The Timeless Children

(Cold Open)

[Planet]

DOCTOR: How are you here?
MASTER: Take my hand.
DOCTOR: Never.
MASTER: Take my hand or I turn them into tiny human dolls right here.
DOCTOR: How have you connected Gallifrey to that Boundary?
MASTER: Fine. You really want me to show you I'm serious? Eenie, meenie, miney... Miney.
DOCTOR: Fine, I'll play your game. I'll be back.
MASTER: She won't. And it's not a game. Good luck, humans. (The Master pulls the Doctor through the purple Boundary.)
RYAN: We have to go through there. We have to go and get her.
ETHAN: No, we have to wait for the others.

(A massive Cybership appears overhead.)

KO SHARMUS: They're here.

[CyberCarrier]

BESCOT: Over here!
RAVIO: Go, go, go, go!
BESCOT: I'll cover you!

(She gets one Cyberman in the chest while the others scramble through grating.)

YEDLARMI: Come on! Bescot!

(Bescot is killed.)

YEDLARMI: No!

(He escapes.)

ASHAD: The ship is ours.

[Gallifrey]

MASTER: Look upon my work, Doctor, and despair. Remember how we used to run through those streets as children? The alleys where we'd hide from Borusa as we skipped classes? All gone now. Come on, ask me why I did this.
DOCTOR: Why did you do this?
MASTER: Not telling you. (laughs) Oh, crack a smile.
DOCTOR: Proud of yourself?
MASTER: Definitely.
DOCTOR: All this death finally made you happy?
MASTER: Ecstatic.
DOCTOR: And has it calmed all the rage?
MASTER: I don't think anything will ever do that. We're going to take a tour through the Capitol. Or its ruins, at least. Things I need to show you. And, er, I know you're worried about your friends. Plotting how to get away. I can see it in your eyes. But you can't help them, so don't even think about it.

[CyberCarrier deep storage vault]

(The bottom of an access ladder.)

GRAHAM: Down you come. That's it. Yaz, come on.
RAVIO: Where's Bescot?
YEDLARMI: They killed her. We have to go back for her.
GRAHAM: No, no, no. No, you can't do that, mate.
YEDLARMI: Listen, don't tell me what I can't do. She had nightmares about being captured and converted. I can't let that happen.
RAVIO: Do you really think that she would want you to go back there and risk your life?
YEDLARMI: I owe her. And what difference does it make anyway? We don't stand a chance here. We are stuck on a ship stacked with Cybermen. Four humans sticking out on every surveillance system they've got.
GRAHAM: He's right, and I've been thinking about that. I've got an idea. It's a bit of a mad one, quite dangerous and it might not work, but we've got form with plans like that, ain't we, Yaz?
YASMIN: Yeah, our speciality. How dangerous?

(They open up one of the pods.)

GRAHAM: We use their armour so they don't notice us. That way, we can move around and get off the ship.
YASMIN: So you want us to disguise ourselves as Cybermen?
YEDLARMI: Have you ever opened one up?
GRAHAM: Well, I guess it won't be pleasant.
RAVIO: They're full of human remains.
GRAHAM: Well, I don't need it spelling out, do I?
YEDLARMI: You can't fake being a Cyberman for any length of time.
YASMIN: We only need to do it for long enough to get us out of here.
RAVIO: If you do the bodies, I could disable the suit connection into the shared neural network.
YEDLARMI: It's insane.
GRAHAM: Well, I didn't say it was a perfect plan, did I? But it is the best one we've got.

[Planet - tent]

KO SHARMUS: This is my weapon store.
RYAN: This all you got?
KO SHARMUS: Well, it's quite hard to get deliveries out here, you know. I had hoped I'd fought my last battle a long time ago. Still... this old general still knows a few tricks.
RYAN: I'm not too sure about weapons.
KO SHARMUS: Yeah, well, I'm sure about Cybermen. Now, you fight them or you die.
ETHAN: They don't have any mercy.
KO SHARMUS: You can be a pacifist tomorrow. Today, you have to survive.

[Citadel]

MASTER: Ah! The Citadel, the heart of Gallifrey. Recognise the old place? I was thinking I might knock through there, put a wet room there, screening room there. Torture room in the cellar, naturally. Oh. And see through there? The Panopticon. Well, what's left, which, er... which isn't much. We had some fun there, didn't we, hey? Graduated. Assassinated presidents. The best of times! But I thought here would be a fitting place to end this. (bingle) Oh. Oop. Excuse me. Check my notifications. Oh, goodie! The Cybermen are here, at the Boundary. Better extend the hand of friendship. Breaker 1-2 calling all Cybes.

