Doctor Who Weekend: Time of the Dominion - The Finale

Hi there! I'm Dave-El and welcome to Doctor Who Weekend and the fifth and final installment of my fan-fiction, Time of the Dominion, featuring the 12th Doctor.

Yep, a 12th Doctor adventure BEFORE the 12th Doctor's actual debut on TV screens next week. It's gonna be interesting for me to see if I can picture Peter Capaldi saying any of the things I've had the Doctor say in this little time twisted tale of mine. 

Before we get to the new episode, here are the links to Episodes One through Four.

Episode One
Episode Two 
Episode Three 

Episode Four

And here is the disclaimer. 

And here is a Dalek with your mocha latte expresso! 

And here is this week's story. 

Time of the Dominion

Episode Five

______________________________________________                    _

Open on a black screen then a graphic appears:

June 11, 1989

Cardiff, Wales

Fade from black to a city street where a taxi cab suddenly appears, turning a corner unto a main street.

Man’s voice (VO): Hold on, ma’am!

Woman’s voice, screaming (VO): AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

Cut to interior of cab. The driver is darting his eyes between the road and the passenger behind him.

Driver: Are you all right, ma’am? 

Our view expands to see the passenger in the back seat, a very distressed and very pregnant woman.

Woman (gasping): This is not the Wales Rally, you know?

Driver: Sorry, ma’am! A pregnant woman tumbles into my cab and says, “Take me to hospital, now!”. So that’s what I’m doing!

Woman (still gasping): I don’t mean to be picky but I would prefer to arrive in one piece.

Driver: I am an excellent driver and I’ve had no accidents. Well, almost no accidents.

Woman: Oh God.

Driver: Well, nothing noteworthy. Anyway I am a very good driver and my cab is in excellent working….

Abruptly, the cab’s engine goes silent and the cabs grinds to a crawl then a halt.

Driver: …condition? What the hell?

Woman: Oh no. Oh no! OH NO! Why are we stopping? Why is the cab stopping? We’re not at the hospital! We can’t be stopping!

Driver: I… I… don’t know. The engine has…stopped?

The driver turns the key but the engine only makes a pathetic whirring sound as it fails to start.

Woman: Oh NO! I’ve got to get to hospital NOW! I…Oh my God! OH MY GOD!

The driver frantically turns in his seat towards the passenger.

Driver: Uh oh! The baby…?

Woman: The baby’s coming!

Driver: What? But we’re not at the hospital yet!

Woman (testy): I know that! You know that! The baby has other plans!

Driver: OK, OK, OK, OK!

The driver opens the car door and scrambles out of the front seat. He then opens the back door and fills the entrance of the cab in front of the gasping woman.

Driver: Don’t worry! I’ve got this!

Woman (incredulous): You’ve got this?

Driver: Yes! Yes, I have…participated in the birth of babies before.

Woman: Babies? Human babies?

The driver’s wide and fearful eyes stare in the equally wide and fearful eyes of the pregnant woman. For a moment, his mouth quivers and then he speaks.

Driver: Goats.

Woman (alarmed): GOATS?!

Driver: I was raised on a goat farm!!

Woman (upset): I’m not giving birth to a goat!

Driver: I know but…but…we can do this. I mean, how different can it be?

Woman (incredulous): How… different?

Driver (forcing himself to be calm): Look, ma’am. The baby’s coming. We’ve…we’ve got to do this.

Woman: I don’t know…oh God!

Driver (voice shaky but really trying to be calm): We... we can do this, OK? Just listen to me, OK? Just-

Quick cut to a close up on the face of the Doctor.

The Doctor: Listen!

Scene change: the interior of the Rani’s TARDIS, specifically the section just below the console level where the Rani had assembled bizarre and alien machinery and devices. The Doctor is rising from the table he had been lying on, his eyes focused on Meridian (“Meri”) Scott who looks very frightened.  

Next to her is Clara Oswald, the Doctor’s companion and a fellow teacher (along with Meri) at the Coal Hill School. The two woman are holding on to each other’s arms. On a table amidst the Rani’s machinery is the canister that contains the head of the Master. Lying on the floor on her back is the Rani herself, unmoving, possibly dead. Her eyes are open, unblinking as a sinister grey fogs swirls about in her eyes. 

