"The Ribos Operation"
Episode 3
Written by Robert Holmes
First broadcast 1978
1: EXT. CASTLE FOYER
GRAFF: NO one makes a fool of the Graff Vynda-K and lives. Sholakh...
SHOLAKH: Highness?
GRAFF: EXECUTE THEM!!!
(The guards surround the startled trio.)
DOCTOR: Hold it, hold it, HOLD IT!! This must be a case of mistaken identity.
(He throws Garron in front of him as a shield. Garron sinks to his knees.)
GARRON: Oh mercy, Highness! Spare these gray hairs!!
(The Doctor crouches behind the crouching Garron, but Graff comes and seizes Garron up.)
GRAFF: Get up, you cringing cur!
(The Doctor get up.)
DOCTOR: Yes, get up you cringing cur!
GARRON: I-I was just taking my friends for a little stroll.
(The Graff pulls back a glove to slap Garron.)
GRAFF: DON'T LIE.
(The Doctor grabs the Graff's hand.)
DOCTOR: Don't hit the cringing cur.
GRAFF: How dare you touch me!!
(The Doctor gets the glove in his face instead. His jaw drops - his hand flies to his cheek. Then he grabs the glove and slaps Graff
with it.)
GRAFF: SHRIEVES!!!
SHOLAKH: Highness - the gold!!
(The Doctor mouths "What?" - but it does get the Graff back to the point.)
GRAFF: You're right, Sholakh.
(The Graff snatches back the glove. The Doctor tries to snatch it back.)
GRAFF: Take them to our quarters, Sholakh. It may please me to squeeze the truth out of them at my leisure.
(He walks into the castle.)
SHOLAKH: You heard, guards! Move it!!
(The Doctor, Romana and Garron are herded into the castle.)
2: INT. RELIC ROOM
(The Captain and a guard looks at the empty cabinet.)
SHRIEVE: Nothing else missing, sir.
CAPTAIN: Well, that's something. The thief must've been disturbed.
(The guard closes the cabinet. The Captain moves over to the case, and runs a gloved finger over the ugly hole in the glass.)
CAPTAIN: Whoever he is, he knew what he was doing.
(The Graff walks in.)
GRAFF: CAPTAINNN!! What is going on??
CAPTAIN: You heard the alarm?
GRAFF: Well??
CAPTAIN: The gold has been stolen.
GRAFF: It was in your keep.
CAPTAIN: I have summoned the seeker.
GRAFF: The seeker?
CAPTAIN: A visionary. No wrongdoer escapes the seeker's bones. I promise you, the thief will be taken before morning.
(That's all the Graff needed to hear.)
GRAFF: Yes, well I hope you're confident.
(He suddenly notices the gaping hole in the case, and the missing "scringe stone." He goes from angry to furious.)
GRAFF: WHAT?!?!?
CAPTAIN: What's wrong?
GRAFF: The jethrik!! He's taken the jethrik!!!
CAPTAIN: The what?
GRAFF: The "scringe stone"!! Look, it's gone!
CAPTAIN: I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing is missing from here except your gold, merchant.
GRAFF: A blue stone!! It was here just...
(Oh...now he gets it.)
GRAFF: You don't know what scringe stone is?
CAPTAIN: I've never heard of it.
3: INT. GRAFF'S SUITE
(One of the bodyguards has a hold of the Key to Time's wand core, and he looks it over.)
SHOLAKH: What is that?
(The Doctor takes the wand.)
ROMANA: Actually, it's an instrument for...
(The Doctor kisses the wand.)
DOCTOR: ...for measuring time on 19 different planets.
SHOLAKH: Let the girl answer.
DOCTOR: It can also be used for modifying diarhythmic oscillations, cleaning your shoes, sharpening pencils...it could even peel
your apples.
(The Doctor and Sholakh share a laugh. Romana's a bit mystified at the Doctor's line of BS.)
