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DOCTOR WHO
THE SUNMAKERS
Written by
Robert Holmes
Part One
[INT. Corridor]
(We are in a corridor, where a man in a dull yellow jacket with matching hat and trousers is loitering with mouth slightly open. He wears a grey-brown waistcoat that has a pinkish sun symbol on the chest. There is a round opening high in the wall with a big red 'X' next to it. A woman's face appears at the opening.)
WOMAN: Citizen Cordo, District 4?
CORDO: Yes?
WOMAN: Congratulations, citizen. Your father ceased at one ten.
CORDO: (sighing) All was well?
WOMAN: A fine death. Body weight was eighty-four kilos at termination.
CORDO: (sighing again) I'm gratified.
WOMAN: Gatherer Hade is waiting for the death taxes.
CORDO: Yes, I have them here.
WOMAN: Pay them at the Gatherer's office.
[INT. Gatherer's office]
(Humming as he reads a scroll, a somewhat portly man walks about the room. He wears a rather ostentatious purple and black striped cloak and has a grey and black turban that bears a gold version of the sun logo, an ornate version of which decorates the room behind him.
Outside, at a backward-D-shaped door in an orange edifice, CORDO rings the bell.
As HADE, now seated, continues to read, a GUARD stands beside the door.)
HADE: Let him enter.
(The door opens to the outside, and CORDO steps in. He proceeds slowly along a narrow corridor between rib-form arches that terminate well below ceiling height. He approaches the wooden table at which HADE sits, which is raised.)
HADE: Well, citizen. Death taxes? (as CORDO starts setting down the taxes) Not on the desk. It might scar.
CORDO: Oh, it is wood, your Honour.
HADE: Mmm, of a kind called ma-ho-gany. I don't suppose you've ever seen wood before, have you, citizen?
CORDO: No, never. But we learned about it at preparation centre.
HADE: Hmm.
CORDO: There was even a picture of a tree! A fine thing.
HADE: (standing) Simply a primitive way of producing oxygen. Thank the Company we have no need of trees on Pluto.
CORDO: Praise the Company.
(From a higher level, an underling hands HADE a sheet of blue plastic.)
HADE: Is this your account, citizen? I see you selected the golden death, with four mercy attendants.
CORDO: Yes, your Honour. Well, I always pledged that when his death day came, he would not suffer.
HADE: Compassion is a noble thing, citizen. Also costly. A hundred and seventeen talmars.
CORDO: One hundred and seven-? No, it can't be.
HADE: See the account.
CORDO: (taking the sheet) But there's a mistake. Eighty, they said. Eighty for the golden death.
HADE: The Collector recently raised death taxes seventeen per cent.
CORDO: I didn't know, your Honour.
HADE: It was bulletined.
CORDO: But I didn't see it.
HADE: It is every citizen's duty to know the tax rates.
CORDO: (taking the sheet) I've been working double shifts to earn the money.
HADE: Four mercy attendants is now a further eighteen talmars. Disposal fee ten talmars, plus, of course, an ad valorum tax of ten per cent. Total one hundred and thirty-two talmars. It's all here, you see. Against that we put your father's own personal contribution of seven talmars. Only seven talmars, citizen? Must have been a poor man.
CORDO: He was a municipal servant for forty years, your Honour. He cleaned the walkways.
HADE: And then there's the recycling allowance on his death weight of eighty-four kilos. That is eight talmars. Leaving a debt of a hundred and seventeen.
CORDO: Please, I have only eighty-six. It has taken me years to save it.
(He holds the pouch up, and HADE hooks his staff of office into the strap. This way, it doesn't touch the table.)
HADE: How do you propose to settle the thirty-one talmars outstanding?
CORDO: Well, I can't. Your Honour, I have nothing.
HADE: Taxes are the primary consideration, citizen. I see that you are a D-grade worker in the foundry.
CORDO: Yes, your Honour.
HADE: Fortunately, as the Gatherer, I have certain powers. I will encourage your supervisor to allow you increased output.
CORDO: But, your Honour, I already work a double shift now! I have only my three hours' sleep time away from the foundry.
HADE: Twenty-one hours a week. You must manage without sleep time until the debt is paid.
CORDO: It will kill me!
