Index for this Doctor ]
Index for this story  ]

DOCTOR WHO
THE INVASION OF TIME

Written by
As David Agnew, Graham Williams and Anthony Read


Part Five

(Overlap from the group cheering)

[INT. Panopticon]

DOCTOR: Please don't fire that thing.
STOR: (stepping forward) There is no advantage in killing you yet. Slavery is more efficient.
LEELA: Do you know these things?
DOCTOR: Sontaran troopers.
STOR: I am Commander Stor, of the Sontaran Special Space Service.
DOCTOR: The SSSS-. Isn't that carrying alliteration a little far?
LEELA: You are not like the Vardans.
STOR: Vardans? They were expendable. They had served their purpose to open up the force field and let us in. Who is Doctor?
(As STOR prowls slowly around the group, the DOCTOR steps behind him. He now raises his finger to his lips.)
STOR: (to KELNER) Are you Doctor?
KELNER: No.
DOCTOR: (when STOR stops at him) No, I'm just, erm, Lord President of the Supreme Council of Time Lords on Gallifrey.
STOR: Your description fits that of one called Doctor.
DOCTOR: Well, that's not my fault. I'm Lord President, and I'm called 'sir'.
STOR: Sir?
DOCTOR: Yes, 'sir'.
STOR: I call no-one 'sir' except my battalion leader!
(He fires his weapon at the DOCTOR's back. Red light blankets the DOCTOR, who grimaces and makes a pained noise.)
DOCTOR: That must mean many thousand sirs.
STOR: Thousands? The glorious Sontaran army reckons its numbers in hundreds of millions. Find Doctor.
(A SONTARAN leaves.)
DOCTOR: I was only trying to help.

[INT. Chancellery]

(BORUSA stands at a wall, where he uses a communications ball to overhear what is being said.)
DOCTOR [OC]: I was only trying to help.
BORUSA: (after raising the tapestry) There's nothing more useless than a lock with a voice imprint. (He exits via the secret door.)

[INT. President's office]

(BORUSA has entered, and the device he has been using for eavesdropping is reduced to emitting static.)
BORUSA: I think I believe you, Doctor. In fact, excellent, Excellency.

[INT. Chancellery]

(BORUSA steps back through the secret door. The sound is restored, and he carries on listening.)
DOCTOR [OC]: Knowledge is the ultimate goal, is it not, Commander Stor?

[INT. Panopticon]

STOR: A means to an end only. The ultimate goal is victory.
DOCTOR: Victory over whom?
STOR: Victory over all.
DOCTOR: Victory over time?
STOR: What?

[INT. Chancellery]

DOCTOR [OC]: I said 'victory over time'?
STOR [OC]: Enough of this idle talk.
(BORUSA smiles and walks to the desk. He unlocks and opens a small drawer, which has a dial set into a circuit within. He turns the dial, and the resulting noise causes those in the Panopticon to clutch their heads and cringe on the ground in varying amounts. The SONTARANS are clearly more affected by this. The others place their hands over their ears and flee. KELNER remains, attempting to remove STOR's helmet. STOR gives him a healthy shove in response.)

[INT. Corridor]

DOCTOR: Stop!
(The group behind him, led by LEELA, come to a halt.)
LEELA: What was that?
DOCTOR: Celebration chimes.
LEELA: What?
DOCTOR: Yes, it should have been played at my induction, only fifty times lower. Someone's trying to help us.
LEELA: I am.
DOCTOR: We'd better split up. Leela and Andred, come with me. The rest of you, scatter. Come on.
LEELA: Oh, and Jasko, Rodan, Ablif.
NESBIN: We'll go this way.

[INT. Panopticon]

(The chimes are no longer sounding.)
KELNER: I'm sorry, my Lord. It was none of my doing.
STOR: (into his communication box) To all units. I repeat, to all units, the president is to be apprehended. Kill those with him, but take the president alive.
KELNER: (grabbing at STOR) No.
(STOR sweeps him away.)

