Watching the Doctor

World Enough and Time

Hello everyone!

I'm back (finally lol). Sorry, life is just hectic.

In apology, here's a very popular request - World Enough and Time! Are you ready for the angst?

I'm hoping to have the second part (the Doctor Falls) up within the next couple of weeks, so that I have time to do a Christmas episode.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Let me know what you think (comments motivate me to update faster)

Thank you for reading!

Robyn

The group woke up slowly the next morning, enjoying the peace and quiet before returning to what had become the new normal of watching emotionally charged videos featuring their past adventures. Most of the group was sitting in the kitchen/dining area enjoying some breakfast or a cup of tea/coffee, but a few members of the group were still missing.

The Master hadn't emerged from his room yet, but that was to be expected. He'd appear when the next video was ready to start.

The Doctor's absence was more noticeable after her swift departure the day before. Which was why Rose was lurking in the corridor, waiting for an unexpecting Doctor to appear. She'd been standing around (admittedly rather impatiently) for at least fifteen minutes at the point and she was starting to get rather bored of it. Distantly she saw Martha down the corridor heading her way, before Jack interrupted her movement and pulled her aside, she faintly wondered what was going on there when the Doctor's door finally opened.

The Doctor poked her head out, saw Rose who had whipped around to face the door as soon as she heard it open, and then tried to shut the door again.

Rose was quicker.

She put her foot in the door to stop it being closed, and crossed her arms, "You're not getting out of this that easily Doctor."

"I don't know what you're talking about." The Doctor tried to claim ignorance, the door still mostly closed with only Rose's foot keeping it open.

Rose just sighed in response. "Can I come in Doctor?"

There was silence for a moment so she continued, "It's that or we do this in the corridor where everyone can hear it."

Funnily enough the door was opened slowly after that comment. The Doctor gave her a sheepish grin as she beckoned her in, glancing down the corridor to see if anyone had spotted the pair before closing the door behind them.

Rose took a moment to appreciate the Doctor's room, she'd never seen their room in the Tardis (no one had, at least that she knew of, it was the Doctor's only private space) but she imagined this was what it would look like.

There was a dark oak bed against the back wall, a desk was to the side with papers strewn everywhere. The ceiling was dark with painted stars across it. There was a Tardis blue rug in the middle of the room, and a cupboard with the doors wide open, clothes and various hats and accessories strewn across the surrounding area.

Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to the matter at hand. She followed the Doctor to the final feature of the room, a pair of lush armchairs facing across from each other. The Doctor was already settled in one as Rose joined her, trying to decide how to go about the conversation they needed to have.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" The Doctor continued to play the ignorant card.

Rose just raised her eyebrow, "I think you know Doctor."

The Doctor shuffled in her seat, likely trying to decide whether to keep trying to stall the conversation or give in. Rose didn't give her a chance to decide, pushing on.

"What happened after I left Doctor?"

"You didn't leave Rose." The Doctor snorted degradingly.

Rose just sighed, "Maybe not by choice but there wasn't anything we could do about it."

"You found a way back." The Doctor attempted to argue, not even knowing what point they were trying to make.

"I did, and in the end I still went back. I don't belong here the same way I used to. We both know that."

Based on the look the Doctor gave her, she knew but didn't necessarily have to enjoy that fact.

"Poor Martha having to deal with you." Rose crossed her arms, trying to get to the crux of the matter. "Why did you take my departure so bad, Doctor? I'm hardly the first person to leave you."

The Doctor took a deep breath, eyes anywhere but Rose, she seemed reluctant to answer but Rose was patient and willing to wait.

"I don't know."

"We both know that's a lie. You may not know, but you have a good idea why you reacted the way you did." Rose prodded with a stern look telling the Doctor they weren't leaving until she got an actual answer.

"After the Time War, when I thought I'd killed everyone, I spent a lot of time on my own. Eventually the silence eats away at you." The Doctor started slowly, eyes still not meeting Rose's. "Then I met you, and you reminded me of who I was before the war. Of all the people I'd travelled with and loved. You reminded me what it was like to be the Doctor. So, I latched on tight. When you went, I think I was scared I would lose myself again."

Rose nodded, not saying anything to interrupt the Doctor's story.

The Doctor continued, "Then I met Martha. And she was brilliant. Absolutely amazing but young and naïve in a way many of the people I travel with are at the beginning. She was distracted with her crush, and I was trying to use her to remind myself to be the Doctor but I could never shake the fear that I was lost alongside you. Martha was right when she said we weren't healthy for each other. I didn't treat her right. Things might be different now, we've both grown as people, but I guess we'll never know."

"Oh Doctor." Rose whispered, unsure what exactly to say to her declaration. Then she knew, "I understand. When I was first stranded on the other world, I struggled to figure out what to do. Working out a way to get back here took over everything, it distracted me from feeling anything for a while. Then after everything and I was stuck there for a second time, I felt lost. Not sure what to do with myself. For so long I'd been doing these incredible things and seeing amazing places with you, it took me a while to work out how to just be myself again. How to enjoy life. It's difficult but I did it, and you did too. These things just take time."

The Doctor finally met her eyes, a small smile peaking at her lips. "We're just a bit broken, aren't we?"

Rose shook her head, "No, it is called being human. There's nothing wrong with feeling things, you just have to learn how to deal with your feelings in a healthy way."

The pair sat in a comfortable silence for several moments, enjoying the brief moment of peace away from the rest of the world. It had been a long time since it was just the two of them.

"We should probably go join the others." The Doctor sighed, breaking the silence.

"We should." Neither moved.

"Doctor?" Rose broke the silence that had settled on the pair again, "You should tell Martha. She deserves an explanation."

"She deserves a lot more than that." The Doctor agreed with a sad smile.

Giving an approving nod, Rose finally stood, moving to exit the room. Reaching the door, she glanced back to make sure the Doctor was coming.

The Doctor was right behind her, "Let's see what the Tardis has in store for us next."

With that the pair left to re-join the rest of the group in the movie room.

Further down the corridor, Martha was on a mission. Apparently, the last talk she'd had with the Doctor wasn't enough, after the last video they needed to talk. She was marching down the corridor, noticing Rose lurking around the Doctor's room, then Jack was in her path.

His sudden appearance made her freeze in her path confused, and before she really registered it, he'd pulled her away into a side room (which she suspected had just conveniently appeared – and knowing the Tardis it probably had).

"Jack?" Martha finally registered what had happened.

"Can we talk?" Jack looked worried in a way she'd rarely seen. His serious tone made all thoughts of her conversation with the Doctor to leave her mind – she could deal with them later, whatever Jack needed was more important.

"Sure, is everything alright?"

"I don't know." Jack admitted, an indeterminable expression now on his face.

Martha frowned, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Am I the face of Boe?" Jack asked bluntly, no more delay, as his stare dug into Martha's soul.

"Jack ..." Martha tried to start, unsure how to answer but Jack interrupted her.

"Please Martha. I need to know." Jack almost begged, "I noticed the glances you and the Doctor kept giving me throughout the video, and it made me remember the way you both reacted when I told you about the name after ... the Year. So, please. Was that me we just watched die on screen?"

Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes for a moment to brace herself she reopened them and met Jack's gaze. "Yes. We didn't realise until you told us after the Year. We were never sure how to tell you."

Jack choked, rare tears starting to drip down his face.

"Jack! Are you alright, I'm sorry!" Martha rushed to comfort him.

Jack waved her off, "No, no. Don't worry Dr Smith, I'm not upset."

"You're crying!" Martha protested.

"Happy tears," Jack managed a smile, "I've been so scared for so long that I'd be stuck wandering the universe forever. To know that I will die one day is a relief. Thank you, Martha."

"Oh, Jack. Come here." Martha pulled the other into a tight hug, not giving him any options. Jack was all too happy to accept the hug.

After several moments they pulled away, and Jack wiped away the tear tracks. He didn't want to explain why he'd been crying to anyone.

"Can I ask why you didn't bring this up earlier if you were suspicious?" Martha asked quietly.

"I didn't want to bring it up in front of everyone else." Jack admitted, "And it took me embarrassingly long to make the connection."

Jack hesitated as if he wanted to ask something else but didn't know how to.

"Just ask Jack." Martha prodded.

"The message. You are not alone. I meant Yana, didn't I?" Jack sighed.

Martha nodded, "We think so. Or maybe that he hadn't destroyed Gallifrey as well. Only you will ever know."

Jack just nodded; a bit lost in thought.

"You sure you're okay with everything?" Martha asked with a soft smile.

Jack grinned, "I am, really Martha. Knowing you and the Doctor will be there with me in the end is a comfort."

"I'm glad." Martha grinned back.

"Thank you, Martha." Jack said earnestly, before glancing back at the entrance to the little room they were in. "We should go join the group."

Martha nodded in agreement. "That we should Captain. Let's go."

The group slowly settled back into the movie room, finishing their conversations and getting comfortable back in their seats.

The Doctor and Rose gave each other a grin as they entered the room and split up to sit in what had become their seats. A few moments later, Jack and Martha joined the group.

The Doctor glanced their way and noticed the subtle red lines that signalled Jack had been crying, giving him a little frown, Martha caught her eye and shook her head. Don't ask, all sorted. The Doctor gave Jack a little smile as he settled back next to her, he nodded back with a grin.

Finally, the Master scuttled into the room, glaring at the group as he sat back in his armchair. The group were all ready.

Not a moment later, the screen went blank and the next title was displayed to the group.

"World Enough and Time?" Donna read, "That makes no sense."

"Any ideas Doctor?" Rose asked, with a glance their way.

The Doctor frowned at the screen, "Not really. Guess we'll have to watch and see."

With that the video started to play.

(The Tardis materialises in a snowstorm. The Doctor steps out, falls to his knees and starts to regenerate. He cries out in pain.)
DOCTOR: No. No. Nooooo!
(Cue title sequence.)

"Ah, one of those videos then." River grimaced.

Bill's eyes had widened drastically, glancing quickly at the Doctor as she realised what this video was likely about. "Doctor! Do you think this is...?" She trailed off.

The Doctor grimaced, "I think so." If it was then this wasn't going to be fun for either of them.

Clara raised an eyebrow, concern prominent in her gaze, "Care to share with the class?" She'd immediately recognised Eyebrows and if he was in a bad enough state to be near regenerating, something had gone down.

The Doctor glanced around the room at all the worried faces before sighing. With a final glance at Bill and Nardole (and a quick hidden glance at the Master) she answered; "Do you remember that video near the start. The one where Eyebrows regenerated? We think this is the lead up to that."

"This video isn't going to be fun, is it?" Rory looked worried.

