Search This Blog

Wednesday, 22 November 2023

The Ark Original Airdate: 5 Mar, 1966

 The Ark

Original Airdate: 5 Mar, 1966


Episode One - The Steel Sky

[Jungle]


(A strange humanoid with a thick head of hair and single eye where our mouth is, is walking along carefully. The Tardis materialises and new girl Dodo Chaplet dashes out, wearing a crusades style tabard. She sneezes. Steven follows her.)

STEVEN: Just where do you think you're going?

DODO: Out.

STEVEN: Out?

DODO: Yes, I thought I'd get some fresh air. Somebody opened the door and

STEVEN: But nobody said you could go out.

DODO: Do they have to then?

STEVEN: Well, of course they do.

(Dodo is walking away.)

STEVEN: Look, Dodo, you don't know what you might have found out here. No gravity, poisoned atmosphere, all sorts of things. Look, stop prancing around over there. What happens if you get lost?

DODO: I catch a bus back.

STEVEN: A bus? Look, what are you talking about? I mean, just where do you think you are?

DODO: Ah! Bet you thought you'd caught me, didn't you? Bet you thought I didn't know. Well, I do.

STEVEN: You do?

DODO: Of course I do.

STEVEN: What, this place? I mean, you recognise it? What, with all these strange animals and flowers and things?

(Toucan in the trees.)

STEVEN: Well, you can't have been here before.

DODO: Yes I have. It's just outside London. I came here once with the school. It's called Whipsnade.

STEVEN: Just outside London? Look, wait a minute. I mean, it can't be.

DODO: Yes, it is. I bet if you go down that path there, you'll come to the American Bison and the Tea Bar.

STEVEN: Look, we don't even know that we're on Earth.

DODO: Earth? Earth? Well, it couldn't be anywhere else now, could it? Hey, look Steven, that proves it. That's a chameleon.

STEVEN: What this?

DODO: And here's a monitor. Look, that's a Locust. There, what did I tell you?

STEVEN: Look, how do you know all this?

DODO: I learnt it at school. There's nothing you can tell me about nature, simply nothing.

(A creature calls)

STEVEN: Having second thoughts?

DODO: No! I just don't remember Whipsnade being so rowdy, that's all.

(The Doctor comes out of the Tardis.)

DOCTOR: Improbable as it may seem, dear boy, I think the child, Dorothea

DODO: Dodo!

DOCTOR: Oh yes, of course, my dear. Dodo is right.

STEVEN: What? You mean it is Earth?

DOCTOR: Well, I can't tell you just yet. All I can say is that it's more likely to be Earth than anywhere else and it's very strange indeed. You know, I've been taking a look at my instruments in there and it's really very strange.

(The Doctor and Steven are watched as they go back into the Tardis.)


[Control deck]


(A printout reads - VERDICT .... 20 - 0 = GUILTY. Another of the one-eyed people hands the paper to a human at a higher level desk. A young man is escorted in. Every human is wearing a garment made of strips of cloth hanging from a thick collar.)

COMMANDER: Prisoner, you've been found guilty of extreme carelessness in carrying out your duties. By leaving open a wide valve in the heat exchange unit, you could have caused an explosion that would have been fatal not only to the human race, but also to our friends, the Monoids. As your commander, Galactic law gives me wide powers in such cases. The safety of our people must be preserved at all costs. In these grave circumstances, the lightest sentence I can pass is one of miniaturisation. Prepare the Minifier. Sentence will be carried out immediately. The prisoner will be retained at micro-cell size, to be re-constituted in approximately seven hundred years time, when it can no longer be a danger to us. Does the prosecution accept this sentence?

(A man signs to a Monoid, who nods.)

ZENTOS: We do.

COMMANDER: Has the defence anything further to say on the prisoner's behalf?

(A young woman runs up to the desk.)

MELLIUM: Father, anyone can make mistakes. He's not likely to do it again.

COMMANDER: My child, we are the Guardians of the human race. You know our responsibilities cannot be taken lightly. Under Galactic law, the only alternative punishment would be expulsion.

MANYAK: Sir, the prisoner accepts the verdict and thanks you for your clemency in not imposing a harsher sentence.

COMMANDER: Very well. Proceed.

MELLIUM: Goodbye.

(The young man is escorted by two Monoids into a booth. He crouches on the floor as a Monoid presses a switch and he shrinks smaller and smaller until he cannot be seen. One of the humans enters the booth and lifts a small tray containing the miniaturised convict off the floor. He walks away with it. The prosecution Monoid signs to Zentos.)

ZENTOS: My learned friend wishes to thank you, sir, on behalf of the Monoids, for the care you take of us all.


[Jungle]


DODO: Look, Doctor.

(An elephant walks through the trees.)

DODO: Hey, look at him then.

(The travellers go over to him.)

STEVEN: Well?

DOCTOR: Well, it's just as I said. It's all very, very strange. That is an Indian elephant.

STEVEN: Yes, I know. What difference does that make? What does it prove?

DOCTOR: Well, that's what I'm trying to find out, dear boy.

DODO: Flowers from America, birds from Africa, a snake from Brazil and now an elephant from India.

DOCTOR: Exactly, my dear.

STEVEN: It's a jungle incorporating things from all over the world.

DOCTOR: Yes, you're quite right, my boy. Yes, and top of everything else, it's a jungle without a sky.

DODO: Hey, look at that then.

STEVEN: No sky?

DOCTOR: No sun, no clouds, merely a metal roof radiating some kind of light.

STEVEN: It's extraordinary.

DOCTOR: Yes, and plus something else.

DODO: What's that?

DOCTOR: The earth, this, this ground we're standing on. It appears to be trembling.

DODO: It is more elephants coming?

STEVEN: An earthquake building up?

DOCTOR: No, it's too regular for that. No, it's more of a mechanical vibration. Yes.

STEVEN: Look.

DOCTOR: Extraordinary.

STEVEN: In what circumstances do you get all these things together? I mean, animals and vegetable life from different continents?

DODO: With a metal roof and all this shaking?

DOCTOR: There's only one thing that strikes me. This could be some kind of indoor nature park.

STEVEN: Yes, but on this scale?

DOCTOR: Yes, yes, improbable dear boy, but possible. Definitely possible.

DODO: But are we on Earth or... or

DOCTOR: Mmm?

DODO: Choo! (Dodo sneezes again.)

DOCTOR: Oh, bless you my dear.

DODO: Oh, thanks.

DOCTOR: You have a handkerchief, I hope?

DODO: Of course I have.

DOCTOR: Well then, use it, my child! We must do something about that cold of yours. That reminds me, why are you dressed in these stupid clothes? Have you been footling about in my wardrobe? Is that what it is? What do you think you're playing at, crusades?

DODO: I'm not playing at anything. Is it all right to wear, or do I have to ask permission for that as well?

DOCTOR: Yes, you do my dear. Now you take care of them because you never know when we might use them. Now, I suggest we take a last look round and we'll get you off to bed.

DODO: Oh, you're not going to send me home, are you?

DOCTOR: Home? Ho, ho! What an idea. I couldn't send you home even if I wanted to.

DODO: Oh, that's all right, then. I think I'm beginning to enjoy this space travel or whatever it is.


[Control deck]


(It is now a busy place. A Monoid is driving a tractor unit hauling a crate. Others are signing to each other. Children are playing. A Monoid signs to Zentos. He goes over to the Commander and Mellium who are looking at a design.)

ZENTOS: Commander?

COMMANDER: Yes, Zentos?

ZENTOS: A strange report from the jungle. The Monoids acquaint us of intruders.

COMMANDER: Intruders? But how can that be? How could they have entered it?

ZENTOS: I've no idea. I'll try and trace them.

MELLIUM: But surely it's impossible for anyone to be in the jungle that we don't know about? Well, where will they have come from?

COMMANDER: I don't know. Perhaps when we see them?

(An overhead view of Steven and the Doctor comes up on the wall viewscreen.)

ZENTOS: Here they are.

COMMANDER: They look like human beings, but they can't be. We accounted for everyone.

ZENTOS: Shall we not arrest them and bring them here and question them?

MELLIUM: Father, look. It seems to be their spaceship. It is an unusual design.

COMMANDER: Are we sure this is nothing to do with the Monoids?

ZENTOS: Quite sure. It was they who reported it.

COMMANDER: Good, then you're right. They must be questioned. But Zentos, not arrested. Invited.

(The community gather to watch the travellers on the viewscreen.)


[Jungle]


DODO: Doctor, Steven, get a look at these fab pictures!

(She's found some rock paintings.)

DOCTOR: Ah, fab, hmm. My dear child, if you're going to be with us for any length of time, you'll have to do something about that English of yours.

DODO: What's wrong with it?

DOCTOR: It's terrible, child. Oh, it's most irritating. Well, look at that now. Isn't that extraordinary? Ah, very interesting. It looks like a zebra with two heads.

