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The Trial
of a Time Lord
by Philip Martin
Part Five
The space station approaches. . . more passive now . . . active but in a
controlled manner. . . for a trial goes on within. . .
The Valeyard stands before the Court and tells all that they have just
finished witnessing a typical, glorious escapade of the Doctor's.
The Doctor jumps to his feet and angrily demands, "Madam, I ask that the
Court protect me from the abuse of the Brickyard here!"
"How pathetic and juvenile are your attempts at humor," sneers the Valeyard.
The Inquisitor interrupts and tells the "gentlemen" that this is a Court
of Law, and not "a debating society for maladjusted psychotic sociopaths."
She tells them they will _both_ conduct themselves in an orderly manner
and show proper respect for the judicial procedure.
She fires a rebuking look at the Doctor and makes certain that he knows
that the prosecuting counsel's title is the Valeyard, "not the Brickyard,
Backyard, Knacker's Yard, or any other kind of yard. Again, do I make
myself clear?"
"Piercingly and irrefutably so, madam," apologizes the Doctor.
The Inquisitor tells the Valeyard to proceed, and the Doctor takes his seat.
The Valeyard begins again by telling the Court that they "have just witnessed
a sequence in the Doctor's history that illustrated perfectly his almost
gleeful pleasure in interfering in the development of alien life forms."
The Doctor shouts, "I object!" and rises from his chair yet again.
"Sit down and shut up!" orders the Inquisitor.
The Doctor looks at the Inquisitor with his mouth open and sinks into his
seat in shock.
"Thank you, Sagacity," smiles the Valeyard.
The Doctor looks at the Valeyard in disbelief. "Sagacity?" he repeats
as though unable to believe his ears. "You sycophant! Since when has that
been a form of address in a Gallifreyan Court of Law?"
The Valeyard insists he is merely showing respect to their learned Inqusitor.
The Inquisitor looks up from her notebook in which she is writing and tells
the Doctor that this is an attitude she much approves of.
"Well, you would, wouldn't you?" mutters the Doctor. "Sagacity, indeed!"
"Doctor!" warns the Inquisitor.
The Doctor mutters something resembling an affirmation and shifts in his
chair.
The Inquisitor instructs the Valeyard to continue.
The Valeyard decides to not give the Doctor another chance to interrupt
his introduction and moves straight to introducing the next evidence.
He says he is about to present the Doctor's next frightening adventure,
which is in fact the one in which he was engaged when removed from Time
and brought before the Court.
The Doctor has raised his hand.
The Inquisitor notices and asks what he wants to say.
Now called on, the Doctor asks about the box and the fact that Earth was
two light years off course.
The Valeyard tells him, somewhat tersely, that these are things not
relevant to this segment of evidence.
The Doctor retorts, "It was relevant enough to be bleeped from the Matrix
record!"
The Inquisitor, somewhat tiredly, says that the Valeyard is quite right and
that these are matters for the High Council to adjudicate upon and beyond
the purvue of this Trial.
The Doctor looks like a child who has been denied a piece of candy, but
says nothing.
The Valeyard is somewhat surprises to find he's got the floor back, and
he continues.
"As we may see from the Doctor's arrival on the planet Thoros Beta."
The Valeyard reaches for the control pad by his seat and operates it.
The Matrix screenactivates, with the new picture appearing in the
usual manner of small, growing squares. It shows the large form of a
pink terrestrial-type planet in the foreground, with what appears to be
a Jovian-like, ringed companion nearby in the background.
"Twenty-fourth century," continues the Valeyard, "Last quarter, fourth
year, seventh month, third day. . . "
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Prosecution Interface Two "Mindwarp"
Thoros Beta is a very colorful world.
Most of the planet seems to glow with an eerie flourescence. Electric blue
rocks form the "countryside."
Its ringed twin can be seen through the daylight of the
green-colored sky, whose horizon appears deep red. It appears
to be either rising or setting.
The sea is an iridiscent pink, but its waves behave otherwise like
a usual Earth sea. One beach in particular leads down from aggressively
glowing blue cliffs.
On the little sand there is on this beach, at the boundary between the
shore and the ocean, the solid blue form of a British police telephone
box materializes with its customary groans in the fabric of reality.
The TARDIS has perched itself on a somewhat solid chunk of sand/rock that
seems to be part of a bar jutting out slightly into the sea.
