[Powell Estate]

(The Doctor is starting to power up the Tardis, while outside Jackie and Mickey are with Rose, who has a heavy rucksack on her back.)

JACKIE: Have you got everything?

ROSE: I've got everything, don't worry.

JACKIE: Be careful.

ROSE: You'll have to call Mo about that

JACKIE: Oh, never mind Mo.

ROSE: Okay, I'm going now. I love you!

JACKIE: I love you.

ROSE: Love you, love you.

(She kisses Mickey.)

MICKEY: Love you.

ROSE: Bye.

(Jackie turns her back and walks away as the Tardis dematerialises. Mickey watches, sadly.)

[Tardis]

ROSE: So where are we going?

DOCTOR: Further than we've ever gone before.

[New Earth]

(The Tardis has materialised across the river from a massive city. Flying cars zoom overhead.)

DOCTOR: It's the year five billion and twenty three. We're in the galaxy M87, and this? This is New Earth.

ROSE: That's just. That's just

DOCTOR: Not bad. Not bad at all.

ROSE: That's amazing. I'll never get used to this. Never. Different ground beneath my feet, different sky. What's that smell?

DOCTOR: Apple grass.

ROSE: Apple grass.

DOCTOR: Yeah, yeah.

ROSE: It's beautiful. Oh, I love this. Can I just say, travelling with you, I love it.

DOCTOR: Me too. Come on.

[Basement room]

(A humanoid with interesting sepia markings is watching the Doctor and Rose on an electronic crystal ball. He has a gentle Irish brogue.)

CHIP: Human! She's pure-blood human! Closer, closer.

(A metal spider scuttles to obey.)

[New Earth]

(The Doctor and Rose are relaxing on his long coat looking at the city.)

DOCTOR: So, the year five billion, the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted.

ROSE: That was our first date.

DOCTOR: We had chips. So anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up, oh yeah, they get all nostalgic, big revival movement, but then find this place. Same size as the Earth, same air, same orbit. Lovely. Call goes out, the humans move in.

ROSE: What's the city called?

DOCTOR: New New York.

ROSE: Oh, come on.

DOCTOR: It is. It's the city of New New York. Strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York since the original, so that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York. What?

ROSE: You're so different.

DOCTOR: New New Doctor.

(The spider is close.)

[Basement room]

CASSANDRA [OC]: Impossible. I recognize that child. Her face. Show me her face!

CHIP: Closer, closer.

CASSANDRA [OC]: Face! Face! Face!

[New Earth]

ROSE: Can we go and visit New New York, so good they named it twice?

DOCTOR: Well, I thought we might go there first.

(An elegant pair of curved skyscrapers standing apart from the city on their side of the river.)

ROSE: Why, what is it?

DOCTOR: Some sort of hospital. Green moon on the side. That's the universal symbol for hospitals. I got this. A message on the psychic paper.

(Which says -Ward 26 Please Come)

DOCTOR: Someone wants to see me.

ROSE: Hmm. And I thought we were just sight-seeing. Come on, then. Let's go and buy some grapes.

(The spider watches them leave.)

[Basement room]

(Lady Cassandra has been restored to her previous flat, flat state in a somewhat lashed-up frame.)

CASSANDRA: Rose Tyler! I knew it. That dirty blonde assassin.

CHIP: She's coming here, mistress.

CASSANDRA: This is beyond coincidence. This is destiny. At last I can be revenged on that little

[Hospital reception]

(A massive area, courtesy of the Wales Millennium Centre.)

ROSE: Bit rich coming from you.

DOCTOR: I can't help it. I don't like hospitals. They give me the creeps.

TANNOY: The Pleasure Gardens will now take visitors carrying green or blue identification cards for the next fifteen minutes. Visitors are reminded that cuttings from the gardens are not permitted.

ROSE: Very smart. Not exactly NHS.

DOCTOR: No shop. I like the little shop.

ROSE: I thought this far in the future, they'd have cured everything.

DOCTOR: The human race moves on, but so do the viruses. It's an ongoing war.

(Rose finally notices the faces of the nursing staff in their nun-like wimples and habits.)

ROSE: They're cats.

DOCTOR: Now, don't stare. Think what you look like to them, all pink and yellow. That's where I'd put the shop. Right there.

(The Doctor walks into the lift alone.)

DOCTOR: Ward 26, thanks!

[Basement room]

CHIP: Override controls.

[Hospital reception]

ROSE: Hold on! Hold on!

[Lift]

DOCTOR: Oh, too late. I'm going up.

[Hospital reception]

ROSE: It's all right, there's another lift.

DOCTOR [OC]: Ward 26.

[Lift]

DOCTOR: And watch out for the disinfectant.