STEVEN: Yes, well, that could be the imagination of the artist.

DOCTOR: Hmm, perhaps and perhaps not. What then. Yes, we've already established this place as illogical. Why shouldn't there be animals with two heads?

STEVEN: No reason at all, except that the more we see of it, the less like Earth it becomes.

(An alarm sounds.)

DODO: What's that? Do you think somebody's seen us.

STEVEN: There's only one way to find out.

DOCTOR: Yes!

(Steven goes off and sees that there are Monoids at the Tardis.)

STEVEN: You were right. It is an alarm. They've found the Tardis. I can't say I like the look of them.

DODO: What's that?

(The alarm stops.)

STEVEN: They're coming this way, searching for us.

DODO: There's a kind of cave there.

STEVEN: Go on, you go ahead.

DOCTOR: Yes, yes. What do they look like, dear boy?

STEVEN: Terrifying. If this is Earth, it's no longer inhabited by human beings.

DOCTOR: Shh. You'll frighten the child. Come on.


[Cave]


DODO: What are they? Some awful

DOCTOR: Now, don't worry child. You're quite safe with us.

DODO: Yeah, but supposing they have two heads?

(Steven stifles her sneeze as the Monoids pass the cave entrance.)

STEVEN: Bless you. Remind me never to take you out again when you've got a cold.

DOCTOR: Now, let's try and get back to the Tardis. Take care. This might be dangerous.

(Dodo sneezes.)

STEVEN: Quiet! (Dodo sniffles.) What's the matter? Are you crying?

DODO: No, me nose is running!

DOCTOR: Just do as he says, child. This may be very difficult.


[Jungle]


(Steven leads the way.)

STEVEN: Doctor!

DOCTOR: Why, yes, of course. Yes! I know where I am now. Yes, indeed!

STEVEN: It looks like some sort of city, factory?

(Just beyond the jungle edge is a high-rise cityscape.)

DOCTOR: No, no, no, dear boy. All this is a spaceship!

STEVEN: A spaceship?

DOCTOR: Yes, exactly!

DODO: Hey, Doctor? If this is a spaceship what are they?

(A group of Monoids with sticks stand up.)


[Control deck]


(The printer is automatically transcribing the conversation. Traveller: you found our vehicle.)

COMMANDER: You travel in that black box?

STEVEN: Yes.

COMMANDER: Well, how are you able to make your spaceship enter ours?

STEVEN: It isn't just a spaceship. It can travel anywhere in time or space.

ZENTOS: Why have you chosen to come here?

STEVEN: Well, we didn't. It has a mind of its own.

COMMANDER: I don't understand. Experiments to pass through the fourth dimension were undertaken in the twenty seventh segment of time. They were unsuccessful. How can anything so crude

STEVEN: Look, I told you before. The Doctor's the one who will tell you what you want to know.

(The Commander signs to a Monoid.)

STEVEN: May I ask a question also?

ZENTOS: No!

COMMANDER: Why not? We're all friends here.

STEVEN: Look, is this really a spaceship? This city and all that surrounds it?

COMMANDER: Yes, indeed.

(He goes over to a console and points at a schematic. The city is at the edge of a huge circle.)

COMMANDER: Here we are.

STEVEN: That's the biggest we've ever seen. Look, who are you and these creatures that serve you?

COMMANDER: Like you, we come from the Earth. The origin of the Monoids is obscure. They came to Earth many years ago, apparently from their own planet which was dying. They offered us their invaluable services for being allowed to come on this joint voyage.

STEVEN: And where you are going?

COMMANDER: To Refusis Two. The Earth also is dying. We have left it for the last time.

STEVEN: The last time?

COMMANDER: Yes. In a short time it will burn and be swallowed in the pull of the Sun.

STEVEN: Then we must have journeyed forward millions of years.

ZENTOS: You yourself, I take it, are human?

STEVEN: Why yes, of course.

COMMANDER: Why do you doubt him?

ZENTOS: They could be Refusians sent here to intercept us, to sabotage our mission.

STEVEN: Refusians? From the planet you're headed for?

COMMANDER: Explain.

ZENTOS: We only know them as intelligence's that inhabit that planet. They might have a way of assuming human bodies, of using them to pass, to mingle amongst us!

DOCTOR: Oh, rubbish, rubbish. With all our imperfections, I can assure you, sir, if you were to cut my skin, I would bleed, the same as you would.

STEVEN: That's right.

(Dodo sneezes.)

DOCTOR: There you see, complete with chills.

ZENTOS: Chills?

DOCTOR: A virus fever which used to be quite common to the human being.

COMMANDER: And cured so long ago we've forgotten what it was like. Fascinating! It's like history coming to life. Tell me, Doctor, if you cannot direct your spacecraft, your journeys must take you to some strange places.

(Zentos has been signing to a Monoid.)

MELLIUM: What were you telling him?

ZENTOS: I wish to know more of the traveller's spacecraft.

MELLIUM: You do not trust the travellers?

ZENTOS: I know nothing of them. Your father trusts them.

MELLIUM: He knows no more than you. He simply has faith.

ZENTOS: So have I, in my own eyes and ears, and machines tell fewer lies than men.

DOCTOR: Including the Daleks.

COMMANDER: Nero, the Trojan wars, the Daleks. But all that happened in the first segment of time.

DOCTOR: Segment? To use your phrase, sir, what segment are we in now?

COMMANDER: The fifty seventh.

DOCTOR: Good gracious! We must have jumped at least ten million years.

STEVEN: When do you expect your journey to end?

COMMANDER: Not for a long time. Neither I, nor my daughter Mellium, nor Zentos, will ever see the planet. That pleasure is reserved for our children's children, many years hence.

STEVEN: How long from now?

COMMANDER: Using your measurement of time, seven hundred years.

DOCTOR: Seven hundred years, but why travel that far? Surely

COMMANDER: Only Refusis has the same conditions that we had on Earth. Atmosphere, water, the right temperature.

STEVEN: Has anyone ever been there?

COMMANDER: No. Our knowledge is based purely on audio-space research.

STEVEN: No wonder you had to bring everything. At least two of each, I suppose?

DODO: Like the Ark?

COMMANDER: The Ark?

DODO: Yeah, Noah's ark. You know, two by two. The flood.

COMMANDER: I'm afraid I don't know. But we do have the Earth's full population, human and animal.

DOCTOR: Yes, but where, sir? I can only see but a few people.

COMMANDER: We are the Guardians. The rest have been reduced to micro-cell size.


[Storage chamber]


(A Monoid works in the room.) COMMANDER [OC]: They are stored in trays and will re-emerge normally when we land. Each cabinet contains a million people. Oh, yes. There are many things aboard our ship which would interest a traveller.


[Control deck]


COMMANDER: Mellium, why don't you show the young people the statue?

MELLIUM: Would you like to see it?

DODO: It depends, what is

STEVEN: Yes, of course we would. Come on, Dodo.

MELLIUM: This way.

COMMANDER: While I am sure that you would be more interested in the technicalities of our control deck.

DOCTOR: Oh yes, indeed!

COMMANDER: Then I'll leave you with our chief controller, Manyak. He will explain everything.

DOCTOR: Thank you.

DOCTOR: Now tell me, that noise we heard just now. Was that a flight adjustment?

MANYAK: No, sir, refueling pause.

(Mellium, Steven and Dodo are by the base of a giant statue.)

MELLIUM: Here it is, Homo Sapiens. Started on Earth, due to be completed just before the landing on Refusis.

STEVEN: What? Seven hundred years to sculpt one statue?

MELLIUM: Yes, we're constructing it by hand using the ancient methods. It's for our children and our children's children, so that they can watch it grow gradually as time goes by.

(Dodo has to stand on a ladder just to be able to reach the toe of the statue.)

DODO: What is it made of? You can't scratch it, can you?

STEVEN: Dodo! You'll have to watch her. She'll have the whole thing down.

MELLIUM: It's a substance called gragarium rock. It'll last for ever. Here's the finished design. (A human holding the spherical Ark in his right hand.)

DODO: Hey, that's gear!

(An alarm sounds.)

DODO: What's that? All that carry on?

(The launching bay door opens and a tractor unit enters the control deck with a Monoid lying on it. The Commander is holding his head in pain.)

ZENTOS: Commander, the strange disease, the fever is spreading among the Monoids.

COMMANDER: I can hardly hear you, Zentos. It's so hot. What's happened to the temperature?

ZENTOS: Commander? The Commander, too. He has the strange fever. The fever brought by the strangers!

MELLIUM: What is it? What's wrong?

ZENTOS: Stay away from them, Mellium, and from your father.

MELLIUM: But what is it?

COMMANDER: I don't know. I'm not sure. But Zentos is right. Stay away.

