The Hand of Fear

Part One

[Kastria dome]

(A spaceship is travelling through the void.)

ROKON [OC]: Eldrad, the traitor, destroyer of the barriers, sentenced to obliteration. Eldrad.

(A figure in an all-enveloping duvet suit goes to a small dome in the blizzards and operates a control panel. Later, the figure is seen sitting.)

ROKON [OC]: Command to Dome Six. Command to Dome Six.

(A second figure enters.)

ROKON [OC]: Central Command to Outer Dome Six, report. Module status report immediately, Technic Obarl.

(The second figure shakes the first's shoulder. He falls to the floor.)

ROKON [OC]: Technic Obarl! Technic Obarl!
ZAZZKA: Commander Zazzka here. Technic Obarl no longer operational. Orb temperature continues to fall.
ROKON [OC]: Report module status, immediate.
ZAZZKA: Obliteration module on course and normal function. Now nineteen spans into mission.
ROKON [OC]: Computed time to detonation.
ZAZZKA: Obliteration module will reach designated detonation point beyond all solar systems in six spans, approximate.
ROKON [OC]: Commander Zazzka, what is the barrier condition?
ZAZZKA: Deteriorating.
ROKON [OC]: The north has already fallen. When the south barrier collapses, temperature loss will intensify.
ZAZZKA: Then surface operations will no longer be possible.
ROKON [OC]: Confirmed. These are new orders. The module is to be triggered now, before control is lost completely.
ZAZZKA: But King Rokon, sire. Total obliteration of the traitor Eldrad was ordered.
ROKON [OC]: Yes, yes.
ZAZZKA: Computations indicate that at nineteen spans, there is still a one in three million chance of particle survival.
ROKON [OC]: We have no choice, Zazzka. Carry out new orders.
ZAZZKA: Affirmative.

(Zazzka hits the button on the frost-covered console, and the spaceship explodes.)

ZAZZKA: Obliteration module destroyed. Awaiting further orders.
ROKON [OC]: Evacuate observation dome. Immediate.

(Zazzka drags the frozen Obarl out, then the dome goes dark.)

[Quarry]

(In another part of space, on Earth, in Cromhall Quarry, Wotton under Edge, Gloucestershire, the quarrymen are getting ready to detonate a part of the quarry face. The siren wails as wires are attached to each other and the dynamite, and the detonator cable is played out. Then the TARDIS materialises and the Doctor steps out. The final wires are stripped and fastened to the detonator pack. Sarah leaves the TARDIS, wearing an Andy Pandy pair of dungarees.)

SARAH: Oh. Listen, I don't want to make any snap decisions, but this isn't South Croydon.
DOCTOR: What? I can't hear you for the siren.
SARAH: This isn't South Croydon!
DOCTOR: All right, there's no need to shout. Hold this.

(He gives her his coat.)

DOCTOR: Now watch.

(The Doctor bowls a stone at a large rock, knocking it over. They walk on.)

SARAH: Good for you.
DOCTOR: Is it nice in South Croydon?
SARAH: What? It's a paradise compared to this dump. I bet we're not even on Earth.
DOCTOR: Well, maybe the season hasn't started yet.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: Do you have a season in South Croydon?
SARAH: Come on, where are we?
DOCTOR: We're in a quarry.
SARAH: Yes, I know we're in a quarry, but where?
DOCTOR: Well, how do I know? I don't know all the quarries that

(The Doctor stops. There is a figure waving at them from the ridge.)

DOCTOR: Maybe he knows.
ABBOTT: Get out of it! Go on, get out of it! Quick! Get out of the way! No, Mike! Mike, no!
DOCTOR: Maybe he knows South Croydon. Does he look as if he comes from South
SARAH: What? Siren! Run, Doctor!

(They start running just as the detonator is plunged, and the quarry wall explodes. Abbott runs down from the ridge. The Doctor pulls himself up from behind a very large piece of rock.)

ABBOTT: How the blazes did you get in here?
DOCTOR: What?
ABBOTT: Didn't you see the signs, the flags? Well, you must have heard the hooter. Are you all right?

(The Doctor looks at the pile of fractured rock behind him. The TARDIS is serenely untouched in the middle of the quarry.)

DOCTOR: My friend's under that.

(The other quarrymen come running.)

ABBOTT: Oi, you lot! Get down here! And get an ambulance!

(The Doctor spots his coat and goes over.)

ABBOTT: Look, I don't want to sound heartless, but, well, I'm not taking responsibility. You had no right in here.

(As the ambulance heads for the quarry, Sarah wakes in a space underneath a very large slab of rock. We can hear voices in the background. In the foreground of the shot is a right hand, with a ring on the fifth finger and the fourth one missing.)

SARAH: Ow. I can't move. Doctor! Doctor, please, help. Doc.

(Sarah reaches through the gap and grasps the hand, then screams.)

QUARRYMAN: I think she's over here.
DOCTOR: Steady, steady.

(The Doctor peers in through a gap.)

DOCTOR: She's here. Now, gently, gently.

(The men lift the large slab away as the ambulance arrives.)

ABBOTT: Mind how you go. Could be something else down there.
QUARRYMAN: Keep it coming. Here we are, that does it.

(The Doctor pulls an unconscious Sarah out of the hole and lays her on another slab.)

ABBOTT: Is she all right?
DOCTOR: She's still breathing.
ABBOTT: What?
DOCTOR: I said, she's still breathing.

(Abbott and the Doctor lay Sarah on the stretcher. Abbott sees the hand in her hand.)

ABBOTT: What on Earth? She won't let it go.
DOCTOR: Never mind about that. Get her off to the hospital, and quick. Come on.

(The ambulance man carry Sarah away on the stretcher.)

ABBOTT: You ought to get yourself seen to, mate.
DOCTOR: Yeah. I'll talk to you later.

[Hospital - A&E Dept]

(In a cubicle, an Indian doctor checks the Doctor's arm. When he gets near the wrist - )

DOCTOR: Ow!
INTERN: Did that hurt?
DOCTOR: Oh no, no.
INTERN: Wonderful thing, pain. Without pain, no race could survive.
DOCTOR: I'm well aware of that.
INTERN: Autonomic defence mechanism.
DOCTOR: Yes. Tell me, how's Miss Smith? Sarah Jane Smith. We came in together.
INTERN: She is still unconscious, but there's no need to worry. We have found no serious physical injury.
DOCTOR: Paralysis?
INTERN: Not as far as I know. You are a doctor yourself?
DOCTOR: Well, sort of, yes.
INTERN: How do you do?

(And shakes the Doctor's injured hand.)

INTERN: Tell me, where did you qualify, if I may ask?
DOCTOR: A place called Gallifrey.
INTERN: Gallifrey? No, I've not heard of it. Perhaps it's in Ireland.
DOCTOR: Probably. Look, could I see Miss Smith, please?
INTERN: I'd like you to take a look at Miss Smith.

[Hospital - private room]

(Sarah is lying in bed, very still.)

INTERN: Thank you, nurse.

(He looks at her eyes.)

INTERN: She is still in shock. She's not under sedation. We gave her just a simple anti-tetanus.
DOCTOR: Anti-tetanus?
INTERN: Yes. If you care to examine your friend's left hand and forearm, you will find there's considerable muscular contraction.
DOCTOR: Yes, you're right. Solid as a rock.
INTERN: Just in the hand and forearm. Perhaps it's a psychological reaction to stress, and the object to which she was holding on to.
DOCTOR: Did you see it?
INTERN: No. It was sent direct to Doctor Carter in the path lab. Our concern here is with the living.
DOCTOR: Hmm. Where is the path lab?
INTERN: Just follow the signs saying pathology.
DOCTOR: Will you let me know when she comes round, please?
INTERN: All right.

[Hospital - Path lab]

CARTER: Histology, that's what you need.
DOCTOR: What do you think of these plate, Doctor?

(X-rays of the mystery hand.)

CARTER: Oh, not much. There's no tissue differentiation. No blood, no muscle. No indication of any living organism whatsoever. You see, you usually get some idea of structure from a fossil, but with this there's nothing. Ah, now look at this.

(Doctor Carter has a slide under a microscope projecting onto a small screen instead of looking through the eyepiece.)

DOCTOR: Yes, it's beautiful.
CARTER: Yes, but it has nothing to do with clinical pathology.
DOCTOR: Does that crystalline lattice remind you of anything?
CARTER: It's geodetic, that's about all. As I say, what you need is a histologist or a geologist.
DOCTOR: It's silicon based.
CARTER: I'm sorry?
DOCTOR: So how many living forms do you know with a silicon based molecular infrastructure?
CARTER: None. If it was, it would be made of stone. Oh, I think this is some kind of elaborate hoax. Always dreaming up something, you know, students.
DOCTOR: Have we got access to an electron microscope, Doctor?
CARTER: Why, what do you think it is?
DOCTOR: I don't know yet, but it's no hoax, Doctor Carter.

[Hospital - private room]

(The nameless Doctor takes Sarah's pulse, then puts her clenched left fist down and leaves. Sarah wakes and opens her clenched hand to reveal the ring. The stone glows blue briefly, then she throws back the bedclothes and gets up.)

