Forest of the Dead Doctor Who

-The Library! So big it doesn't need a name.

-Someone's got in. Someone's in my library.

4,022 saved.

-No survivors.

-Others are coming.

What...others?

-Professor River Song, archaeologist.

-You've seen me before, then?

The real world is a lie, and your nightmares are real.

-What's CAL?!

-The Library is real.

There are people trapped in there, people who need to be saved.

There's a neural relay in the communicator.

Sometimes it can hold an impression of a living consciousness for a short time after death.

The shadows are moving again. Only you can save them.

The piranhas of the air, the Vashta Nerada.

SHE SCREAMS

Donna Noble has been saved.

Donna Noble has been saved.

Donna Noble has left the Library.

-Donna Noble has been saved.

-Hey! Who turned out the lights?

Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved.

-Hey! Who turned out the lights?

-Donna Noble has left the Library.

Donna Noble has been saved.

Hey! Who turned out the lights?

Hey! Who turned out the lights?

This way, quickly, move!

Hey! Who turned out the lights?

Dad, the Library, it's on television now.

How many times, darling?

The Library is just your imagination.

Donna?

KNOCK AT DOOR

Hello, Donna.

Who are you?

I'm Dr Moon.

I've been treating you since you came here two years ago.

Oh, God, Dr Moon, I'm so sorry!

What's wrong with me?

I didn't know you for a moment.

And then you remembered. Shall we go for a walk?

No more dreams, then? The Doctor and the blue box, time and space.

How did we get here?

We came down the stairs, out the front door.

We passed Mrs Ali on the way out.

Yeah. Yeah, we did.

-I forgot that.

-And then you remembered.

Shall we go down to the river?

You said "river" and suddenly we're feeding ducks.

Dr Moon!

Morning.

Donna Noble, Lee McAvoy.

Hello, Lee.

Hello, D-D... D...

Ooh, you've got bit of a stammer there... Bless!

D... D...

Oh, skip to a vowel, they're easy!

How did we leave it, him and me?

I got the impression he was inviting you fishing tomorrow.

So...

Fishing!

THUNDER RUMBLES

D... D...

Gorgeous and can't speak a word.

What am I going to do with you?

Welcome home, M-Mrs McAvoy.

Stop it! Stop it now, we've got a visitor.

You've done so much in seven years, Donna.

Sometimes it feels more like 70. Mind you, sometimes it feels like no time at all.

Can I just say what a pleasure it is to see you fully integrated?

No, the signal's definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through.

Donna!

Oops, sorry. Mrs Angelo's rhubarb surprise.

Will I never learn?

The Doctor!

I saw the Doctor!

Yes, you did, Donna, and then...you forgot.

Dr Moon! Oh, hello!

Shall I make you a cup of tea?

OK, we've got a clear spot. In, in, in!

Right in the centre, in the middle of the light, quickly!

Don't let your shadows cross. Doctor...

I'm doing it.

There's no lights here. Sunset's coming, we can't stay long.

-Have you found a live one?

-Maybe, it's getting harder to tell. What's wrong with you?

We're going to need a chicken leg. Who's got a chicken leg?

Thanks, Dave.

OK... OK, we've got a hot one. Watch your feet.

They won't attack until there's enough of them, but they've got our scent now, they're coming.

Who is he?

You haven't even told us. You just expect us to trust him.

He's the Doctor.

And who is the Doctor?

The only story you'll ever tell - if you survive him.

You say he's your friend, but he doesn't even know who you are.

Listen, all you need to know is this...

I'd trust that man to the end of the universe,

and actually we've been.

He doesn't act like he trusts you.

Yeah, there's a tiny problem.

He hasn't met me yet.

BUZZING

-What's wrong with it?

-There's a signal coming from somewhere, interfering with it.

-Use the red settings.

-It doesn't have a red setting.

-Well, use the dampers.

-It doesn't have dampers.

It will do one day.

-So some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver.

-Yeah.

-And why would I do that?

-I didn't pluck it from your cold dead hands,

-if that's what you're worried about.

-I know that because...?

Listen to me.

You've lost your friend, you're angry, I understand.

-But you need to be less emotional, Doctor.

-I'm not emotional.

There are five people in this room still alive, focus on that.

-Dear God, you're hard work young.

-Young? Who are you?!

Oh, for heaven's sake! Look at the pair of you!

We're all going to die right here, and you're just squabbling like an old married couple.

Doctor...

..one day I'm going to be someone that you trust completely,

but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you.

And I'm sorry.

I'm really very sorry.

Are we good?

Doctor...are we good?

Yeah...

Yeah, we're good.

Good.

Know what's interesting about my screwdriver?

