Extremis Doctor Who

-What happened?

-The Doctor took you to safety. He paid a price.

-You're blind.

-It's temporary.

-Look at me!

-Nardole, I can't! I REALLY can't!

I can't look at anything...

ever again.

I'm still blind.

Death is an increasing problem.

With over a billion intelligent species

active in this galaxy alone,

it is an ever-greater challenge

to know how to kill all of them.

On this planet, we are proud to serve as executioners

to every living thing.

The destruction of a Time Lord, however, is a particular honour.

This technology is precisely calibrated.

As you can see,

it will stop both hearts,

all three brain stems,

and deliver a cellular shock wave

that will permanently disable regenerative ability.

I know how it works.

You certainly will in a moment.

Following termination,

the body will be placed in a Quantum Fold chamber,

under constant guard, for no less than a thousand years.

In case of, shall we say...

relapses.

Life can be a cunning enemy.

An additional stipulation of the Fatality Index...

..is that the sentence must be carried out by another Time Lord.

Apologies for our choice, but your people are not easy to come by.

DOOR OPENS

Oh, Doctor!

I didn't expect you.

Thought you retired -

domestic bliss on Darillium,

that's the word among the Daleks.

What happened?

Oh, I see.

My condolences.

The prisoner will kneel.

Right.

Thank you.

They can't know I'm blind, Missy.

No-one can know.

Memories are so much worse in the dark.

-The Quantum Fold chamber is prepared.

-Great.

The sentence will be carried out.

Executioner!

Please, I'll do anything.

Just let me live.

TEXT ALERT

GLASSES TRILL

Hello?

Hello? Who's there?

Good evening, Doctor.

We have come here today direct from the Vatican.

Oh, right. That's nice...

Well, if you've got a collecting tin, I'm sure I can find something.

Leaky roof, is it?

Oh, no.

-HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

-No, no, no, no, no.

Stop talking. Stop now.

Please, just listen to them. Sounds important.

We have come here to see you because your services and wisdom

are recommended at the highest level.

As you can see,

this is the personal recommendation of Pope Benedict IX.

In 1045.

HE CHUCKLES

Pope Benedict. Lovely girl. What a night!

I knew she was trouble, but she wove a spell with her castanets...

Doctor!

On behalf of every human soul in this world,

of any creed, of any faith -

with the utmost respect and in complete secrecy -

His Holiness, the Pope, the Bishop of Rome, requests,

most urgently, a personal audience.

Well, if he's so keen to talk to me, why doesn't he come here himself?

He IS here. He's standing right in front of us.

Hello, ah, the Pope.

I'm sorry that I didn't recognise you there.

You don't do this.

The Pope doesn't zoom round the world

in the Popemobile, surprising people.

Why would you do that?

HE SPEAKS IN ITALIAN

Extremis.

There is an ancient text

buried deep in the most secret of the Vatican libraries.

A text older than the Church itself.

The language of this text is lost to us -

thanks to the work of an early Christian sect,

the title has survived.

OK, so what's the title?

Oh, yes, I can see that it says, er, "Veritas".

Oh...

Literally - "The Truth".

Obviously, this sect - they understood the language.

It died with them. And all copies of their translation disappeared

shortly after their mass suicide.

A few months ago,

after many centuries of work,

the Veritas was translated again.

Right?

And?

What did it say?

No-one knows.

Everyone who worked on the translation,

and everyone who subsequently read it is now dead.

Dead, Doctor, by their own hand.

The Veritas is a short document.

A few pages only.

And, yet, it contains a secret

that drives all who know it to destroy themselves.

-Confirmed suicides? All of them?

-In every case. Beyond doubt.

All bodies recovered?

Except one, but we naturally assumed that he had...

Assume nothing. Assumption makes an "ass" out of you, and "umption".

Cardinal, one of your translators is missing.

Doctor, those translators were devout.

Believers.

They took their own lives

in the knowledge that suicide is a mortal sin.

They read the Veritas and chose Hell.

Doctor...

..will you read the Veritas?

LOCK CLICKS

-Loo's through there.

-Oh, ta! I thought you'd moved out from here?

