[ Index for this Doctor ]
[ Index for this story  ]

DOCTOR WHO
STATE OF DECAY

Written by
Terrance Dicks

Part Four

(Overlap from Tarak being thrown down)

[INT. Chambers]

AUKON: No.
ZARGO: (still smiling) Go, Aukon. It is too late to interfere now.
AUKON: I said no. Get back. The boy is the first of the Chosen Ones, soon to be one of us. He is not for you.
CAMILLA: The girl, then. Let us have the girl.
AUKON: The girl is a Time Lord. One of the ancient enemies of the Great One. (grabbing her cheeks) She is to be held for sacrifice at the time of Arising.

[INT. TARDIS console room]

(There are now several punched cards on the floor. The DOCTOR is pacing back and forth in agitation. He kicks a pile of cards.)
DOCTOR: It's no good, K9.
K9: Master?
DOCTOR: Listen. I'm going to have to go to the rebels for help. But will they help, I ask myself.
K9: Probability of indigenous dissident group rendering effective assistance very low.
DOCTOR: Ssssh. I'm thinking. I've got to make a very impressive entrance. Something that will win them over entirely. Got it! Right, K9, we need a slight spatial movement and no temporary displacement. Very tricky, these short hops.
K9: Information, Master.
DOCTOR: What is it?
K9: The relative smallness of E-space should render fractional increments more stable.
DOCTOR: But, of course. Good boy, K9.

[INT. Rebel cave]

VEROS: We can't let Ivo and the villagers attack alone. They'll be slaughtered.
KALMAR: Will it help if we're slaughtered with them, just as we're winning back the old knowledge? I refuse to throw it all away.
VEROS: Ivo was right, then. You do prefer these toys to human life.
KALMAR: Because they are the slow secret of victory. Why do you think they are so afraid of science?
VEROS: The Doctor was a scientist. Like all the rest, he vanished in the tower.
(The TARDIS materialises. Out steps the DOCTOR.)
DOCTOR: Halt! Don't move! Look, I'm awfully sorry to drop in on you like this, but we do have a bit of a crisis on our hands.

[INT. Chambers]

(ROMANA and ADRIC both have chains around their wrists.)
AUKON: We stand on the very threshold of our triumph. I have communed with the mind of the Great One, and he is ready. Thanks to the blood and souls we have fed to him for so long, his body is healed of wounds, regenerated, and whole once more.
ZARGO: And he will arise tonight?
AUKON: It is certain. When all is prepared, we will go to the resting place and summon him.
CAMILLA: When he wakes, he will be hungry.
ZARGO: Ivo and his faithful villagers will be able to perform one last service for their masters.
CAMILLA: And when they are consumed...
AUKON: We shall leave this miserable space trap for the real universe. Rich, fat worlds teeming with life. We shall suck their life blood until they are empty husks, and pass on to more worlds, and yet still more.
CAMILLA: Countless inhabited planets all waiting to feed our hunger.
ZARGO: I have served a thousand years for this.
AUKON: At midnight, our servitude will end and our glory begin. But the proper rituals must be carried out, or the Great One will be displeased. Zargo, Camilla, you will initiate the boy, after I have sacrificed the girl.

[INT. Rebel cave]

