[Backstage]

(The Laurenzi presents - New York Revue. The music tells me we're in the 1920's. A showgirl in skimpy red costume with wings and feathers is hurrying along.)

MYRNA: Two minutes to curtain up! Come on!

STAGE MANAGER [OC]: Two minutes to curtain up!

MYRNA: Where's Tallulah?

LOIS: Where do you think?

(She knocks on the star's dressing room door.)

LOIS: Hey, Tallulah, leave him alone!

(The chorus head for the stage and a clown down looks sadly at his three juggling balls.)

[Tallulah's dressing room]

(Tallulah's costume is white with wings and a halo. She is kissing her boyfriend.)

TALLULAH: It's nearly showtime, Laszlo. I got to go.

LASZLO: Just promise me you'll come on Sunday, okay? My mother will kill me if she doesn't get to meet you.

TALLULAH: What if she doesn't like me?

LASZLO: Tallulah, she'll love you just as much as I do.

TALLULAH: Oh, you say the sweetest things.

LASZLO: It's true. Now, promise me, Sunday you'll come.

TALLULAH: I promise. Cross my heart.

LASZLO: Oh, here. Take this, sweetheart.

(He gives her a white rose.)

LASZLO: Wear it on stage and think of me.

LOIS [OC]: Tallulah!

TALLULAH: I'm coming! Quit yelling! How do I look?

LASZLO: Like an angel.

(Tallulah blows one last kiss before heading up the stairs to the stage, where the audience are already whistling and cheering.)

TALLULAH: Wish me luck, Lazlo!

LASZLO: Break a leg, sweetheart.

(Something runs past the open doorway.)

LASZLO: Tallulah?

[Backstage]

(There is a strange grunting sound. Laszlo sees something run across a corridor out of the corner of his eye, and follows it.)

LASZLO: Who's there?

[Props room]

LASZLO: Hello? Hello? Who's there? Who are you?

(He strikes a match from a book and comes face to face with a wooden pirate. Then a pig in a boiler suit runs at him on its hind legs.)

[Bedloe's Island]

(The Tardis materialises in one of the corners of an eleven pointed Army base exterior wall.)

MARTHA: Where are we?

DOCTOR: Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely. Martha, have you met my friend?

(She turns around and looks up. Background music is Rhapsody in Blue.)

MARTHA: Is that? Oh, my God. That's the Statue of Liberty.

DOCTOR: Gateway to the New World. Give me you tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free.

MARTHA: That's so brilliant. I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new one.

DOCTOR: Well, there's the genuine article. So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. Now wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam.

MARTHA: I wonder what year it is, because look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet.

DOCTOR: Work in progress. Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around

(Martha picks up a copy of the New York Record which is lying on a bench.)

MARTHA: November first 1930.

DOCTOR: You're getting good at this.

MARTHA: Eighty years ago. It's funny, because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are. It's real. It's now. Come on then, you. Where do you want to go first?

DOCTOR: I think our detour just got longer.

MARTHA: (reads) Hooverville Mystery Deepens. What's Hooverville?

[Central Park]

(Music changes to Putting on the Ritz.)

DOCTOR: Herbert Hoover, thirty first President of the USA, came to power a year ago. Up till then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then.

MARTHA: The Wall Street Crash, yeah? When was that, 1929?

DOCTOR: Yeah. Whole economy wiped out overnight. Thousands of people unemployed. All of a sudden, the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So, they ended up here in Central Park.

MARTHA: What, they actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?

[Hooverville]

(A shanty town overlooked by Manhattan skyscrapers.)

DOCTOR: Ordinary people lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything. There are places like this all over America. No one's helping them. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go.

BLACK MAN: You thieving lowlife!

(A fight breaks out.)

BLACK MAN: (unintelligible) for a single loaf!

WHITE MAN: I didn't touch it!

BLACK MAN: Somebody stole it.!

(A black man comes out of a tent.)

SOLOMON: Cut that out! Cut that out right now!

(He breaks up the fight.)

BLACK MAN: He stole my bread!

SOLOMON: That's enough! Did you take it?

WHITE MAN: I don't know what happened. He just went crazy.

SOLOMON: That's enough! Now, think real careful before you lie to me.

WHITE MAN: I'm starving, Solomon.

(Soloman holds out his hand, and the white man takes the bread out from inside his coat.)

SOLOMON: We all starving. We all got families somewhere.

