"So, Arcturus was behind everything." "Arcturus and Hepesh." "But what about the attack on Arcturus?" "Faked, Your Majesty." "He told Hepesh what to do." "That is what I suspected." "And the things I found on the balcony and in Izlyr's room?" "Planted by Hepesh." "Or one of his agents." "And the manifestation of Aggedor?" "Well, that's simple, Your Majesty." "Hepesh found that on a high mountain a few still existed." "So he captured one, trained it and kept it hidden in the tunnels beneath the citadel." "Ready to pop out whenever he needed a bit of haunting." "But why did he do all this?" "What did he hope to gain?" "The entire planet of Peladon, or effective control of it, which comes to the same thing." "And Arcturus?" "His planet lacks mineral deposits." "Peladon has them, in abundance." "That's why he wanted to make sure that Peladon did not enter the Galactic Federation." "You see, he'd already made a private secret alliance with Hepesh." "Extremely unethical!" "Fortunately, the scheme has been foiled, so all is well." "Ah, but is it?" "Yes, Arcturus is dead." "But Hepesh is still very much alive!" "You see, Hepesh believed everything that Arcturus told him." "He still does." "He firmly believes that entering the Galactic Federation would mean slavery and he'd go to any lengths to stop you joining." "But what can he do?" "Accuse the Ice Warriors of murdering Arcturus." "Yes, Mars and the world of Arcturus are old enemies." " That would mean war!" "Exactly." "And then all the rest of the Galactic Federation would take sides..." "The Federation will be ripped!" "There will be interplanetary conflict!" "And Peladon would become the first battlefield." "Blasted and sterile." "What shall I do, Doctor?" "Replace Hepesh with someone you can trust, Your Majesty." "Now!" "Captain." "My Lord." "The shame will destroy him." "It's not easy to be a king, Peladon." "But unless you replace Hepesh, he will destroy everything that you have worked for." "Well, sire?" "There could be civil war." "Will the Federation back me?" "The Galactic charter does not permit our involvement in internal politics." "A unanimous decision could call on emergency powers." "The circumstances are unusual, you know, when your own safety is involved." "But it would be a break with all precedent." "I can't persuade myself that interference of this kind is justified." "Then I think we ought to try and persuade you." "Your Majesty, will you excuse us?" "We have the need of a private conference for the benefit of Alpha Centauri." "Very well." "I shall consider all you have said." "And if you can assure me of your support, then I shall act." "Mind you, I reserve my legal right of veto." "We will discuss the matter fully, I assure you." "It would be different if there were precedents for such a situation, but there aren't." "We must consider all possibilities." "We must not be rash!" "Jo, do you realise how dangerous and complex this situation has become?" "Hepesh could still bring Peladon to his way of thinking and, if that happens, he'll have won without a fight." "But they can't just accuse the Ice Warriors of murder." "There were witnesses." "Ssorg had to shoot him to save your life." "Jo, you seem to be forgetting something else, officially we don't even exist." "We're just a couple of imposters." "You playing the grand ambassador, and Centauri upstaging everybody, and Peladon acting like a wet fish, I think it's about time that..." "Yeah, so that's why Grun was beckoning at me like that." "Hmm?" "Jo, I want you to go ahead and take charge of the conference." "Work on Centauri." "Once you've got a unanimous decision, act." "Well, what are you going to do?" "I'm going to see a man about an open door." "Off you go." "All right, if you say so." "Is everything ready for the attack, Captain?" "The men are armed and ready, sir." "Good." "Now remember, I want no harm to come to the king." "He's to be taken prisoner and kept in safe custody." "What do you want, Grun?" "You want me to go with you?" "No Grun, I've things to do." "Now, Captain, as soon as we arrive at the chamber..." "Grun, in the past