The Monster of Peladon

Part One

[Tunnel]

(Thunder and lightning still crash around the Citadel of Peladon, carved halfway up a mountainside. Deep in the bowels of the mountain, a group of four workers are wheeling a contraption along a tunnel. It is wooden, has a large pneumatic tyre on the front wheel and a silvery dish with an antenna pointing forward.)

ETTIS: Come on, lads. Come on, keep it moving. Mustn't keep our lords and masters waiting. Straight through the gallery.

(A peculiar noise fills the air.)

ETTIS: What's that? Aggedor. It is the spirit of Aggedor!

(Two of his companions run off. The third falls backward against some rocks and is enveloped in a red glow. He screams, then vanishes. The sound stops, and Ettis runs off. Elsewhere, a large crystal is being examined by a human using an eye glass.)

ECKERSLEY: Yes, it's exactly the quality we've been searching for. We're just not producing enough of it.

(He gives it back to a Peladon, then his alien companion speaks. He is shorter, with ginger hair and bushy beard, and a hairy pair of trousers. His eyes are very large and he is bare-chested.)

NEXOS: How can we? We have modern equipment but these primitives refuse to use it.
ECKERSLEY: Oh, they'll come round to it. At least they've agreed to use the sonic lance.

(The frightened Peladons run past.)

ECKERSLEY: What's going on? Hey, Ettis. What's all the panic?
ETTIS: It's Aggedor.
ECKERSLEY: What?
ETTIS: It's the spirit of Aggedor! We took the sonic lance down into the mine as you ordered, and the spirit of Aggedor appeared and slew one of us for blasphemy! Who do you think's going to use your alien equipment now?

[Throne room]

(The young King has been replaced by a young Queen.)

ORTRON: One of our people has been killed. The miners are terrified and refuse to work. What explanation do you offer us?
ECKERSLEY: It's not up to me to explain, is it? According to the miners, it was the spirit of Aggedor, whatever that's supposed to mean.
ORTRON: Do not blaspheme, alien.

(A familiar one eyed, six armed entity wearing a curtain comes forward.)

ALPHA: I'm sure no disrespect was intended, Lord Chancellor.
NEXOS: Your Majesty, we people of the planet Vega are a practical race of mining engineers. We do not propose to accept that this unfortunate incident was brought about by supernatural means.
THALIRA: (the young Queen) The miners of Peladon say that Aggedor appeared to them.
NEXOS: Your Majesty, your miners are primitive and superstitious.
ORTRON: Then what is your explanation?
NEXOS: Sabotage.
ORTRON: And where are these saboteurs?
ECKERSLEY: Yes, well, sabotage or spooks, the end result's the same. We had just about persuaded your miners to accept the use of the sonic lance and now they won't touch any of the modern equipment.
THALIRA: The use of the sonic lance is essential to you?
ECKERSLEY: Oh yes, your Majesty. It will increase the output tenfold.
THALIRA: Could you arrange an immediate demonstration of the sonic lance?
ORTRON: Your Majesty
THALIRA: If our people see that we have faith in your technology, it may help to calm their fears.
NEXOS: Of course, your Majesty. We will arrange it immediately.
ALPHA: Allow me to thank your Majesty on behalf of the Federation. A most helpful gesture. The sooner we can achieve full production of trisilicate, the sooner we can bring this dreadful war to a successful conclusion.
THALIRA: Thank you, Ambassador. The audience is at an end.
ALPHA: Thank you, your Majesty.
ECKERSLEY: Your Majesty.

(Alpha, Eckersley and Nexos leave.)

ORTRON: Your Majesty, I must protest! I can control this situation. I do not want you exposed to danger.
THALIRA: You know as well as I, Ortron, it was my father's dream to see Peladon a civilised planet, a full member of the Federation. He signed the treaty. We must honour it.
ORTRON: I intend that we should do so. Right from the day Chancellor Hepesh died, I served your father loyally. I worked for the things he believed in. Progress, civilisation, the Federation. Now there is war with Galaxy Five and our people have to make sacrifices.
THALIRA: Yes, but in quarrel not their own.
ORTRON: We have to accept the duties of Federation membership, as well as the benefits.

[Temple]

(Like Hepesh before him, Ortron seeks guidance from a higher power.)

ORTRON: Oh, mighty Aggedor, make known your will. Do not seek vengeance on your servants. Let your judgment fall on those who have truly offended thee.

[Tunnel]

(A guard hears a strange sound and takes cover as the TARDIS materialises.)

DOCTOR: The Citadel of Peladon, Sarah. One of the most interesting and
SARAH: Oh no, it isn't, is it, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Well, no, not exactly.
SARAH: No, it's not your precious Citadel at all. It's another rotten gloomy old tunnel.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, with the scanner still on the blink, there was no way I could really check.
SARAH: There's more than the scanner on the blink.
DOCTOR: Come on. Let's go and see where we are.

(The Doctor and Sarah leave. The guard goes in the opposite direction. Further along -)

DOCTOR: Well, I think my spatial coordinates must have slipped a bit, too. We may not actually be in the Citadel, Sarah, but we're very close to it.
SARAH: We are?
DOCTOR: Yes. Yes, the Citadel is built on a mountain, you see, and the mountain is honeycombed with tunnels like this. Come on.
SARAH: We couldn't just get back in the TARDIS and go home?
DOCTOR: Oh, have a heart, Sarah. I've been meaning to pay a return visit to Peladon for ages.
SARAH: I can't think why.
DOCTOR: Come along, Sarah Jane.

[Mine face]

(Eckersley is setting up the sonic lance. Orton escorts Thalira and her guards.)

ORTRON: This way, your Majesty.

(A miner kneels in front of Thalira.)

GEBEK: We are honoured by your presence, your Majesty.
THALIRA: And we are grateful for yours, Gebek. Can you persuade your miners to overcome their fears and use the new Federation tools?
GEBEK: The demonstration will help, your Majesty, but there has been a death. Ettis here was
ETTIS: I beg of you, your Majesty, do not permit this blasphemy. I have seen the wrath of Aggedor!
NEXOS: You have seen enemy spies. Agents from Galaxy Five sent here to cause trouble.
GEBEK: One of the guards was telling some wild story. He said he saw more aliens, appearing as if by magic in the tunnels.
ORTRON: Guard.
GEBEK: Since Aggedor's appearance there have been many such stories, your Majesty.
ORTRON: There are alien spies in the tunnels. Enemies of the Federation and of Peladon. They must be found and destroyed.
GUARD: My lord.

[Tunnel]

SARAH: Well, Doctor?
DOCTOR: This way, I think.
SARAH: We're lost.
DOCTOR: Mislaid, possibly.
SARAH: Oh, why don't we just go back to the TARDIS?
DOCTOR: For two good reasons. One, that I don't want to leave Peladon without having a word with my good friend, the King.
SARAH: Name dropper.
DOCTOR: And second.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: We are lost. Come on.

[Mine face]

ECKERSLEY: Your Majesty, everything is prepared. May we begin?
THALIRA: Please.
ECKERSLEY: Nexos? If you will just keep your eyes on that section of the wall over there.

(Nexos operates the lance. The rock wall begins to tremble as the sound rises in pitch. The dish sends out a red light and a nice circular hole appears in the rock.)

ECKERSLEY: There we are, your Majesty. Direct access to the main seam within a matter of moments. Now that would take us weeks to do a job like that by hand.

(The strange noise starts up again. Nexos walks up to the new tunnel mouth.)

NEXOS: Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. It is trickery! There is nothing to fear.

(Nexos enters the new tunnel.)

ECKERSLEY: Don't be a fool. Come back!

(There is a red glow and Nexos is thrown back out with a cry before his body vanishes completely. The miners run.)

ECKERSLEY: Oh, God.
ETTIS: It is the curse of Aggedor. Now will you believe?

[Tunnel]

DOCTOR: Cheer up, Sarah. We're nearly there. I recognise this tunnel.

(The rough walls with roots growing through give way to neat stonework.)

SARAH: As far as I'm concerned, Doctor, a tunnel is a tunnel is a tunnel.
GUARD [OC]: Come on here, lads. Down this way!
SARAH: What was that?
DOCTOR: That'll be the palace guard. We'll be all right now.
SARAH: Well, let's not be rash, hmm?
GUARD: There they are! Two of them!

(Sarah runs away.)

SARAH: Run, Doctor, quick!
DOCTOR: Sarah! Sarah!

(They are chased down the tunnel by three guards to a dead end with a torch in a metal scone.)

SARAH: We're trapped!
DOCTOR: Oh no, we're not. Look.

(The Doctor moves the torch and the hidden door opens.)

DOCTOR: Go on, in you go.

[Temple]

DOCTOR: The temple of Aggedor in the Citadel of Peladon.
SARAH: I believed you. Oh, it is very impressive, Doctor. But what about those guards? I thought you said they were friendly here.
DOCTOR: There must have been a misunderstanding. Probably startled.
SARAH: Oh.
DOCTOR: Ah, look at old Aggedor. There he is, bless him.
SARAH: He doesn't look very lovable to me.
DOCTOR: Ah, that's just a statue. You wait till you've seen the real animal.
SARAH: The real animal?
DOCTOR: Yes, didn't I tell you about my first visit to Peladon?
SARAH: Oh, no, not properly.
DOCTOR: Well, Peladon was just on the point of entering the galactic Federation, you see, when suddenly they started having this trouble.
SARAH: Not now, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Oh well, of course, if you don't want to hear about it.
SARAH: It's not that, Doctor. I think we're about to have some trouble of our own. (The guards knew about the secret door and are standing behind the Doctor with their swords drawn.)

[Throne room]

DOCTOR: Don't worry, Sarah. As soon as King Peladon turns up
GUARD: Silence!

(Ortron leads Thalira, her woman in waiting and her Champion in. The Doctor and Sarah are forced to kneel.)

ORTRON: Aliens, you are accused both of sacrilege and of sabotage. Do you confess?
SARAH: No, we don't. I don't know what you're talk
ORTRON: Silence! I addressed your master.
SARAH: He is not my master!
ORTRON: Well, alien?
DOCTOR: May I first know whom I have the honour of addressing?
ORTRON: I am Ortron, High Priest and Chancellor. This is her Majesty, Queen Thalira of Peladon.
DOCTOR: Your Majesty. But, er, where is King Peladon?
THALIRA: He was my father. He died when I was a child.
DOCTOR: Oh, I see. That explains a great deal.
ORTRON: Alien, name those who sent you and your life may be spared.
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, in a moment, old chap. Your Majesty, I

(The Doctor steps forward and is stopped by the guards.)

DOCTOR: Your Majesty, your father and I were very good friends before you were born. I am the Doctor.
THALIRA: But I have heard stories of the Doctor ever since I was a child.
ORTRON: Everyone on Peladon knows the story of the Doctor. What better disguise for an alien spy and saboteur?
DOCTOR: You really are a suspicious fellow, aren't you?
ALPHA: Your Majesty, I cannot tell you how shocked I was to hear
SARAH: Doctor! What's that?
DOCTOR: The answer to all our troubles, Sarah.
ALPHA: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Alpha Centauri.
ALPHA: It is! It's the Doctor!
DOCTOR: Alpha Centauri, my dear fellow, what a very well-timed entrance.
ALPHA: It's like a miracle, Doctor. All these years and you haven't changed a bit.
DOCTOR: Neither have you, my dear fellow. A touch of grey around the tentacles perhaps, but still the same old Alpha.
ORTRON: Ambassador?
ALPHA: Oh, forgive me, your Majesty.
THALIRA: Ambassador, we take it that these aliens are known to you?
ALPHA: Er, not the er, female? Not the female, your Majesty. Still, she's of no importance. But this is most certainly the Doctor. A good friend of your father, and of Peladon.
ORTRON: The past history of this alien is irrelevant.
ALPHA: I'm sure there has been a misunderstanding, your Majesty. I am prepared to vouch for the Doctor.
THALIRA: Very well. The charges will be suspended and the aliens released into your custody, Ambassador.
ORTRON: Your Majesty!
THALIRA: But we shall expect a full report of their behaviour, and of their presence on Peladon.
ALPHA: Of course, your Majesty. Thank you, your Majesty.
SARAH: Well I don't think that's good enough. What about an apology for the
DOCTOR: Sarah, Sarah.
ALPHA: Doctor, come with me, please.
SARAH: Hey!
ALPHA: You may bring the female.
SARAH: Thanks.

(Alpha, the Doctor and Sarah leave.)

ORTRON: Your Majesty, it is not wise to trust this alien. Even if he is the Doctor, he was the one who persuaded King Peladon to join the Federation and caused our present troubles. Now why has he come here again?
THALIRA: We shall not learn the Doctor's plans by having him executed, Ortron. If he is our enemy, he will soon betray himself.

[Tunnel]

ETTIS: Gebek, for the last time, listen to me. Even if you do speak to the Queen, it will do no good. She and Ortron are puppets of the Federation.
GEBEK: We must try.
ETTIS: If talks fail, Gebek, we fight.
GEBEK: There will be no fighting. Now, you will all wait for me here. When I've spoken to the Queen, we'll talk again.

(Gebek leaves.)

ETTIS: Gebek's a good man, but he's too patient. We'll give him time to get clear, then, while he talks, we'll fight.

[Corridor]

SARAH: I'm sorry, Doctor, but I don't see why I should put up with it. And as for your friend here. The female is of no importance, indeed.
DOCTOR: Oh, I thought that would rankle a bit.
SARAH: Well?
DOCTOR: Actually, you owe Alpha Centauri a very great deal of gratitude. Without him you'd have been lucky to have got out of there alive. They go in for rough justice here on Peladon, you know. Chop off your head and apologise afterwards.
SARAH: Yes, well, if you hadn't missed the target by about five hundred yards and fifty years, we wouldn't be in this mess.
DOCTOR: Yes, that's a point.

(Behind them, Ettis peers round a tapestry then gestures for the other miners to follow him.)

[Outside the Throne room]

ORTRON: Gebek, you know the Citadel is forbidden to those of your kind.
GEBEK: Reserved for you and your high and mighty nobles and our real masters, the Federation aliens, of course.
ORTRON: Do not be insolent, Gebek. You may have a little authority amongst your miners but you are still one of them. Why did you come here?
GEBEK: I must speak with the Queen.
ORTRON: You should have requested an audience.
GEBEK: Things are too urgent for that. I must speak with the Queen now, for the good of all Peladon.
ORTRON: Very well.

