[Bavaria 1865]

(A cloaked rider gallops through the Schwartzwald to a lone log cabin.)

OTTO: Ah! We sent message to the village. We thought no one was coming. But... you're not the midwife.
RANI: My name is Frau Rani. Am I too late?

(A baby cries.)

RANI: No. Just in time.
OTTO: We thought we needed help. Violett was in an awful lot of pain. But then... a miracle! We were so lucky.
RANI: But you were born lucky. Isn't that what they say, Herr Zufall? The seventh son of a seventh son.

[Cabin]

RANI: With seven sons of your own. One, two, three, four, five, six... and lucky number seven.
VIOLETT: We thought Jonas would be a wonderful name.
RANI: I think it's absolutely terrible. Let me see. That's it.

(Takes the baby.)

RANI: Hello. I think he needs a stronger name, like... ..Sturm-und-drang, ja?
VIOLETT: I'm sorry, but I don't think his name is up to you.
RANNI: I'm afraid it is, because I will be taking little baby. Danke schön. You've done a very good job, but now he's all mine.
VIOLETT: Excuse me? I don't think so! Give me my child back, right now!
RANI: Violett, isn't it? Such a pretty name.

(Kisses the baby then blows.)

RANI: Your wife is violets.
CHILD: Mama!

(Violett dissolves into petals.)

OTTO: Witchcraft.
RANI: It's older than that, darling. Your child is the fountainhead of a power from beyond this universe.
OTTO: Boys, get out! All of you children, get out now. Run!
RANI: That's right.

(Kiss and blow.)

RANI: Waddle away!

(The children have turned into ducks.)

RANI: And you, the seventh son of a seventh son. Hmm? Such great wisdom.

(Kiss and blow.)

RANI: Like a wise old owl.

(A European Eagle owl sitting on a perch.)

RANI: Hoot, hoot! Quack, quack! Bye, bye.

[Forest]

RANI: Now, then, mein Liebchen, let's get to work. We have things to do in 160 years' time, with one very special wish.

(Kiss and blows into the sky.)

[London 2025 - The Smith home]

(The alarm goes off at 0700h, and the people we know as the Doctor and Belinda wake up with big grins on their faces.)

DOCTOR: Mmm!
BELINDA: Morning, darling.
DOCTOR: Morning, sweetheart. Ah. Oh, this is nice. You and me. I could stay here for ever.
BELINDA: Don't go to work. Stay, stay, stay.
DOCTOR: Oh, I wish. But I've got to earn a living so that we can have a lovely life together.

(Their toddler come into the bedroom.)

POPPY: Meow.
BELINDA: Oh, hello. Hi.
DOCTOR: Meow. Meow.
POPPY: Meow.
BELINDA: Did you see a cat?
POPPY: Meow.
DOCTOR: Is that you wanting a cat?
POPPY: Yeah.
BOTH: Yeah?
POPPY: Meow.
DOCTOR: Meow.
BELINDA: Meow.
POPPY: Meow.

(Belinda uses a remote to switch on the little screen on the chest of drawers.)

CONRAD [on screen]: And the weather's going to be nice all across England and the whole of Great Britain. It's nice in France, and Africa, and Venezuela, and Missouri and New Zealand. That's my promise. Really nice weather all over the world. Happy morning, everyone!
BOTH: Happy morning, Conrad!

[The Smith home]

(It looks more 1950s or '60s style to me rather than 2025.)

CONRAD [on screen]: Now it's time for today's story. Doctor Who and the Deadly Wish. Once upon a time, the Time Lords were really clever people from the planet Gallifrey. But one of the Time Lords ran away...

(The book he holds up says the author is I M Foreman. The family are having breakfast.)

DOCTOR: What's Uncle Connie saying, Poppy?
BELINDA: I've got so much to do. There's the laundry and shopping, and Amma's coming round because we've got to make plans. Do you know why, Poppy?
DOCTOR: Mmm.
BELINDA: Oh, come here, jam face.
DOCTOR: Oh.
BELINDA: Do you know what day tomorrow is, Poppy? It's May Day! It's May the 24th.
DOCTOR: May the 24th, the big day. We're going to celebrate with balloons and songs.
BELINDA: Mummy will cook a big pot of biryani. Is that nice?
POPPY: No!