SHOLAKH: You won't be so cheerful when the Graff is done with you, my friend.
DOCTOR: Oh, I don't know. Once I've explained his little mistake, I'm sure we'll be the best of friends. (to Romana) Sit
down.
(The Doctor and Romana sit on a lounge.)
DOCTOR: I get on...I get on terribly well with the aristocracy.
(A beeping noise comes from Garron's wrist communicator. He slaps a hand over it and bolts for the door. The bodyguards force him
back.)
SHOLAKH: So....there's someone else, eh Garron? Another accomplice. Well, we'll get him. The whole dirty gang of you will
die together.
(He moves to the door.)
SHOLAKH: Now, don't any of you poke your nose outside this door - unless you want it shot off.
(Sholakh and the bodyguards leave. The Doctor leans in close to Romana.)
DOCTOR: We're not a dirty gang, are we?
ROMANA: Of course not.
4: EXT. CITY
(Unstoffe stands with his back against a stone arch, trying desperately to reach Garron on his communicator.)
UNSTOFFE: Come on, you stupid old fool, come on!!
(No answer. And Unstoffe isn't exactly in the safest place in town. Truth is, he's in the ghetto - which, in these medieval settings,
is literally the whole town. Nearby, an old, dirty-faced man looks out from his cloth-doored dwelling at him.)
5: INT. GRAFF'S SUITE
(Romana is trying to help Garron sew up a cut on his communicator hand.)
ROMANA: Let me see that.
GARRON: Oh, thank you.
(Together, they finish the sewing.)
ROMANA: Why did you do it?
GARRON: Eh...I was afraid Unstoffe might give our position away.
ROMANA: Unstoffe?
GARRON: Yeah, a junior employee.
(The Doctor lounges on a sofa.)
DOCTOR: What, with a open honest face?
GARRON: Oh, yes of course, you've seen him.
DOCTOR: Yes. I nearly bumped into him in the relic - he's very light on his feet, isn't he?
(Garron chuckles in agreement. Romana applies some antiseptic spray to Garron's wound.)
ROMANA: There, that should stop the bleeding.
GARRON: Oh, thank you very much. You're very kind. If you like, I'll tell the Graff that you weren't part of my team. He won't
believe me, of course.
DOCTOR: Then there's not much point in telling him, is there?
GARRON: Quite. It's ironic, isn't it?
ROMANA: What's ironic?
GARRON: You've just made a competent arrest. I do admire professionalism, especially in the opposition. (chuckles) Now
nobody'll ever hear of it. We'll all die together.
DOCTOR: Is that supposed to comforting?
GARRON: There's no comfort in dying. I've always said it was the last thing I want to do.
ROMANA: Why are you so sure the Graff will kill us? Who is he, anyway?
GARRON: He's a cold-blooded maniac! He likes killing people.
DOCTOR: Then wasn't it a little foolhardy, trying to sell him a nonexistent mine?
GARRON: Mine??
DOCTOR: Yes, mine. That's your game, isn't it? Mines!
(Garron gets up, grinning.)
GARRON: If mine's mines, then what's yours, eh?
ROMANA: We're searching for the first segment to the Key to Time.
(The Doctor jumps out of the sofa.)
DOCTOR: Oh, never mind about that! Let's get out of here!
(He digs something out of his pocket.)
ROMANA: What's that, Doctor?
DOCTOR: I'm gonna whistle up some help. Cover your ears.
(Romana and Garron do so. The Doctor puts his new dog whistle to his mouth and blows.)
6: EXT. CASTLE FOYER
(The door of the TARDIS opens, and K-9 rolls out onto the snowy ground.)
K-9: Master?
7: EXT. CONCOURSE
OLD MAN: (to Unstoffe) Psst! Hey! In here, quick!! Come on, here!
(With a guard approaching his position, Unstoffe dives into the hovel with the old man.)
CAPTAIN: You! There! Show yourself!! Show yourself! Hurry!
