[Barbershop]

(An older man is having his hair trimmed. Three younger men are listening. The story is being illustrated by changing images on the window.)

OMO: A long time ago, back in the village, when I was a small boy, a fire was eating the forest. People running and screaming. But me, I ran to the river with my little cup to get water. They laughed at me. "What are you doing?" "What I can!" I shouted, and ran back to pour it on the fire. Suddenly a blue box appeared in the skies over the fire, and a man stood at the door with a hosepipe, spraying and spraying, until all the fires went out. He landed the box in the middle of the burnt forest and started scattering fresh seeds. I went over to thank him. "Are you a farmer?" I asked. "No. I am the Doctor." We shook hands, and that's how we met.

(They turn to look at a pair of lights. The red one goes out and the green one comes on.)

TUNDE: Nice! Good. Great, er... great story. And, er... you're sure that this Doctor will come?
OMO: Yes, yes. He always comes when needed.

(The red light comes on again and everything shakes.)

TUNDE: Kai! La ila! The Doctor, we need him now! It needs feeding!

[TARDIS]

BELINDA: You need to get me home.
DOCTOR: I promise I'm doing everything I can to... Wait. Oh, why did I not think of this before? Oh! We can boost the Vindicator if we go to... Of course!
BELINDA: Go where?
DOCTOR: Lagos, Nigeria. It has the largest communications technology market in Africa and it is near Omo's Palace.
BELINDA: Omo's Palace?
DOCTOR: My favourite barbershop. Omo, the owner, is a friend of mine. We met in a fire.

(The TARDIS moves.)

BELINDA: Barbershop? But the TARDIS does your hair.
DOCTOR: It does. It does. Er, I don't go there for cuts. It's... it's... hard to explain.
BELINDA: okay. Try explaining.

(The TARDIS has landed in a market place. The Doctor goes outside with the Vindicator.)

DOCTOR: Ah, 2019, a great year!

(He gets his reading and comes back inside.)

DOCTOR: I'm not human, I am an evolved lifeform. And, er... my body changes a lot. It's the first time I've had this black body. In some parts of the Earth, I'm now treated differently. But here, in Africa, in that barbershop, I'm accepted. I'm able to forget. We... Pfft! Boy, we... we laugh, we tell stories. They...
BELINDA: Treat you like one of their own?
DOCTOR: Yeah.
BELINDA: My nan took me to India whenever she could for the same reason. You say you're not human, but that's the most human thing ever, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Hmm.
BELINDA: Go on, then. Take as long as you need.

[Market]

(To a woman looking at some material.)

DOCTOR: This is going to look so nice on you. So nice. Auntie!

(To a seller.)

DOCTOR: I'm good, oga.

(Meeting someone he knows.)

DOCTOR: Heh-heh-heh. Brother!

(And another.)

DOCTOR: Hey! How are you? Take care, yeah?

(And another.)

DOCTOR: Uncle! How far now? You good?

(But down an alleyway he is stopped by a sign that says 'Turn Back!'. He carries on to look at a wall covered in missing persons posters, including one for Omo Esosa. At the end of the alley, Omo's Palace salon 'n' barbering station looks boarded up and run-down. The Doctor scans it with his sonic.)

[Barbershop]

OBIOMA: And that is why the tortoise has a cracked shell.
DOCTOR: Omo?
OMO: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Ey.
OMO: Come in.

(The door slams shut.)

[TARDIS]

(The lights go red and a loud klaxon sound makes Belinda cover her ears.)

BELINDA: Argh!

[Barbershop]

OMO: I told you he would come.

(The status light switches to green.)

