More Than A Messiah by Nigel Fairs

A BBV Video released Jan 1992

[Boat]

(Under a bright pale green sky, a small motor boat speeds across the water, towing a water-skier wearing a dry suit.)

NIC: Hey! Whoo-hoo.

[Bridge]

(An older man is looking through binoculars. It's Peter Miles, aka Nyder from Genesis of the Daleks.)

CHARLOTTE: Can you see her yet?
BERNARD: Hmm?
CHARLOTTE: I said, can you see her yet?
BERNARD: Not if you keep jogging my arm, dear, 'course I can't.

(Someone retrieves a small plastic bag containing something from amongst some rocks.)

CHARLOTTE: Bunny, can I have them? Bunny, please, let me have a look.
BERNARD: Fat chance we have anyhow, with those wretched people shouting their damn mouths off in our bay.
CHARLOTTE: It's not our bay, Bunny, and they've just as much right to be here as we have.
BERNARD: Tourists.
CHARLOTTE: We're tourists too, dear.
BERNARD: Ha.

(A tin can leaps into the boy's hand and he throws it over the side of the boat.)

BERNARD: Jumping Jehoshaphat! I see her.
CHARLOTTE: Bunny, let me see.
BERNARD: She's skimming the waves like a knife through butter.
CHARLOTTE: Oh, Bunny, please. Bunny please let me look.

(He hands over the binoculars.)

CHARLOTTE: Thank you, thank you. I can't see anything.
BERNARD: Well, focus then, woman, focus.

(An arm is raised above the water.)

CHARLOTTE: Oh, it's her.

(The arms sinks down.)

CHARLOTTE: Ah, she's gone. Back to the seabed.
BERNARD: Probably frightened off by the tourists.
CHARLOTTE: Just think of it. A real live mermaid.
BERNARD: The wretched thing's made of plastic. It was put there by the Tourist Board for idiots like them.
CHARLOTTE: Bernard, a few minutes ago you were just as excited as I was.
BERNARD: Rubbish.
CHARLOTTE: Oh, Bunny.

(They leave.)

[Boat]

(The water-skier performs acrobatics, then suddenly is gone. The motor boat stops.)

NIC: Mark?

(The writer of this epic leans over the side, a hand grabs him and pulls him under the water. He struggles briefly then all is still.)

[Beach]

(Shingle. The Stranger reclines on a chair.)

BROWN: You lied to me.
STRANGER: Hmm?
BROWN: You lied to me.
STRANGER: Oh.
BROWN: You said there'd be no more sulking around, no more contemplation.
STRANGER: Who said I was contemplating?
BROWN: That's what it looks like from here.
STRANGER: I'm snoozing. It's an entirely different activity.
BROWN: Snoozing? What am I supposed to do?
STRANGER: Pull up a deckchair? (laughs.)
BROWN: Great.

(She walks away.)

[Darton home]

(On the verandah of the wooden bungalow, watering her pot plants.)

CHARLOTTE: Mustn't forget you, must we? There you are, my sweetheart. Big may be beautiful, but small is Mummy's darling.
BERNARD: Good news, Charlotte. I've nearly finished.
CHARLOTTE: Oh, Bunny dear.
BERNARD: See, all I have to do is wipe out the excess vegetation on the eastern rise here, and there we have it. Perfect site for a city. And a city to end all cities at that. I shall go down in history. They'll name it in my honour, naturally. Then perhaps they'll hand over the whole planetary development to me.
CHARLOTTE: I'm sure they will, dear.
BERNARD: Yes, everything's fortuitous, you see, Charlotte. A good man can even see profit in his own surroundings when he's down. They probably saw that all along, already. Old Darton'll make use of it, they thought. It's fortuitous, Charlotte. Fortuitous.
CHARLOTTE: Yes, dear.
BERNARD: Darton City! Hmm? Has a ring to it.
CHARLOTTE: Yes, dear.

(An ape-like creature is watching them.)

CHARLOTTE: Oh look, Bunny, aren't they lovely?
BERNARD: If you spent less time faffing about with those ridiculous flowers and more time irrigating the patch and working in the solar dome, as we're supposed to, our output might at least equal our input.
CHARLOTTE: We are supposed to be on holiday.
BERNARD: Holiday? And don't call me Bunny.

(The ape-creature gets a slight electric shock.)

