Thursday, March 29, 2007

The Enemy Within VIII

34. EXT. EXECUTION YARD (DAY) B&W

A yard divided by a wooden barrier. A group of NEANDERTHAL LOCALS stand watching. GUARDS in visor-covering space helmets stand guard, armed with rifles. Beyond the barrier is a low platform, above which is suspended a noose. Around a corner stand the Ghosts, watching on with grave expressions. An EXECUTIONER in a traditional black mask stands by the noose as a PRISONER is brought in, manacled.

PA
Bring in the condemned.

The two ghosts exchange whispers. The Second Ghost watches on, distant.

FIRST GHOST
Shouldn’t we do something?

SECOND GHOST
No. We shouldn’t.

FIRST GHOST
She’s innocent! We saw her – she didn’t steal...

SECOND GHOST
We are not supposed to interfere.

FIRST GHOST
She doesn’t deserve to die!

SECOND GHOST
I suppose she doesn’t.

FIRST GHOST
We could give evidence, speak up for her... They might listen to us!

SECOND GHOST
They might execute us as well. Do you want that? Do you want the others to find out about this little jaunt? You know how they frown on us at the best of times.

The prisoner struggles but the stronger Executioner forces his head into the noose. The two ghosts watch on as, off sight, there is choked scream and the crowd roars. The First Ghost dives out of sight and retches. The Second Ghost watches for a moment longer and follows his companion.


35. INT. SHORT CORRIDOR (NIGHT)

It is dark, and a strange wind is howling. Items are tumbling drunkenly from the walls and windows. Distantly, the creature can be heard and its rasping scream. Emily scrambles over to the door at the end of the corridor, hair and clothes flapping in the wind. Peri can be heard screaming. Emily wrenches open the door as there is another dazzling flash of lightning – revealing Daniel is standing right behind her. Not realizing this, Emily stumbles out into the storm.


36. EXT. OUTSIDE THE MANOR (NIGHT)

Theo is still staring up at the window. A sinister green light is pulsing up there. Emily runs through the rain towards him.

EMILY
Theo! Theo!

THEO
Emily.

EMILY
Theo, the others... there’s something in the house! It’s killed Daniel and... and...

THEO
The Day of Wrath is finally here.

EMILY
What?

THEO
Before the day of the Lord comes, the sun will be turned to darkness... and the moon into blood....

EMILY
Theo!

Emily grabs his arm and wrenches him around. His eyes are closed, and his shirt collar has been ripped and there are bruises on his neck.

EMILY
What happened? Who did this to you?

THEO
Oh, that great and terrible day! And all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved...

EMILY
Theo, you’ve got to...

His eyes snap open. They are bone white, showing possession like Pascoe.

THEO
And the name of the Lord is Dominus...

Emily backs away from him, speechless. Theo stalks towards her.

THEO
For our Lord is our Master...

Emily turns and is about to run when she sees the creature looming out of the dark towards her, its huge limbs reaching for her face.

EMILY (VO)
Please, someone please! Help me, help meeeee ---

Her scream is cut off abruptly. Theo watches on, a slight trickle of yellow foam at his mouth. The voice emerges from his mouth.

THE VOICE (VO)
And we shall worship and obey him...

He turns his sightless eyes back to the window.


37. EXT. QUARRY (DAY) B&W

The First Ghost looks unwell. The Second Ghost is helping him. They are heading back to the fake boulder.

FIRST GHOST
That punishment... it was... was...

SECOND GHOST
Severe?

FIRST GHOST
Barbaric!

SECOND GHOST
It’s a primitive planet, you said so yourself.

FIRST GHOST
Those people have invaded it. They aren’t primitive.

SECOND GHOST
Compared to us, they are.

FIRST GHOST
We should have stopped them!

SECOND GHOST
How? We have no weaponry. Try to see it as they see it.

FIRST GHOST
What are you talking about?

SECOND GHOST
A leader, by definition, has to have a strong hand. The execution was staged to send a message to the people. The RIGHT message.

FIRST GHOST
Do you think that’s justified?

SECOND GHOST
One man’s justice is another man’s abhorrence. Here and now, with these people, in this society, it is justice plain and simple.

FIRST GHOST
She was innocent!

