Part One

[Spaceship]

(The life support system pumps air to the numerous hairy bipeds lying on tiers of cots around the room. We move out into a corridor.)

SAGAN [OC]: Eighty. Seventy.

(Past control panels on metal walls and graffiti on another - Kilroy was here - and - Aldo - scrawled in red.)

SAGAN [OC]: Sixty. Fifty. Forty.

(More graffiti from Kilroy. We come to an area where a man in an orange jumpsuit is lounging on a chair holding a hand of cards. His companion is listening to the countdown.)

SAGAN [OC]: Thirty, twenty nine, twenty eight, twenty seven, twenty six.

(The man takes one card and discards another.)

SAGAN [OC]: Twenty five, twenty four, twenty three, twenty two, twenty one, twenty.

[Bridge]

(Above the card players is a horse-shoe shaped bridge. A silver haired human in a grey jumpsuit is at one console, two men in orange at another, one at a third and a hairy biped is secured in a chair.)

SAGAN [OC]: Nineteen, eighteen, seventeen, sixteen, fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero.
RORVIK: Hit it! Hit it!

(Everyone say Hi! to Kenneth Cope, sounding petulant as ever.)

PACKARD: How can I hit it? He's still not visualising.
RORVIK: Well, jump them.
PACKARD: What, the timelines? You can't do it blind.
RORVIK: I'll say what we can and can't do. Oh, anything's better than staying here. Ignition!

(Rorvik hits a control on Packard's console. The whole place flickers sideways.)

SAGAN: We have lift off.

(The two men playing cards cheer. Rorvik goes over to the hairy creature.)

RORVIK: Now we'll have to see, Biroc. Show us where we're going.

(The monitor above Biroc stays blank.)

RORVIK: Right. High-tension cable. We'll run it to his feed point. That ought to boost him.
PACKARD: Kill him, more like.
RORVIK: Always looking on the gloomy side, Packard.

(The card players pass comment.)

ALDO: He'll kill him.

(His companion produces a large coin.)

ROYCE: You want to bet?
RORVIK: Connect the cable and switch on. (Biroc stiffens.)
SAGAN: We're closing on something.
ALDO: All right, it's fifty fifty. Okay.

(Aldo flips his own coin.)

PACKARD: He's right! We're heading for a time rift!

(The picture stutters. Packard flails about and grabs a rail to stop himself falling over. The coin stops in mid air. Then consoles explode and the coin lands. A vague image of the TARDIS appears on the monitor above Biroc's head.)

[TARDIS]

(The TARDIS is juddering.)

ROMANA: One more go.
DOCTOR: Haven't you done enough damage already?
ROMANA: It's not me, it's a time rift. She won't respond to the coordinates.
DOCTOR: Here, let me have a try. Just needs a little friendly persuasion, that's all.
ROMANA: I have been friendly!
DOCTOR: Probably too friendly. I said a little friendly. Firm but friendly. Watch.

(The juddering stops.)

DOCTOR: There.

(And starts again.)

DOCTOR: It's jammed. I've lost control. We're adrift in E-space.
ROMANA: Come on, Doctor. We've got to do something.
DOCTOR: Have we?
ROMANA: What do you mean?
DOCTOR: Maybe that's it.
ROMANA: What, drifting?
DOCTOR: The way out of E-space.

[Bridge]

(Young Sagan gets up off the floor and presses a few buttons.)

SAGAN: Helm readings show no space, no time, just like before.
RORVIK: Damn you, Biroc. Right back where we started. Stuck in this nothing for months and months and now this.
PACKARD: We've got damage!
RORVIK: Well, of course we've got damage! How bad?
SAGAN: Lane's taking a look.
LANE [OC]: Lane to Bridge.
PACKARD: What's the news?
LANE [OC]: The outer shell's torn. A rip you can climb right through. In fact, I just did.
PACKARD: Never mind the frills. What about the hull?
LANE [OC]: I'm checking that. Nothing structural that I can see.

[Outer skin breach]

(Lane is trying to put out an electrical fire with his kerchief.)

LANE: The electrics are falling apart though. Tsk, dear oh dear. Ow.

[Bridge]

RORVIK: Lane, will you stop fooling around and give me a proper report. Lane!
PACKARD: What about the warp drive?
RORVIK: Packard's worried about the warp drive.
LANE [OC]: If this power line goes up, there won't be any warp drive.

[TARDIS]

ROMANA: Go on, then, admit it. You don't know what your doing.
DOCTOR: I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just following intuition.
ROMANA: It's no better than tossing a coin.
DOCTOR: What's so improbable about tossing a coin? Never heard of the I-Ching?
ROMANA: Superstition.
DOCTOR: Random samplings that affect the broad flow of the material universe.

(Adric takes a coin out of his trouser pocket.)

ROMANA: The holistic view?
DOCTOR: The holistic view.
ROMANA: Huh. Astral Jung.
ADRIC: What's the I-Ching?
K9: Ancient Chinese book of philosophy accessed by random sampling.
ADRIC: So how does that work then?
K9: One traditional method is tossing of coins. The I-Ching methodology casts doubt on the value of normal causalistic procedures.

(Adric tosses his coin, catches it and puts it on the back of his hand.)

K9: And, of course, vice versa.

[Bridge]

LANE [OC]: You were asking about the warp drive?
PACKARD: Yes?
LANE [OC]: Don't ask. It's shot to hell.
RORVIK: Okay, Lane. Back in here.

(Static crackles.)

RORVIK: Lane?
PACKARD: Lane? Lane? Lane! Huh! Communications are breaking up now!
RORVIK: What about you, Biroc? Are you breaking up? Why no pictures?
ALDO: He's going.
RORVIK: You blew out my warp drive. You did that on purpose.
ROYCE: What a waste. I wouldn't get much for his scrap value.
PACKARD: We've got to get him patched up. We'll lose him.
RORVIK: Typical Packard. Always thinking of your bonus.

(Rorvik stops Packard unfastening Biroc and sends him back to his console.)

RORVIK: Sagan, Kilroy. Take him below and get him fixed up.

(Sagan nudges Kilroy to wake him, and they obey. )

ALDO: We're back in nowhere.
ROYCE: Well, nowhere's somewhere.
ALDO: Somewhere that's not even suppose to exist.
RORVIK: Report from the helm. That's you, remember? Instrumentation status.
PACKARD: What do you want me to say?

(The console got blown up.)

[Spaceship]

(Sagan and Kilroy are half-carrying Biroc through the corridor when he opens his eyes. He puts his feet down and pushes them to the floor, then goes down a flight of steps to a locked door. He opens the keypad as Lane enters from another door with his smoking kerchief. They meet in the middle, stare at each other then Biroc leave through the door Lane came in by. Lane gets out his pocket communicator.)

RORVIK [OC]: Bridge, yes? Lane, is that you? What is it, man?

(Lane clears his throat.)

RORVIK [OC]: Well?

[TARDIS]

(Things are still not smooth and normal here.)

DOCTOR: It's always darkest before the storm.
ROMANA: Dawn.
DOCTOR: Dawn. Isn't that right, K9?
ROMANA: According to your theory, we just press any button and hope for the best.
DOCTOR: Yes, well that might help.
ROMANA: But not that button!
DOCTOR: You didn't really think I'd activate the Reverse Bias, did you? Huh. It's extremely difficult to generate non-determinate action. I mean, ha. Maybe, subconsciously, I wanted to press that button.
ROMANA: In full flight?
DOCTOR: Yes. In full flight.
ROMANA: Ahem, Doctor, can I have a word with you?

(Romana drags the Doctor away from the console to the coat stand.)