Meri: Wh..wh..what?

Clara: Doctor!

The Master: What the hell is going on?

The Doctor: Meridian Scott, I need my life back!

The Doctor touches his hand to Meri’s cheek. Meri flinches but in her fear, she cannot pull away. Suddenly she gasps as her eyes begin to glow with a golden energy. 

Clara (holding on to Meri): Meri?!

The golden energy flows from Meri’s eyes and into the Doctor’s form. The Doctor clasps at his chest with one arm while he supports himself on the edge of the table with the other.

The Doctor (moaning): Oh! That…hurts…

The Doctor moves his head around as we hear his neck crack. 

The Doctor: …so good! 

Meri in turn moans and begins to slump. Clara catches her as the Doctor moves forward to help.

The Doctor: Over here, Clara. On the table.

The Doctor and Clara gently lay Meri on the table where the Doctor had been. Clara touches her forehead and her neck.

Clara: Doctor, what’s going on?

The Doctor pats his coat and realizes something.

The Doctor: My sonic screwdriver!

Clara hands the sonic to the Doctor.

Clara: But Doctor..,

The Doctor: Sshh!

The screwdriver makes its trilling sound as he passes it over Meri’s unconscious form. 

Clara (frustrated): Don’t shush me, Doctor! What’s happening to Meri? How do you know her?

The Doctor (tersely). Not. Now. Clara. 

The Doctor examines the readings on the screwdriver and gives a sigh of relief.

The Doctor: OK, she’s going to be fine!

Clara: Doctor! Tell me, now! What did you do to Meri?

The Doctor: I placed a small part of my life force inside her head.

Clara: Why did you…?

The Doctor: The Ood’s warning.

Clara: The Ood? Doctor, an Ood appeared to me. He said it was a warning  but it was for stuff that was already happening.

The Doctor: I know. The Ood’s progress through the time stream was reversed somehow, due to the Rani’s time distortions. He clearly thought he had already spoken to me. 

The Master (voice): Doctor!

While Clara stands by Meri’s side, holding her hand, the Doctor turns towards the canister containing the Master’s head.

The Doctor (with disdain): Master.

The Master: I am so glad that you’re alive. Really! I do mean that!

The Doctor: Only because you want to kill me yourself.

The Master: Welllllll….yes! I mean, duh! But still….

The Doctor (leaning in towards the canister): Once again, a daft scheme to rule everything has gone cockeyed and you need me to fix it. 

The Master: But…to be fair, now…it’s not MY scheme.

Suddenly the TARDIS is filled with long, low echoing bong of an ominous sounding bell.

The Doctor: The cloister bell!

Clara (looking alarmed): Doctor, I’ve heard that on your TARDIS! That bell, it sounds when…

The Doctor (worried): When things are as bad as bad can be.

The Master: The Rani….she thought she could become the Dominion. The living embodiment of time itself. 

The Doctor: And she succeeded. She manifested herself through the vortex from the dawn of the time and wrote her will upon all time. For one second.

Clara: And then...?

The Doctor turns towards Clara and looks down on Meri with concern.

The Doctor: And then…?  Even a Time Lord mind, even one as sharp and strong as the Rani’s, could only sustain being the Dominion for one second. After that, loosed from its natural flow, time becomes anarchy and chaos.

Clara: Doctor, I saw people and things…shifting through time…

The Doctor: Time in chaos means linear progression is broken. Everything happens at once. 

The Master: Doctor, we are at the center of a temporal cascade.

The Doctor does not look at the Master.

The Doctor: Yes, I know. The Rani’s TARDIS, at the eye of a time storm.  An eye that is getting…

Suddenly the Cloister Bell sounds again and streams of the time fog begin to appear in the corners of the console room.

Clara: Smaller. Doctor, what are we going to do? 

The Master: Ha! There’s nothing he can do, Clara!

Now the Doctor turns towards the Master. His expression is stern.