The door opens, and Peri and the Doctor look out from inside.
Peri looks around at the bizarre landscape around her and declares it to
be "Far Out," which may be an understatement. She then turns and asks
the Doctor is he's certain this is the planet he aimed for.
The Doctor looks around and tells her that it is. He asks if Peri
fancies a swim. Peri looks at the pink color, calles it "goo," and tells
the Doctor, "no thanks."
The Doctor thinks its a pretty color. Peri says its an amazing one for a
sea. She then looks at the ringed planet visible on the horizon and asks
if it is this planet's moon. The Doctor answers that it is not, but
rather its twin planet, Thoros Alpha.
He begins to move out the door, and he tells Peri to come along.
Peri turns back for the interior of the TARDIS, telling the Doctor she's
going to "fetch her galoshes."
The Doctor disparages her, saying she's making a lot of fuss over a little
water. Peri says she's not worried about the water so much as its color.
The Doctor asks if she thinks it will clash with what she's wearing.
Peri smiles and tells him she's more worried about clashing with whatever
lived in it.
The Doctor steps out of the TARDIS and into knee-deep water, telling Peri
she won't come to any harm. Peri somewhat nervously follows him, closing
the TARDIS door behind her.
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The Doctor waves at the screen as he rises and asks the Valeyard if he is
_really_ offering this "inconsequential silliness" as evidence.
The Inquisitor agrees, saying she thinks the Doctor has a point and asking
if they could join this segment at a more relevant place.
The Valeyard stands a little and apologizes to the Inquisitor for wasting
the Court's time.
The Doctor looks a little surprised, then smiles as he realizes he's scored
a small point, and sits.
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Prosecution Interface Two "Mindwarp"
Continued
The Doctor and Peri carefully walk across the stony purple shale on the
beach. Peri tells the Doctor she can't get over how weird this place is.
The Doctor mutters a little, saying he supposes it is.
Peri goes on to say she thinks its difficult to believe there's any industry
on this planet.
The Doctor takes a small plastic device that Peri has been carrying from
her hand and looks it over, telling Peri that this device _was_
manufactured on this planet somewhere.
He looks over the hand-sized device's controls and tells Peri it appears
to be multi-functional, with varying fields of energy projection, which
means its quite advanced. He presses one important-looking button in
particular, and the white clear end of the reddish device begins glowing
with an orange light, and an electronic whine sounds.
Ahead of them some distance, a large stone crumbles as though under its
own weight, and appears to melt of its own accord, except that it is
plain that the Doctor has the device pointed at it.
Peri gives a worried cry of "Doctor," and the Doctor looks a little worried
as well as he realizes aloud that it seems the device can liquefy as well
as stun.
Peri asks again if the Doctor thinks the device was made here, and the
Doctor tells Peri that he's sure because a dying War Lord of Thordon would
not use his dying words to lie to them. "Remember what he said. Thoros
Beta. Send more beams that kill."
Peri reminds him that beams that kill weren't the only things on that dirty
old War Lord's mind. She follows the Doctor as he walks down the beach
a little towards the shore.
The Doctor wonders aloud how a bunch of skullthackers like the Thordonians
got hold of such a device as he has in his hand.
Peri asks if it really matters how they blow each other to bits.
The Doctor stops suddenly, aghast, and tells Peri that it does matter.
If an advanced culture is manipulating the destinies of a less developed
civilization then its got to be stopped.
"By us?" asks Peri.
"Who else is there?" answers the Doctor as though the question need never
have been asked.
They continue walking down the beach.
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"'Who else is there'," repeats the Valeyard, stopping the edence and
addressing the Doctor, "Your very words condemn you, Doctor. They show
your arrogance."
"Sorry?" asks the Doctor, perplexed by what the Valeyard is getting at.
"You feel only you have the right to meddle," explains the Valeyard.
"Anyone else with that ambition, according to you, should be stopped."
The Doctor tells him that he'll soon discover that he made the right
decision.
The Valeyard smiles tightly and turns back to the Matrix screen.
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Prosecution Interface Two "Mindwarp"
Continued
The tide seems to have gone out, leaving water-stained rocks behind that
appear a blackish grey instead of the blue of the dry rocks.
