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DOCTOR WHO
THE HORNS OF NIMON
Written by
Anthony Read
Part One
[INT. Bridge of spaceship]
(The scene is a grey-themed, drab bridge with visible wiring at the sides of the stations and a large cable running along the wall at head height. The pilot operates controls at an elevated station. Both men present wear a black uniform with a shiny helmet.)
CO-PILOT: When are we going to get modern equipment, proper battleships? When are we going to fight again?
(An alarm starts to sound.)
PILOT: It's only a matter of a short time now.
CO-PILOT: The computer's malfunctioning again.
PILOT: I warned you. You're overloading it. The instructions are quite clear. Until we get new equipment, we must reroute all subsidiary functions through the backup computer.
CO-PILOT: But that takes hours to do!
PILOT: We're twelve hours out from Aneth. Only another twelve to Skonnos.
CO-PILOT: Be a lot faster if this equipment worked properly.
PILOT: Nimon will soon fulfil his great promise to us.
(The CO-PILOT turns the alarm off.)
PILOT: We must be patient.
CO-PILOT: Patient? Patience is the virtue of the weak. Skonnons are meant to fight, to conquer, to rule, as in the days when these ships were built.
PILOT: We'll fight, and Nimon will give us all we need.
CO-PILOT: When?
PILOT: When we have fulfilled our part of the contract.
CO-PILOT: Oh, really?
PILOT: This is to be the last shipment.
CO-PILOT: The last?
PILOT: Yes. Our part of the contract will be fulfilled.
CO-PILOT: With this cargo?
PILOT: Yes.
CO-PILOT: I'll go and check it's safe.
(He takes a gun with him, exiting the bridge.)
[INT. Cargo hold]
(The cargo hold has a metal-grating floor and very large tubes running along the wall. The cargo are a group of seven young people in yellow jumpsuits huddled together in a group on the floor.)
CO-PILOT: Weakling scum!
(He leaves to return to the bridge. The door closes, and the young people look at each other, scared and worried.)
[INT. Bridge]
(The CO-PILOT returns and closes the bridge door behind him.)
PILOT: How are they?
CO-PILOT: Same as the cargo always is - inferior, craven beings. They'd have to be to surrender to us on an old ship like this.
PILOT: The Anethans remember the old days, when these were the most feared ships in the skies. Before we started fighting among ourselves.
CO-PILOT: Twelve hours to Skonnos. We can do it in six, right?
PILOT: Not without overloading the computer.
CO-PILOT: It can take it. We could do it in nine hours, okay?
PILOT: Well, it means cutting out the dog-leg round sector L seventy-five.
CO-PILOT: It means getting home quickly with this last cargo.
PILOT: Well, double-check the program. We mustn't overload it.
CO-PILOT: It hardly matters. This ship will never have to fly again. See, no problems at all. We could do it in six hours.
PILOT: Six hours? You said nine hours.
CO-PILOT: It'll make it.
(He makes more adjustments. Behind him, something gives up with a flash and a bang. He jumps. A small flame is visible behind the pipe along the wall.)
PILOT: You blundering fool! You've wrecked it. The automatic pilot's gone dead.
CO-PILOT: Well, it'll be all right, won't it? We can fly her on manual.
PILOT: We're off course already.
CO-PILOT: All we have to do is to find the beacon again. (there is a bleep, and a red light is illuminated on the console) There, there's the beacon. We can fly back to it.
PILOT: We're moving further away from it.
CO-PILOT: Well, push the engines up to full power!
(All of the control panels begin to buck and shudder about.)
PILOT: You blundering idiot! The ship's completely out of control!
CO-PILOT: Steer, blast you! Steer!
PILOT: It's not working. There's nothing we can do!
[INT. Cargo hold]
(The yellow-garbed cargo are holding on to the walls and unhappy. A young woman with dark hair speaks to a man not much older than herself.)
TEKA: Seth, what's happening?
SETH: I don't know.
TEKA: You'll look after me, won't you?
SETH: Of course I will.
[INT. Bridge]
PILOT: The engines - they'll blow!
