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DOCTOR WHO
THE HORNS OF NIMON
Written by
Anthony Read
Part Four
(Overlap from 'Doctor, there's someone coming!')
[INT. Nimon's laboratory]
(There is a shot of energy from the blaster SETH has been given, and SOLDEED slumps in place. The DOCTOR grabs the staff from him.)
DOCTOR: Seth, well done!
(The DOCTOR passes the staff to SETH, who hands the blaster to TEKA.)
SETH: Is he dead?
DOCTOR: (lowering SOLDEED to a sitting position against the wall) No, just knocked out. Right, now let's see what the damage is. Oh, I don't like the look of that. Sorry, Romana.
[INT. Second transmat area]
(While speaking, ROMANA climbs from the transmat capsule and finds herself in a different place, noteworthy for its sections of silver tubing.
She walks past a passage just as horns are about to turn down it. Two NINOMS approach.)
ROMANA: Doctor, I- Doctor? Doctor, where are you?
NIMON 3: You.
(ROMANA turns her head, seeds the NIMONS, and begins running through the grey corridors.)
NIMON 3: Stop! Pursue her.
(They walk after her.)
[INT. Nimon's laboratory]
SETH: Is it very bad?
DOCTOR: It's very bad. I just might be able to fix it if I can cannibalise one of the other circuits.
SETH: Is there anything I can do?
DOCTOR: No, no. You've done enough. It's K9 I need now.
(We see K9 on the table in Soldeed's lab, with a side panel removed. We can still detect the pulsing red from outside. SORAK comes through the door and approaches K9, reaching out a hand to touch the metal animal.
As we hear Nimonic growling, ROMANA reaches a dead end, crying out. She turns and finds that she is in another 'deep freeze' space, whose occupants wear non-Anethan-style clothes.)
DOCTOR: (somewhat despondent) Ooh, my gravitic anomoliser!
SETH: Will it help?
DOCTOR: It might help. You see, it's an entirely different system, but it just might be compatible.
(As the three are huddled around the DOCTOR's work, SOLDEED skulks past, leaving the room.)
TEKA: Will it work?
DOCTOR: Well, if it's compatible it'll work better than the original. On the other hand, if it's not compatible-
SETH: What?
DOCTOR: There'll be a bang so big you won't even hear it.
TEKA: Oh, Doctor, look!
SOLDEED [OC]: Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
DOCTOR: He'll warn the Nimon! Quick, after him!
SETH: Come on!
[INT. Corridor in the complex on Skonnos]
(SETH and TEKA run down the corridors after SOLDEED.)
SETH: Down there! Come on!
[INT. Complex on Crinoth]
(ROMANA cries out as she skids to a halt in front of the two NIMONS. Both creatures then are shot with a familiar-looking staff - held not by Seth but by an old, sunken-cheeked man in black robes. They and he have seen better days. ROMANA notices him as she steps over the bodies.)
ROMANA: Who are you?
SEZOM: I am Sezom.
ROMANA: You just saved my life. Are they dead?
SEZOM: Alas, no, but they will be unconscious for a while. Who are you? Why are you here?
ROMANA: I'm Romana. I'm here by accident. Where are we?
SEZOM: This is Crinoth, what's left of it.
ROMANA: Why, what happened?
SEZOM: The Nimons happened. They have destroyed everything, everyone. Everyone but me. (He lurches forward slightly.)
ROMANA: Are you all right? You look awful.
SEZOM: My time is almost up.
ROMANA: Here, sit down.
SEZOM: Thank you.
ROMANA: There, how's that?
SEZOM: Better. You're very kind.
ROMANA: You did just save my life.
SEZOM: But I have caused the death of so many others, the total destruction of our planet and all its people. I am to blame.
ROMANA: Why? What did you do?
SEZOM: I allowed the Nimons to come here. I worked for them, became their creature. They promised us technology, peace, prosperity. It...
ROMANA: Go on.
SEZOM: It seemed so easy, such a small price.
ROMANA: Did you have to provide them with some sort of tribute?
SEZOM: How did you know that?
ROMANA: I've seen something similar.
SEZOM: There was only one of them to start with. (she nods) I never knew what was to come. I swear, I, I never knew what was to come. It seemed such a small price to pay.
ROMANA: It always does.
[INT. Corridor in the complex on Skonnos]
(Reaching a T junction, SETH and TEKA stop.)