ROMANA: Have you got a death wish?
DOCTOR: No, I don't think so. Don't you want to get back to Gallifrey?
ROMANA: You know I don't want to get back to Gallifrey.
DOCTOR: Well, we'll burn that bridge when we come to it. It's all academic unless we find the CVE.
ROMANA: What about Adric?
DOCTOR: What about Adric?
ROMANA: Well, if we get out of E-Space, we'll be taking him away from his own universe.
DOCTOR: So?
ROMANA: Do we have that right?
DOCTOR: Oh, he'll love it on Gallifrey.

(Adric goes to the console, flips his coin and presses a button. Normality resumes.)

K9: Hexagram nine. Hsiao Ch'u. The taming power of the small. Quote, if you are sincere, blood vanishes and fear gives way.

(Biroc runs through a white void.)

DOCTOR: What have you just done? What's he just done, K9?
K9: Nondeterminate activity in accordance with the theory you were offering, master.
DOCTOR: Oh, that's perfectly all right then.

(Then everyone gets thrown to the floor. The TARDIS doors open onto the white void.)

DOCTOR: You all right, Romana?
ROMANA: I'm fine.
DOCTOR: Adric?
ADRIC: I think so.
DOCTOR: Good.

(The light from the void makes parts of the console explode. The Doctor snatches back his hand.)

DOCTOR: Ah! Time winds!

(K9 begins to smoke. The Doctor wraps his scarf around his hand to push him out of harms way, then Biroc enters and puts his hands on the console.)

[Bridge]

RORVIK: So now we've got a busted warp motor and no navigator. Nowhere to go and no way of getting there. Yes? Any views on that?
SAGAN: Wait a minute!

(The TARDIS is on his monitor.)

RORVIK: A minute. We've got all eternity.
SAGAN: I'm getting something on the short range scanner.
RORVIK: What is it?
SAGAN: I don't know, but it's solid and it's moving.
PACKARD: I've got it over here, too. It looks as if we've got company.
SAGAN: They're coming in to land.

[TARDIS]

(The doors have closed, and the image of Biroc is jumpy as he operates the console.)

ROMANA: He's out of phase.
DOCTOR: Of course. That's how he got in. He's on a different timeline.
ROMANA: But he should be torn apart.

(Biroc finishes his work.)

[Bridge]

(Lane has returned to the bridge.)

PACKARD: They might have someone who can fix the warp motor.
RORVIK: So why are they caught between the timelines like us?
PACKARD: Well, we won't know that until we find out, will we?
RORVIK: And we still need Biroc back, or we'll have to get one of the other ones out of storage.
PACKARD: You can't revive any of them out here. You need the full apparatus.
RORVIK: Oh, we can jury rig something if necessary. So some of them may die. And that cuts into everybody's profits, a chunk out of everybody's bonus. If you want to complain, bring it to Mister Sagan here, because he's the one who managed to lose your navigator for you. We're going out to that ship.
LANE: How will I find it?
PACKARD: Portable Mass Detector. Aldo, Royce! Break it out from the stores, will you.

(The card players below sigh and get up.)

ROYCE: Let's have the keys then.
ALDO: I gave them to you.

(Aldo unzips Royce's breast pocket and holds up the keys.)

ROYCE: It's non-stop, Aldo. Non-stop.
RORVIK: You'll be leading the way.
LANE: Why me?
RORVIK: In case they're hostile.

(The implications take a few moments to sink in.)

[TARDIS]

(The time rotor has stopped and the doors are open again.)

ROMANA: Can he see us?
DOCTOR: About the same way as we can see him.
ROMANA: Who are you?

(Biroc's voice comes from a long way away.)

BIROC: I am Biroc. Others follow.
DOCTOR: Others?
BIROC: Believe nothing they say. They are not Biroc's kind.
ROMANA: But what are you?
BIROC: The shadow of my past and of your future.

(Biroc leaves the TARDIS.)

DOCTOR: The shadow of his past
ROMANA: And of our future.

(The doors close behind Biroc and he runs back through the void.)

DOCTOR: Romana, check those coordinates.
ROMANA: They're all locked off at zero.
DOCTOR: Yes. Now listen, you two stay here and hold the fort. I'm going to follow Biroc. Come on K9. K9? Come on. He wasn't built to withstand this type of punishment. Come on now, come on.
ADRIC: Maybe it was the time winds.

(The Doctor sighs and rests his head against K9's. There is a little beep.)

DOCTOR: He's still alive!
ROMANA: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Yes?
ROMANA: Zero coordinates.
DOCTOR: Yes. Ponder on that.

(The Doctor leaves the TARDIS.)

ADRIC: Ponder on what?
ROMANA: Don't you see? Our N-space is positive and your E-space is negative.
ADRIC: I see. Then this must be the intersection. Well, somewhere near the intersection.
ROMANA: If the Doctor can find it.

(A little later, Romana has got her toolbox and is working on K9.)

ADRIC: You're sure you can repair him? What's N-space like?
ROMANA: I've just told you, Adric. It's positive.
ADRIC: Hmm. Well, I must say I'm quite looking forward to going there with you and the Doctor.
ROMANA: What if The Doctor and I went different ways?
ADRIC: But you wouldn't, would you.
ROMANA: Now, these are parts of his oops!

(The component crumbles to dust in her hand.)

ROMANA: Memory. How are you feeling, K9?
K9: Misconception of the functional nature of this unit. I neither feel nor find it necessary to express states of efficiency or dysfunction.
ADRIC: Does that mean he feels all right?
ROMANA: I'll have to check.
K9: All systems functioning. Recommend priority transferred to the three humanoid life forms approaching the TARDIS.
ADRIC: What? He's having delusions!

(Rorvik, Packard and Lane walk through the void. The Portable Mass Detector is a chest-sized box strapped to Lane. The beeping speeds up. )

(Meanwhile, Romana enters from the interior with an armful of boxes.)

ROMANA: These stores really are the limit. Nothing's catalogued. Half the shelves are empty. This was all I could find. Adric? Adric.

(Adric is looking at the scanner, so Romana does too and sees the three men approaching.)

ROMANA: But that's impossible. The coordinates are at zero.
K9: Probability computes at zero point zero zero zero five seven, mistress. Please apply point six seven error correction to this estimate. Error in error correction estimate estimated at point three seven zero five.
ROMANA: We should do something. He'll go like this forever.

(Romana pulls a wire in his back.)

K9: Correction. All present and correct. King's Regulations brackets Army close brackets report of the orderly sergeant to the officer of the day. Default is martial

(K9 runs out of power and stops.)

ROMANA: It's all going to be all right, K9.
ADRIC: They've got guns! Oh, I wish the Doctor were here.
ROMANA: So do I. Oh, never mind. It's all going to be fine. I'm fully qualified. Bring me a box.
(Adric tips a load of junk out of a box.
Boric has reached a lovely gothic stone doorway with solid oak doors, but most of the rest of the building is missing. He pushes them open and enters a blackness. After a little hesitation, the Doctor follows him.
Boric burst through another door into a Great Hall, full of cobwebs hanging from a chandelier over the table set for six, and a two suits of armour by a pillar. There is one person at the table, presumably long dead. Boric walks forward and disappears through a mirror between two pillars.)

[Outside the TARDIS]

(Packard walks round the TARDIS and tries to look in through a window. Then he hits it with the butt of his hand weapon.)

RORVIK: Well?
PACKARD: It's a solid object.
RORVIK: Check.
LANE: These readings don't make sense.
RORVIK: Oh, give me a printout.
LANE: It's a ship.
PACKARD: What, for midgets?
LANE: Or a coffin for a very large man.
RORVIK: Yes, all right, that's enough of that. Let's bust it open.

