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DOCTOR WHO
NIGHTMARE OF EDEN
Written by
Bob Baker
Part Four
(Overlap from 'Don't touch those controls')
[INT. Bridge of the Empress]
(The ships have now separated. ROMANA has been thrown onto the floor and now stands. She sees FISK still on the floor and kicks the gun from his hand. She runs from the bridge. FISK feels his head, then stands up and sees that she is gone. He grabs his gun and starts heading out the door.)
DYMOND [on monitor]: He's done it! Empress, this is Hecate. Full separation has been achieved. No damage to report. Empress, this is Hecate. Respond, please.
FISK: I read you, Dymond. What are you doing on your ship?
DYMOND [on monitor]: I came aboard to get a couple of GP guns to help against the mandrels. The ships separated whilst I was here.
FISK: Yeah, right. I'll check the Empress for damage. (punching a row of buttons) Good as new.
DYMOND [on monitor]: Waterguard Fisk, sir, I request your permission to continue my journey. I will not be pressing any claim on the Empress.
FISK: No, no, no, no. I might need you as a witness. There's bound to be an inquiry.
DYMOND [on monitor]: But if I delay my departure for even an hour, I'll lose my contract!
FISK: Look, Dymond, I haven't raised this with you before, but now I'm telling you officially. When this accident occurred, you, as Rigg rightly pointed out, was in a prohibited area. Now that makes you liable to at least a considerable fine. Now, if you try to get away, I'll nail a writ to your bulkhead. Do you understand, Dymond?
DYMOND [on monitor]: Yes.
FISK: Right. Come back aboard as quick as you can.
DYMOND [on monitor]: Yes, right away.
[INT. Next to the TARDIS]
(ROMANA runs to K9.)
K9: Operation one hundred per cent successful, Mistress.
ROMANA: Yes, I know, but I can't find the Doctor. Can you locate him, K9?
K9: Affirmative. Sensors indicate that the master is not aboard the ship, Mistress.
ROMANA: What!
(We see the DOCTOR unconscious, on his back in a dimly lit room.)
[INT. Sick bay]
(A passenger on a gurney is brought into the sick bay, which is just opposite the TARDIS.)
ROMANA: (entering) Della, have you seen the Doctor?
DELLA: No, I've been too busy with the casualties. The excise men want him shot on sight, and you.
ROMANA: Yes, I know. I wonder, could you bear to talk about Stott?
DELLA: Why?
ROMANA: Well, Tryst told us that you and he might be implicated in the drug smuggling. Now, we know it's not you and Stott, but it would help if you could tell me what happened.
DELLA: All right. Stott and I were together. He was acting very strangely. He kept telling me to go back to the shuttle. I could see he was worried. There were mandrels prowling about, but I know it wasn't that. He was looking for someone.
ROMANA: For whom? Did he say?
DELLA: No. Then it happened. A shot came from the forest. He was only stunned, but a mandrel came out from behind. I ran. I ran. I couldn't help myself, I just ran. I was so afraid.
ROMANA: It's all right, Della. Anyone would have done the same.
DELLA: The mandrel killed him.
ROMANA: How do you know?
DELLA: Tryst told me. He showed me a visprint. It was horrible.
ROMANA: Stott didn't die. He's here on this ship.
DELLA: What? He can't-
ROMANA: He is.
DELLA: But where? I must see him.
ROMANA: Not yet. Now, we must find out who is smuggling the Vraxoin. We know it's something to do with the Eden projection. Stott may be able to help us.
DELLA: I knew it was him looking at me. In the Eden picture, someone staring out, only I couldn't believe it. I thought I was seeing a ghost. Romana, what can I do to help?
ROMANA: First of all, we'd better find the Doctor.
[INT. Hecate]
(The DOCTOR wakes and stands. He sees a heavy-duty laser-type device first and approaches it.)
DOCTOR: How very odd. How very strange.
(There is a smallish porthole opposite him, nowhere near the size of the windows one would expect on a cruise liner. The Empress is not far away.)
DOCTOR: How very clever.
(He ducks down into a corner as DYMOND enters the room, DYMOND types a few commands on a keyboard, is satisfied with the results on the screen, and leaves.
The DOCTOR then crawls across the room to the computer console, hits a couple of keys, and watches as the screen reports -
EDEN PROJECT:
PROJECTED TURNOVER.
