Act 7: Gotta Get That Beryllium Chip
Eight and Grace enter the Institute's New Year's Eve party; Grace registers them as "Dr. Grace Holloway and guest." Once they walk away from the registration counter, Grace whispers to Eight, "First time being on the Board has ever done me any good."
"They must have found a back way in--I can't see them," Eight says, scanning the crowd.
They approach the stairway up to the clock, but there is a bouncer there protecting it. "I'm sorry, no one beyond this point."
"Oh, this is Dr. Bowman from London," Grace extemporizes. "They're waiting for him. Come on."
"He'll be allowed in with everyone else," comes the resolute answer.
Grace smiles, trying for charm. "I'm on the Board of Trustees." But the bouncer is not buying it. "Thank you very much," she replies as she and Eight walk off.
Lots of partygoers are filing into the area of dinner tables by this time, and several news agencies are on the balcony covering the event...and then we see the giant clock for the first time. "How are we gonna get that on the back of the bike?" Grace whispers to Eight.
"No, we only need the tiniest part of it," he replies.
Looking around them, Grace realizes they are starting to attract attention. "People are starting to stare--let's just make conversation," she advises. "So time travel is possible?"
"Anything's possible," Eight replies, quietly.
"And why don't you have the ability to transform yourself into another species, like--"
"Well, I do, when I die," Eight interrupts.
"And that rival Time Lord?"
"He's on his last life, fighting to survive," Eight explains. "And the signs have shown us over and over, in the fight for survival, there are no rules." He pauses. "Also, Grace, if I tell you a secret, you must promise not to tell--"
Just then, Professor Wagg (the guy in charge of the clock and the whole event) walks up, interrupting them. "Professor Wagg!" Grace says, with a nervous laugh. She gestures to Eight. "This is Dr. Bowman! He's from London. He was just going to share a secret with us!"
"Yes, Professor, is there a chance for a closer look at the clock?" Eight asks.
"No!" Professor Wagg vehemently denies. "I'm afraid that I am the only person allowed up there." He flashes an I.D. badge as proof of that.
"Oh, but can't you just bend the rules a little?" Eight asks, a little cajolingly.
"No."
"Oh, but you see--"
"Grace says that you have a big secret!" Wagg says, to get Eight off the subject. "What is it?"
Eight takes Wagg off to the side, and whispers, very seriously, "I'm half human, on my mother's side." Then Wagg and Grace begin to laugh, awkwardly.
"Very clever," Wagg says, officially weirded out. "Happy New Year..." and he walks off.
"Who does he think you must be?" Grace asks...and then Eight shows her the I.D. badge, which he has unclipped from Wagg's lapel without the Professor noticing. A guy walking by with a tray full of champagne glasses offers some to Grace, but just as she's about to take one, Eight reminds her they both have bigger fish to fry--he calls her name softly and pulls her gently along with him.
They find their way up to the clock, going around to the back of it so that Eight can access its inner workings. "This is when I wish I had my sonic screwdriver," he whispers as he undoes the panel. Grace asks "What?!" but Eight doesn't acknowledge it--he's too focused on his task. He opens the back of the clock, and quickly finds what he's after--a little electronic chip wired into the fourth panel down from the top of a stack.
"See, I told you it was small," he says, relieved that he's found it.
"What is it they say?" Grace quips (referencing the "good things come in small packages" adage)
Eight grins. "Yeah, they say it on my planet, too."
Now that they have the little beryllium chip, Eight and Grace quickly head out, but they are stopped by a young college-age guard. Eight greets him very strangely: "I know you."
"Ya do, huh?" the guard replies, skeptical.
"Gareth," Eight says, and the guard reacts with a raised eyebrow, indicating that Eight has correctly named him. "Answer the second question on your midterm, not the third. The third may look easy, but you'll mess it up."
"What?"
"Answer the second question, don't forget."
"I won't. Now can I see what's in your hand, sir?" Gareth asks, undeterred.
Eight raises his closed hand, and opens it to reveal another Jelly Baby lying in his palm. Gareth takes it, Eight grins, and he and Grace walk away.
"What was that all about?" Grace whispers as they walk away.
"Ten years from now, Gareth will head the Seismology unit at the UCLA task force," Eight says, "and devise a system for accurately predicting earthquakes."
Taken aback, Grace asks, "You mean that, don't you?"
"Of course," Eight replies. "Eventually, he'll save the human race several times, but first, he must graduate from poetry."
As he says this, they approach the balcony looking down on the party, and Grace spots Chang Lee in the crowd. "Look! There's the kid who took your stuff!"
Eight follows her gaze, and as they watch, Lee meets up with the Master; Eight turns quickly away. "You see who he's with?" They look around for an escape, and Eight spots a way out toward the back of the balcony. "Come on!" They run off, but their exit is not unmarked--the Master catches sight of them as they escape.
In a back hallway, Eight and Grace encounter four armed guards, guns in hand, frozen in place with the same kind of goo that the Master spit on Grace. "The Master?" she asks, with a tremble in her voice.
"We're lucky he only got your wrist," Eight replies. As they watch, one of the guards keels slowly backward, and he hits the floor, causing his gun to fire and the bullet to ricochet around them. They duck, and then Eight goes and hits the fire alarm on a nearby wall.
"Why'd you do that?"
"Liven things up! Come on!"
Eight and Grace run through a set of emergency doors, finding a small room beyond with a fire escape ladder up to the roof, plus a fire hose and hatchet mounted on the wall. Eight grabs the hose, Grace grabs the hatchet; they look at each other for a moment, strategizing, and then both say, "Door!" Grace puts the hatchet handle through the handles of the emergency doors, effectively barring the door, while Eight unwinds the hose to use in their escape. "You're not afraid of heights, are you?" he asks over his shoulder.
"Yeah!"
"So am I," Eight says, resigned, as he grabs hold of the hose nozzle and begins climbing the ladder. Grace follows him.
Meanwhile, in the party room, guests are hearing the fire alarm and running toward the exits in a panic. Professor Wagg is trying to control the chaos, saying, "Remain calm! Everything is under control! Don't panic, everything is under control!" before getting bowled over by another escaping guest. At the emergency doors, someone (likely the Master) is trying to batter them down without much success, as Eight and Grace begin to descend from the roof, both of them hanging onto the hose, Eight's arm wrapped around Grace to further keep her from falling.
Finally the hatchet handle breaks, allowing Lee and the Master access to the small room--the Master exclaims "Doctor!" in irritation, seeing the fire hose mount spinning as it dispenses the hose. But there's nothing he or Lee can do; Eight and Grace land neatly on the roof of a police car that pulls up just in time to catch them, and they climb down onto the sidewalk, then make a run for it, holding hands all the while, back to the police motorcycle they "borrowed." They jump on the back of the bike; Grace says, "Here we go again," and they take off.