[ Index for this Doctor ]
[ Index for this story ]
DOCTOR WHO
PYRAMIDS OF MARS
Written by
As Stephen Harris, Robert Holmes and Lewis Greifer
Part Two
(Overlap from 'Is this the face of Sutekh?')
[INT. Outside the study]
(Within the study, NAMIN is dead, and the figure that caused his death now takes on the visage of Marcus SCARMAN - albeit a paler, more sinister version with red-rimmed eyes.)
LAURENCE: Marcus!
DOCTOR: Sssh.
[INT. Study]
SCARMAN: (addressing the mummies after assessing the surroundings) Take up the generator loops.
(The mummies each pick up a canopic jar from beside the mummy case. SCARMAN collects the final one himself.)
SCARMAN: Place them in position at the compass points. Activate at ground strength. (The mummies begin to disperse.)
[INT. Outside the study]
DOCTOR: Quick, hide.
(They do so, heading in different directions - with the DOCTOR crouching in a corner behind pot plants - just before SCARMAN and the mummies leave the study and leave via the main door. When it is clear, the DOCTOR steps out from his corner and motions to the others to emerge from a large trunk.)
SARAH: Where have they gone?
DOCTOR: To set up a deflection field around the house. He's obviously planned every step.
LAURENCE: Who, Marcus?
DOCTOR: No, Sutekh.
[INT. Study]
DOCTOR: Sutekh is breaking free from his ancient bonds. If he succeeds, he'll destroy the whole world.
SARAH: You mean Sutekh is still alive?
DOCTOR: He destroyed his own planet, Phaester Osiris, and left a trail of havoc across half the galaxy. Horus and the rest of the Osirans must have finally cornered him on Earth.
SARAH: In Egypt?
DOCTOR: The wars of the gods entered into mythology. The whole of Egyptian culture is founded upon the Osiran pattern.
LAURENCE: (speaking to SARAH as the DOCTOR looks at the mummy case) I'm afraid this is beyond me.
SARAH: It's beyond me too.
DOCTOR: Ah! Found it.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: The lodestone that drew the TARDIS off course.
LAURENCE: That's not a lodestone. That's just a sarcophagus.
DOCTOR: No, it isn't. It's the entrance to a time-space tunnel.
SARAH: Leading where?
DOCTOR: To Sutekh.
(The DOCTOR touches a particular spot on the case, and we see the tunnel activate.)
SARAH: Doctor!
DOCTOR: Keep back!
(The tunnel is pulling at him, but he is able to grab something from his waistcoat pocket and throw it into the case. There is a flash and bang, and he is thrown backward.)
[EXT. Wooded area]
(A POACHER is checking his traps. Hearing one snap shut, he creeps forward, gun in hand. What he sees is not an animal but a mummy, which has the trap caught on its foot. It stomps its foot a few times, attempting to dislodge the trap, then crouches to pull it open and release it.
The poacher has seen this from the underbrush. He gapes, thinks, and turns round to run.)
[INT. Study]
SARAH: Doctor! Doctor, come on. Wake up, please.
LAURENCE: It's no good. He took the full force of the blast.
SARAH: They're bound to come back soon. We're trapped! Where are you going?
LAURENCE: There's a priest hole here somewhere. Marcus and I discovered it when we were boys.
(He finds the entrance, behind a section of panelling.)
LAURENCE: There. It isn't very large, I'm afraid.
SARAH: No, well, he is, though, so come and give me a hand.
[EXT. Wooded area]
(The POACHER runs full on into an invisible barrier and is knocked onto his back. He stands, picks up his gun, sets it down, and walks slowly toward the force wall. He places his hands against it, and it repels him. One of his hands smarts rather. He hurls a branch at the invisible wall, and it bounces back toward him.)
CLEMENTS: Holy Moses.
(He collects his gun and bounty, then heads back the way he came.)
[INT. Lodge]
WARLOCK: Is that you, Laurence?
(The sinister figure of SCARMAN enters and moves forward slowly toward him.)
