Genesis of the Daleks

Part One

[Skaro]

(Mist swirls across the rocky ground of Betchworth Quarry. Suddenly, a head in tin helmet and gas mask pops up from behind a ridge. Then a second, and a third, and more. Like World War One troops going over the top of the trenches, they advance - and promptly get mown down by machine gun fire.
The Doctor appears, trying to keep warm, and looks around him. There is no one to be seen.)
TIMELORD: Ah. Welcome, Doctor.
DOCTOR: What's going on? Don't you realise how dangerous it is to intercept a transmat beam?
TIMELORD: Oh come, Doctor, not with our techniques. We Time Lords transcended such simple mechanical devices when the universe was less than half its present size.
DOCTOR: Look, whatever I've done for you in the past, I've more than made up for. I will not tolerate this continual interference in my life.
TIMELORD: Continual? We pride ourselves we seldom interfere in the affairs of others.
DOCTOR: Except mine.
TIMELORD: You, Doctor, are a special case. You enjoy the freedom we allow you. In return, occasionally, not continually, we ask you to do something for us.
DOCTOR: I won't do it. Whatever it is, I refuse.
TIMELORD: Daleks.
DOCTOR: Daleks? Tell me more.
TIMELORD: We foresee a time when they will have destroyed all other lifeforms and become the dominant creature in the universe.
DOCTOR: That's possible. Tell on.
TIMELORD: We'd like you to return to Skaro at a point in time before the Daleks evolved.
DOCTOR: Do you mean avert their creation?
TIMELORD: Or affect their genetic development so that they evolve into less aggressive creatures.
DOCTOR: Hmm. That's feasible.
TIMELORD: Alternatively, if you learn enough about their very beginnings, you might discover some inherent weakness.
DOCTOR: All right, just one more time.
TIMELORD: You'll do it?
DOCTOR: Yes. If you'll let me have the space time coordinates, I'll set the TARDIS for Skaro.
TIMELORD: There's no need for that, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Huh?
TIMELORD: You're here. This is Skaro.
DOCTOR: What?
TIMELORD: We thought it would save time if we assumed your agreement.

(The Time Lord holds up a gold bangle with a three-ended swirl on it.)

DOCTOR: What's this?
TIMELORD: A Time Ring. It will return you to the TARDIS when you've finished here. There's just one thing.
DOCTOR: What's that?
TIMELORD: Be careful not to lose it. That Time Ring is your lifeline. Good luck, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Just a moment.

(But he has already vanished.)

DOCTOR: Don't just disappear! What about Sarah and Harry?

(The Doctor puts the Time Ring on his left wrist and moves on. Sarah and Harry appear over a small ridge.)

SARAH: Doctor! Doctor!
DOCTOR: Ah, there you are, Sarah.
HARRY: I say, Doctor, that was a pretty rough landing. What happened?
SARAH: Yes, where are we? This isn't the beacon.
DOCTOR: No, there's been a slight change of plan.

(Boom!)

DOCTOR: This is Skaro.

(Wheeeeee!)

HARRY: I say, that's gunfire.
DOCTOR: Heavy artillery.

(Boom!)

SARAH: Doctor, it's getting closer!
DOCTOR: It's a creeping barrage. Get down!

(They leap into a nearby bomb crater as explosions happen all around them.)

DOCTOR: Something's annoyed them.

(The barrage stops.)

SARAH: Doctor. Doctor, look.

(It's a soldier in a gas mask.)

DOCTOR: All right.

(The Doctor picks up his rifle as Harry checks him over.)

HARRY: Nothing can be done for this chap.
DOCTOR: That's strange. There's centuries between these two weapons.

(He picks up a ray gun.)

SARAH: What's that on his jacket?
HARRY: Radiation detector and a gas mask. The two things don't go together, do they.
SARAH: Part of his uniform is made of animal skins, and yet the combat jacket is a modern synthetic fibre.
DOCTOR: It's like finding the remains of a stone age man with a transistor radio.
HARRY: Playing rock music?
DOCTOR: A thousand year war? Civilisation on the point of collapse.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: Nothing. Just theorising, that's all.

(He puts the weapons down.)

DOCTOR: Come along.
HARRY: Where are we going?
DOCTOR: Er, forward.

(They move on through the desolate terrain, past corpses and through a pile of large rocks.)

DOCTOR: Halt! Don't move.
SARAH: What is it?
DOCTOR: I see a land mine. We're in the middle of a mine field. Follow me and tread in my footsteps.
SARAH: Good King Wenceslas.

(The Doctor looks up at the cliffs.)

HARRY: What?
DOCTOR: I thought I saw something move. I have a feeling we're being watched.
SARAH: I get that feeling, too.
HARRY: I can't see anything.
DOCTOR: Let's hope its imagination.

(The Doctor suddenly stops.)

HARRY: What is it?
DOCTOR: Harry, I'm standing on a land mine. I felt it shift.

(Sure enough, something round and metal is amongst the chips of rock under his left foot.)

DOCTOR: If I move my foot, it might detonate it.
HARRY: Don't move your foot.
DOCTOR: I won't.

(Harry kneels carefully and touches the mine.)

HARRY: It's rocking.
SARAH: Wedge something under it. Make it firm.
HARRY: Yes, I'm trying to, Sarah. Back up, Sarah.
DOCTOR: You back up too, Harry. No point in risking both our lives.
HARRY: No, Doctor, you'll have a better chance if I hold it firm.
DOCTOR: Please, Harry, don't be difficult.
HARRY: Don't you argue, Doctor. Now, just lift your foot very, very gently.

(The Doctor does so, and nothing goes bang.)

DOCTOR: Thank you, Harry.
HARRY: My pleasure.
DOCTOR: Let's go.

(Up on the cliff, something watches them move on. They arrive at a load of barbed wire.)

DOCTOR: Hey, look. What do you think?

(A squat dome is a little way away.)

SARAH: It's like a big bubble.
DOCTOR: Protective dome.
SARAH: What, large enough to cover an entire city?
DOCTOR: Yes.
HARRY: Why are they fighting with old fashioned things like barbed wire and land mines if they can build something like that?

[Trenches]

(The Doctor, Harry and Sarah pass through a gap in the sandbags to discover that the soldiers defending the entrance are all corpses.)

DOCTOR: Even the dead have a part to play. Propped up to make the trenches appear fully manned.
HARRY: A different sort of uniform from that other chaps.
DOCTOR: Yes, we may have crossed the lines.
SARAH: Same mixture of ancient and modern, though.
DOCTOR: Yes. That's why I think this war's been going on for a very long time. They probably started out with the most modern equipment but no longer have the resources. They have to make do.
HARRY: War of attrition, eh, only backwards. At this rate they're going to finish off with bows and arrows.
DOCTOR: Well, it would explain the mixture of equipment.
SARAH: Psst. Here.

(Sarah has found a door.)

HARRY: Careful, Sarah.
SARAH: It's all right. It's locked.
HARRY: It's pretty solid, isn't it. Some kind of service tunnel, I suppose. It might even lead into the dome.
DOCTOR: Let's see where the trench leads.

(As they move away, a panel in the door opens and eyes look out. There is a whizz, and something explodes nearby.)

DOCTOR: It's a gas shell!
SARAH: Gas!
DOCTOR: Poison gas!
HARRY: Respirators, quick!

(They plunder the corpses for their gas masks. Then troops in the rag-tag uniforms come to fight them.)

DOCTOR: Get back!

(They are quickly over powered, then men in neater black uniforms burst out through the door and machine gun them down. The Doctor groans.)

SOLDIER: This one's alive. Get him inside.

(They pick up the Doctor.)

SOLDIER: There's another one here. Get him inside, quickly.

(Harry is taken away, and Sarah is left behind.)

[Storeroom]

(Once inside, their rescuers help remove their gasmasks. The Doctor seems to be in a bad way.)

KALED: They don't look like Thals. I wonder? There've been rumours recently that the Thals were developing robots. Anyway, stick them on the transporter. I shall alert Command Headquarters with General Ravon.

(The soldier gets into the front of an electric trolley on tracks, with the Doctor and Harry sitting behind him.)

KALED: Count the ammunition and clean your weapons.

[Strategy room]

(A model of the area fills a table. Ravon, played by Guy Siner, moves a red piece with a white circle on it back over the ridge towards another dome. That represent his side, while the blue pieces with crosses are the Thals. The electric trolley arrives.)

RAVON: Well?
KALED: Two prisoners, sir, captured section 101.
RAVON: For interrogation. Good. I enjoy interrogation.
DOCTOR Yes, you look the type.

(The Doctor gets punched in the kidneys for that.)

RAVON: You insolent muto.
KALED: Sir?
RAVON: What?
KALED: My section totally destroyed the Thal attackers except for these two, but our supply of ammunition is running low.
RAVON: Then conserve it! Ammunition is valuable and cannot be wasted.
KALED: Yes, sir.
RAVON: For instance, when I've finished with these two animals, they'll be hanged. Not taken out and shot as in the past. And that will be all. Return to your unit.

(The soldier clicks his heels together and raises his right arm. Ravon returns the salute. The soldier and his companion leave, and Ravon unholsters his pistol. There is one guard left, standing over Harry.)

RAVON: So, the Thals have come down to recruiting mutos, have they? Turn out your pockets!
DOCTOR: Certainly.

(Sonic screwdriver, magnifying glass, eye-piece, yo-yo and other bits are dumped on the map table.)

DOCTOR: It might take some time.
RAVON: Take a good look. In a few weeks we're going to change the shape of that map forever. We'll wipe the Thals from the face of Skaro.
DOCTOR: Yes, I've heard that before.
RAVON: What?
DOCTOR: I was just wondering how you propose to wipe the Thals from the face of Skaro with boy soldiers, no ammunition, and very young generals.
RAVON: You've had one warning about your insolence.

(A telephone device buzzes, and the guard goes to answer it.)

DOCTOR: I do beg your pardon.
RAVON: When victory is ours, we'll wipe every trace of the Thals and their city from the face of this land. We will avenge the deaths of all Kaleds who've fallen in the cause of right and justice, and build a peace which will be a monument to their sacrifice. Our battle cry will be, 'total extermination of the Thals'!
DOCTOR: That's very impressive. You mean you're going to sweep these wastelands absolutely?

(The Doctor waves the pointer over the table then down hard on Ravon's gun hand. The weapon flies out of his hand straight to Harry, who uses it to cover the guard. The Doctor throws a bunch of keys on a ring over to him.)

DOCTOR: Harry. Did I hurt your fingers?
RAVON: You'll never get out of here alive.
DOCTOR: Yes, so you said.

(Harry handcuffs the guard to a chair. The Doctor goes to the console where the telephone is, and flicks a few switches.)

DOCTOR: So you're Kaleds, eh?

(Then he uses the sonic screwdriver to short circuit the whole thing.)

RAVON: Even you mutos know the difference between Thals and Kaleds.
DOCTOR: K A L E D S. Why, that's an anagram of. How interesting. Are you fit, Harry?
HARRY: Never felt fitter, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Good. Now, Alexander the Great, you're going to lead us out of here.
RAVON: Never!
DOCTOR: You won't get any medals for being stupid, General. In fact, you won't be getting any more medals for anything.
RAVON: Where do you want me to take you?
DOCTOR: Back to the wastelands.
RAVON: Yes, that's home to you mutos, isn't it. But you won't get that far, I promise you.
HARRY: Come on, we're wasting time.

[Trenches]

(Sarah wakes amongst the corpses.)

SARAH: Doctor? Doctor? Harry?

(She tries the door but it is locked, then picks her way out of the trench.)

[Corridor]

HARRY: Where are we? This isn't leading to the surface.
RAVON: There's a platform lift at the end. You mutos must have seen it.
HARRY: You're still making the same mistake. We're not mutos, whatever they may be.
RAVON: Only mutos live in the wastelands.
DOCTOR: Come on.

(They arrive at the lift.)

HARRY: I hope Sarah's all right.
DOCTOR: Yes.
RAVON: If you've a friend up there they won't last much longer.
DOCTOR: What do you mean?
RAVON: Night's coming on. The mutos start moving at night.