(He does the judgment of Soloman and gives each man half of the loaf.)

SOLOMAN: No stealing and no fighting. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got.

(The two fighters walk away.)

DOCTOR: Come on. (to Solomon) I suppose that makes you the boss around here.

SOLOMON: And, er, who might you be?

MARTHA: He's the Doctor. I'm Martha.

SOLOMON: A doctor. Huh. Well, we got stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day.

MARTHA: How many people live here?

SOLOMON: At any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society. Black, white, all the same. All starving. So you're welcome, both of you. But tell me. Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me. That there's going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that, when we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?

[Empire State Building]

(Up at the top, where building work is still going on, men are standing on the scaffolding and pulling up buckets.)

WORKMAN: Right, no more!

WORKMAN 2: Hoist!

[Works office]

(Inside the structure, a man is sitting at a desk looking at blueprints while the foreman paces.)

FOREMAN: I'm telling you, the men won't stand for it. I mean, are you out of your mind? I got five hundred men working seven days a week. They're flat out, and you want us to go faster?

DIAGORAS: The new masters demand it,

FOREMAN: But we're on schedule. What's the problem? Another month and we'll be done.

DIAGORAS: The mast on this building needs extra work completed by tonight.

FOREMAN: Tonight? No way. It's impossible.

DIAGORAS: That's an order.

FOREMAN: Yeah? Well, one word from me and every man on this site stops working. So go on. Tell your masters that.

DIAGORAS: If that's your attitude, I think that you should tell them yourself.

FOREMAN: Yeah? Well, I ain't afraid of no man in a suit.

(Diagoras summons the lift.)

FOREMAN: These er, these new bosses? What's their names?

DIAGORAS: I think you could say they're from out of town.

FOREMAN: Italians?

DIAGORAS: A bit further than that.

FOREMAN: How much further?

DIAGORAS: Beyond your imagination.

FOREMAN: What's that supposed to mean? Who are they? Mister Diagoras, who're we working for?

(The lift comes up from the bottom to floor 100.)

DIAGORAS: Behold your masters.

(The lift doors open to reveal one of the Cult of Skaro Dalek number 3 with by two pigmen.)

FOREMAN: What the hell?

DALEK 3: I have been summoned. Explain. Explain.

FOREMAN: It can talk. How does it talk? And what the hell are they? You got to be kidding me.

DIAGORAS: I'm sorry, my lord, but this man is refusing to complete the work.

DALEK 3: Then we must replace him.

FOREMAN: Is anybody going to tell me what the hell is happening here?

DALEK 3: Use him. Take him for the Final Experiment.

(The pigmen take hold of the foreman and bundle him into the lift.)

FOREMAN: Hey, what's going on? Let go! Let go of me! Get off me, you freaks! Mister Diagoras, will you tell them?

(The lift goes back down.)

DALEK 3: The Empire State Building must be completed in time.

DIAGORAS: It will be. Trust me. Labour is cheap and that man can be replaced.

DALEK 3: The plan must not fail. We calculate the gamma strike has accelerated. We need more bodies immediately.

DIAGORAS: Yes, Master.

[Hooverville]

DOCTOR: So, men are going missing. Is this true?

SOLOMON: It's true all right.

[Solomon's tent]

DOCTOR: But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register.

SOLOMON: Come on in. This is different.

MARTHA: In what way?

SOLOMON: Someone takes them, at night. We hear something, someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone like they vanished into thin air.

DOCTOR: And you're sure someone's taking them?

SOLOMON: Doctor, when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning.

MARTHA: Have you been to the police?

SOLOMON: Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal.

DOCTOR: So the question is, who's taking them and what for?

FRANK [OC]: Solomon!

FRANK: Solomon, Mister Diagoras is here.

[Hooverville]

DIAGORAS: I need men. Volunteers. I've got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money.

FRANK: Yeah. What is the money?

DIAGORAS: A dollar a day.

SOLOMON: What's the work?

DIAGORAS: A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel collapsed needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?

SOLOMON: A dollar a day? That's slave wage. And men don't always come back up, do they.

DIAGORAS: Accidents happen.

DOCTOR: What do you mean? What sort of accidents?

DIAGORAS: You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?

(The Doctor raises his hand.)

DIAGORAS: Enough with the questions.

DOCTOR: Oh, no, no, no. I'm volunteering. I'll go.

(Martha raises her hand.)

MARTHA: I'll kill you for this.

