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DOCTOR WHO
THE ARK IN SPACE

Written by
Robert Holmes

Part Four

(Overlap from the Doctor walking down into the stacks)

[INT. Power stacks]

(The Wirrn advances but stops as someone fires on it. It is VIRA firing, and SARAH is with her. The DOCTOR retreats, joining them on the steps up to the rest of the Ark.)
SARAH: Run, Doctor! Run!
WIRRN: Stay, Vira. Stay. Abandon the Ark, Vira. Take the transport ship. Leave now. If you stay, you are doomed.
VIRA: That would be desertion.
WIRRN: Then you must die, all of you. When the Wirrn emerge, you will be hunted down and destroyed, as you destroyed us.
SARAH: We've never destroyed... What does he mean?
WIRRN: Long ago, long ago, humans came to the old lands. For a thousand years, the Wirrn fought them, but you humans destroyed the breeding colonies. The Wirrn were driven from Andromeda.
VIRA: Andromeda? So our star pioneers succeeded?
WIRRN: Since then, we have drifted through space, searching for a new habitat. The Ark is ours. It must be ours.
DOCTOR: But the Wirrn live in space. You don't need the Ark.
WIRRN: You know nothing. We live in space, but our breeding colonies are terrestrial.
DOCTOR: But you could leave the Ark and go on. There's plenty of room in the galaxy for us all.
WIRRN: In the old lands, senseless herbivores, cattle, were the hosts for our hatchlings. Now we shall use the humans in the cryogenic chamber. We shall be informed with all human knowledge. In one generation, the Wirrn will become an advanced technological species. We shall have power!
VIRA: That proposition is genetically impossible.
WIRRN: I already have all Dune's knowledge. High-energy physics, quantum mechanics. Every ramate in the next hatching of Wirrn will possess the sum of your race's learning. That is why you must die.
(One of the pupal cases on the wall starts cracking open.)
DOCTOR: Time to leave.
WIRRN: Leave the Ark, Vira, or die with the rest of your race.
(All the others back out.)

[INT. Control room]

HARRY: Well, something must have happened to them.
ROGIN: And if we go out there, it might happen to us.
HARRY: Well, I think we ought to investigate.
ROGIN: There are no lights in the rest of the Ark, Harry. After what happened to Lycett, I want to see where I'm putting my feet.
(HARRY looks down at his socks.)
HARRY: You should worry.
(At a noise from outside, ROGIN gets his weapon ready and stands at the left of the door.)
HARRY: Doctor! It's taken you long enough to get here. I was worried stiff.
DOCTOR: We bumped into Noah.
ROGIN: Again?
DOCTOR: Yes. Quite chatty this time. Garrulous even.
VIRA: You've got the power on.
ROGIN: No, Commander, I'm using photon energy. There's just enough to run the lights.
HARRY: Well, what did Noah say?
SARAH: Vamoose or stick around and get killed.
HARRY: I'm ready to go. Doctor?
DOCTOR: Anyone for a jelly baby?
HARRY: Well, look, why don't we all just pile into the TARDIS?
DOCTOR: No?
VIRA: TARDIS?
HARRY: Er, yes. A sort of spaceship thing in there. Plenty of room for all of us.
DOCTOR: Vira has no intention of leaving here, have you, Vira?
VIRA: I can't.
DOCTOR: Of course you can't, so neither can we.
SARAH: Ah, well, that settles us.
DOCTOR: Besides, we can't let the Wirrn eat through the cryogenic sleepers as though they were a lot of-
HARRY: Jelly babies?
DOCTOR: Exactly. Let them be turned into a lot of surrogate humans? It's the most immoral suggestion I've heard for a century.
ROGIN: How can we stop them?
DOCTOR: High-voltage power. If we can somehow send enough electrical power through the bulkheads of the cryogenic chamber-
SARAH: Like an electric fence?
DOCTOR: Yes. The Wirrn would never dare to cross it. The only problem is we don't have any electrical power and they control its sources, the solar stacks.
HARRY: Well, we can forget that idea then, can't we?
SARAH: Doctor-
DOCTOR: Unless we can lure them out of the infrastructure.
SARAH: No, wait a minute.
VIRA: How can we do that?
DOCTOR: Bait. Human bait! If one of us could distract them for a few moments, I might be able to get down there and turn the power on.
SARAH: Doctor, will you listen?
DOCTOR: Sarah, we're trying to make a plan.
VIRA: It wouldn't work, Doctor. If they have Dune's knowledge, they'd simply turn it off again.
DOCTOR: Not if we electrify the switch itself.
ROGIN: That would take a long time. Those switch boxes are non-conductive.
DOCTOR: Well we can't do without oxygen indefinitely. What was that you were trying to say, Sarah?
SARAH: I was just wondering about the transport ship that Noah mentioned.
DOCTOR: What about it?
SARAH: Well, surely it has its own power system, doesn't it?
ROGIN: Four granovox turbines! That ship can generate twice the power of the Ark.
DOCTOR: How can we reach it?
(She brings the relevant schematics up on the round monitor.)
VIRA: Here's the connecting ramp. It's less than a hundred metres from this control room.
ROGIN: The only trouble is how do we run a cable from the ship to the cryogenic chamber? If it's in the open, they'll cut it.
DOCTOR: Aren't there conduits?
ROGIN: Yes, but they're only about this wide. We'd need a mechanical cable runner.
SARAH: Why can't I take that cable through? Well, I'm about that wide.
HARRY: It's hardly a job for you, Sarah.
ROGIN: I reckon she might just squeeze through, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Good girl, Sarah. Come on, we'd better hurry. The Wirrn are going to start moving any moment. You four go to the transport ship, and I'll start wiring up the cryogenic chamber.

