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DOCTOR WHO
THE SONTARAN EXPERIMENT

Written by
Bob Baker and Dave Martin

Part Two

(Overlap from the Sontaran emerging from the ship)

[EXT. Outside the Sontaran ship]

STYRE: (approaching his two captives) The female of the species.
(He reaches out to her neck and inspects her. He then presses a button on the device from his belt and releases the cables attached to their collars. They retract.)
SARAH: Linx. A Sontaran. Can't be. You were destroyed in the thirteenth century. You were blown to smithereens.
STYRE: You may have seen one of us.
SARAH: But you're identical. The same ugly-
STYRE: Identical, yes, the same, no. I am Styre - Field Major Styre, as you will address me - of the Sontaran G3 Military Assessment Survey. And your opinion of my looks is of no interest to my programme. (now dictating into the device from his belt) Female number one, first assessment. Would appear to have no military justification. Offensive value therefore nil.
ROTH: You won't get me. You won't torture me again.
(He starts to run away. STYRE shoots him with his hand weapon. As the red beam hits ROTH, SARAH shrieks.)
STYRE: (returning the weapon to his belt) Why did you make that disagreeable noise?
SARAH: You killed him!
STYRE: That is my function. I am a warrior.
SARAH: Murderer. Murderer!
STYRE: Silence! The moron was of no further use to me. I had already tested him. (touching her face on either side and causing her to flinch and gasp) You, as a female, are far more interesting. And soon I will have the rest of your companions.
(Behind the rocks, HARRY slinks away.)

[EXT. Base of granite structure]

(The DOCTOR places the dead tree against the side of the pit. He hears a noise.)
DOCTOR: Hello? Sarah?
(Looking up to the lip of the pit, he sees ERAK, KRANS, and VURAL instead.)
DOCTOR: Oh, it's you again. Can't say I'm delighted. No use pretending.
VURAL: Just keep climbing, nice and quiet.
DOCTOR: If you insist.

[EXT. Granite structure]

HARRY: Sarah? Sarah, old girl, you here anywhere?
(We hear groaning.)
HARRY: Sarah, where are you?
(HARRY comes upon ROTH, who is attached, by metal cables at his wrists, to the rocks from above.)
HARRY: All right, old chap?
ROTH: No. No.
HARRY: (trying to release him) It's all right, old chap, I'm not going to hurt you. Let's have a look.
ROTH: (as HARRY checks his eyes) Water.

[EXT. Base of granite structure]

(The DOCTOR has almost reached the lip of the pit.)
VURAL: Krans.
KRANS: (stepping forward) Go on, and no tricks now.
DOCTOR: Behind you!
KRANS: I said no tricks.
(The DOCTOR has seen Styre's beeping metal contraption roll up behind the three men. They start to fire at it, which has no discernible impact. The metal cables take the men prisoner.)

[EXT. Granite structure]

(HARRY brings his water-soaked handkerchief to ROTH, whose head is lolled back. He places the handkerchief in ROTH's mouth and tries to deal with the shackles.)
HARRY: Look here, old chap, I'm going to have to go and get help. You understand? (ROTH nods) The Sontaran put you here? What for? Do you know why?
ROTH: (after HARRY has removed the handkerchief from his mouth) To, to die.
HARRY: Die? Are there many more of you? (HARRY moistens his forehead, and ROTH nods.)

[EXT. Base of granite structure]

(The DOCTOR finds the tunnel entrance.)
DOCTOR: (sniffing the air) No, it's not the Central Line.
(He heads into the tunnel.)

[EXT. Granite structure]

STYRE: When I ambushed the GalSec, there were nine survivors. I have already used up five of them, and I have been studying the free behaviour patterns of the remaining four.
SARAH: (sitting with wrists shackled to a boulder) So?
STYRE: So it is useless lying to me. I know you were not on that GalSec ship. Where do you come from? What is your planet of origin?
SARAH: Earth.
STYRE: That is a lie. There has been no intelligent life on this planet since the time of the solar flares.
SARAH: How do you know?
STYRE: I have the reports.
SARAH: They can't be wrong, can they?
STYRE: Silence. You are nothing, do you understand? You are a mistake and must therefore be eliminated. According to my data, you should not exist.
(He presses a button on his device and walks off. HARRY, now with a large stick, starts heading through a gap between the rocks, then heads back again and ducks down behind one of the rocks. Through the gap, STYRE is seen approaching.
Meanwhile, the DOCTOR emerges from the tunnel, as Harry did earlier.)
HARRY: Sarah?
SARAH [OC]: Harry! Over here.
(He runs to her.)
HARRY: Sarah.
SARAH: Well, come on, help me.
HARRY: Oh, hang on, old thing.
(He walks toward her. A force field audibly throws him back. He stands and tries stepping forward again. The force field prevents it. He holds his hands against the invisible barrier.)
HARRY: I can't get in.
SARAH: There must be a force field.
HARRY: Eh?
SARAH: That's it. He's locked me inside a force field, Harry. It's no good.
HARRY: Well, don't you worry, old thing. I'll, I'll find a way. I'll get you out of there if I have to knock his bally head off and grab his keys. Just don't you worry, Sarah.

