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DOCTOR WHO
STATE OF DECAY

Written by
Terrance Dicks

Part Two

(Overlap from 'It's getting dark suddenly')

[EXT. Woods]

(The bats disperse, returning to the skies above. The sky is noticeably lighter already.)
HABRIS: You are awaited at the tower. Come.
(He and his MEN escort the pair off.)

[INT. Throne room]

HABRIS: Stop. Wait here. Do not move.
(HABRIS leaves, closing the doors behind him.)
DOCTOR: Funny about the windows.
ROMANA: What windows?
DOCTOR: Yes, and then there's the general architectural style. Would you call it rococo?
ROMANA: No, I wouldn't.
(The DOCTOR taps a wooden pillar.)
DOCTOR: Just testing a theory.
ROMANA: Oh. Doctor?
DOCTOR: Yes?
(ZARGO and CAMILLA are entering, emerging from behind a tapestry. The DOCTOR looks at them, turns away, and then looks again. ZARGO leads CAMILLA to the foot of the steps.)
ZARGO: Greetings.
DOCTOR: Greetings. How do you do? I'm the Doctor.
ROMANA: I'm Romana.
ZARGO: We know who you are.
CAMILLA: We know everything here.
DOCTOR: Gosh.
ZARGO: What we do not know is why you are here.
DOCTOR: Oh, ah, well, we were just admiring your tower. Weren't we admiring the tower?
CAMILLA: It was built many generations ago, before living memory.
ZARGO: You are space travellers?
ROMANA: Doesn't that surprise you?
ZARGO: Nothing surprises us. A little refreshment?
(The two gesture to a table filled with fresh fruits and vegetables. CAMILLA hands glasses to the DOCTOR and ROMANA. She holds out a tray of sliced meat, and the DOCTOR and ROMANA shake their heads.)
ZARGO: May you both enjoy your visit.
CAMILLA: As we will enjoy having you.
DOCTOR: Well, you certainly do very well for yourselves here.
ZARGO: We struggle to retain some remnants of civilisation. On an isolated, primitive planet like this, it isn't easy.
DOCTOR: No, no, indeed. Still, you do better than the peasants. (sniffing his glass) Bull's Blood, I think.
CAMILLA: The peasants are simple folk. Richer fare would only distress them.
DOCTOR: Quite right. Probably give them indigestion. There's nothing worse than a peasant with indigestion. Makes them quite rebellious. I hear you've been having trouble that way.
CAMILLA: There are always a few ungrateful ones who do not appreciate all that we do for them.
ROMANA: And what do you do for them, apart from saving them from gluttony?
ZARGO: We protect them.
CAMILLA: There are many dangers on this planet.
DOCTOR: Ah well, toodle-oo.
(The DOCTOR and ROMANA raise their glasses. Hers slips, and the glass breaks. Her drink spills on the DOCTOR's coat.)
ROMANA: Ow!
DOCTOR: Sorry. Are you all right?
(She has cut her thumb, and sucks it.)
ROMANA: Yes, it's nothing. It's a tiny cut.
CAMILLA: You've hurt yourself. Let me see. Please, let me see.
(CAMILLA reaches out, and ROMANA pulls her hand back.)
ROMANA: Really, there's no need to make such a fuss over a few drops of blood.
ZARGO: Doctor, you still have not told us why you came here.
ROMANA: Bad luck, mostly.
DOCTOR: Yes, we were blown off course.
ROMANA: A universe off course.
DOCTOR: We were hoping you'd tell us how you got here or, better still, how to get back.
ZARGO: I fear we cannot help you. Our records say we came from some distant planet, a freak accident.
CAMILLA: We can never return home. Our technology is lost.
DOCTOR: Such a pity.
CAMILLA: However, there are compensations.

[INT. Tavern]

