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Original 'Sloth' Transcription from http://www.hwcn.org/~an933
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This file was created without the consent or knowledge of the
Audio/Visuals team.
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AUDIO ADVENTURES IN TIME AND SPACE
TRANSCRIPTION: "CLOUD OF FEAR" (AV5)
PART: 2 OF 2
DURATION: 17:30
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THIS IS A ROUGH VERSION OF THIS DOCUMENT. IF YOU HAVE A COPY OF THIS
PLAY, IT IS REQUESTED THAT YOU LISTEN WHILE READING THIS TRANSCRIPT
AT LEAST ONCE, NOTING ANY ERRORS WHICH YOU MAY COME ACROSS.
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MUSIC: THEME 1 [IN AND OUT]
SCENE 29: THE CATACOMBS - BY THE DOCTOR'S TOMB.
SOUND: BG: THE DRIPPING OF THE CATACOMBS.
DOCTOR: No! No! Oh, no! I can't stand it! Th...the fear!
It's devouring my mind!
SOUND: THE PSIONIVORE ATMOSPHERE BECOMES OVERPOWERING.
DOCTOR: No! No! Nooo!
SOUND: THE PSIONIVORE ATMOSPHERE SUDDENLY GOES AWAY AS THE
DOCTOR REGAINS SOME OF HIS COMPOSURE.
DOCTOR: [CALMER] I mustn't let this happen. I have to think.
Fear is a disease, and the way to cure it is with logic.
Right, then. Think logically.
There's an anomaly. Bates! He knew I was a Timelord.
Oh, no. I... I... I told Rhiannon and she must have
mentioned it to him. Uh, he *knew* about regeneration!
Well, he overheard me talking about it, but.... Yes.
That's right! But *how* did he know about my two hearts?
There's more to Bates than meets the eye. Yes, and
there's more to this whole set-up than meets the eye.
I wonder. Let's just have a look at what *is* inside
that tomb.
SOUND: THE DOCTOR REMOVES THE LID OF THE TOMB.
SCENE 30: THE CATACOMBS
SOUND: BG: THE DRIPPING OF THE CATACOMBS.
GREG: [IN A DAZE] Doctor? Rhiannon? Rhiannon?
DOCTOR: [CLEARS HIS THROAT.]
GREG: Who's that?!?
DOCTOR: It's me, Greg. It's all right.
GREG: Am I glad to see you.
DOCTOR: What's been happening? You look dreadful.
GREG: I don't know. There was this great swarm of bees, and
blocked tunnel.
DOCTOR: Bees?
GREG: We were trapped! And there were millions of them.
Rhiannon and I were trapped. I must have passed out.
When I came round she'd vanished.
DOCTOR: I see! At least, I *think* I do. Come with me, Greg.
I want to show you something.
SCENE 31: THE CATACOMBS - NEAR THE DOCTOR'S TOMB.
SOUND: BG: THE DRIPPING OF THE CATACOMBS.
DOCTOR: Fear is a terrible thing, Greg. Never underestimate its
power. I have seen it turn a man's hair white
overnight. Mind you, in your case, that would be an
improvement.
GREG: [GIVING A SLIGHT LAUGH.] Give it a rest, will you,
Doctor?
DOCTOR: Good man, Greg. If you can laugh, you can survive.
GREG: Hey! Someone's opened your tomb!
DOCTOR: That's right. I did that.
GREG: You're a braver man than I, Gunga Din.
DOCTOR: I'm ashamed to confess it, but luck led me to do it,
rather than bravery. Take a peek inside.
GREG: What?
DOCTOR: Go ahead. It's very interesting.
GREG: Oh, Doctor, what kind of a ghoul do you think I am?
DOCTOR: Do it, Gregory. There's nothing to fear.
GREG: All right, but.... WOW!
DOCTOR: You see? Nothing but empty space, and that vast cloud
of energy particles we saw before we were trapped here.
GREG: I don't believe it! It's impossible!
DOCTOR: Five minutes ago, you believed in swarms of
three-hundred year-old bees!