Peri remarks that she's never seen a tide go out so quickly. She points
at Thoros Alpha and asks the Doctor if he thinks its something to do with
that. He answers that he doesn't think so. His theory is that there is
some mechanical tide control.
He looks up at the cliffside and sees a large entrance to a dark cavern.
He climbs up, with Peri following, and stops at the entrance.
The green and red horizon shines brightly behind him as he tells Peri he
wouldn't be at all surprised if such a tide control were housed inside
this cave.
Peri joins him and looks inside. She asks why they should want to control
the tide.
The Doctor begins to answer, then stops as he realizes he doesn't know,
and asks Peri, "Why not?"
He then waves her on and sets off down the tunnel.
The inside is very dark, until they come to a point where there seems to
be a light source (possibly a skylight) lighting the tunnel from above.
The Doctor stops to look at it, at which point Peri asks if he thinks this is
wise. He tells her that if he ever stopped to question the wisdom of his
actions, he would never have left Gallifrey.
Peri says she wishes sometimes that he hadn't. He is a little offended
by this until he sees the smile on her face.
Peri looks ahead down the tunnel and asks the Doctor to look at what she's
seeing, which appears to be two large refrigerator-like pieces of equipment
standing side by side in a chamber ahead.
She begins to walk towards them, when suddenly something grabs her around
the neck. She manages to scream once before her air is choked off by a
very slimy looking green arm that seems to lead up to a large, bulbous,
golden head armed with very long teeth.
The Doctor rushes over and successfully pulls the arm off of Peri, and she
gets out of the way. The arm now reaches for the Doctor and grabs him
around the neck. The Doctor struggles to get it off him, and he does so,
but he is still in its grasp. He pushes and wrestles with it a little.
He pulls up an arm and tries to push the reptilian arm away from him.
In the process, the creature's arm grabs his. He pushes against it, and
in so doing, presses the button on the energy weapon still in his hand.
It fires, and the creature seems to belch in pain. It releases the Doctor
and crumples to the floor.
The Doctor rubs several bruises and his neck and catches his breath,
looking at the creature a little sadly.
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"Another death, Doctor," accuses the Valeyard.
The Doctor insists that the CD phaser discharged accidentally, and he invites
the Court to rerun the struggle to see for themselves.
The Valeyard says there is no need, as there are clearer examples of his
guilt to come.
The Doctor looks a little worriedly across the room at the Valeyard.
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Prosecution Interface Two "Mindwarp"
Continued
Peri and the Doctor look over the dead body of the massive creature that
attacked them.
Peri asks why it attacked them, and the Doctor tells her he doesn't know.
He looks down the tunnel into the chamber Peri saw earlier and wonders
if its something to do with the machines in there. He walks down a short
ramp into the chamber while an alarm klaxon begins to sound. Peri follows.
The Doctor looks around the medium-sized chamber a little, notes the
ankle-deep mist covering the floor, and approaches the free-standing units
in the center. Peri nervously follows, trying to get the Doctor to notice
the klaxons and to get him to start moving out of here as its bound to
attract someone's attention.
The Doctor only half hears her, and is more engrossed in the machinery
they've discovered. He opens the doors on the device on the ramp and
looks inside in admiration at a very sophisticated device that he says
is used for extracting energy from the sea, as he suspected. He adds a
comment to Peri that her planet had the technology to do something of the
same long before its fossil fuels ran out but that they didn't bother.
He tells Peri this is, however, only an auxiliary console and says the
main control must be somewhere else. He looks around as though looking
for a lead to the location of that place, when he and Peri both notice
the klaxon's sudden silence.
"Oh dear," says Peri.
"Yes," adds the Doctor. "Oh dear."
They start up the ramp and back for the tunnel quickly, but stop when a
purple-uniformed man appears and bars their way. Behind him, two men in
clothes resembling Roman arena fighting outfits with the addition of
medieval helmets join him. All three appear to be humans of African
descent. The more obvious "warrior" men are extremely well-muscled.
"Murderers!" accuses the uniformed leader.
Peri blurts out that the thing back there attacked them.
"The Raak was not programmed to attack," returns the officer. "You must
have threatened him." He turns to the men behind him and tells them to
fetch a stretcher. They leave to obey.
The Doctor puts on an air of childish innocence and maintains that all
they did was land here.
The leader asks where their submersible is.
