14. Rescuing Miss Austen
SCENE #123 – INT – ROMANS BATHS – DAY, AFTERNOON – SPRING 79 AD
Upon entering the sanctuary of the Sacred Spring, the Doctor, Nyssa and Billy soon find themselves confronting a Roman soldier. He is turning into a water zombie.
DOCTOR
(cries) “Nyssa; Billy look out!”
NYSSA
(shocked) “It’s one of the Roman soldiers!”
BILLY
(grieved) “He looks all done in!”
The Roman soldier snarls ferociously, as he begins to charge at them.
NYSSA
“He’s coming straight for us!”
BILLY
(apprehensively) “His sword is next to us! I’ll get it!”
DOCTOR
“Billy no!”
But as Billy picks up the sword, without intending to, he strikes the sword up into the Roman soldier who makes a leap on them. Shocked and astonished, the trio watch as the Roman soldier slowly breathes his last and crumbles to the floor.
BILLY
“Too late!”
NYSSA
(shocked) “Billy, you killed him!”
BILLY
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to do it! It just happened!” (Pause) “He was dead anyway! That’s what zombies are, aren’t they?! Dead?!”
DOCTOR
“They are! But there’s enough going on without having to kill someone!”
BILLY
(apologetic) “I’m really sorry!”
Moment of silence.
DOCTOR
“Come on! Let’s go and see that spring!”
They approach the spring, as water shoots out from the pool and up into the sky through the broken roof.
NYSSA
“This must have been where Sulis was called from. The energy particles generating the spring water caused her to erupt. The stonework from the spring’s crumbling.”
BILLY
“It’s spectacular seeing this! I should take some pictures of this!”
DOCTOR
“Save your camera for the time being, Billy. There’s some important matter…” (Pause; realises) “No! On the other hand! Do take some pictures, Billy! We might be able to deduce something from why all of this is happening so suddenly!”
BILLY
(confused) “Oh. Alright. If you say so.”
Billy takes out his camera from his pocket. He begins to take some photos, whilst Nyssa and the Doctor watch the bolt of water shooting up from the spring.
NYSSA
“Doctor, we need to examine the metabolic rate of how Sulis came into being. Her physical presence can’t be a reality whatever the consequences.”
DOCTOR
“Yes. But first I need to scan this area for any temporal emissions.”
The Doctor takes out his temporal tracker and uses it. The tracker whirs away more loudly than usual, as it scans the room.
NYSSA
“The energy emissions must be stronger here, Doctor! That temporal tracker’s going off the scale!”
DOCTOR
(with certainty) “Yes! It’s definitely strong here, Nyssa! And with the advantage of the temporal convergence occurring now it’s at its strongest!”
NYSSA
“But the temple. There were energy emissions there when we scanned the area. But you said they were faint.”
DOCTOR
“It may have been somebody was directing the temporal convergence from a far off source. Perhaps this Sacred Spring is meant to be the core channel of sending out feedback messages throughout the timeline in order for all the three time zones to converge.”
NYSSA
“Sending carrier waves to bring the zones together. Yes, I see. And the temple could be what’s making that convergence to occur.”
DOCTOR
“Somebody using equipment. Within the temple. A form of temporal initiator sending the quantum messages.”
NYSSA
“But technology of that standard can’t exist here in seventy-nine AD.”
DOCTOR
“You said yourself Nyssa, that you and Billy saw Mr. Vernon in two thousand and eleven. That may have been where he was conducting the generation of those signals.”
NYSSA
“You mean Mr. Vernon performed an experiment with time to actualise the convergence in two thousand and eleven. And that it was enforced by some technology he implanted within the precincts of the temple.”
DOCTOR
“Not an unlikely hypothesis would you say, Nyssa?”
NYSSA
“It certainly is a worthy one to go on, Doctor.”
Whilst Billy takes photos with his camera, he then sees something that catches his eye.
BILLY
“Nyssa? Doctor?”
Billy makes his way over to the far corner of the room. Nyssa and the Doctor observe.
NYSSA
“What’s the matter, Billy? What have you found?”
Billy picks something up from the floor. He examines it before taking it back to the Doctor and Nyssa to show it to them.
BILLY
“This! I found this on the floor! It’s a necklace! It’s seemingly familiar!”
The Doctor and Nyssa take the necklace from Billy and examine it for themselves.
NYSSA
“It’s Miss Austen’s! It’s the necklace she wore! I recognised it the first time I saw it!”
BILLY
(surprised) “Miss Austen’s?”
NYSSA
“So she was here, Doctor! Miss Austen must have been teleported from the sacrificial altar to here!”
