The Fires of Pompeii

[Street]

(The TARDIS has parked herself in a small curtained-off alcove. The Doctor and Donna step out into the sunshine. The streets are lined with vendors of various goods.)

DOCTOR: Ancient Rome. Well, not for them, obviously. To all intents and purposes, right now, this is brand new Rome.
DONNA: Oh, my God. it's, it's so Roman. This is fantastic.
DOCTOR: Ha, ha.
DONNA: I'm here, in Rome. Donna Noble in Rome. This is just weird. I mean, everyone here's dead.
DOCTOR: Well, don't tell them that.
DONNA: Hold on a minute. That sign over there's in English.

(Painted on the side of a barrow is two amphorae for the price of one.)

DONNA: Are you having me on? Are we in Epcot?
DOCTOR: No, no, no, no. That's the TARDIS translation circuits. Just makes it look like English. Speech as well. You're talking Latin right now.
DONNA: Seriously?
DOCTOR: Mmm.
DONNA: I just said seriously in Latin.
DOCTOR: Oh, yeah.
DONNA: What if I said something in actual Latin, like veni, vidi, vici? My dad said that when he came back from football. If I said veni, vidi, vici to that lot, what would it sound like?
DOCTOR: I'm not sure. You have to think of difficult questions, don't you?
DONNA: I'm going to try it.

(Donna goes to a fruit seller.)

STALLHOLDER: Afternoon, sweetheart. What can I get you, my love?
DONNA: Er, veni, vidi, vici.
STALLHOLDER: Huh? Sorry? Me no speak Celtic. No can do, missy.
DONNA: Yeah.

(She walks away.)

DONNA: How's he mean, Celtic?
DOCTOR: Welsh. You sound Welsh. There we are. Learnt something.

(A young woman with a white painted face and wearing a red cloak watches them leave.)

DONNA: Don't our clothes look a bit odd?
DOCTOR: Nah. Ancient Rome, anything goes. It's like Soho, but bigger.
DONNA: You've been here before then?
DOCTOR: Mmm. Ages ago. Before you ask, that fire had nothing to do with me. Well, a little bit. But I haven't got the chance to look around properly. Coliseum, Pantheon, Circus Maximus. You'd expect them to be looming by now. Where is everything? Try this way.

(The young woman follows them through the streets until they come out into a piazza.)

DONNA: Not an expert, but there's seven hills of Rome, aren't there? How come they've only got one?

(One big, bare-headed mountain. Then the ground shakes.)

MAN: Here we go again.

(The vendors hang onto their stalls as pottery falls and breaks.)

DONNA: Wait a minute. One mountain, with smoke. Which makes this
DOCTOR: Pompeii. We're in Pompeii. And it's volcano day.

[Temple]

(The young woman runs inside, and joins a group of other young woman all dressed and painted in the same fashion. She prostrates herself before the altar.)

SOOTHSAYER: I beg audience with the High Priestess of the Sibylline.

(Yes, it is Karen Gillan.)

SPURRINA: The High Priestess cannot be seen. What would you tell her, sister?
SOOTHSAYER: It has come, as foretold in the prophecy. The box. The blue box.

[Street]

(The Doctor and Donna run back to the TARDIS, but -)

DONNA: You're kidding. You're not telling me the TARDIS has gone.
DOCTOR: Okay.
DONNA: Where is it then?
DOCTOR: You told me not to tell you.
DONNA: Oi. Don't get clever in Latin.
DOCTOR: Hold on.

(He goes to the fruit seller.)

DOCTOR: Excuse me. Excuse me. There was a box. Big blue box. Big blue wooden box, just over there. Where's it gone?
STALLHOLDER: Sold it, didn't I?
DOCTOR: But it wasn't yours to sell.
STALLHOLDER: It was on my patch, weren't it? I got fifteen sesterces for it. Lovely jubbly.
DOCTOR: Who'd you sell it to?
STALLHOLDER: Old Caecilius. Look, if you want to argue, why don't you take it out with him? He's on Foss Street. Big villa. Can't miss it.
DOCTOR: Thanks.

(The Doctor leaves and returns.)

DOCTOR: What'd he buy a big blue wooden box for?

[Villa]

(Lucius Caecilius Iucundus is nouveau riche.)

CAECILIUS: Modern art. Out of the way, that's it. Oh, Rombus, I'm a little bit peckish. Get me some ants in honey, there's a good lad. Ooo, maybe a dormouse?

(The elderly slave leaves.)

CAECILIUS: What do you think?

(The lady in the blue robe is not impressed.)

METELLA: You call it modern art, I call it a blooming great waste of space.
CAECILIUS: We're going up in the world, my love. Lucius Dextrus himself is coming to the house this afternoon. What with that and with our Evelina about to be elevated.

(The young lady of the house, Caecilia Evelina, enters.)

EVELINA: Oh, don't go on about it, Dad.
METELLA: If we'd moved to Rome like I said she could've been a Vestal virgin.

(Enter the son and heir, Quintus Caecilius Iucundus.)

QUINTUS: Someone mention Vestal Virgins?
METELLA: Quintus, don't be so rude. You apologise to the Household Gods.
QUINTUS: Get off.
METELLA: Apologise right now. The Gods are always watching.

(There is a ground tremor.)