(The old man throws back his blanket door. He's the only one visible inside the tiny hovel.)
OLD MAN: What's the matter? Wh-wh-what's going on?
SHRIEVE: We're hunting the thief who broke into the relic room tonight.
OLD MAN: Ha ha. That's what all the fuss is about. You haven't caught him yet, then?
SHRIEVE: Would we be poking about in these bone pits if we had? Ehhh...what a filthy hole.
OLD MAN: Oh well, now that I'm awake, uh, you'll want to, uh, want to see in the bed.
(He starts to pull off his cover. Unstoffe is hiding behind the bed, and gets a faceful of fur.)
SHRIEVE: You can keep your fleas.
(The guard looks closer.)
SHRIEVE: I know your face, don't I?
OLD MAN: Yeah, maybe - it was well known in Shur once.
SHRIEVE: Of course...Binro! Binro the Heretic! So you're down to this, are you?
BINRO: I live as I must.
SHRIEVE: Heh. Not for much longer, by the looks of you. Well, you won't be much missed...Binro.
BINRO: You think I care for the opinion of a lout like you?
(The guard puts his staff against Binro's neck as a warning.)
SHRIEVE: Keep a civil tongue. That old neck of yours would snap like a twig.
(The guard storms away. Binro closes the cloth door again.)
BINRO: Hey, it's all right. He's gone.
8: INT. RELIC ROOM
(A flash of light booms out of a small urn. Kneeling before it, an old woman in white and black make-up, a golden horned hat and
white clothing gestures wildly.)
WOMAN: Bones of our fathers, bones of our kings, seek and find. By the flesh that once clothed you, by the spirit that now
holds you. Seek! Seek and find! Seek in the Ice Time. Seek in the Sun Time. Seek and find!
(The Graff and Sholakh look at the ceremony, more than a little sceptical.)
SHOLAKH: Primitive mumbo jumbo.
GRAFF: They believe in it. The Captain says it never fails.
WOMAN: Come to the circle, gods of the ice. Come to the bones. Show, show, show what I seek!!
(She shrieks, closing her eyes.)
WOMAN: I see him. He is at the place of fires.
(The Graff and Sholakh throw questioning glances at each other, but the Captain recognizes the location.)
CAPTAIN: The concourse? My men have searched there for him.
WOMAN: That is where he is.
(She gathers up some bones.)
WOMAN: We will go there. I will seek him out.
(The Graff and Sholakh watch the woman and the Captain leave.)
SHOLAKH: What now, Highness?
GRAFF: Fetch the guards. We'll follow them. And if they find him...
SHOLAKH: ...we take the jethrik.
GRAFF: Tell the guards we may have to fight our way out of the city.
(They leave the room.)
8: INT. CORRIDOR
(Little ol' K-9 scoots across the stone corridor.)
9: INT. GRAFF'S SUITE
(Romana's listening by the door as the Doctor talks to Garron.)
DOCTOR: When did you leave Earth, Garron?
(Garron helps himself to some wine.)
GARRON: Oh, a long time ago. I was just an ambitious boy in those days, taking my first steps in life. Then I had a bit of
trouble with a dissatisfied client and thought it best to leave.
DOCTOR: Really? What happened?
GARRON: He was an Arab. I sold him Sydney Harbour for $50 million dollars.
(Garron and the Doctor both laugh at that one.)
GARRON: Yeah...then he thought I should throw in this opera house as well!
DOCTOR: No!
GARRON: Oh, yes!
DOCTOR: The opera house?
GARRON: Yeah, the opera house. But I refused. I mean, one must have SOME scruples, mustn't one?
DOCTOR: But of course.
GARRON: Well, I couldn't let that noble edifice to our cultural heritage fall in the wrong hands, could I?
DOCTOR: No.
GARRON: Yeah, but my refusal upset him. He took the impressive documents I had prepared to the government, and it seemed my little
ruse was prematurely rumbled. They came after me with a machine gun. It was the most harrowing experience. I never went back.