HADE: Take Q-capsules.
CORDO: But your Honour, the high medical tax on Q-capsules...!
HADE: Citizen Cordo, you complain too much. Thank the Company you're warm and fed.
CORDO: Praise the Company.
HADE: (returning to his scroll) You may go.
CORDO: I am gratified, your Honour. (He rises and leaves.)
[INT. TARDIS console room]
(The DOCTOR and LEELA are playing chess, or so it seems. K9 sits behind LEELA. The DOCTOR makes a move.)
K9: Queen to Knight 6.
(LEELA moves the black queen.)
LEELA: There?
K9: Affirmative.
(The DOCTOR laughs and captures one of LEELA or K9's bishops with one of his own.)
DOCTOR: Even simple one-dimensional chess exposes the limitations of the machine mind.
(The DOCTOR gets up.)
K9: Bishop to Queen 6. Mistress!
LEELA: There?
K9: Affirmative. Check, Master.
DOCTOR: What?
K9: Machine mind computes mate in six moves.
DOCTOR: Rubbish! (He sits again.)
LEELA: Doctor!
DOCTOR: Leela, keep still.
LEELA: But Doctor, the-
DOCTOR: (holding out a hand) And shut up. I'm trying to concentrate.
K9: Your move, Master.
DOCTOR: I know it's my move. Don't flash your eyes at me.
(The DOCTOR moves his king.)
K9: Wrong square.
DOCTOR: What?
K9: Your king, Master. Wrong square.
DOCTOR: Really? Are you sure?
K9: Affirmative.
LEELA: Doctor, can I speak now?
DOCTOR: What? All right, if you must. What is it?
LEELA: Well, the column has stopped moving.
DOCTOR: So?
LEELA: It is not important?
DOCTOR: What?!
(He leaps past her to the console.)
DOCTOR: We might have gone right through the time spiral! Why didn't you tell me?
LEELA: I tried to, but you wouldn't let me.
DOCTOR: You didn't.
LEELA: I did.
DOCTOR: You didn't.
LEELA: I did!
DOCTOR: You didn't.
LEELA: I did!
DOCTOR: It's that confounded paint. It's always jamming things up. Stay calm. I'm going to materialise and take a reading.
LEELA: Where are we?
DOCTOR: We're still in the solar system. Pluto?
LEELA: Pluto?
DOCTOR: Yes, Pluto.
K9: The ninth planet. Was, until the discovery of Cassius, believed to be the outermost body in the system. It...
DOCTOR: Leela, tell your tin friend to shut up.
K9: ...has a diameter of three thousand-
LEELA: K9, you can tell me later.
K9: Affirmative. Its distance from the sun-
LEELA: Sssshh.
DOCTOR: Breathable atmosphere. That's wrong.
LEELA: There are buildings.
DOCTOR: Pluto's a lifeless rock. Leela? I think you and I should take a W A L K.
LEELA: W A L K?
DOCTOR: (making each sound) W-a-l-k.
K9: Walk, Mistress.
(The DOCTOR picks up his hat from atop the time rotor.)
LEELA: I know.
K9: Ready, Master.
DOCTOR: No, no, no. You're not coming. You stay here.
K9: Entreat, Master.
DOCTOR: No.
K9: I'll be good.
DOCTOR: No! Pluto's no place for a-
LEELA: (patting his 'snout') I'm sorry, K9. We won't be long.
[EXT. Block 40]
(The TARDIS has landed on a concrete and gravel expanse. Bare metal bones of units are behind the TARDIS as the DOCTOR and LEELA emerge.)
DOCTOR: Quite warm. Around twenty degrees. Very humid.
LEELA: It is like Earth except that the air is scented.
DOCTOR: It's all wrong. It shouldn't be like Earth. Unless, of course, the sun's turned nova.
LEELA: Doctor, look!
(A long shot reveals that they are near the edge of the flat roof of a very tall building.)
DOCTOR: (approaching her by the edge) Fascinating.
(He gets a telescope out of his pocket and looks out across the high rises.)
DOCTOR: What an engineering achievement, eh?
(CORDO is walking across the roof toward them. LEELA taps the DOCTOR's arm in an attempt to get his attention.)
