Space. The final frontier.
"Final" because it wants to kill us.
Sometimes we forget that.
Start taking it all for granted.
The suits, the ships, the little bubbles of safety,
as they protect us from the void.
But the void is always waiting.
This isn't the best timing, I know that.
But, typical me.
Maybe it's because...
Oxygen levels critical.
Everything is so messed up,
the trivial stuff just falls away.
You realise life can be so brief.
And so, I just want to tell you, if we do get through this...
I want to have a baby with you.
And as soon as my radio's fixed
I'm going to tell you just that.
Mag boots on.
Nearly there.
Can you hear me? Ivan?
I still can't hear you, love. You're wasting your breath.
The one thing we can't waste.
Need to bypass it.
No./ No! No! No!
No! No! No!
Yeah!
No!
So how does space kill you?
I'm glad you asked.
The main problem is pressure.
There isn't any.
So don't hold your breath or your lungs will explode.
Blood vessels rupture.
Exposed areas swell.
Fun fact...
The boiling temperature of water is much lower in a vacuum.
Which means...
...that your sweat
and your saliva will boil.
As will the fluid around your eyes.
You won't notice any of this
because 15 seconds in,
you passed out as oxygen bubbles formed in your blood,
and 90 seconds in...
You're dead.
Any questions?
Yes.
What's this got to do with crop rotation?
Er, I don't know. But space is great, isn't it?
You're missing it, aren't you?
- Crop rotation? - Space.
I'm worried you're thinking about taking another trip, sir.
I'm here, I'm guarding the vault. What do you want from me?
The truth.
Don't be unreasonable.
Space.
Going to space is exactly like camping.
- Is it? - Er, or no.
- Okay. - Well, in a way, yes.
- Great. - Too much between you and the outside
and you might as well stay home.
To really feel it,
you need the space equivalent of a wafer-thin sleeping bag
and a leaky two-man tent.
So, pick a campsite.
- Got any reviews? - What?
You know, like for restaurants.
"Waiter was a bit handsy, lasagne gave me the trots. Two stars."
Strangely, no.
Oh, I don't know. That one.
Ah, yes. Well, er, possibly we could go there
and pitch our tent next to the toilet block.
How about something a bit more exciting?
What's that?
That is my theme tune.
Otherwise known as a distress call.
You like distress calls?
You only really see the true face of the universe
when it's asking for your help.
Haven't seen my true face in years.
Swapped it for this one on the run.
Oh, look, Bill. It's Nardole. What a lovely surprise.
I thought I sent you to Birmingham for a packet of crisps.
Yeah, I saw through your cunning ruse.
Yes, well, if you will go thinking for yourself. What do you want?
I was given strict instructions
to keep you at the university.
- Who by? - You.
Well, you're not doing a very good job, are you?
I'll overlook it this once.
Do you know what this is?
If it is not crisps, you're sacked.
Fluid link K-57.
Removed it from the TARDIS the other night after your lecture.
That is very untrusting.
You took an oath, sir.
The vault cannot be unguarded.
Listen to Mr Boring.
I'm acting under your orders.
See how reliable I am?
What's a fluid link?
No idea. But the TARDIS can't go anywhere without it.
- Who told you that? - You did.
Exactly.
- What... - Teach you to trust me.
No.
I'm docking your pay for this.
- I'm a bit cross with you, sir. - Noted.
Scored out and forgotten.
Wait. There's no oxygen.
What?
Well, how come we're breathing?
Air shell around the TARDIS. Hang on.
Now there's a really big air shell around the TARDIS.
HOW big?
Big enough for a stroll.
So cocky.
Why aren't we floating?
Artificial gravity.
Doesn't feel like space.
Ah!
Now it feels like space.
Look at this classic design.
Pressure seals.
Hinges.
None of that "schuck-schuck" nonsense.
Space doors are supposed to go "schuck-schuck."
Not "Mmm..."
- Are you gonna be like this all day? - Yeah.
Till you're back where you should be.
Er, guys.
Hmm?
Hello?
He's dead.
Well, how can he be dead? He's standing up.
Er, no.
His suit's standing up.
- He's just along for the ride. - Oh, God.
What, it's standing for him?