The Doctor examines the necklace more carefully, as Nyssa points this out.
DOCTOR
“Then…if Miss Austen was here in the Sacred Spring area…where is she now?”
The Doctor, Nyssa and Billy ponder this…
SCENE #124 – INT – BATH ABBEY – DAY, EVENING – NOVEMBER 1797
…while Jane Austen wakes up to find herself in a dark place. Jane slowly comes to, as she looks around to find herself in a kind of dark cloister room. A tempest echoes from outside with thunder and lightening going on.
JANE
(calls) “Doctor? Miss Nyssa? Mr Walker?” (Pause) “What is this place?”
Jane makes to get up, but she eventually finds herself strapped in a chair. She can’t get out of it. Struggling to break free, Jane notices the technology whirring around her. She looks to see strange computer terminals that are very unfamiliar to her.
JANE
“Why…why am I strapped to a chair?!” (Pause) “Please God help me, where am I? What is this dark room?!”
Jane then becomes chilled to the bone, as mocking laughter echoes close by. Turning her head from side to side, she tries to find who’s laughing.
JANE
“W-W-Who…who’s that? What do you want from me?”
The mocking laughter continues, as Jane becomes anxious desperately to break free from her straps.
SALVADOR
(coldly) “It’s no good breaking yourself free, Miss Austen. Those straps will keep you secure in that chair, I assure you.”
Jane becomes horrified, as she see the dark figure before her.
JANE
(scared) “W-What are you, sir? And…why do you wear a black veil?”
SCENE #125 – INT – ROMANS BATHS – DAY, AFTERNOON – SPRING 79 AD
Back in the Sacred Spring in the Roman Baths of 79 AD…
BILLY
“But how are we going to find her, Doctor? We don’t know where to begin?!”
NYSSA
“Wrong! She said that she met us in seventeen ninety-seven! We should make our way there!”
DOCTOR
“Good thinking, Nyssa! Let’s go! Back to the TARDIS!”
BILLY
“But what about this thing, Doctor? This monster of a goddess! We can’t leave her to destroy Aquae Sulis!”
DOCTOR
(impatiently) “At the moment there’s nothing we can do for Aquae Sulis. The time balance will be restored once we’ve sorted out preventing the temporal convergence. Miss Austen’s information is vitally important to us.”
NYSSA
“Without meeting Jane Austen, we won’t be able to collapse the paradox; resolve the contradiction and maintain stability!”
DOCTOR
“Exactly! So we must leave now! While we still can!”
BILLY
“Very well, Doctor!”
DOCTOR
“Back to my house!”
The Doctor, Nyssa and Billy run out of the Sacred Spring. Ferocious screams of rage echoes from the water goddess Sulis Minerva outside.
SCENE #126 – EXT – GAY STREET – DAY, AFTERNOON – SPRING 79 AD
On what will become Gay Street in Aquae Sulis, the Doctor, Nyssa and Billy run whilst the tempest caused by Sulis’ appearance gets worse. Roman officials and civilians scatter all over the place, as they escape from the hordes turning into zombies. Sulis’ screams echo across the whole of Aquae Sulis. The TARDIS trio run as they’re metres away from the house. Suddenly, evil mocking laughter echoes across the city, as the temporal convergence occurs.
BILLY
“Doctor?! Who’s that laughing?! It can’t be Vernon!”
DOCTOR
“Come on! A few metres now to the door of my house!”
A loud explosion occurs. The Doctor, Nyssa and Billy turn back to see something approaching as it surges through the city.
NYSSA
“Doctor! That sound! There’s something approaching us!”
BILLY
“It…it’s coming from the direction of the Roman Baths! It sounds like err…water!” (realises) “Louder and louder water!”
The TARDIS trio watch, as the water gets closer and closer.
DOCTOR
(realises) “The tidal wave! From my dream! It’s coming towards us!”
NYSSA
“It must have been caused by Sulis’ appearance here in Aquae Sulis!”
DOCTOR
“Come on! Let’s get inside the house this instant!”
The Doctor, Nyssa and Billy run desperately now. They approach the door of the Doctor’s house. The Doctor quickly unlocks the door and opens it to let them in.
DOCTOR
(cries) “Nyssa; Billy, get inside!”
Without hesitation, Nyssa and Billy get inside the house with the Doctor. The Doctor follows his companions inside the house and shuts the door behind him. The tidal wave approaches, as the temporal shuddering occurs. Everyone gets turned into zombies and Sulis’ screeches roar out from the distance.
