THE FACE OF EVIL
BY: CHRIS BOUCHER
Part Two
Running time: 24:58
[SCENE_BREAK]
LEELA: What happened? You must be able to remember.
DOCTOR: Well, of course I can remember. I'm trying to. Perhaps I was on another part of the planet.
LEELA: There is no other part. Only beyond the Wall.
DOCTOR: Beyond the Wall. I wonder.
LEELA: What?
DOCTOR: Shush, shush, shush. I'm wondering. Back to the village.
LEELA: We can't!
DOCTOR: Why not?
LEELA: We'll be torn to pieces!
DOCTOR: Not if they don't catch us, we won't. Anyway, they'll be preparing for their battle.
LEELA: That's what you said last time.
DOCTOR: Well, you can't expect perfection, you know. Not even from me.
LEELA: (silent) Oh, you.
[SCENE_BREAK]
ANDOR: The men refuse to attack while the Evil One is out there.
NEEVA: I have been thinking. We tell them it has been destroyed.
ANDOR: No! I will not lie to my people.
NEEVA: The Wall will be open for a very short time. We dare not delay. We must attack now, or you betray our god.
ANDOR: Has Xoanon commanded this?
NEEVA: He has.
ANDOR: Guard, sound the call.
ANDOR: You had better be right, Neeva, because servant of Xoanon or not, if we fail, I will kill you.
NEEVA: Xoanon has promised us victory.
ANDOR: No. He has promised you. And you have promised us.
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: (quietly) I must examine those relics.
LEELA: (quietly) The village was dangerous enough, but the shrine of Xoanon?
[SCENE_BREAK]
NEEVA: Speak to me, Xoanon, that I may know your will. Speak, Xoanon. Speak.
WARRIOR (OOV.): Shaman Neeva! It's time to leave!
NEEVA: I'm coming.
WARRIOR: Andor asks that you do not delay.
NEEVA: I said I'm coming!
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: I like the hat. Very fetching.
LEELA: That was the Hand of Xoanon.
DOCTOR: That was an armoured space glove, or what was left of one.
[SCENE_BREAK]
ANDOR: The attack must begin at once.
NEEVA: Xoanon has spoken. We shall not fail.
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: It's all clear.
DOCTOR: Amazing. You know, I had a feeling, I had a feeling that Neeva was actually expecting to hear an answer to his prayer.
LEELA: There wouldn't be much point in praying if he didn't.
DOCTOR: I could quote you a few theologians who'd give you an argument on that. He was listening.
DOCTOR: Hello? Intergalactic Operator? Hello? Over? Dead as a Dalek. There must be something.
LEELA: Why did you talk to that tube?
DOCTOR: I thought I recognised it.
XOANON (OOV.): Neeva.
XOANON: Neeva!
DOCTOR: Poor old Neeva. Hotline to god. Psst. Don't be afraid. It's only a machine for sending voices over long distances. That may be Xoanon speaking, but it's not God. Gods don't use transceivers.
LEELA: Are you certain?
DOCTOR: Aren't you?
LEELA: Yes.
DOCTOR: That's better.
XOANON (OOV.): Neeva. Neeva.
DOCTOR: I'm sorry, Neeva isn't here at the moment. Could I take a message? Over.
XOANON (OOV.): At last we are here. At last. At last. Us.
DOCTOR: Us?
XOANON (OOV.): You. Me. Us. We. At last I shall be free of us.
DOCTOR: Who are you?
XOANON (OOV.): Don't I know?
DOCTOR: Leela, I have a feeling. Something nasty. Something I did. It seems like it.
LEELA: What are you talking about?
DOCTOR: Who did that voice remind you of?
LEELA: You. It was your voice. How could that be?
DOCTOR: More to the point, who could that be? I must take a look at the Wall.
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: It's a time barrier.
LEELA: I don't understand.
DOCTOR: The principle's really quite simple. You just move everything forward a couple of seconds inside it. You get a barrier that's impervious to all energy. A true void. I've seen it done as a parlour trick, but never on this scale.
LEELA: Isn't there any way to get through it?
DOCTOR: Not unless whoever set it up deliberately bridged it.
LEELA: So that means Andor and the others
DOCTOR: Are walking into a trap, yes.