[Great hall]

(The Doctor enters, stands up a fallen goblet and taps the trestle table. He goes to the suits of armour, straightens the pike and helmet of one of them and taps the other on the breast plate, then walks away. The suit straightens up and follows him. The Doctor has found Biroc's manacles on the floor by the mirror. The suit raises its battle axe to strike.)

Part Two

[Great hall]

(The Doctor hears the moving metal above him and dodges out of the way, then runs before the slow suit of armour can work out where he has gone. The Doctor has joined two other suits and is holding a pike whilst standing very still. The suit examines each and walks past. The Doctor turns his head, the suit swings round and smashes the pike with his axe.)

DOCTOR: This could be a very short friendship.

[TARDIS]

ROMANA: If they've got a mass detector, they may have compatible memory wafers.
ADRIC: For K9?
ROMANA: Mmm.
ADRIC: Why don't we go out and ask them?
ROMANA: What, trust them? Remember what Biroc said.
ADRIC: And why believe Biroc?
ROMANA: Because he was running. Keep your eyes on the screen.
ADRIC: Well, then, what are we going to do?
ROMANA: I'll go. If they're all right, I'll give you a signal and you can come out. If not, stay put. Especially if I do this.

(Romana raises one arm at a time above her head, clasps her hands together and puts them behind her head.)

[Outside the TARDIS]

(Packard has resorted to kicking at the door when Romana opens it.)

ROMANA: Hello.
RORVIK: Who are you?
ROMANA: Romanadvoratrelundar.
PACKARD: Are you alone?

(Romana pulls the door shut behind her.)

ROMANA: Not now you're here. Can I help you?
RORVIK: Or can we help you?
ROMANA: It depends. Isn't that a mass detector? Rather handy for finding your way around in all this. Where are you from?
LANE: Our ship. The warp drive packed up.
RORVIK: She doesn't mean that. We're traders. Do you know what a Tharil looks like?
ROMANA: Would that be a sort of leonine mesomorph, with a lot of hair?
PACKARD: Yeah, that's him. Our navigator.
RORVIK: Have you seen him?
ROMANA: Vision is subjective. Particularly if the object is loosely connected to the time lines.
RORVIK: What do you know about the time lines?
ROMANA: My ship travels through them. So does yours.
PACKARD: How do you know that?
ROMANA: It must do. That's how we've all got stuck here. We are in the theoretical medium between the striations of the continuum.
PACKARD: Stuck? Who says we're stuck?
RORVIK: If you're time-travelling, where's your Tharil?
ROMANA: Tharils? I don't use Tharils.
PACKARD: You must use Tharils. How can you navigate if you can't see where you're going?
ROMANA: I use a digitally modelled time cone isometry parallel bussed into the image translator. Local motion is mapped in each refresh cycle
RORVIK: Yes, well, never mind all that. Biroc. Where did he go?
ROMANA: That's an interesting philosophical questions.

[TARDIS]

ADRIC: They may have compatible memory wafers. That's what Romana said.
K9: Wafers memory compatible have may they.
ADRIC: What?
K9: Query imprecise. Additional data required.

[Outside the TARDIS]

ROMANA: What's the matter with your warp drive?
LANE: It's the main power line. The insulation's gone. A few more
PACKARD: Nothing we can't fix.
RORVIK: No, wait a minute. You know about warp drive?
ROMANA: What are you using, continuum warp or implicate theory?
LANE: Supralight speed with dampers.
ROMANA: Huh. Well, it's probably your toroidal time dilators. They're usually the first to go.

(Romana stretches up and puts her hands behind her head.)

ROMANA: Where is your ship?

(Rorvik points. Romana looks at the display on the mass detector.)

ROMANA: This way.

(Romana leaves and Lane follows.)

PACKARD: We don't want her snooping around.
RORVIK: You don't think so?
PACKARD: No.
RORVIK: Good job you're not running this outfit. She must be a time sensitive, like the Tharils.

(Rorvik and Packard leave, and Adric looks out of the TARDIS.)

[Great hall]

(The Doctor has acquired an armful of broken pike shafts.)

DOCTOR: You're a machine. I usually get on so well with machines. I don't suppose you happen to know the way out into N-space, do you? I believe it's somewhere around here. It's er.

(A second robot is staggering towards him.)

DOCTOR: Uh oh.

[TARDIS]

K9: Alert. Danger.
ADRIC: Romana's in danger? Come on, let's get after her. No, I forgot. You stay there.
K9: Orientation in the void dangerous without computer assistance.

(K9 backs out through the doorway.)

ADRIC: But are you up to it, K9?
K9: Question irrelevant. This unit will function at practical optimum.

[Void]

RORVIK: That's her.

(A spaceship built on the 'reclining couch' design.)

ROMANA: It does have a certain legendary quality. What is she? Passenger transport?
RORVIK: Bulk freighter. Full of questions, aren't you.

[Great hall]

(There is now a robot on each side of the Doctor. He bows deeply, they grasp their axes in both hands and swing, hitting each other on the helmet and falling over. The Doctor straightens up again.)

DOCTOR: They've cut each other dead.

[Spaceship]

(The group enter the spaceship. Packard picks up a telephone by the main entrance.)

PACKARD: Packard here. Party aboard. Make safe the hatchway.
MAN [OC]: What?
PACKARD: Close the door.

(A door slams shut in front of Packard.)

PACKARD [OC]: After I've gone through!

(The door opens, Packard walks through and it closes again. Romana follows Rorvik up a staircase.)

RORVIK: This way.

[Void]

ADRIC: Well, I thought she went that way.
K9: Mass detection circuits indicate maximum reading on current vector. Probability of error (beep)
ADRIC: Well, what is the probability of error, K9?
K9: Recomputing. Probability of error, eighty seven point seven nine four eight percent.
ADRIC: Eighty seven? But that's terrible!
K9: The accuracy of this unit has deteriorated below zero utility.
ADRIC: You mean you're worse than useless.
K9: Affirmative.

[Bridge]

(Rorvik enters with Romana.)

RORVIK: You two, get off my bridge. And stow that junk.

(Aldo and Royce get up and head down the stairs.)

RORVIK: And this is the bridge, nerve centre of the whole operation.
ROMANA: What operation? What are you actually up to?
RORVIK: Oh, more questions.
ROMANA: Not many answers.
RORVIK: These are the lads with all the answers. My team. Best drill you can get. Efficient as anything on the space race, isn't that right, lads?

(Aldo and Royce are slouched in their usual chairs.)

ALL: Yeah.
RORVIK: Isn't that right, lads?
ALL: Yes, Captain.
RORVIK: Nothing these boys can't do when they put their minds to it. Look what Captain Rorvik's brought you, lads. A new navigator.
ROMANA: Me? I can't navigate this.
RORVIK: Oh, you'll be surprised to see. Fix her up.

(Packard and Sagan grab Romana and thrust her into Biroc's chair, clamping her head between two large metal earmuffs.)

ALDO: Navigator? Wouldn't give her five minutes.
ROYCE: Wanna bet?
ALDO: You?

(They both shake their heads.)

[Void]

ADRIC: Perhaps you could teach me to detect mass.
K9: Zero feasibility, young master. Mass detection dependent on articulated sensors, thus.

(K9 wiggles his ears.)

ADRIC: Oh, I see. I suppose you use triangulation.
K9: Affirmative, young Adric.
ADRIC: Then your accuracy depends on the distance between your sensors.
K9: Deduction is correct. To anticipate logically consequent question, affirmative.

[Bridge]

RORVIK: Let us start her off at seventy.
PACKARD: Are you sure she's a time sensitive?
RORVIK: No.
PACKARD: Oh. Because if she isn't, she'll be burnt to a frazzle.
LANE: That's how you tell.