[Basement room]

ROSE [on ball]: Watch out for what?

[Lift]

DOCTOR: The disinfectant!

[Hospital reception]

ROSE: The what?

[Lift]

DOCTOR: The disin. Oh, you'll find out.

[Lift 2]

ROSE: Er, Ward 26, thanks.

(But her lift heads down, not up.)

[Lift]

SPEAKER: Commence stage one disinfection.

(The Doctor gets drenched by a spray.)

[Lift 2]

SPEAKER: Commence stage one disinfection.

(Rose jumps and shrieks. The next stage is a blow dry. The Doctor enjoys it. Rose finally gets the hang of it.)

[Basement]

(Chip meets Rose in the rubbish strewn corridor.)

CHIP: The human child is clean.

ROSE: Er, I'm looking for Ward 26?

CHIP: This way, Rose Tyler.

(Rose picks up a metal bar and follows carefully.)

[Ward 26]

TANNOY: Please report to reception.

(The Doctor is escorted by a veiled nurse.)

DOCTOR: Nice place. No shop, downstairs. I'd have a shop. Not a big one. Just a shop, so people can shop.

(The nurse removes her veil.)

JATT: The hospital is a place of healing.

DOCTOR: A shop does some people the world of good. Not me. Other people.

JATT: The Sisters of Plentitude take a lifelong vow to help, and to mend.

(They pass an open cubicle.)

CLOVIS: Excuse me! Members of the public may only gaze upon the Duke of Manhattan with written permission from the Senate of New New York.

DOCTOR: That's Petrifold Regression, right?

DUKE: I'm dying, sir. A lifetime of charity and abstinence, and it ends like this.

CLOVIS: Any statements made by the Duke of Manhattan may not be made public without official clearance.

DUKE: Frau Clovis! I'm so weak.

CLOVIS: Sister Jatt. A little privacy, please.

JATT: He'll be up and about in no time.

DOCTOR: I doubt it. Petrifold Regression? He's turning to stone. There won't be a cure for oh, a thousand years? He might be up and about, but only as a statue.

JATT: Have faith in the Sisterhood. But is there no one here you recognise? It's rather unusual to visit without knowing the patient.

DOCTOR: No, I think I've found him.

(A large face in a container by the picture window with a view of the city.)

JATT: Novice Hame, if I can leave this gentleman in your care?

DOCTOR: Oh, I think my friend got lost. Rose Tyler. Could you ask at reception?

JATT: Certainly, sir.

(Sister Jatt leaves.)

HAME: I'm afraid the Face of Boe's asleep. That's all he tends to do these days. Are you a friend, or

DOCTOR: We met just the once on Platform One. What's wrong with him?

HAME: I'm so sorry. I thought you knew. The Face of Boe is dying.

DOCTOR: Of what?

HAME: Old age. The one thing we can't cure. He's thousands of years old. Some people say millions, although that's impossible.

DOCTOR: Oh, I don't know. I like impossible. I'm here. I look a bit different, but it's me, It's the Doctor.

[Basement room]

(A reel to reel projector is showing a film of a party. Cassandra is there, as a proper human woman.)

CASSANDRA [on film]: I mean, you never know what your life is going to be like, ever. I'm bored with this drink. Anyway. Oh, hello darling! Now, don't. Stop it.

ROSE: Wait a minute, that's

CASSANDRA: Peekaboo!

ROSE: Don't you come anywhere near me, Cassandra.

CASSANDRA: Why? What do you think I'm going to do? Flap you to death?

ROSE: Yeah, but what about Gollum?

CASSANDRA: Oh that's just Chip. He's my pet.

CHIP: I worship the mistress.

CASSANDRA: Moisturise me, moisturise me.

(Chip sprays Cassandra.)

CASSANDRA: He's not even a proper life form. He's a force grown clone. I modelled him on my favourite pattern. But he's so faithful. Chip sees to my physical needs.

ROSE: I hope that means food. How comes you're still alive?

CASSANDRA: After you murdered me.

ROSE: That was your own fault.

CHIP: The brain of my mistress survived. And her pretty blue eyes were salvaged from the bin.

ROSE: What about the skin? I saw it. You, you got ripped apart.

CASSANDRA: That piece of skin was taken from the front of my body. This piece is the back.

ROSE: Right! So you're talking out of your a

CASSANDRA: Ask not.

CHIP: The mistress was lucky to survive. Chip secreted m'lady into the hospital.

ROSE: So they don't know you're here?

CHIP: Chip steals medicine. Helps m'lady. Soothes her, strokes her.

ROSE: You can stop right there, Chip.

CASSANDRA: But I'm so alone, hidden down here. The last Human in existence.

