. PEIRIANNYDD, THE ENGINEER 12/11
. By
. Barbara Goldstein PhD
.
. TEASER
EXT. OUTER SPACE
Gallifrey looms large and orange. Even at the distance,
terrible damage to the planet is visible - gaping holes
exuding smoke. Surrounding the planet are ships of various
sizes, dead and in pieces. Some are familiar Dalek flying
saucers, others sleek with the insignia of the Time Lords.
ENGINEER RHA (V.O.)
Dear diary: The war between the
Time Lords and the Daleks is an
unwinnable stalemate. This will go
on until both sides are decimated.
But if the Time Lords don't keep up
the fight, the Daleks will not only
annihilate us, but every sentient
life form in the universe.
Over the horizon, a war unlike any other: the Dalek ships
combine fire to dissolve an eighth of Gallifrey's northern
hemisphere. Then something on the ground "explodes," and time
reverses, and the damage mostly heals - but not entirely.
Smoldering areas remain - time scars. A localized time
reverse has changed the fate of the planet.
ENGINEER RHA (CONT'D)
Peace is not an option for Daleks,
and the horrors that mount around
me pale in comparison to the damage
this war inflicts on innocent races
in the path of Dalek destruction.
Gallifreyian fighters blink in and out of time and space.
They blink out evading attack or to set up an attack.
Fighters materialize at varying intervals from the time
vortex to sneak-attack Dalek fighters and ships.
A huge Dalek saucer materializes near a large Gallifreyian
ship It fires on the Gallifreyian ship.
INT. GALLIFREYIAN SHIP, BRIDGE
It frankly looks like a freak show: in command is a large,
angry BABY, a regeneration that went horribly wrong.
Four of the CREW of five have mutations or injuries - human
time scars: everything from a misshapen face to a wrongly
connected shoulder joint and arm to a totally contorted body.
BABY
Time shift, now!
Crew respond, but not fast enough, and the ship is rocked
with the explosion. A portion of the Bridge is damaged
killing two of the Crew.
BABY (CONT'D)
Time reversal maneuver!
A remaining Crew member hits a button, and the Bridge
reverses in time, mostly re-configuring, including the two
dead crew members. One reanimated Crew member is a little
more mutated; the other bursts into regeneration.
BABY (CONT'D)
Time scramble!
The more mutated Crew member immediately goes back to work,
hits several keys, and the sound of firing is heard.
EXT. OUTER SPACE
The fire from the Gallifreyian ship hits the Dalek ship, and
the Dalek ship splits into two half-ships, one half going
forward in time, the other half backwards. They blink out.
One half-ship reappears seconds later functioning
independently, firing on the Gallifreyian ship.
INT. GALLIFREYIAN SHIP, BRIDGE
The Bridge is as last seen.
BABY
Deflector circuit!
EXT. OUTER SPACE
The shot from the Dalek half boomerangs around the
Gallifreyian ship and takes out itself. But the other half
ship materializes, fires and the Bridge is hit again.
INT. GALLIFREYIAN SHIP, BRIDGE
Three Crew are dead, and the Bridge is partially destroyed.
BABY
Time reverse!!
Crew #1 struggles to make it happen - and does, and the
Bridge reverses. The three dead crew reanimate, each more
mutated or injured. Crew #1 is only partially healed.
CREW #1
Time reverse down, Sir!
The giant Baby hits a communicator switch.
BABY
Engineer?!!
INT. ENGINEERING, GALLIFREYIAN SHIP
The camera penetrates deep into the ship to a vault-like
chamber in the center of the ship. Inside the vault resides
Engineering - a sign heralds. It's a huge suite of rooms.
Engineering is pristine, and the three Engineers are not
mutated in any way: A silver fox CHIEF ENGINEER, a middle
aged woman, ENGINEER RHA, and a YOUNG female ENGINEER.
BABY
(over intercom)
We have no time reverse!
CHIEF ENGINEER
(to intercom)
On it!
(to the two women)
What have you got?
ENGINEER RHA
It looks like the vortex
manipulator is severed.
YOUNG ENGINEER
Confirmed! - a time scar from the
last reversal.
CHIEF ENGINEER
(to Young Engineer)
Get what you need from Engineering
Supply, and get on it!
The Young Engineer salutes and exits.
ENGINEER RHA
Given who she is, I'm surprised
she's such a team player.
The Chief Engineer nods.
INT. GALLIFREYIAN SHIP, BRIDGE
As last seen, reconstituted.
BABY
Time dispersal!
A Crew person hits several buttons, and the sound of
something firing is heard.
EXT. OUTER SPACE
The beam from the Gallifreyian ship disintegrates a portion
of the remaining half-ship.
INT. SUPPLY ROOM, ENGINEERING
The Supply room has shelves with parts and several machines.
The Young Engineer looks on the shelves and finds what she's
looking for. She turns on a communicator on her wrist.
YOUNG ENGINEER
We have the replacement part.
CHIEF ENGINEER
(over the com)
Install it!
Young Engineer hurriedly grabs a tool kit and adds extra
tools.
INT. GALLIFREYIAN SHIP, BRIDGE
As last seen.
BABY
Disintegrator! Finish that ship
off!
A Crew member complies. Crew #1 with an earpiece on suddenly
looks shocked.
CREW #1
A message from General Rassalon.
BABY
Put it on!
EXT. OUTER SPACE
The beam from the Gallifreyian ship, takes a good chunk of
the partial Dalek ship. However, a Second Dalek ship pops out
of the time vortex and gets a clean shot at the Gallifreyian
ship. As the Second Dalek ship takes its shot, a Second
Gallifreyian ship hits it with a time scramble.
GALLIFREYAN SCRIBE (V.O.)
(over com)
Gallifrey is falling! Gallifrey is
falling. The Doctor has put a time
lock on the war!!
The time scramble both diminishes the oomph from the shot at
the first Gallifreyian ship, but some of the time scramble
combines with the shot. It hits the mid-section of the first
Gallifreyian ship. But as it hits, time slows toward time
lock. Things gradually go into slow motion.
INT. SUPPLY ROOM, ENGINEERING
The Young Engineer puts a final tool into the repair belt as
the time scramble infused shot hits just outside the room.
The Young Engineer is thrown hard against a cabinet, hits her
head and is knocked out; her fall happens in slow motion.
EXT. OUTER SPACE
The Gallifreyian ship breaks up from the middle in increasing
slow motion. The slower motion lets you see the ship become
broken-off modules, and the relatively intact Engineering
Supply Room is focused on.
As the pieces of the hit Gallifreyian ship explode outward,
the slowing effect increases. However, a couple of pieces,
one, the Supply Room, break the "event horizon," and suddenly
go spinning into space with the velocity of the explosion and
disappear into time.
Everything in the background freezes - and then disappears.
.
. END OF TEASER
. ACT I
EXT. PARYS MOUNTAIN COPPER MINE, WALES, PARKING LOT - DAY
A sign names the mine. Vehicles connote present times. Men
and women are arriving for work, some out of parked cars,
some getting off a bus. A roar of a sports car catches
everyone's attention. The car is fancier by far than any on
the lot, and it whips expertly into a parking space.
Workers heading toward the mine entrance comment.
MIDDLE AGED WOMAN
Damn show-off!
OLDER MALE WORKER
Lay off Gordon. He's a decent
enough sort, even if he is the
boss's son.
FEMALE WORKER
He's working the mine like the rest
of us.
MIDDLE AGED WOMAN
Your opinion isn't worth squat; all
you young ones are hoping for a
shot at him.
FEMALE WORKER
No!
OLDER MALE WORKER
I respect his old man for making
him learn the business from the
ground up.
The Middle Aged Woman harumphs.
OLDER MALE WORKER (CONT'D)
We work with him; you don't.
Dr. GORDON Chinowydd, 30, Oxford educated Geologist, departs
his car and joins the throng heading into the mine.
INT. COPPER MINE - DAY
The mine is well lit with wide tunnels. Two small railway
tracks go down the center of the tunnel, and carts with and
without ore are seen moving, respectively, along the tracks
in opposite directions.