[Void]

(Adric has removed K9's right ear.)

ADRIC: You stay where you are.

(Adric walks away.)

K9: Mass detection error resolved. Resume.

(K9 trundles off without Adric.)

[Bridge]

(The monitor above Romana's head shows a faint image of the gothic doorway.)

PACKARD: That's it. Look!
RORVIK: Yes. Not very good. Step it up. Another twenty five. That's ninety five.

(Romana groans. The picture does not improve.)

RORVIK: Right, cut it. Everybody here, shut up and listen. The girl was a long shot, and she isn't working out, so we're going to have to start reviving some of our precious cargo. And that'll lose a lot of bonuses if it goes wrong, and it will. We'll just have to keep at it until we find something we can use. This is a democratic ship, right? So I want to hear now from anyone who has any different ideas.

(Romana whimpers, and the image becomes sharper.)

RORVIK: What in the name of all that's sacred's that? Quick, boost that voltage. Sagan, can you can get a fix?
SAGAN: It's not a time picture. It's geographical.
PACKARD: You mean something out there now?
RORVIK: Expedition gear. We're going out to it. Move! Time sensitive, huh? Don't think I've finished with you yet.

[Great hall]

(The Doctor is prising the top off the robots.)

DOCTOR: Poor things. Hardly any better off than K9. Ah ha. Memory wafer.

(He pockets it, then sticks a screwdriver into the head of the other one and turns it. A voice comes from the robot.)

GUNDAN: No Tharil shall outlive the day of the feast.

[Bridge]

(Rorvik, Packard, Lane, Kilroy and Sagan are kitted up for the expedition.)

PACKARD: Right, stow her below.
RORVIK: No, leave her. Let's get this moving.
PACKARD: What's the hurry?
RORVIK: Up to you, Packard. Personally, I think we've just seen the way out.

[Outside the spaceship]

(Aldo and Royce follow their leader to the ramp.)

RORVIK: Not joining us, gentlemen?
ROYCE: Er, well, sir, it's the string in me leg. It's gone again.
ALDO: It's the truth, sir. I saw it go.
RORVIK: Tragic. Right, you'd better break out one of the cargo and set it up for revival.
ROYCE: Revival? What, with no facilities? We can't do that.
RORVIK: I don't expect you to. We'll take care of it when we get back. Just set it up.

[Great hall]

GUNDAN: We are Gundan. We exist to kill. Slaves made the Gundan to kill the brutes who rule.
DOCTOR: What particular brutes did you have in mind?
GUNDAN: The Gundan were sent where no slaves could go. We faced the time winds and we lived. They had only the gateway to flee for safety.
DOCTOR: Gateway? Gateway to where?
GUNDAN: Gateway. Gateway. Gateway.
DOCTOR: Gateway to where? Just as it was getting interesting. If only I had an alternative source of energy.
K9: Orders, master. Orders.
DOCTOR: K9. Just the chap I wanted.

(K9 come into the hall backwards.)

[Cargo hold]

(Aldo sweeps a flashlight across the rows of Tharils.)

ALDO: Heads you choose.

(Aldo tosses his coin. Outside, Adric tosses his and walks on.)

[Spaceship]

(Aldo wheels out a gurney with a Tharil on it. Royce puts a curved piece of metal around its head.)

ROYCE: Right, that's the way it goes, I think.
ALDO: No, the other way round.
ROYCE: It don't matter. Works either way.
ALDO: Oh.

(Royce plugs it into a console.)

ALDO: What happens next?
ROYCE: Close down that solenoid and you're away. It's not as complicated as it looks.
ALDO: Go on, then.
ROYCE: Er, no, well, we'd better leave it to them.
ALDO: How do you know so much about it? You seen it done before?
ROYCE: Er, no, not on a ship. Something usually goes wrong. They don't like it.
ALDO: Yeah, because it means their bonus is up the spout.
ROYCE: But we're on the all-in contract.

(They close the solenoid together. The Tharil screams and Romana opens her eyes. The Tharil is jerking, screaming and smoking.)

ALDO: Switch it off!
ROYCE: You switch it off!

(Aldo pulls the plug out of the console and the Tharil lies still, apart from his hand twitching out of sight of the two men.)

[Great hall]

(The Doctor has put K9 on the table and wired him up to the robot.)

DOCTOR: Listen, K9, I'm sorry to have to ask you to do this, but all this stuff about the gateway is terribly important.
K9: Energy levels critical.
DOCTOR: The whole thing's critically critical, old chap. This could be the way out. Now come on, be a good dog and power up.

(The final crocodile clip goes on K9's ear.)

DOCTOR: Come on, power up. Up, up, up, up. Good dog. Now. Now. What's all this about the gateway?

(The spaceship expedition has arrived at the doorway. Rorvik opens it.)

GUNDAN: There were always slaves from the beginning of time. The masters descended out of the air riding the winds and took men as their prize, growing powerful on their stolen labours and their looted skills.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, look, look, I'm sure this is frightfully interesting. Could you get back on to the bit about the gateway, please?
GUNDAN: The masters created an empire, drained the life of the ordinary world.
DOCTOR: Your ordinary world. I'm from N-space.
GUNDAN: They came from the gateway.
DOCTOR: Ah ha.
GUNDAN: There are three physical gateways and the three are one.
DOCTOR: Well

(Rorvik and co enter.)

GUNDAN: The whole of this domain, the ancient arch, the mirrors.
DOCTOR: The thing is, it's not actually a physical gateway that I'm looking for.
GUNDAN: All the gateways are one.
DOCTOR: Ah. So it is here. The way out.
RORVIK: Something we're all interested in, I think.
DOCTOR: Oh, hello. You seem to have attracted a big audience.
RORVIK: Let's have the rest of the recital.
DOCTOR: Ah, ahem, he, er, he doesn't seem to be too sure of his lines.

(Rorvik and Lane point blasters at the Doctor.)

RORVIK: Prompt him. Go on, more.
DOCTOR: All the gateways are one. All the gateways are one. You see, I'm so sorry, he's completely run down. I'm the Doctor, by the way, and that's K9, and we just happened to
GUNDAN: There are three physical gateways and the three are one. This is the place from which the masters came. Here a great empire once stood, ruling all known space.
SAGAN: This must be the place
RORVIK: Shush!
GUNDAN: For all their skills, the slaves could not approach the gateway in their own persons. But once they learned its secret, we were built, the Gundan robots, to wage war on them.
DOCTOR: Gundans, eh?
RORVIK: And the secret of the gateway is?
GUNDAN: The secret of the gateway is

(The other robot that the Doctor took the memory wafer from knocks off its head and heads for the mirror. Rorvik shouts into the head.)

RORVIK: Yes? Yes?
DOCTOR: Stop that Gundan!
RORVIK: Move!

(Back on the spaceship, the Tharil gets up off the gurney.)

PACKARD: There's a way out through here.
RORVIK: If you know the trick.
PACKARD: We'll just have to find it, won't we?
RORVIK: That Doctor knows. Where's he gone? Find him!

(The Doctor is tiptoeing along an upper gallery carrying K9.)

PACKARD: There he is! Look!

(They chase after him.)

[Great hall]

DOCTOR: Come on, K9. Nearly there.

(Rorvik and Co advance on him with weapons drawn, so the Doctor backs away straight through the mirror.)

K9: Orders, master. Access required. Immediate priority.

(On the spaceship, Romana is trying to free herself as the Thoril makes its way up towards the bridge. It enters and sees her, and reaches a hairy paw towards her face. Romana screams.)

