[Throne room]
(The Emperor sits on his throne. The Draconians do like the colour green, it is everywhere.)
PRINCE:
So, Father, once more Earthmen have invaded our space.
EMPEROR:
You will address the Emperor in a proper manner!
PRINCE:
Your pardon.
May I have permission to address the Emperor?
(The Prince kisses his father's hand.)
PRINCE:
My Life, at Your Command.
EMPEROR:
One day, my son, you will inherit this throne.
Then you will realise the importance of due formality.
Now, what do you wish to say?
PRINCE:
Surely now you will declare war upon the Earthmen?
Let me lead your battlefleets to crush their —
EMPEROR:
They too have battlefleets, my son.
Such a war could well bring down both empires.
PRINCE:
Not if we strike first, then we shall be the victors!
EMPEROR:
In such a war, there are no victors.
PRINCE:
The nobles of the court are demanding action.
They fear for the honour of Draconia.
EMPEROR:
I am the Emperor.
The honour of Draconia is vested in me.
PRINCE:
The throne depends upon the great families for support.
Emperors have been deposed before now.
EMPEROR:
An Emperor who does not rule deposes himself.
PRINCE:
Then what will you do, father?
EMPEROR:
I shall question these Earthmen myself.
I have already sent for them.
PRINCE:
Why waste time listening to their lies?
(The Captain enters, leading the Master, the Doctor and Jo.)
CAPTAIN:
Majesty, I bring you the prisoners.
DOCTOR:
May I have permission to address the Emperor?
[ The Prince goes to block him ]
EMPEROR:
Wait!
PRINCE:
This is an insult!
(The Doctor bows over the Emperor's hand.)
DOCTOR:
My Life, at your command, sire.
PRINCE:
How dare you address the Emperor in a manner reserved for a noble of Draconia!?
DOCTOR:
Ah, but I am a noble of Draconia.
The honour was conferred on me by the fifteenth Emperor.
PRINCE:
The fifteenth Emperor reigned five hundred years ago.
MASTER:
Your Majesty, do not be taken in by this ridiculous story.
EMPEROR:
Be silent!
There is a legend among our people of a man who assisted the fifteenth Emperor at a time of great trouble when we were almost overwhelmed by a great Plague from Outer Space.
But you could not be that man.
No Earthman lives so long.
DOCTOR:
Your Majesty, this man that you speak of, was he not known as
The Doctor?
And did he not come to this planet in a spaceship called
The TARDIS?
EMPEROR:
He did.
DOCTOR:
Well, I am that man, sire.
And I come from a race of people that live far longer than any Earthman.
EMPEROR:
Even if I accept your claim, you have broken Our Law.
Why did you violate Draconian space?
MASTER:
Your Majesty, this man was, and still is, my prisoner.
DOCTOR:
It is true, Your Majesty.
I did come here as a prisoner, but I came willingly, in order to warn you that this man is plotting a war between Earth and Draconia.
PRINCE:
All Earthmen are determined upon war.
DOCTOR:
Ah, but The Master is not an Earthman.
I'm sorry to have to admit it, but he's a renegade of my own race, and he's using creatures called Ogrons to attack your spaceships and those of the Earthmen.
EMPEROR:
The Earthmen who attacked our spaceships, they have been seen many times.
DOCTOR:
I'm sorry, but there you are in error, sir.
Your people have seen Ogrons, but they appear to them as Earthmen because of a hypnotic device.
JO: It's true, your Majesty. When Ogrons attacked the Earth ships, the Earthmen saw them as Draconians.
PRINCE: Silence! Females are not permitted to speak in the presence of the Emperor.
MASTER: Your Majesty, do not be deceived by the pathetic ravings of two criminals trying to evade justice.
EMPEROR: If what you say is true, it would explain much. We lived at peace with the Earthmen for many years, then suddenly they began to raid our spaceships. When we protested, they said that we were attacking them.
PRINCE: In order to cover up their own attacks, This is simply a plot of the Earthmen to lull us into false security.
(A Messenger enters.)
EMPEROR: Speak!
MESSENGER: Your Majesty, a spaceship from Earth seeks permission to land in the palace spaceport. They say they're on a special mission from the President of Earth.