(The orange mug the Doctor just put down has smashed on the floor.)

BELINDA: I've got it, I've got it.
DOCTOR: Oh.
BELINDA: You head off, darling.
DOCTOR: Okay. Maybe you shouldn't doubt things so much, Poppy. Huh? You need to be careful, okay?
POPPY: Okay.
DOCTOR: Okay.

(Belinda hands the Doctor his bowler hat.)

DOCTOR: Thank you, darling.

(And opens the front door to...)

RUBY: Hi.
DOCTOR: Hello?
RUBY: Yeah, er... Sorry about this. Do I know you?
DOCTOR: I don't think so. Who are you?
RUBY: I've got to ask. Are you the Doctor?
DOCTOR: Do you need a doctor? Is everything okay?
RUBY: No, no, er... Are you called the Doctor?
DOCTOR: My name is John Smith.
RUBY: Okay. Okay, but it's not. I don't know why. It's just not.
BELINDA: What's going on?
DOCTOR: Ah, it's... it's nothing, darling. It's er... it's just someone... Listen, is this some sort of a game? Because I don't really appreciate it on my doorstep.
RUBY: And you're John Smith's wife?
BELINDA: I certainly am. Who are you?
RUBY: That's your daughter?
DOCTOR: Of course it is. That's Poppy.
RUBY: But she's... not... I'm sorry, but you don't have a daughter.
DOCTOR: Oh, my God.
BELINDA: I beg your pardon? That is the most outrageous thing to say.
DOCTOR: Yeah.
BELINDA: Why don't you watch Uncle Conrad?

(Belinda takes Poppy away.)

RUBY: No, please, I'm so sorry! My name's Ruby. I swear, I'm just trying to help.

(Belinda starts dialling on the wall-mounted telephone.)

RUBY: No, please, I didn't mean to just...
DOCTOR: Did you... did you say... ..Ruby?
BELINDA: Yes, hello. I have someone expressing doubt. The address is 11 Calico Avenue. I'd be grateful if you could come at once.

[Calico Avenue]

(Ruby runs, and bumps into a woman walking out of her front gate with a dustpan and brush.)

RUBY: Oh! But...
DOCTOR: Er, no! No, no, no, no. Don't speak to her, Melanie.
RUBY: You're called Mel?
MEL: I'm sorry, Do I know you?
RUBY: Er, no.
MEL: Oh. What was all that about, Mister Smith?

(Mel adds her broken orange mug to the pile in the big orange wheelie bin labelled SLIP which is standing at the kerb, along with everyone else's.)

DOCTOR: Oh, never mind. Best forgotten, eh? One more day until May the 24th. Any plans?
MEL: Oh, you know. I'm single, no parents, no children, so I will sit in silent contemplation and be jolly glad!

(A giant skeletal dinosaur cum AT-AT walker stalks the city high above the roofline. In the near distance is a towering elegant structure made of bone.)

DOCTOR: Aren't they beautiful? I ask you, how can anyone doubt this glorious world that we live in?

[Square]

(Posters everywhere saying "Let's Stand With Conrad For The Greater Good" and that sort of thing. Including homes and offices.)

CONRAD [on screen]: The people who lived on the Earth were called humans. Doctor Who had lots and lots of human friends. They loved him and travelled with him, but sometimes they'd leave him so they could go and fall in love and marry and have babies. And then the Doctor was all alone. But he travelled on, with bravery in his heart, looking for his next best friend.

(Ruby watches as the Doctor walks past a beggar in a wheelchair.)

SHIRLEY: Anything, mate? Anything?

[Office]

(A wood panelled redress of UNIT Operations.)

KATE: Cutting it fine. Another two minutes and you'd have been late.
DOCTOR: I did work late last night.
KATE: Time carries no favours.

(The tea lady comes round with her trolley as the Doctor settles at his nice wooden desk complete with Imperial typewriter.)

DOCTOR: Happy morning!

(A regular returns from last season. Susan Twist.)

SUSAN TRIAD: Happy morning! Now, milk, no sugar, Mister Smith. I've got digestives, Bourbons and nice vanilla wafers. Just give us a shout if you need anything.
KATE: I don't think anyone will be shouting, thank you very much. It might be a public holiday on May the 24th, but that's tomorrow.