(There is a mighty bang, and smoke begins to fill the bridge from below. Some plaster falls from the ceiling. As the smoke clears, we see that both PILOT and CO-PILOT have been left unconscious. The ship rotates in place, eventually slowing to a stop.)
[INT. TARDIS console room]
(The central column, with the Doctor's hat on top of it, stops moving.)
DOCTOR: There. That should immobilise her for the moment.
K9: Correction, Master. The TARDIS is moving.
DOCTOR: (reading from TARDIS HANDBOOK: TYPE 40) 'When making modifications, it's extremely important to shut everything down except that which is not necessary to shut down.' Well, of course. Terribly easy to damage things otherwise.
(He returns to working on the console, which has equipment on top, wires poking out, etc. He gets zapped and cries out.)
DOCTOR: Like me, for instance. Better disconnect that. There - that should hold her steady.
K9: Repeat, Master. The TARDIS is moving.
DOCTOR: How can it be? I just completely immobilised her.
K9: Affirmative.
DOCTOR: Good, good.
K9: Still moving, and accelerating.
DOCTOR: What? But K9, how can it be?
(ROMANA enters via the interior door. She is pulling on gloves that match her bright-pink jacket. A cravat, waistcoat, and riding boots are also part of her get-up.)
ROMANA: He could be right, you know.
DOCTOR: What do you mean 'he could be right'? How could he possibly be right? He's only a dog, you know.
ROMANA: Doctor.
DOCTOR: We do seem to be moving.
ROMANA: Very fast.
DOCTOR: Yes. But everything's off. Except what's on, of course.
ROMANA: Doctor, what have you been doing?
DOCTOR: Well, now, well, I've just been trying out a little idea I had for a slight modification of the conceptual geometer.
ROMANA: (sighing) This is an old ship.
DOCTOR: So what?
ROMANA: Don't you think that's a bit dangerous?
DOCTOR: No, I don't. What could possibly go-
(We hear a materialisation/dematerialisation sound for a moment, and the DOCTOR falls as the TARDIS lurches.)
DOCTOR: Ow! Wrong. You know, I've simply got to stop saying that. Every single time I say 'what could possibly go wrong?', something goes-
(The same sound is heard again, and the DOCTOR is knocked off balance.)
DOCTOR: It's uncanny, isn't it?
ROMANA: A gravitational field?
DOCTOR: There are no planets in the sector.
ROMANA: But Doctor, we are moving.
DOCTOR: Romana, do you think I'd dismantle half the control systems, including the conceptual geometer, the dematerialisation circuits-
ROMANA: What?
DOCTOR: The dematerialisation circuits. Do you think I'd do that if there was the slightest risk of our being brought into a gravitational field?
ROMANA: You've immobilised the dematerialisation circuits...
DOCTOR: (overlapping her) It's all right, it's all right, it's all right. Stay calm. Watch.
(He turns on the scanner. It shows utter blackness, without even a star.)
DOCTOR: There we are. Look. Nothing. Blackness.
ROMANA: It may be black, but we are moving very fast.
DOCTOR: Romana, we're moving very fast.
ROMANA: Are we falling into a black hole?
DOCTOR: No. It's not pulling hard enough for that. Anyway, there's nothing charted.
ROMANA: I hope you're right, because we can't dematerialise.
DOCTOR: Fascinating, isn't it? I wonder what it would be like to be crushed to a singularity.
ROMANA: Don't stand there wondering. Do something.
DOCTOR: Hmm? What?
ROMANA: Put it together again.
DOCTOR: Oh, right, right. K9. We'll put it together again. I need your help, K9.
(He ducks down under the console, and there is a flash and a bang.)
DOCTOR: Oh! (flaps his jacket collar a few times, dispelling the smoke) You all right, K9?
(K9's head has been knocked upside down. His 'snout' is toward the ceiling.)
DOCTOR: K9? K9, are you all right? K9!
(He attempts/mimics the kiss of life for a moment.)
DOCTOR: K9. Come on, boy. Sorry about this, K9.
(He rotates the head, forcing it through 180 degrees, with a winding sound.)