[CyberCarrier]

MASTER [OC]: Calling all Cybes.
CYBERGUARD: Leader, incoming holo-transmission from beyond the Boundary.

[Citadel]

MASTER: Hello, Cybercarrier. Ooo, you look rough. Or is that a choice? Don't mean to conversion-shame you.
ASHAD [hologram]: Who are you?
MASTER: You may call me Master. I want you to think of me as your new best friend.

[CyberCarrier]

MASTER [hologram]: Now, the Boundary between worlds, this beautiful anomalous fluke

[Citadel]

MASTER: Come through it. Join me.
ASHAD [hologram]: Why would we join you?
MASTER: Because I have a planet going spare right here. The planet formerly known as Gallifrey.
DOCTOR: No. Don't bring them here. This is between you and me.
MASTER: Don't heckle, dear. I can always decide to cut you short. I promise I'll roll out the red carpet. It's red because it's drenched in the blood of our people.

[CyberCarrier]

MASTER [hologram]: I've sent you the navigation patterns. Come right to the hearts. Do what so many of your predecessors fantasised about.

[Citadel]

MASTER: Land your ship in the ruins of Gallifrey. On the way through, you should send a death squadron. Do you call it a death squadron? A deletion squad. No, a recruitment patrol. A human juicing party. To eliminate the three humans left alive on that planet. They're weak. It shouldn't take much. See you in a bit.

[CyberCarrier]

ASHAD: Send three execution units to the surface. And set course for Gallifrey.

(Six Cybermen beam down.)

[Planet]

(Two groups of six Cybermen appear on the ridge.)

KO SHARMUS [OC]: Here they come. Gird your loins, gentlemen.
RYAN: Er... I don't... I don't how to do that.
ETHAN: Me neither.

[CyberCarrier]

(Another group of six beam down.)

RAVIO: Transmat.

[Planet]

(And two more groups appear.)

KO SHARMUS [OC]: As my first commanding officer used to say, be brave, be swift. Most of all, be lucky.

[CyberCarrier deep storage vault]

(Yedlarmi and Ravio are doing the cutting and drilling.)

YASMIN: All right?
GRAHAM: Yeah, yeah. You?
YASMIN: Yeah.
GRAHAM: Listen, Yaz, er... if we don't get out of this...
YASMIN: We will get out of this.
GRAHAM: Yeah, well... I know, but I'm just saying, if we don't... I want you to know I... I think you're such an impressive young woman. Never thrown by anything. Always fighting.
YASMIN: Thanks.
GRAHAM: You said to the Doc that you thought she was the best person you'd ever met. But you know what, Yaz? I think you are. You ain't got a time machine or a sonic... but you're never afraid and you're never beaten. I'm going to sound like a... like a proper old man, but you're doing your family proud, Yaz, you really are. In fact, you're doing the whole human race proud. Sorry. I haven't offended you, have I?
YASMIN: It's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me.
GRAHAM: Oh.
YASMIN: You're not such a bad human yourself either.
GRAHAM: Not su...? Is that it? I've just said all them lovely things about you, and all you give me is, you're not such a bad human?
YASMIN: Mate, I'm from Yorkshire. That's a love letter.
YEDLARMI: We're ready.
GRAHAM: Oh, okay.

[CyberCarrier]

(Meanwhile...)

CYBERGUARD: Leader, unit malfunction in deep storage vault Micron-Alpha.
ASHAD: Show surveillance.
CYBERGUARD: Surveillance unavailable, Leader.
ASHAD: The humans.
CYBERGUARD: Shall I activate a unit?
ASHAD: No. They are mine.

[Citadel]

DOCTOR: Why would you give Gallifrey to the Cybermen?
MASTER: You're about to have much bigger things to think about. I told you before that everything you knew was a lie. Well, now you get to face the truth, with me at your side.
DOCTOR: Do you really think I'm going to believe anything that comes out of your mouth?
MASTER: Do you remember this place, Doctor? Next to the Panopticon, the Chamber of the Matrix, the Repository of all Time Lord knowledge. A data bank of every Time Lord consciousness, living and dead. Every experience and every memory. The lived history of our race. I... I destroyed a lot of things, but not this trove of secrets. This is what started it all. I was just playing, hacking the system. I got lost in there. And then I found everything. Ah! Truth and reconciliation time, Doctor. Well, maybe not reconciliation. But time you saw the truth for yourself.
DOCTOR: What truth? Oh!