"No, it's really not." The Doctor turned back to the screen as the video continued. She wasn't looking forward to this. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the Master glance at her, but before she could meet his gaze he purposely turned away again.

[Bridge]

(Massive engines on a spaceship are blasting out thrust. No, not Red Dwarf, although the effect is similar. This is much, much, much bigger. Space debris zooms past it and falls past the event horizon of a black hole.

"That's a big ship." Ryan muttered.

"That's an understatement Ryan." Yaz snorted.

The camera takes us into a room protruding from the ship's bow ever so slightly. The Tardis materialises up some steps to the left of a central chair under the watchful eye of a CCTV camera. Basically, think USS Enterprise bridge really stripped down. It looks so like it. The Tardis door opens and an Edwardian woman prances out with hat and parasol.)

"Missy." Clara announced at the familiar sight of the Master's last regeneration. "Of course, they're involved." The Master just gave her a smirk, while the Doctor, Nardole and Bill shared a long look.

MISSY: Hello. I'm Doctor Who. And these are my plucky assistants, Thing One and the Other One.
(Bill and Nardole follow Missy out of the Tardis. They all have large earpieces in their right ears, like lumps of cork sticking out.)

"Erh ... what?" Mickey asked perplexed about what Missy was up to, and why Bill and Nardole were going along with it.

Bill grumbled, crossing her arms with a put-out look. "Just watch. It's complicated."

NARDOLE: Bill. Nardole.
MISSY: We picked up your distress call, (big wink) and here we are to help, like awesome heroes.
(Missy does a twirl for the camera.)
BILL: Yeah, we're not, we're not assistants.
MISSY: Okay, right, so, so what does he call you? Companions? Pets? Snacks?

"Snacks?" Graham leaned away from the Master in the room, aware they were likely teasing but not willing to risk it.

(Red lights come on and a rhythmic alarm sounds.)
MISSY: Oh, someone's watching. (dances) Well, that's quite a good beat, really, isn't it?
NARDOLE: Yeah. Maybe we should be moving on?

"A blaring red alarm usually doesn't mean anything good." Rose nodded with Nardole's assessment.

BILL: Yeah, and he calls us friends.
MISSY: Ew, Doctor. But think of the age gap.
(Missy puts her parasol on the big chair and unpins her hat.)
DOCTOR [OC]: Stop mucking about and concentrate.

"Oh, so you are there." Donna declared with a pointed look at the Doctor. So, it wasn't Missy kidnapping Bil and Nardole, the Doctor was a part of it too. She was starting to see what Bill meant about it being complicated.

[Tardis]

(The Doctor is sitting on the gallery with his feet up, eating a packet of crisps.)

"You were eating!" Bill pointed at the Doctor in triumph, to which the Doctor replied with a sheepish shrug.

DOCTOR: Nardole, do something non-irritating.
NARDOLE [OC]: On it, sir!
MISSY [OC]: Time Lords are friends with each other, dear.

[Bridge]

(Missy checks her make-up in a glass panel. Nardole is at a computer terminal. )
MISSY: Everything else is cradle-snatching.

River scowled at the pointed glance the Master in the room shot her. The Doctor just sighed; very aware this video was going to be a headache for several reasons.

NARDOLE: Oh, it's a big one. Ship reads as four hundred miles long

[Tardis]

NARDOLE [OC]: And a hundred miles wide.

"That's a very big ship." Mickey mimicked Ryan's earlier declaration.

"Question is what's it for?" Martha added on, with a curious look at the ship.

DOCTOR: It's big, even for a colony ship.

[Bridge]

DOCTOR [OC]: Anything else?
NARDOLE: Er. (looks up through the observation dome at the black hole) Oh, look at that.
DOCTOR [OC]: Finally!

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: It's like watching plants grow.

"Doctor." Clara sighed disapprovingly, her lessons on manners really hadn't stuck.

[Bridge]

NARDOLE: It's heading towards a black hole.
MISSY: No.

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: No, it isn't.
MISSY [OC]: It was

"It's trying to reverse away from the blackhole." Jack connected the dots. "And it's not going well."

The Doctor glanced at Bill and Nardole, "That's putting it lightly."

Bill snorted, muttering quietly mostly to herself. "That's the least of their problem."

[Bridge]

MISSY: Heading towards a black hole, until somebody noticed. Now they're trying to reverse away from it. Engines are on reverse thrust, see?

"How do you not notice the giant black hole until you're that close?" Rose asked incredulous. The Doctor just shrugged, there were several options that she wasn't going to get into now.

NARDOLE: Oh. Well, it's succeeding.
MISSY: Very, very slowly.
BILL: Explains the distress call, I guess.

"I wish that was all it was." Bill grimaced, murmuring quietly enough that no one else would hear. They'd all seen soon anyway.

[Tardis]

(The Doctor is holding the scanner like a Pad, trailing a thick illuminated cable from the console. He walks down the steps.)
DOCTOR: So, a four hundred mile ship, reversing away from the gravitational pull of a black hole. Are we having fun yet?
(And fits the scanner back on the console.)

"Doctor!" Several people exclaimed in a mix of emotions – largely exasperation or frustration. None of them were against fun, and couldn't deny situations like this were sometimes fun, but with Missy in play none of them would describe this situation as 'fun'.

[Bridge]

MISSY: Mmm.
(A viewscreen slightly off to the side comes to life in black and white. The main viewscreen has an image of the black hole on it. )
JORJ [on screen]: Hello? Who's there? Hello? Please report status.
MISSY: Oh, hello.

"People." Rory's eyebrows creased as a thought occurred, "Actually why is this the first person they're seeing? Surely in a ship this big there is a big crew?"

No one missed the pointed look that Bill, Nardole and the Doctor shared, or were surprised at the lack of direct answers.

[Tardis]

MISSY [OC]: What have we got here?
(The Doctor crunches another crisp.)

[Bridge]

MISSY: You're probably handsome, aren't you? Well, congratulations on your relative symmetry.

"And I thought the Doctor was bad at talking with people." Donna snorted amused. She remained one of the few not to have a direct interaction with the Master outside of the video room, allowing her to watch videos like this without the trauma of past interactions influencing her.

JORJ [on screen]: Who are you?
MISSY: Well, I am that mysterious adventurer in all of time and space, known only as Doctor Who. And these are my disposables, Exposition and Comic Relief.
NARDOLE: We're not functions.
MISSY: Darling, those were genders.

That startled a snort out of Yaz who'd been watching Missy pretend to be the Doctor with crossed arms. Missy was acting different to the Master she knew best, but it didn't make her want to trust them but she couldn't deny Missy was entertaining (if not completely insane).

JORJ [on screen]: Please, stay exactly where you are for your own safety.
MISSY: He likes me. So exciting.
JORJ [on screen]: I'm coming through.
MISSY: Hurry, my stallion. And if I'm in the shower, just bring me some beans on toast. That's
NARDOLE: Urgh.
MISSY: That's roughly human flirting, isn't it?

"Really?" The Doctor gave the Master an exasperated look, very aware Missy had been playing it all up to annoy her, Bill and Nardole.

"I thought I was doing quite well, dear." The Master smirked back unrepentant. The Doctor decided better of arguing.

BILL: So, why do you keep calling yourself Doctor Who?
MISSY: Because I'm pretending to be him. Because that's the whole point of this ridiculous exercise.

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: It's not an exercise, it's a test. (crunch)

"Are you going to explain that by the way?" Amy asked with a raised eyebrow.

The Doctor frowned, with a glance at Bill and Nardole. "It's a long story."

"Then simplify it." Amy pushed determined for at least some answers.

"Missy and I spent a considerable amount of time in one place, she proved herself a few times, so we decided to try redemption." The Doctor summarised drastically.

"That redemption apparently didn't end well." Ryan remarked with a glance at the Master in the room with them who had been proven to be decidedly un-redeemed.

[Bridge]

MISSY: Are you eating?

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: No.

"Yes." The Master glared at the Doctor pointedly. It was the Doctor's turn to smirk to the Master's annoyance.

(He puts the packet down.)
MISSY [OC]: Yeah, well, don't test me

[Bridge]

MISSY: Eating crisps!
BILL: Yeah, but he's called the Doctor, so
MISSY: He says, I'm the Doctor, and they say, Doctor who? See, I'm cutting to the chase, baby. I'm streamlining. I'm saving us actual minutes.

"I hate that so much." Ryan muttered to Yaz, referring to Missy's tone and movement more than the actual words.

Yaz chuckled, leaning in closer to respond quietly, "I know, she sounds a bit like Graham when he'd trying to be hip."

BILL: Yeah, okay, whatever.
MISSY: Also it's his real name.
BILL: It's what?

"I second that, what?" Clara gave the Doctor a pointed look.

The Doctor sighed, making sure to give the Master an annoyed look, before she turned back to answer the curious eyes of the rest of the room. "It isn't really. It's more like a nickname or elongation of it. It has become more a part of it as time has gone on."

The Master pointedly rolled his eyes at the Doctor's avoidance, which went unnoticed by the majority of the group.

MISSY: Look at the screens.

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: Slow today, Missy.

[Bridge]

(Missy has seated herself in the command chair, while Nardole is in the equivalent of Sulu's bridge station.)
MISSY: All those screens have been angled to a single viewpoint.

"One person is controlling everything." River realised, "This big of a ship, one person in control."

"Something is very wrong." Jack made the same connection River just had.

[Tardis]

MISSY [OC]: But not originally, they've all been moved.
DOCTOR: Which means?
MISSY [OC]: Giant ship

[Bridge]

MISSY: Single pilot, but not designed that way. Something's happened to the others.

"Brilliant." Martha snorted, "Just what you need."

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: Yes. And now

[Bridge]

DOCTOR [OC]: It's time for you to figure out what.
(The CCTV cameras shift their attention.)

"Someone's got their eyes on you." Mickey noticed with a wary eye at all the cameras.

NARDOLE: Uh oh. Someone else has noticed us.
BILL: Sorry, what do you mean, it's his real name? Nobody knows the Doctor's real name.
MISSY: I do, because I grew up with him, and his real name is Doctor Who.

"Master." The Doctor sighed, aware of the enjoyment Missy had gotten out of pushing the issue (especially as it wasn't exactly true).

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: Bill, she's just trying to wind you up.

[Bridge]

MISSY: Chose it himself, you know, trying to sound mysterious.

[Tardis]

MISSY [OC]: And then he dropped the Who when he

[Bridge]

MISSY: Realised it was a tiny bit on the nose.

Bill glanced between the screen, the Master and the Doctor still unsure of Missy had been telling the truth or teasing her like the Doctor suggested. Watching them now didn't exactly give her any more clues.