SECOND GHOST
A minor detail. Those overlords have established a climate of fear which will prevent further theft and crime. A necessary sacrifice for the good of the many. Look at it as they do, and can we really condemn them?

FIRST GHOST
I... I suppose not.

They stop by the boulder. The door opens. The First Ghost looks back down the hill, swallowing with nausea.

FIRST GHOST
It’s terrible.

The Second Ghost puts a comforting hand on his shoulder.

SECOND GHOST
Yes. But we have to suffer such things if we want to see the Cosmos for ourselves.

FIRST GHOST
Maybe it would be better to stay at home.

SECOND GHOST
I’m sure Cardinal Azmael would be delighted to hear you tow the party line.

FIRST GHOST
Oh, very amusing. Let’s just get back in time for quantum field theory before the prefects notice we’re gone.

SECOND GHOST
We missed spatio-temporal dynamics.

FIRST GHOST
No we didn’t. We just didn’t attend class.

He smiles weakly. The Second Ghost smiles back. They step into the boulder and the door slides shut. Moments later it vanishes.


38. INT. SALOON (NIGHT)

The Doctor’s eyes snap open. He is sprawled on a couch in the saloon. It is still raining outside, but there is no longer a raging storm. He reaches up and touches the back of his head, which is sore. His hands show no blood. He jumps off the couch and looks around, suddenly giddy. As if someone has cut his strings, he falls heavily to the ground. He tries to move again, but seems exhausted.

DOCTOR
Daniel? Simon? Strange discarnate entity? Anyone? Oh my head.

TRACEY
Things fall apart.

The Doctor frowns and manages to roll onto his back. Tracey sits in the chair, cradling a cocktail and staring into the depths of the alcohol.

DOCTOR
Hello, Tracey.

TRACEY
The centre cannot hold.

The Doctor sits up.

DOCTOR
Can’t it?

TRACEY
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed...

Unimpressed, the Doctor completes the quote.

DOCTOR
And everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned.

Tracey looks at him darkly.

TRACEY
The best lack all conviction –
While the worst are full
Of passionate intensity.

DOCTOR
William Butler Yeats, The Second Coming, 1920. Probably still in the charts. I take it you’re reciting it for a reason?

TRACEY
Surely some revelation is at hand!

DOCTOR
Surely the Second Coming is at hand?

TRACEY
You can’t hide the blood on your hands.

DOCTOR
That’s not from the poem.

TRACEY
I know what you have done. You thought you could get away with it.

DOCTOR
I often do. To what particular transgression do you refer, young lady?

TRACEY
You could have saved me. But you let me die.

DOCTOR
Tracey, that’s the ghost talking, isn’t it?

TRACEY
Why did you kill me?

DOCTOR
I haven’t the faintest idea. All I know is that I didn’t succeed. Who are you, anyway?

TRACEY
I was screaming and you let me DIE! I WAS SCREAMING! WHY DID YOU KILL ME?

The Doctor holds up his hand and rubs his thumb and forefinger against each other.

DOCTOR
There, my dear, you will find the universe’s smallest violin playing a very sad tune for you. Either be concise or go away. I don’t know who you are, what you are, or what I did to offend you. But the humans here are innocent.

The Doctor’s voice emerges from Tracey’s mouth.

DOCTOR (VO)
Who in this life is purely innocent?

DOCTOR
Oh, clever. Pity I was certifiably insane when I said that, or you might have a case. I give up. If that’s all you’ve got to say, to quote the founder of the Abbey Theatre as he bemoans the decline of European ruling classes, then I have better things to do with my time! If you’ll excuse me...

The Doctor crosses to the door and opens it. Pascoe is waiting for him.

PASCOE
There is another meaning to the poem.

DOCTOR
Oh yes, of course.

Chuckling, the Doctor backs away from Pascoe, trying to keep an eye on him as well as Tracey. He heads over for the French doors, still loose and the window panes shattered. He keeps talking all the time.

DOCTOR
The preposterous notion that humanity, Western civilization and of course, the entire Earth is caught in a historical cycle of 2000 years? Occult nonsense, and I told his brother that - in person!

He spins but the door is pushed open by Theo, now seemingly back to normal. The Doctor backs away, banging into the snooker table. He bites down a cry of pain.

