The Long Game

[Observation deck]

(A traffic report is on a public viewscreen.)

WOMAN [OC]: Solar flare activity has increased across space lanes five, five, six and all commercial flights are advised to avoid

(The TARDIS materialises, and the Doctor and Rose step out.)

DOCTOR: So, it's two hundred thousand, and it's a spaceship. No, wait a minute, space station, and er, go and try that gate over there. Off you go.
ROSE: Two hundred thousand?
DOCTOR: Two hundred thousand.
ROSE: Right.

(Rose opens the TARDIS door.)

ROSE: Adam? Out you come.

(Adam comes out, and his jaw drops.)

ADAM: Oh, my God.
ROSE: Don't worry, you'll get used to it.
ADAM: Where are we?
ROSE: Good question. Let's see. So, er, judging by the architecture, I'd say we're around the year two hundred thousand. If you listen
ADAM: Yeah.
ROSE: Engines. We're on some sort of space station. Yeah, definitely a space station. It's a bit warm in here. They could turn the heating down. Tell you what - let's try that gate. Come on!

(Rose leads the men through the metal gate to a massive viewing window.)

ROSE: Here we go! And this is. I'll let the Doctor describe it.
DOCTOR: The Fourth great and bountiful Human Empire. And there it is, planet Earth at it's height. Covered with mega-cities, five moons, population ninety six billion. The hub of a galactic domain stretching across a million planets, a million species, with mankind right in the middle.

(Adam faints.)

DOCTOR: He's your boyfriend.
ROSE: Not anymore.

[Floor 139]

(The space station has a central hub with three wheels turning.)

DOCTOR: Come on, Adam. Open your mind. You're going to like this. Fantastic period of history. The human race at its most intelligent. Culture, art, politics. This era has got fine food, good manners.
MAN: Out of the way!

(Suddenly there are a lot of people bustling around, opening up food vending stations and serving customers at their counters.)

CHEF: Thank you very much indeed. Somebody there? That's great. What do you want, love? All right, keep moving. I'll be with you lot in a minute. Here you are. One at a time. What now, what was it? Kronkburger with cheese, kronkburger with pajatos. Do you want a drink? Oi, you, mate. Stop pushing. Get back. I said, back.
ROSE: Fine cuisine?
DOCTOR: My watch must be wrong. No, it's fine. It's weird.
ROSE: That's what comes of showing off. Your history's not as good as you thought it was.
DOCTOR: My history's perfect.
ROSE: Well, obviously not.
ADAM: They're all human. What about the millions of planets, the millions of species? Where are they?
DOCTOR: Good question. Actually, that is a good question. Adam, me old mate, you must be starving.
ADAM: No, I'm just a bit time sick.
DOCTOR: No, you just need a bit of grub. Oi, mate - how much is a kronkburger?
CHEF: Two credits twenty, sweetheart. Now join the queue.
DOCTOR: Money. We need money. Let's use a cashpoint.
TANNOY: Attention all staff. All coverage of the Glasgow water riots being transferred five through nine.

(The Doctor goes to a Credit Five cashpoint and does something clever with his sonic screwdriver. It produces a plastic card which the Doctor hands to Adam.)

DOCTOR: There you go, pocket money. Don't spend it all on sweets.
ADAM: How does it work?
DOCTOR: Go and find out. Stop nagging me. The thing is, Adam, time travel's like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guide book, you've got to throw yourself in. Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers. Or is that just me? Stop asking questions, go and do it. Off you go, then. Your first date.
ROSE: You're going to get a smack, you are.

(Rose and Adam leave the Doctor, who approaches a pair of smartly dressed young women.)

DOCTOR: Er, this is going to sound daft, but can you tell me where I am?
CATHICA: Floor One Three Nine. Could they write it any bigger?
DOCTOR: Floor one three nine of what?
CATHICA: Must've been a hell of a party.
SUKI: You're on Satellite Five.
DOCTOR: What's Satellite Five.
CATHICA: Come on, how could you get on board without knowing where you are?
DOCTOR: Look at me. I'm stupid.
SUKI: Hold on, wait a minute. Are you a test? Some sort of management test kind of thing?
DOCTOR: You've got me. Well done. You're too clever for me.

(The Doctor holds up his psychic paper ID card.)

SUKI: We were warned about this in basic training. All workers have to be versed in company promotion.
CATHICA: Right, fire away, ask your questions. If it gets me to Floor five hundred I'll do anything.
DOCTOR: Why, what happens on Floor five hundred?
CATHICA: The walls are made of gold. And you should know, Mister Management. So, this is what we do.