Gordon is dressed like all the workers who dig, and he speaks
with the official GEOLOGIST for the project, who's also
dressed like the workers, save his "Chief Geologist" badge.
They look at a map of the mines.
GORDON
Don't you think this is a promising
area? It has all the right markers.
GEOLOGIST
We got strange readings, like
there's metal other than copper
there.
GORDON
Worried about impurities?
GEOLOGIST
Too costly if it's mixed.
GORDON
It's clean enough at the start.
GEOLOGIST
If you're that determined, take a
crew and work it until you no
longer get a pure enough strain.
Just don't go past the purity
standards.
GORDON
Thanks!
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. COPPER MINE
Gordon, Older Male Worker and two OTHERS excavate a tunnel
eight yards into a wall. Gordon and Older Male Worker take a
load of promising ore to one of the rail carts.
OLDER MALE WORKER
This seems to be a good vein. Why
did you have to fight to work it?
GORDON
Possibility of impurities.
OLDER MALE WORKER
Not so far.
Gordon and Older Male Worker release their loads into the
rail cart. Female Worker joins them from the opposite
direction, carrying a box of giant silver "arrow" heads.
All three walk back to the excavation site, passing the Other
two Workers with a load of ore going the other direction.
They place the silver devises at the far end of the tunnel.
INT. EARTH BEYOND THE END OF TUNNEL
Only a few yards from where the tunnel ends, amidst a
gleaming vein of copper is buried a partly misshapen metal
cube. It's twenty-five feet per side, at a cockeyed angle.
INT. COPPER MINE
Gordon, Older Male Worker and Female Worker check their
placement of the arrow heads, then nod to each other,
satisfied. The two Other Workers return, and the whole group
backs off far from the edge of the tunnel. Older Male Worker
pulls out an electronic detonating devise.
Red beacons alight on the planted silver devises.
OLDER MALE WORKER
Ready?
Everyone nods and gets down, and Older Male Worker pushes a
button. The explosive devises go off.
INT. EARTH BEYOND THE END OF TUNNEL
The explosive wave breaks up the earth from the back of the
excavation inward, and rich copper is loosened. But when the
wave hits the damaged cube, it's repelled back full force.
INT. COPPER MINE
Gordon, Older Male Worker, Female Worker and the Other two
Workers are getting up when the blast comes shooting back out
of the short cave. It kills one of the Other Workers on its
way to hitting the opposite wall. The destruction causes the
ceiling to cave in.
INT. EARTH BEYOND THE END OF TUNNEL
The cube is no more damaged than before, but it's now semi
exposed in the rubble.
INT. SUPPLY ROOM, ENGINEERING
The structure of the room is only warped on two walls, but
due to the odd angle of the room, there is plenty of internal
chaos. Fallen things fill the lowest area, but settled dust
suggests it goes back to the original materialization, not
the current blast.
There is stirring in the lowest corner amidst the fallen
supplies. The Young Engineer emerges, disoriented.
YOUNG ENGINEER
How long was I in self-induced
stasis?
Young Engineer looks at the "watch" on her wrist and frowns
with confusion. She climbs to the door of the room on an
undamaged wall. She signals with her watch and the door opens
as if nothing happened.
INT. COPPER MINE
The just blasted, new tunnel is longer, but intact from the
force of the back-blast. The walls glow with warmth and have
a kiln-baked look.
The Young Engineer carefully and a bit unsteadily lowers
herself from the door of the cube into rubble. She turns her
watch on the room: it sends out a beam, and the room shrinks
to a couple inches square, still identically warped on two
walls.
The Young Engineer picks up the cube and puts in it a pocket.
She haltingly makes her way down the tunnel with the aid of a
light beam from her watch. She finds the intersection of the
new tunnel and the main, now caved-in tunnel, to be only
partially blocked.
The sounds of groans and cries can be heard.
The Young Engineer stumbles toward movement, and she helps up
Gordon. He is also somewhat dazed from a blow to his head
that has left a bleeding gash; he also has a bleeding arm.
It takes Gordon a moment to be stunned at the Young
Engineer's presence and strange garb, but cries from Female
Worker distract him almost immediately.
Gordon staggers over to where the cries from Female Worker
were heard, Young Engineer following him.
GORDON
Coming!
Gordon and the Young Engineer find the Female Worker pinned
under a couple beams. Before they can even assess what to do,
a wrenching groan is heard not far from her, and they find
Older Male Worker crushed and bleeding.
Gordon looks totally overwhelmed.
GORDON (CONT'D)
I'm sorry my friend...
Gordon turns from the Older Male Worker with tears in his
eyes and goes back to Female Worker. Young Engineer looks
quizzically at the Older Male Worker.
YOUNG ENGINEER
Regenerate already! We need
everyone.
Of course it means nothing to Gordon or the Older Male
Worker.
GORDON
If we can find a big enough
lever...
YOUNG ENGINEER
Lever?!! I'll rebuild the area. How
long?
Gordon is confused; the Young Engineer sees. She starts to
set her watch.
YOUNG ENGINEER (CONT'D)
How long since the blast?
GORDON
Ten minutes?
YOUNG ENGINEER
That's just about the outer edge of
what I can do.
The Young Engineer finishes setting her watch, and as she
presses a button -
YOUNG ENGINEER (CONT'D)
Mini Time reverse - now!
And indeed, time rewinds: the rock comes off Older Male
Worker and the beam from Female Worker as the tunnel
reconstructs itself. The two other Workers emerge unscathed
from what was rubble, one coming back to life.
The blast retreats down the short tunnel to rubble
reconstructing itself into the wall with the blast arrows.
Time stops at the beginning of the blast.
Time goes forward: explosion, but because the metal cube is
no longer there, the blast goes fine.
Gordon, Older Male Worker, Female worker and the Other two
Workers all but miss the blast. They're too busy looking at
the reconstructed tunnel and themselves in amazement as they
realize they are intact.
Older Male Worker points at Young Engineer.
OLDER MALE WORKER
Peiriannydd! Great peiriannydd!
GORDON
That was one helluva engineering
feat!
Gordon and the crew are as disoriented as the Young Engineer,
but the Female Worker finally notices the new excavation. The
blast has exposed a rich vein of copper.
FEMALE WORKER
Look! Look!
Gordon, Older Male Worker and the Other two Workers looks and
becomes joyous. At that moment, the Young Engineer collapses.
.
. END OF ACT I
. ACT II
INT. COPPER MINE - RESUME
Gordon, Female Worker, Older Male Worker and the Other two
Workers huddle around the unconscious Young Engineer on the
ground.
FEMALE WORKER
Who is she? How did she get here?
GORDON
I haven't a clue! But we literally
owe her our lives.
Gordon scoops up the Young Engineer.
GORDON (CONT'D)
Don't tell the Geologist what
happened. Just show him our
success.
Gordon marches off carrying the Young Engineer.
EXT. ROAD - DAY
Gordon's sports car whizzes by. A semi-conscious Young
Engineer is strapped into the passenger seat.
The car pulls into -
EXT. PRIVATE MEDICAL CLINIC - DAY
- the lot of a clearly posh, private Medical Clinic, then up
to clinic's front door. Gordon jumps out of the car and comes
to help the Young Engineer out. An Attendant arrives to help.
Gordon and the Attendant help the Young Engineer into a
nearby wheelchair.
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - DAY
The Young Engineer is in bed wearing a hospital gown. Nurse
Marianne takes the Young Engineer's pulse and blood pressure
while an Aide puts the Young Engineer's clothes in a small
clothes cupboard.
They are so busy gabbing with each other, they don't notice
the Young Engineer gaining full consciousness.
AIDE
Who is she, Marianne?
NURSE MARIANNE
Some friend of young Master
Chinowydd.
AIDE
He did seem in a state.
The Nurse looks at her pulse count, shakes her head and
starts over.
NURSE MARIANNE
He has a reputation for hobnobbing
with - uh, non-aristocracy.
