The Visitation

Part One

[Entrance hall]

(In Restoration England, night is falling. The old family retainer brings a three stick candelabra into the main room where his master is dozing by the fire and the son is cleaning a flintlock pistol, and takes away another that has nearly burnt out. Outside in the entrance hall, a young woman looks out of the window at a pair of falling stars. There is a sudden series of explosions, like fireworks.)

ELIZABETH: Papa!

[Manor house]

(She enters.)

ELIZABETH: Papa! Papa!

(She wakes the man dozing by the fire. Everyone say Hi! to John Savident.)

SQUIRE: Oh! What's all the noise Elizabeth?
ELIZABETH: Have you seen the sky? It's beautiful.
SQUIRE: What're you talking about?
ELIZABETH: The whole sky is ablaze.

(She looks through the curtains.)

ELIZABETH: Oh! They've gone.
SQUIRE: What have gone?
ELIZABETH: The lights.
SQUIRE: What sort of lights were they?
ELIZABETH: Like a hundred shooting stars. I wish you'd seen them.
SQUIRE: I don't like the sound of it.
ELIZABETH: Papa.
SQUIRE: Strange lights in the sky never bode well for the future.
ELIZABETH: You're so old-fashioned.
SQUIRE: Yes.
(Elizabeth kisses her father on the cheek while he harrumphs.
Outside, something metal and non-period has half buried itself in the ground and is making strange noises.
Elizabeth and her father settle to their game of chess while his son continues to clean the gun.)
SQUIRE: Ralph! Bring a log!
RALPH [OC] Yes, sir!
SQUIRE: I feel a chill.
ELIZABETH: You can't, Papa. It's a perfectly warm evening.
CHARLES: Father always feels a chill when he's losing. It's either that or his gout bothers him.
SQUIRE: Arrant nonsense!

(The servant, Ralph, enters.)

SQUIRE: I feel a definite chill about me shoulders.

(The candles flicker in a draught.)

SQUIRE: There you are, you see. Have you left the door open?
RALPH: Me, sir? No. Would you like me to fetch your shawl?
SQUIRE: No. Er, no, I think I'd prefer a warmer. I'll have me posset now.
RALPH: Yes, sir.

(Ralph leaves.)

CHARLES: You're incorrigible, Father. Haven't you drunk enough already?
SQUIRE: This is medicinal.
CHARLES: I'm going to bed. Goodnight, Father.

[Servant's hall]

(Whilst Charles puts the finishing polish on the wood of his flintlock, something with a bad case of bronchitis is going down the cellar steps.)

RALPH: Are you sure you're not having a posset, Master Charles?
CHARLES: No, thank you.
RALPH: In that case I'll bid you good night, sir.
CHARLES: Good night, Ralph.

(Ralph goes down the stairs and sees whatever it is that is breathing heavily. He cries out, turns and the thing shoots him in the back with a green beam. Charles appears, and fires two pistol shots at it, then returns to the gun cabinet to load a musket. The Squire enters as he is ramming the wad down the barrel.)

SQUIRE: Oh! It's you, sir. What the Hades is going on?
CHARLES: There's someone down there with a gun the likes I've never seen before.
SQUIRE: Ralph. Where's Ralph?
CHARLES: I fear he's hit.

(A flash of green blasts a pewter plate on top of the gun cabinet.)

SQUIRE: Fire and brimstone!

(They turn and see their attacker.)

SQUIRE: God protect us!

(The Squire fires a pair of pistols, and the unseen enemy squeals then falls to the floor.)

SQUIRE: What was that?
CHARLES: I don't know!

[Manor house]

(A silver-gloved fist punches its way through the door.)

ELIZABETH: Papa! What's happening, Papa?

(Charles and the Squire enter.)

CHARLES: Take this.

(Charles hands Elizabeth a musket. The men have one each.)

SQUIRE: Would it be too obvious to say, we are under attack?
ELIZABETH: But from whom?

(A brightly decorated android enters. It is red and blue, with a white head that has a diamond shaped gem in the forehead.)

SQUIRE: From whatever that is.
CHARLES: Our shots stopped its comrade on the stairs.
SQUIRE: But this one's in armour.
CHARLES: Which at this range is useless. Come on, Father, now!
(They all discharge their weapons.
When dawn breaks on the Tithe Barn at Hurley, Buckinghamshire, there is the sound of machinery somewhere.)

[TARDIS]

(Nyssa is reading a magazine.)

DOCTOR: How many times have I told you, Adric, not to interfere with, with things that you don't understand.
ADRIC: I was trying to escape.
DOCTOR: In the TSS? You were lucky you didn't destroy the whole Kinda tribe.
ADRIC: I didn't realise it would be that difficult to control.
DOCTOR: That isn't the point. You should never have got into that unit.
ADRIC: Well, as it turned out no one was hurt.
DOCTOR: Apart from Aris.
ADRIC: A flesh wound.
DOCTOR: Try to understand, Adric, because you get away with something, it doesn't justify it.
ADRIC: I'm sorry.
DOCTOR: Next time you want to escape from somewhere, walk.
NYSSA: Poor old Adric. Always in trouble.
ADRIC: And I try so hard.
DOCTOR: Is Tegan ready?
NYSSA: I'll check.

(Nyssa goes into the TARDIS interior. Something beeps on the console.)

ADRIC: What's that?
DOCTOR: A fault.
ADRIC: Serious?
DOCTOR: Must be the lateral balance cones again. You know, I must do some maintenance after we've delivered Tegan.
ADRIC: It's going to seem strange without her, though I must admit I'm not entirely convinced that she likes me.
DOCTOR: Now, don't jump to conclusions, Adric. Sometimes we humanoids try to disguise our, our true feelings. Well, don't just stand there, Adric, help me.

[Girl's bedroom]

(Tegan puts the finishing touches to her lipstick and primps her hair. Then she stops and stares at her reflection in the dressing table mirror.)

NYSSA: What's the matter?
TEGAN: It's only sunk in properly, what happened to me on Deva Loka.
NYSSA: What? The Doctor said nothing eventful had occurred.
TEGAN: He would. But while you were enjoying forty eight hours peaceful sleep in the delta wave augmenter, my mind was occupied. Taken over.
NYSSA: By whom?
TEGAN: More a what. Something called a Mara. It makes me shiver to think of it.
NYSSA: You weren't hurt?
TEGAN: No. No, but that's not the point. It's unnerved me.
NYSSA: You'll soon be on Earth with all this unpleasantness forgotten.
TEGAN: Can't wait.
NYSSA: At leas, you won't have any awkward questions to answer about where you've been.
TEGAN: So the Doctor says. I don't understand how.
NYSSA: Just accept what he says.

(Tegan fastens her jacket and takes her shoulder bag from Nyssa.)

[TARDIS corridor]

NYSSA: You'll arrive back at the airport exactly on time for your flight, half an hour after you entered the TARDIS.
TEGAN: Some half hour. Now I have to pretend that nothing's happened in the mean time.
NYSSA: You'll soon settle down.
TEGAN: I hope so. Nyssa, I know I haven't always been the best of companions. I'll miss you. All of you.

(The girls hug.)

[TARDIS]

DOCTOR: Earth, Heathrow, 1981.
ADRIC: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Not one of the most stimulating places in the universe, but nevertheless, where requested to be.
ADRIC: Doctor?

(The scanner shows a woodland walk.)

DOCTOR: Oh, no.

(Tegan and Nyssa enter.)

TEGAN: Is that supposed to be Heathrow?
ADRIC: It is.
TEGAN: Well, they've certainly let the grass grow since I was last there.
ADRIC: Well, actually, they haven't built the airport yet. We're about three hundred years early.
TEGAN: That's great. Perhaps I can go out, file a claim on the land. When they get round to inventing the aircraft, I'll make a fortune.
DOCTOR: Hmm, yes, a small error has been made.
TEGAN: You call three hundred years a small error?
DOCTOR: It's probably due to nothing more than a temperamental solenoid on the lateral balance cones.
TEGAN: Why do you always have some incomprehensible answer?
DOCTOR: And, as you know, the TARDIS isn't always

(A handle comes off in the Doctor's hand.)

DOCTOR: Er, reliable.
TEGAN: Call yourself a Time Lord? A broken clock keeps better time than you do. At least it's accurate twice a day, which is more than you ever are.

(Tegan opens the TARDIS door and storms out.)

DOCTOR: Why does she always overreact?
NYSSA: I think she's finding the idea of going more painful than she thought.
DOCTOR: Then why didn't she say so, rather than fly off the handle like that.
NYSSA: That's Tegan.
ADRIC: Perhaps you'd better talk to her.
DOCTOR: No, no, no. Too much has been said already. Earthlings.

[Outside the TARDIS]

(Supposedly in the region of Staines, Hounslow, Colebrook or Egham, but really Black Park, Fulmer, Buckinghamshire.)

DOCTOR: I'm sorry. I realise how disappointed you must be.
TEGAN: I'm sorry, too, but you did make a promise.
DOCTOR: And I'll keep it. Consider this a fortuitous mistake. It isn't everyone who gets the chance to wander round their own history.
TEGAN: I'm not sure I want to. This place stinks.
DOCTOR: What? I suppose it does a bit.
ADRIC: Look, Doctor.