[Throne room]

ORTRON: The miner Gebek, your Majesty.
GEBEK: Forgive this intrusion, your Majesty.
THALIRA: Gebek, why have you come here?
GEBEK: To beg you to send the Federation aliens home.

(Meanwhile, a lone guard paces in front of a pair of impressive carved doors. As he turns his back, the miners leap upon him.)

[Communications room]

(Electric lighting, computer consoles round the walls and metal and leather chairs.)

DOCTOR: Well it seems to me, Eckersley, the Federation has brought a lot of its troubles on itself.
ALPHA: That is unfair, Doctor. There have been many difficulties.
DOCTOR: Look, it's fifty years now since Peladon joined the Galactic Federation, and what have the miners got to show for it? Harder work for the same rewards.
ALPHA: Peladon is a feudal society, Doctor. The court is resistant to any change.
ECKERSLEY: And we have got to step up the production of trisilicate. It's essential to our war effort.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, that's another thing that concerns me, this war. I thought the Federation was dedicated to peace?
ECKERSLEY: So it is, Doctor.
ALPHA: But we were the victims of a vicious and unprovoked attack by the forces of Galaxy Five.
DOCTOR: Have you tried to negotiate?
ALPHA: Many times. They refuse to listen.
SARAH: Well, what's so important about this trisilicate stuff?
ECKERSLEY: Our whole technology is based on it. Electronic circuitry, heat shields, inert microcell fibres, radionic crystals. And whoever the supply of trisilicate will win this war.
SARAH: And you think someone's trying to stop you getting it?
ECKERSLEY: That's what Vega Nexos thought. Saboteurs, agents from Galaxy Five.
DOCTOR: It's possible, I suppose.
ECKERSLEY: Then how did they get here, where are they now and how are they staying undetected?

(An alarm sounds. A wall chart flashes red at the Armoury.)

SARAH: Well, what's all that about?

(Eckersley turns on a monitor to watch the miners trying to break through the wooden doors.)

ECKERSLEY: Well, well, well.

[Outside the Armoury]

(The miners get the wooden doors open to reveal a metal one inside.)

ETTIS: Alien work. In case we can't break it down, Preba, you go and find an alien to open it for us.

[Communications room]

SARAH: You don't seem very worried.
ECKERSLEY: They're wasting their time. Solid duralinium, that door. Triple security electronic lock, remotely controlled from here.
ALPHA: Just as well. All the modern weapons on the planet are stored there.
SARAH: You'll be in trouble if they do get through.
ECKERSLEY: They won't. When Ortron realises what's going on, he'll send some guards to finish them off.
SARAH: Oh, for heaven's sake, man, you're just going to sit there and watch them get cut down? Well, can't you stop it?
ECKERSLEY: I've told you before. Local politics are not my concern.

(The Doctor heads for the door and is stopped by Preba.)

DOCTOR: I think you'll find that they are.
ECKERSLEY: What?
ALPHA: Oh!
SARAH: Doctor.
ECKERSLEY: What are you doing here?
PREBA: Alien, you will come with me and open the armoury door for us.
ECKERSLEY: Not a chance.
PREBA: Move!
SARAH: Doctor!

(Alpha and Sarah move away. Preba puts his sword at Eckersley' throat.)

PREBA: You will open the armoury, alien, or you will die. Move!

(The Doctor puts his hands in the air as Eckersley goes past him and out of the door. As Preba comes close, the Doctor grabs his sword arm and Eckersley grabs the weapon.)

ECKERSLEY: Thanks. Pretty handy, aren't you?
ALPHA: You see the dangers we face, Doctor? Peladon is still a barbarous and primitive planet.
DOCTOR: When miners have to take up arms to protect their rights, they probably have their reasons. I'd like to know what those reasons are.
ECKERSLEY: He won't talk to you. These people are fanatics, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Right then, let's see what he has to say to Queen Thalira. Come on. You two, stay here.

(Eckersley, Preba and the Doctor leave.)

ALPHA: Oh, I'm glad. Violence is distressing for

(Alpha turns and his arms swing into Sarah, who recoils.)

SARAH: Oh, I'm sorry.
ALPHA: I believe that human beings sometimes find the appearance of my species rather frightening. Yet I assure you, we are an amiable and peace loving race.
SARAH: Oh, I am sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. I'm just a bit jumpy. Hmm? Okay?

[Throne room]

ORTRON: Your rulers have decided to support the Federation. It is not for you to question our decisions.
GEBEK: My people have had enough of the Federation and its commands. There will be armed rebellion!
THALIRA: Gebek! Would you rebel against me?
GEBEK: Your Majesty, I am loyal to the throne.
ORTRON: Then order your miners to return to their work.

(The Guard enters.)

GUARD: Your Majesty, Lord Ortron, the miners have attacked the Federation armoury. They escaped into the tunnels.
ORTRON: The miners?
GEBEK: The armoury?
DOCTOR: Not all of them, your Majesty.
THALIRA: Doctor?

(Preba and Eckersley enter.)

GEBEK: Preba. What have you done?
ORTRON: So, Gebek, now we have the truth of it.
GEBEK: Your Majesty, I knew nothing of this.
ORTRON: It is too late for your lies, Gebek. You came here and distracted our attention so they could attack.
GEBEK: I ordered you to wait in the tunnels!
ORTRON: Take them both away!
GEBEK: But your Majesty, I
DOCTOR: Now just one moment. I brought this man here to talk to the Queen.
ORTRON: Be silent, Doctor. The Queen has listened to enough traitors. They have invaded the Citadel and carried arms against your Majesty. The law demands their execution! Take them away!

(The Doctor and Gebek fight the nearest guards, while the Champion stands in front of the Queen. The Doctor easily takes a pike from another guard who rushes forward and slips on the tiled floor. Gebek and Preba get away, and the Doctor is surrounded.)

ORTRON: So, Doctor, since you are in league with the rebels and have helped them escape, you shall die in their place.
DOCTOR: You really are remarkably ungrateful, aren't you?
ORTRON: What gratitude do we owe you?
DOCTOR: I've just saved you from a serious political mistake. May I address your Majesty?
THALIRA: You may. Lord Ortron?
DOCTOR: Your Majesty, as you know, the miners are already on the point of armed rebellion. How would they react if their leader was killed by the Queen's guards? He'd become a martyr, a figurehead for a people's revolution. Revolution and civil war, your Majesty, unless you allow me to help you.
THALIRA: But how can you help us?
DOCTOR: By proving my belief that the appearances of Aggedor are caused by trickery.
THALIRA: Very well. We will trust you, Doctor, for the present. Captain.
DOCTOR: Thank you, your Majesty. I'd like to begin by inspecting where Aggedor last appeared, so if someone could show me the way?
THALIRA: The Queen's Champion will escort you.
DOCTOR: Yes, splendid. Well, after you, old chap.

(Blor leads the Doctor out. Eckersley follows. Ortron bows.)

ORTRON: Your Majesty.

(Ortron leaves.)

[Outside the Throne room]

(Ortron meets with the waiting Guard Captain.)

ORTRON: Send out patrols into the mines and caves. I want Gebek, and anyone with him, captured or killed.

(Down at the new tunnel, Ettis is burying explosives in the gravel. He backs away, playing out the detonator wire.)

[Communications room]

ECKERSLEY: And with that, off they went to take a look at the cavern.
SARAH: Oh, great. Leaving me to hang about and twiddle my thumbs, as usual.
ECKERSLEY: I'll say one thing for your friend the Doctor, he's got quite a knack of talking himself out of trouble.
SARAH: Mmm, just as long as he hasn't talked himself into a whole lot more.

[Mine face]

(Ettis watches the mute Blor point to the new tunnel and grunt.)

DOCTOR: Oh, so this is it, is it? All right, let's take a look inside.

(Blor makes worried noises.)

DOCTOR: Well, don't tell me that you're frightened, a big chap like you. Come on. Come on.

[Cave]

(The small new tunnel leads into a cave.)

DOCTOR: No wonder the Federation was so keen to mine. A typical trisilicate vein, that.

(A thick line of glowing crystal runs down the far wall.)

[Tunnel]

(Ettis unrolls his wire back to another miner with a detonator.)

ETTIS: One of the aliens has just entered the cave with the Queen's Champion. We must sacrifice them both.

[Cave]

(The Doctor studies a sample of the ore.)

DOCTOR: Very high grade too. And you say the light that killed Vega Nexos came from in here?

(Blor grunts.)

DOCTOR: Then there should be some trace.

[Tunnel]

GEBEK: What are you doing?
ETTIS: I'm restoring the holy mountain, to appease the spirit of Aggedor.

(And triggers the detonator. KaBOOM goes the area at the mouth of the little tunnel and the ceiling collapses in, sealing the cave.)

[Cave]

(The Doctor rises from a pile of gravel.)

DOCTOR: Blor, are you all right? Come on, up you get. That's it.

(Then the sound starts up and Blor screams.)

DOCTOR: What the blazes is it?

(A red, glowing image of the statue of Aggedor appears, smoke coming out of its mouth. Blor is enveloped in a red glow, collapses and vanishes.)

Part Two

[Cave]

(The Doctor looks up at the image, which then vanishes. He starts to try and dig himself out.)

[Mine face]

GEBEK: First the armoury, and now this.
ETTIS: I have given the alien's cave back to the sacred mountain and made a sacrifice to Aggedor.
GEBEK: Sacrifice?
ETTIS: An alien and the Queen's Champion. They both entered the cave just as I set off the charge.
GEBEK: Which alien, Ettis?
ETTIS: I don't know. A new one. Tall, white hair.
GEBEK: The Doctor. Our one friend among the aliens. He saved my life!

(Gebek starts to try and clear the rubble.)

GEBEK: Come on.

(Ettis and the other miner join him, as the Doctor tries to move one large rock and fails.)

ETTIS: It's impossible. What are we going to do?
GEBEK: Open up the cave with that!

(The sonic lance.)

ETTIS: But you don't know how to make it work.
GEBEK: Then I'll learn.
ETTIS: You make one mistake and you're going to kill your alien friend.
GEBEK: Too late now.

(The sonic lance powers up. Inside the cave, the Doctor realises something is happening, and backs away very quickly. The pile of rubble flickers then there is a bang, and a gap appears. Just then, the image of Aggedor reappears. The Doctor dives through the gap and out of the cave just before the red glow appears.)

[Communications room]

ALPHA: It's a most magnificent installation. If only we can get trisilicate production up to the necessary level, we shall be able to do our own refining.
SARAH: Hmm? Oh, yes, yes, I'm sure. The Doctor's been gone an awfully long time, hasn't he.
ALPHA: Of course, only Eckersley understands the new refinery fully. I'm sure he'd be glad to explain it to you.
SARAH: Oh, I'll look forward to that.
COMPUTER: Emergency! Emergency! Unauthorised use of explosives has produced a rock fall in the cavern area.
SARAH: The cavern. That's where the Doctor's gone. I knew it. Something's happened to him. I'm going to find him.
ALPHA: Really, it would be most unwise. I'm sure a proper rescue operation will be mounted.
SARAH: On this planet? I don't trust any of them. Right.

(Sarah checks the quarry area location in relation to the communications room on the wall map and leaves.)

ALPHA: These Earth females seem to have a distressing tendency to rash action.

(Alpha picks up a microphone.)

ALPHA: Engineer Eckersley. Please return to the communications room immediately!

(Sarah takes the short cut through the temple and goes through the secret door into the tunnels.)

[Mine face]

ETTIS: The spirit of Aggedor has killed the Queen's Champion.
DOCTOR: Yes, well something killed him, poor chap. And it would have killed me too if you hadn't come to the rescue.
GEBEK: I owed you my life, Doctor. Now, we're even.
DOCTOR: Wait! I think I can help you if you'll let me.
ETTIS: Don't trust him, Gebek. You've paid your debt. Now let's get out of here before Ortron's guards find us.
GEBEK: Why should you wish to help us?
DOCTOR: For the good of Peladon. You see, I have a special interest in this planet.
GEBEK: What can you do?
DOCTOR: Well, find out who's using Aggedor to frighten your miners, for one thing.
ETTIS: Nobody uses Aggedor. His spirit is angry with us.
DOCTOR: Possibly. But if you can persuade your miners to go back to work, I think I can persuade the Federation to improve conditions now, and not wait until the war is over.
ETTIS: The miners will not work while Aggedor is angry!
DOCTOR: Exactly, and that's just what somebody wants. Now, do you think it's just a coincidence that Aggedor appeared in that cave just as I started my investigations?
ETTIS: Look out. Soldiers!
GUARD: Gebek! There he is.

(A fight begins. Meanwhile, Sarah is making her way through the maze of tunnels. The three armed guards are dealt with by a combination of Venusian Aikido and large rocks thumped down onto their helmets.)

GEBEK: Right, this way. Come on.

[Outside the Refinery]

(Sarah arrives at a large opaque window set in the rock wall.)

SARAH: Hey! Hey, you in there! I'm afraid I'm lost.

(Something moves past the window, then the light inside goes out.)

SARAH: Hey, look! I know you're in there. Come on, I saw you. Please! I only want to find my way out of these tunnels. Oh!

(Sarah goes to a metal door to the left of the window and thumps on it. She is enveloped by a high pitched sound and multicoloured lights, and grabs her head, screaming.)

[Communications room]

ECKERSLEY: All right, chum, here I am. What's all the panic?
ALPHA: There's been an explosion in the cavern.
ECKERSLEY: What?
ALPHA: The Doctor was there and the young female went to find him. Neither has returned.

(The Refinery door light is flashing on the map.)

ECKERSLEY: It's the refinery. It must be those miners again.

(Eckersley turns on a monitor and sees Sarah clutching her head.)

ECKERSLEY: Lord! What's she doing in there? She must have triggered off the automatic defence system.

(He switches it off and Sarah collapses.)

ALPHA: How unfortunate! What a catastrophe! Has she been harmed?
ECKERSLEY: That depends. If she's been under it too long, her brain will be. We'd better go and get her out of there.

[Tunnel]

(The Doctor and the miners are having a brew up around a brazier.)