OBIOMA: You! You ruined the end now! It might not be enough.
DOCTOR: Excuse you? Omo, who does he think he's talking to? Wait. You're on the missing posters. All of you. They're on the walls outside. Rashid, Tunde, Obioma.
OMO: Doctor, you haven't come in years.
DOCTOR: And standards have slipped. Damp and misty outside, dusty in here?
OMO: It's not me. New management.
BARBER: Welcome. I've been expecting you. Welcome to my establishment.
DOCTOR: Your establishment? Why is the street deserted? Why isn't Obioma leaving? Why are they on all the missing posters?
BARBER: They cannot leave. No one can.
OBIOMA: You are the all-knowing Doctor who is supposed to save us and you don't know anything?
DOCTOR: Save you from what?
TUNDE: Rest, jor, Obioma. He hasn't been in years. He doesn't know. He never makes appointments.
RASHID: Yes! Besides, appointments never work in Africa.
OBIOMA: What are you talking about?

(The customers talk over each other, the light switches to red and the klaxon sounds.)

BARBER: Oya! Who's next?

(Obioma's hair grows back.)

DOCTOR: Your hair.
TUNDE: We're running out of stories!
DOCTOR: But look at his hair.
RASHID: Me! I've got this. Once upon a time a great musician, Yo-Yo Ma, was travelling through Botswana collecting local music, when he heard a shaman singing. Yo-Yo Ma said, "Stop! Wow, I have to write this down." He wrote a bit, then said, "Carry on." But the shaman sang a completely different song. Yo-Yo Ma said, "No. Sing the first one!" The shaman said, "I cannot-o. "The first time, an antelope was in the distance, clouds covered the sun. The second time, clouds had gone, antelope disappear, so the song changed!" You see, in the old days, music was a live thing. But after Industrial Revolution, people became obsessed with producing identical things, to package time. But not in Africa. That is why we say we will come at one, but won't arrive till three! So, appointments - bad idea.

(The light switches to green.)

RASHID ?: Don't know how much more I can take. The tension is getting unbear...
DOCTOR: Wow! Wow. Incredible. The drawings in the window are a visual interpretation of his story.
TUNDE: Cool, right?
DOCTOR: Dalek. Cybermen. Weeping Angels.
OMO: You need to be getting a cut for that to work. They are all connected - the windows, chairs... his clippers.
BARBER: And you must tell a story, Doctor. We must feed it. It is always hungry.

(The Barber goes in the back, the Doctor scans the chairs.)

DOCTOR: What is hungry, Omo?
TUNDE: The Barber controls it. Him and Abby.

(A woman comes in and gives Tunde two plastic bags containing four meals in polystyrene containers.)

OMO: Er...

[TARDIS]

(As the shop door shuts, the klaxon and red lights go off again in the TARDIS.)

BELINDA: Argh!

(And back to normal lighting.)

BELINDA: Are we under attack? TARDIS? Hello?

[Barbershop]

TUNDE: Thank you again, Abby.
DOCTOR: Abby.
TUNDER: Every day she brings us food. We'd be lost without her.
DOCTOR: I know that face. Why do I know your face?

(Tunde helps Abby on with a multi-coloured coat he has fetched from the back, then gold bangles. She walks past the Doctor and into the back.)

DOCTOR: What have I done to...?
RASHID: We know who you are! Intergalactic busybody Time Lord, last of his kind and so on.
DOCTOR: So you told them, Omo?
OMO: How could I not? You are the greatest story I know.
DOCTOR: Well, if you put it like that. But why do I know her face. Abby?
TUNDE: The Barber's assistant? She told me that they both used to work for her father, but he was mean, so they left.
DOCTOR: Her father? And they're keeping you here?
TUNDE: Until we reach their destination.
DOCTOR: We're travelling? Ha! This is... Oh, Omo, what is going on?
OMO: It's the Barber. He turned up one day and offered to give me a haircut, in my own shop! I thought it was a nice thing, said okay. He brought out his own clippers, and as soon as they touched me a sort of current just ran through the whole shop and, like magic, like witchcraft, it seemed to transfer itself, its soul, to him. I tried to open the door. My keys didn't work. Tried to stop my clients. But the shop demanded a select few. The ones who love this place, they pushed in. These are men I've known for years, decades. They're like sons to me.
OBIOMA: I came to get a trim for my child's naming ceremony. My wife... We'd been married for less than a year.
TUNDE: I'm an athlete. Relay. 100 metres. I came to get a cut for the championship. I miss my team, my big sister. She trained me.
RASHID: My mother is in hospital. Omo was lending me money for her medicine. I wanted a fresh cut to see her.
OMO: There is someone waiting for me too, Doctor. The girl with the blue earrings the day we met. We both came to the city together, but I spent most of my time in here, and not enough with her.