SCENE #127 – INT – DOCTOR’S HOUSE – DAY, AFTERNOON – SPRING 79 AD
In the Doctor’s house, the Doctor, Nyssa and Billy run upstairs. They make for one of the bedrooms.
BILLY
“I don’t know you how you manage to sleep in your room with that blue box in there, Doctor! Don’t you find it cramped or makes you feel boxed in?”
DOCTOR
(diligently) “Lady Mite managed it on the space hotel! I don’t see why I shouldn’t!”
The Doctor, Nyssa and Billy enter the bedroom. Inside, they find a group of robbers about to steal the TARDIS. The robbers realise they’ve been caught. They grunt once seen.
NYSSA
(surprised) “Robbers! They’re going to steal the TARDIS!”
DOCTOR
(to robbers) “Excuse me, gentlemen! Do you know that it’s wrong to enter somebody’s house without permission?! I haven’t even made the tea yet!”
The robbers are about to use their swords to fight their way through, grunting as they do so. Billy steps forward, raising his sword at the robbers in an attempt to scare them off.
BILLY
“Stand back, robbers! I’ve got this sword and I’m not afraid to use it!”
Billy’s efforts seems to work, as the robbers back away terrified. They all run for it out of the window, screaming. They scream, as they fall to the ground outside.
NYSSA
(shocked) “Billy! You didn’t have to frighten them like that with your sword!”
BILLY
(defensively) “At least I didn’t kill them, Nyssa.”
DOCTOR
(annoyed) “Why is it Billy, that I try to talk to someone and you intervene?”
Suddenly, the place shudders and trembles. The temporal convergence causes an earthquake.
NYSSA
“The tidal wave is coming closer! I can feel it!”
DOCTOR
“And the temporal convergence is about to tear this city apart!” (to Nyssa) “Quickly Nyssa, give me the key!”
Nyssa immediately fetches the TARDIS key from her pocket. She hands it over to the Doctor.
NYSSA
“Here you are, Doctor!”
DOCTOR
“Right!”
BILLY
“Come on, Doctor! Open the door before we get ourselves flooded in!”
DOCTOR
“I’m doing it as fast as I can!”
The Doctor quickly turns the key in the door as he manages to open the TARDIS.
DOCTOR
(triumphantly) “Done it! Get inside both of you!”
NYSSA
“Alright, alright!”
Both Nyssa and Billy get shoved into the TARDIS by the Doctor. He immediately shuts the door behind him. The TARDIS then sets off, as it dematerialises and whooshes away. Meanwhile the tidal wave approaches closer and closer, as it floods the city of Aquae Sulis.
SCENE #128 – INT – TARDIS CONSOLE ROOM – N/A
Travelling in the TARDIS, the Doctor presets the co-ordinates. He sets the journey to Bath in 1797, pressing a number of switches as he does so.
DOCTOR
Right. I’ve set the TARDIS to travel forwards in time. So we should be on our way to seventeen ninety-seven Bath!
BILLY
That was a close call, Doctor! I thought we were never going to get out of there! It seemed so chaotic!
DOCTOR
Well never mind, Billy. We’re safe now!
NYSSA
“Doctor, I need to examine those smelling salts you cured us from the infection in the rain. Can I have them please?”
The Doctor fetches out the bottle before he hands it over to Nyssa.
DOCTOR
“Here you are, Nyssa! Be careful not to lose any of its contents! Whatever is inside that bottle, we don’t know anything about it and it could be contagious whatever the contents! So don’t drop it!”
NYSSA
“Don’t worry, Doctor! As if I would!”
BILLY
“Do you want me to help you, Nyssa?”
NYSSA
“No you stay with the Doctor, Billy. Help him guide the TARDIS to our destination. I won’t be far. I’ll just be in the lab.”
BILLY
“Alright, then.”
DOCTOR
(encouragingly) “Good luck with your findings, Nyssa.”
Nyssa leaves the console room, opening and closing the door behind her. She heads for the TARDIS lab.
DOCTOR
(focused) “Now, let’s see where we want to go!”
BILLY
“I thought you said we were going to Bath seventeen ninety-seven”
DOCTOR
“Ah, but when exactly and where exactly do we go? It’s all well saying we must go to Bath seventeen ninety-seven, but at what point in time should we go to? We mustn’t be facetious.”
BILLY
“Okay, well…how about when she said she last saw us before coming to Aquae Sulis. She said she last saw us in the Pump Room in seventeen ninety-seven. It was…now I’m sure I’m certain…it was the twenty-seventh of November, she said.”
DOCTOR
“Of course! She saw the TARDIS arriving when the Pump Room was attacked.”