Very hard to interfere with, nothing's strong enough...

Well, some hairdryers, but I'm working on that.

So there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere, and it wasn't there before, so what's changed?

Come on! What's new?

-What's different?

-I dunno, nothing.

-It's getting dark.

-It's a screwdriver, it works in the dark.

Moonrise.

-Tell me about the moon. What's there?

-It's not real, it was built as part of the Library.

-It's just a doctor moon.

-What's a doctor moon?

-A virus checker.

It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet.

-BUZZING

-Well, it's still active, it's signalling, look.

Someone somewhere in this Library is alive and communicating with the

moon, or possibly alive and drying their hair.

No, the signal's definitely coming from the moon.

-I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through.

-Doctor!

-Donna!

That was her, that was your friend.

Can you get her back? What was that?

Hold on, hold on, hold on. I'm trying to find the wavelength.

-I'm being blocked.

-Professor?

-Just a moment.

-It's important.

I have two shadows.

OK. Helmets on, everyone.

Anita, I'll get yours.

-It didn't do Proper Dave any good.

-Just keep it together, OK?

I'm keeping it together,

I'm only crying.

I'm about to die, it's not an overreaction.

Hang on.

-Oh, God, they've got inside.

-No, no, no, I just tinted her visor.

Maybe they'll think they're already in there, leave her alone.

-Do you think they can be fooled like that?

-Maybe. I don't know.

It's a swarm, it's not like we chat.

-Can you still see in there?

-Just about.

Just... Just stay back.

-Professor, a quick word, please.

-What?

-Down here.

-What is it?

-Like you said, there are five people still alive in this room.

-Yeah, so?

So...

why are there six?

-Hey! Who turned out the lights?

-Run!

Hey! Who turned out the lights?

Hey! Who turned out the lights? Hey! Who turned out the lights?

Here we are, Dr Moon.

Mummy, I made you!

Ooh, that's nice, Ella. Where's the face?

I don't know.

Did you see Dr Moon? Did he leave?

Daddy!

Hey! Hello, you two, come here! Big hugs, big Daddy hugs!

Look what I made!

-Oh, it's Mummy.

-It hasn't got a face.

Did you see Dr Moon?

-No, why, was he here?

-Yeah, just a second ago.

You must have passed him.

Are you all right?

-Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, it's just...

-Just...

Nothing.

It's been a long day, that's all.

I'm just tired.

Are you OK?

I said I was tired and...

..and we put the kids to bed,

and we watched television.

SQUEAK

-Was that a letter?

-It's midnight.

-Go and see what it is.

-"The world is wrong."

-What?

For you. Weird, though.

"Dear Donna, the world is wrong.

"Meet me at your usual playpark, two o'clock tomorrow."

Nutter.

Don't go. Please don't go.

All right, you two, off you go, no fighting.

I got your note last night.

The world is wrong, what's that mean?

-No, you didn't.

-I'm sorry, what?

You didn't get my note last night.

You got it a few seconds ago.

Having decided to come, you suddenly found yourself arriving.

That is how time progresses here, in the manner of a dream.

You've suspected that before, haven't you, Donna Noble?

-How do you know me?

-We met before, in the Library.

You were kind to me.

I hope now to return that kindness.

Your voice...

-I recognise it.

-Yes, you do.

I am what is left of Miss Evangelista.

Professor, go ahead, find a safe spot.

-It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit, you can't reason with it.

-Five minutes.

Other Dave, stay with him, pull him out when he's too stupid to live.

Two minutes, Doctor.

Hey! Who turned out the lights?

You hear that? Those words? That is the very last thought

of the man who wore that suit before you climbed inside it and stripped his flesh.

That's a man's soul trapped inside a neural relay, going round and round forever.

Now, if you don't have the decency to let him go, how about this?

Use him. Talk to me.

It's easy, neural relay. Just point and think.

-Use him, talk to me.

-Hey! Who turned out the lights?

The Vashta Nerada live on all the worlds in this system, but you hunt in forests.

-What are you doing in a library?

-We should go. Doctor!

-In a minute.

You came to a library to hunt, why? Just tell me why?

We...did not.

Oh, hello.

We did not.

Take it easy, you'll get the hang of it. Did not what?

We...did not...come...here.

Well, of course you did, of course you came here.

We come from here.

From here?

We hatched here.

But you hatch from trees, from spores in trees.

These are our forests.

You're nowhere near a forest, look around you.

These are our forests.

You're not in a forest, you're in a library.

There are no trees in a...

-..library.

-We should go. Doctor!

Books.

You came in the books.

-Microspores in a million, million books.

-We should go. Doctor!