CHARLOTTE: What was that?
BERNARD: What?
CHARLOTTE: I thought I heard something.
BERNARD: Oh, it's those damned apes, I expect. The forcefield will keep them out, and if it doesn't they'll soon get my gun where it hurts.
CHARLOTTE: Bunny!

[Beach]

(The motor boat driver has been washed ashore. The Stranger opens his eyes for a moment then closes them again, but Miss Brown runs along the shingle and turns the body over. He starts gibbering with fear.)

NIC: No! No! What? (unintelligible)
BROWN: Hey. Hey, are you all right? All right. Look, there's no one here. Are you all right?
NIC: Yes, I
BROWN: You're not hurt?
NIC: No.
BROWN: Can I get you a doctor? Do you need help? Do you live near here?
NIC: Cabin.
BROWN: Can you walk? Okay, lean on me.

[Darton home]

(Bernard is pretending to shoot with a rifle.)

CHARLOTTE: Bunny? What are you doing?
BERNARD: I, Charlotte, am going hunting.
CHARLOTTE: Hunting. My dear, you've never even been fishing.
BERNARD: I. If Bernard Darton decides to go out and shoot a reindeer for his supper, then sure as hell he'll come back with one on his shoulders, and a large meaty one at that.
CHARLOTTE: Oh, Bunny, wouldn't you rather have a nice bowl of vege-qwik? Now I've got your favourite flavour in the larder.
BERNARD: See, this holiday is a challenge, Charlotte, and I intend to face it. We've got to brave the wild, harness the powers of nature, conquer the dangers. I've no intention to go scuttling off to my plastic food packets when there's the blood of the hunt in my nostrils.
CHARLOTTE: Bunny, don't you think you're a little old for all this?
BERNARD: Old!? Huh. I've a good mind to go shoot down one of those damn tourists. Their heads on a pole would soon frighten off our ape chum.
CHARLOTTE: Don't be so horrid.
BERNARD: Yes. I will be back at sunset. Get the spit ready. We'll have a meal to remember for the rest of our lives.

(Leaves.)

BERNARD [OC]: Tally ho!
CHARLOTTE: Spit?

(Shotgun over his arm, Bernard marches down the woodland path, humming to himself. Someone watches him go.)

[Cabin]

(Nic has bathed and cleaned up. Miss Brown hands him a mug.)

NIC: Thank you. No, we're students. Were students. We just graduated. Seemed like a nice idea, you know, a year off in paradise.
BROWN: Paradise?
NIC: Didn't you read the brochures?
BROWN: No, we, we came here by accident.
NIC: Some accident. A planet completely unspoiled by civilisation.

(He gives her his hand-held computer to read the blurb.)

NIC: Mark wrote that. It was one of his work assignments. You know, publicity.
COMPUTER: Majus 17, your chance to rub shoulders with nature the way you were intended to. The simple but entirely functional construction home with a (??) for life compatibility with the surroundings. You can spend up to a year living amongst the primitive but friendly wildlife, and enjoy at your leisure the magnificent natural sights that Majus 17 has to offer.
NIC: Paradise. It was Mark's idea. He wanted to come and see whether the real thing lived up to the publicity. I just came to make up the numbers. And now look what's happened.
BROWN: Are you sure
NIC: Yes. He's dead. And this is no paradise.

[Woods]

(Taking aim.)

BERNARD: Just that little bit closer, and

(But a golden figure appears to block his shot of Bambi.)

BERNARD: Damnation. You get out of the way, you stupid witch.
GIRL: Be gone, demon.
BERNARD: Idiot! You're in my line of fire!
GIRL: Be gone. Death to you.

(She raises her hand, he raises his shotgun, she ducks away. Ace!)

[Cabin]

BROWN: What are you doing?
NIC: Trying to find the time of the next flight out of here. I'm going to have to get in contact with Mark's parents as soon as I can, and I can't do it from here.
BROWN: Why not?
NIC: No radios. We really are cut off in paradise. We weren't even supposed to have this, but Mark and I said we were doing some research into the fauna. (beeping) That's odd.
BROWN: What?
NIC: No flights. There should have been at least one this week.
BROWN: This week?
NIC: They're few and far between. I wonder if I can use this to tap into the computer systems at the spaceport.
BROWN: You mean there's a spaceport here?
NIC: Majus Central. It's not far. Didn't you make planetfall there?
BROWN: No. Look, is it big, this spaceport?
NIC: Huge.