The Master: Yes, even a TARDIS cannot hold back a temporal cascade forever. And you can’t stop it, Doctor! We’re all going to die, reduced to dust in the barren wastes of dead time! And there is NOTHING you can do! Nothing! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

The Doctor (angry): I can shut you the hell up! 

The Doctor slams his fists down upon the top of the canister. Instantly, the Master’s head goes still as his eyes close; the liquid that suspends it goes dark and the bubbling is greatly reduced.

Clara (surprised): Really? That’s how you work that thing? 

The Doctor (stands back looking at the canister): The Master can be such a smug, sanctimonious bastard. (Sighs.) Especially when he’s right.

Clara: What? Surely, there’s something that can be…

The Doctor: Oh there is, Clara. There is. Just not by me.

The Doctor bends down next to the still form of the Rani. He positions himself cross-legged by her side as he clasps her hand in his.

Clara: The Rani? But she’s…dead. Isn’t she?

The Doctor: Yes. Well, mostly dead. Hopefully, she’ll be more open to listen to reason.

The Doctor looks up at Clara.

The Doctor: Clara, I have to go.

Clara (worried): Go? Go where?

The Doctor reaches out and touches the Rani’s forehead with a fingertip.

The Doctor: In…here. 

Scene change: a flat desert plain in slightly varying hues of grey. The black clad Doctor stands against this stark background as wind whips across the plain. The sky is swirling with the fog-like chaos of time out of control. A few yards away is a figure sitting upon a rock. The Doctor walks in that direction.

The Doctor approaches the hunched over figure who is dressed in a hooded dark grey cloak. 

The Doctor places his hand on this person’s shoulder.

The Doctor: Rani.

The Rani slowly sits up straighter and pushes back the hood. Her long black hair blows in the wind, hair streaked with grey. There are lines around her face we did not see before. The Rani looks straight out over the desolate plain, not looking at the Doctor.

The Rani: Doctor. You survived. I am…glad.

The Doctor sits down on the rock beside the Rani. He too looks out over the plain and not at the Rani.

The Doctor: Rani, you were not at Arcadia.

The Rani (sighs): No. No, I was not. But I should’ve been.

The Doctor (shaking his head sadly): There was nothing you could’ve…

The Rani (sharply): I should’ve been there! For my husband. For my children.

The Doctor looks over at the Rani; his expression is one of surprise and concern.

The Doctor: You…had a family.

The Rani: Yes, Doctor. I decided one day to put aside…well, what you might call my “evil” ways. Oh, I still saw myself as superior to all the Time Lords and rightfully so, I might add. 

The Doctor (arching an eyebrow): Who am I to argue with that?

The Rani: But I needed to quell my most significant weakness, my vanity.  So I returned to Gallifrey and began to plot my rule of the Time Lords from within. I needed a façade of respectability as I advanced my schemes. So I took a husband. And I had children. And it was working perfectly. 

The Rani looks up into the chaos filled skies and allows a small smile to form.

The Rani: I was advancing throughout the Time Lord council. My goals were going to be achieved through…well, maybe not honest means but respectable ones at any rate. But...but...

The Doctor: Yes? 

The Rani: I made a crucial mistake, Doctor.

The Doctor: Which was…?

The Rani (sighs): I began… to care. 

The Rani turns to look at the Doctor who looks a bit skeptical. 

The Rani: Oh yes, Doctor. I truly loved my husband, my children. 

The Rani lowers her head.

The Rani: But then…the Time War.

The Rani stands up from the rock and begins to pace.

The Rani: The despicable, terrible Time War. The Time Lords and the Daleks in a never ending conflict. Every effort to achieve victory and end the war…all in vain.  So then I had…a most enlightening epiphany.

The Doctor: Why win a war when you can stop the war from happening in the first place.

The Rani: Exactly!  But more than that, Doctor! All war! What if I could stop all war?

The Doctor (stands up from the rock): But that level of temporal manipulation is…was beyond the power of the Time Lords.

The Rani: But not the Eternals!

The Doctor stands silent on the windy plain as the Rani looks up into the turbulent skies.