(Ibrahim looks up from his work as Kate walks past.)

CONRAD [on screen]: But then a sad day came along. All the Time Lords were killed, and Doctor Who was the only one left.
DOCTOR: Psst! I've heard she likes Chinese food. Deborah in Accounts said Kate swears by it. Loves it.
IBRAHIM: But what am I going to say? "Can we go out to dinner? Just you and me?"
DOCTOR: If you two got together, she wouldn't have to work. It's undignified. You'd be saving her.
IBRAHIM: But she's way out of my league.
DOCTOR: Oh, she's not. You're a beautiful man.
IBRAHIM: What's that supposed to mean?
DOCTOR: Er... no, no... No, no, no, I'm just saying...
IBRAHIM: You're a man. How can you find another man beautiful?

(The Doctor's teacup smashes on the floor.)

DOCTOR: Oh! Sorry, that was, er... that was a slip. Sorry. Sorry, that was a slip.
SUSAN TRIAD: I've got it. Don't worry.
DOCTOR: Okay.
SUSAN TRIAD: Many a slip twixt cup and lip, as they say.
KATE: Nine a.m.! We have begun. Get to work.

(Telephone rings.)

DOCTOR: Happy morning. Unified National Insurance Team. How can I help?

[The Smith home]

CONRAD [on screen]: And Doctor Who wished it was like the old days, when he had a faithful companion... companion... ..companion at his side. But sadly, those days were gone.
LAKSHMI: Knock, knock. It's only us!
BELINDA: Oh! You look great, Amma. You look well, Auntie.
LAKSHMI: I was just saying to Devika, May the 24th is a lovely day, except for your father singing.
DEVIKA: Hello, Poppy-loo! And it's May the 24th tomorrow. Won't that be fun?
POPPY: No!
LAKSHMI: She is getting cheeky.
DEVIKA: Don't worry. Plenty of time to drum that out of her. You know her path in life. It's all very clear. Good little girl, then good little wife, then good little mother.
LAKSHMI: And as Conrad says, that's what we're here for.
DEVIKA: And Conrad is never wrong.
LAKSHMI: Mind you, Belinda, I thought you were destined to be trouble. Twenty four hours' labour! Do you remember? Oh! I thought she'd never arrive.
DEVIKA: How long were you with Poppy?
BELINDA: How long was I what?
DEVIKA: In labour.
BELINDA: Er...
LAKSHMI: I must have been there. Was I?
BELINDA: I can't remember.
DEVIKA: The birth of your only child? Every mother remembers.
BELINDA: Yes. I know. It must have been... What was it, Amma?
LAKSHMI: Er... It... It's funny, but I can't remember.
BELINDA: What was it like, Pops? Do you remember? The day of your birth. When was it?

(A cup and saucer have hit the floor.)

BELINDA: Oh!
DEVIKA: Oh, that was quite a slip.
LAKSHMI: Don't worry, it's only natural. Easily done, darling. Easily fixed.
DEVIKA: You see? That's what happens when you doubt something.
LAKSHMI: Here we go. Out the way, sweetheart. There we go.

(Belinda leaves the house, runs across the park into the woods until she gets to a stream, then screams at the top of her lungs.)

[Office]

CONRAD [on screen]: It turned out, Doctor Who wasn't the only one left. A Time Lady had survived.

(A distant flying jet ski is crossing the sky, with its pilot standing up.)

SUSAN TRIAD: There she is!
DOCTOR: It's her! It is really her! There she is!
KATE: You're supposed to be working.
IBRAHIM: Oh, come on. It's her.

(They bump and exchange smiles.)

KATE: It is an honour to get a sighting. It must be for May the 24th.
MAN: There she goes. Come, come, come!

(They go to the helipad doors and look out.)

SUSAN TRIAD: She's so beautiful.
DOCTOR: I wonder who she is. I mean, I...
IBRAHIM: What is wrong with you today?
KATE: You wonder who she is?
DOCTOR: No. No, no! I... She just... she just is. She just is. She... she is who she is, and that... and that's all.