Part Three

[Behind the mirror]

(Romana's fears are unfounded, as the Thoril starts to release her. Meanwhile, the Doctor can see and hear the others through the mirror. Then he discovers that he is not alone.)

DOCTOR: Biroc, how did I get through the mirror?
BIROC: The time winds touched your hand. It will be healing now.
DOCTOR: What?

[Bridge]

ALDO [OC]: I'll go down that way. You have a look in there.
ROYCE [OC]: Come back! It's in here!
ALDO [OC]: You first, then.
ROMANA: They're looking for you. Hide.

(Romana puts the arm restraint back.)

[Great hall]

(Packard is hitting the mirror with his weapon.)

RORVIK: No! No brute force. This needs some thought.

(The men back away, and Sagan fires his blaster at the mirror. The bolt ricochets off.)

K9: Angle of incidence equals angle of reflection.

[Behind the mirror]

RORVIK: Thought, I said.
DOCTOR: But what about K9? The time winds positively blasted him. Can he pass through the mirror?
BIROC: When the time is right.

[Great hall]

(Rorvik kicks the mirror. It hurts his foot.)

K9: Newton's third law of motion. Action and reaction are equal and opposite.
(Out in the void, Adric is still using his coin tossing technique to decide which direction to walk.
Rorvik kicks K9, who trundles into the middle of the room, pushes out his nose laser and promptly runs out of energy.)

[Behind the mirror]

DOCTOR: K9! If we can get him through the mirror, will it repair him?
BIROC: You have in your pocket a memory wafer you took from the Gundan.
DOCTOR: What? That's right. Yes, I have. Look. Look.
BIROC: K9 will be restored in the same way.
DOCTOR: Then we must get him here.
BIROC: That will happen. But your hand is living matter and will remain healed when you return to the other side of the mirror.
DOCTOR: So K9 can only be revived on this side of the mirror?
BIROC: Where he must stay.
DOCTOR: No, don't go. Don't go, please. Where is this place? Where have you brought us?
BIROC: You are where you were.
DOCTOR: What? The gateway still? But that's nowhere.
BIROC: For the Tharils and those with us, it opens onto a whole universe.
DOCTOR: I see. I see. E-Space. That's right. Yes, for you people it's a jumping off point for E-space, but for non-time sensitives, Biroc. Biroc, I understand. Biroc? He's gone again. It's like talking to a Cheshire cat.

[Bridge]

ROYCE: He's not in here.
ALDO: Her mind's gone. She's dreaming.
ROYCE: I knew she couldn't take that voltage.
ALDO: Yeah, that must be it. There's nobody here.
ROYCE: How long's she going to be doing this? We can't keep checking up every five minutes.
ALDO: Plug her up again. Give her another dose.
ROYCE: You're very generous with the amperage. Do you think we should?
ALDO: Who's to tell? Come on, let's get on with it. We'll never get through here.
ROMANA: What are you doing to those creatures?
ROYCE: She's talking!
ROMANA: That's right. I'm talking to you and I want some answers.
ALDO: She did see something.
ROYCE: What did you see?

(Romana opens her eyes and they back away.)

ROMANA: A time sensitive. A Tharil, wasn't he? How many more of them are there?
ALDO: Where is he?

(An alarm beeps, making the men jump, and a monitor starts displaying text.)

ROMANA: Answer it!

(In the void, Adric runs away from something.)

[Great hall]

(Rorvik is using his communicator.)

RORVIK: Who's that, Royce?
ALDO [OC]: Aldo here, sir.
RORVIK: Break out the MZ. I've sent Packard and Lane back for it.

[Bridge]

ALDO: He wants the MZ.
ROYCE: Not the MZ. What's he up to?
RORVIK [OC]: At the double!
ALDO: Well, at least he doesn't want us out there.
ROYCE: That's something.
SAGAN [OC]: Sagan here, Aldo.
ROYCE: Royce, sir.
SAGAN [OC]: Right. You can bring the lunch over here.

[Void]

(K9 is following Packard and Lane.)

K9: Orders, master. Orders.
PACKARD: Vanish!
K9: Orders, master.
PACKARD: That was an order. The MZ'll do it.
LANE: Can't be sure.
PACKARD: Why not?
LANE: We can't be sure of anything in this place. These readings don't make sense. How can it be a shorter distance coming back than going?
PACKARD: Is that what it says?
LANE: All the machinery is packing up. It's bad luck having that girl on board, that's what it is.
K9: Reference order quote vanish unquote. To vanish, to cease to exist, to become zero. Present environment fulfils this condition. This unit awaits next order.
PACKARD: There's our bad luck.

[Monochrome land]

(In a land of black and white, the Doctor walks through a wrought iron gateway into parkland, and stops by a stone carving of a lion attacking a horse. Welcome to Powis Castle, Wales.)

DOCTOR: I must be crossing the striations of the time lines.

(Biroc gestures for the Doctor to follow him between tall yew hedges and across an upper terrace with stone balustrade and carvings.)

[Outside the spaceship]

K9: Orders, master. Orders.
LANE: This thing's getting heavier.
PACKARD: I don't know. We made that trip back fast enough.
K9: Mass instability anomaly. Further data required.
LANE: Yeah, seemed like that to me too. Not as far coming back as it was going out.
K9: Imminent decision necessary.

(K9 follows the men into the spaceship. Packard carries him out.)

K9: Microcosm universe system unbalanced and contracting.

(Adric runs in behind Packard's back as he throws K9 away.)

[Spaceship]

(Adric dodges past Lane as he puts down the mass detector. Packard picks up the entry telephone.)

PACKARD: Right, close the doors.

(Packard steps through and the doors close behind him. Biroc leads the Doctor to a coloured set of walls and windows, then vanishes. (The outside telephone buzzes, and Packard opens the doors to answer it.)

PACKARD: Packard. Oh, yes sir, yes. The MZ's ready.

(Romana comes down the stairs and chooses the same hiding place as Adric.)

PACKARD: No, no, no, it's bound to do the trick. What?

(Lane clatters down the stairs, masking Packard's lines.)

LANE: The girl's gone.
PACKARD: Shut up. No, not you, sir. It's Rorvik. Yes, sir. Right. Soon as we can. What?
LANE: She got out of the harness.
PACKARD: Well, she must be here somewhere. What do you know about it?
ALDO: Nothing.
ROYCE: Not us.
ALDO: Never seen anything.
PACKARD: Typical. Typical. Come on, get the MZ outside. Come on, move!

(The MZ appears to be the large object with the gold cover that Adric and Romana are hiding behind.)

PACKARD: Rorvik's thinking of giving it a back blast if the MZ doesn't move it.
LANE: The warp motors might just stand it.
PACKARD: Might? We'll have to do better than that, Lane.
ROYCE: Never a moment to yourself on this ship.
ALDO: You pull, I'll push.
ROYCE: I don't like the sound of that.
ALDO: All right. I'll push, you pull.
ROYCE: Right.

(Royce moves the large object. Packard speaks into his communicator.)

PACKARD: Right, search the ship.

[Outside the spaceship]

(We get a view of the positions of everything in the void. The TARDIS is close to the Gate, and the spaceship a little further off with its engines pointing towards the Gate. The Doctor is still trying to work out where he is.
Royce guides the MZ down a ramp with Aldo doing nothing to help.)
ROYCE: When was the last time we had this out?
ALDO: Oh, the Tharil hunt on Shapeer.
ROYCE: Either we're getting old or this is getting heavier.
ALDO: Bit of both, I reckon.

(The men go back inside the ship, and Adric and Romana come out from underneath the gold cover.)