(Dodo feels the Commander's forehead.)

ZENTOS: Don't touch him!

DOCTOR: We may be able to help.

DODO: It's nothing to worry about. His temperature's a bit high, that's all. It's just a fever. It can only be a cold.

DOCTOR: Do you realise what this means, dear boy?

STEVEN: What's all the fuss about? The man's caught Dodo's cold, that's all.

DOCTOR: All? All? These people, this generation, have never experienced the common cold for the simple reason it was wiped out many generations ago before they were born. They have no resistance to it.

STEVEN: What'll happen?

DOCTOR: I don't quite know, I don't know. But it might be fatal and we shall be to blame. Yes, it's all our fault and I should have foreseen it.

ZENTOS: Did you hear that? Did I not try and warn the Commander? I told you these people were evil.

DODO: But it wasn't my fault. How was I supposed to know?

MANYAK: The sick Monoid. He's dead.

ZENTOS: Seize them! All of you listen! The success of all we stand for, everything aboard this spaceship is suddenly endangered by the strange fever. A fever brought by these strangers in our midst!

DOCTOR: But I

ZENTOS: I invoke the special Galactic law against them. Hold them, take them into custody, and later they will be made to suffer for the crime that they have committed!

STEVEN: Look, listen to us!

ZENTOS: Take them away!

(The travellers are marched away.)

MELLIUM: What about my father?

ZENTOS: He may well die. But then again, so might all of us. In which case, it was pointless leaving.


Episode Two - The Plague


[Detention Room]


(The prisoners have been locked in a room with a bench and table.)

STEVEN: What do you think they'll do to us, Doctor?

DOCTOR: Well, I'm not sure, dear boy. We shall just have to wait and see.

DODO: It's all my fault. If I'd known it was going to be like this, I'd never have come.

DOCTOR: Well you did come, my dear, so it's too late to be worry about that. And stop snivelling!

DODO: I'm not snivelling. It's me nose running again! Anyway, I'm feeling better now but I don't suppose anyone cares.

DOCTOR: But of course they care, my dear. Now don't worry. It's not your fault at all. If it's anybody's, it's mine.

STEVEN: Look, do you think this has happened before? That we've carried an infection from one age to another, or even one planet to another?

DOCTOR: Oh, I don't want to think it about it, dear boy. It's too horrifying. Though I must say that we're usually very healthy.

STEVEN: It'll spread through the whole ship, become an epidemic.

DOCTOR: Well, that depends on the strength of the virus infection.

DODO: If it's half as bad as my cold was, it will.

DOCTOR: Oh, do blow your nose, child. It's running all over the place.

DODO: No, it isn't. I'm crying this time.

DOCTOR: Well, look, my dear, do try and rest. You know you may be feeling better but you're far from cured. Oh, if only those wretched Guardians would let us out of here. I might be able to help.


[Control deck]


(Zentos is watching Monoids fall ill on the CCTV monitors.)

ZENTOS: Look. That's another victim. It's not showing any signs of abating. And look.


[Jungle]


(A Monoid collapses right outside the Tardis.)


[Control deck]


ZENTOS: That's another victim. Another death. And more human Guardians have also been taken ill. Thank heaven none of them has died yet.

MANYAK: What will happen if one does?

ZENTOS: It'll be disaster. Each man has his allotted task. No one had reckoned on this eventuality.

MANYAK: There must be something we can do about it.

ZENTOS: Our micro-virologists are trying to find the answer. One of them is with the Commander now.


[Commander's room]


(A Monoid in a facemask is standing guard by the bed, and Mellium and Rhos are also wearing facemasks.)

MELLIUM: Is there nothing you can do?

RHOS: Unfortunately, the data covering this type of fever was lost long ago, in the primal wars of the tenth segment.

COMMANDER: Mellium.

MELLIUM: Yes, father?

COMMANDER: I seem to be drifting back and forth from unconsciousness to moments of sudden clarity.

MELLIUM: Perhaps it's better that you shouldn't talk.

COMMANDER: No, must, I must. Promise me, Mellium, should anything happen to me

MELLIUM: Oh, you mustn't talk this way.

COMMANDER: Should anything happen, do all in your power, along with the others, to make sure the voyage continues.

MELLIUM: Of course, father.

COMMANDER: What

MELLIUM: But soon you'll get well.

COMMANDER: What happens to me is not so important. Or you for that matter, or any one of us, but the voyage and the eventual landing of our descendants on the planet Refusis, that is! That's the only thing that's important. Remember that.

MELLIUM: Yes, father.


[Detention Room]


DODO: What is it?

DOCTOR: I don't know.

DODO: It sounds like savages.


[Corridor]


(It's a Monoid funeral procession. Four of them are carrying a shrouded body on their shoulders.)


[Control deck]


(The procession enters.)

ZENTOS: Proceed with the preparations for ejection. Commit the body to space burial.

(The body is placed on the back of a tractor unit and driven away. The launching bay hatch closes.)

MANYAK: It is over.

(The body flies out into space.)

ZENTOS: Guardians, Monoids, before it is too late, before we are stricken by the fever ourselves, we must make the strangers answer for the terrible crime they have committed.

WOMAN: Yes, they must be tried and punished.

ZENTOS: A hearing will commence at once. As Deputy Commander, I will preside. Baccu has undertaken to put the charges.

CROWD: The best man for the job.

ZENTOS: Will anyone speak for the prisoners?

MANYAK: I will.

MELLIUM: And I. My father would wish it.


[Commander's room]


MELLIUM [on monitor]: His only desire was that justice should be done and a sensible solution to this crisis be found.

COMMANDER: Yes, yes.


[Detention Room]


ZENTOS [on monitor]: The law that has been broken is the following

DODO: Look Doctor, they've switched the television on.

ZENTOS [on monitor]: In that the spaceship represents the only means by which Earth life may be extended and perpetuated, the Guardian for the time being in charge of the ship, shall have absolute power to punish or restrain any life-form that endangers


[Control deck]


ZENTOS: The success of its mission, by expulsion from the ship, miniaturisation or such lesser penalty as he shall deem fit.


[Detention Room]


DODO: Some sort of trial?

ZENTOS [on monitor]: I call on Baccu to detail the charge.

DOCTOR: Yes, my dear, and we are the accused.

MELLIUM [on monitor]: Doctor, Manyak and I believe your story. We've offered to speak in your defence but at least one of you must give evidence.

DOCTOR: Of course.

STEVEN: I must go.

DOCTOR: What?

STEVEN: (looking unwell) Doctor, I must. I'm getting stifled in here. I must go and do something, even if it's only to show them how stupid they are wasting time with trials and speeches. After all, the only important thing now is to let you organise finding a cure.

DOCTOR: Very well then, if only they'll listen.

MELLIUM [on monitor]: They'll probably ask you to speak next, Doctor.

DOCTOR: My dear, I only want to help.

(A Monoid enters and takes Steven away.)


[Control deck]


(Steven is in a barred cage covered in plastic to stop any germs spreading.)

BACCU: My contention is that it was no accident that this disaster has happened. I say that you came here intentionally to spread the disease.

STEVEN: But that's utter nonsense. I mean how can you possibly

BACCU: And that you are agents of the planet towards which this spaceship is proceeding. That you came here to destroy us.

STEVEN: Why? We're human beings like you are. Why should we?

ZENTOS: There is the crux of the matter. Do you expect us to believe that nonsense, that you manage in that ridiculous machine called the Tardis, have managed to travel through time? Guardians, Monoids, these beings, whatever they are, place a heavy strain on our credulity.

STEVEN: Well that's not very difficult! If your medical records are anything to go by, this segment of time, far from being one of the most advanced in knowledge, is one of the worst!

ZENTOS: We can cope with all things known to the fifty seventh segment of Earth life, but not with strange diseases brought by you as agents of the intelligences that inhabit Refusis!

STEVEN: Are you still on about that? I've told you before. We know nothing of that planet.

ZENTOS: My instinct, every fibre of my being, tells me differently.

STEVEN: And that, unfortunately, tells me only one thing.

ZENTOS: What's that?

STEVEN: That the nature of man, even in this day and age, hasn't altered at all. You still fear the unknown, like everyone else before you.


[Commander's room]


COMMANDER: That's true! True!

ZENTOS [on monitor]: That won't stop me from coping with it.


[Control deck]


STEVEN: How? By destroying us? By ejecting us into space?

ZENTOS: If that is the voted finding of this hearing, yes!

MANYAK: Steven, prove to us your good faith. Would your friend, the Doctor, have any knowledge how to deal with this fever?

STEVEN: Yes, he probably would if you'd let him out of that cell so that he had a chance to experiment.

ZENTOS: Yes, of course he would. He would love that and by such means spread the fever even further and faster. Perhaps even kill one of the Guardians. Are we to be fooled by such tricks?