you have served me well." "I shall not forget." "But for the moment, leave me!" "Now..." "Grun!" "Guard!" "Come Captain, it's time!" "Members of the Committee of Assessment, the motion is that we urge the Federation to support King Peladon in bringing peace to this troubled planet." "Those in favour?" "Carried unanimously." "Thank you." "Alpha Centauri, you've made a very wise decision." "I trust so, Your Highness." "For the record, my agreement is registered under protest." "I accept no responsibility." "We must inform the Federation." "With all this fuss, I forgot to mention it!" "This morning, I found my communicator broken!" "Then we must use mine." "Ssorg, the communicator." "We must contact our spaceships." "Definitely." "Spaceships?" "I take it your spaceship, like ours, is orbiting this planet?" " Yes!" "Yes, of course." "You seem disturbed, Princess." "No, not in the slightest." "I take it there is no doubt that the Earth government will ratify your decision, in view of the special circumstances?" "Circumstances?" "Well, I'm not quite sure." "What circumstances?" "Your forthcoming marriage with King Peladon." "Grun!" "Grun, what happened?" "Who attacked you?" "Who?" ""H?" What, Hepesh?" "And a soldier?" "How many soldiers?" "Many?" "If he takes charge of the citadel, we don't stand much of a chance." "Perhaps we do." "Come on." "You're not frightened, are you?" "A big chap like you." "Well, don't be." "You come with me, come on." "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but the marriage has not been arranged." "To coin a phrase, we're just good friends!" "But it would have made a magnificent coronation!" "Before we have a coronation, we have to have a king." "Are you going to help me or not?" "Well..." "Lord Izlyr, the link with our spaceship has been deliberately destroyed." "Yours too?" "Then we must make use of yours, Princess." "Well, don't look at me." "Ours was damaged when we crash-landed." "We're completely cut off?" "Hepesh?" "Yes..." "Hepesh." "Men, fall in." "Remember, Captain, no harm must befall the King." "Proceed." "What will happen?" "What will we do..." "Yes, but I'm sure the Doctor would know what to do." "I'm a civil servant, not a scientist!" "There's no escape!" "Yes, but where is he?" "Well, I don't know." "Without our communicators, we cannot return to our spacecraft!" "I knew something like this would happen!" "Arcturus was an unattractive person, Princess..." "But I think I preferred his cold logic to the hysteria of Centauri." "Centauri, stop it." "Centauri!" "Centauri, stop it!" "Nothing has happened yet." "We're quite safe here." "They would not dare to attack Federation delegates." "Surrender, or the king will die!" "Hepesh." "I thought you would bring me the crown of kingship." "Are you going to bring me death instead?" "You have become a stranger to me, Peladon." "Return to the ancient ways of our people, and you will live on our beloved king." "If not, the royal line of Peladon must meet an ignoble end." "Grun, you're a brave warrior." "What you're going to see now may amaze you, but just you trust me." "All right, old chap." "You remember me, don't you?" "You remember me." "Enter." "Ssorg will destroy you if you try to harm us." "I am unarmed and alone." "Where is the Doctor?" "I don't know." "He will not escape capture for long." "What do you want?" "You will all accompany me to the throne room." "Why?" "My men hold King Peladon prisoner." "If I do not return with all of you immediately, he will die!" "Follow me." "There you are, Grun." "Yes, he's quite under now." "Not such a terrifying creature after all, is he?" "Right." "I think it's about time that King Peladon learned the truth, don't you?" "Come on, Aggedor." "Come on, old chap." "That's it." "Come on, Aggedor." "That's it." "Come on, Grun." "You see?" "I did not lie." "What are you going to do to him?" "Nothing if the delegates cooperate." "You will answer to Federation justice for this!" "The Federation has no jurisdiction over me or over this planet." "It is you who will answer for your interference!" "You are holding us here by force!" "You will