(The REBELS are gathered round.)
DOCTOR: Lack of weapons. No experience. Odds almost insurmountable. But! He who outlives this day and comes safe home shall stand a-tiptoe when this day is named and rouse him at the name of E-space!
(The rebels all cheer.)
DOCTOR: Well, that's the problem. There's got to be an answer.
KALMAR: What?
DOCTOR: That's the question.
VEROS: We must join forces with Ivo and attack the tower. Tarak was right!
DOCTOR: Yes, yes.
KALMAR: Where is Tarak now? We dare not attack the tower until we are ready.
DOCTOR: You've got to be ready. You people have had a thousand years to rid yourselves of this evil, and now all you've got are three hours.
KALMAR: Do you really expect us to believe that some great creature sleeps beneath the tower and is about to awake and destroy us?
DOCTOR: Where do you think Zargo and his friends got their powers, hmm?
KALMAR: I don't know.
DOCTOR: No, and that's the very devil of it. If I had any instruments with me, I could show you.
KALMAR: The scanner.
DOCTOR: Scanner. Scanner?
KALMAR: The console you got working for us. I discovered another facility.
DOCTOR: Range?
KALMAR: It should reach the tower.
DOCTOR: Right, Now, Kalmar, you'll see I'm telling you the truth. Gather round, gentlemen. Hang on a minute. Hang on a minute. It'll take a moment or two for the picture to steady. There we are. Oh, it seems to scan right through the spectrum.
KALMAR: There's the tower.
DOCTOR: Yes. The spectrum's a bit weak at the moment. Infrared. Picking up sleeping life forms. Now we're going into x-ray. Watch the area below the tower.
(An image forms of a huge creature moving about. It looks like a cross between a bat and a human. We hear the throbbing sound. The DOCTOR turns from the scanner.)
DOCTOR: Oh.
VEROS: (hands over his ears) What is it?
DOCTOR: The heartbeat of the great vampire. Well, Kalmar?
KALMAR: See if you can raise Ivo on the communicator.

[INT. Throne room]

(Two GUARDS stand in the state room, facing away from ADRIC and ROMANA, who are seated on the thrones.)
ADRIC: So the vampires in the stories are just pale imitations of the real thing?
ROMANA: If the Doctor's suspicion is right.
ADRIC: Oh yes, the Doctor. Is he coming back from the TARDIS?
ROMANA: Well, we were supposed to join him there after we'd rescued you.
ADRIC: Only you didn't, did you?
ROMANA: Didn't what?
ADRIC: Rescue me. Tarak got killed, you got caught, and the Doctor's safely out of it. He can clear off in the TARDIS whenever he likes.
ROMANA: How dare you, Adric!
ADRIC: It looks as if this is one time the goodies don't win after all. Still, I'm all right, aren't I?
ROMANA: Oh yes, you are all right. You haven't done so much better yourself. You stow away in our TARDIS, you expect us to-
ADRIC: Now look, I've been offered a partnership, power, and eternal life, they said.
ROMANA: They are vampires, Adric. Do you want to become one of them?
ADRIC: You said yourself you're on the menu. If it's a choice between that and joining the diners, I mean, there's no sense in two of us getting the chop.
ROMANA: When the Doctor gets back from the TARDIS, he is going to need your help.
(The three lords enter. ZARGO and CAMILLA take their seats.)
ADRIC: Why am I being kept prisoner like this? She's the sacrifice, not me. I'm supposed to be a Chosen One.
(AUKON is silent.)
ADRIC: I'm sorry, Time Lady. One of my family's died for your lot already. I reckon one's enough.
ROMANA: Adric, do you know what happens to vampires when they die?
ADRIC: But they don't die, do they, Aukon?
AUKON: Release him, and prepare him for the ceremony. Prepare the sacrifice also.
(The GUARDS lead the two away, in different directions.)
AUKON: It is time.
(The ground in the resting place is churning and cracking.)

[INT. Rebel cave]

(The REBELS have a map of the area, to which the DOCTOR refers.)
DOCTOR: Our HQ, the tower. Now, we can take the tower between us.
(There is general murmuring of assent.)
DOCTOR: Yes, well, I'm pretty sure of that.
IVO: But what about Aukon?
DOCTOR: Aukon and his friends will be distracted by the ceremony.
IVO: But what about the guards?
DOCTOR: Well, there are ways of dealing with guards.
IVO: But how do we deal with that? (He refers to the creature beneath the tower.)
KALMAR: You said your people killed thousands of them.
DOCTOR: Yes, but that was after a long and bloody war, and they had bow ships that fire mighty bolts of steel and pierced each vampire's heart.
IVO: Maybe there's another way to kill them?
KALMAR: Well-
DOCTOR: Their cardiovascular systems are incredibly efficient. They can just seal over minor wounds. Yes, there's a very practical reason for the traditional wooden stake.
IVO: If we sharpened a tree trunk-
DOCTOR: No, I doubt if even that would be big enough, and anyway how could we propel it? Mighty bolt of steel.
IVO: A catapult?
DOCTOR: Of course. Of course! An arrow of steel, and I've been looking at it all this time. Right, gentlemen, let's gather round and finalise our plans. Now, we need a group of your best men, a sort of commando force.
IVO: You'll lead us then, Doctor?
ALL: Yes!
DOCTOR: No.
(The rebels aren't happy.)
DOCTOR: It's all right, it's all right. I've got other things to worry about. But I can lend you a very useful tool. Armoured. (the group make sounds of interest) Immune to hypnotism.
IVO: Yes?
DOCTOR: And a dead shot with a nose laser.
IVO: Good.
DOCTOR: K9.
K9: Reconfigured in aggression mode, Master.
(Those assembled appear underwhelmed.)

