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By Root 604 0

ship seems to be made from solid gold, or at the very least something that does a good impression of solid gold. The floor is gold, the walls are gold, the elegant arched roof of the bridge is gold. Tendrils of gold have pushed their way out of the floor, twisting themselves into elaborate, almost sculptural, pieces of furniture. We don’t see the other side of the bridge, but we get the impression that there are technicians at work there, no doubt fussing over solid‐gold control panels.

[In the centre of the bridge are three golden thrones, but only the one in the middle seems solid; the other two look vague and insubstantial, like washed‐out holograms. The right‐hand throne is unoccupied, but in the left‐hand throne sits RASSILON’S ENGINEER – in a funny hat – while in the central seat is RASSILON himself. As played by BRIAN BLESSED.

[GUEST/MARK/THE MEDIA still hovers at Sam’s shoulder.]

SAM: What’s happening?

MARK [sighs]: isten. Back on Earth, who invented TV drama?

SAM: Um… the BBC?

MARK: Pretty much. So, all the TV programmes you get on Earth have got a little bit of the BBC in them, right? Everything’s based on the way the BBC did things, back in the fifties.

SAM: So?

MARK: So, this little scenario here is what the Remote media are based on. You’re from Earth, though, so you’re seeing it the way the BBC would do it. Only with better special effects.

SAM: Hang on. That doesn’t –

MARK: Shh. Rassilon’s going to say something.

SAM [alert]: Rassilon? You mean, the founder of the Time Lords? That Rassilon?

RASSILON [to SAM]: When you’re quite finished?

SAM [mutters]: Talk about interactive entertainment.

RASSILON: Thank you. [To THE ENGINEER.] All the ships are in position, I hope?

THE ENGINEER: Everything’s ready. We’re just waiting for the surface activity to calm down. The sun’s still reacting to the probes, it shouldn’t last more than a couple of minutes.

[SAM turns back to the viewing screen. Sure enough, there’s a pale‐yellow sun hanging in space directly ahead of the ship, bubbling in an agitated fashion. And it’s surrounded by spaceships, corkscrews of perfect gold, presumably just like this one. The ships are actually quite small, but the special effects make them look bigger than they really are, so they’re visible against the mass of the sun. Even so, there must be several hundred of the vessels arranged around the star.

[The ships look more like works of art than functional vessels. But from here, we can see their bows crackling with energy, as if preparing to open fire.]

RASSILON: Make sure the timing mechanisms are in synch. If any of them fire out of phase, we’re going to have a stellar catastrophe on our hands.

THE ENGINEER [sarcastic]: Thank you, Mr Exposition. I’m glad you’re here to remind us of these things.

[THE ENGINEER’s throne, and THE ENGINEER himself, flicker out of existence. The implication is that his ‘real’ self is on one of the other ships.]

SAM: This is ancient history, isn’t it? Back before the Time Lords were Time Lords.

MARK: Let’s just call it period drama. [THE ENGINEER reappears.]

THE ENGINEER: All right. The sun’s stable. The starkillers are ready. We can start whenever you like.

SAM: ‘Starkillers’?

MARK: Shh!

SAM: Yeah, but ‘starkillers’…

RASSILON [clears his throat]: I feel I should say a few words on this historic occasion –

THE ENGINEER: Oh, please don’t. [RASSILON gives him a dirty look.]

THE ENGINEER: We don’t even know if the process works. And even if it does, everything’s so… complicated. Without a decent stellar manipulator, we’re –

RASSILON [irked]: We can smooth out the wrinkles later. We just need to know whether the process is viable, that’s all.

SAM: What are they doing?

MARK: Making a black hole. They need the power for their time‐travel projects.

THE ENGINEER [sniffily]: Making a black hole is easy. Making the right kind of black hole –

RASSILON: You were the one who didn’t want any speeches. Shall we get on with it, or not?

[THE ENGINEER nods, then vanishes. Slowly, and with great ceremony, RASSILON stands.]

RASSILON: What we do now