WARLOCK: Marcus! Marcus, my dear fellow, you're back.
SCARMAN: (calmly and deliberately) Why are you here?
WARLOCK: Huh? What's the matter? (rising) For goodness' sakes, old chap, don't you recognise me?
SCARMAN: (with effort) Warlock.
WARLOCK: That's right. We've all been dreadfully worried about you. (He pats SCARMAN on the shoulder.)
SCARMAN: I came to find the other Scarman.
WARLOCK: The other-? You mean your brother, Laurence?
SCARMAN: The human.
WARLOCK: Look here, old chap. If this is some kind of macabre joke-
SCARMAN: Where is the other Scarman, Warlock?
WARLOCK: Laurence went up to the house. That Egyptian servant of yours took a potshot at me! Laurence and the Doctor and some very plucky young girl went off to deal with the brute. They've been gone a devil of a time, mind you. I hope nothing's amiss.
SCARMAN: Who is the Doctor?
WARLOCK: One of Laurence's friends, I imagine. Some sort of scientist.
SCARMAN: Why does he interfere?
WARLOCK: Interfere? Now look here, Marcus-
SCARMAN: All humans inside the deflection barrier will be destroyed.
WARLOCK: For heaven's sake, Marcus, what's wrong with you?
(A mummy lumbers into the room, and WARLOCK backs away.)
SCARMAN: Destroy this human.
WARLOCK: No, oh, no, no! Laurence! Laurence! No! Aggghh!
[EXT. Outside the lodge]
(We can hear WARLOCK screaming.)
CLEMENTS: Murdering swine.
(He runs off into the trees. Not long after, SCARMAN and the mummy leave the building. CLEMENTS loads his gun and follows them quietly.)
[INT. Priest hole]
SARAH: He's coming round.
DOCTOR: A parallax coil.
LAURENCE: What?
DOCTOR: I never expected that. A simple trap. Blew up in my face. Clever.
LAURENCE: He's delirious.
SARAH: No, shush.
DOCTOR: Never underestimate Sutekh. Thinks of everything.
(The DOCTOR blinks and acknowledges his surroundings.)
DOCTOR: Where are we?
SARAH: Hiding.
DOCTOR: Where?
LAURENCE: A priest hole.
DOCTOR: In a Victorian gothic folly? Nonsense.
SARAH: You're so pedantic at a time like this. Does it matter?
DOCTOR: If only I knew the exact physical location of Sutekh. Where was your brother's expedition bound?
LAURENCE: Sakkara, I think. He wrote to say he'd discovered a blind pyramid in that region and believed it contained a mastaba.
SARAH: What?
LAURENCE: An underground burial chamber.
DOCTOR: Sakkara. Too vague, yet it might be our only chance.
SARAH: To do what?
DOCTOR: Sutekh is controlling operations here by mental force. With the equipment at the lodge, I could transmit a jamming signal.
SARAH: And block his power?
DOCTOR: With an etheric impulse projected along precisely the right axis, yes. Otherwise...
SARAH: No good.
DOCTOR: The Egyptian's ring!
LAURENCE: What?
DOCTOR: It's a slave relay. Calculating the reverse polarisation should be child's play. Why didn't I think of it?
SARAH: Sssh. Listen.
[INT. Study]
SCARMAN: Remove this carcass. (he sniffs the air) There are other humans within these walls. Seek and kill them.
(One mummy has each of NAMIN's arms. He is dragged from the room. SCARMAN turns toward the priest hole's entrance.)
[INT. Priest hole]
SARAH: He's coming over.
(Through the window, CLEMENTS watches SCARMAN feeling the panelling. He raises the gun and shoots SCARMAN in the back, shattering the window and causing SCARMAN to jerk.)
LAURENCE: Marcus!
[INT. Study]
(SCARMAN turns, as the smoke from the shot is pulled back into his body. He slowly walks to the window, where CLEMENTS is gaping.)
CLEMENTS: Professor Scarman! (He drops his gun and runs.)
SCARMAN: Seek and kill.