(But alarms are going off and computers are not responding. Then there is a scream and a white-out.)

BROWN: Nic.
NIC: Hmm?
BROWN: Look, I left a friend on the beach. I just really think I should be getting back to him. He doesn't know what's going on here.
NIC: I don't believe this.
BROWN: What?
NIC: According to this, the spaceport's not there any more. It's gone.

(On the beach, the girl reaches towards the Stranger. He opens his eyes and smiles, and she smiles back.)

[Woods]

BROWN: How far is it, exactly?
NIC: Not far.
BROWN: Hold on a minute.

(There's a skull on the ground, and a fully fleshed arm sticking up.)

BROWN: Oh look, I've seen one like this before, but not quite the same colour.

(Miss Brown is talking about a flower. Nic has seen the bones.)

NIC: Let's get out of here.

(An ape-like native wearing a simple hessian tunic leaps out in front of them, then goes to the remains. Miss Brown turns away. There is a gunshot. Nic falls, the ape flees, and Bernard appears from the bushes.)

BERNARD: Oh damnation, I missed them.
BROWN: You shot him!
BERNARD: What?
BROWN: You shot him!
BERNARD: My dear, I'm sorry. You stop that. I'll tell you when to move. Apologised, haven't I?

[Cavern]

(The Stranger is lying on the ground. The Girl gets water from a pool and sprinkles something into it, then takes it to him. He awakes with a start.
STRANGER: Oh, I must have dozed off again. I feel very hot. I was dreaming.
GIRL: Here, drink this.
STRANGER: Mmm, good brew.
GIRL: A natural remedy to calm the flames in your eyes.
STRANGER: Flames? Flames? Oh dear. Thought all that was under control.
GIRL: Don't worry now. Lie back, relax.

(He does. She places a small seashell on his chest.)

STRANGER: Who are you?

[Darton home]

(Miss Brown runs in.)

CHARLOTTE: Oh, who are you? You on holiday too?

(Bernard carries Nic in.)

BERNARD: Keep back, keep back.
CHARLOTTE: Oh my, what's happened?
BERNARD: An accident. He got in the way. I apologised.

(He dumps Nic on the sofa.)

CHARLOTTE: I told you you shouldn't go hunting. I knew something like this would happen.
BERNARD: Shut up, woman. I do what I damn well please.
BROWN: Oh please stop arguing and help me.

(The shot has grazed Nic's temple.)

CHARLOTTE: Oh dear, he's bleeding.
BROWN: Well, of course he's bleeding.

(Bernard paces the verandah.)

BERNARD: Who are those damn students? Little upstarts. They take your job away from you, and then get in your line of fire, and start blaming you for every damn thing that goes wrong. I'll show 'em what's what.

[Cavern]

(The Stranger and the Girl are naked.)

GIRL: Watch the water. Let the current ease your pain. Let its purity wash away the shadows. Douse the flames.
STRANGER: Douse the flames. I don't think I've been anywhere quite so calm. I'm very impressed.

[Darton home]

(Bernard comes back inside. Charlotte is bandaging Nic's head.)

CHARLOTTE: There, that should help.
BROWN: Bandages aren't enough.
CHARLOTTE: I'm afraid we haven't got anything else.
BROWN: You mean you came here without proper medical supplies?
CHARLOTTE: Ah, well, it's in the rules, you know.
BROWN: The rules?
BERNARD: The rules of the game. The excitement of primitive life. Coping with an injury on an alien planet the way we were born to. None of your easy way out high-tech nonsense here. It's back to basics.
BROWN: You mean killing people?
CHARLOTTE: Bunny dear, I don't think this sort of thing was supposed to happen.
BERNARD: It has, Charlotte. It has. And we are not going to give into them. No running back with our tail between our legs for us. No, they'll see what solid stuff the Dartons are made of.

[Cavern]

(Fully clothed again.)

STRANGER: Tell me. Those scars?
GIRL: Take care. We do not like to be reminded of our deformity.
STRANGER: Deformity? Nonsense. Nothing a little medication and healthy living won't cure. Fresh fruit.
GIRL: I don't understand you.
STRANGER: Besides, beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that, hmm? Oops. I must have got up too quickly.
GIRL: Lie down.
STRANGER: Yes. Yes.
GIRL: You are the first.
STRANGER: Yes, I usually am.
GIRL: I've never known a mind like yours.
STRANGER: Thank you.
GIRL: And such beauty.
STRANGER: I beg your pardon?