GEBEK: But our lives have always been the same, Doctor. Work and sleep. Little else. We earn barely enough to feed our families.
PREBA: The Federation told us things'd be better. So they are for the nobles of the court. We got nothing, as usual.
ETTIS: And now, they take the sonic lance down into the mine to rip the heart out of the sacred mountain. No wonder Aggedor's angry with these people.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, I don't believe all that. I think the Aggedor that we've seen is nothing but technological trickery.
GEBEK: But who's causing it?
DOCTOR: I don't know, but I'm determined to find out.
ETTIS: And what are we going to do?
DOCTOR: Nothing! We don't want any more idiotic tricks like that attack on the armoury.
ETTIS: But we nearly succeeded, didn't we?
MINER: That's right.
DOCTOR: You didn't stand a chance! Those armoury doors are electronically controlled from the communications room. Now that sort of thing just gets people killed for nothing. Now, please, all of you. Just sit tight and give me a chance to work things out, hmm?

(Ettis appears stunned by that piece of information.)

GEBEK: Very well, Doctor. We shall take your advice.
DOCTOR: Thank you, Gebek.
GEBEK: I believe the Doctor to be our friend. Now, there is to be no more fighting till I give the word. Is that understood? Ettis?
ETTIS: Yes.
GEBEK: Right, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Splendid. Now I'd like to have a talk to Queen Thalira, preferably without Ortron breathing down the back of my neck.
GEBEK: There are many secret ways from here to the Citadel. Preba knows them all. He shall lead us. The rest of you, stay here.

(Preba, the Doctor and Gebek leave.)

ETTIS: I say we attack again, and this time we shall succeed, now we know how to open the armoury door.

(The miners like this plan.)

[Outside the Refinery]

ECKERSLEY: Sarah! Sarah, are you all right?
SARAH: Er, yes.
ECKERSLEY: Sure?
SARAH: I think so.
ECKERSLEY: Thank God.
SARAH: But what was it?
ECKERSLEY: You set off the automatic defence system. There's a bit of magic to scare off the natives.
SARAH: All that just to protect your precious machinery? You're very keen on security, aren't you?
ECKERSLEY: Yes, on planets like this it pays to be.
ALPHA: What were you trying to do?
SARAH: Look, I was lost, that's all. There was someone in there and I wanted to ask the way.
ECKERSLEY: There's nobody in there. The whole place is on shutdown.
SARAH: I tell you I saw someone moving
ECKERSLEY: Hallucinations. You're still suffering from my little bag of tricks.
SARAH: I tell you I did see someone in there before all the noise and lights started.
ECKERSLEY: There's nobody in there and nobody's getting in there.
ALPHA: Are you well enough to move?
ECKERSLEY: Can you walk?
SARAH: Of course.
ALPHA: Then I suggest we return.
SARAH: All right. Yes. Oh! The Doctor. Have you heard what's happened to him?
ALPHA: No. Let us return to the communications room. By now there may be news.
SARAH: Yes.

(Alpha looks at the window.)

ECKERSLEY: Are you coming?

(Alpha leaves, and a blurry green image appears in the glass.)

[Tunnel]

PREBA: Listen.
GEBEK: What is it?
PREBA: Soldiers.
GEBEK: Searching the tunnels for me?
DOCTOR: Ortron doesn't give up easily, does he? Can we lose him?
PREBA: Well, they're blocking the way we wish to follow.
GEBEK: If we can only distract their attention in some way.
PREBA: Well, that's it. I'll lead them off.
GEBEK: Oh, no. If they catch you
PREBA: A squad of clod-hopping soldiers catch me? I've played in these tunnels since I was a boy. Quick, hide in there.

(The Doctor and Gebek go into a small side tunnel.)

GUARD 2: There he is! After him!

(Preba leads the squad off at a run. Gebek comes out of hiding.)

GUARD: Halt, Gebek. You're under arrest. Right, back to the Citadel.

(The pair of guards start to escort Gebek away, but the Doctor comes up behind them and uses a pressure point hold to knock them both out.)

DOCTOR: Come on.

[Throne room]

ORTRON: Blor has been slain by the wrath of Aggedor like the others. All of this trouble began as soon as the Doctor arrived on Peladon.
THALIRA: That does not prove that the Doctor is our enemy. If it was the spirit of Aggedor
ORTRON: Your Majesty, the Doctor was seen with Gebek and the other rebels. He helped them escape a second time.
THALIRA: But why, Ortron? Why would he turn against us?
ORTRON: Because he has been sent here to stir up the miners.
THALIRA: He was my father's friend. He said he wanted to help us.
ORTRON: A trick to gain your confidence. And anyway, after fifty years, who can be sure it's the same man?
THALIRA: What is your counsel, Lord Ortron?
ORTRON: The revolt must be crushed and crushed now. The Doctor must be captured and executed.

[Outside the Communications room]

SARAH: You're overdoing things. All right, so you need an alarm system. Does it have to be something that drives people out of their minds?
ECKERSLEY: You must remember we're strangers on this planet.

(Ettis is hiding round a corner.)

ECKERSLEY: We're not very popular, therefore we have to protect ourselves.
SARAH: Protect yourselves?
ALPHA: Most of the Pels are still close to barbarism. They have a great distrust of progress.
SARAH: Well, maybe that's because they're not getting anything out of it. You've got to show them that progress will give them a better life.
ECKERSLEY: It's no good, Sarah. The only thing these people understand is Argh! (Ettis knocks Eckersley out then grabs Sarah from behind.)
ALPHA: Help! Help! We're being attacked! Help!
ETTIS: Be silent, alien. You're wasting your breath. Inside.
ALPHA: Oh! Oh!

[Communications room]

ETTIS: Now you won't be harmed so long as you do what you're told.
ALPHA: What is it you want us to do?
ETTIS: I want you to open the armoury door.
ALPHA: That is out of the question. Natives of primitive planets are forbidden access to sophisticated weapons.
ETTIS: Open the door!
ALPHA: Only Eckersley knows how to operate the controls. I do not.
ETTIS: I advise you to try, for your sake and for hers.

(Ettis puts his sword point at Sarah's throat.)

[Tunnel]

GEBEK: (sotto) We must move quietly now, Doctor. The nearer we get to the Citadel, the greater the dangers.

(Meanwhile, the guard on the armoury has been doubled. Miners with swords rush up, and attack and kill them.)

[Communications room]

ETTIS: Hurry, alien. Must I prove that I mean what I say?

(Alpha flicks a switch. The metal inner doors of the armoury open and the miners enter with a cheer. An alarm goes off as they start grabbing the guns from shelves.)

[Throne room]

ORTRON: Your Majesty!
THALIRA: Lord Ortron, what is it?
ORTRON: There's been another attack on the Federation armoury. The inner door has been opened. You see, your Majesty, already the rebellion has begun. This is what comes of softness with the common people.

(The Armoury shelves are bare. The miners leave and immediately get to use the weapons on more guards.)

[Communications room]

ETTIS: You betrayed me. You switched on the alarm!
ALPHA: I warned you I did not fully understand the control mechanism.

(Ettis runs towards Alpha and Sarah grabs his sword arm.)

SARAH: No! Can't you see he's telling the truth? Now you've got what you came for. Why don't you go while you still can?
ETTIS: That's a good idea, alien, and I'll take you with me.
SARAH: No!
ETTIS: As a hostage.
SARAH: Ambassador, do something!
ALPHA: No! You leave her alone! (Ettis pulls Sarah out of the room.)
ALPHA: Come back! Come back! Oh, dear!

[Outside the Communications room]

ALPHA: Eckersley! Eckersley, please! Eckersley, please wake up! The armoury has been robbed! Wake up! The Doctor's friend has been taken hostage! Eckersley, please, wake up!

(The high-pitched voice brings Eckersley to his senses.)

[Corridor]

(The miners duck through the tapestry covered door into the tunnels.)

SARAH: Oh, let go! It won't do you no good. It won't help you.
ETTIS: We've got the weapons.
SARAH: Ow!

(Sarah breaks free from his grip and runs back.)

ORTRON [OC]: Seize her! Do not let her escape!

(Ettis goes into the tunnels as guards grab Sarah.)

SARAH: But you don't understand. I didn't want to go with them. I was trying to escape.
ORTRON: Take her to the temple!

[Tunnel]

GEBEK: We're almost at the Citadel now, Doctor.

(A group of miners run past.)

GEBEK: Ettis, what new folly is this?
ETTIS: No folly, Gebek, victory! Now that we've got the new Federation weapons, we'll see who rules on Peladon.

(Ettis runs on.)

GEBEK: I must go with them, Doctor. Perhaps I can prevent more madness.
DOCTOR: Yes, don't worry about me, old chap. I think I know my way from now on. Good luck.

[Armoury]

ECKERSLEY: Yes, well, that's really done it. With modern weapons in their hands, there's no end to the damage these lunatics can do.
ALPHA: I know, Eckersley, and it's all my fault.
ECKERSLEY: Yes.
ALPHA: I shall resign immediately. The disgrace.
ECKERSLEY: Well, it's done now. There's no point in going on about it.
ALPHA: I think I could have faced death for myself in an honourable cause

[Outside the Armoury]

ALPHA: But he threatened the girl. I was unable to stand by and let him inflict violence on a fellow creature.
ECKERSLEY: Where is she now?
ALPHA: Presumably, she's still Ettis' prisoner.

[Armoury]

GUARD: No, Ambassador, she was recaptured by the guards.
ALPHA: Captured? She's a victim, not a criminal.
GUARD: Well, Chancellor Ortron said she was helping them.
ECKERSLEY: Where is she now?
GUARD: Well, she's been taken to the temple.

[Temple]

SARAH: No, no, no. Now look, this is all a ridiculous mistake.
ORTRON: You were in collusion with the rebel, Ettis.
SARAH: Of course I wasn't.
ORTRON: It was because of you that the Ambassador was forced to open the armoury door. Is that not true?
SARAH: Well, yes, in a way, I suppose it was.
ORTRON: Then you admit your guilt!
SARAH: The Ambassador opened the door because Ettis threatened to kill me. Now you can't say that means I was helping him.

(The Doctor listens at the secret door.)

ORTRON: Your whole plot is clear to me now. You arrived on this planet with only one aim, to stir up the common people.
SARAH: That's not true.
ORTRON: And overthrow the traditional rulers, the nobility of Peladon. You joined with the rebel, Ettis

(Ortron turns towards the statue, and the Doctor sneaks into the temple.)

ORTRON: While the Doctor allies himself with the other traitor, Gebek!
SARAH: No!
DOCTOR: Do forgive me, old chap, but you've got it all wrong.
SARAH: Doctor!
ORTRON: Arrest him!
SARAH: You're safe! They said you'd been blown up in the cavern.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, I very nearly was.
SARAH: Ettis has just robbed the armoury.
DOCTOR: Yes, I know. I've just met him in the tunnels.
ORTRON: So, Doctor, you too admit your guilt.
DOCTOR: My dear chap, you're just not listening, are you. No one's admitting anything. But if you'll take my advice, you'll try and get on the right side of Gebek. Without him, you've got a full scale revolution on your hands.
ORTRON: I need no advice from spies and saboteurs.
DOCTOR: Look, just take me to the Queen, there's a good chap.
ORTRON: There's no need to trouble the Queen, Doctor. I shall deal with you myself. Here in the temple, my will is law. I shall consult the judgement of Aggedor. Oh, mighty Aggedor, make known they will. How shall we punish those who have offended against thee?

[Throne room]

ALPHA: Believe me, your Majesty. Chancellor Ortron has totally misinterpreted the facts.
THALIRA: Engineer Eckersley, can you confirm the Ambassador's story?
ECKERSLEY: I can't confirm anything, your Majesty. I got hit on the head when it all started.
ALPHA: But you know that Sarah is not in league with the rebels.
ECKERSLEY: It seems highly unlikely, though I suppose. No.
THALIRA: Well?
ECKERSLEY: Well, it was because of her that you finally did open the door. I suppose it could have been a put-up job.
ALPHA: Nonsense! The whole idea's absurd! The girl was Ettis' prisoner, not his accomplice. You must believe that, your Majesty.
THALIRA: I'm prepared to trust your judgement, Ambassador. But what I believe is of little importance. In the temple, Ortron's power is absolute. There is nothing I can do.

[Temple]

DOCTOR: Well? And what did he say?
ORTRON: You have blasphemed in the temple of Aggedor, therefore by Aggedor shall you both be punished.
DOCTOR: Both?
ORTRON: She shares your guilt, she will share your punishment. Prepare the pit!

[Throne room]

ALPHA: But your Majesty, whatever your traditions, I beg you in the name of mercy to override them.
THALIRA: Oh, I wish that I could, Ambassador.
ALPHA: But you are the Queen.
THALIRA: Yes, a Queen who is looked upon as little more than a child!
ALPHA: Many things have changed on Peladon, your Majesty. Perhaps this too should change?
THALIRA: You will come with me.

[Outside the Temple]

(Inside, two guards move aside the fire font and remove the circular lid to a pit beneath the temple.)

THALIRA: You will admit us to the temple.

[Temple]

ORTRON: Hurry. Cast them into the pit!
DOCTOR: Don't be a fool!

[Outside the Temple]

THALIRA: No doors are barred to the Queen. Stand aside!

[Temple]

(The Doctor is thrown down the hole and lands amongst straw and bones. He moves aside just as Sarah comes down.)

THALIRA: Where is the girl?! We demand
ORTRON: The decision is no longer yours or mine, your Majesty. The girl and the Doctor have gone to face the judgement of Aggedor.

[Under the Temple]

SARAH: Oh. Ow.
DOCTOR: Are you all right, Sarah?
SARAH: Well, I don't think anything's broken. What are they going to do, just leave us here?
DOCTOR: No, I think there's more to it than that.
SARAH: Oo, that smell. It's sort of musky, like the lion house at the zoo.

(Roar.)

SARAH: Oh, Doctor, there's something in here with us. Something alive!
DOCTOR: Yes, I know. Now don't move, Sarah.

(The Doctor turns on his pen torch, and illuminates - Aggedor.)

Part Three

[Temple]

THALIRA: Remove them from the pit, Ortron! We command it!
ORTRON: Too late, your Majesty.

[Under the Temple]

(Aggedor takes a swipe at the Doctor.)

DOCTOR: Come on, Aggedor, old chap. That's no way to greet an old friend.

(Aggedor tries again.)

DOCTOR: You remember me, surely?
SARAH: I don't think he does, Doctor.
DOCTOR: I don't believe this. He and I used to be the greatest of friends! Aggedor! Aggedor! Yes, of course.

(The Doctor holds up the TARDIS key on its chain and starts it spinning while he sings.)

DOCTOR: Klokleda partha mennin klatch. Haroon, haroon, haroon. Klokleda sheena tirri natch. Haroon, haroon, haroon.

(Aggedor calms down.)

