Peiriannydd Ep. #2: Perianne’s Martian Adventure
. Peiriannydd: Ep 2. "Perianne's Martian Adventure" (9/12)
. By Barbara Goldstein PhD
.
. TEASER
INT. MINI-T
PERIANNE in her Engineering uniform works beneath the Tardis
console. GORDON enters from the outside door with bags of
take-out food.
GORDON
Your favorite, french toast sticks -
powder sugar, no syrup.
Perianne comes out from under the console and takes the bag.
PERIANNE
Thanks. I need a break.
Perianne extracts the food. Gordon opens a bag of his own,
and they eat while they converse
GORDON
I wish I could get you to take a
real break. You haven't left the
Mini-T in three days.
PERIANNE
I need to get her working properly.
GORDON
(shrugging)
And how goes it?
PERIANNE
Ready for another test.
Gordon momentarily chokes on the food he's swallowing, then
clears his throat. He's excited.
GORDON
You mean take another trip?
PERIANNE
Yes.
Perianne finishes her french toast sticks.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
Any problem with right now?
Gordon nods yes, but it's clear he's been broad-sided with
the suddenness of the trip.
Perianne double checks underneath where she was working,
arights and fires up the Mini T.
EXT. OUTER SPACE
Mars looms largely with its moons Phobos and Deimos in the
background. The Mini T suddenly appears above the planet, a
glimmering drop.
INT. MINI-T
The previous scene is now on the monitor.
GORDON
That's Mars! Is that really Mars?
PERIANNE
(checking readings)
Yes, I'm exactly where I wanted to
materialize.
GORDON
Earth has several satellites around
this planet, and the Yanks have a
rover on the surface.
PERIANNE
(checking more readings)
Two satellites - out of range - but
no surface rover. There's the
remnants of an Earth outpost.
GORDON
Outpost? What year is it?
PERIANNE
(checks yet more readings)
We still have time slip, but only
about sixty years this time.
GORDON
The 2070's!
PERIANNE
We're also here because I picked up
something with a faint Gallifreyian
signature.
Perianne makes changes to dials, levers and other settings.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
Homing in on it... a repeating
signal - a warning! 'Do not land.
The water at the station is
infected, and ANY contact with it
will infect you. Infected people
become water zombies intent on
infecting others.' Message repeats.
As Gordon tries to take in the horrorific message, on screen,
a ship passes in range, heading to Mars. Perianne puts a
closer image on the screen, and the ship shows UNIT insignia
as well as flags of many nations. The ship is long with the
cockpit at the front end, like an airplane or the shuttle.
GORDON
Can't they hear the message?!!
.
. END OF TEASER
. ACT I
INT. MINI-T - RESUME
The Monitor shows the UNIT ship has begun landing maneuvers.
PERIANNE
They heard the message; they chose
to ignore it.
GORDON
But why?
PERIANNE
The chronometric reader suggests
this is the first Earth expedition
since the station exploded thirteen
years ago.
GORDON
Can you tell if the danger still
exists?
PERIANNE
We don't have great biological
scanning but...
(types)
there are two types of life already
on the planet!
GORDON
Two?!
PERIANNE
One's in my data base - Martian Ice
Warriors.
A picture of a green Martian Ice Warrior in its protective
suit comes up on the screen.
GORDON
What a friggin' stereotype! Do they
have the something from Gallifrey?
PERIANNE
No, that was the message. Thirteen
years ago, a Time Lord left that
warning message.
GORDON
How strange to think that a Time
Lord might be entwined in Earth
history.
PERIANNE
I'm stunned by the number of Time
Lords who have visited Earth.
GORDON
What about the Earth ship?
PERIANNE
They're surely aware of who's on
Mars - from the satellites.
GORDON
You don't want to land?
PERIANNE
To ignore that warning is
foolhardy.
GORDON
I hear a but...
PERIANNE
But the Ice Warriors must have the
directions to Gallifrey.
EXT. OUTER SPACE
The Mini T instantly disappears and lands -
EXT. MARTIAN PLAIN - DAY
The Mini T materializes abruptly on a drab plain with
occasional rocks and little dark balls. Even with the sun at
ten o'clock, it's not much brighter than shortly after dawn.
The Mini T takes the form of a crystallized plastic oddity:
the bottom is rectangular like the computer housing form, but
the top is more rough hewn, an attempt to look more like a
boulder.
INT. MINI T
The scene of the Martian plain is on the Monitor. Gordon is
disappointed. Perianne rummages through a drawer.
GORDON
Are you sure this isn't the
Australian Outback?