[INT. Corridor]

(The group are pressed back up against a wall, in a line with the DOCTOR at its head, watching. He sees something in the distance.)
DOCTOR: (sotto) A Sontaran.
LEELA: What are these Sontarans?
DOCTOR: A race devoted to perpetual war.
LEELA: Then I shall kill him.
DOCTOR: You don't know how.
LEELA: Do you know?
DOCTOR: Oh, yes.
LEELA: Well, tell me.
DOCTOR: Small vent at the back of the neck.
LEELA: Is that all?
(She places her hand over her mouth to muffle her tones slightly and disguise the origin of the sound, then shouts in a deep voice.)
LEELA: Over here!
(The SONTARAN hears an echo and turns. LEELA throws her knife, which penetrates the vent that the DOCTOR mentioned. The soldier falls. Our party stop at the body, while LEELA collects her knife.)
DOCTOR: Oh, that was a prodigious throw!
LEELA: Prodigious?
DOCTOR: Well, it was an amazing throw.
LEELA: Oh, it was nothing.
DOCTOR: Well, yes, I know it's just an old hunting trick.
LEELA: That's right.
DOCTOR: Come on.
(We see that BORUSA is still listening in on STOR, with a smile.)

[INT. Panopticon]

STOR: Unit group three seven, report. Report!
KELNER: They must be on-
STOR: Where is level three?
KELNER: On-. On the-
STOR: Where is level three?
KELNER: On the way to level five, the president's office. That's where they're heading.
STOR: (into his radio) Unit groups three, five, and seven, proceed immediately to level five. Expect the president and his bodyguard. Take him alive.
KELNER: My Lord-
STOR: Do not-
KELNER: The president is-
STOR: Silence!
(KELNER is thrown down onto the steps to the dais.)

[INT. Corridor]

LEELA: Why the office?
DOCTOR: I've got an urgent appointment. (We see BORUSA waiting.)

[INT. Panopticon]

STOR: Time Lord, come with me.
(KELNER follows, and the SONTARANS too leave the area slowly. We then see the DOCTOR's group race up a flight of stairs and round a corner. Behind them, the SONTARANS and KELNER take each step considerably more deliberately.)

[INT. Corridor]

(After another set of steps, the DOCTOR comes to a sudden halt, with the others coming up short or colliding.)
DOCTOR: Ah. This is a dangerous bit. Five, four, three, two, one, go.

[INT. President's office]

(They all run into the office.)
DOCTOR: Two, three, four, five, six?
(He closes the doors.)
BORUSA: I thought you'd never get here.
(He has a staser pointed at the newcomers.)
DOCTOR: We were delayed.
BORUSA: Not too long, I hope.

[INT. Outside the president's office]

(STOR, KELNER, and two SONTARANS arrive at the door.)
STOR: (gesturing to the door) This one, Time Lord?
KELNER: Yes, Excellency.
STOR: Break it down.
(The SONTARANS start putting their shoulders into the door.)

[INT. President's office]

DOCTOR: That's not going to hold forever, Chancellor.
BORUSA: A heavy, easily fusible, soft, malleable base metal such as lead is not the best defence against heat-intensive weaponry.
DOCTOR: I agree.
BORUSA: Fortunately, someone had the good sense to reinforce the structure with a titanium-based alloy.
DOCTOR: Your recipe?
BORUSA: A suggestion of mine, yes. A holding device only, I fear.
DOCTOR: Thanks for the thought. Thanks for the thought, Chancellor.
BORUSA: Is not one of my duties to protect the president?
DOCTOR: Well, dereliction of duty's pretty rife around here, Chancellor. Hadn't you noticed?
BORUSA: (referring to the staser) Oh, this is not for you. Your companions, however...
DOCTOR: I'll vouch for them.
BORUSA: Of your own free will?
DOCTOR: (interposing himself) Oh, yes.
BORUSA: At your command, Excellency.
(He lowers the staser.)
LEELA: Shall I kill him now?
DOCTOR: What? No. No, he's my friend.
LEELA: He's no friend to threaten you like that.
DOCTOR: He is a friend. You're my friend, aren't you, Borusa? You're the most important friend I've got.

[INT. Outside the president's office]

STOR: This is useless. Not even marked. Return with the troopers, but make sure they are fully armed. Otherwise, I will negate you. Now go.
(The SONTARANS salute and leave.)

[INT. President's office]

DOCTOR: Bringing out the heavy artillery, I imagine.
BORUSA: The next logical step, I agree.
DOCTOR: Evacuation?
BORUSA: Would appear logical.
DOCTOR: I suggest my TARDIS.
BORUSA: I agree.
DOCTOR: I think the exit through your office would be most expedient.
BORUSA: There's no need for formality, Excellency.
DOCTOR: I know. There's something in there I want rather badly. Let's go. (BORUSA picks up the staser) Come on.
(BORUSA opens the secret door, and the DOCTOR goes against the flow while the rest pass through. The DOCTOR unlocks the wheels at the main doors.)