SETH: You stay here. I'll check.
(She does, and he checks the top of the 'T'. She waits for him. They are now out of sight of one another.)
SETH: Yes, come on. It's this way. Teka. Teka?
(He turns back, and a new wall is between them.)
SETH: Teka!
TEKA: Seth? Seth!
(She turns with the blaster, nervously, while he dashes off to try to find her another way.)
[INT. Nimon's laboratory]
(The DOCTOR attaches the gravitic anomoliser to the Nimon's equipment, then gets out his sonic screwdriver. He activates it, but nothing obvious happens.)
DOCTOR: Ah.
[INT. Soldeed's laboratory]
(SORAK pokes about inside K9.)
SORAK: So you have power, do you? Power that even Soldeed cannot understand.
(K9's head rises. SORAK notices and pulls back.)
[INT. Complex on Crinoth]
SEZOM: They're like a plague of locusts. They seem harmless enough.
ROMANA: Till they start to swarm.
SEZOM: Yes, from planet to planet, sucking each one dry, then moving on to another and another and another. Their numbers are multiplying.
ROMANA: I've got to get back to Skonnos.
SEZOM: Where's Skonnos?
ROMANA: It's their next victim planet. I've just come from there.
SEZOM: Then you must get back and warn them.
ROMANA: It could be easier said than done. Can you help me get back to the capsule?
SEZOM: I will try.
(She helps him to stand.)
[INT. Corridor in the complex on Skonnos]
SETH: Teka! Where are you?
(She enters the room where the body was on the table earlier. The room, bathed in red light, this time contains the co-pilot. She backs into the 'deep freeze', where the other sacrifices now wait. SOLDEED approaches her. She holds the blaster out but is unable to fire it, and he plucks it from her hands. She tries to run past him, but he grabs her.
The NIMON now stands in front of them. When two other NIMONS approach, SOLDEED is speechless, and his mouth hangs open.)
[INT. Nimon's laboratory]
(The DOCTOR operates the transmat lever, and the capsule reappears. He starts to open the hatch.)
DOCTOR: Welcome back, Romana.
(When the door opens, two NIMONS rise. The DOCTOR slams the door closed.)
DOCTOR: Oh, my prophetic soul!
(He seals the door and rushes to reverse the operation.)
[INT. Second transmat area]
(The NIMONS step out of the capsule.)
NIMON 4: This is Crinoth.
NIMON 5: We have not moved. Stay.
(NIMON 4 stands outside the capsule. The other walks down the corridor being used by ROMANA and SEZOM, who quickly hide behind panels along the corridor. It walks straight past them, and they emerge from their hiding place.)
[INT. Soldeed's laboratory]
K9: What is this place?
SORAK: It's-. You can speak.
K9: Affirmative. What is this place?
SORAK: It's Soldeed's laboratory.
K9: What am I doing here?
SORAK: Soldeed brought you here.
K9: Kindly remove me from this surface.
SORAK: First, give me a demonstration of your power.
(K9 zaps SORAK lightly in the chest, and he gives out an 'oof!')
K9: That was merely a warning. Kindly remove me from this surface.
(SORAK lifts K9, now with both panels on, down onto the floor. K9 heads for the doors, which open when he reaches them.)
SORAK: Wait a minute!
(The doors close, and the bewildered SORAK can't follow. K9 trundles away.)
[INT. Crinoth]
(ROMANA and SEZOM hide again as growling approaches. Three NIMONS stop in the corridor near them.)
NIMON 5: Something has gone wrong on Skonnos.
NIMON 6: The way is blocked?
NIMON 7: Prepare the final contingency plan.
NIMON 6: That is too dangerous. There are too many of us still on this planet. If it explodes too soon-
NIMON 7: We have no choice. The great journey of life must continue.
(They walk off.)
ROMANA: What do they mean 'final contingency plan'?
SEZOM: There is no energy left here. They rely on the power plant on the next planet to pull them through.
ROMANA: So if anything goes wrong there-
SEZOM: The only way they can escape is to convert the matter of this planet itself into energy.
ROMANA: Can they do that?
SEZOM: Yes, but it's a chain reaction. Once it starts, there's no way of stopping it, and the whole planet will explode.
ROMANA: After they've gone, presumably. Poor Crinoth.
SEZOM: I wonder what's gone wrong on Skonnos.