[INT. Under the transport ship]

(ROGIN has a large coil of cable, which he carries into the area below the transport ship's exhausts.)
ROGIN: This is the transport ship, and here's the conduit. We'll connect one end up here, and you'll have to drag the other end through. Do you think you can manage it?
SARAH: I'll have to.
VIRA: Good luck.
(ROGIN opens a hatch at the bottom of the shuttle, and he climbs the ladder that lowers.)
HARRY: It seems very narrow, Sarah. Does that lead straight to the cryogenic chamber?
VIRA: No. There are many junctions.
HARRY: How's she going to find her way in the dark and everything?
VIRA: We'll give her a two-way radio from the ship. We have a plan of the conduits. We can guide you.
ROGIN [OC]: All right, Commander.

[INT. Transport ship]

(VIRA climbs into the ship.)
ROGIN: Beautiful. We could head straight home to Earth now. Nothing could stop us.
VIRA: You've completed all checks?
ROGIN: Yes, Commander.
VIRA: Right. Waste no more time. Give the girl the radio.
(As he attaches cables to the walls of the cryonic chamber, the DOCTOR hears a noise. We see that it is a Wirrn scritching its way into the tranquiller room. The DOCTOR shrugs and continues his work.)

[INT. Under the transport ship]

(HARRY is feeding cable into the conduit. It stops advancing.)
HARRY: How are you doing, old girl?
SARAH [OC]: How do you think I'm doing, twit?
HARRY: I'm sorry, I thought you were stuck.
(The cable is taken up again.
Back in the cryonic chamber, the Wirrn looks around. The DOCTOR peeks out from the pod where he is hiding.)

[INT. Transport ship]

SARAH [OC]: Hello, Rogin? Hello? I've reached another junction, a sort of Y fork.
ROGIN: That's good. You're more than halfway there. Now, take the right conduit. Do you understand?
SARAH [OC]: Got you. (She grunts.)
ROGIN: Yes. Sarah?
SARAH [OC]: Yes?
ROGIN: The section you're in now runs right through the infrastructure. Move as quietly as you can.

[INT. Conduit]

SARAH: (whispering) Understood.
(She pulls herself carefully along slowly, arm over arm. There is light from a small grille. Behind it she sees a Wirrn. It notices her too. She speeds up.
With no Wirrn in sight, the DOCTOR completes his wiring, making the last connections at the centre of the room. He goes to the grille by which the Wirrn entered, and he opens a triangular hatch at about his head height. He listens.)

[INT. Transport ship]

(HARRY climbs the ladder.)
ROGIN: Now, it's the second opening you come to on your left. You understand?
SARAH [OC]: Yes. Rogin, is it much further?
ROGIN: No, about another fifteen metres. You're almost there.
SARAH [OC]: Oh, I hope so. Don't think I can go on much longer.
VIRA: Yes, you can.
HARRY: Come along, Sarah. Stick at it.
SARAH [OC]: That's the trouble.