BILLY
(puzzled) “Hey?”
DOCTOR
“She saw the TARDIS arriving and I called her to come in. That must be where she meant for us to save her. Remember, Billy?”
BILLY
“How can I? I don’t remember her saying that!”
DOCTOR
“Of course, you wouldn’t! You weren’t there! You and Nyssa went for a walk!”
BILLY
“Yeah, we must have done!”
DOCTOR
“Right! Now she said it was after the Volturnans attacked the Assembly Rooms that she went to the Pump Room! Therefore it must in the evening! Now let me see!” (to Billy) “Don’t disturb me for a moment, Bill!. I need to check something in the TARDIS data bank.”
BILLY
“Well is there something I can do? I like to be useful!”
DOCTOR
(cheerfully) “Yes, alright! A cup of tea will be nice!”
The Doctor enters a few keys into the TARDIS information system on the console. Meanwhile, Billy reluctantly walks out to go and make a cup of tea.
SCENE #129 – INT – BATH ABBEY – DAY, EVENING – NOVEMBER 1797
Back in Bath Abbey, some-when in time, Jane is strapped to the chair with Salvador there.
JANE
(frightened) “Are you a skeleton, sir? A vagabond? Why wear that veil?!”
SALVADOR
(boldly) “I am Salvador! The lord of darkness! I tell you who I am Miss Austen, since you shall surely die!”
JANE
“How do you know my name, sir? And how come you to threaten me so?”
SALVADOR
“Your friends have caused me a great deal of bother! My employee was incompetent enough to delay the sacrifice which you and your friends were prepared for!”
JANE
(realises) “Am I to understand that you are Mr. Thorpe-Willoughby’s client? The one who’s claimed to conduct dastardly deeds?”
SALVADOR
“Your words are graceful madam, yet your mortal and feeble mind still remains to be so stupid!”
JANE
(defiantly) “Your pride and prejudice doesn’t do you justice, sir!”
SALVADOR
Do not provoke me, Miss Austen. You have been interfering with my attempts to control the world. Now you shall remain in this room until the convergence is complete. Soon, all of time and space shall belong to me.
JANE
(bewildered) Are you quite sane, sir? What words you do use? They are not the marks of a gentleman. (Pause) You are a vagabond, sir. I did not believe there would be such barons of ill fortune as you.
SALVADOR
Ill fortune? Who are you to say that I am of ill fortune while you’ve got nothing to gain in time? I am powerful beyond imagining! I possess great power! And I shall use it to rule this small world and control everything that exists outside of it!
JANE
You can’t control the world! Only One can do that!
SALVADOR
You may have your beliefs, but I still have my power!
JANE
Let me free at once! I beg of you, sir!
SALVADOR
(savagely) NO! (Pause) You shall suffer for your crimes against Salvador. Unless you give me your word not to interfere.
Salvador then moves over to the equipment in the far corner of the room. He begins to press a few control switches on one of the computer terminals. Jane observes this technology.
JANE
(intrigued; astonished) What instruments are you using, sir?
SALVADOR
Think about my terms, Miss Austen. If you refuse to keep your word not to interfere, then you shall live to regret it.
Salvador then leaves Jane Austen. She remains strapped to the chair, anxious and distressed.
SCENE #130 – INT – TARDIS CONSOLE ROOM – N/A
In the TARDIS, Nyssa returns to the console room. She’s finished analysing the smelling salts bottle and its contents, as she reports her findings to the Doctor.
NYSSA
“Doctor! I’ve made some tests on the smelling salts! I thought you’d like to know what I discovered!”
Billy also enters the console room, as he hands a cup of tea to the Doctor.
BILLY
“Here’s your tea, Doctor!”
DOCTOR
“Thank you, Billy!” (to Nyssa) “You were saying, Nyssa!”
The Doctor takes the cup of tea from Billy. He drinks it whilst Nyssa begins to explain her findings to him.
NYSSA
“I subsidised the salts into two comparative samples. Both samples contain a magnitude of compatible minerals.”
The Doctor drinks his cup of tea, letting out a contended sigh.
DOCTOR
“Thanks for the tea, Billy! It’s really good!”
BILLY
“You’re welcome, Doctor.”
DOCTOR
(to Nyssa) “You were saying, Nyssa?”
NYSSA
“Apparently the salts composite is a form of water.”
BILLY
“Water?”
NYSSA
“Yes. But the water contains forty-three different minerals. Calcium, sodium, chloride and sulphur. Its colour is a distinctive green hue.”
