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DOCTOR WHO
LOGOPOLIS
Written by
Christopher H. Bidmead
Part Three
(Overlap from 'What's the matter?')
[EXT. Logopolis]
(The shrinking stops at about 1.5 metres.)
ADRIC: It's your codes that are doing this.
MONITOR: This is unheard of.
TEGAN: Well, how do we get him out of this?
MONITOR: A fault in the computation?
ADRIC: There must be something you can do to put him right.
MONITOR: Take the machine to the Central Register.
NYSSA: What are you going to do with it?
MONITOR: The Central Register, quickly. There may still be time. The honour of Logopolis is at stake.
(Four LOGOPOLITANS carry the TARDIS away.)
[INT. TARDIS console room]
DOCTOR: Must dematerialise. Dematerialise. Nothing working. Nothing.
(On the scanner, we can see the streets as the TARDIS is carried through the warrens of Logopolis.)
[EXT. Logopolis]
TEGAN: Will he be all right, Monitor?
MONITOR: If we can trace the error in time.
(They walk past an alcove, where the MASTER sits, smiling.)
MASTER: (laughing) At last, Doctor. At last I've cut you down to size.
(Within the TARDIS, the DOCTOR sees the concerned faces looking in from outside. ADRIC speaks but cannot be heard from inside the mini ship.)
[INT. Central Register]
NYSSA: Hold on, Doctor. The Monitor is going to help you.
(The MONITOR is at the computer, chanting Logopolitan numbers.)
TEGAN: What's he doing?
MONITOR: ...keree gorok. The fault is in the dimensioning routine. We can trace it, if there's time.
ADRIC: Can I help?
MONITOR: Perhaps you can.
(He tears off some of the printout at the printer.)
MONITOR: This is the machine code of the section that contains the error. I must check the external registers. Read it to me as we go. It is a copy of an Earth machine, so I'm afraid we have to make do with their clumsy symbols.
ADRIC: The Doctor taught me to read Earth numbering.
TEGAN: Where are you off to? There's work to be done.
ADRIC: We're doing it.
[INT. Register rooms]
(The MONITOR and ADRIC enter a room where two rows of abacus-holding LOGOPOLITANS sit, facing the walls. The MONITOR walks along, checking their work as ADRIC reads.)
ADRIC: A zero. Zero A. Four A. Nine two. Two C.
(They pass into a similar room.)
ADRIC: A zero. Three zero.
MONITOR: I'm sorry, I thought we had found something. It's somewhere in the subroutine, somewhere.
ADRIC: Monitor, I still don't see why you need all these people. Why can't it all be done on machinery?
MONITOR: For many uses, machinery is unsurpassed, but Logopolis is not interested in such uses. Block transfer computation cannot be done with computers.
ADRIC: Why not?
MONITOR: Our manipulation of numbers directly changes the physical world. There is no other mathematics like ours.
ADRIC: You mean the computations themselves would affect a computer?
MONITOR: Of course - change its nature, cause it to malfunction. Only the living brain is immune.
ADRIC: You had a computer out there. You were using it.
MONITOR: To record the code, yes. To prepare new algorithms, yes. But we must not use it for, to run our program. Now, we had reached zero four, zero seven, A zero, three zero, three eight. There are no errors in the registers. We must search the streets.
[INT. Central Register]
(A pair of screens are brought to the TARDIS, with one getting
positioned on either side.)
NYSSA: Sonic projectors.
TEGAN: What are they for?
NYSSA: They must be creating a temporary zone of stasis around the TARDIS, but I don't really understand their science.
TEGAN: That goes double for me.
[EXT. Logopolis]
(The MONITOR is checking the work done in the alcoves.)
ADRIC: Fourth block begins. A three. F eight.
MONITOR: E eight.
ADRIC: Sorry. E eight.
MONITOR: It is difficult, I know, but accuracy is of a vital importance.
ADRIC: Three three.
[INT. Central Register]
TEGAN: You can tell they're exploited.
NYSSA: These people are scientists.
TEGAN: So?
NYSSA: I've seen that look of dedication on my father's face.
TEGAN: Well, it doesn't seem to be doing any good, does it?
NYSSA: At least the dimensions are stabilised.