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: Stop teasing her and focus. BILL [OC]: Is she serious, though, Doctor?

[Bridge]

BILL: Is your real name Doctor Who?
(A door on the right opens and a blue-skinned man enters, hand weapon at the ready.)
NARDOLE: Oh, you're blue. Nice. I should go back to blue.

[Tardis]

JORJ [on scanner]: Stay where you are.

"He's not particularly friendly." Donna raised an eyebrow.

Rose shrugged, "No, He's very frightened."

"Question is why." Martha nodded at Rose's observation.

[Bridge]

DOCTOR [OC]: Stay calm. He's very frightened.
MISSY: Deary me, I thought you were handsome, and now you've gone all cross and you're pointing a gun at me. Is this the emotion you humans call spanking?

"Ew." Clara grimaced; she'd thought her own interactions with Missy were bad. She gave Bill a sympathetic look, the younger woman was also grimacing.

JORJ: Are there only three of you? Are any of you human?
MISSY: What has happened to this ship and how long have you been here alone? You're looking very sickly.
JORJ: Two days. (to Missy) Are you human?

"He's fixed on that question." Rory remarked curiously.

"He's not human." Amy theorised, "Maybe that's why he's still here."

"So, what happened to the humans?" Rory asked the question on everyone's minds.

No one missed the knowing look exchanged between The Doctor, Bill and Nardole.

MISSY: Oh, don't be a bitch.
JORJ: How did you get on board? Is that your capsule?
MISSY: Yep.

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: No.

[Bridge]

(Jorj goes up the steps to Scott's engineering station and looks at a display panel. Two lift shafts, three lifts ascending. Lift two is on level 0718, one and three are on 0930.)
JORJ: There, look! Three lifts. They're coming.

"Who's coming?" Graham worried.

(The display is mirrored on the Tardis scanner.)
NARDOLE: What's in this ship?
(Floor 985 and climbing for the bottom lift.)
MISSY: Super-fast inertia lifts.
NARDOLE: Well, what's inside? What's coming up here?
JORJ: Things. I don't even know where they came from. One of you must be human. They only come up if they detect human life signs.

"Why?" Yaz asked, "What would want humans to – oh." Her eyes widened as she connected the dots. A quick glance at the smirking Master and the reluctant nod the Doctor gave her confirmed her suspicions. This video really wasn't going to be pleasant to watch, for anyone.

(Floor 350)
BILL: What for?

[Tardis]

JORJ [OC]: They take them away.

[Bridge]

NARDOLE: So those are the lift doors, yeah? That's where they come out?
(At the rear of the bridge, up the steps, next to the Tardis.)

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: I'll be right with you.

"About time Doctor." River raised a pointed eyebrow at her wife, who shrugged with a sheepish smile.

[Bridge]

JORJ: Which of you is human?
(The Doctor comes out of the Tardis.)
BILL: Me. Me, me. I'm human. I'm the only one. Just, just me.

"No, Bill!" Clara shook her head; this wasn't going to go well.

Nardole and the Doctor shared a miserable glance at Bill. Bill, in turn, was bracing herself in preparation of what she knew was to come. How the others would react, she couldn't say exactly but it wasn't going to be pretty or quiet.

DOCTOR: Please stop this. Stop right there, now.

The group started tensing up as they registered the Doctor's rising panic at the danger Bill was in. Several people kept glancing at Bill in concern.

JORJ: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, but you're the reason that they're coming.
DOCTOR: Put it down. Put that down now.
JORJ: They won't come if she's dead.

"No, no, no. Not a good idea." Martha shook her head, as the room grew more and more tense.

(Floor 45)
DOCTOR: You don't need to do this. I can get her off this ship. I can shield her life signs.
BILL: You know what, Doctor? I said this was a bad idea.

"And I was right, as usual." Bill muttered, not bitterly. She didn't miss the Doctor's wince but couldn't catch her eye to try and reassure her she didn't mean it like that.

(Floor 26)
DOCTOR: Please, listen to me. Look at me. Go on, look at me. That's good. That's very, very good. Now, do you see this mad woman sitting in this chair? Her name isn't Doctor Who. My name is Doctor Who.
NARDOLE: It's not, is it?

"Not important right now, Nardole." River chided lightly, even as her eyes never left the screen.

(The lift is slowing. 8, 7. The Doctor has got very close to Jorj.)

"You're running out of time." Jack glanced between the Doctor, Bill and the screen.

DOCTOR: I like it. You don't know it yet, but in a short time, you will trust me with your life. And when I save you and everyone on your ship, one day you will look back, and wonder who I was and why I did.
(The lift arrives and Jorj flinches, firing his weapon. Slow motion, Bill's face a picture of horror, the Doctor turning to look at her. She has a big hole right through her chest.)

"NO!" Several people screamed out, even jerking forward in their seats in shock.

Bill winced at the sight, a hand reaching towards the former hole in her chest at the reminder of the pain. She glanced away from the screen, unable to bear the sight of the gaping wound in her chest on screen.

"What?"

"But how?"

"Bill!"

People spoke over each other, becoming increasingly panicked as Bill, Nardole and the Doctor remained silent. No one noticed the Master avoiding looking at the screen as well.

"Quiet!" River shouted over the top of everyone. The room went silent, all eyes turned to River as they waited to see what she would say. "Lovely, thank you. Now, why don't we let the people who were actually there explain." River glanced at Bill for a second, before changing her gaze to the Doctor who tried to avoid eye contact.

It didn't last long. The Doctor winced, glancing quickly at Bill herself before she turned to the room at large, eyes cast low. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"An explanation would be great Doctor." Donna raised her own voice, arms crossed.

"I don't have one." The Doctor answered honestly, if not a bit hoarsely. "You saw what happened. I made a mistake, and Bill paid the price."

Bill interrupted before anyone else could speak, "I agreed to go, Doctor."

"After I persuaded you. You told me it was a bad idea; I didn't listen." The Doctor argued.

"You never listen Doctor," Bill smiled softly at the Doctor, "We didn't know what we were getting into, but it wasn't your fault."

"Not that I'm not glad but how is Bill alive ... and not holey?" Mickey interrupted the pair who were having a silent conversation.

Bill, Nardole and the Doctor shared a grimace, all resisting the urge to glance at the Master.

"It might be better to just watch." The Doctor glanced at the frozen screen, then back at Bill, and finally to the group watching.

Bill nodded along, "Just a warning ... it gets worse." Bill glanced at the Doctor and winced, between her fate, Nardole's and the Doctor's it hadn't been a very successful adventure. Although, on the upside she did get to see Heather again. Silver linings and all that.

"Brilliant. Just what I wanted to hear." Amy sighed; it was never promising when a video started like that. How could the video get worse, when they'd started with Bill being killed? Guess they didn't have a choice but to watch and find out.

[University grounds]

BILL: Doctor, this is a bad idea.

"Oh, so we get to see the lead up to this mess." Clara shook her head; she couldn't wait to hear the Doctor's excuses.

DOCTOR: No, it's a good idea. A test run. She thinks she can be me. Let's try her out.
BILL: Why?

"Good question." Rose raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. The group's opinions of the Doctor's plan tainted by the fate they knew awaited Bill.

[University]

DOCTOR: She got us home from Mars.

"I want to know the story behind that one." Martha mumbled, snorting in disbelief at the idea that the Master could be helpful.

The Doctor winced, "It might show up at some point." She couldn't help but think about Martha's reaction when the Master she was familiar with showed up. There was no way Martha or Jack were going to be calm about his reveal, especially with everything he did to Bill.

BILL: She's a murderer.
DOCTOR: Enjoying your bacon sandwich?
BILL: Why?
DOCTOR: Because it had a mummy and a daddy. Go tell a pig about your moral high ground.

"It's not the same." Mickey argued, arms crossed.

The Doctor just raised her eyebrow, "Isn't it?"

[Kitchen]

(Bill has chipped potatoes and put them in a bowl.)
DOCTOR: I pick a scenario, we drop her down into it, and we see how she does.

"You didn't pick a very good scenario." Jack pointed out.

"I'm aware." The Doctor's tone said everything, eyes never leaving the screen. Jack and River shared a look above her head, there was more going on here than just Bill's death (as horrible as it was).

BILL: How does that work?
DOCTOR: Ah. We just take the Tardis for a spin and we graze for distress calls. We pick a good one. Our usual Saturday.
(Bill drops the potatoes into the deep fat fryer pan.)

"Shouldn't you be doing something instead of bothering Bill at work?" Clara raised an eyebrow, othering Bill a sympathetic smile for having to put up the Doctor.

"I didn't have any classes." The Doctor shrugged unrepentant.

"Classes? Oh, this was when you were working at that university, right?" Rose remembered the other video they'd seen with Bill in it.

"Yes." Bill answered for the Doctor, "He didn't have anything better than to bother me with his latest crazy idea."

"Happen a lot?" Amy grinned knowingly.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Bill grinned back, all of them ignoring the Doctor's protests.

BILL: And what if she just walks out and slaughters everyone just for a laugh?
DOCTOR: Well, I will be monitoring you the whole time.
BILL: Me?
DOCTOR: Yes. You and Nardole. You can be her companions. See?
BILL: Ah, nah! Forget it. Absolutely no way.

"Smart." Martha nodded approvingly at the younger woman. Learning how to deal with the Doctor's crazy ideas was an important skill. However, seeing as they already knew Bill was going to go along with the mission it seemed she'd caved to the Doctor's plans this time.

DOCTOR: Nardole agreed.
NARDOLE: No, I didn't.
DOCTOR: You did in my head, which is good enough for me.

"Doctor." River sighed in disapproval; the Doctor just shrugged.

BILL: Why do you want to do this?
DOCTOR: She's my friend. She's my oldest friend in the universe.

The group couldn't help but glance at the Master, who in turn was watching the Doctor. It was a rare occurrence that they could actually see emotion (other than anger and pride) on the Master's face. He was quiet, looking more fragile than normal (and several of them had seen the Master 'die').

The Doctor was noticeably avoiding his (and everyone else's') gaze, her own eyes locked onto the screen. Bill glanced between the pair, very aware of what was still to come, and curious despite herself to see how the Master would react. She'd learned more of the pair's background through these videos which gave her some more contexts of their relationship (not to say she'd ever understand it), but she'd certainly got a different experience to some of the other companions.

BILL: Well, you've got lots of friends. Better ones. What's so special about her?
DOCTOR: She's different.
BILL: Different how?
DOCTOR: I don't know.

"Liar." Clara disputed, not unkindly.

