THE TRIAL OF A TIME LORD
PART TWELVE (TERROR OF THE VERVOIDS)
Run time: 24:45
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Outside the Bridge
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Lasky: What's happening?
Travers: Isn't that obvious? We're running into turbulence.
The Doctor: I'd say rather more than turbulence.
Lasky: Don't talk in riddles, man.
The Doctor: Your colleague is aiming the Hyperion Three into the eye of the Black Hole of Tartarus.
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Vervoid lair
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Vervoid: Bruchner must be stopped. Get every Vervoid to the bridge area.
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Outside the Bridge
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Lasky: How long before the ship reaches the point of no return, Commodore?
Travers: That's a question no one has survived to answer.
The Doctor: Marsh gas?
Lasky: A methane derivative.
Travers: Marsh gas? Where the devil's that come from? What is it you two know that I don't?
The Doctor: Questions later. Will smoke masks be any good?
Lasky: No, they'd be completely inadequate.
Travers: You're saying that none of us can go in there?
Lasky: It'd be suicide.
The Doctor: Here, let me.
Travers: It's my ship. If there's a risk to be taken, I'll take it.
The Doctor: No!
Rudge: There's no need for heroics from either of you.
Rudge: Come to the bridge.
Travers: If they make a hash of it in there, we're finished.
Rudge: I doubt if that will happen, Commodore.
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Trial room
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Valeyard: The mortality rate that attends your meddling is appalling.
The Doctor: You hold me responsible for Bruchner's death?
Valeyard: Can you nominate a single incident where your presence has stemmed the tide of disaster?
Inquisitor: Are you arguing that the submission for the defence should be curtailed?
Valeyard: A verdict of guilty can be the only conclusion.
Inquisitor: Sit down, Valeyard. In my court, I decide the verdict. Proceed, Doctor.
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Outside the bridge
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Travers: I'm grateful to you both. Now that the air is breathable, I'll resume command.
Rudge: I'm afraid that isn't going to be possible, Commodore.
Atza: What he is stating, in the usually devious human manner, is that we are taking over the ship.
The Doctor: A hijack? But you Mogarians are a peace-loving race. Violence is repugnant to you.
Atza: No one will be harmed if they obey orders.
Travers: Rudge, I will personally see to it that you rot in jail.
Rudge: I should restrain that tongue of yours, Commodore. The Mogarians may not believe in violence, but I don't share their qualms. All my life, someone like you has been patronising me, treating me with contempt. Well, I'd welcome the opportunity of settling the score.
Atza: Mister Rudge, take the hostages to the passenger lounge.
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Lounge
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Doland: Surely you can contact the bridge now?
Janet: Still not responding, Mister Doland. I've just tried.
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Corridor
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The Doctor: Hold on, Rudge. If we are being hijacked, I think we deserve an explanation.
Rudge: Any more unexpected moves, and it won't be an explanation you'll get.
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Lounge
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Mel: We're being hijacked! If you don't want to get caught, come on! Quickly!
Rudge: Oh no, Doctor. Over there, away from the door. Then you won't be tempted to try anything stupid. One moment, Commodore. I'll take the keys to the vault.
Travers: The blazes you will.
Rudge: Stay back. Professor Lasky, reach into the Commodore's pocket and take out the keys. Carefully.
The Doctor: Now, what do you want in the vault?
Rudge: For me, not a thing. The Mogarians are after the consignment of precious metals. Got this quaint notion it was plundered from their planet and they're just recovering stolen property.
The Doctor: That can't be your motive.
Lasky: It's greed.
Rudge: Not completely. Pride as well. After this voyage I was being written off as a has-been and put out to grass, so I decided to arrange a more comfortable retirement.
Lasky: If you've any decency left, you'll get this man some medical treatment.
Rudge: There's a first aid kit in the cabinet.
The Doctor: Rudge, this hijack is just a sideshow. There's a much greater menace.
Rudge: Not my problem, Doctor. In less than an hour, we will rendezvous with our pickup.
The Doctor: Here, let me. After all, I am a doctor.
Lasky: Rudge, you're nothing but a squalid criminal.
Rudge: If I am, where does that place you, Professor?
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Corridor
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Atza (O.C.): Pay attention. The Hyperion Three is no longer under the command of Commodore Travers. He is our prisoner, together with three other hostages. All personnel must remain at their posts. If there is any attempt to approach the lounge or the bridge, the hostages will be killed.
Mel: I'll put out a call for help.
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Communications room
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Mel: Oh, great.
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Outside the Communications room
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Mel: Millions of miles from anywhere and we're completely isolated.