DOCTOR: K9, all you all right?
K9: Affirmative.
DOCTOR: Good, good.
(There is another bang from below the console, along with plenty of smoke. A small fire has broken out now.)
DOCTOR: It's all right. It's only the defence shields.
ROMANA: Only? Can you fix them?
DOCTOR: Yes, of course. I can fix anything, given time.
ROMANA: Which is exactly what we don't have.
DOCTOR: What?
ROMANA: Look.
(The Skonnon spaceship is visible on the scanner.)
ROMANA: There is something. It's tiny. How can something so minute have such an enormous gravitational pull?
DOCTOR: How interesting. Ha! Looks like a spaceship.
ROMANA: And we're heading straight for it.
[INT. Bridge]
(The CO-PILOT makes his way to the PILOT in the gloom and checks on him. He doesn't move. The CO-PILOT picks his way to the communications station.)
CO-PILOT: Hello, Skonnos. Skonnos, can you hear me? Skonnos. Come in, Skonnos Control. Can you hear me?
[EXT. Entrance to complex on Skonnos]
(Also wearing black, two soldiers with large plumes on their helmets and distinctive puffy multi-layer sleeves are on patrol, their boots reverberating on the grating as they pass the triangular black entrance door and other guards standing beside it. A bearded man in long black-and-gold robes with large collar enters through a screen, as if by magic. He holds a staff in one hand, and the other hand is raised.)
SOLDEED: I have spoken with the Nimon.
SORAK: And what does he say, Soldeed?
SOLDEED: (melodramatically, with hand still raised) He says many things. He speaks of the great journey of life. He speaks of conquest. He speaks of Skonnos rising from its own ashes with wings of fire.
SORAK: Does he speak of the new ships?
SOLDEED: He says we shall have them, and soon. The new sacrifices from Aneth are the last that he demands.
SORAK: Then we really are on the brink of having the promise fulfilled.
SOLDEED: I believe we are, Sorak. I do believe we are. The Second Skonnon Empire will be born. (He raises his hand again, and with eyes open wide he appears rather crazed.)
[INT. TARDIS console room]
DOCTOR: (emerging from underneath the console) It's no good. I can't fix them in time.
ROMANA: You mean we have no defence shields?
DOCTOR: Yes.
K9: Master?
DOCTOR: What is it, K9?
K9: Collision imminent.
DOCTOR: What?
(The ship approaches on the scanner. The TARDIS experiences a jolt, and smoke wafts up from the console.)
DOCTOR: You were right, K9. We have arrived.
ROMANA: Where?
DOCTOR: Well, we're jammed up against that spaceship. Pretty battered old ship. Been here for years. Centuries, probably. I think we'll go and take a look.
ROMANA: It's not going to be easy to get across there.
DOCTOR: No. Ah! Here's a notion. The defence shield on the door's on a different circuit. It might be possible to extrude it.
ROMANA: How?
DOCTOR: Watch.
(A shimmery white-grey force field extends slowly outward from the police box's doors to an airlock of the ship.)
DOCTOR: There. What do you think of that?
ROMANA: Well done, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Ha-ha. It was nothing, nothing. K9?
K9: Master?
DOCTOR: Romana?
ROMANA: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Let's go.
[INT. Second cargo hold]
(After walking down the angled force field and entering the ship, the pair find themselves in a dark cargo area. The DOCTOR pulls open one of the triangular cupboard doors at the bulkhead.)
DOCTOR: Ah-ha.
(Within is a transparent globe. He parts its two halves and looks at the dark-blue crystal within.)
DOCTOR: Oh, how commonplace. It looks like a crystalline rock of some kind.
ROMANA: Hymetusite.
DOCTOR: Yes, I do believe it is.
ROMANA: Hymetusite is highly radioactive!
DOCTOR: What?
K9: Master, I detect ultra-radiation level Q seven point three two five.
(The DOCTOR closes the globe he has been inspecting.)
DOCTOR: Thank you, K9. And now?
K9: Level falling. Q one point eight six one, falling.
DOCTOR: Good. Now listen, K9. We're going to, we're going to explore this ship and see what makes it tick.
