THE MUTANTS
BY
BOB BAKER
AND
DAVE MARTIN
EPISODE FOUR
1: INT. SOLOS. CAVE
(STUBBS comes running back up to them.)
STUBBS: Gas! They've started the attack already.
COTTON: Come on, we've got to get out.
STUBBS: We can't get out. The Marshal's sealed us in.
COTTON: What are we going to do?
(JO suddenly points.)
JO: Look!
(From one side of the cave a figure walks forward - the radiation suited being. It waves to the five to follow him.)
JO: That's it - the thing I saw.
(STUBBS reaches for his gun but JO stops him.)
JO: No, don't shoot - look.
(The figure's gestures to follow continue. At the same time, the cave itself starts to rumble and shake.)
DOCTOR: Whatever it is, I think we'd better follow it. Go on.
(They walk towards the figure who turns and walks off, the others following and coughing within the encroaching gas.)
2: INT. SOLOS. CAVE PASSAGE
(As they follow the figure down a passage, they hear more distant explosions.)
STUBBS: Making sure of it this time.
COTTON: Huh?
STUBBS: The Marshal.
(There is another louder explosion.)
STUBBS: That's the exits.
COTTON: Was the exits.
STUBBS: Yeah.
(KY pushes past them.)
KY: (Bitterly.) The Overlords are very thorough.
STUBBS: If it goes on like this, the whole lot'll come down on top of us.
COTTON: Hurry up, Stubbs!
STUBBS: Alright, alright.
COTTON: Where's he talking us anyway?
3: INT. SOLOS. DOORWAY IN PASSAGE
(The figure reaches a metal wall which cuts across the rock passage. In the wall is a metal doorway with a palm sensor next to it. The figure presses it and enters through the sliding door into a brightly lit room beyond. The DOCTOR is about to follow but pauses to scratch the outside metal of the wall with an object from his pocket.)
DOCTOR: Lead. What does lead mean to you, Jo?
JO: Radiation.
DOCTOR: Yes, exactly.
(He steps in.)
4: INT. SOLOS. LABORATORY SHELTER
(The others follow. The room within is part metal walls, part rock. A laboratory bench and other equipment lines one side of the room. The DOCTOR and JO immediately start to look over it as the figure waits for the two Skybase men to enter and then closes the door with an internal palm sensor. JO and the DOCTOR spin round as they hear the noise of the door. The figure then pulls off the hood of its radiation suit. Underneath is revealed a man. Just about middle-aged, completely bald, with strong intelligent eyes. He speaks in a Nordic accent as he approaches the DOCTOR with a smile and an outstretched hand...)
SONDERGAARD: Welcome. You must not be alarmed. My name is...
DOCTOR: (Interrupts.) Professor Sondergaard, I presume?
SONDERGAARD: Mmm.
(SONDERGAARD and the DOCTOR shake hands, smiling at each other.)
5: EXT. SOLOS
(The MARSHAL approaches a GUARD.)
MARSHAL: Right, I am returning to Skybase. I want every exit sealed. Understand? Every exit.
SOLOS GUARD: That's impossible, sir. These mine galleries stretch for miles. We'll be here for weeks.
MARSHAL: (Agreeing.) Mmm hmm. Give the gas a while to disperse, then take a squad down to the galleries. Who knows - you may find some survivors down there. (Coughs.) Right, I'm returning to the Skybase, report to me there.
(He puts his oxymask back on and moves off.)
6: INT. SOLOS. LABORATORY SHELTER
(SONDERGAARD sits as he divests himself of the rest of his radiation suit. Underneath it, he wears a robe and beads of native Solonian clothing.)
SONDERGAARD: There is radioactivity present throughout the cave system. Oh, it's natural in a thaesium mine, and it's not dangerous, unless you're here for many years, as I am. Or unless you find yourself in an unstable zone - as you did, young lady.
JO: S...
SONDERGAARD: The entrance you found led you straight to the heart of the most dangerous radioactivity.
JO: So it was you I saw? And you brought me out?
SONDERGAARD: Ha! I didn't know what to do. I couldn't let you die, so I carried you as quickly as I could out of the radioactive zone to where I hoped your friends would find you.
JO: Well, thank you, Professor.
KY: You were given up for dead years ago.
SONDERGAARD: Yeah, so were many others in the mines. The mutants, for example.
JO: The mutants? Well they attacked us and tried to kill us.
