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DOCTOR WHO
IMAGE OF THE FENDAHL

Written by
Chris Boucher

Part Two

(Overlap from something starting to approach the Doctor)

[EXT. Priory grounds]

(As the gun fires, we see LEELA dart back behind the door again.
In the woods, the DOCTOR is attempting to uproot himself.)
DOCTOR: Come on, legs. Come on, you can do it. Pull yourself together. Come on now, lift.
(He sluggishly manages to turn and walk stiffly away from us.)
DOCTOR: Left, right, left. That's it, legs, run! Run! Run! Run! Run!
(He is able to pick up speed as he enters the distance.)

[INT. Cottage]

(On a table are several tarot cards. We see the Death card first. Also present are Hanged Man reversed, Moon crossed with the Lovers, and the Devil, along with others. Beside the table is an older MAN, reloading his shotgun. He goes to the door, pauses to open it, and finds LEELA atop him. She wrestles the gun from his grasp.)
LEELA: (pointing the gun at him) That shot will be your last.
MOSS: I didn't know it were you.
LEELA: Well, you know now.
MOSS: You was trespassing.
(A younger MAN steps in behind LEELA.)
TYLER: So were you, Ted Moss. Now put the gun down, miss. (poking her with something reminiscent of his own gun) I said 'put the gun down, miss'.
LEELA: Kill me, and your friend dies too.
MOSS: She's a nutter, she is, Jack! She means it!
TYLER: He ain't no friend of mine, so that's a chance I'm prepared to take. The gun, miss.
(She bends to place the gun on the floor. TYLER picks it up, and LEELA is left with his weapon, a walking stick. He starts unloading the shotgun.)
LEELA: You-
TYLER: Right. Now, perhaps you would explain what you're doing in my gran's cottage.
MOSS: She was-
TYLER: Both of you.

[INT. Fendelman's lab]

(THEA sits, transfixed, and the skull pulsates.)
COLBY: Thea, what on Earth are you doing? Fendelman will go barmy, barmier, if he found you messing. (turning her head) Thea?
(Worried, he rotates her in the chair and grasps her shoulders.)
COLBY: Thea! What's wrong, Thea?
(MITCHELL sips from a mug in the kitchen. Hearing a sort of ringing and crackling sound, he pauses from reading The Sun and looks about, following it as it seems to progress to the door. When it opens, MITCHELL has his rifle at the ready.)
COLBY: (shaking THEA) Thea!
(We hear faint screaming in the background as COLBY reaches to the main control and powers down the machine. The hum fades.)
COLBY: Thea, wake up!
(He slaps her.)
THEA: Adam, what are you doing?
COLBY: Come on, come on, let's get out of here.
THEA: What are you doing here?
(COLBY takes her by the hand and pulls her toward the door.)
COLBY: That scream, it came from the kitchen.
THEA: What scream?
COLBY: Never mind.
(He ushers her out, swiftly turning off the lights and closing the door.)

[INT. Kitchen]

(We see MITCHELL lying beside the kitchen range. COLBY runs over to him.)
COLBY: It's Mitchell. (he looks at the face) That expression, it's the same as the other one.
THEA: There's a blister on the back of the neck. Could be a birthmark, I suppose.
COLBY: How can you be so dispassionate? The man's dead, Thea.
THEA: (turning away and putting her hand to her head) Adam. Adam.
(We hear the ringing sound faintly, as THEA collapses. The DOCTOR steps into the room at just this moment.)
COLBY: Thea?
DOCTOR: Don't touch her. I said don't touch her!
(The ringing is continuing as the DOCTOR walks over to MITCHELL's body. He bends down to examine the corpse.)
DOCTOR: How many deaths have there been?
COLBY: Deaths?
DOCTOR: Like this.
COLBY: Two. Now, look-
DOCTOR: No, no, no, no, no, you look.
(He does, seeing that there is a golden glow surrounding THEA on the floor. There are eerie whispering sounds amidst the ringing as we see ghosts of maggot-like creatures with cobra-like heads writhe about atop her. As the two men look on in concern, these creatures fade out again.)
COLBY: What was it?
DOCTOR: They look like embryo Fendahleen to me.
(THEA is no longer surrounded by a glow, and the DOCTOR helps her to her feet.)
DOCTOR: Come and sit down. You'll be all right.
COLBY: Embryo what?
DOCTOR: Embryo Fendahleen. A creature from my own mythology, supposed to have perished when the fifth planet broke up. At least so they said.
COLBY: A creature from mythology? Do you know what you're talking about?
DOCTOR: Well, you saw it. If it survived twelve million years, its energy reserves must be enormous.
COLBY: Twelve million? Why did you say twelve million?
DOCTOR: What? Well, about twelve million. That's when the fifth planet broke up. There are four thousand million people here on your planet, and if I'm right, within a year there'll be just one left alive. Just one.
COLBY: What are you, exactly? Some sort of wandering Armageddon peddler, hmm?
DOCTOR: Who's in charge round here?
FENDELMAN: I am.
(He is followed in by STAEL and two security GUARDS.)
DOCTOR: Ah, Doctor Fendelman, I presume. Is that really your name, Fendelman? Now listen, Fendelman, I want you to do two things - dismantle the scanner and run some tests on Miss Thea. Start with an x-ray of her skull. Now-
(He hears a sound and finds himself at the end of the barrel of FENDELMAN's revolver.)
FENDELMAN: I will give the orders around here. Take him away. Lock him up somewhere.
DOCTOR: Is this the way you treat all your house guests?
FENDELMAN: Only the uninvited ones whom I suspect of murder.
DOCTOR: (being led away) But she needs help!
FENDELMAN: Take him away!
(The GUARDS drag the DOCTOR from the room. STAEL steps over to MITCHELL's body.)
STAEL: It is just the same as before.
FENDELMAN: This is a terrible thing, terrible.
COLBY: This time I will call the police. Come along, Thea.
(She is sitting, still holding her head.)
FENDELMAN: As you wish, Adam, but how will you explain to them that you did not call them before?