ROMANA: Don't worry about that. If I know anything about the one who caused it, he'll find a way of undoing it.
SEZOM: Then you'll be able to get back and warn them?
ROMANA: Well, first I have to get back to the capsule. How are we going to deal with the Nimons?
SEZOM: I have my staff.
ROMANA: Can you kill them with that?
SEZOM: No, I can only stun them.
ROMANA: And they let you keep it?
SEZOM: It couldn't do them any harm when they gave it to me, but they overlooked the fact that I might be clever enough to modify it.
SEZOM: I discovered that jasonite increased the power considerably. (He refers to a second crystal in the tip of the staff, a blue stone above the clear one.)
ROMANA: Jasonite?
SEZOM: It's a type of rock which carries a powerful electromagnetic charge. I've been experimenting with possible uses for it for years.
(He holds out a piece he'd been carrying.)
SEZOM: I even tried to get the Nimons to help, but they weren't interested.
ROMANA: Can I have this?
SEZOM: Yes, of course.
(They duck into their hiding place when they hear growling. Two NIMONS pass through the corridor.)
ROMANA: How are we going to get past them?
SEZOM: Subterfuge.
[INT. Second transmat area]
(The NIMON guarding the capsule is doing his 'rounds', walking back and forth beside the capsule, as ROMANA and SEZOM approach.)
SEZOM: Wait.
(The NIMON walks around to the right of the capsule and is no longer visible from the area leading to the capsule.)
SEZOM: Right.
(He hands ROMANA his staff and approaches the capsule. ROMANA hides off to the side behind him.)
SEZOM: Alarm! Alarm! Crinoth is being invaded!
(The NIMON steps into view.)
SEZOM: The complex is in danger!
(The NIMON's solution is to lower its head. Knowing what this indicates, SEZOM rolls to the side, and the blast from its horns misses him. ROMANA shoots the NIMON with the staff, and it staggers around, then falls.)
SEZOM: Well done. Now quickly, into the capsule.
(As she is opening the hatch of the capsule, another NIMON approaches, shooting SEZOM in the back with its horns. ROMANA zaps it with the staff, and it too falls to the ground.
ROMANA runs back to him.)
ROMANA: Sezom!
SEZOM: I, I'm done for.
ROMANA: Come with me.
SEZOM: No, it's too late for me.
ROMANA: Listen - more Nimons.
SEZOM: Hurry then, hurry.
ROMANA: I can't leave you!
SEZOM: Get into the capsule. It's your only chance. Give me my staff. I'll try to hold them off as long as I can. Hurry now.
ROMANA: Thank you, Sezom.
SEZOM: Go! Go, and warn Skonnos and the rest of the universe!
(He shoots another NIMON, giving ROMANA time to enter the capsule. He is then horn-zapped again.)
[INT. Capsule]
ROMANA: Come on, Doctor. Come on!
[INT. Nimon's laboratory]
NIMON: Leave those controls.
DOCTOR: Ah, hello there. I was just about-
NIMON: Stand aside.
NIMON 2: Kill him. But not yet. We need to know who he is and what he is doing here.
DOCTOR: Well, really, I was just standing here admiring the view.
NIMON 2: Silence. Later you will be questioned, tortured, and killed.
DOCTOR: Well, I hope you get it in the right order.
[INT. Capsule]
ROMANA: Come on, Doctor! Come on!
[INT. Second transmat area]
NIMON 4: There is an alien creature inside the capsule.
NIMON 5: Very well. Prepare to blast it open.
[INT. Nimon's laboratory]
NIMON: He has reversed the flow of the tunnel.
DOCTOR: Yes, you see, well, that's what I was trying to explain. When I-
NIMON 2: Silence, Skonnon. Did you imagine you could prevent the great journey of life?
DOCTOR: No, but what I thought was-
NIMON 2: Switch it back.
(The NIMON pushes the lever, and the DOCTOR smiles.)
DOCTOR: Thank you.
(The capsule disappears from Crinoth, leaving a NIMON horn-zapping thin air.
On Skonnos, ROMANA steps out of the capsule.)
ROMANA: Doctor, I don't know what you think you're playing at, but- (she reaches the body of the lab, sees the NIMONS, and gasps) Help.
NIMON 2: Another of the creatures. Kill her!
(The DOCTOR fails to knock the NIMON off balance. ROMANA backs her way around the room, toward the door. SETH runs into the room, still carrying Soldeed's staff.)