(Smoke is drifting through the trees.)

DOCTOR: Sulphur.
ADRIC: Some sort of volcanic action?
DOCTOR: Wrong time and place for that.
TEGAN: Are you sure this is Earth?
DOCTOR: Undoubtedly. When we find the person who's burning the sulphur, perhaps you'll believe him.

[Woodland]

(In a clearing, two villagers stack wood on the smouldering pile. They have tied their kerchiefs around their faces to keep out the fumes. Very wise. A third signals from his position halfway up a tall tree as the TARDIS crew walk beneath.)

VILLAGER: Four strangers coming this way.

(The woodsmen pick up cudgels that are leaning against a tree.)

NYSSA: Is it sensible to go on?
DOCTOR: Probably not.
TEGAN: I've lost my bearings already.
DOCTOR: There's potassium nitrate in with the sulphur.
TEGAN: Oh, that's great.
ADRIC: What's wrong?
DOCTOR: Potassium nitrate and sulphur are constituents of a primitive explosive. Gunpowder.
TEGAN: I don't like this place.
NYSSA: Doctor!

(The villagers are coming down the track.)

TEGAN: Shouldn't we get back to the TARDIS?
DOCTOR: This time I agree.

(But two more villagers are behind them.)

DOCTOR: Ah! Good morning.

(The villagers attack with cudgels, but are easily disposed of.)

DOCTOR: Come on, back to the TARDIS.

(The crew run off, and the other three villagers arrive.)

VILLAGER: You all right? Don't worry, we'll get them.

(Further on.)

NYSSA: Now which way?
ADRIC: I don't know.
NYSSA: Use your homing devise.
ADRIC: I must have dropped it during the fight.
TEGAN: Oh, tremendous.
DOCTOR: Come on, come on. This way.

(He runs on, then stops. The three youngsters carry on ahead and he dashes to catch them up. )

(Then Adric falls over a tree root.)

ADRIC: Ow!
NYSSA: Are you all right?
ADRIC: I don't know.
DOCTOR: There's nothing broken. Can you stand?
ADRIC: I'll try.
NYSSA: Lean on me.
ADRIC: I'll be all right in a minute.
TEGAN: We may not have a minute.

(The plummy tones of Michael Robbins come down from a fork in a nearby tree. Unlike everyone else so far, this person is dressed in more Cavalier fashion.)

MACE: Can I be of any assistance?
DOCTOR: Can you help us?
MACE: I have a convenient refuge nearby.
TEGAN: How do we know we can trust him?
MACE: You have little choice. You either trust me or give yourselves up to your pursuers, who would probably cudgel you to death.

(Mace fires his brace of pistols at the approaching villagers, who retreat rapidly behind a tree. He jumps down from his perch.)

MACE: I don't think they will bother us again. If the lad can walk, my camp is this way.
DOCTOR: Lead on, sir.

(The villagers watch them lead from their hiding place.)

VILLAGER: Go back to the village for help. We'll follow them.

[Barn]

TEGAN: This is home?
MACE: For the last night or two. Fortune has made me itinerant.
DOCTOR: Why were those men following us?
MACE: You don't know?
DOCTOR: Well, we're new to the area.
MACE: You must be new to the world, sir. Have not you heard there is plague?

(Ah, so this is 1665 or 1666.)

TEGAN: Where?
MACE: Everywhere. That is why the village is guarded so vigilantly. They're terrified of strangers and the pestilence they may carry.
DOCTOR: Of course. The reason for the sulphuric smoke. Purification fires.
NYSSA: Is that why you're not staying in the village?
MACE: Alas, because of the plague, everywhere is unfriendly.
DOCTOR: Hence the guns.
MACE: No, not entirely. I was once a noted thespian until forced into rural exile by the closure of the theatres. It is only with the aid of these properties I am able to command the attention of an audience nowadays.
TEGAN: You sound like a highwayman or a robber.
MACE: A gentleman of the road, madam. Richard Mace at your service.

(He doffs his hat and gives Tegan a bow with flourish.)

MACE: Though I only plan to rob you of a little of your time and company. After many weeks alone in the woods, I would risk anything for an hour's good conversation.

(Mace sits on a crate and waits.)

MACE: Yes.
DOCTOR: How bad is the plague?
MACE: Oh, the worst I've ever seen. More virulent here than in the city, but that's only to be expected.
DOCTOR: Why?
MACE: Did you not see the comet a few weeks ago? A portent of doom, if ever I saw one. Its aurora barely faded from the sky before the first local case was reported.
ADRIC: You were clear until then?
MACE: Oh, completely.
DOCTOR: They're not due for a comet for years.
MACE: It lit up the sky as I've never experienced it before.
NYSSA: Are you sure it wasn't a meteor?
MACE: Call it what you wish. I have seen many falling stars, but this was without parallel.
DOCTOR: Interesting, and so is the ornament around your neck.
TEGAN: Doctor, don't you think we should be getting back to the TARDIS?
DOCTOR: Yes. Not yet. May I see?
MACE: Oh, surely. I found it in the loft last night.

(He hands the object on a string to the Doctor.)

DOCTOR: Hmm. Interesting piece of work. What do you think?
NYSSA: It's made from polygrite, isn't it?
DOCTOR: Yes.
NYSSA: From such a primitive society?
DOCTOR: Do you mind if I have a look around your loft?
MACE: As you wish, sir.
DOCTOR: Fit for a climb, Adric?
TEGAN: Doctor, he should rest.
ADRIC: Don't worry, Tegan. We Alzarians are different from you. We recover faster.

(Adric follows the Doctor up the ladder into the hayloft.)

NYSSA: Is there anything I can do?
DOCTOR [OC]: Oh, have a look round down there.
TEGAN: What exactly are we looking for?

[Hayloft]

ADRIC: What is it he's wearing?
DOCTOR: Part of an alien bracelet made for a very special purpose.
ADRIC: How could it have got here?
DOCTOR: Oh, make your own guess. A comet when there shouldn't have been a comet, a meteor that doesn't look like a meteor. Whatever the phenomenon was, it certainly wasn't natural.
ADRIC: Some sort of a spacecraft landing?
DOCTOR: Or burning up in the atmosphere.
ADRIC: But surely, for the bracelet to be here some of the crew must have survived?
DOCTOR: Ah, not necessarily. The bracelet is strong enough to have survived the crash. However, if we find something more fragile.
ADRIC: Then there are survivors.
DOCTOR: Correct.

[Barn]

NYSSA: Doctor! Power packs!

(Three shiny round objects in her palm.)

DOCTOR: Well done!

(The Doctor and Adric come down.)

DOCTOR: Tell me, who owns this barn?
MACE: I will show you.

[Manor house driveway]

(A man in Puritan black loads a box into his cart then covers it over with a cloth. The Doctor leads his group through the gate and some villagers gather to watch them.)

VILLAGER: Now what are they up to?
MACE: Surely you must be aware, sir, that there is a certain protocol to be observed when approaching the gentry.
DOCTOR: Of course. I've met kings, emperors, megalomaniacs in my time.
MACE: Ah, then you must know, sir, that the nobility will not take kindly to being knocked up and questioned about the contents of their barns. It's a sure way of us all being horse-whipped. And I have a particularly sensitive skin, sir.

(The Doctor walks on. The cart comes down the driveway, forcing Tegan, Nyssa, Adric and Mace onto the grass.)

NYSSA: Is the man blind?
ADRIC: He nearly killed us.
MACE: The miller. A man of very sour disposition.
TEGAN: And not much road sense.

(They join the Doctor at the front door to the house. The Doctor rings the bell.)

MACE: Shouldn't we use the tradesman's entrance?

(The Doctor uses the impressive lion's head knocker.)

DOCTOR: I'm calling on the master of the house, not his servants.
MACE: Please, sir, knock with a little more humility.
DOCTOR: You knock while I look around.
TEGAN: Can we come with you?
DOCTOR: Just Nyssa. If anyone opens the door, call me.

(Above them a window closes.)

[Back of the Manor house]

DOCTOR: No one at home.
NYSSA: Then who was the miller visiting?
DOCTOR: Perhaps we should find out. That window doesn't look fastened properly.

[Manor house door]

MACE: What do we say if the door is opened?
ADRIC: Hello?

[Manor house]

DOCTOR: What a very pleasant room.
NYSSA: Shall I let the others in?
DOCTOR: No, not yet. Let's see who's at home first. Hello?
NYSSA: Why are you so certain the aliens have come here?
DOCTOR: Well, I'm not. For all I know they went to the village.
NYSSA: They could also have died from the plague.
DOCTOR: Indeed. So, the sooner we find out, the sooner we can return Tegan to her own time. Anyone at home?
NYSSA: Have you any idea who the aliens might be?
DOCTOR: No, not really. Polygrite is found in many parts of the universe. So are power packs.
NYSSA: Why are you so concerned about them? They might be friendly.
DOCTOR: Well, if I'm right, the comet that actor saw was their ship burning up in the atmosphere. They're probably stranded here, desperate. They could wreak havoc.