SONDERGAARD: Yes, I know. There are more now, may more, and as their numbers increase, so it seems does their aggression. Oh, it's not an isolated phenomenon. The...same behaviour may be observed in rats when confined.
KY: And who did this to my people? Who hunted them down like wild animals - the Overlords!
DOCTOR: This, er, increase in aggression that you speak of - it seems to be spreading.
KY: (Cries out.) Aggression?! Yes! And who were the first aggressors?
DOCTOR: Ky! This is not a political meeting. We're all on your side, you know - all of us.
(KY points at a silent SONDERGAARD.)
KY: Him? Why does he hide in these caves? To experiment on my people!
(SONDERGAARD shakes his head.)
DOCTOR: Look, give him a chance to explain!
JO: Please, Ky.
SONDERGAARD: Well he has my sympathies. (To KY, passionately.) Do you think I've chosen to live here? To work with this primitive equipment? I was young, ambitious. I hoped to make many great discoveries here.
(KY stalks away from the Professor.)
SONDERGAARD: (To the DOCTOR.) And my first was that Solos had become a slave colony. I was unwise enough to...try to inform Earth control. The Marshal intercepted my report. I was lucky to escape with my life. I managed to reach the caves. I've been here ever since.
DOCTOR: But you have continued with your research?
SONDERGAARD: Hah! As well as I could. As you see, I lack equipment. If it were not for the mutants, I would not have been able to survive here.
KY: (Puzzled.) My people...help you?
SONDERGAARD: They did. We were all outcasts. We helped one another. Once they stole food for me, and clothing.
DOCTOR: And now?
SONDERGAARD: Now they don't come near me. It is as if I were...
KY: Diseased?
SONDERGAARD: Who knows? Perhaps they're right. Strange things are happening on Solos, Doctor.
(He starts to take some samples of soil, dying plants and organs in a solution off a shelf and take them over to the lab bench.)
SONDERGAARD: Oh, not just to the people, but to the plants, the soil, the atmosphere - even the weather, the whole flora and fauna of Solos.
(The DOCTOR looks over the dying plant-life.)
DOCTOR: It's Professor Jaeger's experiments.
SONDERGAARD: Exactly, and my belief is this: at first the changes were natural, but now Professor Jaeger's experiments have accelerated the changes and...something is seriously wrong.
DOCTOR: (Quietly.) Yes...yes indeed. But why was I sent here? Where do these tablets come in? Ky?
(He gestures to the container. KY places his hands on it and the top starts to rise open.)
7: INT. SKYBASE ONE. LABORATORY
(The MARSHAL enters the laboratory where JAEGER is looking over the remains of the lash-up from the DOCTOR'S particle reversal experiment.)
MARSHAL: Are the ionisation rockets deployed?
JAEGER: Mmm?
MARSHAL: (Impatiently.) The rockets, man, for the bombardment!
JAEGER: Marshal, this is not a war.
MARSHAL: Oh?
JAEGER: This is a scientific application of ballistics. An experiment to show that population control can be affected by atmospheric means.
MARSHAL: Of course, of course, Jaeger, but let's get on with it, shall we?
(He heads back for the door.)
MARSHAL: Experiments, population control - jargon, Jaeger! This is war!
(He leaves. JAEGER sighs and crosses to a console to carry out the order.)
8: INT. SOLOS. LABORATORY SHELTER
(The four stone elliptical tablets have been placed on the lab bench and SONDERGAARD looks them over.)
SONDERGAARD: Extraordinary! This wonderful, Doctor, marvellous.
DOCTOR: Yes, but what do they mean?
SONDERGAARD: This is the same kind of hieroglyphs I've seen in the old temples.
(SONDERGAARD crosses to the other side of the laboratory to fetch something.)
SONDERGAARD: Ah.
(He returns with a photograph of a symbol on the cave wall identical to that seen earlier by the DOCTOR.)
SONDERGAARD: All over Solos you see the same symbols, you see.
DOCTOR: Yes, I can see that, Professor, but can you read them?
SONDERGAARD: Well, I can try. I have approximate translations for many of the basic symbols. One might call this the "Solonian book of Genesis" - the lost tablets. This, Doctor, is how the s...the story of how Solonian civilisation began.
(The shelter is suddenly shaken by what seems to be another explosion. A small part of the ceiling comes in.)
DOCTOR: And ended, if we don't get a move on, I think.
