Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Enemy Within I

1. THE BEYOND

Blackness. The sounds of crackling, getting louder and louder, becoming the roaring of flames. A horrible scream – a human voice. Its agony reverberates, changing into something else. Still in agony, but now a strange noise more than a voice. A deep moan like static feedback, but becoming sporadic, breathless, like grunts.

Silence.

The sound screams with sudden, ear-splitting violence. We cut to a dim, blurred image of a long cylindrical tunnel stretching into infinity. There is a dim light at the end, enough to illuminate the rippling, smooth walls of the tunnel. There is an impression of being underground, underwater. Rippling patterns of dark blue and grey light make it indistinct, unreal.

The scream continues and the owner of the voice is seen briefly – a humanoid shape runs past us down the tunnel, screaming all the while. Humanoid with arms and legs seemingly too long to comfortably fit in the tunnel, forcing it to crouch. It is kicking and lashing out with its limbs as it shambles down the tunnel towards the light, as if furious and trapped. Despite its fury, the walls absorb the blows as the shape moves down into the blur at the end of the tunnel.

Suddenly, it’s rushing straight down the tunnel towards us. A brief glimpse is all we get, but its gangly form is sinewy and muscular, and it seems burnt and scorched. Its face is horrible, for the glimpse we get of it – a bald, smooth head, no ears, eyes slits as if screwed up in pain, a nose with no nostrils and a huge, down-turned open mouth comically as large as the face above it. The scream emerges from the blackness within. It charges at us and we zoom into the dark as the scream reaches its zenith.



2. INT. TARDIS CONTROL ROOM (NIGHT)

A close up of THE DOCTOR’S face. His head is bowed, eyes closed, clearly just having dozed off. As the scream ends his eyes snap open and his head jerks back, wide awake.

Wide shot. The console room is ‘at night’. The lights are dim and the glow behind the roundels is a deep autumnal orange. The Doctor is standing by the console, its lights flashing silently in the gloom. The Doctor, tense, carefully tuns around, as if searching the room for any sign of the noise. He’s quite alone.

The Doctor crosses to the closed doors and looks at them suspiciously, and then crosses to the internal door. He opens it and peers out. Satisfied, he nods and closes the door and looks around the room again. He’s alone. Disconcerted, he takes a cloth from his pocket and dusts the console, humming an operatic tune as he does so.

Softly bring up the noise. It is a pained, regular croaking. It gets loud enough for us to realize it is a gasping, barely intelligible giggle. It grows louder and louder as we realize the Doctor cannot hear it. Louder and louder.


3. MODEL SHOT

The TARDIS is spinning through time and space. Pull back to see an impression of the monstrous face is pressed hard against the surface of this realm, its huge mouth looming threateningly over the police box as it passes. As the laughter continues, the face dissolves like ice under hot water, and the realm smoothes out completely, leaving no trace it was there at all. The laughing moans are deafening and continue over the start of the theme music as we:


(RUN OPENING CREDITS)
(THE ENEMY WITHIN)
(EPISODE ONE: THE DARKEST NIGHT)


1. THE BEYOND

The thing stands, bashing the walls confining it. It makes a regular, moaning grunt as if speaking, but it sounds like blocked pipes.


2. INT. TARDIS CONTROL ROOM (NIGHT)

The lights are not at full brightness. The Doctor is frowning and adjusting controls in front of him. He crosses to the monitor and taps a code into it. We see him press the buttons 8, 9, 3 and 5. On the monitor the numbers 7, 8, 9, 4 appear. The Doctor bangs his fist against the console and punches the code in again. 7, 8, 3, 4.

DOCTOR
For want of a nail, the war was lost.

He bangs his fist again. PERI enters, rubbing her eyes.

DOCTOR
Evening, Peri. You’re up early.

PERI
I couldn’t sleep.

The Doctor stares at her.

DOCTOR
Why not?

PERI
I had a bad dream. Nothing important.

DOCTOR
Yes. No doubt.

He’s not convinced.


3. THE BEYOND

The creature is even more frenzied.


4. INT. TARDIS CONTROL ROOM (NIGHT)

As before. The duo are standing by the console.

PERI
So, what’s wrong with the TARDIS this time?

DOCTOR
Don’t say ‘this time’ as if it’s always breaking down!