DIAGORAS: Anybody else?

(Frank and Solomon.)

[Sewers]

DIAGORAS: Turn left. Go about a half a mile. Follow tunnel two seven three. Fall's right ahead of you, you can't miss it.

FRANK: And when do we get our dollar?

DIAGORAS: When you come back up.

DOCTOR: And if we don't come back up?

DIAGORAS: Then I got no one to pay.

SOLOMON: Don't worry, we'll be back.

MARTHA: Let's hope so.

(The Doctor stares into Diagoras' eyes for a few moments, then follows the others.)

FRANK: We just got to stick together. It's easy to get lost. It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here.

MARTHA: So what about you, Frank? You're not from around these parts, are you?

FRANK: Oh, you could talk. No, I'm Tennessee born and bred.

MARTHA: So how come you're here?

FRANK: Oh, my daddy died. Mama couldn't afford to feed us all. So, I'm the oldest, up to me to feed myself. So I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There's a whole lot of runaways in the camp, younger than me, from all over. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas. Solomon keeps a lookout for us. So, what about you? You're a long way from home.

MARTHA: Yeah, I'm just a hitcher too.

FRANK: You stick with me, you'll be all right.

DOCTOR: So this Diagoras bloke, who is he then?

SOLOMON: A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now, it seems like he's running most of Manhattan.

DOCTOR: How'd he manage that then?

SOLOMON: These are strange times. A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way round.

DOCTOR: Whoa!

(A luminous green jellyfish is lying on the ground in front of them.)

MARTHA: Is it radioactive or something? It's gone off, whatever it is. And you've got to pick it up.

DOCTOR: Shine your torch through it. Composite organic matter. Martha? Medical opinion?

MARTHA: It's not human. I know that.

DOCTOR: No, it's not. And I'll tell you something else. We must be at least half a mile in. I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you? So why did Mister Diagoras send up down here?

MARTHA: Where are we now? What's above us?

DOCTOR: Well, we're right underneath Manhattan.

[Works office]

DIAGORAS: And here, the crowning glory of the Empire State Building, the mast itself. One thousand four hundred and seventy two feet above New York.

FOREMAN 2: It's a beautiful thing, sir, and every single one of us is proud of it. My wife says it's like a, like a spire reaching into Heaven.

DIAGORAS: Except the Gates of Heaven need a little decoration. These plates have got to be fixed to the mast, right to the base itself.

(Three plates with a familiar row of four domes on them.)

FOREMAN 2: That's okay. It's not too bad. Shouldn't take too long.

DIAGORAS: But the work has got to be finished tonight.

(The five men protest.)

FOREMAN 2: What, are you trying to kill us? We're flat out up here! Come on.

DIAGORAS: Don't argue with me!

FOREMAN 2: But sir, men can't work up there at night. It's freezing. Your hands go numb. You lose your grip, you fall.

DIAGORAS: You don't get it. If you won't work I can replace you like that! Now take those panels and get going.

(A man picks up a panel. It is very heavy.)

MAN: What sort of metal is this anyway?

DIAGORAS: Don't ask questions, just go.

(They take the panels leave.)

DIAGORAS: And I don't care how cold it is, how tired you are. Just get out there and finish the job!

(A few moments later, a Dalek enters from the lift.)

DALEK 3: The conductor must be complete for our plan to succeed.

DIAGORAS: Unemployment is such an incentive. It'll get done, don't worry.

DALEK 3: Daleks have no concept of worry.

DIAGORAS: Yeah? Well, lucky you.

DALEK 3: This day is ending. Humankind is weak. You shelter from the dark. And yet, you have built all this.

DIAGORAS: That's progress. You got to move with the times or you get left behind.

DALEK 3: My planet is gone, destroyed in a great war, yet versions of this city stand throughout history. The human race always continues.

DIAGORAS: We've had wars. I've been a soldier myself, and I swore then I'd survive, no matter what.

DALEK 3: You have rare ambition.

DIAGORAS: I want to run this city, whatever it takes, by any means necessary.

DALEK 3: You think like a Dalek.

DIAGORAS: I'll take that as a compliment.

[Dalek laboratory]

(The other two gold Daleks join the Black Dalek to see what number 3 is looking at.)

DALEK SEC: This human is our best option. Bring him to me.

[Works office]

DALEK 3: Your loyalty will be rewarded. Come with me.

[Dalek laboratory]

DALEK SEC: Prepare the laboratory. The Final Experiment will begin.