ALL: No!

ZENTOS: Are we to be taken in by such nonsense?

ALL: No!

ZENTOS: Do these creatures have the outward appearance of human beings?

MAN: They are enemies. They should be punished!

WOMAN: That's right! Let them be taken to the ejector chamber! They must be thrown out.

(The crowd all shout at once.)


[Detention Room]


DODO: Doctor, look at Steven. Is he all right?

DOCTOR: I hope so, my dear, I hope so.

DODO: Do you think he may have caught the fever?

DOCTOR: Well, I'm afraid he may have. It appears that this virus is more virulent than I suspected.


[Control deck]


MANYAK: Guardians, listen to me! Guardians, listen to me! This is a court of law!

ZENTOS: Let him speak! This is a fair hearing.

MANYAK: My appeal for reason in this matter is simple and direct. The Doctor and his companions have not denied that they brought the fever among us. They say it was an accident, and I believe them.

WOMAN: But that's nonsense!

MANYAK: For the simple reason that if they were in fact agents of the Refusians, they could have a achieved their objective in a much simpler way. One in which they would not have exposed themselves to this danger.

MAN: But they're Refusians!

WOMAN: That's no argument!

MANYAK: Then I have another. The fever is here. We have no answer for it and it might well be that they are the only ones who can cure it.

ZENTOS: Our micro-virologists may still find an answer.

MANYAK: Perhaps, but if we were to agree that the Doctor and his friends could, what is the value in expelling them from the spaceship?


[Commander's room]


COMMANDER: None at all. If Manyak and my daughter can see that, why can't they?


[Control deck]


BACCU: Guardians, listen to me! I've just had news of another disaster. One of our kind, one of the Guardians has died from the fever.

ZENTOS: Do you want to hear more? Never mind the arguments of the defender because now they are nothing, now that one of our own kind had died. So, Guardians, what is your answer to the charge? Do you find the prisoner guilty or not guilty?

ALL: Guilty!

ZENTOS: Is it your vote that we exact the full penalty of the special Galactic law?

ALL: Yes!

ZENTOS: So be it! They shall be taken from this place and expelled from the ship and the privilege of execution, in that they were the first to be struck by the fever, will be granted to the Monoids.

MELLIUM: But the verdict is wrong!

MANYAK: Yes, but it is the voted verdict. There is nothing we can do about it.

(Steven collapses in the cell.)


[Detention Room]


DODO: Doctor, something is wrong with Steven!

(Steven is dragged in by two Guardians in face masks.)

DOCTOR: Stop! I demand fair play. This young man is as ill as any one of your own people. How do you expect him to plead in his own defence?

ZENTOS [on monitor]: The verdict of the court was passed that you are guilty.


[Control deck]


ZENTOS: You and your party have been condemned by an overwhelming majority and your sentence is ejection into space.

DOCTOR [on monitor]: Are you aware that you might be committing your entire community to a slow extinction? Trust me. Allow me, help me to find a new cure for this fever of yours.

ZENTOS: The verdict has been given.

(Zentos switches off the monitor.)

ZENTOS: Well?

MANYAK: You are right, of course.

BACCU: Of course, there's no question.

MANYAK: But can we not afford to take a chance? After all, the old man was the first to diagnose the illness. For that reason alone, he may be able to find a cure.

ZENTOS: No. Sentence will be carried out. Baccu, assemble the Monoids. They may proceed.

BACCU: Very well.

COMMANDER [OC]: Wait! This has gone far enough.


[Commander's room]


COMMANDER: Zentos, this is your Commander speaking. I order you to release the travellers immediately. They will be given every facility for research. They may be our only hope. See to it.


[Control deck]


ZENTOS: But the hearing decided differently, Commander. These people are dangerous.


[Commander's room]


COMMANDER: Don't argue with me, Zentos. Those are my instructions. But in case you are right, I wish the Doctor to use his young friend as a guinea pig. If he succeeds in curing him, then I will set aside the verdict of the court. Now, proceed.

MELLIUM: Thank you father.


[Control deck]


ZENTOS: Very well. If he has not decided wisely, we will not live to know it.


[Detention Room]


DOCTOR: At last we're near a solution. We must waste no more time. Now you two, get the boy up to the table.

(Two Guardians carry Steven to the table and lay him down.)

MELLIUM: Is there anything we can do to help, Doctor?

DOCTOR: Yes, cover him. We must keep him warm at once.

MELLIUM: Warm? But he's already sweating with the fever in the same way that my father is.

DOCTOR: My dear young lady, please do as you're told. Now, where is that other young woman I want?

DODO: Here I am, Doctor.

DOCTOR: Oh good, now look here. Go to the Tardis and bring these things back for me, will you?

(The Doctor gives Dodo a piece of paper.)

MELLIUM: Will these do?

DOCTOR: Yes, certainly, fine, fine.

DODO: How will I know where to find them?

DOCTOR: Well open your eyes, my dear child, otherwise you won't be any use to me, will you?

DODO: Okay.

DOCTOR: What did you say?

DODO: I said, okay.

DOCTOR: Yes, I thought you did. Now once this crisis is over, I'm going to teach you to speak English.

BACCU: I shall go with her.

DOCTOR: Right, off you go.

(Dodo and Baccu leave.)

RHOS: Doctor, our virologists are willing to give you all the help you need. Can you describe the virus responsible?

DOCTOR: Yes, I

MELLIUM: I've wrapped Steven warmly. Is there anything else I can do?

DOCTOR: Yes, now I want you to find all the sick people in this spaceship and give them the same treatment.

MELLIUM: You mean keep them warm?

DOCTOR: Exactly, my child. Yes.

MELLIUM: Very well.

DOCTOR: Oh, and my child?

MELLIUM: Doctor?

DOCTOR: That also includes your father.

(Mellium leaves.)

DOCTOR: Now, this germ. This germ is


[Control deck]


(Dodo, Baccu and their Monoid guards return with the items on the list.)

RHOS: The vaccine was used as long ago as the 20th century and then was lost in the time of the primal wars.

BACCU: Is that what he's trying to find now? The old vaccine?

RHOS: Yes, he says it's a natural compound derived from animal membranes. We only need to take single specimens and then we can release the animals again. But it means that a large scale hunt has to be organised out there in the jungle.

BACCU: leave that to me. I'll collect a party of Guardians and Monoids. Tell us what animals you need.

RHOS: Well, we need two


[Jungle]


(The hunt takes place. One Monoid sees to a near-unconscious elephant whilst another deals with a lizard.)


[Detention Room]


DOCTOR: Yes, I know I'm a bit of a quack, but the combination of these two membrane fluids, a little at a time, should do the trick.

(The Monoid passes a test tube without being asked.)

DOCTOR: Ah, thank you, thank you. You know, you're far more knowledgeable than most people realise, aren't you?

(The Doctor puts his concoction into the test tube.)

DOCTOR: Now, my dear Dodo, how is he?

DODO: He's conscious, Doctor, but only just. Are you going to try it now?

DOCTOR: Well, I don't see why not, yes. Now where is that sterilised postule?

(The Monoid brings the tray of test tubes.)

DOCTOR: Oh, thank you, thank you, yes. You know, I don't know what I would do without you.

DODO: Do you really think it'll work?

DOCTOR: Well, I don't see why not, my dear, providing I've mixed these properly.

DODO: And what if you haven't?

DOCTOR: Oh, don't let that cross our minds, for heavens sake. Now then, here we are.

(He puts the patch on Steven's arm.)

DODO: Don't you have to squirt it into his arm?

DOCTOR: What, with a hypodermic needle? Good gracious, no. That went out a long time ago. There we are. Now all we have to do is to wait and watch. Come along.

DODO: Where are you going?

DOCTOR: I'm going to treat the others precisely the same way as I've treated Steven.

DODO: Isn't that a bit dodgy? I mean, he was supposed to be the guinea pig, wasn't he?

DOCTOR: Well it's going to be much dodgier my child, as you say, if I just sat and did nothing. Come along.

(The Doctor and the Monoid leave)


[Commander's room]


(The Doctor puts a patch on the Commander's forearm.)

DOCTOR: There now. Just relax and rest.

MELLIUM: Is there anything further I can do?

DOCTOR: No, it's just a matter of time, my dear. Come along.


[Control deck]


MANYAK: How long must we wait?

BACCU: They weren't sure. Apparently once the injection has been given, there's no way to hurry the response of the patient.

MANYAK: Zentos is waiting like a vulture, just in case the treatment doesn't work.


[Detention Room]


(Steven is tossing and turning.)

DOCTOR: Yes, I think I've given him the right treatment.

DODO: Doctor, it's along time now since you gave him that stuff and the fever only seems to be getting worse.

DOCTOR: Well, it's about an hour, my dear. He seems to be reacting quite normally. Yes, he's fighting it.

