The Curse of the Black Spot

[On deck] (A group of seventeenth century sailors row back to their ship, becalmed in the mist.) BOATSWAIN: What's wrong? MILLIGAN: Man wounded. BOATSWAIN: Wake him.

[Captain's cabin]

(Lots of gold loot lying around.) BOATSWAIN: He slipped in the bilge water, Cap'n and fell on to the rigger. His hand. I Don't know if he'll survive. (The Captain turns and looks at the tiny cut on the man's middle finger.) AVERY: You're a dead man, McGrath. (His other hand has a black spot on the palm.) AVERY: Same as all the others. (A woman's voice starts singing.) AVERY: She's here. BOATSWAIN: Oh, save our souls. McGRATH: I've got to escape! BOATSWAIN: Don't go out there! McGrath, don't listen, for God's sake. The siren is a-calling. (McGrath grabs a duelling piece and runs out onto the deck. Captain Avery locks himself and his crew into his cabin. The singing stops, there is a scream and then silence.)

[On deck]

(Captain Avery picks up his duelling piece.) AVERY: Same as all the others. No sign of a struggle, no bones or blood. BOATSWAIN: We're shark bait, every single one of us. Stuck on the ocean, waiting. AVERY: Until the wind changes. (There is a thumping from below decks.) AVERY: What's that? BOATSWAIN: It's the creature. It's returned. (The hatch to the hold bursts open.) DOCTOR: Yo ho ho! Or does nobody actually say that?

[Captain's cabin]

AVERY: We made no signal. DOCTOR: Our sensors picked you up. Ship in distress. AVERY: Sensors? DOCTOR: Yes. Okay, problem word. Seventeenth century. My ship automatically, er, noticed-ish that your ship was having some bother. AVERY: That big blue crate? BOATSWAIN: That is more magic, Captain Avery. They're spirits. How else would they have found their way below decks? DOCTOR: Well, er, I want to say multidimensional engineering, but since you had a problem with sensors, I won't go there. Look, I'm the Doctor. This is Amy, Rory. We're sailors, same as you. Ooo ar. Except for the gun thing. And the beardiness. AVERY: You're stowaways. Only explanation. Eight days, we've been stranded here, becalmed. You must have stowed away before we sailed. BOATSWAIN: Now what do we do with 'em? AVERY: Oh, I think they deserve our hospitality.

[On deck]