PERI
Why not? If it hasn’t gone haywire again...

DOCTOR
Again? AGAIN?!

PERI
...then why are you thumping it with your fist?

DOCTOR
Hmph. There are pressure plate manual re set controls built into the console, which are activated like so.

He thumps the console.

PERI
Really?

The Doctor nods and speaks confidently.

DOCTOR
No, I’m lying to myself. Come on, old girl! WORK!

The console room lurches, throwing them both to the left. The whir of the servos drowns out the familiar chiming as the time rotor sinks into the console and is still.


5. EXT. WOODS (NIGHT)

Late dusk. The woods are full of tall trees, dimming the light even more and some gentle mist wafts over the scene. The trees sway in the cold breeze, providing a continual background sigh. We pan slowly around, showing the deserted woodlands and beyond empty moorland interspersed with a handful of muddy bogs. The TARDIS rapidly appears to one side, its blue light briefly lighting up the forest. The gloom and quiet return rapidly.


6. THE BEYOND

The thing stands perfectly still and silent.


7. INT. TARDIS CONTROL ROOM (NIGHT)

The Doctor is bent over the console peering at the displays. Peri rubs her shoulder as she stands nearby, trying not to get in the way.

PERI
Any idea where we’ve landed?

DOCTOR
No.

PERI
None at all?

DOCTOR
None, as you say, at all. Unusual. Disturbing. Possibly catastrophic.

Peri rolls her eyes.

PERI
Hi! I’m from the solar system! So WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?!

The Doctor glares at her and snaps down a button.

DOCTOR
See for yourself!

The display on the monitor reads: 0000

DOCTOR
That is our precise spatio-temporal location to the last decimal base.

PERI
Zero? But that’s nowhere.

DOCTOR
Perhaps.

He turns the scanner control and the shield rises to show darkness.

PERI
Is that what’s outside?

DOCTOR
No.

He thumps the console. The shield drops back down, as if shaken loose.

DOCTOR
Real-world-interface is playing up. Good!

PERI
We’re blinded and that’s good!

DOCTOR
Exactly, Peri, because we now know what that display means!

PERI
Zero, zero, zero, zero? AD?

DOCTOR
Yes! The absolute time value of our given coordinates.

PERI
So, what, we’re frozen in time?

DOCTOR
No, it’s simply in default mode. Whenever there is a massive sensor malfunction, the coordinate interface systems automatically snap to zero. Stops the wretched things from breaking down entirely.

PERI
So... why the malfunction?

DOCTOR
No idea. Cosmic storm, time friction, could be what happened last time...

The Doctor starts adjusting controls, much calmer and collected.

PERI
OK, I’ll bite. What happened last time?

DOCTOR
Old Augustus created his own calendar.

PERI
Augustus? As in Caesar?

DOCTOR
As in Augustus Caesar.

PERI
Why should his own calendar affect the TARDIS?

DOCTOR
It wasn’t accurate. It missed out a day. I tried to map the TARDIS data banks onto the calendar, it nearly wrecked the coordinate override system.

PERI
How inconsiderate.

DOCTOR
Peri, that was one day a year missing!

PERI
It’s just a day.

DOCTOR
One day, a year, every year until the end of time! It’s rather significant! The computer couldn’t cope. Now the failsafe means any anomaly that large merely de-sets the sensors until I can sort it out.

PERI
But you still don’t know where we are?

DOCTOR
No. But presumably we’re in some sort of localized time eddy. It should clear up soon, the systems will clear themselves and we’ll be able to go on our merry way.

PERI
IF it clears up.

DOCTOR
As you say, Peri.

PERI
And IF it doesn’t?

DOCTOR
Well... we can live without knowing what the time is. Can’t we?

PERI
You tell me.

A beat. We hear that voice chuckle. Neither notice. The Doctor pulls the door lever. Nothing happens. He thumps the console. The doors almost mutinously open. Silence.

PERI
Odd.

DOCTOR
You know, Peri? A good friend of mine once said that, in moments of great confusion, the best thing to do is go for a walk and see what happens. Something almost always does.

He strides confidently out the door. Peri follows cautiously.