CAECILIUS: Positions!

(Everyone runs to grab a precious artefact before it falls.)

METELLA: There, now you've made the heavens angry. Just say sorry. I tell you, Caecilius, that boy will do no good.

(Quintus goes to the shrine and sprinkles water on the carved plaque.)

QUINTUS: Sorry, Household Gods.
CAECILIUS: So where were you last night? Down the thelopolium, I bet, cavorting with Etruscans and Christians and all sorts. How's your head, sunshine? How's your head!
QUINTUS: All right, Dad. Give us a break.
METELLA: You want to smarten yourself up, Quintus, before Lucius Dextrus gets here. Look at your sister. She's giving us status.
QUINTUS: Oh yeah, because it's all about Evelina.
METELLA: She has the gift.

(An eye tattooed on the back of her left hand.)

METELLA: Be proud of your sister for once. Have you been consuming?
EVELINA: Not this morning.
METELLA: Come on sweetheart, practise. It's hot today. The hypocaust is on full blast.

(The women sit by a raised grill.)

METELLA: The mountain God must be happy. Breathe deeply. Remember what the sisterhood said.
EVELINA: Oh, it hurts.
METELLA: Oh, my love, is it too hot?
EVELINA: Sometimes in the smoke I see the most terrible things.
METELLA: Like what?
EVELINA: A face. A face of stone.
METELLA: It'll make sense one day. Sister Spurrina promised. The veil will be parted and you'll be a seer.

(Evelina inhales the fumes, and sees a creature of rock with eyes and mouth of fire.)

EVELINA: Who are you?

[Street]

(The Doctor runs into Donna.)

DOCTOR: Ha. I've got it. Foss Street's this way.
DONNA: No. Well, I found this big sort of amphitheatre thing. We can start there. We can gather everyone together. Maybe they've got a great big bell or something we could ring. Have they invented bells yet?
DOCTOR: What do you want a bell for?
DONNA: To warn everyone. Start the evacuation. What time does Vesuvius erupt? When's it due?
DOCTOR: It's 79AD, twenty third of August, which makes volcano day tomorrow.
DONNA: Plenty of time. We could get everyone out easy.
DOCTOR: Yeah, except we're not going to.
DONNA: But that's what you do. You're the Doctor. You save people.
DOCTOR: Not this time. Pompeii is a fixed point in history. What happens, happens. There is no stopping it.
DONNA: Says who?
DOCTOR: Says me.
DONNA: What, and you're in charge?
DOCTOR: TARDIS, Time Lord, yeah.
DONNA: Donna, human, no. I don't need your permission. I'll tell them myself.
DOCTOR: You stand in the market place announcing the end of the world, they'll just think you're a mad old soothsayer. Now, come on. TARDIS. We are getting out of here.
DONNA: Well, I might just have something to say about that, Spaceman.
DOCTOR: Oh, I bet you will.

(After they leave, the Soothsayer steps out and covers her face with her palms, tattooed eyes over her own.)

SOOTHSAYER: The tall one, he calls us mad.

[Temple]

(Spurrina has also covered her eyes.)

SPURRINA: Then he is a stranger to Pompeii. Soon he will learn.
THALINA: We have found it, Sister Spurrina, in the thirteenth book of the Sibylline Oracles. The blue box. A temple made of wood. And yet the Sybil foretold that the box would appear at the time of storms, and fire, and betrayal.
HIGH PRIESTESS [OC]: Sisters.

(They go to a curtained area behind the altar.)

SPURRINA: Reverend Mother, you should sleep.
HIGH PRIESTESS [OC]: The Sibylline Oracles are wrong.
SPURRINA: But we have venerated her words for generations.
HIGH PRIESTESS [OC]: This is a new age. Heed my words. I predict a future of prosperity and might. An endless empire of Pompeii, reaching out from this city to topple Rome itself and encompass the whole, wide world. If the Disciples of the Blue Box defy this prophecy, their blood will run across the temple floor.

(The ground shakes.)

SPURRINA: The gods approve.

[Villa]

CAECILIUS: Positions!

(The Doctor catches the marble bust first.)

DOCTOR: Whoa! There you go.
CAECILIUS: Thank you, kind sir. I'm afraid business is closed for the day. I'm expecting a visitor.
DOCTOR: But that's me, I'm a visitor. Hello.
CAECILIUS: Who are you?
DOCTOR: I am Spartacus.
DONNA: And so am I.
CAECILIUS: Mister and Mrs Spartacus.
DOCTOR: Oh no, no, no. We're not, we're not married.
DONNA: We're not together.
CAECILIUS: Oh, then brother and sister? Yes, of course. You look very much alike.
DOCTOR + DONNA: Really?
CAECILIUS: I'm sorry, but I'm not open for trade.
DOCTOR: And that trade would be?
CAECILIUS: Marble. Lopus Caecilius. Mining, polishing and design thereof. If you want marble, I'm your man.
DOCTOR: That's good. That's good, because I'm the marble inspector.

(The Doctor flashes his psychic paper.)

METELLA: By the gods of commerce, an inspection. I'm sorry, sir. I do apologise for my son.

(Metella pours away Quintus' goblet of wine.)