(The Doctor is being made to walk the plank.) DOCTOR: I suppose that laughing like that is in the job description. Can you do the laugh? Check. Grab yourself a parrot. Welcome aboard. AVERY; Stocks are low. Only one barrel of water remains. We don't need three more empty bellies to fill. Take the doxy below to the galley. Set her to work. She won't need much feeding. AMY: Rory? A little help? (Rory is being held by Dancer, an African born sailor.) RORY: Yeah. Hey, listen, right? She's not a doxy. AMY: I didn't mean just tell him off. Thanks anyway. AVERY: If you're lucky you'll drown before the sharks can take a bite. DOCTOR: If this is just because I'm a captain too, you know, you shouldn't feel threatened. Your ship is much bigger than mine. And I don't have the cool boots. Or a hat, even. AVERY: Time to go. DOCTOR: A bit more laughter, guys? (Amy has gone to the hold and found a crate of cutlasses.) DOCTOR: Where are the rest of the crew? This is a big ship. Big for five of you. I suppose the rest of them are hiding some place, and they're going to jump out and shout boo. AMY: Boo! (Amy has taken the time to don a coat and tricorn hat.) AMY: Throw the gun down. (Avery obeys. She kicks it away.) AMY: The rest of you, on your knees. DOCTOR: Amy, what are you doing? AMY: Saving your life. Okay with that, are you? AVERY: Put down the sword. A sword could kill us all, girl. AMY: Yeah, thanks. That is actually why I'm pointing it at you. (The rest of the sailors start a sword fight with Amy, using wooden staves, while Avery holds on to the Doctor. This might be a good time to point out that there was an Avery mentioned in The Smugglers who hid his gold in the Cornish church. However, the sailors are terrified of getting even the smallest cut from Amy's blade. Amy runs up some steps then swings across on a rope, slashing at the sailor holding Rory as she goes.) DANCER: You have killed me. AMY: No way. It's just a cut. (The black spot appears on his palm.) AMY: What kind of rubbish pirates are you? AVERY: One drop, that's all it takes. One drop of blood and she'll rise out of the ocean. AMY: Come on, I barely even scratched him. What are you all in such a huff about? (Amy makes another swing and is grabbed. She is drops the cutlass and Rory grabs for it, cutting himself.) RORY: Ow! Argh! (The black spot appears.) RORY: Er, Doctor, what's happening to me? AVERY: She can smell the blood on your skin. She's marked you for death. RORY: She? AVERY: A demon, out there in the ocean. DOCTOR: Okay. Groovy. So not just pirates today. We've managed to bagsy a ship where there's a demon popping in. Very efficient. I mean, if something's going to kill you, it's nice that it drops you a note to remind you. (The wordless singing starts.) BOATSWAIN: Quickly now, block out the sound. RORY: What? AVERY: The creature. She charms all her victims with that song. RORY: Oh, great. So put my fingers in my ears, that's your plan? Doctor, come on. Let's go. Let's get back to the er, back to the er (Rory and Dancer start giggling.) BOATSWAIN: The music. It's working on him. Look. RORY: You are so beautiful. AMY: What? RORY: I love your get up. That's great. You should dress as a pirate more often. Hey, hey, cuddle me, shipmate. AMY: Rory, stop. RORY: Everything is totally brilliant, isn't it? Look at these brilliant pirates. Look at their brilliant beards. I'd like a beard. I'm going to grow a beard. AMY: You're not. AVERY: The music turns them into fools. AMY: Oh, my God. (A bright light is rising up through the water. A female figure then flies up and gently lands on the deck. Dancer goes towards her while Amy tries to hold Rory back. When Dancer touches her finger, he explodes in a cloud of soot.) RORY: I have to touch her. Let me touch her. AMY: Sorry, but he is spoken for. (The Siren turns from white to angry red, and a blast of energy throws Amy backwards.) DOCTOR: Amy! Everybody into the hold. Rory! Come on! (The Doctor drags Rory away.) RORY: Hey! Wait!

[Hold]

(There is bilge water a few inches deep in here.) AMY: What is that thing? AVERY: The legend. The siren. Many a merchant ship laden with treasure has fallen prey to her. She's been hunting us ever since we were becalmed, picking off the injured. BOATSWAIN: Like a shark. A shark can smell blood. DOCTOR: Okay. Just like a shark, in a dress. And singing. And green? A green singing shark in an evening gown. AVERY: The ship is cursed! DOCTOR: Yeah, right. Cursed is big with humans. It means bad things are happening but you can't be bothered to find an explanation. RORY: She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. AMY: Actually, I think you'll find she isn't. RORY: She is. AMY: We have to leave right now. AVERY: That thing of yours really is a ship? DOCTOR: Well, it's not propelled by the wind. AVERY: Show me. Weigh anchor. Make it sail. DOCTOR: And the gun's back. You're big on the gun thing, aren't you. Freud would say you're compensating. Ever met Freud? No? Comfy sofa. DE FLORRES: Leave the cursed one, Captain. The creature can have him. RORY: Yes, please. AVERY: We don't want the siren coming after us. (Something latches onto Mulligan's bare leg.) AMY: It's a leech! DOCTOR: Everyone out of the water! DE FLORRES: It's bitten me. I'm bleeding. DOCTOR: She wants blood. Why does she want blood? AMY: What were you saying about leaving the cursed ones behind? DOCTOR: It's okay, we're safe down here. No curse is getting through three solid inches of timber. (And there she is.) DOCTOR: Oh! Ah. Hello again. (De Florres is drawn towards her.) ALL: No! No! No! (De Florres explodes, just leaving his hat behind.)

[Mess deck]

(A hammock, sacks of food.) AMY: Safe? DOCTOR: I have my good days and my bad days. AVERY: How did she get in? DOCTOR: Bilge water. She's using water like a portal, a door. She can materialise through a single drop. We need to go somewhere with no water. AMY: Well, thank God we're not in the middle of the ocean. RORY: Did you see her eyes? Like crystal pools. AMY: You are in enough trouble. AVERY: The magazine. AMY: What? DOCTOR: He means the armoury where the powder's stored. AVERY: It's dry as a bone. DOCTOR: Good. Let's go there. AVERY: I give the orders. DOCTOR: Ah. Worried because I'm wearing a hat now? Nobody touch anything sharp! AMY: Come on, Rory. (The Boatswain shuffles through his collection of keys.) AVERY: Quickly, man. BOATSWAIN: I can't find the key. Tis gone, Cap'n. AVERY: How can it have gone? (The door is unlocked.) DOCTOR: Someone else had the same idea.