(Someone else is walking the corridors. Harry puts the pistol firmly into the small of Ravon's back.)

HARRY: Just remember we're your friends.

(Another black-uniformed, sour-faced man arrives with two guards.)

NYDER: General Ravon.
RAVON: Nyder.
NYDER: I wish to see you.
RAVON: If you'll wait in my office, Nyder, I'll be a few minutes.
DOCTOR: Perhaps you should introduce us, General.
RAVON: Security Commander Nyder.
NYDER: You're civilians, I see.
DOCTOR: Yes, but we're not staying long. Don't let us detain you.
NYDER: You won't.

(Nyder and his guards walk away, then)

NYDER: Down, Ravon!

(The guards open fire as the Doctor and Harry duck and run. The guards give chase. Nyder goes to the wall and presses a comm. button.)

NYDER: Alert all guards. Two Thal intruders in the command complex.

(The Doctor and Harry run through the maze of square metal corridors.)

DOCTOR: This way, Harry!

(Four more guards give chase. Meanwhile, back at the lift.)

RAVON: They took me by surprise!
NYDER: Fool. What kind of soldier lets two unarmed prisoners overpower him in his own headquarters?
RAVON: There's something different about those two. They're not Thals and they're not mutos.
NYDER: We'll find out what's different about them by autopsy.

(A metal lift door slams in the Doctor and Harry's faces.)

HARRY: We're trapped.
DOCTOR: Yes.

(The lift door opens again.)

DOCTOR: After you.

(The door shuts just before guards fire at them. Nyder arrives and uses the comm. again.)

NYDER: Alert surface patrols to watch for intruders in the area of platform lift seven.

[Skaro]

(Harry and the Doctor get off the metal platform and run.)

HARRY: Now what?
DOCTOR: Keep running.
HARRY: What?
DOCTOR: Keep running!

(Up on a ridge, soldiers in capes shoot at them. Further on is a trip wire. The Doctor spots it.)

DOCTOR: Down, Harry!

(Harry triggers the trip as he falls. Boom!)

DOCTOR: Are you all right?
HARRY: That was a lucky escape.
DOCTOR: I wouldn't say that, Harry.

(They are surrounded by men with guns. Elsewhere, Sarah is wandering in the mist.)

SARAH: Doctor? Harry? Doctor. Harry.

(Something is nearby, dragging one foot in the dirt. Sarah finds the lift, and runs on. The shabby creature follows.)

[Strategy room]

(Nyder is using the Doctor's magnifying glass to examine one of the small devices that came from his pockets.)

NYDER: This is yours?
DOCTOR: Yes.
NYDER: What is its function?
DOCTOR: Well, it's an etheric beam locator. It's also useful for detecting ion charged emissions.
NYDER: Oh, really. It is not of Thal manufacture.
DOCTOR: Well, naturally not. My friend and I are not from your planet.
NYDER: Aliens?
HARRY: Humans. Well, I am, anyway.
NYDER: I've heard Davros say there is no intelligent life on other planets, so either he is wrong or you are lying.
DOCTOR: We are not lying.
NYDER: And Davros is never wrong about anything.
DOCTOR: Then he must be exceptional. Even I am occasionally wrong about some things. Who is this Davros?
NYDER: Our greatest scientist. He's in charge of all research at the bunker.
RAVON: They could be mutos, Nyder. Intelligent mutos who've developed a technology.
DOCTOR: Tell me, what exactly are mutos?
NYDER: Mutos are the scarred relics of ourselves. Monsters created by the chemical weapons used in the first century of this war. They were banished into the wastelands where they live and scavenge like animals.
DOCTOR: In other words, genetically wounded.
NYDER: We must keep the Kaled race pure. Imperfects are rejected. Some of them survive out there.
DOCTOR: That's a very harsh policy.
HARRY: It's horrible.
NYDER: Your views are not important. General Ravon, I'll take these two back to the bunker for interrogation by the special unit.
RAVON: They're the army's prisoners.
NYDER: Then you will release them to me. The special unit will get more out of them than your crude methods ever would.
RAVON: Very well, if you insist.
NYDER: I do insist, General. And I have a list of requirements here. All these items are to be sent to the bunker immediately.
RAVON: I can't spare this equipment. These spare parts alone would take more than half my supply.
NYDER: You'll notice the requisition is countersigned by Davros himself. If you would like to take the matter up with him.
RAVON: I'm expected to fight a war without equipment. Very well, I'll have these things out to the bunker by dawn.
NYDER: By midnight, General. The order specifies midnight.
RAVON: By midnight.
NYDER: Good.

(They 'heil Davros' or whatever.)

NYDER: Bring the prisoners.

[Ruins]

(Sarah tries to flee from the shambling figure behind her, but another one has joined it and a third is above on a ridge. Then she comes upon some bombed out buildings. Inside, a wizened figure in black leather is seated inside what looks like the lower half of a Dalek. He has an artificial eye in his forehead because his own sockets are blank. Sarah ducks down and watches another Kaled approach.)

KALED: Ready, Davros.

(Davros replies with a slightly mechanical voice.)

DAVROS: Observe the test closely, my friend. This will be a moment that will live in history.

(A long-nailed hand moves across the console on his lower casing and flicks a switch. A full Dalek moves forward and Sarah's eyes open wide.)

DAVROS: Halt. Turn right. Halt.

(The Dalek obeys the commands.)

DAVROS: Now, exterminate!

(The Dalek destroys three cardboard targets.)

DAVROS: Perfect. The weaponry is perfect. Now we can begin.
Part Two

[Ruins]

DAVROS: Follow. Gharman, there is much to be done.

(Davros, Gharman and the Dalek leave the ruins. Sarah enters, then finds herself surrounded by zombie-like creatures.)

SARAH: Help!

(They close in on her.)

[Bunker]

(A console beeps in the comparatively high tech security area.)

TANE: Party approaching. Check one.

(An armed guard goes to the door. Tane speaks into a microphone.)

TANE: You will announce your name, rank and serial number. Speak now.
NYDER [OC]: Tane, this is Security Commander Nyder with prisoners and escort.

(Tane presses the button that opens the steel doors. Nyder enters with the Doctor and Harry.)

NYDER: I want these two screened and passed to Ronson for full interrogation.
TANE: Yes, sir.
NYDER: Prisoner's belongings.

(Nyder hands over the etheric beam locator and the rest of the stuff in a plastic box, then salutes and leaves.)

DOCTOR: Good. Well, now he's gone, any chance of a cup of tea?
TANE: What!
DOCTOR: Or coffee. My friend and I have had a very trying experience. Haven't we had a trying experience, Harry?
HARRY: Very trying, Doctor.
TANE: Step into the security scan.
DOCTOR: What, no tea?
TANE: Let me point out to you that you have no rights whatsoever. I have full authority to torture and kill any prisoner who does not comply absolutely with my orders. That is your first and last warning.
DOCTOR: No tea, Harry.

(Harry is made to stand in a body scanner with two large boxes at chest height. The hum hurts Harry's head.)

TANE: You're cleared. Move forward. You, next.

(The Doctor takes Harry's place in the scanner. It beeps.)

TANE: Scan detects power source located below prisoner's left elbow. Remove object from prisoner's left wrist.

(The guard pulls off the Time Ring.)

DOCTOR: You can't have that. That bracelet could have no possible use as a weapon.
TANE: It remains with the other confiscated items.

(Tane puts it in the box.)

HARRY: Let's not make a fuss, Doctor.
DOCTOR: The Time Ring is our only hope of getting back to the TARDIS.
TANE: Two prisoners at checkpoint. Awaiting orders.
DOCTOR: Recovering it has got to be our number one priority. Do you understand, Harry? It's vital.
HARRY: Yes, I know it's vital, but we don't want them to know that, do we?
TANE: The prisoners are to be given into the custody of Senior Researcher Ronson. Here, take this with you.

(Tane gives the box to a guard. Tane opens an inner door.)

TANE: Move!

(Two more guards hustle Harry and the Doctor out after the Guard.)

[Ruins]

(Sarah is out cold as a muto strokes her face.)

SEVRIN: She's beautiful. No deformities, no imperfections.
GERRILL: She is a norm. All norms are our enemies. Kill her now for what she's done to our kind.
SEVRIN: No, why? Why must we always destroy beauty? Why kill another creature because it is not in our image?
GERRILL: Kill her! It is the law. All norms must die. They are our enemies. And if you won't, I will.

(The two mutos struggle.)

MUTO: There's something over there.
SEVRIN: It's a patrol, very close.
GERRILL: Let's get away from here.
SEVRIN: No. No, they're too near. If you move, they'll see you.
GERRILL: They're coming this way. I'm going. Come on.
SEVRIN: No, I tell you they'll see you.

(Gerrill runs anyway.)

THAL: Halt! Stay where you are. Stand where you are and don't move.

(Sarah listens as the guards shine a light on Gerrill's deformed face. He flees and they shoot him in the back.)

THAL: Oh, it's only a muto. What a waste of good ammunition. There's a couple more of them.

(He shines his torch on Sarah and Sevrin.)

THAL: Hold it. If they're not too badly mutated, we might be able to use them. They still need expendable labour for the rocket loader. (re Sevrin) This one looks all right. Got all it needs to carry and walk. (re Sarah) There's no reason why this one shouldn't work. Why, it's almost a norm. Come on, get up. Up! Oh, kill it off, it's too slow.
SEVRIN: No, it's all right. I'll help her.
THAL: Then move, and move quietly. There are Kaled patrols out tonight.

[Laboratory]

(White uniformed technicians sit at desks. A silver haired man examines the Doctor's items in the box.)

RONSON: Sit down.
DOCTOR: Thank you. You're not with the military, I assume?
RONSON: I'm with the Science Division.
DOCTOR: Oh, good, good. Then perhaps we can talk without interruption from rifle butts.
RONSON: That depends. If you don't answer my questions, I shall hand you back to the military. They take a pride in loosening tongues. Now, where did you get these things?
DOCTOR: Oh, here and there.
RONSON: If I didn't know better, I should have to assume that these were made by some intelligence on another planet.
DOCTOR: If you didn't know better.
RONSON: It is an established scientific fact that in the seven galaxies only Skaro is capable of supporting intelligent life.
DOCTOR: It is also an established scientific fact that there are more than seven galaxies.
RONSON: Indeed.
DOCTOR: Yes.
RONSON: Well, when you passed through our security scan our instruments ran a complete check on your blood and chemical make up, encephalographic patterns and so on. Physiological compositions. And so, if you are from another planet

(Ronson looks at the readout and his face falls. The Doctor smiles.)

DOCTOR: You were saying?
RONSON: There's nothing. Nothing conforms to any known life on this planet apart from external appearances.
DOCTOR: You can't always judge from external appearances.
RONSON: Who are you? Where are you from?
DOCTOR: It's a long story.
RONSON: Then tell me.
DOCTOR: Do you have any inkling of the theory of space dimension correlated to relative time?

(An alarm sounds and the lights flash. Everyone stands to attention.)

KALED [OC]: Davros wishes all members of the Elite scientific corps to assemble in the main laboratory immediately.
RONSON: Our session will have to wait. Davros is coming.
DOCTOR: Your chief scientist.
RONSON: He's our supreme commander. When he calls a full meeting like this, he obviously has something of the greatest importance to tell us.
DOCTOR: Well, I shall be delighted to meet him.
RONSON: Stand up and keep quiet.

(Davros enters with Nyder and his guards.)

DAVROS: If I may have your attention. For some time I have been experimenting with the Mark Three project. Details of modifications will be distributed later. However, I am anxious that you should see immediately the remarkable results that I have achieved, and to that end I have arranged this demonstration.

(The door next to the filing cabinets opens and a giant pepperpot glides in. It only has a sink plunger attachment, and no weapon.)

DOCTOR: (sotto) A Dalek.
HARRY: (sotto) What?
DOCTOR: (sotto) A Dalek. Very primitive but undeniably a Dalek.
RONSON: (sotto) You're mistaken. It's a Mark Three travel machine.
DOCTOR: (sotto) If you say so.
DAVROS: Halt. Turn left. Move forward.
RONSON: That's magnificent. He's perfected voice control.
DAVROS: Turn right. Move forward and circle left. You will agree, I think, that voice control represents an enormous step forward, however the best is yet to come. Nyder.