DOCTOR: Haroon, haroon, haroon. Haroon, haroon, haroon. Haroon, haroon, haroon. Haroon, haroon, haroon. Haroon. That's better. You remember me now, don't you, old chap.
SARAH: You should have been a lion tamer, Doctor. How did you manage to do that?
DOCTOR: A little bit of light hypnosis. It brings out his sweeter nature, doesn't it, old chap, hmm? Come and tickle his ears, Sarah.
SARAH: Not likely. Now look, Doctor, this reunion is all very touching, but what happens to us now?
DOCTOR: Well, as we were shoved down here to receive the verdict of Aggedor, I would say that the result is very much in our favour, wouldn't you? Come on, Aggedor, old chap, here we go.

(The Doctor shouts up to the temple.)

DOCTOR: Come on, get us out of here!

(Ortron, Alpha and Thalira look down.)

DOCTOR: Come on! Visiting time's over. Get us out of here.

[Temple]

THALIRA: Chancellor Ortron, release them from the pit immediately.

[Communications room]

(Eckersley is working at the main console.)

ALPHA: Now the Doctor is in good standing again, he will help us to clear up our problems.
ECKERSLEY: Yes, well, I admire your confidence. There's a gang of hot-headed miners running around in those tunnels with sophisticated weapons. How are you going to solve that one, hmm?
ALPHA: Indeed, the situation is most deplorable, but what can I do? I am only an observer here.
ECKERSLEY: Well, I know what I'd do. Still, you don't want me interfering, do you?
ALPHA: Please, Eckersley, advise me. What would you do?
ECKERSLEY: Inform the Federation. Get them to send you a bit of muscle. With Federation troops on the planet, you and your friend the Doctor, could make both sides see reason. And besides, if things really do blow up on this planet, the Federation could lose the trisilicate, and then they'll want to know why they weren't told how bad things were getting, you see?
ALPHA: There is much in what you say.
ECKERSLEY: You've had a long and valuable career on this planet. It would be a great pity to see it all end in an ugly mess.
ALPHA: Perhaps I should discuss it with the Doctor.
ECKERSLEY: Hey, just a minute. The sonic lance! That's a pretty handy piece of artillery.
ALPHA: Where are you going?
ECKERSLEY: I'm going get some guards and bring it back here.

(Eckersley leaves. Alpha ponders, then switches on the microphone.)

ALPHA: This is the Federation Ambassador on the planet of Peladon. Get the emergency security channel, please. Utmost priority.

[Throne room]

THALIRA: The Doctor and his companion have been most barbarously treated. The behaviour of our Chancellor was unforgivable.
ORTRON: Your Majesty
THALIRA: You appealed to the judgement of Aggedor. Now you shall accept it. The Doctor is vindicated.
ORTRON: With your Majesty's permission.

(Ortron turns and glares at the Doctor, then leaves.)

THALIRA: Chairs and refreshments for our guests. You will please accept our apologies.
DOCTOR: Well, not at all, your Majesty. In fact I was delighted to meet Aggedor again.
THALIRA: You may sit.
DOCTOR: Thank you.
THALIRA: Now, what did you discover in your investigation at the mines?
DOCTOR: That the miners are on the point of armed rebellion, your Majesty, and that Gebek is your only hope. He's a moderate. Civil war's the last thing that he wants.
SARAH: What about Ettis?
DOCTOR: Yes, that's the trouble. Ettis has scored a considerable success with that attack of his on the armoury. Now all the young hotheads are keen to follow him.
THALIRA: What should we do?
DOCTOR: Send for Gebek at once, your Majesty. Promise him a better way of life for his miners and see that they get it. That will cut the ground from under Ettis' feet.
THALIRA: But Ortron says it is wrong to give in to the miners. That they will want more and more.
SARAH: But don't you see, your Majesty? Ortron just wants to make sure that the benefits of joining the Federation go to him and his aristocratic friends.
DOCTOR: You've got to convince your people that the Federation means a better way of life for everybody, not just for a few nobles at court.
THALIRA: I will try your plan, Doctor. Can you get a message to Gebek for me?
DOCTOR: I'll do my best, your Majesty.
THALIRA: Tell him to come to the Citadel and meet with me in secret. I would hear the grievances of his people and do my best to remedy them.
DOCTOR: Thank you, your Majesty.
THALIRA: Go as quickly as you can.
DOCTOR: I'll just have quick word with the Ambassador and then I'll be off. Sarah, why don't you, er, why don't you stay and have a few words with the Queen? I have an idea you could give her some good advice.
SARAH: Oh.

(The Doctor leaves.)

THALIRA: What advice did the Doctor mean?
SARAH: Well, it's going to be rather difficult to explain but I think he was referring to Women's Lib.
THALIRA: And what's that?
SARAH: Women's liberation, your Majesty. On Earth it means well, very briefly, it means that we women don't let men push us around.
THALIRA: It's not like that on Peladon. The ruler is always a man. I was only crowned because my father had no son. It's Ortron who holds the real power.
SARAH: Well, only if you let him. You've just got to stand up for yourself.
THALIRA: It would be different if I was a man. But I'm only a girl.
SARAH: Now just a minute. There's nothing only about being a girl, your Majesty. Never mind why they made you a Queen, the fact is you are the Queen, so just you jolly well let them know it.

[Tunnel]

ETTIS: Capture the Citadel! Force the Queen to agree to all our demands!
MINERS: Yes! Yes!
ETTIS: Expel the aliens from the planet.
GEBEK: Do you think you can fight the whole of the Galactic Federation with a handful of stolen weapons?
ETTIS: And what's your advice, Gebek? More waiting?
GEBEK: The Federation must have the trisilicate. If we refuse to work, they will put pressure on Ortron to grant our demands.
ETTIS: Nonsense, Gebek. They don't need us. The Federation will import alien workers and mine the ore with their new machines.

[Communications room]

DOCTOR: What on Peladon possessed you to do a thing like that?
ALPHA: It seemed the advisable course of action, Doctor. Eckersley agreed.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, Eckersley should have had more sense.

(Sarah enters.)

SARAH: Hey, Doctor, I thought you
DOCTOR: Yes, in a minute, Sarah. Sending for Federation troops is the one thing that is certain to make things worse. Well, I only hope I can get things sorted out before they arrive.
SARAH: Ah, before you go, Doctor. You know when I was looking for you and got lost in the tunnels?
DOCTOR: Yes?
SARAH: Well, I landed up at the refinery by mistake.
ALPHA: She triggered off the automatic security system.
SARAH: Yes, but before all that I saw someone in the refinery.
ALPHA: A hallucination caused by the effect of the alarm system.
SARAH: No, no, it was before all that started. Now listen, whoever's faking Aggedor would need a lot of technological equipment, right?
DOCTOR: Yes. And a very considerable power source too.
SARAH: Well, there's all of that in the refinery.
ALPHA: But Eckersley says the refinery is empty.
SARAH: Empty as far as he knows, but suppose somebody's in there? The place isn't in use. It'd make the perfect hideout.

(Ortron and a guard appear in the doorway.)

DOCTOR: Yes, well it's certainly worth investigating. But first I've got to contact Gebek.
ORTRON: Contact Gebek? You intend to contact your rebel friends. You may have deceived the Queen but you have not deceived me. You will remain in the Citadel until my investigations into your background are complete.
DOCTOR: Oh, come on, Ortron, get out of my way.
ORTRON: You have the freedom of the Citadel, Doctor. Be thankful you are not in a prison.

(Ortron and his guard leave.)

SARAH: Pompous old idiot.

(Ortron and his guard go a little way along the corridor then hide.)

DOCTOR: (sotto) Right, I'll be off.
SARAH: (sotto) Good luck, Doctor.
DOCTOR: (sotto) Bye.

(The Doctor leaves in the opposite direction to Ortron. Sarah and Alpha see Ortron sneak past the doorway to follow, so Sarah follows them.)

[Corridor]

(The Doctor pulls back the tapestry concealing the entrance to the tunnels, and an armed guard leaps out at him.)

ORTRON: You were warned, Doctor. You were ordered to stay in the Citadel. You have disobeyed my command. Take him to the dungeons.
DOCTOR: You're making a very grave mistake, Ortron.
ORTRON: Am I, Doctor? Carry on.

(The Doctor is escorted away at sword point. Ortron leaves. Sarah comes out of hiding and goes into the tunnels.)

[Tunnel]

(Eckersley has got the sonic lance.)

ECKERSLEY: Right, bring it onto here, pointing that way.
ETTIS: (sotto) What is he doing?
GEBEK: (sotto) Preparing to take it back to the Citadel, I think.
ETTIS: (sotto) He's left it a bit late.
GEBEK: (sotto) Get down, someone's coming.
ECKERSLEY: What are you doing here?
SARAH: The Doctor thinks the rebels are going to try and capture the lance.
ECKERSLEY: Well, there's no sign of them so far.
ETTIS: (sotto) What are we waiting for, Gebek? Let's attack.
GEBEK: Just, er, just wait a minute.

(A miner hands Gebek a weapon, and he leaves.)

[Throne room]

ALPHA: I wish to protest most strongly against the arrest of the Doctor.
ORTRON: He was ordered to stay in the Citadel. He chose to disobey.
THALIRA: Chancellor Ortron, you have again exceeded your authority. We ordered that the Doctor be allowed to continue his investigation.
ORTRON: But your Majesty, I myself heard him say that he intended to contact the rebel Gebek.
ALPHA: The Doctor is under the protection of the Federation.
ORTRON: Is he indeed, Ambassador? Tell me, has he any official rank or position within the Federation?
ALPHA: The Doctor's position is unique.
ORTRON: Then you can produce his official Federation identity record.
ALPHA: Well, as a matter of fact, he seems to be untraceable at the moment.
ORTRON: You see, your Majesty? A nameless alien who does not officially exist.
ALPHA: But we have chosen to give him our friendship and protection, Ortron.
ORTRON: Then it is the duty of her Majesty's servants to protect her from her errors. The Doctor will remain imprisoned where he can do no further harm, and I shall give orders for the arrest of his female companion.
THALIRA: No, Ortron, that you will not! The girl, Sarah, will remain at liberty.
ORTRON: As your Majesty wishes. Since she is only a female, her activities are of little importance.

[Tunnel]

ECKERSLEY: Right, let's get this thing back to the Citadel.

(Ettis shoots a guards in the back.)

ECKERSLEY: Quick, Sarah, here. Down!

(The guards are quickly killed.)

ECKERSLEY: Now we'll show them.

(Eckersley switches on the sonic lance and blows away a piece of rock wall. Gebek comes up behind him.)

GEBEK: Eckersley, move away from that lance.
ECKERSLEY: It was worth a try.
SARAH: I've a message for you from the Doctor. The Queen has agreed to meet you in secret.
GEBEK: It may be difficult. I'll come to the Citadel when I can.
ECKERSLEY: What are you going to do with us, Gebek?
GEBEK: Nothing. You can go.
ETTIS: No! What are you doing? Kill them!
GEBEK: There's been too much killing. Now go.
ECKERSLEY: I'm taking that machine with me.
SARAH: Don't argue. Let's go while we still can.

(Sarah and Eckersley leave.)

ETTIS: You should have killed them. You're too weak, Gebek.
GEBEK: And you are a fool. Now take that machine away. I've got things to do.

[Throne room]

ORTRON: And now the rebels have the sonic lance in their hands.
ECKERSLEY: There was nothing I could do. I'm sorry, your Majesty, but they had Federation weapons, and your troops didn't.
SARAH: That's true.
THALIRA: How dangerous is this device?
ECKERSLEY: Well, if it's properly handled and at full power, it's capable of destroying the entire Citadel.
SARAH: What?
ORTRON: Why weren't we told this before?
ALPHA: It would be an unhappy admission to make when the Federation troops arrive.
THALIRA: Federation troops?
ORTRON: We want no alien troops on Peladon.
ALPHA: Forgive me, your Majesty, I should have informed you earlier, but the situation had become so bad that I felt forced to send for help.
SARAH: Well, can't you send them back?
ALPHA: Once security troops are summoned, they cannot be recalled.
SARAH: Well, what'll make them pack up and go away again?
ORTRON: Go away?
SARAH: Yes. Well, don't you see? Since the troops are coming, the thing to do is get rid of them as soon as possible. We must make them go away.
THALIRA: Go on, Sarah.
SARAH: Well, they'll only go if it looks as if there's no need for them. Now, if everything was running smoothly.

[Dungeon]

(A guard sits sharpening his sword outside the Doctor's cell.)

DOCTOR: Guard? Guard, could I have a glass of water, please?

(The guard goes to get some from a jug on a bench by the bars, and the Doctor tries to reach for the keys on his belt. The guard turns angrily.)

DOCTOR: Now, now, now, no need to be aggressive. There's no harm in trying, is there. Look, what about my glass of water?

(The guard pours the beaker of water back into the jug.)

DOCTOR: Good health.

[Outside the Throne room]

(Eckersley strides away.)

ALPHA: A most excellent scheme, Sarah. Worthy of the Doctor himself.
SARAH: Yeah. Even old Ortron seems pretty keen on it. He doesn't want Federation troops here any more than we do. I'll see you.
ALPHA: Where are you going, Sarah?
SARAH: To try and find this dungeon where they're holding the Doctor.
ALPHA: You should use the proper procedures!

[Corridor]

(Gebek sneaks in from the tunnels. He meets Sarah coming the other way.)

SARAH: Gebek!
GEBEK: Shush!
SARAH: How did you get here?
GEBEK: There are many secret ways into this Citadel. Where's the Doctor?
SARAH: Ortron's had him locked up. I must find him.
GEBEK: I know where they'll be keeping him. In the lower dungeons.
SARAH: Right, let's go and get him out.
GEBEK: Oh, no. No, you must return to the others, or they'll get suspicious.
SARAH: Yeah, but what about the Doctor?
GEBEK: Leave that to me.
SARAH: You're sure? Okay.

[Dungeon]

(The guard pours a cup of water.)

DOCTOR: Ah, my glass of water at last, eh?

(Gebek looks round the corner as the guard drinks it himself. The Doctor spots him.)

DOCTOR: I say, guard. Oh, er, have you seen this?

(The Doctor holds up a coin.)

DOCTOR: Watch very closely. See the coin? Watch.

(The Doctor makes the coin vanish and reappear in his mouth.)

DOCTOR: It's rather good, isn't it? Would you like to try it? Ah, there you are, Gebek.
GUARD: Hey you.

(Gebek knocks him out with a single punch.)

