balazar that they are both pals and asks them to
lead the way to the chute.
The Doctor has found some more wind for his sails, and he tells Drathro
that his problem is that he doesn't have any concept of what life is.
Drathro tells the Doctor that he has studied his work units for five
centuries, and that he understands all their responses.
The Doctor exasperatedly tells Drathro that understanding is not the
same as knowing.
"Your work units are the result of millions of years of evolution,"
insists the Doctor. "*Life*, Drathro!"
Drathro says that he understands evolution.
The Doctor insists that Drathro doesn't, and that if he understood one
tenth of what life was all about he'd want the Doctor to save all those
people out there.
Drathro again asks why, as he has already said that without him they would
have no purpose.
"Everything in life has its purpose, Drathro," insists the Doctor.
"Every creature plays its part. The purpose of life is too big to be
knowable. A million computers couldn't solve that one!"
Drathro turns aside, declaring the discussion to be of no value, saying
again that he does not wish the work units to continue when he has ceased
to function.
The Doctor looks at Drathro's back (as Drathro walks to a corner of the
room) and shouts that he knows what's the problem. "Hubris!"
He defines this for Drathro, calling it false pride. "A human sin.
You've controlled your pointless little empire for too long. Now you
can't see anything beyond it!"
Glitz and Dibber arrive at the exterior castle doors. They stop and
examine them. Glitz consults some details about them on his map.
Glitz says they'll have to blast the doors.
Dibber says he doesn't like it.
Glitz insists that five rounds rapid should do the trick.
Dibber asks what will happen if the L3's still functioning.
Glitz asks, "Eh?"
Dibber asks "What if he's got emergency back-up support systems?"
Glitz tells him there are a lot of "what ifs" in that question.
Dibber tells Glitz that the most important of all is "What if I'm right?"
Peri tells Merdeen and Balazar that all these subways look the same to her.
They arrive at a small metal hatch in a wall that Peri is not sure leads
into the castle. Merdeen insists it must, and Balazar agrees, saying
there is nowhere else that it could go.
Peri calls it a real tradesman's entrance.
"Well, well," says Glitz. He and Dibber arrive from the same tunnel
Peri and the others just used. Peri says she had wondered where they
had got to.
Glitz asks how they are doing, and where the Doctor is.
Peri tells them he's in the castle.
"He didn't hang about," says Glitz to Dibber.
Peri tells him she's worried about the Doctor. Glitz answers that he is too.
Peri tells them both that Merdeen thinks they can get into the castle
through this hatch.
Glitz says, "Go on then."
The Doctor stands behind the console. He looks at the strobing lights
in the translucent walls behind him, and turns quickly back to Drathro.
He tells Drathro it'll only be a matter of minutes now, and asks again
if he can make Drathro see sense.
Drathro says that it is finished.
The Doctor pleads with Drathro, telling him that its not just this planet
that's in danger, as nobody really knows how far a black light explosion
will go as there's never been one.
"There will be soon," says Drathro.
"Some people think that an explosion could cause a chain reaction that
could roll on until all matter in the galazy is exhausted!" yells the Doctor.
"Is that what you want?"
Drathro says it is no longer of concern to him.
The Doctor goes on to say that others believe that such an explosion
could cause dimensional transference which could threaten the stability
of the entire Universe.
Drathro suddenly notices something, and tells the Doctor to look at the
monitor. The Doctor asks what is going on, and Drathro tells him there
are intruders in the food production chamber.
"So," he says with a note of realization in his voice, "That was your
intention, Doctor. To distract me."
The Doctor spots Peri in the small group of people entering the food
production chamber.
The food production chamber is a large, square box of a room with yellow
foodstuff slime stuck to the walls and floors. The hatch is in one wall,
and two other walls are actually very large pipelines that lead into
metal blades, presumably used in the food production process.
Merdeen leads the way across the slippery floor, with Peri, Dibber,
and Glitz following in that order.
The doorway part of the hatch slides closed behind Glitz suddenly.
The Doctor struggles with Drathro, trying to get him to stop what he's
doing at the controls, but Drathro throws him aside like a rag doll.
Inside the chamber, the metal blades have all begun whirring at high
speed, and red laser beams, probably used for cooking, fire in a pattern
from the ceiling.
Balazar looks up the food chute from outside and asks what's happening.