(She goes over to a wall monitor.)

CATHICA: Latest news, sandstorms on the new Venus archipelago. Two hundred dead. Glasgow water riots into their third day. Space lane seventy seven closed by sunspot activity. And over on the Bad Wolf channel, the Face of Bo has just announced he's pregnant.
DOCTOR: I get it. You broadcast the news.
CATHICA: We are the news. We're the journalists. We write it, package it and sell it. Six hundred channels

[Floor 500]

CATHICA [on monitor]: All coming out of Satellite Five, broadcasting everywhere.

(A pale-skinned man with white hair and goatee watches from a very cold location. There is frost on the walls.)

EDITOR: Something is wrong. Something fictional. Those people.
CATHICA: Nothing happens in the whole human empire without it going though us.

(The Editor instructs a very still, frost encrusted console operator.)

EDITOR: Security check. Go deep.

[Floor 139]

TANNOY: All staff are reminded that the canteen area now operates a self cleaning table system. Thank you!
ROSE: Try this. It's called Zaphic. It's nice, it's like a, er, Slush Puppy.
ADAM: What flavour?

(Rose takes a suck at the straw.)

ROSE: Sort of beef?
ADAM: Oh, my God. It's like everything's gone, home, family, everything.

(Rose takes out her mobile phone.)

ROSE: This helps. The Doctor gave it a bit of a top-up. Who's back home, your mum and dad?
ADAM: Yeah.
ROSE: Phone them up.
ADAM: But that's one hundred and ninety eight thousand years ago.
ROSE: Honestly, try it. Go on.
ADAM: Is there a code for planet Earth?
ROSE: Just dial.

(The phone rings in a house with a For Sale sign outside.)

MACHINE: I'm sorry we're not in. Please leave a message. Thanks. Bye
ADAM: It's er. Hi. It's me.

[Adam's home]

(A little dog runs in.)

ADAM: I've sort of gone travelling. I met these people and we've gone travelling together.

[Floor 139]

ADAM: But, er, I'm fine, and I'll call you later. Love you. Bye. That is so

(An alarm sounds. Everyone grabs their things and starts to leave. The vendors close up shop.)

DOCTOR: Oi! Mutt and Jeff! Over here!

(Adam keeps Rose's phone.)

[Floor 500]

COMPUTER: Security check cleared.
EDITOR: No, something's wrong. I can taste it. A tiny little shift in the information. Someone down there shouldn't be here. Double check. Triple check. Follow them.

[Newsroom]

(Seven people are seated at an octagonal desk around a central chair with wires coming out of it. The Doctor, Rose and Adam stand to one side, observing.)

CATHICA: Now, everybody behave. We have a management inspection. How do you want it, by the book?
DOCTOR: Right from scratch, thanks.
CATHICA: Okay. So, ladies, gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided or robot,- my name is Cathica Santini Khadeni. That's Cathica with a C, in case you want to write to Floor five hundred praising me, and please do. Now, please feel free to ask any questions. The process of news gathering must be open, honest, and beyond bias. That's company policy.
SUKI: Actually, it's the law.
CATHICA: Yes, thank you, Suki. Okay, keep it calm. Don't show off for the guests. Here we go.

(Cathica settles into the central chair.)

CATHICA: And engage safety

(The seven hold their hands over palm print on the table in front of them. Lights start to come on around the room. Cathica clicks her fingers and a portal opens in her forehead. The seven put their hands into the palm prints.)

CATHICA: And three, two, and spike.

(A beam of light shines into her portal.)

DOCTOR: Compressed information, streaming into her. Reports from every city, every country, every planet, and they all get packaged inside her head. She becomes part of the software. Her brain is the computer.
ROSE: If it all goes through her, she must be a genius.
DOCTOR: Nah, she wouldn't remember any of it. There's too much. Her head'd blow up. The brain's the processor. As soon as it closes, she forgets.
ROSE: So, what about all these people round the edge?
DOCTOR: They've all got tiny little chips in their head, connecting them to her and they transmit six hundred channels. Every single fact in the Empire beams out of this place. Now that's what I call power.

[Floor 500]

COMPUTER: Analysis confirmed. Security breach.
EDITOR: I knew it. Which one? It's someone inside that room. Which one?
COMPUTER: Isolating breach.
EDITOR: Come on, show me. Who is it?
ROSE [on monitor]: You all right?
ADAM [on monitor]: I can see her brain.