(A column of glowing rings surrounds her.)

MASTER: Paralysis field.
DOCTOR: Whatever you want with me, fine. But save my friends. Don't let the Cybermen take them. If the history between us means anything to you...
MASTER: I do believe you're appealing to my better nature. And we both know I don't have one. I'm not going to help them, and neither are you. And the history between us does mean something. It's the rage and pain in my hearts. I'm sending you deep into the Matrix to understand the truth of Gallifrey and of the Time Lords. Brace yourself. This is going to hurt.

[CyberCarrier deep storage vault]

(Ashad stomps along, then opens one of the pods. Our heroes are inside the Cybersuits. He opens another and gazes deep into the eye sockets. There is a clang so he turns and opens another pod.)

CYBERGUARD [OC]: Leader, we are on optimal proximity to Boundary. Boundary gateway is reopening.

(Ashad storms out of the vault.)

GRAHAM: We've got to get off this ship.

(The CyberCarrier passes through the Boundary.)

[Matrix]

MASTER [OC]: Welcome, Doctor. Are you suffering comfortably? Then I'll begin. Once upon a time... No. Once upon several times, before the Time Lords, before everything we know, there was an explorer. Her name was Tecteun, from a little-regarded, sparsely populated planet called Gallifrey. Tecteun was the first of Gallifrey's indigenous race, the Shobogans, to develop space travel. Dangerous, unsophisticated space travel. She took risks to explore the worlds and galaxies beyond her home. And it was on one of these distant, deserted worlds on the far edge of another galaxy she found something... impossible. A gateway. A boundary into another unknown dimension or universe. Tecteun glimpsed the infinite through that gateway. And beneath the monument, she found... a child. Abandoned. Alone. Thrown through, seemingly, from the other unknown realm. Tecteun had a choice to make. Abandon or save the child? She chose to rescue the foundling and adopt this refugee from another realm as her own. Together they explored the universe. The child grew older, and finally Tecteun returned to Gallifrey with her new child. Like any parent, Tecteun wanted to understand her child. She searched for clues as to the child's identity. Where she might be from, what species she could be. But the child would not yield any secrets Tecteun could understand. The child remained a mystery, until playing with a friend, like any other child, there was an accident. A catastrophe...

(The child falls off a cliff.)

MASTER [OC]: ..for Tecteun, for the child she'd saved, now lost to her. Or so she thought. The child regenerated. The first regeneration of any person on the planet of Gallifrey.

(The CyberCarrier lands on top of the Citadel.)

[Planet]

CYBERMAN: Boundary forcefield gateway now closed. There is no escape for humans.

(An automatic weapon shoots down a Cyberman, then another.)

KO SHARMUS: First trap's sprung. They fell for the old bio-dampener Decoy Human Signal trick. Textbook! Ha!

(The Cybermen destroy the weapons.)

KO SHARMUS: Thought they'd last longer than that.

(Then they shoot at Ko Sharmus.)

KO SHARMUS [OC]: All right, Ryan, they're on the march. You know what to do. We're relying on you.
RYAN: Did I mention I've never been the greatest shot?
KO SHARMUS [OC]: Now!

(Ryan hefts a bleeping basket-ball sized device and eyes his target, then throws it between two batches of six Cybermen. KaBOOM.)

RYAN: Whoa! I did it! In the hoop! Swish.
KO SHARMUS: Great shot.
RYAN: You come for humans, you come for me, Ryan Sinclair! We defeated the Cybermen. Well, me. Technically, it's me.

(Er, behind you?)

RYAN: Oh!
KO SHARMUS [OC]: There are always more. Get inside now. Now!

[Citadel]

MASTER: Ah! Ah! Come in. Come in! No, don't... don't worry about her. She's fully under my control. Congratulations. You have managed something no other Cyberman ever achieved. Maybe... maybe even dreamed of! Gallifrey is yours. Offered as a gift, from an admiring Master. I know our races have been enemies. I lived through the Great Cyber War. I saw the atrocities perpetrated on your race. I want to help put that right.
ASHAD: Why?
MASTER: I fear we have a common interest.
ASHAD: The new Cyber-army shall have one goal. The destruction of all organic life.
MASTER: Ah, so that's your thinking. But how are you going to manage that?
ASHAD: The Death Particle. One Particle, when activated, capable of destroying all organic life.

(And it is sitting in his chest.)