The Doctor answers that its further along the shore, looking to Peri for
confirmation. Peri smiles at the man.
"You are part of Crozier's new group?" asks the officer, an idea seeming to
come to him.
The Doctor improvises some replies to the affirmative.
The officer tells them there will have to be an inquiry about the death of
the creature.
The Doctor promises that he and Peri will help in any way possible.
The leader adopts an air of patriotism, telling them how much the Raak
was proud of its "upgrading," and how happy it was to be in service to
"the Mentors."
The Doctor says he is sure he was, and its a pity that he lost his head
and decided to attack them.
Peri adds her own weight, assuring the officer again that it was an accident.
The guards have returned with the stretcher, and the officer instructs them
to take the Raak to the dissection lab, as there might have been a
regression which will need to be investigated.
He turns to the Doctor and Peri and tells them they will come with them
to Crozier's laboratory, and that once he has verified their identities,
they will be released.
The Doctor nods understanding and tells him he knows how important
security is.
The officer says he is glad the Doctor agrees, and then places his hand
gently on the CD phaser that the Doctor still holds in his hand.
"If you don't mind?" he asks, taking the phaser from the Doctor.
The Doctor consents gladly, telling the officer that you can't be too
careful.
The Doctor leads the way back down the passage, with Peri and the officer
following behind.
A very complex web of machinery and equipment hangs from a white-painted,
domed ceiling. Most of the machinery is a solid black column with
consoles arrayed across its surface. Numerous leads and fiber optic
cables wind their way around the device and down its length to where
it connects with a small number of stretchers on the floor of what is
obviously a medical laboratory of some kind.
Two people are at work in this lab on one patient who appears to be a
captive on the stretcher he occupies. He is strapped down and a large,
silver helmet is fixed to his head.
Both people wear white lab clothing. One is a medium-sized woman in
her mid-thirties of African descent. The other is a blonde man right
around the age of thirty. He carries himself with an air of arrogant
intelligence like someone who got every scholarship he ever asked for
in college and felt it wasn't enough for someone of his brains.
Their prisoner is a very large, (in all dimensions) dark-bearded white
man wearing white and black clothing that seems to have some stature.
The blonde man leans over the face of the "patient" and says, "Let us
pacify the brain of this _barbarian_."
The woman, who appears to be his assistant, operates some controls on the
device hanging from the ceiling. The man does the same on the other
side of the machine.
An electronic whine sounds from the machine and the man's face twists
with pain. His left leg shoots up in the air. The scientists cut
the power, and his leg drops on top of his right one.
A confused-looking short person in floppy clothing watches as the party
of the Doctor, Peri, the officer, and the two guards bringing the dead
Raak on the stretcher pass by.
The officer leads the way, and stops at the end of the passage, telling
everyone they have to wair as Crozier cannot currenly be disturbed.
Peri says this is a pity, and the Doctor tells the officer he can't
wait to see good old Crozier.
This arouses the officer's suspicion. "Old?" he asks. "He is young
for a man of science. Perhaps you should describe Crozier for me."
"Crozier?" asks the Doctor. "Well, young-_ish_. . . "
The Doctor trails off and turns to look at the partially blanketed body
of the Raak. He asks if they should attend to the Raak first.
The officer asks why they should, as the Raak is dead.
The Doctor says he thinks it just winked at Peri.
"Cheek," says Peri.
"No accounting for alien taste," comments the Doctor. He walks around
the end of the wheeled stretcher to better examine the Raak, and tells
the officer again that it might not necessarily be dead. He asks to
examine the Raak, saying he is a doctor.
"Like Crozier?" asks the officer.
"Yes," smiles the Doctor. "Just like _young_ Crozier."
He looks at Peri and calls her "nurse," and asks her to prepare to
apply the "skedaddle" test. He turns briefly to look down the tunnel
which is just behind him.
Peri looks nervous and asks the Doctor is he thinks this is wise.
He tells her to come around the stretcher, as he thinks the alternative
could be much worse.
Peri joins the Doctor at his right. He asks her if she's ready to apply
the test, calling her "sister."
"More than ready, Doctor," answers Peri.
"On the count of three then," says the Doctor. "Onetwothree!" he shouts
and then quickly upends the stretcher, turns, and runs down the tunnel
with Peri in tow.
