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DOCTOR WHO
UNDERWORLD

Written by
Bob Baker and Dave Martin

Part One

[INT. TARDIS console room]

(We pan across the skies to an area of blackness, where the TARDIS is travelling. Within, LEELA, in her lighter leather costume, stands at the console, humming as she flicks some controls. When the time rotor stops moving, she looks concerned and stops humming. She toggles a switch twice, then crouches to address K9.)
LEELA: We've stopped.
K9: Affirmative.
LEELA: We've stopped dead.
K9: Negative 'dead'.
(She swats his 'muzzle' area and stands. She contemplates the controls and, at a loss, touches nothing.)
LEELA: (facing the inner door) Doctor!
(He emerges, wearing a painter's smock and beret. He has a large paintbrush in one hand.)
DOCTOR: Hmm?
LEELA: We've stopped.
DOCTOR: (throwing the brush back through the door) Really?
LEELA: I mean, everything's still working. Nothing's gone wrong, has it?
DOCTOR: Not so far, no.
LEELA: (as the DOCTOR removes the smock and beret) Then why have we stopped? Why are we not going anywhere?
(The DOCTOR turns on the scanner. Its shutters open on blackness. He looks at it and does a double-take.)
DOCTOR: That's intensely interesting. Do you realise there's nowhere to go?
LEELA: What?
DOCTOR: Mmm. We're on the edge of the cosmos, the frontiers of creation, the boundary between what is and isn't- or isn't yet, anyway. Don't you think that's interesting?
LEELA: I suppose so.
DOCTOR: What? I feel just like a goldfish looking out on a new world.
LEELA: A goldfish?
DOCTOR: Yes.
LEELA: But it's just black nothing out there, and being out here on our own is just... just nothing.
K9: We are not alone.
DOCTOR: Nothing?
LEELA: Nothing.
DOCTOR: Nothing? It's magnificent. Any minute, any second, a whole new world could be born and we'd be the first-
K9: We are not the first.
DOCTOR: Sshh. We'd be the first intelligent and semi-intelligent beings to witness the spectacle.
K9: We are not alone.
DOCTOR: What'd he say?
LEELA: I don't know.
K9: We are not the first. We are not alone. Receptors indicate pulsing, pulsing characteristic of ion-drive system. The inference, therefore, would be spacecraft in vicinity.
DOCTOR: Sshh, shh. Where, K9, where?
K9: Thirty-four seven zero one seventeen fifty zero five.
DOCTOR: Thirty-four seven...? That's beyond visual-aid range.
(He stands, and both he and LEELA start operating the controls.)
DOCTOR: Listen, Leela. Listen! Ion drive or I'm a budgie's cousin.
K9: Affirmative ion drive. Family grouping negative.
DOCTOR: Shut up, K9! Shut up.
LEELA: Doctor!
(Facing the scanner, she watches as a large hazy red shape comes into view, appearing to rotate slowly.)
DOCTOR: I can tell him to shut up if I want to.
LEELA: No, no, no. Look!
DOCTOR: What?
(He turns in time to see the shape leave the screen.)
DOCTOR: Leela.
LEELA: What?
DOCTOR: That's a spiral nebula - a gas cloud coalescing to form a whole new star system. It's sucking in everything around it like a gigantic whirlpool, including us.
LEELA: Is that good?
DOCTOR: No, it's bad. (as an alarm sounds) Very bad. (at the console) Time to get out of here. K9, escape co-ordinates.
K9: Thirty-four seven zero one seventeen fifty zero five.
LEELA: But isn't that where the ion drive is?
DOCTOR: Yes. Yes!