(The Doctor laughs.)
DOCTOR: I'm not surprised.
ROMANA: (exasperated) Doctor, there are men out there planning to kill us, and you're just sitting here chatting.
DOCTOR: Please don't panic, Romana. Come and sit down. Come on, come and sit down.
(He pulls up a pillow for the young woman. Romana reluctantly moves over and sits, crossing her arms.)
DOCTOR: Listen, when you've faced death as often as I have...this is much more fun. Go on, Garron. Tell us about the jethrik.
ROMANA: (disgusted) Jethrik...what's so special about jethrik?
DOCTOR: Tell her, Garron.
GARRON: She doesn't know about it?!?
DOCTOR: No, she doesn't, do you?
GARRON: I thought such ignorance only existed on Grade-3 planets like this.
ROMANA: Don't patronize me, Garron, just tell me.
GARRON: It's only the rarest and most powerful element in the universe. Without jethrik drive, there'd be no space warping and
I'd still be safely at home on Earth.
DOCTOR: (softly) And where did you get your piece?
GARRON: Stroke of good luck - I acquired that some years ago.
DOCTOR: You stole it.
GARRON: Oh, now that's a very blunt word, isn't it?
DOCTOR: Fraud's another one. Tell me, Garron, how many jethrik mines have you sold since then?
GARRON: I don't sell mines, Doctor.
DOCTOR: No?
GARRON: No...I sell planets!
(Both Romana and the Doctor are surprised at this.)
DOCTOR: Pl...
GARRON: (nods) That's how I realized you worked for Alliance Security. They've been tailing me ever since I sold Merabelis
mine to some three different purchasers. Oh, I was in my prime in those days, my golden period.
(He takes another long swig of wine.)
ROMANA: (aside to the Doctor) Do you know, I think his social maladjustment is entirely due to a deep rooted sense
of rejection.
GARRON: Look, all I do is take a little from those that have too much and then I spread it around a bit. I have to keep the economy
in balance.
ROMANA: Yes, but...if this piece of jethrik's so valuable, why don't you just sell it? And then you'd have plenty to spread amongst
those who need it.
GARRON: Oh, I don't think it's worth all that much.
DOCTOR: Tell me something, Garron. Why do you think the Graff was interested in buying this planet even before you conned him
into believing there was a jethrik mine here?
GARRON: He's crazy!! You don't know about the Graff?
DOCTOR: I'm asking you, Garron.
GARRON: He was Emperor of Levithia once - and a bad one. The tyrant raised an expedition force to go off to the frontier wars,
leaving his half-brother on the throne. And when the wars was ended, heh...his people refused to let him return.
DOCTOR: (sombre) And now he's got nowhere to go, is that it?
GARRON: Says he's looking for a new world.
DOCTOR: What? A new world?
GARRON: Yeah, that's why he's here. Somewhere where he can raise a-a battle fleet and force the Levithians to have him back.
Hah. It's a mad, hopeless dream. But a madman's money jingles in my pocket as well as anyone's.
ROMANA: Mad or not, he saw through you.
GARRON: Oh, that was Unstoffe's fault, my dear. He's a terrible ham at heart.
(A shouting noise from outside. The Doctor holds up a finger.)
DOCTOR: Shh!
10: INT. CORRIDOR
(Sholakh faces the line of armoured bodyguards.)
SHOLAKH: All right now, pay attention! Orders from the Graff! It seems that these natives have got a line on the thief, the
one who took the jethrik and his Highness' gold. He's trapped in some place called the concourse and the natives are planning to raid
this concourse just before dawn. Only, uh....we'll be there as well. And when they arrive, we'll shoot the lot of them. Is that clear?
NO survivors, NO tongue-waggers. We take the jethrik and the gold, and we head straight back for the ship. With any luck, we'll be gone
before they know what's hit them. Crow...
(A bodyguard comes up to him.)