The guards are caught a little off-guard and have to get over the stretcher
before they can pursue. They draw their own CD phasers and are about
to pursue when the officer tells them to let them go, as there's nothing
down where the Doctor and Peri have gone, nothing that is except for
something called "the Lukoser."
"We'll wait here for a minute," orders the officer, "and then pick up
their bodies."
The Doctor and Peri stop running as Peri's foot bumps into a large, long,
stained-white piece of something on the ground. She bends over and
asks what it is.
The Doctor takes it an examines it and tells her its bone, from an animal
he doesn't recognize that's been snapped off. He spots sharp, jagged
edges on it as well.
Peri asks him if they can get back to the TARDIS. Before he can answer,
they hear a wolf-like howl echo from further down the tunnel.
Peri and the Doctor ask each other what it was, and edge around the
corner ahed of them to enter the tunnel from where the sound came.
On the ground ahead of them is a man whose face they cannot see. He
is huddled up in a ball. As Peri notes as she bends to look at him,
the man is chained.
Suddenly the man leaps up and swings ferocious-looking claws at her and
slobbers over jagged teeth. His face and body seem half-changed into
something other than human. He is covered with fur wherever his once-
white clothes do not cover, and his mouth and nose are unnaturally
jutted out.
Peri screams. The Doctor grabs the creature by the neck and shoulder to
give Peri and then himself time to get away and beyond the reach of the
creature's leash.
Peri asks the Doctor is he's OK, and he says he is now. He looks over the
bone in his hand and tells Peri this explains how the tooth marks came to
be on the bone itself.
Peri asks what the thing is.
"Looks like a man, acts like a wolf," answers the Doctor. "Lycanthropy?"
Peri asks how that could be, doesn't get an answer, and then turns to
examine the creature again. She stays on the edge of his leash range
and tries to calm him down.
"Good boy," she says. She tries again to calm him down.
"Nice dog," she says. She corrects herself.
"Nice man," she says. "Can you help us? We were wondering if. . . "
The creature leaps up suddenly again and Peri backs away. The Doctor
warns her to be careful.
Suddenly the wolfman starts to whimper, and words from in his deformed
mouth. At first they can't be understood, and then it can be clearly
heard to be "Help me."
The Doctor and Peri are surprised and kneel beside the man. Peri tells
the Doctor she thinks the wolfman is crying.
The Doctor begins to reach forward to touch the man when suddenly a
phaser shot rings out. The Doctor looks back the way he came and
throws the bone. The wolfman leaps after the bone, holding off the
guards that fired the shot. Peri and the Doctor run off down a side
tunnel.
The Doctor and Peri stop only a short distance down the new tunnel.
The Doctor notes that the guards aren't following yet. Peri insists that
they do back as the wolfman asked for help. The Doctor shakes his head
and tells her they shouldn't yet.
Peri reviews the situation, asking the Doctor again what's going on,
as they've found a sea monster that was upgraded to operate machinery,
and a wolfman who begged for help.
The Doctor tells her they should find out.
They hear another howl from the wolfman back down the corridor they came.
Peri begins to go after the sound, until the Doctor stops her and tells
her they still can't help him yet, as he has the feeling there are more
important considerations.
They hear another painful-sounding howl, and Peri asks the Doctor who it
is that could keep a creature in such torment.
"Who indeed," muses the Doctor.
He looks behind himself suddenly, alerted by something, and he tells
Peri that there's someone coming. He takes her with him to hide around
a dark corner in the tunnel.
From their hiding place, the Doctor and Peri watch as a long procession
passes by.
First there is a guard who looks very much like the guards they had seen
earlier. Following him is an alien bipedal creature with a red colored
reptillian head and flowing robes. It is followed by two guards who
are carrying between them (one in front, one behind) a short, reptillian
creature with green skin, fins, and a tail instead of legs, but a human
type of face. This bunch is followed by another such creature sitting
on top of a large, bubbling water tank which is being pushed by two
of the guards. Lastly is a third such little green creature, this one
smaller than the other two, and with a gurgling laugh that sounds very
familiar. . .
Once the party is out of sight, the Doctor and Peri look out from their
hiding place. Peri asks, "Did you?"
"I did," answers the Doctor. "Well, that explains the CD phaser sales
to Thordon. Sil'd sell anything from bows and arrows to planet
disintegrators."
Peri asks what Sil is doing here, and the others like him.