ADRIC: We're outside.
ROMANA: Pity. I want to be on the inside.
ADRIC: But I've just rescued you.
ROMANA: Thank you, but I have got to find out what they're up to in there. Do you know what a Tharil is?
ADRIC: No.
ROMANA: Well, there's one loose on this ship and they're all terrified of it. It's like Biroc, but horribly burnt.
ADRIC: Where's the Doctor?
ROMANA: I have seen him.
ADRIC: What is it?
ROMANA: I'm not sure. That machine they put me into. It projected an image, a gateway. The Doctor might be there.

(The spaceship door opens again and they get back under the sheet. A man walks past and they get out again.)

ROMANA: Come on, let's follow him. Follow.

(The man was Lane, and there is a big hole in the side of the spaceship where Adric and Romana can watch him.)

ROMANA: So it wasn't just a trick. There really is warp damage.

(Lane uses his communicator.)

LANE: No chance of taking off with the motors in this state. Should be good for a back blast, though.

[Bridge]

PACKARD: What's that, Lane? Lane, I'm not getting you.

[Engine room]

PACKARD [OC]: Lane!
LANE: There's something wrong with the electrics. I'll go and check the main cables.

[Outside the spaceship]

ADRIC: We can get back into the ship this way.
ROMANA: No, it's just a breach in the outer skin. The hull's sealed. That's funny.
ADRIC: What is it?
ROMANA: Those warp motors are huge. Three times what they need for a ship this size.

[Engine room]

LANE: Lane again. I'm worried about these main cables. A few more inches, we'll lose all our drive power. I'm going up to check the main routings. Hello, Packard?

(Nothing but static. He heads up a ladder.)

[Outer skin breach]

ROMANA: Wait here.
ADRIC: Romana?
ROMANA: It's dwarf star alloy. The whole hull's made of it.
ADRIC: Dwarf star alloy?
ROMANA: Dwarf star molecules are compacted under enormous gravitational force. That's why the alloy's so heavy.
ADRIC: No wonder they need big motors.
K9: Alert. Danger. Warning. Present mass anomaly increasing. Dimensional contraction of microcosmic system. Orders.
ROMANA: Shush!
K9: Urgent request for orders. Imminent danger of mathematical vanishing. Orders. Mass conversion anomaly. This microcosm subject to imminent dimensional instability.
ROMANA: Shush, K9.
K9: Alarm. Warning. Danger.
ROMANA: Stop him.

(Adric chases K9 off.)

ADRIC: Quiet!

(Romana climbs back out of the hole just before Lane comes back.)

LANE: That damn machine again.

(Then he sees Romana, and Packard grabs her from behind.)

ROMANA: Get K9 back to the! (she bites Packard's hand) Go to the gateway! Go to the gateway!
(In the bizarre stone building with Scottish background music, the Doctor is met by a female Tharil and gently led by the hand.
Romana is dragged round to the main entrance.)
PACKARD: Put her in the hold. Who's that boy? He must be another one from the blue box.
LANE: He's somewhere out there now. Do you get the feeling it's closing in around you?
PACKARD: Hmm. It's time we got back. Get the mass detector.

(Aldo and Royce bring out a case. Lunch, presumably.)

LANE: Get the mass detector. If it's not too much trouble.

(Aldo and Royce go back inside. Meanwhile, a young crewman opens a door to find the burnt Tharil behind it. It knocks him out. Romana and the Tharil touch hands and vanish into the void. The female Tharil leads the Doctor through a Long Gallery.)

[Outside the gateway]

(Adric and K9 are under the gold sheet of the MZ.)

PACKARD: Right, we're here.

[Great hall]

(The Doctor looks down on the hall in it's heyday, with Tharils dining at the table and being served wine by a wench.
Romana sees it turn to cobwebs and a Gundan's axe cleaves the table.
Rorvik takes his feet off the table as the MZ is wheeled in.)
SAGAN: They're here.
RORVIK: That was quick.
LANE: Very odd. Seemed no distance at all this time.
RORVIK: Right, now I want your complete attention for the next couple of minutes. This is going to be a nasty job. The MZ isn't something to fool around with. You all remember what happened the last time.

(He breaks off as the Tharil leads Romana down the stairs and through the mirror. Aldo and Royce enter.)

ROYCE: Right. Lunch up, lads.

[Great hall 2]

(As they walk through the castle grounds, Romana notices that the Tharil's burns have been healed. The Doctor is served with a plate of food.)

DOCTOR: My goodness. You live like kings.
BIROC: We are kings.

[Great hall]

(The contents of the lunch hamper are being handed out, which is far more important than what their Captain has to say.)

RORVIK: Now listen, I'm only going to say this once. We're stuck here with no warp motors and no navigator. Now in practical terms that means we stay here forever unless we do something about it. Listen! And that means the mirror. There's a way through. You've all seen it. That's why we brought up the MZ. Will you listen to me when I'm talking!

(Rorvik gets out his blaster. That grabs his crew's attention.)

RORVIK: This is very serious. We are in a terminal situation. A dead end.

[Great hall 2]

DOCTOR: Such variety. Where did it all come from?
BIROC: The universe is our garden.
DOCTOR: Ah. So this is what it was all like.
BIROC: At the height of our empire, before the Tharils became the slaves of men.
DOCTOR: I notice you don't do too badly for staff. This garden of yours, the universe. How do you manage it?
BIROC: We use our power for those who travel on the time winds. The vastness of space is no obstacle. Everything is ours.

(A Tharil hits the wench. The Doctor goes to help her up again.)

DOCTOR: Including her?
BIROC: They're only people.
DOCTOR: So you're the masters the Gundan spoke of? The enslavers.
BIROC: The weak enslave themselves, Doctor. You and I know that.
DOCTOR: Yes, yes. This is no way to run an empire.

(A Tharil points a knife at the Doctor. Romana sees it all from the gallery.)

ROMANA: Danger! The Doctor's in danger!

(A troupe of Gundan robots enter. Romana rushes to the Doctor's side.)

ROMANA: Doctor!

(And an axe cleaves the table.)

[Great hall]

(The Doctor and Romana are with the spaceship crew.)

RORVIK: Well, Doctor. This is a surprise.
Part Four

[Great hall]

DOCTOR: And for me, too.
ROMANA: We must have jumped back over the striations.
DOCTOR: Yes.
RORVIK: You seem to come and go around here with a great deal of freedom.
DOCTOR: Yes. It's alarming, isn't it? And the culinary arrangements are variable, too.
RORVIK: What's the secret? Something you'd care to share with us?
ROMANA: You won't get the Doctor's help by pointing guns at him.
RORVIK: I negotiate from strength.
DOCTOR: Much the best way, if you can do it.
ROMANA: So you've mended your warp motors, then? Found a new navigator?
DOCTOR: Shush. Not so aggressive. We're all in the same boat and they know it.
RORVIK: Except that you know the way out.
DOCTOR: I do?
RORVIK: That way.
DOCTOR: Oh, no, no. One way only. That's for Tharils.
RORVIK: I don't believe you, and neither do my men. Do you, men?
ALL: No. No.
DOCTOR: A hungry bunch. Now, listen. There's nothing beyond those mirrors for people like us, except the reflection of what's here. Only the Tharils can enter your universe that way and that's a talent they're born with. The talent that you hunt them for.
ROMANA: A cul-de-sac?
DOCTOR: Yes. Now, unless we work very closely together, we could be caught here until the crack of doom. Oh, what's the use. Could I have one of your pickles? I had a rush lunch.
RORVIK: All right, why not. It's his last meal.
DOCTOR: Well, that goes for all of us. Yeah, soon we won't be better off than that chap over there.

(The skeleton in the chair opposite.)

DOCTOR: When the pickles run out.
RORVIK: Enough of the gossip. The secret, Doctor.