(Then Steven goes limp.)

DODO: Has something gone wrong?

DOCTOR: The fever's down and the temperature's dropped.

DODO: You mean?

DOCTOR: I mean he's going to be all right, my dear.

(Dodo runs out.)


[Control deck]


DODO: It's all right! Steven's much better. Everything's going to be all right!

MANYAK: I told you it would be.

DOCTOR: You have nothing further to worry about, sir. The sick have been tended to and the others immunised against further attack.

ZENTOS: Thank you, Doctor. So you were right after all.

DODO: Doctor, the Commander's fever's gone down, so he's going to be all right.

DOCTOR: Oh, splendid, splendid.

BACCU: Look! The scan of Earth!

(On the screen the planet looks more like a comet.)

ZENTOS: The last moment has come.

(Later, by the base of the statue.)

DOCTOR: Now, you can continue with the building of your statue and when it's finished, I'm sure it's going to look very beautiful.

MELLIUM: Yes, our descendants will know its meaning when they put the finishing touches to it.

STEVEN: In seven hundred years time.

MELLIUM: Yes, in seven hundred years time.

DOCTOR: Well, we must be off. Goodbye, sir.

COMMANDER: Goodbye.

DOCTOR: Goodbye, my dear.

MELLIUM: Goodbye, Doctor.

DODO: Goodbye.

COMMANDER: Goodbye.

ZENTOS: Doctor, for the fact that I mistrusted you, misjudged you, I'm sorry.

DOCTOR: Remember your journey is very important, young man, therefore you must travel with understanding as well as hope. Goodbye, Zentos.

ZENTOS: Goodbye Doctor.

(The Doctor gets on board a tractor unit with Steven and Dodo on the rear, and a Monoid drives them off to...)


[Jungle]


(At the Tardis, everyone goes in and it dematerialises before the Monoid drives away.)

(Later, the Tardis re-materialises.)

DODO [OC]: Can I go out now?

DOCTOR: You really must let me go first, child.

(The Doctor steps out)

DOCTOR: Oh. Well, that's strange. Something must have gone wrong. It appears we've landed back in the same place.

STEVEN: How?

DOCTOR: Take a look at this, my boy. Isn't it extraordinary? Well, now, that's inexplicable.


[Control deck]


DODO: Mellium! Baccu! They can't be far away, can they?

STEVEN: I don't know. It depends on how long ago it was.

DODO: What?

STEVEN: Look, there's nobody here, is there?

DODO: We've only been gone a few seconds. Mellium! Baccu!

(Dodo runs off.)

DODO: Doctor, Steven, look!

DOCTOR: What is it, my dear? What have you found?

(Dodo is at the base of statue)

DODO: The statue. They've finished the statue.

(But the head of the statue isn't human, it's Monoid.)


Episode Three - The Return


[Control deck]


DODO: What happened? The head, it wasn't meant to be like that.

STEVEN: No. It was meant to be a human being. Now it's a Monoid. Wonder why?

(There are leaves on the floor and weeds over the equipment.)

DOCTOR: Well I'm not sure, dear boy. However, the statue's finished. That means seven hundred years must have passed since we�last stood here.

DODO: Is that why the place looks so grotty?

STEVEN: Must be.

DODO: But we've only been gone a few seconds.

DOCTOR: Yes, I know, my dear. It's pretty hard for you to understand.

STEVEN: Yes, well the Guardians said it would take seven hundred years for this spaceship to reach the planet Refusis Two. If that navigation chart's anything to go by I'd say that they're almost there.

DOCTOR: Yes, I think you're right.

STEVEN: Then where are the Guardians? Well, at least the descendants of those we knew before. Surely they should be here, guiding the ship?

DOCTOR: I don't think that will be necessary, dear boy. It appears they've introduced some form of automatic guiding device.

STEVEN: Yes, but you'd think one of them would be standing by to make sure nothing goes wrong.

DOCTOR: Yes, well now, let's have a look at the scanner and see if that may help.

STEVEN: Well that's the room with the Earth's population stored in microform.

(The image changes to show a man holding a glass of liquid.)

DODO: It's one of the Guardians.

(The man puts the glass down and a hand waves him away. He bows.)

STEVEN: That looks like a Monoid.

DODO: Yes, but the Guardian's working as a kind of servant.

DOCTOR: Yes, he's not the only one who's doing that.

STEVEN: Looks like some kind of kitchen.

DODO: Yes and they're sort of slaves, aren't they?


[Kitchen]


(A man knocks a bowl off the edge of a table, and a gas is fired at him. He clutches his hand in pain.)


[Control deck]


DODO: What was that?

STEVEN: Looked like some kind of gun.

DODO: But the arm?

DOCTOR: Yes, it appears the Monoids have become overlords.

STEVEN: Doctor, look!

(Three Monoids and two Guardians have entered. The Monoids have collars with numbers on and are armed. They speak via a device in the collar.)

MONOID 2: Who are you?

STEVEN: Things have obviously changed.

DODO: He can speak. They couldn't before.

MONOID 2: I asked, who are you? Where did you come from?

DOCTOR: We are visitors to this spaceship. We were here many centuries ago. We come as friends.

MONOID 2: Friends to whom?

DOCTOR: To all who�travel in this spaceship.

MONOID 2: You mean of the humanoids like yourself.

DOCTOR: Well, er, yes. But when we were here some time ago we also were friends of your forebears. They were called Monoids. Things were very different then.

YENDOM: These strangers, they

MONOID 2: You speak of the distant past. Following the recent revolution we are now the masters.

DOCTOR: I see, and the human beings?

MONOID 2: They work for us. Is that not true, Yendom?

YENDOM: Yes.

MONOID 2: We conquered and you obey. And these strangers, they will also obey. Now you will come with us.

STEVEN: Where?

MONOID 2: To our leader


[Monoid's chamber]


(The Monoid we saw being served a glass of drink has finished it.)

MONOID 2: Here are the strangers, One.

MONOID 1: Wait. Look.

(On a monitor is the scene of the travellers being driven to the Tardis at the end of episode two.)

MONOID 1: It seems that when you were here before the Guardians of that day didn't believe that you could travel through time as well as space. Why have you come back?

STEVEN: The Tardis made the decision.

MONOID 1: Are you telling me that you can't control your own machine?

DODO: What's it got to do with you?

DOCTOR: Shush, child.

MONOID 1: According to the history scan you brought a strange fever that killed many of our ancestors.

DODO: But we also helped to find a cure, didn't we? I mean, the Doctor did.

MONOID 1: He thought he did.

DOCTOR: And what do you mean by that?

MONOID 1: You controlled the immediate impact of the fever, but a mutation of it developed later on that sapped the will of the humans.

DODO: You mean that it was our fault that you took over because of the fever?

MONOID 1: In part.

STEVEN: There were other reasons?

MONOID 1: The main reason was the Guardians themselves. They were a simple people. They actually encouraged the research from which we developed our voice boxes and heat prods. They were totally unprepared for the conflict when it came.

DODO: What happened to them?

MONOID 1: Many were killed. The rest are prisoners. A fact that you will shortly see for yourselves! Two, take them away to the security kitchen and then call a Grand Council.

MONOID 2: This way.

(The travellers leave.)

MONOID 1: I trust that their return won't give you any ideas, Maharis?

MAHARIS: No. I am content to obey.


[Kitchen]


DASSUK: Who told you?

VENUSSA: One of the subject Guardians whispered it as he passed by the door, just now.

DASSUK: Strangers? What sort of strangers?

VENUSSA: Human beings!

DASSUK: Well, I'm afraid the Monoids will make very short work of them.

VENUSSA: Well, no, they've been taken prisoner.

DASSUK: Well, that proves it's only a rumour. Just like all the other rumours we've been hearing. Look Venussa, you know how far the Ark has travelled and the Earth itself no longer exists, so where could these so-called humans come from?

VENUSSA: From Earth, but as it was millions of years ago. Well, they travel through time.

DASSUK: That's impossible. I think you've been a prisoner a little too long.

VENUSSA: Oh, but it could be true, Dassuk. Oh, don't you remember the story? Hundreds of years ago a doctor and a young couple came and then went away again. Well they were the first people to call this ship the Ark!

DASSUK: That's just a legend. And legends won't help us regain control of the Ark.

MONOID 2: All right, Doctor, this way, and bring your friends with you.

VENUSSA: Doctor?

MONOID 2: You will stay in this place and help with the task of preparing our food. You will sleep here like the others of your kind. Above all else, you must always be obedient prisoners.

(Monoid 2 leaves.)

VENUSSA: Doctor? Did he say Doctor? Have you been here before?

STEVEN: Yes, we have.

DASSUK: But, but that's incredible! How in space could you do it?

DOCTOR: If I were to tell you, young man, you wouldn't believe me.

