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DOCTOR WHO
PLANET OF EVIL

Written by
Louis Marks


Part Four

(Overlap from red-eyed Sorenson crawling into bed)

[INT. Space probe's bridge]

REIG: Maintain boosters at full thrust. We're only just holding rev. We must avoid being pulled into reverse.
(He hears crackling behind him and stands. He turns.)
REIG: (into the intercom) This is the command deck! Send help! Agggh!

[INT. Sick bay]

REIG [OC]: Help! Agggh!
(Hearing this, SALAMAR and VISHINSKY stop fighting. SALAMAR runs out with the guards, which leaves VISHINSKY on his own in the room. He pulls back on the ejection control, then runs from the room himself. The caskets are retracted into the body of the room.)

[INT. Space probe's bridge]

SALAMAR: Reig!
(Slumped over at REIG's station is a shrivelled corpse.)
VISHINSKY: Reig. If we hadn't been wasting our time down there...
SALAMAR: They caused it all.
VISHINSKY: How could they have caused this? We were with them. (into intercom) Attention. All crewmen report to assembly point immediately. Red alert. Red alert.
SALAMAR: Countermanded. Only I can give a red alert.
VISHINSKY: It's too late for any more mistakes, Salamar. I'm taking command.
SALAMAR: You'll regret this.

[INT. Sick bay]

(SARAH is climbing out of her casket. She helps the DOCTOR from his. He sags to the floor again but is still awake.)
DOCTOR: Where've they gone?
SARAH: I think there's been another killing.
DOCTOR: What?
SARAH: Doctor. Doctor, it is that thing from the planet. I felt it.
DOCTOR: You what?
SARAH: Just before de Haan was killed, I felt the same sort of icy suction.
DOCTOR: Who was with you?
SARAH: Professor Sorenson.
DOCTOR: Sorenson. Of course. The sole survivor of the expedition.
SARAH: So Sorenson is anti-man.
DOCTOR: Yes. He's been infected with antimatter. His brain cells are being destroyed. He'll descend to the level of a brute. (going to the door) Sarah?
SARAH: Yes?
DOCTOR: Get to the command deck. Tell them to shut down all the hatches. Our only chance is to keep it isolated.
SARAH: Right. But what are you going to do? (as he leaves) Doctor!
DOCTOR: Do as I say.

[INT. Space probe's bridge]

VISHINSKY: Command area to solarium section. Who's in charge there?
RANJIT [OC]: Senior Crew Leader Ranjit, sir.
VISHINSKY: Ranjit? Good. You know why we're on red alert?
RANJIT [OC]: They say we picked up some contagion back on the planet.
VISHINSKY: We picked up something, some animal. It's killed Morelli, Reig, and de Haan, so take no chances. Keep your men on full alert, and await further orders.
RANJIT [OC]: Right, sir.
SALAMAR: What are you going to do now, Vishinsky? Look at the course monitor. We're heading back to Zeta Minor. Come on, you've taken charge. Give an order. Give an order that'll stop us crashing, or we're all going to die.
VISHINSKY: Keep your nerve, Salamar.
(SARAH runs in.)
VISHINSKY: Where's the Doctor?
SARAH: I don't know, but he said you've got to close all the hatchways immediately.
VISHINSKY: As soon as Professor Sorenson reports in.
SARAH: No, now! Don't wait for Sorenson. The Doctor says he's behind all this.
SALAMAR: That's insane. How can he be?
SARAH: Something on the planet affected him. Look, you've got to shut the hatchways before it's too late.
SALAMAR: It's another trick.
VISHINSKY: The Doctor's been right so far. We should have listened to him before. Close all section hatchways!
(Bulkheads descend throughout the ship. The corridors are now separated into very small compartments.)

[INT. Sorenson's room]

(Using his sonic screwdriver, the DOCTOR enters the room. He goes to the desk, where he picks up the container, removes the lid, checks the contents, and replaces the lid. He returns to the door but notices the flask that contained Sorenson's red liquid. He sniffs it. The DOCTOR then reopens the container of crushed crystals and scoops some of the contents out onto the work surface. He pours a few drops of red liquid onto the crystals, which produces a momentary bright glow and leaves the crystals dark brown. He places the lid back on the crystal container. In the mirror we see SORENSON come through the door behind him.)
DOCTOR: (turning and holding out the container) Keep away!

[INT. Space probe's bridge]

SARAH: And the antimatter has turned Sorenson into that monster.
VISHINSKY: It's incredible. Sorenson?
(SALAMAR mounts the steps and removes a unit from its position along a pipe running up the wall.)
VISHINSKY: Salamar!
SALAMAR: (gun drawn) Keep away!
VISHINSKY: Don't be a fool.