SHOLAKH: You stand guard here. If all goes according to plan, you should hear the firing from here. When you do, kill all
the prisoners immediately, understood?
CROW: Right, sir.
11: INT. GRAFF'S SUITE
(The Doctor, Romana and Garron could hear every word.)
SHOLAKH: (off-screen) All right, follow me!
(The army marches out of hearing.)
DOCTOR: I don't like the sound of that. A lot of people are going to die if we don't get out of here.
GARRON: Including us.
DOCTOR: Yes.
(Garron stomps out of view.)
ROMANA: We've got until dawn, Doctor. How long's that?
(The Doctor looks straight up.)
DOCTOR: Must be nearly dawn now.
ROMANA: Aren't you frightened?
DOCTOR: Yes. Terrified.
GARRON: If only my wrist speaker was working, I could warn him. I mean, as long as he's free, we've got something to bargain
with.
(The Doctor takes the wrist speaker and looks it over. He tosses away a piece.)
DOCTOR: They made too good a job of that.
GARRON: Hey, wait a minute!
(Garron moves to the fireplace.)
GARRON: Where is it?
(He pulls out the little bug.)
GARRON: A little hearing aid I planted earlier. It's on the same wavelength as Unstoffe's two-way. Unfortunately, it's got
no call button.
DOCTOR: Give me what's left of your own two-way.
(He accepts the speaker and sits down with the two components.)
12: INT. CONCOURSE - BINRO'S HOVEL
(Unstoffe sips from a hot cup provided by Binro.)
UNSTOFFE: Thank you. Thank you for helping me escape.
(He sounds very different from the stupid, cowardly git we've been hearing. He sounds calm, mature - almost an entirely different
man. Binro takes the cup back.)
BINRO: Oh, it was nothing.
UNSTOFFE: Why'd you do it?
BINRO: Well...I know what it's like when every hand is against you.
UNSTOFFE: (nods, pointing outside) Binro the Heretic.
BINRO: You heard that name. Well, it wasn't much of a heresy, my friend. Just a little thing.
UNSTOFFE: What?
BINRO: Oh, many years ago now. (looks upward) Have you ever looked up at the sky at night, and seen those little lights?
UNSTOFFE: (nods) Mm-hmm.
BINRO: They are NOT ice crystals.
(He waits, as if expecting a violent response. Unstoffe merely nods.)
UNSTOFFE: Go on.
BINRO: Well...I believe they are suns. Just like our own sun. And perhaps each sun has other worlds of its own, just as Ribos
is a world. What do you say to that?
(Unstoffe seems willing to listen to the ideas, at least.)
UNSTOFFE: It's an interesting theory.
BINRO: (a bit surprised) Wha...? (laughs heartily) A broad-minded man! Perhaps in the North, they are a different
people after all! You see, my friend, I have taken measurements of those little lights and of our sun, and I can PROVE that Ribos moves!
Yeah. It circles our sun, travelling far away and then returning. It's the reason we have our two seasons, Sun Time and Ice Time.
UNSTOFFE: Nobody believed you.
BINRO: Ah, those blockheads - they prefer to believe that Ribos is some sort of battleground over which the Sun Gods and the
Ice Gods battle for supremacy. They said that if I did not publicly recant my beliefs...the gods would destroy our world.
UNSTOFFE: And did you?
BINRO: Mm-hmm, in the end. Hey, these hands...
(He holds up two gnarled, crippled hands. He chuckles.)
BINRO: Useless for work now. That's why I live here.
UNSTOFFE: Binro, supposing I were to tell you that everything you've just said....is absolutely true? There ARE other worlds,
other suns.
BINRO: (wide-eyed) Heh....y-you believe it too??
UNSTOFFE: I know it for a fact. You see...I come from one of those other worlds.
BINRO: (excited) Y-you...
UNSTOFFE: I-I thought I should tell you, because one day - even here - in the future, men will turn to each other and say, "Binro
was right."
