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DOCTOR WHO
GENESIS OF THE DALEKS

Written by
Terry Nation


Part Two

(No overlap)

[EXT. Wastelands]

(DAVROS advances somewhat in the direction of the bombed-out part of the room, where SARAH is crouched down. She backs around the corner.)
DAVROS: Follow. Gharman. There is much to be done.
(DAVROS, GHARMAN, and the Dalek exit. SARAH enters, and something extends its hands toward her. She is soon surrounded by creatures in rags.)
SARAH: Help!
(They encircle her.)

[INT. Bunker]

(We look down from a window showing a dome view at night, to a beeping console. This is the security section.)
TANE: Party approaching. Check one.
(A GUARD takes up position with gun beside the door.)
TANE: (into a microphone at the desk) You will announce your name, rank, and serial number. Speak now.
NYDER [OC]: Tane, this is Security Commander Nyder with prisoners and escort.
(TANE rises and presses the button to open the doors. NYDER steps in, with the others behind him.)
NYDER: I want these two screened and passed to Ronson for full interrogation.
TANE: Yes, sir.
NYDER: Prisoner's belongings.
(He hands TANE a clear box containing the former contents of the DOCTOR's pockets. TANE and NYDER salute each other. NYDER leaves.)
DOCTOR: Good. Well, now he's gone, any chance of a cup of tea?
TANE: What!
DOCTOR: Or coffee. My friend and I have had a very trying experience. Haven't we had a trying experience, Harry?
HARRY: Very trying, Doctor.
TANE: Step into the security scan.
DOCTOR: (holding HARRY back) What, no tea?
TANE: Let me point out to you that you have no rights whatsoever. I have full authority to torture and kill any prisoner who does not comply absolutely with my orders. That is your first and last warning.
DOCTOR: No tea, Harry.
(HARRY is escorted between two boxes the height and level of a man's chest. He holds his head as the scanning sound continues.)
TANE: You're cleared. Move forward. You, next.
(The DOCTOR is escorted into the scanner. It makes a high-pitched beeping in addition to the sound we heard before.)
TANE: Scan detects power source located below prisoner's left elbow. (the scanner is powered down) Remove object from prisoner's left wrist.
(The GUARD tries to remove the time ring.)
DOCTOR: You can't have that. (it is finally removed) That bracelet could have no possible use as a weapon.
TANE: It remains with the other confiscated items.
(TANE places it in the clear box.)
HARRY: Let's not make a fuss, Doctor.
DOCTOR: The time ring is our only hope of getting back to the TARDIS.
TANE [OC]: (in the background while the DOCTOR and HARRY converse) Two prisoners at checkpoint. Awaiting orders.
DOCTOR: Recovering it has got to be our number one priority. Do you understand, Harry? It's vital.
HARRY: Yes, I know it's vital, but we don't want them to know that, do we?
TANE: (to a GUARD) The prisoners are to be given into the custody of Senior Researcher Ronson. Here, take this with you.
(He hands over the box and presses a button, which opens a door.)
TANE: Move!
(Two further GUARDS ensure that the pair of travellers go with that GUARD.)

[EXT. Wastelands]

(SARAH is unconscious. A muto caresses her face.)
SEVRIN: She's beautiful - no deformities, no imperfections.
GERRILL: She is a norm. All norms are our enemies. Kill her now for what she's done to our kind.
SEVRIN: No, why? Why must we always destroy beauty? Why kill another creature because it is not in our image?
GERRILL: Kill her! It is the law. All norms must die. They are our enemies. And if you won't, I will.
(The two men struggle.)
MUTO: There's something over there.
SEVRIN: It's a patrol, very close.
GERRILL: Let's get away from here.
SEVRIN: No. No, they're too near. If you move, they'll see you.
GERRILL: They're coming this way. I'm going. Come on.
SEVRIN: No, I tell you they'll see you.
(GERRILL runs.)
THAL [OC]: Halt! Stay where you are. Stand where you are, and don't move.
(SARAH, now awake, listens. A light is shone on GERRILL's mutation-pocked face. He turns around to run and is shot in the back.)
THAL: (with his partner, having a look at GERRILL's body) Oh, it's only a muto. What a waste of good ammunition. There's a couple more of them.
(SARAH and SEVRIN are illuminated in the light of the torch and cover their eyes.)
THAL: Hold it. If they're not too badly mutated, we might be able to use them. They still need expendable labour for the rocket loader. (pulling SEVRIN up) This one looks all right. Got all it needs to carry and walk. (as the light shines on SARAH) There's no reason why this one shouldn't work. Why, it's almost a norm. Come on, get up. Up! Ah, kill it off, it's too slow.
SEVRIN: No, it's all right. I'll help her.
THAL: Then move, and move quietly. There are Kaled patrols out tonight.