AIDE
Marianne!!
NURSE MARIANNE
Well, it's true.
The Young Engineer stirs enough to catch their attention.
AIDE
Marianne, shush! She's coming
around.
NURSE MARIANNE
(to the Young Engineer)
Dear, can you hear me?
The Young Engineer nods.
YOUNG ENGINEER
Where -
AIDE
Hospital.
NURSE MARIANNE
What's your name, dear.
The Young Engineer wracks her brain, but to her surprise, she
doesn't remember. She has a moment of panic, then stuffs it,
wary of everything.
NURSE MARIANNE (CONT'D)
Dear, have you taken a blow to the
head?
YOUNG ENGINEER
Maybe...
NURSE MARIANNE
Your name, dear.
The Young Engineer remembers the Older Male Worker.
OLDER MALE WORKER (V.O.)
Peiriannydd! Great Peiriannydd.
YOUNG ENGINEER
Perianne.
NURSE MARIANNE
How ironic; I'm Marianne.
Gordon enters.
NURSE MARIANNE (CONT'D)
The Doctor will be here shortly.
The Nurse and Aide exit. Gordon sees Perianne is awake.
GORDON
Good to see you back. How are you?
PERIANNE
Improving. Where am I?
GORDON
The private medical clinic my
family uses.
PERIANNE
Where?
GORDON
Near Parys Mines. Wales.
PERIANNE
This planet is called Wales?
GORDON
Planet? No, Earth.
PERIANNE
Are you involved in the Time War?
GORDON
Time War?
PERIANNE
(suddenly confused)
I don't know where I pulled that
from.
Perianne feels for her watch and panics when she finds it
missing. She sits up and finds she's too weak to react that
quickly. She has to lie back down. Gordon goes into the
clothes cupboard, finds the watch and gives it to her. She
puts it on.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
I've got to get out of here.
GORDON
You're not well. You need care.
PERIANNE
I'll be fine soon. It could get
complicated if I stay - too many
questions.
GORDON
I have a million questions.
PERIANNE
Get me out of here, and I'll answer
yours.
Gordon offers the wheelchair, still in the room.
EXT. PARK - DAY
It's a minor picnic with take out salads. Perianne
voraciously eats.
PERIANNE
Excellent, even if it's green.
GORDON
What color were you expecting?
Perianne fingers the grass unconsciously.
PERIANNE
Orange? Silver?
GORDON
Where are you from?
PERIANNE
I'm not sure, but I know it's not
this planet.
GORDON
How did you get here?
Perianne taps her pocket.
PERIANNE
There was some sort of explosion.
GORDON
Where?
PERIANNE
I don't know. A ship?
GORDON
The space kind?
PERIANNE
Space and time.
GORDON
Time?!
PERIANNE
I think so.
GORDON
That helps explain the mine. Do you
remember your name?
PERIANNE
No. I told the Nurse, Perianne,
because of what the man in the mine
said, and it sounded like her name.
GORDON
Peiriannydd! It means Engineer.
PERIANNE
Then, it's even more fitting,
because I do remember that's my
profession.
GORDON
So, I gathered. How do we get you
home?
Perianne shrugs. Gordon pulls out his cell phone and accesses
the Internet. He hands the tablet to Perianne.
GORDON (CONT'D)
Here, this is access to a lot of
what is known on this planet.
Instead of typing into the search engine box, Perianne puts
her watch against it. Her watch flashes for several beats.
PERIANNE
Analyze.
The watch flashes for several more beats. Perianne reads.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
I don't mean to be rude, but this
is a rather backward planet.
GORDON
I'd like to think we're up and
coming.
PERIANNE
Perhaps. There's little information
of use to me here.
GORDON
What next?
PERIANNE
I need to scan.
GORDON
For what?
PERIANNE
For technology from my own people.
Someone may have visited here. Can
you find me a secure place to work?
GORDON
What do you need?
INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY
It's empty. Gordon stands as Perianne looks around.
GORDON
How can you possibly work from
here?
PERIANNE
You can keep this area secure?
GORDON
Yes, but -
Perianne pulls the cube out her pocket, picks a spot and puts
it down. She backs up, points her watch at it, and the watch
emits a beam. The Supply Room returns to full size, still
misshapen, this time upright.
Gordon is overwhelmed. As Perianne heads toward the door to
the Supply Room -
GORDON (CONT'D)
Wait!
Perianne stops and turns back.
PERIANNE
Yes?
GORDON
I've helped you. Now tell me what
the hell I've gotten myself into!
Perianne observes the distress in Gordon's face.
PERIANNE
Fair enough. It's simple at this
point.
Perianne beckons Gordon to follow her. They enter -
INT. SUPPLY ROOM, ENGINEERING
Much is on the floor, but equipment is still attached to
counters. Perianne clears a place and offers Gordon a seat;
he does, in part from being overwhelmed.
PERIANNE
I know I'm an Engineer, and I've
surmised I'm not from this planet.
This -
(gestures around her)
is where I was when I came out of
protective stasis. I have no idea
how the room and I ended up here.
Perianne picks up items from the floor and puts them away.
GORDON
You don't know who you are or how
you got here?
PERIANNE
I get glimpses - like grass should
be orange, and more than once I've
thought about being at war and a
huge explosion.
Perianne is making good gains on getting the room in order.
GORDON
You said. And this room?
PERIANNE
This is an Engineering Supply Room.
GORDON
And the watch gizmo?
PERIANNE
An Engineering tool.
GORDON
No wonder you said we're backward.
Thank you for your honesty
Perianne picks up the tools she had assembled back on the
ship, finishing the clean-up.
Instead of hooking the belt around her waist, she hooks it
into her jacket's lining at waist level. She checks the belt,
then selects a tool that looks like a gun-shaped flashlight.
She turns on the tool which hums mildly; she puts the tool to
her watch and starts to scan. She circles and gets a blipping
noise about three-quarters around. She looks at a reading.
PERIANNE
I can't believe it. This says there
are artifacts from my culture not
sixty kilrads from here.
GORDON
What's a kilrad?
PERIANNE
Ooh, and a power source I can use
not forty from that - rift energy.
Did you know there is a time-space
rift in a large population center
not far from here?
Gordon shakes his head in bewilderment.
EXT. ROAD - DAY
Gordon's sport car whizzes by.
INT. CAR - DAY
Gordon drives, and Perianne continues to scan.
PERIANNE
We are getting close. You need to
slow.
EXT. ROAD - DAY
Gordon's car slows and pulls up before -
EXT. CASTLE - DAY
The car stops next to the tenth century monastic castle from
"The Time Meddler."
Gordon and Perianne exit the car.
PERIANNE
What is this place?
GORDON
It was a castle from the time of
King Harold. He lost the famous
Battle of Hastings in 1066.
PERIANNE
And the year now?
GORDON
2012.
PERIANNE
The tool is well calibrated. That
is about how long the artifact from
my world has been here.
They try the door; it's locked. Perianne exchanges the tool
for another that looks a little like a sonic screw-driver,
but it's a laser-screwdriver that sends out a visual beam
with no sound. The lock retracts with a loud clank.
Perianne and Gordon enter -
INT. CASTLE - DAY
The castle has been fixed up as tourist attraction, the large
antechamber full of colorful pamphlets and posters.
GORDON
We'd better be careful. There has
to be a guard on duty somewhere.
Perianne os so intent on the tracking tool, she doesn't hear
Gordon and leads him down a
INT. CASTLE HALLS
She goes down the hall without caution.
GORDON
Slow down! I don't want a run in
with a guard.
Perianne hears him this time and proceeds more carefully.
And sure enough footsteps are heard coming down an
intersecting hallway.
Gordon pulls Perianne behind a coat of armor.
GUARD (O.S.)
(into a walkie talkie)
I got a blip saying the front door
opened, but when I checked the
visual, it was closed... I'm
checking around now...
The Guard is seen at the intersection of the hallways, and he
scans visually down the hall Perianne and Gordon are in -
missing them - then moves on.