(Nyder opens a box and removes the gun unit. He hands it to an aide who attaches it to the Dalek.)

DAVROS: Our machine is now equipped with a weapon for self-defence. Now, I am going to turn the machine over to total self-control. It will be entirely independent of all outside influences. A living, thinking, self-supporting creature.

(Davros flicks a switch. The gun arm rises and the Dalek turns to survey the assembled people, stopping at the Doctor.)

DAVROS: Brilliant. Brilliant! It has detected the non-conformity.
DALEK: Aliens. I must exterminate. Exterminate.
RONSON: No!

(Ronson goes to Davros and puts the switch back. The Dalek's gun drops. )

DAVROS: You dare to interfere! You have the audacity to interrupt one of my experiments?
RONSON: But it would have destroyed him.
DAVROS: So you think the saving of a worthless life more important than the progress we have made? My creature showed a natural desire, an instinct to destroy, and you interceded! You will be punished for this!
RONSON: Davros, I'm sorry, but I believe that these prisoners, they could be extremely valuable. By all means, when I have my questions, let the machine do what it likes with them, but I do need to interrogate them further.
DAVROS: You will be punished for insubordination. In the meantime, you may question the prisoners until first light. After that, they will be used to resume the experiment. This meeting is ended.

(Davros leaves, and the scientists gather around the Dalek.)

DOCTOR: Thank you. I am obliged to you.
RONSON: I was merely doing my duty. I believe that you have knowledge which could be of the greatest assistance to us. But if you don't cooperate, then it is certain that Davros will use you as an experiment with his machine in a few hours time.
NYDER: The prisoners are to be taken to the cells. You can continue questioning them there. Davros orders it.

[Thal Dome]

(One guard in a protective suit stands over a group of mutos, and Sarah.)

SARAH: Where are we?
SEVRIN: We're inside the Thal dome. We should be lucky to be alive. The Thals normally kill on sight.
SARAH: Then why the change? Why bring us here?
SEVRIN: Perhaps they need slave workers for some project.
KALED: The muto is right. The work they're making us do kills with the same certainty as a bullet between the eyes.
SARAH: What work?
KALED: The Thals have built a rocket. They've used up all their manpower and resources. They're gambling that it's going to bring them victory in one blow. And if they can make the launch successfully, I don't see how they're going to fail. My race, the whole of the Kaled people, will be wiped out in seconds.
SEVRIN: Perhaps we should be happy to welcome such a weapon if it ends a thousand years of war.
KALED: You won't be when you find out what it is.
SARAH: Well, what is it?
KALED: The nose cone of the rocket is being packed with distronic explosive. We have to put it in position.
SARAH: So?
KALED: To reduce weight, they're using no protective shielding. Every load we carry exposes us to distronic toxaemia. After a few hours exposure, we'll all be dead.
SARAH: We'd better think of something, hadn't we.

(The door opens and mutos are hustled out.)

SARAH: Well, now what's happening?
KALED: The rest period's over. We start loading again. I've already done one load since I was captured.
SARAH: All right, don't push.

(The slaves are lead out to the base of the rocket. The wall has a monitor on it, with Safe currently lit up. The other end of the scale is Toxic Level. Another guard drives in an electric buggy with a box on the back containing sixteen cylinders. As the mutos take one each the marker on the scale slides up towards Toxic very quickly. As Sarah takes hers, it gets there.)

[Detention room]

(In the Kaled bunker, Harry is sitting down when the Doctor is thrown in.)

HARRY: You all right?
DOCTOR: Looks like I might be.
HARRY: What happened?
DOCTOR: They took down reams of notes, every bit of scientific gobbledygook I could think of. Technical jargon that even I didn't understand.
HARRY: That'll keep their experts tied up for weeks.
DOCTOR: Yes. And I learnt a great deal more from them than they did from me.
HARRY: About this bunker?
DOCTOR: Yes.
HARRY: It is underground, isn't it.
DOCTOR: Yes, and bomb proof. Impregnable from attack from the outside and about three or four miles from the Kaled dome.
HARRY: What are they doing down here?
DOCTOR: Years ago the Kaled government decided to form an Elite group. The best scientific brains in every field.
HARRY: A sort of Think Tank.
DOCTOR: Yes. But over the years the Elite has become more and more powerful, and now they can demand whatever they like.
RONSON [OC]: Open up.
HARRY: Perhaps this is the tea?

(The door opens and Ronson enters, holding a pistol)

RONSON: There's no need to wait. I am armed.

(The guard leaves.)

RONSON: I'm sorry if they hurt you. I lack the courage to interfere.
DOCTOR: But you did save me from becoming the very first victim of a Dalek, thank you.
RONSON: Yes, now you used that word earlier. It had never been heard before. And yet only an hour ago, Davros announced that henceforth his Mark Three travel machine would be referred to as a Dalek. Now how could you have known that?
DOCTOR: Well, I have an advantage in terms of time. You see, we've come here at this time because of future concern about the development of the Dalek. I think you're concerned too, aren't you?

(Ronson goes to the door to check no one is listening.)

DOCTOR: (sotto) I think he's going to bite.
RONSON: Yes, I am concerned, and there are a few other who think the same as I. But we're powerless.
DOCTOR: Then let us help you.
RONSON: You see, we believe that Davros has changed the direction of our research into something which is immoral, evil. You see, the Elite was formed to produce weapons that would end this war. We soon saw that this was futile and changed the direction of our research into the survival of our race. But our chemical weapons had already started to produce genetic mutations.
HARRY: And the mutations were banished out into the wastelands.
RONSON: Yes.
DOCTOR: The mutos.
RONSON: Now Davros, he believed that there was no way to reverse this trend and so he started experiments to establish our final mutational form. He took living cells, treated them with chemicals and produced the ultimate creature. Come with me.

[Outside the incubation room]

(A little way along the corridor, Ronson stops at a door.)

RONSON: Now this is what the Kaleds will become.

(He presses a button and a viewing panel opens in the door. The Doctor and Harry look into the green lit room where something snarls and slithers. They step back.)

RONSON: That is our future.
DOCTOR: You've got troubles.

[Thal dome]

(The slaves stagger, exhausted, back into the rest room.)

SARAH: We have to do something now. If we work another shift, we won't have the strength to take any kind of action.
KALED: Action? What do you mean?
SARAH: I mean we've got to get out of here.
SEVRIN: It's not possible.
SARAH: Why? The guard's not expecting trouble from a group of exhausted slave worker.
KALED: So we get out into the rocket silo. Where then? The only other exit goes out through a command point, and that's going to be crawling with Thal troops.
SARAH: There is another way.
SEVRIN: Where?
SARAH: Straight up. The scaffolding. It goes right up to the nose cone of the rocket. Now, if we could get up there, then there's a chance we could get out onto the surface of the dome.
KALED: It wouldn't be too difficult getting down again. The angle of the dome is quite gentle.
SEVRIN: That scaffolding! I mean, it's so high.
SARAH: It's the only way. It's our only chance.
KALED: I'd rather die taking a chance like that than rot away in here with distronic toxaemia.

(Sevrin nods.)

SARAH: Okay, I'll pass the word to the others.

[Detention room]

(Ronson listens as a patrol goes past.)

DOCTOR: Go on, Ronson.
RONSON: Well, knowing our ultimate form, Davros had to devise a travel machine. The Dalek.
DOCTOR: Now he's trying to change that into a weapon.
RONSON: And he's succeeding. He's created a monster, utterly devoid of conscience.
HARRY: And you want to stop him.
RONSON: Well, I must. There are a few in the Kaled government who still have the power to act. If they knew the truth, they would end Davros' power, close down this bunker, finish the Elite.
DOCTOR: Then go to them, Ronson, go to them.
RONSON: But I'm not allowed in the city. Security here is absolute.
DOCTOR: Then help us to escape. Give us the names of the men who have the power.
HARRY: Could you get us out of here?
RONSON: Well, there is a way through one of the secondary ducts in the ventilation system that leads to a cave at the edge of the wasteland.
HARRY: Well?
RONSON: The entrance is barred. And there's something else. Davros' early experiments were with animals. Some of the things that he created were horrific, and they're still alive.
DOCTOR: And I have an uneasy feeling you're going to tell me they're in that cave.

[Thal dome]

(Sarah gets up and walks over to the guard, then collapses into his arms. He turns and puts her against the wall, then gets punched on the jaw by the Kaled prisoner. Sarah opens the door.)

SARAH: Shush. Quickly.

(The slaves escape.)

[Kaled corridor]

(Harry removes the grille from a ventilation duct.)

RONSON: These are the people you should try to contact.

(Ronson gives the Doctor a piece of paper.)

HARRY: Right-o.

(Harry goes into the duct.)

RONSON: Look, if anything at all should happen
DOCTOR: Don't worry, don't worry. We won't let it fall into the wrong hands.
RONSON: Quick!

(The Doctor enters the duct and Ronson replaces the grille. A guard walks past and Ronson heads the other way.)

[Rocket silo]

(Sarah leads the slaves to the scaffolding by the rocket.)

SARAH: Come on.

(They all start to climb. The cell guard wakes from his impromptu sleep.)

[Cave]

(The Doctor and Harry crawl along the duct to a dirty mesh.)

DOCTOR: Here's where it comes out into the cave.

(Something roars.)

DOCTOR: Shush. What was that?
HARRY: Probably one of Davros' pets.

(Something with an armoured back lumbers past the mesh. They push it out of its frame and enter the cave proper.)

[Rocket silo]

(The slaves are making fair progress, but Sarah makes the mistake of looking down. The guard sounds the alarm.)

KALED: That's the alarm. They'll be after us in a minute. Come on!

(Three guards enter the silo and start shooting upwards. One of the mutos is hit, and falls back down with a scream. Then the Kaled soldier is shot right next to Sarah, and she freezes.)

SEVRIN: They're coming up after us. You must keep moving. You must.
SARAH: I can't. I can't move.
SEVRIN: Come on. You must.

(Sevrin climbs ahead. Sarah reaches up and loses her grip. She falls, screaming.)

Part Three

[Rocket silo]

(As the Thal soldiers start to climb the scaffolding, Sevrin goes down the couple of rungs to where Sarah lies, draped over a horizontal platform.)

SEVRIN: Are you all right?
SARAH: I think so.

(The soldiers shoot another muto.)

SEVRIN: We must go on, Sarah. It's our only chance.

(They reach the level of the nose cone.)

SEVRIN: That section of the roof slides out. We can get to it from the top of the rocket.
SARAH: We've got to get across first.
SEVRIN: We'll have to jump. Now I'll go first, you follow and I'll catch you.

(Sevrin jumps the metre gap to the nose cone.)

SEVRIN: Come on, Sarah. Come on! You've got to do it, do you hear me? Jump!

(Sarah makes a large stride across.)

SEVRIN: We're nearly there. Just a bit more and we're out on the surface of the dome and safe.
SARAH: Yes.

(Sevrin climbs the nose cone as the soldiers reach the top of the scaffold. The soldiers fire a warning shot.)

SOLDIER: That's far enough. Right, come on back down here.

(Sevrin obeys.)

SOLDIER: Now you. Come on, move! I'll get her.

(The soldier crosses to the nose cone.)

SOLDIER: Give me your hand. Come on.

(He takes Sarah's hand then kicks her feet out. She ends up dangling in the gap between rocket and scaffolding.)

SOLDIER: If I should just slacken my grip. They say that people who fall from great heights are dead before they hit the ground. I don't believe that, do you?

(He pulls her back onto the nose cone.)

SOLDIER: You're going back to work. In a day or so, you'll wish I had let you drop. Right, get over.

[Cave]

DOCTOR: It's lighter this way.
HARRY: Looks as though we've made it.
DOCTOR: Look.

(There are metal bars in a gap in the rock wall.)

HARRY: It must be the way through to the wastelands.