[Magazine]

AVERY: Barricade the door. Careful of that lantern. Every barrel is full of powder. DOCTOR: Who's been sleeping in my gun room? (Someone coughs. Avery opens a barrel and pulls out a boy.) AVERY: You fool! You fool, boy. What are you doing here? DOCTOR: Who is he? What, he's not one of the crew? AVERY: No. He's my son. What in God's name possessed you, boy? Your mother will be searching for you. When? TOBY: Last winter. Fever. She told me all about you. How you were a Captain in the Navy. An honourable man, she said. How I'd be proud to know you. I've come to join your crew. AVERY: I don't want you here. TOBY: You can't send me back. It's too late. We're a hundred miles from home. AVERY: It's dangerous here. There is a monster aboard. She leaves a mark on men's skin. TOBY: The black spot? (Toby has one on his palm. He coughs again. Later -) AVERY: There's nothing wrong with the boy. He has no scars. DOCTOR: Yep. Ignore my last theory. AMY: He has his good days and his bad days. DOCTOR: It's not just blood, she's coming for all the sick and wounded, like a hunter chooses the weakest animal. AMY: Okay, look, he's got a fever. The siren knows it. DOCTOR: Humans. Second-rate. Damage too easily. It's only a matter of time before everyone gets bruised. My ship, it can sail us all away from here. You and me, we fetch it. Let's go. AVERY: You're not the Captain here, remember. (Toby opens a fresh-water barrel and the Siren's hand reaches out. The Doctor forces the lid back down.) AVERY: The water's dangerous. That's how she gets through. One touch of her hand and you're a dead man. BOATSWAIN: We're all cursed if we stay aboard. DOCTOR: It's not a curse. Curse means game over. Curse means we're helpless. We are not helpless. Captain, what's our next move? AVERY: Wait with the boy. BOATSWAIN: Captain, we're all in danger here. AVERY: I said wait. And barricade the door after we've gone. AMY: Sure you want to go? DOCTOR: We have to get Rory and Toby away. She's out there now, licking her lips, boiling a saucepan, grating cheese. AMY: Okay. Well, remember, if you get an itch, don't scratch too hard. DOCTOR: We've all got to go some time. There are worse ways than having your face snogged off by a dodgy mermaid.

[Mess deck]

AVERY: Do you want to draw lots for who's in charge, then? DOCTOR: Darkness? Demon? You can have first go. (Avery stumbles and nearly puts his hand on a protruding nail head. The Doctor grabs his arm just in time.) AVERY: Nearly. Phew!

[Tardis]

AVERY: By all the DOCTOR: Let me stop you there. Bigger on the inside. Don't mind, do you, if we just skip to the end of that moment? Oh, and sorry I lied, by the way, when I said yours was bigger. Kitchen that way. Choice of bathrooms there, there, there.

[Magazine]

RORY: What's wrong? AMY: The most beautiful thing you've ever seen? RORY: Oh, tell me I didn't really say that. AMY: What's going on? (The Boatswain is unbarracading the door.) BOATSWAIN: We're not staying here to mollycoddle the boy. The Captain's gone soft. It's time for us to leave.

[Tardis]

AVERY: What's this do? DOCTOR: That does very, very complicated. That does sophisticated. That does whoa, amazing, And that does whizz, bang, far too technical to explain! AVERY: Wheel? DOCTOR: Atom accelerator. AVERY: It steers the thing. DOCTOR: No. Sort of. Yes. AVERY: Wheel. Telescope. Astrolabe. Compass. A ship's a ship. DOCTOR: Oh.

[Magazine]

TOBY: He told you to wait, you dog. He's your Captain, a Naval Officer. You're honour-bound to do as he tells you. BOATSWAIN: Honour-bound? Do you know what kind of ship this is? Do you know what your father does? AMY: Don't listen to him, Toby. BOATSWAIN: We sail under the black flag. The Jolly Roger. TOBY: Liar! He's no wicked pirate! BOATSWAIN: Oh, you think so? I have seen your father gun down a thousand innocent men.

