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DOCTOR WHO
THE DEADLY ASSASSIN

Written by
Robert Holmes

Part Four

(Overlap from Goth forcing the Doctor under the water)

[INT. Matrix]

(GOTH rises, letting go and running his hand through his hair, but the DOCTOR is not dead yet. He hits GOTH with his erstwhile walking stick. The DOCTOR looks into the distance, and Goth's reality dissolves into the vortex.)

[INT. Adytum]

(The MASTER lifts the helmet from GOTH, who is still clearly in pain.)
MASTER: You wistful, you craven-hearted spineless poltroon. You failed me.
GOTH: Too, too strong. Too much artron energy.
MASTER: Bah. There's only one chance now.
GOTH: Master, what are you doing?
MASTER: I must trap him in the Matrix.
GOTH: No, Master, no. For pity's sake! The connections. You'll kill me.
MASTER: I've no time to waste on you.
(GOTH cries out weakly, and flames are visible to the side of him in the room.)

[INT. Records room]

(Smoke is rising from the network.)
ENGIN: The circuits!
SPANDRELL: No, you can't! If you cut the power, the Doctor will die in there.
ENGIN: But the circuits are blowing. If there's a fire, the whole panatropic net, thousands of brain patterns will be destroyed forever.
SPANDRELL: But they're not alive. The Doctor is, I hope.
(The DOCTOR stumbles in the quarry. Explosions all around him, he vanishes.)

[INT. Records room]

(The DOCTOR breathes and makes as if to speak.)
ENGIN: It's all right, Spandrell. He's made it.

[INT. Adytum]

(A green light on the network panel stops flashing.)
MASTER: They've cut the net. He must be out.
GOTH: (weakly) You fiend. Why did I believe in you?
MASTER: I'll cheat them yet. (he now holds a hypodermic needle) I'm not beaten.

[INT. Records room]

DOCTOR: Do you mind? This is a non-smoking compartment.
ENGIN: What?
DOCTOR: What?
SPANDRELL: How do you feel, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Tired.
SPANDRELL: Yes, you'd better rest. You took quite a beating in there.
DOCTOR: You should see the other fellow. (sitting up) Where is he, by the way?
ENGIN: Who?
DOCTOR: Goth.
SPANDRELL: Did you say 'Goth', the Chancellor?
DOCTOR: Yes. The Master's legman. He's the assassin, Spandrell.
SPANDRELL: That's why he wanted a quick execution.
DOCTOR: Yes. Yes. That's right. (standing but still weak) It was Goth, remember, who ordered my TARDIS to be transducted into the Capitol. He knew I was still inside it. Goth must have his own link with the Matrix. A tap-in. We've got to trace it back to him before he recovers. (referring to the controls) What's underneath here?
ENGIN: Only service ducts.
DOCTOR: Is that all?
ENGIN: Well, a long way down, vaults and foundations dating from the old time.
DOCTOR: Come on, come on. Show me.

[INT. Adytum]

SPANDRELL: Doctor.
(He and the DOCTOR cautiously make their way along the green-tinted passage. They come upon a decayed figure.)
DOCTOR: (raising the hood of the decayed figure's cloak) The Master.
SPANDRELL: Is he dead?
DOCTOR: (checking the pulse at the corpse-like creature's wrist) Yes.
ENGIN: The Chancellor's still alive.
SPANDRELL: Not for long, by the look of him.
ENGIN: He must have taken the full shock.
GOTH: So, Doctor, you beat us in the end.
DOCTOR: Goth. Goth, why did you do it?
GOTH: Wanted power. Wanted to be President.
DOCTOR: But you would have been.
GOTH: Urgh. President told me I was not his successor.
SPANDRELL: So you killed him?
GOTH: For him, the Master. His plan.
DOCTOR: What was his plan, Goth?
GOTH: Met him on Tersurus. He was dying. No more regeneration possible. Promised me share all his knowledge if I'd bring him to Gallifrey.
DOCTOR: Goth? Goth, what was his plan?
GOTH: Couldn't fight his mental dominance. Did everything he asked. (gurgling more) Sorry now.
DOCTOR: Goth, what was-
ENGIN: It's no use, Doctor.
DOCTOR: No answer to a straight question. Typical politician.