ROSE: Don't start that again. They've called this planet New Earth.

CASSANDRA: A vegetable patch.

ROSE: And there's millions of Humans out there. Millions of them.

CASSANDRA: Mutant stock.

ROSE: They evolved, Cassandra. They just evolved, like they should. You stayed still. You got yourself all pickled and preserved, and what good did it do you?

CASSANDRA: Oh, I remember that night. Drinks for the Ambassador of Thrace. That was the last time anyone told me I was beautiful. After that it all became such hard work.

ROSE: Well, you've got a knack for survival, I'll give you that.

CASSANDRA: But I've not been idle, Rose, tucked away underneath this hospital. I've been listening. The Sisters are hiding something.

ROSE: What do you mean?

CASSANDRA: Oh these cats have secrets. Hush, let me whisper. Come close.

ROSE: You must be joking if you think I'm coming anywhere near you.

(Energy grabs Rose's hands, holding her still.)

CASSANDRA: Chip, activate the psychograft.

ROSE: I can't move. Cassandra, let me go! What're you doing?

(Light streams down from a contraption overhead.)

CASSANDRA: The lady's moving on. It's goodbye trampoline, and hello blondie.

(There is a whoosh of energy from Cassandra to Rose then everything switches off. Rose collapses.)

CHIP: Mistress?

CASS-ROSE: Moisturise me. How bizarre. Arms, fingers, hair! Let me see! Let me see! Oh my God. I'm a chav!

[Ward 26]

TANNOY: Hope, harmony and health. Hope, harmony and health.

(The Doctor brings Hame a cup of water.)

HAME: That's very kind. There's no need.

DOCTOR: You're the one working.

HAME: There's not much to do, just maintain his smoke. And I suppose I'm company. I can hear him singing, sometimes, in my mind. Such ancient songs.

DOCTOR: Am I the only visitor?

HAME: The rest of Boe-kind became extinct long ago. He's the only one left. Legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old. There's all sorts of superstitions around him. One story says that just before his death, the Face of Boe will impart his great secret, that he will speak those words only to one like himself.

DOCTOR: What does that mean?

HAME: It's just a story.

DOCTOR: Tell me the rest.

HAME: It's said he'll talk to a wanderer. To the man without a home. The lonely God.

[Basement room]

CASS-ROSE: Look at me. From class to brass. Although, oh, curves. Oh, baby, it's like living inside a bouncy castle!

CHIP: The mistress is beautiful.

CASS-ROSE: Absolutement! Oh, but look.

(The equipment that had been keeping flat Cassandra alive is fried.)

CHIP: Oh, the brain lead expired. My old mistress is gone.

CASS-ROSE: But safe and sound in here.

CHIP: But what of the Rose child's mind?

CASS-ROSE: Oh, tucked away. I can just about access the surface memory. She's. Gosh, she's with the Doctor. A man. He's the Doctor. The same Doctor with a new face. That hypocrite! I must get the name of his surgeon. I could do with a little work. Although nice rear bumper. Hmm.

(The phone in Rose's back pocket rings.)

CASS-ROSE: Oh, it seems to be ringing. Is it meant to ring?

CHIP: A primitive communications device.

DOCTOR [OC]: Rose, where are you?

CASS-ROSE: How does she speak?

CHIP: Old Earth Cockney.

CASS-ROSE: Er, wotcha.

[Ward 26]

DOCTOR: Where've you been? How long does it take to get to Ward 26?

CASS-ROSE [OC]: I'm on my way, governor.

[Basement room]

CASS-ROSE: I shall proceed up the apples and

[Ward 26]

CASS-ROSE [OC]: Pears.

DOCTOR: You'll never guess. I'm with the Face of Boe.

[Basement room]

DOCTOR [OC]: Remember him?

CASS-ROSE: Of course I do.

[Ward 26]

CASS-ROSE [OC]: That big old

[Basement room]

CASS-ROSE [OC]: Boat race.

[Ward 26]

DOCTOR: I'd better go. See you in a minute.

(The Duke of Manhattan is very happy.)

DUKE: Didn't think I was going to make it. It's that man again! He's my good luck charm. Come in. Don't be shy.

CLOVIS: Any friendship expressed by the Duke of Manhattan does not constitute a form of legal contract.

DUKE: Winch me up. Up! Look at me. No sign of infection.

WAITER: Champagne, sir?

DOCTOR: No, thanks. You had Petrifold Regression, right?

DUKE: That being the operative word. Past tense. Completely cured.

DOCTOR: But that's impossible.

CASP: Primitive species would accuse us of magic, but it's merely the tender application of science.

DOCTOR: How on Earth did you cure him?

CASP: How on New Earth, you might say.

