THE CREATURE FROM THE PIT

BY: DAVID FISHER

Part Two

Original Air Date: 3 November 1979
Running time: 24:03

ROMANA: Doctor! Doctor!

ADRASTA: Fool. Hold her.

ROMANA: We must save him.

ADRASTA: Impossible.

ROMANA: Someone could climb down to him.

ADRASTA: Into the Pit? To that creature?

ROMANA (OOV.): Let me go down to him.

ADRASTA (OOV.): You're too valuable.

ROMANA (OOV.): Me? Why?

ADRASTA: You were his assistant. You must know what he knew.

ROMANA: About what?

ADRASTA: The huge broken shell in the Place of Death. He knew something about it that none of my Engineers had ever discovered.

ROMANA: What? I don't know anything about it.

ADRASTA: Don't interrupt, dear. It's the only thing that's keeping you alive.

ROMANA: Well, you can't just leave the Doctor to die down there.

ADRASTA: If I were you, my dear, I would pray that he was d*ad already. Then he would at least be spared the stress of being eaten alive.

ADRASTA (OOV.): Come away from the Pit, my dear. Believe me, there is no way he is going to climb out.

DOCTOR: Everest In Easy Stages.

DOCTOR: It's in Tibetan!

DOCTOR: Pi-e pa-ha. Do not be afraid.

ROMANA: Please. I beg you, save him.

ADRASTA: It's too late, my dear.

ROMANA: K9.

ROMANA: K9. Oh, K9, what have they done to you?

K9: Mistress. Mistress.

ROMANA: K9.

K9: Cannot move.

ADRASTA: It's metal! Bring it. And her. I have a use for her.

ADRASTA: Pity you were such a fool, Doctor. I could have used you, too.

DOCTOR: d*ad, poor chap. Doran? Doran? Doran. Doran.

DOCTOR: Doran.

ROMANA: What is that thing in the pit?

ADRASTA: We call it the Creature.

ROMANA: Ah, that's original. But what kind of creature is it?

ADRASTA: Hard to say, really.

ROMANA: Why is that?

ADRASTA: Our researchers divide into two categories. The ones who have got close enough to find out something about it.

ROMANA: Yes?

ADRASTA: And the ones who are still alive.

ROMANA: But you must know something about it.

ADRASTA: It kills people. What more is there to know?

ROMANA: Where does it come from? Is it a native of this planet?

ADRASTA: I'm sorry about your friend, my dear, believe me, but you saw for yourself, he hurled himself into the Pit. He wasn't pushed. No one forced him.

ROMANA: Why should he do that?

ADRASTA: Perhaps in order to save you.

ROMANA: Me? But how?

ADRASTA: Now he's gone, I have to keep you alive. You're the only one who knows about the shell.

ROMANA: Why are you so interested in that shell?

ADRASTA: There are some questions, my dear, it is better not to ask. You do know about the shell?

ROMANA: I was with the Doctor when he found it.

ADRASTA: Yes, Madam Karela told me, but you still haven't answered my question.

ROMANA: There are some questions it's

ADRASTA: Now, my dear, I'll ask you just once more. You do know about the shell?

ROMANA: Yes.

ADRASTA: Good. I'm sure we'll get along famously.

ADRASTA: Ah, your curious tin animal.

ROMANA: What are you going to do with him?

ADRASTA: On our planet, my dear, metal of whatever sort is valuable. Far too valuable for mere toys. Guards, break up the tin dog. Smash it to pieces.

ROMANA: But you can't break up K9!

ADRASTA: Don't worry, my dear. We'll keep every piece of precious metal.

DOCTOR: Yuk.

ROMANA: Please, stop him before he damages the circuitry.

ADRASTA: You'll cooperate to the full?

ROMANA: Yes.

ADRASTA: I want to know what the Doctor found out about the shell.

ROMANA: All right.

ADRASTA: And I want to know about your travelling machine.

ROMANA: The TARDIS.

ADRASTA: If that's what it's called.

ROMANA: All right, but if that maniac doesn't stop bashing K9 you won't learn anything.

ADRASTA: Is that a thr*at?

ROMANA: No, I'm simply telling you that everything you want to know is locked up in K9's memory banks. Damage them and you won't learn a thing.