GREG: They were real, Doctor.
DOCTOR: No, they weren't. That's *exactly* what they weren't.
I've been so *stupid*. It was *staring* me in the face
all along. All those *clues*: the smell of fear, the
creature nobody ever saw, people dying of fright. I
should have worked it out long since.
GREG: Worked out what?
DOCTOR: Psionivores.
GREG: What?
DOCTOR: Psionivores, Greg. Psychic parasites. They *feed* off
the energy emissions of sentient minds undergoing severe
emotional stress; fear especially. These catacombs are
their lair - their creation.
GREG: Their creation?
DOCTOR: They have immense mental powers. They can read minds.
Mould the environment as they choose. Make their
victims see whatever they *want* them to see. And what
they want them to see is whatever their victims fear
most in the world.
You had your phobia about bees, Greg. I... I was
brought face to face with the one thing guaranteed to
strike terror into any mortal being: the reality of my
own death. That was... clever of them, you know?
*Extremely* clever. Extremely efficient. Extremely
*filthy*.
GREG: You're telling me that a swarm of bees was just an
illusion?
DOCTOR: Of course, that's what I'm saying. Like the abandoned
TARDIS, pulled from our unconscious minds and given
shape. These catacombs have been deliberately designed
to be as *menacing* as possible to the victims trapped
in them. Everything's two-dimensional, like a film set.
Remove the surface, and you find the raw material - the
cloud of energy particles.
GREG: What do we do now?
DOCTOR: Go back to the Christabel. Hopefully, your Rhiannon
would have made her way there. Uh, we'll pick her up,
and the Barrinson woman, and take the TARDIS out of
here.
GREG: And Bates?
DOCTOR: He's no concern of ours. Whatever came back from
exploring the river, it wasn't the real Bates.
GREG: I wish I still had my gun. I must've dropped it in the
tunnels.
DOCTOR: Never mind. I've still got mine.
GREG: What's so funny?
DOCTOR: Uh...
GREG: Why are you smiling?
DOCTOR: Oh, uh, absolutely nothing. It's just occurred to me.
If our captors had taken just a little more trouble, and
rigged up a convincing interior for that tomb....
GREG: What?
DOCTOR: We'd both have stayed in these catacombs until fear
destroyed us. And the psionivores would have drained
every scrap of energy from our minds.
SCENE 32: THE CATACOMBS
SOUND: BG: THE DRIPPING OF THE CATACOMBS.
GREG: I think we're nearly at the Christabel now.
DOCTOR: Two more turnings, if my memory serves correct.
GREG: You know, I can't get *over* Bates being one of those
psio-whatzits.
DOCTOR: They can take any shape they choose. It's simple
illusion.
I should've guessed, really. His antics were a *bit*
too perfectly calculated to keep the others jumpy and
receptive to fear.
GREG: So that they'd always be instantly-available as a food
source. Poor Rhiannon.
DOCTOR: I don't think I've ever met a species of creatures as
*obscene* as these psionivores. The Daleks are
positively fragrant, by comparison.
GREG: Can't we put a stop to them somehow?
DOCTOR: I doubt it. They're creatures of psychic energy.
Ordinary weapons wouldn't harm them. If only there
was... some way of using their own powers against them.
But I don't see how.
SOUND: THE PSIONIVORE ATMOSPHERE APPEARS AGAIN. THIS TIME IT'S
VERY STRONG.
GREG: Doctor?
DOCTOR: It's all right, Greg. Remember. Remember what I told
you. It only has as much power as we let it have.
Resist it, and it can't harm you.
GREG: All right. I'll try.
SOUND: THE ATMOSPHERE GOES AWAY.
GREG: Ah. You were right, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Well, don't sound so shocked, I, quite often am!
GREG: They didn't put up much of a battle, did they?
DOCTOR: They knew they wouldn't win that way. Didn't want to
waste energy. Very economical these psionivores. I
wonder what they'll try next?