Oh, look at that.

The forests of the Vashta Nerada,

pulped and printed and bound.

A million, million books, hatching shadows.

We should go. Doctor!

Oh...

Dave! Oh, Dave, I'm so sorry.

-Hey! Who turned out the lights?

-We should go. Doctor!

I'm stupid, I talk too much, this gob doesn't stop for anything.

Want to know the only reason I'm still alive? Always stay near the door.

I suggested we meet here because a playground is the easiest place to see it, to see the lie.

-What lie?

-The children, look at the children.

Why do you wear that veil?

If I had a face like yours, I wouldn't hide it.

You remember my face, then?

The memories are all still there - the Library, the Doctor, me.

You've just been programmed not to look.

Sorry, but...you're dead.

In a way, we're all dead here, Donna.

We are the dead of the Library.

Well, what about the children?

The children aren't dead. My children aren't dead.

Your children were never alive.

Don't you say that. Don't you dare say that about my children!

Look at your children.

Look at all of them, really look. They're not real.

Do you see it now? They're all the same.

All the children of this world, the same boy and the same girl, over and over again.

Stop it.

Just stop it! Why are you doing this? Why are you wearing that veil?

SHE SCREAMS

You know...it's funny, I keep wishing the Doctor was here.

The Doctor is here, isn't he?

He's coming back, right?

You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them?

It's like they're not quite...finished, they're not done yet.

Well...yes, the Doctor's here.

He came when I called, just like he always does.

But not MY Doctor.

Now my Doctor...

I've seen whole armies turn and run away.

And he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS

and open the doors with a snap of his fingers.

The Doctor...in the TARDIS...

-Next stop - everywhere.

-Spoilers!

Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers.

-It doesn't work like that.

-It does for the Doctor.

I am the Doctor.

Yeah. Some day.

-How are you doing?

-Where's Other Dave?

Not coming, sorry.

-Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?

-I don't know.

Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference.

It's making a difference all right.

No-one's ever going to see my face again.

-Can I get you anything?

-An old age would be nice.

Anything you can do?

-I'm all over it.

-Doctor...

When we first met you...

..you didn't trust Professor Song.

And then she whispered a word in your ear, and you did.

My life so far...

I could do with a word like that.

What did she say?

Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me.

Safe.

What?

Safe. You don't say saved, nobody says saved, you say safe. The data fragment! What did it say?

-"4,022 people saved. No survivors."

-Doctor?

Nobody says saved, nutters say saved, you say safe.

But you see, it didn't mean safe, it meant...it literally meant...saved!

What happened to your face?

Transcription errors.

It destroyed my face, did wonders for my intellect.

I'm a very poor copy of myself.

'Where are we?'

Why are the children all the same?

The same pattern over and over. It saves an awful lot of space.

Space?

Cyberspace.

No! Don't tell, you mustn't tell!

See, there it is, right there! A hundred years ago, massive power surge,

all the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack.

-Someone hits the alarm, the computer tries to teleport everyone out.

-It tried to teleport 4,022 people?

It succeeded, pulled 'em all out, but nowhere to send them, nowhere safe in the Library.

Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. 4,022 people, all beamed up and nowhere to go.

They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails.

So what's a computer to do?

What does a computer always do?

It saved them.

The Library, a whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history.

The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book.

The computer saved 4,022 people the only way a computer can.

It saved them to the hard drive.

Your physical self is stored in the library as an energy signature.

It can be actualised again whenever you or the Library requires.

The Library?

-If my face ends up on one of those statues...

-You remember the statues?

Wait, no, just...hang on.

So...this isn't the real me?

This isn't my real body.

But I've been dieting!

What you see around you, this entire world

is nothing more than virtual reality.

So why do you look like that?

I had no choice.

You teleported. You're a perfect reproduction.

I was just a data ghost caught in the Wi-Fi and automatically uploaded.

-And it made you clever?

-We're only strings of numbers in here.

I think a decimal point may have shifted in my IQ.

But my face has been the bigger advantage.

I have the two qualities you require to see absolute truth.

I am brilliant...and unloved.

If this is all a dream...

..whose dream is it?

It's hard to see everything in the data core, even for me, but there is a word.

Just one word.

CAL.

Mummy! My knee!

Oh, look at that knee!

Oh, look at that silly old knee!

She's not real. They're fictions.

I'm sorry, but now that you understand that, you won't be able to keep a hold.

They are sustained only by your belief.

-You don't know, you don't have children.

-Neither do you.

Donna, for your own sake, let them go!

Stop it! You'll spoil everything! I hate you, you're going to ruin everything! Stop it!

Sweetie, what's wrong?

Shut up!