8. EXT. WOODS (NIGHT)

The doors to the TARDIS rattle open and the Doctor steps out with far more caution than he showed moments before. Carefully he steps out and looks around, then rubs his hands against the cold. Peri pauses in the doorway.

PERI
It’s freezing out there!

DOCTOR
Don’t exaggerate, Peri. It’s just the difference in temperature. Put on a coat or something if you’re worried.

Peri rolls her eyes and ducks inside to do just that. The Doctor takes a torch from his pocket and switches it on, sweeping the light beam across the trees. Suddenly he sweeps back, double taking to rest the light directly on a thick batch of bracken that something seems to be hiding behind. The branches sway in the cold wind. The Doctor silently strides towards the bracken, face stern and impassive. Although closer we cannot make out anything clearly, and presumably it is standing still. Silence.

PERI (VO)
What is it?

The Doctor flinches, closes his eyes and lets out a controlled sigh of frustration.

DOCTOR
Don’t DO that, Perpuguiliam!

Peri steps from the TARDIS, letting the doors close. She is now wearing a long brown fur-lined coat. She approaches the Doctor.

PERI
What’s wrong? Not scared of the dark, are you?

DOCTOR
Peri, there are some questions that just become insulting after you pass the big eight-oh-oh and that is definitely one of them! No one’s scared of the dark. But darkness is the absence of light and universal paranoia instantly assumes that if you cannot see there aren’t nasty things around you, ergo they must be in the dark.

PERI
Sounds like a confession to me.

The Doctor snorts derisively.

DOCTOR
Confessions? Unlike some people on the TARDIS, I don’t need a night light.

PERI
You don’t sleep.

DOCTOR
Sleep is for tortoises. Or the dead. And especially dead tortoises.

A beat of near-silence.

PERI
Well, that killed the atmosphere. If it wasn’t already dead.

DOCTOR
This conversation is getting rather terminal, Peri.

PERI
Oh, how witty. You know where we are, yet?

DOCTOR
Earth.

PERI
Logic, intuition or observation?

DOCTOR
More sort of cynicism. Where else would the TARDIS fetch up? Take in the oxygen count, gravity, solitary moon, that constellation to the left, it all paints the same picture.

PERI
Pity it couldn’t be a brighter picture.

DOCTOR
Oh, we’re just in some thick dark woods at night. Nothing to be worried about.

PERI
You found something to be worried about.

DOCTOR
No, that was your limited knowledge of human body language unsuccessfully being grafted onto Gallifreyan physiognomy. Why should a cold patch of woodland bother you or I more than say a giant mind controlling slug, armored Cyborg vampires or a Hexagoran brain bank?

PERI
Nothing at all.

Beat.

PERI
Still does though.

DOCTOR
Well, concentrate on trying to work out our precise geographic and temporal location. Even if that interference does clear up...

PERI
If?

The Doctor shrugs.

DOCTOR
When. We might need to recalibrate the temporal drives and that’s a lot easier if we had a map and this year’s calendar.

PERI
Well, it’s cold, wet, the clouds are dark. Winter?

DOCTOR
Hmmm. No high pollutants. So we’re either very secluded or else before your time period.

PERI
Or both.

DOCTOR
Or both, yes. The trees are very close. So no houses, apartments, factories.

PERI
Nowhere to get a map or a calendar?

DOCTOR
Nonsense. The TARDIS always drops in close to inhabited settlements. That’s definitely one of the settings I checked before I, er, came into possession.

PERI
Like those settings that automatically reset to zero?

DOCTOR
Ah. Oh, well, let’s go for a quick reconnoiter, shall we?

PERI
How quick?

DOCTOR
Back before dawn.

He taps her on the nose. Behind them we can make out a humanoid shape, silhouetted in the moonlight, standing in the bracken, staring in their direction. No emphasis is made of this, and neither time traveler notices.

PERI
Promise?

DOCTOR
Promise. Come on.

They turn and move through the reedy grass away from the TARDIS.

PERI
Won’t your special pocket watch tell us the time?

DOCTOR
Time friction.

He shows her his pocket watch. It has stopped at midnight.

DOCTOR
See?

PERI
That’s reassuring.

DOCTOR
Really? I would have found it worrying, myself.

A snapping noise. They stop.

PERI
What was that?


9. THE BEYOND

A close up, blurred shot of the thing’s face. Its raspy excuse for a chuckle.