STUBBS: (Worried.) Doctor, that wasn't a blast pack, or a grenade - that was the mountain itself. The tunnels are falling in. Now if we stay here, we finished - all of us.
DOCTOR: Professor?
(SONDERGAARD is absorbed in the tablets.)
DOCTOR: Professor, is there another way out?
SONDERGAARD: Yes, yes, there is a way, but it's dangerous. It leads to a native village a few miles from here.
KY: Varan's?
SONDERGAARD: Yes, I believe so.
STUBBS: Well, let's go then!
(STUBBS collects his equipment.)
SONDERGAARD: No, no, no, I must stay.
STUBBS: Doctor?
DOCTOR: No, sorry, Stubbs, no, you go. Take Miss Grant with you. The Professor and I have got work to do.
JO: (Concerned.) You're not going to stay here, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Jo! Look, the key to everything lies here in this room - these tablets, Professor Sondergaard's records - I must find the answer.
JO: Yes, I know but you heard what he said - the whole mountain is caving in.
DOCTOR: We shall have time.
JO: (Cries.) But, Doctor, you...
DOCTOR: (Interrupts.) Jo, please? Please, don't argue with me. I'll join you later.
STUBBS: Come on, Miss Grant.
(He opens the door to the outside.)
STUBBS: (To KY.) What about Varan?
KY: I can handle him.
SONDERGAARD: To find the shaft that leads to the passageway, take always the path leading up.
(The four start to walk out. JO gives the DOCTOR a smile before she goes which he returns. SONDERGAARD closes the door and then returns to the bench, rubbing his hands.)
SONDERGAARD: Now then, Doctor.
(The two scientists pore over the four tablets. SONDERGAARD points to a symbol that appears on three on the tablets.)
SONDERGAARD: Now, this particular symbol here, for instance, is the Solonian symbol for life.
9: INT. SOLOS. CAVE PASSAGE
(STUBBS lights the way with his torch as leads KY and JO through the cave system with COTTON bringing up the rear. The remnants of the gas fills the air. JO stumbles in the gloom and looks back to see a roaring mutant stalking them. COTTON helps her on.)
10: INT. SOLOS. LABORATORY SHELTER
(The examination of the tablets continues...)
SONDERGAARD: Now then, this pattern repeated is almost the same, and this is the Solonian sun symbol.
(He points to an oblong with a carved point on it - rather like the drawn path of on elliptical orbit.)
DOCTOR: Yes, well, they aren't numbers, so it can't be a code. Let's try something else.
(He points to the four in turn.)
DOCTOR: Fire, earth, air, water...
(SONDERGAARD doesn't look impressed with the idea.)
DOCTOR: No, alright, that's no good.
SONDERGAARD: Mmm. Well, erm, a...a cycle perhaps, representing some form of chemical process?
DOCTOR: Yes, but the process keeps repeating itself. What process repeats itself?
SONDERGAARD: Well, life.
DOCTOR: Life in some form will always go on.
(There is another explosion-like rumble from the mountain above and another part of the roof comes down.)
SONDERGAARD: Let's hope so.
DOCTOR: Yes.
(They continue.)
11: INT. SOLOS. CAVE PASSAGE
(The four continue down a long passage. JO, still near the rear of the group, glances into a side turning.)
JO: Look, a guard!
(KY jumps into concealment behind a ridge as COTTON makes a show of apprehending JO. The guard runs forward with his gun raised. STUBBS runs back.)
STUBBS: Alright, mate? It's me - Stubbs. Here ___.
(The guard looks impassively on and fires at STUBBS. He ducks to miss the shot as KY jumps out of concealment and clubs the guard down. STUBBS looks round.)
STUBBS: Come on, better try this way.
(They move off down his suggested route.)
12: INT. SOLOS. LABORATORY SHELTER
DOCTOR: It must be a code of some kind - it must.
(Inspiration suddenly comes to him and he snaps his fingers.)
DOCTOR: Eureka, it's a calendar!
(He points at the four tablets in turn.)
DOCTOR: Spring, summer, autumn, winter.
SONDERGAARD: Ha, but Solos has no seasons. It does not tilt on its axis relative to its sun.
DOCTOR: Well, it may not tilt, Professor, but it could move closer. Look, these ellipses here, they're the orbits.
SONDERGAARD: But Solos takes two thousand years to go round its sun. We know that.