BILLY
(realises) “Wait a minute! You said calcium and sulphur! That’s what it said in the handbook containing information about the Roman Baths!”
NYSSA
“It’s the same water contained in the smelling salts. Water from the Roman Baths.”
DOCTOR
“And the Roman Baths are meant for healing. When one drinks the water, it helps to purify them.”
BILLY
“But when Nyssa and I were in Bath, Doctor – the two thousand and eleven Bath – people were turning into water zombies. It must have been in the water. It can’t have helped to cure them if it was causing them to change like that.”
DOCTOR
(thinks) “And when we saw Sulis or whatever it was rising up from the Baths in the Sacred Spring, it was causing a storm. When the rain fell, it affected the civilians of Aquae Sulis.”
BILLY
“And it turned them into zombies too! The rain hit their skin like acid!” (Pause) “So how come we’re still surviving when the rain hit me and Nyssa?”
NYSSA
“That was the other point I was going to address.” (to Doctor) “When I made that comparative study on the samples, the water minerals were being encased by something else. Some other mineral. Tannin.”
BILLY
(baffled) “Tannin? What the heck’s that?”
NYSSA
“An antioxidant found in plants according to my research. It’s meant to find bacteria and viruses.”
BILLY
Well how would Jane Austen be able to find tannin in eighteenth century England?
Before anyone can answer Billy’s question, the TARDIS makes a juddering shuddering noise. The Doctor checks the console to assess its readings.
DOCTOR
Ah! I think ‘she’s’ found what I’m looking for!
The Doctor presses a number of switches on the console. Nothing seems to happen for a moment.
DOCTOR
Come on!
The Doctor thumps on the console with his hand. The TARDIS springs to life, before it jerks and Nyssa and Billy fall onto the console room floor. They feel the thrust of the ship, taking them through the vortex. The TARDIS trio hold onto the console, as they make their journey in the time vortex.
NYSSA
Doctor, what are you doing? What’s gone wrong with the TARDIS?!
DOCTOR
“Sorry, Nyssa; Billy! Should have warned you about the turbulence! We’ve just slipped through a crack in the temporal convergence!”
BILLY
“Is the TARDIS taking us to seventeen ninety-seven?”
DOCTOR
“Yes! And hopefully we should be able to rescue Jane Austen!”
NYSSA
“From the Pump Room!”
DOCTOR
(triumphantly) “Yes Nyssa! From the Pump Room!”
SCENE #131 – INT – PUMP ROOM – DAY, EVENING – NOVEMBER 1797
In the Pump Room of 1797, following the end of Scene #77 in ‘Part Two’, Jane Austen, who is with the Doctor, Nyssa, Billy, Cassandra and Wentworth, hears the TARDIS materialising. The TARDIS makes a loud thump, whilst the temporal shuddering, the earthquake and the flooding of the Pump Room grows worse. The TARDIS door opens and the Doctor steps out.
DOCTOR (2)
(calls) “Miss Austen! Miss Austen! Quick! Get into the TARDIS now! Quick!”
JANE
(surprised) “Doctor?”
CASSANDRA
“Are…are my eyes deceiving me?”
NYSSA
(surprised) “Doctor, it’s you! It’s you in the TARDIS!”
DOCTOR
“Yes, Nyssa! I told you! It’s happening just as before! We came to rescue her, remember?”
DOCTOR (2)
(calls) “Miss Austen, please! Get into the TARDIS!”
JANE
(to Wentworth) “Captain Wentworth! What must I do?”
WENTWORTH
“I advise against this, Miss Austen! This is all trickery…”
DOCTOR
“No! Miss Austen! Get into the TARDIS! Do as I say!”
BILLY
“That’s not hard for you to say, is it Doctor?”
DOCTOR
“Do as I say, Miss Austen?”
CASSANDRA
“Jane dear, no!”
DOCTOR (2)
(calls) “Please, Miss Austen! Your life’s in danger if you don’t come in here!”
Jane thinks for a moment, as she considers what she must do.
NYSSA
(pleads) “Please, Miss Austen!”
CASSANDRA
(protests) “Jane, no!”
Eventually, Jane steps forward and runs to the TARDIS.
DOCTOR (2)
(encouragingly) “That’s right, Miss Austen! Inside!”
Jane steps inside, as the Doctor lets her inside.
CASSANDRA
(protests) “Jane, come back! Jane, dear!”
As the TARDIS door shuts, the blue police box dematerialises. It begins to fade in and out of existence.
DOCTOR
“There she goes, Nyssa; Billy! Just as before!”
CASSANDRA
(protests) “No!”
Despite Cassandra’s protests, the TARDIS is gone.