[INT. Chancellery]

SPANDRELL: It seems clear how it happened. The Master tried to trap the Doctor in the APC Net by overloading the neuron fields. Then he collapsed and died, leaving Chancellor Goth still connected into the circuit.
BORUSA: Natural causes?
SPANDRELL: Yes, sir. His body was extremely emaciated. He had come to the end of his regeneration cycle.
BORUSA: (to the Doctor) No.
DOCTOR: No what, Cardinal?
BORUSA: The story is not acceptable. This is a very difficult, very delicate position. We must adjust the truth.
ENGIN: In what way, Cardinal?
BORUSA: In a way that will maintain public confidence in the Time Lords and their leadership. How many people have seen this Master since his death?
SPANDRELL: Apart from ourselves, Hildred and the two guards who took the body to the Panopticon vault.
BORUSA: Then we shall rely on their silence. We shall change the appearance of the corpse, Castellan. We all know the posthumous effect of a staser bolt. Within the hour, the body will be charred beyond recognition. Our story is going to be that the Master arrived in Gallifrey to assassinate the President, secretly. Before he could escape, Chancellor Goth tracked him down and killed him, unfortunately perishing himself in the exchange of fire. Now that's much better. I can believe that.
ENGIN: You're making Goth into a hero?
BORUSA: If heroes don't exist, it is necessary to invent them. Good for public morale.
ENGIN: And the Doctor's part in all this?
BORUSA: Best forgotten. Of course, Doctor, the charge against you will be dropped.
DOCTOR: How kind.
BORUSA: Conditional on your leaving Gallifrey tonight.
DOCTOR: Somehow, Cardinal, I don't want to stay.
BORUSA: Good. I believe you know something of the Master's past.
DOCTOR: We've bumped into each other from time to time.
BORUSA: Then, before you leave, you can assist Co-ordinator Engin to compile a new biog of him. It doesn't have to be entirely accurate.
DOCTOR: Like Time Lord history.
BORUSA: A few facts, Co-ordinator, will lend it verisimilitude. We cannot make the Master into a public enemy if there is no data on him.
ENGIN: I can have an authentic-seeming data extract ready by morning, Cardinal.
BORUSA: I'll leave that to you then. Later, Castellan, we must take another look at data security. We cannot have Time Lord DEs simply vanishing from the records.
SPANDRELL: I agree, sir.
BORUSA: Well, I think that's all. You'll attend immediately to the cosmetic treatment?
SPANDRELL: Sorry?
BORUSA: The body, Castellan. (He leaves.)
DOCTOR: (looking down) Only in mathematics will we find truth.
ENGIN: What?
DOCTOR: Borusa used to say that during my time at the Academy, and now he's setting out to prove it.

[INT. Adytum]

(One of the guards picks up the hypodermic needle.)
HILDRED: Over there? (responding to his communicator) Commander Hildred, Sector 7.
SPANDRELL [on screen]: A little job for you, well within your capacity. Come to the Chancellery.
HILDRED: Immediately, Castellan.

[INT. Records room]

ENGIN: What about his character?
DOCTOR: Bad.
ENGIN: Oh, Doctor, could you please be a little more specific?
DOCTOR: Yes. He was evil, cunning, and resourceful. Highly developed powers of ESP and a formidable hypnotist. And the more I think about it, the less likely it seems.
ENGIN: What?
DOCTOR: Well, that the Master would meekly accept the end of his regeneration cycle. It's not his style at all.
ENGIN: But that's something we must all accept, Doctor.
DOCTOR: (taking the drink ENGIN offers him) Thank you. Not the Master. No, he had some sort of plan. That's why he came here, Engin.
ENGIN: After the twelfth regeneration, there is no plan that will postpone death. (He sips his own drink.)
DOCTOR: He had a plan. Something to do with Goth becoming the President. What's so special about the President, Engin?
ENGIN: Nothing. He's simply an elected Time Lord, usually from some senior position. He holds the symbols of office, but otherwise he's no different from any other Time Lord.
DOCTOR: Symbols...
ENGIN: Yes. Relics from the old time. The Sash of Rassilon. The Key.
DOCTOR: Tell me about Rassilon.
ENGIN: Well, it's all in the Book of the Old Time. But there's a modern transgram that's much less difficult.
DOCTOR: Could we hear that?
ENGIN: You mean now?
DOCTOR: Oh!
ENGIN: What is it?
DOCTOR: Engin, I can feel my hair curling, and that means either it's going to rain or else I'm onto something.