GAL. CREDITS: z13,000,000
OVERHEADS : z3,900,000
PROFIT MARGIN :9,100,000 )
DOCTOR: The profits on human suffering.
(He leaves the room and hides behind some tall pieces of equipment in another dimly lit area. Once DYMOND has walked past, the DOCTOR sneaks into the airlock area, where we can see DYMOND getting ready to leave again, and gets into the back of the shuttle. DYMOND then enters the shuttle and connects his helmet to the shuttle's air supply. The DOCTOR closes his eyes and we know he is suspending or slowing his body's functions. The airlock's outer doors open, and DYMOND's shuttle leaves the Hecate for the Empress.)
[INT. Bridge of the Empress]
FISK: Right. Dymond's on his way. Now, any sign of the Doctor?
COSTA: No. They're searching A deck at the moment.
TRYST: I think I know where the Doctor went.
FISK: Where? Why didn't you say so before?
TRYST: You may find it hard to believe.
FISK: Make me believe, Professor.
TRYST: I think he went into the projection.
FISK: What projection?
TRYST: The CET machine. The image has become an unstable dimensional field.
FISK: Oh. If he went into it, he's got to come out the same way. Costa, check the guard on the lounge.
COSTA: Right.
FISK: I'll join you later.
(COSTA leaves.)
FISK: Tryst, what would the Doctor want inside the projection?
TRYST: I can only imagine that one of the crew of my expedition found a new source of this, er, what is this thing called?
FISK: Vrax.
TRYST: Ja, Vrax. Yes, Vrax, and placed it in the transmute location. Yes, then he informed the Doctor. So the Doctor comes on board and makes the pick-up, which fits in with your own wonderful theory, does it not?
FISK: Yes, yes. Only, why did he bother to separate the ships?
TRYST: Perhaps it's because, as you say, he is a criminal.
FISK: Yes. That would be it.
[INT. Next to the TARDIS]
(DELLA runs up to ROMANA.)
ROMANA: Did you find anything?
DELLA: Only a mandrel.
ROMANA: Oh, he must be somewhere.
K9: Negative, Mistress. I have scanned the ship and I detect no- (His 'ears' oscillate and whirr.)
ROMANA: What is it, K9?
K9: This way. The Doctor has just come aboard.
[INT. Shuttle, outside the airlock]
(The shuttle has docked with the Empress, and the engines wind down. DYMOND exits, and the DOCTOR's eyes open.
DYMOND heads for the lift, with ROMANA, then DELLA, sneaking past him. When the coast is definitely clear, K9 follows.)
DOCTOR: (coming round the corner) Hello, K9.
ROMANA: Hello, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Hello, Romana. Everything all right?
ROMANA: What happened to you?
DOCTOR: I got caught in the interface when the two ships separated. Hello, Dell-
(The lift arrives.)
DOCTOR: Look out! Quick!
(Two CREWMEN with guns raised arrive. One of them stops DELLA from running away as the others run down into the stairwell. The other CREWMAN follows and has his gun out when K9 stuns him. K9 leaves the scene.
The CREWMAN guarding DELLA checks that his cohort on the floor is alive, then returns to DELLA, grabbing her by the arm.)
CREWMAN: What were you doing with them?
DELLA: Finding out a few things.
CREWMAN: Well, you'd better tell Fisk about it. Come on.
(The DOCTOR and ROMANA return from the stairwell. He puts his finger to his lips.)
DOCTOR: Bit uncivil of them, pointing their guns at us like that.
ROMANA: They've had orders to shoot.
DOCTOR: Yes. Tell me, what do you use an inchuka laser for?
ROMANA: An inchuka laser can be used to carry thousands of telecom messages-
DOCTOR: Shhh. Could it carry a CET projection in a crystal?
ROMANA: From what I've seen of Tryst's set-up, I should think so. Why?
DOCTOR: Because Dymond's got a CET projection machine aboard the Hecate with an inchuka laser attached.
ROMANA: Then Tryst and Dymond are the smugglers?
DOCTOR: It looks like it. The only way of convincing Fisk is to catch them in the act of transferring the Vraxoin.
K9: Master, detect units approaching.
(STOTT is being backed into the corridor by a mandrel. He is firing at it.)
DOCTOR: Stott, leave it to K9!
(STOTT does so, and K9 shoots the creatures, which falls to the floor.)
STOTT: What happened to you, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Never mind about us. We know who the smugglers are.