[Bone Palace]

(The Rani flies her scooter into the central circular main chamber of the Bone Palace. The giant red seal of the Gallifreyan Lord President adorns one part of the wall.)

RANI: Mortadella. From Italy. It's dead pink fat, but humans seem to like it. Let's keep the boy happy.
MRS FLOOD: Is that a salad or a sandwich?
RANI: How are we doing?
MRS FLOOD: Better than ever. Very strong doubts. We're even getting nines this time of the day. Listen.
SEEKER: 94999, 99969, 99655, 55999...
SEEKER 2: 66667, 77777, 76666...
SEEKER 3: 999, 989...
RANI: Excellent. Seek and ye shall find. Sandwich, obviously.
MRS FLOOD: Oh! Right.

[Kitchen]

MRS FLOOD: Do this, do that. Yes, ma'am. No, ma'am. Can I cut your toenails, ma'am? Snip bloody snip.

[Conrad's room]

(Mrs Flood enters with the sandwich and waits behind the camera.)

CONRAD: Oh, let's pause there. Now, have a look at some pictures of India. Hello there. Hi. It's been ages.
MRS FLOOD: I'm sorry, sweetheart. You know the mistress. She has a lot of demands. But she thought you'd like this.
CONRAD: Oh, nice. Thanks. But... is it okay, out there? Is it working?
MRS FLOOD: I think so, Conrad. Very much so.
CONRAD: It's such a lot of hard work. All the thinking. Sometimes I forget about the weather and... and South Africa gets flooded.
MRS FLOOD: Oh, darling. You're worn out.
CONRAD: I am a bit.

(He hugs her.)

MRS FLOOD: Oh. You work so hard, and you're doing a very, very good job. Would I lie? Oh yes, I would. But not this time, darling. That's why we found you and saved you.

(The Governor of the prison.)

MRS FLOOD: And that's why the mistress chose you, the boy who wants the world to be better. A wish from the heart.
CONRAD: Yeah.
MRS FLOOD: How's the little one?
CONRAD: Oh, er, you know. Same as ever. Smiling.

(Conrad lifts the infant from his crib. Otto and Violett's boy?)

CONRAD: There. Look at him. He's so tiny, but he sustains this entire world.
MRS FLOOD: And he never cries.
CONRAD: No. No, all he does is chuckle.

(A laugh up and down the musical scale - ha-ha-ha ha-ha-ha-ha. Stooky Bill's arpeggio giggle. See also Maestro and Lux.)

CONRAD: He's amazing, isn't he?
MRS FLOOD: He's terrifying.
CONRAD: He's absolutely terrifying.

[Bone Palace]

(The Rani attaches the Vindicator to a clock face.)

RANI: And we have a temporal fix. Counting down. Vindicator now powered up to 99 percent and rising. When you've got time.
MRS FLOOD: You said make him a sandwich.
RANI: Is the trap ready?
MRS FLOOD: Just waiting to be primed, ma'am.
RANI: Good, good, good.

[Balcony]

(Looking down on HMS Belfast, Tower Bridge, and the patrolling skeletal dinosaur AT-ATs.)

MRS FLOOD: Careful, ma'am. Gets a bit slippy with ice. Ooo, ever so cold.

(Sonicks out little eyeball things from above the door, which then light up red.)

RANI: I'm not a child.
MRS FLOOD: Well, you're my child, in a manner of speaking. It could be said that you sprang from my loins.
RANI: That's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard. How's the Doctor?
MRS FLOOD: Getting there. Doubts at 30 percent. But it's sunset at 20.58, and that's when his thinking intensifies.
RANI: It's a shame these little people have to die. I was getting rather fond of them. But tonight... we will find him. The One Who Is Lost. And then the great work begins.

[Square]

CONRAD [on screen]: Many years ago, when Gallifrey was young, the Doctor and the Time Lady had been terrible enemies. They had fought over all sorts of irrelevant things, but the Time Lady knew they could be great friends, if only Doctor Who knew how clever she was.

(A dinosaur foot stomps down in the middle of people walking. They stand still, it moves on, then they resume walking too.)