PERIANNE
(whispered)
We need to go that way.
Perianne points the direction the Guard went.
GORDON
Then let's give him a minute to
move on. Do you know what we're
looking for?
PERIANNE
No - just that it's from Gallifrey.
GORDON
Gallifrey? Is that the name of your
planet.
PERIANNE
(a little disoriented)
Must be. Gallifrey...
They turn down the hall and follow where the Guard went, but
only a short way down that hallway, Perianne stops at a door.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
In here.
This door is unlocked, and they enter -
INT. SMALL CHAPEL - DAY
An ancient stone alter is the most noticeable feature, and
Perianne heads straight to it.
PERIANNE
What a find!
GORDON
A stone altar?
PERIANNE
Far more than that!
Perianne shrinks the stone altar with her watch and pops it
into her pocket. Gordon's stunned, and she has to pull on him
to get him to follow her out of the room. She fails to check
first.
INT. CASTLE HALLS
Perianne backs in followed by Gordon, and far up the hall,
they hear -
GUARD (O.S.)
Hey! What are you doing here?
.
. END OF ACT II
. ACT III
INT. CASTLE HALLS - RESUME
The Guard reaches for his walkie-talkie. Gordon and Perianne
take off at a run. The Guard reaches the door to the small
chapel and looks in.
GUARD
Mother of Mercy! How?
EXT. CASTLE - DAY
Perianne and Gordon run to the car.
GORDON
Any way to tell if there were
security cameras in there?
Perianne still hastening to the car turns on the scanning
tool still in hand. They jump into -
INT. CAR
Perianne scans, and Gordon fires up the car.
PERIANNE
Yes -
Perianne puts away the tool and pushes a button on her watch,
resulting in a hum.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
And gone - a very simple system to
erase.
Gordon drives off in a hurry.
INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY
Gordon and Perianne enter. The Supply Room sits as before.
GORDON
I held my tongue the whole way
back. Why did we just steal a
thousand year old altar that you
say isn't one?
Perianne circles to the damaged sides of the cube and surveys
them. Gordon follows.
PERIANNE
They're Tardis rooms from my home
planet. Rooms from a time and space
machine.
GORDON
Tardis?
PERIANNE
Time and relative dimensions in
space.
Gordon doesn't understand.
GORDON
You make the altar larger, and
there are rooms inside?
Perianne pulls a flat, triangular-ish tool from her belt,
makes adjustments to it and her watch.
PERIANNE
No, in this case, the rooms are in
another dimension. It's bigger on
the inside.
GORDON
Bigger on the inside?! Damn it, I'm
a good scientist, and I barely
follow you.
Perianne turns on the tool and runs the broad end across, not
touching, the damaged areas. A blue beam emanates from the
tool. The damage disappears as she passes over it.
Gordon is impressed and curious, and comes over to see the
change.
GORDON (CONT'D)
Wow! It's perfect.
PERIANNE
Not really. It's molecular bonds
are eleven percent weaker than the
rest of the cube. I hope bonding
with the Tardis rooms will
stabilize it further.
Perianne finishes her repairs and puts away the tool. She
pulls out the shrunken alter and places it beside the Supply
Room. With her watch she enlarges it to it's normal size.
Then, she pulls out a wand-like tool, calibrates it to her
watch and zaps the altar. There is a bright flash of light.
When the light normalizes, there is a teardrop-shape-lying
flat structure of white crystallized plastic. The bottom of
the teardrop has the door, opposite the narrowing "tail."
GORDON
How many rooms did you add?
PERIANNE
Only three turned out to be usable.
Let's see what we found.
Perianne leads Gordon into the -
INT. ALTERED SUPPLY ROOM
The Supply Room has reformed. There are now doors on the
three walls that don't exit, and cupboards and counters have
rearranged to allow room for an Tardis console with no
engine. From a cove where forty percent of the cylindrical
section of the engine housing is recessed, the remainder of a
Tardis console juts out in a partial oval.
Perianne and Gordon enter and look around. Perianne opens
cupboards and checks equipment. She examines the Tardis
console.
PERIANNE
This is more than I hope for!
She goes to the door to her right (viewer's left) and opens
it -
INT. ROOM #1, A PERSONAL ROOM
It looks a bit like a "dated" Gallifreyian version of a hotel
room. There is a grand, perfectly-made bed with dramatic,
"high collar" back board, a matching desk, sitting area and a
large viewing screen.
Perianne and Gordon step in.
GORDON
Why would someone leave a bedroom?
PERIANNE
When a Tardis lacks sufficient
power, shedding rooms is a way to
lighten the load and boost power if
you're on a planet. If you're in
space, you burn them for thrust.
Gordon is impressed. Perianne opens a cabinet door; it's
empty. So is the "closet," and so is a human looking
"bathroom."
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
A guest room for a humanoid. How
fortunate.
INT. ALTERED SUPPLY ROOM
Perianne opens the door on the back wall, and she and Gordon
walk into -
INT. ROOM #2, STORAGE ROOM
Storage room is an understatement; it's closer to a small
warehouse, a room three times the size of the ample Supply
room. And the place is packed with goods.
Perianne looks at the labels, and flits from shelf to shelf
to get an idea of what's there.
PERIANNE
What a find!
Gordon studied the label's concentric circles with lines and
symbols without comprehension.
GORDON
What is it?
PERIANNE
A general storage locker with all
sorts of things that go back long
before the war.
GORDON
There's that war again. Did you
take a blow to the head?
Perianne feels her head, and winces at one point.
GORDON (CONT'D)
That's a yes and sure would explain
your amnesia.
PERIANNE
Perhaps.
INT. ALTERED SUPPLY ROOM
Perianne opens the final room -
INT. ROOM #3, ANOTHER BEDROOM
Almost identical to the first bedroom, but with a clearly
feminine twist.
Perianne and Gordon stick their heads in, shrug and pull back
out.
INT. ALTERED SUPPLY ROOM
Perianne starts to close the door to Room #3, but she stops.
Both she and Gordon look wiped.
PERIANNE
It's been an over-stimulating day.
GORDON
Double for me.
Perianne non-verbally offers Gordon Room #1, he nods and
crosses to it. Perianne slips back into room #3.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. ALTERED SUPPLY ROOM
It's the next day, not that you can tell. Perianne works on
building the Tardis an engine. Gordon exits Room 1# and is
surprised to see her long at work. Parts and tools are
everywhere.
GORDON
It's six-thirty. How long have you
been up?
PERIANNE
I don't really have to sleep at
all, but a meditative rest seemed
in order. As you accurately
assessed I injured my head.
GORDON
What are you - building?
PERIANNE
I'm trying to jerry-rig an engine.
There's plenty eleventh dimension
circuitry in stock, but none of it
was meant for a Tardis.
GORDON
Even though I don't know what I'm
asking, why not?
PERIANNE
Battle fighters jump in and out of
the time vortex, but don't really
travel far in either time or space.
GORDON
A time machine! And what's in the
circuitry that doesn't work?
PERIANNE
Too short a duration in the time
vortex.
GORDON
How long can it sustain, and does
it have a recovery time?
PERIANNE
About twelve seconds maximum with a
recovery of about two seconds.
GORDON
And you have more than one?
PERIANNE
Sequential! I mustn't be fully
functioning.
(goes into her own head)
Three rather than two as a fail
safe. Three stabilizers...
(to Gordon)
It just might work!
GORDON
Does this place have anything to
eat?
PERIANNE
It will when I get the food
processors checked out. Each room
has one.
GORDON
I need something to eat. How about
you?
Perianne stops working and considers longer than a human
would. Then -
PERIANNE
Yes. But no meat, please.
DISSOLVE TO:
INT. ALTERED SUPPLY ROOM
Gordon returns with bags of take-out food to find the Tardis
console closed and Perianne putting away tools and parts.
GORDON
Finished already?
PERIANNE
Yes. We can't get out of your solar
system, and we can't go more than
one thousand years in either
direction.
Gordon hands Perianne a bag of food. She opens it curiously.