(The two of them look at the TARDIS.)
[EXT. Logopolis]
ADRIC: Eight nine. Nine A. E seven.
MONITOR: E nine.
ADRIC: Sorry. E nine. Two three. Wait! Wait. Did you say 'E nine'? Look, it says 'E seven' there.
MONITOR: You're right. And the next three numbers are wrong. This way.
[INT. Central Register]
TEGAN: The TARDIS isn't much use to anybody that size, stable or not.
NYSSA: It gives us time.
TEGAN: Time to do what? We don't even know if he's alive in there.
[INT. TARDIS console room]
DOCTOR: They've arrested the dimension spiral. Things are looking up.
[EXT. Logopolis]
MONITOR: This is the street. The error should be somewhere here.
(In one of the alcoves, they see a shrunken Logopolitan. The MONITOR reaches down to touch the corpselet, but ADRIC grabs his hand. The neighbouring two alcoves, on either side of the passage, are the same.)
MONITOR: Sabotage.
ADRIC: Murder.
MONITOR: Interfering with the working of Logopolis - the most dangerous crime in the universe.
[INT. TARDIS console room]
(The DOCTOR is looking at the piece of paper with the figures on.)
DOCTOR: An error in the dimension subroutine. Somewhere here. I will not be beaten. I simply will not be beaten. But I could certainly do with a little more help from outside.
[EXT. Logopolis]
(ADRIC sees the WATCHER at the end of the street. The spectral figure walks away.)
MONITOR: We must return to the Central Register, quickly.
[INT. Central Register]
ADRIC: The Monitor's done it. He's found the error.
MONITOR: The Doctor must reprogram block 4 of the dimensioning routine.
ADRIC: Those numbers are the ones that have to be changed.
TEGAN: If I show this to him, will he know what to do?
ADRIC: Yes.
TEGAN: Leave it to me.
(She holds the printout roughly in line with the light atop the TARDIS as ADRIC walks away.)
NYSSA: Adric? (She too leaves.)
[EXT. Outside the Central Register]
ADRIC: The Master's out here somewhere.
NYSSA: I came here to find the Master.
ADRIC: No.
NYSSA: I must know what's happened to my father.
ADRIC: This could be very dangerous.
NYSSA: I'm coming with you.
(TEGAN comes up behind them, watching as they walk down the street. She then goes back to the TARDIS.)
[INT. TARDIS console room]
(The DOCTOR is considering some circuit boards.)
DOCTOR: 'The cheese board is the world, and the pieces the phenomena of the universe', as my old friend Huxley used to say. Cheese board? Chess board. 'And the opponent makes no allowances for mistakes nor makes the smallest concession to ignorance.'
DOCTOR: I'm an ignorant old Doctor, and I've made a mistake. There's only one direction help can come from now. I'll just have to sit here and wait.
(Setting the circuit boards to the side, he looks up and sees the code on the scanner.)
DOCTOR: Ah yes! Something along those lines.
[EXT. Logopolis]
(ADRIC and NYSSA are crouched before one of the alcoves, where a shrunken corpse lies.)
ADRIC: The mark of the Master.
NYSSA: He must have added his own voice to the numbers and corrupted the Doctor's code.
ADRIC: And he's still here, somewhere. I saw him. He's been following us.
NYSSA: The Master?
ADRIC: I think so.
(The WATCHER passes behind them. ADRIC turns round, but there's nothing there.)
ADRIC: Come on.
[INT. Central Register]
TEGAN: I hope he's seen it.
MONITOR: I'm sure he has. And with those figures, he will be able to restore the TARDIS. It won't take long.
TEGAN: Well, while he's sorting that out, perhaps you wouldn't mind explaining something to me.
(She opens the door to one of the register rooms, where LOGOPOLITANS sit working.)
TEGAN: Back home in Brisbane, we call that a sweatshop.
[EXT. Logopolis]
ADRIC: This street.
MASTER [OC]: Nyssa. Nyssa. Nyssa.
(ADRIC has gone on ahead. NYSSA turns and looks for the voice.)
MASTER [OC]: Nyssa, my dear.
(She finds the alcove where the MASTER waits.)
NYSSA: Father.
[INT. Central Register]
TEGAN: They don't smile. They don't talk to anybody.