QUINTUS: Oi.
CAECILIUS: And this is my good wife, Metella. I must confess, we're not prepared for a
DOCTOR: Nothing to worry about. I'm, I'm sure you've nothing to hide. Although, frankly, that object looks rather like wood to me.
METELLA: I told you to get rid of it.
CAECILIUS: I only bought it today.
DOCTOR: Ah, well. Caveat emptor.
CAECILIUS: Oh, you're Celtic. There's lovely.
DOCTOR: I'm sure it's fine, but I might have to take it off your hands for a proper inspection.
DONNA: Although while we're here, wouldn't you recommend a holiday, Spartacus?
DOCTOR: Don't know what you mean, Spartacus.
DONNA: Oh, this lovely family. Mother and father and son. Don't you think they should get out of town?
CAECILIUS: Why should we do that?
DONNA: Well, the volcano, for starters.
CAECILIUS: What?
DONNA: Volcano.
CAECILIUS: What ano?
DONNA: That great big volcano right on your doorstep.
DOCTOR: Oh, Spartacus, for shame. We haven't even greeted the household gods yet.

(He takes her aside to explain.)

DOCTOR: They don't know what it is. Vesuvius is just a mountain to them. The top hasn't blown off yet. The Romans haven't even got a word for volcano. Not until tomorrow.
DONNA: Oh, great, they can learn a new word as they die.
DOCTOR: Donna, stop it.
DONNA: Listen, I don't know what sort of kids you've been flying round with in outer space, but you're not telling me to shut up. That boy, how old is he, sixteen? And tomorrow he burns to death.
DOCTOR: And that's my fault?
DONNA: Right now, yes.
ROMBUS: Announcing Lucius Petrus Dextrus, Chief Augur of the City Government.

(A middle aged man wearing a cloak over the right half of his body enters.)

CAECILIUS: Lucius. My pleasure, as always.
METELLA: Quintus, stand up.
CAECILIUS: A rare and great honour, sir, for you to come to my house.

(Caecilius holds out his hand, but Lucius does not take it.)

LUCIUS: The birds are flying north, and the wind is in the west.
CAECILIUS: Quite. Absolutely. That's good, is it?
LUCIUS: Only the grain of wheat knows where it will grow.
CAECILIUS: There now, Metella. Have you ever heard such wisdom?
METELLA: Never. It's an honour.
CAECILIUS: Pardon me, sir. I have guests. This is Spartacus and, er, Spartacus.
LUCIUS: A name is but a cloud upon a summer wind.
DOCTOR: But the wind is felt most keenly in the dark.
LUCIUS: Ah. But what is the dark, other than an omen of the sun?
DOCTOR: I concede that every sun must set.
LUCIUS: Ha.
DOCTOR: And yet the son of the father must also rise.
LUCIUS: Damn. Very clever, sir. Evidently, a man of learning.
DOCTOR: Oh, yes. But don't mind me. Don't want to disturb the status quo.
CAECILIUS: He's Celtic.
DOCTOR: We'll be off in a minute.
DONNA: I'm not going.
CAECILIUS: It's ready, sir.
DOCTOR: You've got to.
DONNA: Well, I'm not.
CAECILIUS: The moment of revelation. And here it is.

(As the Doctor takes Donna to the TARDIS, he looks back to see a stone tile carved as a circuit board has just been unveiled.)

CAECILIUS: Exactly as you specified. It pleases you, sir?
LUCIUS: As the rain pleases the soil.
DOCTOR: Oh, now that's different. Who designed that, then?
CAECILIUS: My Lord Lucius was very specific.
DOCTOR: Where'd you get the pattern?
LUCIUS: On the rain and mist and wind.
DONNA: But that looks like a circuit.
DOCTOR: Made of stone.
DONNA: Do you mean you just dreamt that thing up?
LUCIUS: That is my job, as City Augur.
DONNA: What's that, then, like the mayor?
DOCTOR: Oh, ha. You must excuse my friend, she's from Barcelona. (sotto) No, but this is an age of superstition. Of official superstition. The Augur is paid by the city to tell the future. The wind will blow from the west? That's the equivalent of ten o'clock news.

(Evelina enters the room, swaying and pale.)

EVELINA: They're laughing at us. Those two, they use words like tricksters. They're mocking us.
DOCTOR: No, no, I'm not. I meant no offence.
METELLA: I'm sorry. My daughter's been consuming the vapours.
QUINTUS: Oh for gods, Mother. What have you been doing to her?
CAECILIUS: Not now, Quintus.
QUINTUS: Yeah, but she's sick. Just look at her.
LUCIUS: I gather I have a rival in this household. Another with the gift.
METELLA: Oh, she's been promised to the Sibylline Sisterhood. They say she has remarkable visions.
LUCIUS: The prophecies of women are limited and dull. Only the menfolk have the capacity for true perception.
DONNA: I'll tell you where the wind's blowing right now, mate.

(A small tremor.)