(They go over to the bars, and Harry puts his foot in a giant clam which promptly closes its shell around his leg.)

HARRY: Doctor, quick! My leg! Quick! Pull it out, Doctor.

(The Doctor gets a large rock and starts hitting the clam, but that does no good.)

HARRY: Quick, it's pulling me in!

(The Doctor breaks off a stalactite.)

DOCTOR: Easy, easy.

(He uses it to prise the mollusc open.)

HARRY: Get that thing off.

(Harry gets his leg out.)

DOCTOR: One of Davros' experiments?
HARRY: Magna peloris.
DOCTOR: What?
HARRY: Latin.
DOCTOR: Never mind the Latin, let's have a look at your foot. Nothing seems to be broken. It's incredible. You have some bruises though, Harry.
HARRY: Why is it always me who puts a foot in it?
DOCTOR: You'll be all right. Can you stand up?
HARRY: I think so.

(Something snarls in the dark.)

DOCTOR: Let's get out of here.
HARRY: We must look out for Sarah. She's out there somewhere.
DOCTOR: We'll find her. We've got to contact the Kaled leaders first.

(The Doctor tries to pull the bars apart.)

HARRY: Try again, they're pretty corroded.

(Harry helps, and the rusty metal moves.)

[Laboratory]

(Two Daleks approach.)

DALEK: We await your commands.
DAVROS: Excellent, excellent.
KAVELL: Perfect, Davros, perfect. A brilliant creation.
DAVROS: A brilliant creation, yes, but perfect, no. Not yet. I want improvements made to the optical systems and the sensory circuits. Their instincts must be as accurate as a scientific instrument. You will begin at once. Dismantle the viewer circuit.

(Davros trundles away, leaving Kavell to confer with Ronson.)

KAVELL: Does Davros know the prisoners have escaped?
RONSON: I don't know what you mean. The prisoners are in their cell.
KAVELL: Don't worry, I won't betray you. You're not the only one concerned about the morality of the work we are doing here. Now answer me. Does Davros know they've gone?
RONSON: The prisoners are in the detention room for further interrogation.
KAVELL: Well, I have news for you. They've reached the city and made contact with the leaders whose names you gave them.
RONSON: How do you know?
KAVELL: There is some advantage in being in charge of the communication system. All we can hope for now is that they convince the leaders that Davros' work here must be ended.
RONSON: They must. They must!

(Nyder has been watching them.)

[Strategy room]

(Ravon, Harry, the Doctor and two men in brown overalls are waiting. Two men in other coloured overalls enter.)

MOGRAN: My fellow councillors, I've asked you two assemble here and not in our House of Congress as our meeting is of a most secret nature. There are no listening devices here, are there, Ravon?
RAVON: Not that I know of, Mogran.
MOGRAN: Doctor, will you please tell the councillors what you have told me?
DOCTOR: Yes, of course, and some of what I will tell you relates to events in the future. Not only on this planet but also on others whose existence you don't even know of. But my knowledge is scientific fact. Now, Davros has created a machine creature, a monster which will terrorise and destroy millions and millions of lives and lands throughout all eternity. He has given this machine a name, a Dalek. It is a word new to you, but for a thousand generations it is a name that will bring fear and terror. Now undoubtedly Davros has one of the finest scientific minds in existence, but he has a fanatical desire to perpetuate himself in his machine. He works without conscience, without soul, without pity, and his machines are equally devoid of these qualities.

[Rocket silo]

(Another consignment of distronic explosives are being unloaded by the surviving slaves. Sarah collapses as she comes out of the rocket.)

GUARD: What's the matter with her?
SEVRIN: She's tired. She needs rest.
GUARD: This is the last consignment. When that's packed aboard she'll get all the rest she needs. Now pick up your loads!

[Laboratory]

(Nyder reports to Davros.)

NYDER: I've just had word from one of our supporters in the Dome. Councillor Mogran has called a secret meeting. The only councillors invited are known opponents of the work we are doing here in the bunker.
DAVROS: I want a full report on everything that was discussed. I don't care how you get the information, get it. However, I think we need not be too concerned. Many times in the last fifty years, factions of the government have tried to interfere with my research here. They have failed. They will fail again.
NYDER: There's something else. The two prisoners in Ronson's charge, they've been seen at the dome. They are at the meeting.
DAVROS: Impossible! There is no escape from here.
NYDER: I've checked their cells. They are missing.

(Davros turns to look at Ronson and Kavell working at Ronson's desk. Ronson looks away hurriedly.)

DAVROS: Find out how they escaped and report to me immediately.
NYDER: What action shall I take concerning Ronson?
DAVROS: For the moment, none. I will deal with him in my own way.

[Strategy room]

(The councillors are conferring in a corner.)

RAVON: That was a very impressive speech, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Yes, it was meant to be.
HARRY: Let's hope it's convinced them.
DOCTOR: Yes, let's hope so, Harry. Sometimes words aren't enough.
HARRY: Well, they seem to have reached a decision.

(Three councillors leave.)

MOGRAN: I'm afraid, Doctor, the councillors could not agree to halt all experimentation at the bunker.
HARRY: The councillors are fools.
MOGRAN: Let me finish, please. It has been agreed that an independent tribunal will investigate all work that is being done at the bunker.
DOCTOR: But that could take months! Davros already has several prototype Daleks ready for action.
MOGRAN: It has also been agreed that pending the investigation, Davros' experiments will be suspended.
DOCTOR: It is less than I'd hoped for.
MOGRAN: And I promise you, Doctor, if your allegations are borne out, all work at the bunker will be closed down.
DOCTOR: Thank you.
MOGRAN: And now I must go with my committee and inform Davros of our decision.
HARRY: Now I think it's high time we looked for Sarah, don't you?
RAVON: The one you left behind in the wastelands?
HARRY: Yes. You have some news of her?
RAVON: I can't be certain, you understand, but our agents inside the Thal dome report a newly arrived girl prisoner who led an attempted breakout. Gave the Thals quite a bit of trouble.
HARRY: That'll be her.
DOCTOR: In the Thal dome, you say?
RAVON: The Thals are using prisoners to load their last great rocket.
HARRY: Rocket?
RAVON: They think they'll win the war with it. What they don't know is that no matter how powerful their rocket, it cannot penetrate our protective dome. Only a matter of months ago, Davros perfected a new substance which has the strength of thirty foot thick reinforced concrete.
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, well never mind about that. Could you help us to find Sarah?
RAVON: One of my agents could lead you into the service shafts underneath the Thal city.
DOCTOR: Oh, good, good.
RAVON: But after that you're strictly on your own.
HARRY: Fair enough.
RAVON: Right, I'll give you a map showing how to reach the rocket silo area.
DOCTOR: Thank you.
HARRY: Well, Doctor, looks as though we've got to cross the wastelands again.
DOCTOR: Yes, and that's when our troubles really begin.

[Laboratory]

(The four councillors confront Davros and Nyder.)

DAVROS: An investigation? But of course, Mogran. I welcome any inquiry into our work here. I think the idea is an excellent one. The Kaled people sacrifice much so that we should have the materials we need. They have the right to know how our work is progressing. And when they learn of our achievements, their patriotism will be refired. It is vital that our soldiers know that they and we of the Elite are as one, working together to bring the final victory.
MOGRAN: I'm grateful that you've accepted this decision so, so patriotically. There's one thing more. Until the inquiry, all work is to be suspended.
DAVROS: If that is your wish, then naturally I will obey. It will take some time to close down certain pieces of equipment. Shall we say, er, twenty four hours?
MOGRAN: Twelve.
DAVROS: It will be difficult, but it will be done.
MOGRAN: The members of the tribunal will arrive in that time. Thank you, Davros, for your cooperation.
DAVROS: It is simply my duty. The inquiry will reveal nothing, except our loyalty and total dedication to the cause of the Kaled people.

(Mogran and the councillors leave.)

NYDER: We cannot allow this investigation. They cannot fail to see the dangers to themselves in the Dalek project.
DAVROS: Calm yourself, Nyder. There will be no investigation.
NYDER: But you can't stop it now.
DAVROS: I can and will! The council has signed the death warrant of the whole of the Kaled people. Only we, the Elite, we and the Daleks will go on.
NYDER: The whole of the Kaled people? You would go that far?
DAVROS: Did you ever doubt it?
NYDER: No.
DAVROS: There is much to do. I want the genetically conditioned creatures installed in the machines immediately. Twenty of them.
NYDER: Twenty?
DAVROS: They are our troops in this battle for survival.
NYDER: But they're still very erratic, unstable.
DAVROS: They will not be allowed self control. I will prepare a computer programme that will limit their actions. After that, we are going on a journey.

[Thal corridor]

(A hatch in the floor opens just behind a guard, and the Doctor's head peeks out. He starts to climb out then spots the sentry and goes back down again. A second guard comes along and the first leaves with him. All clear now. The hatch opens and the Doctor climbs out quickly followed by Harry, then it is closed again and they leave. Further in they take avoiding action as a Thal approaches a doorway then goes into a room. The Doctor and Harry peer through a round porthole in the door to see Davros and Nyder in there with a group of Thals.)

HARRY: What's Davros doing here in the Thal city?
DOCTOR: Shush.

(They bend down and listen at the ventilation grill at the base of the door.)

DAVROS [OC]: And I am no longer influenced by

[Thal room]

DAVROS: Words such as patriotism and nationalism. My concern is only for peace, an end to this carnage that has virtually destroyed both our races.
COUNCILLOR: Why aren't you telling this to your own government and people?
DAVROS: I have tried. Time and again, I have tried. But now they will be satisfied with nothing other than total annihilation of the Thal people.
COUNCILLOR: Then they deserve to perish, and perish they will when we launch our rocket. It's primed and ready. The countdown for firing can begin immediately.
DAVROS: And it will fail.
COUNCILLOR: It can't fail.
DAVROS: The Kaled dome cannot be penetrated. Your great rocket will hardly scratch it.

(Outside, the Doctor and Harry hide as a patrol passes, then take up eavesdropping positions again.)

DAVROS: This is the measure of my faith. Nyder.

(Nyder hands over a piece of paper.)

NYDER: It is a simple chemical formula. If the substance is loaded into artillery shells and fired onto the surface of the Kaled dome, it will weaken the molecular structure and make it brittle. Your rocket will then be able to penetrate without resistance.
COUNCILLOR: Why are you giving us this information? You know that your own people, the Kaleds, will be utterly exterminated.
DAVROS: No price is too great to pay for peace. I only ask that when the war is over I be allowed to help in the reconstruction of our planet.
NYDER: We want only to see the conflict brought to an end. This formula give you the power to bring that about.
DAVROS: By dawn tomorrow, our world could be at peace.

[Thal corridor]

(Davros and Nyder leave the room.)

NYDER: You think they believed you?
DAVROS: It is unimportant. They are hungry for victory. They will use the formula and fire their rocket no matter what they believe my motives to be. And when they do, Nyder, when they do.

(The Thals come out of the room.)

COUNCILLOR: I've given orders that a barrage of shells containing the formula should begin as soon as possible. The rocket launch can begin immediately. And now I'll arrange your safe escort out of the city.

(The councillor leads Davros and Nyder away. The Doctor and Harry come out of hiding.)

HARRY: Doctor, somehow we've got to warn Mogran and the other Kaled leaders.
DOCTOR: Yes, and we haven't found Sarah yet. Come on.

(In another corridor they come across guards in protective gear.)

DOCTOR: Excuse me, can you help me? I'm a spy.

(And he bangs their heads together.)

DOCTOR: Their suits, Harry.

[Rocket silo]

SARAH: The rocket's loaded. Why are they still keeping us here?
SEVRIN: Why take the trouble to move us? It's easier to leave us here. Yes, but when it's fired, the exhaust blast will burn us up.

(The door opens and two figures in protective gear enter. The tall one gestures to the guard. He goes over and the other man punches him in the stomach, knocking him out. They take their helmets off.)