[Servants hall]

NYSSA: So, what are you going to do if you find them?
DOCTOR: Oh, twist their arms a bit to let me take them back to their own planet.
NYSSA: I hope they have arms to twist.
DOCTOR: I'll find something.

(The Doctor opens the gun cabinet.)

DOCTOR: There are weapons missing.
NYSSA: What's that?
DOCTOR: Gunpowder. Someone's been careless.
NYSSA: Look, a power pack.
DOCTOR: So they have been here.
NYSSA: I think we should go, Doctor.
DOCTOR: You're beginning to sound like Tegan.
NYSSA: I begin to understand how she feels.

[Cellar staircase]

DOCTOR: Oh.
NYSSA: What?
DOCTOR: Look.
NYSSA: Scarring from a high energy beam.
DOCTOR: And fired from a weapon.
NYSSA: So much for my friendly aliens.
DOCTOR: Hold this.

(He gives Nyssa the end of a piece of string.)

DOCTOR: There.

(She puts it to the scar in the wood panelling as he goes down the stairs.)

DOCTOR: Let's give them the benefit of the doubt, assume it was an accident.

(There is a brick wall blocking the way into the cellar.)

DOCTOR: But this isn't.
NYSSA: Now what?
DOCTOR: Well, you only build a staircase to lead somewhere.
NYSSA: As a rule.
DOCTOR: Why should anyone want to build a wall here?
NYSSA: Does it matter?
DOCTOR: Well, this should be a very important staircase. Logically it should lead from the main hall to the kitchens.
NYSSA: Perhaps there's another way.
DOCTOR: No. There's something wrong. I can feel it.

(Something is moving quietly through the house.)

[Manor house door]

(There is the sound of bolts being moved aside. Mace bows deeply, ready for whoever it is.)

TEGAN: At last.

(It's Nyssa.)

TEGAN: How did you get in?
NYSSA: We found an open window.
MACE: You broke in?
NYSSA: It's perfectly safe. There isn't anyone here.
MACE: Are you sure?
NYSSA: Come in and look.

[Entrance hall]

ADRIC: Where's the Doctor?
NYSSA: Downstairs. He's found a wall that seems to fascinate him.

[Manor house]

TEGAN: Is there anyone else here?
NYSSA: Not that we've found.
TEGAN: I don't like this house. I think it's a bit spooky.
MACE: I find this house full of style and quality.
NYSSA: We should join the Doctor.

[Cellar]

DOCTOR: Ah.

[Servant's hall]

ADRIC: Any sign of survivors?
NYSSA: They've been here. We found yet another power pack.
ADRIC: I wonder what they use those things for?
TEGAN: I'll bet it isn't transistor radios.
MACE: What are these words you are using?
NYSSA: The Doctor will explain.
TEGAN: Come on.

[Cellar staircase]

(The Doctor is not there.)

ADRIC: Where's he gone?
NYSSA: Doctor?

(The android with the silver gloves bolts and locks the front door, and takes the key.)

NYSSA: Doctor! (The door to the staircase slams shut.)
TEGAN: Doctor!
Part Two

[Cellar staircase]

(The Doctor appears through the brick wall.)

DOCTOR: Yes?
NYSSA: Oh, thank heavens.
MACE: What an incredible illusion.
DOCTOR: It is, isn't it.
TEGAN: How do you do that?
DOCTOR: Very simple. I found the door.
TEGAN: I don't see it.
DOCTOR: It's there all the same. I knew there was something peculiar about this wall.
NYSSA: Is it an energy barrier?
DOCTOR: Right! I picked the lock.

(The Doctor holds up his screwdriver.)

ADRIC: But if the barrier's open, why can't we see through it?
DOCTOR: Camouflage. As you pass through it, it opens around you.
MACE: With a trick like that you could make a fortune around the fairgrounds.
DOCTOR: I must speak to the people who invented it.
NYSSA: Any survivors?
DOCTOR: Not yet.

(As they walk through the wall, the door at the top of the cellar staircase opens.)

[Cellar]

(Some nice rounded columns in the walls and candles flickering on brackets. There is straw on the flagstone floor.)

MACE: An amazing illusion. I must learn how it's done.
ADRIC: What's that smell?
DOCTOR: Soliton gas.
NYSSA: I thought I recognised it.
TEGAN: Who'd want this sort of atmosphere? It's stifling.
DOCTOR: Well, someone who needs it to breathe properly. Let's find them.

(The first door he tries is locked.)

DOCTOR: I said, let's find them.

(The others look for doors to try.)

MACE: Er, should you find the wine cellar, sir, a bottle of sack'd be most appreciated.
TEGAN: That's stealing.
MACE: I am a highwayman, madam.
TEGAN: This isn't a highway.
NYSSA: It's locked.
DOCTOR: So

(Finally, a door that opens.)

DOCTOR: This must be it.

(The android walks down the cellar steps.)

[Wine cellar]

(Barrels, bottles, candles and pikestaffs in a rack by the door.)

TEGAN: It's so gloomy.
DOCTOR: They're near.
TEGAN: How do you know?
NYSSA: The smell of soliton is much stronger.
MACE: Why do we lurk in this cellar when there is a whole house to loot?
DOCTOR: You said you wanted wine. Help yourself.
MACE: Ah! I'm so impetuous. Always looking to the hills and missing the treasure at my feet.

(Nyssa and the Doctor inspect an alien green contraption.)

TEGAN: I wonder what those are for?
DOCTOR: Just don't disturb anything.

(Tegan lifts the sack from a set of cages while the green thing puffs out gas.)

NYSSA: You recognise any characteristics?
DOCTOR: The regulator isn't pulsing properly.
TEGAN: Doctor, look.

(The cages contain rats.)

DOCTOR: Oh. Well, perhaps they're just for research.
TEGAN: I feel itchy just looking at them.

(The android enters unnoticed, wearing a black cloak and skull mask. Mace is sampling the contents of a barrel.)

ADRIC: What does that stuff taste like?
MACE: Nectar.
ADRIC: Oh. What does that taste like?
MACE: You stupid

(Mace turns and sees 'Death' creeping up behind him. He screams. Tegan picks up a pot and throws it.)

DOCTOR: No, don't!

(Mace fires a pistol at the figure, who shoots Tegan in the shoulder with a purple energy beam. She falls. Mace knocks Adric down, fires his second pistol then sidles round and gets out of the door before the android can fire again.)

DOCTOR: Nyssa, get out of here.
NYSSA: What about Tegan?
DOCTOR: Just get out of here.

(Nyssa runs out of the wine cellar, past the android who takes no notice. The Doctor fiddles with the gas producer.)

[Cellar]

MACE: I can't find the gap.

(Nyssa moves a curtain and puts her fist on a large control panel. The entire brick wall vanishes and Mace stomps up the stairs to the main house. Nyssa starts to follow.)

NYSSA: Doctor!

[Wine Cellar]

DOCTOR: Now, I don't know if you can understand me, but I would like to point out how volatile soliton is when mixed freely with oxygen.

(The Doctor checks Tegan's pulse.)

DOCTOR: You fire that beam of yours, you'll turn this house into an inferno.

(The android goes to the gas producer.)

DOCTOR: Adric, can you move?

(No movement or sound.)

DOCTOR: Tegan!

(The Doctor makes for the door.)

DOCTOR: Adric, look after her. I'll be back.

(The android fires at the disappearing Doctor, and misses.)

[Entrance hall]

(Mace unbolts the door.)

NYSSA: We must wait for the Doctor!
MACE: Your Doctor is a dead man. You saw what was in the cellar. The great reaper, Death.
DOCTOR: That's what you're supposed to think.
MACE: Well, what was it then?
DOCTOR: An android. A mechanical man. A machine.
MACE: Android? Your brain is addled, sir. That was Death. You saw what effect my pistols had on him.
DOCTOR: Oh, it takes more than a pair of flintlocks to damage an android.
NYSSA: Is Tegan dead?
DOCTOR: No, but I don't know how badly hurt she is. Where are you going?
MACE: Away!
DOCTOR: I came up here to get you.
MACE: I would rather be sealed up in a plague house, sir, than stay here.
DOCTOR: Adric and Tegan are hurt. I need your help to get them out.

(Down in the wine cellar, the gas producer has been turned off by the android, who has discarded his disguise. He picks up Tegan and walks through another holographic wall into a green-lit, high-tech room with a white couch.)

[Manor house]

(The Doctor holds Mace's 'pendant'.)

DOCTOR: You see this? This a part of a control bracelet. It's a device used on prison planets to control difficult prisoners. It isn't an ornament. And the thing you saw in the cellar comes from the same place as the bracelet.
MACE: How can that control anyone?
DOCTOR: Like this.

(The Doctor fits a powerpack into the middle of the bracelet, and it glows green and beeps.)

DOCTOR: If this was on your wrist, you'd have lost control of your mind by now.
MACE: Nonsense, sir. That glow is a conjuring trick. I'm a man of the theatre. I'm not impressed by trickery, however clever it is.
DOCTOR: Well.

(The Doctor removes the powerpack.)

DOCTOR: This is a trick you won't see done for many a day.

(The Doctor twists the end of the powerpack, and energy arcs to the floor.)