[Hospital - path lab]

CARTER: Great Scott. You must have pulled a few strings to get hold of this. Virology usually hangs on to it like grim death. What did you tell them?

(The Doctor is wiring up the electron microscope.)

DOCTOR: I said we were investigating certain extraterrestrial possibilities.
CARTER: Such as?
DOCTOR: Such as viral infection on this planet.
CARTER: You're not serious, are you?
DOCTOR: Yes. I admit it's a fairly remote possibility. Viruses can survive, though not for a hundred and fifty million years as far as we know. Now this thing was found embedded in a stratum of blackstone dolomite.
CARTER: What?
DOCTOR: Jurassic limestone.
CARTER: You mean it's been there for a hundred and fifty million years?
DOCTOR: Yes.
CARTER: How did it get there? Man didn't exist in Jurassic times.
DOCTOR: That's true. Would you prepare me another slide, please?
CARTER: Oh, sure.
DOCTOR: I think the answer might lie in the quarry.
CARTER: Well, good luck.

(The Doctor leaves. On his way out he passes Sarah's room and turns the notice to - Patient Not To Be Disturbed, unaware that she is up and dressed and waiting for the corridor to be empty so she can leave the room to go to Pathology herself. Carter puts the sample he has drilled from the Hand into the EM and switches on. Sarah enters behind his back, picks up the Hand and puts it into a box.)

CARTER: What the devil do you think you're. Miss Smith! Are you feeling better?
SARAH: Eldrad. Eldrad must live.

(Sarah is wearing the ring with the stone turned in towards her palm. She holds up her hand and the blue glow envelopes Carter. He falls to the floor.)

WOMAN [OC]: It is his will that all shall obey. None must interfere.

(Sarah picks up the box containing the Hand and leaves. )

[Quarry]

ABBOTT: Yea, well, this is the stratum it came from, here.
DOCTOR: Did you find anything else in the rubble?
ABBOTT: If there was anything else, it must've been here a hundred and fifty million years. We often get ammonite shells and things, but
DOCTOR: Any plastic?
ABBOTT: Plastic?
DOCTOR: Yes, plastic.
ABBOTT: You're joking.
DOCTOR: No. Spaceships can be made of plastic, ceramic, metal.
ABBOTT: A spaceship all that time ago?
DOCTOR: Yes. Lifeforms don't all exist at the same time, you know.
ABBOTT: So you reckon this fellow copped it in a crash, like?
DOCTOR: Unless, of course, it just came fluttering down by itself. But why? And from where?
ABBOTT: Yeah. Well, I'll let you get on with it then, eh?
DOCTOR: Yes. And where was it going?

[Hospital - path lab]

(Carter picks himself up off the floor, sees the Hand is missing and goes to the telephone.)

CARTER: Reception? Doctor Carter here. Now listen. The dark haired young woman wearing some pink-striped overalls. Yes, pink-striped overalls. Yes, just like Andy Pandy. Well, she's on her way out. She's stolen something from my lab. Well, hold her, will you, and call the police. What do you mean, she left an hour ago? Why, it's only just a few. Good grief.

(The Doctor has returned to the hospital. He knocks quietly at Sarah's door then looks in to see the bed stripped. He checks the wardrobe and leaves.)

CARTER: Right. Thank you.

(Carter puts down the phone as the Doctor enters.)

DOCTOR: Carter, you haven't seen Miss Smith, have you?
CARTER: Yes, I have!
DOCTOR: Good. Where?
CARTER: Tell me, does she normally go around knocking people out?
DOCTOR: Eh? What do you mean?
CARTER: Well, she was standing over there and when I spoke to her she turned round, said something like somebody must live, then there was a flash and I, I don't remember anything else. But she's stolen the hand.
DOCTOR: What? You mean she hit you?
CARTER: Well, I suppose she must have done. I've been on to reception. They're looking for her.
DOCTOR: Yes, of course.
CARTER: Did you find anything at the quarry?
DOCTOR: What?
CARTER: Did you find anything at the quarry?

(The Doctor sits by Carter's microscope.)

DOCTOR: No, no, negative evidence. No fragments, which means whatever it was didn't crash. But we can see from the fracture lines on this sample there was an explosion.
CARTER: If there was an explosion it was millions of years ago.
DOCTOR: Yes, and probably millions of miles away. Intriguing, isn't it?
CARTER: Yes, but it still doesn't explain why your Miss Smith should want it, does it.
DOCTOR: Perhaps it wanted Miss Smith.
CARTER: What?
DOCTOR: Well, she's the only human being to have had any contact with it for any length of time. Probably the only living organism to have had any contact with it since the event.
CARTER: It was petrified. Totally inert. Dead.
DOCTOR: Inert, yes, dead, maybe not.
CARTER: I thought there was a strange type of subatomic structure to the crystal formation. A bit like a double helix, you know. DNA molecule.

(Carter goes to the EM.)

CARTER: Great Scott!
DOCTOR: What is it?
CARTER: It's changed.
DOCTOR: Eh?
CARTER: What's happened to the electron charge?
DOCTOR: You mean it didn't look like that before?
CARTER: No.
DOCTOR: You know what I think?
CARTER: What?
DOCTOR: I think your sample's been quietly absorbing radiation from the machine.
CARTER: Absorbing radiation?
DOCTOR: Yes. Regenerating itself. Let's hope it hasn't absorbed enough to be dangerous. Put it somewhere safe, Carter, away from any further radiation.
CARTER: Right, will do.
DOCTOR: Carter!
CARTER: What?
DOCTOR: Where's the nearest nuclear reactor?

[Nunton Experimental Complex]

(It's at Oldbury, Doctor, and Sarah is walking up the drive carrying the box containing the Hand. The sign says Nunton Complex Research and Development No Unauthorised Entry. Sarah zaps the armed guard with the ring. Meanwhile, Carter is driving the Doctor there in his own car, in the pouring rain. Sarah walks through the generator hall to section R1, Radiation Zone and up a metal staircase to R2. The Doctor and Carter arrive at the main gate just as the guard wakes up and the Doctor opens the barrier. Then more armed guards arrive.)

GUARD: Stop or we fire.

(Sarah arrives at section R3, and is seen by a technician.)

TECH: Hey, miss.

(Of course, he gets zapped. Now she is in R4 and goes down a ladder to Contamination Zone class C. As she starts to open the door to the radioactive rods area - Radioactive Source Exposed Do Not Enter - the alarm starts blaring.)

MAN [OC]: Emergency, emergency. All personnel proceed immediately to your safe areas. Proceed immediately to your safe areas. This is not an exercise.

(Sarah sits down against the big safe door and opens the box.)

MAN [OC]: Repeat, this is not an exercise. I will repeat that. Emergency, emergency. All personnel proceed immediately to your safe areas. Proceed immediately to your safe areas. This is not an exercise. Repeat.

(The Hand starts to look less like a fossil and more like living tissue, albeit one based on silicon and therefore with crystalline qualities to the brown skin. The fingers start to move.)

Part Two

[Nunton Control centre]

(The power station technicians are hammering away at their keyboards and consoles trying to contain the situation. It is bedlam in here, with the shouting and the tannoy broadcast. The man in charge enters. Say Hi! to Glyn Houston.)

WATSON: Driscoll, can we lose some of this noise.
DRISCOLL: With you in a minute, sir.

(To another man on his way out with a piece of paper.)

WATSON: Lose some of this noise. I can't hear myself think in here.

(To a woman on the telephone.)

WATSON: I want this damned racket stopped!
JACKSON: I'm doing my best, sir.

[Nunton corridor]

(Section R2, people are coming and going in droves.)

MAN [OC]: Repeat, this is not an exercise.

(The Doctor and Carter are being escorted by a man in a white coverall in front and two armed guards behind.)

MAN [OC]: I will repeat that. Emergency, emergency. All personnel proceed immediately to your safe areas.

(At the R3 door, a rush of people going out separate the Doctor and Carter from their escort, and they dash into a nearby room.)

MAN [OC]: Proceed immediately to your safe areas.
GUARD: Where did they go?
MAN [OC]: Repeat, this is not an exercise.

(The guards backtrack and the Doctor and Carter come out of hiding.)

CARTER: This way out.
DOCTOR: No, no, this way in.
CARTER: But we could have been shot.
DOCTOR: But we weren't, were we. Come on, let's find the control centre.

[Fission room]

MAN [OC]: All personnel proceed immediately to your safe areas. Proceed immediately to your safe area.

(The Hand is very active.)

SARAH: Yes. Yes. I understand.
MAN [OC]: Repeat, this is not an exercise.

(Sarah gets up and closes the security door to the room.)

MAN [OC]: I will repeat that. Emergency, emergency.

[Nunton Control centre]

WATSON: Will you shut up!
MAN [OC]: Proceed immediately to your safe areas.
WATSON: Thank you. Now listen, all of you. Miss Jackson, start emergency shutdown procedures.
JACKSON: Yes, sir.
WATSON: Attention all personnel. Attention all personnel. An emergency exists in the neutron fission reactor in sector four. Now this is a deliberate act of sabotage. Some idiot, some suicidal maniac, a young woman, has infiltrated the complex. Now she has already knocked out two of our personnel and has locked herself in the outer chamber of the reactor core.