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: This is how the professionals do it. (The time rotor stutters.) DOCTOR: Er, it's stuck. Not responding. AVERY: Becalmed? DOCTOR: Mmm hmm. Yeah, apparently. That's new. You had to gloat, didn't you? AVERY: I'm not gloating. DOCTOR: I saw that look just now. Ha, ha, his ship is rubbish. AVERY: True.

[Magazine]

BOATSWAIN: Get what treasure you can. I'll meet you in the row boat. (Toby has found a cutlass.) TOBY: You're going to remain at your post. BOATSWAIN: I am not playing games with you, boy. You put that down. TOBY: One more step and I'll use this, you blaggard. BOATSWAIN: You don't know how to fight with a cutlass, boy. TOBY: Don't need to, do I. (And cuts the Boatswain's hand.) BOATSWAIN: No

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: It can't get a lock on the plane. AVERY: The what? DOCTOR: The space we travel in. The ocean. Sort of ocean but not water. The Tardis can't see. It's sulking because it thinks the space doesn't exist. Without a plane to lock onto we're not going anywhere. AVERY: I'm confused. DOCTOR: Yeah, well, it's a big club. We should get T-shirts. (Jolt, grind.) DOCTOR: What's happening?

[Magazine]

BOATSWAIN: You little swabber! AMY: Congratulations. You made it to the menu. Probably shouldn't go out there now. BOATSWAIN: You scurvy ape! RORY: Don't shoot. The powder will blow and kill us all. (Mulligan takes the keys from the Boatswain's belt.) BOATSWAIN: Mulligan, what are you doing? (Mulligan leaves.) AMY: No honour among pirates. (The Boatswain puts down his pistol and starts rebuilding the barricade.)

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: Okay, she's had her little sulk. Now she's heading for the full-on screaming tantrum. AVERY: Can you fix it? DOCTOR: Argh! The parametric engines are jammed. Orthogonal vector's gone. I'm almost out of ideas. AVERY: Almost? DOCTOR: Well, we could try stroking her and singing her a song. AVERY: Will that help? DOCTOR: Hard to say. Never has before. I've lost control of her. She's about to dematerialise. We could end up anywhere! AVERY: That sounds bad! DOCTOR: Yes, it is! Out! Out now! Abandon ship! Abandon ship! (They run out as things start going Bang!)

[Hold]

(Not your usual dematerialisation.) DOCTOR: Okay, okay, okay. Tardis runs off on its own. That's a bit of a new one. Bang goes our only hope of getting them out of here. AVERY: Not much of a Captain without a ship, are you?

[Mess deck]

(Mulligan pulls two pistols on his captain. He has a jewelled gold crown around his wrist.) AVERY: Mulligan, what are you doing? This is mutiny. MULLIGAN: She doesn't want me. She only wants Toby and the scrawny looking fellow. DOCTOR: He's got the last of the supplies. We should go after him. AVERY: Never mind the damned supplies. What about my treasure? (Mulligan shoots at them.) DOCTOR: Don't get injured. Don't get injured.

[Store room]

AVERY [OC]: Come out of there, you mutinous dog! (Mulligan lights a flame, then drops it when it burns his fingers.)

[Mess deck]

(Siren song. The Doctor and Avery check themselves for injury. Then a light glows under the door to the hold.) DOCTOR: She's inside. AVERY: She's come for Mulligan. MULLIGAN [OC]: Argh!

[Store room]

AVERY: No water in here. How did she take him? You said she uses water like a door, that's how she enters a room. (Avery picks up the crown.) DOCTOR: I was wrong. Please ignore all my theories up to this point. AVERY: What, again? DOCTOR: We're all in danger. The water's not how she's getting in. When we were down in the hold, think what happened. You, me, Amy, Rory, leeches. AVERY: She sprang from the water. DOCTOR: Yes, only when it grew still. Still water. Nature's mirror. AVERY: So, you mean DOCTOR: Yes. Not water, reflection. (Toby has a medallion his father has given him, of a mermaid. A nice shiny medallion, which he starts polishing.) DOCTOR: That siren legend. The curse. AVERY: You said curses weren't real. DOCTOR: Folklore springs from truth. She attacks ships filled with treasure. Where else do you get a perfect reflection? AVERY: Polished metal. DOCTOR: Hmm. (He hides the crown under a piece of clothing.) AVERY: We must warn them.