[INT. Lumber room]

(The DOCTOR is pushed into the dark room.)
DOCTOR: Tell Fendelman there isn't time for all this!
(The light is switched on and the Gothic door slammed closed. The DOCTOR stands amidst various wooden cases. He finds that the room's hefty mechanical lock isn't susceptible to his sonic screwdriver.)

[INT. Cottage]

TYLER: That do seem a bit far-fetched.
MOSS: Ain't a word of truth in it, that's why.
TYLER: You wouldn't recognise the truth if you fell over it.
MOSS: Hey-
LEELA: (calmly) Why should I lie to you?
TYLER: Fear.
LEELA: Does it seem to you that I am afraid?
MOSS: Well, you ought to be. I said you ought to be.
(He puts his hand on her shoulder, and she calmly elbows him in the ribs, causing him to double over.)
MOSS: Oh, God.
LEELA: I must go now.
TYLER: Hang on a minute. Er, please. (to MOSS) You, on your way.
MOSS: I want to see Mother Tyler.
TYLER: Well, Mrs Tyler don't want to see you.
MOSS: Now where is she?
TYLER: I don't know.
MOSS: She's got something for me, and I paid good money for it.
TYLER: You'll get your money. Now get out. Out.
MOSS: (to LEELA) I'll see you later.
LEELA: Get some practice first.
(MOSS exits.)
TYLER: (closing the door) Nasty piece of work. Him and some others from the village, they, er, well, I'm not sure exactly, but the thing is that I think my gran's involved in whatever it is. Now, she's a good old girl, but, well, she was brought up in the old ways, you see.
LEELA: The old ways?
TYLER: Yeah, the old superstitions and that. See, he called her Mother Tyler. Now that ain't 'cos he likes her. That's, that's the old religion. Look, there's something nasty going on. Do you know what it is? Have you been sent with this Doctor bloke to sort it out?
LEELA: Well, the Doctor came to stop the sonic time scan.
TYLER: Oh. What's one of them?
LEELA: He said it would cause a- a direct continuum ex-, implosion.
TYLER: (smiling) Damn, girl, you don't half tell some whoppers, don't ya?
LEELA: (returning the smile) Whoppers?
TYLER: Aye. Don't matter.
LEELA: Listen. I'm sure the Doctor can help you. Oh, he's very difficult sometimes, but he has great knowledge and gentleness.
(We see the DOCTOR kick a cardboard box. He then throws the sonic screwdriver across the room in a fit of pique. He sighs. Then someone unlocks the door. It opens from the outside, so the DOCTOR retrieves his screwdriver, steps out, switches off the light, and closes the door.)

[INT. Laboratory]