[INT. Conduit]

SARAH: I keep getting stuck!
HARRY [OC]: Marvellous thing about old Sarah. Terrific sense of humour.

[INT. Cryonic chamber]

(The DOCTOR can hear her now as she grunts and grumbles her way along the conduit.)
DOCTOR: Come on, Sarah. Hurry!
SARAH [OC]: Doctor, where are you?
DOCTOR: Straight ahead. Look, I'll shine a light. (he does so) Can you see?
SARAH [OC]: Yes! Oh, Doctor, I can't move!
DOCTOR: Of course you can. You've got this far.
SARAH [OC]: No, I'm stuck!
DOCTOR: Don't panic, Sarah. Don't panic. Ease round and try again.

[INT. Conduit]

SARAH: I'm jammed. I can't move either forward or back.
DOCTOR [OC]: Oh, stop whining, girl. You're useless.
SARAH: Oh, Doctor.

[INT. Cryonic chamber]

DOCTOR: 'Oh, Doctor.' Is that all you can say for yourself? Stupid, foolish girl. We should never have relied on you. I knew you'd let us down.

[INT. Conduit]

DOCTOR [OC]: That's the trouble with girls like you. You think you're tough, but when you're really up against it, you've no guts at all.
(She is determined now and moves forward once more.)

[INT. Cryonic chamber]

DOCTOR: Hundreds of lives at stake and you lie there blubbing.
SARAH [OC]: You wait till I get out!
(The top part of her emerges from the triangular hatch.)
SARAH: I can manage. I don't need your help, thank you! (She flails at him.)
DOCTOR: Yes, you do. Yes, you do. Yes, you do.
(He turns round, grabs her arms, and pulls her out.)
SARAH: Ow!
DOCTOR: (lowering her to the floor) Splendid.
SARAH: Go away.
DOCTOR: You've done marvellously, Sarah. I'm very proud of you. I really am very proud of you.
SARAH: What? Conned again. You're a brute.
DOCTOR: Me, a brute?
SARAH: Yes.
DOCTOR: Don't be ungrateful. I was only encouraging you. Come on. (He undoes the cable she has.)
SARAH: Oh, hello, Rogin?

[INT. Transport ship]

SARAH [OC]: The Doctor's connecting the cable now.
ROGIN: Beautiful. Let me know when to switch the power through.

[INT. Cryonic chamber]

DOCTOR: Close the door to the access chamber, Sarah.
SARAH: Right.
(She removes the headset she is wearing and goes to the door, through which she sees the Wirrn in the tranquiller room. It turns. With a squeal, she pulls the door shut as it approaches.)
DOCTOR: Are you ready, man?
ROGIN [OC]: Yes.
(SARAH runs over to the DOCTOR in the middle of the room.)
DOCTOR: Switch on now!
ROGIN [OC]: Right!
(The Wirrn touching the other side of the door gets zapped and makes some unhappy noises, backing away.)
DOCTOR: Not bad for a lash-up.
SARAH: Has it gone, do you think?
(We hear chirping. The DOCTOR listens through the door.)
DOCTOR: Reporting to the others. They'll know where we are now.
VIRA [OC]: Hello, Doctor? Are you all right down there?
DOCTOR: For the moment.

[INT. Transport ship]

VIRA: You lack confidence?
DOCTOR [OC]: The Wirrn don't give up that easily. They need the Ark. How is it your end?
VIRA: There's been no sign of them in this part of the Ark.

[INT. Cryonic chamber]

SARAH: Doctor.
(The Wirrn is reporting in person.)
DOCTOR: I think we've got some more visitors. Don't let the power drop.
(Both listen at the door.)
DOCTOR: Gone away.
SARAH: I think so. I can't hear anything now.
DOCTOR: Either discretion is the better part of valour or...
SARAH: Or what?
DOCTOR: Or they're planning something.
SARAH: (as they return to the middle of the room) Yes, but we're safe here, aren't we?
DOCTOR: Unless they chew through the floor. I've left a free-running cable just in case. The insulation should stand up to it.
(SARAH is next to the wall, and a spindly Wirrn arm grabs her legs through the grille.)
SARAH: Oh! Doctor!
(The DOCTOR pulls the shrieking SARAH away, then pokes the free cable into the grille, where we promptly see a flash. The Wirrn chirps and retreats.)
DOCTOR: Cheer up, we're still on our feet.
SARAH: Those things are so venomous. They'll never give up.
DOCTOR: No, and neither shall we, Sarah. What we're protecting here is too precious.
(A Wirrn in the control room moves the power control back to the '+' setting.)
SARAH: Why have they turned the power back on?
DOCTOR: We'll find out soon enough.
WIRRN [OC]: Vira, can you hear me?
DOCTOR: She can hear you. What do you want, Noah?
WIRRN [OC]: Your resistance is useless. We control the Ark.
DOCTOR [OC]: And we control the cryogenic chamber. I repeat - what do you want?

