The Doctor, Natasha and Grigory run down the corridor that ends in the double doors.
NATASHA
That leads back to the catacombs! It’ll be freezing down there!
GRIGORY
I’ve had enough frost bite for today.
DOCTOR
Fine, stay here!
The Doctor pushes the door. Darkness and steam beyond. At that moment Lytton runs around the corner, turns and fires a volley down the corridor.
LYTTON
There’s hoards of them!
DOCTOR
Lytton! Over here!
Lytton turns and is about to move when a ruby red beam skewers him. Immediately a thick haze of red light enshrouds his body, turning him a flat, dazzling negative. He groans and collapses on the floor, his weapon skittering away. Grigory moves to help him, but the Doctor grabs his arm.
GRIGORY
No, I’m a doctor!
DOCTOR
And I’m THE Doctor, you lush, now move!
The three scramble into the dark as the Daleks turn the corner. They pause, regarding Lytton’s twitching body. The doors close.
45. INT. CATACOMBS (DAY)
They hurry down the ramp. The doors shut. The Doctor taps at the code by the door.
NATASHA
Is Lytton dead?
DOCTOR
I doubt it. He has an uncanny knack for surviving. The fact the Dalek shot him with barely enough to render a human being unconscious would help. Why aren’t they exterminating everyone in sight? They’re Daleks, it’s what Daleks DO!
He hurries down the passage.
GRIGORY
If we don’t freeze to death down here, those Daleks will catch up with us eventually!
DOCTOR
Will they? Davros didn’t choose to base himself in these catacombs out of tradition.
NATASHA
He chose it because it was beneath Tranquil Repose!
DOCTOR
And because these catacombs were never properly charted – it was abandoned at the first signs of winter. That means it’s unfinished in places which means it could have access to the surface. Secret exits for a Dalek army out of the complex.
GRIGORY
If we get outside we’ll be snow blind in minutes, and dead from exposure soon after.
DOCTOR
You’re right. Stay here for the Daleks. I’ll take my chances.
The Doctor heads deeper. Natasha looks at Grigory.
NATASHA
Well?
GRIGORY
You’re letting me take the decision?
NATASHA
Assuming there’s a decision to make.
GRIGORY
Either we face certain death in the harshest clime on the planet or stay here and throw ourselves on the mercy of the deadliest war machines ever created in the history of everything ever!
A beat.
GRIGORY
Put like that, it’s a flimsy but nevertheless convincing argument. Let’s move.
They hurry after the Doctor.
46. INT. RECEPTION AREA (DAY)
Apparently deserted. Peri, Takis and Lilt race in. Takis is exhausted.
PERI
Are they still following us?
LILT
No idea.
TAKIS
We better keep going... and hope the Doctor catches us up!
They are about to run when Jobel, Vargos and the guards enter.
JOBEL
Ah, Takis, I see you located Ms. Brown for us...
A Dalek glides beside the sarcophagus.
DALEK 3
RESISTANCE IS USELESS!
It fires. The group scatter, but Lilt is hit. He glows, screams and collapses with an agonized sob. Takis stares at him, frozen up. Peri grabs him.
PERI
We can mourn him later! Move!
DALEK 3
DO NOT! DO NOT MOVE!
The Dalek fires another volley at their retreating form. The Dalek glides forward and floats through the air before landing beside the shocked Jobel and Vargos.
DALEK 3
APOLOGIES. NORMAL SERVICE WILL BE RESUMED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
It turns and glides away. They watch it go, in shock.
JOBEL
Maybe we should have that drink we were discussing.
VARGOS
Yes. Let’s.
47. INT. CHAPEL (DAY)
The Dalek approaches Davros.
DAVROS
So... only the Doctor’s companion and Takis are still free. But not for long.
DALEK 1
REVIVIFICATION PROGRAM COMPLETED.
DAVROS
Activate. Get me Tasambeker. It is time to deal with Mr. Jobel once and for all.
DALEK 1
I OBEY.
The Dalek plunges its sucker into the console, twists and lights start activating. The heartbeat noise suddenly builds up, faster and faster and faster.
48. INT. CATACOMBS (DAY)
The Doctor has paused by a hatch. He wipes away some of the frost to reveal a Dalek staring back at him. Unafraid, he pulls at the hatch until it comes loose.