CONRAD [on screen]: So one day, she stepped out of the shadows...
RUBY: It's weird, innit?
SHIRLEY: Like they're there, but...not there.
RUBY: How is that even possible? Oh.
CONRAD [on screen]: ..remember me? He said her name out loud, and he said, "We shouldn't be enemies any more..."
RUBY: Er, sorry. Er...
SHIRLEY: I don't suppose you could spare us a couple of quid, could you?
RUBY: No. No, I shouldn't be talking to you. This isn't right.
CONRAD [on screen]: "..I'm perfectly happy just as I am..."
RUBY: Sorry, but... is your name Shirley?
SHIRLEY: Ruby?

[Tent town]

SHIRLEY: This is how we live. The disabled, the dispossessed, the ones who don't fit in.
RUBY: I swear I've never seen this place before.
SHIRLEY: Yes, you have. You walk past it every day. And you ignore us.
RUBY: How do I know you? Because I swear we've never met. Can you please just tell me what the hell is going on?

(A gathering in a big tent, over mugs of tea. One woman is signing for another.)

SHIRLEY: We get ignored. We're poor and forgotten and irrelevant, and that's the way the world is. Except sometimes all of us in the camp get these glimpses.
RUBY: It's like a glimpse in the corner of my eye, like I can remember something, then... it's gone.
BRIAN: A glimpse of a better world.
SHIRLEY: Yeah, but you're different from us lot. Pardon me if I don't frisk you, but you seem very non-disabled to me.
RUBY: Oh. Huh. Well, I could be taller. But, yeah.
SHIRLEY: Yeah, but despite that, you're the same as us. You keep having doubts about the world, but why?
RUBY: Er... Well, there's this... man... called the Doctor... and he's connected somehow. Because it feels like I've lived through this before. I've seen 2025, and it was... different. And I tried telling my mum and my gran, and they said...

[Ruby's home - memory]

CARLA: You can't say things like that! A foster child can't listen to doubts.
CHERRY: There is something wrong with you, my girl. Somebody put guzum 'pon you!
CARLA: (on the phone) It's my daughter. She's been expressing doubts. I think you need to come and take her away.

[Meeting tent]

RUBY: My own mother.

(Her mug breaks.)

SHIRLEY: Get her another one, Pete.

(A deaf woman's signs are translated by the same person translating the conversation for her.)

VAL via WINNIE: Val says you were lucky. She says we're all lucky. We live outside the world, so we can see it better. We can see when things don't make sense.

(Pete brings Ruby another mug.)

RUBY: Thank you.
SHIRLEY: Like, here we are, we haven't got a penny. But I've got this wheelchair. State of the art. And God knows, with my spina bifida, I need medicine, and I've got nothing, but I'm okay.
VAL via WINNIE: Val says we're suspended. For me, I think these things are like fossils, or relics. Like they're bleeding through from a life that's been lost.
SHIRLEY: Brian, tell them your theory.
BRIAN: It all comes down to Conrad Clark.

(Who is still telling his story on a little LEOWN Technology TV set.)

RUBY: Yeah, well... I keep having thoughts about him, too.

(Flashes from Lucky Day.)

CONRAD [memory]: Ruby Sunday.
RUBY: I don't trust him for a second.
SHIRLEY: Oh, my God. You too?
WINNIE: You can get arrested for saying things like that.
RUBY: Yeah, well, I don't know why, or how, but... Conrad Clark is a monster.

(Laughs all round.)

SHIRLEY: That's exactly what I say.
BRIAN: Everything that's wrong revolves around Conrad. And that man's hiding something.
RUBY: What, can you tell from, like, the sound of his voice?
BRIAN: Yes, because being blind gives me magical powers.
RUBY: Oh, all right. Give me a break.
BRIAN: No, it's obvious. It's perception bias. He's not disabled, so he literally can't see us. And if he can't see us, well, then we don't get seen.
RUBY: Yeah, he's like king, and ruler, and emperor, and God. I mean, how did Conrad become God of the Earth?
SHIRLEY: So, what do you think, Ruby?
RUBY: About what?
SHIRLEY: We don't just sit here all day complaining. We've got plans. We're going to bring down God. You with us?
RUBY: Oh, I'm in. I am in!

