Alan Budd and Belinda Chandra

Seventeen years ago, Belinda Chandra and her then-boyfriend Alan Budd shared a quiet moment stargazing on a park bench. For her birthday, Alan gifted her a star certificate, officially naming a star after her: Missbelindachandra.

Fast forward to the 23rd May 2025 and Belinda is fully immersed in her responsibilities as a nurse, blissfully unaware that The Doctor is on a mission to find her. Suddenly, her life takes a wild turn when she is kidnapped from her flat by giant, towering robots who declare her the Queen of Missbelindachandra One, thanks to her star certificate. They whisk her away aboard their rocket ship. As they soar towards their home planet, Belinda protests fiercely, insisting that Alan should be the one involved, given he was the original buyer of the star certificate. Meanwhile, The Doctor is in hot pursuit in the TARDIS, but a sudden time fracture forces him to take an unexpected detour.

Upon landing on Missbelindachandra One, Belinda is greeted by the awkwardly formal Sasha 55, who explains that the robots are in charge and are embroiled in a conflict with The Rebels. She guides Belinda to the Royal Chamber.

The Doctor

Inside the Royal Chamber, Belinda’s royal staff and Scoot the Polishbot await. As she settles onto her throne, the robots congratulate her on her supposed marriage and physical union with the AI Generator, the robot leader, in an effort to unify the warring factions. Shocked, Belinda firmly rejects this 'proposal.' The tension mounts as the robots prepare to enforce the union. To defuse the situation, Sasha 55 invites The Doctor, posing as a Royal Historian, to provide an explanation. He delivers a strangely crafted history of Missbelindachandra One, detailing the once-harmonious relationship between the robots and the people before the uprising ten years ago that led to the robots’ control. However, hidden within his speech is a coded message as the robots have a flaw that causes them to miss every ninth word. This message signals the Rebels to counterattack at that very moment.

The Rebels, armed with smuggled energy weapons, spring into action against the robots. In the ensuing chaos, The Doctor reveals he arrived six months prior, developed a bond with Sasha 55, and assisted in the rebellion’s formation. Once Belinda is secure, Sasha 55 expresses a desire to accompany The Doctor. However, the arrival of additional robot reinforcements forces The Doctor and Belinda to escape down a corridor while Sasha 55 covers for them. Tragically, Sasha 55 is killed in the process. Two other Rebels manage to follow The Doctor and Belinda to the transmat, where they successfully flee to the Rebel Base.

A Robot

To evade detection, The Doctor deactivates Scoot. Belinda takes charge of tending to the wounded, facing resentment from the Rebels for the robot's tyranny. The Doctor explains that the star certificate she holds and the one displayed by the AI Generator are, in fact, the same. It somehow traversed time, becoming a foundational myth of this civilisation.

Overcome with guilt for the struggles of the people, Belinda reactivates Scoot, calling the robots back. She agrees to accompany them on the condition that the Rebels are spared.

In the AI Generator's Chamber, Belinda is guided towards the AI Generator by the Robots. Expressing her annoyance at being addressed as ‘Ms.’ instead of simply Belinda, she’s taken aback when the AI Generator inquires about her marital status. It then dawns on her that the AI Generator is none other than Alan, or AL for short, now transformed into a cyborg. He reveals that following Belinda's orders back when they were on the rocket, the Robots fetched him a decade ago through a time fracture and integrated him into their system. With his newfound power, Alan led the Robots to overthrow the old regime.

Belinda Surrenders

The Doctor queries why Belinda chose to end her relationship with Alan. She explains that he exercised coercive control over her, prompting her to reject his initial marriage proposal. Alan commands her to grasp his copy of the star certificate to initiate the conversion, while The Doctor drops his certificate onto the floor for Scoot to pick up and hand to Belinda. As she takes it and presses it against the star certificate in Alan's grasp, a time paradox is triggered. The Doctor intervenes to absorb the shock, resulting in Alan being reduced to a mere sperm cell, thereby ending his dominion over the Robots.

With harmony restored between the people and Robots, Belinda instructs The Doctor to return her to the 24th May. However, when he attempts to pilot the TARDIS, they encounter an obstruction. They materialise in space, halfway to Earth, and decide to take 'the long way round.' As the TARDIS dematerialises, floating in space are remnants of a taxi, a chunk of the Eiffel Tower, a piece of the Statue of Liberty, the apex of the Great Pyramid of Giza, the star certificate, and a calendar marking that the cataclysm affecting Earth is set to occur on the 24th May 2025.