SCENE 33: THE CATACOMBS - WITHIN SIGHT OF THE CHRISTABEL
SOUND: BG: THE DRIPPING OF THE CATACOMBS.
DOCTOR: Uh, will you take this gun, Greg?
GREG: Hmm. Ah! There's the Christabel.
BATES: 'Tis the middle of the night by the castle clock.
And the hours have awakened the crowing cock.
To-wit, To-woo!
And, hark, again the crowing cock.
How drowsily it crew.
DOCTOR: Hello there, Bates. I hoped we'd *run* into each other
again. As you see, I'm rather more myself this time.
BATES: [DROPPING THE AFFECTATION] You're an amazing fellow,
Doctor. You're powers of rationalization stagger me.
Do you honestly think that death isn't real any more,
just because our picture of it was a fake?
DOCTOR: No. Death's still real. And that's something I mean to
come to terms with in my own time. For now, though,
dealing with you *abominations* is uppermost in my mind.
BATES: Unkind words. I think I preferred you when you were a
gibbering wreck. I dare say we can soon arrange a
repeat performance.
DOCTOR: Talking of performances, what's become of your Tom of
Bedlam act? It was quite amusing; if woefully
overdone.
BATES: Mmm, I'm going to take a *special* pleasure out of
draining you, Doctor. I'll squeeze your mind from you,
drop by drop, like juice from a lemon.
GREG: Oh, you can't harm us any more, you monster. We've seen
through your game.
DOCTOR: [SOTTO VOCE] Quiet, Greg!
BATES: Ah, so the young primitive thinks he's immune to fear,
does he? That's an ambitious claim.
DOCTOR: Leave him alone, Bates. I'm the one you want.
BATES: Not afraid of bees any more, Gregory? Not afraid of
nasty, stripy, stingy little bees? Just let's see,
shall we? Let's just zeeeeeeeee.
SOUND: BATES BEGINS TO TRANSFORM INTO A SWARM OF BEES.
GREG: [PANICKY] Doctor? What's happening? He's changing
shape!
DOCTOR: Don't look at him, Greg.
GREG: He's turning into bees, Doctor! A man, made out of
millions of bees!
DOCTOR: Don't be afraid! Your fear gives him power! It's an
*illusion*, Greg! Say it! It's... an... illusion.
GREG: I can't! I can see them! They're real!
DOCTOR: [TO HIMSELF] I must do something, but what? That gun's
no use. Think, now.... [TO GREG] Greg! Quickly! Give
me your mirror!
GREG: [IN TOTAL PANIC] Ahhh! It's stinging me, Doctor!!! It's
agony!!!
DOCTOR: Your mirror! Your hand mir.... Gi... it.... Oh,
GREG: I can't stand it! I can't stand the pain!
DOCTOR: [?] Oh, *blast*! Which pocket is it in? Now, hold
*still*, Greg, can't you! Ah. Here it is!
Bates! Look at this, Bates! Look at yourself. Here
Bates. Look!
BATES: Oh! No! No! What have you done?!? Take it away!
SOUND: BATES BEGINS TO REVERT TO HIS TRUE FORM.
BATES: I don't want to see it! No! Helllllpppp!!!
SOUND: BATES OOZES TO THE FLOOR WITH A SCREAM AS HE EXPIRES
INTO A LIFELESS PILE OF GOO.
GREG: What happened?
DOCTOR: That was close. It suddenly dawned on me.
GREG: What?
DOCTOR: A trick I learned with Medusa years ago. Mirrors
reflect reality, not illusions. When we looked at
Bates, we saw a swarm of bees, but the mirror showed
what he *really* was. He died of seeing himself.
GREG: And that...that *thing* there on...on the ground? That
was the real Bates? Ewww! It's disgusting!
DOCTOR: I should have guessed. That's why there were no
reflecting surfaces in the catacombs: they can't bear
the sight of themselves. That's their phobia. Can't
say I blame them, either. What a loathsome object.
GREG: And you're sure he's really dead?
DOCTOR: Well, ummm...
