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DOCTOR WHO
WARRIORS' GATE
Written by
Steve Gallagher
Part Three
(Overlap from 'Come on, K9')
[INT. Behind the mirror]
(The THARIL reaches out to release ROMANA, and she calms when recognising this. The DOCTOR stands behind the mirror. He can see the others on the opposite side. He holds out his hands into the surface. The DOCTOR turns, and BIROC is standing beside him, facing away.)
DOCTOR: Biroc, how did I get through the mirror?
BIROC: The time winds touched your hand. It will be healing now.
DOCTOR: What? (He checks, and it is.)
[INT. Bridge]
ALDO [OC]: I'll go down that way. You have a look in there.
ROYCE [OC]: Come back! It's in here!
ALDO [OC]: You first, then.
ROMANA: They're looking for you. Hide.
(She flops the wrist restraint back into place as the THARIL hides.)
[INT. Grand hall]
(PACKARD pounds on the mirror with his gun.)
RORVIK: No! No brute force. This needs some thought.
(The men step back from the mirror. SAGAN decides to fire his blaster at it. The bolt bounces back.)
K9: Angle of incidence equals angle of reflection.
[INT. Behind the mirror]
RORVIK: (seen from the other side) 'Thought', I said.
DOCTOR: But what about K9? The time winds positively blasted him. Can he pass through the mirror?
BIROC: When the time is right.
[INT. Grand hall]
(RORVIK kicks the mirror in anger and succeeds only in injuring his foot.)
K9: Newton's third law of motion. Action and reaction are equal and opposite.
(In the void, ADRIC looks about. He continues to plan his walking path by coin tosses.
RORVIK takes a run up on K9 and kicks him. The mechanical dog gibbers, moves forward a metre or two, extends his laser probe, and lowers his head with eye lights extinguished. He has apparently run out of energy.)
[INT. Behind the mirror]
DOCTOR: K9! (turning to BIROC) If we can get him through the mirror, will it repair him?
BIROC: You have in your pocket a memory wafer you took from the Gundan.
DOCTOR: What? That's right. Yes, I have. Look. Look.
BIROC: K9 will be restored in the same way.
DOCTOR: Then we must get him here.
BIROC: That will happen. But your hand is living matter and will remain healed when you return to the other side of the mirror.
DOCTOR: So K9 can only be revived on this side of the mirror?
BIROC: Where he must stay.
DOCTOR: No, don't go. Don't go, please. Where is this place? Where have you brought us?
BIROC: You are where you were.
DOCTOR: What? The gateway still? But that's nowhere.
BIROC: For the Tharils and those with us, it opens onto a whole universe.
DOCTOR: I see. I see. E-space. That's right. Yes, for you people it's a jumping off point for E-space, but for non-time-sensitives... Biroc. Biroc, I underst- (he turns and the Tharil has gone) Biroc? He's gone again. It's like talking to a Cheshire cat.
[INT. Bridge]
(ROYCE and ALDO peer around the corner into the room, then enter cautiously.)
ROYCE: He's not in here.
ALDO: (looking at ROMANA) Her mind's gone. She's dreaming.
ROYCE: I knew she couldn't take that voltage.
ALDO: Yeah, that must be it. There's nobody here.
ROYCE: How long's she going to be doing this? We can't keep checking up every five minutes.
ALDO: Plug her up again. Give her another dose.
ROYCE: You're very generous with the amperage. Do you think we should?
ALDO: Who's to tell? Come on - let's get on with it. We'll never get through here.
ROMANA: What are you doing to those creatures?
ROYCE: She's talking!
ROMANA: That's right. I'm talking to you, and I want some answers.
ALDO: She did see something.
ROYCE: What did you see?
(She opens her eyes. Both men step back.)
ROMANA: A time-sensitive. A Tharil, wasn't he? How many more of them are there?
ALDO: Where is he?
(The discussion is interrupted by an alarm beeping. The men watch text scroll on a monitor.)
ROMANA: Answer it!
(ROYCE and ALDO jump.
In the void, ADRIC is running, away from the camera.)
[INT. Grand hall]
RORVIK: (into his communicator) Who's that? Royce?
ALDO [OC]: Aldo here, sir.