DALEKS: We obey.

[Lift]

(The doors close without anyone touching the controls.)

DIAGORAS: Where are we going?

DALEK: You have been summoned by our leader.

DIAGORAS: Oh, and about time too.

[Dalek laboratory]

(Diagoras leaves the lift and puts on a pair of gloves he has in his pocket. He walks forward slowly and a crowd of pigmen gather.)

DALEK 1: I bring you the human.

DIAGORAS: I take it you're in charge?

DALEK SEC: Correct. I am Dalek Sec, leader of the Cult of Skaro.

DIAGORAS: Then, my Lord Sec, I am honoured to meet you. Ever since you first made contact with me, transmitting your thoughts into the corners of my mind, tempting me with such images, such ideas. Oh, sir, I'd always dreamt that the

DALEK SEC: Cease talking.

DIAGORAS: I just want to let you know how grateful I am

DALEK SEC: I said cease. Slaves, secure the human.

DIAGORAS: But you don't need to do that. I'm on your side. I'm working with you. I'm your partner. I'm your friend.

(Diagoras struggles against the pigmen's grasp.)

[Sewers]

(By a handy manhole cover that is shedding some light.)

SOLOMON: We're way beyond half a mile. There's no collapse, nothing.

MARTHA: That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?

DOCTOR: Looks like it.

FRANK: So why'd he want people to come down here?

DOCTOR: Solomon, I think it's time you took these two back. I'll be much quicker on my own.

(Pig squeals echo around them.)

SOLOMON: What the hell was that?

FRANK: Hello?

MARTHA: Shush.

SOLOMON: Frank.

FRANK: What if it's one of the folk gone missing? You'd be scared and half mad down here on your own.

DOCTOR: Do you think they're still alive?

FRANK: Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost.

(More squeals.)

SOLOMON: I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that.

FRANK: Where's it coming from? Sounds like there's more than one of them.

DOCTOR: This way.

SOLOMON: No, that way.

(Solomon's torch lights up a figure crouched in a corner.)

MARTHA: Doctor?

SOLOMON: Who are you?

FRANK: Are you lost? Can you understand me? I've been thinking about folk lost down

DOCTOR: It's all right, Frank. Just stay back. Let me have a look. He's got a point, though, my mate Frank. I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own. We know the way out. Daylight. If you come with us

(Then he sees that the man is a pig.)

DOCTOR: Oh, but what are you?

SOLOMON: Is that, er, some kind of carnival mask?

DOCTOR: No, it's real. I'm sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Who did this to you?

MARTHA: Doctor? I think you'd better get back here.

(More pigmen have entered the tunnel.)

MARTHA: Doctor!

DOCTOR: Actually, good point.

(He returns to the group.)

MARTHA: They're following you.

DOCTOR: Yeah, I noticed that, thanks. Well then, Martha, Frank, Solomon.

MARTHA: What?

DOCTOR: Eh? Er, basically, run!

(The pigmen chase them back to a junction.)

MARTHA: Where are we going?!

DOCTOR: This way!

(He spots something down a side passage.)

DOCTOR: It's a ladder! Come on!

(The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to open the cover at the top. Frank grabs an iron T bar to ward off the pigmen as Martha climbs up.)

SOLOMON: Frank! Frank!

(Solomon climbs to safety, then Frank runs to the ladder.)

SOLOMON: C'mon, Frank! C'mon!

(The pigmen grab Frank's legs. Solomon and the Doctor try to grab his hand.)

DOCTOR: I've got you. C'mon! Come on!

(Frank is pulled down by the pigmen.)

SOLOMON: Frank!

DOCTOR: No!

[Props room]

(Solomon pushes the Doctor away as the pigmen start to climb the ladder, and slams the lid shut.)

SOLOMON: We can't go after him.

DOCTOR: We've got to go back down. We can't just leave him.

SOLOMON: No, I'm not losing anybody else. Those creatures were from Hell. From Hell itself! If we go after them, they'll take us all! There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry.

(Tallulah steps out from behind a rack and points a revolver at them.)

TALLULAH: All right, then. Put them up. Hands in the air and no funny business. Now tell me, you schmucks, what have you done with Laszlo?

MARTHA: Who's Laszlo?

[Tallulah's dressing room]

(Tallulah still has the revolver.)