LUCIUS: The Mountain God marks your words. I'd be careful, if I were you.
DOCTOR: Consuming the vapours, you say?
EVELINA: They give me strength.
DOCTOR: It doesn't look like it to me.
EVELINA: Is that your opinion as a doctor?
DOCTOR: I beg your pardon?
EVELINA: Doctor. That's your name.
DOCTOR: How did you know that?
EVELINA: And you. You call yourself Noble.
METELLA: Now then, Evelina. Don't be rude.
DOCTOR: No, no, no, no. Let her talk.
EVELINA: You both come from so far away.
LUCIUS: The female soothsayer is inclined to invent all sorts of vagaries.
DOCTOR: Oh, not this time, Lucius. No, I reckon you've been out-soothsayed.
LUCIUS: Is that so, man from Gallifrey?
DOCTOR: What?
LUCIUS: The strangest of images. Your home is lost in fire, is it not?
DONNA: Doctor, what are they doing?
LUCIUS: And you, daughter of London.
DONNA: How does he know that?
LUCIUS: This is the gift of Pompeii. Every single oracle tells the truth.
DONNA: That's impossible.
LUCIUS: Doctor, she is returning.
DOCTOR: Who is? Who's she?
LUCIUS: And you, daughter of London. There is something on your back.
DONNA: What's that mean?
EVELINA: Even the word Doctor is false. Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself. You are a Lord, sir. A Lord of Time.

(Evelina faints.)

METELLA: Evelina!

[Evelina's room]

(A cool, shady place.)

METELLA: She didn't mean to be rude. She's ever such a good girl. But when the gods speak through her.
DONNA: What's wrong with her arm?
METELLA: An irritation of the skin. She never complains, bless her. We bathe it in olive oil every night.
DONNA: What is it?
METELLA: Evelina said you'd come from far away. Please, have you ever seen anything like it?

(Donna strokes the dark rash on Evelina's forearm.)

DONNA: It's stone.

[Villa]

(The Doctor removes the hypocaust grill.)

DOCTOR: Different sort of hypocaust?
CAECILIUS: Oh, yes. We're very advanced in Pompeii. In Rome, they're still using the old wood-burning furnaces, but we've got hot springs, leading from Vesuvius itself.
DOCTOR: Who thought of that?
CAECILIUS: The soothsayers, after the great earthquake, seventeen years ago. An awful lot of damage. But we rebuilt.
DOCTOR: Didn't you think of moving away? Oh no, then again, San Francisco.
CAECILIUS: That's a new restaurant in Naples, isn't it?
DOCTOR: What's that noise?
CAECILIUS: Don't know. Happens all the time. They say the gods of the Underworld are stirring.
DOCTOR: But after the earthquake, let me guess. Is that when the soothsayers started making sense?
CAECILIUS: Oh, yes, very much so. I mean, they'd always been, shall we say, imprecise? But then the soothsayers, the augurs, the haruspex, all of them, they saw the truth again and again. It's quite amazing. They can predict crops and rainfall with absolute precision.
DOCTOR: Haven't they said anything about tomorrow?
CAECILIUS: No. Why, should they? Why do you ask?
DOCTOR: No, no. No reason. I'm just asking. But the soothsayers, they all consume the vapours, yeah?
CAECILIUS: That's how they see.
DOCTOR: Ipso facto.
CAECILIUS: Look you.
DOCTOR: They're all consuming this.
CAECILIUS: Dust.
DOCTOR: Tiny particles of rock. They're breathing in Vesuvius.

(The Doctor goes to where Quintus is reclining on a couch, drinking.)

DOCTOR: Quintus, me old son. This Lucius Petrus Dextrus. Where does he live?
QUINTUS: It's nothing to do with me.
DOCTOR: Let me try again. This Lucius Petrus Dextrus.

(The Doctor produces a coin from behind Quintus' ear.)

DOCTOR: Where does he live?

[Street]

(Night has fallen. Quintus holds a burning torch as he leads the Doctor through Pompeii.)

QUINTUS: Don't tell my Dad.

(The Doctor jumps up to a window and opens the shutters.)

DOCTOR: Only if you don't tell mine. (He goes inside then leans out.)
DOCTOR: Pass me that torch.

[Lucius' villa]

(The hypocaust is glowing red with heat. Quintus enters as the Doctor looks around, then takes down a curtain to reveal a wall of different design marble tiles.)

QUINTUS: The liar. He told my father it was the only one.
DOCTOR: Well, plenty of marble merchants in this town. Tell them all the same thing, get all the components from different places, so no one can see what you're building.
QUINTUS: Which is what?
LUCIUS: The future, Doctor. We are building the future, as dictated by the gods.

[Evelina's room]

(Evelina has recovered, and is laughing as Donna puts on a purple robe and shawl.)

DONNA: You're not supposed to laugh. Thanks for that. What do you think? The Goddess Venus.
EVELINA: Oh, that's sacrilege.
DONNA: Nice to see you laugh, though. What do you do in old Pompeii, then, girls your age? You got mates? Do you go hanging about round the shops? TK Maximus?
EVELINA: I am promised to the Sisterhood for the rest of my life.
DONNA: Do you get any choice in that?
EVELINA: It's not my decision. The Sisters chose for me. I have the gift of sight.
DONNA: Then what can you see happening tomorrow?
EVELINA: Is tomorrow special?
DONNA: You tell me. What do you see?
EVELINA: The sun will rise, the sun will set. Nothing special at all.
DONNA: Look, don't tell the Doctor I said anything because he'll kill me, but I've got a prophecy too.

(Evelina covers her eyes.)