[INT. Sorenson's room]

DOCTOR: (holding out the container) Keep away.
SORENSON: (hand to his forehead) I require an explanation.
DOCTOR: Professor Sorenson, you're ill.
SORENSON: What do you mean, ill?
DOCTOR: You think you've discovered an oral vaccine to protect you against antiquark penetration, but you're wrong.
SORENSON: It worked.
DOCTOR: For a time, but it set up a cycle of chemical change. There's no way back, Sorenson. You've reached the point where your tissues are so monstrously hybridised that the next metabolic change could be the final one.
SORENSON: No. (He dashes to the mirror.)
DOCTOR: There isn't much time.
SORENSON: No!
DOCTOR: You and I are scientists, Professor. We buy our privilege to experiment at the cost of total responsibility.
(He holds out the container to SORENSON.)
SORENSON: (taking it and walking to the door) The hypothesis... was false.
(He leaves, closing the door. The DOCTOR puts the lid back on the flask and leaves.)

[INT. Space probe's bridge]

SALAMAR: Open the hatch!
VISHINSKY: Take the shielding off that neutron accelerator, you'll be dead in minutes.
SALAMAR: But I'll take Sorenson with me. You'd like that, wouldn't you, Vishinsky? That might save your life. You'd like to live?
VISHINSKY: You're out of your mind.
SALAMAR: Oh, no. No, this is leadership. Strong action. That's why I'm Controller. Open that hatch!
(A GUARD steps forward. SALAMAR shoots him with an energy pulse, and the GUARD falls.)
SALAMAR: Now, open it!
SARAH: Let him go, Vishinsky. Let him go!
(VISHINSKY presses a button at Reig's station.)
SALAMAR: You, Controller? You haven't a hope. (He ducks under the stairs and leaves with the accelerator.)
VISHINSKY: If Sorenson doesn't get him, the radiation will.

[INT. Sick bay]

(SORENSEN is staggering again. He is still able to place his container in an ejection casket. He lies down in the other casket, next to the ejection handle. The hand that reaches for the control is becoming red-veiny and hairy. The hand rises without pushing the control.
SALAMAR is heading for the quarantine area.
The DOCTOR reaches the sick bay and sees the container in the casket. We can see that the second casket is now empty. The DOCTOR sets the container to the side and touches the control handle, in thought. The intercom beeps.)

VISHINSKY [OC]: Command area calling.

[INT. Space probe's bridge]

DOCTOR [OC]: This is the Doctor.
VISHINSKY: Doctor, we're accelerating back to Zeta Minor. Have you located the antimatter?

[INT. Sick bay]

DOCTOR: Listen, Vishinsky. Listen. There are now two forces of antimatter aboard. I've got one, and the other one is Sorenson himself.

[INT. Space probe's bridge]

SARAH: But Salamar's out hunting Sorenson now.
VISHINSKY: With a neutron accelerator.

[INT. Sick bay]

DOCTOR: He's got to be stopped. How long to impact?
VISHINSKY [OC]: Less than thirty minutes.
DOCTOR: Keep the hatchways open.
(The DOCTOR walks out of the sick bay with the container.)

[INT. Quarantine area]

(SALAMAR enters the area. We hear crackling and slightly strangled noises.)
SALAMAR: Come on! Come on out and face me!
DOCTOR [OC]: Salamar!

[INT. Space probe corridor]

DOCTOR: Where are you, Salamar? Don't use the accelerator! Salamar!

[INT. Quarantine area]

DOCTOR [OC]: Where are you? Salamar! Whatever you do, don't use the accelerator!
(SALAMAR steps forward and opens the shielding on the side of the device. SORENSON steps forward, and a swipe from his hand knocks SALAMAR to the ground.)
DOCTOR [OC]: Salamar!
(The neutron accelerator is active, and we see the savage SORENSON bathed in a whitish-blue glow. The DOCTOR enters the room, sees SALAMAR's dessicated body, and closes and picks up the accelerator. He also is carrying the container of crystals and Salamar's gun. He goes to the intercom unit on the wall.)
VISHINSKY [OC]: Command area.
DOCTOR: Vishinsky, it's too late. Salamar's dead.

[INT. Space probe's bridge]

DOCTOR [OC]: He used the neutron accelerator. If he hit Sorenson, it could be disastrous.
SARAH: You mean things can get worse? I don't believe it.
DOCTOR [OC]: Keep the hatches open. I'm coming up.
(In the corridor, two energy creatures step out in front of the DOCTOR. He brandishes the canister, and they back off. Further along the corridor, the same thing occurs.)
SARAH: Oh, why is he taking so long?
VISHINSKY: I'll try the quarantine area again. Doctor. Doctor, if you can hear me, indicate your position.
SARAH: Something's happened to him. Doctor, are you all right?
(There is banging on the door on the upper level of the bridge.)
DOCTOR [OC]: (as VISHINSKY heads to the door) Open up, Vishinsky. Open up!
(The DOCTOR enters, and the door slides closed.)
DOCTOR: Shut down all the hatchways. It may hold them.
SARAH: Them?
DOCTOR: Yes, them. They've multiplied.
(VISHINSKY slides the neutron accelerator back into its place. We cut to an antimatter creature walking slowly through a bulkhead.)
SARAH: (looking at lights on a diagram of the ship shown on a monitor, alongside VISHINSKY and the DOCTOR) Doctor, look. The hatchways are going.
VISHINSKY: What are they?
DOCTOR: Duplicates of Sorenson. Pure antimatter. The neutron accelerator boosted its power, and the creatures split off and multiplied.
VISHINSKY: They're going towards the solarium chamber. Ranjit, what's happening? Can you hear me?
RANJIT [OC]: They're attacking. We need help! They're coming through! Aggh!
VISHINSKY: Seven men. Sixteen minutes to impact.
SARAH: How can we stop them?
VISHINSKY: Acceleration thirty STS. Fifteen minutes.
SARAH: Doctor, what are we going to do?
DOCTOR: Stay here with Vishinsky, Sarah. I'm going out now, and I may be some time.
VISHINSKY: Acceleration fifty STS. Fourteen minutes.