THEO
Yeats knew the terminal point approaches. A new age will dawn.

DOCTOR
“Knew”? He “knew” no such thing – he spent most of his time in seances or libraries reading up on mysticism.

The Doctor moves around the snooker table, but Tracey is approaching from the other side.

DOCTOR
It was an idea popular at the time and, by the way, why am I arguing about the merits of Irish poetry with an audio-visual hallucination?

The trio are closing in around the Doctor.

THEO
You tell me.

The Doctor continues to look for a way past the possessed humans. He is loathe to touch them, as if they are contagious.

DOCTOR
You aren’t actually here, are you? This force, this Dominus is tampering with my perceptions. Maybe he’s bashed down your mental defenses – and it has to be said – that would not be too strenuous a task, and is borrowing your traits. I’m sure he hasn’t got you all the same way he got Daniel.

PASCOE
Are you, Doctor? Are you sure?

DOCTOR
Yes. Otherwise, you would have made your move sooner.

TRACEY
But you would not be here to appreciate it.

DOCTOR
Ah yes, that grudge of yours. What exactly did I do? Kill you? I can’t deny the fact I’ve killed people, but I never deliberately set out to murder anyone. Or at least never went through with it. And I definitely never took pleasure in it...

Pascoe reaches for the Doctor’s face, and he jumps onto the snooker table and runs for the open door to the rest of the house. Emily stands there, waiting. The Doctor skids to a halt. The others are closing in on him.

EMILY
You will know pain. You will know fear. And then you will die for what you did.

DOCTOR
But what did I do?

EMILY
You know what you did.

DOCTOR
Then what’s the harm in checking?

EMILY
The writing, as they say, Doctor, is on the wall.

She points. Frowning, the Doctor turns to check the wall. He pales. Words have been scratched into the wall.

SENTENCED TO DEATH
TRIAL A FAKE
WE ARE ALL
BEING USED


The Doctor tries to speak, backing away in horror. His eyes are bugged, he seems to be unable to breathe properly. The four humans are all around him. He struggles to comprehend this, falling to his knees. As if having a heart attack, he clutches his chest.

DOCTOR
It’s not true... It’s not true! You’re lying! You’re always lying! YOU’RE DEAD! I SAW YOU! I SAW YOU DIE!

THE VOICE (VO)
Why did you kill me?

The Doctor can’t take his eyes from the words on the wall.

THE VOICE (VO)
Why did you kill me? Why did you kill me? Why did you kill me? WHY DID YOU KILL ME?!?

The Doctor finally snaps. He roars at the ceiling.

DOCTOR
BECAUSE YOU DESERVED IT!

The Doctor’s strength seems to vanish.

DOCTOR
You deserved it... deserved worse...

He crumples unconscious on the floor.


39. INT. UPPER LANDING (NIGHT)

It’s very dark. There is a sound of faint sobbing. A groan.

MAURICE (VO)
Who’s that?!

PERI (VO)
Wha— Maurice? Zat you?

MAURICE (VO)
You sound like Peri.

PERI (VO)
Wha? I am Peri. What happened?

MAURICE (VO)
Don’t think. Just don’t.

PERI (VO)
Where are the others?

MAURICE (VO)
Turning and turning
In the widening gyre,
The falcon cannot hear
The falconer
Turning and turning and turning...

PERI (VO)
Maurice! Where are you? I can’t see, it’s so dark...

MAURICE (VO)
Things fall apart, Peri!
The centre cannot hold!

Light blinks on. Peri uses the torch to see they are in the same corridor as before. There is no sign of Tracey or the Colonel. Maurice is slumped against a wall, hugging his knees, sweating with fear.

MAURICE
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed everywhere...

PERI
What are you talking about?

MAURICE
Everywhere...

A hideous howl echoes through the night – an inhuman moan, mixed with an animal roar. Peri swings the torch back and forth but they are quite alone.

PERI
Is that downstairs?

MAURICE
Doesn’t matter. It’s looking for the living. It’ll find us wherever we go.

PERI
Don’t get depressed or give up or anything like that.

MAURICE
It’s getting closer. Nowhere to hide.

PERI
What’s getting closer?

MAURICE
The Sphinx.

Peri stares at him.

PERI
The Sphinx?