[Decontamination room]

WATSON [OC]: This could well be an act of self-immolation by a member of some extremist group.

[Generator room]

WATSON [OC]: Or it could be that she has the technical ability to render the pile critical and effect the destruction of this entire establishment.

[Nunton Control centre]

WATSON: Now we have already started emergency shutdown operations to enable us to try and get her out of there, so carry on.

(Watson goes over to Jackson's console.)

WATSON: How's it coming along?
JACKSON: Shutdown proceeding, but nothing on the neutron core.
WATSON: That means she does know something about it.
JACKSON: Yes.
WATSON: Get a team of men suited up, and see that they're armed.
JACKSON: Yes, sir. Mister Driscoll, get a team of men suited up and armed, and get her out of there.
DRISCOLL: I'll do it.

(Driscoll runs out and bumps into the Doctor, who then enters with Carter. He goes over to Watson, who is looking at a CCTV picture of Sarah sitting in the fission room.)

WATSON: Who the devil are you?
DOCTOR: Are you the top man here?
WATSON: Yes.
CARTER: We're from the hospital. The girl, you see, she escaped.
WATSON: So she is a lunatic.
DOCTOR: Oh, no, I wouldn't say that. She's certainly not
WATSON: She's mad. She's stark, staring, raving mad.
DOCTOR: Oh, not necessarily.
WATSON: We have a full emergency scale here
DOCTOR: Do you mind if I talk to her for a moment?
WATSON: And we haven't got time for the bedside manner. Now please keep out of my way. Are those men suited up yet?

(As the Doctor moves away, Carter hears a voice in his head.)

MAN [OC]: Eldrad must live.
DOCTOR: Can you punch up the plan for this building on this machine?
JACKSON: Yes.
WATSON: Miss Jackson. Find out what's delaying that radiation team.
JACKSON: Yes, sir.

(Jackson leaves and the Doctor takes her seat. He scans through the complex blueprints.)

DOCTOR: Ah.

(Men in inflated protection suits struggle to open the door to the outer reactor chamber.)

JACKSON: The manual locks are jammed. They can't get past the fission room doors.
WATSON: What's the shutdown situation?
JACKSON: All okay, except for the one she's on.
WATSON: What levels are we getting in there?
JACKSON: She's soaking up enough roentgens to kill a herd of elephants.
DOCTOR: Oh, at least, at least.
WATSON: I thought I told you to get out of here. Hey, you in the fission room. Can you hear me? I am the director of this establishment.
DOCTOR: Her name's Smith. Miss Smith.
WATSON: Miss Smith, listen very carefully. Your life is in great danger and so are the lives of many other innocent people.
DOCTOR: Could I
WATSON: Now what is it you want?
DOCTOR: Could I speak to her?
WATSON: Can you hear me? What is it you want?
DOCTOR: Could I speak to her for a moment?
WATSON: I doubt very much whether she'd listen.
JACKSON: The level's rising, sir. There's no way we can stop it.
WATSON: That means she's had it. All right, I want a full scale evacuation. Every person within a radius of twelve miles.

(Watson leaves the microphone, and the Doctor sits down.)

DOCTOR: Sarah, listen to me. Can you hear me, Sarah?
WATSON: Get in touch with Whitehall and tell them we've got a full scale emergency.
DOCTOR: Sarah, can you hear me?
WATSON: Look, we have a full emergency down here.
SARAH [OC]: It's no use.
DOCTOR: Sarah, listen to me.

[Fission room]

SARAH: No, there's nothing more to say because Eldrad must live.

[Nunton Control centre]

WATSON: What did she say?
DOCTOR: Shush, shush, shush.
SARAH [OC]: Eldrad must live.
MAN [OC]: Eldrad must live.
DOCTOR: Who is Eldrad, Sarah?
WATSON: Some assassin, no doubt.
DOCTOR: Shush.
JACKSON: Yes.
DOCTOR: Sarah, who is Eldrad? What does he want?

[Fission room]

WOMAN [OC]: Eldrad must live. Eldrad the creator, the saviour.
DOCTOR [OC]: Sarah, what does he want?
WOMAN [OC]: Eldrad must live.
SARAH: Eldrad must live.

[Nunton Control centre]

DOCTOR: Sarah. Keep her talking. I'm going in there.
WATSON: But how can you? All those door locks are jammed.
DOCTOR: Look, the plans to your cooling duct.
JACKSON: But the temperature inside the cooling duct is over two hundred degrees centigrade.
WATSON: You'll roast, man.
DOCTOR: Not if I'm quick.
CARTER: I must come with you.
DOCTOR: No, there's no need. You'd roast.
WATSON: All because of that stupid woman.
MAN [OC]: You must. She will need help.

[Fission room]

WOMAN [OC]: It is the law. Eldrad must live.

(Sarah gets up and disables the CCTV camera.)

[Nunton Control centre]

WATSON: Blast. She's turned it off.

(The Hand crawls out of the box. Meanwhile, Carter follows the Doctor through the generator hall.)

WATSON: Can you hear me, Miss Smith? Miss Smith?

(Watson picks up the telephone.)

WATSON: Video maintenance? I want an engineer to try and bypass the closed circuit television in the fission room.

(Jackson is also on the phone.)

JACKSON: Well, has Special Branch got anything? We don't know.

(As the radiation levels in the fission room reach critical, Sarah smiles as the Hand crawls across the floor. Carter picks up a large spanner as he continues to follow the Doctor.)

JACKSON: Yes, thank you.
WATSON: Anything?
JACKSON: Nothing from Intelligence, either.
WATSON: No.
JACKSON: Shouldn't we begin to think of getting to a safe area?
WATSON: Yes. Yes, all right, you go.
JACKSON: But we must
WATSON: One of us has got to stay here as long as there's a chance. There's no point in two of us
JACKSON: I'm staying.
WATSON: That's an order.

(Miss Jackson picks up a pen and clipboard, and stalks out. )

(Sarah starts to unbolt the big safe door to the main fission chamber.)

[Generator hall]

(Carter finally stops the Doctor high up on a metal staircase.)

CARTER: Eldrad must live.
DOCTOR: What?
CARTER: It is the law. There must be no interference with the design! Eldrad must live!

(Carter swings the spanner, the Doctor ducks, and the momentum send Carter flying over the hand rail and down to the floor with a scream. The Doctor continues upwards to the roof and the Cooling Systems Control room.)

[Nunton Control room]

(Watson makes a personal phone call as the screen blinks Critical.)

WATSON: Hello, Susie? Hello, darling. Is mummy there? Oh, did you? Well, your headmistress must have been very pleased. No, no, super. Super. Get mummy for me, would you? Hello, love. Well, it's just to let you know I've got to stay on at the Complex for a while. Yes, it looks like it. No, no, there isn't anything wrong, it's just that, well, I thought I'd let you know where I was.

[Fission room]

(Sarah is about to use Eldrad's ring on the central locking wheel of the main door when the Doctor flies in from the cooling duct in a gush of steam. She aims the ring at him.)

DOCTOR: Eldrad must live. Eldrad must live. Eldrad must live.

(The Doctor grabs Sarah's arm and somehow knocks her out.)

DOCTOR: So sorry, Sarah.

(He carries her over to the door to the corridor, opens it and leaves after looking back at the Hand. The ring falls onto the floor.)

[Nunton Control centre]

WATSON: Goodbye. And kiss the children for me, would you? Yes. Yes, goodbye.

(The display switches from Critical to Shutdown Proceeding.)

DOCTOR [OC]: Professor Watson, can you hear me?
WATSON: Yes.
DOCTOR [OC]: Professor Watson, can you hear me?
WATSON: Yes, is that you, Doctor?
DOCTOR [OC]: Yes.
WATSON: What's happened?
DOCTOR [OC]: Is everything under control?
WATSON: Yes, just about, but, are you all right? And Miss Smith, is she still alive?
DOCTOR [OC]: I hope so. We're in Decontamination now.
WATSON: I'll be down right away.
DOCTOR [OC]: Good.
WATSON: I've just got a few things to sort out up here. Well done, Doctor. Attention all staff, attention all staff. The reactor is now under control, so return to your posts. Video maintenance, check the monitoring of that reactor room, would you please?

[Decontamination room]

(The Doctor is running a Geiger counter over a mumbling Sarah lying on a bench.)

SARAH: My legs
DOCTOR: Shush. You're all right, Sarah, you're all right. Shush, shush, shush.
SARAH: Oh, I'm in a hospital.
DOCTOR: Well, of sorts, yes.
SARAH: I thought I was buried alive.
DOCTOR: Sarah
SARAH: Ow.

(Sarah sits up.)

DOCTOR: What's the last thing you remember?
SARAH: My chin hurts.
DOCTOR: Come on, what's the last thing you remember?
SARAH: Er, someone held out a hand to me. I thought it was you. And when I touched it, it was cold. It was cold. I thought you'd been crushed too, and must have passed out. What was it?
DOCTOR: Do you remember me digging you out and taking you to the hospital? The fossil?
SARAH: No.
DOCTOR: Do you remember Doctor Carter?
SARAH: Who?
DOCTOR: Carter.