[INT. Outside the president's office]

STOR: What was that?
KELNER: I don't know, sir.
(STOR finds that the door isn't locked. It moves when he touches it.)
STOR: What trick is this?
KELNER: I have no idea. Believe me, Excellency.
(STOR enters the room, followed by another SONTARAN and KELNER. They hear a sound.)

[INT. Chancellery]

DOCTOR: Ah, Chancellor, you and I have things to discuss, urgent things. Leela?
LEELA: Yes?
DOCTOR: Take the others back to the TARDIS.
LEELA: Oh. no. I'm not leaving you again.
DOCTOR: Please.
LEELA: No. Every time I do, you get into trouble.
DOCTOR: That's right. Trust me, please.
LEELA: All right. Come on. (opening the door) I said 'come on'.
(The others, including K9, follow her out, and the DOCTOR closes the door behind RODAN, the last in the group.)
DOCTOR: Well, Chancellor? Are you going to help me or kill me, hmm?

[INT. President's office]

STOR: Why did you not tell us this before?
KELNER: He called himself Doctor for many lifespans before he became president, but I have never trusted him. When your good friends the Vardans-
STOR: You have met the Vardans?
KELNER: Alas, all too briefly.
STOR: They had their uses. (finger at KELNER's chest) You also may be of use to us, Time Lord.

[INT. Chancellery]

DOCTOR: Where is it?
BORUSA: I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about.
DOCTOR: Where is it?
BORUSA: You ask for the impossible.
DOCTOR: I ask for the Great Key.
BORUSA: You already have it.
DOCTOR: I have the Rod of Rassilon, and I have the sash. I do not have the Great Key.
BORUSA: That is a myth, a legend.
DOCTOR: Chancellor, would you have me break my oath as president, hmm? My oath to seek the Great Key?
BORUSA: That has been incumbent upon every president since time immemorial. None has ever found it.

[INT. Corridor]

(K9 is backing along to protect the group from attackers from behind. From the back, SONTARANS still are attacking, and JASKO falls, shot.)
LEELA: Run! Run!
(ANDRED shoots back, but he cannot stop ABLIF too being hit.)
LEELA: Come on, run.
ABLIF: Leave me, Leela. Save yourself. They need you. Go!
(The SONTARANS rush past the injured man, who staggers to his feet in time to hit the rearmost SONTARAN's probic vent with his knife.)

[INT. President's office]

DOCTOR: People are dying out there. Men, women. Time Lords even have died in that battle.
BORUSA: I know that.
DOCTOR: Isn't that important to you?
BORUSA: Should it be?
DOCTOR: It leaves you unconcerned. That's the difference between you and me, Chancellor. I'm very concerned.
BORUSA: Then you should remember your training in detachment.
DOCTOR: I'd rather care. Don't you care about your world being invaded by alien warmongers, hmm? These are Sontaran shock troops. A few still, but soon there'll be thousands, millions, threatening time itself.
BORUSA: They cannot threaten time! Not while I-
DOCTOR: Yes, Chancellor, not while you have the Great Key.
(LEELA, RODAN, and ANDRED run to the TARDIS. As K9 backs into the space, ANDRED starts trying to find the key he entered with before.)
DOCTOR: If you wanted to hide a tree, where would you hide it, hmm? In a forest. I read your essay on reason. (musing while standing at the key-forest wall art) Which one is it?

[INT. Citadel]

(ANDRED now has the capsule key and is manoeuvring it.)
LEELA: Hurry. Hurry!
(ANDRED gets the door open, and they all enter the TARDIS.)

[INT. Chancellery]

DOCTOR: I'll take them all, if necessary.
BORUSA: Take them.
DOCTOR: No. Rassilon was a wily old bird. No president without the Great Key can have absolute power, correct? So, to protect the Time Lords from dictatorship, he gave the key into the hands of a chancellor.
BORUSA: None of this is in the Matrix.
DOCTOR: I know. I've been there. You haven't. There's no record in the Matrix of any president knowing the whereabouts of the Great Key, so who does? Not the castellan - he's just a jumped-up guard. But who guards the guards?
BORUSA: The chancellor.
DOCTOR: (staser out) Yes. And I'll kill you before I let that key fall into the hands of the Sontarans.
BORUSA: That will not be necessary. (removing a key from the wall, which the DOCTOR throws down before BORUSA slowly removes the key from his desk drawer) You are the first president since Rassilon to hold the Great Key.