Yeah, slightly didn't work out.

Second attempt on the way.

Did I hear voices?

-I thought you were going out with Harry tonight?

-Howard.

I don't like knowing their names, I only get attached.

Did you bring someone home?

Yeah...

-I'm a grown-up. I can do that, can't I?

-Of course not.

I have very strict rules about men.

Probably not as strict as mine.

FLUSHING

Oh, hello. Are you Moira?

Oh, you're a girl!

Hm. I'm Penny.

Oh! Oh, I see! Oh, I'm sorry.

Here's me thinking that she dragged some poor, terrified man home!

Well, phew!

Oh, phew!

Right, you two, I'm off to the pub.

Don't do anything I wouldn't do.

DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES

Well...

Alone at last.

SHE CHUCKLES

RHYTHMIC THRUMMING

Oh, God, what was that?

-THRUMMING CONTINUES

-The...pipes.

SOFT THUD

It's... It's the pipes in my bedroom.

Be warned, sometimes I shout at them.

What?

Are you OK?

Yeah. Sorry.

I'm just not quite used to...all of this.

Well, whatever this is...

..and, actually, it's not anything yet...

..it is absolutely nothing to feel guilty about.

-OK?

-OK.

DOOR OPENS

HE SPEAKS URGENTLY IN ITALIAN

That was the Pope!

Bill, that was the Pope!

Yeah, yeah, give me a minute,

I am about to have a truly awesome word with someone.

Oh, my God!

No! Penny! Wait!

DOOR SLAMS, BILL GROANS

You're all going to Hell!

Doctor!

Here's a tip.

When I am on a date,

when that rare and special thing happens in my real life, do not...

do not under any circumstances,

put the Pope in my bedroom!

OK. Now I know. Air cleared.

Nardole will explain what's going on.

Er, Doctor...?

It's, er, I think it's pretty serious...

-What's happened?

-Well, you...

You know the Vatican?

-Yeah.

-The one in Rome?

-In Italy?

-Yeah...

And what is that?

It's a sort of a... SONIC SCREWDRIVER TRILLS

..a reading aid.

It looks dangerous.

Completely deadly.

But, you know, swings and roundabouts.

Pope Benedict said that you were more in need of confession

than any man breathing.

But when the offer was made,

you replied, "It would take too much time."

On behalf of the Catholic Church, the offer stands.

You seem like a man with regret on his mind.

Have you requested a priest?

Well, I haven't.

Apparently, I have.

I shall seek consultation.

SHE EXHALES

COMPUTER TRILLS

There are 412 precedents in the Fatality Index.

Divine intervention, therefore,

is permitted for a maximum of five minutes.

Five minutes.

The executioner may now discuss his immortal soul

and any peril thereunto.

Greetings, sinner,

only in darkness are we revealed.

I never sent for you.

Goodness is not goodness that seeks advantage.

Good is good in the final hour,

in the deepest pit without hope,

without witness,

without reward.

Virtue is only virtue in extremis.

This is what he believes,

and this is the reason, above all, I love him.

My husband.

My madman in a box.

My Doctor.

Your missus wouldn't approve.

-How the hell did you get here?

-Followed you from Darillium,

on the explicit orders of your late wife, River Song.

Warning - I have full permission to kick your arse.

OK, so you're blind and you don't want your enemies to know.

I get it. But why does it have to be a secret from Bill?

Because I don't like being worried about.

Around me, people should be worried about themselves.

-Yeah, shall I tell you the real reason?

-No.

Because the moment you tell Bill, it becomes real.

And then you might actually have to deal with it.

Good point. Well made. Definitely not telling her now.

You're an idiot.

Everyone knows that!

Qui deve proseguire senza di me.

Il Cardinale Angelo vi condurra alla biblioteca.

"Here you must go without me.

"Cardinal Angelo will conduct you to the library."

Possa il Signore illuminare il vostro cammino.

"May God light your path."

Well, he could certainly give it a go.

The entrance to the Haereticum,

the library of forbidden and heretical texts.

First instituted by your old friend, Pope Benedict...

..who still guards the door.