[Magazine]

DOCTOR [OC]: Amy! Open the door! AVERY [OC]: Toby, open the door! Toby! DOCTOR [OC]: Open the door. AVERY [OC]: Toby! (The Doctor grabs the medallion and breaths on it to cloud the reflection.)

[Captain's cabin]

(The Doctor uses the butt of a musket to break the glass windows.) DOCTOR: We've got to destroy every reflection. Gold, silver, glass, she could spring from any of them. Oh, yes, yes, I know, I know. Very bad luck to break it. But look at it this way. There's a stroppy homicidal mermaid trying to kill all. AVERY: How much worse can things get? DOCTOR: Yep. Help me lug this lot out. AVERY: Where are we taking it? DOCTOR; The ocean. AVERY: No! No. This is the treasure of the Mogul of India. DOCTOR: Oh, good. For a moment there I thought it was yours. AVERY: No, no. Doctor, wait. Must we do this? DOCTOR: Any reflection, any mirror, and the siren will attack. We have to protect Rory and Toby. Go and get the crown from the storeroom. (The Doctor starts throwing Avery's gold out of the broken windows.)

[Magazine]

RORY: Just wait? DOCTOR: Not my most dynamic plan, I realise. AMY: Tardis? DOCTOR: It's been towed. AMY: What? DOCTOR: Sorry. We might be stuck here for a while. RORY: So you're saying that we should all just wait here below? AVERY: The sea is still calm, like a mirror. If you go out on deck she'll rise up and attack you. DOCTOR: It's okay. The calm won't last forever. When the wind picks up we'll all set sail. AVERY: Until it does, you have to hide down here. (Later, Rory and Amy are asleep.) AVERY: I'm sorry about your mother. You miss her a lot. TOBY: Three years. No word from you. AVERY: Toby. TOBY: You promised her. You promised you'd come home. And she believed you would, right up until the day she died. What made you do it? What made you turn pirate? AVERY: Get some sleep now. EYE PATCH LADY [OC]: It's fine. You're doing fine. Just stay calm. (Amy opens her eyes just in time to see an apparent hatch in the side of the ship slide shut on the face of the mysterious woman.)

[On deck]

DOCTOR: It's not one star, it's two. The Dog star, Sirius. Binary system. AVERY: I use it to navigate the ocean. DOCTOR: I've travelled far, like you. Space can be very lonely, and the greatest adventure is having someone share it with you. AVERY: If we get out of this I'll take him back to England. He can't stay with me. I'm not the father he needs. DOCTOR: Who are you, Henry Avery? Respected naval officer, wife and child at home. How did you end up here, wandering the oceans with a band of rogues? AVERY: I've set my course now. Nothing I can do to alter it. DOCTOR: People stared at it for centuries and never knew. Things can suddenly change, when you're least expecting.

[Captain's cabin]

AMY: Doctor? DOCTOR: Shush. AMY: What can you see? DOCTOR: Feels like something's out there, staring straight at me. (Lightning! Thunder!) DOCTOR: Man the sails!

[On deck]

(The rain is lashing down.) AVERY: To the rigging, you dogs! Let go the sails. Avast ye! Put the bunt into the slack of the clews. (Amy and Rory pull on the sheets.) AMY: I swear he's making half this stuff up. RORY: Well, we're going to need some kind of phrase book. (The Doctor is at the wheel, trying to turn her bow on to the storm.) AVERY: Toby! Find my coat. My compass is inside it, boy. Heave ho, you bilge rats. RORY: Rats was all I could hear. (Toby returns with the coat, and the crown falls out and rolls along the deck. The Siren comes out of the crown and flies up into the rigging, then descends again to the deck.) AVERY: Don't let her take you! (Toby reaches out to the Siren.) AVERY: No! (Toby is gone in a puff of smoke.) AVERY: No! (The Doctor throws the crown overboard, and the Siren disappears.) AVERY: I'm sorry, I'm sorry. DOCTOR: You couldn't give up the gold, could you. That's why you turned pirate. Your commission, your wife, your son. Just how much is that treasure worth to you, man? (A loose spar knocks Rory overboard.) AMY: Rory! Rory! I can't see him. Doctor? I'm going in. DOCTOR: He's drowning. He's drowning! You go in after him, you'll drown too. There's only one thing that can save him now. AMY: What are you talking about? DOCTOR: The Siren. The Siren, she wants him. We have to release her. AMY: Doctor, no. (The Doctor opens a fresh water barrel and the Siren zooms out.) DOCTOR: He's drowning. Go and find him! (The Siren dives into the sea.) AMY: What, what did you do? DOCTOR: If he stays in there he'll die. AMY: But she'll destroy him. DOCTOR: That thing isn't just a ravenous hunter. It's intelligent. We can reason with it. And maybe, just maybe, they're still alive somewhere. We have to follow. AVERY: Are you mad? DOCTOR: If we ever want to see them again, we have to let the Siren take us. We'll prick our fingers. All agreed? Yeah? AVERY: Aye. AMY: Aye. DOCTOR: Aye. (The Doctor draws blood from each of them. The black spot appears on their palms and the Siren appears. There is a flash of bright light.)