MAURICE
Yeah. The Spinx. The new messiah. I’ve seen its forerunners, it’s messengers. Those big birds I found. You thought they didn’t mean anything but you were wrong. You see, it’s heralded by giant black birds. It’s all in the line about indignant desert birds. Shadows birds. Black birds. Daniel loved that poem. Sang it all the time. Or whatever it is you do with poems.

PERI
Maurice, the Sphinx is not inside the building. It’s too big to get inside. Let’s just assume it’s the ghost and let’s try and find the others.

MAURICE
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds!

PERI
Come on!

Another roar. Closer. Peri gets to her feet and looks around.

MAURICE
The darkness drops again...

PERI
Maurice! Get up, quick! Come on, move!

MAURICE
But now I know that twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle... and what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Peri grabs him by the ear and pulls him to his feet.

MAURICE
ARGH!

PERI
Where are the others?

MAURICE
Emily ran off. You saw her run off.

PERI
And what about Tracey? Your dad?

MAURICE
It took Tracey.

PERI
What did? That grim reaper guy?

MAURICE
Yes. She’s gone now.

PERI
Gone where?

Maurice giggles.

MAURICE
Far away
To where all the nice children play
And she’s asked us to stay
In her place for the day!

Peri slaps him. Maurice crashes against the wall, sliding back to his former position.

PERI
Look! My hand is getting sore! So either snap out of it or I’ll change tactics.

MAURICE
And then what? This house... it won’t let us leave. It’s been watching us for so long, it knows every move we make... Look around you! Everything’s different! It’s moved! Things in houses don’t move on their own!

PERI
And it doesn’t happen here!

MAURICE
It does when you’re not looking! Nothing in the house moves when you’re LOOKING! It waits until you look away!

PERI
You’re getting hysterical!

MAURICE
Am I? Look around! All the doors are open!

Peri does. She shines the torch down the corridor. Every door is wide open.

PERI
T-they were closed before...

MAURICE
Yes. Locked too. But they’re not locked now. They’re wide open now. How do you think that happened, my little colonial kitten?

Peri snaps, shouting at him.

PERI
Maybe the ghost that can walk through walls, turn staircases into timber and make bodies out of thin air did it! Maybe we just THOUGHT they were closed and YOU’RE a totally useless lounge lizard going crazy! Now, I will make this simple enough for your tiny brain to understand: stay here or come with me. Either way, good luck.

She turns and heads off back down the corridor, the way she came.

MAURICE
You’re going the wrong way.

PERI
No I’m not. I’m going to find the Doctor.

MAURICE
What’s the point?

Maurice calls after her, sounding tired.

MAURICE
Every era passes away every twenty centuries. The new era Christ ushered in is over. The old order is coming to an end and there is nothing anyone can do about it now! Not you, not me, definitely not the Doctor.

PERI
Even if you’re right, we’ve still got seventy years to go!

Maurice snorts derisively.

MAURICE
What’s a few decades between Messiahs when all is said and done?

Peri stops dead. The electric green glow Theo saw is seeping around the far end of the corridor, getting brighter and brighter. Her jaw drops. The strange, almost obscene grunting becomes deeper, louder and closer. Peri is, simply, freaking out.

PERI
The green light... the green light...

MAURICE
Oh, it’s coming back is it?

Peri tears her gaze from the glow as it moves down the corridor and runs over to Maurice, hauls him to his feet and together they head for the exit. The green glow is now so thick nothing can be seen through it.

PERI
WE’VE GOT TO GO!

Maurice laughs, amused as she drags him down the corridor.

MAURICE
Turning and turning and turning!
Things fall apart and the centre cannot hold!

The green glow oozes after them.


40. THE BEYOND

The same as the creature left it. The Doctor is sprawled on the “floor”, looking exhausted. He looks around, confused. The Second Ghost and Daniel are standing over him.

SECOND GHOST
Why did you kill me?

The Doctor looks at him through half-lidded eyes and speaks calmly.

DOCTOR
I don’t want to be here. Where am I?

DANIEL
You’re out on the edge.

DOCTOR
The edge? The edge of what?

DANIEL
Everything.

SECOND GHOST
Why did you kill me?

DOCTOR
No, not this again...

DANIEL
Why did you kill me?