K9: Source of radiation probably hymetusite crystalline-
DOCTOR: (holding his hand over K9's 'muzzle' and muffling the sounds that come out) Not that sort of ticking, K9.
K9: (as the DOCTOR removes his hand) Master?
DOCTOR: (placing his hand back over K9's 'nose') Listen, I want you to go back to the TARDIS control room and check out all the damage. Inspect all circuits so we see what we need to put right. (He removes his hand.)
K9: Affirmative, Mas- (The hand returns.)
DOCTOR: Off you go, then.
ROMANA: I suppose it's some sort of freighter.
DOCTOR: Oh, yes. No-one in his right mind would mix hymetusite and passengers.
ROMANA: I wonder where it was heading.
DOCTOR: Hmm. Door's locked.
(He opens it with his sonic screwdriver. The doors leads into the other cargo area, where the young cargo have stood upon hearing the sonic screwdriver.)
[INT. Cargo hold]
DOCTOR: Hello. How long have you been here, eh? Come, it's all right. Don't be frightened, don't be frightened. Here, have a jelly baby. Go on, go on.
(SETH, the youth from earlier, grabs TEKA's hand as she reaches out for the paper bag.)
DOCTOR: No, it's all right. Go on, you show them.
(ROMANA eats a jelly baby.)
DOCTOR: There we are. Now you have one. Go on, you can do it.
(SETH takes one, takes a bite, and offers the headless treat to TEKA. The DOCTOR takes it himself.)
DOCTOR: No, I'll have that one. Here. (handing the bag to TEKA) Pass them round, one each. Now, how long have you been here?
SETH: Who are you?
DOCTOR: Well, I'm the Doctor. This is Romana. Who are you?
SETH: Seth.
TEKA: He is Prince of Aneth.
DOCTOR: Aneth! That's a charming place.
SETH: You've been to Aneth?
DOCTOR: Yes, but not yet.
SETH: Oh.
TEKA: Where are we now?
DOCTOR: Nowhere.
ROMANA: Where were you going?
SETH: Skonnos.
DOCTOR: Skonnos?
SETH: We are the bearers of Aneth's tribute to the Nimon.
DOCTOR: What?
TEKA: We are the bearers of Aneth's tribute to the Nimon.
DOCTOR: (overlapping her) No, that's all right. I heard what you said. I was just thinking 'what a curious thing to be'.
SETH: We were on our way to Skonnos when something went wrong with the ship.
DOCTOR: What?
SETH: It felt as if it went out of control. There was a crash, then silence, and here we are.
DOCTOR: Yeah, well, here, as you so rightly say, we are. Huh.
(The ship shakes and creaks.)
SETH: What's that?
DOCTOR: Another thing's been drawn into the ship.
ROMANA: A gravity whirlpool?
DOCTOR: Yes. Sargasso Sea in space. Romana?
ROMANA: Yes?
DOCTOR: Suppose, just suppose, someone were beginning to create a black hole.
ROMANA: What?
DOCTOR: Artificially, I mean.
ROMANA: Can it be done?
DOCTOR: Oh, yes. Fix gravity beam, track matter to one point in space, and when there's enough it starts to collapse to a singularity. But who'd want to do that?
ROMANA: Is it my imagination, or is the gravity increasing all the time?
(The DOCTOR raises a foot. He lets it drop. The question answers itself.)
DOCTOR: I'd say it was increasing.
SETH: What's happening?
DOCTOR: Unless we find a way of getting out of here, we're all going to be crushed to a singularity.
TEKA: What's a singularity?
ROMANA: A mathematical point with no dimensions.
DOCTOR: (overlapping her) Oh, never mind about that. Seth, who's in charge of this ship?
(The door behind the DOCTOR opens while he is facing away from it.)
CO-PILOT: I am.
(A gun pokes him in the back, and he raises his hands.)
DOCTOR: Ah, pleased to see you.
CO-PILOT: Who are you? What are you doing with the sacrifices?
DOCTOR: Sacrifices?