ADRASTA: Stop it, you fool! So, the little metal animal knows everything. Well, well. That makes both the Doctor and you redundant, doesn't it.

ROMANA: Not really. You see, I'm the only one who can operate K9. Without me, he can't tell you what you want to know.

ORGANON: This way, quickly, before the monster comes back. Come on, come on.

ORGANON: Ah, finally. Here we are. Make yourself at home. Well, comfortable, if you can.

DOCTOR: Thank you. Thank you. And thank you for saving me from that creature.

ORGANON: Oh, don't mention it, sir. As my dear mother always used to say. Born under the sign of Patus, middle cusp she was. If you can help anybody, like preventing them from being eaten by a monster, then do so. They might be grateful. So I did.

DOCTOR: Indeed you did, and I am grateful, and your mother was obviously a very fine woman. I'm the Doctor. Who are you?

ORGANON: Organon, sir.

DOCTOR: Organon?

ORGANON: Astrologer extraordinary. Seer to princes and emperors. The future foretold, the past explained, the present apologised for.

DOCTOR: What are you doing down here?

ORGANON: A small matter of a slight error in a prophecy.

DOCTOR: Ah. Well, I guess it could happen to anybody.

ORGANON: Why, are you in the business yourself, sir?

DOCTOR: What?

ORGANON: Seeing into the future?

DOCTOR: Oh, well.

ORGANON: Crystal ball man, are you? Or do you favour goat entrails?

DOCTOR: No, I tend to use a police box affair.

ORGANON: A police box affair?

DOCTOR: Yes. What about your prophecy? Did it by any chance concern the Lady Adrasta?

ORGANON: Oh, you've met her.

DOCTOR: Yes.

ORGANON: A difficult woman. Very literal mind. I told her that she would have visitors from beyond the stars.

DOCTOR: Ooo, a bit rash, wasn't it?

ORGANON: Well, it seemed a safe enough bet at the time. It's a great attention-getter, you know. I do it very well.

ORGANON: I see a creature coming to you from beyond the stars. I've done it in all the courts on the planet. It usually goes down very well.

DOCTOR: Yes, I can see it might. But the Lady Adrasta?

ORGANON: Oh, she grew very nasty. What sort of creature, she wanted to know. Well, I stalled a bit. You know, a little professional

DOCTOR: Vagueness.

ORGANON: Discretion.

DOCTOR: Ah.

ORGANON: And she threw me down here, with that thing. Where are you from?

DOCTOR: Me? Oh, from beyond the stars, you know.

ORGANON: Oh, so I was right!

DOCTOR: Yes.

ORGANON: And then Adrasta grew nasty with you and threw you down here as well?

DOCTOR: Me? No, no, no, no, no. I jumped.

ORGANON: Jumped?

DOCTOR: Yes. Do you think she's frightened of someone coming from beyond the stars?

ORGANON: I should say so. Was she frightened of you?

DOCTOR: No, no, no. I don't think it was me she was expecting. How long have you been down here?

ORGANON: Oh, I've lost count. Many moon flows. I've survived on scraps of food that the serfs throw down. I think they're intended for the Thing.

TORVIN: Leave me alone. Why didn't you k*ll that girl when you had the chance?

AINU: We didn't get the chance. That tin animal saw to that.

TORVIN: What, you let him walk out of here too? Oh, you realise what this means?

EDU: What?

TORVIN: Well, we'll have to get packed and move now.

EDU: Why?

TORVIN: Why? Use your brains. Because she can direct Adrasta's troopers here, that's why. Do you think that Adrasta will give up the chance of getting her hands on our loot? No, there must be nearly two bodyweights of perfect metal there. Bit rusty, bit bent here and there, but metal. No, I'll bet you that at this very moment Lady Adrasta is planning an expedition to wipe us out once and for all, and to lay her hands on my little nest egg.

AINU: Our little nest egg.

TORVIN: Well, of course, of course.

EDU: What we going to do?

TORVIN: Well, Adrasta's guards can't be in two places at once, can they?

EDU: What do you mean.

TORVIN: I mean, if they're ransacking our camp, they can't be looking after her palace at the same time, now can they?

EDU: You mean?

TORVIN: I mean that Adrasta's palace isn't going to be very heavily guarded, so?