[INT. Quarantine area]

(The DOCTOR is still holding out the canister to fend off the creatures.)
DOCTOR: Sorenson? Sorenson.
(As he approaches the TARDIS, he turns and fends off several energy creatures. Then SORENSON appears from the gloom behind the TARDIS. An unhappy-looking hirsute creature, he approaches the DOCTOR, claws extended, and the DOCTOR temporarily incapacitates him with a blast from Salamar's energy weapon. The DOCTOR then unlocks the TARDIS and drags SORENSON inside. He also holds the canister. The DOCTOR sets the TARDIS in flight. After we see the TARDIS take off, we cut to the DOCTOR placing the unconscious SORENSON creature's hands in hefty shackles attached to more bonds, at his ankles. As the DOCTOR works at the console, SORENSON's eyes open, and he stirs.)

[INT. Space probe's bridge]

VISHINSKY: Acceleration seventy-three STS. Eight minutes.
(We see several energy creatures working their way through the ship's bulkheads. There are at least four of them at one bulkhead alone.)
VISHINSKY: They're all around us. Come on. I'll need your help.
SARAH: We've only six minutes. Where are we going?
VISHINSKY: To get the force-field equipment. If we can lay a band around the command area, we may be able to keep them out.
(We see SORENSON moving his hands and the connecting bar between the wrist shackles begin to bend. The TARDIS is still in flight. The DOCTOR stands right in front of him at the console.)

[INT. Force-field equipment cabinet]

VISHINSKY: Take that. I'll bring the control box.
(Two crackling energy creatures appear in the corridor.)
VISHINSKY: Back, quickly! (They retreat.)

[INT. Space probe's bridge]

VISHINSKY: Direction them in a line straight across. We'll seal off the area.
(They set down the projectors in a line.)
SARAH: Look!
(Smoke has begun pouring through the upper-level door, and an energy creature coalesces on the inside.
Back in the TARDIS, SORENSON rises behind the DOCTOR. He growls and follows as the DOCTOR moves out of the way.
We see that the TARDIS has landed next to the abyss. The DOCTOR steps out, and SORENSON follows. The two struggle beside the hole, with the shackles structure being used by both as a weapon.
Meanwhile, two energy creatures descend the steps toward the force-field projectors. SARAH and VISHINSKY step back.
On Zeta Minor, the struggle continues briefly before the DOCTOR is able to throw SORENSON back and into the abyss. His cry last a very long time. The DOCTOR throws the canister too into the hole.
Back on the bridge, the energy creatures fade away. The two there look at each other and then the screens and readouts.)

VISHINSKY: Thirty seconds. Look, we're slowing down. Twenty-five seconds. We've stopped. We're still on full power.
SARAH: We're moving again.
VISHINSKY: We're gaining height! We're moving away from the surface! The Doctor has done it!
SARAH: Yes, but where is he?

[EXT. Beside abyss]

(The DOCTOR looks down on a human-looking SORENSON lying next to the abyss.)
DOCTOR: Sorenson. Professor Sorenson.
(SORENSON is only partially awake, and the DOCTOR helps him into the TARDIS, which dematerialises just as the large energy creature begins rising from the hole.)

[INT. TARDIS console room]

SORENSON: Where am I? What am I doing here?
DOCTOR: You're a very lucky man, Professor. You've been released.
SORENSON: Released?
DOCTOR: Yes. Because I kept my promise and returned the antimatter.
SORENSON: (puzzled) This isn't the Morestran probe ship.
DOCTOR: (smiling) Don't you worry, Professor. Just rest a while. Everything's going to be all right.
(The TARDIS reappears in the quarantine area.)

[INT. Space probe's bridge]

VISHINSKY: We're making good progress now. Once we cross the galactic frontier, we can signal for an emergency refuelling.
SARAH: Doctor!
VISHINSKY: Professor Sorenson! Are you all right?
SORENSON: Yes. Yes, I remember now. My researches. I've discovered a new source of energy.
DOCTOR: No, no, no, Professor. I think you'd abandoned that line. You'd decided to concentrate on deriving energy from the kinetic force of planetary movement.
SORENSON: Had I?
DOCTOR: Yes. Large source of untapped energy there.
SORENSON: The kinetic force of planetary movement. What a brilliant idea!
SARAH: Goodbye, Vishinsky. And thank you.
(She hugs him.)
VISHINSKY: Goodbye. Goodbye, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Goodbye, Vishinsky. Come on, Sarah. We've an appointment in London, and we're already thirty thousand years late.


The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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