(MARTA is dishing stew into bowls. ADRIC holds the tray as she does so.)
ADRIC: So every so often, these guards just turn up, sort out a few young people, and take them to the tower?
MARTA: It is the custom.
ADRIC: And they become guards?
MARTA: A few. But most of them, no. Yesterday they took our son.
ADRIC: Why do you stand for it?
MARTA: (taking the tray) It is our place to serve. Besides, resistance would be useless. Our son, Karl, tried to run.
IVO: Karl will be chosen for a guard. I have Habris' word on it.
ADRIC: Someone should stand up to these tower people.
(MARTA serves those seated in the background.)
IVO: Those who speak out against them die, silently, at night.
MARTA: There were rumours that there were a band of rebels in the wastelands, but no-one knows for sure. Our son, Karl, tried to join-
IVO: Enough, woman! And you, boy, get on with your work. If your luck holds, they may not notice you.
ADRIC: Look, you've been very kind, and I'm grateful, but if the Doctor doesn't turn up soon, I shall go and look for him.
MARTA: No, you must stay here.
ADRIC: Why? What can I do here?
IVO: Survive, if you're lucky.
MARTA: Work, sleep, serve the lords faithfully and well, and they'll allow you to live until you die, worn out. That's all there is for us.
ADRIC: Not for me.
HABRIS: (rushing in with his guards) All of you!
IVO: What are you doing here, Habris? The selection was yesterday.
HABRIS: There's to be another.
MARTA: So soon? It's against all custom.
HABRIS: The orders are from the tower. Do you question them? And you.
(He drags ADRIC into the line.)
HABRIS: Lord Aukon himself is here.
(AUKON enters from outside. He paces down the line.)
AUKON: Interesting.
(He returns to ADRIC.)
AUKON: A mind that shields itself. One who pretends to be a dull and stupid peasant but who is different.
ADRIC: Who, me?
AUKON: You. You, come with me.
ADRIC: Why?
AUKON: Spirit too, I see. Excellent.
ADRIC: Come with you? What's in it for me?
AUKON: Wealth, power, dominion over this world. And over many others.

[INT. Throne room]

DOCTOR: Surely you realise something here must be wrong?
ZARGO: Wrong?
DOCTOR: Yes.
CAMILLA: What is is.
DOCTOR: No. What is is wrong. Look, societies develop in varying ways. Yours just seems to be sinking back into some sort of primitivism. Wouldn't you say so?
ROMANA: Oh, yes. In terms of applied socioenergetics, it's losing its grip on level-two development.
DOCTOR: On level two?
ROMANA: A society that evolve backwards must be subject to some even more powerful force restraining it.
DOCTOR: An even more powerful force?
ZARGO: How very mysterious.
DOCTOR: Well, mysterious or not, those rebels seem to think the power emanates from you.
CAMILLA: They flatter us.
ZARGO: In any society, there is bound to be a division - the rulers and the ruled.
DOCTOR: A division? Yawning chasm, I'd say. Wouldn't you?
ROMANA: No, I'd say a sociopathetic abscess.
DOCTOR: Oh, I wish I'd thought of that. That's a good diagnosis. Yes, I've never seen such a state of decay.
CAMILLA: Be careful, Doctor. We have acquired great powers.
DOCTOR: Ah.
ZARGO: There must be rulers. A ship of state must have a pilot.
DOCTOR: What did you say?
ZARGO: Ship of state.
CAMILLA: No.
DOCTOR: Ship of state?
ZARGO: A metaphor.
DOCTOR: Ah. It's just odd, you see, that he should mention that, because Romana and I have just been at your ship's old manifest and I can't remember what the ship was called, but Romana might be able to remember. What was it called, Romana?
ROMANA: Hydrax.
DOCTOR: Yes, Hydrax. Does that mean anything to you? Hydrax? Hydrax?
ZARGO: Where did you see this?
CAMILLA: Be silent.
ZARGO: Those records were destroyed.
CAMILLA: I said 'be silent'.
DOCTOR: No, please don't be silent. It's so fascinating.
(HABRIS enters the room.)
HABRIS: My Lord, it is time.
ZARGO: How dare you interrupt us!
HABRIS: Aukon has seen the sign. The Arising is at hand.
CAMILLA: The Arising? Leave us.
(HABRIS leaves, and the two royals join hands.)
ZARGO: We must go to him.
CAMILLA: We shall resume this later. If you need anything, there are guards outside the door. Many guards.
(The doors close behind them as they leave.)
DOCTOR: You know something? I don't think they want to be followed. Let's sit down.
(He sits in first one throne, then the other.)
DOCTOR: Oh yes, this is much more comfortable. (ROMANA too sits) What were those Hydrax officers called?
ROMANA: (reciting rapidly) Captain Miles Sharkey, Navigation Officer Lauren MacMillan, Science Officer Anthony O'Connor.
DOCTOR: That's very good. Have you ever heard of the Brothers Grimm?
ROMANA: This is no time for fairy tales.
DOCTOR: They also discovered the Law of Consonantal Shift. How language changes over the years.
ROMANA: You mean the hard sounds softening, 'B's becoming 'V's and so on?
DOCTOR: Hmm.
ROMANA: Camilla, Aukon, and Zargo. Wait a minute. Sharkey, Zharkey, Zharkey, Zark, Zargo. The same name passed down through generations.
DOCTOR: That's right. And MacMillan becomes?
ROMANA: Camilla.
DOCTOR: And O'Connor becomes?
ROMANA: Aukon. The descendants of the original ship's officers.
DOCTOR: Yes. And this is the original ship. Pilot here, co-pilot-. No, no, no, pilot there, co-pilot here. Instrument banks there, control panels there.
ROMANA: You mean this is the Hydrax, the explorer ship?
DOCTOR: Yes. Do you fancy exploring it?
ROMANA: Mmm.
(The DOCTOR stands.)
DOCTOR: Inspection hatch.
ROMANA: Erm. Doctor?
(She is trying to draw his attention to the side of the throne where she is sitting.)
DOCTOR: Ssh. Inspection hatch.
ROMANA: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Hmm?
(He follows her pointing. The panel at the side of the throne retracts, and he starts crawling inside.)
DOCTOR: Romana, I've found the inspection hatch.
(ROMANA follows him within.)