SCENE #132 – INT – TARDIS CONSOLE ROOM – N/A
In the TARDIS, Jane is flabbergasted and bewildered once she finds herself in the TARDIS console room.
JANE
(astonished) “Doctor! This is a strange place! I might ask why I’ve been brought here!”
DOCTOR
“Now you just come over and sit here on this chair that Nyssa’s brought out for you, Miss Austen. It’s not exactly eighteenth century furniture, but hopefully it should calm your nerves.”
Jane sits down on the straw chair brought out for her. Meanwhile, the Doctor returns her attention to the console.
NYSSA
“I’m so glad you managed to get her in here, Doctor.” (to Jane) “I hope you’re alright, Miss Austen. No harm will come to you.”
JANE
(bewildered) “This strange room. It’s a chapel. But it’s larger within than it was outside!”
BILLY
“I know, Miss Austen! I felt like that when I first came in here! And it still has that effect on me!”
JANE
(horrified) “What is that boy doing in here?” (to Doctor) “And…how come there were two of you Doctor, when I was in the Pump Room?”
DOCTOR
“Just trust me, Miss Austen! Sit there and don’t ask any questions! We’ll soon get you to seventy-nine AD, once we’re out of the temporal convergence boundary we seem to be traversing in.”
JANE
“What place is this? Where am I for heaven’s sake?”
BILLY
“This is the TARDIS, Miss Austen!”
JANE
“TARDIS? What’s TARDIS?”
BILLY
“This is! It’s the Doctor’s ship!”
JANE
“Ship?”
BILLY
“Yes. Not quite like those navy ships you get where you come from. The TARDIS stands for…err what was it…Time and Dimensions In Space….”
DOCTOR
(frustrated; interrupts) “Time and Relative Dimensions In Space! How many times do I have to tell you, Billy? It’s Time and Relative Dimensions In Space!”
JANE
“You speak in riddles and strange words, gentlemen!”
NYSSA
(to Doctor) “Doctor? You’re not serious about taking Miss Austen to seventy-nine AD?!”
DOCTOR
“I am! We’ve got to stabilise the causal line of events!”
NYSSA
“But what if this isn’t the way we should be handling it?! Perhaps we’re not supposed to be taking Miss Austen ourselves! We can’t just dump Miss Austen in the Roman Baths for her to be interrogated!”
DOCTOR
“I know that you’re against this strategy, Nyssa! But it’s the only plan that fits our cause!”
NYSSA
“We might be jumping ahead! Haven’t you considered the consequences of this?”
DOCTOR
“I have, Nyssa!”
NYSSA
“You can’t be certain of that!”
DOCTOR
“Nyssa, if you don’t stop lecturing me we may never get to meet Miss Austen in Aquae Sulis at all! Nor if it comes to that will we ever meet Miss Austen in seventeen ninety-seven when she first…?”
BILLY
(shouts; interrupts) “Doctor; Nyssa, look!”
They look to see, as Jane becomes disorientated. She stands up from her chair, as she finds herself giddy. She starts to fade away.
JANE
“Doctor? I…I feel so giddy! So light! Why…?”
Just then, one minute she’s there, the next minute she’s gone. The Doctor, Nyssa and Billy remain in the TARDIS without Jane Austen with them. Moment of tense silence.
NYSSA
(shocked) “Doctor?! She’s gone!”
BILLY
(shocked) “How could she disappear like that? It’s impossible! Nothing can get into the TARDIS!”
DOCTOR
(shocked) “Well something has! Something that has more power to penetrate within the outer-plasmic shells of the TARDIS!”
Mocking laughter echoes in the TARDIS, disturbing the trio.
DOCTOR
(disturbed) “And it seems to be nearby!”
BILLY
(disturbed) “Is it outside the TARDIS?”
DOCTOR
(disturbed) “I’m not sure! We’re journeying through the time vortex so it could be anywhere!”
NYSSA
(disturbed) “But what about Miss Austen? What’s happened to her?”
DOCTOR
(disturbed) “I wish I knew! I really wish I knew!”
SCENE #133 – INT – ROMANS BATHS – DAY, MORNING – SPRING 79 AD
Meanwhile, Jane Austen finds herself appearing at the top of the Sacred Spring within the Roman Baths in Aquae Sulis, 79 AD. Jane looks around, taking in her surroundings.
JANE
(intrigued; astonished) “Doctor? Miss Nyssa? What’s happening?”
Jane soon realises that the Doctor and Nyssa are not with her. She looks down to see what she’s standing on.