[Newsroom]

ROSE: Do you want to get out?
ADAM: No. No, this technology, it's amazing.
DOCTOR: This technology's wrong.
ROSE: Trouble?
DOCTOR: Oh, yeah.

[Floor 500]

EDITOR: That's it! Oh yes, she's the liar. Intercept and scan.

(The monitor zooms in on Suki.)

EDITOR: Gotcha.

(Suki pulls her hands away as if she has just received an electric shock. The other six lift their hands and the information beam shuts down. Cathica's portal closes.)

CATHICA: Come off it, Suki. I wasn't even halfway. What was that for?
SUKI: Sorry. It must've been a glitch.
CATHICA: Oh.

[Level 500]

EDITOR: Her information's been tampered with. There's a second biography hidden underneath.

(Snarl from above.)

EDITOR: Yes, sir. Absolutely, sir. Yes, well, her data was encrypted, so there's no way we could have found her sooner.

(Snarl, growl.)

EDITOR: I'm sorry, I. Yes, sorry, sir. Absolutely. Get her up here. Now.

[Newsroom]

TANNOY: Promotion.

(A wall lights up with the word.)

CATHICA: Come on. This is it. Come on. Oh God, make it me. Come on, say my name, say my name, say my name.
TANNOY: Promotion for Suki Macrae Cantrell. Please proceed to Floor five hundred.
SUKI: I don't believe it. Floor five hundred.
CATHICA: How the hell did you manage that? I'm above you.
SUKI: I don't know. I just applied on the off chance and they've said yes.
CATHICA: That's so not fair. I've been applying to Floor five hundred for three years.
ROSE: What's Floor five hundred?
DOCTOR: The walls are made of gold.

[By the lift]

SUKI: Cathica, I'm going to miss you. Floor five hundred, thank you.
DOCTOR: I didn't do anything.
SUKI: Well, you're my lucky charm.
DOCTOR: All right. I'll hug anyone.
ROSE: Come on, it's not that bad.
ADAM: What, with the head thing?
ROSE: Yeah, well, she's closed it now!
ADAM: Yeah, but. It's everything. It freaks me out. And I just need to. If I could just cool down. Sort of acclimatise.
ROSE: How do you mean?
ADAM: Maybe I could just go and sit on the observation deck. Would that be all right? Soak it in, you know. Pretend I'm a citizen of the year two hundred thousand.
ROSE: Do you want me to come with you?
ADAM: No, no, you stick with the Doctor. You'd rather be with him. It's going to take a better man than me to get between you two. Anyway, I'll be on the deck.
ROSE: Here you go. Take the TARDIS key. You know, just in case it gets a bit too much.
ADAM: Yeah, like it's not weird in there.
TANNOY: All staff are reminded that the sixteen forty break session has been shortened by ten minutes. Thank you.

(Adam leaves with the key, grinning to himself.)

SUKI: Oh, my God, I've got to go. I can't keep them waiting. I'm sorry. Say goodbye to Steve for me. Bye!

(The lift door closes.)

CATHICA: Good riddance.
DOCTOR: You're talking like you'll never see her again. She's only going upstairs.
CATHICA: We won't. Once you go to Floor five hundred you never come back.

(They walk back through the cafeteria.)

DOCTOR: Have you ever been up there?
CATHICA: I can't. You need a key for the lift, and you only get a key with promotion. No one gets to five hundred except for the chosen few.

[Floor 500]

(The lift door opens onto an empty, frost covered area. Suki picks up her bag and walks out, and the lift closes behind her. She gets a torch from her bag and starts to explore. There are other footprints in the rime on the floor. Behind some shredded plastic curtains she finds a corpse with its forehead portal open and other skeletons seated around it, just like in the broadcast area down on floor 139. A doorway opens and she walks into the light.)

SUKI: Who're you?
EDITOR: I'm the Editor.
SUKI: What's happening? There are bodies out there. What's going on?
EDITOR: While we're asking questions, would you please confirm your name.

(He snaps his fingers, and a holographic monitor appears in mid air.)

SUKI [on monitor]: My name is Suki Macrae Cantrell. I was born one nine nine apostrophe eight nine in the Independent Republic of Morocco.
EDITOR: Liar.
SUKI [on monitor]: Hobbies include reading and archeology. I'm not an expert or anything, I just like digging.
EDITOR: Liar.
SUKI [on monitor]: I want to work for Satellite Five because my sister can't afford university, and the pay scheme is really good
EDITOR: Liar! Let's look at the facts, shall we?

(The image of a woman in camouflage fatigues and brandishing a weapon appears on the holo-monitor.)