[INT. President's office]

KELNER: But I can't, Excellency!
STOR: (to his aide) [words in the Sontaran language, which cause the SONTARAN to advance on KELNER]
KELNER: It's impossible! No-one could connect to the Matrix without the circlet.
STOR: Then bypass the Matrix!
KELNER: It is impossible!
STOR: For the strong, everything is possible.
KELNER: I've tried every-
STOR: You must widen the gap in the force field to allow my battle fleet to enter.
KELNER: But only the president ca-
STOR: I must have reinforcements! I must seek out the Doctor. He will lead me to the Great Key.
KELNER: The Great Key? But that's impossible-
STOR: That was your last chance.
KELNER: B-, b-, of, of, of course, I, I- I know that all things are possible.
STOR: Well?
KELNER: There could just be a way.

[INT. Outside the president's office]

(The DOCTOR and BORUSA walk down the corridor, and the DOCTOR addresses the two SONTARANS who are standing guard.)
DOCTOR: Ah, there you are. Got your new orders yet? Get in touch with Commander Stor. He'll put you in the picture.
(The DOCTOR walks past them, as does BORUSA.)

[INT. President's office]

(STOR is holding his radio up to his face.)
STOR: Of course there are no new orders. Stop him!

[INT. Corridor]

SONTARAN: Halt! Halt!
(The SONTARAN fires at the two Time Lords, but they seem unaffected.)
DOCTOR: The Great Key, you see. Good for years yet.
BORUSA: The Great Key is quite useless against elementary particle assault.
DOCTOR: Is it? What? I don't understand.
BORUSA: (fingering his medallion pendant) The chancellor's personal force shield. Unfortunately, the batteries seem uncomfortably low.
DOCTOR: They do?
BORUSA: So what would you suggest we do?
DOCTOR: Run?
BORUSA: Run.
DOCTOR: (sotto) Let's do that.

[INT. Citadel]

BORUSA: (after the running) So undignified. I haven't run like this for centuries.
DOCTOR: You're out of condition, Borusa, that's your problem. Do you think you can make it over there? (He refers to the TARDIS.)
BORUSA: Naturally.
DOCTOR: I didn't mean you. I meant the batteries.
BORUSA: Oh. With luck.
DOCTOR: Good. (both men cross their fingers) Maybe I am getting too young for this sort of thing. Come on.
(They make the gap, and the DOCTOR leaps into the TARDIS, leaving a miffed BORUSA knocking on the door.)
BORUSA: If you could just open the door.
(It opens, and he goes inside. The SONTARANS are not far behind, firing at the TARDIS.)

[INT. Force-field control area]

(This is where the Doctor punched a hole in the force field.)
STOR: Well?
KELNER: Well, it's difficult. There's so much disorder.
STOR: I must have reinforcements.
KELNER: (examining a panel that's in better condition) There is a way of patching control through.

[INT. TARDIS console room]

DOCTOR: What do you do?
RODAN: I'm a technician.
DOCTOR: Good. You stand there. Andred, control booth seven, on the right. K9, go with him. Off you go. (they leave as instructed) Leela.
LEELA: Yes?
DOCTOR: Show Borusa to the VIP suite.
LEELA: VIP suite?
DOCTOR: The chancellor's suite. It's down there on the left, up three stages, one down stage, turn left, turn left, turn left, turn left again. The room's marked 'No entry'. Off you go.
LEELA: No entry.
DOCTOR: Leela?
LEELA: Yes?
DOCTOR: Take that for me.
(He hands her the Great Key.)
BORUSA: You can't give the Great Key to an alien.
DOCTOR: I just have.
BORUSA: You trust her?
DOCTOR: I do. Leela, that's important.
LEELA: Then I shall look after it.
DOCTOR: Good. Off you go.
LEELA: Come.
(She leaves, and BORUSA follows her deeper into the TARDIS.)
DOCTOR: What's your name?
RODAN: Rodan.
DOCTOR: Rodan. R-O-D-A-N. How do you do, Rodan?
RODAN: As well as I can, Excellency.
DOCTOR: Well, who could hope for more? What branch did you study?
RODAN: Quasitronics.
DOCTOR: Quasitronics. I don't know much about quasitronics.
RODAN: Well, it's a simple field-study exercise-
DOCTOR: Yes, I'm sure it is a simple field-study exercise. You wouldn't have a glimmer of astrophysics, would you?
RODAN: A glimmer.
DOCTOR: Good. Could you forget everything you ever learned?
RODAN: What?
DOCTOR: I mean, could you switch my primary and secondary stabiliser circuitry into your secondary defence barrier?
RODAN: Link your control to the main defence mechanism?
DOCTOR: Well, to close the hole I made in it, yes. Seal it up and stop any more Sontaran ships coming in.
(She steps to the side to consider.)
RODAN: Have you got a screwdriver?