DOCTOR
There! Fascinating.
Grigory and Natasha run into view. They are shivering.
NATASHA
S-slow down...
DOCTOR
Look at this!
The Dalek is smothered in a light blue cobweb substance that seems to pulse.
GRIGORY
It’s breathing.
DOCTOR
Yes. I saw something like it once on Spiridon, but this... Is that noise in my head?
The heartbeat noise becomes audible. The catacombs tremble.
NATASHA
It’s happening again!
DOCTOR
He’s reviving the Daleks in front of us! Run!
They turn and run down the corridor. We stay with the Dalek. Smoke curls around it as the blue substance dissolves as if it was never there. The eyestalk, sucker arm and gun begin to twitch, and then the whole Dalek moves out. The vibration grows worse. More hatches suddenly slam open. The Doctor and the others skid to a halt as reviving Daleks emerge from the tombs in front of them. The Daleks close in on the trio.
DOCTOR
Plan A!
NATASHA AND GRIGORY
Which is?
DOCTOR
RUN!
The trio run down the curving corridor into the mist. The Daleks turn in their direction and begin to follow.
DALEK 2
YOU CANNOT ESCAPE.
DALEK 3
RESISTANCE IS USELESS.
DALEK 2
YOU WILL SERVE THE NEW ORDER.
49. INT. CHAPEL (DAY)
The Dalek approaches Davros.
DALEK 1
THREE INTRUDERS IN THE CATACOMBS. ONE OF THEM IDENTIFIED AS THE DOCTOR. ORDERS?
DAVROS
Have two of the revived Daleks follow the intruders. The rest are to continue onwards towards Kara’s factory – maximum speed!
DALEK 1
I OBEY.
50. INT. CATACOMBS (DAY)
The Doctor turns a corner and spots a pair of double doors at the back of an alcove. He scrambles over to them and they open at his touch.
DOCTOR
In here!
Natasha and Grigory follow, and behind them are the two Daleks.
51. INT. INCUBATION ROOM (DAY)
A room vaulted with arches, clearly built into the catacombs. It is lit from below with a sinister red light. A heavy heartbeat-like pulsing throbs in the background. The Doctor, Natasha and Grigory scramble inside and slam the doors. The Doctor rips out the control panel beside the door. There is a vomit of sparks.
52. INT. CATACOMBS (DAY)
The Daleks stand outside the door.
DALEK 1
DOOR CIRCUIT MALFUNCTION. UNABLE TO OPEN.
DALEK 3
MAINTAIN POSITION UNTIL FURTHER ORDERS.
53. INT. INCUBATION ROOM (DAY)
The three of them stand back from the door. The Doctor begins to explore.
NATASHA
How long will that keep them out for?
DOCTOR
Long enough for us to find either another exit or something to bargain with. Now... no ventilation shafts, no nuclear reactors, no weapons stockpile, no secret passages, no one on the outside available to stage a rescue attempt, no easily-adapted booby traps... Not even the sonic screwdriver could get us out of this one. Assuming I hadn’t let it in the TARDIS in the first place.
GRIGORY
But what’s this place for?
The Doctor pauses by computer consoles stacked up against the walls.
DOCTOR
These link up to every single casket. Monitoring synthesized armor.
NATASHA
Armor?
DOCTOR
The actual Dalek travel machines. I’ve seen this sort of thing before, but not quite so... gothic. This chamber coordinates machinery in every one of those cubicles outside. Dalek casings are formed, constructed, filled, stored and then released.
NATASHA
Filled?
DOCTOR
Must you repeat every other word I...
The Doctor turns around and stops. Natasha and Grigory follow his gaze. They see the source of the red glow – a large glass tank containing four strange, crab-like creatures floating in chemicals.
NATASHA
Gruesome...
DOCTOR
Fed from the collection hatches at the rear of Tranquil Repose cryogenic caskets. Every body frozen has been defrosted and dumped into that vat before being relocated into waiting Dalek bodies.
GRIGORY
Reminds me of medical school. Only without the sex and drugs and Wardas film festivals.
One of the creatures twitches and the lights flicker in sympathy.
NATASHA
Those were once human beings?