The Rani: So I left Gallifrey to search for the Eternals and learn the secret of the Dominion. While I was on my quest…my fool’s errand…I heard from my family. For the last time. I wasn’t there when my family died, Doctor.

The Doctor: Rani, I…

The Rani: But I did find them, the Eternals. And with a great deal of difficulty, I learned the secret of the Dominion. And I learned…it wouldn’t work.

The Doctor: But you tried it anyway.

The Rani (angry): I had no choice! I thought I could make it work! I knew that I…

The Rani’s anger subsides and her head sags.

The Rani: Once more, Doctor, vanity. All vanity and…I failed again.

The Rani sits down once more on the rock.

The Doctor sits down beside her.

The Doctor: Actually…you didn’t fail. You succeeded…too well.

The Rani (puzzled): What?

The Doctor: You became the dominion and removed all war and suffering from the beginning of time and all time afterwards. All this…

The Doctor gestures to the swirling chaos in the sky above them.

The Doctor: All this is from your success. 

The Rani: I don’t…I don’t understand. 

The Doctor: We are what we are from our joys and our sorrows, Rani. Our victories and our defeats. Time itself, it seems, is no different.

The Rani: Stripped of all the bad moments, time becomes weak.

The Doctor nods his head in ascent.

The Rani: So…what now?

The Doctor: So now…you fix this.

The Rani: Fix this?

The Doctor: You must become the Dominion once more and re-exert your will. Except…your will must be…all should be as it was.

The Rani: The war and the suffering?

The Doctor: And the joy and the victories.

The Rani: I…won’t survive, will I?

The Doctor sadly shakes his head no.

The Rani: I see.

The Doctor: But there is something…you need to know.

The Rani turns expectedly towards the Doctor.

The Doctor: Gallifrey is not dead.

The Rani looks incredulous.

The Rani: What?

The Doctor: Gallifrey. It’s gone, yes, but not dead. It’s frozen in a…moment of time.

The Rani: But I thought…you had…

The Doctor: I did. But then… I changed my mind.

The Doctor and the Rani stand up. She takes the Doctor’s hands in hers and she smiles.

The Rani: Oh Doctor! You scoundrel! It’s a shame things did not work out differently for us. With you by my side, we would’ve ruled the cosmos!

The Rani releases the Doctors hands as she leans her head back. Her form begins to glow with energy. The swirling fog in the sky above breaks apart. The Doctor stands in the glowing light and smiles as he fades from view. 

Scene change: Exterior of the Coal Hill School. We hear the school bell ringing as kids begin to file out of school. Everything appears to be normal as the various boys and girls exit, talking and laughing. The time shifting phenomenon we witnessed earlier is no longer happening.

Scene change: Interior of the Rani’s TARDIS. The Doctor is sitting on the floor by the Rani’s side, holding her hand, his eyes closed. Then he opens his eyes. We pull back and we see the Rani lying very still, her eyes open, clear of the swirling fog we had seen there before. Gently, the Doctor passes his hand her over eyes and they close.  Then the Doctor pulls himself to his feet. Clara is standing nearby. Meri remains unconscious on the table. The Master’s head in the canister is still. 

Clara: Doctor? Is she…?

The Doctor: Yes. She’s dead. The stress of being the Dominion burned out her ability to regenerate. 

Clara looks around cautiously.

Clara: That strange…fog, it isn’t trying to get in anymore. But…

The Cloister Bell sounds. 

Clara: …why is the Cloister Bell still….?

Suddenly there are flashes of bright light about the TARDIS console room.

Clara: …ringing? Doctor!

On the table, Meri moans and stirs.

The Doctor: We need to get out of here! Clara, grab the Master’s head. I’ll help Ms. Scott!

Clara: Uh, maybe you would like to trade?

The Doctor: Clara, now!

Clara: All right! All right!

The staccato bursts of light continue throughout the Rani’s TARDIS as Clara scoops up the Master’s head canister while the Doctor guides Meri to her feet. 

The Doctor: Ms. Scott, can you stand?

Meri shakes her head weakly.