(Watson enters.)

WATSON: What the devil do you think you're doing here!
DOCTOR: Just a minute, Professor, she doesn't remember a thing about
WATSON: Oh, very convenient, I must say.
DOCTOR: It's much more complicated than it seems.
WATSON: Complicated? She nearly caused a major nuclear disaster!
DOCTOR: I know, I know.
SARAH: Doctor, what
DOCTOR: Shush. I don't think we can blame her for it.
WATSON: Doctor, I realise she's a patient of yours, but diminished responsibility or not, the fact remains that she walked into the reactor room.

(Miss Jackson enters.)

JACKSON: How did you get her out?
DOCTOR: I'll come to that in a minute. Just look at these readings. Stay there. Lie down, Sarah.

(The Doctor runs the Geiger counter over Sarah. It barely beeps.)

DOCTOR: No trace of radioactivity whatsoever.
JACKSON: She was exposed to enough direct radiation
DOCTOR: I know, enough to kill a school of whales, but there she is, unscathed.
SARAH: Excuse me. Does this involve me?
DOCTOR: Yes.
SARAH: Then will one of you please tell me what I'm supposed to have done?
WATSON: I think we'd all like an explanation.
JACKSON: Yes.
DOCTOR: You won't believe me, I warn you.
WATSON: Just try me.
DOCTOR: Doctor Carter's dead, unfortunately.
WATSON: Dead?
DOCTOR: Yes, he tried to kill me. He tried to push me over. Look, I'll start at the beginning.
SARAH: Good.
DOCTOR: We found a hand in the quarry. Or rather, she found a hand in the quarry.

(A Hand that is still trying to make its way towards the reactor pile.)

[Nunton Control centre]

DOCTOR: That Eldrad must live.
SARAH: I really said that?
DOCTOR: Yes, you said Eldrad, Eldrad must live.
WATSON: And this Eldrad, this, this hand, absorbed all the radiation and left Miss Smith unharmed? Is that what you're saying?
DOCTOR: Yes, it seems to absorb radiation the same way as we do oxygen.
WATSON: So this is a living thing?
DOCTOR: Living? It's not only living, it's regenerating.
WATSON: But if your hypothesis is correct
DRISCOLL: Reactor monitor operating, sir.

(They see the Hand by the hinges to the pile.)

WATSON: But that's incredible.
DOCTOR: Yes.
WATSON: The first thing to do is get it out of there. Put it in a sealed container of some kind.
DOCTOR: Exactly. Then we can study it, see what makes it tick.
WATSON: Driscoll.
DOCTOR: Shall I go with him?
WATSON: No, I'd rather you stayed here with me, Doctor. Driscoll is familiar with the systems and you've been in once. You never know.
DRISCOLL: And I'm wearing a radiation suit.

(Driscoll leaves.)

DOCTOR: I don't think radiation's the danger.

(All suited up, Driscoll uses a pair of tongs to pick up the Hand and put it back into the tupperware box from the hospital.)

WATSON: Good. He'll bring it down to the decontamination room. We'll meet in there.

(Driscoll picks up the ring lying by the radiation room door. It glows at him and his eyes glaze over.)

[Decontamination room]

(The Geiger counter is picking up nothing from the Hand.)

WATSON: It's just unbelievable.
DOCTOR: Yes, there's no radiation. It absorbs it to rebuild tissue, see? The finger's already been replaced.
WATSON: We'd better lock it away before it absorbs more energy.
DRISCOLL: I'll see to it.

(He uses the tongs again.)

SARAH: Careful. That's not as armless as it looks.

(Driscoll puts the Hand in a safe with a big radiation sign on it.)

DOCTOR: What happened to the ring you used on Carter and the guards, Sarah?
SARAH: I'm sorry, I don't know. I can't remember.
DOCTOR: It must still be there. Driscoll? Driscoll?
DRISCOLL: Yes, sir?
DOCTOR: There should have been a small crystal ring, about so big, in the reactor room.
DRISCOLL: I didn't see anything, sir.
DOCTOR: Oh.
DRISCOLL: Should I go back and have another look, sir?
DOCTOR: Would you mind? She must have dropped it when I dragged her out.
WATSON: Yes, all right. Yes, Driscoll, I'll contact you in the control room.
DRISCOLL: Yes, sir.

(Driscoll leaves, then Watson leaves through another door.)

DOCTOR: Sarah.
SARAH: Hmm? What?
DOCTOR: Sit down.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: Now listen. I want you to concentrate.
SARAH: Oh no, that's not fair. Not again.

(Sarah goes straight into a trance.)

DOCTOR: Now, Sarah. Eldrad. Tell me about Eldrad.

[Nunton Control centre]

WATSON: Driscoll, did you find anything?
DRISCOLL [on monitor]: I can't see anything yet, sir.

[Decontamination room]

DOCTOR: But why, Sarah? Come on, why? Tell me why.
SARAH: Eldrad must live. We must obey.
DOCTOR: Who are we, Sarah?
SARAH: We who've seen the light of Kastria.
DOCTOR: Who saw the light? Did Carter see the light?

(Sarah nods.)

SARAH: Eldrad must live.

[Fission room]

DRISCOLL: Professor Watson?
WATSON [OC]: Yes?
DRISCOLL: There's nothing here, sir.
WATSON [OC]: All right, leave it. And you'd better come out of there.
DRISCOLL: Right, sir.

(Driscoll opens the outer door. He is still holding the ring in his hand, and it glows again.)

MAN [OC]: Eldrad must live.

[Nunton Complex corridor]

DOCTOR: Tell me more, Sarah.
SARAH: No more.
DOCTOR: Tell me more.
SARAH: No more. Eldrad must live.
DOCTOR: Sarah. There's no need to obey the will of Eldrad. Put him out of your mind. You're free of him.
SARAH: I'm free of him.
DOCTOR: Yes.

(And he breaks her trance.)

DOCTOR: Come on.

[Nunton Control room]

SARAH: Eldrad must live.
DOCTOR: What?
SARAH: Just testing.
WATSON: No joy from Driscoll, I'm afraid.
DOCTOR: What do you mean, no joy?
WATSON: He hasn't found that ring.
DOCTOR: It must have been up there and he must have found it.
WATSON: Why didn't he say?
DOCTOR: Because if affects the will of people who've been in contact with it. Remember Carter? He tried to kill me.
WATSON: Then we are in trouble.

[Decontamination room]

(The man who had been escorting Carter and the Doctor into the complex runs a Geiger counter over himself, then hears a knocking sound coming from the contamination safe. He goes to the intercom.)

GUARD: Security to Control.

[Nunton Control centre]

GUARD [OC]: Decontamination area. I've got something weird here.
WATSON: Go ahead, Security.
GUARD [OC]: Some kind of banging and thumping from the contamination safe.
WATSON: My God. He's put the hand in there.
SARAH: So?
WATSON: Well, that's where we keep the radiated material and the test samples.
DOCTOR: We're going to have to shift it. It'll be gaining strength.
WATSON: It can't do any harm. It can't open it from the inside.
DOCTOR: I hope you're right.
GUARD [OC]: What shall I do, sir?
DOCTOR: Tell him I'm on my way.

[Decontamination room]

WATSON [OC]: Look, someone is on the way down. Now listen, there shouldn't be any danger, but keep an eye on it.
GUARD: Yes, sir, will do. Ah, Driscoll. Warm in there, was it?

(He runs the Geiger counter over Driscoll.)

GUARD: Turn around. You're all right. You're clear. Driscoll, what do you reckon this is?
MAN [OC]: Eldrad must live.

(Driscoll hits the guard over the back of the head, then opens the contamination safe. The Hand grabs his. A short time later, the Doctor enters.)

DOCTOR: Driscoll.

(He sees the guard on the floor and the open safe.)

DOCTOR: Driscoll! Driscoll! Driscoll!

(He goes to the intercom.)

DOCTOR: Hello, Professor Watson?
WATSON [OC]: Yes, Doctor. Is everything all right?
DOCTOR: Shush, listen, listen, listen. Driscoll's got the hand. I'm going down after him. Get out every available man you've got. And send someone down here. There's a guard unconscious.
WATSON [OC} Right away.

(The Doctor closes the contamination safe and leaves.)

[Generator hall]

(Armed guards follow Driscoll as he makes his way through with the Hand.)

GUARD 2: Driscoll, stop!

(Driscoll zaps them with the ring. The Doctor arrives as they start to wake up again and continues the chase.)

DOCTOR: Driscoll, stop!

(The Doctor ducks behind an equipment cabinet as the ring fires. Smoke comes out of the equipment. Driscoll leaves.)

SARAH: Doctor! You all right?
DOCTOR: Yes, I'm fine.
WATSON: Where'd he go?
DOCTOR: He's going to the core, where else.

(The sirens start blaring.)

WATSON: But why? It's all shut down.
DOCTOR: It doesn't make any difference. That hand could set off a chain reaction.