[Darton home]

BROWN: I've got a friend out there. He might be able to help.
CHARLOTTE: Really? Is he a doctor?
BROWN: No, but he's got more experience of this kind of thing than I have. Will your husband let me go?
CHARLOTTE: Ah, well, I don't know about that. He's a bit upset. I think he feels guilty about shooting your friend. He, oh, he's been under a lot of strain recently. That's why he was sent here, actually.
BROWN: Sent? By whom?
CHARLOTTE: The Qwikelm Corporation. Oh, he designed bungalows, and streets, and all sorts of things for them, and then he was declared redundant.
BERNARD: Charlotte!
CHARLOTTE: Oh, coming dear. Won't be a moment.
BROWN: Look, is there any way we can contact anyone without leaving the chalet?
CHARLOTTE: Ah, well, no. They don't allow video links because it's
BROWN: Oh, don't tell me it's against the rules. We've got to do something.
BERNARD: Charlotte, come outside.
CHARLOTTE: All right, dear. (sotto) I managed to smuggle a few medi-tabs through customs, because you never know when they might come in handy. Give a couple to your friend.
BERNARD [OC]: Charlotte!
CHARLOTTE: Coming, dear. (sotto) They might help.

(On the verandah.)

CHARLOTTE: Yes, Bunny? What are you doing?
BERNARD: I am locking the enemy spies up.
CHARLOTTE: Spies?
BERNARD: Yes, Charlotte, spies. Sent by a rival company to force my plans out into the open.
CHARLOTTE: Dear, you do know that is nonsense.
BERNARD: Don't look so worried, Charlotte. We are winning. I've got the upper hand.

[Cavern]

GIRL: Have you never been in love?
STRANGER: Oh, er, not really, no. Never really had time for it. I'm a wanderer, explorer. Far too much to see and experience to waste time being um er
GIRL: In love.
STRANGER: Quite.
GIRL: Yet I sense a loneliness.
STRANGER: Oh, nonsense.
GIRL: You've lost so many.
STRANGER: People come and go.
GIRL: The shifting sands in your head.
STRANGER: Oh, elusive, am I?
GIRL: You're running away from something.
STRANGER: Usually, yes.
GIRL: Past mistakes. A decision. The tangled web of cause and effect. You ran away because you didn't want to face the consequences of your actions. Yet I sense longing, a yearning for something that is stronger than your pride, stronger than your sense of guilt, stronger than your sense of justice.
STRANGER: You do?
GIRL: Oh yes. I sense a need for peace. For a silence that you can only find here. A silence that only I can offer you. This is a world of peace. Join me.

[Darton home]

(Barton is throwing the pot plants off the verandah.)

CHARLOTTE: Bunny! Bunny, what are you doing?
BERNARD: Unnecessary plant life. I don't need damn weeds.
CHARLOTTE: They're no weeds, they're my flowers.
BERNARD: This is our fortress now.
CHARLOTTE: Bunny.
BERNARD: Now we've got to tidy the place up. You never know when it's time for inspection.
CHARLOTTE: Bunny, please.
BERNARD: This is war.
CHARLOTTE: Stop it.
BERNARD: Them versus us.
CHARLOTTE: Versus us? Bother the rules.

(Inside the chalet.)

CHARLOTTE: Look, you've got to go and get help. This way, out the back. You see, I don't think my husband can cope with this alone. That friend of yours, will he help?
BROWN: Yes, of course.
CHARLOTTE: Fine. Look, go this way. The forcefield is neutral from this side, so go straight on and it shouldn't take you long.
BROWN: Yes, but will you be all right now?
CHARLOTTE: Yes, I'll be all right. And don't worry about your friend. I'll look after him.
BROWN: Okay.
CHARLOTTE: Quickly now. Quietly.

(Bernard comes in.)

BERNARD: All ship-shape now. Right, interrogation time. Where's the girl?
CHARLOTTE: Bunny, you've been overworking recently. Now you know what the doctor said about overdoing it.
BERNARD: Where is she?

(He grabs Charlotte's wrists.)