[Temple]

DONNA [OC]: Evelina, I'm sorry, but you've got to hear me out.
SPURRINA: Sisters.
DONNA [OC]: Evelina, can you hear me? Listen.

[Evelina's room]

EVELINA: There is only one prophecy.
DONNA: But everything I'm about to say to you is true, I swear. Just listen to me. Tomorrow, that mountain is going to explode. Evelina, please listen. The air is going to fill with ash and rocks, tons and tons of it, and this whole town is going to get buried.
EVELINA: That's not true.
DONNA: I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, but everyone's going to die.

[Temple]

SPURRINA: A new prophecy.
THALINA: Impossible. There is only one.

[Evelina's room]

DONNA: Even if you don't believe me, just tell your family to get out of town. Just for one day. Just for tomorrow. But you've got to get out. You've got to leave Pompeii.
EVELINA: This is false prophecy.

[Temple]

SPURRINA: The noble woman. She spoke of a new prophecy. The fall of Pompeii.
HIGH PRIESTESS [OC]: Pompeii will last forever.
SPURRINA: Then what must we do?
HIGH PRIESTESS [OC]: The false prophet must die. Sacrifice her.

[Lucius' villa]

(The Doctor is rearranging the circuit boards.)

DOCTOR: Put this one there. This one there. Er, keep that one upside down, and what you got?
LUCIUS: Enlighten me.
DOCTOR: What, the soothsayer doesn't know?
LUCIUS: The seed may float on the breeze in any direction.
DOCTOR: Yeah, I knew you were going to say that. But it's an energy converter.
LUCIUS: An energy converter of what?
DOCTOR: I don't know. Isn't that brilliant? I love not knowing. Keeps me on my toes. It must be awful being a prophet, waking up every morning, is it raining? Yes, it is, I said so. Takes all the fun out of life. But who designed this, Lucius, hmm? Who gave you these instructions?
LUCIUS: I think you've babbled enough.
DOCTOR: Lucius, really, tell me. Honestly, I'm on your side. I can help.
LUCIUS: You insult the gods. There can be only one sentence. At arms.

(The guards draw their short swords.)

DOCTOR: Oh, morituri te salutant.
LUCIUS: Celtic prayers won't help you now.
QUINTUS: But it was him, sir. He made me do it. Mister Dextrus, please don't.
DOCTOR: Come on now, Quintus, dignity in death. I respect your victory, Lucius. Shake on it? Come on. Dying man's wish?

(The Doctor grabs at Lucius' right arm beneath the clock and pulls. There is a breaking sound.)

LUCIUS: Argh.

(The Doctor is holding a stone hand and forearm. Petrus Dextrus, Stone Right.)

QUINTUS: But he's
DOCTOR: Show me.

(Lucius throws back the cloak. His entire right side has calcified.)

LUCIUS: The work of the gods.
QUINTUS: He's stone.
DOCTOR: Armless enough, though. Whoops.

(The Doctor throws the arm back to Lucius.)

DOCTOR: Quintus!

(Quintus throws the torch at a guard as the Doctor sonics the circuit boards, then they make their escape through the window.)

LUCIUS: The carvings.

[Street]

DOCTOR: Run!

[Lucius' villa]

LUCIUS: My carvings! The work is unbroken. Oh, Lord of the Mountain, I beseech you. This man would prevent the rise of Pompeii. Lord, I beg of you, show yourself. Show yourself.

(He sees the same stone and flame creature as Evelina did earlier.)

[Street]

DOCTOR: No sign of them. Nice little bit of allons-y. I think we're all right.
QUINTUS: But his arm, Doctor. Is that what's happening to Evelina?

(Rumble. A dog starts barking.)

DOCTOR: What was that?

(Rumble.)

QUINTUS: The mountain?

(The rumbles are rhythmical.)

DOCTOR: No, it's closer.

(Things start falling over as the ground shakes.)

DOCTOR: Footsteps.
QUINTUS: It can't be.
DOCTOR: Footsteps underground.
QUINTUS: What is it? What is it?

(They run again. The grills blow of hypocaust vents as they pass.)

[Villa]

METELLA: What is it? What's that noise?
CAECILIUS: Doesn't sound like Vesuvius.
DOCTOR: Caecilius? All of you, get out.
DONNA: Doctor, what is it?
DOCTOR: I think we're being followed.

(The hypocaust grill flies off.)

DOCTOR: Just get out!

(Instead, they stand and stare as the floor around the hypocaust cracks, and the stone and fire creature appears. As it stands, it nearly touches the ceiling.)

EVELINA: The gods are with us.
DOCTOR: Water. We need water. Quintus. All of you, get water. Donna!
ROMBUS: Blessed are we to see the gods.

(His god breathes on him, burning him to ash instantly.)

DOCTOR: Talk to me. That's all I want. Talk to me. Just tell me you are. Don't hurt these people.

(Donna is returning with a bucket of water when the Sisterhood grab her. Evelina sees them.)

DOCTOR: Talk to me. I'm the Doctor. Just tell me who you are.

(Quintus and a slave return with buckets, scoop water from the fish pond and throw it on the creature. Its fire goes out, it solidifies then cracks and crumbles to the floor.)