BILL: Yes, you do.
DOCTOR: She's the only person that I've ever met who's even remotely like me.

"You finally admit it." The Master was practically shaking as he dragged out the words, eyes glaring into the Doctor's head.

"For better or worse." The Doctor spoke softly, still ignoring the group's stares.

BILL: So more than anything you want her to be good?

"I don't do good." The Master spat the last word, tone full of anger and distain. His whole demeanour getting more frustrated as the Doctor continued to ignore him.

NARDOLE: Are you having an emotion?
DOCTOR: I know I can help her.
NARDOLE: Yeah. Look at that face, he's having an emotion. Yeah. Yes, look at that bit, yeah, he's doing emotions.

"Nardole." River sighed disapprovingly. The Doctor and Nardole really did deserve each other. While it seemed, their relationship consisted of the Doctor bulling Nardole, Nardole in fact gave back as much as he got.

BILL: Oh, leave him alone.
NARDOLE: Can I take a selfie with you?

Despite the tension in the room, Nardole's remark still earned a few humoured snorts.

[University roof]

(Night. Sitting on a bench, eating the chips from polystyrene trays.)
DOCTOR: She was my first friend, always so brilliant, from the first day at the Academy. So fast, so funny. She was my man crush.

Now it was the Master's turn to avoid the Doctor's gaze. His whole body had flinched at the Doctor's admittance, eyes locking onto the screen. The Doctor frowned at the side of his head, thoughts unconsciously drifting to the memories of the Academy so long ago. She's almost expected more of a reaction from the Master at her words, but apparently not.

BILL: I'm sorry?
DOCTOR: Yeah, I think she was a man back then. I'm fairly sure that I was, too. It was a long time ago, though.
BILL: So, the Time Lords, bit flexible on the whole man-woman thing, then, yeah?

"Very casual." Bill answered her past self with a glance at both the Master and Doctor who had changed gender since she'd last seen them.

DOCTOR: We're the most civilised civilisation in the universe. We're billions of years beyond your petty human obsession with gender and its associated stereotypes.

"But very behind in other regards." Jack muttered with a glance at the Doctor who didn't refute the claim. They were both aware of the stories that circled the universe about Gallifrey.

BILL: But you still call yourselves Time Lords?
DOCTOR: Yeah. Shut up.

"It's a rough translation." The Doctor one-heartedly defended it with a shrug.

BILL: Okay.
DOCTOR: We had a pact, me and him. Every star in the universe, we were going to see them all. But he was too busy burning them. I don't think she ever saw anything.

"I saw a lot." The Master argued hauntingly, eyes locked on the screen.

The Doctor gave him a sad look, "You saw, but you didn't experience." The Master clenched his jaw in answer.

BILL: And you think that if she did, she'd change?
DOCTOR: I know she would. I know it.
BILL: You're a bloody idiot. You know that, yeah?

"That's right, tell him Bill." Amy grinned; glad Bill wasn't afraid to tell the Doctor how much of an idiot they were even as she gaze into his latest crazy scheme.

"They need a reminder every so often." Donna nodded in agreement with a wide grin. The Doctor just sighed at the pair teaming up on her (again).

DOCTOR: Of course.
BILL: She scares me. Like, she really scares me. Okay. So promise me one thing, yeah? Just promise you won't get me killed.

The group all winced in sync at Bill's words. Another promise the Doctor had broken, intentionally or not, and it ended with Bill's death.

[Bridge]

JORJ: I'm sorry.

"You should be a hell of a lot more than sorry." Jack glared at the alien on screen. They'd been terrified, yes, but that wasn't an excuse. The Doctor had been offering them options, but they'd gone straight for murder.

[University room]

DOCTOR: I can't promise you that.
BILL: Thanks.
DOCTOR: I mean, look, you're human. And humans are so mortal.

The group grimaced; it was rough hearing the pair joke around when they knew how it had gone in reality. However, in some ways it was good that the Doctor hadn't given an empty promise, they had tried to keep Bill aware of the danger involved, even if it hadn't stopped either of them.

BILL: Cheers.
DOCTOR: I mean, you pop like balloons. (Bill is slowly toppling backwards on the spaceship) I mean, one heart? It's your most important organ, and you've no back up. It's like a budget cut.

The tension in the room could be cut with a knife. The pairing of Bill and the Doctor's conversation with the visual reminder of Bill's fate was hard to watch. Many of the group found themselves glancing between the screen and Bill, to remind themselves that she was with them, safe and altogether lacking a giant hole in her stomach.

BILL: Oh, you'll try and keep me alive?
DOCTOR: Within reason.
BILL: Thanks, mate.

"It wasn't enough." The Doctor whispered hoarsely to herself, only Jack and River even noticing she'd spoke.

[Bridge]

(The Doctor is kneeling by Bill's body when the three lift doors open. Back-lit figures wheeling IV drips come out. They have ribbed knitted bags over their heads.)
NARDOLE: What are they? What are those things?

Bill, Nardole and the Doctor shared a knowing glance, all very aware of what those things were. Yet, the Doctor couldn't find it in themselves to regret their choice too much. Did they regret not reaching Bill fast enough? Of course. But actually, allowing them to save her? No.

DOCTOR: You're too late, she's dead. Don't you touch her. Don't you lay a finger on her.
(The figure jabs at a computer keyboard.)
VOICE: Stand. Away. Stand. Away. She. Will. Be. Repaired.
(The slower lift arrives at a fourth larger 'cargo lift' door, and a gurney is wheeled out by two similar beings.)
DOCTOR: Repaired?

"Strange word choice." Martha pointed out cautiously, everything in her telling her something was very wrong with these people despite the desperate the hope at the idea Bill could be saved.

VOICE: Stand. Away.
DOCTOR: You can help her? Is that what you mean?
(Bill is gently placed on the gurney.)
DOCTOR: Where are you going? What are you going to do with her?
VOICE: Re-pair.

"They're not very keen on answers, are they?" Ryan said, watching the figures carefully. They were giving him bad vibes to say the least.

JORJ: Don't try and stop them. They'll snap you in half.
DOCTOR: When do you bring her back?
VOICE: We. Will. Not.

"I think the Doctor's going to disagree with that one." Rory crossed his arms. Getting between the Doctor and a hurt friend was never a good idea if you wanted to survive.

(The lift doors close. The Doctor touches the central one.)
DOCTOR [telepathic]: Wait for me. Wait for me. Wait for me.
MISSY: What are you doing?
DOCTOR: Leaving a message in her subconscious.

Bill's gaze shot to the Doctor who'd been watching her with sad eyes. Bil; nodded in acknowledgement, glad to hear she hadn't been going crazy every time she thought she'd heard the Doctor say those words in the long years she was about to relive.

JORJ: How? She's dead.
DOCTOR: Those things are going to repair her, so clearly she isn't.
(Missy and the Doctor activate their sonic devices and aim them at the three main lifts. Hers is the parasol.)

"Sonic parasol." River remarked, "And I thought the sunglasses were bad."

The comment earned her a glare and scoff from the Master, "It's far better than a screwdriver. Much better reach, more versatile. Good for whacking someone too."

MISSY: Assumption.
DOCTOR: Deduction.
MISSY: Hope.
DOCTOR: Faith.
MISSY: Idiot.
DOCTOR: Always!

The group rolled their eyes at the pair, none of them were ever going to understand their relationship, no matter how many videos they watched.

(Jorj points his gun at the Doctor.)
JORJ: Sir, step away from those doors. You'll bring them back.

"Ooh, mate. I don't think you want to do that." Mickey shook his head, Jorj was already in dangerous territory with the Doctor, they really didn't want to push their luck.

(Missy turns her parasol on Jorj.)
MISSY: What do you care, Smurf? They're not even interested in you.
JORJ: Sir, I swear to you. Step away from that lift or I will kill you.

"You might want to listen to him Doctor," Jack spoke up eyes locked on the screen as if Jorj was an active threat, "He's already killed Bill and he's clearly terrified of those things. He means it." The Doctor didn't answer, just waved to the screen.

DOCTOR: Don't. You will only make me angry.
MISSY: Honey, listen to him.
DOCTOR: Why?
MISSY: Because if somebody kills you and it's not me, we'll both be disappointed. Now, you. What were those things?

A few people had to resist the rather strong urge to make a comment about the Master caring about the Doctor, deciding it wasn't worth the risk to their life no matter how safe the Tardis said they were. Still, it went to show that maybe the Doctor wasn't entirely crazy about Missy at least.

JORJ: I don't know.
(He lowers his gun.)
DOCTOR: How can you not know? They're on your ship.
JORJ: The ship is supposed to be empty.

"That is decidedly not empty." Graham pointed out redundantly, "How does an empty ship just get people in it?" No one answered him.

NARDOLE: But it's a colony ship.
JORJ: But it's brand new. The colonists haven't arrived yet. We were on our way to pick them up. A skeleton crew, fifty of us, that's all.

"Fifty people down to one." Rose said.

"Question is, what happened to the other 49 people." Martha followed on from Rose's comment, asking the question they were all thinking.

"My bets on it having something to do with the bandage people." Amy decided to add her thought into the discussion.

Bill, Nardole and the Doctor shared a knowing glance but offered no answers to the tense and frustrated group.

(Nardole uses the console again. The graphic of the ship on a free-standing display lights up with lots of little dots, mostly in the bottom sixth, thinning out as it gets further up the next four sections.)
NARDOLE: It's not empty now, is it? Look, thousands of life readings.

"How do you go from fifty to thousands?" Yaz asked, eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"Maybe they were boarded?" Rory offered a theory.

Clara shook her head in disagreement, "Surely they'd notice that?"

"Maybe not with how big the ship is, and the imminent danger of the black hole." Donna offered even as she didn't sound entirely convinced on the matter.

JORJ: Two days ago there was nothing. Those readings came out of nowhere.

"Two days is a very short time for that many people to appear." Ryan said, the mystery continued to deepen.

MISSY: Well, obviously you were boarded.
JORJ: No.
MISSY: Your ship was taken over. It happens.
DOCTOR: No.
NARDOLE: Doctor?
DOCTOR: This is worse than I thought. Much worse. Fifty of you, taking your brand new ship, fresh from the factory, to pick up some colonists.
JORJ: Yes.
DOCTOR: Two days ago, you almost bump into a black hole. What did you do then?

"Oh, oh!" River made the same connection the Doctor just had, eyes darting to the Doctor for confirmation. Her silent question got her a nod of confirmation.

"Care to share River?" Amy raised an eyebrow at her daughter.

River glanced at the Doctor again before answering, "I'm sure the Doctor's just about to explain." No point in having it explained twice.