MONITOR: Their language is the language of numbers, and they have no need to smile.
TEGAN: No need to smile?
MONITOR: We are a people driven not by individual need but by mathematical necessity. The language of the numbers is as much as we need. Now, it is important that we do not disturb them.
TEGAN: But if they don't talk to each other... You've done it!
(The TARDIS is glowing and growing.)
MONITOR: Yes, there does seem to be some positive development.
[EXT. Logopolis]
(NYSSA follows the MASTER, who resembles Tremas well enough, to the edge of the cluster of buildings.)
NYSSA: But what is this mission of yours, Father? You're so changed by it. You look younger but so cold.
MASTER: Logopolis is a cold place. A cold, high place overlooking the universe. It holds a single great secret, Nyssa, which you and I must discover together.
NYSSA: And the Doctor. The Doctor can help us.
MASTER: Oh yes, the Doctor can certainly help us. You must return to him.
NYSSA: Father, I, I don't want to be parted from you.
MASTER: No need to, my dear. Here, wear this.
(He places a large gold bracelet with huge stones in it on her wrist. She cries out in pain.)
MASTER: It will keep us in mind of one another. Remember to tell no-one that you've seen me, yet.
[INT. Central Register]
(The TARDIS door opens, and a haggard DOCTOR steps out.)
DOCTOR: Monitor?
MONITOR: My dear Doctor.
DOCTOR: I can't thank you enough.
MONITOR: There is no need.
DOCTOR: You too, Tegan, you too. Where are the others?
TEGAN: Adric and Nyssa went to look for the Master.
DOCTOR: What? They should know better than that. There've been enough unnecessary deaths as it is.
TEGAN: What deaths?
MONITOR: The murder of innocent Logopolitans.
DOCTOR: And the murder of innocent Earth people.
TEGAN: Earth people?
DOCTOR: Yes.
TEGAN: Aunty Vanessa?
DOCTOR: Yes. I'm so sorry, Tegan. I'm so sorry.
(He places a hand on her back briefly, and she moves away, crying.)
DOCTOR: The Master's already at work on Logopolis. I'm going to stop him if it's the last thing I do.
[EXT. Logopolis]
(ADRIC and NYSSA meet as a junction.)
ADRIC: Nyssa!
NYSSA: Did you find him?
ADRIC: No. We'd better go back to the Doctor.
NYSSA: (thanks to the bracelet) Aah!
ADRIC: Where did you get that?
NYSSA: It's too small for me.
ADRIC: What is it?
NYSSA: It's a present. I've been trying to get it off.
ADRIC: Who from?
(He touches the bracelet and receives an electric shock.)
NYSSA: (darkly) I hope you haven't broken it. (Her hand stretches out toward him.)
ADRIC: Nyssa?
DOCTOR: (interrupting the tense moment) Adric, Nyssa. Come on.
ADRIC + NYSSA: (as he walks between them and out of shot) Doctor!
(We cut to the Central Register, where the sonic screens are being wheeled through a register room as LOGOPOLITANS work. At the end of a row, one of the robed figures rises and follows those wheeling the screens along. We recognise his face and the MASTER's laughter. As the screens roll through the doors into the second register room, we hear the Master's miniaturisation gun activate, and the camera rises from the screens to show only the MASTER now pushing one of the screens. Behind him lie two miniature corpses. At the end of the room, the MASTER presses some buttons on a box and attaches it to the screen. He activates it, and we can no longer hear the sounds of the abacus beads and muttering locals behind him.)
DOCTOR: I don't want you two chasing after the Master independently. You, Adric, should know how dangerous he is.
(They stop walking and see the WATCHER standing at the end of the street.)
NYSSA: That's the man who brought me from Traken.
DOCTOR: (subdued) Yes.
NYSSA: He said he was a friend of yours.
ADRIC: But he's the man on the bridge.
DOCTOR: Yes.
ADRIC: You said to be prepared for the worst.
DOCTOR: Indeed I did, and I am prepared for the worst.
ADRIC: Why are you prepared for the worst, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Because he's here.
[INT. Central Register]
(The MASTER discards his robe and wheels a sonic screen from the register room into the computer room. The MONITOR and TEGAN are there. They turn round and react to his presence.)