[The Smith home]

CONRAD [on screen]: But the Time Lady had an idea. She said, "It's not over... not over, because I know a secret, hidden away." And the secret came from the depths of Time Lord history. A secret so old and so terrible, everyone had forgotten. But the secret was beginning to wake. And the Doctor said, "Tell me the secret." But the mysterious Time Lady was clever and wise, and she knew that Doctor Who was weak.

(The Doctor is drinking alcohol. Susan Foreman has flashed up on the screen briefly, then...)

ROGUE [on screen]: Doctor? Doctor, can you hear me? I haven't got much time. They're coming. And this Hell Dimension is sliding into the pit. I don't know if I'm going to survive. Thank you for that, you know. But I have to warn you. I can only send you one warning, and this is going to sound strange, but listen to me. Tables don't do that. Remember. Tables... don't... do... that. I gotta go. I miss you. Well, more than that. I love you.
CONRAD [on screen]: "I warn you, Doctor. This secret will change reality for ever."

(The sound of breaking crockery wakes Belinda. She comes down to see he has lined up ten mugs in a triangle formation on the edge of the table.)

BELINDA: John? What are you doing?
DOCTOR: Look. Look, look, look, look, look, look. Look.

(He moves the odd mug forward.)

BELINDA: It's been a very long day. Why don't you come to bed?
DOCTOR: No, wait. Wait, wait.

(The mug falls through the table and smashes onto the floor.)

DOCTOR: Do you see?
BELINDA: So? That's the slip. That's what happens. Things slip.
DOCTOR: No, no.

(Five mugs in the middle of the table.)

DOCTOR: But how? How do they slip?
BELINDA: That's just the way of the world, John. They always have and they always will. Now, stop it!

(Five mugs fall through the middle of the table.)

DOCTOR: Because he said... he said, "Tables don't do that." And I thought, "He's right." He's right. That is not what tables are supposed to do.
BELINDA: Who said?
DOCTOR: There was a man on the TV. And I really liked him.

(Belinda makes the phone call.)

BELINDA: Hello? I'm sorry. It's my husband. He's having doubts.

(Mel watches the convoy arrive. Belinda lets them in.)

BELINDA: He's in there.
DOCTOR: No, I wasn't... I wasn't doubting anything. I just asked. I had a question! I had a good question, that's all! I am sorry!
BELINDA: I had to think of Poppy!
DOCTOR: I got this thought...
BELINDA: I couldn't have doubts...
DOCTOR: ..and I couldn't stop it!
BELINDA: ..not with her upstairs!
DOCTOR: I am sorry, Bel. I couldn't stop the...

(The Doctor in man-handled into the police vehicle.)

MAN [OC]: We have the unit secure.

(Mrs Flood is dressed as a senior police officer.)

MRS FLOOD: I'm really very sorry, Mrs Smith, but I have a job to do.
BELINDA: Amma? What are you doing here?
MRS FLOOD: There's a child asleep upstairs, and she's going to need someone with her in the morning. Take her.
BELINDA: What are you doing? Get off me! Leave me alone! Amma. Amma!
LAKSHMI: I'm sorry, Belinda. I'm so sorry!

(Being dragged down the path.)

MRS FLOOD: You recognised your husband's doubt because you've been expressing doubt yourself. That's what it does, Mrs Smith. It contaminates. It breeds. It festers. And it's my job to cut it out. My job, and my very great pleasure.

[Square]

(Ruby, Shirley and Winnie make a dash across in between speeding police vehicles.)

RUBY: Hurry up!
SHIRLEY: All right! All right!
RUBY: We're not exactly the best bunch of spies, are we?
SHIRLEY: Oi, you ableist.
RUBY: Well, come on! If we're caught outside after the curfew, then we'll be locked up for doubting the system.
SHIRLEY: Stop worrying, you. This is the perfect vantage point. Look.

(They are directly below the Bone Palace.)

SHIRLEY: And... I've got this!

(A computer pad.)

RUBY: Well, what does it do?
WINNIE: It's one of the relics from the Other World.
SHIRLEY: And... (switches it on) it's got power.

(UNIT Security Terminal booting up. Terminal ID 91/028.)