DOCTOR
Not again.

SECOND GHOST
Why?

The Doctor sits up, angry.

DOCTOR
I told you why! You know precisely WHY I did it! You gave me more reasons to end your life then there are stars in the sky! And you mocked me when I spared you... but no more. There are monsters out there with far greater claims on my time. When the Daleks and the Cybermen and the pale horsemen, lonely children and bored gods have had their fun haunting me, maybe, just maybe I’ll waste time on you.

SECOND GHOST
I trusted you. And you knew that, didn't you? You knew it all along.

DOCTOR
I don’t have to listen to this.

The Doctor gets to his feet and finds the First Ghost standing before him.

FIRST GHOST
And now he’s dead. Thanks to you.

DOCTOR
Thanks to us, I think you’ll find. Excuse me.

He pushes past the First Ghost onto face the Second.

SECOND GHOST
Why did you betray me, old friend?

DOCTOR
I betrayed myself as well. You always have to take the egocentric view, don’t you, “old friend”. If you hadn’t, things would be different.

DANIEL
You lie! You wanted me as a scapegoat while you fled to safety!

DOCTOR
You know that’s not the truth. So you’re either lying to me or you’re completely insane. Either way, I don’t have time for this.

He turns around and heads back up the tunnel, pushing past Daniel, Theo, Emily and Pascoe, and the two ghosts, then Daniel again.

THEO
Why did you kill me?

PASCOE
Why did you betray me?

FIRST GHOST
Why? WHY?

SECOND GHOST
I didn’t betray you, did I? You betrayed me

DOCTOR
What happened to you was your own fault!

SECOND GHOST
I was building the foundations of a new tomorrow, Doctor!

DOCTOR
Yes. A tomorrow I pray will never occur.

SECOND GHOST
It would be my legacy – a legacy of peace! You would have been one of its first beneficiaries and now it may be gone for good!

DOCTOR
Then I’m glad. If I could, I go back in time and do EXACTLY the same things and I’d laugh while I did it. I destroyed what you were creating because I knew how cynical and decayed your little “legacy” would be. And you’ve proved me right, haven’t you?!

He looks at the Second Ghost in disgust.

DOCTOR
Get out of my way and STAY out of my way.

Now Daniel, the figure moves aside. The Doctor strides past. The Second Ghost calls after him, furious.

SECOND GHOST
IT’S NOT OVER YET, DOCTOR!

The Doctor strides into the gloom, face determined.


41. INT. HALLWAY (NIGHT)

The same wreckage as before. No sign of Pascoe and the rain has stopped. The Doctor emerges from a doorway, as if straight from the Beyond. He is unfazed.

DOCTOR
I think it is. I don’t know what’s causing this, it’s a puzzler, but hardly the priority at the moment, is it?

SECOND GHOST (VO)
I SWEAR! IT IS NOT OVER YET!

The Doctor turns. The creature fills the corridor behind him, elongated arms and legs crooked trying to fit in the confined space. Its gigantic mouth is big enough to step inside. The roaring is deafening. Unafraid, the Doctor takes a step backwards... and he falls with a cry.


42. THE BEYOND

The Doctor is falling – the tunnel of the Beyond is now a vertical shaft. The Doctor lashes out, trying to grab something to stop his fall. The twisting light that makes the shaft reform into faces (the Ghosts, Daniel, Theo, Emily and Pascoe), forming a ring around the Doctor that follows him as he falls.

DOCTOR
No one can live beyond their own deaths! You are dead!

SECOND GHOST
And YOU saw to that!

DOCTOR
This is just a fantasy! Dreams!

SECOND GHOST
And yet it is happening.

DOCTOR
Fine! Go back over the Great Divide, you’re not wanted here!

The faces mouth for the rasping voice.

THE VOICE
Did I betray you? Or did you betray me?! WHY DID YOU KILL ME?

DOCTOR
You’re not interested in the answer SO STOP ASKING THE QUESTION!

THE VOICE
Surrender! Surrender, Doctor!

DOCTOR
To what?! I’ve never been one to give up so easily!

THE VOICE
SURRENDER!

DOCTOR
Give in? Never!

