| [Scrap Yard] (Night, a policeman is patrolling his beat past Foreman's Scrap Merchants at 76 Totter's Lane. Inside is an assortment of items, including a Police Telephone Box) [School] (The bell is ringing for end of classes)
BARBARA: Wait in here please, Susan. I won't be long. [Laboratory] (A man is tidying up after the class)
IAN: Oh? Not gone yet?
BARBARA: Obviously not.
IAN: Ask a silly question.
BARBARA: Sorry.
IAN: That's all right. I'll forgive you this time.
BARBARA: Oh, I had a terrible day. I don't know what to make of it.
IAN: Oh, what's the trouble? Can I help?
BARBARA: Oh, it's one of the girls, Susan Foreman.
IAN: Susan Foreman? She your problem too?
BARBARA: Yes.
IAN: You don't know what to make of her?
BARBARA: No.
IAN: How old is she, Barbara?
BARBARA: Fifteen.
IAN: Fifteen. She lets her knowledge out a bit at a time so as not to embarrass me. That's what I feel about her. She knows more science than I'll ever know. She's a genius. Is that what she's been doing with history?
BARBARA: Something like that.
IAN: And that's your problem, eh? Whether to hand over the class to her
BARBARA: No, not quite.
IAN: No? What?
BARBARA: Ian, I must talk to someone about this, but I don't want to get the girl into trouble. And I know you're going to tell me I'm imagining things.
IAN: No.
BARBARA: Well, I told you how good she is at history. I had a talk with her and told her she ought to specialise. She seemed quite interested until I said I'd be willing to work with her at her home. Then she said that would be absolutely impossible as her grandfather didn't like strangers.
IAN: He's a doctor, isn't he? That's a bit of a lame excuse.
BARBARA: Well, I didn't take too much notice but then recently her homework's been so bad.
IAN: Yes, I'll say.
BARBARA: Well, finally I got so irritated with all her excuses I decided to see this grandfather of hers and tell him to take some interest in her.
IAN: Did you indeed? And what's the old boy like?
BARBARA: Well, that's just it. I got the address from the secretary, 76 Totter's Lane, and I went along there one evening. Oh Ian, do pay attention.
IAN: Sorry. You went along there.
BARBARA: There isn't anything there. It's just an old junkyard.
IAN: You went to the wrong place.
BARBARA: Well, that was the address the secretary gave me.
IAN: The secretary got it wrong, then.
BARBARA: No. I checked. There's a big wall on one side, houses on the other and nothing in the middle except this junkyard. And that is number 76 Totter's Lane.
IAN: Hmm. That's a bit of a mystery. Well, there must be a simple answer.
BARBARA: What?
IAN: Well, we'll have to find out for ourselves, won't we?
BARBARA: Thank you for the we. She's waiting in one of the classrooms. I'm lending her a book on the French Revolution.
IAN: What's she going to do, rewrite it? Oh, all right. What do we do? Ask her point-blank?
BARBARA: No, I thought we could drive there, wait till she arrives and see where she goes.
IAN: All right.
BARBARA: That is, if you're not doing anything.
IAN: No, I'm not. After you. [Classroom] (Susan is listening to music on her transistor radio. She looks a little elfin, like Audrey Hepburn)
BARBARA: Susan.
SUSAN: Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Wright. I didn't hear you coming in. Aren't they fabulous?
BARBARA: Who?
SUSAN: It's John Smith and the Common Men. They've gone from nineteen to two in the hit parade.
BARBARA: Not bad.
IAN: John Smith is the stage name for the Honourable Aubrey Waites. He started his career as Chris Waites and the Carollers, didn't he, Susan?
SUSAN: You are surprising, Mister Chesterton. I wouldn't expect you to know a thing like that.
IAN: I have an enquiring mind. And a very sensitive ear.
SUSAN: Oh, sorry. (turns the radio off)
IAN: Thank you.
SUSAN: Is that the book you're lending me, Miss Wright?
BARBARA: Yes.
SUSAN: Thank you. It will be interesting. I'll return it tomorrow.
BARBARA: Oh, that's not necessary till you've finished it.
SUSAN: I'll have finished it.
IAN: Oh, where do you live, Susan? I'm giving Miss Wright a lift home, I've got room for one more.
SUSAN: No thank you, Mister Chesterton. I rather like walking in the English fog. It's sort of mysterious.
BARBARA: You say that as if
IAN: Then we won't deprive you of that romantic pleasure.
BARBARA: Well, hurry home, Susan. And be careful, the fog's getting thicker. We'll see you in the morning?
SUSAN: I expect so. Good night.
BARBARA: Good night.