WINNIE: Like magic.
RUBY: But it's not. Why does it feel so familiar?
SHIRLEY: I know. Like I've seen it before. But whatever it is, we think this can help us with Conrad Clark. Do you see the way the picture links up? I think that means that Conrad is broadcasting from up there. And if this thing can trace the signal... what if we can block it? What if we can cut him off?
WINNIE: Then he'd have to find us. The plan is for Conrad to leave the Bone Palace, and then once he's outside...
RUBY: That's all I need. If I can just... meet Conrad. If I can look him in the eye, then I'll remember. I just feel like I'll remember. And if I can remember everything, then I can remember the Doctor and the world that was.

[Bone Palace entrance]

GUARD: You will step over the Threshold.
DOCTOR: I don't know what you mean.
BELINDA: What are these things?
GUARD: The male will step over first.
DOCTOR: Okay, okay! Okay.

(The Doctor passes through a forcefield or some other wibbly invisible thing.)

GUARD: Now the female.
DOCTOR: It's fine, it's fine. It's good.
BELINDA: I'm sorry I reported you.
DOCTOR: It's my fault. I have my doubts, but I never doubt you, Belinda. Whatever this place is, we'll find out together.

[Bone Palace]

DOCTOR: What? What the hell?
RANI: Doctor. Oh, yes, Doctor. Remember? Oh, come on, we go way back. Open up that memory. What about this? It's called the Seal of Rassilon. Rassilon was the President Eternal of the Time Lords. Anything? No? Nothing? And these things. Clone-type classiforms. Basic seeker function animals. No? Is any of this making sense? Don't you ever wonder, deep down, in both your hearts, where your TARDIS is? T-A-R-D-I-S.
DOCTOR: Who are you?
BELINDA: I want to ask... Please. I have a child at home. Her name is Poppy. And I promise, we won't mention any of this, ever, if you just let us go home and look after her.
RANI: No, you haven't.
BELINDA: What?
RANI: Got a child.
BELINDA: I beg your pardon?
RANI: You haven't got a child.
BELINDA: Don't you dare say that.
DOCTOR: That girl, she said...
RANI: Yes! Yes, yes, yes, that's it. You remember? What was her name?
DOCTOR: Ruby.
RANI: Ah, he's getting there! That's it! And May the 24th is on its way. Nine minutes! Close down! Lock all externals!

[Square]

WINNIE: What's it doing?
SHIRLEY: It's telling us the time, but I don't understand why that's so important.
RUBY: What's going on up there?

[Bone Palace]

RANI: Music!

(Rani sonicks a glitter ball, and leads the Doctor onto the dance floor for a waltz.)

RANI: We danced once upon a time, you and I. At the Siege of Persephone, with the city burning around us. People said we were lovers. Can you remember if that's true? Far away in time and space. Were we?

(Images of the late Kate O'Mara.)

RANI: Yes! I had a different face. So did you, a long time ago. Because the tragedy is... we were never enemies. Every villain you ever fought wanted death. I only wanted life. Remember? My name... is the Rani.

(The dance ends.)

DOCTOR: No. No.
RANI: You remember.
DOCTOR: No!
RANI: I am the Rani.
DOCTOR: No. No, no, no, no.
MRS FLOOD: And I am the Rani.
RANI: We bi-generated.
DOCTOR: Ah!
BOTH: We are both the Rani.
DOCTOR: Ah!
BELINDA: What the hell are you saying? The two of you? It sounds like one of Conrad's stories.
RANI: I love saying this bit.
MRS FLOOD: Mmm.
RANI: Your husband is an alien, and so am I. We are the last Time Lord and the last Time Lady from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous.
DOCTOR: No, no, no, no, no, no, no...
RANI: But this planet is a lie! This whole world is a wish.
DOCTOR: What are you even talking about?
RANI: Oh, darling. Darling, I know this is hard. Come, come.
BELINDA: Leave him alone!
RANI: But he made so much of this happen. He stirred the gods, Belinda. He woke the most ancient of powers. Come and see.

[Outside Conrad's room]

RANI: I can't let you in. I don't trust you for a single second. But look.

(She sonicks the door to transparency.)

DOCTOR: What the...? Conrad?

(Conrad is holding the baby.)