RORVIK: Break out the MZ. I've sent Packard and Lane back for it.
[INT. Bridge]
ALDO: He wants the MZ.
ROYCE: Not the MZ. What's he up to?
RORVIK [OC]: At the double!
ALDO: Well, at least he doesn't want us out there.
ROYCE: That's something.
SAGAN [OC]: Sagan here, Aldo.
ROYCE: Royce, sir.
SAGAN [OC]: Right. You can bring the lunch over here.
[EXT. In the void]
(K9 follows on the heels of PACKARD and LANE.)
K9: Orders, Master, orders!
PACKARD: Vanish!
K9: Orders, Master.
PACKARD: That was an order. The MZ'll do it.
LANE: Can't be sure.
PACKARD: Why not?
LANE: We can't be sure of anything in this place. These readings don't make sense. How can it be a shorter distance coming back than going?
PACKARD: Is that what it says?
LANE: All the machinery's packing up. It's bad luck having that girl on board - that's what it is.
K9: Reference order quote vanish unquote. To vanish, to cease to exist, to become zero. Present environment fulfils this condition. This unit awaits next order.
PACKARD: There's our bad luck.
[INT. Black-and-white park estate]
(The DOCTOR enters a wrought-iron gate into a park with stairs and statuary. He stops beside an old statue of a lion triumphant over a horse.)
DOCTOR: I must be crossing the striations of the time lines.
(BIROC walks between long rows of hedges. He stops and beckons the Doctor to follow him. The DOCTOR follows. BIROC leads along a terrace looking out on the park, with more stone carvings.)
[EXT. Just outside Rorvik's ship]
K9: Orders, Master, orders.
LANE: This thing is getting heavier.
PACKARD: I don't know. We made that trip back fast enough.
K9: Mass instability anomaly. Further data required.
LANE: Yeah, seemed like that to me too - not as far coming back as it was going out.
K9: Imminent decision necessary.
(The two men enter the ship. K9 follows. PACKARD carries him back out decisively.)
K9: Microcosm universe system unbalanced and contracting.
(PACKARD tosses K9 into the distance.
Meanwhile, ADRIC enters the ship before PACKARD turns round. We hear K9 gibber again.)
[INT. Rorvik's ship]
(LANE sets down the mass detector. ADRIC dashes past while PACKARD lifts the entry phone's handset.)
PACKARD: Right, close the doors.
(He hangs up and steps through, with the doors closing behind him.
BIROC leads the DOCTOR to a slightly more coloured grey stone wall. The DOCTOR uses his scarf to clean a window set into the wall. We hear faint music in the background. BIROC has walked past the DOCTOR and is gone when the DOCTOR looks up.
PACKARD hears the entry phone and heads to open the doors. He removes his outerwear. He answers the buzzing phone.)
PACKARD [OC]: Oh, yes, sir, yes. The MZ's ready.
(ROMANA moves quietly down the stairs. She hides under a cover made of shiny gold cloth. ADRIC is already there.)
PACKARD [OC]: No, no, no, it's bound to do the trick. What?
(LANE half-runs down the stairs as PACKARD continues to speak.)
LANE: The girl's gone.
PACKARD: Shut up. Ah, no, not you, sir. (to the others as they enter) It's Rorvik. Yes, sir. Right. Soon as we can. (he hangs up) What?
LANE: She got out of the harness.
PACKARD: Well, she must be here somewhere. What do you know about it?
ALDO: Nothing.
ROYCE: Not us.
ALDO: Never seen anything.
PACKARD: Typical. Typical. Come on, get the MZ outside. Come on, move!
(They do so, at an unenthusiastic pace. They approach Romana and Adric's hiding place.)
PACKARD: Rorvik's thinking of giving it a back blast if the MZ doesn't move it.
LANE: The warp motors might just stand it.
PACKARD: Might? We'll have to do better than that, Lane.
ROYCE: Never a moment to yourself on this ship.
ALDO: You pull, I'll push.
ROYCE: (stopping him with a hand on his shoulder) I don't like the sound of that.
ALDO: All right. I'll push, you pull.
ROYCE: Right.
(The men start moving the object with the gold cover, while PACKARD speaks into his communicator.)
PACKARD: Right, search the ship.
