DOCTOR: Planets come and go. Stars perish. Matter disperses, coalesces, forms into other patterns, other worlds. Nothing can be eternal.

DOCTOR: Why do I have to sit here watching Peri getting upset while two unsavory adventurers bully a bunch of natives?

VALEYARD: At last, Doctor.

DOCTOR: Am I late for something?

VALEYARD: I was beginning to fear you had lost yourself. Sit down.

(The Doctor goes up to the camera by the door opposite the building entrance and poses.)

DOCTOR: Er, this is my best side.

HUMKER: The arrogance.

TANDRELL: Can't wait to see how he's been programmed.

DOCTOR: Oh, goody. Just who are you?

BALAZAR: I am Balazar, the reader of the books.

DOCTOR: Oh. And what books are those?

BALAZAR: Ancient books, from the world before the fire. They contain much wisdom for those who can interpret their meaning. Here in Marb, we have three.

DOCTOR: Three? Splendid. What are they called?

BALAZAR: The Books of Knowledge.

DOCTOR: No, but each book must have a name, Balazar. It's usually written on the front.

BALAZAR: One of our books is called Mo By Dick by Herman Melville. It tells of a great white water god, and contains many mystical passages.

DOCTOR: Yes, I've read it. What are the other books?

BALAZAR: How can you have read it, Old One? The sacred books belong to Marb.

DOCTOR: Will you stop calling me Old One? I am known as the Doctor. What else do you read?

BALAZAR: The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley, which tells of life long before the fire.

DOCTOR: Sounds a rum sort of library to me. What's your third book?

BALAZAR: Most mysterious of all the sacred texts. UK Habitats of the Canadian Goose by HM Stationery Office.

DOCTOR: Hmm. What do you call this place?

BALAZAR: Marb Station.

DOCTOR: No, I mean your whole world, everything.

BALAZAR: We call it UK Habitat.

PERI: Is there any intelligent life here?

DOCTOR: Apart from me, you mean? I don't know. Shall we find out?