(Driscoll goes straight to the door to the main reactor.)

DOCTOR: You two get back to the control room. I'm going on inside.

(Watson leaves, Sarah follows the Doctor. Driscoll uses a special tool to open the reactor door.)

[Nunton Control centre]

WATSON: All of you, get out as fast as you can. Come on, get going. Attention all staff, attention all staff. Evacuate the complex immediately. This is an emergency.

[Fission room]

(Driscoll has got the door open.)

WATSON [OC]: Evacuate the complex immediately. This is not an exercise. This is an emergency.

(The Doctor arrives, sees the situation and retreats.)

WATSON [OC]: Evacuate the complex immediately.
DOCTOR: Quick, get down!

(Back around the corner, the Doctor shields Sarah with his body as Driscoll walks into the core.)

WATSON [OC]: Emergency, emergency. This is not an exercise. Evacuate the complex immediately.

[Nunton Control centre]

WATSON: This is not an exercise. Evacuate the complex immediately.

(The consoles all explode, throwing him to the floor.)

Part Three

[Outside the Fission room]

(Watson picks himself up from the debris of the Control centre and runs out.)

SARAH: Are we dead?
DOCTOR: No.
SARAH: Are you sure?
DOCTOR: Yes.

[Fission room]

(The Doctor pushes the big door to the core shut.)

SARAH: What happened?
DOCTOR: Nothing happened. A sort of un-explosion has taken place.
SARAH: Un-explosion?
DOCTOR: Yes.
SARAH: There's no such thing.

(Watson calls to them from the corridor.)

WATSON: Doctor, Miss Smith, get out of there. The radiation level in there will be lethal.
DOCTOR: Oh no, come on in, Watson. Come on in. There's no radiation at all. Look.
WATSON: What?
DOCTOR: Look.

(Watson enters. The radiation indicator on the wall says Normal.)

WATSON: Where's Driscoll?
DOCTOR: He's in the core.
WATSON: But that would have caused a nuclear explosion.
DOCTOR: It did, but fortunately it was absorbed.
WATSON: But it couldn't!
DOCTOR: Oh, it could, it could, and it did.
SARAH: There was a sort of un-explosion.
WATSON: Un-explosion?
DOCTOR: Yes. Fission took place but instead of the explosion going outwards, it went inwards.
WATSON: Driscoll?
DOCTOR: Driscoll's in the core, probably vapourised. You see, it's feeding on radiation and it's now in control of the core's potential itself.

(There is a moaning, creaking sound going on intermittently in the background.)

WATSON: You mean that thing in there is still alive?
DOCTOR: Very much so, and regenerating.
WATSON: Well, it's beyond me. I mean, to what end?
DOCTOR: To live, to grow. You see, instead of energy being created from matter, matter is being created from energy. Eldrad is rebuilding himself, and the probability is he'll strike again.
WATSON: You mean other reactors?
DOCTOR: Who knows? Might as well put these back.

(The Doctor bolts the door.)

SARAH: Yeah, well, that's not going to stop him.
DOCTOR: No, but I like to be tidy.
SARAH: Oh.
WATSON: It's time we got out of here. Fight fire with fire. I'm going to call in the armed forces. Destroy # that thing before it causes any more harm.

(Watson leaves. The Doctor shakes his head.)

SARAH: Well, it's our only chance.
DOCTOR: Somehow I can't see throwing missiles against that working.
SARAH: It's trying to get out!

[Nunton Control centre]

(Watson picks up a telephone.)

WATSON: Nunton Complex, red alert. That's what I said, red alert.

[Fission room]

SARAH: Come on, Doctor.
DOCTOR: No, no, no, wait a minute, Sarah. Maybe we should try and communicate with Eldrad.
SARAH: How, use hand signals?

(Watson enters.)

WATSON: All right, we've got ten minutes. Air Command have ordered a tactical nuclear strike to take this place out.
DOCTOR: Take it out?
WATSON: Yeah, level it. And by God they're keen.
DOCTOR: Yes, I'm sure they are.
WATSON: Well, we're on an isolated part of the coast. It'll give them a chance to use their stand-off missiles.
DOCTOR: Yes, but what do we know about it?
WATSON: What?
DOCTOR: It's intelligent.
SARAH: It's destructive! It's killing people.
DOCTOR: An alien lifeforce, shipwrecked on a strange planet. Crystalline, regenerates through irradiation. It's probably afraid.
SARAH: It's afraid? I'm afraid! Look, that thing isn't friendly. Let's get out before it does. Look, you said we had ten minutes.
WATSON: That was half a minute ago. Come on.
SARAH: Right. Doctor!

(Sarah and Watson run out.)

DOCTOR: Fascinating.

(Eldrad is starting to melt his way through the big door.)

DOCTOR: This is intensely interesting, don't you? Come on, let's get out of here.

[Nunton Complex main gates]

(There is a Land Rover waiting with the engine running. The last guard shuts and tries to lock the gates.)

WATSON: Come on, man! Leave that! All right, Jim.

(They drive away.)

[Country road]

(Some way down the road they stop.)

WATSON: Take cover, everybody!

(They all hide behind the Land Rover as two jets approach.)

WATSON: Get down, man!

(The Doctor is standing in the open back of the vehicle, watching and smiling. The jets start their attack run.)

WATSON: We'd better take cover. The flash could blind us. Doctor. Doctor, please! Miss Smith, hold your nose and open your mouth.
SARAH: What?
WATSON: The blast. It could perforate your eardrums.
DOCTOR: Any second now.

(The missiles are fired at the nuclear station. After a moment, Sarah looks over the side of the Land Rover, still holding her nose.)

SARAH: Hey, shouldn't something have happened by now?
DOCTOR: Yes.
WATSON: They fired the missiles. What happened?
SARAH: Yeah, what happened? We saw them fired.
DOCTOR: They've been neutralised in some way.
WATSON: How?
DOCTOR: Professor Watson, any being that can live, let alone thrive, inside a nuclear pile, is hardly likely to be deterred by a few primitive missiles.
WATSON: But they're the most powerful missiles we have.
DOCTOR: On your standards, perhaps. I think we should try much older weapons.
SARAH: Like?
DOCTOR: Speech. Diplomacy?
WATSON: What?
DOCTOR: Conversation? Come on, driver, let's go.

[Fission room]

(The radiation level is still normal.)

ELDRAD [OC]: What is this place? Where have I come to?

(A figure steps out of the nuclear core. It looks feminine, grey and covered in crystals which also form a tall headdress instead of hair. It sees its reflection in the metal walls and gasps.)

ELDRAD: Can this be the form of the creatures who have found me and who now seek to destroy me? No matter. They shall fail, as the obliteration has failed. Strange form or not, Eldrad lives, and shall again rule Kastria!

[Nunton Complex main gates]

DOCTOR: Right, you stay here. I'll go on. Shouldn't take long, one way or the other.
SARAH: Good. Let's go then.
DOCTOR: Not you. You stay with Professor Watson.

(Watson grabs Sarah as she starts to follow the Doctor.)

WATSON: I think you'd better do as he says this time.
SARAH: Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I should. But I'm not going to!

(Sarah runs after the Doctor.)

WATSON: No!

[Nunton Complex]

SARAH: I worry about you. Look, anyway, who found that thing?
DOCTOR: You did.

(They walk on.)

SARAH: Right. So, I'm involved. It could have been me, not Driscoll, and besides, I'm from Earth and you're not.
DOCTOR: That's true.
SARAH: Exactly.
DOCTOR: Yes, but
SARAH: Oh, but what?
DOCTOR: I worry about you.
SARAH: So, be careful.
DOCTOR: We'll both be careful.
SARAH: Fine.

[Fission room]

(The Doctor sees the hole that has been melted in the door to the core. Eldrad appears behind them, ring held ready as a weapon.)

ELDRAD: You! Come forward.
DOCTOR: Hello. You must be Eldrad. I was only going to say, how do you do.
ELDRAD: Are you responsible for this stupid attempt to destroy me?
DOCTOR: No. Tell me, how did you prevent the missiles from exploding?
ELDRAD: I absorbed the energy of the explosion into myself to complete my regeneration.
DOCTOR: I thought so. Didn't I say I thought that was it? I thought
ELDRAD: You are not of this backward planet. What are you doing here among these primitives?
DOCTOR: Well, I'm here to help them. I'm called the Doctor and this is Sarah Jane Smith. Say hello to the lady.
SARAH: Hi.
DOCTOR: Eldrad

[Nunton Control centre]

(Watson enters.)

DOCTOR [OC]: Can I ask you the same question?
ELDRAD [OC]: I am Eldrad, creator of Kastria.

[Fission room]

ELDRAD: Why did you try to destroy me?
DOCTOR: You've got it wrong, Eldrad. We're the ones who saved you.

(Eldrad's eyes shine blue as it stares at the Doctor intensely.)

ELDRAD: It seems you speak the truth.

(The Doctor clutches his head. Watson heads a desk.)

ELDRAD: Why should they attack me with their primitive devices?
DOCTOR: Oh, because they're stubborn and violent and sometimes they try to destroy things they don't understand.