DOCTOR: What's in that solution?

CASP: A simple remedy.

DOCTOR: Then tell me what it is.

CASP: I'm sorry. Patient confidentiality. I don't believe we've met. My name is Matron Casp.

DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor.

CASP: I think you'll find that we're the doctors here.

JATT: Matron Casp, you're needed in Intensive Care.

CASP: If you would excuse me.

(Casp and Jatt walk away.)

JATT: It's happened again. One of the patients is conscious.

CASP: Oh, we can't have that.

[Basement room]

CHIP: This Doctor man is dangerous.

CASS-ROSE: Dangerous and clever. I might need a mind like his. The Sisterhood is up to something. Remember that Old Earth saying, never trust a Nun? Never trust a Nurse. And never trust a cat. Perfume?

(She tucks the vial down her décolletage.)

[ICU]

(A dark place lined with green-lit bulkhead doors.)

JATT: It was having a perfectly normal blood wash, and all of a sudden it started crying. It's this one.

(They open the door. Someone reaches out to them.)

MAN: Please, help me.

JATT: Look at its eyes. So alive.

CASP: Positively sparkling.

MAN: Please, where am I?

CASP: And speech! How can it even have a vocabulary?

JATT: Sister Corvin's written a thesis on the migration of sentience. She calls it The Echo of Life. It's well worth a read.

MAN: Help me.

CASP: I've seen enough, thank you.

(Jatt closes the door.)

CASP: If this happens again, we might have to review our brain stem policy.

JATT: And what should we do with the patient?

CASP: Standard procedure. Incinerate.

(At the end of the row, Jatt turns a handle. The cell lights up and the man screams.)

[Ward 26]

TANNOY: Ambient temperature stands at fourteen degrees. This temperature is designed to promote healing and well-being.

(The Doctor is going round all the cubicles. One has a person floating in midair.)

DOCTOR: There you are. Come and look at this patient. Marconi's Disease. Should take years to recover. Two days. I've never seen anything like it. They've invented a cell washing cascade. It's amazing. Their medical science is way advanced. And this one.

(An man as white as his bed gown.)

DOCTOR: Pallidome Pancrosis. Kills you in ten minutes, and he's fine. I need to find a terminal. I've got to see how they do this. Because if they've got the best medicine in the world, then why is it such a secret?

CASS-ROSE: I can't Adam and Eve it.

DOCTOR: What's, what's. what's with the voice?

CASS-ROSE: Oh, I don't know. Just larking about. New Earth, new me.

DOCTOR: Well, I can talk. New New Doctor.

CASS-ROSE: Mmm, aren't you just.

(Cassandra grabs the Doctor and kisses him, long and hard.)

CASS-ROSE: Terminal's this way. Phew.

DOCTOR: Yep, still got it.

[Ward 26 waiting room]

(At the computer terminal, by the lift.)

DOCTOR: Nope, nothing odd. Surgery, post-op, nano-dentistry. No sign of a shop. They should have a shop.

CASS-ROSE: No, it's missing something else. When I was downstairs, those Nurse Cat Nuns were talking about Intensive Care. Where is it?

DOCTOR: You're right. Well done.

CASS-ROSE: Why would they hide a whole department? It's got to be there somewhere. Search the sub-frame.

DOCTOR: What if the sub-frame's locked?

CASS-ROSE: Try the installation protocol.

DOCTOR: Yeah. Of course. Sorry. Hold on.

(He uses the sonic screwdriver on the interface, and the whole wall slides down to reveal a corridor.)

DOCTOR: Intensive Care. Certainly looks intensive.

(Their actions are noticed by Novice Hame.)

[ICU]

(Rose leads the way down a good old-fashioned staircase. The whole place is lined with the cells, thousands of them, a bit like the Tomb of the Cybermen. The Doctor opens one at random. It contains a very sick looking man.)

CASS-ROSE: That's disgusting. What's wrong with him?

DOCTOR: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

(The Doctor closes the door and moves on to the next. It contains a young woman.)

CASS-ROSE: What disease is that?

DOCTOR: All of them. Every single disease in the galaxy. They've been infected with everything.

CASS-ROSE: What about us? Are we safe?

DOCTOR: The air's sterile. Just don't touch them.

(He closes the door.)

CASS-ROSE: How many patients are there?

DOCTOR: They're not patients.

CASS-ROSE: But they're sick.

DOCTOR: They were born sick. They're meant to be sick. They exist to be sick. Lab rats. No wonder the Sisters have got a cure for everything. They've built the ultimate research laboratory. A human farm.

CASS-ROSE: Why don't they just die?

DOCTOR: Plague carriers. The last to go.