Perianne pulls out small "nose plugs" and waves them.
PERIANNE
You wouldn't want to breathe out
there without these.
Gordon takes the plugs and looks at them curiously. Perianne
places a set in her nostrils, then Gordon dons his mimicking
her.
Perianne clips a star to her waist, then attaches one to
Gordon's.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
And we won't be bothered by the
temperature. Ready?
They exit to -
EXT. MARTIAN PLAIN - DAY
Perianne and Gordon exit the semi-boulder-shaped Mini T; both
are surprised at the shape it has taken. Then they take in
Mars.
And before their surroundings can be fully appreciated, the
UNIT ship, now with landing "wings," lands Shuttle-style not
one hundred yards from them. Gordon's startled, but Perianne
is pleased.
PERIANNE
The Mini T has pinpoint spacial
accuracy!
GORDON
Please, Perianne. Give some thought
to how we explain to those people
(waves at the ship)
how we're here - and without space
suits.
INT. UNIT SHIP, COCKPIT - DAY
Pilot FARRADAY - the expected "perfect specimen" one expects
in a pilot to Mars - is the first to spot Perianne and Gordon
on a Monitor as he lands the ship. His Co-pilot is busy with
his landing duties.
FARRADAY
Look!
Co-pilot orients to the Monitor and is astounded.
FARRADAY (CONT'D)
Get one of those Biologists in
here, now!
Co-pilot hits a button and a beeping is heard. A couple beats
later, Dr. MONDOSHIRAVEN - early forties, mildly rotund,
reasonable - the Chief Biologist, enters.
MONDOSHIRAVEN
Have we landed?
The spaceship lands with a thud answering his question. Pilot
Farraday points to the screen.
FARRADAY
I thought you said this part of
Mars was too arid for the Water
Zombies.
MONDOSHIRAVEN
(scrutinizing the screen)
They aren't water zombies - no
deformity around the mouth, no
water dripping from them. They're
an impossibility!
FARRADAY
I'll say. They're unarmed.
EXT. MARTIAN PLAIN - DAY
The door to the UNIT ship opens and three beings in huge,
unusual, domed-top space suits emerge: Security Officer KRATZ
and two of her Security People. They confront Perianne and
Gordon who await them.
KRATZ
How can you be standing there? Who
are you?
PERIANNE
Freelance time explorers.
KRATZ
The future. That explains your -
equipment.
Perianne and Gordon let the misconstruction stand.
KRATZ (CONT'D)
Our scientists would like to
confer.
PERIANNE
Delighted.
Perianne and the three Security People head toward the ship's
entrance, but Gordon stops and examines several rocks and
dark little balls. He rejects several but pockets two rocks,
before hastening to catch up with the rest.
INT. MAIN SCIENCE LAB, UNIT SHIP - DAY
Drs. Mondoshiraven, WARD - Caucasian, tall thin also in his
40's - and HORODO - Asian short, thin in his early 30's -
study the picture of a water zombie on a screen.
WARD
Without a sample of the water -
Perianne and Gordon are deposited by Chief of Security Kratz,
now seen without suit: strapping, no nonsense and borderline
attractive despite her hair tied back functionally and no
make-up; she then departs.
MONDOSHIRAVEN
Welcome. I'm Dr. Mondoshiraven.
This is -
(points respectively)
Dr. Horodo and Dr. Ward. We're
Biologists.
PERIANNE
This is Dr. Gordon Chinowydd,
Geologist, and I'm Perianne, an
Engineer.
HORODO
You wouldn't happen to have a
sample of the infected water?
PERIANNE
No.
GORDON
I think I can get you a sample of
the organism - dead - if you can
confirm a couple things.
MONDOSHIRAVEN
Such as?
GORDON
What is the distribution of the
infected creatures?
Gordon points to the creature on the monitor. Horodo makes
adjustments on his computer, and the monitor changes to a map
of the planet Mars. The planet is divided into uneven thirds.
He points to the northern third.
HORODO
The Northern third. The arid
central portion blocks the
organisms infecting the water -
(points to middle third)
from getting to the Southern area
where the Ice Warriors live.
WARD
And even then, the Ice Warriors use
super-photosynthesis and osmosis
from the air - yes this air - for a
good portion of their food and
water.
GORDON
Do you have geological maps?
Dr. Horodo puts up a map of the Martian terrain, and it
suggest strongly the habitat map. Gordon nods.
GORDON (CONT'D)
Do you see the similarity? That's
why.
Dr. Horodo looks questioning. Gordon points to the map.