[INT. Chancellery]

HILDRED: I understand, Castellan.
SPANDRELL: I chose you for this special mission because he's already dead. You are unlikely to miss him.
HILDRED: No, sir.
SPANDRELL: Right, off you go. Not a word to anyone.
HILDRED: Castellan, we found this in the adytum, under the chair where the body was.
(HILDRED hands over the hypodermic needle.)
SPANDRELL: Empty, but enough traces to analyse, no doubt. Thank you, Commander. And report back after you've restructured the Master.
(HILDRED leaves.)

[INT. Records room]

ENGIN: '...And today we tend to think of Rassilon as the founder of our modern civilisation. But in his own time he was regarded mainly as an engineer and an architect. And, of course, it was long before we turned aside from the barren road of technology.'
DOCTOR: Yes, that's all very interesting. Could we hear the transgram?
ENGIN: Early history is something of a pet subject.
TRANSGRAM VOICE: And Rassilon journeyed into the black void with a great fleet. Within the void, no light would shine and nothing of that outer nature continue in being, except that which existed within the Sash of Rassilon.
DOCTOR: Must be a black hole.
ENGIN: What?
DOCTOR: Shhhh.
TRANSGRAM VOICE: Now Rassilon found the Eye of Harmony, which balances all things that they may neither flux nor wither nor change their state in any measure. And he caused the Eye to be brought to the world of Gallifrey, wherein he sealed this beneficence with the Great Key.
DOCTOR: What's the Great Key?
TRANSGRAM VOICE: Then the people rejoiced (The voice fades in response to ENGIN stopping playback.)
ENGIN: It's an ebonite rod carried by the President on ceremonial occasions. But its actual function, if it ever had one, is a complete mystery.
DOCTOR: Where's it kept?
ENGIN: In the Panopticon. There's a display case of relics.
DOCTOR: And the Sash of Rassilon, where's that?
ENGIN: Ah, well, that's held by the President. That stays in his possession.
DOCTOR: Of course. What a stupendous egotist.
ENGIN: Who?
DOCTOR: The Master. He'd have destroyed Gallifrey, the Time Lords, everything, just for the sake of his own survival.
SPANDRELL: (entering with the needle) It seems that the Master didn't die from natural causes.
DOCTOR: (examining the needle) What?
SPANDRELL: He killed himself. Careful, it's poison.
DOCTOR: Tricophenyladehyde.
SPANDRELL: Deadly, no doubt.
DOCTOR: No. It's a neural inhibitor. Spandrell, we've been fooled.
SPANDRELL: What?
DOCTOR: The Master, he's still alive.
SPANDRELL: I've just sent Hildred to staser him.

[INT. Panopticon vault]

(We pan across the bodies on slabs in the vault - the President, Goth, and the MASTER. The MASTER stirs. HILDRED enters and steps up to the MASTER, staser at the ready. The MASTER sits up, grabbing the gobsmacked HILDRED by the neck.)

[INT. Panopticon]

SPANDRELL: The vault's this way.