GORDON
Sounds impressive to me.
PERIANNE
Impressive is a real Tardis: some
had thousands of rooms, and it
could go anywhere in time and
space. This is tiny and limited.
Perianne takes a little bite of French toast, likes it and
takes another bite.
GORDON
The Mini T!
PERIANNE
What?
Gordon goes to one of the bags and pulls out a bottle of
champagne.
GORDON
I didn't think I'd need it so soon.
This is an earth custom when you
launch a new ship.
You name the ship and break a
bottle of champagne to celebrate.
PERIANNE
I'd prefer if you didn't break the
bottle.
GORDON
Normally , it would be the hull.
Gordon taps the bottle lightly against the console.
GORDON (CONT'D)
I christen you the Mini T.
PERIANNE
Okay. Ready for launch?
GORDON
Me?! Sure! Where are we going?
PERIANNE
A short hop to see if I have her
calibrated right.
Perianne turns on the Mini T. Instead of the central section
going up and down, three vertical mirrored plates brighten
and fade sequentially every several seconds. She pulls a
lever, and a hum is heard.
Then the room rattles. Perianne makes an adjustment on the
console, and the rattling worsens. She adjusts again, and
it's better but still bad. She turns off the machine and runs
a diagnostic on the console.
GORDON
You've got a bad harmonic.
PERIANNE
Yes. The four room configuration is
unstable and vibrating at a
destructive frequency.
GORDON
You need two more rooms to make it
a stable rectangle.
PERIANNE
Yes two rooms, but one on top and
one below this room to stabilize
the configuration.
Of course, Gordon looks confused.
GORDON
Can you repair two more from the
Monastery?
PERIANNE
No, but I can scan and see if any
other rooms are lying around this
planet.
Perianne turns several dials and types. A beat, then -
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
Where is London? A UNIT warehouse.
GORDON
UNIT? That's serious business.
They're one group that would be
very interested in an alien.
EXT. FENCED WAREHOUSE - DAY
Guards are at the gate of the chain-linked fence.
Perianne and Gordon survey the situation from a distance.
Gordon's sports car is hidden behind nearby trees.
GORDON
They'll have cameras everywhere. I
can't guarantee that we aren't
recorded already.
Perianne checks her watch.
PERIANNE
No. We are out of range.
Gordon looks relieved.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
We will go in after dark.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. FENCED WAREHOUSE - NIGHT
The place is well lit along the fence, the building itself
and especially the gate.
Perianne has a barrel-shaped tool out and coordinates it with
her watch; Gordon watches.
GORDON
Is that how you'll break in?
PERIANNE
Break in? No. We're going in the
front gate as soon as -
Perianne hits several switches - and the Fenced Warehouse
goes black.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
Shall we fix it?
Gordon nods.
EXT. FRONT GATE FENCED WAREHOUSE - NIGHT
Gordon and Perianne pull up at the front gate in his sports
car. A Guard approaches. Gordon rolls down his window, but
it's Perianne who speaks.
PERIANNE
I received a call that Home Office
couldn't reach you. I'm missing
dinner for this.
GUARD #2
If you can get our power back up,
we'll pay for your dinner. Even our
backup power is down.
PERIANNE
Let me take a look.
Gordon turns off the motor, and he and Perianne disembark.
INT. FENCED WAREHOUSE - NIGHT
Guard #2 and Another Guard escort Perianne and Gordon with
lantern to -
INT. ELECTRICAL CONTROL ROOM - NIGHT
The Guards set up several lanterns, then Guard #2 remains and
the other exits.
Perianne makes show of testing various places along the
electrical line with her curved flashlight-like scanner.
PERIANNE
(to Guard #2))
I'm going to have to continue to
follow this. The problem isn't
here.
She follows electrical ducting out the door into -
INT. FENCED WAREHOUSE HALL - NIGHT
Perianne, followed by Gordon and Guard #2, continues to
follow electrical ducts by lantern light, but -
A glimpse of her monitor shows, she's simply following ducts
to the Tardis rooms. She tests which way she needs to go at
an intersection for show, turns right and finds herself in
front of a large iron sliding door.
PERIANNE
What's in there?
GUARD #2
That's the main door to the
warehouse. You can't go in there;
it's classified.
PERIANNE
Then I can't fix your problem. I
don't mind if I don't. I'll get
back to my dinner plans.
GUARD #2
Just don't touch anything.
Guard #2 punches in numbers, a lock retracts and he pulls
open the door. Guard #2 leads the way into -
INT. FENCED WAREHOUSE - MAIN WAREHOUSE - NIGHT
Neatly arranged palettes with crates. Guard #2 turns on an
extra lantern. Perianne takes it, attaches it to her belt and
climbs a metal ladder on the wall near the electrical ducts
that go up. Gordon and Guard #2 don't follow.
Perianne gets to the top, finds a juncture box and opens it.
Then she scans the warehouse floor and finds which crate
she's after. She puts the scanner away. She calls down -
PERIANNE
Found the problem! Shouldn't take
but a few minutes to repair.
At ground level, the Guard and Gordon relax hearing the news,
and Gordon distracts the Guard with conversation.
GORDON
I knew she'd get to the bottom of
it; she's the best engineer on the
planet.
GUARD #2
A little smitten, are we?
At the top, Perianne takes aim with her watch -
And at ground level, the beam miniaturizes a huge crate a
distance behind Guard #2. Gordon sees it, doesn't react and
continues to socialize.
GORDON
Guess I have to be with all these
interruptions popping up.
At the top, Perianne uses her watch to hit the miniaturized
box with a different beam, and the box glows silver, then
fades. She takes out a gun-with-a-plate across the nozzle,
turns it on and clank. The miniaturized carton is against the
tool's face. The noise is loud enough Guard #2 looks up
involuntarily.
GUARD #2
Is there a problem up there?
Perianne stands with the miniaturized, pilfered crate in
plain sight.
.
. END OF ACT III
. ACT IV
INT. FENCED WAREHOUSE - MAIN WAREHOUSE - RESUME
Perianne casually removes the miniature carton and tucks it
into her pocket. She calls down -
PERIANNE
Think I've got it. Let's give this
a try.
Perianne puts the gun-with-plate into her belt and extracts
the barrel-shaped tool. She adjusts her watch, flips switches
on the barrel - and voila! The power is back on.
GUARD #2
She really is a genius.
INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY
The flat-teardrop-shaped crystallized plastic Mini T is in
the background.
Perianne excitedly opens the tiny crate and finds an old,
late 1960's computer: green housing and a yellowing clear
panel with two large reels; it's an early guise of the
original Master's Tardis. She shows it to Gordon.
PERIANNE
What's it supposed to be?
GORDON
A computer from the earliest days
of such machines. I don't get it.
Perianne puts the tiny cabinet down and uses her watch to
bring it back to six feet tall.
PERIANNE
The Time Lords who had to leave the
rooms behind disguised their Tardis
as this.
Perianne opens the side of the unit. Gordon is surprised.
They stick their heads in and out.
GORDON
Indeed, more rooms. Any functional?
Perianne takes a reading with her watch.
PERIANNE
This has been here a very short
time. There are five viable rooms.
GORDON
Is there a configuration that works
with five more?
Perianne calculates on her watch.
PERIANNE
Yes - your rectangle, two small
ones on the bottom and one nearly
as large on the top.
GORDON
Can the engine you built take five
more rooms?
Perianne computes on her watch.
PERIANNE
Easily.
Perianne runs numbers on her watch then pulls the wand-shaped
fuser from her belt. She presses the button, and again there
is a flash!
The Mini-T has become a rounder crytalized plastic teardrop,
actually smaller than before!
INT. MINI T
The main room hasn't changed except a spiral stairway going
up at one end and another, going down, at the other end.
Perianne and Gordon enter. Perianne goes to the console.
PERIANNE
There is a sitting room above us,
two small storage rooms below us, a
library behind your room, and
another bedroom behind mine.
GORDON
Do you want to explore them?