DOCTOR: That's what happens when you discharge a power pack.
MACE: How does this android, as you call him, come from another world? There are no other worlds. Any fool knows that.
DOCTOR: Why are Earth people so parochial?

[Control room]

(Tegan and Adric are awake and strapped to the couch. The android moves around his room. Meanwhile, a monitor is switched on that shows the Doctor, Nyssa and Mace in the main room. There is no sound. The owner of a green scaly hand with long claws speaks.)

LEADER: Who is this man?
TEGAN: Who said that?
LEADER: Answer my question!
ADRIC: The Doctor.
LEADER: And where is this Doctor from?
TEGAN: He's never told us. He likes to be mysterious, although he talks a lot about, er, Guildford. I think that's where he comes from.
LEADER: You are being a very stupid woman.
TEGAN: That isn't a very original observation.
LEADER: I know that he is not of this planet or time.
ADRIC: What rubbish.
LEADER: The Doctor has a sonic device which he used to dismantle the energy barrier. He also has an understanding of the gas known as soliton.
ADRIC: We don't know anything about that.
LEADER: You are wearing synthetic garments manufactured by technology as yet unknown on this planet.
TEGAN: You'll have to ask my tailor about that.
LEADER: I'm asking you! For the last time. Where are you from?

[Manor house]

MACE: You are asking too much of me, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Come on, Nyssa, let's go.
NYSSA: What about Adric and Tegan?
DOCTOR: Well, there's nothing we can do now until we've dealt with the android.
NYSSA: But how? We haven't any weapons.
DOCTOR: No. Well, er, we'll try modifying the sonic booster in the TARDIS. If we connect it to a frequency accelerator
NYSSA: Yes?
DOCTOR: Well, we may just get a high enough pitch to vibrate the android to pieces.
NYSSA: Really. And how close do we have to get for it to have an effect?
DOCTOR: Very.
NYSSA: The android's armed. If it wanted, it could destroy us ten times over.
MACE: Once would be enough.
NYSSA: Doctor, you cannot afford to improvise against an armed android.
DOCTOR: I have no intention of doing so. Now, if you've quite finished lecturing me, I suggest we go back to the TARDIS and get started.

(Mace heads for the front door.)

DOCTOR: That way's locked. Good day!

[Control room]

(The Leader, a Terileptil, comes forward. He appears to be injured on the left side of his face and one eye is missing. The sight of him startles Adric.)

LEADER: Now, tell me about your mode of transport.
ADRIC: The TARDIS. A sort of time-space machine.
LEADER: And where is this TARDIS now?
ADRIC: I don't know. In the woods somewhere. Only the Doctor knows exactly where.
LEADER: And you are both crew members of this ship?
TEGAN: That's right. Vital members. Kill us and you'll never get to ride in it.

(An alarm sounds. The Leader changes the monitor view to show the Doctor, Nyssa and Mace walking past the oast house.)

LEADER: It seems that your companions have abandoned you. Perhaps you overrate your importance.

[Gardens]

NYSSA: Where will you go?
MACE: As far away from that house as possible.
NYSSA: You won't reconsider helping us?
MACE: Madam, it shames me to tell you, but I, I will not go back inside that house.
DOCTOR: We're wasting time, Nyssa.

(Nyssa and Mace catch up to him.)

DOCTOR: If you see anyone wearing a bracelet like this, stay away from them.
MACE: Yes, I will, sir.
DOCTOR: Come on.

[Field]

(Mace walks through the carriage gates and stops dead.)

MACE: Doctor! Doctor! What is that?

[Control room]

LEADER: Activate the poacher and his friends. I want them to bring me the Doctor. Then get a group of villagers to search for the TARDIS.
(The android turns to a control panel. In the woods, a man drops the rabbit he has just released from its snare and walks on with his bow and arrow. (A woodsman stops chopping and puts his axe over his shoulder. An old man stops gathering firewood and picks up his basket.
Back in the field, the Doctor, Nyssa and Mace walk over to the object that dove into the ground at the top of the story, and walk inside.)

[Escape pod]

(It is the same technology as the control room.)

DOCTOR: No one here.
NYSSA: The place has been stripped.
DOCTOR: Most of the hardware is up at the house, I should think.
MACE: What is this structure?
DOCTOR: An escape pod. A sort of life boat, only from a ship that flies.
MACE: Flies?
DOCTOR: That's right.
MACE: But how are the dimensions greater within?
DOCTOR: Because it buried itself on impact.
MACE: And how is it lit?
DOCTOR: Vintaric crystals. Quite a common form of lighting.
MACE: I don't understand any of this.
NYSSA: This is all that's left of the craft that brought the android to Earth.
DOCTOR: The lights you saw in the sky a few weeks ago, were the main part of the ship burning up in the atmosphere.
MACE: I can't believe any of the things you are telling me.
NYSSA: It's true.
DOCTOR: The presence of the pod confirms it.
MACE: How do you know all these things?
DOCTOR: Ah. That would be rather difficult to explain.
NYSSA: You can trust us.
DOCTOR: Which is more than you can say for the owners of this ship.

[Cell]

(The android locks Tegan and Adric into a small room in the cellars. No candles flickering here.)

TEGAN: Bleak, isn't it?
ADRIC: I'm a fool. I should never have told him about the TARDIS.
TEGAN: Don't let it get you down. If you hadn't have told him, I would have. I don't think he was joking about torturing us.
ADRIC: We've got to get out of here.
TEGAN: Oh sure, but how?

[Escape pod]

(The Doctor closes the main hatch.)

DOCTOR: I wonder how many Terileptils this pod could carry?
NYSSA: And androids.
DOCTOR: Yes. Terileptils build those things too well.
NYSSA: Are you still sure the sonic booster can deal with it?
DOCTOR: It has to. The androids are programmed to protect. The only way around them is to destroy them before they destroy you.
MACE: Oh, dear.
NYSSA: But it didn't kill Tegan.
DOCTOR: Well, it obviously wanted prisoners. We can't rely on it remaining so benign.
NYSSA: Then we'd better hurry up with that booster.
DOCTOR: Yes. A refresher course in android design might help as well.
MACE: How can you possibly get that?
DOCTOR: I, too, have a ship of sorts. It isn't the most reliable of machines, but it's aged memory banks might contain something of use.

(The Doctor opens the hatch again.)

MACE: Then may I accompany you?
DOCTOR: Are you beginning to believe that I'm telling the truth?
MACE: It seems I've little choice.
DOCTOR: Let's see if the coast is clear.
(But outside, the three controlled villagers are approaching across the field. The poacher makes his companions spread out while the Doctor and Mace just watch.
In it's control room, the Terileptil takes a small vial of blue liquid from his chemistry set.)

[Cell]

(Tegan thumps the oak door.)

ADRIC: It's solid. We'd never break it down, we'd make too much noise.
TEGAN: Any way through the bars in that window?

(The window is at the top of the wall, at about twice Adric's height.)

ADRIC: Not without a cutting device.
TEGAN: The key's still in the lock.
ADRIC: Can you think of a way to get it in here?
TEGAN: No, can you?

(They sit on the bench below the window.)

[Field]

(The poacher puts an arrow to his bow.)

MACE: He has a bracelet.
DOCTOR: I see it.

(Mace draws his pistols.)

DOCTOR: They won't do any good.
MACE: You forget, sir, I'm an actor as well as a highwayman.
DOCTOR: The bracelet overrides fear. Unless you're prepared to use them, they're quite useless.
MACE: They're useless anyway. I didn't have time to reload them.
DOCTOR: Go back to the pod.

(Mace goes back inside.)

POACHER: You are the Doctor?
DOCTOR: I am indeed. How do you do?

[Escape pod]

NYSSA: What's going on out there?
MACE: Controlled villagers.

(Mace starts reloading his pistols.)

NYSSA: It didn't take them long to find us.
MACE: The poacher can smell you on the wind.

[Field]

(The three villagers are within a few metres of the Doctor.)

POACHER: You will come with us.
DOCTOR: Another time, perhaps.

(The Doctor turns and runs.)

POACHER: Stop!

(The poacher fires his bow.)

[Escape pod]

DOCTOR: Down!

(The arrow sticks in the far wall. Nyssa closes the hatch.)

MACE: Right, we are ready to engage them.
DOCTOR: There are three at the moment. Fire those, we could have a dozen to contend with.

(Someone starts banging on the hatch.)

MACE: What is that?
DOCTOR: Our friendly neighbourhood axe man.
NYSSA: He'll never cut through that hatch.
DOCTOR: He might get lucky. Could hit an opening mechanism on the other side. Hang on.

(The Doctor runs down to another doorway on the far left of the pod.)

DOCTOR: There must be some sort of trigger for the escape hatch.

(He gets out the screwdriver.)

DOCTOR: No.

(He goes to the arrow.)

DOCTOR: Yes.

(The Doctor uses the arrow's point to open the lid on the control panel.)

DOCTOR: I just hope this part of the pod isn't buried. Are you ready?

(He pulls down the emergency release handle, and retreats as it beeps.)

NYSSA: What are you trying to do?
DOCTOR: Get down!

(Bang! and the little hatch falls outwards.)

DOCTOR: Let's go.