[EXT. Communication sphere]

(After a shot of the DOCTOR, we see STYRE approach a light-orange sphere tucked away among the boulders. One side has an open portion. We can see that there is a monitor within and a panel of buttons. STYRE presses a button and speaks.)
STYRE: G3 intelligence. G3 intelligence. Field Major Styre reporting from Earth base.
MARSHAL: (fading in on the monitor) Well, Styre?
STYRE: My report, Marshal.
MARSHAL: Get on with it, then.
STYRE: As we knew, the Earth has not been repopulated. I have therefore carried out my instructions and lured a group of humans to the planet for testing. The results of my experiment indicate that they are puny beings with little resistance to physical stress and are totally dependent on organic chemical intake for their energy supply.
MARSHAL: Thank you, Styre. Then your report is complete.
STYRE: Not quite, Marshal.
MARSHAL: Why must there be any delay?
STYRE: Some inconsistencies have arisen. Small mistakes that will soon be eliminated. My final intelligence report for the assault will be with you within the hour, Marshal.
MARSHAL: It must be, Styre. It must be.
STYRE: (saluting, arm across chest) Very good, sir.
(The MARSHAL's face disappears from the monitor, and STYRE again dictates.)
STYRE: Experiment seven. Subject - female. Project - resistance to fear.
(He pushes a button in the communication sphere, and the monitor shows SARAH.)

[EXT. Granite structure]

(We see the device on her forehead. She has an out-of-it look. She sees a snake coiled round her left arm. After she looks away for a moment, it is gone. She then looks up. The device on her forehead gives her the sense that the rocks are falling. She screams. Mud then begins slurping its way up her legs. Her lips quiver.)
DOCTOR: (arriving) Sarah! Listen to me, Sarah! It's not real. Do you understand? Nothing is happening to you. It's only in your mind.
(He uses the sonic screwdriver on a metal plate attached to a rock. It begins to melt.)
DOCTOR: Fight it, Sarah. Fight it.
(Having dealt with the force field, the DOCTOR can go to SARAH without hindrance. He removes the device from the whimpering girl's forehead. She screams and passes out.)
DOCTOR: Oh, Sarah.
STYRE: (appearing from behind the rocks) Very touching.
DOCTOR: You unspeakable abomination!
(He rushes at STYRE, who throws him off with little effort.)
STYRE: Words, Earthling, will never prevail against Sontaran might.
DOCTOR: (from the ground) Why did you do it to her?
STYRE: I did nothing. I merely resurrected those things which lay buried in the depths of her pathetic little mind. She was a victim of her own fear. And now, your turn. (He pulls out his beam weapon.)
DOCTOR: Well done, Harry.
(STYRE turns. There is no Harry there. The DOCTOR pushes STYRE's gun arm, which throws STYRE off balance. The DOCTOR runs away. STYRE tries to shoot him and misses as the DOCTOR ducks. However, his second attempt is a success.)
STYRE: Worm.

[EXT. Outside the Sontaran ship]

(The contraption rolls onto the scene, with its cables hauling in the three captives.)
KRANS: Now we know what happened to our mates.
ERAK: We've still got a chance. If this thing intended to kill us-
(STYRE emerges from his ship and hisses.)
KRANS: It might have been the best thing.
STYRE: Good. The final batch of material.
VURAL: But not me. No, not me!
STYRE: All of you.
VURAL: But I helped you. I did everything you said.
KRANS: What?
VURAL: You said you'd save me if I-
STYRE: Oh, why should I save you, a traitor to your own miserable kind?
ERAK: Why you stinking, lousy swine, Vural! You tried to do a deal with this thing?
VURAL: It was all I could do. It gave us more time.
KRANS: That first night, he was gone for hours. Lost, he said.
VURAL: No, I did it for us.
STYRE: Enough of this bickering.
(STYRE removes the miniature camera from Vural's suit.)