MASTER: Very nice. Ooo. Did you make that?
ASHAD: The Cyberium created it, through me.
MASTER: So you're the host for all Cyber knowledge and strategy. Oh. Interesting. Now, I hate to point out the flaw in your plan. Cybermen are part organic, but you more than most.
ASHAD: My new Cyberwarriors are purged of organic components. We shall rise towards full automation, driven by the intelligence of the Cyberium. And when that work is done, I shall join my warriors and make the final ascension to full mechanisation.
MASTER: Oh, you mean robots. You'll be robots.
ASHAD: We shall be dominant.
MASTER: But robots. Oof. I'm a bit disappointed. I see how you got there - an AI wanting to create more things in its own image - but it lacks vision. Right, what if we, er, workshop this? You know, kick it around a bit? I have notes.
ASHAD: You question the strategy of the Cyberium?
MASTER: I do. I mean, it's good, but it's not great. There's loads of robots. Throw a stick in this universe, you'll hit a robot. I used to do that. Any idiot can make themselves into a robot. It's not special.

(Ashad takes the Master by the throat.)

MASTER: But if you want to be the dominant force in the universe, I can facilitate that.

(Ashad releases him.)

ASHAD: Explain.
MASTER: How fast are the conversion processes on your ship?
ASHAD: They have been restored to optimal efficiency.
MASTER: Good. Good, good. Good. Good! Cos I burned the Citadel, but if I have one weakness, it's that I am a bit of a hoarder. Let me show you. She's waking up in that Matrix. But don't worry, my consciousness can deal with her. I'm that good, I can be in two places at once.

[Matrix]

MASTER: Now, having seen her adopted child regenerate her body, Tecteun, a scientist and explorer, had a new landscape to explore. She dedicated her life to studying her child. Detailed every fragment of genetic material. It took her years. Several of the child's regenerations. Tecteun grew older. Her desire to understand became an obsession. She worked tirelessly, endlessly, furiously. She had to crack this code to understand regeneration. And finally, she did. And to prove herself right, she took the ultimate risk. Tested the theory on herself. Put her own life on the line. Spliced into herself the genetic ability to regenerate. I didn't know any of this. Did you know any of this? Nearly there. The planet of Gallifrey evolved. Shobogans grew in knowledge and ability. They built themselves the Citadel. They discovered the ability to travel through Time as well as space. With Tecteun, they became a self-appointed ruling elite. And Tecteun proposed that they gene-splice the ability to regenerate into future generations of Citadel dwellers. It would become the genetic inheritance of them and their descendants. But he would restrict the regenerative process to a maximum of twelve times. The timeless child became the base genetic code for all Gallifreyans within the Citadel. The civilisation which renamed themselves, with characteristic pomposity, Time Lords. The foundling had become the founder. The rest, as they say, is history.
DOCTOR: What happened to the child?

(The Master laughs.)

DOCTOR: What? What's so funny? What happened to the child?
MASTER: Oh Doctor, really? Haven't you worked this out yet? The child is you. You are the timeless child.
DOCTOR: No. No, I'm not.
MASTER: You always have been.
DOCTOR: I can't be.

[Planet - tents]

KO SHARMUS: Come on, come on. Hurry, hurry!
ETHAN: This place is like a maze.
KO SHARMUS: I made it that way, in case of an eventuality like this.
RYAN: Hey, you never think of doors? Big lockable doors. Indestructible doors.
KO SHARMUS: Dream of them every night. But I had to work with what I had. Now...

(He gives them guns.)

KO SHARMUS: Hide well. Take what shots you can. Kill them before they kill you. Go!
CYBERMAN: Three human life forms detected.

(Ko Sharmus taps one on the back.)

KO SHARMUS: Hello.

(And kills it.)

KO SHARMUS: Too many of them.

(Ethan's hiding place is found.)

CYBERMAN: One human located.
ETHAN: No! No.
CYBERMAN: All humans will be executed.

(Ryan gets one. Then he and Ko Sharmus nearly shoot each other.)

RYAN: Oh! Oh, my days.
KO SHARMUS: Oh, my saints.
BOTH: Where's Ethan?
CYBERMAN [OC]: Attention, remaining humans. We have your friend. You have ten seconds to surrender or he will be executed.
ETHAN: Don't come for me. Argh!
CYBERMAN: Ten, nine.
KO SHAMUS: He's two pathways away. This way.
RYAN: Hey! We're coming! We surrender! Stop!
CYBERMAN: Five, four.
RYAN: I said we surrender!
CYBERMAN: Three.
KO SHAMUS: We surrender!
CYBERMAN: Two, one.
RYAN: No!