(The klaxon sounds, the light goes red, the Barber comes in from the back.)

BARBER: So, whose story will enchant us now?
RASHID: I don't have anything...
DOCTOR: You don't have to say anything. I'll speak.

(The Doctor is in the barber's chair. A surge of energy runs over him as the cape is draped over him. He is trapped.)

DOCTOR: Argh! Let me out!
BARBER: Tell a story. It's the only way.
DOCTOR: I changed my mind.
OMO: Doctor, tell it for us. It will be easier for you. A big story!
DOCTOR: Okay. You want a story about Weeping Angels and Ice Warriors, but nothing is more vivid than an ordinary life. One person. Belinda. On any given day, nurses are knackered, and after a 13 hour shift, she was done.
TUNDE: His pictures are alive!
DOCTOR: She was going home, but she heard something.

[Hospital]

PARAMEDIC [OC]: Oh, er, Belinda? Could you take her obs? We need bloods, X-ray for her chest and IV fluids. Hypotensive - systolic's at 89. Tachycardic just under 100. Vomited a few times.
BELINDA: Oh, it's okay.
CONSULTANT: Infection? Maybe gastroenteritis?
BELINDA: Have you considered steroids?
CONSULTANT: What, for a chest infection?
BELINDA: No, her fingers. She's got rheumatoid arthritis. Might have put herself in an Addisonian crisis. Here. Hyperpigmentation.
CONSULTANT: No, it's too subtle. It's barely there.
PARAMEDIC: Dehydration, nausea, vomiting.
BELINDA: An Addisonian crisis can present like this. It happened to my nan. Without steroids she could die.
CONSULTANT: Ahem. You're right. She's yours.
BELINDA: It's my nan's birthday!

[Barbershop back room]

DOCTOR [OC]: All night, she guarded that frail life, sacrificing her own joy...
ABENA: We're speeding up?
DOCTOR [OC]: ..fighting her tiredness until the doctors wheeled her away. Two weeks later, Belinda was leaving work...

[Hospital entrance]

MRS FLOOD: Hi, Belinda. Just picking up my pills.
BELINDA: (on phone) Don't be silly, I'll be there around seven. Love you, Nan. (to a woman with a bouquet) It's you! Up on your feet! Wow!
PATIENT: I know what you did for me. The doctors took over, but you saved my life. Thank you.

(She hands over the flowers and gives Belinda a big hug.)

[Barbershop]

(The Doctor is released from the chair with a green light.)

ABENA: Batteries are full! Fullest they've been since the early days!

(Omo catches the Doctor as he staggers.)

OMO: Whoa, whoa, whoa. First time is the hardest. From now, it will be as easy as getting a haircut.
DOCTOR: What is happening?

(His hair grows.)

BARBER: You were right, Omo. His stories alone can super-power the engine.
OMO: You see! And look... look how much his hair has grown. You can let us go now.
ABENA: This changes everything. We'll get there sooner. You can finally take the throne and rule - fairly, justly.
BARBER: I must recalibrate the engine. Such raw power! Check the stasis field for structural damage. Then let's meet in the engine room.
OMO: It's okay. Just relax, okay?

(Abby zaps the door with a device.)

[TARDIS]

(Klaxon and red light.)

BELINDA: TARDIS, locate origin! Show source!

(The little screen shows...)

BELINDA: The barbershop?

[Market]

SELLER: Madam! Look at that cloth now. Look at this.
BELINDA: No, I don't want anything. I'm in a rush. Sorry!
SELLER: I go give you a discount.

(Belinda falls over a pile of goods.)

MARKET SELLER: Oh! Se, se, se, se, se! Ah! Madam, you must pay for dis-o.

(Everyone say Hi to the script writer, Inua Ellams.)

BELINDA: Sorry, I... I have no money.
SECURITY GUARD: Who dey cause trouble?!