PERIANNE
No. I want to try the test run
again. She's sure to need some
calibrating.
Perianne turns on the Mini T, it hums, and the lights move
sequentially. It starts to rattle, but this time, Perianne
easily corrects it. The Mini-T hums steadily.
INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY
Just like a fighter, the Mini T abruptly disappears.
EXT. OUTER SPACE
The Sun shines on Mercury, but Mercury has a lit, green halo
on it's fixed dark side. A space station above the halo
directs sun perfectly into the ring via a cloud of
reflective, computerized nano-particles. They're high above
the station where sufficient light is available.
The Mini T appears as abruptly as it left.
Moments after arriving there is a blinding flash.
INT. MINI T
Perianne and Gordon shield their eyes from the bright screen.
The brightness fades.
GORDON
What was that?
PERIANNE
A massive solar flare.
Perianne and Gordon look at the screen and see the rocky
planet with green halo.
GORDON
Where are we?
PERIANNE
I aimed for - Venus.
GORDON
Venus has heavy cloud cover.
Perianne checks readings.
PERIANNE
Yes, I overshot Venus. That is the
first planet in your system.
GORDON
Mercury?! Since when does Mercury
have a green zone?
PERIANNE
Oh!!
Perianne checks other readings.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
Yes, we've had time drift. We're
about one hundred and ninety years
in your future. I can fix that.
GORDON
Wait! Is that really a habitable
zone?
Perianne checks readings.
PERIANNE
It's seventy miles wide - a domed,
artificial structure. It can move,
allowing it to stay, indeed, in a
habitable temperature.
GORDON
Who's there?
PERIANNE
I'll give you the closest pictures
this is capable of.
Perianne makes adjustments, and the screen "pierces" through
the dome. Farmland - fields with wheat or corn with automated
combine machines - is everywhere they look. There are no
living beings.
GORDON
There has to be someone on the
space station.
Perianne moves dials, and the screen shows the space station:
a doughnut-shaped ring with an stumpy, hourglass shape in the
"hole." The lower half of the hourglass has a dark ring at
the wide bottom, and distortion of air around it shows it's
keeping the station aloft.
Ships of various sizes are docked at the station's ring. But
it becomes rapidly clear that the ships are leaving, in an
orderly fashion, but as quickly as possible.
PERIANNE
Yes, someone's on the space
station, but it appears not for
much longer. Want to find out why?
GORDON
You mean land?
Perianne nods and makes changes on the Mini T console, and -
EXT. OUTER SPACE
The Mini T abruptly disappears; the hum is heard.
INT. MERCURY STATION
The Mini T materializes abruptly in the form of the original
Master's computer housing sans reels. But it's made of the
teardrop form's crystallized plastic. It appears next to food
dispensing machines of a similar size in an alcove.
INT. MINI T
The screen shows a corridor: well lit, futuristic chrome and
white glazed porcelain and devoid of movement. Perianne
checks other readings.
PERIANNE
No radiation, no poisons - just
Earth normal air.
INT. HALLWAYS, MERCURY STATION
It is quiet except for the sound of machinery that supports
the station. Perianne and Gordon, the latter hesitantly, exit
the Mini T and look around. Gordon is surprised at the form
the Mini T has taken.
GORDON
Did you -?
Perianne shakes her head, then scans the station with her
watch.
PERIANNE
There's nothing wrong with the
equipment running this station.
From behind them -
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
This station is at ninety-nine
point six efficiency.
Perianne and Gordon turn and see a uniformed female, mid
thirties, with a tool box.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO (CONT'D)
You really should have evacuated by
now.
GORDON
I know this will sound daft, but
evacuate because of what?
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
(surprised)
The vulcanoid!
PERIANNE
(to Gordon))
What is a vulcanoid?
GORDON
Theoretical rocky bodies in space
orbiting closer to the sun than
Mercury.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
As of a few minutes ago, no longer
theoretical and heading straight
for this station.
GORDON
Bet that solar flare dislodged it
from it's orbit.
PERIANNE
May I see the data?
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
I'm just the Third Engineer -
Rizzo. But I can take you to our
Data Center
PERIANNE
(under her breath)
I think I also was a Third
Engineer.
Gordon hears. Third Engineer Rizzo takes Perianne and Gordon
to -
INT. DATA CENTER, MERCURY STATION
More chrome and white porcelain. There are work stations
along the perimeter. Only a few are occupied and those by
Crew in uniforms of a lower grade than Third Engineer Rizzo.
In the center are three seats facing a large screen with
three smaller screens below.
Sitting in one of the center seats is Second Engineer Li, and
standing behind the seats is First Engineer Falkner.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Do we have data on the vulcanoid's
composition?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
The program's still analyzing.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Any data on the damage to the
agricultural ring if the station is
taken out?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Yes. Odds of debris from this
station hitting the ring in any
section is three in seven hundred
and fifty thou -
The entrance of Third Engineer Rizzo with Perianne and Gordon
grabs everyone's attention for a beat.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Why aren't those people on an
evacuation ship!
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
She's an Engineer and is offering
to help.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
(to Perianne)
Do you realize staying may cost you
your life?
PERIANNE
What do you know?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Composition of the vulcanoid is
thirty-two percent carbon and -
forty percent iron!
PERIANNE
That explains why it's headed
straight here.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
How?
PERIANNE
It's being drawn here magnetically.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
The station has no magnets of any
size.
PERIANNE
But other materials can be made
magnetic with the right
configuration of power.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
The power ring at the base of the
station?
Perianne looks at her watch.
PERIANNE
Yes. Over time this station has
created a pocket of magnetism below
it. Actually a rather efficient
invention, if you think about it.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
(light dawns)
The charge of the cloud beneath us
is the same as the planet! They
repel, saving us orbital energy.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Back on task. Ideas on what to do.
SECOND ENGINEER LI
If we turn off the engines, could
we dissipate the magnetic field
quickly enough to deteriorate the
vulcanoid's course?
Perianne calculates on her watch.
PERIANNE
No.
GORDON
What's your weapon capability to
alter the vulcanoid's course?
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
We're an agri-station, helping to
feed thirty billion humans. No
external weapons.
GORDON
All on Earth?!
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
The Earth, the Moon colonies, the
Mars colonies and the Vesta Mining
Colony. Where have you been?
GORDON
Behind.
PERIANNE
If you pull up a list of what you
have - machinery, equipment - and
the diagrams of the station,
perhaps we can find the pieces to
build something.
SECOND ENGINEER LI
You have two hours and forty
minutes.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
It seems to be our only chance.
(to Second Engineer Li)
Compute launch trajectories.
(to Third Engineer Rizzo)
Figure out how to make the biggest
bomb we can and what we can send it
in.
(to Perianne)
Let's you and I figure out how
we're going to launch something.
PERIANNE
Gordon knows explosives.
(to Gordon)
Would you help the Engineer?
Gordon nods, and he and Third Engineer Rizzo exit.
INT. HALLWAYS, MERCURY STATION
Gordon and Third Engineer Rizzo consult an electronic pad as
they walk.
GORDON
What do you have that's big enough
to send up?
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
Water storage tanks are pretty
large - thirty by fifty by ten.
GORDON
If we put together more than one?
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
No, too much weight... I got it -
an agri-bin. No, no, an agri
transport bin!
GORDON
How big?
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
A sturdy but lightweight one
hundred and fifty by twenty by
twenty.
Gordon and Third Engineer Rizzo realize they have their first
answer.
GORDON
Now, what do we put in it?
They reach a door.
INT. DATA CENTER, MERCURY STATION
First Engineer Falkner and Perianne consult figures on an
electronic tablet; Second Engineer Li computes at the central
station. Engineering Crew are seen at the work stations
along the periphery.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
How can we possibly figure out a
launcher if we don't know what
we're launching?
PERIANNE
Figure out what ways you have to
create as much launch thrust as
possible.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
We have small guidance rockets to
keep our synchronous orbit.
PERIANNE
What else has thrust around here?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
The engines on two shuttles used to
go down to the ring.
