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DOCTOR WHO
IMAGE OF THE FENDAHL

Written by
Chris Boucher

Part Four

(Overlap from 'Come on - let's get out of here')

[INT. Outside Fendelman's lab]

LEELA: What's happening? Why can't we move?
DOCTOR: Sshhh. It's psychotelekinetic. It controls your muscles telepathically.
(He takes the shotgun from TYLER.)
TYLER: It's only loaded with rock salt.
DOCTOR: No matter. It's confused that I can still move. Shut your eyes. Shut your eyes! Now concentrate on your legs, and when I shout, run!
(He slowly advances towards the creature. Bathed in its green light, he aims and fires the first barrel. The Fendahleen squeals and backs off slightly. The DOCTOR empties the second barrel.)
DOCTOR: (to those behind him) Run! Come on!
LEELA [OC]: I can't.
TYLER [OC]: I'm trying.
LEELA [OC]: I can't move my legs.
DOCTOR: Run for your life!
TYLER [OC]: Come on, Gran.
DOCTOR: Rock salt.

[INT. Chapel]

(THEA slowly fades into a figure in shimmering golden robes, with a statuesque flair. She has a golden face, painted eyes, and a matching golden up-do with ringlets. Slowly, her body inclines until she is standing, with arms still outstretched, billowing robes attached at the wrists.)
COLBY: Thea? Thea!
(The figure slowly points its right hand and then its left at MOSS.)
MOSS: No! No! Don't do that! Don't do that! Argh!
(MOSS clutches his hands together, cries out, and collapses. His robed body is replaced with a tiny Fendahleen, making sucking and crackling noises. The THEA entity turns and points to another member of the coven, who is bent forward and not moving.)
COLBY: Move, man! Why don't you move?
STAEL: (with his brow wrinkled) This is not how it should be.
(With arms back out at her sides, not-quite-THEA gives a self-satisfied smirk.)

[INT. Corridor]

(LEELA examines her legs, and the rest of the group take stock.)
DOCTOR: Well done. Well done. That sort of control's almost impossible to break.
TYLER: What was it?
LEELA: The Fendahl.
DOCTOR: No, it wasn't. It was a Fendahleen. It was the same thing that killed the hiker and Mitchell. It can only have been created out of pure energy while the skull was restructuring Thea's brain.
TYLER: What's he talking about?
(The DOCTOR spots a power cable on the floor.)
DOCTOR: What's that for?
TYLER: Oh, I dunno, but it comes from Fendelman's laboratory.
MARTHA: It goes down to the cellar by the look of it.
DOCTOR: That's it! Leela, you'd better come with me. Jack, stay with your grandma. We'd better find out what's going on down there.
(He hands the shotgun back to TYLER and heads away with LEELA.)
TYLER: You're all right, Gran.
MARTHA: You know summat, John? There's going to come a time when I'll be too old for this sort of thing. (She sighs.)

[INT. Chapel]

(Not-THEA is still at the centre of the pentagram with her arms out to her sides. At her feet kneel STAEL and two others. COLBY looks upward and past them as her arms rise. A high-pitched noise fills the air. Then, the DOCTOR enters with LEELA. They descend the steps and pass from column to column, remaining out of sight until reaching the column to which COLBY is tied. LEELA starts to cut him free with her knife.)
COLBY: Hmm?
DOCTOR: Sssh, shhh. (to LEELA) Get him out of here as soon as you can. Whatever you do, don't look at her eyes. Ssshh. (whispering, slowly) Don't look at her eyes.
COLBY: (whispering) What about the others? We can't just leave them.
LEELA: Leave that to the Doctor. Come on.
STAEL: Help me.
COLBY: (as LEELA herds him out) Come on, man. Get out while you still can!
LEELA: Get out of here! Will you get out!
(COLBY and LEELA leave.)
STAEL: (cowering in fear) Help...
DOCTOR: (grabbing him) Come on. Come on. (looking at STAEL's face) It's too late. You've seen her eyes.
STAEL: The gun.
DOCTOR: What?
STAEL: Give me the gun.
DOCTOR: It won't have any effect on her.
STAEL: It's on the altar. It's not for her. It's for me.
(The DOCTOR touches him on the shoulder and picks up the revolver from where it sits on the altar, next to a ram's skull. He crosses to STAEL and places the weapon in his hands.)
DOCTOR: I'm sorry.
STAEL: Thank you.
(The DOCTOR hurries out. As he bounds up the steps, we hear a single shot ring out.
We see non-THEA swirl in place, almost seeming to dance.)

