TEXT: 1. THE OASIS (TEGANA rides towards the oasis, and thirstily drinks the water. He fills a water gourd and triumphantly holds it to the sky.) TEGANA: Here's water Marco Polo. (Tegana pours the water into the sand.) TEGANA: Come for it... [SCENE_BREAK] 2. MARCO POLO'S JOURNAL POLO: (Writing in journal.) What has happened to Tegana? Is he lost? Perhaps he never found the oasis. But in the hope he did, I inched our caravan forward through the night. What misery. A bitterly cold wind swept down from the north and set us shivering as we stumbled on. I fear the end is not far off. [SCENE_BREAK] 3. CAMP, GOBI DESERT (Barbara and Ian are resting with Polo and Ping-Cho. All lie slumped in the shade of the wagon.) POLO: (Looking out into the desert.) No sign of Tegana. IAN: Nothing but sand... POLO: Tegana is our only hope now. BARBARA: Surely, he should be back by now. POLO: He would not start back from the oasis in the dark, for fear of missing us. PING-CHO: Then we must get going. POLO: Yes... (But Polo is too tired to move. IAN continues to stare hopefully into the surrounding desert.) IAN: Hot again soon Marco. Hadn't we better get started? POLO: We would not get very far, Ian. No, we must wait here. BARBARA: The Doctor and Susan are still in the TARDIS. IAN: Oh, let them sleep Barbara. [SCENE_BREAK] 4. INTERIOR - THE TARDIS (In the TARDIS, the Doctor is sleeping. He is gradually woken by droplets of water splashing on his face.) DOCTOR: Oh... water... water... water!... (Realising there is condensation covering the TARDIS walls, the DOCTOR quickly jumps out of his bunk. He rushes over to the other
SUMMARY:
Missing episode Arriving in Central Asia in 1289, the Doctor and his companions join the caravan of the famous Venetian explorer Marco Polo as it makes its way from the snowy heights of the Pamir Plateau, across the treacherous Gobi Desert and through the heart of imperial Cathay. Having witnessed many incredible sights and survived a variety of dangers, they arrive at the mighty Kublai Khan's Summer Palace in Shang-tu, where the Doctor strikes up an extraordinary friendship with the now-aged ruler. They move on at last to the even more sumptuous Imperial Palace in Peking, where the travellers save the Khan from an assassination attempt by the Mongol warlord Tegana - supposedly on a peace mission - before departing once more in the TARDIS.