[EXT. Granite structure]

(SARAH is still unconscious. HARRY places his hand on her head.)
HARRY: (looking around) Doctor. (he finds the DOCTOR slumped over the rocks) Not both of them.
(Hefting his stick with renewed purpose, he returns to ROTH. The man has died.)
HARRY: Murdering swine.
(HARRY flattens himself against a rock opposite the dead ROTH, as STYRE arrives through a narrow gap.)
STYRE: (dictating) Field Major Styre, Sontaran G3 Military Assessment Survey. Experiment five, human resistance to fluid deprivation. Data - subject died after nine days, seven hours. Impairment of mental faculties, motor reflexes, and physical co-ordination noted after only three days. Conclusion - dependence on fluid is a significant weakness which should be exploited in our attack. As a rider to the above, we should also like to take into account the successful conclusion of experiment four, where immersion in the fluid H₂O produced asphyxiation in less than three minutes.
(HARRY has begun creeping up on STYRE. The DOCTOR places his hand over HARRY's mouth, removes his hand, and beckons. The two head away from STYRE.)
STYRE: Conclusion - this species has little resistance to immersion in liquids.
(We move out to an area of brighter sunlight.)
HARRY: Doctor, I thought you were both dead.
DOCTOR: Not me. Piece of the synestic locking mechanism from Nerva's rocket. Popped it in my pocket.
HARRY: Fortuitous.
DOCTOR: Foresight. You never know when these bits and pieces will come in handy. (discarding it) Never throw anything away, Harry. Where's my five-hundred-year diary? I remember jotting some notes on the Sontarans. It's a mistake to clutter one's pockets, Harry.
HARRY: Yes, Doctor.
DOCTOR: What's Styre doing here?
HARRY: Well, he's killing people. He's on some kind of ghastly experiment. Look what he's done to Sarah.
DOCTOR: Harry, Sontarans never do anything without a military reason. You look to Sarah.
HARRY: And what are you going to do?
DOCTOR: Find out what's behind all this.
(He sets off climbing the boulders.
Below, VURAL is shackled to a flat bit of rock. ERAK and KRANS hold a weight over his prone form.)
STYRE: Experiment eight, resistance to pressure on the human breast cage and muscular strength. Are you prepared?
ERAK: What are you up to, you lump of filth?
STYRE: You are holding a gravity bar. At the moment, it is a mere forty pounds Earth weight. I will increase that weight to two hundred pounds.
(He does so on a control box. The men's knees bend.)
STYRE: Three hundred pounds.
(The men stagger, and the bar is now just above VURAL's chest.)

[EXT. Outside the Sontaran ship]

DOCTOR: (speaking to the contraption, which turns toward him) Hello. Hello. Don't be alarmed, old thing. Not going to hurt you. Everything's going to be all right.
(He activates the sonic screwdriver, and the contraption's leg joints collapse. Its 'head' moves back and forth.)
VURAL [OC]: Please!

[EXT. Granite structure]

VURAL: Please! Please!
KRANS: You murdering fiend!
STYRE: He is not your friend, he is a traitor, yet you struggle to save his life. Five hundred pounds.
(He hears beeping.)
STYRE: Enough.
(He resets the bar's weight.)
STYRE: I must delay the experiment. (He walks off.)
KRANS: Erak, the knife. The knife!
(ERAK attempts to reach the blade next to VURAL's feet without dropping his end of the bar.)

[INT. Communication sphere]

MARSHAL [on the monitor]: Styre, Field Major Styre, I order you to report.
STYRE: (saluting) This is Field Major Styre, sir.
(The DOCTOR, who has been scaling the rocks from above, is watching.)
MARSHAL: Styre, your constant delays are causing alarm. We must have your report.
STYRE: I am just completing my final experiment, the compressibility test of human tissue.
MARSHAL: The entire invasion fleet is being held up. How much longer must we wait?
STYRE: My programme was ordered by the Grand Strategic Council. The invasion cannot begin until all experiments are analysed.
MARSHAL]: Then get a move on, Styre. The fleet is waiting for my signal.
STYRE: (saluting again) Very good, Marshal.
(The DOCTOR moves away.)

[EXT. Granite structure]