[INT. Resting place]

(We are in an open, cave-like area where we can hear dripping in the distance.)
AUKON: When my servants were seeking the Doctor, I sensed another alien mind not far away. I traced it to the village, and here he is. The first of the Chosen Ones, at last.
(This is ADRIC.)
ZARGO: But he is an alien. He must have come with the two strangers.
CAMILLA: The Chosen Ones were to be from amongst the peasants.
AUKON: We have bred dullness, conformity, obedience into those clods for twenty generations. Unfortunately, we have also bred out just those qualities we need for other purposes.
ZARGO: This disturbs me, Aukon.
CAMILLA: We have been talking to this Doctor and his companion.
ZARGO: The Doctor's mind is powerful, but he is dangerous. He must die.
AUKON: Not before I have questioned him.
ZARGO: I say he is dangerous and must die. The boy too. We need no aliens to join us. (he gets out a small dagger and holds it to the out-of-it ADRIC's face) Let him feed the Great One with his blood.
AUKON: The boy is still young. His mind is strong, clear, but malleable. We can make of him what we wish.
CAMILLA: Aukon is right. What does it matter where he comes from? Once he is initiated, he is ours. We must increase our numbers as the Great One commands or he will be angry. And such a handsome child.
AUKON: I will take him to be prepared. (ADRIC follows him slowly) Come.
(We cut to the DOCTOR and ROMANA climbing through the inner metal structures of the rocket, up ladders and around corners.)

[INT. Rebel cave]

KALMAR: They're taken, then. Captives in the tower, all three.
TARAK: What are we going to do about it?
KALMAR: What do you mean?
TARAK: This Doctor is our only gleam of hope in a thousand years. Are you going to let Zargo and the rest destroy him?
KALMAR: Perhaps they won't harm him.
TARAK: They'll kill him, Kalmar. Him and the girl. You know their powers. They'll sense he's a danger to them, and they'll destroy him.
KALMAR: Perhaps. It's out of our hands now.
TARAK: It needn't be.
KALMAR: What can we do?
TARAK: Attack the tower. Rescue them.
KALMAR: A handful of men with knives and bows and spears, and the power of the three to face if we do get past them?
TARAK: Will you stay here forever fiddling with this technological junk?
KALMAR: We need knowledge to attack the lords. We must wait until we are ready.
TARAK: Wait? For how long? A few more generations?
KALMAR: If necessary, yes.
TARAK: (to the others) And you think the same? Will anyone come with me to the tower? Or must I go alone.
VEROS: Kalmar is right. It's too soon.
TARAK: Too soon! Kalmar, you are right.
KALMAR: I am?
TARAK: To attack the tower now would be suicide.
KALMAR: Glad you realise it.
TARAK: But if I go in alone, rescue the Doctor, bring him back here, he will have discovered their weaknesses, and, with the knowledge he can give us, then will you attack?
KALMAR: How will you gain entrance to the tower?
TARAK: I was a guard once, remember?
KALMAR: So?
TARAK: So I can be one again.