EDITOR: Ah, hidden behind a genetic graft, but that's still you. Eva Saint Julienne, last surviving member of the Freedom Fifteen. Hmm, self declared anarchist, is that right?

(Suki points a hand gun at the Editor.)

SUKI: Who controls Satellite Five?
EDITOR: There's the truth!
SUKI: The Freedom Foundation has been monitoring Satellite Five's transmissions. We have absolute proof that the facts are being manipulated. You are lying to the people.
EDITOR: Ooo, I love it. Say it again.
SUKI: This whole system is corrupt. Who do you represent?
EDITOR: I'm merely a humble slave. I answer to the Editor in Chief.
SUKI: Who is he? Where is he?
EDITOR: He's overseeing everything. Literally everything. If you don't mind, I'm going to have to refer this upwards.

(Click, and he points upwards. Something growls.)

SUKI: What is that?
EDITOR: Your boss. This has always been your boss, since the day you were born.

(Suki fires her small pulse energy gun at whatever is coming down from the ceiling. She screams.)

[Observation deck]

(Adam puts his hand on a palm print on a vertical console.)

ADAM: Give me access.

(The console lights up.)

ADAM: Give me

(A mild electric shock.)

ADAM: I can learn anything.

(He puts his hand back. Let's try computers. From the twenty first century to the present date, give me the history of the microprocessor.)

(Data scrolls down the monitor.)

ADAM: Oh my God.

[Newsroom]

CATHICA: Look, they only give us twenty minutes maintenance. Can't you give it a rest?
DOCTOR: But you've never been to another floor? Not even one floor down?

(The Doctor sits in the broadcast chair.)

CATHICA: I went to floor sixteen when I first arrived. That's medical. That's when I got my head done, and then I came straight here. Satellite Five, you work, eat and sleep on the same floor. That's it, that's all. You're not management, are you.
DOCTOR: At last. She's clever.
CATHICA: Yeah, well, whatever it is, don't involve me. I don't know anything.
DOCTOR: Don't you even ask?
CATHICA: Well, why would I?
DOCTOR: You're a journalist. Why's all the crew human?
CATHICA: What's that got to do with anything?
DOCTOR: There's no aliens on board. Why?
CATHICA: I don't know. No real reason. They're not banned or anything.
DOCTOR: Then where are they?
CATHICA: I suppose immigration's tightened up. It's had to, what with all the threats.
DOCTOR: What threats?
CATHICA: I don't know all of them. Usual stuff. And the price of space warp doubled so that kept the visitors away. Oh, and the government on Chavic Five's collapsed, so that lot stopped coming, you see. Just lots of little reasons, that's all.
DOCTOR: Adding up to one great big fact, and you didn't even notice.
CATHICA: Doctor, I think if there was any kind of conspiracy, Satellite Five would have seen it. We see everything.
DOCTOR: I can see better. This society's the wrong shape, even the technology.
CATHICA: It's cutting edge.
DOCTOR: It's backwards. There's a great big door in your head. You should've chucked this out years ago.
ROSE: So, what do you think's going on?
DOCTOR: It's not just this space station, it's the whole attitude. It's the way people think. The great and bountiful Human Empire's stunted. Something's holding it back.
CATHICA: And how would you know?
DOCTOR: Trust me, humanity's been set back about ninety years. When did Satellite Five start broadcasting?
CATHICA: Ninety one years ago.

[Observation deck]

(Adam phones home again.)

ADAM: Mum, Dad, keep this message, okay?

[Adam's home]

ADAM [OC]: Whatever you do, don't erase it. Save it. You got that?

[Observation deck]

ADAM: The microprocessor became

[Adam's home]

ADAM [OC]: Redundant in the year two thousand nineteen, replaced

[Observation deck]

ADAM: By a system called SMT. That's Single Molecule Transcription

(The display is replaced by a message - Floor 16.)

ADAM: No, no, no, no, no! What're you doing? Come back! Why are you doing that? What's Floor sixteen? What's down there?

[Floor 16]

(The lift doors to reveal Adam. He walks to the one desk where there isn't a conversation going on.)