JANE
“I…I seem to be standing aloft on a pool of water. It runs so well.”
Jane examines her surroundings further.
JANE
“And this place looks…looks so new!”
After being fascinated by the room she’s in, Jane then jumps as she hears somebody enter. It’s the young boy Belator. Belator gasps in horror at seeing Jane before her.
JANE
(tries to reason) “It’s alright! It’s alright, young man!”
Belator screams out loud.
JANE
(reassuringly) “Calm down, calm down! I’m not here to cause harm to you! Please, boy! Listen!”
Belator still screams, as he runs off.
JANE
“No, wait!”
Belator runs out of the Sacred Spring room, screaming.
BELATOR
(screams) “Save us! By the grace of Zeus, save us!”
Whilst Belator screams his head off far off, Jane gets herself down from the spring. She makes to leave. But before Jane can depart, a number of Roman soldiers enter and apprehend her. Jane gets caught by the Roman soldiers and struggles to break free.
JANE
(protests) “Unhand me, sirs! Let me go, whoever you are!”
But Jane is unable to break free, as the Roman soldiers grasp her tightly. Just then, the Roman Captain steps forward to address Jane.
ROMAN CAPTAIN
(menacingly) “You shall not leave! Not when you have committed sacrilege, demon!” (to Roman soldier) “You! Fetch the centurion!”
The Roman soldier complies, as he heads off to fetch the Roman Centurion.
JANE
(shocked) “Why are you calling me a demon?”
ROMAN CAPTAIN
(menacingly) “Be silent, woman! For you have no right to speak!”
SCENE #134 – INT – TARDIS CONSOLE ROOM – N/A
Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor, Nyssa and Billy worry about Jane Austen.
DOCTOR
“Seventy-nine AD Aquae Sulis! That must be it!”
NYSSA
“You can’t be certain of that, Doctor!”
DOCTOR
“It’s the only possibility she may have gone there?! Where else?!”
BILLY
(to Nyssa) “He’s right, Nyssa! Miss Austen must have gone to where we would have first met her! She said herself she couldn’t remember how she got there!”
DOCTOR
“Precisely! So we must trust to hope and ‘pot luck’, as a scientific principle should be followed!”
NYSSA
“Well if you say so!” (Pause) “But what do we do?”
DOCTOR
“Do? Why we go to Seventeen ninety-seven Bath!”
NYSSA
“At least we won’t have to worry about dropping Miss Austen anywhere!”
DOCTOR
(wryly) “I imagine that to be a great relief for you, Nyssa!”
BILLY
(puzzled) “You don’t seem pleased, Doctor.”
DOCTOR
(agitated) “Pleased? Pleased?! Do you think Billy Walker that I find all of this pleasing to me?!”
BILLY
(apologetic) “No, no. I was just saying….”
DOCTOR
(agitated) “Everything about this is wrong! The whole of time has been messed up! Don’t you understand?! Some maniac’s been causing all of this to happen and I don’t how it’s being done! But I intend to sort everything out! So don’t you start thinking it’s all been a pleasure!”
The Doctor works hard at the TARDIS console, whilst Billy is hurt by his words.
BILLY
“Doctor, I was only…” (sighs; solemnly) “Oh never mind.”
NYSSA
(quietly; to Billy) “He’s in one of his moods, Billy. Don’t take it personally.”
BILLY
“I don’t. I just…I just don’t want him to lose optimism in all of this. I know it’s bad, but…”
NYSSA
“He won’t give up, Billy! He’s the Doctor! He seems to know what he’s doing, so we must trust to his judgement with reason!”
BILLY
(gradually) “Yeah. Of course.”
NYSSA
“And there’s bound to be some pleasure in all of this when we come to meeting Jane Austen again.”
BILLY
“I wouldn’t be sure. She seemed to disapprove of me when she came into the TARDIS just some minutes ago.”
NYSSA
“We still have to find out whether your theory is correct. Whether you have to save me or Miss Austen from some robbers or evil baron.”
BILLY
(gradually; realises) “Yeah. That is something to look forward to isn’t it?!”
DOCTOR
(impatiently) “Will you two please pay attention?!”
NYSSA
(intrigued) “What are you trying to do now, Doctor?”
DOCTOR
“With regard to our course of flight path, I have to set the TARDIS to travel earlier in seventeen ninety-seven before the temporal convergence occurs just like with seventy-nine AD.”
BILLY
“Are we clear of this…temporal convergence, Doctor?”
DOCTOR
“I hope so. We’re nearly out of the crack in time.” (Pause) “Sorry I was a bit sharp with you earlier, Billy. I shouldn’t have lashed out like that.”