DOCTOR: Well done. Get his keys.
GEBEK: Soon have you out of there, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Give me the keys.
GEBEK: Yep. I'll just tuck him in here. He won't make such a mess then.

(Gebek drags the guard into the cell, then the Doctor locks him in.)

GEBEK: Sarah told me the Queen wants to see me.
DOCTOR: That'll have to wait for a while. Ortron's on the warpath.
GEBEK: Well, what now then?
DOCTOR: I'd like you to take me to the Federation refinery. From what Sarah tells me, there's something singularly suspicious going on down there.
GEBEK: All right. This way, Doctor.

[Opposite the Citadel]

(The miners have brought the sonic lance to this vantage point.)

ETTIS: Eckersley has given us a fine weapon. From here we dominate the Citadel!

[Tunnel]

GEBEK: If Federation troops land, Doctor, my people will fight, I promise you.
DOCTOR: Well, I believe you, Gebek. That's why we've got to expose this Aggedor trickery before they arrive. What is it?
GEBEK: Someone coming. Over there.

(They hide as guards escort a group of miners through the tunnel.)

GEBEK: They must be mad. My miners won't work with guards standing over them.
DOCTOR: Yes, quite so, old chap, but still, we've got to think of first things first, eh? Come on, let's get on.

[Communications room]

(An audio message is coming in. The voice is weak and sibilant.)

VOICE [OC]: Our ship is now in orbit over the planet Peladon. Preliminary detachments will land by scout craft close to the Citadel.
ALPHA: Your message is received and understood. We await your arrival.
SARAH: Well, they're on their way.
ECKERSLEY: Yes. I don't see how you can hope to fool them for long.
SARAH: Well, with any luck they won't be here for long. That's the whole idea.
ALPHA: Long enough, I hope, to force Chancellor Ortron to release the Doctor from the dungeon.
SARAH: Yes.

[Outside the Refinery]

GEBEK: This is the place, Doctor, but be careful. There is evil here.
DOCTOR: What?
GEBEK: Well, several of my people have been attacked by magic, and their minds destroyed.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, don't worry, old chap. It's Eckersley's patent alarm system. I'll deal with the magic before we start.

(He sees a metal box on a wall near the door.)

DOCTOR: Yes, that'll be it.

(The Doctor looks it over, takes out his sonic screwdriver and undoes the large screw on the front.)

[Communications room]

ECKERSLEY: What's Gebek and Ettis and that little lot up to, eh? That's what's worrying me. And where's the sonic lance?
SARAH: I don't know. Maybe they just wanted to stop you using it?
ECKERSLEY: Yes, maybe. I think I'll just check the area again.
ALPHA: I estimate that the Federation troops will be here at almost any moment.

(Eckersley flicks through his CCTV views.)

ECKERSLEY: Ah, there's Ortron arriving now.
SARAH: I only hope he can get the miners to cooperate.

(The picture changes to the Doctor at the refinery.)

ECKERSLEY: Hey, the old devil's on the loose.
SARAH: Well, well, well.
ECKERSLEY: And that's Gebek with him. What are those two up to?
ALPHA: I fear your suspicions were correct after all, Eckersley.
SARAH: What?
ALPHA: It appears that he has gone over to the rebel side completely.
SARAH: Don't be so ridiculous.
ECKERSLEY: Oh, has he? Right. We'll see about that.
SARAH: No! Please, you mustn't interfere! No, it isn't sabotage, I promise you.
ECKERSLEY: Then what's he up to, eh?
SARAH: No! All right, all right. We think the Aggedor trick is being worked from the refinery.
ECKERSLEY: Well, of all the daft ideas.
SARAH: No. Well, someone is hiding down there without your knowing. Look, if we're wrong, there'll be no harm done. And don't worry, the Doctor won't damage your precious machinery.

[Tunnel]

(Ortron addresses a group of unruly miners.)

ORTRON: Well, unfortunately
GUARD: Silence! Silence!
ORTRON: Unfortunately, Federation troops, as a result of the recent violence, are about to land on this planet.
MINER: Don't think that'll save you!
ORTRON: I didn't send for them. I don't want them here any more than you do. But they're coming, and we cannot fight them. Now our only hope is to convince them that their presence here is not needed, and the way to do that, is to return the mines to working order. Now, I appeal to you for the sake of Peladon, go back to work. And when the Federation troops have gone, there'll be a fair hearing for all your complaints.
MINER 2: Shall we give it a chance?
MINER: All right, Chancellor, we'll trust you this time.
ORTRON: Thank you, men of Peladon. I'm glad that good sense has prevailed.

(The miners move off, and an image of Aggedor appears. They scatter, but the last man is enveloped in red light, and vanishes.)

[Outside the Refinery]

(The Doctor has the box open.)

GEBEK: Doctor? Can you hear? Back there, down the mine.
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, stop worrying. I've just got one more connection to make.

(Miners and guards are running for their lives.)

GEBEK: They're coming this way, Doctor!
DOCTOR: That should do it. It should open now.

(The refinery door opens to reveal - an Ice Warrior!)

Part Four

[Outside the Refinery]

(A second warrior steps forward.)

SSKEL: Do not move. You are my prisoners.

[Communications room]

(The scene is on the monitor.)

SARAH: What are those things?
ALPHA: Natives of the planet Mars. Your friend, the Doctor, calls them Ice Warriors, but I thought they were still in orbit?
AZAXYR: Greetings, Ambassador.

(Sarah squeals at her first sight of an Ice Lord.)

AZAXYR: This planet is now under martial law.

[Tunnel]

PREBA: The girl brought him a message. There was to be a secret meeting with the Queen.
ETTIS: And he believed her? He's walked straight into a trap.
MINER: What are we going to do?
ETTIS: Nothing.
PREBA: Nothing? You speak as if he were already dead.
ETTIS: Dead, or a prisoner of Ortron, or a prisoner of the Federation, what's the difference?
PREBA: Well, you're not just going to abandon him?
ETTIS: What else should we do?
PREBA: We can do for him what he would do for anyone of us. Rescue him.
MINER: Get him out.
ETTIS: Look, look, the Federation troops have landed.
PREBA: We're not afraid of Federation troops.
MINER: Anyway we've got our new weapons.
ETTIS: Oh, all right, all right, it seems that we have to sacrifice our lives just to save Gebek from the results of his own stupidity. I only hope that you think that the price is worth it, Preba. Come on.

[Throne room]

(The Ice Lord holds forth as Queen Thalira sits silently on her throne.)

AZAXYR: Let us see what has emerged. (to Ortron) You say that the miners have rebelled against their proper rulers. But Gebek here says that the nobles have cheated them of their rights. You say that the Doctor here is a spy and a saboteur. But the Ambassador says that he is an old and valued friend. (to Gebek) You say that your god appears to you because he is angry, but the Doctor here is sure that the appearances are caused by trickery.
DOCTOR: An excellent summing up, Commander Azaxyr. Do you know, you'd have made a very good judge?
AZAXYR: You forget, Doctor, I am your judge, your jury and executioner too. Perhaps. Only Engineer Eckersley here says nothing and accuses nobody.
ECKERSLEY: Look, all this argy-bargy's nothing to do with me. I came here to do a job. I just wish people would let me get on with it.
AZAXYR: Excellent. A splendid example to you all. Now listen to me, all of you. I am not concerned with the situation here on Peladon. One thing concerns me and one thing only. The Federation must have the trisilicate it needs.
DOCTOR: Yes, but it's the situation on Peladon that is stopping you getting the trisilicate.
AZAXYR: Precisely, Doctor, and let me suggest a simple solution. (to Gebek) Your miners will return to work immediately. And they will work under armed guards which you will provide. (Ortron) And if they refuse to work, they will be killed.
GEBEK: My miners are united and will defy you, Commander!
ORTRON: I refuse to allow my troops to kill their countrymen at the orders of an alien power.
SARAH: (sotto) He was willing enough to do it on his own account.
DOCTOR: (sotto) That was different.
AZAXYR: Have the hostages been taken?
SSKEL: Yes, Commander.
AZAXYR: Until the miners return to work, a number of selected hostages will be executed each day.

[Tunnel]

(The rebels are at the secret entrance to the Citadel.)

ETTIS: Right. Now does everyone understand? Once Gebek is safe, we give the Federation an ultimatum. Either they agree to all our demands or we destroy the Citadel with the sonic lance. Agreed?
PREBA: As you say, Ettis, but only when Gebek is safe.

[Corridor]

(The miners come out and encounter a guard.)

ETTIS: Silence! Now listen. Where is Gebek, our leader? Speak or you die!
GUARD: He's in the throne room with the others.
ETTIS: Right, take him away.

[Throne room]

THALIRA: I protest, Commander. You are exceeding your authority.
ALPHA: The Federation does not use such methods.
AZAXYR: Not in time of peace, Ambassador, but this is war. Your Majesty, I have been authorised to use any methods to ensure our supplies of trisilicate.
SARAH: Isn't there some way you can help them, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Commander Azaxyr. Supposing these terror methods of yours don't work. What then?
AZAXYR: Then we shall bring in Federation workers, Federation machinery and mine the trisilicate ourselves.
THALIRA: We will never allow that, Commander.
GEBEK: That's right, your Majesty. And if your try, every man, woman and child on Peladon will oppose you!
ORTRON: To the death! You shall not rob Peladon while a living soul remains to defend it.
DOCTOR: Do you see how they unite against you, Commander? It's no easy job holding down a hostile planet.
AZAXYR: If we cannot have the trisilicate, then our space fleet will blast your hostile planet to dust.
DOCTOR: I just wanted you to see what you were up against. Thank you, Commander Azaxyr.
AZAXYR: Naturally, we should prefer a peaceful

[Outside the Throne room]

(The rebels arrive.)

AZAXYR [OC]: Solution. I hope it will not be necessary to resort to such extreme measures.

[Throne room]

(Ettis and the rebels rush in.)

ETTIS: Keep still, all of you! Gebek, come with us!
AZAXYR: Destroy them.

(Four Ice Warriors fire their hand weapons. Only Ettis survives to run away back to the tunnels.)

AZAXYR: Your Majesty, please accept my apology. This demonstration of our power was forced upon us. I trust another will not be necessary? Sskel, take the Doctor and his companion to the communications room. Ambassador, Engineer Eckersley, will you accompany them?

(They do so. Only Gebek remains, kneeling by a dead miner.)

AZAXYR: Your Majesty.

(Azaxyr leaves. Two Ice Warriors remain on guard. Thalira and Ortron kneel with Gebek.)

ORTRON: We will be revenged.

[Communications room]

(Sskel is on guard by the doorway.)

AZAXYR: I am not sure what to make of you, Doctor. I think perhaps it would be safer to accept Ortron's theory and execute you as a spy.
SARAH: You can't do that. We're not under your authority.
ALPHA: Federation regulations do not permit summary execution!
AZAXYR: Must I remind you yet again, Ambassador, here on Peladon I am the law! Yes, I think perhaps it would be safer to order your execution at once.
DOCTOR: Don't I even get a trial?
AZAXYR: Doctor, that was your trial.
DOCTOR: Then I think you'd be very foolish to destroy the one person who could help you.
AZAXYR: Meaning yourself, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Yes, that's right. Gebek is the key, and I happen to be the only man that he trusts.
SARAH: It's true. The Doctor saved Gebek's life. They've been working together.
AZAXYR: Is this true, Ambassador?
ALPHA: Oh, yes! Yes, indeed. There was most certainly an association.
AZAXYR: What is your opinion, Eckersley?
ECKERSLEY: Yes, the Doctor could persuade Gebek to get the miners back to work.
AZAXYR: Very well then, Doctor. You may endeavour to persuade your friend, Gebek, to see reason. But if you fail, I shall be forced to resort to my original plan. You will be the first of the hostages to be executed.
SARAH: Executed?
AZAXYR: Is the refinery in working order?
ECKERSLEY: It's on shutdown at the moment.
AZAXYR: You had better take me there. I wish to make a full inspection.
ECKERSLEY: Very well. Follow me.
AZAXYR: There must be no further delays once the mines are started.
ECKERSLEY: There won't be any delays.

(Eckersley and Azaxyr leave. The Doctor, Alpha and Sarah talk quietly in a corner.)

SARAH: How about that Eckersley? Just as long as he gets his wretched machinery going, he doesn't care how it's done or who suffers.
DOCTOR: That's the professional attitude for you, Sarah.
SARAH: Oh, why can't we just go home?
DOCTOR: And leave all our friends in the lurch? In any case, Commander Azaxyr would never let us reach the TARDIS, even if we knew where it was.
SARAH: No, I suppose you're right.
DOCTOR: Er, Sarah, you remember the first time that you went down to the refinery?
SARAH: Hmm?
DOCTOR: You told me that you saw something?
SARAH: Yes?
DOCTOR: Well, er, go and take a close look at Sskel.
SARAH: Sskel?
DOCTOR: The Ice Warrior.
SARAH: Okay.

(Sarah walks towards the door.)

SSKEL: You will not leave.

(Sarah rejoins the Doctor and Alpha.)

SARAH: It was him!
ALPHA: That's impossible. The Commander and his troops have only just arrived.
DOCTOR: No, Sarah is absolutely right. Those two were in the refinery all the time.
ALPHA: Why?
DOCTOR: Because Commander Azaxyr isn't acting on behalf of the Federation at all. He's up to something on his own.
ALPHA: This is appalling! It is treason!
DOCTOR: Yes, that's right. (louder) Right, well, I must go and contact Gebek.
SSKEL: Where are you going, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Now come on, Sskel. You heard what the Commander said. I'm to go and see Gebek, and get him to persuade his miners to go back to work. Now he can't talk to them unless I talk to him, can he?

(Sskel escorts the Doctor out and along the corridor.)

ALPHA: Commander Azaxyr's behaviour is most reprehensible. I shall report him to the Federation.
SARAH: Okay.

(Sarah closes the doors.)

ALPHA: He will be removed from his position and punished.
SARAH: It's funny he didn't think of that.
ALPHA: (into microphone) This is the Federation Ambassador on Peladon. I wish to send an urgent message to Federation HQ.

(Buzzing.)

ALPHA: The circuit is being jammed! It must be Azaxyr's spaceships in orbit round the planet.
SARAH: So he did think of it after all.

[Throne room]

(The bodies have been removed.)

ORTRON: If only they hadn't taken the Doctor off to the commun

(The Doctor and Sskel enter.)