[Cell]

TEGAN: Look, there's a fan light above the door.
ADRIC: What's that for?
TEGAN: It's a window to give natural light onto the passage. Steady the stool for me.

(Adric obeys as she stands on it and tries the small iron bars in the fanlight.)

TEGAN: I think I can move them.
ADRIC: Let me try. I'm stronger.
TEGAN: Yeah, but not as determined.

(She pulls the bars out. The android walks down the passage carrying a box. Tegan ducks down.)

ADRIC: What's wrong?
TEGAN: The android.

[Control room]

(As the android enters, the Terileptil leaves the chemistry set and turns on a communications panel.)

LEADER: Report.

(Static and mumbling.)

LEADER: Concentrate on your thoughts!
POACHER [OC]: Found. The Doctor. At your craft. But escaped. We are tracking him.
LEADER: Good Change of order. Follow, but do not apprehend. Report when he reaches his TARDIS.

[Woodland]

(Mace sits on a tree stump, gasping.)

MACE: Oh, I'm dead. I'm afraid my frame was never designed for rapid acceleration.
DOCTOR: Well, you can't rest yet.
MACE: I'm not moving from this spot unless supported by a horse.
NYSSA: A horse?
MACE: Yes, the miller has one. You could steal it.
DOCTOR: The miller. Of course. Why didn't I think of that?
NYSSA: Doctor, you can't steal the poor man's horse.
DOCTOR: Oh, it's him I'm interested in, not his horse. He comes and goes from the house as he pleases. Maybe he can help us. Why don't you go back to the TARDIS and start work on the booster while we look for him.
NYSSA: Alone?
DOCTOR: Well, you're more than capable.
NYSSA: Well, I
DOCTOR: We may not be able to find the miller. We can't afford to waste any time.
NYSSA: Very well.
DOCTOR: And I'll be back as quickly as I can.
NYSSA: Even sooner, if at all possible.

(Nyssa leaves the men.)

DOCTOR: Now then, which way to the mill?
MACE: I am not moving.
DOCTOR: Just direct me, then. You can wait here for the poacher and his friend.
MACE: Sir, you have a very mean way of exposing a man's cowardice.

(The lookout in the tree indicates that there are now two parties to track. )

(Meanwhile, Tegan has got through the fanlight in to the cellar passageway.)

[Miller's barn]

(Mace embraces the horse harnessed to the cart.)

MACE: Ah, the object of my desire.
DOCTOR: Hello!
MACE: Shush! Shush, shush, sir! Thievery is a matter of stealth, not hearty greetings.
DOCTOR: We're here to see the miller.
MACE: You are without pity, sir. Ah!

(Mace goes over to a donkey.)

[Cellar passageway]

(Adric has climbed through the fanlight.)

TEGAN: What are you doing?
ADRIC: What do you think?
TEGAN: I was going to unlock the door for you.
ADRIC: Now she tells me.

[Control room]

(An alarm goes off.)

LEADER: There is someone in the house. Destroy them. Go!

(The android leaves.)

[Miller's barn]

(The Doctor finds cages of rats in the miller's cart. The miller enters and walks straight past him.)

DOCTOR: Ah, good day. I'm the Doctor. You must be the miller.

(The miller mounts his cart.)

DOCTOR: Er, I'd like a word with you. We'll only keep you a moment.
MACE: You heard what the gentleman said.
DOCTOR: No, no. Let him go.
MILLER: Gid up. Walk on. (The miller drives his cart out of the barn.)

[Manor house]

(Adric is trying to open a window.)

TEGAN: Hurry!
ADRIC: It's stiff.
TEGAN: You were boasting of your strength a few minutes ago. Get on with it.

(The android enters as Adric unlatches the window.)

TEGAN: Jump!
ADRIC: What about you?
TEGAN: Get out of here!

(Adric gets through the window. The android shoots at the ceiling above Tegan, and she raises her hands.)

TEGAN: I hope you realise this means I've surrendered.

[Miller's barn]

(Mace speaks to the little donkey.)

MACE: Are you capable of carrying a tired thespian, eh?

(The Doctor comes out of the harness room.)

DOCTOR: Nothing in there. Let's get back to the TARDIS, help Nyssa.
MACE: Now?
DOCTOR: At once.

(A group of villagers enter. They mostly have cudgels, but one man at the back has a scythe. They grab Mace and take his pistols, then the Doctor, and force them to their knees.)

VILLAGER: Plague carriers.
MACE: You jest, sir. I am without plague.
VILLAGER: The mark of the plague is on you.
MACE: You're mistaken, sir.
DOCTOR: We haven't got the plague. I can help you. Wait. Listen.
VILLAGER: Execute them!

(The field worker with the scythe walks over.)

DOCTOR: Not again.
Part Three

[Miller's barn]

(A white-haired man rushes in, followed by the poacher.)

HEADMAN: Wait!
VILLAGER: They must die. They bring plague to the village.
HEADMAN: These men are wanted vandals.
VILLAGER: And the sooner they're dispatched the better.
HEADMAN: They are wanted alive.
POACHER: There is a reward.
VILLAGER: What use is that if you're dead?
HEADMAN: No! I am the head man of your village, you will listen to me.
POACHER: Kill them, scythe man, and you die as well.
HEADMAN: No! Trust me.

(The villagers let the Doctor and Mace up off their knees.)

DOCTOR: Thank you! I'm the Doctor. I can help
HEADMAN: Lock them in the harness room.
(The head man points, and a green bracelet is seen on his wrist.
In the TARDIS, Nyssa rearranges the furniture in the bedroom she and Tegan share.
Adric runs from the Squire's house.)

[Control room]

(The android holds Tegan while the Terileptil brings control bracelet for her.)

TEGAN: No, please.
LEADER: Do not struggle, and you will feel no pain.

(He puts the bracelet on her wrist, then goes to the communications panel.)

LEADER: Report!
HEADMAN [OC]: Carried out your instructions.
LEADER: The primitiveness of these creatures astounds me. Listen to the state of this fool's brain. I said report! Concentrate on your thoughts, then I will hear them.
HEADMAN [OC]: The Doctor is my prisoner.
LEADER: Excellent. Bring him to the house at once.

(Nyssa pushes a heavy piece of equipment from the console room into the bedroom, then sits on a bed to rest.)

LEADER: Do not try to fight it and you will feel no pain. Do you understand?
TEGAN: Yes.

(The Terileptil fetches a batch of fifteen small vials from his chemistry set.)

LEADER: Take these to the cellar and pack them with the rest.

(Tegan starts to leave, but he stops her with his remote control.)

LEADER: Take care not drop them. If you do, you will be dead in minutes. Go.

[TARDIS]

(Nyssa is selecting tools from the box on the library steps when there is a knocking at the door. She opens them.)

NYSSA: Adric! What's the matter?

(She closes the doors again.)

ADRIC: Where's the Doctor?
NYSSA: Come and sit down.
ADRIC: Where is he?
NYSSA: He went to find the miller.
ADRIC: We've got to get back to the house. Tegan's still there.
NYSSA: What happened?
ADRIC: The android caught us escaping, and I had to leave her behind.
NYSSA: Was she hurt?
ADRIC: I don't know! We've got to get back there and find out.
NYSSA: We should wait for the Doctor. We can't take on the android by ourselves.
ADRIC: Why isn't he here? Why's he never around when you want him?

[Harness room]

MACE: I have appeared before some of the most hostile audiences in the world. Today I met Death in a cellar, but I've never been so afraid until I met the man with the scythe.
DOCTOR: The headman was wearing a bracelet.
MACE: Should I care? He saved our lives.
DOCTOR: Yeah, for the Terileptils.
MACE: I thought you wanted to meet them.
DOCTOR: Not as their prisoner.
MACE: It couldn't be worse than what we've just experienced.
DOCTOR: It might be more subtle.
MACE: I feel my mind slipping into a bottomless pit of gloom and despair.
DOCTOR: Well, you'd better snatch it back again quickly. The headman's coming. I want to get his bracelet off.
MACE: Is that wise?
DOCTOR: We have no choice. Free of it, we might be able to reason with him.

(The village head man and the poacher enter.)

HEADMAN: You are to be taken to the manor house.
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, of course, of course. But first I would like to thank you very much for saving our lives.

(The Doctor holds out his hand, then takes the head man's hand and shakes it. Mace elbows the poacher in the stomach and wrestles for his bracelet. The Doctor pulls the powerpack out of the head man's bracelet. The old man staggers back through the door and the villagers shut it. The Doctor returns to Mace and pulls the powerpack out of the poacher's bracelet. He passes out.)

[Miller's barn]

(The head man gently collapses.)

VILLAGER: What happened?

[Harness room]

MACE: Well, that didn't get us very far
DOCTOR: It was worth a try.
MACE: So what do we do now, ransom the poacher?

[Control room]

(An alarm sounds.)

LEADER: Primitive fools! They have allowed the Doctor to disconnect their power packs. Bring me the Doctor and his companion. I want them here. Go!

(The android leaves.)