DOCTOR
Yes. So Davros has finally done it. Daleks that can reproduce anywhere anytime. No more need to exterminate the lesser races, just add them to the ranks. Like the Cybermen, the Daleks have gained a zeno-consumptive directive compulsion with a replacement meme of self-generation.
NATASHA
What does he mean?
GRIGORY
They don’t kill you, they make you like them.
The Doctor double takes at Grigory’s perceptiveness.
DOCTOR
Yes. If you like.
The Doctor moves on between the pillars.
DOCTOR
There still doesn’t seem to be anything here we can use.
GRIGORY
Can we shut it down though?
DOCTOR
Easily, but it wouldn’t be worthwhile. I doubt there are any sleepers left to... save...
He stops again. At the far end of the chamber on an illuminated square podium is a Dalek – as if a Dalek outside has turned to completely transparent glass. We can see straight through it, and we see it contains a large purple blob in the neck-section.
DOCTOR
Yes. Gruesome. That’s exactly the word.
Natasha and Grigory join him. We see closer on the purple blob – a throbbing mass of flesh fused through with wires, cables and imbedded circuitry. The Doctor narrows his eyes. We see closer and can make out and exposed brain and the right-half of a human face is fitted there, an intact and closed eye, and a gaping mouth revealing teeth mixed with metal fang strips.
DOCTOR
If you believe the Dalek propaganda, then THAT poor creature is half-way to becoming the ultimate pinnacle of universal evolution.
A pause as we regard the half face. A beat. The eye snaps open. Grigory and Natasha flinch involuntary.
GRIGORY
It’s alive.
DOCTOR
If you call that living.
NATASHA
Can it see us?
The mouth moves. A weak, tired voice but treated so it grates like a Dalek.
STENGOS
Na... ta... sha? Na-ta-sha?
GRIGORY
It knows you... How?
STENGOS
Na-tasha... Is that you? Na-ta-sha?
Natasha steps forward, her jaw dropping as she recognizes the face.
NATASHA
It’s my father!
We see the ruined face. It speaks miserably.
STENGOS
Oh, Natasha...
54. INT. OUTSIDE RECEPTION AREA (DAY)
Tasambeker stands before the screen which shows Davros’s face.
TASAMBEKER
Then that leaves only the Brown woman and Takis on the loose. I’ll have the guards search for them. I have a feeling I know where they’re going.
DAVROS
They are not the important issue, Tasambeker.
TASAMBEKER
Great Healer?
DAVROS
It is time for you to decide, Tasambeker, as to where your true loyalties lie.
TASAMBEKER
I am loyal to you, Great Healer. Of course I am. You’ve been more of a friend to me in the last day than anyone else in the last twenty years! My loyalty is to you!
DAVROS
Words are no more than words, Tasambeker. To swear loyalty is easy. But I require action. Proof. A positive commitment.
TASAMBEKER
I have shown commitment!
DAVROS
You let that treacherous malignancy conspire against me because of your affection! Is that commitment, Tasambeker, is that loyalty?
TASAMBEKER
He won’t harm you, I won’t let him.
DAVROS
He will not harm me because he will harm you. It is you he despises. It is you that he hurts and mocks and jeers and torments. I offer you immortality, I offer you the universe – all he offers you is misery and depression. Are you as mad as he is?
TASAMBEKER
No!
DAVROS
You must free yourself for your own good!
Tasambeker’s so upset she’s finding anger.
TASAMBEKER
And how the hell am I supposed to do that?
DAVROS
KILL JOBEL!
TASAMBEKER
No... never! I won’t!
DAVROS
You will not be free of him until you do. And I will not be able to trust you.
TASAMBEKER
Trust me? Why do I have to kill him? Why not hire an assassin yourself! There are plenty of Wadifalayeen out there! Why me?
DAVROS
YOU need him dead. And assassins kill for money. That means anyone who offers them more money can turn them against me. Kill Jobel, spill his blood, free yourself... prove your loyalty to me. Retake your life and I will make you truly immortal. It is the end of the road. Make your choice, Tasambeker.
The screen darkens. Tasambeker, breathing heavily, suddenly turns and runs out with new resolve.
55. INT. RECEPTION AREA (DAY)
Everyone is leaving the area for the entrance to the ship. Jobel is at the rear, eyes closed as if summoning his strength.