HAME: It's for the greater cause.

DOCTOR: Novice Hame, When you took your vows, did you agree to this?

HAME: The Sisterhood has sworn to help.

DOCTOR: What, by killing?

HAME: But they're not real people. They're specially grown. They have no proper existence.

DOCTOR: What's the turnover, hmm? Thousand a day? Thousand the next? Thousand the next? How many thousands? For how many years? How many!

HAME: Mankind needed us. They came to this planet with so many illnesses. We couldn't cope. We did try. We tried everything. We tried using clone-meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow, so the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are. Flesh.

DOCTOR: These people are alive.

HAME: But think of those Humans out there, healthy and happy, because of us.

DOCTOR: If they live because of this, then life is worthless.

HAME: But who are you to decide that?

DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor. And if you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, then there isn't one. It stops with me.

CASS-ROSE: Just to confirm. None of the humans in the city actually know about this?

HAME: We thought it best not.

DOCTOR: Hold on. I can understand the bodies. I can understand your vows. One thing I can't understand. What have you done to Rose?

HAME: I don't know what you mean.

DOCTOR: And I'm being very, very calm. You want to be aware of that. Very, very calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing. Whatever you've done to Rose's head, I want it reversed.

HAME: We haven't done anything.

CASS-ROSE: I'm perfectly fine.

DOCTOR: These people are dying, and Rose would care.

CASS-ROSE: Oh, all right, clever clogs. Smarty pants. Lady-killer.

DOCTOR: What's happened to you?

CASS-ROSE: I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed this body and your mind to find it out.

DOCTOR: Who are you?

CASS-ROSE: The last human.

DOCTOR: Cassandra?

CASS-ROSE: Wake up and smell the perfume.

(She squirts the vial up his nose, and he passes out.)

HAME: You've hurt him. I don't understand. I'll have to fetch Matron.

CASS-ROSE: You do that, because I want to see her. Now, run along. Sound the alarm!

(Cassandra pulls on a power cable and sets off the alarms. Hame runs.)

[Ward 26 waiting room]

HAME: Matron, it's that man, and the girl.

CASP: We heard the alarm. Now get back to work. Tend to your patients.

[ICU]

(The Doctor is inside a cell. Chip has joined his mistress.)

DOCTOR: Let me out! Let me out!

CASS-ROSE: Aren't you lucky there was a spare? Standing room only.

DOCTOR: You've stolen Rose's body.

CASS-ROSE: Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you, Doctor. And now, that's exactly what I've got. One thousand diseases. They pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes. You've got about three minutes left. Enjoy.

DOCTOR: Just let Rose go, Cassandra.

CASS-ROSE: I will. As soon as I've found someone younger, and less common, then I'll junk her with the waste. Now hushaby. It's showtime.

JATT: Anything we can do to help?

CASS-ROSE: Straight to the point, Whiskers. I want money.

CASP: The Sisterhood is a charity. We don't give money. We only accept.

CASS-ROSE: The humans across the water pay you a fortune, and that's exactly what I need. A one-off payment, that's all I want. Oh, and perhaps a yacht. In return for which, I shall tell the city nothing of your institutional murder. Is that a deal?

CASP: I'm afraid not.

CASS-ROSE: I'd really advise you to think about this.

CASP: Oh, there's no need. I have to decline.

CASS-ROSE: I'll tell them, and you've no way of stopping me. You're not exactly Nuns with Guns. You're not even armed.

CASP: Who needs arms when we have claws?

(Matron unsheathes her claws.)

CASS-ROSE: Well, nice try. Chip? Plan B.

(Chip pulls a lever, and all the doors on that level open. The Doctor comes out along with a lot of dazed, diseased people.)

DOCTOR: What've you done?

CASS-ROSE: Gave the system a shot of adrenaline, just to wake them up. See you!

DOCTOR: Don't touch them! Whatever you do, don't touch!

(The Doctor runs after Cassandra and Chip as the people advance on the cats.)

MAN: Please, save us.

JATT: I think we should withdraw.

MAN: We understood what you did to us. As part of the machine, we know the machine.

CASP: Fascinating. It's actually constructing an argument.

MAN: And we will end it.

(He puts his hand into a socket and get electrocuted. The locks on all the cell doors blow, freeing the people inside.)

JATT: They're free. By the Goddess Santori, the flesh is free!

MAN: Stop the pain.

(A woman touches Sister Jatt and she dies, screaming. On a catwalk across the way.)

CASS-ROSE: Oh, my God.

DOCTOR: What the hell have you done?

CASS-ROSE: It wasn't me.

DOCTOR: One touch and you get every disease in the world, and I want that body safe, Cassandra. We've got to go down.