(The DOCTOR thinks.)
DOCTOR: Then the seasons must be five hundred years long.
SONDERGAARD: Mmm, possibly.
(The DOCTOR points to two of the tablets in turn.)
DOCTOR: See, these signs here. They only appear in the summer. And these little matchstick men here only appear in the spring.
(SONDERGAARD points to a third.)
SONDERGAARD: Yes, but...but what about these spirals? They...they're like small sun symbols.
DOCTOR: Yes, like small sun symbols...
(Realisation dawns...)
DOCTOR: Well, yes but...but that's it! That...that's what I said - that's radiation. That's thaesium radiation! So that's why they sent me here.
(He grabs his cloak.)
DOCTOR: Professor, I want you to take me to that place where you found Jo Grant.
STUBBS: The radiation cave - but I've only one suit. If you spend any time in there without one, Doctor, you will die. Any man would.
DOCTOR: Any "man" perhaps.
(There is another rumble and the room shakes. The DOCTOR throws SONDERGAARD his radiation suit.)
DOCTOR: Hurry, Professor.
(SONDERGAARD starts to don the suit.)
13: INT. SOLOS. CAVE PASSAGE
(The four make their way along a passage with an upward incline. KY helps JO as she gasps for breath.)
14: INT. SOLOS. ANOTHER CAVE PASSAGE
(This passage is more even. STUBBS shines his searchlight on the ceiling as they go. He stops.)
STUBBS: This is it - look!
(Above them is a carved funnel leading to an opening.)
STUBBS: If we can reach that ledge. Right, Cotton, you first, then Ky.
JO: If only we had a rope.
(Suddenly, a Solonian in armour looks over the edge of the opening and downwards at the group. JO sees him and gasps.)
COTTON: What? What is it?
JO: Look!
(JO points upwards but the figure has disappeared.)
JO: There was someone there, I tell you. There was!
COTTON: Well, he's not there now, Miss.
JO: But he was there. He was wearing a...a helmet.
KY: A warrior?
JO: Well, he could have been.
KY: If we are near Varan's village...his people are in a savage mood.
COTTON: Right.
(COTTON starts to climb up the funnel, easily making it by standing on or gripping onto the heavily ridged sides. He reaches the top.)
STUBBS: Anything?!
COTTON: No, nothing!
STUBBS: Right, up we go.
KY: Varan will be somewhere near.
(KY starts to climb, followed by JO then STUBBS.)
15: EXT. SOLOS. VARAN'S VILLAGE
(VARAN, dressed in an armoured helmet, addresses three of his similarly attired warriors. VARAN'S transformation has moved a stage further and his face is now also encrusted.)
VARAN: My people, we are all that are left. But we are warriors yet. Shall we crawl away and die in darkness like the rest or shall we fight, one last time?
WARRIOR GUARD: (OOV.) Varan!
(A WARRIOR GUARD runs out of the mist and into the village.)
WARRIOR GUARD: (OOV.) Varan! Varan - Overlords, from the place of darkness.
16: INT. SOLOS. CAVE PASSAGE
(The DOCTOR and the suited SONDERGAARD walk into a passage.)
DOCTOR: Where is it?
SONDERGAARD: This section here.
(SONDERGAARD points at a huge round stone blocking an entrance.)
DOCTOR: Right, there it is.
(They walk up to it.)
DOCTOR: How do we move it?
SONDERGAARD: That way.
DOCTOR: This way.
(The two brace themselves against the stone...)
DOCTOR: Right?
SONDERGAARD: Yep
(They roll the stone to one side...)
17: INT. SOLOS. RADIATION CAVE
(...and a glowing light within pours out.)
18: INT. SOLOS. CAVE PASSAGE
(They rest the stone against the wall of the passage...)
19: INT. SOLOS. RADIATION CAVE
(...and peer within. SONDERGAARD has to hold up his hands against the glare.)
DOCTOR: Your helmet, Professor.
(SONDERGAARD seems transfixed by the glare.)
DOCTOR: Your helmet, man!
SONDERGAARD: Oh, yes.
(He starts to don the helmet.)
SONDERGAARD: What about you, Doctor? The intensity in there's far greater.
DOCTOR: Don't worry about me. I've already prepared myself. Ready?
SONDERGAARD: Mmm hmm.