SARAH: Harry! Doctor!
DOCTOR: You all right, Sarah?
SARAH: Oh, I am now. Listen, we've got to get out of here. The Thals are going to launch this rocket.
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, I know. Listen. I want you and Harry to go back to the Kaled dome. Harry knows the way. Tell them all we know. There's a chance if they launch and all-out offensive I might be able to stop the rocket.
SARAH: What are you going to do?
DOCTOR: Try to sabotage it, or at least delay it. Off you go.
SARAH: Right.
DOCTOR: Good luck.
SARAH: Sevrin, you come with us.
DOCTOR: Well, don't just stand there. Come on, you're free! Go now while you've got the chance. Come on!
(The rest of the mutos shamble out and the Doctor goes over to the rocket. Harry leads them back to the hatch in the floor. Sarah goes down first, followed by Sevrin and Harry. Then Thal guards arrive and shoot down into the opening.
While the Doctor continues to inspect the rocket, the guard comes round and reaches for a button on a panel. Electricity clamps the Doctor to the base of the scaffolding.)
Part Four

[Thal control room]

(The Doctor wakes to the sound of distant explosions. The Thals are watching the bombardment of the Kaled dome on a wall monitor.)

COUNCILLOR: It's working. The Kaled dome is breaking up. Start the countdown for the rocket launch.
DOCTOR: No, you mustn't.

(The clock starts counting from fifty.)

[Laboratory]

KAVELL: How could the Thals have found the formula to destroy our dome?
NYDER: Someone has betrayed us.
KAVELL: That's impossible. Only a handful of us knew the formula. No member of the Elite would have given the secret to the Thals.
DAVROS: Nevertheless, someone has, and his treachery has resulted in the total extermination of our people.

[Thal control room]

(The countdown drops past seven and the rocket engines start. The Doctor makes a lunge for the abort button but is stopped by the Thals. The Councillor presses the launch button.)

DOCTOR: I sent Harry and Sarah in there.

[Laboratory]

(On the monitor, the Kaled dome explodes.)

DAVROS: Switch if off. We will avenge the annihilation of our people with a retaliation so massive, so merciless, that it will live in history.

(He flicks a switch and a door opens. Three armed Daleks enter.)

DAVROS: Let the vengeance begin with the death of the arch traitor, the Thal spy Ronson!
RONSON: No! Davros.
DAVROS: Exterminate! Exterminate!
RONSON: No.
DAVROS: Exterminate!
RONSON: No! No!

(A Dalek fires, and Ronson dies.)

DAVROS: Today, the Kaled race is ended, consumed in a fire of war, but from its ashes will rise a new race, the supreme creature, the ultimate conqueror of the universe, the Dalek! The action you take today is the beginning of a journey that will take the Daleks to their destiny of universal and absolute supremacy. You have been conditioned and programmed to complete a task. You will now carry out that programme.
DALEK: We obey.

[Thal control room]

COUNCILLOR: A thousand years of war, and now its ended. Listen, the people, they know already.

(Cheers off.)

COUNCILLOR: Gentlemen, there's a great deal to be done. I must speak to the people. There must be a victory parade. And as for him, he must be punished. No, let us now show that whilst we were ruthless in war, we are generous in victory. Let all prisoners be freed, charges against them dropped. Issue that statement at once.

(The Councillor and his entourage leave with the soldiers. A young woman goes over to the Doctor.)

BETTAN: Did you have friends in the Kaled city?
DOCTOR: Yes. Two people very dear to me. I sent them into that holocaust.
BETTAN: What will you do now?
DOCTOR: Start again. Try and find a way to complete what I set out to do and stop the development of the Daleks.
BETTAN: Daleks?
DOCTOR: Yes. Machine creatures that Davros is developing. Monsters.
BETTAN: Davros? No, you're wrong. It was he who told us how to destroy the Kaled dome. His only interest is in achieving peace.
DOCTOR: Let me tell you something. The Kaled government was on the point of stopping Davros' experiments, and rather than let that happen, he helped you to destroy his own race.
BETTAN: You'll never convince my people of that. Davros is a hero.
DOCTOR: Yes, for how long, I wonder.
BETTAN: I must go. Under the general amnesty, you're free to leave whenever you want.
DOCTOR: Thank you.

[Laboratory]

(Davros hands over a piece of paper.)

DAVROS: That outlines the chromosomal variations to be introduced into the embryo Daleks. It is to be implemented at once, Gharman.
GHARMAN: Davros, this will create enormous mental defects.
DAVROS: Not defects, improvements.
GHARMAN: It'll mean creatures without conscience, no sense of right or wrong, no pity. They'll be without feeling or emotion.
DAVROS: Correct. Now see that my orders are carried out.
GHARMAN: But you
DAVROS: Without question, Gharman.

(Gharman leaves.)

DAVROS: Well?
NYDER: The Daleks are in position. They will act on your command.
DAVROS: I see no reason to delay any longer.

[Thal dome]

(The Doctor has taken off the protective suit and is winding his scarf around his neck. He meets a crowd of happy Thals in the corridor.)

THAL: Peace! Thank you!

(The happy group goes round a corner and meets -)

DALEK: Exterminate. Exterminate!

(The Thals die. The Doctor hears the sounds and meets Bettan running away.)

DALEK [OC]: Exterminate!
BETTAN: What are they?
DOCTOR: Keep back. Get out of sight.

(The Daleks trundle past.)

DOCTOR: We've got to get out of the Thal dome.
BETTAN: Are those the Daleks?
DOCTOR: Out into the wastelands. Do you know a way?

(Bettan nods.)

DOCTOR: Good. Yes, they are the Daleks. Come on, lead the way.

[Laboratory]

DAVROS: The beginning, only the beginning. From this moment, all other research must cease. Absolute priority is to be given to the building of my Dalek force. Nothing, absolutely nothing, must delay this glorious project!

(Meanwhile, the smoking shell of the Kaled dome falls in on itself. )

[Trenches]

DALEK [OC]: Exterminate! Exterminate!

(With a background noise of screams, occasional machine gun fire, and the Dalek's favourite word, the Doctor and Bettan hide amongst the sandbags.)

BETTAN: Oh, there was no need to go that far. When our leaders saw they were beaten they should have surrendered.
DOCTOR: Perhaps they did. But Daleks accept no terms. They're programmed to wipe the Thals from the face of this planet.
BETTAN: But there must be some who'll escape, some survivors?
DOCTOR: A few, perhaps, but they need to be grouped into some kind of fighting force to strike the bunker.
BETTAN: What?
DOCTOR: Well, destroy Davros and you destroy the Daleks.
BETTAN: What chance do we have against them?
DOCTOR: It's your only chance. Will you do it?
BETTAN: Yes.
DOCTOR: Good girl. I'm going to try and get back into the bunker now.
BETTAN: Alone?
DOCTOR: Good luck.

(The Doctor leaves. Bettan ducks down as a Dalek passes the top of the trench, silhouetted against the red sky.)

[Skaro]

(Mutos pounce on the Doctor. One lift a large rock to hit him with when he is tackled by Harry. Sevrin scared off the others.)

SARAH: All right?
HARRY: Yes.

(The Doctor is cowering on the ground.)

SARAH: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Harry!
HARRY: Hello.
DOCTOR: Sarah! I can hardly believe it.
SARAH: What's the matter with you?
DOCTOR: I thought you were in the Kaled dome when it was hit.
SARAH: We didn't get there.
HARRY: No. No, you see, halfway across the wastelands we were attacked by a band of mutos.
SARAH: And that's when the rocket was launched.
HARRY: And then when the Kaled dome exploded
SARAH: The mutos just ran for their lives.
HARRY: Well, of course, I knew you'd try to get back into the bunker through the cave.
DOCTOR: You were absolutely right, Harry. It's vital we go back into the bunker.
SARAH: Why?
HARRY: Because they took the Time Ring.
DOCTOR: The bracelet that the Time Lord gave me is our lifeline. Without it we can never escape from this planet.

[Laboratory]

(The bracelet is sitting on Gharman's desk along with the rest of the Doctor's bits and pieces. Gharman gestures to Kavell, who comes over whilst trying to look as if he is actually checking things off a list to the armed guards.)

GHARMAN: I wonder if you'd have a look at this. I'm having a problem with the dimensional thought circuit.

(Kavell takes the circuit board.)

GHARMAN: (sotto) We must stop the Daleks, Kavell.
KAVELL: (sotto) I don't want to get involved. You saw what happened to Ronson. Davros wouldn't hesitate to have us killed if he suspected we were plotting against him.
GHARMAN: (sotto) Then we must make our plans so he won't suspect anything.
KAVELL: (sotto) Elite troops will stay loyal to him.
GHARMAN: (sotto) That's not important! If the whole of the scientific corps act against Davros, he can't proceed. We can then demand that the Dalek project is halted. His whole concept is monstrous. It's evil and immoral.
KAVELL: (sotto) What do you want me to do?

(Nyder is eavesdropping.)

GHARMAN: (sotto) Spread the word. Convince those who waver how vital it is that the whole Dalek project be ended.
KAVELL: (sotto) I'll do what I can.

(Kavell goes back to his own desk, and Nyder walks past Gharman and leaves.)

[Skaro]

(By the bent bars into the cave.)

DOCTOR: Sevrin, would you do something for us, something important?
SEVRIN: Yes.
DOCTOR: Over in the Kaled trenches there's a Thal, a girl named Bettan. She's trying to form a resistance group. Join her with as many of your own people as you can get. Their idea is to knock out the bunker.
SEVRIN: Do you think they'll get away with it?
DOCTOR: It'll keep the Elite's troops occupied while I try to find a weakness of the Daleks.
SEVRIN: Okay. Good luck, Doctor.
SARAH: Sevrin, thank you.

[Cave]

(Something growls.)

SARAH: What was that?
DOCTOR: Oh, just one of Davros' experiments. We'd better stick close together.
HARRY: You're not scared, are you?
SARAH: Of course not.
HARRY: I am.

[Laboratory]

(Nyder enters.)

NYDER: Gharman, I must talk to you. It's of vital importance.
GHARMAN: Not now, I'm busy.
NYDER: Then soon. And somewhere we can talk in private.
GHARMAN: What's this about, Nyder?
NYDER: You know that I have served Davros faithfully for many years. I've never questioned anything he has ever done. But he has become a megalomaniac. He's ready to sacrifice everything and everyone, including us, just so that the Dalek project can be completed.
GHARMAN: You're not alone in your fears. Where can we meet in safety?
NYDER: The only place Davros never goes is the lower level.
GHARMAN: Well, there's the detention room down there.

(Nyder nods.)

GHARMAN: Good. I'll meet you there as soon as I can.

[Caves]

(A colony of giant clams lie in wait.)

DOCTOR: Not much further. The entrance to the ventilation duct must be just through here.
HARRY: Are you sure, Doctor? It doesn't look familiar.
DOCTOR: Look out, Harry!

(Sarah turns and nearly falls into a clam.)

DOCTOR: Jump!

(They clear the line of molluscs and run on.)

SARAH: I'll never eat oysters again.
DOCTOR: They're not very fast.
HARRY: It's obviously why Davros discarded them.
DOCTOR: Come on, we're there.

(Harry climbs into the steel duct first.)

SARAH: Listen, I've been down tunnels before and I've just had a rather nasty thought.
DOCTOR: Really?
SARAH: Yes. Suppose something's waiting for us in there.
DOCTOR: That is nasty. Better not tell Harry, he's gone first.

[Detention room]

(The lower level is dark.)

GHARMAN: Nyder?
NYDER: I had to be sure it was you.
GHARMAN: We'll make this as quick as we can. I don't want to be missed.
NYDER: What are we going to do?
GHARMAN: Now look, a number of the scientist believe as we do. When we have enough strength on our side, we'll then give to Davros an ultimatum.
NYDER: What ultimatum do you suggest?
GHARMAN: That we will only continue with the work on the Daleks if he restores the brain cells, the conscience. The creature must have a moral sense, a judgment of right and wrong. In fact, all the qualities that we believe are essential in ourselves.
NYDER: And if he doesn't accept that ultimatum?
GHARMAN: Then we will destroy all the work that has been done. Everything. It'll be as though the Dalek were never created.
NYDER: Right, I'll try and get some of the military Elite on our side. Who can you count on?
GHARMAN: Kavell, Frenton, and Parran, but there'll be more soon, I'm sure of it.
NYDER: Thank you. That's what I wanted to know.
DAVROS: That information will prove most helpful.