Gyro stabilisers, magnetic boots, gloves, on-board computer.
It could run, jump and update his Facebook.
Death, where is thy sting?
So...
Back to the TARDIS?
Yeah, can you turn it off?
Turn what off?
The suit. just... just please. Just turn it off.
Why?
It's just standing there.
It's sick. It's disrespectful.
Tell you what's disrespectful.
Whatever killed him.
Well, there was no oxygen, right?
Before we got here?
Didn't he just suffocate?
Well, his tank's full.
And...
His field's up.
His what?
Force field. Keeps the air in.
Well, Look, can't we just, like, lie him down or something?
- I mean, this isn't right. - No, it isn't.
Or is it?
Mining station. Chasm Forge. Crew of 40.
I've got 36 records of life signs terminated.
Last log entry, "Station declared non-profitable."
Yeah, your workers all dying will do that for you.
Okay, then. Back to the TARDIS. Lovely in there.
- Nice and cosy. - Yeah, yeah, he's right.
Doctor, you listening?
Forty minus thirty-six.
- Sorry, what? - Equals what?
Oh, no, I was just saying that Nardole was...
Four.
Four, Bill.
Four survivors.
One distress call.
The universe show its true face when it asks for help.
We show ours by how we respond.
Any questions?
Good.
Mmm-mmm.
Hello.
Has he got his tunes on?
Not exactly.
Calm down, it's empty.
And you couldn’t just tell us?
Are you trying to scare us?
I'm maxing out your adrenaline.
Fear keeps you fast. Fast is good.
- Do people ever hit you? - Well, only when I'm talking.
So it's basically a robot?
- Er, well. - Ew.
Sort of. Fairly dumb.
Capable of simple tasks.
You better watch your step. You could be out of a job.
And... Ah! Speech.
Hello, suit.
Good morning. How may] assist?
Ooh, I recognise that voice.
Yes, nice girl. Actress.
Bit orange. Left me for an AI in a call centre.
What killed the crew of this station?
I am unaware of any recent deaths.
What about the oxygen? Where did it all go?
There has never been any oxygen in this station.
No? Listen to that.
- Still saucy after all these yea rs. - Explain.
Oxygen is available for personal use only at competitive prices.
It's only in the suits.
Personal use.
They only have oxygen in the suits themselves.
Any unlicensed oxygen will be automatically expelled
to protect market value.
Charging for the air you breathe?
She hasn't changed. What was her name?
Hang on.
Didn't we just feel the space with air?
Yes, I suppose we did.
Because...
It said "expelled."
What's that?
It's decompressing!
What?
Sir.
The TARDIS is on the other side of that.
Yes, I was really hoping that someone would state the obvious.
Vacuum behind it. Can't open it.
Oh, you're on a roll.
And if we could, we'd be sucked out into space.
What's that?
Er...
Nothing to worry about.
Really?
Yes, not for several minutes.
Well, don't stress early.
- It's a waste of energy. - Stress about what?
Occupants of repair stat/on, please identify.
Occupants of repair station, please identify.
Hello, there. You first.
- I'm sorry? - Well, all your crew mates are dead.
So either you're extremely lucky or you killed them. Which is it?
This is Drill Chief Tasker and I haven't killed anyone. Yet.
- Now, who is this? - Doctor, plus two.
You sent out a distress call.
You should be expecting company.
Now tell me, what happened to the crew of this station?
Hang on. You're in the repair bay, right?
Get out of there. Now.
Why?
There are suits in there. For God's sake...
Stay away from the suits.
- Doctor! - It's fried. Should be safe.
Well, you thought you were safe before.
Yes, well, I'm bound to be right eventually, aren't I?
Get me some history.
You okay?
Yeah. just... just a little freaked, I think.
Try not to breathe so fast.
A single line of instruction was sent to all suits.
"Deactivate your organic component."
- "Organic component"? - Yeah.
As in, people?
- Ooh. - Interesting.
They were killed by their own suits.
Can you fry those ones, too?
Possibly.
But we have another problem.
Opening the airlock was the station's Plan A.
Plan B, filtering out all the oxygen.
So they can sell it back to us.
Capitalism in space.