Everyone carefully avoids the lasers, but Peri
shouts out that they're still in trouble as if they aren't ground
to death, they'll be fried. She and Merdeen struggle in vain with the
hatchway.
The Doctor tries again to stop Drathro, and fails in the same manner he
did before.
Dibber tells everyone to stand back. He trains his gun at the blank wall
and opens fire with his massive gun, which is very effective but
surprisingly quiet.
The motors and lasers stop and a large hole is blown in the wall.
A long flow of yellow slop pours down the food dispenser and straight into
Balazar's face.
The other end of the hole is opposite the usual doors in Drathro's
control room. Dibber is first through, and he is surprised to see
Drathro grabbing hold of his gun and taking it from him as soon as he
gets inside. Glitz follows, placing his gun on the floor and saying
that they've come in friendship. Peri and Merdeen come in behind them.
Peri joins the Doctor and asks if he's alright. The Doctor says he is,
but not for long.
Drathro tells them all he would kill them all then and there, but he
and they are now waiting for something that the Doctor tells him is
unique: a black light explosion.
As if in response, the console equipment begins to strobe faster and an
oscillating bleeping sound begins.
Glitz tells Dibber to do something.
"Such as what?" asks Dibber.
The Doctor tells them he's been trying to convince the mobile junkheap
that none of this need happen if only he'd let him shut the system down.
Glitz tells him that seems eminently sensible.
The Doctor says Drathro won't listen to reason. "He needs black light
to function, so he sees no reason why the rest of us should survive.
That is roughly your narrow, egotistical little view, isn't it Drathro?"
"If I am doomed," promises Drathro, "then you are all doomed."
Glitz tells Drathro to wait a minute. "I mean, if its only black light
you need, well, we have plenty of that! Don't we Dibber?"
"Do we?" asks Dibber uncertainly.
"On the ship, Dibber!" mutters Glitz menacingly.
"Oh, the black light!" smiles Dibber. "Yeah, we've got so much of that
sometimes we can hardly see!"
Drathro is excited about the possibility, and asks if there is black light
on their ship again.
Glitz says there is, like his friend said, and he suggests that Drathro
come with them so that they can fix him up.
Drathro asks why they're doing this.
Glitz says its because he hates to see a good-looking robot like him go
to waste. He goes on to suggest that they could drop him back in the
constellation of Andromeda, and he asks how he'd like that.
"It is possible?" asks Drathro, with hope flooding back into his voice.
Glitz says it is, and reminds Drathro he'd have to bring the secrets too,
as the people back home would expect them.
Peri and the Doctor exchange disbelieving glances.
Drathro asks how far away the ship is.
Glits tells him its right outside really.
Drathro tells them he could function for a short distance.
Glitz says, "Of course you could."
Drathro considers for a second, and then accepts their offer. He tells
Glitz to take his gun back, and then to tie these other organics up while
he goes to fetch the secrets.
Glitz points the gun at Merdeen and Peri and motions them towards a
supporting column of the room. Dibber does the same with the Doctor.
The Doctor protests and tells him not to be a fool.
Meanwhile, Drathro selects a large tape cassette-like box from a wall
with others like it, except that they are silver and this box is dull
brown. He holds it from its corner, by its handle placed there.
Glitz completes tieing up the Doctor, telling him he used a slipknot,
and that it was the best he could do for him.
"Strange how low cunning suceeds where intelligent reasoning fails,"
comments the Doctor ruefully.
Glitz advises the Doctor not to knock low cunning as the Doctor is still
here.
Drathro returns carrying the very large cassette tape. Glitz looks it
over and says that there should be a lot of information there as its
probably all stored on microdots. He then tells Dibber to come along
and open the door for the Immortal.
The Doctor looks over his shoulder as they leave, then when he is sure
they have gone, he pulls his ropes and they untie themselves.
He picks up a tool off the control table and uses it to cut Peri and
Merdeen free of their bonds. He tells them they're going to have to
help him with the three-stage cut-out he has to use to try to shut
the machine down.
Peri asks if this will contain an explosion as the Doctor runs behind the
console. He answers that all he can do now is hope to contain it.
He then hurriedly tells Peri to flick off the row of switches in front of
her.
"Which ones?" she asks.
"All of them!" says the Doctor. He struggles to force a large plunger-like
control into the down position. He next tells Merdeen to switch off all
the switches with red neons on.