STOTT: Who?
DOCTOR: Dymond's the pick-up man, and the smuggler's Tryst himself.
STOTT: Tryst?
DOCTOR: Yes. The Vraxoin's kept on the Eden crystal. They're about to transfer their crystal to the Hecate.
STOTT: Do you know what the source is?
ROMANA: Yes. Those things.
STOTT: The mandrels?
DOCTOR: Yes. One of them attacked me in the power unit. Poor thing was electrocuted, burnt to a powder.
STOTT: A powder... You mean?
DOCTOR: Vraxoin.
STOTT: No wonder I couldn't find it.
DOCTOR: Yes. They can make the transference across space by means of the inchuka laser.
STOTT: Can you prove it?
DOCTOR: Yes.
STOTT: How?
DOCTOR: I'll let them do it.
[INT. Bridge of the Empress]
(The CREWMAN who has DELLA by the arm is attacked by a mandrel just outside the bridge. DELLA screams and runs through the door. TRYST is on the bridge, donning a spacesuit similar to Dymond's.)
DELLA: Tryst, there's a mandrel out there!
TRYST: It's all right, Della. Dymond has a gun.
DELLA: What are you doing, Tryst? You weren't thinking of leaving the ship, were you? You've got to help the Doctor. You knew the CET was unstable, so it's all your fault. You must help them get the mandrels back into the projection.
TRYST: Is that what he's doing?
DELLA: Yes!
TRYST: Good. In that case, I'm right behind him.
[INT. Lounge]
(The DOCTOR is having a look at the CET machine. COSTA and two CREWMEN enter via the main door. FISK and another pair converge on them from another door.)
FISK: Put your hands up, Doctor!
DOCTOR: You're arresting the wrong man, you know, Fisk.
FISK: That's enough, Doctor.
STOTT: (running out of the Eden projection) Stop!
FISK: Who are you? Keep your hands up!
(STOTT holds out his ID, and FISK takes it.)
STOTT: It's Tryst and Dymond you want.
[INT. Bridge of the Empress]
DELLA: Tryst, did you know Stott was alive?
TRYST: Alive? He can't be!
DELLA: You fired that shot, didn't you, that last day on Eden?
TRYST: I didn't want to, Della. He forced the situation on himself.
DELLA: You! You're smuggling the Vrax.
TRYST: Della, I, er-
DELLA: 'Yes' is the word you're looking for.
TRYST: No, it started just as a little thing, just to help me over a slight financial difficulty. The cost of the expedition there was bankrupting me!
DELLA: But Vrax is destroying people by the millions!
TRYST: I had to continue my research! Without me, many of those creatures would have become extinct!
DELLA: I think a few million people becoming extinct is rather more serious.
TRYST: Ah, but they had a choice. It was their own fault that they became addicted.
DELLA: Hah! Like Rigg, I suppose. Did he have a choice, or was he tricked?
TRYST: That was unfortunate.
DYMOND: But necessary.
(A mandrel enters, giving DELLA a chance to leave.)
TRYST: (to DYMOND) No, don't kill him! He's valuable!
DYMOND: Kill it? I can't even stop it!
TRYST: No, no.
(The mandrel falls to the ground.)
TRYST: Della! Get after her.
(DYMOND runs from the bridge. TRYST remains, to shoot the main control panel before he too leaves.)
[INT. First-class corridor]
(DELLA runs through the corridors. She comes across the CREWMAN's body and stops as she notices a mandrel's arms and growls from around the corner ahead of her. DYMOND approaches from behind DELLA and shoots her. He returns the way he came, and then K9 and ROMANA appear from around the corner.)
ROMANA: Stop him, K9, quickly!
(She runs to DELLA while K9 continues after DYMOND.)
K9: Mission aborted, Mistress.
(The mandrel approaches ROMANA with arms raised, and K9 shoots it. It staggers out of the frame.)
K9: More important to protect you as programmed, Mistress.
ROMANA: Thank you, K9. That was close.
K9: Two metres, to be precise, Mistress.
DOCTOR: (running up) Romana, what happened?
ROMANA: Dymond shot Della. She's wounded, but she'll be all right.
DOCTOR: The callous wretches. They'll be making the transfer to the Hecate by now.
[INT. Corridors next to the shuttle bay]
FISK [OC]: All personnel, locate and apprehend passenger Tryst and pilot Dymond. They may try to leave the ship. And, with reference to the previous order regarding the Doctor, cancel it.
