THE TALONS OF WENG-CHIANG
BY: ROBERT HOLMES
Part Three
Running time: 21:56
[SCENE_BREAK]
LEELA: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Shush.
LEELA: Doctor.
DOCTOR: Shush.
LEELA: Doctor.
CHANG: Sin!
DOCTOR: Where's Litefoot?
LEELA: He went out. He said he'd seen a Chinaman outside the window.
DOCTOR: And you jumped through it.
LEELA: Something like that.
DOCTOR: Stay here.
DOCTOR: Leela! Leela, no! Don't! Leela.
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: Ice!
LITEFOOT: The sheer criminal effrontery. Things are coming to a pretty pass when ruffians will attack a man in his own home.
DOCTOR: Well, they were Chinese ruffians.
LITEFOOT: I wonder what they intended?
DOCTOR: Robbery?
LITEFOOT: Well, there are some pretty valuable things here. That K'ang-hsi vase, for instance. My family brought that back from Peking. Or that Chinese puzzle box.
LITEFOOT: It doesn't open. Chap spent a week here once looking for a secret spring.
DOCTOR: Fused molecules.
LITEFOOT: No, no, no, no. Lacquered bronze.
DOCTOR: It's extraordinary. It's from this planet.
LITEFOOT: A parting gift from the Emperor.
DOCTOR: Technology this advanced? Ah! Got it! Well, of course, that's the answer.
LITEFOOT: What the Dickens are you raving about, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Weng-Chiang.
LITEFOOT: Weng-Chiang?
DOCTOR: Weng-Chiang. I do hope that girl Leela isn't in danger.
[SCENE_BREAK]
WENG (OOV.): You will explain yourself, Li H'sen.
[SCENE_BREAK]
WENG: I will not tolerate failure!
CHANG: There has been no failure, Lord.
WENG: Then where is the time cabinet?
CHANG: The house is marked. When night returns, my brothers in the band of death will strike.
WENG: I put no trust in your dockyard riff-raff.
CHANG: Lord, for your glory they would die willingly.
WENG: Opium sodden scum. Strike!
CHANG: Lord, I promise you will have the great cabinet of Weng-Chiang before another dawn.
WENG: I had better. I grow weary of this hole in the ground.
CHANG: You are safe here, Lord.
WENG: Safe? It is a trap, and I was seen returning to it.
CHANG: Tonight?
WENG: Yes, and now he knows where I am, he will be back.
CHANG: Who?
WENG: By your description, the one you have already failed to kill.
CHANG: The Doctor! I knew he was a danger.
WENG: Listen, Li H'sen.
WENG: The beasts of darkness. I have made them larger and more savage than lions! Yes, yes, the Doctor is a danger, and he was brought to my door by your blundering. You see what it means, Li H'sen?
CHANG: He will die.
WENG: The list of your failures is growing. I must be ready to move quickly. I need strength.
CHANG: I will bring a girl, Lord.
WENG: One will not be enough this time. I need two fresh young donors, and I need them at once.
CHANG: It is not easy at this hour, Lord.
WENG: No excuses! Get them!
CHANG: Yes, Lord.
[SCENE_BREAK]
LITEFOOT: Haven't you slept?
DOCTOR: Sleep is for tortoises.
LITEFOOT: Any news of Miss Leela?
DOCTOR: Not yet.
LITEFOOT: Perhaps we should inform the police?
DOCTOR: No, there are already nine missing girls on their list.
LITEFOOT: Oh yes, but surely missing under very different circumstances.
DOCTOR: No. If my suspicions are correct, then I know what those poor girls were used for, and I can't imagine a more grisly fate. He's a blackguard.
LITEFOOT: Who's a blackguard?
DOCTOR: I don't know who's a blackguard. Some slavering gangrenous vampire comes out of a sewer and stalks this city at night, he's a blackguard. I've got to find his lair and I haven't got an hour to loose. Look. You see? I've been trying to trace the line of the sewers. That's the Thames, this is the line of the Fleet, and that is the Palace Theatre.
LITEFOOT: I'm beginning to see what you're getting at.
DOCTOR: Good. Good.
LITEFOOT: Yes, well, er, if you've finished with the tablecloth, I think I'd better dispose of that before my housekeeper arrives.
DOCTOR: Right.
LITEFOOT: How'd you know the course of the Fleet? It's been covered for centuries.
DOCTOR: I caught a salmon there once. Would have hung over the sides of this table. Shared it with the Venerable Bede. He adored fish.
DOCTOR: Professor, you don't happen to have an elephant gun, do you?
LITEFOOT: Elephants? Why on Earth do you want an elephant gun?
DOCTOR: We're about to embark on a very dangerous mission.
LITEFOOT: Well, I've a Chinese fowling piece if that's any good. Used for duck, mainly.
DOCTOR: Made in Birmingham. Yes, that's the main requirement. Could you get me a small boat?
LITEFOOT: I imagine so. May I ask the purpose of these preparations?
DOCTOR: Yes. To find the confluence of the Thames and Fleet, Professor, then to follow the Fleet.
LITEFOOT: And then?
DOCTOR: Oh, and then we shall see.