[INT. Flight deck]

(We see a ship, headed toward the nebula, and then a two-level command area. The lower section has several platforms with large curved pipes leading to them, and the upper level is a flight deck with soft white chairs. As the TARDIS's trademark materialisation sound is heard, crew members in silver spacesuits walk around, performing their duties. There are three men and one woman, a white-haired lady sitting at a bulky computing unit.)
TALA: Nothing up front, Captain. Only the spiral nebula on two four zero.
JACKSON: Right, Tala. Stay on watch. Orfe, check the nebula, two four zero.
ORFE: Two four zero, checking. (rows of '0's and '1's appear on the screen) Too far off, sir.
JACKSON: Then what was it? Tala, take out the nebula. Herrick?
HERRICK: (looking at a radar-like visual) Nothing on targeter, sir. There's no blip, nothing.
JACKSON: Right, let's think it again. It wasn't inside. It wasn't outside. None of us saw anything, We've got no trace. But we all heard it, didn't we?
ORFE+HERRICK: Yes, sir.
JACKSON: Let's hear it again, Orfe.
(ORFE replays the wheezing.)
JACKSON: Now, was that sound generated inside the ship or outside? Anybody ever hear anything like that before?
ORFE+HERRICK: No, sir.
JACKSON: Run it through ident.
ORFE: Sir. (we hear computer sounds) Ident running, sir.

[INT. R1C hold]

(LEELA pokes her head out the TARDIS door and looks out. As she and the DOCTOR emerge, we see cobwebs everywhere.)
LEELA: The air is stale.
DOCTOR: Hmm.
LEELA: The door's locked. Nobody's been in here for years.
DOCTOR: No.
(He picks up a metal object from a table and reads the stamp on the bottom.)
DOCTOR: 'Made in Minyos.' (he looks again) Made in Minyos? Got it! The Minyans of Minyos. This could be a Minyan patrol vessel. Have you ever heard of the Flying Dutchman?
LEELA: (laughing) No.
DOCTOR: Pity, I've often wanted to know who he was. (bending down with the object) K9, could you give me a date on that, do you think?
K9: Isotope decay rate indicates one hundred K range.
DOCTOR: Yes, that's what I thought.
LEELA: Me too.
DOCTOR: That's a hundred thousand years old. The Minyan civilisation was destroyed a hundred thousand years ago, on the other side of the universe.

[INT. Flight deck]

ORFE: Ident concluded, sir. Signal identified as relative dimensional stabiliser in materialisation phase as used in-
JACKSON: As used in what? Orfe, as used in what?
ORFE: As used in the time ships of the gods. (He looks at JACKSON, our Jason in this story of Minyos/Minos etc.)

[INT. R1C hold]

DOCTOR: It was what happened on Minyos that led to our policy of non-intervention.
LEELA: Huh?
DOCTOR: Yeah. Well, the Minyans thought of us as gods, you see, which was all very flattering, and we were new at space-time explorations, so we thought we could help. We gave them medical and scientific aid, better communications, better weapons.
LEELA: What happened?
DOCTOR: (studying a card) Kicked us out at gunpoint. Then they went to war with each other, learnt how to split the atom, discovered the toothbrush, and finally split the planet.
LEELA: So this ship must have got away before the planet was destroyed.
DOCTOR: Yes.
LEELA: That was a hundred thousand years ago. Nobody lives for a hundred thousand years. Do they?

[INT. Flight deck]

(We linger on TALA for a moment. She is looking still older and appears to be almost nodding off.)
ORFE: If it is the gods, they'll help us, help us with the Quest.
HERRICK: Help us? Well, they helped us before, helped to destroy ourselves. No, if it is the gods - and there's no way of telling, because that ident is worn out as everything else on board the ship - but if it is the gods, then they're the reason for it all.
JACKSON: The reason for all what, Herrick?
HERRICK: Well, everything! The Quest... They're playing games with us. Oh, they do, you know. The gods use us for their sport. We should have wiped them out when we had the chance.
ORFE: We brought our own destruction on ourselves.
HERRICK: Pacifist! If I get one of them in my sights again, then I'll dematerialise him for good. If they're on board this ship, then I'll sniff them out! (He stands.)
JACKSON: Herrick! Sit down.
HERRICK: Sir? (saluting, fist to breast) Yes, sir. (He sits.)
JACKSON: Time for the next sweep. Tala, set up for the next sweep.
TALA: (quietly) Yes, sir.
ORFE: Two four zero and cubit.
TALA: Four zero and cubit.
ORFE: It's going to take us close to the nebula, Captain.
JACKSON: I know, but we have no choice. The Quest is the Quest.
ORFE: The Quest is the Quest.
(The ship is rocked about as it steers a course near the nebula.)

