The Scream of the Shalka
A BBC Webcast for the 40th Anniversary. Original Airdate: 13 Nov 2003.
Starring Richard E Grant as the Doctor.
Part Four - Sound of the Underground
[Shalka Lair]
(Shalka shriek around Alison who, once again, is tied up. They take her above ground.)
[TARDIS]
(The Master and two Shalka are in the TARDIS. One of the Shalka pulls two levers down and the Master reactivates.)
MASTER: You hurt yourself again.
(He closes his face plate.)
MASTER: Ah! Thank you. My plan worked perfectly.
(A Shalka hisses menacingly at him.)
MASTER: But of course, it was a plan. I knew he would deactivate me because otherwise I would prevent him from hiding all the secrets of this craft. And I see he's done just that. So, now you need me to tell you how the real systems work. In return for safe passage off this suburban nightmare of a planet, naturally. Now, where shall we begin?
[Roadside]
(Joe is stood, looking worried. Behind him, a worker drills the road by a tractor.)
GREAVES: It's still not safe here, sir. Possibility of lava becoming dry later.
JOE: I can't believe she's gone.
GREAVES: Sir, the next evacuation truck comes through here in 10 minutes and you're going to be on it. Or you may force me to stop calling you “sir”.
(The ground starts shaking.)
JOE: I'm not going anywhere without,
(The Shalka shrieking fills the air. Suddenly, Alison is there.)
JOE: Alison!
GREAVES: Stretcher party.
JOE: Alison, are you okay?
ALISON: What are you doing here? Where am I?
JOE: You're back in Lannet. Where have you been?
ALISON: They let me go.
(The ground is mostly sealed. There are a few orange cracks, barely smoking.)
ALISON [OC]: Why would they do that?
(She gasps.)
ALISON: The Doctor. They killed the Doctor.
JOE: Shush. It's okay now. You're with me. I'm getting you out of here.
[Black hole]
(The Doctor is still falling into the black hole. He pulls out his phone and dials a number.)
KENNET [VO]: Major Thomas Kennet, first Royal Green Jackets, not available at the moment. Please leave your communication.
(Beep)
DOCTOR: This is the Doctor. I'm terribly sorry, but, I'm afraid that I'm about to die. The aliens are called the Shalka. They have a warp gate to their home world. Knock that out and they may do a deal. I know you don't know much about me, Kennet. And this is,this is hardly the time to start a friendship. But just know this. I was finished anyway. Hopeless! I can't do this anymore. I got her killed. Again. It's not the first time. So it's apt I don't continue. And,Well, I'm happy with that. I do, however, have some last words for the Universe. They are,
(The phone beeps at him. He looks at it.)
DOCTOR: Battery low?
(He pulls out his sonic screwdriver - a classic model - and zaps it.)
DOCTOR: I will have my last words. Blast you! This is not how I want to spend my last few remaining, Seconds! Time! Time machine! TARDIS!
(He holds up the phone again.)
DOCTOR: You're part of the TARDIS.
(He zaps the phone again.)
DOCTOR: If I can get you to remember that,
(The phone snaps out of his hand and begins assembling itself into the TARDIS door.)
DOCTOR: I just need a door handle. Don't worry about the sign!
(The door handle appears. He opens the door and practically leaps inside.)
[TARDIS]
(The Doctor walks in.)
DOCTOR: Aha! You look busy. Many hands and all that.
MASTER: Doctor, you're alive.
(A Shalka hisses at him.)
MASTER: I mean, how dare you profane a craft of the glorious Shalka Confederacy with your presence?
(The Doctor walks to the console, completely unfazed by the Shalka.)
DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor. Hello. Hello, hello, hello. And that's the Master, who I see isn't holding onto anything.
(The Master grabs hold of a support beam.)
DOCTOR: And this,
(The Doctor presses a button, opening the doors. The Shalka scream as they are blown out into the black hole. He closes the door.)
DOCTOR: Is a black hole. Bye.
MASTER: I can explain.
DOCTOR: You don't have to.
MASTER: Oh, good. Have you saved the day?
DOCTOR: No. Help me. There's just a chance she may still be alive. If we can do a biological search of the cavern.
MASTER: Who are we searching for?
DOCTOR: Alison.
MASTER: A young woman, again?
DOCTOR: Yes, again.
(The Master starts to pilot the TARDIS away.)