ADAM: Sorry, er, floor sixteen, that's, er. What do you cover?
NURSE: Medical non-emergency.
ADAM: Right. Yeah, wrong floor. I'm having technical difficulties. My screen keeps freezing, blocking me out.
NURSE: No, that's medical. There must be something wrong with your chip.
ADAM: Yes. Yeah, of course, yeah. I haven't got one.
NURSE: No wonder you can't get a screen to work. What are you, a student?
ADAM: Yes. Yeah, I'm er, I'm on a research project from the University of Mars.
NURSE: The Martian boondocks. Typical.
ADAM: Yeah.
NURSE: Well, you still need chipping.
ADAM: So, does that mean like brain surgery?
NURSE: That's an old fashioned phrase, but it's the same thing, yes.
ADAM: Oh. Okay, never mind. But if I get a chip that means I could use any computer.
NURSE: Absolutely. You'll have to pay for it. They've stopped subsidising.
ADAM: Oh! Right. Sorry. Wasting your time. Thanks.

(Adam walks away, then goes back.)

ADAM: Hold on. Can I use this?

(He holds up the card from the cashpoint.)

NURSE: That'll do nicely.

[Operating room]

(Adam is sitting in an operating chair. The nurse puts a circular device above his head.)

NURSE: It all comes down to two basic types. Type one, the head chip inserted into the back of the skull, one hundred credits. There's the chip. Tiny. Invisible. No scarring. Type two is the full info-spike.
ADAM: Oh, that's the

(He points to his forehead.)

ADAM: Thing.
NURSE: That's the one. It does cost ten thousand.
ADAM: Oh, well, I, er, I couldn't afford it then.
NURSE: Not at all. It turns out you've got unlimited credit.
ADAM: No, but I couldn't have it done, I mean, that's got to hurt, hasn't it?
NURSE: Painless. Contractual guarantee.
ADAM: No, my mate's waiting upstairs, I can't have major surgery.
NURSE: It takes ten minutes. That sort of money buys a very fast picosurgeon.
ADAM: No, but I, I couldn't. No, no, it's
NURSE: Type one, you can interface with a simple computer. Type two, you are the computer. You can transmit any piece of information from the archive of Satellite Five, which is just about the entire history of the human race. Now, which one's it going to be?

[Outside the computer cupboard]

(The Doctor is using his sonic screwdriver on a pair of double doors.)

CATHICA: We are so going to get in trouble. You're not allowed to touch the mainframe. You're going to get told off.
DOCTOR: Rose, tell her to button it.
CATHICA: You can't just vandalise the place. Someone's going to notice!

(The doors open.)

[Floor 500]

(The Editor is watching all this on the monitor. Suki has joined the ranks of the undead computer operators.)

EDITOR: I don't understand. We did a full security scan. That man was there when we found Suki Macrae Cantrell. There were no indications about him. And yet here he is, clearly acting outside the parameters. Fascinating.

(Snarl, growl.)

EDITOR: Yes, sir. Absolutely. At once. Check him. Double check him. Triple check him. Quadruple. (The creature makes noises)

[Outside the computer cupboard]

(The Doctor is having fun making things go sput amongst the mare's nest of wiring.)

CATHICA: This is nothing to do with me. I'm going back to work.
DOCTOR: Go on, then. See you!
CATHICA: I can't just leave you, can I!
ROSE: If you want to be useful, get them to turn the heating down. It's boiling. What's wrong with this place? Can't they do something about it?
CATHICA: I don't know. We keep asking. Something to do with the turbine.
DOCTOR: Something to do with the turbine.
CATHICA: Well, I don't know!
DOCTOR: Exactly. I give up on you, Cathica. Now, Rose. Look at Rose. Rose is asking the right kind of question.
ROSE: Oh, thank you.
DOCTOR: Why is it so hot?
CATHICA: One minutes you're worried about the Empire and the next it's the central heating!
DOCTOR: Well, never underestimate plumbing. Plumbing's very important.

[Floor 500]

COMPUTER: Security scan complete.
EDITOR: Well, who is he?
COMPUTER: He is no one.
EDITOR: What does that mean?
COMPUTER: He is no one.
EDITOR: What, you mean he has a fake ID?
COMPUTER: He has no identification.
EDITOR: But everyone's registered. We have a census for the entire Empire.
COMPUTER: He is no one.
EDITOR: What, he doesn't exist? Not anywhere?
COMPUTER: He is no one.
EDITOR: What about the blonde?
COMPUTER: She is no one.
EDITOR: Both of them? Well, we all know what happens to non-entities. They get promoted. Bring them up.

[Outside the computer cupboard]

(The Doctor produces a monitor with a schematic on it.)