MASTER: Please remain where you are. I have it in my power to bring Logopolis to a complete halt.
[EXT. Logopolis]
DOCTOR: There's much more to this block transfer computation than we thought.
ADRIC: Yes. That's how they built a replica of the Pharos Project.
DOCTOR: Yes. Yes. But why, hmm? Why build a replica of the Pharos Project? (he points) Central Register.
NYSSA: Listen.
ADRIC: I don't-
NYSSA: Sssh.
ADRIC: (sotto) I can't hear anything.
DOCTOR: Quite.
NYSSA: Logopolis has stopped.
DOCTOR: And I was vain enough to think it was me he was after. Logopolis is his target.
[INT. Central Register]
MONITOR: (as the MASTER presses buttons on his screen-control device) Turn that machine off. You have no idea what you're doing.
MASTER: Merely emitting a sound-cancelling wave, Monitor. Logopolis is now temporarily suspended. The silence gives us an opportunity to discuss its future.
MONITOR: There will be no future. You are eroding structure, generating entropy.
MASTER: An absurd assertion. I know the power of this device down to the last decibel.
MONITOR: But you do not know Logopolis!
MASTER: But I shall, shan't I? When you've told me of the secret work you're doing here.
MONITOR: I cannot tell you.
MASTER: Why have you created a copy of the Pharos Project? Hmm. The time has come for you to share your secret with me.
MONITOR: No! No-one must know. That has been our firm decision.
MASTER: Very well, we'll wait until you change it. Patience is a particular virtue of mine.
(The DOCTOR, NYSSA, and ADRIC enter.)
NYSSA: Father!
DOCTOR: That's not your father. Tremas is dead, murdered by him, the Master.
MASTER: Nyssa.
NYSSA: You killed my father?
(He takes NYSSA by the shoulders.)
MASTER: But his body remains useful. Without it, I could not have conquered Logopolis.
DOCTOR: This is not conquest, it's devastation.
MASTER: It's nothing more than a blanket of silence.
DOCTOR: Which is killing the Logopolitans and turning them to dust.
MASTER: You expect me to believe th-?
DOCTOR: Yes!
MONITOR: You're destroying everything. It may already be too late.
MASTER: You exaggerate, Monitor. Logopolis is not the universe.
MONITOR: But it is! Logopolis is the keystone. If you destroy Logopolis, you unravel the whole causal nexus.
MASTER: Causal nexus? You insult my intelligence.
DOCTOR: You're interfering with the law of cause and effect.
(ADRIC moves the screen away from the main console, where it is connected. The MASTER pushes a button on a box he holds. NYSSA steps forward and takes ADRIC by the throat with the bracelet hand.)
ADRIC: Nyssa! Nyssa, let go.
MASTER: That is a demonstration of the causal nexus.
TEGAN: (grabbing his arm) You revolting man!
(The MASTER throws her spinning back off into the DOCTOR's arms as NYSSA continues to choke ADRIC.)
MASTER: The electro-muscular constrictor gives me complete control over that hand. Please replace the screen.
TEGAN: I wouldn't take orders from you if you were the last man in the universe.
MASTER: Very well, one of your young friends will eliminate the other.
(The DOCTOR indicates to her to do as the MASTER asks. She does so, and the MASTER presses a button on the box. NYSSA releases ADRIC, who falls forward with a cough. TEGAN tends to him.)
DOCTOR: Don't you understand? Logopolis is crucial to the whole of creation. This could mean the end of the universe.
MASTER: I have never been persuaded by hyperbole, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Then come into the streets and see what's happening.
MASTER: No need for that. I can demonstrate the continued functioning of Logopolis from here. This device only creates temporary silence and can be switched off.
(He demonstrates and is rewarded by no resumption of sound. Everyone runs out into the streets.)
[EXT. Outside the Central Register]
MONITOR: You will hear nothing. Local disruption of structure is now irreversible. Logopolis is dead.
[EXT. Logopolis]
(Dust rises from the streets as the MASTER checks the alcoves. He runs from one to the next. All are empty.)
MASTER: They've done this deliberately. (to the others, who are behind him) You've done this deliberately to deprive me of my prize!