CO-PILOT: Sacrifices to the Nimon. Who are you?
DOCTOR: Wel-
CO-PILOT: Space pirates?
DOCTOR: No!
CO-PILOT: Why should I believe that?
DOCTOR: Well, that's a good question. Uh, can you get us out of here?
CO-PILOT: Can you?
DOCTOR: I might be able to. Why don't you put that thing away and show me your controls?
CO-PILOT: Through there. (He gestures with the gun.)
DOCTOR: Aren't you going to put that thing away?
CO-PILOT: Through there!
DOCTOR: Well, all right, if that's the way you want to play it.
(He and ROMANA pass through the doorway.)
DOCTOR [OC]: Though how I'm going to mend the controls with my arms up in the air like this-
CO-PILOT: (addressing the sacrifices) Weakling scum!
[INT. Bridge]
(The CO-PILOT ushers the DOCTOR and ROMANA onto the bridge. The PILOT has been moved to the floor by the bulkhead away from us, out of the way.)
DOCTOR: Hello, who's that?
CO-PILOT: The pilot.
DOCTOR: Ah.
CO-PILOT: He's dead.
DOCTOR: What?
CO-PILOT: He crashed the ship.
DOCTOR: But the ship hasn't crashed.
CO-PILOT: Well, it went out of control. At least the cargo is safe.
ROMANA: He means the hymetusite.
CO-PILOT: I mean the sacrifices.
ROMANA: Sacrifices?
CO-PILOT: The Anethans. I have to get them safely to Skonnos, whatever happens. They are our payment in the great contract.
DOCTOR: I don't like the sound of that.
CO-PILOT: It doesn't matter what you like the sound of.
[INT. Laboratory]
(SOLDEED works with a piece of equipment in his lab, on the back wall of which is a large lace-work-style design.)
SOLDEED: Why doesn't it respond?
SORAK: (entering) Soldeed?
SOLDEED: Leave me, Sorak. I'm engaged in important work.
SORAK: But sir, this is very important. I don't know how to tell you.
SOLDEED: (in the tone of a patient adult) Begin at the beginning, and end at the end, Sorak.
SORAK: Well, it's the transport from Aneth, sir. The ship bringing the final sacrifices?
SOLDEED: What about it?
SORAK: It's disappeared.
SOLDEED: Disappeared? What are you talking about?
SORAK: Completely vanished, sir. The last two routine signals have not yet arrived. We thought it might be just a communications fault, but nothing we can do can raise them at all. There's absolutely no trace.
SOLDEED: No trace? Do everything in your power to locate that ship!
SORAK: Sir, I have!
SOLDEED: It must be found!
(He fetches his staff.)
SOLDEED: The Nimon will have to be informed. (He leaves.)
[INT. Engine access area]
(We are in the passage between the bridge and the roomful of sacrifices. The DOCTOR is at the top of a ladder. We cannot see what he is doing above the ceiling.)
DOCTOR: These engines have seen better days.
CO-PILOT: This is a battleship of the First Skonnon Empire. It will soon be replaced.
DOCTOR: Well, the sooner the better. It's a right hotch-potch up there - very old engines patched up with new equipment, a lot of it not really compatible. (He comes down from the ladder.)
ROMANA: Sounds like the TARDIS.
DOCTOR: Yes.
CO-PILOT: Can you make it work?
DOCTOR: The odd thing is the new equipment seems to be the product of an entirely different technology.
CO-PILOT: Can you make it work?
DOCTOR: Have you noticed how people's intellectual curiosity declines sharply the moment they start waving guns about?
CO-PILOT: Can you make it work?
DOCTOR: Yes. Oh yes, I can make it work. The question is can we generate power soon enough to take the ship to escape velocity before we fall into a black hole with an event horizon.
CO-PILOT: A what?
DOCTOR: Sssh. You just hold the gun steady. Don't tax your mind.
ROMANA: Do you think we have enough power?
DOCTOR: Not with that fuel.
ROMANA: What about the hymetusite? If we could convert the engines, it's an immensely rich energy source.
DOCTOR: Brilliant! I wish I'd thought of that.
