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DOCTOR WHO
PYRAMIDS OF MARS

Written by
As Stephen Harris, Robert Holmes and Lewis Greifer


Part Three

(Overlap from the mummies advancing on the group)

[INT. Lodge]

(A mummy arm comes crashing down on the Marconiscope, which, with a flash and a bang, ceases operation. The mummy is thrown back. SARAH is released in the confusion. The compatriot mummy now lumbers toward SARAH.)
DOCTOR: The ring, Sarah - use the ring!
(She picks up the ring from the table. The chirping begins.)
SARAH: Stop!
(The second mummy stops.)
DOCTOR: (from the floor) Return to control.
SARAH: Return to control! Return to control!
(The mummy departs.)
DOCTOR: Are you all right?
LAURENCE: Yes, I think so.
DOCTOR: You don't deserve to be. You nearly got us all killed.
LAURENCE: I'm sorry.
DOCTOR: What's worse, you've probably wrecked what was my only chance of stopping Sutekh.
LAURENCE: Look, forgive me, Doctor. I was thinking of my brother.
DOCTOR: Listen! What's walking about out there is no longer your brother. It is simply an animated human cadaver, animated by Sutekh. Do you understand? (LAURENCE nods) And if Sutekh succeeds in freeing himself, the consequences will be incalculable. Stay here!
(As the DOCTOR heads for the door, SARAH follows, but LAURENCE grabs her arm.)
LAURENCE: Where's he going?
SARAH: To find out what Scarman's doing.
(She leaves.)

[INT. Study]

SUTEKH [OC]: It was a deliberate attempt to block my psytronic control.
SCARMAN: I know nothing, Master.

[INT. Sutekh's prison]

(We now see SUTEKH, a creature in a long black mask and robe, sitting on a throne-style stone seat. His hands rest in his lap.)
SUTEKH: I detected electromagnetic radiation. The source was within the deflection barrier.
SCARMAN [on monitor]: There are some humans here who have eluded the servicers. If work on the missile is delayed, they can be found and destroyed.
SUTEKH: No! The missile must be projected at the hour appointed. My freedom comes before all. Immediately thereafter, you will find and kill the humans.
SCARMAN [on monitor]: As you direct, Master, so it shall be. (He bows and uncrosses his arms.)

[EXT. Courtyard]

(The DOCTOR passes into a courtyard via the carriage gate and peers around a corner, to see the three mummies working beside a white pyramidal structure about three times their height atop a black base. SARAH comes up behind him.)
SARAH: What is it?
DOCTOR: It's an Osiran war missile, and almost complete by the look of it.
SARAH: You mean that thing can fly?
DOCTOR: It transposes with its projection - pyramid power.
(SCARMAN approaches the mummies.)
DOCTOR: Back.

[INT. Lodge]

(LAURENCE contemplates a framed photograph of himself along with his brother from when the two were schoolboys at Eton.)
LAURENCE: (as the DOCTOR enters and walks past him, to the immobile mummy) Did you find out anything?
SARAH: Only that time is short.
DOCTOR: Psytronic induction.
SARAH: Hmm?
DOCTOR: The robots are drawing their energy from a psytronic particle accelerator, which must be in Sutekh's tomb.
SARAH: So?
DOCTOR: So, put that out of action and he'd have no workforce.
SARAH: And no missile.
LAURENCE: But Sutekh's tomb is in Egypt.
DOCTOR: Scarman came here through the time-space tunnel. It's a two-way mechanism.
SARAH: But if you go through it, Sutekh'll kill you!
LAURENCE: Wouldn't it be better if-
DOCTOR: No, it wouldn't. (to himself) If I go after Sutekh, Sutekh will kill me. The missiles are aimed. (to LAURENCE) Wouldn't what be better?
LAURENCE: Wouldn't it be less risky simply to blow up the projectile?
DOCTOR: With what?
LAURENCE: Blasting gelignite.
DOCTOR: Do you have some?
LAURENCE: No, but I believe Clements had a store.
DOCTOR: Clements?
LAURENCE: The poacher. I heard him fishing only a few nights ago.
DOCTOR: Where did he keep it?
LAURENCE: I'm told he had a hut on the other side of the wood.
DOCTOR: Let's go, Sarah.
SARAH: Right.
LAURENCE: Shall I show you the way?
DOCTOR: No, we'll find it.
LAURENCE: You think I'll let you down again, don't you?
DOCTOR: Mister Scarman, if you want to help, start getting the bindings off that robot. (He does, timidly.)