[INT. Corridor]

(COLBY and LEELA run up to MARTHA and TYLER.)
TYLER: What's happened? What's happening now?
LEELA: There are Fendahleen everywhere.
MARTHA: You all right, Professor? You look a bit peaky.
COLBY: This is all your fault, do you know that? Stupid old witch.
TYLER: Hey, you watch your mouth, boy.
MARTHA: Oh, don't worry, John. He's only frightened like the rest of us.
LEELA: Quiet. Listen!
COLBY: Look, don't you threaten me, you swede-bashing cretin.
LEELA: (to COLBY) Listen! You nearly got us all killed down there. Now be quiet, or you'll get yourself killed up here!
(LEELA retreats to meet the DOCTOR.)
LEELA: Oh, I'm glad to see you.
DOCTOR: (to LEELA) Put that away. (to COLBY) You almost got us killed down there.
COLBY: It has been mentioned.
DOCTOR: Sshh. (to MARTHA) The darkness, is it all around us?
MARTHA: No. Only down there, where you just come from. But it's getting darker slowly.
DOCTOR: Come on. Let's have a look at the one I assaulted.
MARTHA: (quietly) Oh, must we?
(They approach the Fendahleen that the Doctor had shot at. Its pink and green bits are a bit jumbled, as it lies in a deceased fashion.)
DOCTOR: (examining its front) Hmm, beautiful.
COLBY: Beautiful?
DOCTOR: Yes, sodium chloride. Obviously affects the conductivity, ruins the overall electrical balance, and prevents control of localised disruption to the osmotic pressures.
LEELA: Salt kills it.
DOCTOR: I just said that. Probably the origin of throwing it over your shoulder. Come on.

[INT. Fendelman's lab]

(The DOCTOR and LEELA run in. He switches the scanner off, and the hum starts to die down.)
DOCTOR: Whew. Well, I've saved the planet, but we're too late for the Fendahl.
LEELA: Well, if we can kill one, we can kill the rest.
DOCTOR: Oh no, that was just a lucky shot up the throat. It's not a throat, of course-
LEELA: Look, Doctor, good marksmanship is not a matter of luck.
DOCTOR: True, but that was just an isolated Fendahleen, comparatively weak. What's in the cellar is the Fendahl, the gestalt.
TYLER: The what?
COLBY: A gestalt is a group creature. It's made up of separate parts, but when they join together, they make a new and much more powerful creature.
TYLER: He reads a lot, you know.
DOCTOR: Sshh. Got it! According to the legends of Gallifrey and the superstitions of this planet, it's fairly certain that the Fendahl is made up of twelve Fendahleen and a core.
COLBY: Thea.
DOCTOR: Well, yes, what was Thea. It's no longer Thea no more than-. I killed one, and Stael shot himself. There are only ten left.
LEELA: Are you saying the Fendahl is not yet complete?
DOCTOR: Yes, we've still got a chance. Jack?
TYLER: Yeah?
DOCTOR: Any more of those salt-filled cartridges?
TYLER: No, there are just two shot-filled ones.
DOCTOR: I need rock salt, quickly.
MARTHA: 'Ere, have you two got they charms I give 'ee?
LEELA: Yes.
MARTHA: Give them to me.
TYLER: What is it?
(MARTHA hands the pouches to the DOCTOR.)
MARTHA: Rock salt.
DOCTOR: Mrs Tyler, you're wonderful. Jack, fix those cartridges. Now, Mrs Tyler, I need as much salt as you can find. Rock salt, table salt. Fill as many containers as you can. Off you go.
MARTHA: Yes, right.
(MARTHA leaves, eager to do his bidding.)
DOCTOR: Jack? Now listen very carefully. Go out into the corridor and keep watch. When you see the Fendahleen, don't hang around. Give it both barrels and run. Off you go.
(TYLER leaves to do so.)
DOCTOR: Leela?
LEELA: Yes?
DOCTOR: Go with him.
(The DOCTOR turns his attention to the scanner equipment.
Meanwhile, the skull is glowing, nearly white. Fendahleen begin coalescing next to it.
In the lab, the DOCTOR is disassembling some of the electronic gubbins inside the computers.)
COLBY: Did you say that about twelve million years ago, on a nameless planet which no longer exists, evolution went up a blind alley?
DOCTOR: Yes.
COLBY: Natural selection turned back on itself and a creature evolved which prospered by absorbing the energy wavelengths of life itself?
DOCTOR: Mmm.
COLBY: It ate life?
DOCTOR: hmm.
COLBY: All life, including that of its own kind?
DOCTOR: Yes. In other words, the Fendahl. And then the Time Lords decided to destroy the entire planet and hid the fact from posterity. They're not supposed to do that sort of thing, you know.

[INT. Corridor]

LEELA: Listen.