[INT. Laboratory]

(Men in white sit at desks in the background. Others move about. A silver-haired man in white inspects the items in the box.)
RONSON: Sit down. (He himself sits.)
DOCTOR: Thank you. You're not with the military, I assume?
RONSON: I am with the Science Division.
DOCTOR: Oh, good, good. Then perhaps we can talk without interruption from rifle butts.
RONSON: That depends. If you don't answer my questions, I shall hand you back to the military. They take a pride in loosening tongues. Now, where did you get these things?
DOCTOR: Oh, here and there.
RONSON: (taking the time ring back from the DOCTOR) If I didn't know better, I should have to assume that these were made by some intelligence on another planet.
DOCTOR: If you didn't know better.
RONSON: It is an established scientific fact that in the seven galaxies only Skaro is capable of supporting intelligent life.
DOCTOR: It is also an established scientific fact that there are more than seven galaxies.
RONSON: Indeed.
DOCTOR: Yes.
RONSON: Well, when you passed through our security scan, our instruments ran a complete check on your blood and chemical make-up, encephalographic patterns, and so on. Physiological compositions, and so if you are from another planet-
(He consults the readout and stops speaking. The DOCTOR grins.)
DOCTOR: You were saying?
RONSON: There's nothing - nothing conforms to any known life on this planet, apart from external appearances.
DOCTOR: You can't always judge from external appearances.
RONSON: Who are you? Where are you from?
DOCTOR: It's a long story.
RONSON: (setting the box to the side and preparing to take notes) Then tell me.
DOCTOR: Do you have any inkling of the theory of space dimension correlated to relative time?
(An alarm goes off. RONSON stands.)
KALED [OC]: Davros wishes all members of the Elite Scientific Corps to assemble in the main laboratory immediately.
RONSON: Our session will have to wait. Davros is coming.
DOCTOR: Your chief scientist.
RONSON: He's our supreme commander. When he calls a full meeting like this, he obviously has something of the greatest importance to tell us.
DOCTOR: Well, I shall be delighted to meet him.
RONSON: Stand up and keep quiet.
(Everyone is now standing. DAVROS rolls in, followed by NYDER and his GUARDS.)
DAVROS: If I may have your attention. For some time, I have been experimenting with the Mark Three project. Details of modifications will be distributed later. However, I am anxious that you should see immediately the remarkable results that I have achieved, and to that end I have arranged this demonstration.
(He extends his claw-like hand to the same toggle as before. Beyond, a door opens, and a Dalek enters. This one has no weapon attachment.)
DOCTOR: (sotto) A Dalek.
HARRY: (sotto) What?
DOCTOR: (sotto) A Dalek. Very primitive but undeniably a Dalek.
RONSON: (sotto) You're mistaken. It's a Mark Three travel machine.
DOCTOR: (sotto) If you say so.
DAVROS: Halt. Turn left. Move forward.
RONSON: That's magnificent. He's perfected voice control.
DAVROS: Turn right. Move forward and circle left. You will agree, I think, that voice control represents an enormous step forward; however, the best is yet to come. Nyder.
(NYDER clicks his heels and with a GUARD's help opens the box sitting behind him. He removes a familiar gun from it and passes it to an ASSISTANT, who attaches it to the Dalek.)
DAVROS: Our machine is now equipped with a weapon for self-defence. Now, I am going to turn the machine over to total self-control. It will be entirely independent of all outside influences. A living, thinking, self-supporting creature.
(At the flick of a switch, the Dalek's gun rises. The Dalek rotates and examines those in the room. It stops when reaching the DOCTOR.)
DAVROS: Brilliant. Brilliant! It has detected the non-conformity.
DALEK: Aliens. I must exterminate. Exterminate.
RONSON: No!
(RONSON flips DAVROS's switch back. The gun droops immediately, and the machine stops moving.)
DAVROS: You dare to interfere? You have the audacity to interrupt one of my experiments.
RONSON: But it would have destroyed him.
DAVROS: So you think the saving of a worthless life more important than the progress we have made? (his voice is increasing in pitch as he grows excited, similarly to Hitler's) My creature showed a natural desire, an instinct to destroy, and you interceded! You will be punished for this!
RONSON: Davros, I'm sorry, but I believe that these prisoners, they, they could be extremely valuable. By all means, when I finish my questions, let the machine do what it likes with them, but I do need to interrogate them further.
DAVROS: You will be punished for insubordination. In the meantime, you may question the prisoners until first light. After that, they will be used to resume the experiment. This meeting is ended.
(DAVROS leaves. The SCIENTISTS inspect the Dalek.)
DOCTOR: (sitting) Thank you. I am obliged to you.
RONSON: I was merely doing my duty. I believe that you have knowledge which could be of the greatest assistance to us. But if you don't co-operate, then it is certain that Davros will use you as an experiment with his machine in a few hours' time.
NYDER: The prisoners are to be taken to the cells. You can continue questioning them there. Davros orders it.
(They are escorted out as NYDER exits. RONSON leaves the time ring on top of his clipboard.)

