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DOCTOR WHO
THE ROBOTS OF DEATH
Written by
Chris Boucher
Part One
(Dust blows past jagged rocks in hues of purple and green. A few smaller rocks are loosened by a passing machine with a screw-style drilling head at the front. As this behemoth moves forward, turning some rocks into dust, we peer into a window near the top of this sandminer.)
[INT. Control deck]
(Several green-gold androids walk about at a relatively slow but purposeful pace, performing their tasks. They have sculpted-metal hair, accentuated features such as almond-shaped eyes, and padded jackets bearing the designation code of each on the chest. High on the wall is the window to the outside, through which we can see purple skies.)
V32: Turbulence centre, vector seven. Scan commencing now.
[INT. Crew room]
(The crew room is a large relaxation space with chandeliers and sofas. Most members of the crew, wearing 3/4-length trousers and with 3/4 sleeves, lounge at board games here. They are attended by ROBOTS. A drink is brought to one human.)
CHUB: There was a Voc therapist in Kaldor City, specially programmed, equipped with vibro-digits, subcutaneous stimulators, the lot. You know what happened, Borg? (approaching a man on a massage couch) Its first client wanted treatment for a stiff elbow. The Voc therapist felt carefully all round the joint and then suddenly, eh, just twisted his arm off at the shoulder. Schumph! (laughs) All over in two seconds.
BORG: (as a ROBOT rotates his shoulder as part of the massage) I've never heard that.
CHUB: Kaldor City.
DASK: What was the reason?
CHUB: Reason? It was haywire. I wouldn't let a robot work on me, not for the zelanite in this ship.
BORG: Shut up, Chub. Thank you, V16. (He rises from the couch.)
DASK: (who had been reading) A Voc-class robot has over a million multi-level constrainers in its circuitry. All of them would have to malfunction before it could perform such an action.
TOOS: (moving pieces on a board) That's your trouble, Dask. You take all the magic out of life.
CHUB: They go wrong, my friend. It's been known.
DASK: Only when there's an error in programming. Each case on record-
CHUB: This was a case. Tore his arm off.
POUL: (entering) We're turning. Has anyone noticed?
ZILDA: I heard it was a leg.
V9: (in the mellow voice used by all robots here) Mate in eight moves, Commander.
UVANOV: Never!
V9: I will check, Commander. (consulting a wrist unit) The computation is confirmed.
UVANOV: Damn!
DASK: (reclining) They're unbeatable, Commander.
UVANOV: (responding to a noise from his communicator, a medallion at his wrist) Commander.
V14 [OC]: V14 tracer, sir.
UVANOV: Yes?
[INT. Control deck]
(V14 stands in front of a wide screen on which large characters are displayed, including many 'X's and notes such as 'STANDBY', 'CALL+CODE+R', AND 'ROBOT+V!%15'. Other ROBOTS work on lower levels.)
V14: Storm scale three, range ten point five two, timed three zero six, vector seven one and holding.
UVANOV [OC]: Right, full crew alert, Fourteen. Out.
V14: Full crew alert. Full crew alert.
[INT. Crew room]
UVANOV: Chub, break out an instrument pack.
(The others too start to move, taking headdresses and other pieces of more formal clothing with them.)
CHUB: Right, sir.
BORG: Let's hope this one's worth chasing.
TOOS: Time we had some luck.
V14 [OC]: Full crew alert.
[INT. TARDIS, wooden console room]
(We are in the backup console room, where LEELA stands in the foreground, bouncing the Doctor's yo-yo up and down.)
LEELA: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Hmm?
LEELA: Can I stop now?
DOCTOR: If you want to.
LEELA: It will not affect this?
DOCTOR: Affect this? No, it's a yo-yo. It's a game. I thought you were enjoying it.
(She casts him an incredulous look and drops the yo-yo.)
LEELA: Enjoying it? You said I had to keep it going up and down. I thought it was part of the magic.
DOCTOR: Magic, Leela, magic?
LEELA: (looking down) I know, I know. There's no such thing as magic.
DOCTOR: Exactly. To the rational mind, nothing is inexplicable, only unexplained.
LEELA: So, explain to me how this TARDIS is larger on the inside than the out.
DOCTOR: Hmm? All right, I'll show you. It's because insides and outsides are not in the same dimension.
(He goes to a cupboard and fetches a pair of boxes, one large and one smaller.)