If we want to keep breathing, we have exactly one option.
Buy the merchandise.
Oxygen levels are seriously depleted.
Please step on board your Ganymede System Series 12 smart suit.
Engage pressure pad to activate customised robing.
You said those things were gonna kill us.
Well, on the bright side, we're dying already.
How does this help?
We know that they killed their occupants on specific orders.
I think these ones are off-network for repairs.
So they can't receive commands.
What if you're wrong?
Well, we'll be horribly murdered.
- What? - Let's say I'm right.
Doctor, if those suits have killed 36 people,
that means there's 36 corpses walking about this station.
You know, that really doesn't matter right now.
Correction. Yeah, it does.
Because I think there's something moving out there.
Ooh.
Suits. Now.
Welcome to the Ganymede System Series 72 smart suit.
Oxygen field engaged.
At current levels of exertion, you have 2,500 breaths available.
Breaths?
They couldn’t just give it to me in minutes?
It don't work like that.
When you panic, you breathe quicker.
You die quicker.
Yeah, the scareder you are, the faster you suffocate.
So, relax or die.
Sorry.
Probably not the most helpful thought.
So, er... Breathe in.
Huh?
- Breathe out. - Drill Chief Tasker, do you read me?
- Read you, Doctor. - Breathe in...
You need to take Corridor 12 to Processing.
- Quickly. - Come on.
We better go. Come on. But keep breathing.
They're here!
Come on, this way.
You look like you're trying to run.
Would you like some help with that?
- Can you shut your girlfriend up? - Velma, that was her name.
Confirmed. My name is now Velma.
We've hit a sealed door at the end of Corridor 12. No way through.
My suit's really called Velma?
Correct. My name is Velma.
Tasker, come in.
Oh, they're through.
Anyone?
Breathe in, breathe out.
- Hello. - Breathe in, breathe out.
- Anybody?
Tasker!
Tasker.
Breathe out!
Breathe out! Help me!
Deadlock the door.
Cutting it a bit fine, weren't we?
There was some debate over whether to open it at all.
Er, sorry.
I wasn't expecting...
Hello.
Great, we rescued a racist.
What? Excuse me?
- And you are? - We got your distress call.
Sorry. It's just that I haven't seen many...
Well, any of your people.
It shows.
- They're from the union. - The union's a myth.
Take a look.
Yeah, we're from the mythical union.
Dahh-Ren.
We're here to help.
Sorry, is your name Darren?
Dahh-Ren.
Oh. Makes more sense.
Ah, that's not me. That... That's not me.
It's just glitching. Ivan.
Take a look.
Look, for the record, I'm not prejudiced.
- I'm usually on the receiving end. - Oh, why?
What, you really don't know?
Would you like to give feedback on your experience so far?
- Would you class. - - - Right, where's your ship?
Er, we're parked just off your repair station.
Then you might as well be on the moon.
- They're swarming round there now. - It's just maths now.
Oxygen divided by bodies.
None of us have more than 3,000 breaths left.
Then stop wasting them.
I need a map of the base.
And a full rundown of what happened here.
Who the hell put you in charge?
I'm here to save your lives,
but if you don't want me to, just raise your hand.
Abby. Get the man a map.
All right?
(CHUCKLES AWKWARDLY
Some of my best friends are bluish.
- Why is Velma the only one that talks? - Velma?
My suit.
The others do sometimes. Mostly to say, "Here's the bill."
Is there a mute button?
Yours isn't working.
Suit's a mess. Needs a complete overhaul.
Thanks, mate.
Don't mention it.
"Deactivate your organic component."
All the suits got the same command.
Best guess, someone hacked the network.
- And you survived how? - We were off-network.
You have to be to repair the conveyors.
It was just dumb luck.
The measurements.
- Are these in metres? - Average breaths.
- The only unit worth a damn out here. - Of course they are.
Forty breaths to the dorms.
One-twenty to the core.
That's where we're headed. It's the safest place.
Are there more suits inside the base, or out?
Outside is suicide.
Inside we can move faster than them. Outside, they have the edge.
- Which means we're dead. - What are you mining?
Is it worth stealing?
You think this is a robbery?
Well, killing you'd be a good start if it was.