SETH: Doctor, I've lost Teka.
ROMANA: Seth, catch!
(She throws the jasonite crystal to SETH.)
SETH: What?
ROMANA; Jam it between the prongs.
SETH: Ah. (He does so.)
ROMANA: Now shoot it!
SETH: What?
ROMANA: Shoot!
(He zaps both NIMONS with the staff.)
SETH: What's going on?
DOCTOR: Thank you, Seth.
ROMANA: The invasion's started from Crinoth. Doctor, switch it back.
DOCTOR: I'll do better than that. I'll lock it off for good. Romana?
ROMANA: Yes.
DOCTOR: I think we're going to be all right.
ROMANA: Doctor!
(The final NIMON on Skonnos horn-zaps the staff. SETH, holding it, falls. Before the NIMON can do anything more, a red laser beam hits it in the back of the head.)
DOCTOR: K9!
K9: Master. (He moves past the fallen NIMON.)
DOCTOR: Well, you took your time getting here. Never mind - now you're here, you can make yourself useful.
SETH: What is it?
DOCTOR: What do you mean 'what is it?'? It's my dog.
SETH: Oh.
DOCTOR: He's called K9. K9? I want to modify the controls. I want to divert the space-time tunnel and send the Nimons back into the middle of nowhere. What do you think?
(K9 extends his probe to the gravitic anomoliser as the DOCTOR holds it out.)
K9: Affirmative, Master.
DOCTOR: Good, good.
SETH: What about Teka?
DOCTOR: Well, if the Nimons got her, she'll be in the larder.
SETH: Larder?
ROMANA: The room with the nuclear furnace.
DOCTOR: I'll meet you both there. Go on, off you go.
ROMANA: Right. Come on, Seth.
(They run out.)
DOCTOR: K9, this is going to be a bit sticky.
[INT. 'Deep freeze']
(TEKA indeed is now in a unit on the wall, suspended.)
SETH: Teka!
(ROMANA heads for the controls on the wall.)
SOLDEED: You, you meddlesome hussy. Do not touch the sacrifices!
ROMANA: It's all over, Soldeed. You're finished.
SOLDEED: No. The Nimon will fulfil his great promise! The Nimon be praised! (He holds his hands up.)
ROMANA: The Nimon be praised? How many Nimons have you seen today?
SOLDEED: Don't dare blaspheme the Nimon.
ROMANA: How many!
SOLDEED: Skonnos will-
ROMANA: How many Nimons?
SOLDEED: Three. I have seen three. (He is almost delirious.)
ROMANA: Well, I've just seen a whole lot more rampaging down the corridor. Face it, Soldeed, you're being invaded.
SOLDEED: He said he was the only one, the last survivor of his race.
ROMANA: He told you what you wanted to hear, promised you what you wanted to have.
SOLDEED: So this is the great journey of life?
ROMANA: They're parasitic nomads who've been feeding off your selfishness and gullibility.
SOLDEED: My dreams of conquest. (putting his hands to his face) You have brought this calamity upon me!
ROMANA: You've brought it on yourself!
SOLDEED: You will die for your interference!
[INT. Nuclear furnace room]
(SOLDEED pulls down the lever high on the wall in the furnace room.)
ROMANA: Stop him!
(Alarms start to bleep. SETH shoots SOLDEED with the staff.)
SOLDEED: (sliding down the wall) You fools. You are all doomed, doomed.
(He dies with a manic grin on his face.)
SETH: Teka!
ROMANA: Get the others out of here.
SETH: But they're dead!
DOCTOR: No, they're not, they're just paralysed. K9, get them out quickly.
K9: Master.
ROMANA: (at the lever on the wall) The controls - they're jammed. It's gone critical. It's turned into a bomb, and there's nothing we can do about it.
[INT. 'Deep freeze']
(Everyone from the Anethan group has been revived from suspended animation.)
TEKA: I knew you'd save me, Seth. I knew it.
DOCTOR: Well, you're not saved yet. Come on, let's get out of here before the whole place explodes. Come on!
[INT. Corridor in the complex]
(They come to a halt at a junction.)
DOCTOR: Halt. Shhhh.
TEKA: You defeated the Nimon, Seth.
SETH: Not entirely.
TEKA: I knew you would. Now you'll get us out of this maze, won't you?