[INT. Force-field control area]

STOR: How much longer?
KELNER: I can't get, oh.
STOR: My battalion commander insists on immediate entry. Unless I obey, I shall die. Before I die, you will die, Time Lord. (KELNER swallows.)

[INT. TARDIS console room]

(RODAN has the screwdriver under the console. The DOCTOR is in the role of surgeon's assistant.)
DOCTOR: You all right?
RODAN: Of course I am.
DOCTOR: Good.
RODAN: Crimps.
DOCTOR: Crimps. Crimps? Are you sure you know what you're doing?
RODAN: (handing them back) I do. Five four two lever.
DOCTOR: Five four two lever. Five four two lever. (there is an almost human creaking sound) Steady, old girl. This won't hurt a bit.

[INT. Force-field control area]

KELNER: Useless!
STOR: What is of no use?
KELNER: The primary, secondary, and tertiary control circuits are out of order.
STOR: Then repair them.
KELNER: It isn't a question of repair, Excellency. They have been bypassed. The only way of doing that is through a time capsule, and the only one in operation at the moment is the president's.
STOR: Doc-tor.
(He sends his fist through the control panel that KELNER was using. We hear and then see the effects of frying circuitry.)

[INT. TARDIS console room]

DOCTOR: They could rampage right through the whole universe. And not just this universe, all the universes. Nasty thought, isn't it? That's why I had to stop them, just had to.
RODAN: Vinkelgruber.
DOCTOR: Vinkelgruber? Are you listening to what I was saying?
RODAN: A Vinkelgruber.
DOCTOR: Vinkelgruber.
RODAN: No. Now what were you saying?
DOCTOR: I was saying that what they're after is the Rod of Rassilon; the sash; and, above all, the Great Key. These three together, linked into the Matrix, provide the sum total of Time Lord power. That's what they want.

[INT. Force-field control area]

KELNER: There is an alternative, Excellency.
STOR: What is it?
KELNER: I believe I can bypass the safety circuits.

[INT. TARDIS console room]

RODAN: Hand.
DOCTOR: Hand.
(He helps her up.)
RODAN: Load of junk.
DOCTOR: What is?
RODAN: This.
DOCTOR: It's my TARDIS you're talking about.
RODAN: (opening the scanner shutters) There you are. Look, there's the arrowhead, arrow wings, arrow shaft. Why, it's a perfect Sontaran formation.
DOCTOR: Yes. Why an entire battle fleet?
RODAN: Doesn't matter. The defence screens are up again.
DOCTOR: Huh, you haven't seen what a Sontaran battle fl-. Are you sure?
RODAN: Ssshh. As long as this TARDIS remains secure, you control the defence screens.
DOCTOR: As long as the TARDIS remains secure.

[INT. Force-field control area]

STOR: Better. Much better, Time Lord.
(KELNER is operating various controls on one bank of equipment that is still in working order.)

[INT. TARDIS console room]

(After KELNER pulls a couple levers with effort, the TARDIS begins juddering about.)
RODAN: What's happening?
DOCTOR: He's reversed the stabiliser banks.
RODAN: But that's impossible. Only a Time Lord could do that.
DOCTOR: A criminal Time Lord could too. We'll be thrown into a black star!
(They are thrown to the floor, and we witness an inverse-colour effect.)


The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

Previous ] Next ]

-=#=-
Anna's home  >  The Doctors' home  >  This Doctor  >  This story 
-=#=-