TALLULAH: Laszlo's my boyfriend. Or was my boyfriend until he disappeared two weeks ago. No letter, no goodbye, no nothing. And I'm not stupid. I know some guys are just pigs but not my Laszlo. I mean, what kind of guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?

DOCTOR: Yeah. It might, might just help if you put that down.

TALLULAH: Huh? Oh, sure. Oh, come on. It's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear.

MARTHA: What do you think happened to Lazlo?

TALLULAH: I wish I knew. One minute he's there, the next, zip. Vanished.

DOCTOR: Listen, ah—what's your name?

TALLULAH: Tallulah.

DOCTOR: Tallulah.

TALLULAH: Three Ls and an H.

DOCTOR: Right. We can try to find Laszlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night.

SOLOMON: And there are creatures. Such creatures.

TALLULAH: What do you mean, creatures?

DOCTOR: Look, listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is.

(The jellyfish thing.)

DOCTOR: Because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting.

TALLULAH: Yuck.

[Props room]

(The Doctor is scavenging for parts to build a gizmo. Solomon brings a small Art Nouveau radio.)

SOLOMON: How about this? I found it backstage.

DOCTOR: Perfect. It's the capacitors I need. I'm just rigging up a crude little DNA scan for this beastie. If I can get a chromosomal reading, I can find out where it's from.

SOLOMON: How about you, Doctor? Where are you from? I've been all over. I never heard anybody talk like you. Just exactly who are you?

DOCTOR: Oh, I'm just sort of passing by.

SOLOMON: I'm not a fool, Doctor.

DOCTOR: No. Sorry.

(Solomon goes to the NYC sewer entrance.)

SOLOMON: I was so scared, Doctor. I let them take Frank because I was just so scared. I got to get back to Hooverville. With these creatures on the loose, we got to protect ourselves. Ain't no one else going to help us.

DOCTOR: Good luck.

SOLOMON: I hope you find what you're looking for, for all our sakes.

[Tallulah's dressing room]

(Tallulah is getting ready for her next show.)

TALLULAH: Laszlo. He'd wait for me after the show. Walk me home like I was a lady. He'd leave a flower for me on my dressing table. Every day, just a single rose bud.

MARTHA: Haven't you reported him missing?

TALLULAH: Sure. He's just a stagehand. Who cares? The management certainly don't.

MARTHA: Can't you kick up a fuss or something?

TALLULAH: Okay, so then they fire me.

MARTHA: But they'd listen to you. You're one of the stars.

TALLULAH: Oh, honey, I got one song in a back street revue and that's only because Heidi Chicane broke her ankle. Which had nothing to do with me whatever anybody says. I can't afford to make a fuss. If I don't make this month's rent, then before you know it, I'm in Hooverville.

MARTHA: Okay, I get it.

TALLULAH: It's the Depression, sweetie. Your heart might break, but the show goes on. Because if it stops, you starve. Every night I have to go out there, sing, dance, keep going, hoping he's going to come back.

MARTHA: I'm sorry.

TALLULAH: Hey, you're lucky, though. You got yourself a forward thinking guy with that hot potato in the sharp suit.

MARTHA: Er, he's not. We're not together.

TALLULAH: Oh, sure you are. I've seen the way you look at him. It's obvious.

MARTHA: Not to him.

TALLULAH: Oh, I should have realised. He's into musical theatre, huh? What a waste. Still, you got to live in hope. It's the only thing that's kept me going because, well, look. On my dressing table every day still.

(A white rose bud.)

MARTHA: You think it's Laszlo?

TALLULAH: I don't know. If he's still around, why is he being all secret like he doesn't want me to see him?

[Hooverville]

(A town meeting in the pouring rain.)

SOLOMON: The stories are all true. People are being taken. We lost Frank today. He was stolen from right in front of me. No more. I swear to you, no more. Now, I made a pledge that this place would be a peaceful place, but now it's time to take up arms.

CROWD: Yeah!

SOLOMON: We need weapons. We need sentries on duty. We need men prepared to fight. We've got to protect ourselves because you know no one else will.

CROWD: That's right.

SOLOMON: Now get moving. Arm yourselves. Come on!

[Mast]

(Meanwhile, in the dark, up on the top of the mast cum lightning conductor of the Empire State Building, in the cold wind and rain -)

FOREMAN 2: I can't feel my fingers! We can't stay here for much longer! We'll fall!

(They rivet the three Dalek panels onto the tall metal rod.)

MAN 2: Come on, we're nearly done!