STEVEN: No, besides we've got far more important things to talk about. We've got to find a way to get out of this place.


[Control deck]


MONOID 1: In a short while, Refusis will be ours. We will land there. We will create a Monoid world.

MONOID 3: But One, what about the Guardians?

MONOID 1: I have a simple plan that will destroy them. When we start our life on that planet it will be with no reference of any kind to the time when we were secondary beings!

MONOID 2: That's as it should be.

MONOID 1: But at this moment we cannot be sure of what Refusis is really like, or what kind of creatures the Refusians are.

MONOID 2: That's true.

MONOID 1: So I am sending a forward landing party ahead of us.

MONOID 3: But in that case the Refusians will be forewarned.

MONOID 1: I have thought of that. Listen.


[Kitchen]


(Dassuk puts some powder into a pot of water and almost immediately the water turns into boiled potatoes.)

DODO: I named this ship The Ark. They'd never heard the name 'til I used it.

DASSUK: And you brought a strange new fever and then the Doctor cured it.

VENUSSA: Of course. Take no notice of him, Doctor, he was born a cynic.

DOCTOR: He'll probably die one unless we do something quickly about this situation.

STEVEN: Listen, are there many other Guardians like yourselves held prisoner?

DASSUK: Oh, not many. The Monoids only keep us alive because they enjoy being waited on.

DODO: Why don't you just jump on them? They're pretty slow moving creatures, Monoids.

DASSUK: You forget they're armed and we're not. And those heat prods can be pretty lethal.

STEVEN: Right, but we could take the chance and seize one. Challenge them at their own game.

DASSUK: No, they're too careful. They never put them down.

DOCTOR: Yes, we shall have to be pretty urgent too. Time is running out.


[Control deck]


MONOID 1: While the others are preparing the launcher, go and get the Doctor and the girl.

MONOID 2: Yes, One.


[Kitchen]


DODO: Do you think you can do it?

DASSUK: We must try. Otherwise

DODO: What?

DASSUK: There'll be no future for us, and our forefathers might just as well've stayed on the Earth and died with it.

VENUSSA: They're coming back.

(Monoid 2 enters)

MONOID 2: What is this? Why aren't you working?

(Venussa knocks over a pot. Monoid 2 steps towards her.)

STEVEN: Now!

(Steven and Dassuk tackle Monoid 2 but have not got his weapon when Monoid 3 enters.)

MONOID 3: Back!

(Monoid 3 kills a man, and Steven and Dassuk let go.)

MONOID 2: Get back. You are reckless and stupid. Now you have gained only one thing, the death of another of your kind. Doctor! You and the girl will come with me.

(Steven tries to follow.)

MONOID 2: You stay here.

STEVEN: Why? Where are you taking them?

MONOID 2: They will make the first landing on the planet Refusis. You will be held as a security for their conduct.


[Control deck]


MONOID 3: The launcher is ready, One. The Doctor, the girl, the Guardian and Two are aboard.

MONOID 1: Good. Then let's hope that they succeed in their mission.

(The cylindrical module sets off towards the planet.)


[Launcher]


(They land, and the door opens.)

MONOID 2: Out.


[Refusis Jungle]


(The Doctor goes first, followed by Dodo, Yendom and Monoid 2.)

DODO: So this is Refusis? Where's the red carpet, then?

MONOID 2: Perhaps the Refusians are hidden somewhere. If so, we must find them. Move carefully and don't forget that I am still armed.

(Yendom leads the way.)


[Launcher]


A cushion sags as if an invisible person has sat on it, levers are moved and the door closes.)

VOICE: Hmm.

(The door opens again and the cushion springs up again.)


[Refusis Jungle]


MONOID 2: Still no sign of life. Perhaps the audio space research that told us of the Refusians was wrong.

DOCTOR: Let us return to the launcher and send a message back to the Ark. Tell them they can make their landings quite safely. I'm sure they'll be extremely delighted to hear it.

DODO: Yes, I bet it'll take some time to get the whole of the population down here, so the sooner you get started, the better, I should think.

MONOID 2: Don't worry. It may not take as long as you think.

DODO: What do you mean? Are you up to something?

MONOID 2: Er, no.

DODO: No? But you gave yourself away, didn't you? I've got a feeling when the time comes you're not going to bring the Guardians down here at all, is that it?

YENDOM: But they promised!

DODO: I don't care. I'm right, aren't I?

DOCTOR: We were all wrong. This place is inhabited. Come, see for yourselves.

(A few steps on, they look down into a valley and see a heavily arcaded building with spires.)

DODO: It's a sort of a castle! MONOID 2: Why didn't the Refusians see the launcher arrive or make any moves to stop us?

DOCTOR: Shall we find out?

MONOID 2: Proceed.

(As the party moves on, a plant suddenly twitches.)


[Refusis Castle]


(The Doctor enters a reception room with a tiled floor and a potted plant by the door. More flowers in a vase on a table.)

MONOID 2: It's deserted.

(A curtained inner door slams.)

DOCTOR: Strange. Strange indeed.

MONOID 2: There is no one in there.

DOCTOR: How can you be so sure?

MONOID 2: They must be hiding somewhere. They are just frightened creatures.

DODO: I don't like it. This place is dead weird.

YENDOM: What do you mean?

DODO: Oh, it's just a feeling I've got.

MONOID 2: I would like to see the faces of these Refusians.

DODO: Not sure I would. If they're anything like you, I've seen enough.

MONOID 2: What the?

DODO: Oh, nothing.

MONOID 2: I will challenge them like this!

(It smashes an empty vase on the floor.)

DODO: Oh, no!

(Then the flowers.)

MONOID 2: They must be in this place somewhere. When they hear what I'm doing.

(It picks up the other vase.)

DOCTOR: Put that thing down! That is no way to establish friendship!

MONOID 2: The sooner they learn to respect us, the better.

REFUSIAN [OC]: Your friend is right! Put it down.

MONOID 2: Where did that come from?

YENDOM: I think from out there.

DODO: No, it came from the direction of that room.

MONOID 2: Where are you? Show yourself or I will smash

REFUSIAN [OC]: I warned you! Put that down.

DOCTOR: I think it comes from within this room.

MONOID 2: Nonsense. If the Refusian seeks to challenge me, I will accept it.

REFUSIAN [OC]: You have been warned!

(Something seizes the Monoid's arm and forces the vase back onto the table.)

REFUSIAN [OC]: Thank you.

(The flowers put back into the vase.)

REFUSIAN [OC]: As your friend said, I'm here in the room with you.

DOCTOR: (the weapon) You won't need that now.


[Control deck]


(By the statue.)

MONOID 1: They must've landed by now. We should be getting a report from Two.

MONOID 3: Yes, One.

(He sends 34 away.)

MONOID 3: What was the plan you had for destroying the Guardians and this spaceship?

MONOID 1: A short while after we leave, they will disappear in a cloud of fragmented pieces.

MONOID 3: You mean a bomb of some kind?

MONOID 1: A fission device. I had it made secretly and it is ready to be detonated at any time.

MONOID 3: But where is it?

(One points up at the statue.)

MONOID 3: Excellent, One.

MONOID 1: The last place they would think of looking.


[Monoid's chamber]


(Maheris is spying on his masters.)

MONOID 1 [on monitor]: That is, if they even suspect its presence before it goes off.

MONOID 3 [on monitor]: Why should they? Then that will be the end of all human existence.


[Kitchen]


(Another pot of food is made just by dropping powder into the water.)

MAHARIS: I bring you news.

STEVEN: Why does everyone back away from him?

VENUSSA: Because he's one of the subject Guardians. What you'd call a collaborator.

DASSUK: And what does your news amount to? How much can we trust you?

MAHARIS: But you must. It's important!

VENUSSA: Go back to your masters.

MAHARIS: What I have to say concerns us all.

STEVEN: Perhaps we should listen.

VENUSSA: No! He speaks with the voice of the Monoids.

MAHARIS: No longer! They intend to betray us all. Even those of us who've worked for them.

STEVEN: How?

MAHARIS: They plan to leave us behind when they land on Refusis.

VENUSSA: Would you've expected anything else?

MAHARIS: But there's more. When they go, they'll leave a device behind that will destroy the Ark and everything in it.

STEVEN: Are you sure of this?

MAHARIS: Yes! I overheard One telling another Monoid.

STEVEN: Do you know where the device is?

MAHARIS: No. I only heard them talking, I couldn't see where One pointed.

DASSUK: Then somehow we shall have to find out.


[Refusis Castle]


(The Doctor is sitting at the table, talking with his invisible host.)

DOCTOR: And that was their aim, to land there and recreate life on this planet.

REFUSIAN [OC[: Yes. We've known for some time of the journey of the vessel you call the Ark and we welcomed it. That is why we built places like this.