"They live here," answers the Doctor, surprised Peri didn't know the
answer already. "Thoros Beta is Sil's home planet. Didn't you know?"
"Only because you didn't tell me, Doctor," accuses Peri angrily.
"Didn't I?" asks the Doctor innocently.
She reminds the Doctor that he knows she would never want to come within
light years of that creep again, as the last time they met he tried to
turn her into a bird woman. The Doctor mentions he can never forget as
it cost him a fortune in bird seed.
Peri stamps her foot and says she wants out, adding "I mean it" to
emphasize the point.
The Doctor ignores her, points down the corridor, and tells her they
mustn't lose track of her old friend Sil.
Peri looks after him and then follows.
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The Valeyard stops the evidence on the screen. The members of the Court
turn to watch him as he asks the Doctor is he relishes danger.
"Not particularly," answers the Doctor.
"Yet you seem to court it so obviously," remarks the Valeyard.
The Doctor reminds the Valeyard that even a nervous Time Lord must appear
to act with confidence at all times.
"At the risk of his companion's life?" asks the Valeyard.
"And his own sometimes," answers the Doctor.
The Valeyard says that already the "unfortunate Peri has survived the
struggle with the Raak. Escaped from the guards. And who, Doctor,
was sent to examine the wolfman?"
The Doctor asks "Wha?"
"Who went into danger first?" demands the Valeyard.
"Well, she just happened to be the nearest!" admits the Doctor.
"Your assistant!" exclaims the Valeyard. "As usual. Sagacity, I have
calculated on a random Matrix sample that the Doctor's companions have
been placed in danger *twice* as often as the Doctor."
"Well there have been many companions," explains the Doctor. "But only
one me!"
The Inquisitor asks the Valeyard what the point he is trying to make is.
"That you remember such information when judgement is considered in taking
the Doctor's life and all future regenerations," answers the Valeyard.
The Inquisitor says that this is noted.
The Doctor gets to his feet and objects as he had been doing earlier,
declaring it the most preposterous travesty of a trial since the so-called
Witches of . . .
The Inquisitor interrupts and warns the Doctor again with a note of
finality in her voice about his behavior. She tells the Valeyard to
proceed.
Two mountain-like peaks of translucent green crystal dominate and
decorate the center of a very dark room. Mounted on the wall are
two screens showing artistic pictures that renew themselves periodically.
On the left side of the crystal sits Sil, happily eating some green
colored slimy bits of something. To the right and consulting a tray
of instruments sits another reptilian-like creature, slightly larger
than Sil and by the sound of his voice, older.
The senior creature asks Sil if he _must_ bring his lunch in here.
Sil's sing-song wrigglesome voice tells his boss that he doesn't wish
to miss one moment of his infinite capacity to generate profit for
Thoros Beta. He calls him "magnificence" as well, and then holds up
his tray of little green things. He asks if the Magnificence would like
a "marsh minnow."
The other creature ignores the question and instead turns to business
at hand. He consults his instruments and tells Sil that this Thordon
world is what they're discussing. He tells Sil that the Krontep
warriors had succeeded in subduing their enemy empire, and as a result
they must negotiate with the Krontep king for the usual contracts,
development loans, and limited scientific advance.
He asks Sil what the position is regarding King Yrcanos.
Sil tells him that he is still being happily persuaded by Crozier to
co-operate.
The scientist and his assistant stand in a corner of the lab and examine
a bare brain with a large magnifying lens. Suddenly their prisoner on
the stretcher starts screaming threatening words one at a time like,
"Blood!" and "Death!" and "Terror!" His last word is almost unpronounceable.
The two cross to the central equipment again and operate controls.
The blonde man orders that the PULD pulse be increased immediately.
The man on the stretcher stops speaking, but resistance is still all over
his face as he struggles against the impulses being sent into his head
by the helmet he wears.
The woman asks why the pulsification is not working, and the man assures
her it will once he adds a few more mills of power. He does so, and
the noise from the machine takes on a higher pitch.
The "patient" cries in agony and then falls unconscious.
The scientist walks around the stretcher and looks into the man's face.
He tells his assistant that "Yrcanos" is a barbarian king who knows only
how to fight. He is therefore fighting their attempts to give him peace
and tranquility.
Yrcanos wakes up suddenly and calls Crozier, "Scum."