GORDON (CONT'D)
The northern hemisphere of Mars is
a very different type of rock than
the rest. But here -
Gordon tosses a rock to a surprised Dr. Mondoshiraven.
GORDON (CONT'D)
See how porous it is? It gradually
strains the organisms out of the
water. There might even be trapped
dead this far south.
Dr. Horodo puts on gloves and a mask and takes the rock from
Dr. Mondoshiraven. He puts the rock in an enclosed machine
and slices off a piece with a laser. He places the piece on a
slide, covers it and places it under an advanced microscope.
INT. UNIT SHIP, COCKPIT - DAY
Pilot Farraday and his Copilot check various readings on the
ship. They are distracted as a panel starts to beep. Farraday
checks it.
FARRADAY
The Ice Warriors are in range. Man,
those lizards make me nervous.
Copilot nods vigorously.
FARRADAY (CONT'D)
The agreement between our world
governments is so tenuous...
INT. MAIN SCIENCE LAB, UNIT SHIP - RESUME
Pilot Farraday interrupts over the Intercom; everyone
listens.
FARRADAY
(via intercom)
The Ice Warrior Liaison will be
landing in six minutes.
Dr. Mondoshiraven smiles with a modicum of relief.
PERIANNE
If the first team blew up the
station, how are there still -
Perianne gropes for the right word.
MONDOSHIRAVEN
Water Zombies? Pieces seem to have
reconstituted into whole beings.
WARD
We estimate at least five hundred
of them, each a grotesque version
of some member of the original
crew.
PERIANNE
What's your mission?
MONDOSHIRAVEN
To learn as much as we can about
the organism, so we can destroy it.
Perianne doesn't look comfortable with that response, but
everyone is diverted -
HORODO
I think I found it!
Dr. Horodo puts an image onto a large central screen aside
the door. He points to several areas with white residue.
HORODO (CONT'D)
When the pores of the rock hit
about a half a millimeter, I keep
finding this.
PERIANNE
Can you enlarge it?
Dr. Horodo shows a series of increasingly more magnified
images, and on the third enlargement, a crystalline structure
becomes evident, in pieces in what has accumulated.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
Krystoleans?
MONDOSHIRAVEN
What did you say?
PERIANNE
Biology isn't my area, but where I
come from, I think it's a whole
class of life forms - rare ones.
But I never heard of one that
creates water.
WARD
You mean a living crystal life
form?!
PERIANNE
I think, some sentient - a
connected hive mind. It's been over
forty years since I was in the
lower levels of school.
The three scientists and Gordon look at Perianne in
astonishment.
GORDON
Really?
PERIANNE
I think I'm about seventy-nine -
just out of school, starting my
career. Why?
The question doesn't get answered as the sound of a large
arriving craft gets ever louder.
EXT. MARTIAN PLAIN - DAY
A dark green, heavily armored ship half the size of the Earth
vessel, lands not far it.
INT. MEETING ROOM, UNIT SHIP
Ice Warrior Liaison RAGORATH and an Ice Warrior Guard meet
with Dr. Mondoshiraven, Security Officer Kratz and Perianne.
RAGORATH
Our ancient legends spoke of the
Frasselik, but over the millennia,
it became something we used to get
young children to behave.
KRATZ
It was only when our first party
arrived thirteen years ago that
their reality became known.
PERIANNE
What do your legends say?
RAGORATH
The Frasselik are parts of a
central being. The northern waters
gradually dislodge them, like
grains of sand, and give her domain
over the waters of the North.
MONDOSHIRAVEN
With Dr. Chinowydd's help, we have
examples of the dead remains.
A prolonged pause gives away Ragorath's surprise.
RAGORATH
That I would like our scientists to
see.
MONDOSHIRAVEN
Of course. We can use all the help
we can get.
PERIANNE
What do the Frasselik want?
RAGORATH
The legends say they want to take
over and create bounty - whatever
than means.
KRATZ
And now that's begun.
PERIANNE
What have they done over the
thirteen years?
RAGORATH
They've built an underground
complex. We've been unable to
detect anything recognizable, but
it contains complex structures,
some carrying water, others energy
flow.
INT. MAIN SCIENCE LAB, UNIT SHIP
Gordon, and Drs. Ward and Horodo examine slides of the dead
Frasselik.
HORODO
Their buckeyball shape makes them
very strong.
GORDON
But look at all the broken pieces.
Do you think the force of water
trying to pull them through too
small an opening would account for
that?
WARD
We're not aware of any water moving
in that quantity or force - unless
were talking millions of years ago.
GORDON
Then what accounts for it?
WARD
Great question! Let's compare whole
to broken pieces.