10. EXT. WOODS (NIGHT)

Continuous.

DOCTOR
We are in the middle of the woods. A snapping twig is to be expected.

PERI
No, not that.

DOCTOR
Then what?

PERI
A sort of... breathing noise.

The Doctor turns around, shining his torch.

DOCTOR
Peri. Hold your breath.

Peri swallows and keeps her mouth shut. A few moments. The Doctor shines his torch up into the trees. Peri, looking pale, elbows the Doctor. He glares at her, then his expression softens as he remembers she’s not allowed to breathe.

DOCTOR
Oh, I’m sorry, you can breathe again.

Peri coughs and starts catching her breath.

PERI
What was... that... in aide of... huh?

DOCTOR
I have very good hearing. When you held your breath the only noise apart from our heartbeats were the branches creaking the wind.

PERI
That’s good?

DOCTOR
Maybe. We’re quite alone, Peri. QUITE alone.

Peri draws closer to him.

PERI
I get it. No wildlife, either.

DOCTOR
No birds, bats, voles, moles, voltrox, speelsnapes... Nothing.

PERI
They’re migrating for the winter?

DOCTOR
Possibly. Of course, the time friction might scare them off an instinctive level. Nothing for us to worry about... You’re right, it is VERY cold, isn’t it?

PERI
I may have mentioned it once or twice.

DOCTOR
And the wind is coming from... that direction.

He turns and moves through the trees. Peri almost immediately breaks into a sprint trying to keep up with him. A few moments of them moving through the forest, the only noise the sounds of their progress and the wind in the trees.


11. EXT. BRIDGE (NIGHT)

The Doctor and Peri come to a halt before an old wooden bridge crossing a stagnant river. The river ends in what would be called a swamp if there was any life there, but just more moorlands lost in the darkness. The Doctor pauses by the bridge.

DOCTOR
Civilization!

PERI
You think?

DOCTOR
My dear Peri, a hump-back-bridge does not simply appear in nature.

PERI
OK, so there were people here once who built this. Not very well by the looks of it...

DOCTOR
Not very well? NOT very well?

The Doctor strides onto the bridge and jumps up and down. The bridge sways alarmingly but it is clearly not going to collapse. The Doctor turns and beams at Peri.

DOCTOR
Definitely built many years ago and left out in the elements like this, but still cross worthy. Now, you only build a bridge to get to the other side which means there must be someone living on either side. The only question is the distance between them and the bridge. Since the forest was so dense that leads me to believe the nearest human habitation will be on the other side of this bridge.

PERI
Do we have to cross it?

DOCTOR
It’s quite safe, Peri.

PERI
I just don’t think we should get too far from the TARDIS.

DOCTOR
Oh, Peri, do try and have a more positive attitude. We have NO idea where we are! And we can find out! Don’t you remember how dull and stultifying life is when everything has its place, everything is IN its place and worst of all you know where those places are! This is adventure, excitement and moderately wild things!

PERI
It’s only adventure if we can get home at any time. Not being marooned in a freezing dark wood in the middle of the night miles from any living thing! I...

She trails off. The Doctor becomes serious.

DOCTOR
What is it?

PERI
Over there.

She gently points across the bridge. The Doctor turns and shines the torch. There is some mist and a stunted tree, but nothing else there bar a winding path.

DOCTOR
What did you see?

PERI
I – I dunno. Someone was just standing there. Not moving... staring at us.

DOCTOR
What did they look like?

PERI
I don’t remember.

DOCTOR
Peri, it was sixteen seconds ago.

PERI
I don’t remember! It was just... dark. I could just make out the shape.

DOCTOR
It wasn’t sort of all white and embryonic, was it?

PERI
No, I don’t think so.

DOCTOR
That a relief.

PERI
Why?

DOCTOR
Oh, it doesn’t matter.

PERI
You think I’m making this up, don’t you?

DOCTOR
Not at all! Not at all. But, well, it is dark. It’s human nature to try and see a face or a humanoid form. Which means you might spot one easily if it was genuine. Or if there was something that looked a little bit like one. Let’s have a look.

PERI
You’re sure it’s safe?

DOCTOR
The bridge will support our weight quite happily.

PERI
I didn’t mean the bridge.