(They enter. Their movements become slower as they are hit by the energy. They walk slowly towards the centre of the cave. Once more, its dazzling colours create a cascade of light across the walls. SONDERGAARD holds up his hands in protection against the forces within while the DOCTOR stands calmly but in awe at what he sees around him.)
DOCTOR: It's magnificent! It's like a cathedral!
20: EXT. SOLOS. VARAN'S VILLAGE
(JO and the others reach the village. There is no sign of anyone about. JO breathes in using COTTON'S oxymask and, having had her fill, passes it back to the Skybase guard. They enter the small open hut. Once within and entrapped, VARAN and his men jump forward out of the mist, the WARRIOR GUARD giving a cry as he does so. STUBBS and COTTON raise their guns.)
KY: No! Don't shoot!
(Another warrior has come in from the back of the hut and grabbed JO. They are surrounded.)
VARAN: Your weapons, Overlords.
(STUBBS and COTTON drop their guns. VARAN now has a series of ridges growing out of his back...)
21: INT. SOLOS. RADIATION CAVE
(The DOCTOR and SONDERGAARD make their way further into the cave. Dazzling blue shapes seem to fly past them. SONDERGAARD gives a cry of pain.)
DOCTOR: Come on, we've got to get to the heart of it.
(The DOCTOR takes his arm and puts it over his shoulders and half carries the man onwards. As they approach nearer to the centre, more shapes come out of nowhere and fly past the two men. SONDERGAARD gives another cry of pain, falling off the DOCTOR and to the ground.)
SONDERGAARD: No! You go! Leave me!
(The DOCTOR lets him down and then examines him briefly. He then moves on towards the centre of the cave, holding his hands up against the light. He rounds a corner and sees a brilliantly-lit object, rather like a statue of a seated figure. Holding his hands up against the glare, he approaches it. A dark point rests in the centre "chest" of the figure. The DOCTOR reaches out and takes it. It appears to be a dark crystal. As he walks off, sparks surround him. He pockets the crystal and returns to SONDERGAARD, picking the man up in a fireman's lift. He then makes for the exit from the dazzling cave.)
22: EXT. SOLOS. VARAN'S VILLAGE
(JO and the others kneel on the floor of the open hut, their hands bound behind their backs. VARAN and his men stand over them. Two of the Solonians hold STUBBS and COTTON'S weapons. JO is breathing badly in the atmosphere.)
VARAN: Overlords, you will suffer as I have suffered. And you, renegade, will die.
KY: You are a fool, Varan. Attack Skybase and you will sacrifice your men for nothing.
VARAN: What have we to fear? We have nothing left now but revenge.
KY: (Cries out.) You cannot hope to get into Skybase, much less destroy it!
VARAN: You forget - we have the Overlords, we have their weapons. You and the woman will act as shields. So you see, renegade, you will die for a cause - the cause of Varan's revenge. Now move!
WARRIOR GUARD: Move!
(The four are pulled to their feet and thrust forward.)
23: INT. SKYBASE ONE. MARSHAL'S OFFICE
(The door to the MARSHAL'S office opens and JAEGER is escorted in by two guards.)
MARSHAL: Well? The countdown started?
JAEGER: Started? Marshal, are you aware how long it takes to check out an orbital rocket?
MARSHAL: You have the engineers, haven't you?
JAEGER: They've deteriorated almost as much as the hardware.
MARSHAL: Hmm! Excuses, Jaeger, excuses!
(There is a sudden trilling signal from the MARSHAL'S radio baton. He opens it.)
MARSHAL: (Into radio.) Yes?
TANNOY VOICE: Message from deep space.
(The MARSHAL looks alarmed.)
MARSHAL: (Into radio.) What?
TANNOY VOICE: Message reads: Unscheduled Hyperion Space Shuttle now on course: Solos. ETA: Twenty-two, twenty, twenty-nine, Solos time. Earth Council investigator on board.
(The MARSHAL is looking more perturbed as the message is relayed.)
MARSHAL: (Into radio.) Investigator? What investigator?
TANNOY VOICE: Message ends.
(The MARSHAL snaps his baton shut.)
MARSHAL: Blast the Earth council! Who do they think they are? An investigator? Investigating what?
JAEGER: Your activities should give him plenty of scope.
(At this, the MARSHAL stands and walks round his desk in a threatening fashion.)