DOCTOR: Wait there, Sskel, I won't be a moment.
GEBEK: Doctor, are you all right?
THALIRA: Oh, Doctor!
DOCTOR: Your Majesty. Now listen to me, Gebek, we haven't got much time. I want your miners to cooperate by going back to work.
ORTRON: Why, never! We shall fight the invaders together.
GEBEK: Yes, Doctor. Ortron and I are agreed. From the death of the first hostage, it will be war.
THALIRA: Our people would sooner die than be enslaved.
DOCTOR: Well, it's nice to see the Peladonians all on the same side for once. (sotto) I don't mean really cooperate. I want the miners to pretend to cooperate to give us time to deal with the Ice Warriors.
GEBEK: (sotto) Yes, they would, if they understood what was happening.
DOCTOR: Then you'll have to make them understand, won't you? Forgive us, your Majesty. Come on, we haven't got much time. Sskel?

[Tunnel]

(Sskel watches the Doctor and Gebek meet the miners.)

GEBEK: Friends, I'm one of you. I always have been. And believe me, nothing I say now will ever change that. I'm here because Commander Azaxyr knows you trust me and that you'll do whatever I tell you to do. The same way you've always done exactly what Chancellor Ortron told you to do. Now, in spite of everything that's been happening, I want you to cooperate with the Federation troops. We've discussed this matter with our good friend Ortron and he's in complete agreement. We are going to cooperate with Commander Azaxyr, in the same way that we have been cooperating with Ortron. Oh, you remember how we cooperated over the Federation armoury, how we cooperated over the sonic lance. Well, that is the kind of cooperation we are now going to give Commander Azaxyr. Are you with me?
MINERS: Yes! Aye.

[Corridor]

AZAXYR: Congratulations, Doctor, most satisfactory. The miners are back at work and stocks are building up again. Eckersley tells me that the refinery will soon be in operation.
DOCTOR: I take it my death sentence has been lifted then?
AZAXYR: Shall we say suspended, Doctor? You live while you are useful.
DOCTOR: Well, that's something, I suppose.
AZAXYR: I still do not trust you, Doctor, but I think you have realised that your only chance of survival lies in full cooperation.
DOCTOR: Oh, but of course. I've always been very keen on survival.
AZAXYR: Until I have decided your final fate, you will remain in the communications room.

[Communications room]

SARAH: Doctor!
AZAXYR: Do not attempt to leave.

(The Doctor closes the doors on Azaxyr and Sskel.)

DOCTOR: So much for stage one. Now for stage two, I think.

(The Doctor goes to the heating monitor system console.)

SARAH: You be careful, Doctor. If Azaxyr thinks you're double-crossing him, he'll kill you.
DOCTOR: My dear Sarah, Azaxyr will kill me anyway as soon as he finds I'm no longer useful. It's just a question of my getting rid of him before he gets rid of me.
SARAH: Well, what are you going to do?
DOCTOR: Warm things up a little. One thing Ice Warriors can't stand is heat.

[Tunnel]

(An Ice Warrior sways slightly while the temperature starts to creep upwards. Ettis leans over a timber supporting an opening and whispers to a miner shovelling ore into a wheelbarrow.)

ETTIS: Psst! Psst!

(The miner joins him the other side of the opening.)

ETTIS: What's happening? Why is everybody working again?
RIMA: Ah, Gebek told us to.
ETTIS: Gebek?
RIMA: He came down here and made a speech. Said we should all cooperate.
ETTIS: I knew it. He's gone soft.
RIMA: No, you don't understand. See, it's a trick. Gebek's got a plan.
ETTIS: Yes, he's betrayed us. He's gone onto their side.
RIMA: He'd never do that.
ETTIS: Yes, well, I've got a plan as well. I've got the sonic lance hidden in a cave on Mount Megeshra. It overlooks the Citadel.
RIMA: What are you going to do?
ETTIS: Destroy it. Blow the whole place up!
RIMA: But the Queen's there. You'll be killing our own people.
ETTIS: That's right! Kill them, kill them all! The Queen, the Chancellor, the guards. They all betrayed us. And kill the Ice Warriors, just the way they slaughtered us.
RIMA: You can't do that, Ettis. I won't let you. You've gone mad. I'm going to tell Gebek.

(So Ettis stabs him in the back.)

ETTIS: You'll tell no one!

[Communications room]

DOCTOR: I think things should be heating up nicely now.
SARAH: Well, yes, but what'll happen to them?
DOCTOR: Well, if they don't get out of the mines, they'll get groggier and groggier until
SARAH: They collapse?
DOCTOR: Right.

[Tunnel]

(The Ice Warrior guards are suffering.)

GEBEK: Keep at it, lads. Mustn't let the Federation down. Won't be long now. The men ready?
GUARD: They're ready, just as soon as you give the signal.
SSKEL: It is hot. Why is it so hot?
GEBEK: Because we're underground and underground is always hot. We have a saying on Peladon. If you can't stand the heat, keep out of the mine.

[Throne room]

ORTRON: And as soon as Gebek gives the signal, our troops will join with the miners and attack the Federation troops.
THALIRA: Will it work? It sounds dangerous.
ALPHA: It's been conceived by the Doctor. He has fought the Ice Warriors before.

(Azaxyr enters.)

THALIRA: Ah, Commander.
AZAXYR: Your Majesty.
THALIRA: We have just been informing the Ambassador that we intend to make a formal complaint to the Federation about your violation of our planetary sovereignty.
AZAXYR: I regret to hear that, your Majesty.
THALIRA: We demand immediate access to Federation authorities.
AZAXYR: At the moment, that is impossible. This whole planet is under a communications seal until the emergency is over.
THALIRA: But surely it is over now?
AZAXYR: I think we will wait a little longer.
THALIRA: The miners have returned to work.
AZAXYR: Yes, but the settlement has come so easily that I distrust it. And now, if you will excuse me, your Majesty?

[Tunnel]

GEBEK: Now lads!

(Gebek and the miners use wood or shovels and the guards their swords to attack the wilting Ice Warriors.)

[Communications room]

(The Doctor and Sarah are watching on a monitor.)

DOCTOR: Right, it's time we were going, I think.
SARAH: Oh, it doesn't look very safe.
DOCTOR: Won't be very safe up here once Commander Azaxyr finds out what we've been up to.

(The Doctor opens the door.)

DOCTOR: Come in here a minute.

(An Ice Warrior enters.)

DOCTOR: Look, see what's going on down in the mine.

(The Doctor and Sarah run out.)

[Corridor]

SARAH: But he'll go straight to Azaxyr.
DOCTOR: Good, the more warriors he sends down the mines, the better.

[Tunnels entrance]

SARAH: What do we do when they're all down the mines?
DOCTOR: We'll lead a party of Pels back up here and recapture the Citadel.
SARAH: Ah. Quite the little Napoleon, aren't we?
DOCTOR: Come on.

[Tunnel]

(The battle continues.)

RIMA: Gebek, Gebek.
GEBEK: Rima! Is it bad?
RIMA: It was Ettis. He stabbed me.
GEBEK: Ettis?
RIMA: He's gone mad. He's got the sonic lance in a cave on Mount Megeshra. He's going to blow up the Citadel.
GEBEK: He must be stopped. Now you rest there. I'll be back as soon as I can.

(The last Ice Warrior is clubbed into a corner where some rocks fall on him. The Doctor and Sarah enter.)

GEBEK: You all right, Doctor?
DOCTOR: How are we faring?
GEBEK: Ettis has the sonic lance in a cave on Mount Megeshra.
DOCTOR: What?
GEBEK: He threatens to blow up the Citadel. I've got to stop him.
DOCTOR: No, no, you stay here. You're the only one they'll follow. I'll go.
GEBEK: Well, you don't know the way?
DOCTOR: Well, tell me.
GEBEK: Continue down to the end of this tunnel.
DOCTOR: Yeah.
GEBEK: Into the big cavern and the path to the cave is on the other side.
DOCTOR: All right.
GEBEK: You'd better take this. You may need it.

(Gebek gives the Doctor a sword.)

DOCTOR: Thank you. Look after Sarah for me.
SARAH: What? Oh!
GEBEK: Come on, Sarah. You look after Rima. I must get back to the mine.
SARAH: Okay.

(The Doctor runs through the tunnels as miners club prostrate Ice Warriors just for the heck of it. Sskel creeps up on Sarah. Meanwhile, Ettis stands by the sonic lance, waiting for the right moment.)

[Communications room]

(Azaxyr and Alpha are watching the monitor when Sskel pushes Sarah across the room.)

AZAXYR: Ah, the Doctor's companion.
ALPHA: Sarah! Are you all right? Oh.
AZAXYR: Tell me, where is the Doctor?

(Sarah shakes her head, so Sskel pushes her into a chair.)

AZAXYR: You will tell me.

[Cave]

(Ettis has switched on the sonic lance.)

DOCTOR: Ettis! Come away from that thing.
ETTIS: No, I'm going to blow up the Citadel! Kill those Federation butchers!
DOCTOR: If you use that sonic lance, you'll be killing your own Queen and a lot of your own people. Now most of the Ice Warriors are in that mine. The Peladonians are fighting them, Ettis, soldiers and miners together, and they're winning!
ETTIS: I don't believe you. It's a trick. You're working for them. You've sold out. You're like Gebek and the rest of them.
DOCTOR: Ettis!

(They have a sword fight.)

[Communications room]

SARAH: I tell you the Doctor's trying to save all our lives.
AZAXYR: I do not believe you.
SARAH: One of the rebels, Ettis, has a sonic lance trained on the Citadel.
AZAXYR: I know. Our detection devices pin-pointed the position of the sonic lance as soon as we arrived.
SARAH: Well, he's going to blow this whole place up unless the Doctor can stop him.

(Azaxyr changes channels on the monitor to show the swordfight.)

SARAH: Oh!
AZAXYR: Ah. It appears you were telling the truth. Yes, your friend the Doctor fights well.
ALPHA: But what if Ettis prevails?
AZAXYR: Do not distress yourself, Ambassador. The sonic lance has a self-destruct circuit which I have already preset by remote control. If the rebel should try to fire it, it will destroy itself. It will, of course, kill all those in the area.

[Opposite the Citadel]

(Ettis knocks the Doctor's legs out from under him and takes his sword, so the Doctor disarms him with Venusian Aikido.)

DOCTOR: Come on, Ettis, this is pointless.
ETTIS: Yes, Doctor, you're right. I am a fool.

(Ettis head butts the Doctor, then pushes him face first into a rock face before throwing him again, picking him up and landing a haymaker on his jaw. He starts to power up the lance.)

DOCTOR: No, Ettis, no!

(Ettis knocks the Doctor out again, then the sonic lance explodes in his face.)

Part Five

[Communications room]

SARAH: You killed him! You killed the Doctor!
AZAXYR: I was defending the safety of the Citadel. The death of the Doctor was an unfortunate necessity. You would do well to accept the situation.

(Azaxyr turns off the monitor. In the cave, the sonic lance is a twisted wreck and Ettis cannot be seen. The Doctor lies still nearby, face down.)

SARAH: You still haven't won, you know? The rebels control the mines and you can't go down there because of the heat.
AZAXYR: But we have switched off the heating controls. We merely have to wait for the temperature to return to normal.
SARAH: Gebek and his miners know every inch of those tunnels. They won't surrender.
AZAXYR: Again you underestimate me. The mines

(Eckersley enters.)

AZAXYR: Ah, Eckersley.
ECKERSLEY: Yes?
AZAXYR: Just the man I wanted to see. The mines have a ventilation system, have they not, controlled from the refinery?
ECKERSLEY: That's right, yes.
AZAXYR: Your miners can withstand heat, but they cannot live without air. Eckersley, you will go to the refinery at once and you will turn the ventilation system off.
SARAH: No! No, tell him you won't do it. If they're forced out of the mines, they'll be massacred.
ECKERSLEY: Of course they won't.
SARAH: They will! He's already killed the Doctor.
AZAXYR: The Doctor was too dangerous to live, Eckersley.
ECKERSLEY: Look, I'm sorry about the Doctor, believe me, but he should never have got involved in local politics, and I'm not making the same mistake.

(Eckersley leaves.)

AZAXYR: Sskel, take her to the throne room and keep her with the others.

(Sskel drags Sarah away.)

AZAXYR: Now, Ambassador, we have work to do. There are several matters I wish to discuss with you concerning the future administration of this planet on more efficient lines. I shall require your help.

[Opposite the Citadel]

(The Doctor regains consciousness and slowly gets to his feet. He looks at the smoking remains of the lance then glances around for Ettis before running off down the tunnels.)

[Tunnel]

(The Doctor sits down for a rest.)

GEBEK [OC]: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Gebek.
GEBEK: Oh, I was just on my way to find you. Well, did you manage to stop him?
DOCTOR: Well, something did. The whole gun blew up.
GEBEK: Thank goodness for that. But, er, what happened to Ettis?
DOCTOR: I'm afraid he's dead. How are thing's going?
GEBEK: Oh, not too well. We drove the Ice Warriors out of the mines but we couldn't break through to the Citadel. Now the temperature dropping, soon they'll be able to come in after us. And worse than that, the air's getting stale.
DOCTOR: Yes, I've noticed. Well, they probably switched the ventilation system off.
GEBEK: We'll be gradually forced up to the upper levels. There are Ice Warriors waiting at every exit.
DOCTOR: Where's the ventilation controlled from, do you know?
GEBEK: Yes, the refinery.
DOCTOR: Well, you'd better take me there straight away. And by the way, where's Sarah? Well, answer me, man. Where is she?
GEBEK: I left her looking after Rima, Doctor, but when I went back for her, he was dead. She was gone.
DOCTOR: What?
GEBEK: I'm sorry.
DOCTOR: Well, it's not your fault, is it. Now don't worry, old chap, we'll find her.

[Throne room]

THALIRA: We will never forget him, Sarah. He was a true friend to Peladon. His name will always be honoured.
SARAH: I still can't believe it. I can't believe that he's dead. You see, he was the most alive person I ever met.
ORTRON: Well, perhaps he escaped somehow? There's always a chance.
SARAH: That's what the Doctor used to say. There's always a chance, that while there's life

(Alpha enters.)