Doland: Can you organise a squad of guards?
Janet: But you heard what the Mogarian said. They'll kill the hostages.
Doland: What makes you think they won't anyway. You're surely not naive enough to accept the word of a hijacker?
Mel: He's right, we can't just do nothing.
Janet: But if the guards go crashing in, they'll be signing four death warrants.
Mel: Not unless we can find a way of warning the hostages.
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Lounge
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Travers: You don't believe that Rudge is behind these killings, do you.
The Doctor: No. No, he's just a weak man gone rogue.
Travers: So, whatever the outcome of this hijack, we're still at the mercy of a murderer.
The Doctor: Or murderers.
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Bridge
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Rudge (O.C.): Have you got a sighting yet?
Atza: No, but we are on schedule for our rendezvous. We should complete the mission as planned if your humans refrain from interference. What are you doing here?
Ortezo: We did not request refreshment.
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Lounge
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Mel: Doctor. The air duct.
The Doctor: What are you doing in there? Don't you know how dangerous it is?
Mel: Shall I join you? There's going to be an attack on the lounge. When you hear the fire alarm, dive for cover.
The Doctor: No.
Mel: What do you mean, no?
The Doctor: Too risky. Attack the bridge.
Mel: The bridge?
The Doctor: You heard. Now get out of that air duct, quickly.
Mel: Okay.
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Vervoid lair
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Vervoid 2: It is not only we who kill animal-kind. They kill each other.
Vervoid: They have no respect for any form of life. We shall resume the hunt.
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Bridge
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Doland: Death must have been instantaneous. Oxygen's toxic to a Mogarian.
Mel: Yes, but how? I mean, who could have done this?
Doland: Forget playing the detective. Let's concentrate on the living. Rudge has to be convinced that the hijack's a lost cause, and that's going to take more than words.
Mel: Well, those face plates. They'll do the trick.
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Lounge
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Mel (O.C.): Mister Rudge, hold your fire. We're coming in.
Janet: The Mogarians are dead.
Travers: Leave him to the guards. Get up on the bridge, now.
Travers: Once I get this ship back on course, I'll want some answers from you, Professor. And that goes for you too, Doctor.
The Doctor: I haven't been holding out on you, Commodore. There's a audiotape that'll explain everything.
Travers: Then why haven't I heard it?
The Doctor: Because it's been stolen. I would like carte blanche to search all the cabins.
Travers: You've got it.
The Doctor: Another request. I need a phaser.
Mel: A phaser? You?
The Doctor: Exceptional circumstances require exceptional measures.
Mel: I don't buy that. And why the public announcement about the tape? Everyone could hear.
The Doctor: Could they?
Mel: I recognise that innocent tone. What's going on?
The Doctor: Mel, I entered this affair as a Judas goat. I intend to re-adopt the role. Now, if Professor Lasky had the tape, where do you think she'd hide it?
Mel: Lasky?
The Doctor: Mmm.
Mel: Her cabin, or her locker in the gym.
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Corridor
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Rudge: What are you?
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Cabin
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Doland: If you're looking for a certain tape, Doctor, I don't think you'll find it in there.
The Doctor: Does that mean you've hidden it somewhere else?
Doland: Obviously a denial isn't going to impress you. May I know of what I'm accused?
The Doctor: Murder, amongst other things.
Doland: Murder? Am I supposed to treat this seriously?
The Doctor: I have narrowed the suspects down to two. You and Professor Lasky.
Doland: Then I suggest you search the professor's cabin.
The Doctor: I already have.
Doland: You really are serious.
The Doctor: I'm never frivolous about murder.
Doland: So, this tape, it's important?
The Doctor: Crucial.
Doland: I see. Well, I know I'm innocent, and I can't believe the professor's guilty, but if it'll end this nonsense, then, I know of another place where the professor keeps things.
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Gymnasium
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Lasky: If you've finished with my tracksuit?
Mel: I was just admiring the er, the design.
Lasky: Don't bother to lie. You're not very good at it. No tape. That's what you were hoping to find, wasn't it?
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Hydroponics Centre
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Doland: I'm afraid the professor has the only key.
The Doctor: And you're not going to object if I force it open?
Doland: Doctor. Your tape.
Doland: Not that it'll do you much good. I've wiped it.
The Doctor: Yes, I rather thought you might have done.
Doland: You still suspected me, yet you came down here?
The Doctor: A reckless streak. I'm prone to them. It wasn't difficult to pinpoint you. The first murder could only have been carried out by someone with access to this unit. The second needed poison. Even the abortive attempt on Mel's life could only have been committed by someone who could go unchallenged into the Isolation Room and get the anaesthetic.