Daddy! No! Daddy!

-BEEPING

-What is it? What's wrong?

'Autodestruct enabled in 20 minutes.'

Mummy, what did the lady mean? Are we not real?

-Where are we going?

-Home!

That was quick, wasn't it, Mummy?

Mummy, what's wrong with the sky?

-What's maximum erasure?

-20 minutes, this planet'll crack like an egg.

No! No, it's all right, the Doctor Moon will stop it.

It's programmed to protect CAL.

Now, you really must stop this, you know.

You've forgotten again it was you who saved all those people, haven't you?

And then you remembered.

Shut up, Dr Moon!

No! No, no, no, no, no, no!

'All Library systems are permanently offline, sorry for any inconvenience.

-'Shortly...'

-We need to stop this, we've got to save CAL.

-But what is it, what is CAL?

-We need to get to the main computer. I'll show you.

It's at the core of the planet.

Well, then...let's go.

Gravity platform!

I bet I like you.

Oh, you do!

Mummy, you're hurting my hand.

You just... You just stay where I can see you.

You don't get out of my sight.

Is it bedtime?

OK.

That was lovely, wasn't it?

That was a lovely bedtime.

We had warm milk, and we watched cartoons, and then Mummy read you a lovely bedtime story.

Mummy, Joshua and me, we're not real, are we?

Of course you're real.

You're as real as anything. Why do you say that?

But, Mummy, sometimes, when you're not here, it's like we're not here.

Even when you close your eyes.

We just stop.

Well, Mummy promises to never close her eyes again.

No! Please!

No, PLEASE!

No!

No, no!

NO!

'Autodestruct in 15 minutes.'

The Data Core! Over 4,000 living minds, trapped inside it.

Yeah, well they won't be living much longer, we're running out of time.

Help me. Please help me.

Please, please help me!

Help me. Please, help me.

-What's that?

-Was that a child?

-Computer's in sleep mode.

I can't wake it up. I'm trying.

Doctor, these readings!

I know, you'd think it was...dreaming.

It is dreaming...of a normal life,

and a lovely Dad, and of every book ever written.

Computers don't dream.

'Help me. Please help me.'

No. But little girls do.

WHIZZING

Please help me. Please help me.

Oh, my God!

It's the little girl.

The girl we saw in the computer.

She's not in the computer.

In a way, she is the computer.

The main command node.

This is CAL.

CAL is a child!

A child hooked up to a mainframe?? Why didn't you tell me this! I needed to know this!

Because she's family!

CAL...

..Charlotte Abigail Lux.

My grandfather's youngest daughter.

She was dying, so he built her a Library, and put her living mind inside,

with a moon to watch over her,

and all of human history to pass the time, any era to live in, any book to read.

She loved books more than anything.

He gave her them all.

He asked only that she be left in peace. A secret,

not a freak show.

So you weren't protecting a patent, you were protecting her.

This is only half a life, of course.

But it's for ever.

And then the shadows came.

Shadows. I have to...

I have to save.

Have to save...

And she saved them.

She saved everyone in the Library,

folded them into her dreams and kept them safe.

-Then why didn't she tell us?

-Because she's forgotten.

She's got over 4,000 living minds chatting away inside her head, it must be like...

being...well, me.

-So what do we do?

-Easy!

-'Autodestruct in ten minutes.'

We beam all the people out of the data core, the computer will reset and stop the countdown.

Difficult, Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer. Easy!

-I'll hook myself up to the computer and she can borrow my memory space!

-It'll kill you stone dead.

-Yeah, it's easy to criticise.

-It'll burn out both your hearts.

-I'll try my hardest not to die. It's my main thing.

-Doctor!

You and Luxy-boy, back up to the main Library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download,

and before you say anything else, Professor, can I just mention, shut up!

Ha! I hate you sometimes!

-I know!

-Mr Lux, with me!

Anita, if he dies, I'll kill him!

What about the Vashta Nerada?

These are their forests. I'll seal Charlotte inside her little world, take everybody else away.

The shadows can swarm to their hearts' content.

-So you think they're just gonna let us go?

-Best offer they're gonna get.

-You're gonna make 'em an offer?

They'd better take it, cos right now, I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all.

I really liked Anita.

She was brave, even when she was crying, and she never gave in. And you ate her.

But I'm gonna let that pass.

Just as long as you let them pass.

-How long have you known?

-I counted the shadows.

You only have one now.

She's nearly gone. Be kind.

These are our forests.

We are not kind.

I'm giving you back your forests, but you are giving me them.

You are letting them go.

These are our forests. They are our meat.

Don't play games with me.

You just killed someone I like, that is not a safe place to stand.