ALPHA: Your Majesty! I have just had an exhausting meeting with Commander Azaxyr, discussing his plans for his future rule of this planet.
ORTRON: His rule? Queen Thalira rules Peladon.
ALPHA: In name only from now on. Azaxyr plans an extension of martial law over the entire planet. All able-bodied citizens will be conscripted to work in the trisilicate mines.
THALIRA: My people will never submit to this!
ALPHA: I fear your people will have little choice, your Majesty.
ORTRON: But surely the Federation won't approve?
SARAH: Then it's up to us to get a message to the Federation and tell them what Azaxyr is up to.
ALPHA: I've already tried that. Azaxyr has blocked all the communications circuits. I could activate the spatial distress beacon but it only sends a signal on a pre-set frequency. A general call for help.
SARAH: A kind of SOS? Well, let's try it. Was the communications room guarded when you left?
ALPHA: No, it was empty.
SARAH: Then all we've got to do is get there. But how?
ORTRON: There is the secret passage behind the throne.
THALIRA: In full view of the guard?
SARAH: We've got to get past him.
THALIRA: If we could entice him from the doorway, he's far too slow to prevent our escaping.
ORTRON: Our escaping, your Majesty?
THALIRA: Yes, Ortron. We intend to join our people in the mines.
ORTRON: Your Majesty, I forbid it!
THALIRA: What would you have me do, Orton? Stay here to become a puppet queen for Commander Azaxyr? See my people made slaves?
ORTRON: Your Majesty, you put me to shame. We shall assist you in your escape.
SARAH: Well, the first thing we need to do is create a diversion. Your Majesty, do you think you could faint convincingly?

[Outside the Throne room]

(Alpha comes out of the Throne room and goes up to the Ice Warrior on guard.)

ALPHA: The Queen is ill.

(Through the doorway, Thalira can be seen lying on the steps to the throne.)

ALPHA: You must summon medical assistance immediately.

(Sarah beckons the Ice Warrior in. Alpha waits outside the door. When the Warrior gets to the steps, Sarah pushes him.)

SARAH: Run, everybody!

[Throne room]

(Thalira screams. The Ice Warrior is standing on her cloak and she is trapped.)

ORTRON: Your Majesty!

(Ortron pulls the Ice Warrior away.)

ORTRON: Run, your Majesty!

(The Ice Warrior kills Ortron.)

THALIRA: Ortron!

(Thalira turns back. The Ice Warrior points his weapon at her.)

AZAXYR: No! The Ambassador and the Doctor's companion, where are they?
THALIRA: They went to tunnels. They wanted to join Gebek and the rebels.
AZAXYR: How very convenient. Let there be no more of this foolishness, your Majesty. You can see for yourself the results of defying the Ice Warriors. Guard her.

(Thalira drapes her cloak over her dead Chancellor.)

[Refinery]

(Gebek leads the Doctor through the tunnels, avoiding Ice Warriors. They arrive outside the refinery, and hide when Azaxyr arrives, behaving furtively. He enters, followed by an Ice Warrior.)

AZAXYR: Good. You have switched off the ventilation system.
ECKERSLEY: Yes, it won't be long now.
AZAXYR: Excellent. The Ambassador and the Doctor's companion have foolishly taken refuge in the mines.

(The refinery door is slightly open. Gebek and the Doctor are outside, listening.)

[Communications room]

SARAH: Come on, we haven't much time.
ALPHA: I am trying to remember the correct circuit.
SARAH: Oh, hurry up.
ALPHA: Please? You are making me nervous.
SARAH: Oh, er, sorry. I'll let you concentrate. I'll check what's going on.

(Sarah flicks through the various CCTV channels on the monitor. She discovers Eckersley and Azaxyr talking in the refinery.)

ALPHA: It is done. Though of course there is no guarantee that anyone will hear it, or that they will act on it if they do.
SARAH: Look at this.
ALPHA: It's Eckersley and Commander Azaxyr.
SARAH: Oh, I know that. Bit chummy though, aren't they? As if they were. Can you get me sound on this?
AZAXYR [on monitor]: Yes, but I see no further need for this masquerade, Eckersley.
ECKERSLEY [on monitor]: Well, I do. We agreed. Till we succeeded, I stay undercover.
AZAXYR [on monitor]: But this planet is almost ours.
ECKERSLEY [on monitor]: Almost isn't quite good enough. Things could still go wrong, and if they do, well, I'm just an innocent bystander.
AZAXYR [on monitor]: Very well. Just so long as we can soon begin shipping trisilicate to Galaxy Five.
ALPHA: They are both traitors!

[Refinery]

ECKERSLEY: They've agreed our terms.
AZAXYR: Subject to a time limit, so we must conclude matters quickly.

[Outside the Refinery]

(The Doctor and Gebek hear everything.)

ECKERSLEY [OC]: Well, I'm ready to get things moving. How soon can you regain control of the mines?

[Refinery]

AZAXYR: Air will run out eventually, and then they must come up.
ECKERSLEY: Yes, but that will take time.
AZAXYR: And time is short.
ECKERSLEY: Then we'll smoke them out with Aggedor.

(Eckersley pulls a tapestry aside to reveal a stone statue.)

ECKERSLEY: That'll get them on the move.

(Eckersley operates switches and levers on a control panel. The statue vanishes and reappears in a mine tunnel near a group of miners. They panic and run, but one gets killed. The statue reappears in the refinery.)

[Outside the Refinery]

DOCTOR: (silent) Stay there.

(The Doctor goes to the other side of the door.)

[Communications room]

ALPHA: It seems the Doctor was right. The appearances of Aggedor were a technological trick, controlled by Eckersley. But why has he been doing this?
SARAH: Well, it's obvious, isn't it? He was deliberately making things worse so he could persuade you to call in his Ice Warrior friends. Look!

(A silver haired man is peering through the slightly open doorway.)

SARAH: Ambassador, look. Look, it's the Doctor!
ALPHA: What?
SARAH: He's alive. He's alive after all! You stay here and keep sending that SOS call. I'm going to join him.

[Refinery]

(Sskel is reporting in over the intercom.)

SSKEL [OC]: The miners are fleeing from the lower levels. We are destroying them as they emerge.
AZAXYR: See that all exits are blocked. They must not escape.

(The Doctor peers round the door to look at the statue, then leaves.)

AZAXYR: It seems that our scheme is working, Eckersley.
ECKERSLEY: I'd better keep up the good work then.

(Eckersley sends the statue into the tunnels again. This time it kills a pair of guards.)

[Outside the Refinery]

GEBEK: What's happening, Doctor?
DOCTOR: I'm afraid that it's Eckersley that has been summoning up Aggedor. And now he's using him to attack your miners.
GEBEK: Well, we must stop him!
DOCTOR: No. If we show our faces in there, Azaxyr will wipe us out without a qualm. I'm sorry, Gebek. We've got to wait our chance.

[Refinery]

ECKERSLEY: Well, that should do for the moment. Give them another dose later.
AZAXYR: Excellent. Let us return to the Citadel.

[Outside the Refinery]

(The Doctor and Gebek hide.)

AZAXYR: You have reset the alarm?
ECKERSLEY: I can't, not from here. The late, lamented Doctor jiggered the control circuits. I'll have to reset the alarm from the communications room.

(Eckersley leaves. Azaxyr speaks to the Ice Warrior.)

AZAXYR: Guard the refinery.

(Azaxyr leaves. The Doctor and Gebek whisper behind the rock.)

DOCTOR: How long will it take them to get back to the communications room?
GEBEK: Five minutes, maybe ten. Why?
DOCTOR: That's how long we've got to get rid of our friend here, fix that alarm system and get back into the refinery.
GEBEK: But how? He'll blast us as soon as we break cover.
DOCTOR: Yes, I'm well aware of that.

(Then Sarah arrives, creating a handy distraction.)

SARAH: Don't shoot! No, I

(Gebek smashes a large rock down on the Warrior's head.)

SARAH: Gebek! Oh, Doctor! Oh, you're alive! I thought you'd been blown up in the cave.
DOCTOR: Luckily for me, that was Ettis.
SARAH: I don't know. Can't you ever stay out of trouble?
DOCTOR: My dear Sarah, there's nothing I like more than a quiet life. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got something very important to do in a very short space of time. Look, can you get him out of the light?
SARAH: Yes!
GEBEK: Yes, Doctor. We'll take him.

(Sarah and Gebek drag the Ice Warrior away. Meanwhile, Eckersley and Azaxyr enter the Citadel.)

[Communications room]

(Alpha watches the Doctor open the wall box and start working on the door circuits.)

AZAXYR: Ambassador! What are you doing here?

(Alpha switches off the monitor.)

AZAXYR: I was told you had taken refuge in the mines.
ALPHA: Nonsense. I was simply trying to keep out of the way.
AZAXYR: Yes, but why here? Could it be that you are trying to send a message to the Federation? The spatial distress beacon!

(He turns it off.)

AZAXYR: You have been very foolish, Ambassador.
ALPHA: I merely thought that things were getting out of control, it would be wise to summon more help for you.
AZAXYR: But things are not getting out of control, Ambassador. This planet is firmly under my command. If you disobey me again, Ambassador, you will take the consequences!
ECKERSLEY: Now, Commander, I'm sure the Ambassador meant it for the best.
AZAXYR: Very well, Eckersley. I will give you one more chance, Ambassador. You will come with me to the throne room. Now!

[Outside the Refinery]

SARAH: How's it going?
DOCTOR: Nearly finished.

[Communications room]

ECKERSLEY: I'll catch you up. I forgot to switch the alarm on.

[Outside the Refinery]

DOCTOR: Right, that's the alarm fixed. Now for the door.

(Eckersley switches on the refinery alarm system and leaves the communications room.)

[Throne room]

AZAXYR: Trisilicate production will be resumed immediately, your Majesty, using all available modern tools. I shall expect your Majesty's full cooperation.
THALIRA: When my father signed treaties with the Federation, he could not have known it would lead to nothing but bloodshed. However, we must accept the consequences.
AZAXYR: A wise attitude, your Majesty.
ALPHA: Do not believe him, your Majesty! The Federation has no part in this! Commander Azaxyr is a traitor. Eckersley, too! They plan to ship the trisilicate to our enemies of Galaxy Five!
AZAXYR: You were warned, Ambassador! Sskel!

(Sskel raises his weapon.)

THALIRA: No!
ECKERSLEY: No. No, no. Whatever he knows, we still need him.
ALPHA: Thank you, Eckersley, but you are still a traitor.
THALIRA: Then this is true, Eckersley?
ECKERSLEY: Yes, your Majesty, it's true. But it doesn't make any difference to you, does it?
THALIRA: Peladon has never dishonoured a treaty. Our loyalty is to the Federation.
AZAXYR: There is your loyalty.

(Sskel aims his weapon at Thalira.)

AZAXYR: You will obey or perish.
ECKERSLEY: Now, Ambassador, you must be a lot brighter than you look. How come you're so well informed?
ALPHA: You were betrayed by your own security system, Eckersley.
ECKERSLEY: What?
ALPHA: When you were conspiring with the Commander, Sarah and I overheard you on the monitor.
ECKERSLEY: Sarah?
AZAXYR: The girl! You said she had joined the rebels in the mines. Where is she? Where is she, Ambassador? You will answer if you value your life.
ALPHA: She left before you arrived. When she saw the Doctor on the monitor, she went to the refinery.
AZAXYR: The Doctor!
ECKERSLEY: The refinery!
AZAXYR: Sskel, go to the refinery at once. If the Doctor is there, destroy him.

[Outside the Refinery]

(The Doctor finishes his rewiring job, and red and yellow lights start flashing.)

DOCTOR: Right, that's it. In you go. (Gebek and Sarah enter the refinery as the Doctor closes up the box again.)

[Refinery]

DOCTOR: Right, the first thing we've got to do is switch the ventilation back on, and give those miners of yours some air.

(He pulls down a large lever on the ventilation control console.)

DOCTOR: There, that should do it.

(Sarah uncovers the statue.)

SARAH: How about this, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Yes, I've seen it.
SARAH: Well, what's that thing, then?
DOCTOR: Mmm?

(The Doctor sits at the weapon console.)

SARAH: That thing. What is it?
DOCTOR: Oh, that's just a simple matter projector, linked to a directional heat ray. The projector sends an image of that, and the heat ray does the damage.
GEBEK: The appearances of Aggedor were all done from here?
DOCTOR: Yes, that's right. By Eckersley or one of his Ice Warrior friends. Very clever piece of work this. Quite an engineer, our friend Eckersley.

(Sskel arrives outside and finds the fallen Ice Warrior. He uses his weapon on the metal door.)

DOCTOR: Directional coordinates are here.
SARAH: Something's burning. Doctor, look!

(A spot of red has appeared on the inside of the metal door.)

[Throne room]

ALPHA: What puzzles me, Eckersley, is your reason for this betrayal.
ECKERSLEY: It's simply a matter of business, Ambassador. I'll get a percentage of all the trisilicate mined on Peladon, just to make me the richest and the most powerful man in the galaxy.
THALIRA: Most powerful?
ECKERSLEY: Yes, your Majesty. When the Ice Warriors have won, I shall be ruler of Earth.
ALPHA: And what of Commander Azaxyr?
ECKERSLEY: No, it's only military glory he's after.
ALPHA: But the Ice Warriors have been loyal members of the Federation for many years.
ECKERSLEY: Azaxyr's head of some kind of breakaway group. He wants to return to the good old days of death or glory.

(Azaxyr enters.)

ECKERSLEY: Ah, Commander.
AZAXYR: It appears that the Doctor is indeed alive, but Sskel has him trapped in the refinery.

[Outside the Refinery]

(Two more Ice Warriors arrive.)

SSKEL: Help me.

(The three weapons melt the outer skin of the door quite quickly.)

[Refinery]

(The Doctor works on the weapon controls.)

SARAH: Hurry, Doctor! There's a whole crowd of them out there now!
GEBEK: They'll be through any minute, Doctor!

(There is a big hole in the door.)

Part Six

[Refinery]

DOCTOR: Right, keep your fingers crossed. Here goes.

(Sarah crosses her fingers, the Doctor pulls the levers and the statue disappears from its alcove. It reappear outside the refinery, where its heat ray melts two Ice Warriors. Sskel runs away and Aggedor returns home.)

SARAH: It worked! You've done it, Doctor!
GEBEK: Congratulations, Doctor,
SARAH: They've gone!
GEBEK: They've all gone.
DOCTOR: Right, we've got a chance to win now. Gebek, get back to the mines and rally your men.
GEBEK: Oh, I can try, Doctor, but many of them have been killed. They think Aggedor's turned against them.
DOCTOR: Well, we'll have to make them think differently, won't we?
GEBEK: Well, how?
DOCTOR: My dear chap, it's perfectly simple. Now all we have to do is to arrange a time and a place between us in advance. Then get all your men together.