DOCTOR: I see. Just to make us comfortable? I didn't think you needed places like this for yourselves.

REFUSIAN [OC]: No. Once we had a shape and form something like you. Then there was a galaxy accident. A giant solar flare. Now, we no longer have a being that you can see or recognise.

DOCTOR: But can you see each other?

REFUSIAN [OC]: Not even that. Oh, we can sense one other but that is all. That is why it would have been good for Refusis to be inhabited again by life and the signs of life, provided that the beings that come to take our place are peaceful. Child, you are worried.

DODO: I think I can hear them coming back.


[Refusis Jungle]


MONOID 2: We must return to the launcher. We must warn One and the others so that we can prepare to deal with these unseen creatures.

YENDOM: We, meaning only the Monoids. When you spoke of it before you meant that only you and only your kind would make the landings, didn't you.

MONOID 2: Yendom, I do not have to account to you.

YENDOM: I'll not let you contact them.

MONOID 2: Yendom, stay where you are!

(Yendom and the Two struggle, but Yendom falls and gets shot. Two goes into the launcher. Shortly afterwards, the Doctor and Dodo find Yendom's body.)

DODO: What about the Monoid? Do you think he's gone back to the launcher?

REFUSIAN [OC]: We'll soon see.


[Launcher]


MONOID 2: Refusis to the spaceship Ark.


[Control deck]


MONOID 1: Yes, Two. Give us your report. Are the landings possible?


[Refusis Jungle]


MONOID 2: The planet offers everything we need, but I must warn you. Listen to this carefully.

(The bushes are pushed aside hurriedly.)

MONOID 2: When we first arrived, we exited

(The launcher explodes.)


[Control deck]


MONOID 1: Two, are you there? Two, answer me.


[Refusis Jungle]


(The Doctor and Dodo stare at the pile of smoking, twisted metal.)

DODO: What do we do now?

DOCTOR: Nothing, my dear. We shall just have to wait until the next party lands.

DODO: What if they don't come? What if they decide to find another planet?

DOCTOR: Well, in that case we shall just have to stay here.


Episode Four - The Bomb


[Control deck]


MONOID 3: What has happened? Why does Two no longer give us his report?

MONOID 1: I don't know. It could mean a simple break in communications, or that he was attacked!

MONOID 3: But his report of conditions on the planet Refusis started favourably.

MONOID 1: Yes.

MONOID 3: Then what do we do, One?

MONOID 1: We will proceed with our plans. We will prepare ourselves for the main landings.

MONOID 3: One has spoken. Get the launchers ready and prepare the Monoid population trays for the journey.

MONOID 4: (to 6) The leader has said that we must go, but supposing he is wrong? We still don't know what Refusis is like.

MONOID 1: At last, a new planet of our own where we can establish our own way of life.

MONOID 3: Yes, One. But a word of warning.

MONOID 1: What's that?

MONOID 3: Four is beginning to question the wisdom of your leadership.

MONOID 1: Don't worry. At the slightest sign of opposition, we can easily get rid of him. As easily as we will this spaceship, once we have left it. Remember, the final answer which is locked in the head of that statue.


[Refusis Castle]


REFUSIAN [OC]: Doctor, we are, as you know, concerned about the arrival of the Ark and what it will mean to this planet.

DOCTOR: Yes, yes, I can quite understand that. That is why you destroyed the Launcher?

REFUSIAN [OC]: Here, we've always known peace. Never war or conflict.

DODO: You're not the only ones like that. The Guardians, you know the humans who travel in the spaceship, they have used to have your ideas too.

DOCTOR: Yes, that's true my dear but, you mustn't think they were perfect. Oh, no. Sometimes they were extremely intolerant and selfish.

REFUSIAN [OC]: Is that why they were conquered by the Monoids?

DOCTOR: Exactly.

DODO: Yes, I know. But there are some of them left who wouldn't mind rising up against the Monoids and trying to do better.

REFUSIAN [OC]: Then we will allow them time to make their attempt. We will wait for the passing of one day before we think in terms of employing defensive measures.

DOCTOR: Yes. One day. Thank you.

DODO: Now, it's up to Steven and the others.

DOCTOR: Quite so, my dear. Quite so.


[Kitchen]


STEVEN: The Monoids are up to something. They're rushing about all over the place.

VENUSSA: Do you think they're preparing to leave the Ark?

DASSUK: Probably.

STEVEN: Look, isn't there a way to get out of this kitchen?

VENUSSA: None. The walls are thick and the doors only open from the outside.

STEVEN: Well, who opens it?

DASSUK: Well, they do. Sometimes one of the subject Guardians. Maharis, for instance.

STEVEN: Then we must get him to help us.

VENUSSA: He won't. He's too frightened.

STEVEN: All right. Then we'll have to use his help without his knowing it.


[Control deck]


(Maharis carries a tray of food to Monoid 1. Guardians are loading boxes containing miniaturised Monoids into a Launcher)

MONOID 3: Be careful. Remember, each tray contains a thousand Monoids, thoughtfully preserved as micro-cells by your ancestors. They must reach their new life on Refusis safely.

(Monoid 1 has eaten.)

MONOID 3: Everything is proceeding according to plan, One. We must have

MONOID 1: Thank you, Maharis. That is all.

MAHARIS: Yes. One.

(Maharis leaves with the tray.)

MONOID 1: Stupid, trusting creature. He and all the other subject Guardians are still under the illusion that they will be coming with us to Refusis.

MONOID 3: They are a blind people. They deserve their fate.

MONOID 1: Yes. What were you going to say?

MONOID 3: I was reporting that the preparation of the launchers is proceeding satisfactorily.

MONOID 1: Good. Then we shall leave shortly.


[Kitchen]


(Steven and Venussa cover something with blankets.)

VENUSSA: Maharis, what's the news from outside?

MAHARIS: The Monoids are preparing to leave.

(Steven takes him to one side while Dassuk goes for the open door)

STEVEN: And you still think they'll take you?

MAHARIS: Why not? We can serve them on Refusis as well as here. Just a moment. Where's Dassuk?

VENUSSA: Asleep.

(The blankets in the corner.)


[Corridor]


(Dassuk hides until Maharis leaves and the coast is clear of Monoids, then opens the door.)

DASSUK: Hurry. I don't think he saw me, though we haven't much time.

VENUSSA: What first?

STEVEN: Well, we agreed. First we've got to find that bomb that the Monoids left behind.


[Control deck]


MONOID 4: The moment we land, then we decide whether One is to stay our leader. If Refusis is dangerous, we must return to the Ark before it is destroyed.

MONOID 3: There is still no contact from Two on Refusis, One.

MONOID 1: Never mind that. We will now go there ourselves. Give the signal.

(An alarm sounds.)

STEVEN: What's that?

VENUSSA: The main landing order.

STEVEN: So they're not going to wait any longer.


[Launcher]


MONOID 3: What about the bomb?

MONOID 1: It is set. It is timed to explode in twelve hours from now.


[Control deck]


(Three capsules leave the Ark and head for the planet.)

MAHARIS: Steven was right. The Monoids have all gone. Every one of them!

DASSUK: What now?

STEVEN: Just find that bomb.

(Everyone scatters to search.)

STEVEN: (to Venussa) We've got to find a way of getting back to Refusis.


[Refusis Jungle]


(The capsules have landed.)

MONOID 1: Good. Everything seems to be quiet. And from this moment on, this planet is ours!

MONOID 3: Look.

(They go to the destroyed lander.)

MONOID 3: There is the reason why Two failed to complete his message to us.

MONOID 1: A reason and a warning. We must find who destroyed that launcher, and then destroy them!

(The Doctor and Dodo watch One and Three leave.)

MONOID 4: One made a mistake in bringing us here. We will have to wait for our chance, then challenge him and return to the Ark. There is still time before it is destroyed by that bomb that has been left behind. Come. We must not let One and the others get out of our sight.

(The rest of the Monoids leave.)

DOCTOR: Now.

(Dodo and the Doctor get into an empty capsule.)


[Control deck]


STEVEN: It could be anywhere. The corridors, in the jungle over there, in the cultivated lands.

VENUSSA: We'll find it. We must!

STEVEN: What's that?

VENUSSA: It's one of the launchers trying to make contact. We're in contact. Who is that?

DOCTOR [OC]: This is Refusis contacting spaceship Ark.

STEVEN: It's the Doctor. Hello Doctor, this is Steven.


[Launcher]


DOCTOR: Oh, thank heaven, Steven, my boy, you're safe. Now listen. The Ark is about to blow up!


[Control deck]


STEVEN: We know that. Do you know where the bomb is?

DOCTOR [on viewscreen]: No, I do not, but I'm going to find out from the Monoids. In the meantime, I'll send back some of the launchers to the Ark. Now, continue with the search!

STEVEN: All right, you heard what he said. Let's get started.