EDU: So?

TORVIN: Who owns all the mineral wealth?

EDU: Adrasta.

TORVIN: Exactly. And if it isn't going to be properly guarded because her guards are going to be here looking for us, then

EDU: We ransack the palace?

TORVIN: Yes, that's exactly what we're going to do. Get your w*apon, my lovely boys. We're going visiting.

DOCTOR: Well, at least the creature hasn't att*cked you yet.

ORGANON: Yes, I've managed to avoid it so far. I've been lucky.

DOCTOR: Yeah, and lucky to have lamps, too.

ORGANON: Yes, they were lying around. It used to be mines, you know, but they've been worked out. Metal is very scarce up there. Very precious.

DOCTOR: Inconvenient commodity to be short of.

ORGANON: Seems to suit the Lady Adrasta well enough, though.

DOCTOR: Really? Why do you say that?

ORGANON: She owns the only mine there is.

DOCTOR: The only mine?

ORGANON: Yes. This one. Well, that's the point, don't you see? Although it's been worked dry, all the metal on the planet came out of it and it all belongs to her.

DOCTOR: Ah. A monopoly of metal.

ORGANON: Yes, it's the source of her power.

DOCTOR: So a continued shortage suits her.

ORGANON: She depends on it.

DOCTOR: What? Do you know something? I think that's terribly interesting.

ORGANON: Oh! My horoscope said I'd be useful to somebody today. I thought perhaps it was going to be to that.

DOCTOR: How big is it?

ORGANON: Huge.

DOCTOR: Huge? How huge? Hundred feet?

ORGANON: Perhaps two.

DOCTOR: Huge. And that noise it makes.

ORGANON: Yes, I sometimes thing that it's singing.

DOCTOR: Singing, crying, growling.

ORGANON: Yes, who's to tell except another creature and there's only one like that, thank heaven.

DOCTOR: Are you sure of that?

ORGANON: Of course I'm sure. There's only that one on this planet.

DOCTOR: Why? You've been everywhere, have you?

ORGANON: Oh, yes. I've travelled. I'm one of the few who has. Most of the country is impenetrable forest or jungle.

DOCTOR: Very pretty, though. Very pretty.

ORGANON: It may be pretty to you, but it's the very devil to live in. No metal means no tools.

DOCTOR: Yes.

ORGANON: No tools

BOTH: No cultivation.

ORGANON: Exactly. We're smothered by forest.

ROMANA: K9? Can you hear me?

K9: Mistress.

ROMANA: Have you got enough power left to stun the guards?

K9: Affirmative, mistress, if I was mobile, but I cannot move at present.

ROMANA: I know.

ADRASTA: Well? We are waiting.

ROMANA: Yes, my lady. One moment.

ADRASTA: Remember, I want to see how that animal works.

ROMANA: You will, my lady. Just a few minor adjustments.

KARELA: (quietly) I don't like this, my lady. I don't trust the girl or that tin animal.

ADRASTA: Neither do I, Karela.

KARELA: (quietly) k*ll her, my lady. k*ll her now.

ADRASTA: Later. I have a use for her and for that machine. Romana, we are ready for the demonstration.

ROMANA: Yes, my lady. You ready, K9?

K9: Affirmative.

ROMANA: I'd like you to examine this machine. Let me show you how it works. Please, don't be afraid.

ROMANA: Now, K9.

ADRASTA: Stop her! Seize her!

ADRASTA: I want her alive. Tin dog, do that again and my guards cut your mistress's throat.

ADRASTA: Thank you, my dear. An invaluable demonstration.

ORGANON: Oh! Oh, well, he didn't like that, did he.

DOCTOR: No.

ORGANON: I bet he won't come back here again in a hurry.

DOCTOR: It's gone.

ORGANON: Doctor, what sign were you born under? Aquatrio?

DOCTOR: No.

ORGANON: Capris.

DOCTOR: No.

ORGANON: Oh. Ariel?

DOCTOR: No.

ORGANON: Oh, if only I had my charts here, I could have told you your horoscope. I'm sure this was your lucky day.

DOCTOR: Did you examine that thing's skin?

ORGANON: No, thank you. I was trying to avoid it examining mine.

DOCTOR: It looked almost like a cerebral membrane.

