Doctor Who (2005–…): Season 10, Episode 6 - Extremis - full transcript
The Haereticum holds an ancient book known only as The Veritas. Throughout history, anyone who has ever read it has immediately taken their own life. When a new translation is online, spreading danger, the Vatican appeals to the Doctor for help. Will he read The Veritas? But can even the Doctor survive the ultimate truth?
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.
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.
_
_
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
Well...
Alone at last.
Oh, God, what was that?
The... pipes.
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.
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!
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...
..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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Speak to me.
What's through there?
What's through that door?
There is no door there.
It's a wall.
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.
Oh, my God!!
What's wrong?
Oh, hang on.
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?
No, stop! You'll just get lost!
Cardinal Angelo, someone just
broke into your book cage.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
On my oath as a Time Lord
of the Prydonian Chapter...
..I will guard this body...
..for a thousand years.
- Hello?
- Hello.
Who are you?
Do you have clearance for Floor 3?
- Floor 3 of what?
- "Of what"?!
Of what?
The Pentagon!
- 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.
Come on!
Cardinal, it worked. I can see.
Not well enough, not yet.
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?
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?
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.
Doctor!
Doctor!
Doctor, we have the Veritas.
Come, come, come, come.
CERN... Where what's-his-name
sent the Veritas.
Ladies and gentlemen!
Your attention please!
I've been round everywhere,
and I've checked everything.
It's all ready to go.
Five minutes.
Last orders please!
Look under the tables.
Oh, my God.
Oh, no...
Oh, no!
No, not yet!
No, no, no, no!
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.
36.
Try again. Keep going.
17.
Again, don't stop, every
time I tap the table.
9.
48.
103.
A million.
7,000,000,007.
67.
905.
20,460.
12.
4.
87.
- 702!
- What is this?!
How are you doing that?!
It's a test.
It's a shadow test.
I'm really very sorry.
Eleven, ten, nine,
eight, seven,
six, five,
four, three,
two, one!
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.
I'm part of it!
I'm part of the simulation!
Bill, I'm not real!
Bill...!
Nardole!
Doctor?
Doctor!
Bill, is that you?
Hello, Doctor.
Is that the President?
It was.
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...
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.
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!
_
What are you doing?
I'm doing what everybody does,
when the world's in danger.
I'm calling the Doctor.
Pressing "send".
_
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".
You do seem to have...
an impressive record of
fatalities credited to you.
A truly remarkable record.
Where are you going?
He's unarmed!
- You are unarmed?
- Always.
- 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.
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.
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.
_
_
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
Well...
Alone at last.
Oh, God, what was that?
The... pipes.
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.
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!
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...
..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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Speak to me.
What's through there?
What's through that door?
There is no door there.
It's a wall.
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.
Oh, my God!!
What's wrong?
Oh, hang on.
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?
No, stop! You'll just get lost!
Cardinal Angelo, someone just
broke into your book cage.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
On my oath as a Time Lord
of the Prydonian Chapter...
..I will guard this body...
..for a thousand years.
- Hello?
- Hello.
Who are you?
Do you have clearance for Floor 3?
- Floor 3 of what?
- "Of what"?!
Of what?
The Pentagon!
- 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.
Come on!
Cardinal, it worked. I can see.
Not well enough, not yet.
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?
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?
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.
Doctor!
Doctor!
Doctor, we have the Veritas.
Come, come, come, come.
CERN... Where what's-his-name
sent the Veritas.
Ladies and gentlemen!
Your attention please!
I've been round everywhere,
and I've checked everything.
It's all ready to go.
Five minutes.
Last orders please!
Look under the tables.
Oh, my God.
Oh, no...
Oh, no!
No, not yet!
No, no, no, no!
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.
36.
Try again. Keep going.
17.
Again, don't stop, every
time I tap the table.
9.
48.
103.
A million.
7,000,000,007.
67.
905.
20,460.
12.
4.
87.
- 702!
- What is this?!
How are you doing that?!
It's a test.
It's a shadow test.
I'm really very sorry.
Eleven, ten, nine,
eight, seven,
six, five,
four, three,
two, one!
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.
I'm part of it!
I'm part of the simulation!
Bill, I'm not real!
Bill...!
Nardole!
Doctor?
Doctor!
Bill, is that you?
Hello, Doctor.
Is that the President?
It was.
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...
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.
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!
_
What are you doing?
I'm doing what everybody does,
when the world's in danger.
I'm calling the Doctor.
Pressing "send".
_
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".
You do seem to have...
an impressive record of
fatalities credited to you.
A truly remarkable record.
Where are you going?
He's unarmed!
- You are unarmed?
- Always.
- 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.