DOCTOR: Here we go. Satellite Five, pipes and plumbing. Look at the layout.
CATHICA: This is ridiculous. You've got access to the computer's core. You can look at the archive, the news, the stock exchange and you're looking at pipes?
DOCTOR: But there's something wrong.
CATHICA: I suppose.
ROSE: Why, what is it?
CATHICA: The ventilation system. Cooling ducts, ice filters, all working flat out channelling massive amounts of heat down.
DOCTOR: All the way from the top.
ROSE: Floor five hundred.
DOCTOR: Something up there is generating tons and tons of heat.
ROSE: Well, I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm missing out on a party. It's all going on upstairs. Fancy a trip?
CATHICA: You can't. You need a key.
DOCTOR: Keys are just codes, and I've got the codes right here. Here we go. Override two one five point nine.

(The monitor shows 215.9976/31)

CATHICA: How come it's given you the code?

[Floor 500]

DOCTOR [on monitor]: Someone up there likes me.

[Operating room]

NURSE: I told you it was painless. No scarring, you see? Perfect success.
ADAM: How do I activate it?
NURSE: It's a personal choice. Some people whistle. I know one man who triggers it with O, Danny Boy. But you're set on default for now. That's a click of the fingers.
ADAM: So you mean, I just
NURSE: Click.

[Outside the lift]

ROSE: Come on. Come with us.
CATHICA: No way.
DOCTOR: Bye!
CATHICA: Well, don't mention my name. When you get in trouble, just don't involve me.

(Cathica leaves.)

DOCTOR: That's her gone. Adam's given up. Looks like it's just you and me.
ROSE: Yeah.
DOCTOR: Good.
ROSE: Yep.

[Operating room]

(Adam clicks his fingers and the portal in his forehead opens to reveal his brain. He clicks it shuts again.)

ADAM: Oh, my God. I'm going to be sick.

(He leans forward and retches, then pulls a pale ice cube out of his mouth.)

NURSE: Special offer. We installed the vomitomatic at the same time. Nano-termites have been placed in the lining of your throat. In the event of sickness, they freeze the waste.

[Floor 500]

DOCTOR: The walls are not made of gold. You should go back downstairs.
ROSE: Tough.

(They find the Editor and his staff.)

EDITOR: I started without you. This is fascinating. Satellite Five contains every piece of information within the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. Birth certificates, shopping habits, bank statements, but you two, you don't exist. Not a trace. No birth, no job, not the slightest kiss. How can you walk through the world and not leave a single footprint?
ROSE: Suki. Suki! Hello? Can you hear me? Suki? What have you done to her?
DOCTOR: I think she's dead.
ROSE: She's working.
DOCTOR: They've all got chips in their head, and the chips keep going, like puppets.
EDITOR: Oh! You're full of information. But it's only fair we get some information back, because apparently, you're no one. It's so rare not to know something. Who are you?
DOCTOR: It doesn't matter, because we're off. Nice to meet you. Come on.

(Suki grabs Rose's arm. Two other zombies grab the Doctor.)

EDITOR: Tell me who you are.
DOCTOR: Since that information's keeping us alive, I'm hardly going to say, am I.
EDITOR: Well, perhaps my Editor in Chief can convince you otherwise.
DOCTOR: And who's that?
EDITOR: It may interest you to know that this is not the Fourth Great and Bountiful Human Empire. In fact, it's not actually human at all. It's merely a place where humans happen to live.

(Growl, snarl.)

EDITOR: Yeah. Yeah, sorry. It's a place where humans are allowed to live by kind permission of my client.

(Who we finally see is a giant lump hanging from the ceiling, with a very nasty set of teeth in a mouth on the end of a pseudopod.)

ROSE: What is that?
DOCTOR: You mean that thing's in charge of Satellite Five?
EDITOR: That thing, as you put it, is in charge of the human race. For almost a hundred years, mankind has been shaped and guided, his knowledge and ambition strictly controlled by it's broadcast news, edited by my superior, your master, and humanity's guiding light, the Mighty Jagrafess of the Holy Hadrojassic Maxarodenfoe. I call him Max.
(Down on Floor 139 Adam avoids Cathica as she goes to take another look at the schematic that the Doctor called up. Then she goes to the lift and punches in the code for Floor 500.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Rose have been placed in hefty sets of manacles.)
EDITOR: Create a climate of fear and it's easy to keep the borders closed. It's just a matter of emphasis. The right word in the right broadcast repeated often enough can destabilise an economy, invent an enemy, change a vote.
ROSE: So all the people on Earth are like, slaves.
EDITOR: Well, now, there's an interesting point. Is a slave a slave if he doesn't know he's enslaved?
DOCTOR: Yes.
EDITOR: Oh. I was hoping for a philosophical debate. Is that all I'm going to get? Yes?
DOCTOR: Yes.
EDITOR: You're no fun.
DOCTOR: Let me out of these manacles. You'll find out how much fun I am.
EDITOR: Oh, he's tough, isn't he. But, come on. Isn't it a great system? You've got to admire it, just a little bit.
ROSE: You can't hide something on this scale. Somebody must have noticed.
EDITOR: From time to time, someone, yes, but the computer chip system allows me to see inside their brains. I can see the smallest doubt and crush it.