You old dog.

DOOR RUMBLES AND CLUNKS

Very few know this place exists.

The library of blasphemy,

the Haereticum.

-Harry Potter!

-Language!

Please, stay close to me.

The layout is designed to confuse the uninitiated.

Sort of like religion, really.

You happy in those shades?

-Not dark enough for you?

-In darkness, we are revealed.

TRILLING

Remember, sinner, in darkness, we are revealed.

I regret, gentlemen...

..this consultation is over.

I regret it, too.

The sentence must now be carried out.

Take a few more minutes if you like. Knock yourself out.

Actually do. Do that. Knock yourself RIGHT out.

I'll be good. I promise,

I'll turn... I'll turn good.

Please.

Teach me, teach me how to be...

..good.

Without hope.

Without witness.

Without reward.

Who was your date, then?

Um, Penny.

It's a long story.

LEVER CRANKS

RUMBLING

The very centre of the Haereticum.

Home of the Veritas for over a thousand years.

Truth in the heart of heresy.

And death in the heart of truth.

You'd be wizard at writing Christmas crackers, you two(!)

-Doctor!

-What's that?

I don't know.

-AIRILY:

-Oh, look, it's a...

mysterious light, shining round a corner,

approximately ten feet away.

Hello?

Who's there?

Doctor?

This library is forbidden!

-No, wait!

-Who are you?

What are you doing here?

Speak!

TRILLING

Speak to me.

TRILLING

-What's through there? What's through that door?

-There is no door there.

It's a wall.

LAMP CLATTERS

Impossible. Quite impossible.

Let's take a look at the Veritas.

I have a feeling the answers might be there.

I have to check if there is a breach in the wall.

-I'll unlock the cage in a moment.

-Sure.

SONIC SCREWDRIVER TRILLS

Oh, my God!!

What's wrong?

SHE GASPS

Oh, hang on.

TRILLING

I think there's someone in there.

Yeah, we are very slightly getting that...

I'm sorry...

I'm sorry.

I sent it.

Sent what?

I sent it, yes.

Sent what where?

-CAGE DOOR CLANKS

-No, stop! You'll just get lost!

Cardinal Angelo, someone just broke into your book cage.

HE YELLS

Priest, by the look of him.

Shot out the lock.

Oh, well, he hasn't gone far.

So much for your forbidden library, Cardinal!

Doctor, look at this, must have been his.

A laptop.

Hey, there's Wi-Fi down here.

Of course there's Wi-Fi. It's a library.

Reading chair with a safety belt?

-What's CERN?

-CERN?

The European Organization For Nuclear Research.

The largest particle physics laboratory on this planet. Why?

Because four hours ago, someone, that priest presumably,

e-mailed them a copy of the Veritas translation from this computer.

Remember what he said. He said, "I sent it."

He sent the Veritas.

-And CERN have just replied.

-What did they say?

"Pray for us."

When do a bunch of scientists ask for prayers?

The same time anyone does.

When they're very, very afraid.

Particle physicists and priests.

What could scare them both?

He's been down here for a while, that guy. Whoever he is.

At a guess, the missing translator.

-Oh, that's promising!

-Promising?

Yeah, at least one person read the Veritas and lived.

GUNSHOT ECHOES

TRILLING

Go and see if he's all right. Both of you.

I think we know he isn't.

We know nothing of the kind.

He might need help, he might have useful information.

-He's about 50 feet that way.

-Are you trying to get rid of us?

-Why?

Because you're sending us into the dark, after a man with a gun.

-Ah, well, I've thought of that.

-Thank you!

-Nardole, make sure that you walk in front of Bill.

-Oh, great(!)

Are you going to read this? Is that why you're sending us off?

-I won't read this without you.

-Really, he won't.

-Promise?

-Trust me.

We'll shout if we need you.

Me, too.

Does it give you the fear, when he says, "Trust me"?

If I worked here, I'd cross meself.

TRILLING

Bill, stay close by me, there's a man with a gun.

Uh-uh-uh...

Yeah, you don't actually have to do that.

-In fact, don't you dare do that!

-Uh-uh-uh, Bill.