It's how I'd do it.
If I was to do that sort of thing, which, actually, I probably wouldn't.
So, please don't worry.
Well, they picked a fine day for it.
This is the least productive we've all been for months.
Look, we're mining copper ore.
You'd need to steal a mountain to make it worth your while.
Your employers.
- Any help from them? - They' re too far away.
Not that it matters.
Whoever hacked the suits also cut the radio.
- So your distress call... - Was a botch.
I boosted a suit radio through the dish.
Good job.
What about the brains of these suits?
The AI.
They're dumb as rocks.
But can they learn?
Evolve, grow?
Maybe get tired of carrying pesky humans around?
Know the feeling?
Yeah.
They've got limited problem-solving and that's it.
I'm missing something. What am I missing?
Oxygen.
That's what we're missing.
Maybe find some of that,
and leave the big picture till later, yeah?
They're fixing the lock.
Well, then it's time to go.
Limited problem-solving, eh?
West corridor is free.
Forty breaths to the core. Let's move.
Quick! They're through.
Instruction received.
Organic component will be deactivated.
Please remain calm while your central nervous system is disabled.
Your life is in our hands.
Airlock!
Airlock. Helmets on.
- Where are we going? - Outside.
Well, didn't they say that was a bad idea?
It is.
But I know a worse one.
Wait. Why do I need that?
What about the air force field thing?
Not strong enough for a vacuum.
Trust me.
What happens if I throw up in my helmet?
Colour and smells.
Don't throw up in helmet. Check.
Warning. Helmet malfunction.
Er, Doctor?
Please advise local technician.
Somebody, stop it!
- Put it back on! - Doctor, that's not me doing that.
- Put it back on! - I'm trying.
I can't move my arms.
Stop the cycle.
We can't stop it. It's automated.
Then we know why your ship was being repaired.
Bill. Bill!
You're about to be exposed to the vacuum of space.
Oh, God.
So don't hold your breath.
Or my lungs will explode.
You were listening. Well done.
What are we gonna do?
Argh.
Suit.
Suit!
- Velma. - Good morning.
- How may I assist? - Shh. Shh.
I can't move.
This suit is currently offline for diagnostic purposes.
Oh, Nardole, Ivan, thank God!
You're awake. Told you.
Are you okay?
No.
What happened? I can't move.
Well, your suit is set to auto.
The Doctor hacked it and walked you out.
Ah, and you've got oxygen deprivation,
which is why you feel...
- Like you feel. - Have you looked down there?
Hmm?
Ah, no, they're fine.
What?
Are we safe? What's stopping them?
This whole area's new.
It's not in their mapping system.
Hmm, see?
You know, like when your satnav doesn't know a new road.
So they can't come here?
Not without a floor plan.
Good.
What happened to the Doctor?
- I thought I saw... - Yeah, he...
The Doctor took you to safety.
He gave you his helmet.
- He died? - He should have done.
Don't know how he survived.
Listen. About the Doctor...
He walked in a vacuum for far too long.
He's mostly okay,
but he paid a price.
What do you mean?
He's in Section 12.
Doctor?
Bill.
You're up.
You're blind.
I am? Oh, that explains the bruised shins.
Oh, don't go all gooey on me.
It's temporary.
- Really? - Yeah.
- Once we get back to the TARDIS... - The TARDIS?
Mmm. I've got stuff in there that'll cure anything.
Failing that, I think I've got some spare eyes somewhere.
They're from a lizard, but I'm sure they'll fit.
So, erm, until then...
Until then what?
You really think this is going to slow me down?
I do most of my best work ordering other people around.
You do know we're still here, right?
Mining station Chasm Forge...
Didn't I send you out to get me a latte?
So what's the plan?
Well, we've all been trying to get a radio working and the Doctor's been...
Thinking.
Don't mean to hurry you, but in 700 breaths, I'll be dead.
I need to think.
He really doesn't like help.
It's a transponder.
From a ship.
Doctor, you okay?
Bill, I've got no TARDIS, no sonic, about 10 minutes' oxygen left,
and now I'm blind.
Can you imagine how unbearable I'm going to be when I pull this off?
Don't do this.
You always do this.
Do what?