CHARLOTTE: Bunny, please, please. I let her go. Well, she's gone to get help. She only wants to help you.
BERNARD: Stupid. You're stupid! You stupid, stupid woman.
CHARLOTTE: Bunny.

(Bernard leaves.)

CHARLOTTE: Oh, Bunny.

[Cavern]

(Miss Brown sees the Stranger's chair overturned on the beach.)

STRANGER: Sorry. I can't stay.
GIRL: Can't?
STRANGER: I have a duty.
GIRL: Duty?
STRANGER: To others, halfway across galaxy. Friends, allies.
GIRL: No one would miss you.
STRANGER: That's not true.
GIRL: No?
STRANGER: I can't stay. Besides, I have work to do, mistakes to rectify. You said so yourself. I can't stay.
GIRL: You refuse?
STRANGER: Absolutely. I'm sorry.
GIRL: You refuse to share this with me?
STRANGER: It's very nice, but
GIRL: (shouts) You refuse!

(She glows gold and some rocks fall from the roof. Miss Brown is running through the woods.)

STRANGER: I really must be leaving.
GIRL: Stay!

(Another small rockfall. The cavern entrance closes.)

STRANGER: Cogito ergo est. Very impressive.
GIRL: Stay.
STRANGER: You don't give me much choice.

(Bernard shoots at something in the woods and the Girl doubles over in pain. Another shot, then another and another. The cavern entrance opens.)

STRANGER: Cosmic angst? Happens to us all. Friend of mine had chronic arthritis in his legs, all sixteen of them.
GIRL: Your babbling is beginning to irritate me.
STRANGER: That's the trouble when you let someone in. You've got to take the bad along with the good. Now, I babble all the time. Especially when I'm bored. There's nothing like a little trivial babbling to while away a few hours or so. You should try it.
GIRL: Communion. Must have communion.
STRANGER: Try an apple a day.
GIRL: Get out of my way! (runs out)
STRANGER: Oh. Oh, that's better. Some air freshens this place up. Blows the cobwebs away.

(He walks outside.)

GIRL [OC]: Communion. Communion.

(Bernard is still hunting for Miss Brown.)

GIRL [OC]: Communion, my friend. Strength of vision. See through my eyes.

(Visions of the sea, and the woods from above.)

STRANGER [OC]: Hmm, very impressive. Who's the gardener, Capability Green?
GIRL [OC]: The water flows in all things.
STRANGER [OC]: Like blood, only
GIRL [OC]: All things breathe. Live as we live, touch, feel, until ah! Disturbed.

(Images of construction work.)

STRANGER [OC]: Straight and narrow lines.
GIRL [OC]: Destroyed.
STRANGER [OC]: Unnatural.
GIRL [OC]: Unwanted.
STRANGER [OC]: Voice unheeded.
GIRL [OC]: My pain.
STRANGER [OC]: Pain?

(Miss Brown running.)

GIRL [OC]: Who is this?
STRANGER [OC]: My friend.
GIRL [OC]: I sense
STRANGER [OC]: She's frightened, in pain. I must go to her.
GIRL [OC]: No. No!

[Beach]

(The Stranger takes off his coat and puts it on the Girl.)

STRANGER: A kind of very closed circuit TV. You'd make a fortune in Blackpool.
GIRL: Do you love her?
STRANGER: Who?
GIRL: That creature. If you can love her (transforms into Miss Brown) then you can love me.
STRANGER: I don't actually love her. Well, I do in a way.
GIRL-BROWN: You do!
STRANGER: Now just a moment. Life isn't black and white, you know. You don't either love or hate. Emotions aren't that simple. Life isn't that straight-forward. It's a kind of murky grey normally. Grey and full of unpleasantly indiscriminate and unpredictable little complicated bits. Suspicions, jealousies, questionable loyalties, greed, lies, trivialities
GIRL-BROWN: You cannot blind me with words.
STRANGER: My dear young lady, in order to be blinded, you must first have been given the gift of sight. Evidently from your remarkable naïveté
GIRL-BROWN: Death to her!

(A branch knocks Miss Brown to the ground.)

GIRL-BROWN: Die!

(She creates lighting.)

STRANGER: Linked to a handy weather control, are we?
GIRL-BROWN: Look through my eyes if you dare to see the one you love destroyed.

(Roots encircle Miss Brown's wrists and ankles, holding her down. The ground starts to swallow her up.)

