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DOCTOR WHO
THE INVISIBLE ENEMY
Written by
Bob Baker
Part Three
(Overlap from the Doctor and Leela's clones shrinking)
[INT. The Doctor's brain]
(The clones spiral downward through fluid and hold each other's arms along the way. They sit up and are greeted by a 'landscape' of greens and reds on the rounded contours. They walk forward. We hear a faint heartbeat sound.)
DOCTOR 2: (stopping) Well, what do you think?
LEELA 2: I don't know what to think. I've never been inside anybody's head before.
DOCTOR 2: No.
LEELA 2: It's very interesting.
DOCTOR 2: Thank you.
LEELA 2: Hey, why aren't we wet?
DOCTOR 2: Because we're too small to break the surface tension.
(A packet of light shoots past them.)
LEELA 2: What was that?
DOCTOR 2: Oh, just a passing thought. Electrochemical reaction in the synapses. Leg wants to move.
[INT. Isolation ward]
(In the outside world, the DOCTOR's right leg jerks. This breaks a restraint strap, and MARIUS and the NURSE react.)
MARIUS: I don't think he can hold out much longer. The virus is strengthening its grip.
LOWE [on screen]: Marius! You have not replied to my ultimatum. I shall destroy this centre.
MARIUS: No, wait! I agree to your terms. I have no further use for the Doctor. He's yours whenever you want him.
LOWE [on screen]: A wise decision. Tell me, Professor, is the woman Leela with you?
MARIUS: No. As you can see, there's simply myself and my two assistants. She is somewhere in the foundation, but I have no idea where.
LOWE [on screen]: No matter. She will be destroyed. Stay where you are. We are on our way.
(The screen goes white again, and MARIUS steps over to the door. He reaches into the corridor, beckoning.)
MARIUS: Leela! (then, after she enters) They're coming now. We must hold them up for ten minutes. Can you do that?
LEELA: Can I borrow K9?
MARIUS: Yes, certainly, certainly. K9, co-operate with Leela.
K9: Master.
LEELA: What we need is that corridor.
K9: Corridor X3.
LEELA: Yes. If we can just make some sort of barrier...
K9: Re-check. First, we must eliminate the service shaft.
LEELA: Oh, of course! They can attack us from behind.
MARIUS: You haven't got much time.
LEELA: Right. Erm, K9, you destroy the shaft and meet me in the corridor. (She heads out.)
K9: Affirmative.
(K9 trundles out.)
PARSONS: Suppose they fail?
(MARIUS takes the two guns that sit in a holder by the door.)
MARIUS: Have you ever used one of these?
PARSONS: Thank you, sir.
MARIUS: Parsons, if by any chance I am taken over by the virus, I hope you won't hesitate to use that on me, because I certainly will on you. We must give the Doctor his ten minutes.
PARSONS: I understand, sir.
(MARIUS squeezes his arm.)
[INT. The Doctor's brain]
(DOCTOR 2 and LEELA 2 walk through an irregular honeycomb structure.)
LEELA 2: Doctor?
DOCTOR 2: Yes?
LEELA 2: I do not think you have any idea where we are going.
DOCTOR 2: What do you mean I've got no idea where we're going? We're travelling along my neural pathways looking for a sort of bridge, a crossover point between the left lobe and the right lobe.
LEELA 2: Is that where the virus will be?
DOCTOR 2: Since it seems to control both the conscious and unconscious, it's a good enough place to start.
LEELA 2: Suppose we meet it?
DOCTOR 2: What? Oh, no. It came in through the optic nerve. We are somewhere between the spinal cord and cerebellum. But keep your eyes open for tissue deterioration.
LEELA 2: Like this?
DOCTOR [OC]: Agh!
DOCTOR 2: That's me you're kicking.
LEELA 2: Oh. Sorry.
(DOCTOR 2 leads the way. Behind them floats a round, white sphere.)
[INT. Level X4]
(K9 rolls up to the squatting LEELA's side.)
K9: Mission accomplished. Service shaft destroyed, Mistress.
LEELA: (patting K9's 'nose') Thank you, K9. Now, what we need here is some sort of barrier.
(She gestures in front of them, and K9 fires at a spot on the wall where there is a crack. A section of wall falls away, blocking the path somewhat. In the wall are exposed cables.)
K9: Acceptable?
LEELA: Perfect! Thank you, K9.
K9: There is no need for gratitude. I am an automaton.
LEELA: Really?
K9: I am without emotional circuits. Only memory and awareness. Attention! Four hostiles approaching.
(From Leela and K9's side of the barrier, we see the hostiles approach.)