[INT. Fendelman's lab]

COLBY: So when the Time Lords acted, it was too late. The Fendahl had already come here.
DOCTOR: Yes, probably taking in Mars on its way through.
COLBY: Then it got itself buried but not killed.
DOCTOR: (still working) The Fendahl is death. How do you kill death? No, what happened was this. The energy amassed by the Fendahl was stored in the skull and dissipated slowly as a biological transmutation field. Hmm? Now, any appropriate life form that came within the field was altered so that it ultimately evolved into something suitable for the Fendahl to use.
COLBY: Are you saying that skull created man?
DOCTOR: No, I'm saying it may have affected his evolution.

[INT. Corridor]

TYLER: I can't hear nothing.
LEELA: Ssshh. There's something coming this way.
(We eventually hear a faint squelching sound.)

[INT. Fendelman's lab]

DOCTOR: That would explain the dark side of man's nature. But it's just a theory.
COLBY: A pretty wild one.
DOCTOR: It's more fun that way. (He grins.)

[INT. Corridor]

LEELA: Now, Jack, as soon as you see it, fire and we shall run.
TYLER: Look!
(The golden Fendahl core THEA fades in, with a giant Fendahleen behind her, in the corridor. We hear ringing. Her arm is raised, and TYLER stands transfixed.)
LEELA: Don't look at her, Jack! Fire the gun!
TYLER: I can't.
LEELA: Don't look at her!
TYLER: I can't.
LEELA: Jack, give me the gun.
(She tries to grab it.)
TYLER: I can't.
(LEELA conks him in the back of the neck, and he falls. She raises the shotgun and squints, trying to aim without looking at the core.)

[INT. Fendelman's lab]

DOCTOR: Almost there. Oh, if you want an alternative explanation, the Fendahl fed into the RNA of certain individuals the instincts and compulsions necessary to re-create. These were fed through the generations till they reached Fendelman and people like him.
COLBY: Well, that's possibly more plausible.
DOCTOR: Or, on the other hand, it could all be just a coincidence. Finished.
(As he completes his work, we hear a shotgun fire.)
DOCTOR: Find Mrs Tyler. Give her a hand with the salt. (after he leaves) Time's running out.
(Non-THEA reappears at the centre of the pentagram, arms raised high above her head.)

[INT. Corridor]

DOCTOR: Leela! Leela!
(On the floor are TYLER, LEELA, and a dead Fendahleen. The DOCTOR runs to LEELA and lifts her into a sitting position, rousing her.)
LEELA: What happened? Did I hit it?
(TYLER comes to, putting his hand to his neck.)
DOCTOR: Yes. Yes, you did. You're quite right, Leela. Good marksmanship isn't a matter of luck. Come on.
(He leaves, with LEELA and TYLER slowly getting to their feet and following.
Meanwhile, core THEA waves her arms and takes on the form of a Fendahleen.)

[INT. Fendelman's lab]

(MARTHA pushes in a trolley that has a wicker basket and about ten bottles on it.)
MARTHA: Here you are. That's all the salt I can lay me hands on.
DOCTOR: Sssh. Right, battle stations. Jack, you and your grandma, back to the cottage.
TYLER: Right, we'll get-
DOCTOR: Ssshh. You know what to do.
TYLER: Right.
DOCTOR: Good man.
(MARTHA and TYLER leave. They pass COLBY on his way in.)
COLBY: Oh, where are you going?
TYLER: We're going back to the cottage.
MARTHA: You'll catch us up.
COLBY: Oh, don't worry. I'll probably overtake you.
(COLBY hands the DOCTOR a black box with a radioactivity symbol on the side.)
DOCTOR: Lead-lined?
COLBY: Yes.
(LEELA starts putting salt containers in the basket.)
DOCTOR: Perfect. Right, now this is what I want you to do. Give Leela and me time to get down to the cellar, and then switch on the scanner beam. With luck, it should confuse things down there long enough for us to grab the skull and get away.
COLBY: Well, then what?
DOCTOR: This is important. Be sure to operate the scanner beam for only two minutes, then switch it off and you go.
COLBY: But why?
DOCTOR: Because I've rigged that to set off a controlled implosion three minutes after you switch off the scanner. We need three minutes to get clear.
COLBY: A big bang?
DOCTOR: Pretty big. Big enough to blow this place to atoms.
LEELA: Then why don't we leave the skull here?
DOCTOR: Oh no, too dangerous. It could pop up anywhere and start the whole thing over again. Come on.
(LEELA picks up the basket and kisses COLBY on the cheek as she passes him.)
LEELA: Good luck.
(A bemused COLBY shuts the door after they leave. He checks his watch. A moment later, the door opens, startling COLBY. It's the DOCTOR.)
DOCTOR: Psst! Remember, three minutes.
(He holds up four fingers and then leaves again. COLBY puts a hand to his head. He keeps an eye on his watch as the DOCTOR and LEELA make their way out. He then switches on the scanner. The count is at about nine seconds when LEELA and the DOCTOR reach the cellar door.)