[INT. Panopticon vault]

(The MASTER is inspecting the President's corpse.)
MASTER: Bah. (He leaves the scene.)
(SPANDRELL, the DOCTOR, and ENGIN enter.)
SPANDRELL: Hildred! The Master, he's gone.
SPANDRELL: Look.
(He refers to the shrunken HILDRED on the floor.)
ENGIN: Amazing.
DOCTOR: The Master's consumed with hatred. It's his one great weakness.
MASTER: (weapon drawn) Ha, ha, ha. Weakness, Doctor? Hate is strength.
DOCTOR: Not in your case. You'd delay an execution to pull the wings off a fly.
MASTER: This time, Doctor, the execution will not be delayed. Castellan, I assure you I am not nearly so infirm as I look. Now you, bring me the Sash of Rassilon. Oh, yes, Doctor, why else do you think I feigned death? When Goth failed me, it was necessary to use more direct means. But the sash is wasted on our dead friend. Don't you think so? Bring it to me!
DOCTOR: Don't do it, Engin.
MASTER: A stupid remark, Doctor. Resistance is futile now.
DOCTOR: Don't give him the sash, Engin.
MASTER: I have suffered long enough from your stupid, stubborn interference in my designs. Now we are coming to the end of our conflict, Doctor.
(SPANDRELL makes a move, and the MASTER sends a bolt into him.)
DOCTOR: Why have you brought me here?
MASTER: As a scapegoat for the killing of the President. Who else but you, Doctor? So despicably good, so insufferably compassionate. I wanted you to die in ignominious shame and disgrace.
(The DOCTOR steps forward. He too is stasered.)
MASTER: Now, do as I say, Co-ordinator, or you'll get the same.
(ENGIN removes the sash, a Y-shaped affair composed of several individual golden plates. He hands it over to the MASTER.)
MASTER: (laughs) They're not dead. Stunned. They'll live long enough to see the end of this accursed planet and for the Doctor to taste the full bitterness of his defeat!
(The MASTER leaves, and SPANDRELL and the DOCTOR waken.)
DOCTOR: The sash, where's the sash?
ENGIN: It's gone.
DOCTOR: What?
ENGIN: Well, what could I do? It's only of symbolic value anyway.
DOCTOR: Engin, that sash is a technological masterpiece. It protects its wearer from being sucked into a parallel universe. All he needs now is the Great Key and he can regenerate himself and release a force that'll obliterate this entire stellar system.
ENGIN: You really mean it?
DOCTOR: Well, of course I mean it. Don't you realise what Rassilon did? What the Eye of Harmony is? Remember 'that which balances all things'? It can only be the nucleus of a black hole.
SPANDRELL: But the Eye of Harmony is a myth. It no longer exists.
DOCTOR: A myth? Spandrell, all the power of the Time Lords devolves from it. 'Neither flux nor wither nor change their state.' Rassilon stabilised all the elements of a black hole and set them in an eternally dynamic equation against the mass of the planet. If the Master interferes, it'll be the end not only of this world but of a hundred other worlds too.

[INT. Panopticon]

(Wearing the sash, the MASTER breaks the front of the display case where the President's rod resides. He holds it high, allowing us to see the silver keying along its length, then inserts it into a hole just in front of the dais. Turning it as the keying dictates, he inserts its full length and then stands. A rectangular opening appears at the centre of the dais, with bright light emanating from within. The MASTER shields his eyes. Then, a large black crystal shape emerges, with four pipes attached, each with a red valve handle.)
MASTER: Rassilon's star, the Eye of Harmony.

[INT. Panopticon vault]

(ENGIN, SPANDRELL, and the DOCTOR stand under the seal, where the door has been locked.)
ENGIN: It's no good. We can never move it.
DOCTOR: You're right, but we've got to get out of this place. (he looks up a shiny 60-degree shaft near the corpses) There's a light up there. Where does that lead, Spandrell?
SPANDRELL: The Panopticon. An old service shaft.
DOCTOR: Right.
ENGIN: It's a hundred feet, Doctor, at least.
DOCTOR: (overlapping him) Oh, come on, come on, give us a bunk up.
(The MASTER walks to the back of the rectangular opening and opens one of the valves, to remove the pipe. Everything starts to shake.)
ENGIN: What's that?
SPANDRELL: If the Doctor's right, the end of the world is approaching.
(Between them, rocks tumble down the incline. Higher in their path, the DOCTOR covers his head.)