(The old man is almost crying with joy. He hugs Unstoffe's hand tightly.)
13: INT. GRAFF'S SUITE
(The Doctor is making some progress on the wrist speaker, twisting diodes with a tiny hand tool as Romana watches.)
DOCTOR: Put your finger there, Romana.
(She puts a finger on one part.)
DOCTOR: Of course, I can't promise you that this will work.
GARRON: Without a receiver, we won't even know if it's worked anyway!
DOCTOR: Right. So keep your fingers crossed.
(Romana wraps one finger around the one she's got on the speaker. The Doctor uncrosses the finger.)
DOCTOR: Not you, Romana.
14: EXT. CORRIDOR
(The red-caped, bucket-headed bodyguard stands ready to dish out death at the first one to come up. Only he didn't expect the first
one to be a small gray robot dog with a multicoloured collar. Of course, his back's turned and he doesn't get to see K-9 before K-9
nails him with its nose laser.)
K-9: Most satisfactory.
15: INT. CONCOURSE - BINRO'S HOVEL
(The beeping of Unstoffe's wrist speaker jars Binro awake.)
BINRO: Huh? Wh-what? What is it?
(Unstoffe slaps a hand over the speaker.)
UNSTOFFE: Uh, i-i-it's...somebody t-t-trying to...make me happy.
(Binro smiles uncomprehendingly as the beeping stops.)
16: INT. GRAFF'S SUITE
(The Doctor finishes touching his tool to the speaker.)
DOCTOR: That should catch his attention.
(He hands it over to Garron.)
DOCTOR: You use it, Garron. He knows your voice.
(At that moment, the door opens and K-9 rolls in.)
ROMANA: K-9!
K-9: Master. Mistress.
DOCTOR: Just a moment, K-9.
GARRON: What's that?!?
DOCTOR: Never mind about that, Garron! Get on with it!
(Garron shrugs it off and speaks into the speaker.)
GARRON: Hello, Unstoffe, this is Garron.
17: INT. CONCOURSE - BINRO'S HOVEL
(Binro looks about the room in fear as Garron's voice echoes around him.)
GARRON: (V.O.) You can't call me back, so listen carefully. You've been traced to the concourse. They'll be raiding
the place any minute. Get out while you still have a chance. I repeat...
(Unstoffe slaps the speaker off.)
UNSTOFFE: Don't bother, I heard you the first time.
(Binro frantically pulls off the furs around him.)
BINRO: There's only one chance for you now, my friend - we must take refuge in the catacombs! Come, follow me!!
(The two climbs out of the hovel.)
18: INT. GRAFF'S SUITE
(The Doctor and Garron pull the limp guard out of the corridor and into the back of the suite.)
ROMANA: Is he dead?
K-9: Negative - he'll be out for hours. I used Stun at mark 7.
(The Doctor drops the guard behind the sofa.)
DOCTOR: Come on, quickly, let's get out of here.
(He throws a red blanket over the guard, and the group quickly takes its leave of the room.)
19: INT. CORRIDOR
(As they step out, the Doctor takes up the guard's staff.)
DOCTOR: Which way's the concourse?
GARRON: Straight ahead, down the stairs, and turn a right.
(The Doctor hands Garron the staff.)
DOCTOR: Come on. K-9, don't stop at all costs. Come on!!
(The group starts down the corridor.)
20: EXT. CONCOURSE
(The old seeker woman has just lit off another pot of incense.)
SEEKER: Oh bones, shine in the darkness, show what I seek! Shine with the ice light, shine with the corpse light. Bring to
the circle the one whom I seek! If he be near...
(The Graff, Sholakh and the army are standing by her, ready and raring to go.)
SHOLAKH: (aside to Graff) Our men have covered all the exits, Highness. No one will escape.
SEEKER: Now! NOW!! NOWWW!!!
(She shrieks again.)