[SCENE_BREAK]
TERESA: Ta, ducks.
TERESA: Oh!
CHANG: Pleasant are the dreams of morning.
TERESA: You gave me a turn, dearie.
CHANG: Fresh as dew and bright with promise.
TERESA: Yeah, well, that's how you might see it, Mister Ching-ching, but as far as I'm concerned all I want is a pair of smoked kippers, a cup of rosie and put me plates up for a few hours, savvy?
CHANG: Budding lotus of the dawn, despicable Chang has other ideas.
TERESA: Well, I can tell you what to do with your ideas.
CHANG: You will come with me.
[SCENE_BREAK]
CHANG: Await my return.
LEELA: The spell of the shaman.
CHANG: Come. I said come!
[SCENE_BREAK]
CHANG: Come, you painted drabs. My master must feed.
[SCENE_BREAK]
DOCTOR: There it is, fifty yards ahead.
LITEFOOT: Sit down, Doctor. The man knows these waters.
DOCTOR: I've always enjoyed messing about in boats.
LITEFOOT: I think this entire enterprise is extremely rash and ill-considered.
DOCTOR: My dear Litefoot, I've got a lantern and a pair of waders, and possibly the most fearsome piece of hand artillery in all England. What could possibly go wrong?
LITEFOOT: Well, that for a start. It hasn't been fired for fifty years. If you try to use it, it'll probably explode in your face.
DOCTOR: Explode? Unthinkable. It was made in Birmingham. Tie up over there, skipper.
[SCENE_BREAK]
CHANG: You will hear the commands of my master, Weng-Chiang, and obey.
WENG: Where did you get them?
CHANG: Are they unsuitable, Lord?
WENG: They're not the best, but they'll do. They're young. Their life essence is still strong. Oh, this one has muscles like a horse!
CHANG: I took what I could find, Lord.
WENG: I have given you knowledge. I have made you a leader among your fellows. All I have asked for in return is a few contemptible slatterns who will never be missed.
CHANG: But they are missed, Lord. And because your need is so great, I've been forced to move unwisely.
WENG: Unwisely?
CHANG: I took this one from the rooms above. Nobody saw, but it will bring the police even nearer.
WENG: It is of no consequence. Once I have the time cabinet, I can move from here. Now put this one in the distillation chamber.
CHANG: Yes, Lord.
WENG: Leave me to my work. (to Leela) I shall not keep you waiting long.
[SCENE_BREAK]
LITEFOOT (OOV.): All right, Doctor?
DOCTOR: All right, Professor.
LITEFOOT (OOV.): I'll wait for you for two hours, then.
DOCTOR: Yes, no more. If I'm still in here at high tide.
LITEFOOT (OOV.): Yes?
DOCTOR: Don't bother.
LITEFOOT (OOV.): Oh. Well, good luck!
[SCENE_BREAK]
WENG: When my beauties find her, she will wish she had died here!
[SCENE_BREAK]
CASEY: Hey, you. What's your business here?
WHORE: Business? Where the devil am I?
CASEY: Oh, you wouldn't be knowing.
WHORE: What happened to me last night? Can't remember a thing.
CASEY: Look, if there's anything missing, I'll remember you sure enough. Now you come on, get on out of here.
WHORE: Get your hands off of me! I'm a lady.
JAGO: What's the trouble, Casey?
CASEY: No trouble, Mister Jago. I'm just seeing this lady off the premises.
WHORE: Oh, my lord. It was him! It was him!
JAGO: Mister Chang? What are you talking about?
WHORE: Quick, let me out of this place! Let me go!
JAGO: Another case of the screaming oopizootics. I'll bear that in mind.
CASEY: What?
JAGO: It might have some relevance to the matter in hand.
CASEY: What matter?
JAGO: The investigation, Casey. These missing females. I've made the acquaintance of a very high-up gentleman, an amateur investigator who's been called in personally by the Yard. Scotland Yard. And I am assisting him.
CASEY: No.
JAGO: I am. He told me to watch, Casey, and I am watching, everywhere.
[SCENE_BREAK]
WENG: You incompetent fool! She was a tigress!
CHANG: She substituted herself for the woman I had found. The police must be closing in.
WENG: My rats will dispose of her, but you, Li H'sen, have made too many mistakes.
CHANG: That girl. She was with the doctor. It is not the police, it is he who sent her.
WENG: Vacant excuses. You have failed me! You know that until I have the time cabinet, I can never be whole again, never escape from this hideous condition. Yet knowing this, you still failed me.
CHANG: Lord, hear me. I would lay down my life in your service.
WENG: You are dismissed, Li H'sen. I can no longer leave my fate in your blundering hands.
CHANG: Great one, let me find this doctor. Let me strike him down for the harm he has done you.
WENG: Do not beg. You have proved unworthy. Go!
CHANG: I await your commands, Lord.
WENG: Go!
Plan: A: Leela; Q: Who follows Chang to find Greel's hideout? A: Litefoot; Q: Who is the Doctor with? Summary: Leela follows Chang in order to find Greel's hideout while the Doctor and Litefoot set about finding her.