[EXT. Wooded area]

DOCTOR: Careful. Walking into a deflection barrier is like walking into a brick wall.
(He holds out a long stick. SARAH slows.)
SARAH: Painful.
(The stick makes contact with the barrier, and the sound of the contact resonates.)
DOCTOR: Ah, there we are. Now all we've got to do is find the door.
(He turns left and walks along the invisible wall, holding the stick against it. The beeps as he walks grow more rapid. When they stop, so does he.)
DOCTOR: Door.
(They see a jackal-headed jar on the ground. It is emitting a hum.)
DOCTOR: (producing his sonic screwdriver) Key.
SARAH: As simple as that?
DOCTOR: No, not really.
SARAH: No, didn't think it could be.
DOCTOR: No obvious booby traps. Are you going to help, or are you just going to stand there and admire the scenery?
SARAH: Your shoes need repairing. I actually wasn't admiring the scenery. I was waiting for you to tell me what to do.
DOCTOR: Just hold the base. I don't want it to fall.
SARAH: Dangerous?
DOCTOR: Very dangerous.
(She supports the base of the jar while the DOCTOR adjusts the sonic screwdriver. The noise increases in pitch as he holds it near the jar. He pulls the instrument back when a loud warbling starts.)
DOCTOR: Deactivating a generator loop without the correct key is like repairing a watch with a hammer and chisel. One false move and you'll never know the time again.
SARAH: Any more comforting thoughts?
DOCTOR: Yes. Just let me know if it starts to get warm.
SARAH: Don't worry. You'll hear me breaking the sound barrier.

[INT. Sutekh's prison]

(A display on the monitor indicates the rough positions of the perimeter jars. The symbol on the right is flickering.)
SUTEKH: Interference. Interference!

[EXT. Wooded area]

(The DOCTOR puts away the screwdriver and slowly rotates and lifts away the lid, He removes the silver canister from within and unscrews the electronics at its base. inside, He pockets that part.)
DOCTOR: Just to make sure. Come on.

[INT. Study]

SCARMAN: Master, I do not understand how this can be.
SUTEKH [OC]: The barrier to the east has been deactivated.

[INT. Sutekh's prison]

SCARMAN [on monitor]: But that is not possible.
SUTEKH: It has been deactivated. The power line has gone from my monitor.
SCARMAN [on monitor]: The humans do not have the knowledge to shut down the deflection barrier.

[INT. Study]

SUTEKH [OC]: It is clear that an extraterrestrial intelligence is operating.
SCARMAN: An alien?
SUTEKH [OC]: Oh, I have endured an eternity of darkness and impotence. I shall not be denied now. Listen to my orders.
SCARMAN: I hear you, Master.
SUTEKH [OC]: The missile must be guarded. Two servicers must maintain constant vigilance.
SCARMAN: It shall be as you say.

[INT. Sutekh's prison]

SUTEKH: Once the missile is projected, you will seek out and destroy my enemies. The alien who dares to intrude, the humans, animals, birds, fish, reptiles - all life is my enemy! All life shall perish under the reign of Sutekh the Destroyer!
SCARMAN [on monitor]: Only Sutekh shall live.

[EXT. At the poacher's hut]

SARAH: Just how powerful is Sutekh, Doctor?
DOCTOR: He's all-powerful. If he ever gets free, there isn't a life form in the galaxy that could stand against him.
SARAH: What, not even your lot, the Time Lords?
DOCTOR: Not even our lot.

[INT. Poacher's hut]

(The DOCTOR makes short work of the chain and padlock. He and SARAH enter.)
DOCTOR: Sutekh was only defeated in the end by the combined might of seven hundred and forty of his fellow Osirans, led by Horus.
SARAH: The seven hundred and forty gods whose names were recorded in the tomb of Tutmoses the Third.
DOCTOR: Could be.
(SARAH opens a hutch.)
DOCTOR: I wouldn't do that if I were you. Could be a ferret.
SARAH: Ack!
(She pulls her hand back.
We return to LAURENCE, who is just removing the last of the mummy's wrappings. We see the metal skeleton of the robot.
Back in the hut, SARAH comes upon a box on a high shelf.)