STRANGER: Stop it. Stop it now!

(The Girl laughs.)

[Woods]

(Bernard finds Miss Brown.)

BROWN: Help! For God's sake help me!

(Bernard takes careful aim.)

[Beach]

GIRL-BROWN: See her squirm. See her die!
STRANGER: You're behaving like a jealous child. Affection isn't a toy you can pass from one person to another like, like, like a doll! It grows, it develops. You won't win my affection by killing my friends.

(The girl lowers her arms.)

[Woods]

(Miss Brown dusts herself off.)

BROWN: I thought you were going to shoot me.

(Bernard ties her hands behind her back.)

BROWN: Ow!
BERNARD: Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I'm going to waste an opportunity like this? You're going to be my hostage, girlie. My prize. When those self-opinionated fools see their spy trussed up like a turkey they'll think again, girlie. They'll think again. Now, move yourself. Come on, move.

[Darton home]

(Beep!)

NIC: What was that?
CHARLOTTE: Oh, it's the forcefield. Something's happened to the forcefield. It's the only thing that keeps the animals out.
NIC: Those creatures. Now they can get it.

[Woods]

(Being marched along at gun point.)

BROWN: Forcefields, waste disposal units, carpets, cars, roads, motor boats, spaceports. It's hardly what you'd call rubbing shoulders with nature, is it?
BERNARD: Will you be quiet?
BROWN: You're being taken for a ride. This place is about as natural as a nuclear warhead. I suppose then next thing you're going to be telling me is the spaceport is painted a nice natural shade of green to blend in with the plant life. Pity these birds are imported.
BERNARD: You think I haven't heard all this pseudo-political nonsense before, man in my position? It's high time you weak-willed students had to learn to use the world around you instead of gawping at it through rose-tinted spectacles.
BROWN: Student? I'm sorry, I thought I was supposed to be a spy. So, what's happened to your back to the basics stuff, eh?
BERNARD: That was just a game, you fool. This is the real thing.

(Charlotte and Nic have closed the curtains and are barricading the windows.)

BERNARD: The spaceport was definitely here!
BROWN: Well, it's not here now, is it?
BERNARD: Quiet. Let me think. Of course, that's it. It's another plot to prevent me from reporting back to the Company on their operations. The lengths they go to, it's astounding.
BROWN: They? Who are they?
BERNARD: Are you a complete idiot? Haven't you seen them? The apes, of course.
BROWN: What are you talking about?
BERNARD: The rival Company. Hiding in the bushes, spying on my every move. The enemy.

(Miss Brown sighs. Her hands are untied.)

BERNARD: Ready to leak my slightest change of plan to those parasites in charge.
BROWN: You're crazy.
BERNARD: It is a clever disguise, I admit, but they haven't outwitted me. I'll be ready for them this time. And I am going to strike, and strike hard.

[Cavern]

GIRL-BROWN: Jealousy. Greed. Irritation. Regret.

(Her head is resting on the Stranger's lap.)

GIRL-BROWN: There's so much suffering and confusion in your minds. Is that the way you destroy it?
STRANGER: Maybe. It's often the most uncomplicated minds that are at peace with the world. And themselves.
GIRL-BROWN: When I was given this form I had no idea of the burden.
STRANGER: Given this? Surely you don't think you're a Messiah?
GIRL-BROWN: Messiah?
STRANGER: Gods and goddesses walking on the earth in human form.
GIRL-BROWN: Oh no.
STRANGER: I should think not. Takes more than a few party tricks to be a god. I should know.
GIRL-BROWN: I'm more than a god of this world. I am this world.

[Darton home]

(The curtain is opened from outside.)

CHARLOTTE: Oh Bernard, thank goodness. Thank goodness.
BERNARD: You, come out now.
CHARLOTTE: Oh Bunny, did you get hurt? Are we going home?
BERNARD: Oh, stop bleating, Charlotte, and come out now.

(Outside, they are watched by an ape.)

NIC: What's wrong with him?
BROWN: He's unhinged.

(The ape approaches and Bernard shoots it. The Girl screams in pain.)

CHARLOTTE: Bunny.
BERNARD: Thought you could cross enemy lines, did you? You, pick up your comrade. We're taking it to your leader.

(Nic obeys.)