ROMANA: Oh, you will, Doctor, you will.
DOCTOR: Ha ha. Take a look.
(She climbs the ladder herself.)
DOCTOR: Now, I've got to go back to my own ship to get some things. I want you to fetch up two pieces of hymetusite to lower into the fuel cell. Look, why don't you give me the gun and then I can keep an eye on myself so that I don't get up to any funny business?
CO-PILOT: Don't you play the fool with me, Doctor.
DOCTOR: All right. What do you think, Romana?
ROMANA: I think it's possible. You're right, though. It's a strange mixture of technologies up here.
DOCTOR: Yeah. Well, listen, as soon as he brings the hymetusite-
ROMANA: I shall know what to do with it.
DOCTOR: Good girl, Romana. Now listen. I'm popping back to the TARDIS to get some gear. Here, take this. You might need it.
(The DOCTOR offers ROMANA his sonic screwdriver.)
ROMANA: Er, no, thank you. I've made my own. (She holds out a small sonic screwdriver.)
DOCTOR: Oh, really? Really? You made this? Not bad. Bit basic, though. Huh. Thank you. (he passes the larger screwdriver up to her) Now-
ROMANA: Er, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Yes? (she holds the larger screwdriver out) Oh. Ha, ha. So sorry.
(He returns the smaller screwdriver to her.)
ROMANA: Thank you. Look, don't we both want to get out of here, hmm?
[INT. Cargo hold]
DOCTOR: Now, be kind to them.
(He continues past the sacrifices, leaving through the far side of the room.)
CO-PILOT: Weakling scum! You two, go on. (SETH and TEKA rise.)
[EXT. Entrance to complex on Skonnos]
(SOLDEED holds his staff in front of him, with the pointy, crystal-housing end forward, and goes up the ramp to the place where we first saw him.
SORAK stops beyond the ramp.)
SOLDEED: In the name of the Second Skonnon Empire.
(The wall glows red for a moment as he walks through it and vanishes.)
[INT. TARDIS console room]
(K9 is tangled in a pile of red, white, and blue tickertape.)
DOCTOR: K9?
K9: (garbled from beneath the paper) Master?
DOCTOR: (pulling back the tape) Ah, there you are. How's it going, K9?
K9: Damage report almost complete, Master.
DOCTOR: And?
K9: (after an electronic cough) Defence shields are inoperative.
DOCTOR: Well, I know that.
K9: Dematerialisation circuits inoperative.
DOCTOR: We're up a gum tree without a paddle.
K9: Define 'gum tree'.
DOCTOR: Well, it's a tree that gives gum.
K9: Explain use of paddle in gum tree.
DOCTOR: You wouldn't understand, K9.
K9: Affirmative.
DOCTOR: How's the dimensional stabiliser?
K9: Fused, Master.
DOCTOR: Gravitic anomoliser?
K9: Functioning normally, Master.
DOCTOR: Good, good. I'll take that, then, and one or two other bits and pieces. Oh, by the way, K9. Skonnon Empire. Does that mean anything to you? Hmm?
K9: Skonnon Empire. Military dictatorship extended over one hundred star systems. Lost in civil war.
[INT. Corridor in Skonnon complex]
(SOLDEED walks with care down a curving black hallway whose walls are composed of sections that each extend outward to a point in the centre, yellow at top and bottom, black on either side. He has the staff held out in front of him as if to make his way with it or defend himself.)
SOLDEED: (in almost a sing-song) Lord Nimon? Lord Nimon? It is I, Soldeed.
[INT. Engine access area]
(Voices are lowering in pitch and becoming distorted with the increase in gravity, and all movements are slightly laboured.)
ROMANA: It's getting worse.
DOCTOR: We're almost there. Get back to the flight deck, and switch on the engines.
CO-PILOT: Then what?
DOCTOR: Then you wait until I come and give you the signal to start building up power. Hurry! And don't forget to wait for the signal.
CO-PILOT: All right.
(He clomps off. The DOCTOR makes adjustments to the gravitic anomoliser.)
DOCTOR: Right, now as soon as he switches on the power, you know what to do.