[EXT. In the void]
(The camera pans across the vista of the void, from the back of Rorvik's ship to the gateway, to the TARDIS almost on top of the archway.
The DOCTOR is investigating his surroundings. He moves forward and peers through a higher window a little further on.
ROYCE pulls the MZ down a ramp. ALDO walks alongside, merely supervising.)
ROYCE: When was the last time we had this out?
ALDO: Oh, the Tharil hunt on Shapeer.
ROYCE: Either we're getting old or this is getting heavier.
ALDO: Bit of both, I reckon.
(They leave the MZ and return to the ship. ADRIC and ROMANA emerge from beneath the cover.)
ADRIC: We're outside.
ROMANA: Pity. I want to be on the inside.
ADRIC: But I've just rescued you.
ROMANA: Thank you, but I have got to find out what they're up to in there. Do you know what a Tharil is?
ADRIC: No.
ROMANA: Well, there's one loose on this ship, and they're all terrified of it. It's like Biroc but horribly burnt.
ADRIC: Where's the Doctor?
ROMANA: I have seen him.
ADRIC: What is it?
ROMANA: I'm not sure. That machine they put me into. It projected an image, a gateway. The Doctor might be there.
(They hear the door of the ship open, and they duck back under the sheet. Someone passes, and they soon pull up the cover again.)
ROMANA: Come on, let's follow him. Follow.
(The DOCTOR moves further along and looks through a more ornate, Gothic-arched window.
We now see that it was LANE who passed Adric and Romana. They watch him through a large hole in the side of the ship. We hear things sparking and hissing.)
ROMANA: So it wasn't just a trick. There really is warp damage.
LANE: (into his communicator) No chance of taking off with the motors in this state. Should be good for a back blast, though.
[INT. Bridge]
PACKARD: What's that, Lane? Lane, I'm not getting you.
[INT. Engine room]
PACKARD [OC]: Lane!
LANE: There's something wrong with the electrics. I'll go and check the main cables.
[EXT. Outside the hole in the ship]
ADRIC: We can get back into the ship this way.
ROMANA: No, it's just a breach in the outer skin. The hull's sealed. That's funny.
ADRIC: What is it?
ROMANA: Those warp motors are huge. Three times what they'd need for a ship this size.
[INT. Engine room]
LANE: Lane again. I'm worried about these main cables. A few more inches, we'll lose all our drive power. I'm going up to check the main routings. Hello, Packard?
(Static is the only response. He begins climbing a ladder.)
[EXT. Outside the hole in the ship]
ROMANA: Wait here.
ADRIC: Romana?
ROMANA: It's dwarf-star alloy. The whole hull's made of it.
ADRIC: Dwarf-star alloy?
ROMANA: Dwarf-star molecules are compacted under enormous gravitational force. (handing him a piece of the material, which he nearly drops under the weight) That's why the alloy's so heavy.
ADRIC: No wonder they need big motors.
K9: (moving through the void) Alert. Danger. Warning. Present mass anomaly increasing. Dimensional contraction of microcosmic system. Orders.
ROMANA+ADRIC: Ssssh!
K9: Urgent request for orders. Imminent danger of mathematical vanishing. Orders. Mass-conversion anomaly. This microcosm subject to imminent dimensional instability.
ROMANA: Shh, K9.
K9: Alarm. Warning. Danger. (He begins backing away.)
ROMANA: Stop him.
ADRIC: (running after K9) Quiet!
(ROMANA climbs out of the hole, just before LANE returns to the area. He climbs out of the hole and looks into the distance.)
LANE: That damn machine again.
(He turns slowly and sees ROMANA. She crosses in front of him, nearing the hole. But PACKARD grabs her from the other side.)
ROMANA: Get K9 back to the-! (she bites PACKARD's hand) Go to the gateway! Go to the gateway!
(The DOCTOR turns from the window. A female THARIL stands beside him. She takes him by the hand and leads him forward.)
[EXT. Outside the main entrance to the ship]
(ROMANA puts up a fight as the two men drag her to the main entrance of the ship.)
PACKARD: (to a CREWMAN) Put her in the hold. (to LANE) Who's that boy? He must be another one from the blue box.
LANE: He's somewhere out there now. (pauses) Do you get the feeling it's closing in around you?