[Throne room]

SSKEL: Commander Azaxyr.
AZAXYR: Ah, Sskel. Your Majesty, the Doctor has been destroyed.
SSKEL: No, he is still in the refinery.
AZAXYR: Alive? What happened?
SSKEL: He used Aggedor as a weapon against us.
AZAXYR: I shall send more Ice Warriors.
SSKEL: We cannot approach the area. The heat from the monster will destroy us.
ECKERSLEY: Don't worry, Commander. I'll get him out for you. I built that refinery. It's got one or two tricks the Doctor doesn't know about. Come on.
AZAXYR: Guard them.

[Tunnel]

MINER: How can we fight on, Gebek? Aggedor's turned against us.
GEBEK: No, you are mistaken.
MINER: He has slain us! He drove us into the guns of Azaxyr's warriors.
GEBEK: That was trickery by our enemies. Aggedor fights for us, protects the people of Peladon as he has always done. You don't believe me?
MINERS: No.
GEBEK: Then I will show you. Now, watch.

(Gebek stands on a rock and points forward down the tunnel.)

[Refinery]

(The Doctor checks his watch.)

DOCTOR: Well, I hope Gebek's timing's right. Just about now, I think.

[Tunnel]

MINER: Well, Gebek? Why do we wait?
GEBEK: Have patience. Have patience.
MINER 2: Come on.
GEBEK: Look!

(The statue appears.)

GEBEK: Do not be afraid. Aggedor will not harm us. He destroys only our enemies.

(The statue vanishes.)

GEBEK: Now, lads, will you fight?
MINERS: Yes! Yes!

[Communications room]

(Eckersley and Azaxyr watch on the monitor.)

ECKERSLEY: Looks pretty nasty, doesn't it?
AZAXYR: Don't worry. My warriors will soon destroy those primitives.
ECKERSLEY: Not while those primitives have got Aggedor working for them. Time for a word with the Doctor, I think.

[Refinery]

SARAH: Well, how did you know where to send it?
DOCTOR: Oh, there are preset coordinates for almost everywhere. Eckersley's worked it out very well.
ECKERSLEY [OC]: Thanks for the compliment, Doctor.
SARAH: He must be in the communications room.
ECKERSLEY [OC]: That's right. You can't see me, but I can see you.
DOCTOR: Ah. Then you must know that I'm in complete control of Aggedor. So may I suggest that you give yourself up straight away?

[Communications room]

ECKERSLEY: No, I admire you, Doctor, I really do. But you're the one who's going to have to give himself up.

[Refinery]

SARAH: What's he talking about?
DOCTOR: Ah, he's just bluffing.
ECKERSLEY [OC]: Oh no, I'm not. Remember my little security system? It works inside as well as out.

(And so it does.)

ECKERSLEY [OC]: Now, that's just the lowest level, Doctor.

[Communications room]

ECKERSLEY: Surrender now, or I'll step it up.

[Refinery]

DOCTOR: Sarah, get out of here straight away. Warn Gebek. They're probably waiting for him. I'll try and help out with Aggedor.
SARAH: Well, you can't mean to stay in here?
DOCTOR: Oh, this sort of nonsense doesn't worry me. You know that.
SARAH: No, I can't leave you in here!
DOCTOR: Sarah, please, go.
SARAH: Oh!

(Sarah leaves.)

[Communications room]

ECKERSLEY: He won't be able to stand very much more of that. He'll surrender soon, or collapse.
AZAXYR: Excellent. I shall go and prepare my warriors for the attack.

(Azaxyr leaves.)

ECKERSLEY: Well, Doctor? Escape with the girl while you've still got a chance. And don't try sending Aggedor up here. The communication room is shielded.

[Refinery]

DOCTOR: Sorry, old chap, I can't stop and talk now. I'm rather busy.

[Communications room]

ECKERSLEY: Obstinate devil.

(Eckersley increases the intensity of the security system, but the Doctor finishes his work and pulls the levers. Meanwhile, Sarah nearly runs into an Ice Warrior pacing up and down a tunnel. She manages to sneak past while his back is turned.)

[Tunnel]

GEBEK: This way.

(Gebek is leading the miners when they also come across an Ice Warrior. Then the statue appears and destroys it.)

GEBEK: Now do you believe that Aggedor is with us?
MINERS: Aye!
GEBEK: Come on!

[Communications room]

AZAXYR: The Doctor is still using Aggedor to attack us in the mines!
ECKERSLEY: I know.
AZAXYR: My warriors are being destroyed. You must stop him!
ECKERSLEY: This is your last chance, Doctor. Surrender now or I'll step it up to maximum. Your brain will be totally destroyed.

(The Doctor grits his teeth and manages to bear it.)

AZAXYR: He is still resisting.
ECKERSLEY: It won't be long now. He'll keel over any minute.
SSKEL: Commander, the miners are almost at the Citadel.
AZAXYR: Keep up the pressure, Eckersley. I shall prepare an ambush.

[Corridor]

AZAXYR: There. There. (Two Ice Warriors take up the positions indicated, and Azaxyr moves further along the corridor before taking position behind a column.)

[Tunnel]

(Gebek and the miners are at the entrance to the Citadel.)

GEBEK: (sotto) Now, you understand? First we will make sure the Queen is safe, then we capture the aliens. And remember, Aggedor is with us.
MINERS: Right.

(Gebek opens the secret door.)

GEBEK: Come on.

[Corridor]

(The miners go down the apparently empty corridor, past the hidden Azaxyr.)

AZAXYR: Destroy them!

(A miner and a guard die.)

GEBEK: Back! Back!

(Gebek and the others go back into the tunnel. Meanwhile, the Doctor sends Aggedor off again to kill Azaxyr's two Ice Warriors in the corridor. The Ice Lord escapes.)

[Tunnel]

GEBEK: Come on! Aggedor fights for us!

[Corridor]

GEBEK: On! On to the throne room!

(The Doctor finally succumbs to the security device. Sarah reaches the Citadel and takes a weapon from the dead guard.)

[Communications room]

SARAH: Turn it off!
ECKERSLEY: You wouldn't use that.
SARAH: Wouldn't I? Turn that alarm off.
ECKERSLEY: Okay, okay. It's served its purpose anyway. The Doctor's dead.
SARAH: I don't believe you.
ECKERSLEY: Well, have a look.

(Sarah keeps the weapon pointed at the back of Eckersley's head, but when she glances at the monitor he takes it off her.)

ECKERSLEY: I had a nice little scheme going until you two arrived! I ought to. Turn round. Put your hands up.

(There is a sudden noise. Sarah gasps, then realises that Eckersley has gone. She tries to open the doors.)

SARAH: Oh! Open this door! Let me out!

(On the monitor, the Doctor is very still.)

[Corridor]

(Eckersley avoids Gebek leading a troop of guards and miners, but a laggard nearly runs into him.)

MINER: Engineer Eckersley! Gebek has given orders for your capture.
ECKERSLEY: Get out of my way.
MINER: No, you are my prisoner.

(The miner draws his sword. Eckersley produces the hand weapon and kills him.)

ECKERSLEY: Sorry, chum. Too much to do.

[Throne room]

(Gebek and company burst in, to see Azaxyr holding his weapon to Thalira's head.)

AZAXYR: Surrender, Gebek. Tell your men to lay down their arms, or the Queen will die.

(They obey.)

AZAXYR: Very sensible, Gebek.
GEBEK: It seems we had no choice, Commander.

(Gebek walks towards Azaxyr, and a guard runs for the Ice Warrior. The guard is killed, but Gebek and the miners have grabbed Azaxyr's arms, and Gebek uses Azaxyr's own weapon to kill the Warrior.)

MINER: Kill him!

(Finally, Azaxyr throws off the miners.)

AZAXYR: Now that's enough!

(A guard stabs him.)

GEBEK: Are you harmed, your Majesty?
THALIRA: No, Gebek. Ambassador?
ALPHA: Your Majesty?
THALIRA: I think you should try to contact the Federation as soon as possible to inform them of our situation.
ALPHA: At once, your Majesty.

[Communications room]

(Sarah has her head on the console desk.)

ALPHA: Sarah! I wondered where you'd got to. Good news! The Ice Warriors are defeated and Azaxyr is dead.
SARAH: Fine.
ALPHA: What's wrong?
SARAH: Eckersley killed the Doctor.
ALPHA: What? Are you sure?
SARAH: Take a look. I'm going down there.

(Sarah goes into the tunnels, not bothering to shut the 'secret' door behind her.)

[Throne room]

(The bodies are removed. Eckersley is hiding behind a tapestry in the corridor.)

THALIRA: I find it hard to believe that Eckersley could do something so wicked.
ALPHA: He had nothing to lose, your Majesty, and he's totally ruthless. We must not forget that he is still at liberty.
ECKERSLEY: All right, your Majesty! You're coming with me.
ALPHA: Eckersley! What is the purpose of this outrage?
ECKERSLEY: I've got a space shuttle hidden on the other side of the mountain. Her Majesty here is going to be my safe conduct.
ALPHA: I shall summon assistance. Help! Guards!

(Eckersley pistol whips Alpha, then turns to see Thalira about to disappear behind a tapestry.)

ECKERSLEY: Stay there, your Majesty! Don't move.

[Secret Tunnel]

ECKERSLEY: Yes, we'll go this way. Come on.

[Refinery]

(Sarah looks through the hole in the door then enters. The Doctor is motionless in the chair. Just as she leans over him, crying, he opens his eyes.)

SARAH: Oh!
DOCTOR: Tears?

(The Doctor wipes moisture from his face.)

DOCTOR: Anyone would think you thought I was dead.
SARAH: Well, of course I did. You looked dead.
DOCTOR: Well, even I couldn't stand the row from Eckersley's patent alarm system any longer, so I put myself into a complete sensory withdrawal.
SARAH: What?
DOCTOR: Well, a sort of trance. I shut myself off.
SARAH: You did it on purpose? You mean I had all that worry for nothing!
DOCTOR: Well, don't sound so aggrieved. Anybody would think you prefer me dead. Come on, let's go and find the others.

[Throne room]

GEBEK: Alpha Centauri! Well, what happened? Where is the Queen?

[Tunnel]

ECKERSLEY: This way, your Majesty! Come on!

[Throne room]

GEBEK: Doctor! Thank goodness you've come. Eckersley has kidnapped the Queen.
DOCTOR: What?

[Tunnel]

ECKERSLEY: Come on! Come on!
THALIRA: No!

[Throne room]

(The Doctor looks into the secret tunnel.)

DOCTOR: How well does Eckersley know these tunnels?
ALPHA: He made a most thorough survey when he first arrived.
GEBEK: It won't be easy to find him, Doctor. The mountain's riddled with these tunnels. Even the miners don't know them all.
SARAH: He must have quite a start on us, too.
ALPHA: We could search for days and never find them.
DOCTOR: Yeah, well, don't worry. I think I know a way we can track him down.

[Tunnel]

ECKERSLEY: Come on! Quickly! Go on.

(He drags her past the bodies of Ice Warriors and miners.)

ECKERSLEY: Come on!
THALIRA: Look! Look what you've done!
ECKERSLEY: Never mind.
THALIRA: No!

(Meanwhile, the Doctor has got the real Aggedor from the pit and is using him as a bloodhound. Gebek, Sarah and some miners and guards follow. Eckersley drags Thalira into a dead end.)

THALIRA: We're trapped.
ECKERSLEY: We've come clear through the mountain. My spaceship is just on the other side.
THALIRA: Well then, go! We'll be well rid of you!
ECKERSLEY: I still need you for a hostage. Come on.
DOCTOR: Don't move, Eckersley.
ECKERSLEY: So that's how you found me.
DOCTOR: Oh, yes. Aggedor may be getting on a bit but he can still sniff out a trail. I'm sorry, old chap, but it's all over.
ECKERSLEY: No. Unless you want a new ruler on Peladon, you'll stand still.

(Thalira bites the hand around her neck. Eckersley cries out and Thalira gets away. The Doctor releases Aggedor.)

DOCTOR: Get him!

(Aggedor gets Eckersley in a powerful bear hug.)

ECKERSLEY: Help me! Help me! Help me, Doctor!

(Eckersley manages to fire his gun. Aggedor falls on top of him. The pair lie still. The Doctor checks Aggedor, then shakes his head.)

[Throne room]

THALIRA: Once again, Peladon owes you a great debt, Doctor, just as in my father's time. But this time, I hope that you'll stay long enough for us to show our gratitude.
DOCTOR: Yes, well, as a matter of fact, your Majesty, I
THALIRA: I shall want your help and your advice, Doctor.
SARAH: Oh, your Majesty. You stood up to Ortron, and to Azaxyr and the Ice Warriors. You don't need anyone's help.
THALIRA: I shall be needing a new Chancellor. I had hoped that you might stay.
DOCTOR: Well, I know just the man, your Majesty. Gebek.
THALIRA: We have the greatest admiration for Gebek, but he has no title. He's only a miner.
SARAH: There's nothing only about being a miner, your Majesty, anymore there was about being a girl.
DOCTOR: It's the man that counts, your Majesty. You can always give him a title.
THALIRA: It seems that all I can give you is my thanks.
DOCTOR: Well, I shall always be grateful for the honour, your Majesty. But I'm quite certain that Gebek is the right man.

(Alpha enters.)

ALPHA: Your Majesty!
THALIRA: Ambassador?
ALPHA: I have just heard from Federation HQ. The war is over. Once Eckersley and Azaxyr's scheme had failed, Galaxy Five became most anxious to negotiate a peace treaty.

(Gebek enters.)

DOCTOR: Well, that's splendid news. Splendid.
GEBEK: Excuse me, your Majesty. Er, Doctor, that blue box you were asking about.
DOCTOR: Yes?
GEBEK: We've found it. In the third gallery off the main cavern.
DOCTOR: Thank you, Gebek. Thank you very much. I'll go and check on it straight away. With your Majesty's permission?
THALIRA: Of course, Doctor. Goodbye, Doctor.

(The Doctor and Sarah turn and bow deeply, then leave.)

THALIRA: Gebek.
GEBEK: Your Majesty?

[Outside the TARDIS]

SARAH: You're sure you don't want to stay and take the job, Doctor? Civil service post with a pension.
DOCTOR: In you get, Sarah. I think it's time I took you home.
SARAH: I mean, I'd hate to stand in the way of your career.
DOCTOR: In you go!

(The Doctor pulls Sarah into the TARDIS by her ear, and it dematerialises.)

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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