Merdeen has to ask what neons are, and Peri shows him at the Doctor's
instruction. She asks how much time they have left, and the Doctor
tells them they don't have long. He finally manages to get the first
plunger-control pushed into the down position. He complains that they
haven't been moved in centuries.
The Doctor next tells them to both get out. Peri asks "What about you?"
"Get out!" shouts the Doctor, telling Merdeen to take her with him.
Merdeen grabs Peri and takes her with him out of the room.
The Doctor manages to press the second plunger into its down position,
and next tries to shift the third and final one. It doesn't want to
move at all. He turns and looks around and decides its time to go.
He runs to the door, looks around again and says,
"I've done my best. I only hope its enough."
The Doctor turns and runs for the exterior doors. Before he gets there
the interior doors are blown out by an enormous explosion. . .
The explosion's shock continues out through the main doors, knocking
Balazar down, who was walking by the door at the time.
Glitz, Dibber, and Drathro have reached the old Underground station.
Glitz is about to start up the escalator steps when Drathro suddenly
cries out in pain. Glitz and Dibber look at him and then take cover
behind the stairs.
Drathro begins glowing a fierce red color that oscillates with black
light. He then falls over like a felled tree, and the colors oscillate
slower and slower until all that remains is a deep red ember. . .
Dibber turns and looks at the body of Drathro, and then says,
"Uh, you're not gonna like this Mr. Glitz."
Glitz looks up and takes his fingers out of his ears. He asks if its
finished.
"All finished," says Dibber. "And the secrets." He touches the still
smouldering tape cassette that's been completely ruined and throws it
away in reflex as its still too hot to touch.
Glitz looks over Drathro in depression, until Dibber shows him a small
piece of metal he took our of his pocket.
Glitz asks what it is, and Dibber explains that its a piece of the black
light converter aerial, made from pure silictone.
"The hardest known metal in the galaxy," smiles Glitz.
"And the most expensive," adds Dibber. "And what's more, there's probably
a couple of tons of the stuff. . . "
"I'm way ahead of you lad," interrupts Glitz. "We could clean up on this
job very nicely. What's more, we'll have a tasty little kitty for the
next venture."
Behind them, two young men step out of the subway entrance and into the
old Underground station. They are Humker and Tandrell. They stand in
something like awe for a moment as they look towards the exit to the
outside above.
"Fresh air," says Humker, impressed. "What a wonderful smell!"
"Do you know, you're right?" says Tandrell, surprised to be agreeing with
Humker. "Absolutely wonderful."
The Doctor coughs some smoky air as he stumbles out of the ruined main
doors and spots the very messy Balazar getting up off the floor.
"'And still the lobster held on,'" quotes the Doctor from _Moby Dick_.
He goes on to say that Balazar is in a worse mess than he himself is.
Balazar asks if Merdeen and Peri are safe, and the Doctor says he
can ask them himself as he sees them coming towards them from another
tunnel.
Peri joins the Doctor and tells him she wishes he wouldn't keep frightening
her like this. The Doctor angrily reminds her that he told her to get
out of here. Peri asks him not to start, as she's too tired and too
scared to cope right now. He shrugs and agrees.
Balazar says this appears to be the end, as it is written in the books.
The Doctor disagrees and says its just the beginning. "Chapter One,
Paragraph One, as they say! Take your people up to the surface, where
they belong!"
Balazar agrees and says he will, hoping that at last they shall find the
habitat of the Canadian Goose.
"Perhaps," says the Doctor with a smile. He reaches a finger forward and
tastes the goo on Balazar's coverall. He likes the taste and tells
Merdeen he thinks dinner's on Balazar.
He reaches forward and tells Merdeen farewell, then takes Peri back down
the corridor she came, telling her they're going back to the TARDIS.
"It's the other way," Peri tells him.
"What?" asks the Doctor.
"The TARDIS," answers Peri.
"Yes, I know," says the Doctor like he knew all the time but turning
and heading back towards Merdeen and Balazar. "Its that way."
He says farewell again as they pass Merdeen and Balazar, and then
reminds Peri that there are still one or two questions yet to be answered,
such as the identity of the people who moved this planet two light years
off its original course, and the contents of the box that Glitz and
Dibber were so interested in.
Balazar calls after them. "Goodbye Old One! Thank you for your help!
The Doctor stops and grimaces. Peri smiles. "Old One?" she asks. "Hey,
that's cute."