CASS-ROSE: But there's thousands of them!

DOCTOR: Run! Down! Down! Go down!

(Matron gets to a telephone.)

CASP: Quarantine the building!

TANNOY: This building is under quarantine.

[Hospital]

(Shutters slam down across doors and windows.)

TANNOY: Repeat, this building is under quarantine. No one may leave the premises. Repeat, no one may leave the premises.

[Staircase]

DOCTOR: Keep going! Go down!

[Hospital]

(A lift full of people arrives. They reach out to the nearest person.)

MAN: Save us.

WOMAN: Help me!

(They grab her hand.)

[Basement]

(Cassandra runs to call a lift.)

DOCTOR: No, the lifts have closed down. That's the quarantine. Nothing's moving.

CASS-ROSE: This way!

(She leads the Doctor towards her lair. Chip gets cut off from them as more people approach.)

DOCTOR: Someone will touch him.

CASS-ROSE: Leave him! He's just a clone thing. He's only got a half life. Come on!

CHIP: Mistress!

DOCTOR: I'm sorry, I can't let her escape.

CHIP: My Mistress!

(Chip jumps down a chute labelled Waste.)

[Ward 26 waiting area]

CLOVIS: Excuse me. Can we get some service?

(Diseased people come along the exposed corridor from ICU.)

WOMAN: Please.

(Frau Clovis screams and hits the alarm before running away.)

[Basement room]

(Cassandra runs to the back door but there are people there, too.)

CASS-ROSE: We're trapped! What am I going to do?

DOCTOR: Well, for starters, you're going to leave that body. That psychograft is banned on every civilised planet. You're compressing Rose to death.

CASS-ROSE: But I've got nowhere to go. My original skin's dead.

DOCTOR: Not my problem. You can float as atoms in the air. Now, get out. Give her back to me.

CASS-ROSE: You asked for it.

(Cassandra take a deep breath and blows energy out to the Doctor.)

ROSE: Blimey, my head. Where'd she go?

CASS-DOCTOR: Oh, my. This is different.

ROSE: Cassandra?

CASS-DOCTOR: Goodness me, I'm a man. Yum. So many parts. And hardly used. Oh, oh, two hearts! Oh, baby, I'm beating out a samba!

ROSE: Get out of him.

CASS-DOCTOR: Oo, he's slim, and a little bit foxy. You've thought so too. I've been inside your head. You've been looking. You like it.

(The diseased people burst in.)

CASS-DOCTOR: What do we do? What would he do? The Doctor, what the hell would he do?

ROSE: Ladder. We've got to get up.

CASS-DOCTOR: Out of the way, blondie!

WOMAN: Please, help us. Help.

(Up on Ward 26, the Duke of Manhattan lends his considerable bulk to the barricade.

Chip shuts himself inside a cell in ICU.)

[Lift shaft]

(Climbing up.)

ROSE: If you get out of the Doctor's body, he can think of something.

CASS-DOCTOR: Yap, yap, yap. God, it was tedious inside your head. Hormone city.

ROSE: We're going to die if

(Matron Casp grabs her ankle.)

ROSE: Get off!

CASP: All our good work. All that healing. The good name of the Sisterhood. You have destroyed everything.

CASS-DOCTOR: Go and play with a ball of string.

CASP: Everywhere, disease. This is the human world. Sickness!

(A diseased arm reaches up and grasps Casp's ankle. She falls, screaming.)

ROSE: Move!

TANNOY: Maximum quarantine. Divert all shuttles.

(The doors on the next level will not open.)

MAN: Help us.

CASS-DOCTOR: Now what do we do?

ROSE: Use the sonic screwdriver.

CASS-DOCTOR: You mean this thing?

ROSE: Yes, I mean that thing.

CASS-DOCTOR: Well, I don't know how. That Doctor's hidden away all his thoughts.

ROSE: Cassandra, go back into me. The Doctor can open it. Do it!

CASS-DOCTOR: Hold on tight.

(The energy transfers.)

CASS-ROSE: Oh, chavtastic again. Open it!

DOCTOR: Not till you get out of her.

CASS-ROSE: We need the Doctor.

DOCTOR: I order you to leave her.

(So Cassandra swaps back again.)

CASS-DOCTOR: No matter how difficult the situation, there is no need to shout.

ROSE: Cassandra, get out of him!

CASS-DOCTOR: But I can't go into you, he simply refuses. He's so rude.

ROSE: I don't care. Just do something.

CASS-DOCTOR: Oh, I am so going to regret this.

(Cassandra transfers to the lead woman on the ladder below them.)

CASS-WOMAN: Oh, sweet Lord. I look disgusting.

(The Doctor opens the lift doors.)

