Whilst looking around the lab, the Doctor finds a piece of metal exactly like the one in his jacket. With Hensell, Quinn and Bragen, the Doctor and his two friends are brought to the laboratory where Lesterson and Janley are studying the capsule. She touches his sleeve and mentions that he is missing a button. In the corridor outside, Janley comes across Quinn, with whom she seems very close. The Doctor discovers his reading glasses now impair his vision. The Doctor confides to Ben and Polly that he thinks this story is not true. The Doctor states that he will look at it later and dismisses his visitors. The Doctor asks about the capsule, and Hensell explains it was fished out of a mercury pool from where it had lain dormant for hundreds of years.
Governor Hensell introduces himself and gives him free run of the compound. When in the colony, the Doctor admits nothing, playing the fool and (much to Ben's annoyance) remains very inactive, hoping to expose the murderer of the real Examiner. It has been in the mercury swamps for 200 years. Lesterson agrees, warning her against underground movements, but he is distracted by experiments on his capsule which is made of a metal that is entirely non-corrosive. Janley asks if she can still have her meeting here tonight. The Doctor reads his Five Hundred Year Diary while walking through the mercury swamps.Īt the human colony, Lesterson, a scientist, is informed by his assistant Janley that the Examiner has arrived. They explain that they are on the planet Vulcan and allude to the fact the Examiner must be here to examine the "space capsule". They take the Doctor for the Examiner, something the Doctor elects to go along with.
The three travellers are rescued by Quinn, Deputy Governor, and Bragen, Head of Security. Meanwhile, the Doctor is almost the assassin's next target he is knocked unconscious, though he pulls a button off the attacker's clothes as he is taken down.īen and Polly emerge from the TARDIS, but get too close to the mercury pools and collapse from the fumes. He removes the glasses and carefully puts them away, before returning his attention to the badge the man is the Examiner from Earth. Everything becomes blurry and the Doctor soon realises this is caused by the glasses, which he doesn't need any more. Examining the body, the Doctor finds a badge reading VULCAN / EARTH EXAMINER / ACCORD EVERY ACCESS and puts on his predecessor's wire-rimmed reading glasses to examine it. As the Doctor approaches, the man is shot and killed by an unseen assassin. Then he finds a man shouting for assistance. He reaches a large rock and, in order to test out his new body, leapfrogs over it. The TARDIS has landed on a desolate planet filled with rocky formations and mercury pools, which he manages to dodge whilst not looking up from his diary. The Doctor exits the TARDIS while reading the diary at the same time. Ben is concerned that the Doctor hasn't taken any readings, but the Doctor reveals that he has but no one noticed. On finding this he suggests they go for a walk. Upon further searching, he finds a Five Hundred Year Diary. The Doctor finds a piece of metal in his jacket and murmurs "extermination" to himself. Ben asks why he is referring to himself in the third person and begins to suspect he isn't the Doctor. He also finds a dagger which "the Doctor" got from Saladin. The mirror briefly reflects the face of the old Doctor before changing back into that of the younger Doctor. The new Doctor rummages through his old things and finds a mirror which he thrusts into Ben's hand. The ring that the Doctor used to wear falls off his finger because it doesn't fit anymore. He finally comes to and chuckles to himself that "it's over". His head is filled with the sound of drumming. Ben asks how this is possible, and Polly remarks that the Doctor said his body was "wearing a bit thin" and this is what he probably meant.
The Doctor with his companions shortly after regenerating.īen and Polly are bewildered after discovering that the the Doctor has transformed into a completely different, younger man. But in fact, the Daleks have sinister plans of their own. Once reactivated, the Daleks begin performing duties around the colony and so a rebel group plot to use these new "servants" to help them gain power. The colonists refuse to heed the Doctor's dire warnings that the Daleks are dangerous.
Mistaken for an official Earth Examiner, the Doctor discovers that a scientist called Lesterson is attempting to reactivate three inanimate Daleks found in a crashed space rocket. Following the Doctor's regeneration into a new, younger body, the TARDIS lands at an Earth colony on the planet Vulcan in the far future.