SARAH: Doctor!
DOCTOR: Ah, Sarah, feeling better? No, don't tell me. No time. We've got an invasion on our hands.
HARRY: Invasion? Oh, you mean Styre?
DOCTOR: Him, and thousands exactly like him.
SARAH: They're going to invade Earth?
DOCTOR: The entire galaxy suddenly acquired some strategic importance in their endless war against the Rutans.
HARRY: Why on Earth is Styre torturing people?
DOCTOR: He's making an assessment of human physical limitations. Sontarans are very methodical people, and that might give us a slight advantage.
HARRY: Oh, I hadn't noticed, frankly.
SARAH: What are you going to do?
DOCTOR: I'm going to take him on in single combat. (relieving HARRY of his stick) It's the only way.
HARRY: You're what?
DOCTOR: Sontarans never turn down the chance to kill someone.
SARAH: Well you're not going to let him kill you?
DOCTOR: I hope not. I'm going to try and tire him out. He's pretty unwieldy, for all his strength, and he's not used to Earth's gravity. The thing is if I can get him exhausted, he'll have to go back to his ship to re-energise. Are you with me?
HARRY: Just about.
DOCTOR: While I keep him busy, I want you to get into his ship. Now, once you're inside, this is what I want you to do, Harry.
(He gives HARRY the sonic screwdriver.
Meanwhile, STYRE stands with his gravity-bar controls again.)
STYRE: Increase to six hundred pounds.
(The gravity bar is now on VURAL's chest. The other two men struggle to bear as much of its weight as they can.)
DOCTOR: Styre!
(STYRE turns to face him, surprised.)
DOCTOR: Still about your butcher's ways, Styre?
STYRE: You? But I killed you.
DOCTOR: Another mistake, Styre. You've fallen right into our trap.
STYRE: Trap?
DOCTOR: Yes. Those people you've been so cleverly evaluating are not Earth warriors. They're our slave class, the lowest form of human intelligence.
STYRE: You lie!
DOCTOR: Do you think those puny creatures could conquer half a galaxy? No, Styre, I represent the true warrior class. Evaluate me if you dare.
(STYRE pulls out his weapon.)
DOCTOR: Ah, is that the Sontaran way? The mighty warrior sheltering behind his gun? I challenge you, Styre. Single combat. Or are you afraid?
STYRE: Afraid? A Sontaran afraid?
(He throws his gun to the ground and picks up one of the men's knives.)
STYRE: All right, come to your death!
(The DOCTOR climbs down from the rocks above. They face off. The smiling DOCTOR avoids STYRE's swipes with the knife and keeps him at a distance through a few judicious jabs with Harry's stick.
HARRY and SARAH run over to assist with the gravity bar. The DOCTOR begins climbing into the rocks, with STYRE following him.)

[EXT. Outside the Sontaran ship]

(HARRY runs to the ship, opening its door with the sonic screwdriver.
Back with the fight, STYRE has hacked a good section off the DOCTOR's stick. STYRE is tiring out and starts to walk off.)
DOCTOR: Styre, it's not over yet.
STYRE: I'll finish with you later.
(The DOCTOR jumps down onto STYRE from the upper rocks. The two both fall, and they begin to wrestle. VURAL, now free, runs in and grabs STYRE's knife arm. STYRE attacks VURAL, who falls. Again STYRE starts to walk off. This time, the DOCTOR tackles him from behind. He can see HARRY carrying something shiny out of the ship.)
DOCTOR: You're weakening, Styre. You're weakening.
(STYRE throws the DOCTOR down.)
STYRE: Am I? (at the door to his ship) I shall kill you all now, but first I have more important tasks to perform.
HARRY: (approaching the DOCTOR with the equipment) Is this what you meant?
DOCTOR: It had better be. Let's get out of here.
SARAH: Doctor, Styre's killed Vural. He saved your life.
DOCTOR: I know. Everybody out, fast as you can. Come on!
(They run for cover behind some boulders. STYRE and some smoke exit the door of the ship. STYRE staggers and falls next to the ship, whose noise rises in pitch. We see STYRE's head begin to collapse inward, as if the contents are being sucked out from within. The rest of his body shows similar signs. Then there is a loud boom from the ship, accompanied by a flash. Only black marks on the rocks are left behind.)
SARAH: (popping out from behind the rocks) What happened?
DOCTOR: Ask Harry. He did it.
HARRY: What did I do? What is this thing anyway?
DOCTOR: It's a sort of terullian diode bypass transformer.
HARRY: Oh.
DOCTOR: Yes. Sontarans, as I told you, sometimes need to feed on pure energy, and by removing that you, uh, altered things slightly and the energy fed on him.
HARRY: That's taken care of one of them, but what about the rest of the invasion fleet waiting to blast us out of the galaxy?
DOCTOR: Yes. Well, I'll just attend to that.

[EXT. Communication sphere]

(The DOCTOR presses the button that Styre had hit earlier.)
MARSHAL [on the monitor]: Styre, your report? The intelligence. What is this?
DOCTOR: (smiling) Your Waterloo, Marshal. Your intelligence mission has been destroyed, and your invasion plans are in our hands. One move across the buffer zone, Marshal, and your entire fleet will be destroyed.
MARSHAL: We shall destroy your planet.
DOCTOR: What, without Styre's report?
MARSHAL: Next time, Earthling, we shall utterly destroy you.
DOCTOR: (breaking the connection) Not today, thank you. (to SARAH and HARRY) Brinkmanship, I think they call it.

[EXT. Transmat point]

(The DOCTOR has just finished repairing the globes at the station.)
DOCTOR: Sure you won't join us?
KRANS: No, we'll wait until that lot from Nerva get here, thanks all the same.
ERAK: Don't trust those transmat beams. They never work too good.
DOCTOR: As you wish.
(KRANS and ERAK step out of the circle.)
DOCTOR: I should stand back if I were you. (they move a bit further back) I mean, it should be all right.
(The three vanish. The DOCTOR reappears for a moment.)
DOCTOR: (as the sound from the transmat warbles slightly)But you never know quite, do you?

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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