(Three blasters point at the Doctor's head as K9 backs into the hall.)

K9: Orders, master. Orders.
PACKARD: I don't believe it!
DOCTOR: K9! Where have you been, my dear old thing?
RORVIK: Is that yours?
K9: Mass conversion anomaly. Alert. Danger. Warning.
RORVIK: Oh, shut him up.
DOCTOR: Don't say that! He may have a point. What mass conversion anomaly?
K9: Dimensional contraction of the microcosmic system. Orders.
DOCTOR: Contraction? This could be serious.
ROMANA: It's the memory wafers, Doctor.
DOCTOR: What?
ROMANA: He's going a bit funny.
K9: Mathematical vanishing imminent. Warning.
DOCTOR: No, that's not funny. That's. What's causing it?
K9: Impossible to compute. Space time instability.
RORVIK: Time to play with your toys later, Doctor.
DOCTOR: I think not! If K9's right, and he usually is, this place is in worse shape than we thought it was.
PACKARD: You can't get worse than the back of beyond.
DOCTOR: Soon it may not even be that.
ROMANA: K9 says its dimensions are contracting.
RORVIK: Well, that's the silliest thing I've heard all day. Who's going to believe that?
PACKARD: Well
RORVIK: I thought you might. It's ridiculous. Space contracting?
ROMANA: And time.
PACKARD: At least hear him out. What's the hurry?
DOCTOR: Quite a lot. How long have we got, K9?
K9: Contraction curve exponential. Estimate on present data beyond capability of this unit.
ROMANA: So it's starting?
DOCTOR: Slowly.
ROMANA: But might collapse completely at any minute.
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, but it would need a huge mass to disturb time and space to that extent. Even the TARDIS doesn't weigh that much. Neither does their ship.
ROMANA: It might. The hull is made of dwarf star alloy.
DOCTOR: What?
ROMANA: Dwarf star alloy.
DOCTOR: Dwarf star alloy? What are you playing at? Is it something to do with these?

(The Doctor holds up Biroc's manacles.)

ROMANA: They're slavers.
DOCTOR: Yes. Trading in time sensitives. And dwarf star alloy is the only material that will hold them.
RORVIK: And it's very expensive.
DOCTOR: How many more of those poor creatures have you got in that hulk of yours?
RORVIK: Poor creatures? Each one's worth a king's ransom, Doctor. You seem to understand business even less than you understand science. This wild theory about contraction.
DOCTOR: No wild theory about contraction. K9. No, K9. K9!

(K9 is at the mirror. The Doctor rushes to him.)

RORVIK: Hold it.

(K9 speaks backwards.)

RORVIK: Your machine seems to know as much about it as you do. Get up!
PACKARD: So what you're saying is, the distances are getting shorter.
LANE: Like between the ship and here.
DOCTOR: Yes. As the domain contracts.
RORVIK: Shut up! He's playing for time.
DOCTOR: Playing for time? Quite the reverse.
LANE: He's right about one thing. The trip between here and the ship. Each time we've done it, it has been shorter.
DOCTOR: Yes, and if I can get back to my TARDIS, I can prove it and find out exactly how much time we have left.
RORVIK: Oh, gobbledygook. We can deal with this in very short order. Get us through. Time's run out for you, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Hello, Biroc.

(Biroc is on the other side of the mirror. Time stops as they have their conversation.)

BIROC: Doctor. You've seen our past, you've seen our present. You were right. We abused our power. But judge whether we've not suffered enough.
DOCTOR: As you said, the weak enslave themselves.
BIROC: The time of our enslavement is over. We will be free.
DOCTOR: I wish you luck. But what about us? Have you got any ideas on that count?
BIROC: Do nothing.
DOCTOR: What?
BIROC: It is done.
DOCTOR: Biroc? Biroc? It's all very well for you, but
RORVIK: Time's run out for you, Doctor.

(Adric is standing by the MZ.)

ADRIC: Please! Please! Just let the Doctor go. I don't know what these levers do, but it's pointing in your direction.
RORVIK: Don't touch anything!

(The Doctor picks up K9.)

RORVIK: You poisonous runt. Who is this boy?
DOCTOR: Oh, he's just a friend of mine. Adric, Romana, get K9 outside, quickly.

(The Doctor steers the MZ back towards the entrance. They all try to hide behind Rorvik.)

RORVIK: You'll never get away with this, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Don't move, lads. It's on automatic.

[Outside the gate]

(Romana and Adric come outside, carrying K9. The Doctor takes him.)

DOCTOR: Come on, let's find the TARDIS.

[Great hall]

RORVIK: All right, lads, get them!
SAGAN: It's on automatic.
LANE: It doesn't have an automatic.
RORVIK: Get them!

[Outside the TARDIS]

DOCTOR: There she blows.
ADRIC: We found it.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, that's one of the advantages of living in a rapidly shrinking micro-universe.
ROMANA: What are the others?

(The Doctor enters the TARDIS.)

DOCTOR: Other what?
ROMANA: Other advantages?
DOCTOR [OC]: Ah, well, it's difficult to say.

[Outside the gate]

PACKARD: The ship's moved!

(It is within sight of the gate now.)

RORVIK: Contracting continuum.
PACKARD: Gobbledygook.
RORVIK: Oh, you never learn anything, do you. There's only one thing for it. Right, everybody. The MZ.

(The bridge crew re-enter the gate. Aldo holds Royce back.)

ALDO: I'm not going near that thing. That's a dangerous weapon, that it.
ROYCE: No, Rorvik knows what he's doing. He's seen us right up to now. Hasn't he?

(There is the sound of the MZ powering up. The two men run for it. KaBOOM! and smoke and bits of masonry come flying out of the gate, followed by Rorvik and his crew.)

RORVIK: Don't give up, lads. We'll go for the back blast.

[TARDIS]

ADRIC: Why don't we just dematerialise and go?
DOCTOR + ROMANA: No.
ROMANA: We can't just dematerialise and leave them. There are slaves on that ship.

(The rumble of the warp motors knocks them off their feet. The spaceship lifts off.)

ROMANA: What's happening?
DOCTOR: Shush. Mass attraction. There's something moving out there. It's shaking the entire gateway.

(The spaceship turns.)

ADRIC: Look!
ROMANA: What's he doing? He can't take off with his warp motors in that state.
DOCTOR: Back blast.
ROMANA: What?
DOCTOR: Back blast. He's going to use the jets to try and smash through the mirrors.
ROMANA: He's mad. The back blast backlash will bounce back and destroy everything.
DOCTOR: Yes.
ROMANA: It's bound to accelerate the collapse of space around here.
DOCTOR: Yes.
ADRIC: But surely that would flip you back into N-space if you dematerialised at the right moment?
DOCTOR: Shush.
ROMANA: We cannot even think of that with those slaves on board. We've got to do something.
DOCTOR: I'm not hopeful.
ROMANA: Neither am I.
ADRIC: Wait a minute. There is that damaged area.
DOCTOR: Yes. What damaged area?
ROMANA: Of course.
DOCTOR: What?
ROMANA: By the warp motors.
DOCTOR: Yes?
ROMANA: The main cable insulation is exposed. We might be able to short out his power.
DOCTOR: No.

(The Doctor goes to the console and flicks a lever.)