(THEA and COLBY step in together.)
COLBY: I should have gone to the police right away.
THEA: Then why didn't you?
COLBY: Thea, I've always been ambitious. That's a weakness in anyone.
THEA: Yes, particularly scientists.
COLBY: When Fendelman offered me unlimited funds, I jumped at the chance. I owe him a great deal. And when he asked for the body to be moved, it seemed so unimportant.
THEA: But now that Mitchell's dead...!
COLBY: Yes.
THEA: Well, then, phone the police.
(COLBY pulls out a telephone from under the bench and lifts the receiver. He ends up puzzled, furrowing his brow, and gestures with the receiver.)
COLBY: The line's disconnected.
THEA: Disconnected?
COLBY: Yes, as in cut off.
THEA: (grabbing the receiver) Adam, can't you be serious just for a minute?
COLBY: I am serious. The place is surrounded by guards, we're beset by a wandering lunatic, and we have a pair of corpses on our hands. And, on top of all that, the telephone seems to be very dead. Thea, we're trapped.
(She has now tried the phone herself and is clearly uneasy.)
THEA: It was planned.
COLBY: By Fendelman.
THEA: No. No, not by Fendelman. He's just part of it, doing what was planned for him. Don't you see? For him. That would fit. That would explain it.
COLBY: Explain what?
THEA: (hands to her head) Adam, you haven't asked me whose plan it is. Why don't you ask me? Go on, ask me who planned it!
COLBY: Stop it. Stop it!
THEA: (breaking up) I did. Do you understand? I did.
COLBY: Now be reasonable, Thea. How could you have? You're as sane as anyone here. Except. Come on.
(He heads to the door and notices that she hasn't followed. She stands next to the skull, one hand at either side of her head. COLBY comes back for her and turns her toward him firmly. He takes her hands in his.)
COLBY: Come on.
(He leads her to the door. He turns off the light, and they leave Eustace by himself.)

[INT. Kitchen]

(THEA remains at the table. COLBY is pacing behind her.)
COLBY: You must think my head zips up the back.
FENDELMAN: (fondling his revolver) Be reasonable, Colby. Why should I disconnect the telephone?
COLBY: For the same reason you've got the place surrounded by thugs.
FENDELMAN: And what reason is that?
COLBY: Because you're mad, Fendelman! You're mad.
FENDELMAN: In that case, you are hardly behaving in a manner conducive to your own safety. I should be humoured, surely. Sit down, Colby. This skull that you found is, I believe, extraterrestrial in origin.
COLBY: An alien space traveller? Hence the guards. Next of kin come for the remains? You're expecting an attack by little green men from, er, Venus?
FENDELMAN: (slamming a fist on the table) Don't talk like a fool, Colby! You're not a fool!
COLBY: No, I'm not. That skull is human. It's a skull like yours and mine. Modern man. Homo sapiens!
FENDELMAN: Exactly. It is also twelve million years old, millions of years older than the earliest of man's known ancestors.
COLBY: You think we're all aliens?

[INT. Cottage]

TYLER: (lifting LEELA to her feet) Let's go, then, find this Doctor of yours. Perhaps he can sort it out and make some sense of it all, If he's 'alf as clever as you say-
LEELA: Sssh.
(She goes to the window, and TYLER steps to the opposite side of the door.)
TYLER: Yeah, if he's half as clever as you say he is, he ought to be able to sort it out.
(He pulls the door open. On the other side is MARTHA, who turns toward him and drags in a breath, clearly terrified.)

[INT. Corridor]

(The DOCTOR walks through the corridors, headed for the voices that we now hear.)
STAEL [OC]: You should not have come here.
MOSS [OC]: Well, I had to warn you.
STAEL [OC]: There are security guards now.

[INT. Fendelman's lab]

MOSS: City boys. I know how to get past them.
STAEL: It was a stupid risk. Fendelman is already suspicious and uneasy. Why do you think he sent for the guards?
MOSS: I had to warn you about the Doctor.
STAEL: What doctor?

[INT. Corridor]

(The DOCTOR is listening at the door.)
MOSS [OC]: Well, there's this bloke calls himself a doctor. Tall, curly hair. He's got a girl working with him. And I told him where to find this place. Well, I didn't realise. I tried to stop him after. They know all about us.

[INT. Fendelman's lab]

MOSS: 'Tis true. They're investigators. They come to investigate.
STAEL: I will deal with them. Now go, quickly.
(They head for the door.)

[INT. Corridor]

STAEL: Are all our friends prepared?
MOSS: They're waitin' for the word.
STAEL: When the time comes, we must be twelve.
MOSS: We know you lead the coven now, but we know the old ways. Thirteen be the number.
(MOSS leaves.)
STAEL: A place must be left for the one that kills.

[INT. Kitchen]

COLBY: Circumstantial, it's all circumstantial.
FENDELMAN: (raising his hands) It is the only logical explanation, Adam. Man did not evolve on Earth. Of this I am sure. There is something else that I have not told you. (rising) With the scanner, I have traced what I now believe to be the moment of death of this alien traveller. At that moment, there is an enormous surge of power the like of which I have not seen before. It was this that first attracted my attention. It is an in-pouring of energy, a concentration of power as though to store. Now, I asked myself, where would this power be stored, and why? These questions I could not answer until I had x-rayed the skull.
COLBY: You x-rayed the skull? When?
FENDELMAN: Stael and I have been doing experiments in secret for some time.
COLBY: Thank you.
FENDELMAN: No, no, no, you are right. But from the beginning I had the feeling that this was so important that it must be kept secret. And now we have these murders and this mysterious intruder.
COLBY: He said something about x-rays.
THEA: Will you excuse me?
COLBY: Oh, I'm sorry, Thea. Are you still feeling ill?
THEA: No, it's all right. I'm just a little tired. I think I'll go and lie down.
FENDELMAN: You are looking very pale, my dear. Perhaps you have been working too hard. I will ask Stael to look in on you later.
(She pauses at the door and then exits.)
FENDELMAN: There is no doubt that this intruder has been spying on us.
COLBY: Yes. Well, after the x-rays, what did you find?
FENDELMAN: I will show you. (picking up his gun) Come.