DOCTOR: (holding them up) Which box is larger?
LEELA: (pointing) That one.
(He places the box she indicated at the centre of the console and walks over to LEELA. He stands alongside her and holds up the other.)
DOCTOR: Now which is larger?
LEELA: (pointing) That one.
DOCTOR: But it looks smaller.
LEELA: Well, that's because it's further away.
DOCTOR: Exactly. If you could keep that exactly that distance away and have it here, the large one would fit inside the small one.
LEELA: That's silly.
DOCTOR: That's transdimensional engineering, a key Time Lord discovery.
(We hear the sound of the ship materialising and see it land on sand in a corner formed of metal walls.)
DOCTOR: This is the exciting bit.
LEELA: What's exciting?
DOCTOR: Well, seeing what's outside.
(He activates the scanner, whose shutters part to show the same style of metal walls and a bit of sand.)
DOCTOR: I don't... It's metal. We've landed inside something metal.
LEELA: But how can we? How can the TARDIS be inside something metal?
DOCTOR: One box inside another. I just explained it to you.
LEELA: No. Not very clearly.
DOCTOR: Well, it's a rather dull subject anyway. (turning the scanner off) I wonder where we are.
LEELA: You mean you don't know?
DOCTOR: Well, not precisely, no. (He puts on his jacket.)
LEELA: You mean you can't control this machine?
DOCTOR: Well, of course I can control it. Nine times out of ten. Well, seven times out of ten. Five times. Look. Never mind. Let's see where we are.
(LEELA picks up the Tesh gun she had in the previous story.)
DOCTOR [OC]: You won't need that.
LEELA: How do you know?
DOCTOR: I never carry weapons. If people see you mean them no harm, they never hurt you. Nine times out of ten.
(She sets the weapon down, and the DOCTOR leads the way out of the TARDIS. LEELA follows with her knife out. They cautiously creep around the corner of the TARDIS.)
[INT. Control deck]
(After a shot of the forbidding outside environment, we see the crew enter the command deck. Each wears his or her own distinctive sandwich-board-style over-garment or similar, with matching headdress. They get to work.)
UVANOV: How does it look, Toos?
TOOS: In a moment.
UVANOV: Right tracking?
ZILDA: Clear and running, Commander.
UVANOV: Left tracking?
ZILDA: And running.
TOOS: It's small. Scale three point four. Not building.
UVANOV: What have you done with all the big ones?
ZILDA: Range four point one two. Running time three point three zero...
TOOS: That's something, anyway. We won't have to chase this one.
ZILDA: Ground centre zero zero one.
V32: No instrument pack report yet, sir.
UVANOV: Chub. Get after him.
POUL: It's all right. I'll go. (He heads for the door.)
UVANOV: Scientists. How can I run a mine with amateurs?
ZILDA: Chub's all right.
UVANOV [OC]: Why? Just because he's from one of the founding families?
ZILDA: I didn't mention his family.
UVANOV: One of the Twenty? You know, it's amazing the way you people stick toge-. No, it's not amazing, it's sickening.
ZILDA: I hope you're watching the traverses, Commander.
UVANOV: Please, don't worry about my job, Zilda. What's she blowing, Toos?
TOOS: The spectrum is muddy. Could be some zelanite, some keefan, (smiling) traces of lucanol!
UVANOV: Ah, money in the bank. Cheer up, Zilda. I'll make you rich again.
[INT: Storage area]
(CHUB is searching for an instrument pack.)
CHUB: Ah. Where in the seven suns is that robot? Robot? Robot?
(We see the robot's feet, and then V45 joins CHUB.)
V45: Yes, sir?
CHUB: Where have you been? Get that instrument package. Well, come on, get a move on. I've got to launch it before the hatches are locked.
(If we're paying attention, we might notice that V45's eyes are a sparkly red around the pupils.)
CHUB: Did you hear what I said?
V45: Yes, sir. I heard what you said.
(V45 walks towards CHUB, hands outstretched.)
CHUB: Well, get on with it, then. (as we approach him from the robot's perspective) No, look, there, you electronic morag. What are you doing? Look, stop. Stand still. No. (trying to back away, then running a short way until cornered) No. Get back. Get away from me!
(ROBOTS walk through the corridor as POUL heads for Chub's location. He hears a drawn-out tortured scream, so he runs back through the corridor.)