(Cathica arrives on Floor 500. Adam goes to the broadcast room on 139.)

EDITOR: Then they just carry on, living the life, strutting about downstairs and all over the surface of the Earth like they're so individual, when of course, they're not. They're just cattle. In that respect, the Jagrafess hasn't changed a thing.

(The Doctor and Rose spot Cathica behind the Editor's back.)

ROSE: What about you? You're not a Jagrabelly
DOCTOR: Jagrafess.
ROSE: Jagrafess. You're not a Jagrafess. You're human.
EDITOR: Yeah, well, simply being human doesn't pay very well.
ROSE: But you couldn't have done this all on your own.
EDITOR: No. I represent a consortium of banks. Money prefers a long-term investment. Also, the Jagrafess needed a little hand to install himself.
DOCTOR: No wonder, a creature that size. What's his life span?
EDITOR: Three thousand years.
DOCTOR: That's one hell of a metabolism generating all that heat. That's why Satellite Five's so hot. You pump it out of the creature, channel it downstairs. Jagrafess stays cool, it stays alive. Satellite Five is one great big life support system.

[Adam's home]

(Adam settles in the broadcast chair and opens his portal, then phones home.)

ADAM [OC]: It's me again. Don't wipe this message. It's just going to sound like white noise, but save it because I can

[Newsroom]

ADAM: Translate it, okay? Three, two, one and spike.

(Information beams into Adam.)

[Floor 500]

EDITOR: But that's why you're so dangerous. Knowledge is power, but you remain unknown. Who are you?

(The Editor snaps his fingers and energy surges through the manacles. Back in the now, the little dog watches energy encircling the telephone answering machine.)

DOCTOR: Leave her alone. I'm the Doctor, she's Rose Tyler. We're nothing, we're just wandering.
EDITOR: Tell me who you are!
DOCTOR: I just said!
EDITOR: Yes, but who do you work for? Who sent you? Who knows about us? Who exactly

(He stops. The Jagrafess growls.)

EDITOR: Time Lord.
DOCTOR: What?
EDITOR: Oh, yes. The last of the Time Lords in his travelling machine. Oh, with his little human girl from long ago
DOCTOR: You don't know what you're talking about.
EDITOR: Time travel.

[Newsroom]

(Adam screams as information is sucked out of his brain.)

ADAM: Help!

[Floor 500]

DOCTOR: Someone's been telling you lies.
EDITOR: Young master Adam Mitchell?

(The Editor calls up the holo-monitor showing Adam in the broadcast chair.)

ROSE: Oh, my God. His head!
DOCTOR: What the hell's he done? What the hell's he gone and done? They're reading his mind. He's telling them everything.
EDITOR: And through him, I know everything about you. Every piece of information in his head is now mine. And you have infinite knowledge, Doctor. The Human Empire is tiny compared to what you've seen in your T A R D I S. TARDIS.
DOCTOR: Well, you'll never get your hands on it. I'll die first.
EDITOR: Die all you like. I don't need you. I've got the key.

(The TARDIS key rises from Adam's pocket.)

DOCTOR: You and your boyfriends!
EDITOR: Today, we are the headlines. We can rewrite history. We could prevent mankind from ever developing.
DOCTOR: And no one's going to stop you because you've bred a human race that doesn't bother to ask questions. Stupid little slaves, believing every lie. They'll just trot right into the slaughter house if they're told it's made of gold.

(The Jagrafess snarls, and Cathica leaves.)

[Floor 500 news room]

(Cathica throws the corpse off the broadcast chair and sits down.)

CATHICA: Disengage safety.

[Floor 500]

EDITOR: What's happening?

[Floor 500 newsroom]

CATHICA: Maximum access. Override Floor one three nine.

(Adam is disconnected. The TARDIS key falls to the floor.)

CATHICA: And spike!

[Floor 500]

EDITOR: Someone's disengaged the safety. Who's that?

(He calls the image up on the holo-monitor.)

ROSE: It's Cathica.
DOCTOR: And she's thinking. She's using what she knows.
EDITOR: Terminate her access.
DOCTOR: Everything I told her about Satellite Five. The pipes, the filters, she's reversing it. Look at that.

