[ Index for this Doctor ]
[ Index for this story ]
DOCTOR WHO
THE ARK IN SPACE
Written by
Robert Holmes
Part Two
(Overlap from 'All the same...')
[INT. Cryonic chamber]
(HARRY kneels beside the large vespid creature that has fallen out onto the floor.)
HARRY: Well, it's dead, anyway.
DOCTOR: (examining it) Very dead. Almost mummified.
HARRY: What is it?
DOCTOR: That's something we can leave till later. No sign of the resuscitation tank?
HARRY: I hardly had a chance to look for one.
(The DOCTOR removes a fairly large flat orange box from the cupboard.)
DOCTOR: Emergency medical kit, wouldn't you say?
HARRY: (pulling some items out and examining them) A bit beyond me, I'm afraid.
DOCTOR: There must be something there that would help Sarah, but what? What? (He walks off, and HARRY holds the medical kit.)
HARRY: Doctor, look.
(On the other side of the room, the lights below pod D1 are illuminated.)
DOCTOR: (crossing to the pod) Of course! They don't need a tank. The resuscitation phase is programmed in.
(He opens the pod's clearish lid. Within is a woman wearing a white two-piece suit with yellow piping on the chest and shoulder flashes.)
DOCTOR: Look, she's starting to breathe.
HARRY: Yes, I think she is.
DOCTOR: No doubt about it.
HARRY: That means there's hope for Sarah. Yes, look, she's moving.
(The woman's arms are extended. HARRY holds the open medical kit out to her.)
HARRY: Something you want?
(She removes a spray gun with a radial attachment from the box.)
HARRY: Here, look, can't I do that for you? Independent sort of bird, isn't she?
(She holds the medical device to her chest. She jerks and gasps as we hear it activate. HARRY starts to rush forward, but the DOCTOR holds him back.)
DOCTOR: Leave her, Harry.
HARRY: Yes, but she's-
DOCTOR: There's nothing you can do. She knows what she's doing.
(The woman's head falls forward, but she then straighten and, after a moment, steps down out of her pod, with the DOCTOR holding her hand lightly. The light behind the pod switches off. She looks around the room and smiles but then notices the travellers.)
VIRA: Oh! Explain yourselves.
DOCTOR: Well, there isn't very much to explain. We're just travellers in space like yourself.
VIRA: That is not adequate.
HARRY: Er, my name's Sullivan. Surgeon Lieutenant Harry Sullivan, actually. And, er, this is the Doctor.
VIRA: You claim to be med-techs?
HARRY: Sorry?
DOCTOR: My doctorate is purely honorary, and Harry here is only qualified to work on sailors.
VIRA: My name is Vira. I am a first med-tech.
DOCTOR: Well, I'm delighted to hear it. You see, we happen to be in rather desperate need of medical help.
(He wheels a yellow cart to the pod that has SARAH in.)
VIRA: This female is a stranger.
HARRY: She's a friend of ours. She got caught in the machinery.
VIRA: She was not among the chosen.
HARRY: Well, she's among the chosen now, isn't she? (He sets the medical kit to the side.)
DOCTOR: Is there any way of reversing the cryogenic process?
VIRA: (picking up some equipment from the cart) That can be dangerous. How long since she underwent tissue irradiation?
HARRY: Can't be more than an hour, can it, Doctor? We haven't been here more than an hour altogether.
(VIRA is placing a band on SARAH's head. She waits a moment, then consults a reading on the piece of equipment she is holding.)
VIRA: Receding neural activity.
HARRY: Is there anything you can do for her?
VIRA: (removing the circlet) Is she of value?
HARRY: Of value? She's a human being like ourselves! What sort of question's that?
DOCTOR: The answer is 'yes'.
VIRA: Your comrade is a romantic.
DOCTOR: Perhaps we both are.
VIRA: I will inject a monod block.
HARRY: Ah, that'll do the trick, eh?
VIRA: Your colony speech has no meaning.
HARRY: I mean it'll, uh, bring her round, reverse the process.
(VIRA ignores him and injects something into SARAH's wrist.)
VIRA: She will either survive or die. The action of the anti-protonic is not predictable.
DOCTOR: I see. You've changed her body into a battlefield.
VIRA: Battlefield? I hypoid in classicals, but you dawn-timers have a language all of your own.
DOCTOR: We do seem to have a small communications problem.
HARRY: I wish there was something I could do.