"The more stupid the subject, the longer it takes," adds Crozier.
He returns with the woman to the brain they were studying. He calls
her "Matrona," and tells her she was correct when she noticed earlier
that the ganglions had not recovered from the leisons. Matrona asks
him a question about the brain, but before he can answer, they are
interrupted when the very large safe-like door to the chamber across
the room opens with a sound like an air seal being opened.
Crozier is instantly angry to see the purple-uniformed officer and
two guards entering, telling them they are "forbidden," until suddenly
he sees the dead body of the Raak being wheeled in.
Crozier asks the officer what happened and if it was an accident.
"No sir," answers the officer, "Murder."
Crozier looks concerned and begins to examine the dead body of the Raak.
The senior reptile in the "office" chamber reads from his instruments
something to the effect that there will be a lease to the Thordonians
in the event of a major discovery at a royalty rate of forty percent.
He tells Sil this will keep him in marsh minnows for a while.
Sil says this is lovely.
The Doctor and Peri look down a tunnel at the other side of the door to
the lab. The door opens, and they take cover.
The two guards leave the lab carrying the dead Raak on a stretcher.
The Doctor and Peri approach the lab door once the guards are clear,
then turn and hide again as it again opens.
They watch from hiding as Crozier, Matrona, and the officer leave the lab.
The Doctor and Peri finally make it to the door on this trip, and the
Doctor notes that they weren't hanging about.
Peri adds that they didn't look very pleased.
"Perhaps they had some bad news," muses the Doctor. He turns curiously
to the door and pushes it open.
The senior reptile swings his instrument deck on a hinge and leaves it
by the wall on his right. He asks Sil what is next on the agenda.
Sil picks up a small remote control and presses it. The screens above
them switch to show a list of alien text.
Suddenly Sil's senior cries out in pain and grasps his head. "Oh! My
head!"
Sil tells his boss that the pain will soon pass.
The senior reptile tells Sil in no uncertain terms that the pressure
gets worse each time this happens, and that something must be done,
or soon Sil will be called Magnificence.
"Long may that day be postponed, Great Kiv," enthuses Sil.
A door of the same type as the lab's is opened behind them and
Crozier, Matrona, and the officer of the guards enter.
Sil rebukes them immediately, saying they are not allowed in the Sacred
Commerce Room when pact is in progress.
Crozier tells Sil there is trouble concerning his hopes of saving Kiv.
Sil demands that Crozier show some more respect to the Magnificence.
Kiv asks what has happened.
Crozier explains that the Raak is dead, killed by intruders.
The officer adds that they claimed the Raak attacked them.
Sil thinks they should simply manufacture another Raak.
Crozier says that that's not easily done, and nor is it the point of his
concern. Matrona adds that the Raak was not aggressive.
Sil asks what the point is, only he only says, "So?"
Crozier walks closer to Kiv and sits down in front of him to explain
face to face. He tells Kiv that if the Raak did attack unprovoked,
then he might have reverted genetically, and until he can question
the strangers to make sure, he cannot guarantee the success of the
"transference" he hopes to give Kiv.
"You must relieve my suffering!" cries Kiv in pain.
Matrona comes to his side and begins spraying water with over his body,
telling him that they have hopes the radical treatment will succeed this
time.
Sil tells them what's at stake. "So much depends on the life of Lord Kiv!
The making of mega-wealth! The funding for _your_ work!"
Crozier insists he must know that success will be certain.
"You said that last time," accuses Kiv.
Sil asks where these strangers are, and the guard officer tells him that
they've escaped, but that he has every bearer and guard searching after
them.
Kiv tells Crozier that he hopes this isn't an excuse to delay, and adds
that if the experiment on his person is unsuccessful, Crozier will die.
Crozier says he accepts that. He then gets up and leaves, with Matrona
and the officer following.
Kiv tells Sil to take charge. "I'll be as dead as that Raak if I wait
for them to find the intruders." He hurries Sil up. "At once, before
I perish! Then where will you be, eh? Dead! No, worse than that! Poor!"
Sil looks down as though this scares him, and Kiv starts to cry in pain
about his head again.
The Doctor picks up a plastic cylinder containing a preserved alien creature.
Peri looks through the magnifying glass at the bare brain and makes a
disgusted-sounding noise.