DOCTOR
Peri, come on. We’re in a lonely bit of moorland at night. That’s all the facts. Everything else is imagination and/or paranoia.

PERI
Justifiable paranoia!

DOCTOR
That’s as maybe, but remember – if there ARE demons, monsters, goblins, ghosts, ghouls, werewolves, mad axe men, and all other sorts of ferocious phantasmagoria, remember this: they are at a moral and tactical disadvantage.

PERI
They are?

DOCTOR
Yes, of course. Because they’ve got US to deal with! Come on!

The Doctor holds out his hand and takes Peri’s. She looks uncertain, but nods and together they creep over the bridge, moving carefully until they reach the other side. There is the noise/voice grunting. The duo pause.

PERI
Tell me you heard that.

DOCTOR
I heard it.

PERI
Honestly?

DOCTOR
Yes.

PERI
What was it?

DOCTOR
Unpleasant. Come on, let’s get onto terra firma.

PERI
Little less of the terror, Doc.

DOCTOR
Peri!

PERI
Tor.

DOCTOR
Better.

They cross the bridge and stand on the other side. The Doctor shines his torch back the way they came. No sign of anything. He shines it over the edge while Peri warily looks around. The Doctor blows out his cheeks.

DOCTOR
Anything?

PERI
No. You?

DOCTOR
No. Nothing, no one. We best keep moving.

PERI
It’s a bit warmer over here.

DOCTOR
That’s good, surely?

PERI
I suppose so.

DOCTOR
Do cheer up, Peri. I’m sure during daylight hours this place would be wonderful and pleasant. Take away the sunshine and suddenly it’s sinister and suspicious – it’s ridiculous the moment you look at it rationally.

PERI
Don’t you think this place is sinister? In the dark?

They begin to move through the trees down the dirt path.

DOCTOR
The worst place I ever went was full of light and warmth and noise, Peri.

PERI
Where was that?

DOCTOR
Doesn’t matter. I couldn’t go back and I’m glad about that every day.

PERI
OK. This place gives me the creeps. Maybe it’s just my primitive, 20th century ape-descended brain but... I don’t wanna be here. I want to go back to the TARDIS and leave, go somewhere else. Anywhere else. Sarn, Varos, Jaconda, you name it, I’ll take it. No complaints.

The Doctor chuckles.

PERI
Don’t you ever get that feeling? When your blood turns to ice and your eyes sweat? That horrible feeling that you never want to feel ever again?

DOCTOR
Oh, I feel it more often than I count.

PERI
You never show it!

DOCTOR
I don’t let it bother me, Peri.

PERI
Well when was the last time you felt it?

DOCTOR
You know when.

Peri unconsciously rubs her neck.

PERI
Right. Is that it though?

DOCTOR
Well, there’s always that one moment. The moment your mind rushes back to when every instinct you have screams for it to be forgotten. And it doesn’t matter when you think about it – when you’re running from Daleks or relaxing on a Floranan beach. It just leaves you scared. Yes. I still remember that.

PERI
What was it?

DOCTOR
You really want to know?

PERI
I did sort of ask.

DOCTOR
All right. But do you really want to hear it here, in the dark woods at night?

PERI
Dunno. Must be the part of me that loves horror films and ghost stories.

DOCTOR
I didn’t know you liked horror films.

PERI
I don’t. Must be forbidden fruit or something like that.

DOCTOR
Addiction to the neurological reaction, perhaps?

PERI
I’m a fear junkie?

The Doctor laughs.

DOCTOR
Maybe we both are. The TARDIS telepathic fields affect our brains you know. Well, that’s what they’re for. Totally harmless of course. Beneficial. Opens our eyes, dormant senses excited. Maybe your latent telepathic powers are picking something up?

PERI
I’m telepathic?

DOCTOR
Maybe that was the wrong word. Empathic? Maybe you’re just picking up the emotional traces in this forest.

PERI
Like pigs passing slaughter houses?

They navigate around a low, thick branch. Silhouetted against the moonlight is that static figure from before, seeming to look down at the duo as they pass.

DOCTOR
Perhaps. Of course, this is just a forest. But there might be something else here.

PERI
Something evil?

DOCTOR
Evil. Spiritual decay? The universal moral standard? Or it could just be coincidence.