INT. MEETING ROOM, UNIT SHIP
As was.
RAGORATH
I am impressed with the knowledge
you have gained in such a short
time.
I will report to my superiors and
have a science contingency in
contact shortly.
Liaison Ragorath, his Guard, Kratz, Mondoshiraven and
Perianne arise. Perianne jostles her way through people to
get to Ragorath.
PERIANNE
Liaison Ragorath, I request
information on another topic, if
you would be so kind.
RAGORATH
What do you want to know?
PERIANNE
I'm from Gallifrey, and I'm lost. I
understand your culture has had
dealings with mine. Could you point
me in the direction of home?
Ragorath stares at Perianne at length. The others have left
the room, except his Guard.
RAGORATH
Gallifrey? Don't you know about the
Time War?
PERIANNE
Yes, the Time War. I was in battle
and -
Perianne remembers:
GALLIFREYIAN SCRIBE (V.O.)
(over com)
Gallifrey is falling! Gallifrey is
falling. The Doctor has put a time
lock on the war!!
RAGORATH
Your culture sacrificed itself to
end the war.
The memory and Ragorath's words take Perianne out at the
knees, and she has to sit down.
RAGORATH (CONT'D)
Until you, we believed the Doctor
to be the only survivor of your
planet.
Perianne is so shell-shocked, she hardly hears Ragorath.
RAGORATH (CONT'D)
My condolences to you.
Perianne semi-acknowledges his comment with a nod, but she is
lost in her own head. Ragorath and his Guard exit.
Part of Perianne's memory comes rushing back -
INT. GALLIFREYIAN SHIP - MONTAGE
Quick shots of Perianne on the Gallifreyian ship - in
Engineering with her colleagues, seeing gruesomely wounded
and mutated in the ships halls, in her room trying to sleep
with the sounds of war around her, seeing dismembered crew
continue to work as she tries to fix damage and in the
Engineering Supply room just before she's knocked out.
INT. MEETING ROOM, UNIT SHIP - RESUME
Perianne has tears running down her face, but she also
smiles.
PERIANNE
I don't who the Doctor is, but the
nightmare is over.
Gordon enters in haste and stops short seeing Perianne's
tearful face.
GORDON
What happened?
PERIANNE
I got most of my memory back.
GORDON
And?
PERIANNE
Not now. You didn't run in for
nothing.
GORDON
Yes, we need your help.
Perianne gets up, wiping her eyes.
INT. MAIN SCIENCE LAB, UNIT SHIP
Security Officer Kratz and Dr. Mondoshiraven argue. Drs. Ward
and Horodo work in the background.
KRATZ
You're scrapping the plan we worked
on for over a year. Why not send
the scout team as planned?
MONDOSHIRAVEN
Because there is no need to risk
lives while we're learning this
much from afar.
KRATZ
The scouting mission makes even
more sense now that we know there's
an underground compound with
undefined characteristics.
MONDOSHIRAVEN
When you go, you'll go more
prepared.
KRATZ
We need that intel sooner, not
later.
Perianne and Gordon enter.
KRATZ (CONT'D)
(to Gordon)
And I want you with us. You'll know
when we're on or off safe terrain.
Gordon looks both wary and intrigued.
GORDON
With you where?
KRATZ
My team is going to scout out the
Water Zombie stronghold.
GORDON
It's not as clear cut as that, and
I'd need specialized equipment.
MONDOSHIRAVEN
No, no. It's too soon. We have to
learn the enemy's weaknesses,
first.
KRATZ
I have no intention of confronting
them, just gather information.
While Dr. Mondoshiraven weighs her point, Gordon pulls
Perianne aside.
GORDON
Will these -
(points to nose and belt)
continue to work?
Perianne nods.
MONDOSHIRAVEN
Fine, but keep your distance. We
have no defenses.
GORDON
(half-joking to Perianne)
Come save us, if we get into
trouble.
PERIANNE
I'll see you later.
Gordon and Perianne smile at each other, then Gordon leaves
with Kratz.
WARD
Now that all the strŸrm and drang
is over, we've got our own
problems.
(to Perianne)
Which is why we wanted to talk to
you.
HORODO
Our biological equipment is ill
suited for a crystalline life form.
Do you know anything about how your
culture studied it?
PERIANNE
(thinks hard for several
beats
I want to say the Krystoleans were
studied for communication and life
processes - electrically and their
structure - geologically and
chemically.
MONDOSHIRAVEN
We have EEG and electrical
potential machines. Could any of
them be adapted to study the
Frasselik?
PERIANNE
Let me take a look.
Discussion (2,635) ¬