ORGANON: What?

DOCTOR: The membrane that protects the brain.

ORGANON: It's a huge brain.

DOCTOR: Yes.

ORGANON: What about the rest of it? The arms, the legs, the body?

DOCTOR: Let's find out, shall we?

ORGANON: You mean, go after it?

DOCTOR: Yes. Why not?

ORGANON: I can think of a dozen good reasons. You're mad! He's mad. It's all been too much for him. You wouldn't find me doing a crazy thing like that. Here! Wait for me!

DOCTOR: I thought you weren't going to come.

ORGANON: Shush. Where is it?

DOCTOR: Shush. Somewhere up ahead.

DOCTOR: What is it?

ORGANON: What am I doing here?

DOCTOR: I don't know. I'll tell you something I'd rather know.

ORGANON: What?

DOCTOR: What's that creature doing here? Pure brain a hundred foot across stuck at the bottom of a pit, oozing about and sitting on people. Not much of a life, is it.

ORGANON: Who can read such mysteries? Perhaps it was written in the stars?

DOCTOR: Hmm. Perhaps it was born among them.

ORGANON: What?

DOCTOR: Shush. Come on.

ADRASTA: What do you call this machine in which you travel?

K9: The TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimensions In Space.

ADRASTA: And you travel through space and time in it?

K9: Affirmative.

ADRASTA: Don't you see what this means, Karela? We can go anywhere, into any time and bring back anything we need.

KARELA: Metallic ores. The pure metal itself.

ADRASTA: The monopoly will remain mine. Yes, I think this TARDIS will be very useful.

KARELA: Do you know how to operate it?

ADRASTA: She does.

KARELA: Are you sure?

ADRASTA: We'll soon find out.

KARELA: It's a pity the Doctor is no longer with us.

ADRASTA: Yes. He could have been most helpful.

KARELA: I suppose he is d*ad?

ADRASTA: He must be. No one survives the Pit.

KARELA: He struck me as quite resourceful for a man.

ADRASTA: True. You think he might still be alive?

KARELA: We can find out. I can get into the Pit from here and with some guards I can see

ADRASTA: Not just guards. We'll take that tin thing as well.

K9: Correction. I am not made of tin.

ADRASTA: It's been listening to us.

KARELA: It's eerie. What do we need it for?

ADRASTA: To k*ll something.

KARELA: Who do you want to k*ll, my lady? You don't need a machine to do it. Just mention the name and I'll see to it myself.

ADRASTA: It's too big even for you to k*ll, Karela. It's huge, very huge, and it's time I was rid of it. The TARDIS has made it superfluous.

KARELA: Remove the bars. Get the torches. We'll need them in the Pit.

ROMANA: That leads down to the Pit?

ADRASTA: There are two more doors, each barred and bolted so that nothing can get up.

KARELA: Bring the tin animal.

K9: Correction, madam. As I have already told you, I am not made of tin.

KARELA: If I say you're made of tin, you horrible little animal, you're made of tin.

K9: I cannot accept the input of incorrect data.

ROMANA: It's all right, K9.

ADRASTA: Guardmaster, you go first, with her.

GUARDMASTER: Right, my lady.

ADRASTA: You next.

ADRASTA: Then you, Karela. Followed by me.

ORGANON: Not too fast.

KARELA: Which way now, my lady?

ADRASTA: That way. We're getting close. Better send some guards on ahead.

KARELA: Guardmaster, take two guards and scout on ahead.

GUARDMASTER: You and you, come with me.

ORGANON: Ahem. What do we do when we find the monster? Have you thought of that?

DOCTOR: Shush. I don't know.

ORGANON: You don't know? What do you mean, you don't know?

DOCTOR: I haven't made up my mind yet.

ORGANON: Well, haven't you got a plan?

DOCTOR: A plan? Oh yes, I've got a plan.

ORGANON: Well then?

DOCTOR: I just don't know how to apply it, that's all.

ORGANON: Fine time to tell me.

ORGANON: Don't.

ORGANON: Doctor, come back.

DOCTOR: Hello there.

DOCTOR: Steady, steady. You're standing on my scarf.
{"type": "series", "show": "Doctor Who", "episode": "17x10 - The Creature from the Pit - part 2"}