IAN: Good night, Susan.
(They leave. Susan takes a piece of paper, drops paint onto it, folds it in half then draws a hexagon around it before starting up, guilty) [Totter's Lane] (Ian and Barbara are parked up)
BARBARA: Over there, where the policeman is.
IAN: The fog's cleared. We're lucky.
BARBARA: She can't have got here yet. I suppose we are doing the right thing.
IAN: You can't justify curiosity.
BARBARA: But her homework?
IAN: It's just an excuse, really. I've seen far worse. The truth is we're both curious about Susan and we won't be happy until we know some of the answers.
BARBARA: You can't just pass it off like that. If I thought I was just being a busybody, I'd go straight home. I thought you agreed she was a bit of a mystery.
IAN: Yes, well, I expect there's a very simple explanation to all this.
BARBARA: Well, I don't know how you explain the fact that a fifteen year old girl does not know how many shillings there are in a pound.
IAN: Really?
BARBARA: Really. She said she thought we were on the decimal system.
IAN: Decimal system?
[flashback to classroom - the other pupils laughing]
SUSAN: I'm sorry, Miss Wright.
BARBARA: Don't be silly, Susan. The United States has a decimal system. You know perfectly well that
SUSAN: Yes, of course, the decimal system hasn't started yet.
[Back to the car]
IAN: I suppose she couldn't be a foreigner? No, doesn't make sense. Nothing about this girl makes sense. For instance, the other day I was giving a talk about chemical changes, I'd given out the litmus paper to show cause and effect
BARBARA: And she knew the answer before you'd started.
IAN: Not quite.
[Flashback to laboratory classroom]
SUSAN: Yes, I can see red turns to blue, Mister Chesterton, but that's because we're dealing with two inactive chemicals. They only act in relation to each other.
IAN: But that's the whole point of the experiment, Susan.
SUSAN: Yes, it's a bit obvious, isn't it? Well, I'm not being rude, but couldn't we deal with two active chemicals and get on with something else? I'm sorry, it was just an idea.
[Back to the car]
IAN: She means it. These simple experiments are child's play to her.
BARBARA: You know, it's almost got to the stage where I deliberately want to trip her up.
IAN: Something like that happened a couple of weeks ago. I'd set the class a problem with A, B and C as the three dimensions.
[Flashback to classroom]
SUSAN: It's impossible unless you use D and E.
IAN: D and E? Whatever for? Do the problem that's set, Susan.
SUSAN: I can't, Mister Chesterton. You can't simply use three of them.
IAN: Three of them? Oh, time being the fourth dimension, I suppose? And what do you want E for? What do you make the fifth dimension?
SUSAN: Space.
[Back to the car]
BARBARA: Too many questions and not enough answers.
IAN: Stupid or just doesn't know. So we have a fifteen year old girl who is absolutely brilliant at some things, excruciatingly bad at others and, well, just inexplicable at the rest.
BARBARA: There she is. See her?
(Susan is at the gates to the junk yard)
IAN: She looks around like somebody who's afraid she's being watched. Or is my imagination working overtime?
BARBARA: Look, can we go in now? I hate to think of her alone in that place.
IAN: If she is alone. Look, she is fifteen. She might be meeting a boy. Did that occur to you?
BARBARA: I almost hope she is.
IAN: You do?
BARBARA: Well, it would be so normal. Isn't it silly? I feel afraid. As if we're about to interfere in something that is best left alone.
IAN: Come on, let's get it over with.
(They get out of the car)
BARBARA: Well, don't you feel it?
IAN: I take things as they come. Come on. [Junk yard] (Ian has a small torch in his hand)
IAN: What a mess. We're certainly not looking for her under all this.
BARBARA: Over there?
IAN: Ow. (he trips) I dropped it.
BARBARA: What?
IAN: The torch.
BARBARA: Well, use a match.
IAN: I haven't got one. Oh, never mind.
BARBARA: Susan.
IAN: Susan? Susan! Mister Chesterton and Miss Wright. She can't have got out without us hearing her.
BARBARA: Ian, look at this.
(She's found the police telephone box)
IAN: It's a police box. What on earth's it doing here? They're always in the street. Feel it. Feel it. Do you feel it?
BARBARA: It's a faint vibration.
IAN: It's alive! (he walks around it) It's not connected to anything, unless it's through the floor.
BARBARA: Look, I've had enough. Let's go and find a policeman.
(A sound of coughing)
BARBARA: What if it's her?
IAN: No, wait. That's not here. Quick.
(They hide as an old man in Astrakhan hat, and scarf enters the yard. He goes to the police box and turns the lock)
SUSAN [OC]: Oh, there you are!