TRYST: Is sooner than I thought.
DYMOND: Better move. They'll have an interceptor after us.
TRYST: I think not. I smashed the communications system. They're cut off from Azure.
[INT. Bridge of the Empress]
FISK: If we don't get them on the ship, we've lost them.
STOTT: The Empress is faster, isn't she?
FISK: No pilot, no navigating officer. Could you fly her?
(STOTT shakes his head.)
DOCTOR: (entering) Gentlemen, once more into the- (stopping and sitting when he sees the remains of the communications panel) What happened?
STOTT: Tryst and Dymond have got away.
DOCTOR: They won't go anywhere without the Eden crystal. That gives us a little time.
FISK: To do what?
DOCTOR: Well, now that the ships are separated, we can at last stabilise the CET properly.
FISK: Good. Isn't it?
DOCTOR: Yes.
FISK: Yes, but what does it mean? (He crosses his arms.)
DOCTOR: It means, Fisk, that we can finally clear this marauding menagerie back into the projection, which is exactly where Dymond will want it.
FISK: Yes. But what are we going to do?
DOCTOR: Give him what he wants. We have to bait the hook properly, don't we?
[INT. Corridor]
(STOTT is working with a CREWMAN to shepherd two mandrels through the corridors.)
STOTT: Keep them moving. We should meet up with Fisk soon.
(We see FISK, COSTA, and another CREWMAN dealing with three mandrels. They are rather close to the creatures, and one of the mandrels swipes the CREWMAN to the ground. The other two get the mandrels to resume their journey down the corridor.
Dymond's shuttle returns to the Hecate's shuttle bay, and the doors close.)
[INT. First-class corridor]
(The two groups of mandrel-herders have converged, and they and their charges have almost reached the lounge.)
STOTT: The guns are fading!
(The mandrels turn around when the guns begin making a noise only, and the men retreat, moving back the way they'd come. Then the DOCTOR appears from the direction of the lounge. He whistles, and the mandrels turn to face him. He produces the dog whistle and begins blowing into it, which has a calming effect. The DOCTOR beckons the mandrels toward the lounge, with the animals making whining noises.)
[INT. Lounge]
(The DOCTOR gets the creatures as far as the edge of the Eden projection. He takes a short break from whistle-blowing, during which the whining turns back into growling.)
DOCTOR: I'm going inside now, and I may be rather a long time.
(Still blowing the whistle, he continues to play the Pied Piper of Eden. STOTT, FISK, and COSTA watch as he disappears from sight.)
[INT. Eden projection]
(In his attempt to circle back and leave the projection, the DOCTOR trips on a creeper and cries out. The mandrels are hot on his heels as he recovers.)
DOCTOR: Oh, gosh. Oh, lord. Oh, Doctor.
(He leads the creatures out of the area we can see from the lounge.)
DOCTOR [OC]: Steady, steady. This way. Not that way! This. Ah! Ooh!
(A couple of bits of underbrush fly into view. We hear growls and snapping.)
DOCTOR [OC]: Ah, oh, my fingers, my arms, my legs! Ah! My everything! Urgh!
[INT. Lounge]
(FISK and COSTA holster their sidearms.)
FISK: It's all over, then. Switch off the machine.
ROMANA: No.
(The DOCTOR starts walking out of the projection. His coat is in tatters. The arms are dangling from the remnants loosely, and one comes off as he walks. He throws it to the ground. When a growling mandrel comes up behind him, he runs out.)
DOCTOR: Quick, switch it off!
(ROMANA switches the CET machine off.)
DOCTOR: Phew! Well done, Romana.
FISK: Well, Doctor?
STOTT: What now?
DOCTOR: (after taking his own pulse) Romana, you've got two minutes, fifty-eight seconds to rebuild this machine.
ROMANA: What, this?
DOCTOR: Yes.
ROMANA: The CET?
DOCTOR: Yes!
ROMANA: Are you joking?
DOCTOR: Do I look as if I'm joking? Well?
ROMANA: Well, I'll need a screwdriver.
[INT. Hecate]
(TRYST is aligning the inchuka laser.)
DYMOND: (entering) How's the attitude setting?
TRYST: It couldn't be better. Are you ready to get us out of here as soon as I've made the transfer?
DYMOND: I can fire the engine from here.
TRYST: Good. I'm ready.
