THE POWER OF KROLL

BY: ROBERT HOLMES

Part Four

Original Air Date: 13 January 1979
Running time: 21:58

ROMANA: It's gone.

DOCTOR: Yes.

ROMANA: What a good thing we remembered it reacts to movement.

DOCTOR: Yes, wasn't it. Let's get out of here before it changes its mind.

THAWN: If you're right, Fenner, about that thing attacking the settlement, we should be able to see it from here.

FENNER: It's over two miles away.

THAWN: Still, if it's as big as we think it is. Dugeen, train the receptor aerial on that settlement.

DUGEEN: Right.

FENNER: What are you going to do?

THAWN: Just checking that the next orbit sh*t is charged and ready to f*re.

FENNER: It's not due for another two hours.

THAWN: It might be early this time, Fenner.

DUGEEN: Look at that!

FENNER: It's a lot bigger than we thought.

THAWN: A hundred tons of hydrogen peroxide will still vapourise it.

FENNER: What's that supposed to mean?

THAWN: I'm going to drop our next orbit sh*t into the neck of that overgrown jellyfish.

DUGEEN: You can't!

THAWN: Bearing ninety seven, maximum depression.

DUGEEN: You're mad. Think of the settlement!

THAWN: Dugeen, have you never heard of the expression k*lling two birds with one stone?

FENNER: Now, Thawn, you think what you're doing.

THAWN: I have thought.

FENNER: Because you could k*ll us all. The atmosphere here is thin already. Now a fireball that size could asphyxiate us.

THAWN: I don't think so.

FENNER: You don't think so. Have you worked out the risk?

THAWN: Countdown commencing. Now get to your places.

DUGEEN: You're mad. Fenner, we've got to stop him.

ROMANA: Kroll?

DOCTOR: It looks like it. Let's see if there are any survivors, shall we? Shush.

DUGEEN: Thawn, you can't k*ll innocent people!

THAWN: They're Swampies.

DUGEEN: Call them what you like, they're no different from you or me.

THAWN: They are very different, Dugeen! Now get back to your place.

DUGEEN: No.

THAWN: Are you refusing to obey orders?

DUGEEN: On moral grounds, sir. Look, if you f*re that rocket, it's not just the monster that'll die. You'll destroy a civilisation as old as your own.

THAWN: I don't count the Swampies as being civilised. You're talking like one of those cranks from Sons of Earth.

DUGEEN: They're not cranks. All life began on Mother Earth. All life is sacred!

THAWN: I'm giving you one last chance, Dugeen.

THAWN: Now then, Fenner, do you want to give me an argument?

FENNER: Countdown in two minutes.

THAWN: Right. Now, keep a track on that thing.

ROMANA: Where are you going?

DOCTOR: What? Back to the rocket silo. If he fires off that orbit sh*t, there'll be nothing left of the Swampies, or Kroll. Come on.

VARLIK: Ranquin, what happened?

RANQUIN: Kroll has turned upon us. It was his punishment for letting the dryfoots escape.

SKART: But when we almost had them, Ranquin, it was Kroll himself who came between us.

RANQUIN: It was a test. The Great One was testing our faith.

VARLIK: Nual was k*lled.

RANQUIN: What's a single life? Where are the dryfoots now?

SKART: They went to the refinery.

RANQUIN: We must follow.

DOCTOR: Thawn's using the override f*ring mechanism. There must be some way of disconnecting it.

ROMANA: Doctor.

DOCTOR: What is it?

ROMANA: If that rocket fires while you're in there.

DOCTOR: Yes. We'd better say goodbye now. Goodbye.

ROMANA: Goodbye, Doctor.

ROMANA: Doctor!

FENNER: Sixty seconds.

THAWN: f*re primaries.

FENNER: Primary ignition functioning.

THAWN: Continue countdown.

FENNER: Fifty seconds.

ROMANA: Doctor, we're too late. Come down.

DOCTOR: Get out of here, Romana. Just get out.

ROMANA: We can't stop it now.

DOCTOR: Just get out!

ROMANA: Come down!

DOCTOR: Get out.

FENNER: Thirty seconds. Burner eight hundred, increasing.

THAWN: Dugeen, get back.

DUGEEN: You can't do it, Thawn.

THAWN: Touch that abort button and I say I'll k*ll you.

DUGEEN: Then k*ll me, but you're not going to k*ll the others.

THAWN: I warned him, Fenner. You heard me warn him.

FENNER: That was m*rder. That was cold-blooded m*rder.

THAWN: The countdown! Look, he hasn't aborted. It hasn't stopped.

FENNER: The master cut-out's failed. Then you sh*t him for nothing, didn't you. Didn't you!

DOCTOR: When in doubt, cut everything.

DOCTOR: Simple, really.

ROMANA: Doctor!

THAWN: But I don't understand. There was no delay in the cut-out.

FENNER: According to the computer, there's a fault in the primary ignition panel.

THAWN: Well, I'll soon fix that.

FENNER: Too late.

THAWN: What?

FENNER: Come and look at this. It's submerging again, back into the mud, and you're not going to h*t it there.