Yracnos grunts from his stretcher near them. They both turn and examine
him. Peri says the man's alive, but the Doctor says that isn't necessarily
true. He follows the connections from the King's helmet up to the main
unit hanging from the ceiling and examines the device with interest.
Peri asks what the thing is, and the Doctor begins to tell her that
brain impulses go in one place, and then suddenly realizes the purpose
of the machine, but without telling Peri what that is, he comes to a quick
decision and says, "Well, we can't have that!" He starts pulling wires
and connections out of their sockets as fast as he can, leaving the
cables wherever they fall.
Suddenly the door opens, and two bearers enter, carrying a royal-style
couch between them, seated on which is the giggling form of Sil.
Peri tells the Doctor to look, and he does, stopping his disassembly as
he does so. He smiles, takes Peri by the shoulder, and tells Sil its
really nice to see a familiar face.
Sil recognizes them both, calling Peri the Doctor's "revoltingly ugly
assistant." He adds that age has not improved the Doctor since Varos.
Peri says that coming from Sil, this is a compliment.
Crozier, Matrona, and some other guards all enter the lab as the Doctor
asks Sil what they can do for him.
Sil asks why the Doctor had to kill their most promising experiment.
The Doctor doesn't know what he means, until Crozier tells him they
mean the Raak. The Doctor tells him it attacked them. Crozier says
that he doubts that very much.
"Doctor," trills Sil, "We have the means to instill cooperation, and
the technology to alter how brains think. Would you like to try the
helmet on for size?"
The Doctor begins to leave, saying he wouldn't just now.
Sil waves his hand to the nearest guards, and they seize the Doctor.
He tells the Doctor he insists, adding that their warrior king has
probably completed his advancement cycle, and that the Doctor must
replace him, "so we may coax the truth from your devious brain!"
The guards force the Doctor to a stretcher, while he protests that he
is sufficiently advanced already. He is forced down.
"Silence, or you will be obliterated!" orders Sil.
The guards take the stretcher's straps and use them to fasten the Doctor
down.
"Now," asks Sil, "the Raak didn't attack you, did he Doctor?"
"Yes, it did!" insists the Doctor.
Sil asks Crozier if he can use the helmet to extract the truth of what
happened. Crozier replied that he's never tried, and that it could be
fatal if it were used as a means of interrogation. He doesn't sound very
concerned one way or the other about that, however.
"The Doctor won't mind donating his sanity to the advancement
of science," smiles Sil. "Will you Doctor?" he asks gleefully.
Crozier switches on the power to the helmet now strapped to the Doctor's
curly-locked head. The machine whines, and the Doctor's face contorts
in pain. He writhes violently against the straps.
Sil laughs hysterically . . .
The Doctor
COLIN BAKER
Peri
NICOLA BRYANT
The Valeyard
MICHAEL JAYSTON
The Inquisitor
LYNDA BELLINGHAM
King Yrcanos
BRIAN BLESSED
Sil Kiv
NABIL SHABAN CHRISTOPHER RYAN
Crozier Matrona Kani
PATRICK RYECART ALIBE PARSONS
Frax The Lukoser
TREVOR LAIRD THOMAS BRANCH
Incidental Music Special Sound
RICHARD HARTLEY DICK MILLS
Production Manager Production Associate Production Assistant
KEVAN VAN THOMPSON ANGELA SMITH KAREN JONES
Assistant Floor Manager O.B. Lighting O.B. Sound
ANNA PRICE COLIN WIDGERY MIKE JOHNSTONE
Visual Effects Designer Video Effects Technical Co-ordinator
PETER WRAGG DANNY POPKIN ALAN ARBUTHNOTT
Studio Camera Supervisor Videotape Editor
ALEC WHEAL STEPHEN NEWNHAM
Studio Lighting Studio Sound
DON BABBAGE BRIAN CLARK
Costume Designer Make-Up Designer
JOHN HEARNE DORKA NIERADZIK
Script Editor
ERIC SAWARD
Desinger
ANDREW HOWE-DAVIES
Producer
JOHN NATHAN-TURNER
Director
RON JONES
(C) BBC MCMLXXXVI
First transmitted on 4 October, 1986.
This synopsis by Steven K. Manfred
Synopsis copyright July 18, 1994.
Permission is given to all to copy this synopsis as long as it is not for
reasons of profit.
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