(We watch two mummies head across the lawn, following CLEMENTS. SCARMAN exits the study, and the DOCTOR leaves the priest hole.)
DOCTOR: All right, all clear.
LAURENCE: (as he emerges) Where are we going?
DOCTOR: Ssssh. To find that Egyptian.
[INT. Outside the study]
SARAH: We can't search the whole priory.
DOCTOR: There's no need to. Look.
(He points to marks in the dust on the floor leading into the locked wing of the priory. A body has been dragged through here recently, by large-footed creatures.)
[INT. Artefact room]
(Mummies are lifting machinery from packing cases.)
SCARMAN: Follow me.
(He leads the mummies out. The DOCTOR and company see them pass and can now enter the room. The DOCTOR removes the scarab ring from NAMIN's hand.)
SARAH: What do you think they're doing?
DOCTOR: I'm not sure yet.
LAURENCE: This is exceedingly interesting, Doctor. It appears to be some kind of machinery.
DOCTOR: You're right. Yes, that's a resonating tuner, part of an anti-gravity drive. Oh! They must be building a rocket.
SARAH: Egyptian mummies building rockets? That's crazy.
DOCTOR: They're not mummies. They're service robots.
SARAH: Huh?
DOCTOR: Machines.
SARAH: Machines? All right then, why are machines building rockets?
DOCTOR: So that Sutekh can escape from the power of Horus.
SARAH: Where's Sutekh now?
DOCTOR: Exactly where Horus left him seven thousand years ago - trapped beneath a pyramid and powerless to move.
(They hear a door slamming, and they hide. LAURENCE gets his hunting rifle ready. The DOCTOR pulls him back, by the shoulder, to join him in hiding behind a tapestry.
SCARMAN enters with the mummies. They collect more machinery.)
[INT. TARDIS console room]
LAURENCE: Great... heavens! This is unbelievable, totally unbelievable!
DOCTOR: You're going to say it transcends all the normal laws of physics.
LAURENCE: I am, yes. I mean, it does. It's, it, it's preposterous!
DOCTOR: Isn't it. I often think dimensional transcendentalism is preposterous, but it works. Would you like to look around?
LAURENCE: May I?
DOCTOR: Please.
SARAH: Well now we are here, why don't you tune up 1980 and we can, well, leave?
DOCTOR: I can't.
SARAH: Ah. Why can't you?
DOCTOR: Because if Sutekh isn't stopped, he'll destroy the world.
SARAH: But he didn't, did he? I mean, we know the world didn't end in 1911.
DOCTOR: Do we?
SARAH: Yes, of course we do!
DOCTOR: All right. If we leave now, let's see what the world will look like in 1980.
(The DOCTOR operates the controls.)
LAURENCE: I say, this is like something by that novelist chap, Mr Wells.
(The TARDIS lands. The DOCTOR opens the doors.
Outside, the wind howls over a desolate, craggy landscape filled with lightning and general gloom.)
DOCTOR: 1980, Sarah, if you want to get off.
(LAURENCE steps behind SARAH, who doesn't leave the TARDIS. They gaze out for a moment, not moving, then come back inside. The doors close.)
SARAH: It's a trick!
DOCTOR: No. That's the world as Sutekh would leave it - a desolate planet circling a dead sun.
SARAH: It can't be! I'm from 1980.
DOCTOR: Every point in time has its alternative, Sarah. You've looked into alternative time.
LAURENCE: Fascinating. Do you mean the future can be chosen, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Not chosen, shaped. The actions of the present fashion the future.
LAURENCE: So a man can change the course of history?
DOCTOR: To a small extent. It takes a being of Sutekh's almost limitless power to destroy the future. Well?
SARAH: We've got to go back.
DOCTOR: (quietly) Yes.
(Behind a tree, CLEMENTS pants. Two mummies have paused on their approach from the other side of his tree. CLEMENTS takes off running again, and the mummies follow. We cut to further ahead. Hiding behind some brush, he sees them approach. When he starts running again, he stumbles. The mummies reach him.