[INT. Thal dome]

(A GUARD in protective clothing holds a gun over a group of mutos squatting in a room. SARAH is among them.)
SARAH: Where are we?
SEVRIN: We're inside the Thal dome. We should be lucky to be alive. The Thals normally kill on sight.
SARAH: Then why the change? Why bring us here?
SEVRIN: Perhaps they need slave workers for some project.
KALED: The muto is right. The work they're making us do kills with the same certainty as a bullet between the eyes.
SARAH: What work?
KALED: The Thals have built a rocket. They've used up all their manpower and resources. They're gambling that it's going to bring them victory in one blow. And if they can make the launch successfully, I don't see how they're going to fail. My race, the whole of the Kaled people, will be wiped out in seconds.
SEVRIN: Perhaps we should be happy to welcome such a weapon if it ends a thousand years of war.
KALED: You won't be when you find out what it is.
SARAH: Well, what is it?
KALED: The nose cone of the rocket is being packed with distronic explosive. We have to put it in position.
SARAH: So?
KALED: To reduce weight, they're using no protective shielding. Every load we carry exposes us to distronic toxaemia. After a few hours' exposure, we'll all be dead.
SARAH: We'd better think of something, hadn't we?
(The door opens, and the GUARD starts pushing MUTOS through it.)
SARAH: Well, now what's happening?
KALED: The rest period's over. We start loading again. I've already done one load since I was captured.
(They all stand.)
SARAH: (to the GUARD) All right, don't push.
(They are led across the hall, to the base of the rocket. On the wall is a gauge with a red bar at the left, next the the illuminated word 'SAFE'. On the right is 'TOXIC LEVEL'. A GUARD drives an electric-buggy-load in. The box on the back contains 16 cylinders. As each member of the forced-labour group takes one of these, the bar moves along the scale toward 'TOXIC LEVEL'. By the time SARAH has hers, it has reached the danger level.)

[INT. Detention room]

(HARRY is seated. A GUARD throws the DOCTOR in, onto his face.)
HARRY: You all right?
DOCTOR: Looks like I might be.
HARRY: What happened?
DOCTOR: They took down reams of notes, every bit of scientific gobbledygook I could think of. Technical jargon that even I didn't understand.
HARRY: That'll keep their experts tied up for weeks.
DOCTOR: Yes. And I learnt a great deal more from them than they did from me.
HARRY: About this bunker?
DOCTOR: Yes.
HARRY: It is underground, isn't it?
DOCTOR: Yes, and bomb-proof. Impregnable [sic] from attack from the outside and about three or four miles from the Kaled dome.
HARRY: What are they doing down here?
DOCTOR: Years ago, the Kaled government decided to form an elite group, the best scientific brains in every field.
HARRY: A sort of think tank?
DOCTOR: Yes. But over the years the elite has become more and more powerful, and now they can demand whatever they like.
RONSON [OC]: Open up.
HARRY: Perhaps this is the tea?
(They stand as the door opens. RONSON enters, holding a pistol.)
RONSON: There's no need to wait. I am armed. (the GUARD leaves) I'm sorry if they hurt you. I lack the courage to interfere.
DOCTOR: But you did save me from becoming the very first victim of a Dalek, thank you.
RONSON: Yes, now you used that word earlier. It had never been heard before. And yet only an hour ago, Davros announced that henceforth his Mark Three travel machine would be referred to as a Dalek. Now how could you have known that?
DOCTOR: Well, I have an advantage in terms of time. You see, we've come here at this time because of future concern about the development of the Dalek. I think you're concerned too, aren't you?
(RONSON goes to the door to make sure nobody is around.)
DOCTOR: (sotto) I think he's going to bite.
RONSON: Yes, I am concerned, and there are a few other who think the same as I. But we're powerless.
DOCTOR: Then let us help you.
RONSON: You see, we believe that Davros has changed the direction of our research into something which is immoral, evil. You see, the elite was formed to produce weapons that would end this war. We soon saw that this was futile and changed the direction of our research into, into the survival of our race, but our chemical weapons had already started to produce genetic mutations.
HARRY: And the mutations were banished out into the wastelands.
RONSON: Yes.
DOCTOR: The mutos.
RONSON: Now Davros, he believed that there was no way to reverse this trend, and so he started experiments to establish our final mutational form. He took living cells, treated them with chemicals, and produced the ultimate creature. Come with me.