LOWE: It's the reject.
(He and the three with him flatten themselves against the wall.)
LOWE: Leela. Leela. Bring me the Doctor.
LEELA: Come and get him!
(She rises, fires, and falls back to the corner behind her. Fire is exchanged across the barrier.)
[INT. Isolation ward]
(A countdown on the screen is at 8:01. MARIUS looks back at it as it beeps for each elapsed second.)
MARIUS: Eight minutes to go. Anything?
PARSONS: (using the screens) It's all there, sir. Leela's tissue profile, adaption, disease-resistance.
NURSE: Bit of a mongrel, isn't she?
MARIUS: Well, I imagine that's why her race survived. But there's no sign of any physical immunity.
NURSE: There's a wide variation in blood characteristics, sir. It'll take hours to check them all.
MARIUS: On the other hand, it could be a psychological factor.
PARSONS: You mean not physical at all?
MARIUS: Yes, something in her mind, her way of looking at things.
PARSONS: Aggression.
NURSE: Determination. Stamina.
MARIUS: The predator's instinct!
[INT. The Doctor's brain]
(DOCTOR 2 and LEELA 2 soldier on, ducking down to avoid some tissue.)
DOCTOR 2: Doesn't look like the most advanced computer system ever, does it?
LEELA 2: Ew. What's that?
DOCTOR 2: That is why my brain is so much superior to yours.
LEELA 2: Doctor.
DOCTOR 2: What is it?
LEELA 2: I can sense danger.
DOCTOR 2: Rubbish! If there was any danger about, I'd be the first to scent it. I know this brain like the back of my hand. Danger. What do you know about brains anyway?
LEELA 2: All right, all right. Don't get excited.
DOCTOR 2: I'll get excited if I want to. It's my brain. Danger. I'll tell you something about brains. Do you want to know something?
LEELA 2: Not much.
DOCTOR 2: I'll tell you anyway. Somebody once tried to build a machine as efficient as the brain. Only trouble was it would have had to have been bigger than London. Do you remember London? And powered by the entire European grid. And that was just a human brain. Mine's much more complex. Left and right sides working in unison via these specialised neural ganglia, thus combining data storage and retrieval with logical inference and the intuitive leap. And here... (looking back) Are you listening to me?
LEELA 2: Yes, Doctor.
DOCTOR 2: That is a reflex link, whereby I can tune myself in to the Time Lord intelligentsia. A thousand super-brains in one.
LEELA 2: Why don't you do it now?
DOCTOR 2: What? Oh, well, I lost that particular faculty when they kicked me out. Oh, look.
LEELA 2: Kicked you out?
DOCTOR 2: Oh look. Connection 7. Hello.
LEELA 2: Hello.
DOCTOR 2: Don't be funny.
LEELA 2: Doctor, you're wasting time. Keep moving.
DOCTOR 2: No, no, no. Come on over here. This is recent damage.
LEELA 2: The virus?
DOCTOR 2: What else? We must be getting close to it now.
LEELA 2: What's that?
DOCTOR 2: What?
(He turns and sees several white cells, like the one we saw earlier, attack her.)
LEELA 2: Doctor! Doctor, help me!
DOCTOR 2: I can't! It's my body defence mechanism. They're my own phagocytes. Use your knife!
LEELA 2: Oh, Doctor!
(He runs to her as she screams and flails amidst the white balls. DOCTOR 2 runs to near where she is and grasps two of the ganglia that are hanging down. He presses them together, which creates an electrical impulse that causes the white cells to disperse.)
DOCTOR 2: Oh.
LEELA 2: What did you do?
DOCTOR 2: I think I told them my liver was disintegrating. I think.
LEELA 2: That's very clever.
DOCTOR 2: That's very clever.
(He repeats the action.)
[INT. Isolation ward]
(In the hospital bed, the DOCTOR jerks.)
PARSONS: What was that?
MARIUS: Well, it proves they're in there at some sensitive area.
(We can now hear energy weapons outside.)
PARSONS: They're coming closer, sir.
(MARIUS returns the counter to the display. It is at 7:39 now.)
MARIUS: Seven and a half minutes. (sighing and crossing his arms) Not much chance.
[INT. Level X4]
(At LOWE's direction, one of the virus-afflicted doctors leaps over the barrier, landing directly in front of K9. K9's nose laser flares out, and he falls - but not before energy forks out to K9 from his eyes. The doctor falls, dead.)
K9: Contact has been made, Master.
[INT. The Doctor's brain]
(DOCTOR 2 and LEELA 2 stand at a membrane.)
DOCTOR 2: After you.