[Miller's barn]

HEADMAN: I don't remember anything very clearly.
VILLAGER: Who are those two? And why were you taking them to the manor house?
HEADMAN: Was I?
VILLAGER: That's what you said.
HEADMAN: I don't know. I heard a voice and then I was here.
VILLAGER: A voice?
HEADMAN: Find the Doctor, it said, and then I saw a picture of that man inside my head.
VILLAGER: A vision?
HEADMAN: It was horrible! It was horrible! I couldn't control my mind. I had to do what this voice said.
VILLAGER: You were possessed. There's evil at work here. The plague carriers are warlocks as well.

[Harness room]

(Mace can find no weakness in the wooden walls.)

DOCTOR: Oh, dear. How is he?
MACE: I think he's asleep.
DOCTOR: He'll be all right.
MACE: But what about us, eh? I think our jailers sound decidedly against us.
DOCTOR: There must be some way out of here. Adric and Tegan are depending on me.
MACE: Wait, wait, wait.

(Mace takes the poacher's knife.)

MACE: Maybe I could test the strength of this blade against the planking of the wall.

[Girl's bedroom]

NYSSA: We'll need the heavy duty cable and an adapter.
ADRIC: Will that thing really work?
NYSSA: Of course.
ADRIC: It doesn't look very portable.
NYSSA: I know. I wish the Doctor would hurry up. He knows far more about these things than I do.
ADRIC: I'll go and look for him.
NYSSA: No. If you missed each other, we'd then have to send out a search party for you.

[Control room]

(Two other Terileptils are on the monitor.)

LEADER: Our work is complete. I will deliver it to our base in London this evening for immediate release. And I have more news. I have discovered a group of time travellers. Soon they will be our prisoners, and their ship under our control.

(The three villagers who were burning the sulphur have found the TARDIS. Adric is fiddling around under the console all the time they are visible on the scanner. Meanwhile, Tegan is in the wine cellar, packing the vials for transport.)

[Miller's barn]

(The villagers are taking faggots of wood out of the barn.)

VILLAGER: Come on, lads, quick as you can. Let's have them burnt before they can work anymore of their magic.

[Harness room]

(Mace's escape plan isn't going well.)

MACE: I fear the gentleman who built this wall knew his trade too well.
DOCTOR: Here, let me try.
MACE: If only we had some of the skills of which we are accused. A small spell would work wonders.

(The wall smashes inwards. The android has arrived.)

MACE: I didn't say a word.

[Miller's barn]

VILLAGER: Build it high!

(They hear noises from the harness room.)

HEADMAN: What was that?
VILLAGER: The warlocks are escaping! Quickly!

(The android comes out of the harness room in his Death disguise, and takes the scythe from its owner. The villagers flee in panic.)

HEADMAN: Death!

[Girl's bedroom]

(Adric brings in the heavy duty cable.)

ADRIC: I can't see why you wanted to work in here.
NYSSA: I need the extra space.
ADRIC: Why? You're not going to operate it in here.
NYSSA: Only to test it.
ADRIC: Won't it damage the TARDIS?
NYSSA: It's less likely to here than in the console room, and I'm not really sure it will work at all.
ADRIC: It'd better.

[Wine cellar]

(The android brings in the Doctor and Mace.)

DOCTOR: Tegan?
TEGAN: Yes?
MACE: She is wearing a bracelet.
DOCTOR: Concentrate, Tegan. You can override the effects. Concentrate hard. Get back to the TARDIS and tell Nyssa what's happening.

(The android pushes the Doctor away from Tegan and towards the disguised Control room entrance. She carries on packing vials.)

DOCTOR: You'd better prepare yourself for a shock.
MACE: What now?
DOCTOR: I don't think you'll have seen anything quite like a Terileptil before.

[Control room]

(The android deactivates the holographic wall and Mace gets his first sight of the reptilian. He grabs the Doctor's arm.)

DOCTOR: It's all right. How do you do? I'm the Doctor. Are you in charge here?
LEADER: You will remain silent.
DOCTOR: Sorry, it's just I'm quite concerned about a couple of friends I left here. I've already seen Tegan, but I'd like to know that the boy Adric is
LEADER: Your friends are of no interest to me.
DOCTOR: Well, that's unfortunate, because we had intended to help you.
LEADER: Help me? You would help a Terileptil?
DOCTOR: To get back to your own planet, yes.
LEADER: You must think me a fool!
DOCTOR: Not at all.
LEADER: Look at me, Doctor. Do you see this? This is not natural to my physiognomy.
DOCTOR: So you've been to prison. What does that matter?
LEADER: How do you know that?
DOCTOR: There's only one place in the universe a Terileptil can acquire such scaring. The tinclavic mines on Raaga.
LEADER: And to be sentenced to Raaga is always for life.
DOCTOR: Terileptian law was never my strong point.
LEADER: Doctor, I am a fugitive. The last place I want to go is home. Only death awaits me there.
DOCTOR: I see your point, but there are countless uninhabited planets you could settle on.
LEADER: Ah, yes, to live a primitive life without grace or beauty.
DOCTOR: You're highly intelligent. You have your android, your skills. Your way of life wouldn't remain primitive for long.
LEADER: But we would have no ship, and without one we would be defenceless, prey to any Terileptil scout party.
DOCTOR: I can take you anywhere you want. A billion light years from your home planet. You'd never be found.
LEADER: No, Doctor, a barren rock in space is not an acceptable alternative, especially when you are my prisoner and your ship is for the taking.
DOCTOR: I can't let you do that.
LEADER: You are not in a position to refuse.
DOCTOR: The TARDIS is a very temperamental machine, needing very careful handling.
LEADER: Oh, we shall see that it is handled with the utmost care.
DOCTOR: You didn't take very good care of your own ship.
LEADER: If it not been badly damaged in an asteroid storm, it would have not succumbed to the gravitational pull of this planet.
DOCTOR: I gather it's break-up made an impressive spectacle.
LEADER: It cost the lives of all but myself and three of my comrades.
DOCTOR: There are only four of you?
LEADER: Three now, but it is enough.
DOCTOR: Against the millions who already live on this planet? You'd never establish yourself here.
LEADER: You are assuming we plan to coexist.
DOCTOR: Genocide.
LEADER: The primitives on this planet are too wilful and aggressive. I have little need for them, especially now we have your TARDIS.
DOCTOR: You'll find their annihilation more difficult than you think, and the TARDIS will not help you.
LEADER: The TARDIS will not be necessary.
MACE: This thing is talking of mass murder,
LEADER: Is he a primitive?
DOCTOR: Ahem.
MACE: There is nothing primitive about me, sir.
LEADER: So much pride in something so stupid. I could destroy you now.
MACE: Let me see you try.

(Mace walks up to the Terileptil, who easily pushes him into the arms of the android.)

LEADER: Fit the primitive with a bracelet.
DOCTOR: He is one untrained man. What will you do when they send thousands of their soldiers against you?
LEADER: Oh, you are so right, Doctor. We cannot fight as warriors, but I have devised a plan that will make that unnecessary.

[Girl's bedroom]

ADRIC: Are these what you wanted?
NYSSA: That's right.
ADRIC: How much more have you got to do on that?
NYSSA: Not much, although the Doctor will have to check some of the adjustments.
ADRIC: If we ever see him again.
NYSSA: I'm sure he's all right.
ADRIC: What about Tegan?
NYSSA: Try not to worry. You can't do anything for her.
ADRIC: No, I can't do anything for anyone. I can't even help you on that. I'm going to look for the Doctor.
NYSSA: Adric!
ADRIC: He might be in trouble.
NYSSA: And what will you be able to do?
ADRIC: More than just wait.

[TARDIS]

(The scanner is showing the empty woodland pathway.)

NYSSA: Adric, where will you go?
ADRIC: To the mill.
NYSSA: You could easily miss him.
ADRIC: So you keep saying. Look, just don't worry, Nyssa. Everything'll be all right.

(Adric leaves.)

NYSSA: Adric, no! Oh, why won't he listen to me?

(Adric hops over a fallen tree and past the hidden villagers. Nyssa watches his capture on the scanner.)

NYSSA: Oh, no!

(She runs to open the door, then closes it again.)

[Wine cellar]

DOCTOR: A neat idea, dressing the android up as Death.
LEADER: It created the confusion I wanted.
DOCTOR: Yes.

(The Doctor polishes the android's shoulder.)

DOCTOR: I saw him in action in the stable.

(The Terileptil takes a pair of manacles from the wall.)

LEADER: I have always found fear an excellent tool.
DOCTOR: Tell me, what happened to the occupants of this house?
LEADER: A noble death. They were allowed to die fighting.

(The Doctor puts his hands into the manacles.)

DOCTOR: I've never been able to reconcile the Terileptil's love of art and beauty with their love of war. Don't I qualify for a bracelet?
LEADER: No. Your mind would override the effects.
DOCTOR: Cruder but more effective, hey?
LEADER: War is honourable, Doctor. Even on this planet it is considered so.
DOCTOR: Oh, I know, but by your admission these people are still primitive. What's your excuse?

[Girl's bedroom]

(Nyssa kicks the sonic booster.)

NYSSA: Stupid machine!

(The android locks the Doctor in the cell.)

[Woodlands]

(Adric is being manhandled by the villagers.)