(Gharman turns and stares, and Nyder coshes him over the back of the head.)

DAVROS: A pity. He has a good scientific mind.
NYDER: Shall I kill him?
DAVROS: No. A little surgery on the brain will remove these stupid emotions and still allow us to make use of his inventive skills.
NYDER: And the other plotters?
DAVROS: The same for them. But we must move carefully, not force their hands. Let us learn who are our allies and who are our enemies. Leave Gharman here, safely locked away.

(There is a distant banging noise.)

DAVROS: What was that?
NYDER: It's coming from over there. There's somebody in the ventilator shaft.

[Corridor]

(Harry opens the grille in the corridor and gets out, followed by Sarah and the Doctor. The lights come on.)

DAVROS: Welcome back.
DOCTOR: You were right, Sarah, about there being something nasty waiting for us.

[Interrogation room]

(The Doctor is strapped and wired into a torture chair.)

DAVROS: I have read the initial reports of your interrogation. The suggestion that you have travelled through space and time was utterly dismissed by the computer analysis.
DOCTOR: I imagine it had never been programmed for such a concept.
DAVROS: Precisely. I, however, I am perhaps more flexible. Though the power of such travel is beyond my scientific comprehension, it is not beyond my imagination. Why did you come here?
DOCTOR: To stop the development of the Daleks.
DAVROS: Why?
DOCTOR: Because having lived in what you would call the future, I have seen the carnage and destruction they have caused.
DAVROS: Then my Daleks do go on. They do survive.
DOCTOR: Yes, as weapons of hate and machines of war.
DAVROS: Fascinating.
DOCTOR: But there's still time to change all that. Why not make them a force for good throughout the universe?
DAVROS: I could do it.
DOCTOR: Then do it. Be remembered for that.
DAVROS: You have seen my Daleks in battle?
DOCTOR: Many times. I've fought against them.
DAVROS: And do they win? Do they always win?
DOCTOR: Not always. They have been defeated, but never utterly defeated. The Dalek menace always remains.
DAVROS: If, as you say, they become the supreme creatures of war, how can they lose? How can they fail?
DOCTOR: Misfortune, lack of information, sometimes overwhelming opposition.
DAVROS: Yes, but tell me, how do the Daleks fail?
DOCTOR: No, Davros, that is a question that the future must keep secret.
DAVROS: What mistakes do they make? You will tell me!
DOCTOR: No.
DAVROS: You will tell me!
DOCTOR: No, I will not!
DAVROS: Nyder.

(Nyder leaves.)

DAVROS: You will tell me because you have a weakness that I have totally eliminated from the minds of the Daleks so they will always be superior. A weakness that will make you give me the knowledge to change the future. You are afflicted with a conscience.

[Trenches]

BETTAN: We don't have much of a fighting force.
SEVRIN: I'm afraid my people won't be much help. They don't like fighting.
BETTAN: At least we have weapons and a fair amount of explosives, too.
SEVRIN: Are you going to attack the main entrance to the bunker?
BETTAN: As long as there are people inside risking their lives to destroy the Daleks, that's the least we can do.
SEVRIN: When will you attack?
BETTAN: As soon as we've rested and picked up any stragglers.
SEVRIN: But they need your help now!
BETTAN: We must wait until we have the strongest possible force. Then we'll attack.

[Interrogation room]

(Nyder has returned, and is finishing hooking Sarah and Harry up to sloping torture benches.)

DAVROS: Nyder. Let me tell you what is going to happen. You will answer my questions. You will answer them carefully and precisely. The instruments to which you are wired are particularly sensitive. They will detect instantly any attempt to lie.
DOCTOR: And if I do lie?
DAVROS: If you lie, your friends will suffer. I can create in their bodies all the torments and agonies ever known.

(Davros turns a large red knob, and Sarah and Harry tense in pain.)

SARAH: Don't tell him, Doctor!
DAVROS: Now, you will tell me the reason for every Dalek defeat. With that knowledge, I will programme them. With that knowledge, they will know their errors and how to avoid them. With that knowledge, there shall be no defeats! We will begin.
DOCTOR: Davros, if I tell you what you want to know, I betray millions of people in the future. I can't do that.
DAVROS: But you can! You will tell me. You will tell me! You will tell me!
Part Five

[Interrogation room]

HARRY: Doctor, please, don't tell. Doctor.
DOCTOR: All right, all right! Just leave them alone.

(The pain giver is turned down.)

DOCTOR: The Dalek invasion of the Earth in the year 2000 was foiled because of an attempt by the Daleks to mine the core of the planet. The magnetic properties of the Earth were... Mars... the Daleks were defeated by a virus that attacked the insulation on the cables in their electrical systems. ...In the space year seventeen thousand was halted by the intervention of a fleet of war rockets from the planet Hyperon. The rockets were made of a metal that was completely resistant to Dalek firepower. The Dalek Task Force was completely destroyed.

(The tape recorder stops.)

DAVROS: This seems an opportune moment to end this session. Nyder. Release the prisoners. Take them to the detention area.

(Two soldiers enter to release Harry and Sarah.)

DAVROS: Interrogation will continue later. And I must thank you, Doctor. What you have told me will be invaluable.

(Nyder releases the Doctor.)

DAVROS: All this information, this foreknowledge, will be programmed into the Dalek memory banks. Take them away.

(Harry and Sarah leave with the soldiers.)

DAVROS: Doctor, stay a moment. Sit down. Let us talk together now, not as prisoner and captor, but as men of science. There is so much I wish to know. Nyder, take charge of the tape.
NYDER: Immediately, Davros.
DAVROS: It will be your responsibility, and remember, it is priceless. It's value beyond computation.

(Nyder leaves with the reel of magnetic tape.)

[Detention room]

(Harry and Sarah are pushed inside. Sarah is caught by Gharman.)

SARAH: Ah, thank you.
HARRY: Who are you?
GHARMAN: My name's Gharman.
HARRY: Gharman?
GHARMAN: Until a few hours ago I was head of the Military Elite Scientific Corps.
SARAH: And now you're a prisoner like us? What happened?
GHARMAN: Wait.

(Gharman listens at the door for a moment.)

GHARMAN: I was trying to organise a movement against Davros. He found out. Now, what's happening out there? Has there been any attempt to take away control from Davros?
SARAH: Not that we know of.
GHARMAN: Nothing?
HARRY: He's still very much in charge.
GHARMAN: I don't understand. You see, Davros tricked me into giving him the names of the group who were plotting against him. Have there not been mass arrests by now? Executions?
SARAH: It all seemed pretty quiet out there.
GHARMAN: But Davros knows that we're planning action against him. Why hasn't he moved to stop it? Why?
HARRY: Perhaps that'd be too obvious, even for Davros.
GHARMAN: Well, if that's true, he's being too clever for his own good. Every moment he delays, our movement grows in strength.
SARAH: I hope you're right.
GHARMAN: I know I am. Many of us believe that production of the Daleks must end. I believe now that we are in the majority. If we act soon, we can break his power.
HARRY: We're not in much of a position to act at the moment, are we.
GHARMAN: If only I could get word to them now.

[Outside the detention room]

(Kavell walks up, with a cosh hidden behind his back.)

SOLDIER: Halt! State your business.
KAVELL: I wish to question the prisoners.
SOLDIER: Nobody is allowed to communicate with the prisoners unless they have a pass signed by Davros.

(Kavell steps forward, checking his pockets.)

SOLDIER: Stay where you are!
KAVELL: I seem to have mislaid it. I'll come back later.

(Kavell walks away a few steps, stops, turns and runs at the soldier with the cosh.)

[Interrogation room]

DAVROS: Now, future errors will be eradicated. Defeats will become victories. You have changed the future of the universe, Doctor.
DOCTOR: I have betrayed the future. Davros, for the last time, consider what you're doing. Stop the development of the Daleks.
DAVROS: Impossible. It is beyond my control. The workshops are already fully automated to produce the Dalek machines.
DOCTOR: It's not the machines, it's the minds of the creatures inside them. Minds that you created. They are totally evil.
DAVROS: Evil? No. No, I will not accept that. They are conditioned simply to survive. They can survive only by becoming the dominant species. When all other life forms are suppressed, when the Daleks are the supreme rulers of the universe, then you will have peace. Wars will end. They are the power not of evil, but of good.
DOCTOR: Davros, if you had created a virus in your laboratory, something contagious and infectious that killed on contact, a virus that would destroy all other forms of life, would you allow its use?
DAVROS: It is an interesting conjecture.
DOCTOR: Would you do it?
DAVROS: The only living thing, a microscopic organism reigning supreme. A fascinating idea.
DOCTOR: But would you do it?
DAVROS: Yes. Yes. To hold in my hand a capsule that contains such power, to know that life and death on such a scale was my choice. To know that the tiny pressure on my thumb, enough to break the glass, would end everything. Yes, I would do it! That power would set me up above the gods. And through the Daleks, I shall have that power!

(The Doctor grabs Davros' raised arm, and they wrestle.)

DAVROS: Release me.
DOCTOR: No, Davros.
DAVROS: Don't touch that switch.
DOCTOR: Why not?
DAVROS: It controls my life support systems. I could not survive thirty seconds without them.
DOCTOR: Order the destruction of the incubator section.
DAVROS: Destroy the Daleks? Never.

(The Doctor presses the little black switch, and an alarm goes off. Davros starts to crumple. The Doctor presses it again and he revives.)

DOCTOR: I mean it, Davros. Next time I press that switch, it stays pressed. Now give the order!
DAVROS: Even if I do this, there will be no escape for you.
DOCTOR: I'll take that chance. Now give the order.
DAVROS: Press the communicator switch.

(The Doctor does so.)

DAVROS: This is Davros. Elite unit seven will go to the incubator room. All survival maintenance systems are to be closed down. The Dalek creatures are to be destroyed.
DOCTOR: Tell them the order cannot be countermanded.
DAVROS: This order cannot

(Nyder coshes the Doctor.)

DAVROS: This is Davros, this is Davros. My last order is cancelled, repeat, cancelled. No action is to be taken.
NYDER: What do you want done with this?
DAVROS: For the moment he must be kept alive. He has knowledge that is vital to our future, and I will drain every last detail of it from his mind. And then, he will learn the true meaning of pain.
NYDER: I will take him to the detention room.
DAVROS: The dissidents. What progress are they making?
NYDER: Feeling against you is rising. Many of the scientific corps are openly speaking against you. Even some of the military are joining them.
DAVROS: As I expected.

(The Doctor wakes, unnoticed.)

DAVROS: They will take action soon?
NYDER: Almost certainly. They outnumber those of us who are loyal. Davros, why don't you let me take a squad of Elite men I can trust? In an hour, I could wipe out their leaders.
DAVROS: You think like a soldier, Nyder. Rebellion is an idea in the mind. Suppress it, and it hides away and festers. No. My way is best.
NYDER: As you wish. On your feet!

(Nyder takes the Doctor out of the room.)

DAVROS: All Dalek units! All Dalek units!

[Thal dome]

(The slaughter continues. One Dalek approaches another.)

DALEK: Davros has commanded all Dalek units to disengage and return to the bunker immediately.
DALEK 2: I obey.

[Trenches]

BETTAN: Shush. There's something moving out there.

(Sevrin enters, out of breath.)

SEVRIN: The whole of the Thal city is burning. The Daleks are moving through it, section by section, hunting down the survivors.
BETTAN: Then there's no one left?
SEVRIN: No, I covered a fairly large area and found no one. No one living, that is.
BETTAN: So we're on our own.
SEVRIN: You're still going to attack the main entrance though, aren't you?
BETTAN: There's no point in delaying any longer. We'll move more safely under the cover of darkness. Come on, get ready, we're moving out.

[Outside the detention room]

NYDER: Open up.

(But the guard is Harry. Nyder pushes the Doctor at him and runs.)

HARRY: Not exactly as planned, Sarah.