BROWN: What leader?
BERNARD: The woman in the caves, of course.
CHARLOTTE: Oh Bunny, let's stop all this right now and go home. Please.

[Cavern]

STRANGER: You need help.
GIRL-BROWN: Help!
STRANGER: Medical help. I'm in no position to judge what lead to these delusions, but I don't just think you're scarred on the outside. There's something inside that's hurt. Something quite beautiful in its own way.
GIRL-BROWN: Beautiful?
STRANGER: This place could be the cause of your pain. Let me take you somewhere where you can recover, in time. You need never be lonely again.
GIRL-BROWN: Oh please, stay!
STRANGER: I can't. You can come with me.
GIRL-BROWN: Then you leave me

(She flickers bright green and falls, and returns to her original appearance.)

GIRL: No choice. All things are connected, my friend. The world is my mirror, is me. Look around you. You see only me. My blood, my body. And as my body dies, so shall it.

(She makes to stab herself with a steel dagger.)

STRANGER: No!
GIRL: All things must come to an end. Your people have died for love before.
STRANGER: But not for me. Please, I can help you.
BERNARD: Nobody move. Think I didn't see through the disguise? Think I didn't realise? You're dealing with first-class management material here. I saw through the (??)'s disguise and I can see through yours. Take her the body, lad. Move it!
STRANGER: Stay back, please.
BERNARD: Show her the body or I'll blow her head off.

(Miss Brown flinches. Nic lays the ape down.)

BERNARD: What do you say to that, woman?
GIRL: Rest, my friend. I felt your pain as you felt mine.

(The ape dies.)

GIRL: Rest.

(The Stranger snatches the dagger out of her hand and throws it away. Nic and Miss Brown struggle with Bernard for the shotgun, but fail.)

BERNARD: Right, I want a signed confession from you all. Charlotte! Paper, pens. I want everything down in writing. If you refuse to cooperate, then I'll shoot.
GIRL: Go ahead, demon. Shoot me.
BERNARD: What?
GIRL: Show your strength. Shoot me! Or are you a coward?
BERNARD: Coward?
CHARLOTTE: No, no, you're wrong.
GIRL: Goodbye, my friend.
STRANGER: No!

(Bernard shoots the Girl.)

BERNARD: She was the enemy leader.
NIC: What are you going to do now, slaughter us all?
CHARLOTTE: Bunny, put the gun down.

(She walks past him to join the gathering around the Girl who disappears with a green glow.)

NIC: I don't believe it.
STRANGER: She was telling the truth.

(A bright light bursts in and the ground shakes.)

BROWN: What's going on?
STRANGER: The planet, it's dying.
CHARLOTTE: Bunny?
NIC: We've got to get away.
CHARLOTTE: Bunny?
BROWN: We've got to get away from here.
NIC: Come on!

(Bernard has been knocked down by falling rocks.)

CHARLOTTE: Oh, Bunny. Help him. Bunny!
NIC: Come on.
CHARLOTTE: Oh no, I'm staying.

(The Stranger goes to the pool.)

STRANGER: Listen, can you hear me? Listen.
GIRL [OC]: It's me.
STRANGER: It doesn't have to be like this. You don't have to die.
GIRL [OC]: All things must come to an end.
STRANGER: I don't want you to die!
CHARLOTTE: (cradling Bernard) It was only a silly job. Job's not everything, you know.
BROWN: Come on!
STRANGER: Oh, leave me alone. Let me stay. I have to stay!
NIC: She's dead. There's nothing you can do.
STRANGER: No!
BROWN: Oh, come on!
STRANGER: It's my fault! This is all my fault!
CHARLOTTE: Oh, Bunny. Was it worth it?

(The planet explodes.)

[Meadow]

NIC: You mean she was some kind of antibody created by the planet?
BROWN: To prevent disease?
STRANGER: And we were that disease. The only way the planet could come to terms with the creatures that were trying to destroy it was to create copies of them.
NIC: That body.
BROWN: The apes? You mean the planet created them as well?
STRANGER: Only she was incomplete. Too simple, in a way. And I mistook that simplicity for madness.

(The Stranger walks away.)

NIC: Thank you for bringing me home.
BROWN: It's okay.
NIC: Will he be all right? Where will you go now?
BROWN: Somewhere else.

(The Stranger takes the seashell from his pocket and gazes wistfully at it.)

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.