[INT. R1C hold]

(The DOCTOR and LEELA have been thrown to the floor.)
DOCTOR: You all right, K9?
K9: Affirmative.
LEELA: What happened?
DOCTOR: Trouble.
LEELA: I know that.
DOCTOR: Blast the door, K9.
K9: Blaster malfunction. Blaster malfunction. Blaster malfunction. Blaster malfunction.
(LEELA has been cleaning a device that has a projection surrounded by a small shield composed of hexagonal tiles. She grasps the hand hold on it and aims at the doors. Intermittent green light lances out, and the energy blasts the doors open. LEELA slowly lowers the shield device, examining it, as the DOCTOR rises and dusts herself off.)
LEELA: What is this thing?
DOCTOR: It's a Liebermann laser. Fires charged particles along a laser beam. Don't ever play with strange weapons, Leela.
LEELA: No, Doctor.
DOCTOR: And switch the safety catch off.
LEELA: Yes, Doctor.

[INT. R1C Corridor]

(K9, off-screen, starts moving, making a racket in doing so.)
DOCTOR: Sshh.
LEELA: Sshh.
DOCTOR: Sshh.
(They start walking again, with K9 following not far behind them.)

[INT. Flight deck]

(TALA is lying over her console, out cold.)
JACKSON: (to HERRICK) Take her off the flight deck!
HERRICK: Yes, sir.
JACKSON: Levelled out.
ORFE: (flopping down into the seat) Nothing on rudder, sir. She's stuck, stuck on maximum.
JACKSON: Do what you can. Can you shut down on drive?
ORFE: We can, but it won't reduce her speed. She's already reached maximum.
JACKSON: Reverse thrust?
ORFE: Tear the ship in two, sir.
JACKSON: Right, give her all you can on left main and auxiliaries. Shut down on all right propulsion units.
ORFE: Yes, sir.
JACKSON: We've got to veer off before we hit the gravity field, or that thing will suck us down like a whirlpool!

[INT. Command deck]