[INT. Outside the incubation room]

(Down the corridor a way, RONSON stops outside a metal door.)
RONSON: Now this is what the Kaleds will become.
(He presses a button, which allows the group to see into the room through a narrow viewing section. HARRY and the DOCTOR look into the green-light-bathed room, where they hear burbling hissing sounds. The shadows within move.)
RONSON: That is our future.
DOCTOR: You've got troubles.

[INT. Thal dome]

(The shabby crew stagger into their break room. Breathing heavily, they collapse onto the floor.)
SARAH: We have to do something now. If we work another shift, we won't have the strength to take any kind of action.
KALED: Action? What do you mean?
SARAH: I mean we've got to get out of here.
SEVRIN: It's not possible.
SARAH: Why? The guard's not expecting trouble from a group of exhausted slave workers.
KALED: So we get out into the rocket silo. Where then? The only other exit goes out through a command point, and that's going to be crawling with Thal troops.
SARAH: There is another way.
SEVRIN: Where?
SARAH: Straight up. The scaffolding. It goes right up to the nose cone of the rocket. Now, if we could get up there, then there's a chance we could get out onto the surface of the dome.
KALED: It wouldn't be too difficult getting down again. The angle of the dome is quite gentle.
SEVRIN: That scaffolding! I mean it's so high.
SARAH: It's the only way. It's our only chance.
KALED: I'd rather die taking a chance like that than rot away in here with distronic toxaemia.
(SEVRIN nods.)
SARAH: Okay, I'll pass the word to the others.

[INT. Detention room]

(RONSON waits at the door while a PATROL passes.)
DOCTOR: Go on, Ronson.
RONSON: Well, knowing our ultimate form, Davros had to devise a travel machine. The Dalek.
DOCTOR: Now he's trying to change that into a weapon.
RONSON: And he's succeeding. He's created a monster, utterly devoid of conscience.
HARRY: And you want to stop him.
RONSON: Well, I must. There are a few in the Kaled government who still have the power to act. If they knew the truth, they would end Davros's power, close down this bunker, finish the elite.
DOCTOR: Then go to them, Ronson, go to them.
RONSON: But I'm not allowed in the city. Security here is absolute.
DOCTOR: Then help us to escape. Give us the names of the men who have the power.
HARRY: Could you get us out of here?
RONSON: Well, there is a way through one of the secondary ducts in the ventilation system that leads to a cave at the edge of the wasteland.
HARRY: Well?
RONSON: The entrance is barred. And there's something else. Davros's early experiments were with animals. Some of the things that he created were horrific, and they're still alive.
DOCTOR: And I have an uneasy feeling you're going to tell me they're in that cave.
(RONSON nods, and the DOCTOR frowns.)

[INT. Thal dome]

(SARAH stands and walks over to the GUARD. She collapses in his arms. He leans her against the wall and, when turning back round, receives a punch in the face from the KALED. SARAH opens the door.)
SARAH: Shh. Quickly.
(The captives exit the room.)

[INT. Kaled corridor]

(HARRY is pulling the grille off a ventilation duct.)
RONSON: These are the people you should try to contact.
(He hands the DOCTOR a piece of paper.)
HARRY: Right-o.
(HARRY starts into the duct.)
RONSON: Look, if anything at all should happen-
DOCTOR: Don't worry, don't worry. We won't let it fall into the wrong hands.
RONSON: Quick!
(The DOCTOR follows HARRY. RONSON puts the grille back. A GUARD walks past as RONSON heads away from us.)

[INT. Rocket silo]

(SARAH runs to the scaffolding beside the rocket and starts climbing.)
SARAH: Come on.
(They follow.
Meanwhile, the GUARD in the break room wakes up.)

[EXT. Cave]

(The DOCTOR and HARRY find themselves at the end of the duct - a grotty grille covered with plant matter.)
DOCTOR: Here's where it comes out into the cave.
(We hear roaring.)
DOCTOR: Shhh. What was that?
HARRY: Probably one of Davros's pets.
(A creature with armoured plating on its back waddles past. When it has gone, they push the grille out of position and step into the cave.)

[INT. Rocket silo]

(The captives are still climbing. SARAH looks down, gulps, and pauses.
Meanwhile, the GUARD in the break room presses the alarm button, high on the wall.)

KALED: That's the alarm. They'll be after us in a minute. Come on!
(The climb continues as three GUARDS start shooting up into the scaffolding. A muto is hit. He screams as he falls. SARAH hangs, unable to catch a hold, as the shooting continues. The KALED climbs up alongside her and helps the struggling SARAH up another level of scaffolding, then he is shot right beside her. She screams and freezes as the body hits the ground.)
SEVRIN: (reaching her side from below) They're coming up after us. You must keep moving. You must.
SARAH: I can't. I can't move.
SEVRIN: Come on. You must.
(SEVRIN goes on ahead. SARAH reaches up but can't hang on. She loses her grip and starts to fall, with a scream.)


The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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