[INT. Control room]

WIRRN: We offer you safe passage from the Ark. Surrender now, and your lives will be spared.
DOCTOR [OC]: Not a chance.
WIRRN: What does Vira say?
DOCTOR [OC]: She agrees with me.

[INT. Transport ship]

DOCTOR [OC]: Don't you, Vira?
WIRRN [OC]: Let Vira speak. She is the commander.
DOCTOR [OC]: She's busy, resuscitating more humans.

[INT. Cryonic chamber]

WIRRN [OC]: You lie!
DOCTOR: Listen, Noah. Now hear me. You're beaten. The Ark is of no value to you without its humans, so why don't you just leave us in peace?

[INT. Control room]

WIRRN: Humans require two mass pounds of oxygen a day to stay alive, Doctor. We Wirrn can live for years without fresh oxygen. If you refuse to surrender, we shall shut down the oxygen pumps.

[INT. Cryonic chamber]

DOCTOR: And if we surrender?
WIRRN [OC]: I have said. You will be allowed to leave the Ark.
DOCTOR: The Wirrn hate all humans. Once we step outside this chamber, we'd be attacked.

[INT. Control room]

WIRRN: I am the swarm leader. I guarantee your safety. The Wirrn will spare your lives, but leave the sleepers for us!

[INT. Cryonic chamber]

DOCTOR: Noah, listen to me. If there's any part of you that's still human, if you've any memory of the man you once were, leave the Ark. Lead the swarm into space.

[INT. Control room]

DOCTOR [OC]: That's where the Wirrn belong, Noah. Not on Earth, not where you were born. Remember the wind and the sun, the fields, the blue sky? That's Earth, Noah. It's for the human race. Don't abandon it.
WIRRN: I have no memory of the Earth.

[INT. Transport ship]

HARRY: I say, Rogin, I don't want to be an alarmist, but I think I saw something moving.
ROGIN: You're right. They're coming up the funnel. Commander.
VIRA: Start Starboard 4.
ROGIN: Starboard 4 running.
VIRA: Negative thrust out.
ROGIN: Neg thrust out.
VIRA: Full boost.
ROGIN: Full boost. And check.
(On the screen, we see the Wirrn bathed in exhaust smoke.)
VIRA: Close boost.
ROGIN: Closed.
VIRA: Close Starboard 4.
ROGIN: And close Starboard 4.
(On the monitor, the ladder is clear.)
HARRY: I bet that singed their whiskers for them.
ROGIN: They won't try that again.
VIRA: I wonder if Noah-
ROGIN: Noah?
VIRA: Not important.
DOCTOR [OC]: Are you all right over there?
HARRY: Ahoy there, Doctor. Yes, we're fine, thanks.
DOCTOR [OC]: We heard a rocket engine.
HARRY: Oh, just a warning blast. How are things with you?

[INT. Cryonic chamber]

DOCTOR: All right at the moment.
HARRY [OC]: Good.
DOCTOR: Keep in touch.
SARAH: I don't know if it's my imagination, but it seems to be getting stuffy in here.
DOCTOR: Hmm? It's your imagination.
SARAH: You'd say that anyway.

[INT. Transport ship]

(The rocket's monitor shows several Wirrn on the outside of the Ark.)
VIRA: They're coming in through the reversion vents!
ROGIN: Look at them. There's a whole army of them out there.
VIRA: Doctor, the Wirrn have space-walked round the Ark and have broken into our cargo hold.

[INT. Cryonic chamber]

DOCTOR: How many of them are there, Vira?
VIRA [OC]: We cannot say, but it looks as though the entire swarm is attacking.
DOCTOR: How long will it take them to reach your control deck?
VIRA [OC]: A few minutes only. The interior bulkheads have a low stress factor.
DOCTOR: Tell Rogin to cut the power. We're coming out.

