Doctor Who_ Interference_ Book Two - Lawrence Miles [21]
Guest nodded. ‘Yes. The scenario was too primitive. Too simplistic to tell us anything. Perhaps the media’s building up to something better.’
* * *
Scene 43. Hydrodome Corridor
[A corridor ‘on board’ one of the ocean-bound cities of Ordifica. The passage is bathed in pale blue-green light, shimmering and rippling like water. As there are no windows actually looking out on to the ocean, however, this must be an artificial effect, perhaps designed to relax the inhabitants.
[They’re not relaxing now. A large number of PANICKING PEOPLE stampede along the corridor, as many extras as the budget can afford. They seem to be perfectly ordinary human colonists, though an undue number of them are pregnant women and cute children with rag dolls. They’re presumably hurrying towards some kind of emergency exit, as there are klaxons sounding in the background.
[In the middle of the crowd, we see SAM, hurrying the PANICKING PEOPLE along the passage. Finally, the last of the extras move out of sight, and the noise subsides. Clearly exhausted, SAM heads up the corridor, in the opposite direction to all the others. The klaxons don’t stop blaring.
[Just up the corridor we find the DOCTOR, opening an access hatch in the floor of the passage with his sonic screwdriver. As he works, SAM’s attention is caught by a weapons rack fixed to the wall behind him. There are various pieces of Aliens‐style hardware on display, including what look like flame-throwers, and an interesting variety of grenades.
[SAM takes one of the grenades off the rack, and inspects it.]
DOCTOR [not looking up]: We need to seal off the lower levels. They’re getting in through the filter system, so if we can block off the pipelines…
[He notices what SAM’s doing, stands, and takes the grenade out of her hands.]
DOCTOR: You don’t know where it’s been.
SAM: You said we’ve got to seal off the tunnels, didn’t you? We’ll need explosives –
DOCTOR: This isn’t an explosive, Sam. It’s a chemical grenade. Anything within range when this goes off is going to lose an awful lot of skin. And muscle. And nervous tissue, come to think of it.
SAM: Oh.
[The DOCTOR puts the grenade back on the rack, then kneels down again, and tugs at the access hatch. After some grunting and groaning, he manages to pull it to one side, revealing the maintenance tunnel below the corridor.]
DOCTOR: There. Is everyone heading for the escape boats?
SAM: Everyone I could find.
DOCTOR: Good. [He looks up, and smiles.] Now. Feel like a bit of spelunking?
SAM: A bit of what…? Doctor!
[SAM points at the hatchway, but too late. A clawed, dark-skinned hand reaches out of the opening, and grasps the DOCTOR’s leg. As the DOCTOR tries to pull away, a second hand grabs his thigh. The CREATURE starts dragging him down through the hatchway.]
DOCTOR: They’re already in. Too late to… ahh!
[SAM grabs the DOCTOR, but it’s no use. The hands of the CREATURE have already pulled both his legs through the hatch. The DOCTOR loses his balance, and vanishes down the hole.]
SAM: Doctor!
[SAM peers through the hatch. We see the level below from her point of view. The level is dark, although we can make out the flapping, leathery silhouette of the CREATURE, locking its powerful arms around the DOCTOR.]
CREATURE [FX voice]: You will not resist. You will not attempt to seal off the lower levels. You will be made one with us.
DOCTOR [shouting up]: Sam! The hatch… seal it off…
[SAM looks around, searching for a weapon. Her eyes fall on the weapons rack, but nothing there seems appropriate.]
CREATURE: We will take you. Consume you. Make you part of our purpose.
DOCTOR [having trouble talking, with the CREATURE’s claws around his neck]: Sam… can’t let them… get into the transmitter… stop them…
SAM [panicking]: What do I do?
DOCTOR: Stop them… please…
[Suddenly, the DOCTOR goes limp. We get the impression that the CREATURE has made some kind of wound in his neck, maybe even that