[Detention room]

(The guard is bound and gagged, and stripped. Gharman takes the weapon from Harry.)

HARRY: How's the Doctor?
SARAH: I don't know.

(Harry checks the Doctor then gets out of the Kaled uniform.)

HARRY: He's a bit groggy but he'll be all right.
GHARMAN: Come on, Kavell, we've a lot to do.
KAVELL: What about the guards? Suppose they won't come over to our side?
GHARMAN: They'll be disarmed and held in custody until we've presented our ultimatum to Davros.
DOCTOR: No, wait, wait. Davros knows what you're planning. I heard him talking to Nyder.
GHARMAN: If he knows, why hasn't he taken action against us?
KAVELL: Perhaps because he knows its futile. There are too many of us.
DOCTOR: No, it's not that. I don't know what he's got prepared for you, but believe me, he's ready.
GHARMAN: Well, even so, there'll still be too many for him.
DOCTOR: Just be careful. Be careful.
KAVELL: I think we can take care of things. Thanks for the warning.

(Gharman and Kavell leave.)

SARAH: No point in telling you to rest, I suppose?
DOCTOR: No, there isn't. We've got to recover that Time Ring.
SARAH: Because without it, we'll never get off this planet. But where is it?
DOCTOR: It's on the desk in the main laboratory. And then there's that tape recording that Nyder took. We've got to get it back at all costs. It would make the Daleks invincible. Come on.

[Corridor]

(Gharman, Kavell and another scientist approach a cupboard guarded by two sentries.)

GHARMAN: Ready? Now remember, we resort to violence only if there is no other way.

(They walk round the corner.)

GHARMAN: Stay perfectly still. Take their weapons.

(The second guard grabs Kavell and they fight. Gharman gets knocked down and the first guard takes on the scientist. Kavell shoots him, but Gharman stops him shooting the second guard.)

GHARMAN: No! That was stupid. A stupid waste of life. Our intention has always been to make a bloodless revolution. There's been enough of killing and violence. All right, take him away and lock him up with the others.

(Kavell takes the second guard away. Gharman opens the cupboard and removes weapons.)

GHARMAN: Start passing these out to our people.
KAVELL: Gharman. Gharman, they're coming over to our side in droves. We've the backing of a good eighty percent now.
GHARMAN: Good. Good. What about the hard core Davros people?
KAVELL: They've all been rounded up. We're winning, Gharman. We're winning.
GHARMAN: Then let's finish it off.

[Laboratory]

(Davros sits in darkness, listening to automatic weapons fire and tapping his console. Nyder enters.)

NYDER: Davros, they're taking over. We must act quickly. In another hour they could be totally in control. Do you hear me, Davros? I have a dozen crack men hiding in section nine. Let me order them into action. Davros!
DAVROS: I hear you.
NYDER: Then what are we going to do?
DAVROS: I want you to find their leaders and hand over your weapons to them.
NYDER: Surrender?
DAVROS: Order all members of the Elite guards still at liberty to do the same.
NYDER: Do you know what you're saying?
DAVROS: I know precisely what I am saying. Now, I will command and you will obey. You will do as I order! You will inform the rebel leaders that I have given these orders to avoid bloodshed. Tell them I submit, and will listen to their demands. That is all.
NYDER: Then we are admitting that we're beaten.
DAVROS: That is what they will believe.
NYDER: You mean that
DAVROS: You and they will find out exactly what I mean all in good time. Now carry out my orders.

[Corridor]

(The Doctor, Harry and Sarah come across another large cupboard. It is locked.)

DOCTOR: Shush.

(Then he rattles at the cupboard to open it, before using a gizmo on it. This one contains camouflage clothing. He gives some to Sarah.)

DOCTOR: Useful. Ah. This is something rather more useful.
SARAH: They're explosives, aren't they?
DOCTOR: Yes. Explosives and detonators. It seems almost providential.
SARAH: Why? What are you going to use them for?
DOCTOR: The Time Lord gave me three options. There's only one still open. Genocide.
HARRY: Genocide?
DOCTOR: Yes. I'm going to kill everything in the incubation room. I'm going to destroy the Daleks forever.

[Laboratory]

(Nyder leads a group of scientists in.)

GHARMAN: Where is Davros?
KAVELL: You said that Davros had agreed to meet us here.
NYDER: He'll be here.

(Davros enters.)

DAVROS: You have something to say to me?
GHARMAN: Davros, we wish to make our views plain to you concerning our work here.
DAVROS: With what authority do you speak? With whose backing?
GHARMAN: We speak for virtually all the Elite scientific corps and many of the military. We represent the majority.
DAVROS: Very well. Continue.
GHARMAN: Nobody disputes that in the past, under your guidance, we've made incredible progress in many fields of science.
DAVROS: You did not come here to flatter me. You came to offer an ultimatum. Confine yourself to the terms of that ultimatum.
GHARMAN: Very well. The initial concept of the Dalek was to build a life support system and a travel machine for the creature that we know our race will ultimately evolve into.
DAVROS: You disapprove of that?
GHARMAN: No, but we believe that concept has been perverted. You have tampered with the genetic structuring of the creature to create a ruthless power for evil. We cannot permit this to continue.
DAVROS: Then what do you suggest?
GHARMAN: All work on Dalek projects is to cease immediately. The creatures that have been conditioned and programmed are to be destroyed. If these terms are met, we will then be proud to work under your guidance on the rebuilding of our society.
DAVROS: And if I refuse?
GHARMAN: If you refuse, you will be placed under arrest. The Daleks will be destroyed and our work here will then continue under a new, democratically elected leader.
DAVROS: Have you finished?
GHARMAN: Well?
DAVROS: You might at least do me the courtesy of giving me time to consider.

(Davros turns away and starts tapping his console.)

[Outside the incubation room]

(A sound like gurgling infants can be heard in the corridor.)

SARAH: The Daleks are in there?
DOCTOR: The flesh and blood part of them. Indeed they are flesh and blood.
HARRY: Some of them can move about.
SARAH: Well, how do I see?
DOCTOR: Press the button.

(The viewing portal is uncovered and Sarah looks into the green lit room.)

DOCTOR: Pay it out quickly, Harry.
SARAH: You're not going in there, are you?
DOCTOR: They're harmless enough, I think. Just unpleasant.

(The Doctor gives the ends of the detonator wires to Harry.)

HARRY: You don't want me to come in, do you, Doctor?
DOCTOR: There's no need, Harry. It just remains to put the charges where they'll do the most damage. It shouldn't take me more than a couple of minutes.

(Harry takes the roll of wire from the Doctor and pays it out as he and Sarah back away along the corridor.)

[Laboratory]

DAVROS: I have made my decision. I accept your ultimatum. On one condition.
GHARMAN: Go on.
DAVROS: That you allow me to speak to a full meeting of the Elite, both scientific and military. Anyone you elect may speak against me. When this is done, a vote will be taken. I will abide by the decision of the majority.
GHARMAN: You already know the decision of the majority. You will lose, Davros.
DAVROS: With such confidence, you can hardly deny my request. It was you who introduced the word democracy.
GHARMAN: Do we accept his proposition?

(The scientists mutter.)

GHARMAN: Very well, it's agreed.
DAVROS: The meeting will take place in one hour from now. Arrange it. You may go.

(Gharman and the scientists leave.)

DAVROS: Ours is the victory, Nyder. We have won! They talk of democracy, freedom, fairness. Those are the creeds of cowards. The ones who will listen to a thousand viewpoints and try to satisfy them all. Achievement comes through absolute power, and power through strength. They have lost!

[Trenches]

(The rag tag army hides from a Dalek.)

SEVRIN: The entrance to the bunker is just beyond the next rise. That's where they must be heading.

[Outside the incubation room]

(Whilst Harry trims the ends of the wires to attach to the detonator, the Doctor moves amongst racks of jars filled with blobs at various stages of development. He places the explosives and attaches the battery pack to it.)

SARAH: What's taking him so long?
HARRY: It's a very delicate operation, Sarah. Still, he should have finished by now.
SARAH: Doctor? Doctor, are you all right?

(The Doctor comes out of the room with an angry embryo Dalek wrapped tightly around his neck.)

DOCTOR: Sarah!
Part Six

[Outside the incubation room]

SARAH: Get it off! Get it off!

(Sarah and Harry pull at the gelatinous thing and finally get it off the Doctor's throat. Harry throws part of it back into the incubation room, the Doctor does the same with the remainder and closes the door. They move a little way down the corridor, and the Doctor holds the two wires. Then he hesitates putting them together to close the circuit and detonate the explosives.)

SARAH: What are you waiting for?
DOCTOR: Just touch these two strands together and the Daleks are finished. Have I that right?
SARAH: To destroy the Daleks? You can't doubt it.
DOCTOR: Well, I do. You see, some things could be better with the Daleks. Many future worlds will become allies just because of their fear of the Daleks.
SARAH: But it isn't like that.
DOCTOR: But the final responsibility is mine, and mine alone. Listen, if someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?
SARAH: We're talking about the Daleks, the most evil creatures ever invented. You must destroy them. You must complete your mission for the Time Lords.
DOCTOR: Do I have the right? Simply touch one wire against the other and that's it. The Daleks cease to exist. Hundreds of millions of people, thousands of generations can live without fear, in peace, and never even know the word Dalek.
SARAH: Then why wait? If it was a disease or some sort of bacteria you were destroying, you wouldn't hesitate.
DOCTOR: But I kill, wipe out a whole intelligent lifeform, then I become like them. I'd be no better than the Daleks.
SARAH: Think of all the suffering there'll be if you don't do it.
GHARMAN: Doctor! Doctor, I've been looking everywhere for you. Davros has agreed to our terms.
HARRY: He submitted?
GHARMAN: He did, but he asked only one thing. That he might be allowed to address a meeting of all the Elite, scientific and military.
DOCTOR: He's going to put a case?
GHARMAN: Yes, but a vote will be taken. It's a foregone conclusion. There'll be a complete landslide against any further development of the Daleks. We've won.
DOCTOR: I'm grateful to you, Gharman. More grateful than I can tell you.
GHARMAN: The meeting's about to begin. Will you come?
DOCTOR: Yes.

(With one sharp tug, the Doctor pulls the wires out of the incubation room.)

[Laboratory]

(Gharman enters, still carrying a weapon.)

GHARMAN: Everybody is here, Davros.
DAVROS: The issues are simple and clear cut. I have given my life's work to the survival of our race. The travel machine I designed, the Dalek, will give the creature into which we will mutate its only possibility of continued existence.
GHARMAN: But you have deviated from that intention. You have introduced genetic changes that will alter the mutation into a creature without morals and without ethics.
DAVROS: I have introduced aggression, without which no race can survive.
GHARMAN: But aggression without a conscience.
DAVROS: History will show that cooperation between different species is impossible. One race must survive all others, and to do this it must dominate. Ruthlessly.

(The Doctor gestures to Sarah for her to get his equipment from Gharman's desk.)

DAVROS: Now I intend that when all the bickering and battling is over, the supreme victor shall be our race, the Daleks.

(Sarah hands the etheric beam locator and sonic screwdriver to Harry, who passes them on to the Doctor.)

DAVROS: At this very moment, the production lines stand ready, totally automated, fully programmed. The Daleks are no longer dependant on us. The machinery is ready. They are a power in their own right. If any one of you would destroy everything that we have ever achieved, then here is a destruct button.

(Davros goes over to a big red button on a console.)

DAVROS: Press it, and you will destroy this bunker and everything in it. Only this room will remain. Press it and you will wipe out our entire race, destroy the Daleks forever. Which of you will do it?

(Silence, and the Kaleds look at each other.)

DAVROS: You are men without courage. You have lost your right to survive.
HARRY: (sotto) The Time Ring isn't here, Doctor.
DOCTOR: (sotto) What?
HARRY: (sotto) The Time Ring, it's not here.

(Nyder is bending to hear Davros' whispers.)

DAVROS: (sotto) Good. We have achieved the delay we needed. Wait a few minutes then check that everything is ready.

(Gharman hands his weapon to a colleagues and walks over to Davros.)