DOCTOR: Don't joggle, Leela. Don't joggle. (she tries again) You can look in a minute.
(CORDO removes his hat and climbs over a guard rail not far from them.)
DOCTOR: Must have taken them centuries to build a city like that.
(LEELA starts running toward CORDO.)
LEELA: Hey!
DOCTOR: What? (He slowly lowers the telescope and turns.)
LEELA: Come down! Please, come back!
DOCTOR: Don't touch him!
LEELA: Doctor! Please, don't jump.
DOCTOR: Magnificent view, isn't it? How high is this building?
CORDO: A thousand metres.
DOCTOR: A thousand metres? My. Are we interrupting something?
CORDO: What would you say, citizen?
DOCTOR: Somehow I have the impression you're thinking of killing yourself.
CORDO: It's the taxes.
DOCTOR: What?
CORDO: It's the taxes. I can't pay the taxes.
DOCTOR: Oh, the taxes. My dear old thing, all you need is a wily accountant. Would you care for a jelly baby? Hmm? Try one.
CORDO: What?
DOCTOR: They're rather good.
(He places one of the sweeties in his own mouth. As CORDO reaches for the bag, LEELA flips his legs back over the guard rail. He lands on his back as she stays on the outside.)
DOCTOR: Now, tell us about it. This is Leela. I'm the Doctor.
[INT. Gatherer's office]
(We see a hand moving pieces about on a board. It belongs to HADE, who looks up when he is joined by a woman in a gold catsuit. This is MARN. She walks up to his desk.)
HADE: What is it, Marn?
MARN: Airspace violation, your Honour.
HADE: District 4.
MARN: The data vibes also indicate illegal landing.
HADE: Hmm?
MARN: Block Forty.
HADE: Excellent. There's a fine of five hundred talmars on each count. Order my beamer immediately, Marn. We must apprehend the culprit.
[EXT. Block 40]
CORDO: (sitting on the ground) Then there's the medical tax on Q-capsules and work tax on extra hours, so I could never clear the debt. You see, the Company charges fifty per cent compound interest on unpaid taxes. I'm only a grade-D work unit, three talmars a shift. Three talmars. That's not enough.
LEELA: (rising from her squatting position) What is he saying, Doctor? I do not understand.
DOCTOR: He can't make ends meet. Probably too many economists in the government.
LEELA: These taxes, they are like sacrifices to tribal gods?
DOCTOR: Well, roughly speaking, but paying tax is more painful.
LEELA: Then the people should rise up and slaughter their oppressors!
DOCTOR: Well, if little Cordo's at all typical, they haven't any spirit left for fighting, hmm.
(We hear a siren wailing.)
CORDO: It's the Gatherer! Quick, run!
(CORDO sets off running, with LEELA following. The DOCTOR doesn't move, and LEELA turns to him.)
LEELA: Run, Doctor! It's the Gatherer!
(She runs off, and he pauses before doing the same. All three duck through a metal-slatted door that is used for accessing the roof area. LEELA closes it behind the DOCTOR.)
[INT. Roof entrance]
CORDO: If we are caught up here, there is a fine of five talmars or a week in the Correction Centre.
DOCTOR: What?
CORDO: It is an offence! Only the executive grade is allowed in the light of the suns.
DOCTOR: Suns?
LEELA: Ssshhh.
[EXT. Block 40]
(MARN and HADE are approaching the TARDIS from behind.)
MARN: How did it get here?
HADE: Oh, use your intelligence, Marn. We detected an airspace violation. Clearly a sky freighter.
MARN: But what is it, your Honour?
HADE: Obviously a container. See the lock?
[INT. Roof entry]
(LEELA has been keeping watch.)
LEELA: He is trying to open the TARDIS.
DOCTOR: Pity K9 can't bark.
(CORDO is climbing down a ladder.)
CORDO: Quick! Quick!
DOCTOR: What is it?
CORDO: We must get away!
DOCTOR: For someone who wanted to commit suicide a few minutes ago, you seem very anxious not to be caught.
CORDO: Death is easy. Perhaps you've never been in the Correction Centre, citizen.
(The DOCTOR follows CORDO down the ladder.)
DOCTOR: Come on, Leela.
CORDO: Hurry.