[INT. Panopticon]

(The MASTER has undone more of the pipes. He strokes the promising source of power and steadies himself.)
MASTER: Rassilon's discovery, all mine. I shall have supreme power over the universe, master of all matter! (He laughs.)
(The DOCTOR reaches the top of the shaft as more rocks fall around him. The MASTER sees him.)
MASTER: Doctor, my congratulations! You're just in time for the end.
DOCTOR: You're insane! You're insane! Do you hear me? You're releasing a force that nothing can stop.
MASTER: Take the rod. You can take it with you to your grave, except that none of you will need a grave.
(He turns the final valve.)
DOCTOR: If you undo that, you'll die as surely as any of us.
MASTER: You can do better than that, Doctor. Even in extremis, I wear the Sash of Rassilon.
DOCTOR: Yes, and the President was wearing it when he was shot down. The sash won't protect you. It's damaged.
MASTER: You lie.
(The DOCTOR stands and gives the MASTER a mighty shove from the dais. He manages to reattach one of the pipes before the MASTER pulls him back. He chases the DOCTOR up the steps. hitting him with what looks like a bit of the building. When they reach the top, the DOCTOR pushes the MASTER down the steps. While he's tumbling to a rest, the DOCTOR resumes reattaching the pipes. The MASTER grabs him again, but this time the DOCTOR turns and punches him, then returns to his work. The floor cracks and a chasm appears as the building continues to shake. The MASTER tries to pull himself up but to no avail. He lets go and cries out. The DOCTOR has no time to check his status. He finishes reattaching the pipes and, as things stabilise, gives a silent sigh of relief.)

[INT. Chancellery]

(BORUSA traces his fingers through stone dust on his desk, then wipes his hands against each other.)
BORUSA: Half the city in ruins, untold damage, countless lives lost.
(The DOCTOR is slouched in a chair in the background, with one of the other two Time Lords on either side.)
ENGIN: But for the Doctor it could have been much worse.
BORUSA: Yes, indeed, I am conscious of the debt we owe the Doctor. But Gallifrey has never known such a catastrophe, such devastation. What will we say?
DOCTOR: (standing) Well, you'll just have to adjust the truth, again, Cardinal. What about subsidence owing to a plague of mice?
BORUSA: As I believe I told you long ago, Doctor, you will never amount to anything in the galaxy while you retain your propensity for vulgar facetiousness.
DOCTOR: Yes, sir. You said that many times, sir. May I go, sir?
BORUSA: Certainly you may, preferably with the utmost expedition. Perhaps you will see that the transduction barriers are raised, Castellan?
SPANDRELL: Yes, sir.
BORUSA: Oh, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Sir?
BORUSA: Nine out of ten.
DOCTOR: (grins and laughs slightly) Thank you, sir.

[INT. Museum]

ENGIN: You know, Doctor, if you wanted to stay, I'm sure any past difficulties could be overlooked.
DOCTOR: But I like it out there, thank you very much.
SPANDRELL: The barriers are raised, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Thank you, Spandrell.
ENGIN: It's we who should thank you, Doctor, for destroying the Master.
DOCTOR: Well, I didn't actually see him fall, you know. I was quite busy.
(The camera shows the tall clock case the party passed when entering.)
ENGIN: Oh, but if by some miracle he survived the fall into that chasm, he was dying anyway.
DOCTOR: There was a good deal of power coming out of that monolith, and the sash would have helped him to convert it.
SPANDRELL: Are you suggesting he survived?
DOCTOR: No, no, I hope not, Spandrell. And there's no-one in all the galaxies I'd say that about. The quintessence of evil. Goodbye, Spandrell.
SPANDRELL: Goodbye, Doctor.
ENGIN: Goodbye, Doctor!
DOCTOR: (from the TARDIS door) Oh, goodbye, Engin, goodbye!
(The door closes, and the TARDIS dematerialises. Then, as SPANDRELL turns, he sees a decayed-looking hand near the clock.)
SPANDRELL: Look, the Master.
ENGIN: Where do you think they're heading?
SPANDRELL: Out into the universe. But, you know, I have a feeling it isn't big enough for the two of them.
(We see the MASTER's face superimposed on the clock face, and his laughter echoes around us as the clock dematerialises.)

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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