VIRA: It is done. There is nothing further. As she revives, her electrical field will draw power from the bionosphere.
(She wheels the cart to another pod with flashing lights, marked as D2.)
VIRA: Here is our prime unit.
HARRY: Prime unit?
VIRA: Er, our leader, I think you would say. (she opens the pod, within which is a man whose suit has red highlights) Noah.
HARRY: Noah? Oh, I see. As in, uh, 'Noah's ark', eh?
VIRA: It is a name from mythology. (she tends to him as she speaks) His real name is Lazar, but we called him Noah as an amusement.
HARRY: Er, joke?
VIRA: Joke? Oh, yes. There was not much joke in the last days.
DOCTOR: What happened in the last days, Vira?
VIRA: Your colony has no records, no history? Where are you from?
HARRY: London, actually. England. The Earth.
VIRA: That is not possible. The Earth is dead.
DOCTOR: I'm afraid you're probably wrong about that.
VIRA: The solar flares destroyed all life on Earth.
DOCTOR: Ah. Solar flares. I see.
VIRA: Our scientists calculated it would be five thousand years before the biosphere became viable again.
DOCTOR: Oh, the absolute minimum, I'd say. But I'm afraid I've something of a shock for you, Vira.
VIRA: Shock?
DOCTOR: You've overslept by several thousand years. You see, when we came here, we found a massive systems failure.
VIRA: The systems have no capacity for failure.
DOCTOR: Possibly not, but a long time ago, when you were dormant, you had a visitor. Come, I'll show it to you.
(They contemplate the body of the creature.)
VIRA: Is it from space? How did it get here?
DOCTOR: I don't know yet, but observe the size of the brain pan. It had a purpose in coming here, and, once inside, it severed most of the satellite's control systems, including your alarm clock, so to speak.
VIRA: What purpose?
(We see a shot of the vessel moving through space. We then watch as a large green maggot crawls through some of the machinery out of view.
HARRY puts his hand to SARAH's head. In the background, VIRA checks on other pod-occupants.)
HARRY: Still no change, Doctor.
DOCTOR: No. For once in my life, I feel surplus to requirements.
(We watch as the maggot waves a green pseudopod near the locking wheel of a hatch. It then begins turning.)
VIRA: (working on NOAH, who does not have a light on in his pod) Doctor?
DOCTOR: What is it?
VIRA: There's a technical fault in the bionosphere.
DOCTOR: I don't think the fault's at this end. It's in the main power supply.
VIRA: It must be corrected. If his heart stops now, there's nothing I can do.
DOCTOR: Don't worry. I noticed the Ark has a secondary power supply. Harry, you stay here and keep an eye on things.
HARRY: Right-o.
VIRA: Yes, but-
(The DOCTOR has gone.)
VIRA: The Ark was designed to have a negative fault capacity.
HARRY: Gremlins can get into everything, old girl. First law of the sea. (She looks at him.)
(In the secondary control area, the DOCTOR works on a console, then stands and flips a couple of switches. We cut back to NOAH, whose pod-light comes on.)
HARRY: There you are. What did I tell you? The Doctor's a first-class boffin.
VIRA: Good. He will revive soon.
DOCTOR [OC]: Harry?
HARRY: I say, that was quick. (He steps through a doorway.)
[INT. Tranquiller room]
HARRY: Doctor? Doctor, where are you?
DOCTOR [OC]: In the control room. Have you got the power back on in there?
[INT. Control room]
HARRY [OC]: Yes, we have. Everything's ship-shape now.
DOCTOR: Splendid. The fault seems to be in the main solar stack. I'm just going to take a look.
HARRY [OC]: Right-o.
[INT. Tranquiller room]
HARRY: I say, Doctor, don't be long, will you?
[INT. Cryonic chamber]
(VIRA gives NOAH the injection that she earlier administered to herself. He wakes as she did.)
NOAH: Vira.
VIRA: (holding his hand) Welcome, Commander.
NOAH: It's over. It's over, Vira. You and I are alive again.
VIRA: And together.
NOAH: (once VIRA has helped him down) Who is this?
HARRY: Lieutenant Sullivan, sir.
NOAH: A regressive? Here?
HARRY: I'm no regressive, I'm a naval officer!
(SARAH's pod makes a louder noise, and HARRY goes to her.)
HARRY: Sarah!
NOAH: Clearly a regressive. His speech patterns prove it. How did he get here?