PACKARD: Hmm. It's time we got back. Get the mass detector.
(ALDO and ROYCE carry a case from the ship, probably the lunch mentioned earlier.)
LANE: Get the mass detector. If it's not too much trouble.
(ALDO and ROYCE head back into the ship.
The CREWMAN 'escorting' ROMANA opens a door and comes face to face with the burnt THARIL. The THARIL knocks him out. Romana and the THARIL begin walking through the ship, then touch hands and slowly vanish. They fade back in within the void and walk onward.
The female THARIL leads the Doctor along a gallery.)
[EXT. Outside the archway]
(The men, with mass detector and MZ, head through the void. ADRIC and K9 are hidden under the MZ's cover. ALDO and ROYCE follow at a distance with the case.)
PACKARD: Right, we're here.
(He pulls the cover from the MZ, which is a human-height dish-type contraption.)
[INT. Grand hall]
(The music is louder here. The DOCTOR is looking down at the hall from a balcony. On the table is spread a banquet, and candelabra illuminate the THARILS feasting there. A human-looking woman serves wine.
The table transforms into its cobweb-covered form in an instant before the eyes of ROMANA and her accompanying THARIL as they look down. She gasps as a Gundan's axe buries itself in the banquet table, alongside a fresh loaf of bread.
We see the cobweb-covered table again. RORVIK removes his feet from the table as the MZ arrives.)
SAGAN: They're here.
RORVIK: That was quick.
LANE: Very odd. Seemed no distance at all this time.
RORVIK: Right. Now I want your complete attention for the next couple of minutes. This is going to be a nasty job. The MZ isn't something to fool around with. You all remember what happened the last time.
(He sees the burnt THARIL leading ROMANA down the stairs from the gallery. The two pass through the mirror. He is bewildered.)
ROYCE: (entering with ALDO) Right. Lunch up, lads.
[INT. Grand hall, feast version]
(Walking through the black-and-white grounds of the estate, ROMANA stops when she sees that the THARIL's burns are healed. She raises a hand to his face.
Seated at the banquet table, the DOCTOR is dining with the THARILS.)
DOCTOR: My goodness. You live like kings.
BIROC: We are kings.
[INT. Grand hall, cobweb version]
(Lunch is being distributed while RORVIK tries to maintain the attention of his crew.)
RORVIK: Now listen. I'm only going to say this once. We're stuck here with no warp motors and no navigator. Now in practical terms that means we stay here forever unless we do something about it. Listen! And that means the mirror. There's a way through. You've all seen it. That's why we brought up the MZ. Will you listen to me when I'm talking? (pulls out his blaster, which does make the other men stop and listen) This is very serious. We are in a terminal situation. A dead end.
[INT. Grand hall, feast version]
DOCTOR: (chewing) Such variety. Where did it all come from?
BIROC: The universe is our garden.
DOCTOR: Ah. So this is what it was all like.
BIROC: At the height of our empire, before the Tharils became the slaves of men.
DOCTOR: I notice you don't do too badly for staff. This garden of yours, the universe - how do you manage it?
BIROC: We use our power. For those who travel on the time winds, the vastness of space is no obstacle. Everything is ours.
(A THARIL hits the serving WENCH as she is pouring wine, and the DOCTOR goes to help her up.)
DOCTOR: Including her?
BIROC: They're only people.
DOCTOR: So you're the masters the Gundan spoke of, hmm? The enslavers. (He takes his seat again.)
BIROC: The weak enslave themselves, Doctor. You and I know that.
DOCTOR: Yes, yes. (he pours wine into his glass until it overflows onto the table, then knocks it away) This is no way to run an empire.
(ROMANA watches from the gallery as the THARIL next to the DOCTOR pulls a knife on him.)
ROMANA: Danger! The Doctor's in danger!
(Several GUNDAN enter the banquet hall. ROMANA has rushed down from the gallery and arrives at the DOCTOR's side as he grimly watches events unfold.)
ROMANA: Doctor!
(Once more, the axe enters the table, and we are left with cobwebs.)
[INT. Grand hall, cobweb version]
(The DOCTOR and ROMANA find themselves next to the table with RORVIK and crew.)
RORVIK: Well, Doctor, this is a surprise.
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
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