Meri: Uh, yeah. Yeah, I think so. 

The Doctor puts his hand on her shoulder to steady her as they walk. Meri looks hesitantly around her as the pulsing lights. 

Meri: Oh, what the hell’s going on now?

The Doctor (urging her along): No time, no time! We’ve got to leave…now!

Scene change: The Head Master’s office. Clara places the Master’s canister on the desk as we see the Doctor guide Meri to a chair. Then the Doctor and Clara turn towards the bookcase.

We hear the familiar sound of a TARDIS: VWORP! VWORP! VWORP! The bookcase glows with the same bright light as the lights we saw inside the Rani’s TARDIS. The bookcase fades away, the TARDIS sounds fading away as distant echoes. Where the bookcase stood is a mantle with a painting. 

Clara: OK, what just happened, Doctor?

The Doctor: The Rani had tied her TARDIS into the mechanisms she was using to be become the Dominion. When the Rani restored time to its proper flow, the Dominion winked out of existence and took her TARDIS with it. 

Clara: Oh. I see.

The Doctor gives Clara a questioning look.

The Doctor: Really?

Clara: No, not really. But best go along with it before you decide to explain it further.

From behind the Doctor and Clara, we hear Meri’s voice.

Meri (voice): Well, I want some explanations!

The Doctor and Clara turn as Meri stands up from her chair with a very determined expression.

Meri (approaching the Doctor): Who the hell are you? How do you know me?

The Doctor (calmly): We’ve met, Ms. Meridian Scott.

Meri: What?

Clara: When?

The Doctor: Mere moments before you two met in the hallway of the school.

Scene change: Flashback to earlier that day. The hallway at Coal Hill School, we see the Doctor pass Meri and a brief glow emanates from his hand as he touches her sleeve. The Doctor walks as we see Meri shake her head as if momentarily distracted and Clara rounding a corner fumbling with her back pack.

The Doctor (VO): I imparted a small part of life force into you. Secretly, of course. 

Scene change: back to the Head Master’s office.

Meri: So...that's why I was sometimes remembering stuff I didn't know. But...why me?

The Doctor: Because you were the one person at Coal Hill School who could possibly help me.

Meri: I…I don’t understand.

The Doctor: You were born in Cardiff, am I right?

Meri: Yes, yes, I was.

The Doctor: Right at the center point of the city, eh?

Meri: Yeah! My mum was trying to get to hospital and the cab broke down at what turned out to be the exact center of Cardiff. Kind of why she named me ‘Meridian’. 

The Doctor: Ms. Scott, you may be surprised to know there’s an inter-dimensional rift that runs right down the middle of Cardiff. Being born right in that nexus of energy has affected your brain.

Meri looks alarmed.

The Doctor: I assure you, only in small, modest ways. But enough to give you some low level psychic abilities. You may have noticed you can sense what people are doing behind you or can finish other people’s sentences accurately.

Meri nods her head slightly.

The Doctor: I was able to sense this ability in you and it was enough to support a small part of my life force. Just enough to give me a bit of a jump start, if you will, when you and I were within vicinity of each other again.

Clara: How could you know that you and her would meet again?

The Doctor: Truth be told, I didn't. But the warning I got from the Ood was..

Meri (puzzled): Wait! What? The Ood? 

The Doctor: Ah, Meri, the Ood is an interstellar race who..

Clara (interrupting): I'll explain later, Meri. But Doctor, you said the Ood was moving backwards through time. So his warning was...

Meri (interrupting): ..was from the future. 

Meri looks embarrassed. 

Meri: Er, sorry. You're right, Doctor, that...does tend to happen. 

The Doctor: No problem at all, Meri. And you're absolutely right. But the Ood's warning was accompanied by a psychic flash...of you, Ms. Scott. 

Meri: Of me?

The Doctor: Yes and it was a bit of a gamble but a very good thing I took it. Without that precaution, I would have died in the Rani’s TARDIS and, well, so would’ve everything else.

Clara (coughs): Doctor.

The Doctor: Oh. Right. So thank you, Meridian Scott, for saving my life.