GREG: Well, I'll make sure!
SOUND: HE FIRES SIX BLASTS INTO THE BODY OF THE DEAD
PSIONIVORE.
GUDRUN: What is that shooting? Oh, it's you, Doctor.
DOCTOR: I'm glad to see you're safe, Miss Barrinson.
GREG: Did Rhiannon get back to the ship all right?
GUDRUN: Rhiannon? No I haven't seen her since you...
GREG: Oh, no! Doctor, how are we going to find her in this
labyrinth?
DOCTOR: Well, first things first, Greg. Let's get the three of
us back to the TARDIS, the we can worry about the girl.
GUDRUN: I still want to know what that shooting was all about.
GREG: Just us putting pay to a very nasty creature.
GUDRUN: What?!? Oh my God!!!
DOCTOR: No. Not a pretty sight, is it?
SOUND: PSIONIVORE ATMOSPHERE.
GREG: Doctor! Look at her!
GUDRUN: What's happening? What... happening... to me?
SOUND: SHE DISSOLVES INTO HER OWN PILE OF GOO.
GUDRUN: [SCREAMS.]
GREG: She was one of them, too.
DOCTOR: Evidently the sight of another of their kind is as
*lethal* as the site of themselves. Interesting....
GREG: But she pretended to be Rhiannon's friend! She lived
cheek by jowl with her! And Rhiannon *trusted* her.
It's disgusting!
SOUND: GREG STOMPS ON THE REMAINS OF THE SECOND PSIONIVORE WITH
HIS FOOT.
DOCTOR: Oh, well done, Greg. That's certainly saved a bullet.
GREG: What now, Doctor?
SOUND: THERE'S A RUMBLING SOUND.
DOCTOR: What's that noise?
GREG: It's an earthquake! The place is falling apart!
DOCTOR: Of course! The catacombs only exist because of the
mental power of the psionivores! We've killed two. Now
the whole complex is crumbling! Come on, Greg! We've
got to get to the TARDIS while there's still time!
GREG: But, what about Rhiannon?
DOCTOR: COME ON!
SOUND: THE COLLAPSE OF THE CATACOMBS CONTINUES.
DOCTOR: Here's the stream. Just down the next passage, then....
Don't *dawdle*, Greg!
RHIANNON: Greg!
GREG: Rhiannon! Thank heavens!
RHIANNON: I thought you were dead. I've been wandering these
catacombs lost and hunted by those...
DOCTOR: There isn't time for explanations now. Come on! This
way!
GREG: There's the TARDIS! I hope it's the real one this time.
DOCTOR: We'll soon find out. Hurry and get inside. The whole
tunnel's coming down.
SOUND: THE TUNNEL COLLAPSES AROUND THE TARDIS.
SCENE 34: THE TARDIS - CONSOLE ROOM.
DOCTOR: Phew. Made it.
GREG: I've never been so glad to see this room in my life.
RHIANNON: It *is* big inside! I see what you mean, Greg!
GREG: Where are you taking us, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Who cares? Out!
SCENE 35: THE CATACOMBS.
SOUND: THE TARDIS BEGINS ITS DEMATERIALIZATION, JUST AS...
SOUND2: THE CATACOMBS FINALLY BREAK APART AND EXPLODE.
MUSIC: TRIUMPHANT FANFARE.
SCENE 36: THE TARDIS - CONSOLE ROOM.
SOUND: TARDIS HUM - IN FLIGHT.
GREG: Do you think we've destroyed the psionivores for good,
Doctor?
DOCTOR: Perhaps. Maybe there were only two of them.
GREG: Ew. The thought of them lurking out there in space,
trapping innocent people for food, and... scaring them
to death by inches... well, I m...eughhh.
RHIANNON: You're going to have to explain all this to me.
DOCTOR: Later. First, young lady, I imagine you'd like us to
return you to Arwenella Seven.
RHIANNON: If you wouldn't mind, Doctor.
GREG: Is it *really* as beautiful a planet as the Doctor makes
out?