CAECILIUS: What was it?
DOCTOR: Carapace of stone, held together by internal magma. Not too difficult to stop, but I reckon that's just the foot soldier.
METELLA: Doctor, or whatever your name is, you bring bad luck on this house.
DOCTOR: I thought your son was brilliant. Aren't you going to thank him? (sotto) Still, if there are aliens at work in Pompeii, it's a good thing we stayed. Donna? Donna? Donna!

[Temple]

DONNA: You have got to be kidding me.

(Donna is tied to the altar, and Spurrina is standing over her with a knife.)

SPURRINA: The false prophet will surrender both her blood and her breath.
DONNA: I'll surrender you in a minute. Don't you dare.
SPURRINA: You will be silent.
DONNA: Listen, sister, you might have eyes on the back of your hands, but you'll have eyes in the back of your head by the time I've finished with you. Let me go!
SPURRINA: This prattling voice will cease forever.

(Promises, promises. Spurrina raises the blade.)

DOCTOR: Oh, that'll be the day.
SPURRINA: No man is allowed to enter the Temple of Sibyl.
DOCTOR: Well, that's all right. Just us girls. Do you know, I met the Sibyl once. Yeah, hell of a woman. Blimey, she could dance the Tarantella. Nice teeth. Truth be told, I think she had a bit of a thing for me. I said it would never last. She said, I know. Well, she would. You all right there?
DONNA: Oh, never better.
DOCTOR: I like the toga.
DONNA: Thank you. And the ropes?
DOCTOR: Yeah, not so much.

(He uses the sonic screwdriver to cut them and free Donna.)

SPURRINA: What magic is this?
DOCTOR: Let me tell you about the Sibyl, the founder of this religion. She would be ashamed of you. All her wisdom and insight turned sour. Is that how you spread the word, hey? On the blade of a knife?
SPURRINA: Yes, a knife that now welcomes you.
HIGH PRIESTESS [OC]: Show me this man.
SPURRINA: High Priestess, the stranger would defile us.
HIGH PRIESTESS [OC]: Let me see. This one is different. He carries starlight in his wake.
DOCTOR: Oh, very perceptive. Where do these words of wisdom come from?
HIGH PRIESTESS [OC]: The gods whisper to me.
DOCTOR: They've done far more than that. Might I beg audience? Look upon the High Priestess?

(Two Sisters draw the veil aside to reveal that the High Priestess is living stone.)

DONNA: Oh, my God. What's happened to you?
HIGH PRIESTESS: The heavens have blessed me.
DOCTOR: If I might?

(She holds out her hand for him to touch.)

DOCTOR: Does it hurt?
HIGH PRIESTESS: It is necessary.
DOCTOR: Who told you that?
HIGH PRIESTESS: The voices.
DONNA: Is that what's going to happen to Evelina? Is this what's going to happen to all of you?

(Spurrina shows Donna her stone forearm.)

SPURRINA: The blessings are manifold.
DONNA: They're stone.
DOCTOR: Exactly. The people of Pompeii are turning to stone before the volcano erupts. But why?
HIGH PRIESTESS: This word, this image in your mind. This volcano. What is that?
DOCTOR: More to the point, why don't you know about it? Who are you?
HIGH PRIESTESS: High Priestess of the Sibylline.
DOCTOR: No, no, no, no. I'm talking to the creature inside you. The thing that's seeding itself into a human body, in the dust, in the lungs, taking over the flesh and turning it into, what?
HIGH PRIESTESS: Your knowledge is impossible.
DOCTOR: Oh, but you can read my mind. You know it's not. I demand you tell me who you are.

(The High Priestess speaks with two voices, her own and one deeper, which takes over.)

HIGH PRIESTESS: We are awakening.
SPURRINA: The voice of the gods.
SISTERS: Words of wisdom, words of power. Words of wisdom, words of power. Words of wisdom
DOCTOR: Name yourself. Planet of origin. Galactic coordinates. Species designation according to the universal ratification of the Shadow Proclamation.
HIGH PRIESTESS: We are rising.
DOCTOR: Tell me your name!
HIGH PRIESTESS: Pyrovile.
SISTERS: Pyrovile. Pyrovile. Pyrovile.
DONNA: What's a Pyrovile?
DOCTOR: Well, that's a Pyrovile, growing inside her. She's a halfway stage.
DONNA: What, and that turns into?
DOCTOR: That thing in the villa. That was an adult Pyrovile.
HIGH PRIESTESS: And the breath of a Pyrovile will incinerate you, Doctor.

(The Doctor produces a yellow plastic water pistol.)

DOCTOR: I warn you, I'm armed. Donna, get that grill open.
DONNA: What for?
DOCTOR: Just. What are the Pyrovile doing here?
HIGH PRIESTESS: We fell from the heavens. We fell so far and so fast, we were rendered into dust.
DOCTOR: Right, creatures of stone shattered on impact. When was that, seventeen years ago?
HIGH PRIESTESS: We have slept beneath for thousands of years.
DOCTOR: Okay, so seventeen years ago woke you up, and now you're using human bodies to reconstitute yourselves. But why the psychic powers?
HIGH PRIESTESS: We opened their minds and found such gifts.
DOCTOR: Okay, that's fine. So you force yourself inside a human brain, use the latent psychic talent to bond. I get that, I get that, yeah. But seeing the future? That is way beyond psychic. You can see through time. Where does the gift of prophecy come from?
DONNA: Got it.
DOCTOR: Now get down.
DONNA: What, down there?
DOCTOR: Yes, down there. Why can't this lot predict a volcano? Why is it being hidden?
SPURRINA: Sisters, I see into his mind. The weapon is harmless.
DOCTOR: Yeah, but it's got to sting.