21: INT. CRYPT
(Binro and Unstoffe walk into a dark, candle-lit chamber of tombs. All around are shrouded corpses on slabs.)
UNSTOFFE: What is this place?
BINRO: Eh, everybody comes here eventually, though not always alive. They call it the Hall of the Dead.
UNSTOFFE: Let's not stop then.
(Binro points.)
BINRO: The catacombs are that way.
(The old man staggers over to a door, pauses, and turns to look at Unstoffe, who's looking uneasily at the tombs.)
BINRO: Well, come! You're not afraid, are you?
22: EXT. CASTLE DOOR
(The Doctor runs back to meet Romana, Garron and K-9. The marching of Graff's men can be heard nearby.)
GARRON: Any luck?
DOCTOR: No. The concourse is well guarded.
GARRON: Look, I'll look this way, O.K.
(He takes off in another direction.)
ROMANA: Doctor, if they're all out looking for Unstoffe, why don't we go down to the relic room and get the segment? It'll
be unguarded!
DOCTOR: Because it's not there.
ROMANA: Not there? But surely it's taken the shape of the crown!
DOCTOR: The crown has nothing to do with it. Look at the tracer.
(Romana lifts up the wand, which begins clicking rapidly.)
ROMANA: Oh, that's the opposite direction from the relic room!
DOCTOR: Yes. It's pointing toward Unstoffe and his piece of jethrik.
(Romana rolls her eyes. She finally gets it.)
ROMANA: Ohhh, you mean it was disguised as the jethrik all along.
DOCTOR: (nods) Yes. I thought you would've realized that, bright girl like you.
ROMANA: (amazed) How did you know?
DOCTOR: How many times do you think that crown has seen the light of day?
ROMANA: No idea.
DOCTOR: I'd say twice a century.
ROMANA: So?
DOCTOR: So now, listen. We took two bearings of the segment on the TARDIS, remember?
ROMANA: (nods) Uh-huh.
DOCTOR: Now, obviously, the segment moved a considerable distance between the readings, so...?
ROMANA: But the second time, it stayed put in the cabinet...and it could only have been there a day when we arrived, so...it
could only have been the lump of jethrik which didn't belong there!!
DOCTOR: Exactly. Garron and Unstoffe planted it there.
ROMANA: Of COURSE.
DOCTOR: Simple, isn't it?
(Romana shakes her head in amazement.)
ROMANA: Brilliant.
(No time for hero worship, because Garron just ran back up.)
DOCTOR: Well?
GARRON: All clear that way.
DOCTOR: Good. Unstoffe got the message.
GARRON: How'd you know?
(The Doctor points at the wand.)
DOCTOR: This little gadget points us toward the jethrik, and it's pointing that way.
(He points the way Garron came.)
GARRON: Unstoffe's got the jethrik!
DOCTOR: Exactly. Come on, follow me.
(The group takes off into the city.)
23: EXT. CONCOURSE
SEEKER: He has gone.
CAPTAIN: Gone?!? Why, he can't have!!
SEEKER: He is no longer in this place.
CAPTAIN: But you CAN find him?
SEEKER: It will do no good.
(Graff and Sholakh glare at each other, the same thought on their mind - wild goose chase!!)
SEEKER: The one you seek is in the catacombs.
(And with that, she walks away.)
GRAFF: WELL, Captain?
CAPTAIN: He's escaped us.
GRAFF: You assured me he would be found.
CAPTAIN: He has gone to the catacombs. He'll die there, so the matter is over.
GRAFF: No, Captain, the matter is NOT OVER!!! He has my gold!!
CAPTAIN: YOUR gold, eh? My men will not go into the catacombs for your gold.
SHOLAKH: Why not? What are these catacombs?
CAPTAIN: They are an ancient labyrinth beneath the city - home of the long dead...and of the Ice Gods.
24: INT. CRYPT
(The Doctor, Romana, K-9 and Garron enter the place Binro and Unstoffe were a moment before.)