LEELA: Isn't there any way we can warn them?
DOCTOR: It's too late. Anyway, they wouldn't listen.
LEELA: Caleb might. Let's try.
[SCENE_BREAK]
ANDOR: Attack!
ANDOR: Come on, attack!
TOMAS: Attack!
ALL: Attack! Attack!
NEEVA: Xoanon, protect your warriors and strengthen their arms, that they may free you.
TOMAS: Attack!
[SCENE_BREAK]
LEELA: Someone's coming.
DOCTOR: Hello, Caleb. I was just thinking about you.
CALEB: So Neeva and Andor were lying.
DOCTOR: I wouldn't be surprised.
CALEB: Where's Leela?
LEELA: Behind you.
CALEB: Ah.
DOCTOR: How was the battle?
CALEB: Just as the old ones remembered the last time. The Wall closed up.
LEELA: A massacre?
CALEB: More than half the men were killed, and we never even saw the Tesh.
LEELA: You seem unhurt.
CALEB: There's no virtue in dying, Leela.
LEELA: That rather depends on what you do to avoid it.
DOCTOR: Leela, put the knife away. I'm sure he's a reasonable man.
CALEB: Thank you. So what do you want of me?
LEELA: We need someone's help.
DOCTOR: Leela seems to think it might be yours.
LEELA: The tribe is in desperate danger, Caleb. The Doctor can help. He's the only one who can. But we must convince the others he's not the Evil One.
DOCTOR: Having first of all, of course, convinced you.
CALEB: I don't think you're the Evil One, and never have. I don't believe in ghosts.
DOCTOR: I'm impressed. Perhaps Leela's right about you.
CALEB: But if I'm to help, I need to know everything.
DOCTOR: There isn't much time. You see, Leela and I found an impenetrable barrier
CALEB: Janis thorn. Something you haven't thought of. Now stay where you are.
DOCTOR: I thought you were too easily convinced.
CALEB: I meant it. You're certainly not the Evil One, but the others think you are. Neeva said you'd been destroyed. You're just the evidence I need to break him.
DOCTOR: She underestimated your ambition.
CALEB: It's for the good of the tribe.
DOCTOR: Of course. This too.
CALEB: She would have opposed me. I said stay where you are!
DOCTOR: You need me alive, remember?
TOMAS: Caleb, you held back! You cost us the attack!
DOCTOR: Come in. Who are you?
TOMAS: Tomas. Leela! What have you done to her?
DOCTOR: He poisoned her with a Janis thorn. Up!
CALEB: You've broken my leg.
DOCTOR: I'll break your nose if you don't get up. Now pick her up, both of you.
CALEB: It takes skill to use one of those.
DOCTOR: What, at this range? No, all it needs is a flick of the wrist. Pick her up.
DOCTOR: And move.
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: Gently.
CALEB: Now what are you going to do?
DOCTOR: Tomas, you don't want her to die, do you?
TOMAS: No, of course not.
DOCTOR: Then cover him. I need time to work.
DOCTOR: This is a bioanalyser, rattlesnake. I can identify the poison and programme the medikit to make an antitoxin.
TOMAS: Back against the wall.
CALEB: I'm going to give the alarm.
TOMAS: Back against the wall!
CALEB: Oh, don't be a fool, Tomas!
CALEB: What do you suppose he's doing, Tomas? You don't really think that's going to help Leela, poking around in Neeva's relics?
DOCTOR: Shut up, rattlesnake. I'm trying to save time. Leela hasn't got much left.
TOMAS: I think she's dead.
DOCTOR: Got it!
TOMAS: He's gone!
DOCTOR: Watch the door.
LEELA: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Are you all right?
LEELA: The Janis thorn. There's no cure.
DOCTOR: Yes, there is. Just a matter of finding one.
LEELA: Do you know the answer to everything?
DOCTOR: Yes. Well, no, no. Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions that is hard.
TOMAS: They're coming.
DOCTOR: Can you move?
LEELA: I think so. My arm hurts a bit.
DOCTOR: Tomas, take her out of the back way.
LEELA: I'm staying with you.
DOCTOR: You're going with Tomas. I'll meet you both later. Go.