MONITOR: Nothing is solid now. Entropy has taken over.
(NYSSA, ADRIC, and TEGAN peer into an alcove, where a corpse decays rapidly. We hear and see the brick structure crumbling and falling.)
TEGAN: What's he done?
ADRIC: Everything began to waste away when he interfered. But why?
DOCTOR: The numbers were supporting the whole system.
MASTER: I don't believe it. My biomechanism's untouched.
MONITOR: The degradation is random.
MASTER: No, Monitor. This is some crude defence mechanism, a device to delude me. Come, Nyssa.
(He operates his box, and she begins walking forward.)
NYSSA: No. No.
MASTER: I will wring the truth out of it.
(He presses some controls, and NYSSA reaches toward the MONITOR's neck. She holds her hand back with the other. After a short time, she lets go, and the bracelet hand no longer moves of its own accord. The MASTER is perplexed.)
DOCTOR: The entropy you released is eroding your systems too.
MASTER: Entropy? Absurd. The power is weak. Some freak interference. Increase the power.
MONITOR: More power would simply speed the collapse.
(Illustrating this, NYSSA removes the bracelet, which crumbles to the ground.)
DOCTOR: Don't.
(He picks up the remnants, which are glowing greenish. He crumbles them like Styrofoam and drops them.)
MONITOR: From this point, the unravelling will spread out until the whole universe is reduced to nothing.
MASTER: So it's true.
(The MASTER walks into the distance.)
MONITOR: Yes, Doctor, you were right. Our numbers were holding the fabric of the universe together.
NYSSA: But how? Surely in a closed system like the universe, entropy is bound to increase?
MONITOR: Certainly. The universe long ago passed the point of total collapse.
DOCTOR: Passed the point?
MONITOR: If it had remained closed. But we had the means to postpone the time.
MASTER: So that's why you adapted the Pharos Project.
MONITOR: Yes. We opened the system by creating voids into other universes.
ADRIC: The Charged Vacuum Emboitments!
DOCTOR: We passed through one of your voids, Monitor.
MONITOR: It all depended on our continual endeavours, a temporary solution while the advanced research unit worked on a more permanent plan. But nothing will come of that now. Our labour is wasted. The voids will be closing.
(The group proceed through the streets. Walls are crumbling now.)
TEGAN: There must be something we can do?
(The top of a building falls in their way. They are trapped.)
TEGAN: This'll teach you to meddle in things you don't understand.
MONITOR: We are beyond recriminations now, beyond everything.
DOCTOR: Not quite.
(They arrive at the place where the TARDIS landed.)
DOCTOR: We must pool our resources.
NYSSA: The creature that killed my father-
DOCTOR: I can't choose the company I keep!
MASTER: An alliance with you, Doctor?
DOCTOR: In the circumstances, yes.
MASTER: If we do co-operate, there'll be no question of you ever returning to Gallifrey.
DOCTOR: If we don't co-operate, there'll be no question of Gallifrey.
TEGAN: Doctor, what are you doing?
DOCTOR: (holding up a hand) Please. Ssssh. As Time Lords, you and I have special responsibilities.
MASTER: Together, then.
NYSSA: (running up) But Doctor!
DOCTOR: I've never chosen my own company. Nyssa, it was you who contacted me and begged me to help you find your father! Tegan, it's your own curiosity that got you into this. And Adric - a stowaway.
(The TARDIS materialises.)
TEGAN: The TARDIS!
NYSSA: It's followed us from the Central Register.
ADRIC: But how can it get here when there's no-one in it?
(The MONITOR walks away.)
DOCTOR: Did I say there was no-one in it?
NYSSA: It must be the man who brought me to Logopolis.
DOCTOR: Come on. I don't want any further argument. One, two, three of you into the TARDIS, quickly. Go on.
ADRIC: (stepping back out) Look, we want to help you.
DOCTOR: It's impossible. My friend in there will look after you. I'm collaborating with the Master. Now, go on. Battle stations.
NYSSA: The man's a murderer!
ADRIC: Come on, Nyssa. He means it.
(The TARDIS door closes behind them.)
MASTER: (holding out his hand) Together?
DOCTOR: One last hope.
(The two shake hands.)
The above notes, transcription, etc. by Anna Shefl
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