[INT. Throne room]

(As the DOCTOR and ROMANA continue their climbing.)
HABRIS: I swear to you, my Lord, the state room was guarded at all times.
ZARGO: Then where are the Doctor and the girl?
HABRIS: My Lord, they are aliens. Who knows what powers they might have?
ZARGO: Absurd. They are weaponless. Find them, Habris, or you shall go to feed the Great One.
(HABRIS makes the gesture of respect we saw earlier.)
ZARGO: Search the tower. Search the lands around.
HABRIS: My Lord. (He exits.)
CAMILLA: You're wrong.
ZARGO: What?
CAMILLA: The Doctor is not weaponless. (leading him to the inspection hatch) He has the greatest weapon of all - knowledge.

[INT. Flight deck]

(The pair are at the top of the last ladder. A dusty flight deck with banks of computers around it greets them.)
ROMANA: We must be right inside the turret.
DOCTOR: Yes. It's an Arrow-class scout ship, Romana. It detaches from the main vessel for local exploration.
ROMANA: I wonder why they didn't rip out all these instruments too.
DOCTOR: Well, why bother? No-one comes here. Look! There's even a bit of power left in the energy cells.
ROMANA: So it could still fly?
DOCTOR: Possibly.
ROMANA: Could we possibly jet our way out?
DOCTOR: Getting out is not exactly the object of our mission, is it?
ROMANA: It proved your point that this is a spaceship.
DOCTOR: Sssh.
(He has heard a slow pulsing sound.)
ROMANA: Sounds like a faint engine noise.
DOCTOR: Sssh-ssh, sshh-ssh.
ROMANA: What is it?
DOCTOR: More evidence.
ROMANA: Of what?
DOCTOR: I have a suspicion, but it's too horrible to think about.
(Below, VEROS creeps along a corridor, ducks down a side passage as he hears a GUARD approach, and drags the GUARD into the side passage.)

[INT. Fuel stores]

(The DOCTOR and ROMANA have travelled to the bottom of the ladder from the very top.)
ROMANA: Now where are we?
DOCTOR: Right in the bowels of the ship. Disused fuel tanks, I think.
ROMANA: I can hear that sound again.
DOCTOR: Yes.
ROMANA: What are we looking for?
DOCTOR: A way out?
ROMANA: Ah.
DOCTOR: I doubt very much if the creature lives in the tower, but, since the tower feeds it, I imagine it lives close by.
ROMANA: Creature? What creature?
DOCTOR: We'll know that when we find it.
ROMANA: That's nice.
(The DOCTOR finds a switch and turns on the lights. There are several cloth-wrapped bodies around the sides of the tank area. He inspects the bodies.)
DOCTOR: They've been completely drained. Pipe-
(He lifts a round cover at floor level. There is a dark liquid below.)
DOCTOR: I was wrong, Romana. The fuel tanks aren't disused. Only this isn't rocket fuel - it's blood.

[INT. Resting place]

(The DOCTOR and ROMANA are still further down - they have now descended into the area below the ship.)
DOCTOR: You all right?
ROMANA: No, I'm frightened.
DOCTOR: Good, good. We'll soon be there.
ROMANA: That's what frightens me.
DOCTOR: Come on. Ooh!
ROMANA: What is it? What is it?
DOCTOR: You jumped on my toe.
ROMANA: Oh, I'm so sorry.
DOCTOR: Sss-sshh.
ROMANA: What?
DOCTOR: It's that sound again.
ROMANA: That's not an engine.
DOCTOR: No. The sound of a giant heartbeat.
ROMANA: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Yes?
ROMANA: Look.
(She has found a blood-filled pipe running vertically.)
DOCTOR: Do you know what that is?
ROMANA: A feeding system for something that lives on human blood.
DOCTOR: Exactly. Come on.
(He slaps his face.)
ROMANA: What is it?
DOCTOR: Do you know, it just occurs to me - there are vampire legends on almost every inhabited planet.
ROMANA: Really?
DOCTOR: Yes. Creatures that stalk in the night and feast on the blood of the living. Creatures that fear sunlight and running water and certain herbs. Creatures that are so strong they can only be killed by beheading, or a stake through the heart-
(He pauses. While he's been talking, ROMANA's hand has crept up to her throat.)
ROMANA: Or? Please, say something.
DOCTOR: Whatever it is, we want to find it, don't we?
ROMANA: No.
DOCTOR: Good. Come on then.
(They continue walking, slowly. The surface ahead of them is rising and falling in time to the heartbeat.)
ROMANA: Where are we, Doctor?
AUKON: You are in the resting place.
(The DOCTOR and ROMANA turn around.)
DOCTOR: Where?
AUKON: The resting place.
DOCTOR: Ah.
AUKON: I am Aukon. Welcome to my domain.

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

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