VIRA: They claim they are travellers in space.
NOAH: They?
VIRA: There are three of them. Another male, called the Doctor, and that female. They say she was irradiated by error.
HARRY: Vira, she's coming round.
NOAH: There was a regressive faction among the volunteers for Colony 9.
VIRA: With a zero zero survival predict. One generation.
NOAH: Even so, our genetic pool has been balanced, cross-matched, compat-evaluated. Three random units could threaten our survival.
HARRY: Vira!
VIRA: The Council can decide, Noah. The plan had a seven per cent stretch factor.
(She crosses the room.)
HARRY: I think she's going to be all right.
VIRA: (taking another neural reading) She will revive soon.
HARRY: Thank heaven for that. Well done. The Doctor will be delighted.
NOAH: Where is the Doctor?
HARRY: Oh, he says you've got a spot of bother in your er, um. Anyway, he's gone to fix it.
NOAH: What?
HARRY: Er, solar stacks, I think he said.
(NOAH leaves.)
HARRY: Yes, she's breathing.
(In the dimly lit bowels of the Ark, the DOCTOR has his torch out. He discovers a slime trail.
Meanwhile, NOAH, wearing a gun belt, walks along the perimeter of the Ark.)
HARRY: (while VIRA works) Soon have you up and about, old thing. This won't hurt a bit.
(She chest-injects SARAH, who - predictably - goes rigid for a moment and cries out.)
HARRY: Perhaps just a little bit.
VIRA: (turning to him) If you are space travellers as you claim, you should leave now.
HARRY: I say, that's a bit brusque, isn't it? I mean, if it hadn't been for the Doctor-
VIRA: Noah will not permit contamination of the genetic pool. All regressive transmitters have been eliminated.
HARRY: Oh, come off it. We're not contaminating anybody.
VIRA: He has the authority to initiate condign action. Personally, I consider your destruction is not necessary.
HARRY: Thanks very much.
(VIRA walks away.)
SARAH: Harry?
HARRY: Here. Do you think you can stand? Gently. Mind, there's a step down. There you are.
SARAH: I feel so muzzy.
(She notices her white suit with blue accents and the room.)
SARAH: What's this? (shouting) What's happening?
HARRY: (whispering) It's all right, it's all right.
(The DOCTOR finds the open hatch and touches the lock. Slime. Behind the glass is a backlit bubbling green mass. The DOCTOR locks the hatch, looks at the green thing with an eye staring out at him, and leaves.)
SARAH: Ten thousand years?
HARRY: Well, according to the Doctor.
SARAH: It's unbelievable, Harry.
SARAH: (referring to the wasp husk) What's that?
HARRY: Dunno. We found it in the cupboard.
SARAH: In the cupboard?
HARRY: Yeah. It's a sort of, uh, sort of galactic woodworm, I suppose.
SARAH: It is dead, isn't it?
HARRY: Oh yes, yes. Been dead for years. It's nothing to worry about.
(In the background, VIRA discovers that pod D3, with a red light within, is empty. There is a slime trail leading out of it.)
VIRA: Come here!
HARRY: What's the trouble?
VIRA: What have you done with Dune?
HARRY: Dune?
VIRA: Where is he? Answer me!
[INT. Control room]
DOCTOR: (glancing at the entering NOAH) Ah, there you are. Awake at last.
NOAH: Move away.
DOCTOR: I'm just shutting down the power in the main stack.
NOAH: (holding out a long, thin gun) Touch that switch and I'll atomise you.
DOCTOR: Noah.
NOAH: Earth is ours.
DOCTOR: My dear man, if you think for one moment we're laying claim to Earth, you couldn't be more mistaken. We're here to help you.
NOAH: By deactivating the main solar stack?
DOCTOR: Precisely. There's something trapped in the stack, Noah, but at the rate it's absorbing energy, it won't be trapped for long. The stack must be shut down. Well, if you'd been down there with me, Noah, you'd-
(He is interrupted by a blue shot from the gun. Overlaid in blue for a moment, the DOCTOR falls.
Meanwhile, the green creature breaks through the glass of the hatch.)
[INT. Cryonic chamber]
VIRA: The revivification pattern was inbuilt. Dune was allotted Pallet 3.
SARAH: Oh. Well, perhaps he recovered early?
HARRY: Yes, that's possible, isn't it? I mean, well, after all, some people need more sleep than others.