PERI
Don’t hedge your bets or anything.

DOCTOR
When do I ever do that?


12. EXT. HILLOCK (NIGHT)

A steep hill. The duo move up with some difficulty. Peri is out of breath.

DOCTOR
When we get to the point we should have a good view of the countryside. If there isn’t any human habitation, we’ll head back to the TARDIS.

PERI
I’ll... hold you to that... you know.

DOCTOR
I know.

PERI
God, what is that smell?

DOCTOR
Smell? Oh that? It’s...

The Doctor breaks off and holds out a hand. Peri grabs hold to keep her balance.

PERI
What is it?

DOCTOR
Nothing. Let’s just keep moving.

PERI
You’re lying.

DOCTOR
Me? Lie? Ridiculous!

PERI
Tell me.

DOCTOR
When we’re at the top.

The noise-voice chuckles evilly. The Doctor and Peri reach the top of the hill.

PERI
What was it? Doctor? What was it?

DOCTOR
Another one of those thoughts that chills the blood. You really want to know?

PERI
If I don’t, it’ll probably make me worry more.

DOCTOR
All right. We passed a dead animal. I think it was a fox.

PERI
You think?

DOCTOR
There wasn’t much to identify. It was eviscerated, almost unrecognizable. Most of its internal organs are scattered on the slope. Hence the smell.

Peri swallows and covers her mouth.

PERI
How... how-how long has it been dead?

DOCTOR
A few hours. Judging by the incisions it was done with a knife.

Silence.

PERI
A person did that?

DOCTOR
Other foxes rarely use knives.

PERI
This person. He... he wouldn’t be in the area still, would he?

DOCTOR
I don’t know. A few hours? They could be miles away. Or...

Peri swallows.

PERI
Or. That could be the person I saw at the bridge.

DOCTOR
As you say.

PERI
I’m scared, Doctor. I mean, I’m REALLY scared.

Gently, the Doctor places an arm around her.

DOCTOR
Peri. Rule one. You can’t do anything productive without understanding first. And understanding prevents fear. Now, let us assume that some wandering psychopath just slaughtered a poor fox and is now prowling around here. I’m not saying that that IS what happened, but if it is, then he is at a disadvantage. There’s two of us, one of him and we haven’t exhausted ourselves slaughtering a fox. And, what’s more, we only have to get back into the TARDIS and no matter what killed that poor animal won’t be able to harm us.

PERI
So why am I still scared?

DOCTOR
I don’t know. Maybe it’s too many triggers all at once. But I’ll keep you safe. You trust me, don’t you?

PERI
You know I do.

DOCTOR
Then do so. Come on. We need a quick survey and then back to the TARDIS.

They move a little further and stop. The hill below leads into meadows surrounding a tall, austere manner house with a long driveway leading further off into the moors. Half a dozen of old-fashioned (albeit brand new) cars are parked neatly out the front. Light spills from the windows, warm but not quite inviting.

DOCTOR
Ahah!

PERI
Civilization?

DOCTOR
Precisely. Judging by the make of those cars, I’d say we were in the United Kingdom, mid nineteen twenties. Quite a high society do.

PERI
We’re in the middle of nowhere.

DOCTOR
An even HIGHER society do. Exclusive, secluded. A family get together?

PERI
The sort that sacrifice a fox?

DOCTOR
That fox wasn’t sacrificed. Religious orders that believe in spilling blood do so with immense grace and tradition. Hacking a passing animal to death on a hillside is hardly that. No standing stones, no ceremonies, no, no, no.

PERI
So it is a wandering lunatic?

DOCTOR
Unless they’ve let the mad uncle in the attic out for a walk and he escaped his leesh?

PERI
Is that supposed to reassure me?

DOCTOR
Come on.

PERI
We’re going in there?

DOCTOR
Warmth, company, light, civilization... I thought I’d have to hold you back. Besides, they need to know that there might be some homicidal maniac wandering the moors.

PERI
They might already know.

DOCTOR
Then they’d have bordered up all the doors and windows or driven away as fast as they could. Or the police would be here. Come one.

There is a noise. Like chalk squeaking on the blackboard.


13. THE BEYOND

The thing seems to be staring upwards. The breathing noise.

to be continued...

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