GHARMAN: You have heard Davros' case. What he has not made clear is that there is another way.
DAVROS: There is no other way!
GHARMAN: Production of the Dalek can continue. We can destroy the genetically conditioned creatures and allow the mutation to follow its own course. Our race will survive if it deserves to survive, but let it have all the strengths and weaknesses that we have. Compassion and hate. Let it do good things and evil. But we cannot let it become an unfeeling, heartless machine. That is our choice. Now, we must decide.
DOCTOR: (sotto) We've got to find that Time Ring.
SARAH: (sotto) Doctor.

(Sarah has found it.)

DOCTOR: (sotto) Good girl, Sarah. Now all we need is the tape recording, so keep an eye on Nyder.
DAVROS: You've heard our cases. I will give you two minutes to decide. Then you must answer not only to me, but to the future.

[Bunker entrance]

(The three Daleks have returned to the bunker, followed by Bettan and her fighters. They are lined up outside a door. Nyder whispers to Davros while the Elite confer, and he flicks a switch. The door opens.)

DALEK: Advance.

(The Daleks head down a corridor. Bettan leads her troops forward.)

BETTAN: Right, bring out the explosives. Now, lay the charges on each of these main carriers. One charge for each beam should be enough. Are you quite sure this is the only way into the bunker?
SEVRIN: Well, the only other way was from the Kaled dome, and your war rocket caved that it. It can never be cleared.
BETTAN: If we do the same here, we'll entomb the Daleks and those who created them.
SEVRIN: But Sarah and the Doctor are inside. You'll give them a chance to get clear, won't you?
BETTAN: I must blow the roof as soon as the charges are laid. I can't delay. If the Daleks find out what we are doing and attack, I don't have enough men or arms to stand them off.
SEVRIN: How long?
BETTAN: Thirty minutes, perhaps less.
SEVRIN: Then I must get inside and try and warn them.
BETTAN: That's up to you. But you must understand. If you're not back, I must go on. You'll die in there with them.
SEVRIN: I understand.
BETTAN: I'll give you what time I can.
SEVRIN: Right.

[Laboratory]

DAVROS: You have had ample time to decide. Those who would remain loyal to me and to the future of our race, move forward and stand at my side.

(Two scientists join Davros.)

DAVROS: No more? Kravos, will you betray me?
DOCTOR: Now I wonder where Nyder's going at such a crucial moment.
HARRY: I think we ought to find out.
DOCTOR: So do I. Let's go.

(The Doctor, Harry and Sarah leave by the door nearest Gharman's desk.)

DAVROS: Kravos, I saved your life once. In your chest is a tiny instrument which I designed. It keeps your heart beating. Will you now turn that heart against me?

[Corridor]

(Nyder is confronted by Harry and Sarah. He backs away, then raises his cosh and the Doctor grabs his arm from behind. In the struggle both cosh and Time Ring are dropped. The Doctor picks up the cosh.)

DOCTOR: Now where are you going in such a hurry?
NYDER: Davros has lost. I am getting away while I can.
DOCTOR: Oh. Somehow that just doesn't ring true.
SARAH: Why didn't you just join the other side?
DOCTOR: Now that's a good question. Do you have a good answer? Evidently not. Well then, let's try something else. That tape recording you took, where is it?
NYDER: It's put away in a safe in Davros' office.
DOCTOR: Shall we go and see?
NYDER: Down here.

(They go into a room just before Sevrin comes searching. He dodges the Daleks and continues on his way.)

[Davros' office]

(The Doctor examines the wall safe, which is in the middle of a large Elite corps symbol.)

DOCTOR: Now, be reasonable and open it for us.
NYDER: Only Davros knows the combination.
HARRY: Come on, Nyder, you can do better than that.
SARAH: Perhaps he's telling the truth.
DOCTOR: Oh, no, no. On the contrary. Now, Davros can't rise from his chair, correct?
NYDER: Well?
DOCTOR: And he has the use of only one hand, this hand. (the right one) And Davros never goes anywhere without you, Nyder. So you must open the safe for him. Open it for us.

(Nyder reaches up and opens the safe, then hands the tape to the Doctor.)

DOCTOR: Thank you. Now let's destroy it.

(Sarah looks around and sees something on a sideboard.)

SARAH: Er, how about this?
DOCTOR: How very apt. A Dalek gun.

(The Doctor puts the tape on the floor and exterminates it. Nyder runs out of the room.)

DOCTOR: There.

(The door shuts in front of Harry and refuses to open again.)

DOCTOR: He's not important.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: We've got the Time Ring, we've destroyed the tape and Davros' power is broken.
SARAH: What about the Daleks that are already operational?
DOCTOR: Oh, I think we can leave Gharman to destroy them.
HARRY: That means we can leave, then.
DOCTOR: Yes, all we've got to do is touch the Time Ring.

(The Doctor pushes up his sleeve and sees his bare arm. Oops.)

DOCTOR: Ah. I must have dropped it in the struggle in the corridor.
SARAH: Well now we've got to get out of here.

[Bunker entrance]

BETTAN: How many more charges to go on?
MAN: Only four more.
BETTAN: Won't take long. It doesn't give them much time. All right, carry on.

[Davros' office]

DOCTOR: Even the sonic screwdriver won't open this door.
SARAH: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Huh?

(The Doctor joins Sarah and Harry in front of a large monitor. The view is looking down into the laboratory.)

SARAH: Why is it going on so long?
DOCTOR: Who knows. It's out of character for Davros to submit quite so easily.

[Laboratory]

DAVROS: This is your last chance. Move to join me now or suffer the consequences.
GHARMAN: Why don't you just accept the fact that you have lost. It's over for you, Davros.
DAVROS: Do you believe that I would let a lifetime's work be ended by the will of spineless fools like you? You have won nothing. I allowed this charade to be played out for one reason only. To find those men who were truly loyal to me and to discover those who would betray me! (Dalek-like) We, I will go on!
GHARMAN: You are insane, Davros.

(Davros flicks the switch to open the doors, and Daleks enter. There are more than three now.)

DAVROS: Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!

(The Elite die, including Gharman. The Doctor, Harry and Sarah watch this on the monitor.)

KRAVOS: Stop this, Davros. You must stop them!

(Nyder throws young Kravos into the path of a Dalek gun, and he dies with scream.)

[Davros' office]

(There are footsteps outside. They hide either side of the door, which opens to reveal...)

SARAH: Sevrin!
SEVRIN: I haven't got much time. The Thals have set the explosives at the entrance. They'll detonate as soon as they're ready.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: Give me a moment to find the Time Ring.

[Corridor]

(He finds it.)

DOCTOR: Ah! Good. Let's go. Back, back!

(All four run to hide from Daleks, but they are everywhere.)

DOCTOR: Back!

(In another corridor.)

SEVRIN: We're not far from the main entrance. If we can get through the next section, we'll be safe.
DOCTOR: Sarah, take this.

(He gives her the Time Ring.)

DOCTOR: Sevrin, lead them to the main entrance. Get them out of here.
SEVRIN: Right.
SARAH: What are you going to do?
DOCTOR: I'm going back to the incubator room. This time I'm going to blow it up.
SARAH: Let us come with you.
DOCTOR: No! Get out of here. Hurry. Now, go on.

[Laboratory]

DAVROS: Dispose of the traitor's bodies. The Daleks will assume all military duties necessary for the security of the bunker. As for us, work will commence as soon as possible on the improvement of every aspect of Dalek design.

(Nyder enters.)

NYDER: Davros, the prisoners I locked away in your office have escaped.
DAVROS: They must be found. Seek out the prisoners and exterminate.
DALEK: We obey.

[Bunker entrance]

MAN: That's the last one in position.
BETTAN: Right. Prepare to detonate.

[Outside the incubation room]

(The Doctor comes out of the room and picks up the bare wires again, but before he can put them together, two Daleks come round the corner and fire. He drops the wires and gets out of the way just in time.)

[Bunker entrance]

(Sevrin, Sarah and Harry run out.)

BETTAN: Oh, I'd given up hope. Now quickly, move away. We're about to detonate.
SARAH: No, you can't, not yet.
HARRY: You must wait.
SARAH: The Doctor's still inside.
SEVRIN: A few minutes, please.
SARAH: Please.
BETTAN: All right, a few minutes. But if there's the least indication of the Daleks moving up that corridor, then I detonate.

(Inside, the Doctor reaches out from his hiding place for the wires, and the Dalek fires. Then it starts moving forward, and the Doctor runs away. The Dalek trundles over the wires, completing the circuit. The KaBOOM! is heard at the entrance.)

MAN: We're getting a picture on one of these scanners.
DAVROS [on screen]: Send a patrol of Daleks to the main entrance. This will remain an area of maximum security.
DALEK [on screen]: I obey.
BETTAN: That's it. I can't wait any longer. Some of you get those doors closed. The rest of you move away.
HARRY: One more minute, please.
BETTAN: I'm sorry.

[Laboratory]

DAVROS: The automated Dalek production line has been started. I gave no such order. Who did?
DALEK: I gave the command.
DAVROS: You will perform no function unless ordered by me. You will obey only my commands. The production line is to be halted immediately. You heard my order. Obey! Obey! Nyder.
NYDER: Yes, Davros.

(Nyder goes over to the console and the Dalek kills him.)

DALEK: Production will continue.

(The Daleks advance on Davros.)

[Bunker entrance]

(Harry and Sarah are watching through the nearly closed doors.)

BETTAN: Fire.

(The Thal lifts the plunger handle.)

SARAH: No, wait! He's coming! He's coming!

(The Doctor sprints down the corridor and squeezes through the narrow gap in the doors, pursued by Daleks travelling at their one leisurely speed.)

SARAH: Quickly!

(The Doctor gets to safety, the doors close as the Daleks fire.)

BETTAN: Now!

(The Daleks are on the other side of the doors when the plunger goes down and the whole place shakes with the massive explosion. The Doctor goes to watch the scene on the monitor.)

[Laboratory]

DAVROS: You must obey me! I created you! I am the master, not you. I! I! I!
DALEK: Our programming does not permit to acknowledge that any creature is superior to the Daleks.
DAVROS: You cannot exist without me. You cannot progress.
DALEK: We are programmed to survive. We have the ability to develop in any way necessary to ensure that survival.
DALEK 2: Main exit blocked by explosion for a length of at least one thousand yards.

[Bunker entrance]

SARAH: The incubator room, were you able to do anything?
DOCTOR: Yes, with a little help from a Dalek. But I'm afraid I've only delayed them for a short time. Perhaps a thousand years.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: In the total time scale, no more than that.
HARRY: Look.

[Laboratory]

DALEK: All inferior creatures are to be considered the enemy of the Daleks and destroyed.
DAVROS: No, wait! Those men are scientists. They can help you. Let them live. Have pity!
DALEK: Pity? I have no understanding of the word. It is not registered in my vocabulary bank. Exterminate!

(The last of the Kaled Elite die.)

DAVROS: For the last time, I am your creator! You must, you will obey me!
DALEK: We obey no one. We are the superior beings.

(Davros turns and raises his hand over the total destruct button.)

DALEK: Exterminate!

(Davros screams and dies.)

DALEK: We are entombed, but we live on. This is only the beginning. We will prepare. We will grow stronger. When the time is right, we will emerge and take our rightful place as the supreme power of the universe!

[Bunker entrance]

DOCTOR: Goodbye, Bettan.
BETTAN: Goodbye, Harry.
DOCTOR: Sevrin.
SARAH: Thank you, Sevrin.
DOCTOR: Goodbye. Thank you.

(Sevrin and the Thals leave. The Doctor holds out his hand and Sarah gives him the Time Ring.)

DOCTOR: Hands on the Time Ring.
SARAH: You don't seem too disappointed. We've failed, haven't we?

(The energy of the Time Ring makes them shake as it moves them, twisting and turning through space and time.)

DOCTOR [OC]: Failed? No, not really. You see, I know that although the Daleks will create havoc and destruction for millions of years, I know also that out of their evil must come something good.

Transcript originally provided by Chrissie. Adapted by TARDIS.guide. The transcripts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. All other copyrights property of their respective holders.

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