DOCTOR: Right. Stop! If I'm not back for whatever reason in thirteen and a half minutes, I want you to dematerialise.
ADRIC: Without you?
ROMANA: I am not letting you go alone.
DOCTOR: That's an order. It's about time you started accepting orders.
ROMANA: It is long past time, but how do you think you're going to find the cable?
DOCTOR: With my eyes.
ROMANA: Adric and I have seen it.
DOCTOR: Good. Come on.
ADRIC: I'm coming too.
ROMANA: You are not. It's long past time you learnt to obey orders. Now stay here, and if we are not back for whatever reason in thirteen and a half minutes, I want you to dematerialise. Do you understand?
DOCTOR: I like that. I think you're improving.
ROMANA: It's a matter of complete indifference to me.
DOCTOR: Indifference? Thirteen and a half minutes.
ADRIC: I'm sure you will.

[Bridge]

RORVIK: Steady now. I want a landing that wouldn't ripple the skin on a custard.

(The spaceship touches down with its engines pointing at the TARDIS, which is very close by.)

RORVIK: Good lads. Who's got control of the overload power?
MAN [OC]: I think it's me.
RORVIK: You think? Listen, everyone. This isn't the MZ we're messing around with here, it's a full blown back blast. I'd appreciate it if you'd keep your eye on the controls.
PACKARD: Back blast activated, and building.
RORVIK: How long till full power?
PACKARD: It's hard to tell with the motors in this state. About ten minutes.
RORVIK: Revivals. Break out the cargo.
PACKARD: What, now?
RORVIK: Well, if this works, we'll need to see where we're going.
PACKARD: You can't do a proper revival in ten minutes!
RORVIK: We'll revive them all. One of them might come through. Well, try it. Let's do something round here for a change.

[Cargo hold]

ROYCE: Don't switch the light on.
ALDO: Why not?
ROYCE: Well, it's bad for them.
ALDO: What, you think this is going to do them any good?

(They wheel out the first Tharil.)

ALDO: I don't know. Ten minutes to plug them all up. Rush, rush, rush.
SAGAN: Ready?
ROYCE: Yes, sir. Just as the Captain ordered. Meet the sardines.
SAGAN: Prepare for revival. Switch on now. Well, what's the matter?
ALDO: Er, I feel I'm coming over a bit nauseous, sir. I'll be all right with a breath of air.

(Aldo leaves, and Royce tries to follow.)

SAGAN: And where do you think you're going?
ROYCE: Oh, I'll just go and make sure he's all right, sir. I'll be back in a minute.

[Spaceship]

(Aldo has hidden in a store room, and brewed a couple of mugs of drink.)

ALDO: Psst.

(Royce enters and takes a mug. There is a scream from the cargo hold.)

ALDO: I can't stand a lot of that.
ROYCE: Funny you signed on with Rorvik.
ALDO: Light duties is what he said.

(Another, louder, scream.)

ROYCE: It'll all end in tears, mark my words.

(A third scream.)

[Cargo hold]

(Rorvik and Lane enter.)

SAGAN: Sorry, sir. It's no good.
RORVIK: No good? What kind of report's that?
SAGAN: Three tries, three rejects.
LANE: Could be the power fluctuation where we had the damage. I'll go and look.
RORVIK: Since when do you give yourself orders on my ship? I'll check the cable, you get back to the bridge. Well, break out some more.

(Biroc and the other Tharil, who is apparently called Lazlo, are hiding by the main hatch when Rorvik leaves the spaceship. Lazlo enters.)

[Outer skin breach]

ROMANA: The clipboard marks the spot. I'll stand guard.

(The Doctor climbs through the hole and up a ladder. When he's out of sight, Romana enters and heads for a staircase. The Doctor reaches the top of the ladder.)

RORVIK: Is this what you're looking for, Doctor?

(Rorvik drops the clipboard.)

DOCTOR: Look here, Rorvik. You've got to stop this back blast. You'll kill us all.
RORVIK: So you say, Doctor. I say it's the only way out of here.

(Rorvik stands on the Doctor's fingers.)

DOCTOR: You can't blast through those mirrors. You must realise by now it just throws the energy straight back.
RORVIK: They've got to break. Everything breaks eventually.

(He kicks the Doctor back down the ladder, comes after him and starts to strangle him with his own scarf. Romana arrives and tries hitting Rorvik with the clipboard.)

DOCTOR: Never mind the clipboard, short the cables.

(The Doctor gives Romana the manacles.)

DOCTOR: Drain the main power line. Earth it to the ladder.
ROMANA: I know. I've done it.

(Rorvik lets the Doctor go and heads for the ladder to undo the damage.)

DOCTOR: Biroc? What are you doing here?
BIROC: Nothing.
DOCTOR: It's all right for you.
BIROC: And for you, too. Do nothing.
DOCTOR: Do nothing?
ROMANA: Of course, Doctor. Don't you see?
DOCTOR: Yes, that's right. Do nothing, if it's the right sort of nothing.

(They join hands with Biroc and fade away. Rorvik has removed the manacles from the cable.)

RORVIK: Run, Doctor. Scurry off back to your blue box. You're like all the rest. Lizards when there's a man's work to be done. I'm sick of your kind. Faint-hearted, do-nothing, lily-livered deadweights. This is the end for all of you! I'm finally getting something done! Bwahahahaha!

[Cargo hold]

(Sagan rolls his latest failure off the gurney. Then Lazlo enters.)

SAGAN: Here, where did you spring from? I haven't done you. Never mind, you're just what we need.

(Sagan pulls his blaster, but Lazlo easily overpowers him and brings an exposed piece of cable towards his chest.)

SAGAN: Just a minute! Argh!

(Lazlo goes to the nearest Tharil and holds his paw out over his forehead. The Tharil wakes. He repeats the operation.)

[Outside the TARDIS]

DOCTOR: We've made it. Quick, quick, inside. What's the matter?
ROMANA: I'm not coming with you.
DOCTOR: Inside. That's an order.
ROMANA: No more orders, Doctor. Goodbye.
DOCTOR: What? What a moment to choose.
ROMANA: But it is, isn't it? A moment to choose. I've got to be my own Romana.
BIROC: And we need a Time Lord.
ROMANA: Goodbye, Doctor.
DOCTOR: No, no, no. Wait, wait. There's something else. K9. He'll be all right with you behind the mirrors.
ROMANA: I'll take care of him.
DOCTOR: I'll miss you. You were the noblest Romana of them all.
(The Doctor enters the TARDIS. Romana carries K9 away, with Biroc. They return to the gate and go through the mirror. The TARDIS dematerialises, glowing red in the building back blast from the spaceship.
The gate explodes, then the spaceship goes boom and bursts into flames.)

[Monochrome land]

(The TARDIS briefly appears in mid air by Powis Castle. Romana, Biroc and K9 watch from the terraced gardens.)

ROMANA: The TARDIS. Gone.
K9: TARDIS preserved in concept, mistress. This unit contains all necessary schedules for duplication of the TARDIS, mistress.
ROMANA: Exactly, K9. Biroc will help us use the gateway to travel anywhere in E-space, and we can give him time technology.
BIROC: You shall be our Time Lord, and we will travel far. Our people are enslaved on many planets.
ROMANA: And you and I, K9, are going to Biroc free them. That's something we've got to do, don't you think?
K9: Affirmative, mistress.

(Time-shifted images of Tharils leave the smoking remains of the spaceship and enter the gateway.)

[TARDIS]

ADRIC: The picture's fading.
DOCTOR: Yes.
ADRIC: It's gone. Nothing there.
DOCTOR: So it has. Nothing. Well, that's something.
ADRIC: How can nothing be something?
DOCTOR: Well, if the E-space image translator doesn't work, I'm hoping we're in N-space.
ADRIC: Back in your own universe.
DOCTOR: Yes.
ADRIC: Can you be sure?
DOCTOR: Did I say sure?
ADRIC: No.
DOCTOR: Yes. One solid hope's worth a cartload of certainties.
ADRIC: Will Romana be all right?
DOCTOR: All right? She'll be superb.

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.