(Weapons fire. Ko Sharmus and Ryan burst in to see four Cybermen standing over the bodies of two others, and Ethan unharmed.)

RYAN: I don't understand.

(A Cyberman removes her helmet.)

YASMIN: How about now?
GRAHAM: Er, Yaz, I can't... can't get this hat off.

[CyberCarrier deep storage vault]

MASTER: Wow. Wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow! Ah! You have got a lot of these. A whole Cybercarrier worth. Perfect. So, what's your plan now?
ASHAD: The Cyberium will process and dictate the strategy.
MASTER: The Cyberium. I've heard a lot about that over the millennia. The heart of all your power. The centre of all Cyber knowledge. Oh, come on, Cyberium, show us some leg. What do you actually look like, hmm?
ASHAD: It will not leave me while I live.
MASTER: Oh. Okay.

(The Master walks away, then turns and shrinks Ashad. The silver liquid expands and floats in the air.)

MASTER: Well, aren't you pretty? And fast. You made your exit very swiftly there. Worried, were you? I thought if he was compressed, the Death Particle would activate and all this would be over. I would've been okay with that. I thought it was a nice little gamble. But no, gere we are, all still alive. And one miniaturised Death Particle still in him, waiting for its moment for its chamber to be smashed open. Oh, shoot. I should've said, somebody needs to cut you down to size, then zapped you. I was just trigger-happy. I'll use it next time. Sit there for a mo. Oh, sorry, were you close? Candidly, I think you can do better. I request an alliance. I deserve to be your business partner because I have performed well in all tasks. I ransacked the Matrix of the Time Lords, distilled all the knowledge, all the experiences, all the discoveries, into these brains up here. All the Cyber knowledge, all the Time Lord knowledge. Put it together, what do you get? Absolute supremacy in the universe. Choose me.

(The Cyberium enters the Master.)

MASTER: Wow, that was quick. Wa-ha-ha! Whoa! Woohoo! At least buy me... dinner!

[Matrix]

MASTER: This is no time to be sleeping. Is it hurting, Doctor? I hope it's hurting, because it really hurt me.
DOCTOR: It's all lies. None of this is the truth.
MASTER: For the first time in my lives, I can honestly say every word is true.
DOCTOR: I know my life. I know... I know who I am.
MASTER: No, you don't. You never have. Your life has been hidden from you. Our founding parents wanted a noble creation myth for the Time Lords. Born To Rule.
DOCTOR: I remember my home. I remember growing up. I remember you and me at the Academy together.
MASTER: That happened. It just wasn't your first life.
DOCTOR: Why would they lie? Why would they do that?
MASTER: I wish it wasn't true, but it is. You know what I find the most infuriating? You always behaved like you were different, like you were... like you were special. And you were. You can see... you can see why I'm angry. A little piece of you is in me. All I am is somehow because of you, and believe me when I say, I cannot bear that.
DOCTOR: Show me the rest.
MASTER: I'm not sure you can cope with much...
DOCTOR: Show me the rest! I have a right to know my own life.
MASTER: All right. But I'm not sure it's going to make you happy.
SOLPADO: The policy of the Time Lords is clear. strict non-intervention in other worlds and times. However, policy and reality sometimes diverge. There are times when it is necessary to intervene. That is the purpose of The Division. The tests we set you. These results are the best I've ever seen.
DOCTOR: Those images. Ireland. I've seen them in my head. What are they?
MASTER: Shhh. She's talking.
SOLPADO: The Division does not exist. The Division does not have operatives. We are not even here. Do you understand? I propose...

(The scene vanishes.)

DOCTOR: What have you done?
MASTER: Not me. That was done long before I got here. Everything from here is redacted, blocked out, all but erased. There was something here. A lot of stuff, seemingly, but now it all just looks like this. I've tried everything, everything, to decode it, but it's... it's unrecoverable, beyond even my brilliance. And it's not often I say that.
DOCTOR: But it's my life.
MASTER: Yeah.
DOCTOR: How much was lost?
MASTER: Impossible to tell. It took up a lot of space in the Matrix, though. Yeah. There is one final trace. Those glitches of Ireland you keep seeing. Those images, they were buried deep in the Matrix. Tecteun put a visual filter over it so that no one who watched it would find it remarkable. I transmitted them into your mind as you tracked the Cybermen. Maybe this is the last gift of a parent. A clue. Or an apology. You can decide. Did Tecteun leave these images for you to decode one day?