Doland: All this could have applied to Lasky.
The Doctor: No, not the Mogarians. She was a hostage when they were slaughtered.
Doland: And my motive?
The Doctor: Could be jealousy, professional envy. I'd say it was the more commonplace avarice.
Doland: Then you're not as astute as I thought, Doctor. Those creatures, we call them Vervoids, represent vast economic power.
The Doctor: Provided you can get them back to Earth.
Doland: Oh, but I shall, no matter what the cost. Then robots can be dumped on the scrap heap. Vervoids will run the factories and farms at practically no cost. All they need is sunlight and water.
The Doctor: I take it you have someone willing to finance this exploitation?
Doland: A consortium with the vision to recognise the potential of the Vervoids.
The Doctor: Vision? You're talking about slave labour.
Doland: The most enduring and spectacular empire, Rome, was built on slave labour.
The Doctor: Came to a pretty unpleasant end, though.
Doland: Which brings us neatly to you.
The Doctor: I took the precaution of disarming it.
The Doctor: I also took the precaution of taking the Commodore into my confidence.
Travers: Throw him in the brig.
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Vervoid lair
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Vervoid: Doland will soon be joining them.
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Corridor
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Doland: No, no. I'm not your enemy. Without me, you wouldn't exist. I'm your friend.
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Bridge
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Travers: You created these psychopaths. Now tell me how to get rid of them.
The Doctor: The Vervoids are not psychopaths.
Mel: Doctor, I heard them say they intended to wipe us out.
Lasky: Something must have gone wrong, radically wrong. A malfunction of the DNA.
The Doctor: Why is it none of you can see what's so glaringly obvious?
Travers: Maybe we lack your divine insight.
The Doctor: No divine insight, just logic.
Mel: Logic?
The Doctor: When you overheard the Vervoids, Mel, how did they describe us?
Mel: Er, wait a second. Animal-kind.
The Doctor: Not human beings, not Mogarians, animal-kind.
Travers: I hope this is relevant.
Lasky: It is. He's making sense. The Vervoids are plants.
The Doctor: At some stage, directly or indirectly, all animal-kind consumes plant life. Without it, we'd perish.
Lasky: I must have been blinded by professional vanity. Bruchner saw it. I should have, too.
Mel: Doctor, if you're right, then coexistence with the Vervoids is an impossibility.
Travers: It's a question of self-preservation. Kill or be killed.
The Doctor: A conflict in which there can be no justice.
Travers: Equally, there's no choice, and that goes for you too, Doctor. We need your undivided commitment.
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Trial room
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The Doctor: And there you have it. The direct request. I did not meddle. I was presented with an appeal, and not just from anybody, but from the man in whom authority was vested.
Inquisitor: I accept your argument. Nor, Valeyard, can you refute it.
Valeyard: Perhaps we should await the outcome of this adventure, my lady.
Inquisitor: Doctor, do you wish to continue?
The Doctor: Providing we can trust the Matrix, my lady. And I won't know that until I see it.
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Hydroponics Centre
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Lasky: There's not enough left to make up a spoonful of herbicide. The Vervoids must have got here first.
Mel: Any more ideas, Doctor?
The Doctor: Why can't I rid myself of the feeling we're approaching this the wrong way round? Professor, do Vervoid chloroplasts function normally?
Lasky: A cytogeneticist now? You're a man of varied talents.
The Doctor: Don't prevaricate, Professor.
Lasky: Yes, Vervoid chloroplasts trap sunlight as is normal with all plants.
Mel: Doctor, there's something out there.
The Doctor: Is there another exit?
Lasky: Not this side of the hold. I'm going to talk to them.
The Doctor: They won't listen.
Lasky: Perhaps they will, to me. I wasn't going to exploit them like Doland. They'll know that.
The Doctor: They'll spare no one.
Lasky: I have to try.
Mel: Doctor!
Lasky: You must know who I am.
Vervoid: Yes, Professor Lasky, we do.
Lasky: Then you must also be aware that I mean you no harm.
Vervoid: All animal-kind is our enemy, Professor. Even you.
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Vervoid lair
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Mel: How could they? It's obscene.
The Doctor: Not to a Vervoid.
Mel: You can't justify it. It's just...
The Doctor: It's a matter of perspective, Mel. In your house in Pease Pottage, you had a large garden. What did you do with the plants and weeds you uprooted?
Mel: Put them on a compost heap.