BILLY
“It’s okay, Doctor.”
NYSSA
“We’d have to meet Jane Austen in the Pump Room. That’s when she said she’d first met us!”
DOCTOR
“Yes. So the TARDIS is set to arrive in Bath on the twenty-seventh of November seventeen ninety-seven at six o’clock in the morning.”
BILLY
“I suppose it won’t take that long to get there!”
DOCTOR
“It depends.” (Pause) “In the meantime, you two look in the TARDIS wardrobe for something to wear in eighteenth century style. Just like Aquae Sulis, we’ve got to blend into our surroundings.”
The Doctor monitors the TARDIS’ journey to Aquae Sulis, as Nyssa and Billy go off to the TARDIS wardrobe to find some eighteenth century clothes.
SCENE #135 – INT – BATH ABBEY – DAY, EVENING – NOVEMBER 1797
In the cloister room with Jane Austen, Salvador returns and approaches her.
SALVADOR
(gleefully; menacingly) “I have sent you to Aquae Sulis, Miss Austen. You will soon meet the Doctor and his friends to await your penultimate doom!”
JANE
“I do not understand what you mean, sir. How come I go to Bath in the Roman times when I’m still here?! Trapped in this chair?!”
SALVADOR
“You are less fortunate in understanding the manners of time. It was a wonder you managed to attract the millions with your wit and understanding of people! It does not interest me however!”
JANE
“Then I pity you, sir!”
Moment of silence.
SALVADOR
“I have come to enquire about your word not to interfere. Will you not give your consent?”
JANE
“I find you to be a disagreeable man, sir! And I will not agree to a man unworthy as you to give you my word!”
SALVADOR
(grimly) “Then…I am forced to persuade you!” (Pause) “You see the wonders of this technology behind you? It is connected to the temporal inverters which are generating the temporal convergence for me! With extra power, I can generate this chair that you sit in to transport you in time!”
JANE
(apprehensive) I…I marvel at your words, sir! How is it you are able to achieve so much and yet gain so little in your wealth and reputation?
SALVADOR
(proudly) I have wealth and reputation! And I wish to share it with no-one! (Pause) Now…this is what will happen if you do not consent!
Salvador presses a few switches on a computer generator. He then makes to pull the lever. The machine makes a whirring noise that grows louder and louder.
JANE
(anxiously) What…what is that doing? What is that engine of horror doing?
The engine begins to purr then roar ferociously with energy. Suddenly, Jane contorts in pain as she shrieks out in agony.
SCENE #136 – INT – WEST CORNISH PASTY CO., BATH – DAY, MORNING – SEPTEMBER 2011
Jane then finds herself in an unusual environment. She sees people are sitting at tables and having meals. Jane looks around to find herself in the Cornish Pasty.
JANE
(surprised) “Why…this…this must be a tea shop!”
Jane’s presence doesn’t seem to disturb anyone from eating their meals in this ‘cafe’. She then sees the Doctor, as this leads into the end of Scene #11 in ‘Part One’.
DOCTOR
[“Not really.] I can’t remember much about that part of the dream. Perhaps it was a Jane somebody or other that I use to have travelling in the TARDIS before I met you two. Maybe that’s why I was saying her name.”
JANE
(thrilled) “Doctor! Oh thank the Lord!”
Jane makes her way forward, as she approaches the Doctor sitting with Nyssa and Billy at a table.
SCENE #137 – INT – BATH ABBEY – DAY, EVENING – NOVEMBER 1797
Eventually, Jane soon finds herself back in the cloister room. She finds herself strapped in the chair again, with Salvador menacingly laughing at her.
JANE
“I saw…I saw…”
SALVADOR
“That was the future, Miss Austen! You saw a glimpse of the future in a thousand years time! If you do not consent to give your word to me not to interfere, then I shall place you in that future and you shall remain there till the end of your days! No-one will come for you! Not even the Doctor will think of rescuing you!” (laughs; cruelly) “Consider it, Miss Austen! Consider it!”
Salvador continues laughing, as he leaves Jane strapped in the chair. As soon as he’s gone, Jane becomes filled with wonder from what she’s just experienced.
JANE
(astonished) “The Doctor! I saw the Doctor!” (Pause) “I pray to God that he will save me!”
© Tim Bradley, 2017
| Go back to | Go next to |
| Return to The Austen Code | |
| Return to The Fifth Doctor by Tim Bradley | |
| Return to Doctor Who by Tim Bradley | |
| Return to Doctor Who | |
| Return to Sci-Fi |
Bradley's Basement 