[INT. Transport ship]

ROGIN: Power off, Doctor.
DOCTOR [OC]: Good. Set the controls on automatic takeoff, and evacuate the ship. Hurry!
VIRA: We'll do as you say, Doctor.

[INT. Perimeter walkway]

DOCTOR: Come on, Sarah. Come on! Run! Run!
(They run clockwise along the walkway.)

[INT. Transport ship]

HARRY: It's absolutely crawling with the brutes.
ROGIN: Are you coming or staying?
(HARRY moves. ROGIN operates the last three controls, and he too leaves.)

[INT. Under the transport ship]

DOCTOR: Into the Ark, fast as you can! You too, Sarah! Harry, you go with the girls.
(ROGIN retracts the access ladder.)
DOCTOR: Rogin, help me with the synestic locks.
ROGIN: I thought that was your idea.
HARRY: What are you going to do, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Just look after Sarah, Harry.
(He removes something from one of the struts beneath the shuttle.)
DOCTOR: Leave this to me.
ROGIN: You know what happens when you cut that lock?
DOCTOR: There's no point in both of us being killed by the blast. Get into the Ark, man.
ROGIN: You don't want trouble with the space technicians' union, Doctor.
DOCTOR: What?
(ROGIN knocks him on the head and catches him.)
ROGIN: That's my job.
(The Wirrn are watching as ROGIN pulls the same module from the strut as the Doctor had. The engines fire, and the transport ship flies into the distance.)

[INT. Control room]

VIRA: They must have both died instantly.
(SARAH shakes her head. The other two look at her.)
HARRY: Come on, Sarah. He'd have wanted you to be brave. (She nods.)
VIRA: Doctor! Where's Rogin?
DOCTOR: Rogin's dead. I woke up in a protection hatch.
SARAH: Oh, Doctor, you're safe.
DOCTOR: Yes, we're all safe now, Sarah, thanks to Rogin's bravery. And perhaps something else.
VIRA: Something else?
DOCTOR: Yes, some vestige of human spirit. Was Noah on our side and one step ahead of us at the end?
VIRA: You mean by leading the swarm into the shuttle?
(There is beeping from the console.)
HARRY: Look.
VIRA: Space Station Nerva.
WIRRN [OC]: Goodbye, Vira.
(On the monitor, the shuttle explodes.)
SARAH: The shuttle's blown up!
VIRA: He must have known that that would happen. Noah deliberately neglected to set the rocket stabilisers.
DOCTOR: More than a vestige of human spirit. It can all begin now, Vira. Mankind is safe.
VIRA: I must get my people back to Earth. Now that I've lost the transport ship, I shall have to rely on the matter transmitter.
DOCTOR: Yes.
VIRA: It'll be a long operation. It can only convey three people at a time.
DOCTOR: Yes, it could if it was functioning properly. The signal's faulty. Probably the diode receptors. I'll just beam down and check them.
SARAH: To Earth?
DOCTOR: Yes, that's where the trouble is. Here, fetch me a coat from the TARDIS, will you? (he hands the key over) You never know what the solar flares have done to the weather.
(SARAH and HARRY go into the next room.)
VIRA: It isn't anything serious?
DOCTOR: What? Probably no more than a spot of corrosion. Whatever it is, it shouldn't take long to fix, and it'll give me a chance to see if the planet is fully viable again. What's keeping them? Sarah!
SARAH [OC]: Coming!
(She is wearing waterproofs and a woollen cap, and HARRY is wearing a coat and putting on shoes.)
SARAH: Here's your coat.
(The three travellers stand on the transmat pads.)
DOCTOR: I don't remember inviting you two.
SARAH: Uh, no, you didn't, but here we are.
HARRY: Well, the Brigadier did tell me to stick with you, Doctor, and, uh, orders is orders.
DOCTOR: I hope you don't mind being left.
VIRA: Well, I won't be alone for long. Life is returning to the Ark, and soon to the world.
DOCTOR: Have a jelly baby, Vira.
(He throws the bag to her from where he is standing.)
VIRA: Oh, thank you. (She laughs.)
(HARRY, the DOCTOR, and SARAH disappear.)
VIRA: Thank you.

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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