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: Good evening, gentlemen. You know, I never thought you'd get here. Good heavens, look at that.
DOCTOR: Now then, down to business. I'm beginning to think you don't like me. Ah, Neeva. Is it really you? They told me you were dead. Or was it the other way round?
[SCENE_BREAK]
ANDOR: So Caleb was right. Both of you in league with the Evil One.
TOMAS: You blind, blind fool, Andor.
[SCENE_BREAK]
WARRIOR: You lied to us!
MAN: Come on, Neeva, tell them your mistake.
ANDOR: Silence! Be silent!
WARRIOR: You said it was destroyed!
NEEVA: Did it not bring the witch, its servant, to life? I tell you it was destroyed, but not totally, so it renewed itself.
DOCTOR: Ha! If you can believe that, you can believe anything. I'll tell you once again. I am not the Evil One.
ANDOR: But it was you, you who wiped out the attack.
DOCTOR: Oh, flapdoodle! I was nowhere near it.
LEELA: That's true. I was with him all the time.
NEEVA: Pah! Would you believe a witch?
DOCTOR: The attack failed because it was a trap from the start.
NEEVA: And who would have set such a trap?
LEELA: Xoanon!
TOMAS: Oh, that was a great mistake.
NEEVA: They must all be totally destroyed. Throw them to the Horda!
DOCTOR: What do you mean, throw them? What is a Horda, anyway?
CALEB: No, wait! I do not believe he is the Evil One.
LEELA: Conscience?
DOCTOR: No, politics. He's trying to break Neeva's hold on the tribe.
CALEB: If he can be killed, then he is not the Evil One, because the Evil One is a god.
DOCTOR: Good point. Fifteen love.
NEEVA: The litany says it can be destroyed.
DOCTOR: Fifteen all.
CALEB: I say we should put it to the test and see if he speaks truly.
ANDOR: But the test is for mortals.
CALEB: If he can be killed then he is a mortal!
DOCTOR: Game, set and match to Caleb, I think.
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: So that's a Horda. Well, it doesn't look to formidable. What do I do, fight it or eat it?
CALEB: They'll strike at anything that moves, except each other. Ten of these can strip the flesh from a man's arm almost before he can cry out.
DOCTOR: I take it there are more than ten in there.
ANDOR: The pit is full of them.
DOCTOR: Ah.
CALEB: You stand on that.
DOCTOR: And then what?
CALEB: You must break the rope.
LEELA: Doctor, the rope gets thinner the further it goes, but it gets faster too.
DOCTOR: What? The rope gets thinner the further it goes
LEELA: Faster.
DOCTOR: But it gets faster too. The rope gets thinner the further it goes
WARRIOR: Silence. He does it alone.
DOCTOR: Who is that man?
CALEB: Which man?
DOCTOR: That man.
DOCTOR: Sorry about that. Shall we get on with it?
DOCTOR: Well?
CALEB: Let the test begin.
MAN 2: Stop!
DOCTOR: Very good, Doctor. Very good. Well, are you convinced now? Leela, that was very nice of you to try and help me, but really there was absolutely no need. Would you just release our friend, please?
LEELA: Where did you learn to shoot like that?
DOCTOR: Shoot like what? Oh, like that. In Switzerland. Charming man. William Tell, he was called. Well?
CALEB: Untie him.
DOCTOR: Good.
[SCENE_BREAK]
XOANON 2 (OOV.): Neeva. Neeva, where is he? Doctor? Doctor, are you there?
DOCTOR: Yes, I'm here, Xoanon.
XOANON (OOV.): Ah, good. Good. We have decided
XOANON 2 (OOV.): To destroy you.
DOCTOR: I see, Xoanon. Why don't we get together and talk things over?
XOANON: We are together. We have said all there is to say and know all there is to know.
DOCTOR: Now we don't want to do anything hasty, do we?
XOANON: Hasty? It's been
XOANON 2: An eternity. I'm turning off the boundary to let in my pets from beyond. Goodbye, Doctor.
NEEVA: What does it all mean?
DOCTOR: It means trouble. Large, deadly and invisible.
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: Screwdriver.
TOMAS: We've set the guards round the perimeter.
LEELA: Everyone knows what to expect.