MARSHAL: Jaeger, if I didn't need you... Now, listen to me - when this...investigator arrives, he will be met with a fait accompli. Your experiments will have been carried out and Mutts will have been eliminated and the air on Solos will be breathable - understand?
JAEGER: But the rockets are only half ready...
MARSHAL: (Shouts.) Either they go or you go, Professor Jaeger! (Quietly.) I intend to meet this investigator on the planet's surface itself. Face to face, without masks.
24: INT. SOLOS. TRANSFER STATION
(A Skybase Guard, alone in the Solos transfer station, turns and sees STUBBS and COTTON walking towards him.)
GUARD: Hello you two, where are you going? Up, Stubbs?
STUBBS: Yeah, His Nibs wants to see us.
(He is knocked to the floor from behind by VARAN'S mutating hand. As STUBBS and COTTON lay him to one side, JO and KY are brought into the reception area by the other Solonians.)
VARAN: You did well, Overlords. Now the way to Skybase lies open.
STUBBS: You don't stand a chance, Varan.
VARAN: We're prepared to die.
JO: What good will that do? Believe me, the Doctor will help you find a cure.
VARAN: There is no cure for this!
(He indicates the heavily encrusted skin on his face.)
25: INT. SOLOS. LABORATORY SHELTER
(The DOCTOR and SONDERGAARD have returned to the Professor's laboratory. The crystal has been placed on a block for examination. SONDERGAARD stands to one side, recovering from the effects of the radiation cave.)
DOCTOR: Yes, of course! The Solonians are meant to mutate. Mutation is part of it. Part of an evolution. They're meant to change, their environment changes every five hundred years - a life cycle unique in the history of the universe. And now, thanks to the Marshal, threatened with extinction.
SONDERGAARD: So, it's...it's not a sickness?
DOCTOR: No, it's a metamorphosis, an adaptive change. The mutants, as we know them, are...an intermediate form.
SONDERGAARD: And we've yet to see the final metamorphosis?
DOCTOR: Exactly. The radiation cave is the key to that.
SONDERGAARD: Well, the tablets led us to the crystal.
DOCTOR: Yes, it must play a vital part in the process, but what?
SONDERGAARD: Oh...well, maybe that the cellular change is only affected by the particular radiation in the crystal.
DOCTOR: That's the extraordinary thing about it. It shows absolutely no radioactivity at all. Here, try it for yourself.
(The DOCTOR passes him the probe of a Geiger counter.)
SONDERGAARD: But that's impossible!
(SONDERGAARD plays the probe over the crystal with no result.)
DOCTOR: Apparently not. If only we could analyse it...and find out its true function.
SONDERGAARD: The equipment here's too primitive for crystallography. There's only one place...
(The DOCTOR realises what he's talking about.)
DOCTOR: Skybase - Jaeger's lab.
SONDERGAARD: Hmm.
(They grab the crystal and the four tablets and prepare to leave.)
26: INT. SOLOS. TRANSFER STATION
(The guard still lies unconscious on the floor in the Solos transfer station. A tannoy announcement is made...)
TANNOY VOICE: All Skybase personnel. All Skybase personnel - return to Skybase immediately. Repeat: return immediately. Countdown proceeding on rocket launch.
(There is no one else in the area.)
27: INT. SKYBASE ONE. TRANSFER SECTION
(Up on Skybase, JO and STUBBS are held by VARAN and one of his warriors in the transfer section. The two booths glow blue and KY and COTTON materialise with their Solonian escorts.)
TANNOY VOICE: Launch now in final stage.
(KY and COTTON are thrust out of their booths.)
VARAN: Now, Overlords. This way.
(The four prisoners are thrust down a corridor.)
TANNOY VOICE: All vectors cleared. All systems green and go on countdown. Sixty seconds and counting.
28: INT. SKYBASE ONE. CORRIDOR
(STUBBS and COTTON take the lead as they progress through Skybase.)
TANNOY VOICE: Fifty-five and counting.
(JO and KY, still with their wrists bound are next, followed by VARAN and his men.)
TANNOY VOICE: Fifty-one. Fifty and counting.
29: INT. SKYBASE ONE. LABORATORY
(JAEGER sits nervously at a console while the MARSHAL stands impassively over him.)
TANNOY VOICE: Forty-seven. Forty-five and counting.
JAEGER: This is stupid! I take no responsibility!
MARSHAL: That is for me to decide.
TANNOY VOICE: Forty-one. Emergency! Emergency! Unauthorised personnel in transfer section! Hold countdown!