(He squirts the water at the High Priestess. Yes, it does hurt her.)

DOCTOR: Get down there!

[Hypocaust]

(Donna and the Doctor go down into the Hypocaust while the Sisters help their Priestess.)

DONNA: You fought her off with a water pistol. I bloody love you.
DOCTOR: This way.
DONNA: Where are we going now?
DOCTOR: Into the volcano.
DONNA: No way.
DOCTOR: Yes, way. Appian way.

[Temple]

HIGH PRIESTESS: The stranger would threaten our great endeavour. The time has come. The prophecy must advance.

[Lucius' villa]

LUCIUS: The prophecy must advance. Thy will be done. Summon the Cult of Vulcan.
SLAVE: Yes, sir.
LUCIUS: We must go to the mountain. Vesuvius awaits.

[Villa]

(Caecilius blows out the candles as the sky brightens.)

CAECILIUS: Sunrise, my love. A new day. Even the longest night must end.
QUINTUS: The mountain's worse than ever.
METELLA: We killed a messenger of the gods in our own house. Sweetheart, can you see? Tell us. What's going to happen?
QUINTUS: Just leave her alone.
EVELINA: I can see.
METELLA: What is it?
EVELINA: A choice. Someone must make a choice. The most terrible choice.

[Hypocaust]

DONNA: But if it's aliens setting off the volcano, doesn't that make it all right for you to stop it?
DOCTOR: Still part of history.
DONNA: But I'm history to you. You saved me in 2008. You saved us all. Why is that different?
DOCTOR: Some things are fixed, some things are in flux. Pompeii is fixed.
DONNA: How do you know which is which?
DOCTOR: Because that's how I see the universe. Every waking second, I can see what is, what was, what could be, what must not. That's the burden of a Time Lord, Donna. And I'm the only one left.
DONNA: How many people died?
DOCTOR: Stop it.
DONNA: Doctor, how many people died?
DOCTOR: Twenty thousand.
DONNA: Is that what you can see, Doctor? All twenty thousand? And you think that's all right, do you?

(Something roars.)

DOCTOR: They know we're here. Come on.

[Mountainside]

(Lucius leads a group of black-cloaked men, who are carrying the circuit boards, to a cave opening.)

LUCIUS: O mighty Vesuvius, accept these offerings, in Vulcan's design, and show unto us, I beseech you, the gods of the Underworld.

(A giant Pyrovile comes out.)

[Cavern]

(The Doctor and Donna arrive at a large space populated by Pyroviles.)

DOCTOR: It's the heart of Vesuvius. We're right inside the mountain.
DONNA: There's tons of them.
DOCTOR: What's that thing?

(He uses a monocular to look at some distant construct.)

DONNA: Oh, you better hurry up and think of something. Rocky fall's on its way.
DOCTOR: That's how they arrived. Or what's left of it. Escape pod? Prison ship? Gene bank?
DONNA: But why do they need a volcano? Maybe it erupts, and they launch themselves back into space or something?
DOCTOR: Oh, it's worse than that.
DONNA: How could it be worse? Doctor, it's getting closer.

(Lucius is on a ridge at the other side of the cavern.)

LUCIUS: Heathens defile us. They would desecrate your temple, my lord gods.
DOCTOR: Come on.
DONNA: We can't go in.
DOCTOR: Well, we can't go back.
LUCIUS: Crush them. Burn them.

(A Pyrovile rears up in front of them, so the Doctor extinguishes it with his water pistol. They run to the escape pod.)

LUCIUS: There is nowhere to run, Doctor, and daughter of London.
DOCTOR: Now then, Lucius. My lords Pyrovillian, don't get yourselves in a lather. In a lava? No? No. But if I might beg the wisdom of the gods before we perish. Once this new race of creatures is complete, then what?
LUCIUS: My masters will follow the example of Rome itself. An almighty empire, bestriding the whole of civilisation.
DONNA: But if you've crashed, and you've got all this technology, why don't you just go home?
LUCIUS: The Heaven of Pyrovillia is gone.
DOCTOR: What do you mean, gone? Where's it gone?
LUCIUS: It was taken. Pyrovillia is lost. But there is heat enough in this world for a new species to rise.
DOCTOR: Yeah, I should warn you, it's seventy percent water out there.
LUCIUS: Water can boil. And everything will burn, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Then the whole planet is at stake. Thank you. That's all I needed to know. Donna.

(The Doctor go into the escape pod, which contains the circuit boards. The Doctor closes the doors with his screwdriver.)

LUCIUS: You have them, my lords.

[Escape pod]

DONNA: Could we be any more trapped?

(The Pyroviles breathe fire at the escape pod.)