You're to walk behind me now, like the Doctor said.

Yeah, totally not happening!

OK, Bill, Miss Potts,

I am the only person you have ever met, or ever will meet,

who is officially licensed to kick the Doctor's arse.

I will happily do the same to you,

in the event that you do not align yourself

with any instructions I have issued

which I personally judge to be in the best interests

of your safety and survival.

-OK, Bill?

-OK.

Good-oh!

Nardole, are you secretly a badass?

Nothing secret about it, babydoll.

HE YELPS

HE WHIMPERS

Well, that answers that question.

It's an opening, like we saw before.

Yeah, like a portal.

-You're right.

-About what?

It would be stupid to go and look.

BEEPING

Cardinal Angelo?

I could do with your help here.

I'm not absolutely sure how this is going to work...

Either it's going to temporarily fix my eyesight,

or it's going to burn out my brain.

Just...

give me a mo.

ELECTRICITY CRACKLES, HE GASPS

HE GROANS

I am your friend.

-Makes no difference.

-I know it doesn't.

I know I'm going to die.

I have to say it - the truth.

Without hope.

Without witness.

Without reward.

I am your friend.

POWER SURGE CRACKLES

On my oath as a Time Lord of the Prydonian Chapter...

..I will guard this body...

..for a thousand years.

OFFICE BUSTLE

-Hello?

-Hello.

Who are you?

Do you have clearance for Floor 3?

-Floor 3 of what?

-"Of what"?!

Of what?

The Pentagon!

THEY MURMUR

-So, the Pentagon is through there...

-Yeah.

..and...and...and the Vatican...

-..is through there.

-Yeah.

I wonder what's through here?

What is this? How is this possible?

Alien technology. Let's see what else they got.

Ohhh...

Bill! Come and take a look at this!

Oh, hello!

Are you coming?

Coming where?

We're all in the cafeteria.

You mustn't miss it.

Why?

We'll all go together when we go.

-HE LAUGHS

-Come on!

HE GASPS

FOOTSTEPS APPROACH

HE GROANS

Cardinal, it worked. I can see.

Not well enough, not yet.

HE GASPS AND GROANS IN PAIN

Thing about the universe is,

whatever you need, you can always borrow...

..as long as you pay it back.

I just borrowed from my future.

I get a few minutes of proper eyesight,

but I lose...something.

Maybe all my future regenerations will be blind.

Maybe I won't regenerate ever again.

Maybe I'll drop dead in 20 minutes.

But...

I will be able to read this!

Now, I have no idea how that is going to affect me,

so I'd be a bit stupid to reject the precautions provided.

Could you help me, please?

Could you help me?

BUCKLES CLINK

You know, I've read a lot of books

that this chair would be quite useful for.

Moby Dick!

Honestly, shut up, and get to the whale!

You invited friends and family?

HE HISSES

It's the old, old story -

they never look so good in the morning.

Goodbye to the truth? I came a long way to read that book!

2,000 years at the last count.

If you don't want me to read it,

you could have stopped me any time you wanted.

Why the play acting? This is not a game.

This is a game.

Good, because I win.

SONIC SCREWDRIVER TRILLS

Doctor!

DOCTOR GRUNTS

Doctor!

Doctor, we have the Veritas.

Come, come, come, come.

CERN... Where what's-his-name sent the Veritas.

Ladies and gentlemen!

HE CLINKS BOTTLE

Your attention please!

I've been round everywhere,

and I've checked everything. It's all ready to go.

Five minutes.

Last orders please!

ALL MURMUR

-WHISPERS:

-Look under the tables.

Oh, my God.

KEYS CLACK

Oh, no...

Oh, no!

No, not yet!

HE GROANS

No, no, no, no!

FOOTSTEPS

HE SNARLS

SNARLING

GROWLING

In vino veritas.

Why are you doing this?

You've got explosives!

We're saving the world.

You know, we should go.

We should probably even run.

How is blowing yourselves up saving the world?

Because this isn't the world!

This isn't what??

Bill, time - tiny bit running out.

You haven't read it.

You haven't read the Veritas.

