Fabula
S20E11 · Mawdryn Undead Part 3

Brigadier presents plan to fix homing device

With time running out and the alien ship’s danger growing, the Brigadier pulls a homing device from its storage to help locate the Doctor’s TARDIS. The Doctor examines the device skeptically, recognizing the urgency but unsure of its condition. The Brigadier’s proposal offers a potential solution to their location problem, shifting the dynamic from uncertainty to cautious problem-solving as they weigh the risks of reactivating an unstable piece of equipment.

Plot Beats

The narrative micro-steps within this event

4

The Brigadier requests the Doctor to repair the homing device, showing his reliance on technology to solve their problem.

urgency to hope

The Brigadier retrieves the homing device from a box of circuit boards and wires, initiating their plan to track down the alien ship.

The Doctor expresses skepticism about the homing device's functionality, casting doubt on their plan.

certainty to uncertainty

The Doctor responds with cautious optimism about repairing the device, indicating a potential solution to their tracking problem.

skepticism to cautious optimism

Who Was There

Characters present in this moment

2

Focused and determined, masking lingering disorientation with decisive action

The Brigadier moves with the fluid precision of long military service, retrieving the device from its storage box with hands that remember more than his mind. His gruff voice carries purpose as he offers the object, bridging the divide between his waning recollection and the immediate temporal crisis.

Goals in this moment
  • Locate the Doctor’s TARDIS using the homing device to prevent catastrophe
  • Act on instinct and residual duty despite gaps in memory
Active beliefs
  • Tools kept for decades may still have unforeseen utility
  • The old alliance with the Doctor transcends memory
Character traits
Authoritative Direct Instinctively helpful
Follow Brigadier Alistair …'s journey

Cautiously optimistic, tempered by awareness of the device's fragility and the shrine-like nature of the room

The Doctor stands framed under the pinpoint glow of the brass lamp, fingers tracing the worn casing of the homing device. His voice carries both measured reassurance and cautious acceptance, his posture betraying wariness not towards the Brigadier but the device’s unstable history.

Goals in this moment
  • Assess whether the device can be salvaged to locate the TARDIS
  • Maintain trust in the Brigadier despite his fragmented memory
Active beliefs
  • Technological tools can be repaired if their purpose is vital
  • Even unreliable allies deserve a chance in a crisis
Character traits
Skeptical Analytical Pragmatic
Follow The Fifth …'s journey

Objects Involved

Significant items in this scene

2
Tegan Jovanka's Temporal Homing Device

The homing device is withdrawn from its tattered storage box, its wiry connections dazedly awakening to the current crisis. Recovered from the dim past, it serves as a fragile conduit between temporal urgencies—its flickering power indicator a metaphor for the Brigadier’s memory and the Doctor’s stability.

Before: Long dormant within a box of circuit boards, …
After: Held in the Brigadier’s hands, partially reactivated by …
Before: Long dormant within a box of circuit boards, stored in the Brigadier’s quarters, its power depleted and connections frayed
After: Held in the Brigadier’s hands, partially reactivated by his urgent retrieval, examined closely by the Doctor
Transmat-Capsule Temporal Homing Mechanism

The storage box of circuit boards opens to release the homing device, stale air and old insulation scent rising like ghosts from decades past. Its metal interior glints with the faint glow of emergency lighting, framing the object’s extraction as both ritual and rescue.

Before: Contained worn circuit boards and wires, serving as …
After: Open and disturbed, its contents disturbed, the box …
Before: Contained worn circuit boards and wires, serving as archive and reliquary for the Brigadier’s scattered memories
After: Open and disturbed, its contents disturbed, the box now a temporary repository before the device’s extraction

Location Details

Places and their significance in this event

1
Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's Quarters

The Brigadier’s quarters function as both sanctuary and command post under the siege of time itself. The brass lamp carves an oval of light over papers and the secure case, its focused beam illuminating the homing device like a relic uncovered in ritual. The scent of coffee mingles with metal and memory, creating an atmosphere where past and present coagulate at a critical moment.

Atmosphere Tense concentration infused with nostalgia, the quiet urgency of a space holding both personal history …
Function Tactical center serving as the operational hub for the crisis
Symbolism Represents the junction where memory, duty, and crisis converge
Brass lamp casting precise oval of light over scattered papers Single tall window with drapes barely revealing external security lights

Narrative Connections

How this event relates to others in the story

No narrative connections mapped yet

This event is currently isolated in the narrative graph


Key Dialogue

"DOCTOR: It isn't working."
"BRIGADIER: Well, can you repair it?"
"DOCTOR: Hopefully."