[INT. Chapel]

(As they head down the stairs, where a Fendahleen waits, we see that the cellar is filled with smoke.)
LEELA: Look out, Doctor!
(She throws a flask just past it, and the DOCTOR too misses, aiming too high. LEELA tries twice more.)
DOCTOR: No, better save some for later.
LEELA: Do not worry.
(She holds out a flask and creeps forward, with the creature backing off.
The counter is at one minute as they reach the bottom of the stairs. COLBY watches it, nervous.
Downstairs, the DOCTOR sets the black box on the altar and dons the gloves that are lying there. The mini-Fendahleen next to the skull hiss at him as he places the skull in the box and closes the latch. He takes off the gloves and moves away in the smoke.
The counter is at one minute fifty-one now.)

[INT. Fendelman's lab]

COLBY: Five, four, three, two, one.
(He has backed to the scanner switch and now flips it.)
COLBY: You've got three minutes, Doctor.
(COLBY runs to the lab door and leaves.)

[INT. Chapel]

(LEELA is carefully sprinkling salt beside the pentagram.)
DOCTOR: Come on, I've got it. Let's get out of here.
(The lights flicker.)
LEELA: Something's happened.
DOCTOR: He's switched off the scanner beam. We've got three minutes. Come on!
(He runs past her. LEELA throws a flask of salt over her shoulder as she follows him, running up the stairs.)

[INT. Corridor]

(In the DOCTOR and LEELA's path, there is one robed golden figure on each side of the corridor, roughly in mirror-image.)
LEELA: Look!
DOCTOR: No, don't!
(The DOCTOR knocks the basket out of her hand. Some salt falls on the carpet. The figures pivot downward at the wrist. Not looking up, the DOCTOR and LEELA, holding hands, walk straight through the apparition.)
LEELA [OC]: We've done it!
DOCTOR [OC]: Come on, run!
(The ceiling begins to cave in where they came from, then further along.
Back in the chapel, the THEA core appears at the altar, arm raised. The figure fades out again and appears at the bottom of the stairs. It disappears again only to appear at the centre of the pentagram, where it started. The pentagram is now visible in duplicate and folding in over itself. A golden glow can be seen from the house as the DOCTOR emerges from the door.)

[EXT. Outside the priory]

DOCTOR: Leela, where are you?
LEELA [OC]: Here!
DOCTOR: Then come on! Run!
(He runs into the trees in the darkness. The surroundings are occasionally illuminated by lightning.)

[INT. Cottage]

(TYLER and MARTHA are face-down under the table. MARTHA's hands are clenched.)
TYLER: You all right, Gran?
MARTHA: Yes.
TYLER: Well, keep your head down, then.
(COLBY runs in and closes the door.)
TYLER [OC]: Hey, somebody's coming.
(COLBY joins them under the table, squeezing in between TYLER and MARTHA.)
COLBY: Any minute now.

[EXT. Priory grounds]

(As the DOCTOR and LEELA run, we see the building shining in red from the inside. It buckles inward and twists.)
DOCTOR: Down!
(They both drop behind a fallen tree. The building goes up in a ball of flame. After several mini-explosions, the flames are sucked back inward as they burn brightly.)
LEELA: What now?
DOCTOR: We leave. Vanishing priories take a lot of explaining.
LEELA: Will the other be all right?
DOCTOR: Yes. Probably at Mrs Tyler's now, eating plum cake off her best china. (He exhales.)

[INT. Cottage]

(The three all raise their heads and breathe out.)
TYLER: I'll put the kettle on, Gran, eh?
MARTHA: (nodding) Yes.

[INT. TARDIS console room]

(The TARDIS is in flight. LEELA examines herself, now wearing her dark outfit again and with her hair down, in a mirror.)
LEELA: What are you going to do about the skull?
DOCTOR: Hmm? Oh, find a star about to go supernova and dump it in the vicinity. (He hangs up his hat.)
LEELA: That will destroy it?
DOCTOR: Oh, yes. (hanging up his scarf) I don't think even that can stand the temperatures generated by a supernova. Ah!
LEELA: What?
DOCTOR: Found one, in the constellation of Canthares. Just set the co-ordinates, and we're on our way.
LEELA: Then what are we going to do?
DOCTOR: I like your new dress.
LEELA: It's the old one.
DOCTOR: Oh, yes. It has a certain, je ne, je, er.
LEELA: What?
DOCTOR: What?
LEELA: You didn't finish.
DOCTOR: Didn't finish what?
LEELA: Your sentence. It's a very annoying habit, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Oh, yes, yes. Well, it's about K, K, K-
LEELA: K9?
DOCTOR: K9. Yes. I'd better finish repairing him.
LEELA: Ah! You called him 'him'. You called him 'him'! (She smiles.)
DOCTOR: I can call K9 'him' if I want to. He's my dog. Aren't you, K9?
(K9's head nods, squeaking each time. The DOCTOR grins.)

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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