(A freight lift arrives, and they head downward.)
[EXT. Block 40]
HADE: It's an intriguing case, Marn.
MARN: Your Honour, it's inconceivable. To flout so many regulations... (She walks behind the TARDIS.)
HADE: Exactly. I smell something very big. Perhaps another Kandor conspiracy. (He rubs his hands together.)
MARN: What was that?
HADE: Oh, yes, Kandor.
MARN: I never heard of it.
HADE: Yes, it wasn't made public at the time, in case it gave others ideas. Kandor was an executive-grade in Megropolis 4 who falsified computer records for the enrichment of himself and his fellow conspirators. All together, he defrauded the Company of millions of talmars.
MARN: Praise the Company. What happened to him?
HADE: He survived three years in the Correction Centre.
MARN: Three years? A record.
HADE: He was very strong.
[INT. Lift]
(The lift is descending.)
LEELA: Where are we going?
DOCTOR: I don't know. Why did you run?
LEELA: Well, he ran first.
DOCTOR: Well, that's no answer.
LEELA: Why did you run?
DOCTOR: I don't know. Odd, isn't it?
LEELA: Perhaps everyone runs from the tax man.
(CORDO nods.)
DOCTOR: He says you're right.
[EXT. Block 40]
MARN: I can easily trace the delivery and freighter records.
HADE: Whoever programmed the freighter will use a self-destructing print.
MARN: You mean the instruction will not be retained in records? But that's another illegal-
HADE: Does the robber hesitate to break a window? We are not dealing here, Marn, with some snivelling tax defaulter. This is a carefully planned criminal enterprise.
MARN: To what end, your Honour?
HADE: To defraud the Company of its rightful revenues by smuggling contraband goods into the megropolis. (chuckling) I see the magnitude of the offence astounds you.
MARN: Well, it's hard to believe such depths of criminality.
HADE: It exists, Marn. It exists. Despite the screening and the preparation centres and the air-conditioning, criminal deviants occur in every generation. Enemies of the Company. On Old Earth, they had a saying - 'there's one rotten acorn in every barrel'. We must find this filth, Marn, find it and crush it.
MARN: The Company be praised. How should it be done?
HADE: (tapping his nose) I have a plan.
[INT. Air-con plant]
DOCTOR: What's the hurry?
CORDO: I must leave you here, citizens.
LEELA: What are you going to do?
CORDO: Perhaps I can join the Others.
LEELA: Who are the Others?
CORDO: It is said they live in the undercity. Outlaws, tax criminals, some who've escaped from the Correction Centre. Perhaps they will help me, if they exist.
LEELA: If you are not sure they exist, how do you expect to find them?
CORDO: I know the secret way to the undercity. You see, my father was an E-grade work unit. He cleaned the walkways all his life. He learned the secret.
DOCTOR: We'll come with you.
CORDO: I'm gratified, citizens, but there may be danger.
DOCTOR: No, I'm interested in this undercity. Always like to get to the bottom of things.
LEELA: Come on. (She gives him an encouraging smile.)
[INT. Stairs]
(They enter a tunnel with a circular profile. Steps lead downward.)
CORDO: But you don't understand, citizens. My father looked in once. He said there is no light, nothing. It is not possible to imagine such a thing.
LEELA: You mean it is dark.
CORDO: What is dark?
LEELA: Well, at night, when the sun has gone.
DOCTOR: He means there's no night on this planet, Leela. That's why the concept of darkness frightens him.
LEELA: But that is not possible. Every planet must have a night.
DOCTOR: Not if the sidereal and axial rotation periods are the same, or if there's more than one sun.
CORDO: There are six.
DOCTOR: What, six suns on Pluto?
CORDO: Well, everyone knows that. Each megropolis was given its own sun.
DOCTOR: In-station fusion satellites. Galileo would have been impressed.
[INT. Subway]
(They reach the bottom level, where it's starting to get gloomy and there are deep shadows.)
DOCTOR: Cordo?
CORDO: Yes?
DOCTOR: Which way?
CORDO: Somewhere beyond this point, there is a little grating in the ground.
DOCTOR: Well, go on.
CORDO: No, I can't. It's hard to see. All the light is fading.