ADRIC: Get off!

[Cell]

(The Doctor is searching his pockets, and drops the sonic screwdriver.)

DOCTOR: Oh, for a proper key.

[Manor house driveway]

(Wearing a black cape, the Terileptil goes up to the miller.)

LEADER: Hurry. Help the others.

(Tegan and Mace come out of a small side door carrying boxes of vials. They hand them up to the miller who packs them on his cart. The Terileptil returns to the control room and puts a vial into a hypodermic device.)

[Cell]

(The Doctor puts a safety pin on the floor next to the screwdriver, a piece of string and two powerpacks.)

DOCTOR: Someday I must get a proper survival kit together.

(He starts to put them back into his pocket as the door is opened.)

LEADER: Stay where you are, Doctor. Shoot him if he moves. Now, turn around.

(Tegan puts a sack-covered cage on the bench.)

LEADER: Drop the sonic device.
DOCTOR: It isn't my day, is it.

(The Terileptil destroys the sonic screwdriver.)

DOCTOR: I feel as though you've just killed an old friend.
LEADER: It is with some sadness that I tell you you are about to join it.
DOCTOR: Why not smile and let me live?
LEADER: If I did that, you'd be more of a menace than all the primitives on this planet.
DOCTOR: You overestimate me.
LEADER: And then there would be the argument over the TARDIS. Ah, you would have made a useful ally, but I'm afraid I think you are better dead. I said I would demonstrate how I'm to rid this planet of all it's primitives. It's very simple.

(Tegan removes the sack from the cage. The Terileptil uses his sonic hypodermic on the squeaking occupants.)

DOCTOR: The poor old black rat and his flea.
LEADER: The infection it now carries has been genetically re-engineered. Although heavily infected, it will outlive you all.
DOCTOR: But you'd need thousands of them.
LEADER: I have thousands of them. They are awaiting release in a nearby city. Their infection will kill every living thing.
DOCTOR: I thought the local plague was already doing that?
LEADER: Ah, but our rats will ensure there are no survivors. A final visitation.
DOCTOR: Then who will serve you?
LEADER: Now we have your TARDIS, we can travel the universe and acquire androids.
DOCTOR: This carnage isn't necessary.
LEADER: It's survival, Doctor. Just as these primitives kill lesser species to protect themselves, so I kill them.
DOCTOR: That's hardly an argument.
LEADER: It's not supposed to be an argument. It's a statement! If you try to escape or interfere with this cage, your friends' controlled minds have but one thought. To kill you.

(The Terileptil leaves.)

DOCTOR: Tegan, I know you never listen to a word I say but, please put the cover back on the cage. You can do it. Just concentrate and you can override the control. Think hard! Cover the cage!

(Mace raises his pistol as Tegan starts to open the cage.)

DOCTOR: No, Tegan, don't! Please, listen to me! It's the Doctor. Don't open it! If you do it's the end for us all!
Part Four

[Cell]

(The Doctor quickly turns and discharges his second powerpack through Mace's pistol. He drops it, clutching his hand. The Doctor kicks it away as Tegan goes for him.)

DOCTOR: Tegan! Tegan, we haven't got time to fight.

(He gets the powerpack out of her bracelet, and she collapses. The Doctor dashes to Mace and removes his powerpack too.)

DOCTOR: How are you feeling?
MACE: What happened?
DOCTOR: Steady. You'll be all right.
MACE: How do you know that?
DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor. Take it easy.

[Manor house driveway]

(The Terileptil comes out and gives his order to the android.)

LEADER: Go, search for the TARDIS, and when you find it, pilot it to the base yourself.

(The android, still disguised as Death, obeys. Meanwhile, Adric is still being dragged through the woodland.)

[Cell]

DOCTOR: How do you feel, now?
TEGAN: Groggy, sore and bad-tempered.
DOCTOR: Oh, almost your old self.
TEGAN: It's not very funny. I feel awful. Why is he so full of beans?
MACE: I'm a man of iron.
DOCTOR: It's more likely the electrical charge I gave him. So, what am I to do about these?

(His manacles.)

MACE: Have no fear, I am at hand. Have you a piece of wire?

(The Doctor takes out his safety pin.)

DOCTOR: Will this be any good?
MACE: Ah. Interesting device. Perfect! I once knew a French acrobat. He wasn't very good at tumbling, but his skill with a piece of bent iron was phenomenal. Luckily, he passed his skill onto me which enabled me to extricate my fee from the strong boxes of more than one disreputable theatre manager. Eureka!

(In the TARDIS, Nyssa connects the sonic disrupter to the power cable.)

[Manor house driveway]

(The Terileptil takes the reins of the miller's cart.)

LEADER: Return to the laboratory. You have my instructions.
MILLER: Gid up. Walk on. Get on.

(The miller sends the cart on its way with a slap on the horse's rump.)

[Cell]

(Having succeeded with the manacles, Mace is now trying the safety pin on the door lock.)

TEGAN: Can the Terileptil really do what he said?
DOCTOR: Open the cage and find out.
TEGAN: Well, I meant on such a scale?
DOCTOR: Oh, yes.
TEGAN: But to kill all those people, it's monstrous.
DOCTOR: The Terileptils find it disturbingly easy to justify themselves. How are you doing with that lock?
MACE: Gently, sir. Picking a lock is an art.
TEGAN: Can't you use your screwdriver?

(The Doctor points to the piece of molten metal on the floor.)

TEGAN: What about the gun?

(Tegan picks up Mace's pistol. She is pointing it at the Doctor all the time.)

MACE: No, no, no, no. That would be heard.
TEGAN: Can't we risk it?
DOCTOR: Er, just a moment more.

(The Doctor carefully takes the pistol from Tegan.)

MACE: I'm nearly there.
TEGAN: It's impossible. You can't pick a lock with a safety pin.
MACE: I released the Doctor.
TEGAN: Yeah, but that was handcuffs. I'm talking about a door lock. Look, for all we know the Terileptil and the android could be miles away by now.
DOCTOR: You're right. Stand back.
MACE: Five seconds longer.
DOCTOR: I said, stand back.

(Mace moves away and the Doctor shoots a nice hole into the door, above the lock.)

MACE: You missed. You wasted our only shot.
DOCTOR: I never miss.
MACE: There's your shot, there is the lock. A span separates them both.
DOCTOR: Try the door.

(The door opens.)

DOCTOR: You see?
MACE: Impossible. I must have picked it.

[Girl's bedroom]

(Nyssa puts on a large pair of headphones then switches on the sonic disrupter. Everything begins to shake. She switches it off again.)

NYSSA: Done it.

[Wine cellar]

(The miller reinstates the forcefield wall, blocking the Doctor's entrance to the Control room. Then he pushes another button and the cellar door locks behind them.)

TEGAN: Not again.

(The miller goes to the communications panel, puts down his pistol, and waits for his next order.)

DOCTOR: The master control is overriding the switch. Stack some of these empty boxes up along here.
TEGAN: Now what are you up to?

(The Doctor takes the panel off the door switch and puts the safety pin across some contact. The wall disappears to reveal a couple of stacks of boxes. Astonished, the miller picks up his pistol and goes back to the main panel. The doorway does not close again so he goes out to investigate. Tegan pops up from behind a pile of boxes.)

TEGAN: G'day!

(The miller fires, but his aim is deflected by the Doctor knocking another pile of boxes onto him. He falls, Mace grabs one arm and the Doctor gets the powerpack from his bracelet.)

TEGAN: Is he all right?
DOCTOR: Just stunned.

[Control room]

DOCTOR: They've gone.
TEGAN: But where?
DOCTOR: A nearby city. Which is the nearest city?
MACE: London.
TEGAN: We'll never find them there.
DOCTOR: Have a look around. See what papers you can find.
TEGAN: Oh, you think they'll have left a forwarding address?
DOCTOR: Will you! Just look around. There might be something.
(The android confronts the villagers in the woodlands. The men run off, screaming, and Adric hides behind a silver birch tree. The android turns and walks away, so Adric follows it.
Meanwhile, Tegan and Mace are sifting through a pile of papers.)
MACE: I can't make head nor tail of this.
DOCTOR: You wouldn't.
TEGAN: It's all mathematical formulae.
DOCTOR: Or Terileptian script. You know, I didn't realise their technology was so advanced.
TEGAN: I'm so glad you're impressed.
DOCTOR: What? Oh, yes.
MACE: I mean, we can't even read them.
DOCTOR: It doesn't matter.

(The Doctor tries pressing buttons on the bracelet control panel. Then he lifts it up and takes out a hand-sized panel.)

DOCTOR: Ah, this is it. Let's see them replace this in a hurry.
TEGAN: What is it?
DOCTOR: The control panel. I've disconnected it.
TEGAN: Oh, great. You've liberated a whole lot of villagers. What about the base?
DOCTOR: Oh, we'll find it.
TEGAN: Just like you found Heathrow?
DOCTOR: Let's get back to the TARDIS.

[Outside the TARDIS]

(Nyssa is putting the tool box back inside the console base when she sees Adric on the scanner, walking along the pathway. She opens the door and goes out to meet him. They wave to each other, then the android appears from behind the TARDIS.)