answer for that!" "I am not holding you." "I do not want you either as guests or as hostages." "I know the retribution this planet would suffer if anything happened to any of you." "Therefore go in peace." "Tell your masters" "Peladon wants nothing of their Federation, but go now!" "Who dares challenge Peladon?" "Doctor!" "Kneel and pay homage to his sacred guardian!" "Kneel!" "Hepesh!" "He is real!" "The beast!" "Do not listen to the alien!" "I am your high priest!" "And I speak for Aggedor." "And I accuse you, Hepesh, of being not only a traitor to your king, but also to your sacred trust!" "Do not listen to the alien!" "This is not Aggedor's spirit!" "I will show you... the reality of this creature!" "I am his master!" "When I speak, he obeys!" "Aggedor!" "Aggedor!" "Kill him!" "Back, that's it." "Back, back." "Hepesh!" "I wanted to save our world." "To preserve the old ways." "Perhaps I was wrong, Peladon." "I hope so." "The future you set so much store by is yours now." "Peladon, they're waiting for you." "Tell your men to lay down their arms." "Your leader is dead." "Your Majesty." "There will be no punishments." "The memory of this unhappy day shall be wiped from our history." "Your Majesty." "Come on, Jo, follow me." "I've got a nice surprise for you." "What?" "You wait and see." "You ready?" "Yes." "All right then." "Right." "Take a look at this." "The TARDIS!" "Wow!" "Some of Peladon's stout lads heaved her up the mountainside for us." "Is she all right?" "Yes, never better." "I told you the TARDIS was indestructible." "Well, I hope it gets us back to Earth this time." "So do I, Jo." "So do I." "Is there any doubt?" "You don't really think that our appearance on the planet of Peladon, at this precise crisis in their history was just coincidence, do you?" "Time Lords again." "Yes, I think so." "Ah, you didn't beat them after all." "No, not yet, but I will, Jo." "Just give me time." "Still, now we've done what they wanted us to do." "I suppose they'll whip us straight back to Earth." "At least, we get to see a real coronation before we go, eh?" "Yeah, that's true." "You know, I haven't seen a coronation since Elizabeth I's." "Or was it Queen Victoria's?" "Name dropper." " Oh!" "Don't worry." "It's only Aggedor." "The trouble is he seems to have grown rather fond of me!" "He keeps following me about." "Hello, Aggedor." "Hello." "He's a good chap." "All right, down, Aggedor." "Down!" "Down, boy." "Down!" "I think I better go lock him up!" "Yes, please." "Come on." "Come on, Aggedor." "Your Majesty." "Easy, Aggedor." "That's it." "Come on, this way." "Hello." "Oughtn't you to be getting ready for the big occasion?" "I wanted to see you first, to ask you to stay." "But I can't." "Why can't you?" "Don't ask me for reasons." "You wouldn't believe them." "I need you." "But you don't understand." "I'm not even a real princess." "That doesn't matter." "Oh, Peladon, I'm very, very fond of you, but I can't stay." "Really." "Well, look, I must go now." "I'll talk to you again, after the coronation." "I shan't give up, you know?" "I shall go on asking you." "Your Majesty." "Oh, excuse me." "But your court officials are in a state of considerable panic." "Oh, yes, of course." "I must go, Your Highness." "Goodbye." "Doctor." "Right, we'll just see the ceremony and then slip quietly away, all right?" "Yes." "Fine." "Jo?" "You do want to come back?" "I think I'd better, don't you?" "Mmm-hmm." "In any case, I wouldn't like to lose you." "Should we join the procession?" " Yes!" "I'm telling you, my good fellow, I am the official Earth delegate!" "But the Doctor is the accredited Earth delegate." "Doctor?" "What doctor?" "Doctor who?" "The Doctor and the Princess Josephine..." "Pity about that." "I rather wanted to see that coronation." "Never mind." "We could always go to Queen Victoria's." "Queen Victoria's?" "I've already seen Queen Victoria's." "I haven't." "Let's go again!" " All right." "They're obviously imposters!" "Where are they now?" "I think they were in the delegate's conference room." "Come!" "I will take you there!" "Well, where are they?" "What is that?"