DOCTOR: No, stop! We can't take off anyway. The Shalka force field,
MASTER: Have now been set to hold the TARDIS in the secondary configuration mode. Once we change it,
DOCTOR: No, I have to be sure.
MASTER: On this point, your programming of my electronic brain was quite specific. We leave the girl behind.
(The Doctor sighs.)
DOCTOR: I can't do this anymore.
MASTER: And yet, you just did. As always, you are at least two things at once. Perhaps your most infuriatingly human trait.
[Shalka lair]
(As the TARDIS disappears, Shalka shriek at it.)
[Kennet's office]
(The TARDIS materialises. The Doctor steps out. Kennet is sat behind his desk.)
KENNET: Well, I am surprised to see you back here.
DOCTOR: Major Kennet, you must forgive me. I've insulted your profession, taken command of your men, been inexcusably rude and hopeless in the face of,
KENNET: I meant that Miss Cheney said you'd been thrown into a black hole.
DOCTOR: Alison's alive? Why did the Shalka let her go?
KENNET: She doesn't know. We can get her in for the whole story.
DOCTOR: Yes, shortly. But, for the moment, I'd prefer it if she weren't too close at hand. She and her boyfriend really need to talk.
KENNET: So, this is the TARDIS. Fascinating! I haven't seen one of these since I was a young boy. So, now you have it. Why are you still here?
DOCTOR: Indeed, indeed. I rather came back because of a message I left for you.
(Kennet presses play on his answer machine.)
DOCTOR (VO): This is the Doctor. I'm terribly sorry, but,I'm afraid I'm about to die,
(The Doctor presses delete.)
DOCTOR: Nothing you needed to hear. So you can manage on your own.
KENNET: Absolutely!
DOCTOR: Only I seem to have found some form. I might not be quite so useless now.
KENNET: Well, it's a pity we won't get a chance to find out.
(The office door opens.)
GREAVES: Excuse me, sir! But we caught one! Oh, no. I was hoping you'd got crushed under an avalanche.
KENNET: Greaves,
GREAVES: Sorry, sir. Permission to speak freely, retroactively, sir?
KENNET: Granted.
DOCTOR: You captured a Shalka? Could I just,
KENNET: As you wish.
[Street]
(Max is stood outside a house, holding two suitcases. He, along with a crowd, walk into a truck. Their eyes suddenly flash blue, like a Shalka.)
[Roadside]
(Alison puts her phone down.)
ALISON: I don't believe it. He's still alive, after being thrown into a black hole.
JOE: I don't think your mum's home.
ALISON: No. My old stomping ground. I used to play Knock Down Ginger on this street. And now, here I am, talking about outer space. Blimey!
JOE: I don't wanna be here.
ALISON: Joe, can we talk about this later?
JOE: No, I mean, I don't wanna to be here, Alison. I can feel it.
MAN: That's the lot. I'll be off now.
(Joe suddenly punches him.)
MAN: Ow.
ALISON: What are you doing?
JOE: I don't know.
(The man's been knocked unconscious.)
JOE: I didn't mean to do that.
ALISON: Is he okay?
JOE: He's still breathing.
(The ground starts shaking.)
ALISON: Oh, no. Not now. Not here.
JOE: Something's making me get back in the truck, Ali.
(Both he and Alison climb back into the truck.)
ALISON: Joe, what's happening?
(Joe starts the truck. Alison picks up her phone.)
ALISON: I have to call the Doctor.
(She can't press any of the buttons.)
ALISON: But I can't do it,
(She drops the phone.)
[Roadside]
(An unconscious Shalka is lying next to a leaking cylinder. A soldier and the Doctor are stood by it.)
SOLDIER: It was crossing the road, sir. I was already to break because of the oxygen cylinders.
DOCTOR: Oxygen? It got a jolt of the pure stuff and it knocked it out.
KENNET: We can hardly advance on them with pure oxygen.
DOCTOR: No, but if you can set up something like an oxygen tent.
KENNET: We can get one from the hospital.
DOCTOR: Get this Shalka wrapped up in one. Keep feeding it oxygen and get it over to the chemistry lab at the school.
GREAVES: Whatever he's planning to do to you, fella, I wouldn't be in your, whatever you do for shoes.
DOCTOR: Don't bully it.
KENNET: You heard the man, Greaves, don't bully the monster.
[Truck]
ALISON: Ow,my head. How long have I been asleep?