NOAH [OC]: Vira? Hear me, hear me.
[INT. Tranquiller room]
VIRA: Yes, Noah? Where are you?
[INT. Control room]
NOAH: Main control. I found the Doctor here about to sabotage the power system. He's been dealt with.
[INT. Tranquiller room]
VIRA: Noah, we have a problem. Pallet 3 is empty.
[INT. Control room]
NOAH: Explain.
VIRA [OC]: Technician Dune is missing. There is no explanation.
NOAH: The explanation is that the regressives have taken him. Any other problems?
[INT. Tranquiller room]
VIRA: No, Commander.
[INT. Control room]
NOAH: Then proceed with the schedule. I'm about to check the power stacks.
[INT. Tranquiller room]
VIRA: Commander Noah will question you on his return. Complete truth is advisable.
(Head held high, she leaves, heading into the cryonic chamber.)
HARRY: Cocky bunch, aren't they?
SARAH: What do you think's happened to the Doctor?
HARRY: I think we'd better find out, don't you?
SARAH: Yes.
HARRY: Come on, then.
(NOAH enters the solar power stacks, gun drawn. He sees the broken glass, then turns around rapidly and fires. We see a pseudopod touch his left hand. He grabs that hand and falls to the floor.)
[INT. Control room]
(Rushing in, SARAH and HARRY find the DOCTOR on the floor.)
SARAH: Doctor! What's wrong with him?
HARRY: (rolling him over) Haven't a clue, Sarah.
SARAH: Well, you're supposed to be a doc-
HARRY: Ssssh. (listening to the DOCTOR's chest) He's alive, anyway. His hearts are beating.
SARAH: Oh, Doctor.
HARRY: It's incredible. He's absolutely rigid.
SARAH: Harry, please, do something.
HARRY: But there's no response at all.
DOCTOR: ...You wouldn't find it so amusing.
SARAH: Oh, Doctor!
DOCTOR: Ah, Sarah, you're back. Splendid. Where's Noah? (hand to his head) Shot me, did he? Cut off in mid-sentence. I might have been saying something important. I was saying something important!
SARAH: Look, are you all right?
DOCTOR: What? Blinding headache, that's all. I hate stun guns. Where is he?
SARAH: Who?
DOCTOR: Noah, of course. Who else?
HARRY: Uh, well, we overheard him on the intercom thing saying something about checking the solar stacks.
DOCTOR: What? The idiot. Quick, there might be still time.
HARRY: Are you sure you're all right?
DOCTOR: Never mind about me, Harry, there's a man in danger.
(Waking, NOAH sits up.)
[INT. Perimeter walkway]
(They are walking clockwise around the Ark.)
HARRY: Strange how they've given us the run of the ship. Why doesn't Vira try and stop us?
DOCTOR: Not her function, Harry.
HARRY: How do you mean?
DOCTOR: By the thirtieth century, human society was highly compartmentalised. Vira is a med-tech, and I suspect we're an executive problem.
(NOAH, left hand in pocket and right hand holding gun, intercepts them.)
NOAH: Right, Doctor. But not a difficult one. You can easily be eliminated.
DOCTOR: Unlike the thing you saw in the solar stack, eh, Noah?
NOAH: I saw a pathetic attempt at sabotage. The observation port is damaged.
DOCTOR: Then it's escaped. We're too late.
SARAH: What's escaped?
NOAH: Turn about. We will return to the cryogenic section.
DOCTOR: You're absolutely right. There's no time to lose. Come on.
[INT. Cryonic chamber]
(VIRA gives the occupant of pod D6, the injection. We look at the approaching group for a moment.)
LIBRI: (a young man with green uniform highlights) Vira.
VIRA: Welcome.
NOAH: Welcome, Libri.
LIBRI: (shrinking back toward his pod) Keep back. Keep back!
NOAH: What's the matter with him?
LIBRI: Keep back!
NOAH: Is it his mind?
VIRA: No, his reactions were normal. Libri-
LIBRI: Keep away!
VIRA: This is Noah. You remember Commander Noah?
LIBRI: I'm sorry. I saw something standing there.
DOCTOR: What was it you saw, Libri?
NOAH: Silence! You're here to answer questions, not ask them.
LIBRI: It was horrible. A shape. I'm sorry. I'm all right now.
VIRA: Temporary neuro-ocular confusion.
DOCTOR: The process is much too slow. They're not going to make it.