[Nunton Control centre]

ELDRAD [OC]: Then they must be taught otherwise.

(Watson puts a clip of bullets into a hand gun.)

DOCTOR [OC]: You wouldn't be the first one to make that mistake. Others have tried.

[Fission room]

DOCTOR: Excuse me, I don't want to pry, but could you tell us how you got here?
SARAH: We found your hand in a quarry.
ELDRAD: I was betrayed. They tried to obliterate me. Now I must return to avenge myself.
DOCTOR: What? After all this time?
ELDRAD: Explain!
DOCTOR: Well, you've been on Earth a hundred and fifty million years, and you've lain dormant all that time.

(Eldrad does another mind scan of the Doctor.)

SARAH: Leave him alone. He's telling you the truth!
ELDRAD: You are a Time Lord. I have heard of you and the role you play in time and space.

(This time, the Doctor gently falls sideways to the floor. Sarah catches him.)

DOCTOR: You didn't need to do that. I would have told you.
ELDRAD: Unfortunately, Doctor, I have learned to trust no one. I need your help.
SARAH: Our help? Oh, you must be
DOCTOR: Shush.
ELDRAD: As a Time Lord, you are pledged to uphold the Laws of Time and to prevent alien aggression.
DOCTOR: Only when such aggression is deemed to threaten the indigenous population. I think that's how it goes.
ELDRAD: Then you must help me in my struggle.
SARAH: Why must he help you? You're destructive.
ELDRAD: No, no, let me explain. Kastria was a cold, inhospitable planet, ravaged by the solar winds. I built the spatial barriers to keep out those winds. I devised a crystalline silicone form for our physical needs. I built machines to replenish the earth and the atmosphere. I brought Kastria to life! And then, two alien planets made war on each other, and Kastria became their battleground. They destroyed my barriers. The winds came again to dehydrate the planet. The alien invaders made puppets of the Kastrian leaders. I was discredited and sentenced to obliteration.
SARAH: But if you did all those things for your people, why did they turn against you?
ELDRAD: My people didn't. I beg you to help me to save Kastria once more. Why do you hesitate? It is your duty. Help me. Take me back through time.
DOCTOR: That would contravene the First Law of Time, a distortion of history. I can't do that.
ELDRAD: You cannot refuse.
DOCTOR: I'm not refusing, Eldrad. I'll take you back, but it must be in the present time.
ELDRAD: Silence!

(Watson is outside.)

ELDRAD: I seem to detect another presence in this building.
DOCTOR: I don't think there's anyone else here.
SARAH: No, there's no one here. They've all been evacuated. We're the only one's here. Alive, that it.
DOCTOR: Do you accept our conditions, Eldrad?
ELDRAD: Yes. You leave me no choice.
DOCTOR: Good. Well, follow me.
SARAH: After you.

[Outside the Fission room]

(The Doctor leads Eldrad into the corridor, where Watson shoots at it. The bullets have no effect, and Eldrad uses its ring against Watson but misses. Watson runs and Eldrad follows.)

DOCTOR: No, Eldrad, leave him!

[Nunton Control centre]

(Watson gets another clip of bullets for the gun. Eldrad enters, eyes blazing blue.)

ELDRAD: You shall die slowly, as traitors deserve.
DOCTOR: Eldrad! Eldrad, I swear to you, if you don't release him, I'll never return you to Kastria.

(Watson stops writhing in the blue light and falls to the floor.)

SARAH: He's still breathing.
ELDRAD: Come, Doctor. Let us be going.
DOCTOR: Listen. You owe your regeneration to this man. Remember that.
ELDRAD: Yes, and I am grateful. Leave him alone and I promise you he will recover.
DOCTOR: I'm not leaving here until I know he's all right.

(Watson sits up.)

DOCTOR: Are you all right?
WATSON: Yes, yes.
DOCTOR: Very well.
ELDRAD: You see, Doctor, I am not as cruel as you think me.
DOCTOR: Come on, let's go.

(The Doctor and Eldrad leave.)

SARAH: You're sure you're all right?
WATSON: Yes, yes, I'm all right.
SARAH: I've got to go. You'll be all right. I have to go.

(Sarah runs out. Watson gets up, head hurting, and picks up the gun.)

WATSON: But I put six shots into that creature.
JACKSON [OC]: Professor Watson?
WATSON: Yes?
JACKSON [OC]: Professor Watson?
WATSON: Yes, yes. In here, Miss Jackson.
JACKSON: What happened?
WATSON: Well, it's just that the laws of physics have been. Of course, the Atomic Energy Commission are not going to believe this.
JACKSON: What were those planes doing? They were bombing the complex.
WATSON: Planes? Yes, of course, the planes. Yes, but the RAF are not going to believe this either.
JACKSON: And I saw the Doctor in your car. He nearly ran me over.
WATSON: Oh, thank goodness for that, the Doctor. You saw who was with him?
JACKSON: Miss Smith?
WATSON: But, no one else?
JACKSON: No. Well, I couldn't see in the back.

(Watson sits down.)

JACKSON: You all right, sir?
WATSON: It's just that no one is going to believe me.

(The telephone rings. Watson answers it.)

WATSON: Yes? Yes, this is the director speaking. Well, we don't know what's happened yet. Well of course there's going to be an inquiry.

[TARDIS]

(Still using the small wooden console room.)

DOCTOR: Come in, Eldrad. Welcome to the TARDIS. Well, what do you think?
ELDRAD: I congratulate you, Doctor. The achievements of your people in temporal engineering are indeed as impressive as I have heard.
DOCTOR: Well, thank you. I'm glad you like it.
ELDRAD: Where are its armaments?

(The Doctor points to his head.)

DOCTOR: They're in here.

(Eldrad's eyes light up.)

DOCTOR: Your weapon's won't work in here. We're in a state of temporal grace. We're multi-dimensional.
ELDRAD: What do you mean?
DOCTOR: Well, in a sense, you see, we don't exist while we're in here. So you can't hurt us, and we can't hurt you.
SARAH: She can't hurt us?
DOCTOR: No.
SARAH: Right. There's a question I can ask you now. Why are you helping her?
DOCTOR: Well, in a sense I think you could say I'm helping Earth, Sarah. After all, I can't allow Eldrad to go on smashing nuclear power stations. Who knows how big she might become or what damage she might do. Anyway, I want to see Kastria.
SARAH: Why? What on Earth for?
DOCTOR: Well, travel broadens the mind.
SARAH: And a stitch in time saves nine.
DOCTOR: What does that mean?
SARAH: Look before you leap.
ELDRAD: Will you stop all this childish prattle? Time is passing.
DOCTOR: Yes. I wonder, would you just give me a hand with the coordinates? I'm a bit vague on the exact whereabouts of Kastria.

(Sarah leaves the console room.)

ELDRAD: Of course, Doctor. What is the expansion factor?
DOCTOR: Oh, just punch up seven four three eight oh oh O W eight I one two one two seven two seven two nine double one E eight E X four one one one three zero nine eleven five, and then see what happens.

(The TARDIS dematerialises from the quarry. A monitor lights up with 78b ref 66735 144328x 66e 8 0257634 RD=77 144092R 3175, and then she tilts, sending the Doctor and Eldrad tumbling to the floor. Sarah reenters, eating a banana.)

SARAH: Off course, are we?
DOCTOR: No, I don't think so, no. Could I just check your coordinates.
ELDRAD: Why, do you doubt my ability?
DOCTOR: Oh no, no, no. I just want to make sure we get there.
SARAH: So for once you'll have to trust someone, won't you.
ELDRAD: Only fools trust. I trusted them, and they tried to obliterate me.
DOCTOR: Eldrad, you'll achieve nothing on Kastria unless you overcome this paranoid obsession with treachery. You must cooperate.
ELDRAD: Again you leave me no alternative, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Oh, don't be so abject. All we want is your cooperation. If you've missed those coordinates, symbolic resonance will occur in the trackoid time crystal, and if that happens, there'll be no chance of us landing anywhere, ever, ever, ever.

(The TARDIS materialises outside the dome on the windswept planet.)

DOCTOR: We've landed.
ELDRAD: You will have to trust me, Doctor.

(The Doctor turns on the viewscreen.)

SARAH: Is that Kastria?
ELDRAD: It is.
SARAH: It's very nice.
ELDRAD: The solar winds have devastated it, but I will reclaim it again.
DOCTOR: You may have left it a bit late, Eldrad. That hurricane's been blowing for a hundred and fifty million years.
ELDRAD: How is the atmosphere constituted?
DOCTOR: Near enough Earth normal.
ELDRAD: And the radiation count?
DOCTOR: A bit high.
ELDRAD: It's all I shall need.

[Kastria dome]

(The Doctor has given Sarah his coat.)

DOCTOR: Damn it, the aliens have left this planet as good as dead.
ELDRAD: Oh no, Doctor. This is as Kastria was before I built the solar barriers. My fellow Kastrians may not have been able to maintain the systems that I devised for them, but there will be survivors, leading miserable existences in the thermal caves deep underground.
DOCTOR: But nothing functions. There's no power. I can't see how we can reach these survivors even if they do exist.
ELDRAD: Do you think that I would not be prepared for my return?