[Spaceship]

(They wake up on a metal floor.) AMY: Where are we? DOCTOR: We haven't moved. We're in exactly the same place as before. (They look through a window onto the deck of the ship.) AVERY: We're on a ghost ship. DOCTOR: No. It's real. Space ship trapped in a temporal rift. AMY: How can two ships be in the same place? DOCTOR: Not the same. Two planes, two worlds, two cars parked in the same space. There are lots of different universes nested inside each other. Now and again they collide, and you can step from one to the other. AMY: Okay, I think I understand. DOCTOR: Good, because it's not like that at all. But if that helps. AMY: Thanks. DOCTOR: All the reflections have suddenly become gateways. (The Doctor throws a piece of metal at the window. It goes through and lands on the deck.) DOCTOR: Ever look in a mirror and think you're seeing a whole other world? Well, this time it's not an illusion. (Beep, beep.) AMY: The signal. DOCTOR: Yes. AMY: The distress call. DOCTOR: Uh huh. AMY: There was a second ship here all the time. DOCTOR: And the Siren is on board. (He opens a door to reveal an alien skeleton. Its spacesuit says D.I.H.S) DOCTOR: Dead.

[Bridge]

(More skeletal crew.) AMY: You were right. There was something staring at us the whole time. How long has this ship been marooned here? AVERY: Long enough for the Captain to have run out of grog. AMY: I don't understand. If this is the Captain, then what's the Siren? DOCTOR: Same as us. A stowaway. AMY: She killed it? DOCTOR: Human bacteria. AMY: What? DOCTOR: A virus from our planet. Airborne, travelling through the portal. That's what killed it. Didn't get its jabs. Urgh. Look. (The Doctor has put his hand in some gunk.) AMY: What is it? DOCTOR: Sneeze! Alien bogies. (He wipes his hand on the sleeve of Amy's pirate coat.)

[Sickbay]