JORJ: We tried to reverse out of it.
DOCTOR: And you sent a team down to the other end of the ship to reverse the rear thrusters, yes?
JORJ: Yes.
DOCTOR: How many people in the team?
JORJ: About twenty.
DOCTOR: And you never heard from them again. And then the whole ship just lit up with all these new lifeforms. Correct?

"Something happened to the group then." Clara narrowed her eyes, only getting more confused as the Doctor laid out the situation.

Jack's eyes on the other hand lit up as he made the same connection River had moments ago.

JORJ: Exactly.
DOCTOR: What happened then?
JORJ: Those creatures arrived, took the rest of the humans away. They weren't interested in me. I tried to fight them, but they were too strong.

"Only one non-human in the crew of fifty. Bit odd." Mickey muttered. He'd have thought there would be more, but apparently not.

NARDOLE: Well, maybe something came out of the black hole.
MISSY: Nothing comes out of a black hole.

"That we're aware of yet, at least." Jack shrugged. They'd all seen a lot of crazy things during their time travelling time and space, you never knew when the universe was going to present something new.

DOCTOR: Nothing boarded this ship. I'm afraid you'll never see your crew again. Black hole, four hundred mile spaceship. It's a matter of Time.

"Very literally." Bill muttered in disdain; the whole experience had been painful in many ways for her.

(He pulls his sonic screwdriver apart to reveal a magic marker pen.)
DOCTOR: Pay attention.

"You know, I can see you as a university lecturer now." Martha snorted, Eyebrows with the whiteboard screamed teacher.

Bill perked up slightly. She was kind of interested in seeing the explanation in normal time, seeing as she'd only experienced it very slowed down, it's be cool to see it in actual time and with audio.

[Conversion Theatre]

(Over the door in every room down here, we see a display showing two relative times: Floor 0000 day 000000002 10 hours 45 minutes 17 seconds. Floor 1056 day 000365034 12 hours 31 minutes 2 seconds and counting. Bill's eyes open slowly.)

"Time is different across the ship." Rose realised as she saw the timers. The Doctor had implied it but not outright explained how yet.

"Bill!" Yaz cheered at seeing her open her eyes. The whole group was happy to see her alive at least, though how they weren't sure and the consequences (because there was always consequences) hadn't presented themselves yet.

SURGEON: Hello. Back with us? No, don't try to speak, just relax. You'll be fine. Full conversion wasn't necessary, though it will be in time. Sleep now.

"Conversion?" Ryan muttered; eyebrows furrowed in thought. He didn't like the implications of that word.

Bill grimaced at the reminder of what was still to come. Nardole and the Doctor shared a look, they'd been so close to getting down in time, but they'd been just too late to save Bill.

[Recovery room]

(A little later, a shadowy figure flits past the camera.)
BILL: Hmm.
(A male with beard and long hair is there. There's something familiar about that face.)

Bill scowled at the sight of Razor, she was going to be watching this and trying to see all the signs that hinted to Razor's real identity. All the clues she'd been blind too at the time. She purposely ignored the smirk that the Master sent her, the knot in her stomach unwinding slightly when she realised the Doctor was glaring him down for her.

The Doctor glared at the Master until he turned his attention back to the screen, she was hoping that no one made the connection to Razor's identity yet. Though she was sure Martha and Jack were going to have a fit when they realised.

RAZOR: Oh, awake, is it? Awake now. Good, settle.
(He leaves. Bill struggles to sit up. There is a box-like structure on her chest roughly where the hole had been. She grabs at it through the opening in her robe. We can see little lights on it.)

"What have they done to you?" Martha asked shocked at the sight of the box.

Bill rubbed at her chest unconsciously as she answered Martha with a grimace, "They repaired me."

DOCTOR [memory]: Wait for me.
BILL: Doctor!
(She thinks she sees him, but he vanishes.)

"The message. It worked." Rory commented more to himself than anything. At least Bill knew the Doctor would be trying to come get her, how long it would take though was the issue.

VOICE [OC]: (unemotional) Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.

"Sounds like fun." Amy grimaced.

(Bill gets out of bed, takes hold of her IV, looks up at the time dispay - Day 000365036 00h 23m 28s - and then walks out into - )

[Corridor]

(Which runs from the Conversion Theatre down past several sets of doors. The theatre has a red light glowing outside and the very faint whine of a drill or saw coming from within.)

"Very creepy." Mickey muttered, eyeing the screen warily. The whole hospital vibe was giving him the creeps.

VOICE [OC]: Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.
(And looks into a ward, where people are lying very still in beds. The sign over the door says IN. The one opposite says OUT.)
VOICE [OC]: Pain. Pain. Pain.

"Remind me to never visit." Donna declared; arms crossed at the sight. How Bill had survived anytime in the place was escaping her.

[Out Ward]

(Bill enters. Here the patients sit slumped in wheelchairs, with their heads covered with those bags fastened at their necks by metal collars. One at the far end is jabbing at a pad.)

"What is wrong with all of them?" Graham asked, getting more and more horrified as Bill continued her exploration of the hospital-like place.

The only answer the group got was the dark look Bill, Nardole and the Doctor exchanged. No one noticed the Master's smirk.

VOICE [OC]: Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.

"Can they say anything else?" Mickey asked with a grimace.

"Why isn't anyone helping them?" Martha elbowed her husband, to correct him.

(Bill leans towards it and it reaches for her.)
NURSE [OC]: Who's making all that noise? Who is it?
(Bill hides behind a floor-length curtain at the end of the ward which is covering a set of French windows. A well-built woman and the hairy man enter.)

"Ah the age old, hide behind the curtain trick." Jack chuckled to himself. To be fair to Bill there wasn't really many other options for hiding.

VOICE [OC]: Pain. Pain. Pain.
NURSE: Right, what's the matter with you, hmm? Making all that fuss.
VOICE [OC]: Pain. Pain.
NURSE: Let's see now.
(The orderly notices Bill's IV bottle swaying gently on its support by the curtain. Bill looks out and he gestures for her to hide.)

Bill sighed quietly; Razor had done so much to gain her trust only to betray her in the end. She hadn't had anyone else to rely on, so she'd leaned so heavily on her, and she paid for it. Of the three Master regenerations she'd known (either during her travels or from being in the room) Missy was her favourite, which wasn't saying much but she was at least much better than Razor.

VOICE [OC]: Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.
(The nurse adjusts a knob on the top of the patient's drip.)
NURSE: That's better, isn't it? Right then, Mister Razor, might as well do the rounds, now I'm here.
RAZOR: Rounds? Yes, it is. Rounds, good, yes.

"So, he works there?" Rory asked, curiously.

Bill and the Doctor shared a look, before Bill answered. "You could say that."

(Bill looks out and he gestures for her to hide. He closes the ward doors quickly as he follows the nurse out. Bill comes out. The patient is still jabbing at his keyboard but there is no sound. Bill looks at the top of the drip and sees it is a volume knob. She turns it back up.)

"Did the nurse just mute him?" Yaz asked appalled. The nurse hadn't tried to help the poor figure, just muted them so they couldn't share their pain. She could understand why Bill was hiding from the nurse.

VOICE [OC]: Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.
BILL: Sorry, mate.
VOICE [OC]: Pain.
(She turns the volume back down again.)

The group grimaced but couldn't disagree with Bill's choice, they likely would have done the same in her place.

BILL: I'm really sorry.
(She crosses to the patient opposite and turns up the volume on that one.)
VOICE [OC]: Kill. Me. Kill. Me. Kill. Me. Kill

"That's horrible. What is this place?" Rose asked getting increasingly horrified about where Bill had ended up. Still the group received no answers.

BILL: Sorry, sorry.
NURSE [PC]: This way, Mister Razor. Look sharp!
(Bill parts the curtains and looks out at a high-rise city belching muck and dirt up to the ceiling, which is labelled 1056. The Kill Me patient gets out of its chair and comes behind her, hand reaching for her neck. Then it collapses. The orderly, Mister Razor, had hit it on the back of the head. He grins.)
RAZOR: Would you like some tea?

"What have you got yourself into this time Doctor?" River stated, not glancing away from the screen. The group was starting to understand why Bill and the Doctor kept saying things only got worse.

The Doctor, contrarily, was split between watching Bill and the screen. They hadn't had much time for in depth explanations of everything that happened between them being separated and the reunion, so the Doctor was morbidly curious to see what had happened with Bill and Razor in the time between.

[Corridor]

RAZOR: This way, this way.
BILL: What about him?
RAZOR: It's all right. They don't feel pain.

"I would disagree heavily with that statement." Martha grimaced.

BILL: Oh, I think they do.
RAZOR: Yes, they do.
BILL: So why did you say they don't?
RAZOR: It was a clever lie, but you see straight through me. Come, tea, this way.
BILL: Hey, what are those things?
RAZOR: People, people, people, people, they're people.

"People." Amy mused, "The old crewmembers and their descendants."

BILL: What are you doing to them?
RAZOR: Curing them. Come. (scuttles down the corridor) Psst! In here.

"Curing them from what?" Yaz mumbled, eyes on the screen. She had a very good guess what those patients were going to be, but that didn't mean she knew why they needed to be 'cured'.

[Razor's room]

(Lots of shelves and racks with bits and pieces. There is a telephone on the wall and what could be an old television set showing a black and white still of the scene on the Bridge.) RAZOR: Do you want the good tea or the bad tea?
BILL: What's the difference?
RAZOR: I call one good, one bad.

"Ah, it's that kind of place." Donna snorted.

BILL; Er, I'll take the good one.
RAZOR: Excellent, positive attitude. Will help with the horror to come.

"Oh great." Martha declared, voice dripping with sarcasm at Razor's declaration. No one noticed the look that Bill and the Doctor shared.

BILL: What horror?
RAZOR: Mainly the tea.
BILL: Where am I?
RAZOR: Hospital.

"That really clears things up." Clara snorted with little humour.

BILL: Yeah, but where?
RAZOR: The ship. You are on the ship.
BILL: I was on a ship, yeah, but it wasn't like this.
RAZOR: You were at top of the ship and now you are at bottom.

"Which means it should be easy for the Doctor and Nardole to find her, right?" Ryan asked giving the Doctor a hopeful expression, the Doctor couldn't even hide their pained look.

(Bill looks puzzled, so he gets a tin of beans for show and tell.)
RAZOR: Ship. Top. Bottom. See? Yes.
BILL: How did I get here?

"The elevators must go right across the ship." Rose reasoned, seeing no other way they could have taken Bill down. Theoretically that meant Nardole and the Doctor only had to take the elevator down to the floor Bill was on, but she had the feeling it wouldn't be that easy.