SARAH: This looks like it.
(She throws it to the DOCTOR.)
DOCTOR: (catching it) Oof!
SARAH: What's the matter? Not enough?
DOCTOR: Sweaty gelignite is highly unstable. One good sneeze could set it off.
(He gingerly places the box on the floor.)
SARAH: Sorry.
DOCTOR: No sign of any detonators or fuses?
SARAH: No, no, nothing else. Perhaps he sneezed? (The DOCTOR throws her a look.)

[INT. Lodge]

(SCARMAN has found the tampered-with perimeter jar. He moves on. Entering the lodge, he sees the robot skeleton on the floor.)
LAURENCE: (returning from washing his hands) Marcus! Marcus? Don't you know me? I'm your brother.
SCARMAN: Brother?
LAURENCE: Your brother, Laurence.
SCARMAN: As Horus was brother to Sutekh.
LAURENCE: Marcus, you're ill. Let me help you. Trust me.
SCARMAN: Trust you?
LAURENCE: (showing him the photo from earlier) Look. You and I, when we were boys.
SCARMAN: Laurence. Marcus.
LAURENCE: That's right. You do remember!
SCARMAN: I was Marcus.
LAURENCE: You still are. Now, let me help you.
SCARMAN: No! I am Sutekh!
LAURENCE: No, no. You went to Egypt and, and fell under some sort of mesmeric influence, that's all.
SCARMAN: Sutekh the great destroyer. Sutekh, the Lord of Death. I am his instrument.
LAURENCE: Now that's all nonsense. You are Marcus Scarman, Professor of Archaeology, Fellow of All Souls, Member of the Royal-
SCARMAN: (knocking the photo from LAURENCE's hands) What do you know of Sutekh? Where are the others?
LAURENCE: Others?
SCARMAN: You are being helped. Sutekh has detected an alien intelligence amongst the humans here.
LAURENCE: Do you mean the Doctor?
SCARMAN: Doctor?
(He grabs LAURENCE by the upper arms.)
LAURENCE: Marcus, your hands.
SCARMAN: What is he? What is he?
LAURENCE: Marcus, please.

[EXT. Carriage gate]

(With care, the DOCTOR secretes the gelignite behind one of the old wooden doors. From around the corner, SARAH watches the three mummies keeping watch over the pyramid.)
DOCTOR: (sotto) It should be safe there for the moment.
SARAH: (sotto) Look, this isn't going to work. You've got no detonators, no fuses, so even if you manage to place the charge without being spotted, how do we explode it?
DOCTOR: I don't know yet.

[INT. Lodge]

(LAURENCE is in a rocking chair.)
DOCTOR: (entering with SARAH) Oh, well done, Mister Scarman.
SARAH: Mister Scarman? Hey.
(She shakes his shoulder, and he topples onto the floor next to the DOCTOR and the mummy innards.)
SARAH: Oh! Doctor.
DOCTOR: Strangled.
SARAH: The mummies.
DOCTOR: Not this time. There are marks. His late brother must have called.
SARAH: That's horrible! He was so concerned about his brother.
DOCTOR: I told him not to be. I told him it was too late.
SARAH: Oh! Sometimes you don't seem-
DOCTOR: Human? Typical Osiran simplicity.
SARAH: A man has just been murdered!
DOCTOR: Four men, Sarah. Five if you include Professor Scarman himself, and they're merely the first of millions unless Sutekh is stopped. Know thine enemy. Admirable advice.
SARAH: Yes.
DOCTOR: If we're going to do anything about that missile, we'll have to move quickly. I'll need your help.
(He gathers the wrappings.)
SARAH: What do you want me to do?
DOCTOR: These bindings are chemically impregnated to protect the robots against damage and corrosion. An impenetrable disguise, wouldn't you say?

[INT. Artefact room]

(Two mummies remove a long, cylindrical piece of equipment from a crate. SCARMAN is supervising.)
SCARMAN: Stop. Warhead trigger charge, Phase 1. This must be placed directly under the detonation head. Signify your understanding.
(The mummies bow.)
SCARMAN: Continue. (They leave with the item.)

[INT. Lodge]

(SARAH is wrapping the DOCTOR as a mummy, with only part of his leg to go.)
DOCTOR: Hurry up.
SARAH: I am hurrying.
DOCTOR: It doesn't have to be perfect. I shall mingle with the mummies, but I shan't linger.
SARAH: Okay, that'll have to do.
DOCTOR: How do I look?
SARAH: It must have been a nasty accident.
DOCTOR: Don't provoke me. Come on. And don't forget the rifle.
(Behind him, she already has it. She then opens the door, and they leave.)