PERIANNE
Nothing that ejects?
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
There's a garbage ejection system.
PERIANNE
Let's look at the schematics for
that.
INT. LAB, MERCURY STATION
Gordon and Third Engineer Rizzo look at a long list on a
screen. Rizzo points to two items.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
These two would pack a wallop if we
have enough of each...
(pulls up another screen)
But we don't.
GORDON
(looking at the screen)
What if we make what we can and
surround it with whatever else we
can concoct?
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
I like your thinking. What else
have we here?...
Gordon and Third Engineer Rizzo consult the list again, and
the silence grows. Finally -
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO (CONT'D)
I don't see anything else to create
any real wallop.
GORDON
Me neither. What aren't we seeing?
Does this include the resources in
the ring itself?
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
No.
Third Engineer Rizzo quickly pulls up information. She and
Gordon look at a never ending list.
GORDON
Of course! Is your oxygen producing
mechanism in good shape?
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
Oxygen! We've got some dicey things
we can add to that, like nitrates.
GORDON
Great. What about nuclear material?
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
That's so twentieth century.
GORDON
Damn, even with a shot at the
perfect angle, can we muster enough
power with a chemical explosion?
Third Engineer Rizzo looks doubtful.
INT. DATA CENTER, MERCURY STATION
First Engineer Falkner and Perianne examine the blueprints to
the garbage ejector on the electronic pad. Second Engineer Li
runs computations at the main console.
PERIANNE
It's sturdily built. What is the
force maximum currently?
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Forty giga psi.
Perianne calculates on her watch.
PERIANNE
Check my figures, but it could
handle the stress of triple that
thrust.
First Engineer Falkner takes a position at the main console
and types.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Assuming it's structurally capable,
we still have the issue of
increasing the ejection force.
PERIANNE
Isn't that simply a matter of over
riding safety protocols and
programming it?
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Right. - And my figures match
yours.
(to Crew member)
Ensign, override garbage ejector
program to eject at maximum force.
The Ensign salutes and begins to type at his station in the
periphery.
At that moment Second Engineer Li stops computing.
SECOND ENGINEER LI
I've just finished the preliminary
analysis, and there's a new
wrinkle.
Second Engineer Li pushes buttons, and the main screen shows
the vulcanoid. An arrow points to an indentation.
SECOND ENGINEER LI (CONT'D)
This is our target. Because it's
rotating, our best shot is forty
five minutes from now. Early.
Before First Engineer Falkner can react, Third Engineer Rizzo
and Gordon enter.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
The bomb is being assembled in an
agri-transport bin as we speak.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Can it be ready in forty-five
minutes?
Third Engineer Rizzo nods and goes to the third spot at the
main console and types.
GORDON
My gut says it won't be enough.
Even with the right shot, that
vulcanoid's velocity is a lot to
offset.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Now we have some real numbers to
work with.
The three Engineers work at their respective stations. Gordon
pulls Perianne aside.
GORDON
Don't you have something in the
Mini T that could help these
people?
PERIANNE
I can't interfere at that level. I
have to do it this way.
GORDON
Something you know but don't
remember why.
Perianne nods.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
Gordon, you're right. The bomb will
alter the vulcanoid's course, but
not enough to avoid us being taken
out by its energy wake.
GORDON
What can we do to give it that
extra push? Would dissipating that
magnetic field you were talking
about be enough?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
No.
PERIANNE
Could you reverse the magnetic
field?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Yes, but that would plunge us
toward the planet.
PERIANNE
Short bursts. It moves the station
out of the path and helps repel the
vulcanoid.
Second Engineer Li and Third Engineer Rizzo look to First
Engineer Falkner.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Rizzo, timing of bursts and fall
limit. Li calculations whether this
gets us over threshold.
First Engineer Falkner gets up and joins Perianne and Gordon.
He looks overwhelmed.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER (CONT'D)
Your assistance has been -
PERIANNE
(cuts him off)
Later. I'd like to see the Garbage
Ejector.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Of course.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
(interrupts)
I have the sequence to lower our
altitude in short bursts. If we get
closer than eight thousand feet
above the surface, Mercury grabs
us, and we crash.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Understood. Escort these two to the
Garbage Ejector.
Third Engineer Rizzo gets up and exits with Perianne and
Gordon.
INT. GARBAGE EJECTOR SUITE, MERCURY STATION
The suite has three parts: a control room, the area that has
the ejector, and then within the ejector apparatus, the
garbage accumulation area. The accumulation area has large,
double airlock doors on the wall of the station; the area
between them is about ten yards. The garbage accumulation
area is empty.
INT. GARBAGE EJECTOR CONTROL ROOM
The control room juts out, a story up from the floor of the
apparatus area. Perianne, Gordon and Third Engineer Rizzo
enter and find a light on a panel flashing along with a
buzzing sound. Third Engineer Rizzo picks up a handset and
listens a beat.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
We'll be over in a minute.
(to Gordon)
They're bringing the bomb, now.
Third Engineer Rizzo leads Perianne and Gordon out -
INT. GARBAGE EJECTOR ROOM, MERCURY STATION
- down stairs, through the garbage ejector housing into -
INT. GARBAGE ACCUMULATION CHAMBER
The chamber has a series of chutes on the walls perpendicular
to the airlock doors. Opposite the airlock doors is an
impossibly large "piston" with gigantic hydraulic actuators.
One of the garbage chutes open, and eight Crew carefully
ferry in the one hundred and fifty foot long container on a
series of anti-gravity units. They angle the container toward
the interior set of airlock doors.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
I'll get the door!
Third Engineer Rizzo hurriedly exits.
The crew align with the airlock doors.
The doors retract with that slight suction sound that
airtight doors make opening when the pressures aren't quite
equal. It's yards to the second set of airlock doors.
The crew carefully move the bomb into the opening and find
themselves stuck. The bomb is just a tad too wide for the
opening!
.
. END OF ACT IV
. ACT V
INT. GARBAGE ACCUMULATION CHAMBER
The Crew repositions the bomb and again it won't go through
the pressure doors. The Crew carefully set the bomb down.
PERIANNE
(to two of the Crew)
You two, check with Third Engineer
Rizzo for analysis that shows the
point of contact. You -
(she point to the rest))
check that area for anything
protruding.
The Crew does as she asks, leaving Perianne with Gordon.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
I will break the Time Lord code.
Gordon frowns until he sees Perianne program her watch and
fire on the bin. Nothing seems to happen.
GORDON
What did you do?
PERIANNE
Shrunk it by one and half percent.
Shshsh.
GORDON
Does it reduce the power?
PERIANNE
No. The portion coming out of the
other dimension may potentiate it.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO (O.S.)
(over a loud speaker)
Scanning... I'm finding no reason
that it shouldn't fit.
Gordon smiles. The Crew who examined the area before the
pressure doors come back shaking their heads.
PERIANNE
Try it again.
The two Crew return from the Control Room, and the eight re
ignite the antigravity units. Of course, the bin goes
through, end still in the accumulation chamber awaiting the
piston.
INT. DATA CENTER, MERCURY STATION
Second Engineer Li stops the whole room - First Engineer
Falkner and several Crew - slamming his fist on the console.
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Damn it!
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
What?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
We can get physically out of the
way, but we didn't consider the
heat. That iron core is molten.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
How far away do we have to get?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Below the critical limit of eight
thousand feet.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
So we need more thrust.
SECOND ENGINEER LI
We haven't accounted for the
rockets on the two shuttles.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Do the math to see if it's enough;
I'll talk to that Engineer about
attaching them.
First Engineer Falkner exits the Data Center.
INT. HALLWAYS, MERCURY STATION
First Engineer Falkner meets Perianne and Gordon coming from
the other direction. First Engineer Falkner turns and escorts
them back toward the Data Center.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
The heat from the vulcanoid will
wipe us out unless we go at least a
half mile into the red zone.
PERIANNE
You need more power.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Any thoughts?
GORDON
What's your capability for
horizontal movement?