Sorry, love to, but must dash!

Choose a number.

Any number,

both of you, now.

And say it when I tap this table.

HE THUDS TABLE

BOTH: 36.

Try again. Keep going.

HE THUDS TABLE

BOTH: 17.

Again, don't stop, every time I tap the table.

HE THUDS ON TABLE 9.

THUD! 48.

THUD! 103.

THUD! A million.

THUD! 7,000,000,007.

HE LAUGHS

-THUD!

-67.

THUD! BOTH: 905.

THUD! 20,460.

THUD! ALL: 12.

THUD! 4.

THUD! 87.

-THUD! 702!

-What is this?!

How are you doing that?!

It's a test.

It's a shadow test.

-HE CHUCKLES

-I'm really very sorry.

ALL: Eleven, ten, nine,

eight, seven,

six, five,

four, three,

two, one!

RUMBLING FADES

OK, what was that about?

Those numbers, how did they do that?

Ooh!

Oh, ohhh!

-You OK?

-No!

Yes...

No!

Someone's been through here.

Could be the Doctor.

Those things, what do they look like?

-Projectors.

-Exactly.

-Yeah, they're projecting the portals.

No, they're not. They're projecting everything.

Those worlds, they're all projected!

-The Pentagon, the Vatican, CERN.

-They're not real?

No, no! They're holograms!

They're holographic simulations and the people in them, too!

Sorry, what?

You know, like the Holodeck on Star Trek

or a really posh VR without a headset.

Through there, those places, that's, basically, Grand Theft Auto!

But it CAN'T be!

It is! Look at the tech! It definitely is!

What, sorry, you're not making any sense.

When did we end up in a computer game?

When did that start?

I don't know. Maybe when we arrived at the Vatican?

But I programmed the TARDIS myself, we were on target.

We went to the Vatican, the real one, I'm sure of it.

Oh!

"Oh"?

Those machines, they project the simulations.

Yeah...

And I'm just wondering...

..what happens if we move outside

the light of the projector?

Don't let me be right.

Please, don't let me be right.

TRILLING, CRACKLING

HE YELPS

I'm part of it!

I'm part of the simulation!

Bill, I'm not real!

-DISTORTED:

-Bill...!

Nardole!

Doctor?

Doctor!

SIRENS WAIL IN DISTANCE

Bill, is that you?

Hello, Doctor.

Is that the President?

It was.

SWITCHES CLICK

I take it he read the Veritas.

So did I.

Well...

I listened to it.

There's a thing on here, it reads aloud to you. It's very useful.

Who needs Nardole?

Where is Nardole?

I need to know what's real and what isn't real.

-Don't we all?

-Don't play games.

Tell me.

The Veritas tells...

..of an evil demon who wants to conquer the world.

But to do it,

he needs to learn about it first.

So, he creates a shadow world...

..a world for him to practise conquering...

..full of shadow people who think they're real.

There was a thing...

the shadow test?

If you're in doubt whether you're real or not,

the Veritas invites you to write down as many numbers as you like,

of any size, in any order,

and then turn the page.

All the same numbers in the same order.

Yes.

Let's bring the story up to date, Bill.

Imagine an alien life form

of immense power...

..and sophistication, and it wants to conquer the Earth.

So, it runs a simulation.

A holographic simulation of all of Earth's history

and every person alive on the surface.

A practice Earth -

to assess the abilities of the resident population.

Especially the ones smart enough

to realise that they are just simulants

inside a great big computer game.

But this is... This...

-SHE TAPS WOOD

-This is real.

I feel it.

Computers aren't good with random numbers.

You ask a computer-simulated person

to generate a random string of numbers,

it won't truly be random.

And if all the simulated people

are part of the same computer program,

then, they'll all generate the same string.

The exact same numbers.

The numbers...

I said them, too.

I know.

So did I.

Trouble is, when simulants develop enough independent intelligence

to realise what they are,

there's a risk they'll rebel.

Those deaths...

..they weren't suicide.

Those were people...

..escaping.

It's like, um...

..Super Mario figuring out what's going on.

Deleting himself from the game,

because he's sick of dying.