SECOND GHOST
I have learned so much. About survival... and anger. There are ways of killing that I alone have mastered, that no one else could ever match. And now you are in my domain, the Dominus reigns supreme! You will know pain, you will know fear and then you will die!

DOCTOR
I’m not in pain, I’m not scared and I’m STILL alive – do your worst.

SECOND GHOST
Oh, I shall, Doctor.

THE VOICE
I shall.

Demented laughter follows the Doctor as he plummets.


43. INT. UPPER LANDING (NIGHT)

Peri and the beyond-fear Maurice are running down the corridor into darkness. The sinister green glow seems to be following them. They pass open doorways, and each one has Daniel standing in it, watching them go past. Peri is too freaked to notice and Maurice is beyond caring. They turn a corner down some steps and out of sight.


44. INT. SHORT CORRIDOR (NIGHT)

Dark and gloomy. No sign of anything supernatural. Peri runs for the door, but it’s locked and she and Maurice duck down and hide. A long moment passes. No green light, noises or anything.

PERI
I think it’s gone.

Maurice sounds bored.

MAURICE
What is that thing?

Peri struggles to control her breathing.

PERI
The green light.

MAURICE
What’s that?

PERI
Not a hundred per cent sure. It’s just... just, it’s not good.

She is very freaked.


45. THE BEYOND

The Doctor, looking exhausted, is struggling to his feet. The Second Ghost stands nearby, looking out at us. A look of realization crosses his face.

DOCTOR
You’re stealing from my mind...

No reaction.

DOCTOR
You’re stealing from my mind... a psionic vampire, snatching up all our mental energies. No wonder you’ve been targeting me, trying to scare me with that preposterous notion about you being... Well, anyway, Daniel did more damage to you than I thought. When he died, your life support was cut off. You’re living on borrowed time, so you rather recklessly used all your energy to scare us stupid in the hope we’d both nourish you or provide a new host. Well, not good enough, my non-corporeal friend. You’ll be dead by dawn – in EVERY sense.

The Second Ghost continue to stare ahead.

SECOND GHOST
If I am, there will be companions for my death.

The Doctor frowns and follows his gaze. His bravado falters.

DOCTOR
Peri...


46. INT. SHORT CORRIDOR (NIGHT)

Peri is shivering. Maurice is slumped against the wall. He’s given up.

PERI
A-at my college. You see, w-when you join the fraternity, there’s always some kind of initiation ceremony, a pledge. At my one, it was to spend a night at this run down, abandoned hospital at the edge of the campus. They always said that the, the second floor was haunted and not to go there. So the girls would set up camp on the bottom floor. They weren’t supposed to go upstairs, no matter what. But they hear these n-noises coming from upstairs and see this, kind of green light that keeps moving...

MAURICE
Like that one.

PERI
Yeah. Exactly like that one. And one by one, the girls go to investigate. The f-first one thinks maybe its some frat boys playing a trick, or something like that. But the girl doesn’t come back and the others look for her upstairs, and they don’t come back. So the last one is left alone. Finally she heads upstairs a-and she sees the green light coming from behind a door. She opens it and finds this room... and there’s this electric green light bulb hanging from the ceiling, covered in cobwebs. And the first girl who disappeared is there, out of her mind, dancing and clawing at the lightbulb. And the others... their bodies are on the ground, scratched... bleeding...

The corridor behind them lights up with the sickly glow. Peri flinches.


47. THE BEYOND

The Doctor’s face falls.

DOCTOR
Oh, Peri.

SECOND GHOST
Everyone has a flaw, Doctor. A thought, a memory, a vision... a feeling you never want to feel again, turning your blood to ice and making your eyes sweat.

The Doctor clearly recognizes Peri’s words being used.

SECOND GHOST
Yours was that little message on the wall. Hers is this. And how much can her frail human heart take, when the light comes to claim her.

DOCTOR
Peri is no fool. If there’s one thing I’ve taught her...

SECOND GHOST
But will she remember that through her fear?

DOCTOR
I have faith in her. Absolute faith.

SECOND GHOST
Then you will not object to it being tested.


48. INT. SHORT CORRIDOR (NIGHT)

It is now lit green by the blinding glare from the side passage. Maurice stares at expressionlessly, his voice dead and perspiration down his face.

MAURICE
Is there a moral to this story?