JOE: A couple of hours. No idea where I'm driving. My throat's not feeling so good now, Ali. Oh, that poor guy.
ALISON: You couldn't stop yourself, Joe. Neither of us could.
(She sighs.)
ALISON: Phew. Listen, wherever we end up, I need to get my head looked at.
JOE: It's okay. We will.
ALISON: Because it feels like there's something inside.
[Lab]
(The unconscious Shalka is inside an oxygen tent. The Doctor is studying it.)
DOCTOR: Sorry. Can't have you communicating with your fellows.
(He adjusts the amount of oxygen.)
DOCTOR: You're going to get just enough volcanic gas to stay alive and talk to me.
(A computer monitor screeches.)
DOCTOR: Hear that? We humanoids could be part of your sonic network. We're not the primitives that you think we are.
(Greaves walks in, holding a cup of tea.)
GREAVES: Here you are, Doctor. Strong and sweet.
DOCTOR: Put it some distance from me, Greaves. I'll get to it eventually.
GREAVES: I look at that ugly thing lying there and I think,I'm glad I took the ring back to the jewellers.
(The Shalka, barely conscious, hisses.)
GREAVES: I mean, it's so much more powerful than we are. if the rest of them knew we had it here, it would be terrible. They'd come for us.
DOCTOR: You fought them in the caves. Are you telling me you were afraid?
GREAVES: As if! Of course not.
DOCTOR: How's your throat?
GREAVES: Could be better. I think I'm getting laryngitis.
DOCTOR: Keep an eye on it for a moment, eh? I'm just popping out to do something eccentric.
(He leaves. The Shalka wakes up and shrieks loudly at Greaves. Greaves backs away, scared.)
GREAVES: Doc,
(The Shalka shrieks at Greaves. He falls to the floor, coughing. The Doctor re-enters, carrying a canister of oxygen. He sprays it at the Shalka until it falls to the floor.)
GREAVES: What,What happened? You wanted that thing to do that to me.
DOCTOR: The Shalka scream doesn't just scare people into obeying. It softens them up for long-term control.
GREAVES: What are you going on about?
DOCTOR: If you live over a nasty landlord for a long time, you get to the point where he doesn't have to keep bashing on the ceiling.
GREAVES: So, what about this gas? Where did that come from?
DOCTOR: Out of your mouth, in a manner of speaking. Get it back in the tent. I need to talk to your boss.
(The Doctor leaves. Greaves picks up the cup of tea.)
GREAVES: I could sue him for that. If I could get a lawyer to believe it.
[Kennet's office]
(The Doctor rushes in.)
DOCTOR: Major!
KENNET: Doctor, I was just coming to see you.
DOCTOR: Because something's happened to the evacuees.
KENNET: Exactly. We've had calls from relatives who've been asked to provide places for them. As far as we can tell, none of them have arrived.
[Woods]
(The truck stops. Joe and Alison get out.)
ALISON: They want us to stop here. Why? What's here?
(People emerge from the spooky mist.)
JOE: Everyone we know.
ALISON: The sound is still telling everyone what to do, even when we can't hear it.
JOE: Isn't that your boss?
MAX: Alison.
BARFLY: Alison. Time is short.
MAX: Everyone's here, Alison. The soldiers evacuated us. But instead of going where we were supposed to, we came here.
ALISON: Has,Has everyone got something in their heads?
BARFLY: Head?
ALISON: Shush.
MAX: No.
ALISON: Oh,
JOE: Let's have a look.
(Joe examines her head.)
JOE: Oh, dear.
[Office]
DOCTOR: So, where are they?
(Kennet throws some photos down.)
KENNET: In the Pennines. Middle of nowhere.
DOCTOR: Oh,
KENNET: A place called Edale Wood. Thousands of them. The local police thought it was an illegal rave and had to call for reinforcements.
DOCTOR: That's not on volcanic rock. They must be using some form of direct control. Blast!
[Woods]
(Joe is examining Alison's head.)
JOE: It must be something from the explosion in the shop. Let me see. Tell me if I'm hurting you.
ALISON: I don't care, just get it out.
JOE: What? Something's just, What is this?
(The wound is now a bulge, like a spot but bigger.)
ALISON: Joe?
JOE: No, just,just wait. It's okay. I think I've nearly got it. Hold on.
(A small worm-like creature bursts through the bulge.)
JOE [OC]: Oh, no!
(It shrieks, just like a Shalka.)