RAZOR: You were sick, very sick. Broken. Heart broken. New heart. Good, is it?

"A very literal broken heart." Rory frowned at the description.

"More like an incinerated one." Amy couldn't help but comment as she thought back to the visual of Bill with a hole through her chest. Then she winced, "Sorry Bill." Bill just waved her off with a shrug, it was true.

BILL: I haven't dared look yet.
RAzOR: Is good. Is very good. Shiny. You can carry it off. Not everybody can. For some people, it all goes a bit, you know.
BILL: What?
RAZOR: Vending machine. (laughs then hands her a mug) Drink it while it is very hot. The pain will disguise the taste.

"Sorry have they given you a robotic heart or something?" Mickey blinked, not having registered the meaning of Razor's words initially.

"Or something." Bill grimaced but refused to elaborate. They'd all see shortly. The rest of the room shared a worried glance, this video really wasn't a pretty one.

BILL: Thanks. How long have I been here?
RAZOR: Oh, weeks. Many weeks. Maybe months.

"I'm sorry what?" Rory asked, still confused about the time thing on the ship.

"The Doctor will explain ... eventually." Bill gave him a sympathetic look.

BILL: God.
RAZOR: Is good. You get strong.
BILL: Yeah, but I came here with people. My friends.
RAZOR: Oh, they don't look so bad.
(He gestures to the screen.)

"Security cameras! You can watch them." Rose perked up interested at the development.

Bill laughed, "Yep, trust me very entertaining." That earned a few laughs of agreement from the wider group while Nardole and Bill shared a look.

BILL: That's them. That's my friends.
RAZOR: I know. I make picture for you. You like?
BILL: Where are they now? Are they okay?
RAZOR: Well, they are fine. Look at them.
BILL: Yeah, but are they okay now?

Bill didn't look away from the screen, conscious of the weight of the Doctor's eyes on the side of her head and aware of what expression the Doctor was going to be giving her. She didn't want to see it right now.

(Razor sits at a desk.)
RAZOR: That is now. That is right now. That is them. Is live.
BILL: Yeah, but the picture, it's frozen.
RAZOR: No.
BILL: Yeah, it is, they're not moving. Look at them.

"No." Clara realised, "They're just in slow motion. Time moves faster at one end of the ship!"

The Doctor gave her a small proud smile, though it wasn't the entire story.

RAZOR: They are at top of ship. Top of ship very slow. We are at bottom. Bottom much faster. Very fast bottom. (laughs)
BILL: Yeah, I don't understand.
RAZOR: Ah. So you don't know.
BILL: About what?

"I echo that question." Ryan admitted, glancing between the screen and the Doctor still confused.

[Bridge]

(The still turns to colour and gains movement. It is the moment the Doctor separates his sonic screwdriver and it as a pen to draw on a glass screen.)

"Time for that explanation." Jack grinned.

"And a whole lot of showing off." River added with a knowing look at her wife.

DOCTOR: Short version. Because of the black hole, time is moving faster at this end of the ship than the other. It's all about gravity. Gravity slows down time. The closer you are to the source of gravity, the slower time will move. (Jorj looks blank) If you're standing in your garden, your head is travelling faster through time than your feet. Don't they teach you this stuff at space school?

"Be nice Doctor." Clara sighed.

[Razor's room]

(The scanner is showing the end of that scene. Bill has swapped her hospital robe and IV drip for a baggy woollen jumper. Razor is sitting in an armchair, reading a book.)
BILL: See he's raising that eyebrow? That's his sarcasm face. He's making a joke.

"Oh, Bill." The Doctor muttered sadly. She'd been so alone that she'd had to rely on Razor and the very very slowly moving video of them at the top of the ship. If only she'd been quicker with their explanation than maybe, they would have made it in time to save Bill before it was too late. Bill kept her eyes on the screen in an attempt to ignore the sympathetic and pitying looks she knew she was getting.

RAZOR: He's been raising that eyebrow for a week.
BILL: So when are you going to tell me?
RAZOR: Tell you what?
BILL: How I can get back up there.

The group winced at the idea of Bill being stuck down in the creepy hospital largely alone for so long, and her only companions being the Doctor (and Nardole) on screen, and Razor who wasn't answering her questions.

RAZOR: I already told you. You can't leave here. I'm sorry.
NURSE: What are you doing in here?
RAZOR: She works for me now. We agreed.
NURSE: Everyone here works for me. There's a floor out there needs cleaning.

"You became a janitor?" Mickey asked curiously.

Bill shrugged, "It killed some time." And kept her in the nurse' good books largely.

BILL: Running all the way.
NURSE: I know you dream of leaving.
BILL: No, me? Never.
NURSE: (taps Bill's chest) This is your heart now, and outside this hospital, it will stop working.

"Well, that's oddly convenient." Amy narrowed her eyes, "For them anyway."

BILL: Ah. It's a good thing you've got all those locks, then, in case I accidently wander off. Yeah. Better get mopping. (to Razor) Don't change the channel.
RAZOR: A week, raising his eyebrow? Why would I change?

"Is there even anything else on?" Rose wondered. Bill shrugged; she hadn't even really considered it.

The Doctor's attention, however, was on the Master. He'd been watching them for all this time, preparing for their arrival. Had he even known for sure about Missy? Had Bill told him about them? So many questions, but none she could ask Bill right now.

[Bridge]

JORJ: Space school? I'm basically the janitor.
DOCTOR: That's a good job. But you've got to concentrate more. Now, listen.

[Razor's room]

(Sitting with Razor on a settee, looking at the Doctor flipping his screwdriver.)
BILL: He's going to do an explanation. That always takes a while.

"Hey!" The Doctor protested in good nature, barely hiding her grin as Bill cheered up. Other members of the group joined in on the laughter at the Doctor's expense, glad for any excuse at this point.

RAZOR: The months will fly by.

[Bridge]

DOCTOR: A black hole isn't just any old gravity. It's Superman gravity. You really want to slow down time, park next to one of these guys. Trouble is, one end of the ship is closer to the Superman gravity than the other.

"So basically, black hole gravity makes time funky across ship. Top is slow, bottom is fast." Martha summarised, earning a bit of a reluctant nod from the Doctor at the crude wording.

(Bill is mopping the floor of the Out Ward. On floor 0000 it is Day 2, 10 hours, 45 minutes exactly. On floor 1056 it is Day 000365433, 10 hours 2 minutes 21 seconds. She hears the wind whistling and sees that the doors at the other end of the ward are slightly open. The patients turn their heads to watch, and their alarms beep. She shuts the doors, the beeping stops and the patients return to facing forwards. Then she sees -)
DOCTOR: Wait for me.
(Then he is gone. 1056 is stencilled on the 'sky' above the smoky city.)
BILL: How much longer, Doctor? How many more years?

"Years?" Yaz asked solemnly, "How long was it for you Bill?" She couldn't help but ask the other woman.

Bill sighed, glanced once at the screen than at the Doctor before she met the expectant eyes of the group. "Ten years."

No one knew what to say to that, contemplating it silently as the video continued in the background.

[Bridge]

JORJ: But what about these lifeforms? What are they? Where did they come from? How can there be so many?
DOCTOR: Those are the descendants of your crewmates. Two days for you, generations for them.

"A lot of inbreeding eventually." Mickey couldn't help but comment, "What?" He responded to the looks he was given from the rest of the group, surely, they were thinking it too. Twenty people having kids together would eventually lead to inbreeding.

JORJ: What are these
DOCTOR: Look
(The Doctor grabs Jorj's arm and spins him into a somersault.)

"Was that really necessary?" River sighed, shaking her head at her wife.

The Doctor grinned unrepentant. "Yep."

[Razor's room]

(Bill is standing in the doorway looking at a hooded figure standing outside the Conversion Room. The furniture in Razor's room has been rearranged so we can see the screen from the door.)
BILL: What kind of treatment is that? Why won't you ever explain?

"That's a long time to go with no explanations." Rose muttered with a frown.

RAZOR: I do explain. They are the special patients.
BILL: When do those bag things come off their heads?
RAZOR: They don't.
BILL: They don't?
RAZOR: Conversion is permanent.
BILL: Why?
RAZOR: We are dying. All of us on this ship, dying.

"I mean everyone is technically dying. What are these people dying of that requires this weird treatment?" Martha asked, the doctor in her at full alert.

Bill, Nardole and the Doctor shared a knowing glance but provided no answers to the rest of the group. Though some people were getting more and more suspicious, as things got more familiar.

[Corridor]

(The nurse leads a group of patients from the Conversion Room down the corridor.)
RAZOR: They are the cure. They are the future.
(A patient holds out its hands.)
VOICE: Die. Me. Die. Me. Die. Me.

"Sounds like a great future." Ryan grimaced. Those things would never fail to give him the creeps.

RAZOR: To survive, they are what we must all become. I will show you.
(He hands her a scarf and coat.)
BILL: Where are we going?
RAZOR: Outside. You always want to go outside. We go outside.
DOCTOR: Wait for me. Wait for me.
(Razor gestures to Bill to hurry up.)

The group all perked up, very curious to see the outside of the hospital that Bill had remained trapped in for so long.

"Wait, I thought the nurse said you couldn't leave with your heart?" Rory spoke up worried

Bill gave him a reassuring smile (or at least attempted one), "I'd be fine for a short amount of time as long as I didn't go too far."

[City]

(The inhabitants slouch about the streets and alleyways, hanging their heads. That's Cardiff Bay for you.)
BILL: Everyone looks so sick.

"Real cheery place, that is." Graham remarked with a frown.

RAZOR: This was a good place once, hundreds of years ago, when the settlers first came here. But this ship is old, everything is dying. Our world is rust, our air is engine fumes. So we must evolve to survive. But evolution is not fast enough. The special patients, they are strong. Soon we will all be upgraded like them.

"Upgraded?" Clara muttered quietly to herself, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She was starting to think she knew what was happening to those special patients.

(A queue of citizens are escorted by patients to the hospital.)
BILL: They're in pain.
RAZOR: The pain will be cured, and the exodus will begin.
BILL: Exodus?
RAZOR: Operation Exodus. We will leave this city, we will climb up through this ship, and we will take command.

"I mean it's just the one guy. I don't think it will be that hard." Mickey pointed out. Excluding the Doctor, Nardole and Missy of course, but they were too busy trying to save Bill.

BILL: Well, you could just go up right now.
RAZOR: We have to be strong.
BILL: There are lifts.
RAZOR: There are many dangers.

"On a formerly empty ship?" Donna raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Razor definitely wasn't telling Bill everything.