NOAH: No further warnings.
HARRY: Yes, you'd shoot too, wouldn't you? Nice fellow.
NOAH: Libri, keep these three under guard. Kill them if they give any trouble.
LIBRI: Yes, sir.
(NOAH gives LIBRI the gun.)
VIRA: Noah, where are you going?
NOAH: The system must be shut down.
VIRA: What?
NOAH: The revivification must be stopped.
VIRA: Why? I don't understand.
NOAH: It is an order. I am the commander.
VIRA: But the first phase isn't completed, and we need the technical crew, Noah, to operate the station.
NOAH: Yes. No! No, the plan is changed. (with his hand on his face) Hear me, hear me. The plan is changed.
VIRA: Noah, what is it? Is it something to do with Dune?
NOAH: Dune?
VIRA: Technician Dune. I reported him missing.
NOAH: But I'm here. I am Dune.
VIRA: What?
NOAH: The system must be shut down. No more aliens!
(He turns and leaves.)
VIRA: Noah, come back!
DOCTOR: He must be stopped.
VIRA: Something has happened to his mind. There was a power fault during his revival.
DOCTOR: Get after him, man.
LIBRI: No, no, he gave me an order.
DOCTOR: Don't be an imbecile. Tell him, Vira.
VIRA: There is no procedure for stopping the revivification programme. It could be damaging, Libri.
LIBRI: But he is our commander.
DOCTOR: Can you be sure?
LIBRI: What?
DOCTOR: When you first saw him, you had a subconscious impression, you said, of something horrible. That wasn't Noah, was it?
LIBRI: No.
DOCTOR: Believe me, he must be stopped.
(VIRA nods, and LIBRI leaves the room.)
DOCTOR: Good.
VIRA: It's not advisable for you to try and escape.
DOCTOR: You take some convincing that we're on your side, don't you? Now, what's all this about a missing technician?
VIRA: Pallet 3. I found it empty.
SARAH: Noah thinks that we're to blame.
HARRY: Chap's jumped ship, that's all. Happens all the time.
SARAH: Oh, come on. A space satellite's a bit different from a ship, Harry.
HARRY: You know, Sarah, I bet you there's the equivalent of a dinghy missing.
DOCTOR: It's not quite empty.
(He holds out the aerial of the R/T unit. He has collected a stretch of something green on it.)
VIRA: Oh, what's that?
DOCTOR: Membrane.
SARAH: Membrane?
DOCTOR: Part of the eggshell.
VIRA: Where's it from?
DOCTOR: It's almost too horrible to think about. (he walks over to the giant insect and inspects it) The egg tube is empty.
VIRA: That thing?
DOCTOR: The progenitor. The queen coloniser.
SARAH: I don't understand.
DOCTOR: Ever heard of the Eumenes?
HARRY: Eumenes? One of our frigates.
DOCTOR: It's a genus of wasps that paralyses caterpillars and lays its eggs in their bodies. When the larvae emerge, they have a ready-made food supply. Strange how the same life patterns recur throughout the universe.
HARRY: Doctor, are you saying that that slug thing...?
DOCTOR: Ciliated larvae, Harry. Dune was power systems technician, I imagine.
VIRA: Yes, but how did you know?
DOCTOR: It, or they, went straight to the solar stack.
VIRA: You mean Dune's knowledge-
DOCTOR: Has been thoroughly digested, I'm afraid.
SARAH: Don't make jokes like that, Doctor.
DOCTOR: When I say I'm afraid, Sarah, I'm not making jokes.
[INT. Secondary control]
(LIBRI holds out the gun, pointed at NOAH.)
LIBRI: Commander.
NOAH: (holding out his hand) Give me the gun.
LIBRI: I'm sorry, Commander.
NOAH: (walking forward) Give me the gun.
LIBRI: No. You're not well.
NOAH: I order you.
LIBRI: I can't. Please, Commander, stay back. Please.
(NOAH's hand is now very close to the gun.)
LIBRI: Don't force me to-
(NOAH slowly takes the gun.)
NOAH: You fool, Libri.
(NOAH shoots him. LIBRI falls straight backward. NOAH returns the gun to his belt and walks into the control room. He removes his left hand from his pocket. It is large, green, and blobby. Holding it up, NOAH looks disgusted and horrified.)
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
-=#=-
Anna's home >
The Doctors' home >
This Doctor >
This story
-=#=-