LEELA 2: Are you afraid?
DOCTOR 2: Not necessarily, no. From now on, we're on the trail of the virus, and that's the path it took.
LEELA 2: Where to?
DOCTOR 2: Well, if I knew that, I wouldn't have brought you along. From now on, this is where your tracking skills come in.
(LEELA 2 draws her knife and leads the way.)
[INT. Level X4]
LOWE: Kill her. Kill the reject.
(LEELA is firing.)
K9: (slowly) Affirmative. Kill the reject.
(She keeps firing. When K9 reaches her side, she ducks just as the mechanical dog's nose laser hits the wall above her. K9 keeps moving forward and hits the wall.)
K9: Reject liquidated. K9 into self-regeneration. Non-functional.
LOWE: Good. Now for the Doctor.
[INT. The Doctor's brain]
LEELA 2: Aah!
DOCTOR 2: What is it?
LEELA 2: Something banged my head. A real bump, but-
DOCTOR 2: What?
LEELA 2: There's nothing there.
DOCTOR 2: That was your outside head.
LEELA 2: Oh, that's all right, then.
DOCTOR 2: No, it isn't all right. You and I have only got a limited life in here. Your outside self and your inside self are made of the same tissue. Your outside self is hurt, then you feel a shock. Your outside self is killed, yes.
LEELA 2: We'd better make the most of the next six minutes then.
(We see a shot of the DOCTOR on his bed.)
DOCTOR 2 [OC]: Yes.
LEELA 2 [OC]: Where are we?
(They are standing on a sort of bridge leading into blackness.)
DOCTOR 2: This is the gap between one side of our mind and the other.
LEELA 2: But it's dark on the other side.
DOCTOR 2: Well, of course it's dark. It's the gap between logic and imagination. You can't see one side from the other side.
LEELA 2: But it is there?
DOCTOR 2: What?
LEELA 2: There is something on the other side?
DOCTOR 2: This is the mind--brain interface, Leela. At least I think it is. That's the mind (pointing into the darkness ahead of them) and that's the brain (pointing up and back) - two things entirely different but part of the same thing.
LEELA 2: Oh, like the land and the sea?
DOCTOR 2: That's right, that's right.
LEELA 2: It's very deep.
DOCTOR 2: Yes. Sometimes I don't quite understand it myself.
(He starts walking into the darkness, with LEELA 2 holding his scarf.)
[INT. Isolation ward]
(The countdown is beeping away.)
MARIUS: Five minutes to go.
(He guides the NURSE into the cubicle and closes the door. He returns to the DOCTOR's side. The door to the room then opens, and the virus-afflicted party enter. PARSONS turns, with his gun out, and LOWE shoots him.)
LOWE: Don't move, Professor. (stepping forward) Release the Doctor.
MARIUS: No, I can't.
(Energy forks into MARIUS's eyes.)
MARIUS: Contact has been made.
LOWE: Release him. We must make contact with the Nucleus.
MARIUS: No, no, wait. The Nucleus is in danger.
LOWE: What?
MARIUS: (as he undoes the restraints) Micro-cloned copies have been injected into his brain and are even now trying to hunt down and destroy the Nucleus.
(The NURSE exits the cubicle quickly and leaves the room in haste.)
MARIUS: If they succeed-
LOWE: They must not succeed.
MARIUS: We can't stop them. There is no time.
LOWE: I say we must!
[INT. Level X4]
(An antenna extends from just below K9's red eyes, above LEELA's prone form.)
K9: Mistress?
(She wakes.)
LEELA: Why did you attack me?
K9: I had to. I was temporarily overpowered, and my motivational circuits were in confusion. I have now regenerated and await your further orders.
LEELA: Where are the others? Have they got the Doctor?
K9: Affirmative.
(The NURSE opens the isolation ward door again and checks on what's happening inside. She sees LOWE standing in the cubicle while MARIUS paces in the body of the room. She runs down the corridor to Leela and K9.)
NURSE: They've got Professor Marius. He's been taken over by the virus, and they've killed Doctor Parsons.
LEELA: What are they doing now?
NURSE: Well, they're cloning Lowe, and they're going to inject him into the Doctor's brain.
LEELA: Then we'd better stop them.
K9: Negative. We must wait. Maintain surveillance.
LEELA: Why?
K9: We cannot interfere while there is still a possibility that the Doctor will succeed in destroying the Nucleus.
[INT. The Doctor's brain]
(The micro-clones have reached the far side of the barrier and smile as the winds buffet them.)
DOCTOR 2: Bracing, isn't it?
LEELA 2: Very.