SETH: Doctor, how are we going to get out of this place if no-one else has ever managed it before?
DOCTOR: Ah, but they didn't have a brilliant tracker dog like K9, did they? He can follow the scent all the way to the exit. Come on, K9. Come on.
[INT. Nimon's laboratory]
(All three NIMONS wake and rise to their feet.)
NIMON: Pursue them!
(They leave the room.)
[INT. Corridor in the complex]
(K9 stops and heads back toward the DOCTOR.)
DOCTOR: What is it, K9?
K9: Configuration has changed. It will be necessary for me to compute a suitable route as we proceed.
DOCTOR: What? Come on, K9. You can do it.
(K9 begins moving again, and the others follow.)
[INT. A corridor of the complex]
NIMON: Pursue them!
[EXT. Entrance to the complex]
(The council MEMBERS all stand at the entrance to the complex, speaking to each other.)
MAN: There he is.
SORAK: What is going on here?
MAN: We don't know.
[INT. Corridor in the complex]
(The alarms are still blaring, and the lights are still flashing. K9 stops beside one of many panels along a wall.
The NIMONS too are heading down the corridors, with their naturally slow gait.)
K9: This is the exit, Master.
DOCTOR: What? But it can't be. Try pointing the staff.
SETH: Nothing.
DOCTOR: In the name of the Second Skonnon Empire!
SETH: Nothing.
TEKA: We're trapped.
DOCTOR: K9, what do you make of that wall in front of you?
K9: Question not understood.
DOCTOR: There! There in front of you.
K9: That is the exit, Master.
DOCTOR: No, no, no, the wall.
ROMANA: Come on, Doctor. Hurry up.
DOCTOR: Ssssh. Just a minute. K9, is that a wall in front of us?
K9: Negative, Master.
DOCTOR: Then off you go, then.
(K9 heads through the wall.)
DOCTOR: Ah, a very clever illusion. Quick, everybody through. Quick! Quick!
[EXT. Entrance to the complex]
(The party emerge from the entrance just as Soldeed used to do.)
SORAK: This is not possible! Where is Soldeed?
SETH: Soldeed's dead.
TEKA: And the Nimons are finished. Seth defeated them. I knew he would. He's the hero of Aneth.
SETH: Teka, please.
ROMANA: Get away, everybody. Get away!
DOCTOR: Everybody take cover. The whole place is about to explode!
(Soon the sound of the alarms changes and we see the horned building explode in flames. Some of the other buildings fly slowly into the air amid the smoke and flames.)
[INT. TARDIS console room]
ROMANA: (entering from the interior area) Oh, no - not again.
(K9 is on top of the console, with wires attaching him to the TARDIS systems.)
DOCTOR: Well, I never finished the modifications to the conceptual geometer.
ROMANA: Immobilised again?
DOCTOR: Yes, well, what could possibly go wrong out here?
ROMANA: You said that once before, remember?
DOCTOR: I've said it hundreds of times before.
ROMANA: And how may times have you been right?
DOCTOR: Oh, four or three.
ROMANA: What do you think Skonnos will be like with Sorak in charge?
DOCTOR: Ah, not much better. Nasty race of people. Still, they're too busy fending for themselves to bother anyone else now.
ROMANA: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Hmm?
ROMANA: Look.
(The scanner shows an explosion in space, going white for a moment.)
DOCTOR: Crinoth.
ROMANA: And the end of the Nimons.
DOCTOR: Good job too.
ROMANA: I hope Seth and Teka and the others get back to Aneth safely.
DOCTOR: I should hope so. I made Sorak give them a ship.
ROMANA: Look, there they are.
DOCTOR: Poor old Seth.
ROMANA: Poor old Seth?
DOCTOR: Yes. Well, just imagine the legends Teka's going to build up around him. He'll have to spend the rest of his life trying to live up to them. It's terrible.
ROMANA: I suppose that's how legends are made.
DOCTOR: Yes. I'm glad this time I reminded them to paint their ship white. The last time anything like this happened, I completely forgot. Caused quite a hoo-ha.
ROMANA: What are you talking about?
DOCTOR: Hmm? Oh, other times, other places. Well, come on, old girl. There's quite a few millennia left in you yet.
ROMANA: Thank you, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Not you. The TARDIS.
(She wrinkles her nose at him in what looks like annoyance, then smiles.)
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
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