DOCTOR: (to Rose) Nice to have you back.

CASS-WOMAN: No, you don't.

(Cassandra's energy makes it to Rose before the lift doors close again.)

[Ward 26 waiting room]

DOCTOR: That was your last warning, Cassandra!

CASS-ROSE: Inside her head. They're so alone. They keep reaching out, just to hold us. All their lives and they've never been touched.

(The Doctor offers her his hand.)

[Ward 26]

(Frau Clovis lunges at them with a metal stand.)

DOCTOR: We're safe! We're safe! We're safe! We're clean! We're clean! Look, look.

CLOVIS: Show me your skin.

DOCTOR: Look, clean. Look, if we'd been touched, we'd be dead. So how's it going up here? What's the status?

CLOVIS: There's nothing but silence from the other wards. I think we're the only ones left. And I've been trying to override the quarantine. If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad.

DOCTOR: You can't do that. If they forced entry, they'd break quarantine.

CLOVIS: I am not dying in here.

DOCTOR: We can't let a single particle of disease get out. There is ten million people in that city. They'd all be at risk. Now, turn that off!

CLOVIS: Not if it gets me out.

DOCTOR: All right, fine. So I have to stop you lot as well. Suits me. Rose, novice Hame, everyone! Excuse me, your Grace. Get me intravenous solutions for every single disease. Move it!

(Everyone grabs drip bags while the Doctor collects a long piece of heavy silk rope and starts hanging them on his body.)

DOCTOR: How's that? Will that do?

CASS-ROSE: I don't know. Will it do for what?

[Ward 26 waiting room]

(The Doctor opens the lift doors.)

CASS-ROSE: The lifts aren't working.

DOCTOR: Not moving. Different thing. Here we go.

(He puts the sonic screwdriver between his teeth and runs.)

CASS-ROSE: But you're not going to

(He jumps and grabs the lift cable.)

CASS-ROSE: What do you think you're doing?

DOCTOR: I'm going down! Come on!

(He attaches a round piece of equipment to the cable.)

CASS-ROSE: Not in a million years.

DOCTOR: I need another pair of hands. What do you think? If you're so desperate to stay alive, why don't you live a little?

FRAU CLOVIS: Seal the door!

(Cassandra is trapped with approaching disease.)

CASS-ROSE: No!

[Lift shaft]

(She jumps onto the Doctor's back.)

CASS-ROSE: You're completely mad. I can see why she likes you.

DOCTOR: Going down!

(The improvised wheel he has attached to the cable takes them down the shaft. After a short sequence of screaming, the Doctor puts on the brake and they come to a gentle stop on top of the lift.)

CASS-ROSE: Well, that's one way to lose weight.

DOCTOR: Now, listen. When I say so, take hold of that lever.

CASS-ROSE: There's still a quarantine down there, we can't

DOCTOR: Hold that lever! I'm cooking up a cocktail. I know a bit about medicine myself.

(The Doctor pours the contents of the drip bags into the lift's disinfectant tank.)

DOCTOR: Now, that lever's going to resist. But keep it in position. Hold onto it with everything you've got.

CASS-ROSE: What about you?

DOCTOR: I've got an appointment. The Doctor is in.

(He drops down into the lift itself.)

[Lift]

(He opens the doors with his sonic screwdriver. The diseased people turn to look.)

DOCTOR: I'm in here! Come on!

[Lift shaft]

CASS-ROSE: Don't tell them.

[Lift]

DOCTOR: Pull that lever!

(All the diseased people in hotel reception start to shuffle towards the lift.)

DOCTOR: Come and get me. Come on!

[Hotel reception]

DOCTOR [OC]: I'm in here! Come on!

TANNOY: Commence stage one disinfection.

[Lift]

DOCTOR: Hurry up! Come on!

(The contents of the disinfectant tank are poured onto him.)

DOCTOR: Come on, come on.

(The first of the humans join him, and get sprayed as well, then leave.)

DOCTOR: All they want to do is pass it on. Pass it on!

[Lift shaft]

CASS-ROSE: Pass on what? Pass on what?

[Lift]

DOCTOR: Pass it on!

(The disinfected and wet humans touch their diseased comrades. There are hisses and steam coming off their skin, which is now clear of symptoms.)

[Lift]

(The wet Doctor helps Cassandra down.)

CASS-ROSE: What did they pass on? Did you kill them? All of them?

DOCTOR: No. That's your way of doing things.

[Hotel reception]

DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor, and I cured them.

(A woman hugs the Doctor.)