(Eldrad presses a control on a frost covered console, and the dome lights up.)

SARAH: That's incredible! Where's the power coming from?
ELDRAD: Energy drawn from the core of the planet.
DOCTOR: Inexhaustible energy.
ELDRAD: Exactly, Doctor. My gift to Kastria. I have come to claim my kingdom. Come, we will descend to the thermal chambers.

(The Doctor takes back his coat. Eldrad opens a doorway. There is a whiz thunk! and she turns, a metal rod driven into her chest.)

Part Four

[Kastria dome]

(The Doctor rushes to help Eldrad, but she signals him to stay back, then pulls the rod out herself.)

ELDRAD: The traitors. I should have expected.
DOCTOR: Eldrad, what was in this tube?
ELDRAD: An acid designed to neutralise the molecular bond. It is now only a matter of time.
DOCTOR: Is there an antidote?
ELDRAD: Oh no, Doctor. I developed the acid. There is no antidote.
DOCTOR: But there must be something?
ELDRAD: Regenerator chamber, level three zero six. But you must get me there quickly before it shatters the crystal matrix. Quick, quick.
SARAH: Wait, I'm coming.

(The Doctor half carries Eldrad through the doorway and they all travel down in a lift.)

[Dome control room]

COMPUTER: Intruders penetrating level fifty and descending. Intruders penetrating level one hundred and fifty and descending.

[Level 306]

DOCTOR: Level three oh six.
SARAH: How can you tell?
DOCTOR: Worked it out from the indicator. It's all based on roots of three.
SARAH: I hope that regenerator isn't far.
DOCTOR: Which way, Eldrad?
ELDRAD: That way.
DOCTOR: Come on.

[Dome control room]

COMPUTER: Intruders on level three zero six identified as two aliens, one Kastrian.

[Level 306]

(Sarah is walking ahead when she is caught in a jet of blue gas.)

DOCTOR: Sarah!
ELDRAD: She is unharmed, Doctor. These traps are only effective against silicon-based lifeform.
DOCTOR: Come on, Sarah. Stop making a fuss, Sarah. You're from South Croydon.
SARAH: Eh?
DOCTOR: You're a carbon-based lifeform. The gas is only effective against silicon structures.
SARAH: Oh.
DOCTOR: Come on.
SARAH: Hang on. The least you could do is wait for me. I nearly frightened myself to death back there.
DOCTOR: Yes, I know. It's that way.

(Sarah helps the Doctor carry Eldrad.)

SARAH: How can you tell?
DOCTOR: I have a superb sense of direction.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: I said, I have a superb sense of direction.

(A small rockfall drives them back. Eldrad lands on Sarah.)

DOCTOR: You fit for another stint?
SARAH: Oh, I'm as fit as I'll ever be. Give us a hand. Oh, she's heavier than she looks. Oh, I hope some of them are still alive.
DOCTOR: I'm not sure.

[Large chamber]

SARAH: Hey, look. No signs of life.
DOCTOR: Perhaps the aliens wiped them out.
SARAH: I wonder how long it's been like this?
DOCTOR: Could be millions of years.
ELDRAD: Doctor, please!
DOCTOR: Are you all right?
SARAH: Yes. If they're dead, you'd think we'd have seen some bodies by now.
DOCTOR: We have.
SARAH: Eh?
DOCTOR: Well, if you're made of stone, you crumble to sand. We're walking on them.
SARAH: Ew.

[Dome control room]

COMPUTER: Intruders proceeding along level three zero six towards regenerator sector. Awaiting orders to activate automatic defence procedures.

[Level 306]

DOCTOR: It can't be far now.
SARAH: Doctor, I've got a feeling we're being watched.
DOCTOR: It's your imagination. Nothing's been disturbed down here for thousands of years.
SARAH: Someone set those boobytraps.
DOCTOR: Oh, it was long ago. Come on.
SARAH: Hey, wait a minute.
DOCTOR: What is it now?
SARAH: Who were they set for?
DOCTOR: Presumably the aliens Eldrad told us about. The people who invaded the planet.
SARAH: That means that they're silicon-based lifeforms too.
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, and they're very rare. And it's something of a coincidence that there are two of them in the same galaxy.
SARAH: Yes. Yes!

[Dome control room]

COMPUTER: Awaiting orders to activate automatic defence procedures.

[Level 306]

(Sarah is walking backwards, helping carry Eldrad. They step up onto a ledge then discover there is a sheer drop beyond it. Sarah loses her footing but the Doctor holds onto her hand.)

SARAH: Ah! Doctor!

(The Doctor pulls her back to safety and kicks a few rocks over the edge. They don't hear them land.)

DOCTOR: It's an abyss.
SARAH: It's a long way down, too.
DOCTOR: Come on.
SARAH: Hey, we don't have to get across that.
DOCTOR: Is there any other way, Eldrad?
ELDRAD: No.

[Dome control room]

COMPUTER: Alien intruders have faltered. Awaiting orders.

[Level 306]

SARAH: It's not safe.

(The Doctor tests a fossilised tree trunk that lies across the gap.)

DOCTOR: It's only got to last until we get across.
SARAH: And what if it only lasts till we get halfway across?
DOCTOR: You've got no faith, have you. Come on, Eldrad.

(The Doctor lifts the rigid Eldrad across his shoulders and steps onto the trunk.)

DOCTOR: It's perfectly all right as long as you don't look down.

(He gets to the other side.)

DOCTOR: You coming?

(Sarah crawls across on hands and knees.)

[Dome control room]

COMPUTER: Alien intruders and unidentified Kastrian have reached regeneration chamber. Should they try to enter, they will be eliminated.

[Outside the regeneration chamber]

DOCTOR: I never met a door that couldn't be opened somehow.
SARAH: Hey, look, Doctor. Eldrad, I think she's found it. Look.

(Eldrad reaches for an obvious door control. The Doctor grabs her arm.)

DOCTOR: No!
SARAH: What's the matter?
DOCTOR: Get back.

(The Doctor removes Eldrad's ring.)

DOCTOR: Now stand back.

(He places it in the door control, and the door slides up.)

SARAH: You've done it.
DOCTOR: Get back. Get back!

(The Doctor takes an extending pointer from his pocket and waves it through the doorway. Bang!)

DOCTOR: You all right?

(The Doctor picks up the extremely rigid Eldrad and carries her through.)

SARAH: Determined lot.

(The Doctor places Eldrad on a large stone table in the middle of the chamber.)

[Dome control room]

COMPUTER: Intruders have entered the regeneration chamber. Positive identification of Kastrian essential. Obliteration will proceed on positive identification.

[Regeneration chamber]

DOCTOR: I understand it now. The crystal in the ring carries Eldrad's genetic code. A master print that enables her to reconstitute herself from any suitable radioactive material.
SARAH: The question is, are we in time?
DOCTOR: The question is, can I make this regenerator work?

(The console lights up as cracks appear in Eldrad's body.)

SARAH: Oh, Doctor, hurry!
DOCTOR: I can't go any faster. I'm guessing as it is. We'll just have to use maximum irradiation and hope.

[Dome control room]

COMPUTER: Eldrad, genocide, anarch, sentenced to obliteration. Malfunction, malfunction. Power proving insufficient for obliteration. Regeneration will occur.

[Regeneration chamber]

(A large slab comes down from the ceiling.)

SARAH: No, stop! It'll crush her!

(Too late.)

SARAH: Oh, it's horrid. It's so horrible. It was supposed to remake her. It's destroyed her.

(The slab lifts again, revealing the powdered outline of Eldrad.)

SARAH: We killed her.
DOCTOR: Yes, Sarah. We've been used. They were determined to get Eldrad one way or another.
SARAH: Oh, I'm so confused. Oh, what do we do now?
DOCTOR: We leave.

(Another door starts to open so they hide behind the table. A real Kastrian emerges, looking very crystalline and non-human.)

ELDRAD: (male voice) At last! Doctor? Sarah? It is I, Eldrad.
DOCTOR: Eldrad?
ELDRAD: Of course, you don't recognise me.
DOCTOR: How do we know you're Eldrad?
ELDRAD: Oh come, Doctor, you sound like Professor Watson. As a Time Lord you should be well acquainted with the processes of regeneration. I've attained my true form at last.
SARAH: Why is she a he?
ELDRAD: I had to assume a form that would be will be acceptable to the primitives of your planet.
DOCTOR: Ah. And so you modelled yourself on the first primitive you came in contact. He modelled himself on you.
SARAH: Oh, thanks.
DOCTOR: Sarah thought you'd been obliterated.
ELDRAD: They are fools. I gave them this. I designed it, programmed it to recognise my cell pattern, and they thought they could use it to destroy me. Bwahhahaha. It is incapable of destroying me, no matter what you or they or anyone else might do. I controlled it. And now I shall control all Kastria, my creation!
DOCTOR: What about your enemies?
ELDRAD: I shall brush them aside, weak and miserable creatures. What can they do in their decrepitude against the might of Eldrad!
ROKON [OC]: Eldrad.
ELDRAD: Rokon!