ROMANA: Plug the gravitic anomoliser into the main circuit.
DOCTOR: Good girl.
ROMANA: What are you going to do?
DOCTOR: I'm going to move the TARDIS into the hold of this ship. Then, we can ride out with it, park somewhere, and repair it with as much time as we like.
ROMANA: Is that safe?
DOCTOR: Well, it would be if the dimensional stabiliser was working. It's all right, it's all right. K9 said it's just fused.
[INT. Cargo hold]
DOCTOR: Hello. Have some more jelly babies.
(We see the CO-PILOT turn on the power from the bridge. Full lights come on. The SACRIFICES stand as ROMANA enters.)
ROMANA: It's going to be all right. We just have to wait for the Doctor.
(The CO-PILOT closes the airlock door with a bit of a smile. The shimmery corridor of force field linking the TARDIS to the Skonnon ship is interrupted.)
[INT. TARDIS console room]
DOCTOR: Not that bit, K9, that bit.
(K9's laser burst hits the DOCTOR's fingers, and he pulls back his hand.)
DOCTOR: Ow!
K9: Apologies, Master.
DOCTOR: What is it, K9?
K9: Gravity still increasing, Master.
(The DOCTOR lifts his chin with his hand.)
DOCTOR: Yes, that's just what I thought.
[INT. Cargo hold]
(The Skonnon ship moves away, and the TARDIS inherits its mini meteorites.)
ROMANA: I don't see why.
SETH: Because if we don't send a tribute every year, Skonnos will come and destroy Aneth.
ROMANA: With ships like these?
SETH: The Skonnon battle fleet is an awesome sight.
ROMANA: Have you seen it?
TEKA: Our grandparents did, in the days of the first conquest. They say it blotted out the daylight.
ROMANA: Well, if the whole fleet's in this condition, a good shout would see the lot of them off.
(All of the bulkhead doors close.)
ROMANA: What's that noise?
SETH: Must be the ship in flight.
ROMANA: In flight? But the Doctor isn't back on board yet. The pilot was meant to wait! Oh, why didn't you tell me we were moving?
(She opens the door with her screwdriver.)
[INT. TARDIS console room]
DOCTOR: (seeing the Skonnon ship in the distance on the scanner screen) We've been abandoned, K9!
K9: Affirmative, Master.
DOCTOR: The co-pilot! (he punches the console) Ow.
[INT. Bridge]
ROMANA: (storming in) Despicable worm! Turn back.
CO-PILOT: My duty is to get my cargo to the Nimon. We're late already.
ROMANA: Your duty is to save the life of the man who's just saved yours.
CO-PILOT: We must fulfil our part of the pact.
ROMANA: Turn back!
CO-PILOT: (brandishing his gun) The Nimon waits for no man!
[INT. Laboratory at centre of Skonnon complex]
(Still holding out his staff, point forward, SOLDEED presses the button to open the door and enters gingerly. Lighted portions of the walls rise to a point, maintaining the triangle motif. There are several banks of shiny equipment, in much better nick than the Skonnon ship we saw earlier.
A shadowy shape enters. Two conical yellow horns stick out from the front of it. We hear growling. The massive head approaches SOLDEED, and we see that the top part of this dark-grey creature is more bull-like and the bottom half a slim humanoid with a gold belt from which a strip of cloth hangs down from the front and another from the back. The effect is that SOLDEED is intimidated, backing away.)
NIMON: You dare disturb me at this time?
[INT. TARDIS console room]
DOCTOR: The weasel.
K9: Master.
DOCTOR: Poor Romana.
K9: Master!
DOCTOR: What is it, K9?
K9: Scanner detects large object approaching at great speed.
DOCTOR: Looks like an asteroid. What do you make of it?
K9: Estimated mass equivalent to two hundred and twenty million tons.
DOCTOR: Two hundred and twenty million tons? That's not an asteroid; that's a planet!
K9: Diameter nine six point four kilometres, approaching at a speed of Mach nine point three.
DOCTOR: Nine point three? It's coming right for us!
(He clutches K9.)
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
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