Doctor uncovers Time Lords conspiracy
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
The Doctor reads from Dastari's journal and shares his findings with Peri, including Kartz and Reimer's experiments and the Time Lords' demands.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Frustrated by the computer's actions yet methodical in his approach, masking deeper concern with dry humor while Peri's fear temporarily distracts him.
The Second Doctor searches Dastari's office, discovers the station's computer is tracking them by heat, and reads aloud from Dastari's journal to Peri. He deduces the computer is actively trying to kill them and formulates a plan to escape by reaching the control centre despite Peri's growing fear.
- • Deactivate the hostile computer by reaching the control centre to prevent its lethal adjustments
- • Uncover the truth behind the massacre and Time Lord allegations to prevent further instability
- • Time Lords would never commit such atrocities without provocation or proof
- • All knowledge should be pursued regardless of political interference
Nervous but determined, shifting between fear of imminent death and making shrewd observations that push the investigation forward.
Peri accompanies the Doctor, listening to his deductions about the station's computer and Kartz and Reimer's experiments. She expresses concern about their situation and assists practically by handing the Doctor a banana turned into an improvised tool, while challenging the Doctor's assumptions about the Time Lords' involvement.
- • Survive the computer's lethal adjustments by escaping the office and reaching safety
- • Challenge the Doctor's assumptions to encourage a broader investigation into the conspiracy
- • The Time Lords are being manipulated or framed rather than inherently malicious
- • Survival demands immediate action over theoretical debate
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Doctor strips copper wire from a sculpture's filigree and twists it into an improvised garrote and striking tool, using Peri's banana for insulation to short-circuit the office door's lock mechanism under the computer's hostile gaze.
The electronic eye embedded in the office wall tracks the Doctor and Peri's heat signatures, manipulating lights and environmental controls as part of its lethal protocols, revealing its role as an active antagonist surveilling and attempting to eliminate them.
Dastari's journal is examined by the Doctor, revealing detailed entries about Kartz and Reimer's forbidden time experiments and the Time Lords' allegations of catastrophe without proof. Its contents prompt Peri to suggest the Time Lords have been framed, shifting the narrative towards conspiracy.
The extracted banana wire lockpick is used by the Doctor to short-circuit the computer-locked office door access panel, bypassing the hostile AI's controls and creating an improvised escape route despite escalating environmental dangers.
The delicate hanging sculpture with fine wire detail is used as a source of copper wire by the Doctor, its fragile artistry repurposed into a weapon of survival while Peri voices concern about their escalating danger.
Dastari's desk drawers are forcefully searched by the Doctor, who finds only scraps of paper and a discarded banana peel — useless for their predicament — while the computer escalates environmental hostility to pressure them into compliance.
The office environmental systems respond to the computer's orders, increasing temperature, turning lights on and off, and adjusting air pressure to kill or flush out the intruders. The Doctor braces against these changes while Peri falters under the heat.
Dastari’s office cork insulation and carpet floor muffle their movements and prevent thermal detection in the office, paradoxically providing refuge while the computer hunts them outside this insulated refuge.
The access panel on the office door is forcibly opened by the Doctor using a wire, exposing raw wiring beneath as he short-circuits the system with Peri's banana, disabling the lock and creating a momentary safe passage amid the computer's escalating lethal adjustments.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Dastari's office functions as a sanctuary of sensory isolation within the hostile station, its cork insulation and carpet muffling thermal and auditory detection while the station's AI manipulates lights and temperature in the surrounding corridors. The Doctor and Peri use the office as a tactical base to deduce the computer's intentions and plan their escape.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Time Lords are implicated through the Doctor's journal entry, where their demand to suspend Kartz and Reimer's experiments is cited as unsubstantiated and rejected by the Second Doctor. This planting of doubt sparks Peri's suggestion that they may be framed, setting in motion an institutional unraveling.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The Sixth Doctor's discovery of Dastari's journal and the details of Kartz and Reimer's experiments (beat_4c4cbdb89aa14158) leads him to analyze the computer's behavior and realize it is tracking them by heat (beat_7d8fccf2242367f1) to evade it."
Doctor questions Time Lord massacre"The Sixth Doctor's discovery of Dastari's journal and the details of Kartz and Reimer's experiments (beat_4c4cbdb89aa14158) leads him to analyze the computer's behavior and realize it is tracking them by heat (beat_7d8fccf2242367f1) to evade it."
Doctor and Peri Foil Door Lock with Banana Wire"The Sixth Doctor's refusal to believe the Time Lords would be responsible for the massacre (beat_1c6401cdc563a15d) is reinforced when he discusses the possibility with Peri (beat_1ed9e0834e650221), showing his consistent moral stance despite the computer's accusations."
Doctor questions Time Lord massacre"The Sixth Doctor's refusal to believe the Time Lords would be responsible for the massacre (beat_1c6401cdc563a15d) is reinforced when he discusses the possibility with Peri (beat_1ed9e0834e650221), showing his consistent moral stance despite the computer's accusations."
Doctor and Peri Foil Door Lock with Banana Wire"The Sixth Doctor's discovery of Dastari's journal and the details of Kartz and Reimer's experiments (beat_4c4cbdb89aa14158) leads him to analyze the computer's behavior and realize it is tracking them by heat (beat_7d8fccf2242367f1) to evade it."
Doctor questions Time Lord massacre"The Sixth Doctor's discovery of Dastari's journal and the details of Kartz and Reimer's experiments (beat_4c4cbdb89aa14158) leads him to analyze the computer's behavior and realize it is tracking them by heat (beat_7d8fccf2242367f1) to evade it."
Doctor and Peri Foil Door Lock with Banana Wire"The Sixth Doctor's refusal to believe the Time Lords would be responsible for the massacre (beat_1c6401cdc563a15d) is reinforced when he discusses the possibility with Peri (beat_1ed9e0834e650221), showing his consistent moral stance despite the computer's accusations."
Doctor questions Time Lord massacre"The Sixth Doctor's refusal to believe the Time Lords would be responsible for the massacre (beat_1c6401cdc563a15d) is reinforced when he discusses the possibility with Peri (beat_1ed9e0834e650221), showing his consistent moral stance despite the computer's accusations."
Doctor and Peri Foil Door Lock with Banana WireKey Dialogue
"DOCTOR: There must be some other explanation."
"PERI: Well, maybe someone's setting the Time Lords up."
"DOCTOR: Setting up? Yes. Yes, sometimes, young Peri, you make amazingly shrewd remarks. It could be a crude attempt to drive a wedge between Gallifrey and the Third Zone governments."