No, I'm real. I FEEL real!

Those pretend people you shoot at in computer games.

-Now you know.

-Know what?

They think they're real.

They feel it.

We feel it.

SHE GASPS

TRILLING, CRACKLING

Please...

-..help me...

-Bill, what's happening to you?

Save me...!

Bill, are you there?

She was not real.

You are not real.

No, I'm not. I'm a shadow.

A puppet Doctor for you to practise killing.

We have killed you many times.

Then what are you waiting for? Why don't you kill me now?

You suffer.

Pain is information.

Information will be gathered.

Turn me off, turn me off!

I have nothing. Not even hope.

Without hope.

Without witness.

Without reward.

Funny.

I don't believe much.

I'm not sure I believe anything.

But right now...

..belief is all I am.

Virtue is only virtue...

in extremis.

I take it that your intention is to invade the Earth?

The simulations have been run.

The Earth will be ours.

Well, consider this a warning on the eve of war.

I AM the Doctor.

I am what stands between you and them.

You are not the Doctor. You are not real.

Oh, you don't have to be real to be the Doctor.

Long as you never give up.

Long as you always trick the bad guys into their own traps.

And here's the trap you fell into - your simulation, it's far too good.

Do you see these?

They're set to record.

I'm blind, you see,

so I'm psychically wired into these -

so my memory print of the last few hours, will still be intact on here.

-Information about you!

-You are not real.

There is nothing you can do.

There's always one thing you can do from inside a computer,

even if you're a jumped up little subroutine, you can do it.

You can always...

e-mail!

TRILLING

What are you doing?

I'm doing what everybody does, when the world's in danger.

I'm calling the Doctor.

Pressing "send".

TRILLING

STATIC INTERFERENCE

TRILLING

MESSAGE ALERT

BEEPING AND TRILLING

MOBILE RINGS

I'm doing it, I'm doing it! The essay, I'm doing it.

-Are you on a date?

-No.

-Are you sure?

-I think I'd kind of notice?

-What about Penny? Do you know a girl called Penny?

-Well, yeah.

-What's she like?

-Out of my league.

-No.

-Sorry, what? "No"?

-No.

-What does that mean, "no"?

It means I'm a scary, handsome genius from space

-and I'm telling you, "No, she's not out of your league."

-OK, well.

-Maybe I'll call her tomorrow.

-Call her tonight.

-Tonight?

-Something's coming, Bill.

Something very big, and something possibly very, very bad.

And I have the feeling that we're going to be very busy.

Call her tonight.

Listen.

If it comes down to it,

if you're all I've got left and I need your help...

you said you were my friend.

Oi! Get... Get off!

I've just been executed!

Show a little respect.

She's... She's alive.

I was just a bit sleepy, all right?

Let's not split hairs.

Shut up.

Night-night.

Of course she's not dead.

She's a friend of mine.

-I may have fiddled with your wiring a little bit.

-You swore an oath.

I swore an oath I'd look after her body for a thousand years.

Nobody mentioned "dead".

You CANNOT do this.

You will not leave this planet alive.

Do me a favour. The Fatality Index, look up "The Doctor".

You have an entry, just like any other sentient being...

Under "Cause Of Death".

BEEPING

-COMPUTER CLICKS

-You do seem to have...

an impressive record of fatalities credited to you.

CLICKING CONTINUES

A truly remarkable record.

Where are you going?

He's unarmed!

-You ARE unarmed?

-Always.

COMPUTER BEEPS

-You stand alone?

-Often.

-You're the one who should be afraid.

-Never.

Have a nice day, then.

Nardole, help me move Missy to the vault.

Something's coming, Missy, and I'm blind.

How can I save them when I'm lost to the dark?

-Tell me what you see.

-It's a 5,000-year-old pyramid.

One little problem, it wasn't there yesterday.

Those creatures in that pyramid have studied you

and they have chosen this exact moment and this exact place.

What's wrong with the Doctor?

I lie, I've been blind since Chasm Forge.

Coordinate your attacks.

They did not come here in peace.

We will take this planet and its people.

Life on Earth will cease

by humanity's own hand.