LEELA: Your eyes will soon grow accustomed to the darkness.
CORDO: I didn't think it would be as bad as this. I must turn back.
DOCTOR: Too late.
(Behind the group are a man and woman in shabby clothes, soon joined by a third. They have pipes or similar as weapons.)
DOCTOR: Take your hand off that knife, Leela.
(She does so.)
DOCTOR: Hello. You must be the Others.
(They do not respond.)
[EXT. Block 40]
(The TARDIS door creaks open. K9's head emerges.)
K9: Master?
[INT. Gatherer's office]
MARN: The tracker system is activated, your Honour.
HADE: So soon? Well done, Marn.
(They see K9 on the screen.)
MARN: What is it?
HADE: I don't have to tell you, Marn. (he laughs) Yeah.
[INT. Undercity]
(Several Others wait in an area of pipe shrouds and ladders. We hear something like 'Get back' before the DOCTOR and company are ushered in.)
GOUDRY: We caught these three snooping around the service subway.
DOCTOR: You did not catch us. We allowed you to escort us.
MANDRELL: What are they?
GOUDRY: They claim they're from another planet, Mandrell.
MANDRELL: There's no life on the other planets.
DOCTOR: Really? How many other planets have you been to?
(MANDRELL knocks the DOCTOR to the ground.)
MANDRELL: Show courtesy to my rank, or I'll cut your skin off inch by inch.
DOCTOR: I can see we're going to get on famously.
[INT. Lift]
K9: Descend to level forty-two.
(The lift follows this instruction.)
[INT Undercity]
MANDRELL: Where are they from? He looks like an Ajack.
DOCTOR: Do you think he's insulting me?
LEELA: With a face like his? He would not dare.
DOCTOR: No.
LEELA: Let me get him, Doctor. I could cut his heart out.
DOCTOR: Ssshh, shhh. We haven't come here to fight. (to the rest) We haven't come here to fight.
MANDRELL: Why did you come here, then?
DOCTOR: Hmm? Because my new little chum here seemed unhappy about something.
MANDRELL: The D-grade?
DOCTOR: Yes, the D-grade.
LEELA: He wishes to join your tribe.
MANDRELL: Get him up.
DOCTOR: I'll get him up. Come on, don't be frightened.
CORDO: Light. Please, Doctor, let me see some light.
MANDRELL: Fool, there's no light down here. Only that which we make ourselves.
GOUDRY: Come on. Come on. We can make a few candles out of him. It's all he's good for, Mandrell.
MANDRELL: Shut up. What's your name?
CORDO: Citizen Cordo, District 4.
GOUDRY: Foundry or smelting?
CORDO: I'm a foundry work unit, your Honour. Always respectable. All my life I've met the production quotas, paid my dues and taxes, praise the Company.
MANDRELL: Stuff the Company. Mouth those mindless pieties down here, Citizen Cordo, and you'll get your throat slit. So, you're in trouble with the Gatherer, eh?
CORDO: Yes. I couldn't meet my father's death taxes. It was more than I was told, and I-
MANDRELL: It's always more than they tell you. I've heard the story a thousand times. You stay with us, you'll have to earn your keep.
CORDO: Oh, yes, your Honour, I'll work. Anything.
MANDRELL: Work? Work, Cordo? Nobody works here. We go into the upper levels and steal what we need. (CORDO looks aghast) Aye, and kill for our needs when necessary.
(A woman, VEET, grabs at LEELA.)
VEET: This skin, it's real skin!
LEELA: (knife at VEET's neck) You touch me again and I'll fillet you!
MANDRELL: A handy girl. Doctor?
DOCTOR: Hmm?
MANDRELL: You two may be of more use to us than I thought.
DOCTOR: Well I'm delighted to-. Oh, no, no, we're just tourists. We're not staying.
(At a snap of MANDRELL's fingers, several more people emerge from the shadows and surround the DOCTOR and LEELA.)
DOCTOR: On the other hand, it is quite cosy. Don't you think it's quite cosy here?
[INT. Gatherer's office]
(K9 is headed into the deep levels, as shown on the monitor.)
MARN: It's turning into subway CT1.
HADE: How I dislike the lower levels. So very depressing.
MARN: The D-grade work units have their dormer somewhere along there.