[INT. Cottage]

(MARTHA, wrapped in a blanket, is trembling. LEELA holds a glass to her lips, and she swallows.)
TYLER: Gran, can you hear me?
LEELA: Drink this, old woman. It will warm you.
TYLER: What happened, Gran?
LEELA: Do not ask her that. It's because she does not want to remember that she is like this. You are safe now. You are safe. Nothing can hurt you. I will let nothing hurt you.
MARTHA: I, I seen it. In my mind. Dark. Great dark. It called me. In my mind it called me. (hands on her head) Hungry. It were hungry for my soul.
TYLER: What's it mean?
MARTHA: Everything. There'll be nothing left.
LEELA: The Doctor will know.
MARTHA: No life left. Help me! Help us!
LEELA: I must find the Doctor. Stay with her!
(LEELA leaves.)
MARTHA: It were hungry for my soul.

[INT. Fendelman's lab]

(FENDELMAN points to a series of cracks in the skull x-ray. It looks as if a pentagram has been scratched into the bone.)
FENDELMAN: There. Do you see it?
COLBY: It looks like a pentagram. It's the way the fragments have been assembled.
(FENDELMAN turns off the light behind the x-ray film.)
FENDELMAN: No. It is part of the bone structure itself. I believe it to be a form of neural relay, and this is where the energy is stored. It is interesting - is it not? - that for as long as man can remember, the pentagram has been a symbol for mystical energy and power.
COLBY: All right, let's assume that's the how. You're still left with why.
FENDELMAN: A beacon.
COLBY: What?
FENDELMAN: Suppose the energy is still within this neural circuit and can only be released by the intelligent application of applied advanced technology.
COLBY: You mean the release of that energy would act as a signal that there was intelligent life on this planet?
FENDELMAN: And, at last, mankind would meet its-
COLBY: Next of kin?
FENDELMAN: Destiny, Adam. Its destiny.
(Outside the main entrance to the priory, LEELA comes up behind a GUARD and thumps him.)

[INT. Lumber room]

(THEA walks up to the lumber room door and swings it open.)
THEA: Hello? Are you there? Please, I need help.

[INT. Fendelman's lab]

(THEA closes the door and steps across the hallway. She steps into Fendelman's lab, turning on the light. She crosses to the x-ray and turns on the light behind it. Her hands rise to the sides of her head. We hear faint ringing and a sound like a clock ticking. Behind THEA, STAEL enters.)
STAEL: Thea.
THEA: (turning) Max! You frightened me. Do you have to creep about like that?
STAEL: I apologise. (closing the door) What are you doing here, Thea?
THEA: I was, I was looking for the stranger. Do you know where he is?
STAEL: It is not important.
THEA: Well, it is to me. I must find him. I, I think he can help me.
STAEL: Why should you need help, Thea? Anyway, the stranger has escaped. He can do nothing. It is too late. Too late for all the meddling fools.
THEA: What are you talking about, Max? Get out of my way.
STAEL: There's no need to be afraid of me, Thea.
THEA: Please, Max!
STAEL: It is fitting that you should be the key to my power.
(We see that he has a handkerchief, probably soaked in chloroform, in his hand.)
THEA: Max, don't be such a fool.
STAEL: The chosen one.
(He places the cloth over her mouth, and she slumps to the ground in his arms.)
STAEL: The chosen one.

[INT. Laboratory]

(The DOCTOR enters and closes the door. He stands for a moment and then munches a jelly baby from his bag. He starts to explore the room.)
DOCTOR: Ah. Parastatic magnetometer. How very quaint.
(He raps a small rib bone against the bench where it was sitting, then gives it a sniff.)
DOCTOR: Hmm. Twelfth century.
(He then pulls the cloth from atop the skull.)
DOCTOR: Aw. Aw. Would you like a jelly baby? No, I don't suppose you would. (he eats the proffered sweet himself) Alas, poor skull.
(He slowly loses his smile as the skull begins to glow and the ringing begins. He raises his hands toward it as if possessed. When his hand touches the skull, he squeezes his eyes shut and gasps in pain. The ringing rises in pitch and approaches an inhuman wail.)

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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