[INT. Control deck]
UVANOV: (making an announcement via his wrist unit) This is the commander. All checks complete. All systems clear and running. Security robots, stand by to commence hatch-lock sequence now.
TOOS: Range two ten. Running time point four three. Ground centre zero zero zero.
UVANOV: Duty mover, stand by for switch to motive power. Coming right down our throats, so we can really suck the pay stream out of this one.
V32: Monitors indicate obstruction on forward scoop deck.
UVANOV: Then get it cleared, V32. Get it cleared.
[INT. Forward scoop deck]
(Stepping through passageways over some sand, the DOCTOR and LEELA examine the metal structures that form their surroundings. We can hear the howl of winds faintly.)
LEELA: What is it?
DOCTOR: It's basically hardened alloy. Scored all over. It must come in under great pressure.
LEELA: What must?
DOCTOR: Whatever it is they fill it up with.
(Overseen by a ROBOT, a monitor on the control deck shows a metal claw pick up the TARDIS from above.)
LEELA: Doctor?
DOCTOR: This is very interesting.
LEELA: Back there. I heard something.
DOCTOR: It comes in here.
LEELA: What does?
DOCTOR: Whatever it is.
[INT. Control deck]
TOOS: Range point eight seven. Running time point one three. Ground centre zero nine three.
UVANOV: It's veering away. Mover, where's that power?
BORG [OC]: (sounding laconic) It's coming, sir.
UVANOV: So is old age, Borg, and I don't want to spend mine in this desert waiting for you to do your job.
TOOS: Range point three. Running time point zero two. Ground centre nine nine one.
BORG [OC]: Switching to motive units now.
(POUL hurries in.)
UVANOV: We may just catch the edge, but we're going to have to chase to stay there.
POUL: Commander!
UVANOV: (irritated) What is it?
POUL: Chub's dead.
ZILDA: Dead?!
UVANOV: You sure?
POUL: Of course I'm sure.
UVANOV: All right then, first things first. There's nothing we can do for him now.
POUL: He was murdered!
UVANOV: How do you know?
POUL: Because people don't strangle themselves.
TOOS: Strangle?
POUL: Yes. He's in the forward storage locker.
ZILDA: You have to abort this one.
UVANOV: What, and lose this storm? We're almost on to it.
ZILDA: Poul's talking about murder, Commander.
UVANOV: I'm talking about money!
POUL: You have no choice!
ZILDA: This time.
UVANOV: Close scoops. Trim vents. Crew, stand down.
[INT. Forward scoop deck]
(Our pair of travellers look out the shutters of the scoop deck.)
LEELA: What is it?
DOCTOR: Desert. Either that or the tide's gone out.
LEELA: Where are the trees?
DOCTOR: There's no water, so nothing grows. Nothing at all, by the look of it.
LEELA: It's beautiful.
DOCTOR: Hmm. A bit garish for my taste.
LEELA: What's that white thing on the horizon?
DOCTOR: Hmm? Looks like dust. It's a sandstorm. (as we see it approach) Come on, let's get out of here. Come on! This is a sandmine. We're in one of the scoops.
LEELA: What does that mean?
DOCTOR: The storm could be travelling at a thousand miles an hour. The sand will cut us to pieces unless we get back to the TARDIS. Come on!
(LEELA moves, and they hurry back to the hopper where the TARDIS landed. There is no TARDIS here. They react.)
DOCTOR: We've been robbed!
LEELA: I said I heard something!
DOCTOR: The shutters!
LEELA: What?
DOCTOR: If there are no manual controls, we're dead!
(They head back to the shutters, which close just as the DOCTOR gets there.)
LEELA: (reaching his side) Somebody must have heard.
[INT. Storage area]
UVANOV: Was he like this when you found him?
POUL: Just a little fresher.
(Gingerly, UVANOV rolls CHUB over. He feels for a pulse.)
UVANOV: (slowly) You said you heard screams.
POUL: Yes.
UVANOV: He was strangled.
POUL: Well, the scream stopped.
(We get a close-up of the hand that Uvanov set on the corpse's chest when checking Chub's wrist. On the back of the dead man's hand is a round marker with a white rim.)
UVANOV: What's this?
POUL: I've no idea.
(UVANOV unsticks it and looks it over.)
UVANOV: Crew all assembled?
POUL: They should be by now.