JOBEL
Of course, minor earth tremors at to be expected during the solstice.
He sighs, and then snaps out of it as he sees Tasambeker approaching him. Vargos and the others have left.
JOBEL
And what do you want?
TASAMBEKER
You must leave with me! Now!
He looks at her in disgust.
JOBEL
That’s the bluntest proposal I’ve had all week.
TASAMBEKER
If you don’t, the Great Healer will have you killed! He hates you!
JOBEL
Obviously.
Tasambeker loses some of her energy.
TASAMBEKER
You knew?
JOBEL
Of course I did. I saved his life, I’ve been his loyal servant for ten LONG years! And what does he do? Replace me with YOU. YOU! And I am Jobel, the Chief Embalmer, Tranquil Repose depends on me!
TASAMBEKER
Tranquil Repose is just a breeding ground for Daleks!
JOBEL
Not for much longer! It’s time we dealt with that bodiless mutant freak!
TASAMBEKER
He wants you dead! He wants me to kill you to earn his favor!
Jobel’s eyes widen.
JOBEL
Does he? He wants YOU to kill me. The most undignified demise possible. After all the work I have done for that skull-faced degenerate!
TASAMBEKER
But I won’t!
JOBEL
Of course you won’t. You’re a useless, brainless and graceless hippopotamus!
She grabs his arms.
TASAMBEKER
BUT I LOVE YOU!
She stares at him, as if unable to believe she finally said it. He does not react.
56. INT. DJ’S RECORDING SUITE (DAY)
The DJ stands, staring at the screen. His jaw has dropped.
DJ
She told him. She really told him.
He shakes his head in disbelief.
57. INT. RECEPTION AREA (DAY)
As before. Tasambeker clings desperately to Jobel, who stands like a statue.
TASAMBEKER
I love you. I’m risking my own life telling you this and I don’t care because I love you.
Jobel fastidiously removes her hands.
JOBEL
But I don’t love you. No one loves you. No one ever could love you. And I’d rather stay here, facing this two-credit Dalek farm than go anywhere with you.
TASAMBEKER
You think any of the other women here would do this for you? They don’t love you!
JOBEL
And I don’t love them. But I prefer them to your wretched form! I would rather elope with my own mother than a fawning little creep like you.
TASAMBEKER
And you’re SUCH a catch! A fat, bald egotist whose had a nervous breakdown!
Jobel bitch-slaps Tasambeker.
JOBEL
Fat? My figure is the height of fashion! This galaxy is starving – my figure proves how important, how rich, how well-fed I am! Yours just shows your for the repellent subhuman blob you are! Throw everything you’ve got away for me, see if I care!
Tasambeker turns away, crushed. She looks at the tray of surgical implements and grabs the hypodermic with white knuckled hands.
JOBEL
The three months you’ve infected this establishment are the worst I have ever been forced to experience. Your very name being said kills my soul a little each time.
Tasambeker weeps silently. Her voice is unnaturally calm.
TASAMBEKER
I always knew you were cruel.
JOBEL
I haven’t even started yet.
He spits on her. For real.
TASAMBEKER
I – HATE – YOU!!
Furious, Tasambeker spins round, raises the hypodermic... and Jobel’s fist hammers into her face. She is sent sprawling, the hypo falling and bouncing on the floor.
JOBEL
And I hate YOU, Tasambeker! The only thing in the whole of creation that could equal my hatred for you is my awe at your God-like stupidity! Do you honestly think that I could ever possibly be interested in you!
Tasembaker rises and swings a punch at Jobel, who ducks it.
JOBEL
I knew true love, Tasambeker! Your filthy little infatuation spits on her memory!
Tasambeker lunges at Jobel and a kick to her shin makes her collapse. Jobel grabs the back of her head.
JOBEL
The Great Healer didn’t heal her, did he? He let her die! And so I’m going to kill him – and any of his scum that he sends to stop me, starting with YOU!
He punches Tasambeker in the face.
JOBEL
The fact you lived when others died sickens me! You make me SICK, Tasambeker! The disgusting way you assume you have a right to breathe the same air as me!
He slams her head onto the ground. Tasambeker cries out.
JOBEL
More annoying, senseless noise! JUST SHUT UP!