BARBARA: It's Susan.
IAN: Shush!
(The old man opens the box door, and we hear pop music playing. Ian comes out from the hiding place)
IAN: Excuse me.
DOCTOR: What are you doing here?
IAN: We're looking for a young girl.
DOCTOR: We?
BARBARA: Good evening.
DOCTOR: What do you want?
IAN: One of our pupils, Susan Foreman, came into this yard.
DOCTOR: Really? In here? Are you sure?
BARBARA: Yes, we saw her from across the street.
DOCTOR: In this light?
IAN: Quite clearly.
DOCTOR: You were spying on her? Who are you?
IAN: We heard a young girl's voice call out to you.
DOCTOR: Impossible.
BARBARA: It came from in there.
DOCTOR: You must have imagined it.
BARBARA: I certainly did not imagine it.
DOCTOR: (leading him away from the box) Young man, is it reasonable to suppose that anybody would be inside a cupboard like that?
IAN: Is it, therefore, unreasonable to ask you to let us have a look inside?
DOCTOR: You have no right to be here. You're hiding and trespassing. I suggest you see this young child tomorrow instead of bothering me.
BARBARA: But won't you help us? We're two of her teachers from the Coal Hill School. We saw her come in and we haven't seen her leave. Naturally, we're worried.
DOCTOR: It is no business of mine. I suggest you leave here.
IAN: Not until we're satisfied that Susan isn't in there. And I don't understand your attitude.
DOCTOR: Yours leaves a lot to be desired.
IAN: Will you open that door?
DOCTOR: I will not.
IAN: Why not? What are you afraid we'll find there?
DOCTOR: Go away.
IAN: Open the door!
DOCTOR: I certainly will not. Pushing your way in here.
IAN: Then I think we'd better find a policeman.
DOCTOR: Very well.
IAN: And you're coming with us.
DOCTOR: Oh, am I? I think not.
BARBARA: We can't force him.
IAN: But we can't leave him here. Doesn't it seem obvious to you that he's got her locked up in there? Why, look at it, it's got no handles. There must be a hidden lock somewhere.
BARBARA: That was Susan's voice.
IAN: But of course it was. Susan! Susan! Susan, are you in there? It's Mister Chesterton and Miss Wright, Susan.
DOCTOR: Don't you think you're being rather high-handed, young man? You thought you saw a young girl enter the yard. You imagine you heard music or her voice. You believe she might be inside there. Not very substantial, is it?
BARBARA: But why won't you help us?
DOCTOR: I'm not hindering you. You intrude here and start making accusations and implications. If you both want to make fools of yourselves, I suggest you do what you said you'd do. Go and fetch a policeman.
IAN: While you nip off quietly in the other direction.
DOCTOR: There, you see. More suspicions, more insults. I shall remain here. There's only one way in and out of this yard. I shall be here when you get back. I want to see your faces when you try to explain away your behaviour to a policeman.
IAN: Nevertheless, we're going to get one. Come on, Barbara.
SUSAN [OC]: What are you doing out there, Grandfather?
DOCTOR: Go back inside and shut the door! Shut that door!
IAN: Barbara!
(Barbara goes inside the box as Ian and the Doctor struggle)
DOCTOR: What are you doing, young man. Come back. [Tardis] (Barbara finds herself in a very big room, with chair, hat stand, various other pieces of furniture, and Susan standing at a six-sided console in the centre. She is dumb-founded. Ian follows, then the Doctor. The doors close)
DOCTOR: These people are known to you, I believe?
SUSAN: What are you doing here? They're two of my schoolteachers.
DOCTOR: Is that your excuse for this unwarrantable intrusion? You had no right to invite them here. I blame you for this, Susan. You would insist on going to that ridiculous school. I warned you.
SUSAN: But, Grandfather
BARBARA: Is this really where you live, Susan?
SUSAN: Yes.
DOCTOR: And what is wrong with it?
IAN: But it was just a box.
DOCTOR: Perhaps.
BARBARA: But it can't be.
IAN: It was. You saw it.
DOCTOR: You see, I knew this sort of thing would happen, you stupid child!
BARBARA: Maybe we should leave now.
IAN: Just a minute. Now that we are here, I'd just like to. I know this is absurd, but. But I walked all around it.
DOCTOR: Don't expect any answers from me. You wouldn't understand anyway.
IAN: But you saw me, Barbara.
BARBARA: Yes.
DOCTOR: You see. I warned you. You see what you've done?
IAN: It's an illusion. It must be.
SUSAN: You shouldn't have come here.
IAN: This is a trick.
DOCTOR: It is no trick, young man! You both forced your way into the ship. I did not invite you. I see no reason why I should explain anything.