The Doctor: They're obeying instinct, like migrating birds or salmon swimming relentlessly upstream to spawn even though they may die. A compulsive following of the life cycle. Come on, Mel.
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Lounge
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Janet: It's useless, Commodore.
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Bridge
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Janet (O.C.): They're everywhere!
The Doctor: We need your help, Commodore.
Travers: Name it.
The Doctor: Like the Vervoids, we're being driven by blind instinct. Kill or be killed.
Travers: We've been over that.
The Doctor: What if instead of bringing their lives to an abrupt end we did the opposite, accelerated the Vervoid life cycle?
Travers: How the blazes do we do that?
The Doctor: Vionesium.
Mel: Vionesium?
The Doctor: A rare metal found on the airless planet of Mogar.
Travers: And worth a prince's ransom.
The Doctor: Or a hijack.
Mel: You mean there's a consignment on board?
Travers: That's right, in the vault.
Mel: But how will this vionesium accelerate the Vervoid life cycle?
The Doctor: It's a substance similar to magnesium. Exposed to oxygenated air, it releases incredibly intense light and carbon dioxide. Spring, summer, autumn, all condensed into a few moments.
Travers: Seasons which I may be a long time enjoying again if I go robbing my own vault.
Mel: Seasons you can forget if you don't. We've seen what these creatures can do.
The Doctor: You've no alternative, Commodore.
Mel: You can't send for outside help, the ship's completely cut off. The Doctor's the only hope you've got.
Travers: All right, Doctor, you can have the vionesium. What's the drill?
The Doctor: First, you must drive the Vervoids back to their lair.
Travers: Me?
The Doctor: Plunge the ship into darkness.
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Lounge
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Janet: They're never going to give up!
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Lounge
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Travers: Attention all passengers and crew. A major fault has developed in the generators.
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Service duct
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Travers (O.C.): To effect necessary repairs, the heating will be shut down and auxiliary lighting only will be in operation.
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Vervoid lair
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Vervoid: Are all the Vervoids here?
Vervoid 2: There is still another to come.
Vervoid: This power fault could be a trick.
Vervoid 2: What can they gain? Animal-kind need the life support system. They must repair the generator to survive.
Mel: No!
The Doctor: The vionesium, Mel!
The Doctor: You can restore power. It's over.
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Bridge
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Travers: Restore power.
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Vervoid lair
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Cargo hold
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Janet: Till we meet again, Mel.
Mel: Yes.
Janet: Doctor.
Travers: No, don't say that. I owe you my thanks, Doctor, but let's make this the sweet sorrow of a final parting, hmm?
Mel: I shall remember that the next time we get a mayday call.
The Doctor: She means that, too. Memory like an elephant.
Mel: That's his idea of a compliment, comparing me to an elephant.
The Doctor: But so ludicrously appropriate, I find it amusing.
Mel: Well, at least if you're laughing you can't be singing. Have you ever heard his rendering of On With The Motley? Count your blessings. Bye.
The Doctor (O.C.): Vesti la guibba e la faccia...
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Trial room
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Inquisitor: Did none of the unfortunate creatures survive, Doctor?
The Doctor: No, my lady. Had even a leaf survived and fallen on fertile soil, a Vervoid would have grown.
Valeyard: Every Vervoid was destroyed by your ingenious plan.
The Doctor: Yes.
Valeyard: Whether or not the Doctor has proved himself innocent of meddling is no longer the cardinal issue before this court. He has proved himself guilty of a far greater crime.
Inquisitor: You refer to Article seven of Gallifreyan law?
The Doctor: No, my lady, that cannot apply! Had a single Vervoid reached Earth, the human race would have been eliminated!
Valeyard: Article seven permits no exceptions. The Doctor has destroyed a complete species. The charge must now be genocide.
Plan: A: The Vervoids; Q: Who overhears what is planned for them and attempt to prevent it from happening? A: a black hole; Q: What does the ship start to head towards? A: the ship; Q: What is hijacked in the attempt to save it? A: the already existing problems; Q: What does the hijacking of the ship add to? A: The Doctor; Q: Who helped the crew save their ship? A: the crew; Q: Who does the Doctor assist in saving their ship? A: a more serious charge; Q: What is the charge that the Doctor is charged with in the Time Lords trial? Summary: The Vervoids overhear what is planned for them and begin their attempt to prevent it from happening. The ship starts to head towards a black hole and in the attempt to save it, the ship ends up being hijacked adding to the already existing problems. The Doctor then assists the crew in saving their ship and in the process ends up being charged with a more serious charge in the Time Lords trial.