[Garda]

PATRICK: We have to get rid of everything, I'm afraid.
SERGEANT: Thank you for your service. We're sorry you won't remember it.

(Brendan screams. The Doctor looks at the inscription on the carriage clock - For Services To The Division.)

MASTER [OC]: What did they do to you, Doctor? How many lives have you had?

[Citadel]

MASTER: Wake up. I know you're broken, but it's all over now.
DOCTOR: What do you mean?
MASTER: When I said I killed everyone here... I did keep the bodies, just... just cold enough in case they'd be useful. I thought... I thought maybe some good can come out of all of this. Your adopted mother isn't the only one who can experiment. I mean, what if... a new race could be created? Huh? Time Lord organics with the ability to regenerate and self-repair in Cyber armour. Invincible! A perfect army, right? Right? Oh, come in, my pretties.

(Cybermen wearing Time Lord collar style helmets and cloaks enter.)

MASTER: Yeah! Doosh, doosh, doosh. Line up. Attention! Yeah, that's it. Well, let's test it out. Shoot him. Shoot him!

(The indicated Cyberman shoots the other one.)

MASTER: Good dog! All dead. Er... wait. Could it be?

(The fallen Cyberman regenerates.)

MASTER: Yes, it could! Behold your new CyberMasters, Doctor. All born from you, but led by me. How does that feel? Huh? Now, no time to lose. Don't move. Oh, that's right, you can't. Can you feel a new era dawning, Doctor? For Gallifrey.
CYBERMEN: For Gallifrey!
MASTER: For the Time Lords.
CYBERMEN: For the Time Lords!
MASTER: For the end of the universe itself!
CYBERMEN: For the end of the universe itself!
MASTER: Sweet dreams. This way, soldiers.

[Planet]

RAVIO: The Boundary, it's real.
RYAN: Yeah, and the Doctor's on the other side.
RAVIO: So, how do we do this?
KO SHARMUS: The Boundary will absorb us, but you have to take the step.
GRAHAM: Step into the unknown. Who fancies going first?

(Yasmin walks forward.)

YASMIN: Ah!

[Gallifrey]

(Followed by Ko Shamus and the others.)

YASMIN: This is Gallifrey. This is where The Doctor's from.
GRAHAM: We're never going to find her in this lot.
YASMIN: Yeah, we are. We're going to find her and we're going to rescue her. She's done it for us enough times, now it's our turn. This is going to be even more dangerous from here. You don't have to come.
RAVIO: We owe you. We're in. Right?
ETHAN: Right.
YEDLARMI: Great. How am I meant to contradict that if you're going all heroic?
RYAN: You coming?
KO SHARMUS: I've already lived longer than I expected. There must be a few last things I can blow up before I'm done.

[Matrix]

DOCTOR: Oh, great. What are you doing here? Or are you the Matrix playing more games with me?
RUTH: Don't ask me, I'm as lost as you are in here. Maybe you just summoned me.
DOCTOR: Where do you fit into all this? Were you me all that time ago? Were all my memories of you erased? Did they force me back into becoming a child? How many more of me are out there?
RUTH: I don't have those answers. But say I did, would they even help?
DOCTOR: Of course they would. All this, it means I'm not who I thought I was.
RUTH: Because your memories aren't compatible with what you learnt today.
DOCTOR: Yes.
RUTH: Have you ever been limited by who you were before?
DOCTOR: Ah. Now, that does sound like me talking. I'm so tired. The Matrix is sapping all the energy of out of me.
RUTH: No time to be tired. Still work to do out there. Lives at stake. Armies being born. People need the Doctor.
DOCTOR: I don't know how to stop The Master.
RUTH: Course you do. That one question that's nagging at you, the one thing he said that you didn't understand.
DOCTOR: The one thing who said? The Master?
RUTH: No. Get out of here. I know this place has blown your mind. Maybe you should return the compliment.

(Ruth vanishes.)

DOCTOR: No, wait. Are you still there? Of course she's still there. If you were me, you're buried within me, buried within... Too many thoughts. All right, first things first, what did she say? Mind blown. Yes! Of course! All this history, all these lies, it's too much stimulus. It might work. I've fought the Matrix before, denied its reality, I can do it again. Maybe. Well, you know what they say, Doctor, nothing ventured, nothing blown. Oh! I'm talking to myself again. That's a good sign. Thanks, Doctor. Still here. No, shut up, I need to concentrate. Er... All right. Have a blast of this, Matrix.