(The MARSHAL speaks into his baton.)
MARSHAL: No, keep the countdown going.
TANNOY VOICE: Countdown proceeding.
MARSHAL: Guards to transfer section - immediate! (To JAEGER.) Nothing is to stop this countdown - nothing!
(He storms out of the laboratory.)
MARSHAL: Guards!
30: INT. SOLOS. CAVE PASSAGE
(The DOCTOR and SONDERGAARD make their way up the same incline taken by JO and the others before. SONDERGAARD is heavily out of breath. He points.)
SONDERGAARD: There...there!
(The DOCTOR sees a shaft of light coming into the passage. At that moment, SONDERGAARD collapses. The DOCTOR looks torn.)
31: INT. SKYBASE ONE. CORRIDOR
(The MARSHAL leads his men stealthily down a corridor. As they come to a junction, he halts them and watches. After a moment, the invaders come round the corner, the hostages still in the lead.)
TANNOY VOICE: Thirty-eight, thirty-seven, thirty-six, thirty-five, thirty-four, thirty-three, thirty-two, thirty-one and counting. Thirty, twenty-nine...
JO: What are they counting?
TANNOY VOICE: Twenty-eight...
STUBBS: It must be one of Jaeger's experiments.
COTTON: You hope.
TANNOY VOICE: Twenty-seven...
VARAN: Silence!
TANNOY VOICE: Twenty-six, twenty-five, twenty-four...
(They pass the door to the Bacterial Decontamination section.)
KY: This is madness, Varan.
TANNOY VOICE: Twenty-three...
(STUBBS senses someone ahead.)
STUBBS: Quiet!
TANNOY VOICE: Twenty-two, twenty-one, twenty seconds and counting.
(STUBBS sees the approaching MARSHAL and his men. He points to the Bacterial Decontamination section.)
STUBBS: In there, quick!
TANNOY VOICE: Eighteen, seventeen...
(They start to enter as the Skybase Guards open fire. The first casualties are all of VARAN'S men who are shot to the ground. The others, including VARAN make it into the chamber.)
32: INT. SKYBASE ONE. BACTERIAL DECONTAMINATION SECTION
(The chamber is bare and well-lit. VARAN draws his sword as the MARSHAL follows them in.)
TANNOY VOICE: Ten, nine, eight, seven...
(The MARSHAL fires point-blank at the VARAN...)
TANNOY VOICE: Six, five...
(...and the entire wall behind him explodes and is torn away revealing nothing but space beyond.)
TANNOY VOICE: Four, three...
(As JO watches in horror, VARAN is sucked into space.)
TANNOY VOICE: Two, one, zero!
(The others are thrown to the floor as Skybase lurches. COTTON grabs hold of a wall handle.)
33: EXT. SKYBASE ONE
(From exit holes, a rain of rockets emerges...)
34: SPACE
(VARAN twists in space, his mouth open in silent agony.)
35: INT. SKYBASE ONE. BACTERIAL DECONTAMINATION SECTION
(The MARSHAL grips to the edge of the gaping hole in the wall as the air is sucked out.)
TANNOY VOICE: Emergency! Emergency!
(The others have formed a human chain from COTTON'S handgrip to KY'S arm. STUBBS holds onto his leg with one hand and JO in the other but they are all being pulled towards the gaping hole...)
TANNOY VOICE: Hull fracture in section three. Depressurise and isolate!
Dr. Who
JON PERTWEE
Jo Grant
KATY MANNING
Marshal
PAUL WHITSUN-JONES
Varan
JAMES MELLOR
Ky
GARRICK HAGON
Jaeger
GEORGE PRAVDA
Sondergaard
JOHN HOLLIS
Stubbs
CHRISTOPHER COLL
Cotton
RICK JAMES
Solos Guard
ROY PEARCE
Warrior Guard
DAVID ARLEN
Title Music by
RON GRAINER
and BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Incidental Music by
TRISTRAM CARY
Special Sounds by
BRIAN HODGSON
Film Cameraman
FRED HAMILTON
Film Sound
DICK MANTON
Film Editor
DAVE KING
Visual Effects Designer
JOHN HORTON
Script Editor
TERRANCE DICKS
Designer
JEREMY BEAR
Producer
BARRY LETTS
Directed by
CHRISTOPHER BARRY
COLOUR
© BBC 1972