(We are in the lower part of the command area, where JACKSON quickly runs down to HERRICK, who stands beside a couch. TALA is lying there.)
JACKSON: How is she?
HERRICK: She's not good, sir. She's gone past her regeneration point deliberately, just like all the others.
JACKSON: None of us likes it, but the Quest is the Quest.
DOCTOR: Anything I can do? How do you do?
JACKSON: (shaking his hand) Who are you?
DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor.
HERRICK: How did you get here?
DOCTOR: Hmm? Well, through the door. (He gestures with his head.)
HERRICK: He's one of them!
(HERRICK grabs the DOCTOR, who grimaces.)
LEELA: (entering with the shield device held out) Stop!
HERRICK: See, sir? They're on board. I warned you - they're on board!
JACKSON: Orfe.
(ORFE is now manning a small cannon-like device at the railing. Light emanates from the end of it, and LEELA adopts a beatific smile and lowers her weapon.)
LEELA: (almost dreamily) Thank you.
HERRICK: (taking the weapon from her) Go on, get back - get back to that panel. (behind her) And you too, get back. I'll take them out now, sir. Just one quick blast.
(The DOCTOR takes LEELA by the arm, and they walk slowly to the other side of the area.)
JACKSON: Calmly, Herrick. Wait for the word of command. Just a minute. You, Doctor, you said you wanted to help?
DOCTOR: Yes, if I can, yes.
JACKSON: Are you a Time Lord?
DOCTOR: Yes, I'm a Time Lord.
HERRICK: It was lies, all lies. He said he was a doctor!
JACKSON: Orfe.
(ORFE activates the cannon of calmness again.)
HERRICK: Thank you, Orfe. (handing his own laser to the DOCTOR) I'm sorry, friend.
DOCTOR: That's all right. What happened to her?
JACKSON: She collapsed. We know what to do.
DOCTOR: Well, if you know what to do, why don't you do it?
JACKSON: Herrick, take Tala to regen now.
HERRICK: Yes, sir.
(As HERRICK hoists TALA into his arms, ORFE comes down from the flight-deck level.)
LEELA: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Yes?
LEELA: His name is Orfe.
DOCTOR: Yes.
LEELA: (still smiling) What a beautiful name.
JACKSON: Orfe, look after her, then get back to your post.
ORFE: Yes, sir.
LEELA: Orfe.
(ORFE leads LEELA away to the flight deck.)
DOCTOR: So you did develop the pacifier.
JACKSON: Very few, and too late.
DOCTOR: How long does the effect last?
JACKSON: Is she a primitive?
DOCTOR: Oh, very, very.
JACKSON: Well, several hours then.
DOCTOR: Really?
JACKSON: You say you're a doctor?
DOCTOR: Yes.
JACKSON: Of medicine?
DOCTOR: Oh, many things, many things.
JACKSON: Crystalocybernetics?
DOCTOR: My dear chap, what's the problem?
JACKSON: That is. (he gestures to the nebula outside) And this. It's worn out.
DOCTOR: How much time have we got?
JACKSON: We haven't. We're already in the gravitational field. We could burn our way out if we had the main systems working. That's the problem. Terminal cores are fragmented.
DOCTOR: Mind if I take a look?
JACKSON: We've been in mission a hundred thousand years, Doctor. The ship wasn't designed for that. Neither were we. Each one of us has regenerated a thousand times. Have you any idea what that means?
DOCTOR: Well, I've been through it two or three times. Not pleasant.
JACKSON: A thousand times plus, Doctor. None of us wants to go on, but we must. The Quest is the Quest. But now we're like the ship, degenerating faster than we can regenerate ourselves. Not the body, not the mind. he spirit.
(As he speaks, we see HERRICK lay TALA on one in a bank of numerous regen couches elsewhere on the ship. We watch the machinery's effects as the pits and wrinkles in her skin smoothe out. When she slowly sits up, it is with long blonde hair.)
JACKSON: A ship of ghosts, Doctor, going on and on and unable to remember why.
(The pinkish crystal in the DOCTOR's hands breaks along a cleavage plane.)
DOCTOR: (looking at it) It's had it, I'm afraid.
JACKSON: What?
DOCTOR: I'm sorry.
JACKSON: Then it's over. It's over at last.
DOCTOR: Tell me about this Quest.
JACKSON: It was a missing spaceship, the P7E. We get signals from it, we track it and lose it, track it and lose it.
DOCTOR: But surely after all this time there won't be any survivors.
JACKSON: Probably not.
DOCTOR: So?
JACKSON: It was carrying colonists.
DOCTOR: Ah! Does the P7E have regeneration too?
JACKSON: No, the P7E was carrying something much more important, at least to us. The future of the Minyan race, our genetic inheritance.
DOCTOR: A race bank. Hmm.
JACKSON: The chance for a new people on a new planet. Minyos 2. Well, that was the theory.
DOCTOR: Hmm. Well, it seems a pity to give up now, after all you've been through. Do you know, there just might be the ghost of a chance, if it's at all compatible.
JACKSON: Compatible?
DOCTOR: You'll see. K9? Where are you, boy? Come on, heel! K9!
(K9 enters, trundling over access points on the floor labelled GC3, IC7, YU1, ZY9, etc.)
JACKSON: What's this?
DOCTOR: He's my second-best friend. Aren't you, K9?
K9: Affirmative.
DOCTOR: Try this.
(He uses bulldog clips to attach long coils of wire to K9's 'ears'. On the other end of these is the control unit whose crystal has just crumped out.)
DOCTOR: Here, K9, feel anything?
(K9 yelps twice.)
DOCTOR: Right. From now on, you're in charge. K9, we want to avoid the nebula. It's all yours, K9. You're on. ...What?
K9: Online. In link-up. Rudder control positive. Accelerator positive. Ident nav control. All systems ready.
(A hum is building, and lights on the room's wheel-style devices begin to spin.)
K9: Stand by for G loading. All systems positive.
(The ship flies past the nebula and angles away.)