[INT. Entrance to the tower]

(There is a single GUARD present.)
IVO: Yes.
(He spots IVO and VEROS.)
GUARD: Guards!
(Two GUARDS arrive via the corridor. K9 shoots them. The DOCTOR and the REBELS follow K9 into the tower.)

[INT. Just outside the throne room]

(IVO and VEROS attack a pair of GUARDS. While they fight each other with spears, another GUARD arrives. K9 shoots him. He does the same with another new arrival.)
VEROS: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Good, good.

[INT. Throne room]

(The DOCTOR takes a seat on the less comfortable throne.)
KALMAR: Stay calm, Doctor.
DOCTOR: The others have gone; therefore, the ceremony must have started. Now listen to me, all of you. I want you to hold this tower until K9 gives the signal.
IVO: We will not take orders from that thing.
DOCTOR: One day you'll apologise for that.
IVO: Never!
DOCTOR: Ssssh. Never mind. Just trust me, it'll work. After K9's signal, you evacuate the tower and make your way round to the caves. If you should find Romana and Adric, see if you can rescue them and get away from here as far and as fast as you can. Got it? Good. Go. Stop. Don't forget, K9 gives the signal.
(Just outside, HABRIS steps over GUARDS' bodies.)

[INT. Resting place]

(ROMANA follows the lords in. She is wearing a long white period gown.)
ADRIC: Listen, I've got a plan. Can you hear me?
HABRIS: (entering and kneeling) My Lord.
AUKON: How dare you interrupt us!
HABRIS: We are attacked, my Lord - the Doctor with rebels and villagers, and some strange mechanical beast that shoots men down.
ZARGO: We must go back.
AUKON: No. The time of Arising is now.
HABRIS: Then send your servants, my Lord. Send the bats.
AUKON: I have need of them. The guards must hold the tower to the last man.
HABRIS: We are outnumbered. Unless you aid us, we shall all be killed.
(AUKON looks deeply into his eyes.)
AUKON: Then die. That is the purpose of guards. Go.
(HABRIS leaves.)
CAMILLA: When they have taken the tower, they will come to attack us.
AUKON: By the time the tower falls, the Great One will have arisen. We shall be invincible.

[INT. Interior of the ship]

(The DOCTOR climbs a ladder. Three more ladders lead upward.)
DOCTOR: Three scout ships, three chances. Now, which one first? This one.

[INT. Outside the throne room]

(IVO dispatches a GUARD. He has just grabbed the man's knife when HABRIS arrives.)
IVO: Habris.
HABRIS: Ivo.
IVO: This is for my son.
HABRIS: I tried to help him.
(IVO throws the knife down.)

[INT. Scout ship flight deck]

(The DOCTOR sits and operates controls.)
DOCTOR: Come on. Dead as a dinosaur. The circuits must be corroded. Have to try one of the others.
(He heads down the ladder.)

[INT. Resting place]

(ROMANA lies on a slab. Two GUARDS leave her lying there. She stares up into space.)
AUKON: Now, the sacrifice is made ready.
(ADRIC rushes forward with a knife. But he cannot move - the power of AUKON's mind makes him drop it on the ground.)
AUKON: Seize him.
(GUARDS lead ADRIC away.)

[INT. Flight deck of second scout ship]

DOCTOR: Come on.
(The DOCTOR kicks the console this time, in addition to trying the buttons.)
DOCTOR: One to go. (He heads for the ladder down.)

[INT. Resting place]

AUKON: O Great One, hear us. We celebrate your arising with the sacrifice of a Time Lord, one of the race of your enemies. Drink her soul, and grow strong. (as bats stream in) Come, O servants of the Great One, come. Drink the blood of the sacrifice.