DOCTOR: Good. Did you explain about their attraction to vibrations?
LEELA: Of course.
DOCTOR: You know, we're very lucky they carried these things. Let's hope we can profit from the misfortunes of those travellers.
LEELA: I don't understand.
DOCTOR: I mean the planetary survey teams. That's where your tribe got its name from. Sevateem, survey team. The question is, were you here before them?
CALEB: Are we their captors or their children?
DOCTOR: You catch on quickly. Certainly they never returned to base.
CALEB: Is the weapon ready?
DOCTOR: Why, are you taking charge here?
CALEB: Do you object?
LEELA: I object.
CALEB: Leela, I don't expect you to like me.
LEELA: Then you won't be disappointed.
DOCTOR: Tomas, take this.
TOMAS: How does it work?
DOCTOR: You just point it and press it. It's destructive up to about twenty times bow range. Short bursts, Tomas. It's self-regenerating but it takes time to recharge.
TOMAS: Thank you, Doctor.
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: There. That should keep Xoanon's creatures on their side of the perimeter. Now, you and I have got to get inside that time barrier and soon.
LEELA: According to the old ones, the tribe has had seven attempts at that.
DOCTOR: I could build a time bridge myself, but that would mean dismantling the TARDIS and then it mightn't work.
LEELA: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Yes.
LEELA: You know you said nothing could get within that barrier?
DOCTOR: Yes.
LEELA: Not light or anything.
DOCTOR: No.
LEELA: But Xoanon is inside it.
DOCTOR: Yes.
LEELA: How do we hear his voice?
DOCTOR: Well, it's quite simple. We. You're a genius. A genius.
LEELA: What did I say?
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: Come on, Neeva. Neeva! Come on, snap out of it, man.
NEEVA: Yes, lord. What is your will?
DOCTOR: Neeva.
DOCTOR: Neeva, when you hear the voice of Xoanon, is it when you're at the altar, or when the vestment is hanging in its frame?
NEEVA: Yes, master.
DOCTOR: Have you heard it anywhere else?
NEEVA: Yes, master.
DOCTOR: Where?
NEEVA: Yes, master.
DOCTOR: Neeva! Neeva! This is Xoanon.
DOCTOR: Where have you heard my voice?
NEEVA: Only here, lord, in your shrine.
DOCTOR: You've been a good and faithful servant, Neeva. Go back to sleep now.
DOCTOR: It is a tight beam transmission. There's a bridge over the time barrier and I know where it is.
LEELA: What happened to him?
DOCTOR: Too much too quickly.
DOCTOR: This time I have to admit defeat.
LEELA: (quietly) Doctor.
DOCTOR: (quietly) Shush. Xoanon.
[SCENE_BREAK]
LEELA: The fools.
DOCTOR: They must have panicked.
LEELA: That'll attract the creatures.
DOCTOR: Yes. Come on, we haven't got much time.
[SCENE_BREAK]
ANDOR: Idiot, you'll attract more of them!
WARRIOR: Something killed Korus. I saw it, over there.
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: The nose could be a shade more aquiline, and the noble proportion of the brow hasn't been perfectly executed. Still, we mustn't complain. We live in an imperfect universe.
LEELA: Where's the bridge through the barrier? Up the nose?
DOCTOR: No, it isn't! Up the nose. It's over the teeth and down the throat.
[SCENE_BREAK]
ANDOR: Tomas. Tomas! I think I can hear something.
TOMAS: Andor! Come back!
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: Odd feeling.
LEELA: What is?
DOCTOR: Standing in my own throat is.
LEELA: What is it?
[SCENE_BREAK]
TOMAS: Andor, look out!
TOMAS: Andor.
ANDOR: Xoanon, save me!
Plan: A: protestations; Q: What did the Doctor do against being the Evil One? A: mounting evidence; Q: What points to the Doctor's prior involvement with Leela's people? A: their distant past; Q: Where did the Doctor make an error in judgment that puts them all in danger? A: immediate jeopardy; Q: What does the Doctor's past involvement with Leela's people put them all in? Summary: Despite protestations against being the Evil One, mounting evidence points to the Doctor's prior involvement with Leela's people, and an error in judgment he once made in their distant past that puts them all in immediate jeopardy.