The Doctor awkwardly extends his hand and Meri extends hers and they shake. 

Withdrawing his hand, the Doctor takes a deep breath and starts to stride towards the door of the office.

The Doctor: I think an eyes-on assessment of things may be in order. Make sure everything is working like it should. 

Clara and Meri follow the Doctor out of the door and into the hall of the Coal Hill School as the last of the students file out for the end of the school day.

Meri: So, Clara. Miss Time Traveller Person. This is, like, just another day for you?

Clara: No, not really. Well, maybe every other day.

Meri: But you come back here? To teach in an ordinary school?

Clara: Oh, but I love to teach and I love kids. Travelling with the Doctor is amazing but its good to have something to come back to once in a while. But what about you, Meri?

Meri: Me?

Clara: You told me you would love to travel more. You know, more than just visiting our mum in Cardiff. Why don’t you come with us?

Meri: Come with you? I don’t…that is, I think…that is to say, I’m…

Clara (holds up a hand): It’s OK. No pressure.

Meri: After a day like today, I think I just need to go see my mum for a while. Perhaps…

Meri stops walking and takes Clara’s hands in her’s.

Meri: Perhaps…another time?

Clara smiles and nods. Then the two hug. Then the Doctor brushes past.

Clara: Doctor?

The Doctor: I just realized I left something in the Head Master’s office.

Our view follows the Doctor as he moves from the hallway into the outer office and into the Head Master’s office. The Doctor stops short as our view widens to take in the desk. The canister containing the head of the Master is missing.

The Doctor: Well, that can’t be good. 

Screen fades to black. Then we see this graphic. 

June 11, 1989

Cardiff, Wales

Scene opens on a park by the side of a busy street. A tall man dressed in black stands in the leafy shade of an oak tree. His head is obscured by the leaves and shade of the tree. 

From a side street, a taxi cab bursts into view as it careens into the main street. Silently the tall man lifts his arm. In his hand is a slim metal device that makes a sharp trilling noise. At that moment, the cab comes to a complete dead stop. The tall man lowers his arm. Out in the street, we see the cab driver frantically exit the front of the vehicle and opens the back door; we hear indistinct shouting and chattering from the car.  

The tall man turns away from this scene and moves out of the shade. Yes, it is indeed the Doctor with a stern expression. The Doctor stops when he sees the Ood standing by a park bench. The Doctor nods in the direction of the Ood, closes his eyes and says two words.

The Doctor: Meridian Scott.

Then the Doctor opens his eyes. The Ood nods and his speech orb glows.

The Ood: Yes, Doctor. 

The Ood vanishes and the Doctor walks away towards the familiar looking blue box of his TARDIS.  

Screen fades to black. Then we see this graphic.

March 18, 2014

London, England

Out of the darkness we see the shiny metallic outline of a certain familiar canister. As the light increases, we see it is indeed the container for the head of the Master. The head is quiet with eyes closed, drifting in the slightly bubbling, dimly lit fluid.

Our view expands as we see a very large window with light streaming through the dusty air. While our view is obscured, it appears to be a large ornate room, perhaps in a library or study. There’s a man standing in the room. The light from the window illuminates the body only from the chest down, wearing an impeccable tailor made suit. The man’s head and face are in shadow. 

The man in the shadows speaks. His voice is at once smooth but sinister, almost like that of a snake in human form.

Shadowed Man: How fortuitous that you should come into my possession. I’ve waited a long time, planned a long time but now, you….

The Shadowed Man places his hand on the side of the canister.

Shadowed Man: Now you are here. All the pieces are in place and I need wait no longer. This world shall be mine and we shall rule together…

Our view closes in on the Master’s still and silent face in the canister.

Shadowed Man: …father.

Next:

The Son of the Master

November 2014

But FIRST! 

It's the REAL DEAL! 

Next Saturday, August 23rd, the Series 8 premiere of Doctor Who 

with Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman!

Take a deep breath...for "Deep Breath". 

More Doctor Who Weekend on the blog tomorrow as we get ready for the 12th Doctor. 

Until then, be good to one another.

Dave-El

I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You