RHIANNON: Yes. It's quite lovely. Perhaps you'd like to stay
there for a while, Greg.
GREG: Mmm. I might. Yes. I just might. In fact, it sounds
like the sort of place I wouldn't mind settling down for
good.
DOCTOR: Really, Greg?
GREG: Mmmm. If the TARDIS could spare me. There's nothing
for me back on Earth. You know that.
RHIANNON: I can promise you a better time than you'd have at that
school of yours, anyway.
GREG: That wouldn't be hard.
DOCTOR: Oh, you've been telling Rhiannon sob stories about your
*school*, have you?
RHIANNON: You remember, Greg? When we were in that freighter
together?
GREG: Did I? Yes, I suppose I must've.
DOCTOR: Uh, yes, Rhiannon. We got you out of the catacombs just
in time. You were the last surviving member of the
crew, you know?
RHIANNON: Poor Gudrun. Poor Bates.
DOCTOR: Mmm. The thought of those psionivores really makes my
flesh crawl. Their whole existence was a *blasphemy*.
Can you imagine if they'd ever been able to escape from
that energy cloud? If they'd been let loose on the real
universe? Doesn't bear thinking about, does it,
Rhiannon?
RHIANNON: No. No, it doesn't.
DOCTOR: Can you imagine what would have happened if one of them
had sneaked out and got onto a planet full of perfectly
happy human beings? Somewhere like Arwenella Seven.
[CHUCKLES] But I'm getting morbid. Sorry.
GREG: You've had a hard time back there. We both understand.
MUSIC: BUILDING IN TENSION
DOCTOR: Oh, Rhiannon?
RHIANNON: Yes, Doctor?
DOCTOR: Uh, forgive me for mentioning it, but, uh, there's a
dirty mark on your nose. You'd better clean it off. We
want you looking your best when we take you home.
RHIANNON: Thanks. Whereabouts is it? Here?
DOCTOR: Oh! I tell you what. Uh, Greg'll lend you his mirror,
then you can wipe it off.
RHIANNON: Uhh... No! No! It doesn't matter.
GREG: I don't see a mark. Well, what are you on about?
DOCTOR: Oh, hand mirror too small, is it? What about the
scanner screen, then? That's a nice, big reflecting
surface for you to *see* yourself in.
RHIANNON: Greg! Help me! Don't let him do it!!!
SOUND: THE SCANNER SCREEN IS OPENED.
GREG: I don't understand!
DOCTOR: Look, Rhiannon! Up there! Look at the screen!
RHIANNON: NOOOOOO!!!
SOUND: SHE BEGINS TO DISSOLVE INTO HER TRUE FORM.
RHIANNON: NO! PLEASE! I WASN'T GOING TO DO ANYBODY ANY HARM!!!
No! No!
SOUND: RHIANNON DISSOLVES INTO A PUDDLE OF PSIONIVORE GOO.
GREG: [IN A STUNNED WHISPER] Rhiannon!
DOCTOR: And that's the last of them.
I'm sorry, Greg. I'd've given anything for my
suspicions to be wrong.
GREG: [ALMOST IN TEARS.] I don't believe it! Not Rhiannon, as
well!
DOCTOR: Don't you remember? The way she kept niggling at us
back in the catacombs about fears and phobias? Her job
was to soften us up for the main offensive. When that
illusory swarm of bees was chasing you, Rhiannon was the
one who fed off your fear.
GREG: I... I loved her, Doctor.
MUSIC: SOMBRE.
DOCTOR: I...I see. Uh, wou...would you like me to take you
back to Earth, Greg? I quite understand if you'll want
to go home after this.
GREG: W..What? Oh. No, Doctor. No, I'll stay with the
TARDIS, if you don't mind.
DOCTOR: As you wish. You'll find there's one advantage to a
wandering life like mine, Greg.
GREG: And what's that?
DOCTOR: At least when things get really bad, it's always
possible to move on.
MUSIC: THEME 1 [IN AND OUT.]
- end part two -