(Lots of people lying on beds floating in midair, and connected by a tube to the ceiling.) AVERY: McGrath! He's one of my men. AMY: He's still breathing. AVERY: My entire crew is here. Toby! AMY: Rory! DOCTOR: The Tardis! AVERY: We have to get them out of here. DOCTOR: Wait. His fever's gone. AMY: He looks so well. DOCTOR: She's keeping him alive. His brain is still active, but all its cellular activity is suspended. It's not a curse, it's a tissue sample. Why get samples of people you are about to kill? AMY: Help me get him up. (Rory begins to wake. Beep, beep.) DOCTOR: She's coming. (They hide behind a bank of monitors. The Siren floats in, singing her wordless song, and goes to Rory. He calms down and sleeps again.) DOCTOR: Anaesthetic. AVERY: What? DOCTOR: The music. The song. So she anaesthetises people and puts their body in stasis. (The Siren goes to Toby. Avery steps out, gun ready.) DOCTOR: Avery, no! (Avery shoots, and the Siren turns red. She advances on Avery, then the Doctor sneezes. The Siren heads for him instead.) DOCTOR: Fire. That's new. What does fire do? Burn? Yes. Destroy? What else? Sterilise! I sneezed. I've brought germs in. (The Doctor blows his nose and throws the handkerchief on the floor. The Siren blasts the offending article. Amy runs to Rory.) DOCTOR: Amy, stop. Don't interfere. Don't touch him. Anaesthetic, tissue sample, screen, sterile working conditions. Ignore all my previous theories! AMY: Yeah? Well, we stopped paying attention a while back. DOCTOR: She's not a killer at all, she's a doctor! (Amy stops fiddling with Rory's life support and the Siren returns to green.) DOCTOR: This is an automated sick bay. It's teleporting everyone on board. The crew are dead, and so the sick bay has had nothing to do. It's been looking after humanity whilst it's been idle. Look at her. A virtual doctor able to sterilise a whole room. AMY: Able to burn your face off. DOCTOR: She's just an interface, seeped through the join between the planes, broadcast in our world. Protean circuitry means she can change her form, and become a human doctor for humans. Oh, sister, you are good. AVERY: She won't let us take them. DOCTOR: She's keeping them alive, but she doesn't know how to heal them. AMY: I'm his wife, for God's sake. Why can't I touch him? DOCTOR: Tell her, Amy. Show her your ring. She may be virtual but she's intelligent. You can't do anything without her consent. Come on. Sophisticated girl like you. That must be somewhere in your core program. AMY: Look, he's very ill, okay? I just want to look after him. Why won't you let me near my husband? (The Siren holds out her hand, and a circle of light appears around it.) DOCTOR: Consent form. Sign it. Put your hand in the light. Rory's sick. You have to take full responsibility. (Amy does so, and the Siren disappears. Amy turns off Rory's life support.) DOCTOR: He can't breathe. Turn it back on. AMY: What do we do? I can't just leave him here. AVERY: He'll die if you take him out. AMY: Rory? Rory, wake up. RORY: Where am I? DOCTOR: You're in a hospital. If you leave, you might die. AMY: But if you don't, you'll have to stay forever. RORY: You're saying that if I don't get up now AMY: You can never leave. DOCTOR: The Siren will keep you safe. RORY: And if I come with you? DOCTOR: Drowning, on the point of death. RORY: I'm a nurse. AMY: What? RORY: I can teach you how to save me. AMY: Whoa. Hold on. RORY: I was drowning. You just have to resuscitate me. AMY: Just? RORY: You've seen them do it loads of times in films. CPR. The kiss of life. AMY: Rory, this isn't a film, okay? What if I do it wrong? RORY: You won't. AMY: Okay, what if you don't come back to life? What if RORY: I trust you. AMY: What about him? I mean, why do I have to be the one? Why do I have to save you? RORY: Because I know you'll never give up. DOCTOR: We have to send this ship back into space. Imagine if the Siren got ashore. She would have to process every injured human. AVERY: What about Toby? DOCTOR: I'm sorry. Typhoid fever. Once he returns it's only a matter of time. AVERY: What if I stay with him, here. The Siren will look after him. I can't go back to England. And what home does he have now, if not with me? DOCTOR: Do you think you can sail this thing? AVERY: Just point me to the atom accelerator. RORY: I know you can do this. Of course, if you muck it up I am going to be really cross. And dead. AMY: I'll see you in a minute. (The Doctor rips off Rory's restraints. They get him off the bed and carry him into -)

[Tardis]

(Where Amy starts CPR, doing 1 breath to 5 chest compressions.) DOCTOR: Come on. Come on, Rory. Not here. Not this way. Not today. AMY: He trusted me. He trusted me to save him. DOCTOR: You still can. You can still do this. He believes in you. Come on, Amy. Come on! AMY: Please, please, please wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Come on. Come on. (But finally even she gives up. After a few moments, Rory starts coughing up water.) RORY: Amy. Amy, you did it. You did it! (Later, Captain Avery has control of the spaceship, with Toby as his co-pilot, still attached to his life support mechanism. The rest of his crew come to watch as they fly between the stars.) AMY: I thought I was an excellent pirate. RORY: I thought you were an excellent nurse. AMY: Easy, tiger. Goodnight, Doctor. DOCTOR: Goodnight, Amelia. AMY: You only call me Amelia when you're worrying about me. DOCTOR: I always worry about you. (Amy remembers the moment of the Doctor's death by the lake.) AMY: Mutual. DOCTOR: Go to bed, Pond. RORY: (sotto) You can't tell him. It's his future. AMY: I know. (The body scan is still undecided as to whether Amy is pregnant or not.) DOCTOR: Oh, Amelia.