[INT. Study]

(SCARMAN enters and stands in his usual spot in front of the mummy case. He raises his arms. The stripes of the headdress begin to flicker.)
SCARMAN: (contact made, he crosses his arms) The task is almost completed, Master. We need now only the target co-ordinates.

[INT. Sutekh's prison]

SUTEKH: At last. The co-ordinates for the pyramid of Mars. I release them.
(A metal cylinder arrives on SCARMAN's end of the time-space tunnel. The half-metre-long item comes to a rest, giving off smoke.)
SUTEKH: (after SCARMAN picks it up) Engage the co-ordinates in the projection-dome monitor.
SCARMAN [on monitor]: Immediately, Master.

[EXT. Carriage gate]

(The newly wrapped DOCTOR mummy motions to SARAH to remove the box of gelignite from where he stashed it. She sets down the rifle, fetches it from behind the board against the building, and hands the box to him. She picks up the rifle again.)
DOCTOR: You know what to do?
SARAH: Yeah - give you time to get clear, then 'Pow'.
DOCTOR: (as she starts loading the rifle) Make sure you shoot straight. You won't get a second shot.
SARAH: Don't worry. I know what I'm doing.

[EXT. Courtyard of the stables]

(The DOCTOR approaches the pyramid from the far side as SARAH remains in the doorway, looking on. He walks up the ramp to the pyramid and sets down the box. She raises the rifle and begins to aim it, but she stops when she sees SCARMAN enter. She lowers the rifle.)
SCARMAN: Stop.
(The DOCTOR pauses, then takes another step forward.)
SCARMAN: Stop! Turn about.
(SARAH hides around the corner and sets the rifle down.)
SCARMAN: Is your relay damaged? (pause) This is the co-ordinate selector. It is to be placed in the projection-dome monitor. Indicate your understanding.
(The DOCTOR gives a slight bow.)
SCARMAN: Then obey your order.
(SCARMAN hands the cylinder to the DOCTOR. As the DOCTOR walks up the ramp with it, SCARMAN leaves, with one of the mummies. The DOCTOR sets the cylinder in the pyramid and emerges straight away, walking back the way he'd initially come. SARAH has a clear shot now. She picks up the rifle, aims with care, and fires. We see an explosion begin, but there is a ripple and the reaction reverses itself. All looks as it had before her shot.)
SARAH: I hit it. I know I hit it.
DOCTOR: (standing behind her) You did. Sutekh is containing the explosion.
SARAH: How?
DOCTOR: Mental power. There's only one hope left. I've got to get to him, break his concentration.

[INT. Study]

SCARMAN: (bowing, arms crossed over his chest, before the mummy case) I hear you, Master.
(The DOCTOR, sans mummy wrappings, steps through the doorway, sees SCARMAN, and backs out again.)
SUTEKH [OC]: (straining) On the missile loading ramp a crude detonation device. It must be removed immediately.
SCARMAN: Another human attempt to prevent your return? They will be caught and punished.
(The DOCTOR walks to the windows and hides behind the curtains.)
SUTEKH [OC]: The device! I cannot hold back the exothermic reaction for many minutes. It is taking an intense toll of available energy. Attend to the device first!
SCARMAN: It will be done immediately, Master. (He bows and leaves.)
(The DOCTOR approaches the mummy case, kneels, and reaches over to it. The time-space tunnel activates, and the DOCTOR stands and steps into its field.)

[INT. Courtyard of the stables]

SCARMAN: That device on the ramp (he points) - remove it.
(He leaves, and a mummy heads toward the ramp.)

[INT. Sutekh's prison]

(The DOCTOR appears in the gloomy antechamber. He begins pulling aside the tapestry, stops to wipe slime from his fingers, and then enters the main chamber.)
DOCTOR: (sotto) Sutekh, last of the Osirans.
(The seated SUTEKH turns his head toward the DOCTOR. We see the pyramid on Earth explode as his concentration is broken. A fire remains. SUTEKH sees this on his monitor and turns back to the DOCTOR. The eyes in his mask glow bright green, and we hear a faint sizzling sort of sound. The DOCTOR, bathed in the sickly green, is held against the wall.)
DOCTOR: Agggh!


The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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