UVANOV: Let's get this thing settled then. The sooner we get this worked out, then the sooner we get back to making our quota. Scientists. I never should have let him on board.
POUL: He'd probably agree with you.
UVANOV: Poul!
POUL: Coming, Commander.
[INT. Forward scoop deck]
(Back where the TARDIS once stood, the DOCTOR and LEELA shout over the sounds of the frenzied winds.)
DOCTOR: There must be a way out.
LEELA: I do not think I like this metal world, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Well, we can't get out of it until we find the TARDIS.
LEELA: Watch it!
(She has seen robots enter and drawn her knife. V17 and D84, a more black-hued robot, approach.)
[INT. Crew room]
UVANOV: All present?
DASK: Kerril's not here yet.
TOOS: He's on his way. He's in the rear section, but it'll take a while.
UVANOV: Right. We'll make a start, then.
DASK: Right.
UVANOV: Now, you all know that Chub is dead. One of you killed him.
ZILDA: One of us, surely.
UVANOV: That's what I said.
POUL: You did say 'one of you'.
UVANOV: All right then, one of us killed him. The question is - which one?
TOOS: And why.
UVANOV: Well, this is a two-year tour. Maybe Chub was just beginning to get on somebody's nerves.
BORG: (in front of whom UVANOV has stopped) Me?
ZILDA: (to UVANOV) He was certainly getting on yours.
UVANOV: Yes, but we all know where I was.
BORG: I was on the power deck.
UVANOV: Was Dask with you?
BORG: Yes.
DASK: Er, not all the time. I went to check the synchro-relays.
BORG: Now look, I had nothing against Chub. Okay, he talked too much, but I w-
ZILDA: Anyway, the time Poul heard the scream-
CASS: Ah, ah, says he heard the scream. Let's keep the point open.
POUL: Why should I lie?
UVANOV: (slowly) Now you interrupted Zilda. Founding Family people never interrupt each other. Isn't that right, Zilda? (He is in her space.)
POUL: Someone interrupted Chub, with both hands.
UVANOV: Please, Poul. We're all waiting for Zilda.
ZILDA: I was simply going to say the scream could have been arranged.
TOOS: How?
ZILDA: A communicator recording.
UVANOV: What would be the point?
ZILDA: To give somebody an alibi, Commander. You sent Poul to look for Chub. You could have arranged it all.
TOOS: You mean the poor man might have been dead when Poul heard the scream?
UVANOV: Oh, nice try, Zilda. Now, does anybody know what this is?
(He holds out the marker, which the others examine. BORG touches it. TOOS does too and pulls her hand back.)
DASK: It's a corpse marker.
UVANOV: What?
DASK: (standing) Robot deactivation disc. They use them in the construction centres. If ever we used the stop circuit and turned off all our robots, they'd have to go back to a construction centre for reactivation. On arrival, each would be marked with a disc like that to show it was a deactivated robot. The technicians call them corpse markers. It's a sort of a joke.
POUL: It seems our murderer has a sense of humour.
UVANOV: That was on the back of Chub's hand.
BORG: Not just a murderer, then. Seems like one of us is a maniac.
CASS: Use your brain, Borg. We would know, wouldn't we?
BORG: But we don't...
(He places the marker on CASS's hand.)
BORG: Do we?
[INT. Control deck]
V14: Storm scale sixteen, range nine point eight. Time two zero one. Vector seven two and holding.
V32: All right, Fourteen. Full crew alert. All but the human in the rear section are accounted for. Storm mine 4 is now under complete robot control. Begin the check sequence.
[INT. Crew cabin]
(ROBOTS direct the DOCTOR and LEELA through a corridor. They stop at a large cabin with sofas in a lower area and enter.)
LEELA: Doctor, how do you know they're not hostile?
DOCTOR: Because robots are programmed to help people, not hurt them. You won't hurt us, will you?
V9: Please wait here.
(The ROBOTS leave the cabin, and the doors close behind them.)
LEELA: (examining crystals on the table past the sofas) What's all this for?
DOCTOR: Mineral extraction. The surface of this planet is a sea of sand...
[INT. Outside the cabin door]
(Back against the door, V9 is listening to the conversation.)
DOCTOR [OC]: Probably several miles deep and constantly moving, and I imagine contains valuable metallic elements. Otherwise they wouldn't go to all this trouble.