(Belinda puts her hand up.)

[Barbershop]

DOCTOR: You planned this, Omo?
OMO: I have to get these men home.
DOCTOR: And because I have no home, I'm what? I'm expendable?
OMO: Their families need them.
DOCTOR: And I have none, so I don't matter?
OMO: No, no. Doctor, Doctor, you have stories. That's all I was thinking.
DOCTOR: I love this shop. I loved you, Omo. I thought it was a home for me. I was safe. So, he's not here now. Open the door and go.
TUNDE: We can't.
DOCTOR: You can.
TUNDE: There's nowhere to go!
DOCTOR: I opened it from the outside.
RASHID: It's different from inside.
OMO: No, Doctor, don't...
DOCTOR: Do not talk to me ever again! I trusted you, with both of my hearts, with everything that I am. How could you?

(The Doctor sonicks the edge of the door.)

RASHID: If he opens that door...

(They talk over each other.)

DOCTOR: Got it.
OMO: No! Stop!

(The Doctor opens the door and the air rushes out into space. He hangs onto the doorframe while the rest of them grab the chairs. The klaxon blares.)

DOCTOR: What the hell is this?
(The shop is on the top of a giant spider walking through a web funnel. The Doctor hauls himself back inside and closes the door. They drop to the floor. The Barber and Abby enter.
In Lagos, Belinda has found a 'Stay Away' sign, but a little girl beckons her down the alleyway to the missing posters and Omo's Palace. It is the same child actor who was Poppy, the Captain of the Space Babies.)
BARBER: You are confused, aren't you, Doctor? The shop is in outer space and in Lagos at the same time.
DOCTOR: How? And that... that structure that I saw?
BARBER: The Nexus. I used to call it the World Wide Web... until the humans named something far uglier after that. There is a time-space compressor that goes between that is built into the doorframe, that only lets her and myself out. We control it.
DOCTOR: And we're travelling on a spider?
TUNDE: Wait, you saw the beast? Impossible but true. A spider that they control.
DOCTOR: Where are we going?
BARBER: You'll find out soon enough.

(Belinda enters.)

BELINDA: Doctor!

(The door slams behind her.)

RASHID: What is that?
DOCTOR: It took you long enough. Alarms on the TARDIS must have been going off.
BELINDA: Yeah, nearly blew my ears off!
ABENA: You're the nurse from his story? Your companion? So where have you been? Did he leave you behind? Tell you to wait?
BELINDA: No. I told him to go, actually. Wait, you're all missing. Doctor, what's going on? And who is that?
DOCTOR: I'm still figuring that one out. All he has done is stomp around giving people awful haircuts. And... and they are all scared of him! He who hides his identity like a coward, a troll on the web. Hmm. Don't be scared. We will leave here! There is nothing that he can do! He has no real power.
BARBER: You want to know who I am? I go by many names. Anansi, the man-spider. Saga, the Norse goddess. Bastet. Dionysus, the Greek god of theatre. Even Loki, god of mischief. I have been them all, in many cultures, in many worlds, in many incarnations. It does not matter what I am called. It matters who I am, what I do.
BELINDA: And what is it that you do?

(The Barber starts cutting off his dreadlocks.)

BARBER: I begin all things! I am the voice in the empty void. I am the spark. The seed. The dark nucleus. The lie that tells the truth. The well of words. The godfather-griot. The djeli before. The tall tale itself. And this, Doctor, this is my domain.
DOCTOR: This barbershop? Our barbershop?
BARBER: Yes.
DOCTOR: And you were all those story lords?
BARBER: Yes.
BELINDA: All those gods? You? Are you sure?
BARBER: Yes.

(The Doctor and Belinda laugh. Tunde joins in.)