(A golden Kastrian is on a large wall screen.)

ROKON [on screen]: Traitor. You think you have victory within your grasp, but I, Rokon, tell you you have won nothing but defeat.

(The screen goes blank.)

ELDRAD: So, Rokon, you still live.
DOCTOR: Who is Rokon?
ELDRAD: The so-called King of Kastria. It was he who ordered my obliteration. Me, Eldrad, architect of the barriers! They thought they could destroy me, so I destroyed the barriers.
DOCTOR: You destroyed the barriers?
ELDRAD: Yes.
DOCTOR: So all that business of alien invaders was a lie?
ELDRAD: A necessary lie. A means to an end.
DOCTOR: Why should Rokon want to destroy you in the first place?
ELDRAD: Because he knew I would take his place. I was young and strong, he was weak and old. He wasn't fit to rule Kastria. And he had no appetite for conquest.
DOCTOR: Ah. But you do.
ELDRAD: Yes. I wanted Kastrians to be masters of the galaxy. And now, with me at their head, nothing shall stop us! Every planet within range of our starships shall fall to the power of Eldrad. And now, Doctor, I have an audience with my king. King? Bwahahaha!

(Eldrad leaves.)

SARAH: We've been taken for a ride.

(The Doctor takes Eldrad's ring from the control console.)

DOCTOR: Come on.

[Dome control room]

ELDRAD: Rokon. Rokon? You scorn me?

(The robed figure does not move.)

ELDRAD: Your successor?

(Eldrad pulls the robe off. Rokon topples to the floor and crumbles.)

ELDRAD: What is this? You traitor, you've cheated me of my revenge!

[Outside the dome control room]

SARAH: But we saw him. He spoke.
DOCTOR: A recording from the past. The King obviously knew there was a chance that Eldrad would return.
ELDRAD [OC]: He robs me of my destiny.
SARAH: The boobytraps?
DOCTOR: Yes.

[Dome control room]

ELDRAD: Nevertheless, I am still King. Nothing can stop me. My ambition is invincible.
DOCTOR: Where are your subjects, Majesty?
ELDRAD: Subjects? Stored in the race bank. There's a whole new race of Kastrians, Doctor. A hundred million crystal particles waiting to be placed in the regenerator. And they shall have me as their ruler! They will rebuild the barriers. They will restore the cities. They will replenish the exhausted lands. We will build a new Kastria, and together we shall go forth and conquer the universe!
SARAH: Let's
DOCTOR: Shush.

(Eldrad enters the Race Bank.)

ELDRAD: Nothing! What stupidity is this? Nothing!
ROKON [on screen]: Eldrad! After the premature detonation of the module we knew there was a remote possibility that one day you would return.
ELDRAD: Yes, I'm here.
ROKON [on screen]: But let me tell you. After you destroyed the barriers, after we knew for certain that life on the surface was finished, and the alternative was a miserable subterranean existence, the Kastrian race chose final oblivion. And, because they feared you might return to wage eternal war throughout the galaxy, they elected also to destroy the race banks.
ELDRAD: Traitor! I gave them life!
ROKON [on screen]: So now you are King, as was your wish. I salute you from the dead. Hail, Eldrad, King of nothing.
ELDRAD: Is this my reward? I created this world. It is mine! Mine by right!
DOCTOR: Well, Rokon seems to have solved the problem for us. A drastic solution.
SARAH: I wouldn't want to live down here, and I wouldn't want him as a leader.
ELDRAD: Yes, I shall be King. The Earth people. Very backward and primitive, but they have the necessary aggression. I shall rule them! I shall be their god! And you will take me back!
DOCTOR: Oh, no. That's not in the contract. A one-way ticket only. My obligation to you is over. You're in your own world now.
ELDRAD: You have my ring. Give it to me.
DOCTOR: No, I don't think so.
ELDRAD: It is my key to eternity. Give me the ring!
DOCTOR: Oh well, since you've put it so nicely.
SARAH: Don't.
DOCTOR: Here. Catch.

(The Doctor throws the ring across the room, into the Race Bank.)

DOCTOR: Come on, Sarah.

[Level 306]

(They arrive back at the abyss.)

DOCTOR: Down there. Get down there.
SARAH: Why?
DOCTOR: Hold this.

(The end of his scarf.)

SARAH: What?
ELDRAD: There is no escape.
SARAH: What do I do?
DOCTOR: When I say pull, you pull.

(They set up a trip wire.)

ELDRAD: You will take me back!
DOCTOR: Pull!

(Eldrad is tripped up, and falls into the abyss.)

DOCTOR: Well, the gravity of the law finally caught up with him.
SARAH: Yeah, that's all very well, but that was a bit rash, giving him his ring back.
DOCTOR: Yes.

(The Doctor takes the ring from his pocket.)

SARAH: Oh. Well, what did you give him back, then?
DOCTOR: My magician's stick.

(The Doctor tosses the ring into the abyss.)

SARAH: Oh.
DOCTOR: Come on.

[TARDIS]

SARAH: I'll never be warm again. Never, ever, ever.
DOCTOR: No, we're well out of that. Goodbye, Kastria.

(The TARDIS dematerialises.)

SARAH: Do you think that Eldrad, well, do you think that he really is dead?
DOCTOR: Oh, I doubt it. Very difficult to kill.
SARAH: Well, I quite liked her, but I couldn't stand him.

(The TARDIS tilts.)

DOCTOR: Whoa, easy, old girl, easy. These temperatures must have affected the thermo-couplings.
SARAH: Yes, I know how she feels. I think Kastria must be the coldest planet in the galaxy.
DOCTOR: Oh, rubbish. I've been to much colder places.
SARAH: Oh, big deal. It's all right for you. I'm human. We're not so thick-skinned.

(The Doctor gets under the console.)

DOCTOR: Where's that astro-rectifier? What did you say?
SARAH: Thick-skinned.
DOCTOR: Oh, good, good.
SARAH: Here.
DOCTOR: Multi-quantiscope.
SARAH: You know, I might as well be talking to the moon. You don't even listen to me.
DOCTOR: Mergin nut.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: No, no, forget the mergin nut. I'll have the ganymede driver.
SARAH: There.
DOCTOR: Thank you.
SARAH: Oh, I must be mad. I'm sick of being cold and wet, and hypnotised left right and centre. I'm sick of being shot at, savaged by bug-eyed monsters, never knowing if I'm coming or going or been.
DOCTOR: Zeus plug.
SARAH: Oh, I want a bath. I want my hair washed. I just want to feel human again.
DOCTOR: Forget the zeus plug. I'll have the sonic screwdriver.
SARAH: Oh, and boy am I sick of that sonic screwdriver! I'm going to pack my goodies and I'm going home. I said, I'm going to pack my goodies and I am going home! Right! Excuse me!

(Sarah storms out of the console room.)

DOCTOR: What was that you? I don't know why she goes on like this. There's really nothing the matter at all.

(The Doctor gets a mental wave.)

DOCTOR: The call. The call from Gallifrey. Gallifrey. After all this time, Gallifrey. I can't take Sarah to Gallifrey. Must get her back home. Must reset the coordinates. South Croydon.

(Sarah enters carrying a bag and a pile of stuff including a plant in a pot, a stuffed toy owl and a tennis racquet.)

SARAH: Ahem!
DOCTOR: You're a good girl, Sarah.
SARAH: Oh, look, it's too late apologising now. Everything's packed. I've got to go.
DOCTOR: What? How did you know?
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: I've had the call from Gallifrey.
SARAH: So?
DOCTOR: So I can't take you with me. You've got to go.
SARAH: Oh, come on. I can't miss Gallifrey. Look, I was only joking. I didn't mean it. Hey. Hey, you're not going to regenerate again, are you?
DOCTOR: Not this time. I don't know what's going to happen.
SARAH: You're playing one of your jokes on me, just trying to make me stay.
DOCTOR: No. I've received the call, and as a Time Lord I must obey.
SARAH: Alone?
DOCTOR: Yes.

(The TARDIS materialises.)

SARAH: And I'll give your love to Harry and the Brigadier. Oh, and I can tell Professor Watson that you're all right.
DOCTOR: We've landed, Sarah.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: We've landed.
SARAH: Where?
DOCTOR: South Croydon. Hillview Road, to be exact.
SARAH: That's my home. Well, I'll be off then. Here.

(She gives him his coat back.)

DOCTOR: Thanks.
SARAH: Don't forget me.
DOCTOR: Oh, Sarah. Don't you forget me.
SARAH: Bye, Doctor. You know, travel does broaden the mind.
DOCTOR: Yes. Till we meet again, Sarah.

(Sarah leaves.)

[Stokefield Close]

(The TARDIS dematerialises. Sarah looks around.)

SARAH: This isn't Hillview Road. I bet it isn't even South Croydon. Oh. He blew it.

(She speaks to a dog who is sunbathing on the pavement.)

SARAH: Hey, hey. You. He blew it.

(The dog runs off. Sarah walks away whistling 'Daddy wouldn't buy me a bow-wow'.)

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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