(The icicles are starting to melt.)

DOCTOR: It's getting hot.
EDITOR: (to Suki) I said, terminate. Burn out her mind.

[Floor 500 newsroom]

CATHICA: Oh no, you don't. You should have promoted me years back.

[Floor 500]

(The consoles explode and the dead operators collapse. Alarms sound in the rest of Satellite Five and people panic. Rose gets out of her manacles.)

DOCTOR: She's venting the heat up here. The Jagrafess needs to stay cool and now it's sitting on top of a volcano.
EDITOR: Yes, I'm trying, sir, but I don't know how she did it. It's impossible. A member of staff with an idea.

(The Editor takes Suki's seat while Rose tries to free the Doctor. She gets the sonic screwdriver from his pocket.)

ROSE: What do I do?
DOCTOR: Flick the switch! Oi, mate, want to bank on a certainty? Massive heat in a massive body, massive bang. See you in the headlines!

(Finally free, the Doctor and Rose leave.)

EDITOR: Actually, sir, if it's all the same to you, I think I'll resign. Bye, then!

(Suki grabs his ankle and he falls.)

EDITOR: Let go of me!

(The Doctor and Rose run for the broadcast as chunks of ice fall from the ceiling, the satellite shudders and the Jagrafess growls.)

EDITOR: Let go of me! Let go of me!

(The Jagrafess explodes. The Doctor snaps his fingers and closes Cathica's portal.)

[Floor 139]

(As dawn rises over Mother Earth, the people on level 139 are helping the injured.)

DOCTOR: We're just going to go. I hate tidying up. Too many questions. You'll manage.
CATHICA: You'll have to stay and explain it. No one's going to believe me.
DOCTOR: Oh, they might start believing a lot of things now. The human race should accelerate. All back to normal.
CATHICA: What about your friend?
DOCTOR: He's not my friend.
ROSE: Now, don't
ADAM: I'm all right now. Much better. And I've got the key. Look, it's. It all worked out for the best, didn't it? You know, it's not actually my fault, because you were in charge.

(The Doctor pushes Adam into the TARDIS.)

[Adam's home]

(And out of the TARDIS.)

ADAM: It's my house. I'm home! Oh, my God, I'm home! Blimey. I thought you were going to chuck me out of an airlock.
DOCTOR: Is there something else you want to tell me?
ADAM: No. What do you mean?

(The Doctor picks up the answering machine.)

DOCTOR: The archive of Satellite Five. One second of that message could've changed the world.

(The Doctor sonic screwdrivers the poor defenceless telephone. It explodes.)

DOCTOR: That's it, then. See you.
ADAM: How do you mean, see you?
DOCTOR: As in goodbye.
ADAM: But what about me? You can't just go. I've got my head. I've got a chip type two. My head opens.
DOCTOR: What, like this?

(The Doctor clicks his fingers.)

ADAM: Don't.

(He closes it.)

DOCTOR: Don't do what?

(Open.)

ADAM: Stop it!

(Close.)

ROSE: All right now, Doctor, that's enough. Stop it.
ADAM: Thank you.

(Rose clicks her fingers.)

ADAM: Oi!
ROSE: Sorry, I couldn't resist.

(Adam closes it again.)

DOCTOR: The whole of history could have changed because of you.
ADAM: I just wanted to help.
DOCTOR: You were helping yourself.
ADAM: And I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry, and I am, I really am, but you can't just leave me like this.
DOCTOR: Yes I can. 'Cause if you show that head to anyone, they'll dissect you in seconds. You'll have to live a very quiet life. Keep out of trouble. Be average, unseen. Good luck.
ADAM: But I want to come with you.
DOCTOR: I only take the best. I've got Rose.

(Adam's mum comes in the front door.)

ADAM: Rose, Rose. Oh, my God.
MUM [OC]: Who's that? Geoff, is that you?
ADAM: It's me, mum. Don't come in. Wait there a minute.
MUM [OC]: Oh, my Lord. You never told me you were coming home! Hold on, I'll just take my coat off. You should've told me you were coming home. I would've got your favourite tea in.
ADAM: Rose, take me with you.

(The TARDIS engine starts up. Rose goes inside and it dematerialises.)

MUM [OC]: Hey, what's that noise? Have you left the back door open? Blimey, there's a draft.

(She enters the front room.)

MUM: What a surprise. Oh, let me look at you. Oh, six months. It's like I saw you yesterday. Isn't it funny? The time goes by like that.

(She clicks her fingers. Oops.)

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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