PRINCE: This is a trick! You must not allow them to land!
EMPEROR: We are not yet at war with Earth. I shall hear what their President has to say. I give my permission.
MESSENGER: Your Majesty.
(The Messenger leaves.)
DOCTOR: A wise decision, your Majesty. For only by Earth and Draconia working together can we hope to arrive at the truth.
MASTER: I too welcome your wisdom, your Majesty. Nobody could be more devoted to the cause of peace than I. As a commissioner of Earth's Interplanetary Police, I have devoted my life to the cause of law and order. And law and order can only exist in a time of peace.
DOCTOR: You feeling all right, old chap?
MASTER: Only during a period of social stability, can society adequately deal with criminals such as this man and this unfortunate girl.
JO: Doctor, listen! That sound!
PRINCE: Silence, female!
JO: Quiet! It's the same noise that I heard on the cargo ship. Doctor, it's the Ogrons!
DOCTOR: Your Majesty, I beg of you to be cautious. Something is seriously wrong here. This ship that has just landed. I beg you, place it under guard immediately.
MASTER: Your majesty, please, I
(Ogrons burst into the throne room, firing as they come.)
DRACONIAN: Earthmen!
MASTER: Seize them, fool!
(The Doctor knocks out an Ogron and the Master joins the other Ogrons.)
MASTER: Bah! You idiots! Back to the ship, all of you!
(The Master and his Ogrons leave.)
PRINCE: Now will you believe in the treachery of the Earthmen?
DOCTOR: Your Majesty, look down here and tell me. What do you see?
(The noise is still audible.)
EMPEROR: I see one of your Earth soldiers who attacked my palace and killed my people.
DOCTOR: Jo? Jo, can you still hear that sound?
JO: Yes, it's fading. It's almost gone.
DOCTOR: Your Majesty, I beg of you. Please look again.
PRINCE: Why do we delay? Destroy him!
EMPEROR: Wait! He has spoken the truth.
(The Emperor can see the Ogron.)
[Ogron spaceship bridge]
(The spaceship has taken off from Draconia.)
MASTER: Great lumbering idiots! Now you tell me that you've left one of your fellows in the palace. Do you realise what this means? As soon as the effect of the hypnosound wears off, the Draconians will know who it really was who attacked them. You've ruined everything!
OGRON: What shall we do now?
MASTER: Do? There's only one thing we can do. Make sure that the Doctor and his evidence is never allowed to reach Earth.
[Throne room]
(The Ogron is awake and in chains.)
DOCTOR: Why does the Master want war between Earth and Draconia?
PRINCE: Did you attack our spaceships and those of the Earthmen?
JO: Oh, it's no good. We're not getting anywhere.
PRINCE: Let me take him for questioning. He shall answer to me. I shall use the mind probe.
DOCTOR: You'd only be wasting your time. The Ogrons have got the finest defence mechanism of all. Stupidity. They haven't got a mind for you to probe.
EMPEROR: Then remove him. We will deal with him later.
(The Ogron is taken away.)
EMPEROR: Why did that sound make us see this creature as a soldier from Earth?
JO: Because you're frightened of Earthmen.
PRINCE: Draconians fear nothing, female.
JO: Well, of course you do. You fear them and they fear you. That's why when Earthmen heard that sound, they saw Draconians.
EMPEROR: That is true. We do fear the Earthmen and they fear us.
DOCTOR: And fear breeds hatred, your Majesty. Fear is the greatest enemy of them all, for fear leads us to war.
EMPEROR: We shall tell the Earthmen what has happened here. They too must know the truth.
PRINCE: They will not believe us.
DOCTOR: The Prince is right, your Majesty. We must mount an expedition at once, and we must take the Ogron as evidence.
PRINCE: The empires are on the verge of war. A Draconian spaceship in Earth space could be destroyed before it reaches its destination.
JO: We could use the ship that Master brought us in. It's an Earth police spaceship.
PRINCE: Females are not permitted to speak
EMPEROR: The female may speak.
PRINCE: But
EMPEROR: We must respect the customs of our guests, strange though they may be. The suggestion had merit.
JO: Thank you, your Majesty.
EMPEROR: You too will go on this mission. But it must be headed by a Draconian of noble rank. I shall send my son.
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