THAWN: If that spineless fool hadn't interfered

FENNER: He'd be alive now, wouldn't he, and I'm reporting you for m*rder.

THAWN: It was justifiable homicide! You heard me warn him not to touch that abort panel. It was an act of sabotage.

FENNER: He didn't like your methods. That did not make him a saboteur.

THAWN: He was a plant from the Sons of Earth! It's obvious that he was sent here to cripple this project any way that he could.

FENNER: You don't k*ll a man because you suspect he belongs to the Sons of Earth.

THAWN: All right, Fenner. That will sound very good when we get back. But remember this. If we don't get back, it'll be his fault and not mine.

FENNER: Where are you going?

THAWN: To check the ignition, just in case that thing gives us a second chance.

ROMANA: Doctor? Doctor, are you all right?

DOCTOR: What? Oxygen starvation.

ROMANA: Yes, I know.

DOCTOR: Blacked out for a few seconds.

ROMANA: Minutes.

DOCTOR: Yeah, well, I needed the rest. Did you say minutes? Come on!

ROMANA: What's the matter?

DOCTOR: What? If we're caught loitering outside of here, they'll put two and two together

DOCTOR: You're putting two and two together. I can tell by the expression on your face that you're putting two and two together.

THAWN: So you came back.

DOCTOR: Well, I remembered that I forgot to say goodbye. This is Romana.

ROMANA: Hello.

THAWN: What were you doing in there?

DOCTOR: Well, I was closing the blast room door. It shouldn't be left open like that.

THAWN: I wonder who opened it?

DOCTOR: Well, I, maybe your cleaning, I don't suppose you do have a cleaning lady here.

THAWN: I haven't got any time for any games, so put your hands where I can see them and walk straight ahead.

DOCTOR: Ah, haven't you forgotten something?

THAWN: What?

DOCTOR: Shouldn't you say don't make any sudden moves?

THAWN: Don't make any sudden moves. Now get straight to the Centre.

RANQUIN: What's that?

SKART: It is only the machinery, Ranquin.

RANQUIN: This place is an abomination.

SKART: Yeah, on Delta Magna all the dryfoots live in these metal boxes.

RANQUIN: When we have completed our task here, I will ask Kroll to destroy it all.

VARLIK: Ranquin, why should Kroll do as you ask?

RANQUIN: What?

VARLIK: Well, if he's the Great One and you're but his Servant.

RANQUIN: While the People of the Lakes serve and do honour to Kroll, he will protect us against those who inv*de our waters.

VARLIK: Kroll destroyed our village. Was that to protect us?

RANQUIN: These are blasphemous questions, Varlik!

VARLIK: I'm only asking what must be on all minds.

RANQUIN: We promised Kroll the lives of the two dryfoots who profaned his temple. We failed to keep that promise. I tell you Kroll will not rest easily beneath these waters until he has eaten of their souls.

DOCTOR: I don't think that was necessary.

FENNER: Not me.

THAWN: He tried to interfere just as you did interfere.

ROMANA: You've no proof of that.

THAWN: You were in the silo, the blast door to the f*ring bay was open and we had a malfunction in the orbit sh*t.

ROMANA: That's circumstantial evidence, not proof.

THAWN: Well, it satisfies me. There's no reason why I shouldn't k*ll you both now.

FENNER: I wouldn't.

THAWN: Why?

FENNER: Because we need as much help as we can get. Just take a look at that.

DOCTOR: Oh look, it's coming this way.

FENNER: Yes, and it's going to att*ck us.

DOCTOR: Well, I don't think it's come to shake hands.

THAWN: Shut up!

FENNER: Now look, there's still time to get that shuttle and get out of here.

THAWN: If it had meant to att*ck us it would have come before going to the settlement.

DOCTOR: Shush. Maybe it's saving you for pudding.

THAWN: I said shut up!

ROMANA: It's still coming.

DOCTOR: No, no, no, we surrender, we surrender.

DOCTOR: What do we get this time? The eighth Holy Ritual?

RANQUIN: Many have died because of you, dryfoot. You have been promised to Kroll.

ROMANA: And does Kroll know that?

RANQUIN: Kroll is all-wise, all-seeing

DOCTOR: All baloney. Kroll couldn't tell the difference between you and me and half an acre of dandelion and burdock.

RANQUIN: I tell you, Kroll will not be denied.

FENNER: What are we going to do, just sit here while that thing smashes this building to bits?

DOCTOR: Oh, I don't know. Ask Ranquin, he's the Kroll expert.

RANQUIN: You have brought death to us all, dryfoot.

DOCTOR: Hey? Is that your considered opinion? You know something, Romana? I think that if we

DOCTOR: Romana!

ROMANA: There's nothing out here.

DOCTOR: Romana, come back!

ROMANA: I just want to see if there's anything here.

DOCTOR (OOV.): Don't go near that window!

ROMANA: It doesn't know we're here.

DOCTOR: The door!

DOCTOR: What, doesn't know we're here? It's making some pretty shrewd guesses.