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Just the tiny positioning rockets,
geared for minute changes.
INT. DATA CENTER, MERCURY STATION
First Engineer Falkner, Perianne and Gordon enter. The First
Engineer goes to Second Engineer Li.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Anything?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
The two shuttle rockets can keep us
from crashing into Mercury, but
they're not powerful enough to
escape the gravity.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
(nodding to Gordon)
What if we used them to move
horizontally?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
So that we angle away from it as we
lower! Let me run that.
Second Engineer Li types quickly. First Engineer Falkner
checks his watch.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
We launch in twenty-seven minutes.
Help me figure out how best to
utilize the rockets.
PERIANNE
Of course.
First Engineer Falkner pulls up blueprints on one of the
peripheral station's screens. He and Perianne study it.
Gordon hangs back, but is fidgety.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Push or pull?
PERIANNE
How about attaching them one
hundred and eighty degrees apart?
First Engineer Falkner sits at the station and types rapidly.
Perianne gravitates back to Gordon.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
You've been asking fabulous
questions. Anything now?
GORDON
I'm still concerned about the bomb.
The thrust of the ejection could
set it off on launch.
PERIANNE
Go back and discuss it with Rizzo.
Gordon exits in haste. Second Engineer Li looks at a screen
eagerly and makes a triumphant gesture. Perianne goes over
and looks at his screen.
SECOND ENGINEER LI
We'll take a scorch, but the
rockets have sufficient power.
First Engineer Falkner stops typing, and turns to Second
Engineer Li.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
What's 'a scorch?'
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Twenty-four hundred degrees (F)for
two point four seconds, rising and
diminishing to normal in seven
point eight seconds, total.
PERIANNE
What's the station's tolerance?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Certified to two thousand degrees.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Probably can take another couple
hundred degrees - but four?
First Engineer Falkner returns to his own screen.
PERIANNE
Any ability to shield further the
side hit?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
No.
First Engineer Falkner stops typing, scrutinizes the screen,
then turns to Perianne and Second Engineer Li.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
The 'sides' it is. Let's get a crew
on it. We're down to the wire.
INT. GARBAGE EJECTOR CONTROL ROOM
Gordon and Third Engineer Rizzo look very serious as they
study the screen before them.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
Damn it! Forty-two percent chance
it could blow up on launch!
GORDON
That's fifty-eight percent in our
favor. What can we do to further
insulate the end of the bin?
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
More packing, but do we have time
to install it? We've got twelve
minutes.
GORDON
Try!
INT. HALLWAYS, MERCURY STATION
Airlock doors are retracted, and it can be seen through the
connector that the shuttle rocket is attached.
Crew is reinforcing the connection between the two, some
welding additional plating. First Engineer Falkner and
Perianne inspect the work.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Do you think these will hold?
PERIANNE
Long enough, if you gain momentum
slowly.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
We'll start moving as soon as we
launch the bomb.
PERIANNE
We should check on that; it's
almost launch time.
INT. GARBAGE EJECTOR CONTROL ROOM
From the Control area, on screen, Crew can be seen in the
garbage accumulation area attaching further insulation, feet
thick, to the end of the bin that will take the ejection
force. Third Engineer Rizzo and Gordon help the Crew.
Perianne and First Engineer Falkner enter and see on screen
the hubbub below. Falkner gets on the communications.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
(over loud speaker)
Rizzo, what the hell is going on?
We're four minutes from launch.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
(over loud speaker)
We're adding more insulation.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Hurry!
PERIANNE
These figures suggest that you were
facing a forty-two percent chance
of exploding the bomb on launch.
First Engineer Falkner looks at the figures for himself.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
The thirty-five percent chance that
remains isn't much better.
Third Engineer Rizzo and Gordon come into the control area.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
We're as ready as can be.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Get everyone on board in the
central Data Center.
For a moment Perianne has a quick flash of -
INT. ENGINEERING, GALLIFREYIAN SHIP
INT. GARBAGE EJECTOR SUITE, MERCURY STATION - RESUME
Perianne isn't sure what she saw, but feels shaken.
INT. DATA CENTER, MERCURY STATION
It's crowded with a lot of extra Crew along the periphery,
but the area around the three Engineers main console is
clear. Perianne and Gordon are with the Crew.
The three Engineers are at the main console.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Nano reflectors secure?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Yes. back in the storage tank.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
Three, two, one... blast off.
The station takes a tremendous jolt - but no explosion.
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Bomb's away and on course...
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
(into a communicator)
Rockets start.
A small jolt is felt as the station inches horizontally.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER (CONT'D)
Start drop sequence.
Second Engineer Li hits several keys.
The station starts to shake.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER (CONT'D)
Adjust.
Engineer Li makes adjustments, but the shaking doesn't stop.
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Sir! It's the shuttles.
PERIANNE
(from the periphery)
Set up a counter harmonic!
Perianne joins the three Engineers.
SECOND ENGINEER LI
With what?
PERIANNE
Any sound system you have.
Perianne calculates on her watch.
PERIANNE (CONT'D)
Frequency 1050 kilohertz.
Second Engineer scrambles to comply, and for a moment a sound
is heard over the speaker system, and then, the shaking
becomes minimal, and no sound is heard.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
Impact on the vulcanoid in three,
two, one -
EXT. OUTER SPACE
The bomb hits the vulcanoid. Tremendous explosion.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO (V.O.)
Impact off mark by three degrees.
The vulcanoid gradually starts to vere.
INT. DATA CENTER, MERCURY STATION - RESUME
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Calculating!
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Impact six point five percent
stronger than expected.
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Have it... Angle of deflection
diverting at the expected rate.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Temperature on outer hull starting
to rise. Follow it Rizzo.
Third Engineer Rizzo nods.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER (CONT'D)
Descent proceeding at forty-two
degrees, can we make it forty-five?
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Tweaking.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
Eighteen hundred degrees...
Nineteen hundred... Two thousand...
twenty-one... twenty-two -
Things explode somewhere far away in the station.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO (CONT'D)
Twenty-three, twenty-three fifty -
More explosions are heard closer.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
We just passed maximum exposure.
THIRD ENGINEER RIZZO
Twenty-three seventy-five... twenty
three ninety... twenty-three fifty!
Twenty-two, twenty-one...
Cheering goes up throughout the room.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
Start ascent.
SECOND ENGINEER LI
Eight thousand three hundred feet
and rising!
INT. GATHERING ROOM, MERCURY STATION
A banquet is set up, all the Engineers and Crew have full
plates, and the elated mood continues. Perianne and Gordon
enjoy themselves laughing with Third Engineer Rizzo. First
Engineer Falkner gets up and clanks on a champagne glass.
Everyone comes to attention.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER
We have so much to celebrate; we
only have minor damage.
The room bursts into cheers.
Perianne pulls a surprised Gordon away from the crowd.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER (CONT'D)
We could have never gotten through
this without the help of the
visiting Engineer -
First Engineer Falkner points to where Third Engineer Rizzo
is only to find Perianne and Gordon gone. He looks around.
FIRST ENGINEER FALKNER (CONT'D)
I don't know where they've gone,
but here's to Perianne and Gordon.
The room erupts into cheers again.
INT. HALLWAYS, MERCURY STATION
The cheering can be heard in the background. Perianne hastens
down the hall with a dumbfounded Gordon lagging behind.
GORDON
Why couldn't we stay?
PERIANNE
We don't belong in their history.
Gordon considers, "gets it" and hurries along with Perianne.
Perianne and Gordon reach the alcove with the Mini T. Some of
the food dispensing machines near it show singe damage, but
the Mini T is fine.
INT. MINI T
Perianne fires up the Mini T. Gordon watches.
PERIANNE
How'd you like the trip?
GORDON
Beyond my wildest dreams! I've seen
the future.
PERIANNE
You'll get used to it.
GORDON
I can travel with you again?
PERIANNE
In trade for helping me learn about
Earth.
GORDON
Gladly.
Perianne and Gordon shake hands.
.
. THE END