PERI
No! It’s just... just a stupid ghost story...

Her eyes widen. Her confidence returns.

PERI
A stupid ghost story from the seventies, so why is it here and now? Unless Casper is the one behind it. So why does he want us to run away? Unless he wants us not to go back to the Saloon... so that is where I’ll go.

She stands up.

MAURICE
You can’t! That thing will... will...

PERI
I don’t know. It might just be green light. But Perpuguiliam Brown isn’t going to die being scared of a green lightbulb, ghosts or no ghosts!


49. THE BEYOND

The Doctor folds his arm and practices being smug.


50. INT. SHORT CORRIDOR (NIGHT)

Peri strides towards the light. Maurice suddenly screams.

MAURICE
PERI! PLEASE! DON’T LEAVE ME! PERI! PERI!!

She vanishes into the green glow, leaving him alone. Maurice stares, bug-eyed, horrified. His voice is slurred.

MAURICE
It’s not fair. You could have helped. You could have saved me...

Maurice’s look of horror fades gently. A cruel, amused look crosses his face. He leers and rises. The green light has vanished. Peri looks around with the torch, much more confident. She hums to herself.

PERI
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you...


50. THE BEYOND

The Doctor turns to face the Second Ghost.

DOCTOR
Your plan is foiled in every sense. Your energy is almost run out – soon you won’t be able to do anything except slowly expire!

SECOND GHOST
In the meantime, however, the advantage is mine.

DOCTOR
So what do you intend to do with it, pray?

The Second Ghost grins at the Doctor.

SECOND GHOST
You tell me.


51. INT. UPPER LANDING (NIGHT)

Peri is heading down the long corridor, torch brandished, almost relaxed. Maurice follows, preoccupied as he takes something from his pocket.

PERI
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused...

MAURICE
You could have helped me, Miss Brown.

PERI
What?

She turns. Maurice is struggling to take the top off a vial.

MAURICE
You let me die. It’s not something you just forgive.

PERI
Maurice, what are you –

She breaks off as he looks up. His eyes are bone white. He grins, drooling yellow foam.

MAURICE
It tastes just like bitter almonds. Or is that arsenic? I’m sure you’ll find out. It’s all over very quickly I understand. I didn’t want anyone to suffer.

He advances on Peri, who stares at him, incredulous.

MAURICE
But you... yes, I want you to suffer.

Peri shrugs.

PERI
You’re only human. Trouble is...

She kicks him very hard somewhere very delicate. He doubles over.

PERI
So am I.

She turns. Maurice reaches out with shocking speed and grabs her hair, hauling her back. The other arm wraps around her neck, holding her in place as he holds the open vial near her face. His voice mingling with a familiar raspy voice.

THE VOICE
You killed me... now I am going to kill you!

Peri struggles to no avail. Maurice wrenches her head back, causing her mouth to open.


52. THE BEYOND

The Doctor rounds on the Second Ghost.

DOCTOR
I surrender!

SECOND GHOST
Sorry, too late.

DOCTOR
Then I’ll do you a deal. Just let her go! Don’t hurt her!

SECOND GHOST
And in return?

DOCTOR
I won’t fight you any more. You’ve been targeting me for some kind of mental energy, and a Time Lord has far, far more mental energy than any human. If I remove the telepathic barriers, you can feast like a king.

SECOND GHOST
You’ll do it?

DOCTOR
Yes.

SECOND GHOST
But I know how little I can trust you.

DOCTOR
I swear on any oath you care to mention – just let her go!

The Second Ghost moves off, bored.

DOCTOR
PLEASE!


53. INT. SALOON (NIGHT)

The Doctor now stands in the Saloon in the same position, Daniel standing where the Second Ghost was. Pascoe, Tracey, Theo and Emily stand, listless and zombified.

DANIEL
My dear Doctor... you only had to ask.


54. INT. UPPER LANDING (NIGHT)

Maurice snarls and releases Peri, throwing her to the ground as he fastidiously replaces the stopper. Peri is coughing and choking.


55. INT. SALOON (NIGHT)

The demented shape of the Plasmaton creature is behind the Doctor.

DOCTOR
Ready when you are.

DANIEL
Of course. But you are wrong in one vital respect. I wasn’t lying about who I was.