Make jokes to distract me from whatever's about to kill us.
What else are jokes for?
Doctor!
There's a rescue ship on the way.
We've picked up a company transponder.
If there's a rescue ship on the way,
then how can the rescue ship already be here?
Too many rescue ships.
It's a first world problem.
Who are you?
I'm the Doctor.
I will do everything in my power to save all your lives, and when I do,
you will spend the rest of them wondering who I was,
and why I helped you.
If anyone's offering a better deal, be my guest.
You didn't save Tasker, did you?
And he believed you.
Trusted you.
And now he's dead.
Can you give me one good reason why you shouldn’t join him?
Whoa, whoa, we're all getting a little punchy here.
It's the oxygen thinning. It's making it harder to think.
Instruction received.
- You get out of my way. - Complying.
Please remain calm while your central nervous system is disabled.
Your life is in our hands.
Head to the reactor core. Run!
- What's happening? - Guess.
They knew we were there somehow.
Voice rec. Had to be.
Doctor? Doctor, my suit!
It's doing it again.
I... I can't move.
The sequencer's jammed. Needs a reboot.
- How long will that take? - Too long.
Okay, we'll pick her up, come on.
Warning. This is an illegal manoeuver.
The suit won't let us. Health and safety.
Health and safety?
Doctor?
Okay, get her out of the suit. Give her mine.
The sequencer controls the release clamps. We can't get her out.
Well, we can't leave her here. They'll kill her!
Please do not interfere with the operation of this suit.
Fines may be incurred.
Great, I get fined for dying.
Fined for dying.
Doctor?
What if there was never a hack?
What if this is just business? Business as usual?
What do you mean?
Bill. Bill, do you trust me?
Why are you saying that?
We're gonna have to leave you here.
What?
- I'll die. - You're not gonna die.
But I won't lie to you. This will not be good.
We have to go, now.
You will go through hell.
But you will come through it and I will be waiting on the other side.
But if I was going to die...
- You are not going to die! - Wouldn't you just say exactly the same?
I will see you soon.
Could you just tell me a joke before you go?
Would you just tell me a joke?
He didn't tell me a joke.
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Mum, answer me!
Instruction received. Complying.
Please remain calm while your central nervous system is disabled.
Your life is in our hands.
Doctor, this isn't gonna work.
Isn't it?
Why, what do you think I'm doing?
Electrolysis.
Splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen.
Oh, that's clever.
I wish I could see me doing that.
Doctor, that water is cooling the nuclear core.
We'd enjoy five minutes of oxygen before the whole thing overheated and blew.
Yes, five whole minutes.
We could boil the hell out of an egg.
Stop being such a quitter.
Doctor, it wasn't your fault. You couldn't have saved her.
Do you know what's wrong with this universe?
Believe me, I've looked into it.
Everyone says it's not their fault.
Well, yes, it is.
All of it. It's all your fault.
So what are you gonna do about it?
There's nothing we can do. She's dead.
She's no more dead than you are, than I am,
than everyone on this station is.
Get me to a keyboard.
What? Why?
Because I'm not trying to make oxygen. Keyboard.
Now. Please.
You think you have a plan?
We've got exactly one plan left.
- What plan? - The big one.
The one that you've been waiting for all your life.
What's he doing?
Cooling system again.
Yes. I've rejigged it a tiny little bit.
Either that, or I've really screwed up the plumbing.
It's tough when you're blind.
We need to know about this plan.
Uh-huh.
The nice thing about life is, however bad it gets,
there's always one last option available.
Dying well.
No.
No!
- What? What is it? - Our life signs.
He's wired them to the cooling system.
If we die, it vents.
When the suits kill us, and they are going to kill us,
the core will blow and the whole station will be destroyed.
One very big boom.
Is that really the best you've got?
Revenge?
Not just revenge.
It's revenge as bright as the sun.
It's revenge you can see across galaxies.
Not bad for a blind man.
He's locked us out of the subroutine.
Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought I was tweeting.
They're through the third lock.
Open the doors.
Are you out of your mind?
Ah, yes. Completely. But that's not a recent thing.
Listen. All we've got left is a good death.
This is the moment you've been waiting for since the day you were born.