(Massive sequence of images going backwards through all the established Doctors and then a bit more. The paralysis field explodes.)

[Citadel]

YASMIN: Doctor!
GRAHAM: Yaz, is she all right?
RYAN: Doctor? Doctor, we're here for you.
DOCTOR: My fam.
KO SHAMUS: She's not dead, then.
DOCTOR: Who are they? Are we having a party? Oh. All those memories. The Matrix. The memories blew the Matrix. Oh, she's clever. I'm clever. We're all clever. All of us. However many that is. All right, then. Off we go. Oh. No, there's something I'm missing. The Master is creating a new race of Cybermen using Time Lord bodies. An endlessly regenerating army. I have to stop him. Fast. You shouldn't be here. No humans on Gallifrey.
KO SHAMUS: If it helps, we have explosives.
RYAN: And a plan.
GRAHAM: A Cybership's parked up in the middle of your hometown. It's ripe for blowing up.
RAVIO: We're going to strategically place bombs around the ship, including some close enough to the core.
DOCTOR: Yes. Good. Do that. But it won't achieve everything. A race of CyberMasters. Can't let them off the planet. Have to be stopped. And your bombs aren't going to do that. We need more! But there isn't anything more. The Master's seen to that. The Master's seen to everything.
YASMIN: Are you all right, Doctor?
DOCTOR: That's what's been bugging me. That's the thing that he said to me.
ETHAN: What thing who said?
DOCTOR: The half-converted Cyberman.
ASHAD [memory]: The death of everything is within me.
DOCTOR: That's what he said. Oh, what did it mean?
RAVIO: There is a myth around him.
YEDLARMI: The Death Particle.
RAVIO: The legend is, he, it, whatever, has a Particle in a tiny chamber inside its chest. It will take out all organic life on a planet.
RYAN: That's grim.
DOCTOR: Or it's a solution. A timer on an explosive to activate the Particle. Clear evacuation plan.
KO SHARMUS: Only if you've got a way to get us off this planet before it hits.
DOCTOR: You all good to set those explosives? I'll deal with the rest. Meet in the corridor below the carrier. Go on, then. Now, I need to get a fix on The Master. Got him.

[CyberCarrier]

(Various locations.)

KO SHARMUS: Found the activator core. If this one goes, it'll set off chain reactions across the carrier.
RAVIO: We're set.
YEDLARMI: Sweet dreams, losers.
DOCTOR: Where's the Master? He should be here.

(She finds the shrunken Cyberman and scans it.)

RYAN: The Master? He did that?
DOCTOR: But the Death Particle is still in place. Just smaller than before. If The Master did this, what happened to the Cyberium?
MASTER [OC]: You think I didn't feel you connecting to me? Laid you a false trail. Left you a gift, though.
DOCTOR: You and me, Matrix Chamber. No one else. One last time.
MASTER [OC]: Fine.
DOCTOR: I need to get you all off Gallifrey.

(Ko Sharmus sets his last explosive.)

KO SHARMUS: Oh, dear. Sorry for the short notice, but it seems that the main trigger device has a mind of its own and has set all the others going. May I suggest a very fast getting the hell off this ship?
YASMIN: Run!
CYBERMEN: Human life form located. Delete. Execute all humans. All humans must be deleted. Humanity shall be eradicated. Incendiary devices identified.

(The CyberCarrier explodes.)

[Capitol]

GRAHAM: Thanks for the warning.
KO SHARMUS: You're still alive, aren't you?
DOCTOR: Everyone, through here.
GRAHAM: Come on.

[TARDIS]

(A traditional hexagonal console in a room with roundels.)

RYAN: It's a TARDIS. It is a TARDIS, right?
GRAHAM: Looks like it.
RAVIO: Sorry, what's happening now?
YASMIN: This can take us all home.
DOCTOR: Don't touch. Still working. Any explosives left?
KO SHARMUS: One. Emergencies only.
DOCTOR: Timer?
KO SHARMUS: Hand detonation only.
DOCTOR: Yeah. Course. I'll take it.
GRAHAM: So come on, Doc, what are you thinking?
DOCTOR: One option left. I have to use the Death Particle on Gallifrey. On my home. On the Master and his new breed of Cybermen.
RYAN: You sure you wanna do that?
DOCTOR: I'm sure I don't want to do that, but there's no alternative. If the Master and the Cybermen get off this planet, they'll be unstoppable. I started this with Shelley and the Cyberium, now I have to finish it. Alone.
YASMIN: What?
DOCTOR: The TARDIS will take you back to Earth. All of you. You can settle in the 21st century.
RAVIO: You're not serious.
DOCTOR: Deadly.
RYAN: What about you? You detonate that thing, you'll die too.
DOCTOR: That's the way it has to be. And I would do that in a heartbeat for this universe. For you, my fam.
YASMIN: We're not letting you go. You're not doing this.
DOCTOR: Get off me, Yaz. Please.
RYAN: Yaz, come on.
DOCTOR: Live great lives.