OBIOMA: Why are you laughing? What's so funny?
TUNDE: I don't know!
DOCTOR: He's lying to you. He's lying! I met Dionysus. We drank so much wine, we caused a drought in Athens. Saga and I watched Marvel movies together, up until Endgame. She didn't like Thor, muscles were too small. I played chess with Bastet. I let her think that she let me let her win. She kicked my ass, thoroughly! And Anansi purposely lost a bet to make me marry one of his daughters. I know the gods. You are not them. Tell the truth. Who are you?
ABENA: You don't have to answer them. Look at me. Don't let him get to you.
DOCTOR: Who are you?
BARBER: I was the one behind them all. It was me. I was once human. Whenever we told stories, the storytelling gods would grow in power. The gods needed to strengthen their bonds with humanity. Wherever they told stories, I went. I told their myths, their legends, cleaned them up, printed them in books so that the gods could be worshipped. That was my job. They only exist now because of me, my work.

(The Barber sits in the chair, holding his trimmer.)

DOCTOR: And The Nexus?
ABENA: He built that too.
BARBER: I wanted something like the brain - flexible, strong - that could expand and make connections between ideas. So, I took a strand of their gods' blood and essence and built a model, a web-like structure that they expanded to what you saw now, cross-connecting concepts, cultures and ideas. The Nexus.
DOCTOR: How did you collect the stories?

(The Barber starts trimming his own hair.)

BARBER: I started small. A pub lit by candles. A Catholic Church confession box. A coal-powered theatre. An electric cinema. (image of The Palazzo Cinema) A space opera. Until I had the idea to power the vehicle with stories itself. I worked for centuries! And all I wanted was to be recognised. They told me that I should know my place! I primed The Nexus so well that it worked without me. So they threw me out. Out of my life's work. All I salvaged was my Story Engine. We will have vengeance, Doctor.
OMO: We have stopped moving.
ABENA: The engine burned too much energy holding us together when he forced the door open. Typical Doctor. Irresponsible.
DOCTOR: I have never... Wait. That's it! Abby. The daughter of Anansi. Abena? That is your full name, isn't it?
ABENA: Don't you dare speak it.
DOCTOR: Oh...
ABENA: You are not worthy. I grew up trapped with Anansi, terrified someone would win me in a bet. I'd heard about you, travelling through time. I had faith you would help. Instead, you left me. I'm here because of you. You humiliated me, Doctor.
DOCTOR: You look so different now. I am sorry that I couldn't take you with me.
FUGITIVE DOCTOR: I was a fugitive back then. Anansi was wrong to offer that bet, and, frankly, darling, I was busy in a different story... that might be finished one day.
BELINDA: You actually took that bet?
DOCTOR: I tried to lose!
BARBER: Sit, Doctor. Talk now!
DOCTOR: Where are we going?
BARBER: To the heart of The Nexus.
DOCTOR: To do what?
ABENA: To install the shop there, and make him storyteller-supreme. A trustworthy and careful god.
DOCTOR: That is what he's told you? That he's going to become everything that he hates and despises? And you believe him?
ABENA: He would not lie to me. We need a story, now!
DOCTOR: I know vengeance and I can taste his! It is bile-black and bitter. You are planning something! What? There's nothing I can do. I'm trapped here. Tell me. Tell me!
BARBER: To cut them out of memory! The gods, all of them!

(The place is shaking.)

DOCTOR: Severing the gods from the story web, cutting them from their essence, will destroy them.
ABENA: Destroy?
DOCTOR: As in kill, die, dead as a doornail, done! All the gods, gone!
BELINDA: That would destroy your father.
BARBER: This is my gift to you, Abena. Remember what he did to you? Betting you? His own child?
DOCTOR: Humans are tied to the gods. Destroying them would harm the very essence of humanity. A world without stories? How would they pass on tradition? You knew about this plan?
TUNDE: No!
BELINDA: Is this what you want, Abena?
ABENA: We need power, now!
BARBER: Doctor, you need to sit and talk!
TUNDE: Doctor, please, okay. Do what he says, okay. We have to get back home. Our families...
DOCTOR: I can't help him do this.
BELINDA: Please, Abena. Hurt people hurt people. Your father hurt you. The difference between good and evil is what we do with that pain.
BARBER: Enough! Put him in the chair.
OMO: With pleasure! Rashid, come.
TUNDE: No, no, no.
DOCTOR: I promised I will get you home! I will get you home! You do not want to do this!
BELINDA: Don't touch him!
OMO: Hold him down! Hold him down! Hold him down! Hold him down!
ABENA: Stop! Stop! Stop I will talk. I will tell a story. Please, Doctor. Trust me.