IAN: Ship?
DOCTOR: I use your own outdated terminology for any craft which does not roll along on wheels.
BARBARA: You mean it moves?
SUSAN: The Tardis can go anywhere.
BARBARA: Tardis? I don't know what you mean, Susan.
SUSAN: I made up Tardis from the initials, Time and Relative Dimension In Space. Well, I thought you'd both realise when you came inside and saw the different dimensions from outside.
IAN: Just let me get this right. A thing that looks like a police box, stuck in a junkyard, can move anywhere in time and space?
SUSAN: Yes!
IAN: Oh, Susan, don't be ridiculous.
DOCTOR: They'll never understand, my child.
SUSAN: Why won't you believe us?
BARBARA: We just want you to tell us the truth.
DOCTOR: (Taking off his cloak and scarf) You have heard the truth. We are not of this race. We are not of this Earth. We are wanderers in the fourth dimensions of space and time, cut off from our own planet and our own people by aeons and universes that are far beyond the reach of your most advanced sciences.
SUSAN: It's true. Every word of it's true. You don't know what you've done coming in here. Grandfather, let them go now. Don't you see they don't believe us? They can't do us any harm. I know these Earth people better than you. Their minds reject things they don't understand.
DOCTOR: No.
IAN: You can't keep us here.
BARBARA: Susan, why do you insist upon lying to us?
SUSAN: I'm not lying! I loved your school. I loved England in the twentieth century. The last five months have been the happiest of my life.
BARBARA: But you are one of us. You look like us, you sound like us.
SUSAN: I was born in the forty ninth century.
IAN: What? Now, look, Susan. I've had enough of this. Come on, let's get out of here.
SUSAN: You can't get out.
(She's right. They can't open the door. The Doctor laughs)
SUSAN: He won't let you go.
IAN: You pushed something when we came in here. It was over here. (on the console) Now, which is it? Which is it? Which is the control that opens the door?
DOCTOR: You still think this is a trick?
IAN: I know that free movement in the fourth dimension of space and time is a scientific dream I didn't expect to find solved in a junkyard.
DOCTOR: For your science, schoolmaster, not for ours. I tell you, before your ancestors turned the first wheel, the people of my world had reduced movement through the farthest reaches of space to a game for children.
IAN: Unless you open that door and let me take Susan and Miss Wright out of here, I'll
DOCTOR: Don't threaten me, young man.
SUSAN: Grandfather, he doesn't understand. Let them go now.
BARBARA: What if it is true?
IAN: But it can't be, I tell you. Are you going to open that door? All right. I'll have to take a chance for myself.
DOCTOR: Very well. I can't stop you.
(He touches a button)
SUSAN: Don't touch it! It's live!
(Ian gets an electric shock)
BARBARA: Ian, are you all right? What do you think you're doing? How dare you behave like this?
SUSAN: Oh Grandfather, let them go now, please.
BARBARA: But you must. You can't keep us here.
SUSAN: Grandfather, let them go. We'll go somewhere else. Some other time. I won't object. I promise you I won't object.
DOCTOR: My dear child, you know very well we cannot let them possess even one idea that such a ship as the Tardis might be possible.
SUSAN: But Grandfather, don't you see? If we let them go now they can't
DOCTOR: Look, see how they watch and listen as we talk. If they leave the ship now, they might come to believe at last all this is possible. Think what would have happened to the ancient Romans if they'd possessed the power of gunpowder. If Napoleon had been given the secret of the aeroplane. No, my child. We both know we cannot let our secret loose into the world of the twentieth century.
SUSAN: But you can't keep them prisoners here!
IAN: You can't keep us prisoners anywhere.
DOCTOR: I cannot let you go, schoolteacher. Whether you believe what you have been told is of no importance. You and your companion would be footprints in a time where you were not supposed to have walked.
IAN: If I have to use force to get out of here, I will, you know.
BARBARA: Maybe we've stumbled on something beyond our understanding.
DOCTOR: You see? The first faint glimmerings.
SUSAN: Why did you come here? Why? Grandfather, no!
(The Doctor is walking back to the console. Ian grabs him)
IAN: No, you don't!
SUSAN: Let him go!
DOCTOR: Let me go!
SUSAN: Stop it!
DOCTOR: Let me go, I say!
SUSAN: Stop it!
(The Doctor breaks free and activates the console. The centre piece starts moving up and down. Sound and visual effects later, Ian and Barbara are out cold, while the Doctor and Susan are standing rigid. The police box is no longer in the junkyard, but in a desolate landscape. The shadow of a humanoid figure is seen on the ground). |
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