HADE: He's turned again, Marn. Where is it now?
MARN: It looks like one of the service subways, your Honour.
(K9 reaches an open grille in the floor, next to a ladder. A power cable runs down here alongside.)
[INT. Undercity]
(VEET puts the finishing touches to a thick ConSumCard with the name 'Citizen Doctor' on it.)
VEET: It is finished.
MANDRELL: A thousand talmars?
VEET: It will do.
MANDRELL: It'd better do. A little task for you, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Oh, good.
MANDRELL: Here's a ConSumCard we got off an Ajack. It's made out for a thousand talmars.
DOCTOR: A thousand talmars. Stolen?
MANDRELL: What do you think?
DOCTOR: Stolen.
MANDRELL: It hasn't been used, so it's not on the computer records.
GOUDRY: None of us could use it. We don't look like Ajacks.
DOCTOR: Hmm. What do these Ajacks look like, if I'm pretending to be one? I ask merely for information.
GOUDRY: They're all miners. They live in Megropolis 3.
MANDRELL: Do you know how to use a ConSumCard?
DOCTOR: Er, computer-microloaded... Er, do you feed it into a reader?
MANDRELL: At the ConSum Bank on subway thirty-seven.
DOCTOR: Subway thirty-seven.
MANDRELL: Cordo? You show the Doctor how to get there.
LEELA: (sotto) Do not go, Doctor.
DOCTOR: What? Suppose I refuse to go?
MANDRELL: You'll die.
DOCTOR: It was just a passing thought.
MANDRELL: Well, here's another one in case you run off with our talmars. If you're not back by this time, the girl dies.
(So saying, he places a marker against a messy, stubby candle lit on the table. The DOCTOR and CORDO set off.)
[INT. Subway]
(The DOCTOR and CORDO climb the ladder. This is the level where K9 sits.)
CORDO: I couldn't breathe down there.
DOCTOR: It was a bit stuffy but unscented.
CORDO: What is it?
DOCTOR: Nothing, just an idea. K9.
K9: Master.
DOCTOR: (bending down) Didn't I tell you to stay in the TARDIS?
(K9 makes a whimpering sound.)
[INT. Gatherer's office]
(The monitor shows the DOCTOR scolding K9, without sound. The mechanical dog heads off somewhere.)
MARN: An Ajack by the stamp of him.
HADE: The other... The other I've seen somewhere before.
MARN: A D-grade?
HADE: D-grade, hmm. Of course! He was here only hours ago, whining for time to pay his taxes.
MARN: What would an Ajack want with those riff-raff of the undercity?
HADE: Quick, put the tracker on the Ajack.
MARN: Your Honour, it's not possible. The tracker system is keyed to follow that machine.
HADE: You mean you've lost him.
MARN: We know the subways he's traversing. We can make physical contact.
HADE: No, too soon for that. I want to know more about this Ajack. By my ledger, I've got it, Marn!
MARN: Your Honour?
HADE: I know what they're smuggling. Arms.
MARN: Weapons?
HADE: Mmm. They were always an arrogant, unsettled lot, the Ajacks. The air-conditioning isn't effective in the mines. It's long been recognised that if there's ever a rebellion against the Company, it will start among the Ajacks. Don't you see?
MARN: You mean he's smuggling arms to the undercity?
HADE: Exactly. And if it's happening here, it's a talmar to a toffee it's happening in every megropolis on Pluto.
MARN: What shall we do?
HADE: I must go to the Company palace and warn the Collector. We need the Inner Retinue to deal with this.
[INT. Corridor]
(CORDO and the DOCTOR are around the corner from a cubicle in a white-walled area.)
CORDO: There it is, Doctor.
(The DOCTOR walks over to the cubicle, pats his pockets in search for the card, and enters as CORDO looks on nervously. He places the back of the thick card against a slightly inset part of a panel and types in a code on a keypad next to it.)
DOCTOR: Tens, please.
(He waves to CORDO from the cubicle. Just as CORDO waves back and the DOCTOR turns back to the task at hand, a transparent door slams down across the open entrance to the cubicle. He looks about in concern as an alarm sounds. A greenish-white gas fills the cubicle, causing him to cough and bend over.)
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
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