The Doctor turns and looks at Peri, poking at her nose.
"I always knew there was an evil streak in *you*," says the Doctor.
"Old one indeed. . . " he continues as he and Peri walk back to the TARDIS.
Prosecution Interface One Concludes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Matrix screens shuts down, and the Doctor smiles, reclining in his
chair and saying he thinks this is one up to him, as there can't be many
people who can literally claim to have saved the entire Universe.
He gets up as though to leave saying, "Well, if that's all the muck you
can rake up. . . "
The Valeyard tells the Doctor to sit down. "Smugness does not become you,
Doctor."
The Doctor points his finger at the Valeyard with a smile and says that
that was as irrelevant observation. He turns to the Court and reminds
them he thinks its now his turn to present the case for the defense.
"In due course," says the Inquisitor, turning a page in her notes.
The Doctor protests that this is not fair, and then requests that it be
put on record that his involvement in the affairs of that planet resulted
in the freedom of Drathro's underground slaves.
The Inquisitor says that has been noted.
The Doctor goes on to remind them that despite the fact that evidence has
been withheld, his help had been specifically requested.
"You showed little reluctance in complying with the request," accuses the
Valeyard.
The Doctor answers that lives were at stake.
The Valeyard retorts that lives were lost because of the Doctor's meddling.
The Doctor denies that, and adds that without his help an entire
civilization might have been wiped out.
The Valeyard returns that without his interference it might have involved
less sacrifice of human life.
The Doctor says that this was a risk he had to take.
"Risk!" says the Valeyard contemptuously. "Risk!" He stands. "Hear how
the Doctor condemns himself by his own words!"
The Inquisitor interrupts them and then suggests that the Doctor heed
the Valeyard's advice. ". . . for the time being you have said enough."
"Said enough?" demands the Doctor. "Said enough? I have a great deal
more to say! I wish to demonstrate. . . "
The Inquisitor interrupts the Doctor again and reminds him again that
he'll have his turn when the Valeyard has finished his presentation.
"Well," says the Doctor while he takes his seat, "If the rest of his
so-called presentation is as rivetting as the first little epic, wake
me when its finished!"
"Finished?" asks the Valeyard. "I've barely started."
The Doctor suggests the Valeyard's future in the legal profession isn't
going to be good, adding, "I do hope your evidence gets a little better."
"Oh yes, Doctor, much better," promises the Valeyard.
"The most damning is still to come! And when I have
finished, this Court will demand your life!"
The Doctor looks straight at the Valeyard in anger and in promise that he will
be fighting him until the very end. . .
The Doctor
COLIN BAKER
Peri
NICOLA BRYANT
The Valeyard
MICHAEL JAYSTON
The Inquisitor
LYNDA BELLINGHAM
Katryca Glitz
JOAN SIMS TONY SELBY
Drathro Merdeen
ROGER BRIERLEY TOM CHADBON
Broken Tooth Dibber Balazar
DAVID RODIGAN GLEN MURPHY ADAM BLACKWOOD
Humker Tandrell Grell
BILLY McCOLL SION TUDOR OWEN TIMOTHY WALKER
Title Music composed by Incidental Music Special Sound
RON GRAINER DOMINIC GLYNN DICK MILLS
Production Manager Production Associate Production Assistant
CLARE GRAHAM ANGELA SMITH JOY SINCLAIR
Assistant Floor Manager O.B. Lighting O.B. Sound
STEPHEN JEFFREY-POULTER JOHN WIGGINS BILL WHISTON
Visual Effects Designer Video Effects Technical Co-ordinator
MIKE KELT DANNY POPKIN ALAN ARBUTHNOTT
Studio Camera Supervisor Vision Mixer Videotape Editor
ALEC WHEAL JIM STEPHENS STEPHEN NEWNHAM
Studio Lighting Studio Sound
MIKE JEFFERIES BRIAN CLARK
Costume Designer Make-Up Designer
KEN TREW DENISE BARON
Script Editor
ERIC SAWARD
Desinger
JOHN ANDERSON
Producer
JOHN NATHAN-TURNER
Director
NICHOLAS MALLETT
(C) BBC MCMLXXXVI
First transmitted on 27 September, 1986.
This synopsis by Steven K. Manfred
Synopsis copyright July 13, 1994.
Permission is given to all to copy this synopsis as long as it is not for
reasons of profit.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
Move on to the Next
Episode