ADRIC: Look out!

(Nyssa runs back inside, but the android stops her shutting the door. Adric tries kicking it, but it knocks him down. Adric takes its cloak with him. The android pushes the TARDIS doors wide open and goes inside.)

[Girl's bedroom]

(Nyssa is waiting, holding the headphones. The android takes off its Death mask and enters the console room. It fires its weapon at the inner door and puts the mask on the console. Nyssa puts on the headphones, waits a few seconds then switches on the sonic disrupter, then hides behind a bed. The android enters as everything starts to shake. It tries firing at the disrupter, but has no effect. The vibrations increase and little trinket boxes bounce off the dressing table. The android turns its fire on the power cable, but smoke is beginning to come out of its joints. Finally the mechanical man explodes. Nyssa comes out of hiding and turns off the disrupter, then gets a small fire extinguisher to put out the fires in power cable and the android's remains. Then she sits on the bed, takes off the headphones and heaves a great sigh of relief. Adric enters, rubbing his sore neck.)

ADRIC: You did it.
NYSSA: I did it.
ADRIC: You're all right? Not hurt?
NYSSA: I'm fine. Just a little sad. It was such a magnificent machine.
ADRIC: That machine tried to kill you.
NYSSA: It was a slave. It was only doing what it was told. I think we should check how much damage has been done to the TARDIS.
ADRIC: What about the Doctor and Tegan?
NYSSA: Where do we look?
ADRIC: Tegan will still be at the house. Now you've destroyed the android it's perfectly safe to go there.

[TARDIS]

NYSSA: It's beginning to get dark. Aren't you forgetting the woods are still full of your friendly villagers?
ADRIC: We could go in the TARDIS.
NYSSA: No, Adric. You move this ship and we could finish up anywhere.
ADRIC: And if we don't, the Doctor and Tegan could finish up dead.

[Entrance hall]

(Mace helps himself to the Squire's collection of weaponry while the Doctor and Tegan look for a way out of the building.)

TEGAN: It's still locked.
DOCTOR: So's this.

[Manor house]

(They go to the window.)

DOCTOR: Ah, we'll try this one.
TEGAN: Oh, not again.
MACE: That exit is impossible, my dear sir. I would never get through it.
DOCTOR: If you abandoned some of that junk, you might.
MACE: This, my Doctor, is our insurance.
TEGAN: Looks more like overkill to me.
DOCTOR: It's stuck.
TEGAN: Can't be.
DOCTOR: It's been sealed. We'll have to find the back door.

(The sound of the TARDIS materialising.)

MACE: What is that?
DOCTOR: Help, if we're lucky.

(But the TARDIS can't solidify.)

TEGAN: What's wrong?
DOCTOR: I don't know.
TEGAN: Not the android.

[TARDIS]

(The time rotor stops moving.)

NYSSA: Stay calm. Why won't it work?
ADRIC: Perhaps I'm pushing the wrong buttons.
NYSSA: Maybe she was damaged by the booster.

[Manor house]

MACE: What is this?
DOCTOR: It may be the only glimpse you ever get of my TARDIS.

[TARDIS]

NYSSA: Try and think what the Doctor would do if he were here.
ADRIC: He'd probably get angry.
NYSSA: I said empathise, not be silly.
ADRIC: Got it!

(Adric hits the console. He hurts his hand.)

NYSSA: Brilliant!

[Manor house]

(The Doctor can't bear to watch the TARDIS flickering, then it materialises properly.)

TEGAN: At last! You really should get this crate serviced, you know.
ADRIC: We made it. Doctor! Tegan! You're safe.
DOCTOR: So, you got here at last.
TEGAN: Come on, Doctor, be grateful. If nothing else, it saved us a long walk.
DOCTOR: I like long walks.
NYSSA: It worked.

(The Doctor goes into the TARDIS.)

TEGAN: Anyway, I'm pleased to see you.
MACE: I, too, my friend.
ADRIC: Where's the Terileptil?
TEGAN: Ask the Doctor.

[TARDIS]

(The Doctor surveys the wreckage in Nyssa and Tegan's bedroom, then returns to the console room.)

DOCTOR: Well, I knew the booster would work in theory, but practice is another matter.
NYSSA: Thank you.
MACE: This isn't possible.
ADRIC: That's what I thought at first, but it is.
MACE: It's amazing! Quite amazing.
NYSSA: Where are we going?
DOCTOR: Ah, in search of our Terileptil.

(The Doctor hits the console to set her moving.)

ADRIC: You know where he is?
DOCTOR: Yes, yes, that's why I'm searching.
(The Terileptil has arrived outside a group of half-timbered houses. He goes inside one, shielding his face from the heat of the ovens.
The TARDIS scanner is running a line across an old map of the City of London.)
TEGAN: Will you, please, tell me why we're doing this?
DOCTOR: Wait and see.

(The white line stops on a diagonal running up from the north end of London Bridge, past Billings Gate towards the Tower. A second line triangulates the position.)

DOCTOR: That's it!
TEGAN: What is it?
DOCTOR: The Terileptil base.
TEGAN: How do you know?

(The scanner has picked a diamond shaped area between London Bridge and Billings Gate.)

ADRIC: There's something there.
TEGAN: How do you know it's their base?
DOCTOR: It's an electrical emission from a piece of scientific equipment. Not something you'd expect to find in seventeenth century Earth.
TEGAN: Why didn't you say that's what you were looking for?
DOCTOR: Because I wasn't looking for it until I found it.

[Terileptil base]

(As the TARDIS materialises outside near the miller's cart, making some dogs bark nearby, the three Terileptils are taking in great gulps of soliton from their gas machine.)

LEADER: Enough!

(The other two reptiles wheel it out of the away.)

[Outside the bakery]

DOCTOR: Here's an old friend.
ADRIC: But where are the Terileptils? They could be anywhere around here.
DOCTOR: When a miller's cart stands outside a bakery, it isn't hard to deduce where the miller is.

(He goes up to the door. The glow of the fire from the ovens lights up his face.)

DOCTOR: Almost as if we were expect.

(The Doctor, Mace, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric enter. Mace puts down the musket he has been cradling by an oven. Adric trips against some boxes, making a noise.)

[Terileptil base]

LEADER: Quickly, the door!

[Bakery]

 (Mace hands the Doctor a brand lit from the oven then takes up his musket again.)
NYSSA: Where are they?

[Terileptil base]

(The Doctor enters, not seeing the two Terileptils hiding behind the door.)

DOCTOR: Good evening.

(Mace follows, musket pointed at the Terileptil.)

LEADER: Welcome, Doctor.
DOCTOR: You were expecting me.
LEADER: I was expecting my android, but if you have brought the TARDIS here yourself, so be it.
DOCTOR: I brought the android as well.
LEADER: And your friends. Please, come in, but first put away your gun.
MACE: You jest, sir.
LEADER: No. See.

(The Terileptil puts down his own weapon.)

LEADER: I mean you no harm. I have obviously underestimated you all. Now!

(The other Terileptils close the door behind the Doctor and Mace. One of them wrestles with Mace for the musket, but gets shot and drops his weapon in the straw. The second has the Doctor in a painful neck grip. He drops his burning brand and the straw catches alight. Finally the Doctor manages to elbow his attacker in the abdomen and grab his short arms. Tegan comes in, picks up the musket and hits the reptile over the head with it. Nyssa and Adric try to put out the fire but to no avail. The Doctor gets Mace out of the clutches of the Leader, then something starts beeping.)

TEGAN: What's that?
DOCTOR: The gun's about to explode!

(The flames reach the Terileptil weapon.)

DOCTOR: Quick, everyone out of here!

[Outside the bakery]

NYSSA: Shouldn't we try and help them?

(BOOM!)

DOCTOR: Too late! That's the soliton machine exploding.

(The horse gets upset and Mace goes to move the cart away from the fire.)

DOCTOR: Wait! Quick, everything into the flames.

(They throw the boxes of plague vials into the bakery.)

MACE: Nightwatchman! Fetch a squirter! Arouse the street!

(The Terileptils die in agony, with huge blisters bursting on their skin. Rather like buboes, but a lot quicker.)

DOCTOR: We must go. Our presence here would raise too many awkward questions. Can we drop you anywhere?
MACE: I'm afraid your pace of life is a little to fast for me, sir. I shall stay here and fight the fire. A much, much quieter occupation.
DOCTOR: Into the TARDIS!
MACE: Goodbye, Doctor!
DOCTOR: Oh, a keepsake.

(The Doctor gives Mace the control panel.)

MACE: Ah.
DOCTOR: Good luck.
NYSSA: Won't it confuse the archaeologists?

(The Doctor puts his finger to his lips and goes into the TARDIS. Timbers from the overhangs start to fall as the TARDIS dematerialises.)

MACE: Goodbye, Doctor!

[TARDIS]

(The Doctor hums the tune of London's Burning.)

TEGAN: Doctor, shouldn't we have helped put out the fire? We are partially responsible.
DOCTOR: I have a sneaking suspicion this fire should be allowed to run its course.
ADRIC: How do you mean?
DOCTOR: I'll explain someday.

(Flames reach the sign bearing the street's name. Pudding Lane.)

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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