FENNER: That door isn't going to hold. It's got us trapped.

DOCTOR: Fenner, Fenner, can you operate the centrifuge?

FENNER: Yes. Why?

DOCTOR: Switch it on. Come on, switch it on.

FENNER: The fuel t*nk is only half full. What's the idea?

DOCTOR: Noise, Fenner, noise. The Kroll hunts by sensing vibrations. Give it something to think about.

ROMANA: I think it's gone.

DOCTOR: Shush, shush.

DOCTOR: Yes, but for how long?

RANQUIN: The Great One is merciful. Kroll has heard my prayer.

VARLIK: All Kroll has heard is the machinery, Ranquin. Ranquin!

FENNER: Doctor, I'll start the compressors. That'll make a racket. Then the emergency klaxon.

DOCTOR: Everything you've got, Fenner. All the noise you've got. That's it, keep it busy.

DOCTOR: Here.

ROMANA: Where are you going?

DOCTOR: To test a theory. All theories have to be tested sometime, and this seems as good as any. You stay here in case I'm wrong.

ROMANA: About what?

DOCTOR: The Symbol of Kroll's power.

RANQUIN: Master, hear thy servant Ranquin. Great Kroll, defender and saviour of the People of the Lakes, let not thy wrath fall upon thy true servants. Great One, we ask only that the dryfoots and their abominations be crushed by thy mighty power! Master, this is thy servant!

RANQUIN: Argh! Skart!

DOCTOR: Well, I've had a happy life. Can't complain. Nearly seven hundred and sixty. Not a bad age.

ROMANA: Doctor!

ROMANA & DOCTOR: The fifth segment!

ROMANA: Oh, well done.

VARLIK: You k*lled Kroll?

SKART: With that stick?

DOCTOR: Well, it is a bit difficult to explain.

ROMANA: It is rather a special sort of stick.

FENNER: Doctor.

DOCTOR: What?

FENNER: There's something blocking the f*ring bay.

DOCTOR: Oh, don't worry about that, Fenner. You won't be needing the f*ring bay any more. No more Kroll, no more methane, no more orbit sh*ts. Ha ha!

FENNER: The computer doesn't know that.

ROMANA: You mean it'll just go on running things by itself?

FENNER: That's how it was designed. The next sh*t is due in fifty seconds and it's already started the countdown.

DOCTOR: Ah. And with the f*ring bay already blocked

FENNER: That's right. The whole refinery's going to go up.

ROMANA: Well, stop the computer. You must have a master control.

FENNER: The manual override and abort are not functioning. I've already tried.

DOCTOR: Disconnected in the gantry.

ROMANA: Can't you reconnect them?

DOCTOR: What, in fifty seconds?

FENNER: Forty seconds.

DOCTOR: Forty seconds. There's only one thing to do!

ROMANA: What?

DOCTOR: Hold that.

DOCTOR: Let's hope these are the right ones. Stand back, everybody, stand back.

ROMANA: Doctor?

DOCTOR: Hmm?

ROMANA: Are you all right?

DOCTOR: I think so.

ROMANA: You could have been k*lled.

DOCTOR: Yes.

FENNER: That looks like the end of this place.

VARLIK: It is finished?

DOCTOR: Yes. Time to say goodbye. Come on, Romana, let's go.

VARLIK: Where are you going?

ROMANA: We've got a lot to do, haven't we, Doctor.

DOCTOR: Oh yes, we have, yes. Listen, Fenner, someone will come here and pick you up. Stay here for a while. Lead a natural life. You might even get to like it. Teach Varlik and his friends how to do a replacement for Kroll, maybe.

ROMANA: Doctor!

DOCTOR: I'm coming!

DOCTOR: I think it's this way.

ROMANA: No, no, Doctor, it was this way.

DOCTOR: No, no, come on. You know I've got an unerring sense of direction. I have.

DOCTOR: I think it's this way.

ROMANA: Yes, Doctor.

DOCTOR: Come on!

ROMANA: Doctor?

DOCTOR: Yes?

ROMANA: How did you know that the fifth segment was a part of Kroll?

DOCTOR: Well, it all added up. I mean, the obvious disguise for the segment was the Symbol of Power, and that wasn't around any more.

ROMANA: Ah, yes, because according to the old book in the temple, Kroll had swallowed it.

DOCTOR: That's right, along with the High Priest. Of course, it wasn't so big in those days. Kroll, I mean. Just an ordinary giant squid. Hello.

ROMANA: Hello.

DOCTOR: No, no, look.

ROMANA: What is it?

DOCTOR: Cellular regeneration.

ROMANA: Good heavens.

DOCTOR: There must be hundreds of those around now.

ROMANA: What, bits of Kroll?

DOCTOR: No, no, no, no, not bits of Kroll. No, they'll just be ordinary giant squids. Nothing to worry about. Unless, of course, you're a High Priest. There'll never be another Kroll. It was the segment that did it.

DOCTOR: Get back, K9! Get back.
{"type": "series", "show": "Doctor Who", "episode": "16x20 - The Power of Kroll - part 4"}