Back near the house, the travellers have climbed out through the window of the artefact room.)
DOCTOR: Keep below the level of the window.
(They leave.)
[INT. Study]
(SCARMAN is reporting at the mummy case, arms crossed.)
SCARMAN: Three humans within the deflection barrier have been destroyed. There are others.
SUTEKH [OC]: Eliminate them.
SCARMAN: The servicers are searching for them, but assembly of the rocket is being delayed.
SUTEKH [OC]: Destruction of the humans must not be allowed to delay the completion of the missile. That is of paramount importance.
SCARMAN: Your orders will be executed, Sutekh. I will recall two of the servicers to the rocket assembly.
[INT. Lodge]
(SARAH pulls the blanket over WARLOCK's face.)
LAURENCE: I can't believe that my brother... He and Dr Warlock were the closest of friends.
DOCTOR: Well, if you can stop thinking of him as your brother, it'll make it a great deal easier for you.
LAURENCE: But he is my brother!
DOCTOR: From the moment he entered Sutekh's tomb, he became subject to Sutekh's will.
LAURENCE: What does that mean?
DOCTOR: As a human being, Marcus Scarman no longer exists. He is simply the embodiment of Sutekh's power. He's given the paralysed Sutekh arms and legs, a means to escape.
SARAH: If Sutekh is so totally evil, why didn't Horus and the other Osirans destroy him?
DOCTOR: It's against their code. To have killed him would have meant that they were no better than he, so they simply imprisoned him.
(He is sitting at the Marconiscope, attempting repairs, while LAURENCE sits in the background, hands clasped and head lowered.)
SARAH: How?
DOCTOR: A force field, controlled from a power source on Mars.
LAURENCE: Mars?
DOCTOR: Yes. That's where the signal was beamed from, remember?
LAURENCE: But how?
DOCTOR: When your brother stumbled into Sutekh's tomb, the monitoring system on Mars detected the fact and triggered off an alarm signal.
SARAH: The rocket those robots are building!
DOCTOR: Yes. Will be aimed at the power source on Mars. If those warheads reach their target, Sutekh will have released himself.
LAURENCE: To destroy the world.
DOCTOR: Not only this world, anywhere that life is found. Right. All I need now is a magneto.
LAURENCE: A magneto. Of course. (He stands and heads for a cupboard.)
SARAH: What are you going to do?
DOCTOR: If I can block the mental beam, Scarman will collapse.
SARAH: You mean die?
DOCTOR: Well, he's not alive now in any real sense. Only Sutekh animates him. Deprived of his outside contact, Sutekh'll be as powerless as the day Horus left him.
LAURENCE: Here you are, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Splendid.
LAURENCE: (hearing screaming from outside) What was that?
(Just outside the lodge, the two mummies drag CLEMENTS to his feet and are crushing him between their bodies.
LAURENCE has run out with his hunting rifle and is firing, with no discernible effect. The mummies turn from CLEMENTS and advance on LAURENCE. The DOCTOR appears outside and hustles LAURENCE back inside as the mummies approach.)
DOCTOR: Quick, Sarah, switch on the power.
(She runs to do so, but LAURENCE grabs her.)
LAURENCE: No, no, you'll destroy my brother!
DOCTOR: Switch on!
(She elbows him and, now free, throws the lever. The wheel begins to spin.)
[INT. Sutekh's prison]
(On his monitor, SUTEKH sees SCARMAN double up in pain, contorting.)
SUTEKH: Stop them!
[INT. Lodge]
(SARAH gasps as the mummies lumber in through the front door. The DOCTOR tries to hold them back, but one throws him to the floor. SARAH grabs the arm of the one who is nearing the Marconiscope, and she is thrown down, just as LAURENCE is thrown onto WARLOCK's body. SARAH stands again, and the mummies advance toward her.)
SARAH: Doctor! Doctor!
(A mummy has its hand on her throat.)
SARAH: Doctor! Doctor!
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
-=#=-
Anna's home >
The Doctors' home >
This Doctor >
This story
-=#=-