(Abena is trimming the Doctor's hair.)

ABENA: In a time of slavery and deep suffering, the slaves who broke their chains and escaped would return to try to free others. Slaves were not allowed to carry paper. They were always stopped and searched. But the women were very clever. They could make their hair into many shapes and patterns. And in one style, hair could be braided to the scalp, bending and curling like roads or paths. So the women would weave maps into their hair and pass it on, mothers to daughters, slave to slave, plantation to plantation.
DOCTOR: And the slave masters never checked their hair, so they shared routes like this, and escaped to freedom.
ABENA: Mmm-hmm. Exactly. There. All done. (the braided pattern) And battery levels are good.

(That's what the red and green lights mean.)

ABENA: For now.
BELINDA: You look good.
DOCTOR: So good, I could kiss myself! Ha! It's a shame I might have to ruin it.
OMO: Why?
DOCTOR: You will find out soon enough. Belinda, now!

(The Doctor sonicks out the lights and they head out into the back. The others stay with the Barber and Abena.)

[Corridor]

BELINDA: Took you long enough.
DOCTOR: Oi! Just trying to concentrate. Abena gave me the map to freedom. This way. Come on.

(They move through the maze.)

DOCTOR: Stop! Stop, stop, stop, stop.

(He checks his braid pattern.)

DOCTOR: This way. Run!

[Barbershop]

BARBER: You did this? I'm revoking your access.

(He seals the door.)

ABENA: No! You lied to me for all these years!
BARBER: I will handle the others.

[Corridor]

DOCTOR: The map leads to here.
(He sonicks open the door into...

[Story Engine room]

..a chamber filled with shelves of figurines and other items including books by Hemingway. Voices are murmuring. There is a shrine/gizmo in the centre like a giant walnut atop a wind-shaped tree.)
DOCTOR: The Story Engine.

(The Doctor reaches out and it opens on a hinge at the top to reveal...)

BELINDA: A beating heart inside a brain?
DOCTOR: Brilliant! What else is a story? What else could hold all stories?

(He touches the heart and it opens to reveal a brilliant light. The Barber enters.)

DOCTOR: Quick, quick, that control desk. Start ripping out all of the wires, yeah? I need to disrupt the flow of power.

(Belinda pulls wires, the Doctor uses his sonic.)

BARBER: Get away from my heart! You have done nothing. Nothing! We are still on track, and then I will cut them off. All the gods, they will shrivel up and die.
BELINDA: You did all this to kill them?
BARBER: Of course. They deserve it.
BELINDA: Rubbish! This is your ego!
DOCTOR: Wanna hear a story?
BELINDA: Don't give him more power.
DOCTOR: Really short, really short. You know Hemingway. I saw some of his books back there. I met him. I wanted to see how good he was, so I challenged him. "Hemy, baby, write me the shortest story you can." He wrote it in six words. (For sale: baby shoes. Never worn.) Short as hell! D'you wanna hear mine? I'm born. I die. I'm born.
BARBER: Ah! You are giving me power. But how? I am not connected to you!
DOCTOR: No, the engine is connected to me. My stories, my voice. Look. On!
DOCTOR 2 [on screen]: (Tomb of the Cybermen) ..in the universe can do what we're doing.

(Quick flash of 3rd Doctor.)

DOCTOR 9 [on screen]: (The Doctor Dances) Just this once!
DOCTOR 10 [on screen]: (Voyage of the Damned) I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord.
DOCTOR 12 [on screen]: (Zygon Inversion) When you fire that first shot, no matter how right you feel, you have no idea who's going to die!
DOCTOR 13 [on screen]: (The Woman Who Fell to Earth) When people need help, I never refuse.
DOCTOR 5 [OC]: (The Five Doctors) I am definitely not the man I was.