(He operates a switch on the laser.)
[INT. Lounge]
(The DOCTOR and ROMANA are working on the CET machine while STOTT looks on.)
DOCTOR: Increase the gain on the matrix modulator. Well?
ROMANA: Up five points.
DOCTOR: Five points. That's not enough. We're going to need some more power from somewhere.
ROMANA: We could put the jump leads on K9.
DOCTOR: Good.
(He refers to the leads that are around his neck. ROMANA clips them to K9's 'ears'.)
DOCTOR: Good dog, K9. Come on, put your leads on. Put your leads on. There.
ROMANA: Are you connected, K9?
K9: Affirmative, Mistress.
STOTT: What are you hoping to achieve?
DOCTOR: I want to increase the range and power of this machine. How many points now, Romana?
ROMANA: Ten and building.
DOCTOR: Ten and building. That's much better. We're going to be all right.
(The laser beam hits the light at the top of the machine. The DOCTOR had his hands there so jumps back. The beam stops.)
ROMANA: Are you all right?
DOCTOR: Yes, yes. It was just a little shock, that's all.
ROMANA: They're making the transfer.
STOTT: That means they'll get away.
DOCTOR: Shush! Quiet, quiet. Reverse the setting on the transmutation reflex. It's all right, it's all right, it's quite safe.
ROMANA: They've made the transfer.
DOCTOR: So?
ROMANA: They'll get away!
DOCTOR: Will you please reverse the setting on the transmutation reflex!
(She inserts the sonic screwdriver in the CET machine.)
DOCTOR: K9?
K9: Yes, Master?
DOCTOR: I want you to find the Hecate. Give me her position, eh?
K9: Affirmative.
DOCTOR: Good dog.
[INT. Hecate]
TRYST: Good. We've done it. Let's get out of here.
(DYMOND activates the ship's engines. The ship starts to leave the scene of the crime at speed.)
[INT. Lounge]
K9: Forty-seven point three, vector seven niner niner in seven seconds.
DOCTOR: Forty-seven point three vector seven niner niner. I hope you're right, K9.
(Things shimmer briefly as the DOCTOR operates a control on the CET machine.)
DOCTOR: Well, good.
STOTT: What's happened?
DOCTOR: Have you ever heard the expression 'hoist by his own petard'?
STOTT: Yes, but you haven't done anything.
DOCTOR: Good. Well, what-
(The excise men enter.)
FISK: So, Doctor, your plan has failed miserably. There's no way we can catch them now.
DOCTOR: On the contrary, Fisk. I've already caught them. There they are, all yours.
(TRYST and DYMOND are visible in the projection area. They flip switches but then notice their surroundings and stare out at their captors.)
FISK: But I, I-
DOCTOR: All I did was increase the range of this machine and brought them back. Matter transmutation, you see. And because the projection's still unstable, all you have to do is pluck 'em out.
FISK: You heard him. Pluck 'em out.
(Two CREWMAN collect DYMOND and TRYST from the projection and lead them toward the door.)
TRYST: Doctor! Doctor, I didn't want to be involved in all this. Tell them. Tell them that I only did it for the sake of funding my research. You understand all this. You're a scientist.
DOCTOR: (subdued, whispering) Go away.
TRYST: What?
DOCTOR: (still whispering) Go away.
TRYST: Oh!
[INT. Next to the TARDIS]
DOCTOR: Well, how are you now, Della? Good? Good?
DELLA: I'm fine now, thank you, Doctor. I'm relieved the nightmare's over.
DOCTOR: The nightmare's here, on the Eden crystal.
ROMANA: And here's the rest of Tryst's electric zoo.
DELLA: It never was meant to be a zoo. It really was a conservation exercise for most of us.
DOCTOR: I think the best way of conserving the poor creatures trapped in these crystals is to project them back to their own planets, don't you?
DELLA: But you've dismantled the CET.
ROMANA: Oh, we've got far more sophisticated stuff in the TARDIS - do it in no time.
STOTT: What about the mandrels and the Vraxoin?
DOCTOR: The mandrels have a perfect right to exist. In one way, Tryst was right. Humans do have some kind of choice. Let's just hope that no-one else discovers the secret.
ROMANA: I can only think of one animal who'd be comfortably at home in an electric zoo.
DELLA: Really? What's that?
ROMANA: I don't think we want to tell them. Do we, K9?
K9: Negative, Mistress.
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
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