I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest Library in the universe.

Look me up.

You have one day.

-Anita!

-I'm sorry. She's been dead a while now. I told you to go.

Lux can manage without me.

But you can't.

'Autodestruct in two minutes.'

Oh, no, no, no, no, come on, what are you doing? That's my job.

Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?

-Why am I handcuffed? Why do you even have handcuffs?

-Spoilers!

Stop this now, this is gonna kill you! I'd have a chance, you don't have any.

You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I.

I'm timing it for the end of the countdown, there'll be a blip in the command flow.

-That way it should improve our chances of a clean download.

-River! Please! No!

Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die.

All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here.

The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean - you turned up on my doorstep,

with a new haircut and a suit.

You took me to Darillium to see the singing towers.

What a night that was!

The towers sang

and you cried.

-'Autodestruct in one minute.'

-You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time.

My time. Time to come to the Library.

You even gave me your screwdriver - that should've been a clue.

There's nothing you can do.

-You can let me do this!

-If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you.

-Time can be rewritten.

-Not those times. Not one line! Don't you dare!

It's OK.

It's OK, it's not over for you. You'll see me again.

You've got all of that to come.

You and me, time and space.

You watch us run!

-River, you know my name!

-'Autodestruct in...'

-You whispered my name in my ear.

-'..nine, eight, seven...

There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name.

There's only one time I could...

Shh, now!

-Spoilers!

-'..three, two, one...'

Donna?

What's happening?

I don't know, but it's not real. Nothing here's real.

The whole world, everything, none of it's real.

Am I real?

Course you're real, I know you're real.

Oh, God, oh, God, I hope you're real.

I'll find you!

I promise you, I'll find you!

Excuse me.

What happened?

How did we get here?

Look at you.

You're back. You're all back. He did it!

You're all back. Look at you!

Ha-ha-ha-ha!

Look at that!

Look at that. He did it.

4,022 people!

Saved!

Please be patient. Only three can teleport at a time.

Do not state your intended destination until you arrive in...

Any luck?

There wasn't even anyone called Lee in the Library that day.

Suppose he could have had a different name out here, but let's be honest,

he wasn't real, was he?

Maybe not.

I made up the perfect man.

Gorgeous, adores me, and hardly able to speak a word.

What does that say about me?

Everything. Sorry, did I say everything? I meant to say "nothing".

I was aiming for "nothing", I accidentally said "everything".

'Stand right in the middle of the teleport, please...'

What about you?

-Are you all right?

-I'm always all right.

Is "all right" special Time Lord code for...

-"really not all right at all"?

-Why?

Cos I'm all right, too.

Come on.

Your friend...

Professor Song...

She knew you in the future, but she didn't know me.

What happens to me?

-Because when she heard my name, the way she looked at me...

-Donna...

This is her diary.

My future.

I could look you up.

What do you think?

Shall we peek at the end?

Spoilers, right?

Right.

Come on.

The next chapter's this way.

When you run with The Doctor, it feels like it will never end.

But however hard you try, you can't run for ever.

Everybody knows that everybody dies, and nobody knows it like The Doctor.

But I do think that all the skies of all the worlds might just turn dark, if he ever,

for one moment accepts it.

Why? Why would I give her my screwdriver? Why would I do that?

Thing is, future me had years to think about it, to think of a way to save her,

and what he did was give her a screwdriver! Why would I do that?

Oh! Oh! Oh, look at that!

I'm very good!

-What have you done?

-Saved her.

Stay with me!

You can do it, stay with me! Come on, you and me, one last run!

Sorry, River, shortcut!

Everybody knows that everybody dies.

But not every day.

Not today.

It's OK. You're safe.

You'll always be safe here.

The Doctor fixed the data core. This is a good place now. But I was worried you might be lonely.

So I brought you some friends.

Aren't I a clever girl?

Aren't we all?

Oh, for heaven's sake!

He just can't do it, can he?

That man, that impossible man!

He just can't give in.

'Some days are special.

'Some days are so, so blessed.

'Some days, nobody dies at all.

'Now and then, every once in a very long while,

'every day in a million days,

'when the wind stands fair, and The Doctor comes to call...

'..everybody lives.'

Sweet dreams, everyone.

You be careful.

Taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight?

What could possibly go wrong?!

-Enjoy your trip.

-Oh, I can't wait.

THUD What the hell is making that noise?

-It's trying the door.

-There is no "it".

-Just tell me what the hell it is!

-Down!

If we're gonna get out of this, then you need me!

Like you're so special.

-Two people are dead.

-Don't make it a third!

It's coming for me, it's coming for me. Oh!

-Aaaargh!

-Get out of there!