DOCTOR: That's right. Hey, there we go, sweetheart. Go to him. Go on, that's it. That's it. It's a new sub-species, Cassandra. A brand new form of life. New humans! Look at them. Look! Grown by cats, kept in the dark, fed by tubes, but completely, completely alive. You can't deny them, because you helped create them. The human race just keeps on going, keeps on changing. Life will out! Ha!

[Ward 26]

(A little later, the quarantine has been formally lifted. The Doctor is still wet.)

LOUDSPEAKER: This is the NNYPD. Please step away from the shuttles.

TANNOY: All staff will present themselves to the officers for immediate arrest. I repeat, immediate arrest. All new life forms will be catalogued and taken into care. All visitors to the hospital will be required to make a statement to the NNYPD.

DOCTOR: The Face of Boe!

(They run to the last person left on the ward.)

DOCTOR: You were supposed to be dying.

FACE OF BOE [OC]: There are better things to do today. Dying can wait.

CASS-ROSE: Oh, I hate telepathy. Just what I need, a head full of big face.

DOCTOR: Shh!

FACE OF BOE [OC]: I have grown tired with the universe, Doctor, but you have taught me to look at it anew.

DOCTOR: There are legends, you know, saying that you're millions of years old.

FACE OF BOE [OC]: There are? That would be impossible.

DOCTOR: Wouldn't it just. I got the impression there was something you wanted to tell me.

FACE OF BOE [OC]: A great secret.

DOCTOR: So the legend says.

FACE OF BOE [OC]: It can wait.

DOCTOR: Oh, does it have to?

FACE OF BOE [OC]: We shall meet again, Doctor, for the third time, for the last time, and the truth shall be told. Until that day

(Boe beams away.)

DOCTOR: That is enigmatic. That, that is, that is textbook enigmatic. And now for you.

CASS-ROSE: But everything's happy. Everything's fine. Can't you just leave me?

DOCTOR: You've lived long enough. Leave that body and end it, Cassandra.

CASS-ROSE: I don't want to die.

DOCTOR: No one does.

CASS-ROSE: Help me.

DOCTOR: I can't.

CHIP: Mistress!

CASS-ROSE: Oh, you're alive.

CHIP: I kept myself safe for you, mistress.

CASS-ROSE: A body. And not just that, a volunteer.

DOCTOR: Don't you dare. He's got a life of his own.

CHIP: But I worship the mistress. I welcome her.

DOCTOR: You can't, Cassandra, you

(The energy transfer takes place and Rose collapses into the Doctor's arms.)

DOCTOR: Oh! You all right? Whoa! Okay?

ROSE: Yeah. Hello!

DOCTOR: Hello. Welcome back.

CASS-CHIP: Oh, sweet Lord. I'm a walking doodle.

DOCTOR: You can't stay in there. I'm sorry, Cassandra, but that's not fair. I can take you to the city. They can build you a skin tank and you can stand trial for what you've done.

CASS-CHIP: Well, that would be rather dramatic. Possibly my finest hour, and certainly my finest hat, but I'm afraid we don't have time. Poor little Chip is only a half-life, and he's been through so much. His heart is racing so. He's failing. I don't think he's going to last

(Cassandra falls to her knees.)

DOCTOR: Are you all right?

CASS-CHIP: I'm fine. I'm dying, but that's fine.

DOCTOR: I can take you to the city.

CASS-CHIP: No, you won't. Everything's new on this planet. There's no place for Chip and me any more. You're right, Doctor. It's time to die, and that's good.

DOCTOR: Come on. There's one last thing I can do.

[Restaurant]

(The Tardis materialises out of sight of the party.)

CASSANDRA [OC]: Oh no, don't. Stop it. Simply not true. Tiny. The beaches were so dismal, and the mosquitoes were

CASS-CHIP: Thank you.

DOCTOR: Just go. And don't look back.

ROSE: Good luck.

CASSANDRA: And if you actually see them, you're shocked. But don't quote me on that. Oh, naughty. À bientôt!

CASS-CHIP: Excuse me, Lady Cassandra.

CASSANDRA: I'm sorry, I don't need anything right now. I'm fine, thank you.

CASS-CHIP: No, I just wanted to say you look beautiful.

CASSANDRA: Well, that's very kind, you strange little thing. Thank you very much.

CASS-CHIP: I mean it. You look so beautiful.

CASSANDRA: Thank you.

(Chip's body collapses. Lady Cassandra cradles him.)

CASSANDRA: Oh, my Lord. Are you all right? What is it? What's wrong? Someone get some help! Call a medic or something, quickly!

WOMAN: Who is he?

CASSANDRA: I don't know. He just came up to me. I don't even know his name. He just collapsed. I think he's dying. Someone do something! I've got you, sweetheart. It's all right. There you are. There you are, I've got you. It'll be all right. There, there, you poor little thing.