[INT. Flight deck]

ORFE: We've made it. We've made it, Captain!

[INT. Command deck]

DOCTOR: Well done, K9. What?
JACKSON: Tala. Regen was all right, after all. Don't do that again. I know you're exhausted, but the Quest-
TALA: Is the Quest. Yes, Captain.
JACKSON: Right, everybody back on station. Tala, take over from Orfe. Continue with the sweep.
HERRICK: Is it a trick, Captain?
JACKSON: I don't care what it is. We've got full power on all stations for the first time in I don't know how long.
HERRICK: But you know what they're like. He's just setting us up for something worse.
JACKSON: Orfe, bring in that signal boost. Tala, two four zero and cubit. Herrick, on tracking.
HERRICK: (saluting) Sir.
JACKSON: Full power on 2!
DOCTOR: Leela.
LEELA: What a beautiful man.
DOCTOR: (taking her elbows) Leela! Leela, listen to me. You're primitive. Wild, warlike, aggressive, and tempestuous. And bad-tempered too.
LEELA: I am?
DOCTOR: Yes. You're a warrior leader from a warrior tribe. Courageous, indomitable, implacable, impossible
LEELA: Right, that's far enough! You stay where y-
(Her knife is now at his neck.)
DOCTOR: Oh, put it away. You were pacified.
LEELA: Pass...?
DOCTOR: Pacified.
LEELA: Pacified? Who did it, hmm? Who did it? I'll kill them. I'll kill them! It was him, wasn't it? (She refers to HERRICK.)
ORFE: It was me.
LEELA: You?
DOCTOR: It's all right, Leela.
LEELA: You're laughing at me.
DOCTOR: No.
LEELA: You're all laughing at me. I'll smash your stupid grins off your stupid faces.
HERRICK: Signal on tracker two seven, sir!
JACKSON: Boost and ident, Orfe.
ORFE [OC]: Boost and ident, sir. (A sound pattern begins.)
JACKSON: That's it! That's P7E! Lock on nav system. Keep tracking. What bearing?

[INT. Flight deck]

ORFE: Two four zero, sir.
TALA: Four zero, thrust on maximum.

[INT. Command deck]

JACKSON: This time we've got a chance. Don't lose her, Tala. Don't lose her now.
DOCTOR: (coming up alongside him) Listen, Jackson. Listen.
JACKSON: Quiet, please. Don't lose her now, Tala.
DOCTOR: Jackson, two four zero takes us right back into the nebula.
JACKSON: That's right. If that's where P7E is, that's where we go.
DOCTOR: But that could mean destruction.
JACKSON: No, Doctor, it'll mean the end of the Quest. If P7E went in there, so can we.
DOCTOR: But P7E didn't go in there! She couldn't have! She must have been there at the beginning and the nebula formed around her.
HERRICK: How does he know that?
DOCTOR: It's elementary physics. The still centre of a raging storm. P7E might be in there, and she might be safe, but if you go in after her, it could mean destruction.
JACKSON: Doctor, if P7E is there, we must find her. That is our purpose. Destruction is a chance we take. The Quest is the Quest.
DOCTOR: Jackson, I can't allow that.
JACKSON: You can't allow it? You have no choice.
DOCTOR: What? K9, stop.
(HERRICK grabs the DOCTOR.)
LEELA: (knife at the ready) Let him go!
JACKSON: (laser in hand) Don't move.
K9: Query 'stop'. Stop what? Instruction, please. Instruction.
JACKSON: Doctor, tell it we're going on.
DOCTOR: (quietly) We're going on, K9.
K9: Affirmative.
JACKSON: Right, everybody up on the flight deck. Move.
HERRICK: You. Quickly.
JACKSON: Herrick, carbo-magnetic seat lock.
HERRICK: Sir.
(The DOCTOR and LEELA are fastened into chairs.)
JACKSON: Now, Tala, don't lose that signal. Don't lose it now.