CONRAD: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Why does everyone keep calling me that?
CONRAD: The last time we met, you told me I was nothing. So, what do you think of me now?
RANI: It's the child, Doctor. You woke the Pantheon and the most powerful god of all was born. Desiderium, the god of wishes.
CONRAD: And he's mine. All the world below is a world I have wished.
RANI: We needed one more thing. Come on!

[Bone Palace]

RANI: No god of wishes could have infinite power, or we'd be drowning in a universe of breast milk. So I needed to boost his powers, which led to... the Vindicator. Hidden in plain sight. Do you remember?
DOCTOR: No! No.
RANI: Got to say, great bit of tech. It crisscrossed the universe, creating a web of power to bring you back here. Look at that! Voystet-Bladen energy to the power of five, roughly the equivalent of...
DOCTOR: A billion supernovas.
RANI: There!
MRS FLOOD: He's remembering.
RANI: So, the Vindicator created a web of titanic power, ready for me to use. Power great enough to amplify the wishes of a god, allowing Conrad to create an entire world.
DOCTOR: You cannot wish a whole world into existence.
RANI: Exactly. It's full of mistakes, and it cannot sustain itself because you have doubts.
DOCTOR: Doubts! Doubts are not allowed.
BELINDA: All right, yes, we have doubts! So what if we do? Everybody has doubts!
RANI: Oh, she's got it! She's very good. Because the truth is...
MRS FLOOD: The doubts are not the problem. The doubts are the whole point.
RANI: Doubt is such a beautiful thing. If you question hard enough, then doubt can crack open the world. On cue!

[Square]

WINNIE: It shook.
SHIRLEY: The whole palace shook.

[Bone Palace]

DOCTOR: What is happening?
RANI: That's why I needed you trapped inside the Wish. Because this isn't just exposition, Doctor. I need to tell you everything so that your doubt becomes all-consuming. If ordinary doubt cracks open the world, then a Time Lord's doubt rips open the structure of reality itself. Come and see! Quickly! Out we go! So much fun!

[Square]

RUBY: Look at the city!

[Balcony]

DOCTOR: Ah!
RANI: Farewell to London!
DOCTOR: That is not real. It can't be. That is not... That is not real!

(The city is falling into Hellfire.)

RANI: The palace exists as a fixed point. It's safe.
DOCTOR: But you wished this world into existence. And then you kill it? Why are you doing this?
RANI: Because once reality is broken on a scale as vast as this, I can see underneath.
DOCTOR: Seeing what?
RANI: Deep within the Underverse, he is hidden. The One Who Is Lost.
DOCTOR: Who?
RANI: Oh! There she blows!

(Down goes the Gestetta skyscraper. Mel runs out into the street.)

DOCTOR: Ah! Tell me. Tell me. Tell me who you are looking for.
RANI: Omega.
CONRAD [on screen]: Omega. The first Time Lord. The creator of the Time Lords. The greatest and most terrifying Time Lord of all.
OMEGA [OC]: Long live Omega! Omega shall be free!
(Dialogue taken from a Big Finish Productions audio - Gallifrey: Intervention Earth. Certainly not from a TV episode.
Quick flashes of Doctors 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, War, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, Fugitive, 14. So, that's the accepted order, is it?)
DOCTOR: I remember. I remember. The Doctor is me. And the Rani... I...

(The Rani has disappeared inside.)

DOCTOR: You can't do this! I remember! All right? I am the Doctor! I am the Doctor! Oh, my God. Belinda...

[Bone Palace]

RANI: Get rid of the wife. Take her across the Threshold.
BELINDA: What are you doing? Where's John? Where is he?
RANI: There is no John. You married a ghost. Nice of you to join us, Doctor, but I remember you too, and I know that you'll try everything to stop me, so I can't take that risk.

(She sonicks a signal to those little eyeball things from earlier, and the balcony is detached from the Bone Palace by a series of small explosions.)

DOCTOR: Rani!

(Belinda is pushed back across the Threshold and vanishes. The UNIT tower helipad descends upon the trio below. The Rani and Mrs Flood toast with champagne.)

[Balcony]

DOCTOR: But don't you understand? I have a daughter! Poppy is real! Don't you know what that means? Ah!

(Midnight strikes.)

To Be Continued

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.