(Glimpse of the 11th Doctor.)

DOCTOR: My body is like a barbershop. All of them inside, telling their stories, bickering! I will not fail them!

(In the barbershop they are treated to colour versions of the 4th, 8th and 1st Doctor. The spider starts moving again, faster and faster. The little screen shows the 5th with Tegan and Turlough, then the 6th. The Barber laughs.)

BARBER: You told a never-ending story, and gave me never-ending power!
BELINDA: He's taken out a third of the engine. You can't process that power. Your engine could overload and explode! We'll all be sucked into space!
BARBER: You will not do that. You will not! No. No! Would you? Eh? The stories say you protect life.
DOCTOR: That is what I am doing. You destroy the gods, you wreck seven billion lives!
BARBER: No.
DOCTOR: Seven billion, or us?
BARBER: No!
DOCTOR: I control the engine, you control the doors. Let them out. You were once mortal! Their lives and their stories will end because of you. Do you want that? Do you?

(The Barber activates the door control. It opens.)

DOCTOR: The shop is compressing. The corridor is now a straight line. Go. You go. I will be right behind you, yeah? Belinda, I will be right behind you, okay? Okay?
BELINDA [OC]: I'll wait for you!

[Alleyway]

BELINDA: Go!

(The customers and Omo make it out into the alleyway.)

[Story Engine]

DOCTOR: What are you doing? Listen to me. What would your six word story be? What would the essence of your life be? I want you to live long enough to write it. Don't let this be how your story ends.

[Alleyway]

(Belinda is the last one out. The shop front is wibbling.)

BELINDA: Doctor! Doctor!
OMO: Come back, come back!
BELINDA: No! Where is he?
OMO: He'll make it, he'll make it.

(The wibbling continues.)

OMO: There they are! Come, come, quick!
BELINDA: Doctor! Doctor!
OMO: Yes, come, come!
DOCTOR: It's manifesting!

(The spider is trying to force its way out through the door. The Doctor sonicks it back inside and the shop front stabilises. Laughter all round. In the Nexus, the spider explodes.)

TUNDE: Thank you for keeping your promise, Doctor. Abby, he rescued us, but you... you kept us alive.

(Tunde, Obioma and Rashid prostrate themselves before her.)

ABENA: Rise. And, little brother, run like the wind.
OMO: Oh, yeah. Run, greet your families for me!
TUNDE [OC]: I'm winning all the races!
OBIOMA [OC]: I'm going to find my wife and child! And my mother!
BARBER: All I wanted was to be credited for my work. I have spent my entire existence serving the gods. What will I do now?
DOCTOR: What you do best. Keep collecting stories. Start your own barbershop.
OMO: No need. I'm retiring. I shouldn't have... I thought you could handle anything.
DOCTOR: I can, because you look after me too.
OMO: But you are part of my community. I should have protected you, eh? I'm sorry.
DOCTOR: I'm sorry too.

(Omo offers the Barber his hand and pulls him to his feet.)

OMO: Let all this settle, and continue.
BARBER: Me? I don't belong here. I don't even have a name for people to trust.
OMO: Try "Adetokunbo". My father's name.
BARBER: Thank you. I don't deserve this kindness.
BELINDA: So what will you do now?
ABENA: Anything I want.
BELINDA: I understand if you hate him.
ABENA: I won't have that in my heart. What did you say? Hurt people hurt people. Hmm! Imagine. A mortal teaching a god life lessons.
BARBER: Thank you, Doctor.
DOCTOR: I will be back for a haircut and for that six-word story. Good luck.

(The Doctor kisses Abena's hand. The Barber opens the shop and waves goodbye to Abena.)

[Market]

BELINDA: Did you see a child?
DOCTOR: A child?
BELINDA: Yeah. I saw a spooky kid back there.
DOCTOR: I didn't see anything. But the stories were leaking out, getting mixed up.
BELINDA: Hmm. Okay. Well, you have to tell me about Omo.
DOCTOR: Ah, Omo! Mmm-hmm. Ha! It's a long story. But, er... once upon a time...

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.