The Doctor’s face falls. Then the two deformed hands clamp over his ears. There is an ethereal howling. The Doctor’s eyes bug as he struggles to breathe. The howling gets louder and louder. We zoom in on the Doctor’s agonized face and superimpose...


56. MONTAGE

Each line punctuated with a scorching white flash. The voices echo and reverb surreally, with lots of howlaround patterns and feedback distorting the images. They soon overlap, becoming harder and harder to understand.

DANIEL
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer...

THE VOICE
I am the God of all Hellfire!

FIRST GHOST
He walked by himself, and all places were alike to him.

DALEK
EXTERMINATE!

DANIEL
I’m burning!

COLONEL
The mind of gods are taking control!

EMILY
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...

PERI
Don’t put out the light!

LYTTON
Join us, Doctor.

THEO
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned...

THE VOICE
Something is waiting in the central void.

MAURICE
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

CYBERLEADER
Monsters and demons are coming to eat your black, cursed souls!

TRACEY
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand;

TURLOUGH
Angels are falling out of the sky, to their deaths in the cold sea!

LYTTON
Join us, Doctor! Join us!

PERI
A shape with lion body and the head of a man--
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun is moving its slow thighs...

TURLOUGH
While all about it reel shadows of the indignant desert birds!

LYTTON
Join the ranks of the lost.

FIRST GHOST
I understand.

LYTTON
Join the Legions of the Dead!!

RANI
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,

DALEK
COME AND JOIN US IN THE EVERLASTING FIRES OF HELL!

PERI
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

THE VOICE
WIN OR LOSE...

The voice is now less breathless. A less distorted voice can be heard within it.

THE VOICE
LIVE OR DIE...

The voice is even louder, but now the speaker seems to have regrown a voice box. The reverberating echoes make it hard to identify the voice though.

THE VOICE
IT... ENDS... HERE!

A blinding white explosion of noise.


57. INT. SALOON (NIGHT)

We zoom out from the Doctor, still transfixed. But there is no sign of the Plasmaton. The humans’ eyes have returned to normal. The howl fades and the humans collapse in unison, followed by the Doctor, clutching his head. He groans. Silence. The rain has stopped. The Doctor croaks, every syllable is agony.

DOCTOR
Is it over?

A familiar chuckle, by the voice now identifiable.

THE MASTER (VO)
Oh, no, my dear Doctor, it’s not over.

The Doctor stares up at him. Dressed in his usual attire, the MASTER stands over him.

THE MASTER
It’s just begun.


(END OF EPISODE TWO)
(NEXT EPISODE: WAR OF NERVES)
(ROLL END CREDITS)

2 comments:

Jared "No Nickname" Hansen said...

Have I used the words "Totally awesome" yet? Because I have very good reason to.

The thought of how freaky this all would be on screen scarcely bares thinking about (yet at the same time totally does because it would be so cool!) - and I love your latest crazy montage.

The best bits, as always, are the little things. The Doctor instinctively correcting Peri's grammar, "My hand's getting sore", the green light story, "You’re not interested in the answer SO STOP ASKING THE QUESTION!", ahhh man. Brilliance.

Youth of Australia said...

Have I used the words "Totally awesome" yet?
No, but I sense you're about to...

Because I have very good reason to.
Yes! He shoots he scores!

The thought of how freaky this all would be on screen scarcely bares thinking about
Well, it IS based on nightmares I had... so yeah. I've thought it. Especially the green light story, which scared me since 1995 since I first heard it. Peri's way braver then me facing it.

(yet at the same time totally does because it would be so cool!)
That's the idea.

- and I love your latest crazy montage.
It's a replacement for the proper montage which will be in its rightful place in the next episode reprise.

Which mainly consists of crazy montages. Montagii. Whatever.

The best bits, as always, are the little things.
They are the ones I put more effort into.

The Doctor instinctively correcting Peri's grammar
Wouldn't be the Sixth Doc otherwise?

"My hand's getting sore", the green light story
I freaked out just typing that up. Just so everyone knows.

"You’re not interested in the answer SO STOP ASKING THE QUESTION!"
Yeah. I didn't even plan that line, that was total osmosis as to how my childhood hero would react in this LSD nightmare.

, ahhh man. Brilliance.
Vindication.