DONNA: Little bit hot.
DOCTOR: See? The energy converter takes the lava, uses the power to create a fusion matrix, which welds Pyrovile to human. Now it's complete, they can convert millions.
DONNA: But can't you change it with these controls?
DOCTOR: Of course I can, but don't you see? That's why the soothsayers can't see the volcano. There is no volcano. Vesuvius is never going to erupt. The Pyrovile are stealing all its power. They're going to use it to take over the world.
DONNA: But you can change it back?
DOCTOR: I can invert the system, set off the volcano, and blow them up, yes. But, that's the choice, Donna. It's Pompeii or the world.
DONNA: Oh, my God.
DOCTOR: If Pompeii is destroyed then it's not just history, it's me. I make it happen.
DONNA: Doctor, the Pyrovile are made of rocks. Maybe they can't be blown up.
DOCTOR: Vesuvius explodes with the force of twenty four nuclear bombs. Nothing can survive it. Certainly not us.
DONNA: Never mind us.
DOCTOR: Push this lever and it's over. Twenty thousand people.

(The Doctor has his hands on the stone lever. Donna puts her hands over his, they look at each other, then push. Everyone connected to the Pyroviles stiffens.)

[Cavern]

LUCIUS: No! No!

[Temple]

HIGH PRIESTESS: No!
SPURRINA: A new prophecy.

[Villa]

EVELINA: The future is changing. (Vesuvius erupts with its pyroclastic flow. The bright red stone escape pod zooms out of the caldera to the sound of Donna's scream.)
CAECILIUS: The sky is falling.
EVELINA: Death. Only death.

[Mountainside]

(The pod has landed. The Doctor and Donna get out.)

DOCTOR: It was an escape pod.

(They run as the avalanche of ash rolls down the mountain towards them. The eruption blocks out the sunlight.)

[Villa]

CAECILIUS: Out! Out! Everybody out! Quickly.

[Temple]

(The Doctor and Donna run through the chaotic streets of Pompeii.)

SPURRINA: You lied to us. And yet this was meant to be.

[Pompeii]

(The ash is falling on the town.)

DONNA: Don't. Don't go to the beach. Don't go to the beach, go to the hills. Listen to me. Don't go to the beach, it's not safe. Listen to me.

(A little boy is crying.)

DONNA: Come here.
WOMAN: Give him to me.

(The woman picks up the boy and runs off.)

DOCTOR: Come on.

[Villa]

(Caecilius and his family are cowering in a corner.)

CAECILIUS: Gods save us, Doctor.

(The Doctor goes to the TARDIS.)

DONNA: No! Doctor, you can't. Doctor!

(The TARDIS engines start up and she runs inside.)

[TARDIS]

DONNA: You can't just leave them!
DOCTOR: Don't you think I've done enough? History's back in place and everyone dies.
DONNA: You've got to go back. Doctor, I am telling you, take this thing back. It's not fair.
DOCTOR: No, it's not.
DONNA: But your own planet. It burned.
DOCTOR: That's just it. Don't you see, Donna? Can't you understand? If I could go back and save them, then I would. But I can't. I can never go back. I can't. I just can't, I can't.
DONNA: Just someone. Please. Not the whole town. Just save someone.

[Villa]

(The TARDIS rematerialises.)

DOCTOR: Come with me.

[Hillside]

(The six watch as Pompeii is filled with volcanic ash)

DOCTOR: It's never forgotten, Caecilius. Oh, time will pass, men'll move on, and stories will fade. But one day, Pompeii will be found again. In thousands of years. And everyone will remember you.
DONNA: What about you, Evelina? Can you see anything?
EVELINA: The visions have gone.
DOCTOR: The explosion was so powerful it cracked open a rift in time, just for a second. That's what gave you the gift of prophecy. It echoed back into the Pyrovillian alternative. But not any more. You're free.
METELLA: But tell me. Who are you, Doctor? With your words, and your temple containing such size within?
DOCTOR: Oh, I was never here. Don't tell anyone.
CAECILIUS: The great god Vulcan must be enraged. It's so volcanic. It's like some sort of volcano. All those people.

(The Doctor and Donna slip back into the TARDIS.)

[TARDIS]

DONNA: Thank you.
DOCTOR: Yeah. You were right. Sometimes I need someone. Welcome aboard.
DONNA: Yeah.

[Rome]

(Six months later. Caecilius is back in business and living in another top-class villa.)

CAECILIUS: Metella, my love, have you seen that clasp? The beetle one. The Egyptians do love a scarab.
METELLA: Here we are. I was giving it a polish. Now calm down.
CAECILIUS: If I get that contract for the marble granaries of Alexandria, we'll be rich. You'll see. Hold on there, Evelina. You are not going out wearing that.

(Her gown barely reached down to her knees.)

EVELINA: Don't start, Dad. It's what all the girls in Rome are wearing. See you later.
CAECILIUS: Are you seeing that boy again?
METELLA: Oh, look at Quintus. My son, the doctor.
QUINTUS: Mum, I've told you. I'm not a doctor. Not yet. I'm just a student of the physical sciences.
METELLA: Well, that's a doctor to me. Give thanks to the household gods before you go, there's a good boy. Come here, let me fix it. You've got that folded all wrong.

(Quintus kneels before the shrine.)

QUINTUS: Thank you, household gods. Thank you for everything.

(The little altar has a new carving - the Doctor, the TARDIS, and Donna.)

Transcript originally provided by Chrissie. Adapted by TARDIS.guide. The transcripts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. All other copyrights property of their respective holders.

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