[INT. Flight deck of third scout ship]

DOCTOR: Come on. Come on. What happened to all that Earth craftsmanship, eh? Just because you've been laid up for a thousand years...
(He hits the side of the console, and equipment starts humming.)
DOCTOR: A scintilla of power left in the energy cells, a few drops of fuel. Oh, lovely Earth craftsmanship.

[INT. State room]

(K9 has taken the throne.)
K9: Leave at once. Evacuate the tower. Evacuate.

[INT. Flight deck of third scout ship]

DOCTOR: That should do it. Short trip, quick flip. Time to be going, Doctor.
(He heads down the ladder.
Meanwhile, the REBELS start leaving the tower.
We see a bat settle on ROMANA's neck.)

[INT. Resting place]

(The ground is heaving. The bat flies off after leaving marks on ROMANA's neck. The lords turn around to see what is happening.)
AUKON: The ship!
ZARGO: What's happening?
AUKON: No!
(ROMANA stirs and sits up. ADRIC helps her stand and leads her away. We see the DOCTOR leave through one of the exhaust ports as a third of the nose cone detaches slowly, then fires its engine and enters the sky.)
DOCTOR: (running over to ROMANA and ADRIC) Romana! Right, time for me to tell you what happened.
ROMANA: You sent the scout ship on a little trip.
DOCTOR: Right. Yes.
(Something is breaking through the surface of the ground.)
AUKON: He rises! See, the Great One rises!
(A huge hand begins reaching out of the ground.
Meanwhile, the scout ship comes to the top of its programmed trajectory.)
AUKON: He comes! The Great One comes!
(An arm starts to stretch upward.)
DOCTOR: Don't worry, don't worry. Have you ever heard the expression 'what goes up must come down'?
ADRIC: No.
DOCTOR: I wish I hadn't.
(The pointy ship completes its turn, and thrusters send it downward.)
AUKON: No! No!
DOCTOR: Get down! Get down!
(The ship hits the ground near the hand and sinks into the ground. There is a loud gurgling cry, and the claw sinks beneath the surface. The heartbeat ceases.
The lords, with their teeth bared, head for the DOCTOR. Before they are able to do any damage, they begin to screech and age massively. Their faces become skeletal, and they fall to the ground, skeletons in expensive clothes.)
DOCTOR: There was never anything really to worry about. Their time was up. Well done. Well done, well done, well done.
ADRIC: So that's what happens to vampires when they die.
ROMANA: Glad you didn't join them.
ADRIC: I'm sorry about that. It was just a bluff. It just so happens I was trying to rescue you.
ROMANA: But you didn't, did you?
(IVO,, KALMAR, VEROS, and K9 enter.)
IVO: Well, we've dealt with the tower, Doctor. Now, what about this monster?
(The DOCTOR gestures toward the scout ship sticking up out of the ground.)
KALMAR: What did you do?
DOCTOR: Well, I just fired off one of the rocket ships, you see, and I arranged the controls so that it went straight up-
ROMANA: And came straight down again.
IVO: But what about the lords - Zargo and the others?
DOCTOR: Ah. Well, they just went to pieces.
(They have a look at the skeletons.)
KALMAR: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Yes.
KALMAR: As once scientist to another, congratulations.
DOCTOR: It was nothing.
IVO: There is one thing, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Yes?
IVO: I feel I really must apologise for the things I said about K9.
DOCTOR: Go on, then.
(He is surprised but does stop and kneel by K9, patting him on the head.)
IVO: Well done, dog.
K9: Your thanks are recorded.

[INT. Rebel cave]

DOCTOR: There, that should do it.
(The monitor was showing the following:

THIS SYSTEM IS SECURITY-PROTECTED!
ENTER USER SECURITY CODE TO PROCEED
OPTION TABLE  SELECT ENTRY MODE
A. Enter high level for DATA
B. Enter high level for PROGRAM
C. Enter assembler level
D. Enter machine code level

The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl

[ Previous ] [ Next ]

-=#=-
Anna's home  >  The Doctors' home  >  This Doctor  >  This story 
-=#=-