[Launcher]


DODO: But Doctor, how are you going to talk to the Monoids and how are you going to send the launchers back to the Ark?

REFUSIAN [OC]: Yes Doctor, how?

DOCTOR: Oh, I'm glad you heard that. You know, these launchers are simple to operate and I would like to suggest, my friend, that you fly them back to the Ark.

REFUSIAN [OC]: Me?

DOCTOR: Yes, the Monoids won't know who's taking them. And as for me talking to them, or speaking to them, as you say, well, the problem's quite simple.

REFUSIAN [OC]: Very well. We will do as you suggest.

DOCTOR: Thank you.


[Refusis Jungle]


(The Doctor and Dodo step out of the capsule as the Monoids return.)

DOCTOR: Ah, so we meet again. Welcome to Refusis.

MONOID 3: Don't kill them. One will want to question them. You will come with us.

DOCTOR: Delighted, delighted.

(63 watches the capsule take off.)

MONOID 3: Who is it that travels in that launcher? We have seen no one since we have been here.

DOCTOR: Well, to tell the truth, neither have we.


[Control deck]


(By the statue)

STEVEN: Have you checked this?

MAHARIS: What's the use? There's nothing there.

STEVEN: Look, there's no point standing around moping just because the Monoids promise you something and then failed you. You've got to do something to save yourself.

MAHARIS: I believed in them!

DASSUK: Steven, come quickly.

STEVEN: Why? What's happened?

DASSUK: One of the launchers has returned from Refusis.

VENUSSA: Look!


[Launcher]


STEVEN: At what? It's empty.

VENUSSA: I know. And it was empty when we opened the door.

(Laughter inside the capsule.)


[Refusis Castle]


MONOID 1: Doctor, where are the Refusians?

DOCTOR: I don't know. I haven't seen one.

MONOID 1: You step out of the launcher, a moment later it was flown away. It must have been manned by someone. I must find the answer.

MONOID 3: Do you think they will talk, One?

MONOID 1: If they don't, they will die.

MONOID 4: Perhaps. But it would seem that we will die as well.

MONOID 1: Do you seek to challenge me, Four?

MONOID 4: You have led us to this planet and placed us all in danger.

MONOID 1: If that is the way you feel, then return to the Ark.

MONOID 4: We will. Only there we have to face the danger that you created. The fission device.

MONOID 1: Leaving you with but one problem, that of getting rid of it. But since it is inside the statue, and the statue itself is so heavy, I think that you will find the problem of disposal is not so easy.

MONOID 4: Those of you that wish to stay in this world of the unknown, will side with One. But those who care for the future of the Monoids must come with me.

(Four Monoids leave.)

MONOID 3: Will you let them go?

MONOID 1: No.

(He takes 77's weapon from him.)

MONOID 1: We'll destroy them in the open, and we will deal with you and the Refusians later.

DOCTOR: Thank you. It's very kind of you.


[Control deck]


STEVEN: Well, I think we should split up. Some of us should go back to Refusis to help the Doctor and Dodo, whilst the rest stay here and try to deal with that bomb.

DASSUK: Yes, that's a good idea.

MAHARIS: Is it? Why should any of us stay and risk being blown up?

STEVEN: Because the Earth's population trays, everything else that represents Earth life, all these things have to be taken to Refusis later.

VENUSSA: Steven's right. That's why our forefathers started this voyage through space in the first place, seven hundred years ago.

MAHARIS: But we're alive. Why should any of us die for an idea that they thought of?

VENUSSA: You've served too long with the Monoids, Maharis. You no longer belong to us. Let him go with the landing party.

STEVEN: Yes, all right. Dassuk, you take the launcher. Go with him, Maharis. And you two. Contact the Doctor as soon as you can. I'll stay here.

DASSUK: All right. What about you, Venussa?

VENUSSA: I'll stay too.

DASSUK: Right.

(Dassuk leaves.)

STEVEN: You could have gone with them.

VENUSSA: They don't need me. You don't know the Ark. You will need me to help you find the bomb.

STEVEN: Let's try behind that central scan.


[Refusis Jungle]


(It's an ambush.)

MONOID 1: Stay where you are.

MONOID 4: What is the meaning of this? We are going back to the Ark.

MONOID 1: That is now against my orders.

MONOID 4: Your orders? You have given too many and delivered them unwisely. Now they mean nothing to us.

MONOID 1: You have had my last warning. Do as I say.

(He kills 6, then 4 shoots 77. The Monoids all hide as a capsule comes in to land.)


[Launcher]


DASSUK: Maharis, where are you going?

MAHARIS: Out.

DASSUK: Better make sure everything's all right first.


[Refusis Jungle]


(Maharis looks around and sees One behind a bush.)

MAHARIS: Master!

(One kills Maharis.)

MONOID 4: Over there.

(Another Monoid dies.)


[Launcher]


DASSUK: Come on, while the Monoids are fighting.


[Refusis Jungle]


[Refusis Castle]


(Dassuk bursts in and sees the Monoid.)

DASSUK: Master, One needs your help down there.

(The Monoid leaves.)

DASSUK: Are you safe?

DODO: Course we are!

DOCTOR: What is more important, is the Ark still all right?

DASSUK: So far, but they haven't found the bomb yet.

DOCTOR: We have found the bomb. We must warn them immediately. Come along.

DODO: But what about the Monoids?

DASSUK: The way they were fighting, there won't be many of them left.

DOCTOR: Splendid! Come along.


[Refusis Jungle]


(Monoid corpses litter the ground. 4 throws down his weapon when the Doctor, Dodo and Dassuk arrive.)

DOCTOR: To the Launcher!


[Launcher]


DOCTOR: Now, you fly us back to the Ark. Meanwhile, I'll contact Steven.


[Control deck]


STEVEN: It's up there, in the head of that thing.

VENUSSA: The statue? But how are we going to move it? It's so heavy.

STEVEN: Well, you must have some lifting gear. We only need to get it into one of the launching bays.

VENUSSA: We've nothing that can handle anything like that.

REFUSIAN [OC]: I think I can help you. Clear this main deck.

VENUSSA: It's moving!

STEVEN: Yes, well, let's hope the movement doesn't set it off.

(The huge statue and base float up.)

STEVEN: He's moving it as if it meant nothing at all.

VENUSSA: Now it's in the launching bay. We can do the rest.

REFUSIAN [OC]: It is ready for firing.

(In the safety of space - kaBOOM!)

(Later, everyone is back on board)

DODO: Do you think you'll be able to get everything down onto Refusis now?

DASSUK: We'll manage, especially if the Refusians help us.

REFUSIAN [OC]: We'll do everything we can to assist you in settling on our planet.

DASSUK: Thank you.

REFUSIAN [OC]: But one thing you must do.

VENUSSA: What's that?

REFUSIAN [OC]: Make peace with the Monoids.

DOCTOR: He's right. A long time ago, your ancestors accepted responsibility for the welfare of these Monoids. They were treated like slaves. So no wonder when they got the chance, they repaid you in kind.

REFUSIAN [OC]: Unless you learn to live together, there is no future for you on Refusis.

DASSUK: We understand.

DOCTOR: Yes, you must travel with understanding as well as hope. You know, I once said that to one of your ancestors, a long time ago. However, we must be going. Goodbye.

(They get on a transporter and leave. Again)

VENUSSA: Do you think we'll ever see them again?

DASSUK: Perhaps, but if we don't our children will, or our children's children.

VENUSSA: If we were to tell them the story, do you think they'd believe us, or would they just dismiss it as a legend?

DASSUK: We'll make them believe it.

(On a monitor, the Tardis dematerialises.)


[Tardis]


STEVEN: We're landing now, Doctor.

DOCTOR: Good. That means the gravitational bearing must have rectified itself.

DODO: Hey, look at this!

(Dodo has found some sixties psychedelic gear.)

DODO: Ain't it fab?

STEVEN: Yes. Very nice.

(The Doctor sneezes)

STEVEN: Bless you.

DODO: Oh Doctor, don't say you're catching a cold now.

(The Doctor has vanished.)

STEVEN: Doctor? Well, where are you?

(The Doctor fades in and out then disappears.)

DOCTOR [OC]: What do you mean, dear boy? I'm still here.

STEVEN: Huh?

DODO: Doctor, you've vanished!

DOCTOR [OC]: What? Oh, nonsense, child. Nonsense!

DODO: You have. Do you think this is something to do with the Refusians?

STEVEN: Why, it must be.

DOCTOR [OC]: You're wrong! This is something far more serious. We're in grave danger. This is some form of attack!


Next Episode - The Celestial Toyroom


<Back to the episode listing


Doctor Who and related marks are trademarks of BBC . Copyright © 1963, Present. The web pages on this site are for educational and entertainment purposes only. All other copyrights property of their respective holders.

No comments:

Post a Comment