Don't screw it up now.
There's rescue ships on the way.
No, there isn't!
No, there isn't.
There never was a rescue ship.
What are you talking about?
There was no hacking.
No malfunction.
The suits are doing exactly what they were designed to do.
What your employers are telling them to do.
And what would that be?
Save the oxygen that you are wasting.
You've become inefficient.
You even told me.
Your conveyors are down.
So everyone had to die?
Ha. Well, you are just organic components
and you're no longer efficient.
So you're being thrown away. You don't believe me?
Check on that rescue ship. Access the log.
No, not true.
None of it. You... You are just a lunatic.
It is true, Abby.
The ship...
It set off before the distress call.
They're not your rescuers.
They're your replacements.
The end point of capitalism.
The bottom line,
where human life has no value at all.
We're fighting an algorithm.
A spreadsheet.
Like every worker, everywhere.
We're fighting the suits.
They're nearly through!
Open up.
Let's send them a message.
Let's teach them a lesson they will never forget.
If they take our lives,
we take their station, and every penny they will ever make from it.
Die well.
It's the finish line.
It's winning.
Open it.
Doctor.
- Doctor. - What?
It's Bill.
Of course, it's Bill.
Fate and me, we have a thing. Hello, suits!
Our deaths will be brave and brilliant and unafraid,
but above all, suits, our deaths will be...
Expensive!
Check your readings.
We die, your precious station dies.
The whole thing will blow.
The company will make the biggest loss in its history.
A moment ago, we were too expensive to live.
Now we're more expensive dead.
Welcome to the rest of your lives.
But you said that we were gonna die.
Ah, technically, I said you were as dead as Bill.
Probably should have mentioned, Bill's not dead.
I saw earlier, her suit battery was too low.
Not enough for a lethal dose.
I know what it takes to kill someone.
Ellie.
What are they doing?
Relax.
They're giving us their oxygen.
Good for business.
Well, I'm not sure I'm very happy about it.
Thank you.
It worked.
- Doctor. - Yeah.
I think I'm alive.
Yep, you do seem to be under that impression.
Glad, though.
Okay, keep your eyes open.
Keep them open up there. That's it.
You could have told us your actual plan in the first place.
I could have told Bill her battery was too weak to kill her.
But the suits would have heard.
I try never to tell the enemy my secret plan.
Ah. Better?
Hmm.
Ah.
We're back in the TARDIS. When did that happen?
Thank you, Doctor.
For all that you've done.
I'm sorry that I didn't have more faith in your methods.
Ah, don't mention it.
Now, I can set you down on a hub-world outside of corporate control.
Or anywhere, really.
The universe is your crustacean.
Head Office. We've got a complaint to make.
I think we can arrange that.
Promise me you'll be loud.
Promise.
Does it work?
Does what work?
Making a complaint to Head Office?
No idea. I've never had a Head Office.
But as far as I remember, there's a successful rebellion
six months later.
Corporate dominance in space is history.
And that about wraps it for capitalists.
Hey.
Then the human race finds a whole new mistake.
But that's another story.
- Can't wait. - But you will.
Laters.
Never again.
Stop talking. Now.
I'm serious.
We were so close to not making it back.
Then what happens to the vault?
You know what's at stake here.
Really, stop talking.
What if you got killed out there?
Huh? What happens to your precious Earth then?
You need to be here and you need to be ready if that door ever opens.
- Look at me. - I can't.
What if you came back injured? Or sick?
You really think our friend down there won't know that?
Won't sense it?
Look at me!
Nardole, I can't. I really can't.
I can't look at anything ever again.
I'm still blind.
The Pope requests most urgently a personal audience.
The Veritas contains a secret.
Everyone who worked on the translation is now dead.
You're blind and you don't want your enemies to know.
But why does it have to be a secret from Bill?
You happy in those shades?
DOCTOR In darkness, we are revealed.
MAN Very few know this place exists.
The Haereticum.
DOCTOR Something's coming, Bill. Something very big.
And something possibly very, very bad.
How can I save them when I'm lost in the dark?
Ripped & Corrected By mstoll June 2017
Ripped & Corrected By mstoll Released on www.Addic7ed.com