He raises his boot to slam down on Tasambeker’s head and she rolls away as he stamps onto the ground.
58. INT. DJ’S RECORDING STUDIO (DAY)
The DJ frantically punches controls.
DJ
Oh, no, Jobel, please, don’t do this...
33. INT. RECEPTION AREA (DAY)
Jobel adances on Tasambeker.
JOBEL
The Great Healer thinks YOU can replace ME? I’ll crush his wrinkled skull like a Maston egg! And I’m going to have YOUR blood on MY hands when I do it!
Tasambeker scrabbles desperately for the hypodermic.
JOBEL
Because there is nothing on the other side, Tasambeker. Void. Darkness. Oblivion. And I find it so much more enticing than a realm that contains your foul presence! You want to kill me, then get on with it! Because I AM JOBEL! I AM TRANQUIL REPOSE! AND NOTHING AND NOBODY CAN CHANGE IT – LEAST OF ALL YOU!
DJ (VO)
STOP!
Jobel looks up, taken by surprise.
DJ (VO)
This is the DJ! And I’m telling you to stop! You’re about to kill a girl that loves you more than life itself! You’re letting the Great Healer win! Please, for once, someone just listen to me!
JOBEL
And as for you, you plankton-brained fat git... You’re NEXT on my list! It’s time I stopped working with corpses and started making them!
Tasambeker rises and charges him. He flings out his arm in a clothesline. Tasambeker cries out and collapses. He turns away.
JOBEL
Say your prayers, Balowski! I AM JOBEL AND I WILL BE...
Tasambeker, gasping, plunges the hypodermic into the back of his neck.
JOBEL
... back...
Blood starts to pour from his mouth. Suddenly, he smiles.
JOBEL
Selrin...
He falls heavily onto the ground, rolling onto his side. His toupee slides to the floor. He is smiling serenely and the hypo still jammed into his neck. Tasambeker lets out a mindless moan, covering her mouth with her hands.
DJ (VO)
Tasambeker? Tasambeker! Hello? Can you hear me! Tasambeker!!
59. INT. CHAPEL (DAY)
Davros stares up at the image of Jobel’s corpse.
DAVROS
I offered you immortality. You wanted your death, Jobel, and I have given it to you.
He revolves to face a Dalek.
DAVROS
Bring Tasambeker here. She has earned her salvation.
DALEK
I OBEY.
The Dalek turns and glides out. The scanner images changes to the catacombs.
DAVROS
Begin to burn down the door. The time has come to cease these games. Is that not correct, Commander Gustave Lytton?
We pull back to see Lytton is slumped in the chair, conscious but apparently drugged.
60. INT. INCUBATION ROOM (DAY)
They stand around the podium.
GRIGORY
Horrible... It’s growing. Just like an embryo.
Natasha reaches out to touch the glass Dalek. The Doctor snatches her hand.
DOCTOR
Don’t touch it. It could be booby-trapped.
NATASHA
My father...
STENGOS
Na-ta-sha...
DOCTOR
He’s been put here as a display. ‘The Great Healer’ is mocking us.
STENGOS
Great Healer...
DOCTOR
Yes. He’s the one who did this to you, isn’t he?
STENGOS
My mind... has been conditioned... to serve a new master. Conditioning... implanted in my brain... new programming... so strong... hard to resist... trying... to... fight...
DOCTOR
That’s it! Fight it! You’re your own master!
NATASHA
Father, what happened to you?
STENGOS
I... I... I can’t... remember.
NATASHA
Why not? You remembered who I am!
STENGOS
You are my daughter... How could I forget that? Who are these... with you?
NATASHA
Friends. Why have they done this to you?
STENGOS
I... am to become... a Dalek.
Grigory, face aghast, slides a hand around Natasha to keep her upright.
NATASHA
A Dalek? But how? What does it mean?
STENGOS
I am to become a Dalek. You are to become Daleks.
The single eye rolls back. A mechanical note enters his voice. He no longer sounds like a human being, the grating in his voice a familiar screech.
STENGOS
WE ARE ALL TO BECOME DALEKS!
(END OF EPISODE THREE)
(NEXT EPISODE: A MEETING WITH DESTINY)
(ROLL END CREDITS)
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