[Citadel]

(The Master is there with his Cyber-Time Lords.)

DOCTOR: I definitely said no plus-ones.
MASTER: Well... Oh!

(The Cyber-TLs aim their weapons at the Doctor.)

MASTER: Where I go, they go now.
DOCTOR: Are you going to have them shoot me?
MASTER: No, Doctor. As of now, I wish my enemies a long and healthy life, so they may witness my many triumphs, because they will be legion.
DOCTOR: You're looking peaky.
MASTER: Oh, yeah. The Cyberium lives in me now, Doctor. Yeah. Yes. See, I've been looking forward to seeing your face about that. I can feel it flowing around in me. The information, the strategy, the... the... the consciousness. It's a beautiful thing. And look at us. I have broken you and created a new race. And now? Now I shall conquer... everything. Oh.
DOCTOR: You think you've broken me? You'll have to try harder than that. You've given me a gift. Of myself. You think that could destroy me? You think that makes me lesser? It makes me more. I contain multitudes more than I ever thought or knew. You want me to be scared of it because you're scared of everything. But I am so much more than you.
MASTER: Wow. Oh. So, why are we here?

(She takes the explosive out of her pocket, with the little Ashad stuck to it.)

MASTER: Oh, good, very good. That's why I left it for you. Wondered if you would... take out me, take out these lifeforms, all those bodies still in the vaults, every organic cellular life form on this planet... forever. And yourself. Do that, would you?
DOCTOR: Yes. This time, yes.
MASTER: Go on, then. You were the start of all of this, now finish it. Come on, come on. Come on! Come on, come on! What have you got left anyway? You don't even know your own life. Look how low I have brought you. I have won, Doctor. You may have made me, but I have destroyed you. Become death. Become me. Come on. Come on, come on!

(She lowers the grenade.)

MASTER: For just a moment there, I thought maybe. Argh. Oh Doctor, the universe will suffer for your weakness. I'll make sure of it.
KO SHARMUS: Not if I have anything to do with it.
MASTER: Excuse me. No gate-crashers.
DOCTOR: You can't still be here. I set the controls.
KO SHARMUS: I followed you out. They tried to stop me, but I wanted to be sure that these things are gone. And now I can be.
DOCTOR: No.
KO SHARMUS: You didn't start this. I did. I was part of a resistance unit that sent the Cyberium back through Time and space. Though obviously we didn't send it back far enough. So this is my penance. Mine to finish. My journey ends here. But the universe still needs you, so I suggest you run.
DOCTOR: But...
KO SHARMUS: Run, Doctor! Don't you dare.
MASTER: Doctor!

(The Doctor runs out.)

KO SHARMUS: Still feeling confident?

(The Doctor sonics her way into another TARDIS.)

MASTER: Kill him.
KO SHARMUS: Killed you first.

(He falls under multiple blasts, then triggers the explosive.)

MASTER: All of you, through here, now!

(The Capitol explodes.)

[Housing Estate]

(A detached house appears and Ravio steps out of the front door.)

RAVIO: This is Earth. Oh. We're on Earth.
YASMIN: We're home. She got us home. But what happens to her?

[Quarry]

(The Doctor steps out from a tree.)

DOCTOR: Oh yeah, nice. Good chameleon circuit. I'm going to have to leave you there, though. I can think of worse places to spend eternity.

(She walks over to a blue Police Box.)

DOCTOR: Hello, mate.

[TARDIS]

(It powers up as she walks in.)

DOCTOR: Thanks. Home sweet home. They got a lift back another way. Don't get jealous. I'll pick them up now. Maybe just need a moment.

(Suddenly a klaxon sounds, then three Judoon beam in.)

DOCTOR: What?
JUDOON: Judoon Cold Case Unit. Fugitive, the Doctor. Sentence, whole of life imprisonment, maximum security facility.

[Prison cell]

DOCTOR: What? What?!

(This prison is built into an asteroid in deep space. So not Stormcage, then.)

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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