BILL: But I've been up there. There's a friend of mine, he could help.
RAZOR: You do not understand the dangers. Many years ago, there was an expedition to floor 507, the largest of the solar farms.
BILL: And?
RAZOR: Silence. They never came back. There is something up there. And we must be strong.

Bill, Nardole and the Doctor shared a look, they were very aware of what was on those upper floors.

(An alarm buzzes. Bill gasps in pain.)

"Time's up." Martha frowned. Bill's time away from the hospital being limited was not going to make a rescue attempt easy.

COMPUTER: Return to the hospital.
BILL: I don't
RAZOR: You see, my dear. You must be strong to leave the hospital. And you will be. Soon. Very soon.
COMPUTER: Return to the hospital.

Bill grimaced at the reminder of what 'Razor' meant about being strong.

[Bridge]

(Jorj lands on his back with a thud. Very Third Doctor.)
DOCTOR: Sorry, pressed for time.

"And yet you're dragging out the explanation." River rolled her eyes at her wife. However instead of the sheepish expression she was expecting, the Doctor's face darkened making her pause. Something was about to go seriously wrong.

NARDOLE: That was good.
DOCTOR: Venusian Akido.

The Master rolled his eyes, speaking up from his little corner for the first time in a while. He'd been watching the ongoing video with mixed emotions as he could remember being both of the versions on the ship and they'd had very different motives for everything, yet they'd ended up the same way. "I thought I'd finally escaped your love for that stupid martial art."

The Doctor just gave him an unabashed grin that made him roll his eyes again at her antics. Some things really didn't change.

NARDOLE: I thought you needed four arms for Venusian.
DOCTOR: I've got hidden talents, as well as hidden arms.

"One of those yes, the other no." Jack called out the Doctor's nonsense with a chuckle.

(The sonic screwdriver calls the central lift.
Downstairs, Razor is cooking a fry-up. Bill is yawning. She checks the scanner. The trio are by the lift.)

"About time." Bill muttered quietly. She'd accepted what had happened on that ship a long time ago but having to relive it like this and see everything she hadn't experienced the first time made it hard.

NARDOLE: But it's been ten minutes, so she must have been down there for years.
DOCTOR: Yeah.
NARDOLE: We can take the Tardis, go back and get it right.
(The lift arrives.)
DOCTOR: This close to a black hole, we'll never be able to pilot her accurately.

"As if you ever pilot her correctly." Donna stated loudly, eyebrows raised in disbelief at the Doctor's statement.

The Doctor pouted, "Yes, well. Fine, it would be almost impossible to land anywhere near Bill. The lifts were the only option."

[Razor's room]

BILL: Do you think they're coming down here? Because if they are, where does that lift arrive? Just asking.
RAZOR: You are dear to me. You are my dearest person. You are like

Bill scowled at the floor; Razor's act was far more obvious now that she knew who he really was. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed for having fallen for it for so long, she'd just been so lonely.

BILL: I know.
RAZOR: A mother to me.

The statement surprised laughs and chuckles out of the tense group. They all had the foreboding feeling that things were just about to really kick off, and based on the little Bill, Nardole and the Doctor had shared so far – that wasn't going to end well.

BILL: Definitely not a mother.
RAZOR: Or an aunt.
BILL: No.
RAZOR: But this question you must not ask.
BILL: (sighs) Why not?
RAZOR: Because if you do, I think I might tell you.

"Well now she's going to ask." Mickey pointed out. Though whether that was a good thing the group was still left to wait and see.

(Bill hugs him.)
BILL: Ah, sorry, mate. Guess what I'm about to do.
RAZOR: Do not. Do not do this.
BILL: I'm going to ask you again.
RAZOR: When you hug me, it hurts my heart.

"I bet it does." Just not in the way she'd first thought he'd meant it.

BILL: Ah, sweet.
RAZOR: No. Your chest unit. It digs right in.

Another round of surprised chuckles distracted them from the look Bill and the Doctor shared.

[Corridor]

(Razor is wearing a domino mask.)
BILL: Are you sure about the mask?
RAZOR: Is burgling mask.

"Why does he have that?" Rory asked perplexed.

"He likes disguises." Bill answered through gritted teeth, doing her best to not glance at the Master in the room with them. The Doctor let out a quiet snort that went unnoticed by the still confused group, Bill's answer hadn't cleared up much for them, in fact it left them with more questions.

BILL: Why?
RAZOR: Just in case.
BILL: In case of what?
RAZOR: Shh!
(Bill shines a torch down the corridor towards the Conversion Theatre.)

Bill shook her head at her past self on screen, she'd been so naïve and trusting. She hadn't suspected anything until it was too late. If she'd just held on a little bit longer the Doctor would have arrived in time, and who knows how things would have gone.

The Doctor tensed in her seat; eyes latched onto the screen as she realised what was about to happen. Jack and River noticed her change in manner and exchanged a look over her head, both sharing the same thought. Things were about to get a whole lot worse.

BILL: But it's locked.
(Razor holds up a key.)

"Convenient." Clara narrowed her eyes at Razor on screen. Something about him and this whole situation wasn't sitting right with her.

BILL: Where did you get that?
RAZOR: I have burglary skills. They don't let just anyone wear a mask like this, you know.
BILL: (re the key) It's got your name on the label.
I also have key to operating theatre. I clean up on Wednesdays.

"He's had it the whole time?" Amy asked, joining Clara in narrowing her eyes at the screen. Suspicions building, "Why only use it now? What's changed?"

Bill and the Doctor shared a look, they both knew what had changed. The Doctor and Nardole were on their way, Razor's game was only just beginning.

[Conversion Theatre]

(Bill sees a pair of patients slumped motionless by the walls and gasps. Razor grabs her.) RAZOR: It's all right. It's just, you know, work in progress.
BILL: So, these lifts, where do we find them?
RAZOR: It's through there somewhere. Oh, I like the hat.

"You'd think he'd know exactly where they are seeing as he's worked here so long." Rose pointed out. The whole group was getting suspicious of where exactly this was going, something just didn't feel right about the whole thing.

(He taps the top of the - no, I'm not going to say it - man's head.)
RAZOR: I'm going to ask for a hat when it's my turn.
BILL: Your turn?

Bill snorted, there was never going to be a turn for Razor.

(The lights come on. The operating table has lots of surgical instruments laid out on it.)
SURGEON: No, actually. I'm afraid, Miss Potts, it's your turn. Thank you for bringing her, Mister Razor.

"No!" Several people exclaimed at the same time. They didn't know what the surgery actually meant but they all knew it was bad. Bill couldn't go through it.

Bill's eyes were locked firmly on the screen, jaw clenched. She had to see this through, for better or worse.

(The two patients stand up and take hold of Bill.)
RAZOR: Ah, you see through my clever disguise. Stupid thing.
(He removes the mask.)
BILL: You didn't. Please tell me you didn't.
RAZOR: Is for your own good. Make you strong. Ready for the exodus.
SURGEON: I'm sorry about the deception. It's best to get people in here without them knowing why. We don't want screaming in the main part of the hospital.

"That's all he has to say after betraying you?" Mickey shouted in disbelief, angry at Razor's betrayal after having supposedly looked after and kept Bill company for a decade. The Doctor was so close!

BILL: Don't you touch me. Don't you lay a finger on me.
SURGEON: This unit of yours won't last forever, you know. You need the full upgrade.
BILL: You're not going to turn me into one of those things.
SURGEON: I'm rebuilding you to survive in a world not made for flesh.

A few members of the group gasped, eyes widening as they finally pulled all the puzzle pieces together to complete the jigsaw. Humans only. Conversion. Upgrade. Non-flesh. Things were starting to make horrifying sense.

BILL: But look at them. They're screaming in pain every second they're alive.
SURGEON: But we've got something for that now.
(He picks up a handle-like piece. The final visual clue for anyone who didn't already know.)
SURGEON: This won't stop you feeling pain, but it will stop you caring about it. It fits over your head.

"Cybermen." Rose announced, voice lacking any emotion. "They're Cybermen."

The revelation shocked the group into silence, leaving them to watch the horror unfold onscreen unable to do anything and unsure what to say. They'd all tangled with the Cybermen during their travels with the Doctor but none of them had ever come this close to actually being converted into one.

It also gave them too much hope for Bill's escape seeing as she was very much not a Cybermen in the room with them.

[Outside the lift]

(The lift arrives and the Doctor gets out first.)

"Come on Doctor. No time to spare." Clara muttered, urging the Doctor on screen to hurry up for once. No one pointed out that it was in the past and there was nothing they could do, all sharing the same urge as Clara.

DOCTOR: Okay, you two, welcome to a new time zone. Not knowing the differential, I don't know how much time has passed here. Right, we need to find out more about this ship.
NARDOLE: On it.
DOCTOR: No. Missy, you do it. Nardole, you come with me.
NARDOLE: But I'm the computer guy. That's always me.

"Oh, poor Nardole." Bill tried to break the tension, teasing Nardole.

It didn't work.

DOCTOR: Sorry, she's cleverer.
NARDOLE: She's more evil.
MISSY: Same thing.

"Not really." Yaz argued.

DOCTOR: It really isn't.
MISSY: Oh, it is a little bit. A little bit the same.
NARDOLE: Anyway.
MISSY: Yes, thank you.
DOCTOR [OC]: Nardole!

"Quick! Find Bill!" Amy waved at the Doctor on screen as if it would make a difference.

(Nardole follows the Doctor out of sight. Razor peeks round the corner of a large unit on castor wheels at Missy working the computer console.)
RAZOR: Hello.
MISSY: Hello, ordinary person. Please maintain a minimum separation of three feet. I'm really trying not to kill anyone today, but it would be tremendously helpful if your major arteries were out of reach.

Missy's statement earned a few raised eyebrows from the group, the majority of them unused to a Master that didn't immediately start with the killing. The Doctor had a quick smile, proud of Missy, before it dipped as she remembered what was about to unfold.

RAZOR: (laughs) I have been so looking forward to meeting you.
MISSY: Right. I'm very happy for you.
RAZOR: I was watching you on the screen. It took me a while to work out who you were.

"How does he know who Missy is?" Martha asked, eyes narrowing at Razor in suspicion. Now that she looked closely, he seemed oddly familiar.

Jack frowned, "I think the better question is who is Razor?"

Bill, Nardole and the Doctor all exchanged a knowing look. This wasn't going to be pretty.

[Conversion Theatre]

(The Doctor and Nardole enter carefully through a rear door. The Doctor sonics the main light on, Nardole turns and gasps at the sight of the patients, once again slumped against the walls. The operating table is devoid of instruments now.)