[INT. Flight deck]

(Sparks can be seen through the windows in front of the crew, who are strapped in for a bumpy ride.)
JACKSON: Heat shield.
(Patterned metal shutters rise to protect the windows.)
DOCTOR: Jackson, listen to me. This is hopeless.
LEELA: What's happening?
DOCTOR: We're being sucked through a layer of meteorites. They're smashing us to pieces.
LEELA: What?
DOCTOR: I said they're smashing us to pie-
(He cuts himself off as all goes quiet.)
LEELA: (sotto) They are?
JACKSON: Damage report?
TALA: I think we've lost left and right ancillaries.
ORFE: And solar sail, plus all external antennae, sir.
HERRICK: The hull's taken a battering, but the self-sealer pumps are still working.
TALA: Main drive's positive.
ORFE: On course, and signal holding.
TALA: Major systems functional.
JACKSON: Right, we go on. Lower heat shield. Take her on manual.
ORFE: Signal fading, sir.
TALA: No visibility. We're losing acceleration.
(When the shutters lower, the view is obscured by reddish-glowing rocks.)
JACKSON: Full boost on both.
TALA: Full power and we're still slowing down.
ORFE: Signal going. (pause) Signal gone.
TALA: We've lost acceleration. Maintaining orbital speed. No acceleration. We're drifting.
JACKSON: Main systems functional. Then why aren't we moving?
DOCTOR: Don't you know? What's the normal hull thickness?
JACKSON: Three metres twenty.
DOCTOR: K9! Present hull thickness?
K9 [OC]: Hull thickness seventy metres, Increasing.
JACKSON: Seventy metres!
DOCTOR: We're being turned into a planet.
JACKSON: But that's impossible.
DOCTOR: No, it's not impossible, Jackson! It's simply gravity. This ship's a large, heavy object surrounded by smaller, lighter objects. Our gravitational pull is greater than theirs. We attract them. They stick to us. It all snowballs.
K9 [OC]: Eighty metres. Increasing.
DOCTOR: We're being buried alive. (we see this accretion from the outside) If it wasn't for this layer of debris, the asteroid belt would have smashed us to pieces. Still, you can't have everything, can you?
HERRICK: Look at him, sir. He's just laughing at us.
JACKSON: Is there a way out?
DOCTOR: I don't know. You could try the laser cannon.
JACKSON: Blast a tunnel and blow our way out on ion drive?
DOCTOR: Mmm.
JACKSON: Tala?
(She consults a hand calculator.)
TALA: It'll take up all our reserve fuel.
JACKSON: It's either that or we're stuck here for the rest of eternity. We'll try it. Herrick?
HERRICK: Sir. Fire 1. Fire 2.
(Each shot causes the rocks over the windows to glow for a moment but has no other visible effect.)
K9 [OC]: Ninety metres. Increasing. Ninety-five metres. Increasing.
DOCTOR: Carry on, Herrick.
TALA: Skin's overheating. The forward hull is buckling.
DOCTOR: Carry on, Herrick.
TALA: We're melting our own hull.
DOCTOR: Herrick, keep on!
HERRICK: It's no use! The cannon's disintegrating!

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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