DOCTOR 2: The interface. The mind unsullied by a single thought.
LEELA 2: Where are we going, Doctor?
DOCTOR 2: Into the land of dreams and fantasy, Leela.
[INT. Isolation ward]
(MARIUS, now with scales on his face and a furry brow, holds a syringe.)
VOICE [OC]: Hurry. Hurry.
(MARIUS pushes the DOCTOR's head to the side and uses the same injection site as earlier. LOWE 2 starts his own journey, climbing through the DOCTOR's head. He reaches 'connection 7'.)
[INT. The Doctor's brain]
VOICE [OC]: Hurry, hurry! They are closing in. Hurry, hurry, hurry!
(Meanwhile, DOCTOR 2 and LEELA 2 continue on their way. Some bars of white light float through the air around them.)
LEELA 2: Is this your land of dreams and fantasies?
DOCTOR 2: Well, on the way to it.
LEELA 2: The evil thing. Very close. And another. Doctor, we're going to be trapped!
(LOWE 2 carries on, gun drawn.
DOCTOR 2, meanwhile, steps through an area festooned with something like ribbons and comes upon a short, squat furry grey-black creature with a claw-like appendage that gestures about.)
DOCTOR 2: Who are you?
VOICE: I am the Nucleus.
DOCTOR 2: You're trespassing, you know. Treading on my unconscious, affecting my metabolism. Nucleus of what?
NUCLEUS: The Nucleus of the Swarm.
DOCTOR 2: Oh. Oh, I see. Why did you choose my brain?
NUCLEUS: Because of your intelligence.
DOCTOR 2: Oh, well, I can understand that, but do you realise you have no right-
NUCLEUS: I have every right! It is the right of every creature across the universe to survive, multiply, and perpetuate its species. How else does the predator exist? We are all predators, Doctor. We kill, we devour, to live. Survival is all, you agree?
DOCTOR 2: (bending down to address the NUCLEUS) Oh yes, I do, I do. And on your argument, I have a perfect right to dispose of you.
NUCLEUS: Of course. The law is survival of the fittest.
(So saying, it touches DOCTOR 2, who is zapped and recoils.)
DOCTOR 2: Touché.
NUCLEUS: Your time is running short. How do you intend to dispose of me? You have no weapons, and in minutes you will cease to exist. I am the virus of the Nucleus of the Swarm. For millennia, we have hung dormant in space, waiting for the right carriers to come along.
DOCTOR 2: Carriers? What do you mean carriers? I'm not a porter.
NUCLEUS: Consider the human species. They send hordes of settlers across space to breed, multiply, conquer, and dominate. We have as much right to conquer you as you have to strike out across the stars.
DOCTOR 2: But you intend to dominate both worlds, the micro and the macrocosm.
NUCLEUS: We have waited, waited in the cold wastes of space, waited for mankind to come. And now we have not only space but time itself within our grasp.
DOCTOR 2: Time?
NUCLEUS: Through you, Time Lord.
(Elsewhere, LEELA 2 has gone after LOWE 2. As he carefully moves forward, she creeps up behind him and grabs him round the neck. They struggle briefly, with him shooting at her. She then stabs him, and he falls, crying out. Three phagocytes make short work of him. LEELA 2 hobbles off.)
NUCLEUS: So, Doctor, how can you puny creatures compare yourselves to us, the Swarm, the new masters of time, space, and the cosmos?
DOCTOR 2: New masters? Not if I can help it.
NUCLEUS: But you cannot. Your time is up. You have fallen for my stratagem. Already you cease to exist.
DOCTOR 2: Get out of my brain.
(LEELA 2 steps up alongside him.)
DOCTOR 2: Get out of my brain.
(An energy weapon fires as he says this. Something starts to fall through the tear duct. We see that in the Nucleus's place is a small pile of grey-black charcoal-like material. DOCTOR 2 and LEELA 2 too are missing. We zoom in slowly on Leela 2's knife, which lies with her clothes.)
DOCTOR [OC]: The tear duct, the tear duct, the tear duct, the tear duct, the tear duct, the tear duct, the tear duct, the tear duct.
[INT. Isolation ward]
(MARIUS collects whatever has emerged from the DOCTOR's tear duct on a slide.)
LOWE: Destroy them! Destroy them now!
MARIUS: No, no, we must find out what happened. We must restore them to their full size and interrogate them.
(He takes the slide to the cubicle, sets it down on the floor, walks out, and closes the door. He operates the controls. A hairy greenish snouted something begins to grow in the cubicle, waving crab-like claws similar to those we saw the Nucleus display earlier.)
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
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