"Come on, come on. Don't be too late." Ryan urged the Doctor and Nardole. The empty operating table and Razor being busy either meant Bill had escaped, they had arrived just in time, ... or they were too late. They all knew which one they'd prefer.

NARDOLE: Ah! Oh, there's always a scary thing with you, isn't there?
DOCTOR: Are you only getting that now?

"You'd have thought you'd have learnt that by now, Nardole." Bill mumbled with a raised eyebrow. This adventure had been particularly bad but it wasn't the only scary one they'd undertaken.

[Outside the lift]

MISSY: Oh, this is super interesting. I assumed this ship was from Earth, full of squishable little humans, but it's not from Earth at all, is it?

"But they're human?" Rose asked confused, that was why Bill had been taken.

The Doctor nodded, "Yes, but this is far in the future. Humans don't just live on Earth at this time."

RAZOR: You don't remember me, do you?

"Remember him?" Clara frowned, things were somehow simultaneously making a lot of sense and no sense at all.

(Missy is looking at an image of a planet with continents exactly like Earth, which the computer says is the point of origin.)
MISSY: Looks like an Earth-like planet, but not Earth itself. Very Earth-like. If planets had twins

"Mondas." River's eyes widened, making the connection from Missy's clues.

RAZOR: You don't remember being here before, do you?

The Doctor glanced at the Master in the room with them, Razor had clearly put together the pieces of Missy's identity and that she'd come after him in terms of regeneration. Yet, whatever happened to Missy and Razor after they ran off together had contributed to locking away Missy's memories of the repeat event. Alongside the effect of there being two of them in one place – that always made memories of the younger regeneration fuzzy.

MISSY: I've never been here before. Will you please stop wittering on or I'll have to splat your brains for finger paint.
RAZOR: Oh, you have been here before. You really can trust me on that.

The group was tense, leaning forward in their seats, hands clenched. The mystery was killing them; they'd already worked out the patients were Cybermen but they still weren't positive on Bill's fate and Razor's identity was only serving to confuse them further.

MISSY: Planet, planet. Which, which planet?

[Conversion Theatre]

(Nardole is doing his computer thing.)
NARDOLE: There's a lot of genetics, bio-engineering. There's a lot of stuff about something called Exodus. Operation Exodus.
(Another door swings open to reveal a pair of silver boots. The Doctor moves to look at it. Further up the body, lights flicker in a plastic box. It starts to move forward, rather awkwardly.)

"Doctor!" Amy exclaimed at the familiar sight of a Cybermen. The Doctor on screen was unaware of the danger present in the hospital, so he wouldn't be expecting the Cybermen to emerge.

The Doctor just frowned; eyes misty as she glanced over at Bill. No one made the connection, more out of stubbornness than out of naivety.

[Outside the lift]

(Missy gets a planetary ID on the screen.)
MISSY: Look at that. This ship is from Mondas.

[Conversion Room]

(The silver figure stomps forward.)
DOCTOR: It's a Cyberman. A Mondasian Cyberman!

"Run!" Yaz urged. The origin of the Cybermen wasn't important, getting away from it before it decided to shoot was.

[Outside the lift]

MISSY: Doctor!
RAZOR: (falsetto) Doctor! Ooo, Doctor! Doctor!
(Razor points a gun at Missy.)

Martha narrowed her eyes at the screen. That voice and face was very familiar actually, where did she know it from? It was on the tip of her tongue.

MISSY: Okay, listen to me. I may be about to take that silly little gun away from you
RAZOR: He'll never forgive you, you know, He'll never set you free. Not when he discovers what you did to his little friend.

"Missy hadn't done anything. She was with the Doctor." Clara argued. Why she was attempting to defend Missy she wasn't sure.

MISSY: I haven't done anything to his silly little friend.
RAZOR: Oh, but I'm afraid you did. But a long time ago.

"No." Martha's eyes widened in horror, gaze flitting to Jack who shot straight up having made the same connection.

"Doctor..." Jack grounded out; teeth gritted. His eyes not leaving the screen even as he questioned the Doctor.

"I'm sorry Jack." The Doctor whispered hoarsely. The video was bad for her, Bill and Nardole for obvious reasons; but it was also going to be bad for Martha and Jack who had to have the reminder of what the old Master had done to them. The video continued before anyone else could say anything, or question the three.

[Conversion Theatre]

DOCTOR: You're brand new, fresh out the factory. You're not ready for a fight yet.
NARDOLE: He does looks a little bit ready.
DOCTOR: Bill Potts. Do you know where she is? Where is Bill Potts?
CYBERMAN: (sing-song) Doc-tor.

"Oh God." Rose's hand slept to cover her mouth; eyes wide as she realised what had happened to Bill. The Doctor didn't have any clues to suggest what had happened to Bill yet, but the video had shown them all they had to know to make the connection.

"No, Bill." Yaz's eyes latched onto Bill who was frowning at the floor.

"But how are you-?" Rory asked, waving at Bill's very much non-Cybermen state.

Bill finally looked up, giving the group a sad smile; "Just watch. It will explain everything ... I think." She wasn't ready to explain the rest of the mess yet to come to the group. They'd have to watch to find out.

DOCTOR: You know me?
CYBERMAN: You are Doc-tor.

[Outside the lift]

MISSY: Am I supposed to know what you're talking about? Would it help you focus if I extracted some of your vital organs and made a lovely soup?
RAZOR: You would never be so self-destructive.

"Oh." Clara's eyes widened at that comment, "Oh, no." That put a whole new dangerous twist on this mess. The Cybermen were bad enough, two Master's was not what the group needed.

Yaz, Ryan, and Graham exchanged a horrified look also making the connection of Razors identity. The Master seemed to like complex plans involving the Cybermen, and that wasn't something that had started with their Doctor if this video was to be believed. The Doctor and Bill were right about this video not being a pleasant one.

MISSY: So what?
RAZOR: But then again, neither would I.
(He tosses the gun aside.)

The lack of (obvious) weapons was not reassuring to anyone. All those that had made the connection (those that had known a version of the Master) knew all too well how dangerous the Master was without any weapons, two of them was a nightmare waiting to happen. Or rather, currently happening on video to Bill, Nardole and the Doctor in the past.

[Conversion Theatre]

(The Doctor backs away as the Cyberman advances.)
DOCTOR: Listen. We mean you no harm. We're just passing through. We're looking for Bill Potts, friend of mine.
CYBERMAN: Bill Potts.
DOCTOR: Yes, Bill Potts. You're a Cyberman. You're part of a neural net. Can you find her?

"Oh Doctor." River closed her eyes briefly. The Doctor wasn't going to take it well when he found out the Cybermen was Bill.

[Outside the lift]

RAZOR: I love disguises. Do you still like disguises? Of course, they are rather necessary when you happen to be someone's former Prime Minister.
(He pulls off the mask to reveal - Harold Saxon!)

"The Master." Martha announced through gritted teeth for the few who hadn't made the connection already (due to not having the experience of dealing with any version of the Master).

The Master in the room gave her a smirk, "Bringing back fond memories, Dr Jones?"

Martha levelled her own glare at him, "That's Dr Smith to you." She turned away from him, refusing to give him the attention he craved.

"How is he alive Doctor?" Jack turned to the Doctor for answers.

The Doctor grimaced, managing a sympathetic smile for Jack and Martha as she answered, "I don't know the exact details, but I'm sure they'll answer for me." If the Master had mentioned it during one of their monologues, they didn't remember. There had been quite a lot of things on their mind at the time.

"Two Masters, the Cybermen, and a giant ship with messed up times." Clara listed off the problems the Doctor, Bill and Nardole were currently facing on screen, "This is bound to go well."

[Conversion Theatre]

CYBERMAN: Accessing.
NARDOLE: Get back from it.
CYBERMAN: Bill Potts. Locating Bill Potts. I am Bill Potts.

Despite already having worked out what had happened to Bill, they still let out gasps from hearing it said out loud. There was no room left for doubts or hope anymore.

Still, a sliver of hope lingered. Bill wasn't a Cybermen currently, so something had to have happened. They could only hope that the videos revealed what exactly.

[Outside the lift]

MASTER: Hello, Missy. I'm the Master, and I'm very worried about my future. Give us a kiss.

That earned grimaces and groans from the group at the thought of the pair of Masters flirting with each other. Things were going to be bad enough, having to watch them flirt the whole time was something else.

[Conversion Theatre]

DOCTOR: Bill? Bill, talk to me. What have they done to you?
NARDOLE: Operation Exodus, whatever that is.
MISSY: Oh, wrong name, for a start.
(She goes and stands by Cyber-Bill's right shoulder.)

"So much for being good." Clara muttered; arms crossed. The second she met herself or given a choice Missy went straight back to choosing evil. How the Doctor kept giving them chances no one would understand.

The Doctor, however, frowned. She thought back to their first arrival in the room here, the Master had claimed they'd been coming back, it seemed this video would reveal if she really had been.

CYBER-BILL: I waited.
MISSY: This is not an exodus, is it? More of a beginning really, isn't it?
CYBER-BILL: I waited.
MASTER: In fact, do you know what I'd call it? I'd call it a genesis.
(He stands by Cyber-Bill's left shoulder.)

"Forget the angel and devil on your shoulder. That's just two devils." Amy snorted. The image of the two Master's on either side of Cyberman-Bill really summarised the mess they'd managed to get into, in a reasonably short amount of time (for the Doctor and Nardole anyway).

MISSY: You've met the ex?
MASTER: Specifically, the Genesis of the Cybermen.
(Cyber-Bill reaches for the Doctor.)
CYBER-BILL: I waited for you.

"I'm sorry Bill." The Doctor whispered; eyes closed tight briefly.

(Zoom in on a weeping eye behind the blank round lens of the Cyberman helmet, which then leaks out to form the Cybus Cyberman eyepiece design.)

"Wait, it's just done?!" Yaz protested, arms waving as the screen went black.

The Doctor blinked in surprise, "Apparently this is another one that's been split into two. Anyone want a break? Stretch your legs, get a drink?"

She was met with a series of raised eyebrows and determined looks from the group, as none of them even moved an inch.

"You really think any of us are going to be able to have a break with that cliff-hanger of a mess hanging over us?" Donna snorted with no humour, "You're very much mistaken Doctor. Play the next one."

"Bill?" The Doctor glanced at the young woman, concerned for how she was doing having to relive all of this, and aware of what was still to come.

Bill managed a tight smile which came out more of a grimace than anything. "I'm alright. Let's get this over with."

The Doctor nodded; eyes soft as she watched Bill. "Okay, guess we're continuing then."