[INT. Crew cabin]
LEELA: But those creepy mechanical men...
DOCTOR: Yes. I have seen a similar sort of thing on Korlano Beta. The mine passes over the surface, searching for useful ores. Naturally, the heavier elements tend to sink into the substratas, so a really good sandstorm is a bonus. It stirs things up a bit.
LEELA: Sometimes you talk like a Tesh.
DOCTOR: Thank you.
LEELA: It was not well meant. Are the mechanical men friendly?
DOCTOR: Robots don't have feelings. It's the people they serve we must hope are friendly.
LEELA: Perhaps there are no people here.
DOCTOR: What? Robots don't need chairs, and certainly not padded ones.
LEELA: Because they have no feelings?
(SV7, a wholly silver robot, enters.)
SV7: Please identify yourselves.
DOCTOR: Well, I'm the Doctor, and that's Leela. I wonder if it's possible for us to speak to the person in charge. I'd like to thank him for saving our lives.
SV7: I command.
DOCTOR: Well, thank you for saving our lives.
SV7: What are you doing here?
LEELA: Uh, well, the other mechanical man told us to wait.
SV7: What were you doing in the scoop?
DOCTOR: Trying to get out.
SV7: (heading for the door) Please wait here.
LEELA: Talkative. (as the DOCTOR makes for the door) No, Doctor. He said we must wait here.
(Paying her no mind, he opens the door by applying his sonic screwdriver to the side panel. He turns back to her then.)
DOCTOR: (whispering) First we find the TARDIS, then we have a little scout round, and we'll be back before they know.
LEELA: Doctor- (He has gone, and she follows, knife in hand.)
[INT. Crew room]
UVANOV: (into his wrist unit) Right. Hold them there. Well, that settles that, then.
CASS: I told you. Didn't I say so? Mania.
UVANOV: Come on, let's all get back to work.
POUL: Now just a minute.
ZILDA: Yes. What do you mean 'let's get back to work'?
UVANOV: You heard SV7. There are intruders, a man and a woman. They're obviously the murderers, and we've got them under lock and key.
BORG: Why are they obviously the murderers? I don't see that.
CASS: You just don't like to be wrong, do you?
BORG: Nobody's proved that I am. I mean, who are these people?
ZILDA: Could they be ore raiders?
BORG: Ore raiders? There's no such thing.
UVANOV: No, listen. We are at the moment in the middle of the biggest storm we've come across since we started this tour, and we are wasting time.
BORG: The robots are mining.
UVANOV: The robots do not have instincts. They'd be lucky to get half of what we can get. We are not out in the middle of this desert for pleasure. We are here to make money. So get on your feet and get back to work. That is an order!
BORG: Give it to a robot.
UVANOV: What did you say?
TOOS: Commander, we've got to find out about those two.
POUL: For all we know, there may be more of them.
CASS: Makes sense!
DASK: If there are more of them, they will be caught. In the meantime, as the commander suggests, I think we should return to our posts.
ZILDA: Why? Nothing's changed.
UVANOV: All right. (his communicator beeps) Seven.
SV7 [OC]: Yes, Commander.
UVANOV: Bring the man and the woman here.
SV7 [OC]: I was about to inform you, Commander. They have escaped.
BORG: You see?
UVANOV: What? Escaped? Then you'd better find them and find them quick. Put every spare robot on it.
[INT. Ore-processing deck, near storage area]
(The DOCTOR and LEELA explore the area, as the DOCTOR munches on a jelly baby. When he walks past Chub's locker, she steps inside and sees a green sheet covering something. She pulls it back and sees the dead body. Further along the corridor, the DOCTOR happily discovers the TARDIS and taps it affectionately.)
DOCTOR: Hello, my dear old thing.
(He looks through the glass behind a hatch and sees sand pouring into the hopper.)
DOCTOR: (speaking to Leela, who isn't there) The ore comes in under pressure from the separators. I wonder what it is, Leela. What do you think? (turning) Leela? Leela? I wish that girl wouldn't wander off like that.
(He checks another hatch, opening it and shining a torch beam around. Seeing a body, he steps all the way inside. The hatch falls shut behind him. A glass panel reinforces the barrier. Sand starts entering the hopper from above. The corpse is soon covered, and the DOCTOR is next. We see the sand level rise to his chest and finally reach the top of his head.)
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
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