DOCTOR: Careful, careful. These steps are treacherous.
25: INT. CATACOMBS
(A long corridor of hollowed-out tombs. Unstoffe and Binro continues down the murky passage.)
UNSTOFFE: H-how far do these stretch?
BINRO: Nobody knows. Our ancestors made them long long ago, to house their dead. Th-they say that the Ice Gods live here.
UNSTOFFE: But you don't believe in the Ice Gods, Binro.
BINRO: No...no, of course not.
(Both men are getting scared in these surroundings.)
UNSTOFFE: L-look, d-do you want to go back?
BINRO: Yes, um...no, I'll stay here with you.
(A growling noise - both men recoil.)
UNSTOFFE: Wh-what was that?
BINRO: The Shrivenzale, I think. A colony of the creatures lives down here.
UNSTOFFE: Do you mean the same as that thing that guards the relic room?
BINRO: That was a small one.
(Unstoffe goes ashen.)
UNSTOFFE: Uh, l-l-look, Binro, I-I think we better think about this.
BINRO: The fact that they can stay down here means that there must be another way up to the surface. See, they hunt for smaller
animals on the tundra, and then return here to their lair to sleep.
UNSTOFFE: That's all very well, Binro, b-but can we tiptoe past them?
BINRO: Well...let's see, shall we?
(They continue down the passage, Unstoffe more reluctantly than ever.)
26: INT. CRYPT
(The Doctor's group has reached the entrance to the catacombs.)
DOCTOR: Garron...
GARRON: Huh?
DOCTOR: Your friends have a good nose for a hiding place.
(Romana uses the wand.)
ROMANA: Straight ahead.
27: INT. CATACOMBS
(They move into the passage.)
K-9: Sentient life forms.
DOCTOR: HUSH!!
K-9: (whisper) Sentient life forms approaching.
DOCTOR: Which way?
K-9: Behind us.
DOCTOR: What??
(All eyes turn to the back of the passage.)
K-9: Quick, into these holes!!
(The three humanoids (and one dog) jump into tomb hollows. The Doctor finds himself bed mates with a skeleton. Romana hops on top
of Garron in his hiding spot. K-9 rolls into a ground level tomb. The Graff comes into the passage, followed closely by Sholakh and
the army.)
SHOLAKH: They've gone deeper than this.
(The Doctor turns to look at them - and accidentally knocks a skull out onto the ground. It hits with a clatter.)
GRAFF: NOW WE HAVE HIM!!! He cannot escape - and no one will ever know how he tried to trick the Graff Vynda-K!
(The Doctor braces himself for certain doom...)
Cue Doctor Who Theme playing over energy whirlpool.
Doctor Who
TOM BAKER
Romana
MARY TAMM
Garron
IAIN CUTHBERTSON
Unstoffe
NIGEL PLASKITT
Graff Vynda-K
PAUL SEED
Sholakh
ROBERT KEEGAN
Binro
TIMOTHY BATESON
The Seeker
ANN TIRARD
Captain
PRENTIS HANCOCK
Guard
OLIVER MAGUIRE
Voice of K-9
JOHN LEESON
Incidental Music
DUDLEY SIMPSON
Special Sound
DICK MILLS
Production Assistant
JANE SHIRLEY
Production Unit Manager
JOHN NATHAN-TURNER
Lighting
JIMMY PURDIE
Sound
RICHARD CHUBB
Visual Effects Designer
DAVE HAVARD
Electronic Effects Operator
DAVE CHAPMAN
Video Tape Editor
JOHN TURNER
Costume Designer
JUNE HUDSON
Make-Up Artist
CHRISTINE WALMESLEY-COTHAM
Script Editor
ANTHONY READ
Designer
KEN LEDSHAM
Producer
GRAHAM WILLIAMS
Director
GEORGE SPENTON-FOSTER
@ BBC MCMLXXVIII
Fade out....
Transcribed by
Christopher G. "Nightowl" McElroy