[Dalek laboratory]

DALEK: The chromatin solution is ready.

DALEK SEC: Then our preparations are complete.

DIAGORAS: What are you doing? Preparations for what?

DALEK SEC: This is the Final Experiment.

DIAGORAS: What do you mean? Do you mean like this pig men things? You're not going to turn me into one of those. Oh God, please don't!

DALEK SEC: The pig slaves are primitive. The Final Experiment is greater by far.

DIAGORAS: But how does that involve me?

DALEK SEC: We need your flesh. Bring him to me!

DALEK THAY: Halt! This action contradicts the Dalek Imperative.

DALEK: Daleks are supreme. Humans are weak.

DALEK SEC: But there are millions of humans and only four of us. If we are supreme, why are we not victorious? The Cult of Skaro was created by the Emperor for this very purpose. To imagine new ways of survival.

DALEK THAY: But we must remain pure.

DALEK SEC: No, Dalek Thay. Our purity has brought us to extinction. We must adapt to survive. You have all made sacrifices.

(Dalek Thay is missing some panels.)

DALEK SEC: And now I will sacrifice myself for the greater cause, the future of Dalek kind. Now bring me the human.

DIAGORAS: I don't understand. What do you mean? Get off of me!

DALEK SEC: Behold the true Dalek form.

(Dalek Sec opens its casing opens to reveal its organic component, which looks a lot more like an octopus than it ever used to do.)

DALEK SEC: Now you join with me.

DIAGORAS: No! Get off me! I did everything you asked of me! No!

(Sec lassoes Diagoras with his unexpectedly long tentacles and then envelopes him in his stomach - very octopus. When it is dragged back inside, the Dalek casing closes.)

[Lighting gallery]

(The Doctor aims a spotlight onto the jellyfish, which is pinned inside his gizmo, which in turn is powered by the sonic screwdriver..)

DOCTOR: That's it. We need to heat you up.

(The Doctor puts on his glasses and starts to examine it)

[Backstage]

TALLULAH: Girls, it's showtime!

MYRNA: Lois, you spoil my chasse tonight, I'm going to punch you.

LOIS: Aw, quick complaining, Myrna. Go buy yourself some glasses.

TALLULAH: Come on, honey. Take a look. Ever been on stage before?

MARTHA: Oh, a little bit. You know, Shakespeare.

TALLULAH: How dull is that? Come and see a real show.

[Lighting gallery]

DOCTOR: This is artificial.

MC [OC]: Ladies and gentlemen. The Laurenzi

DOCTOR: Genetically engineered. Whoever this is, oh, you're clever.

MC [OC]: Dancing devils, with Heaven and Hell!

(The curtains open to show the chorus line in their red devil dresses, who pull back their red feather fans to reveal Tallulah, the angel in white.)

TALLULAH: (sings) You lured me in with your cold grey eyes, your simple smile, your bewitching lies. One and one and one is three. My bad, bad angel, the Devil and me. You put the devil in me. You put the devil in me. You put the devil in me. My bad, bad angel, you put the Devil in me.

(From the wings, Martha spots a pitman in the opposite wings. She tries to sneak across the back of the stage, unnoticed.)

MYRNA: What are you doing?

(Martha accidentally grabs a devil's tail and they both fall.)

TALLULAH: What are you doing?

LOIS: You're on my tail. Get off my tail!

[Lighting gallery]

(The Doctor is listening to the jellyfish with a stethoscope.)

DOCTOR: Fundamental DNA type four six seven dash nine eight nine. Nine eight nine. Hold on, that means planet of origin. Skaro.

[Stage]

(The audience are laughing at the chaos.)

TALLULAH: Get off the stage. You're spoiling it!

MARTHA: But look. Over there!

(Martha points at the pigman. Tallulah screams and it runs.)

MARTHA: Hey!

(Martha chases the pigman backstage.)

[Backstage]

MARTHA: Wait!

[Props room]

(The pigman runs in.)

MARTHA [OC]: But you're different to the others! Just wait!

(Clang! It's gone into the sewers.)

[Backstage]

MYRNA: It was like something out of a movie show.

LOIS: Oh, that face. I ain't never going to sleep.

DOCTOR: Where is she? Where's Martha?

TALLULAH: I don't know. She ran off the stage.

[Props room]

(A different pigman grabs Martha from behind. She screams. The Doctor and Tallulah run towards the sound.)

DOCTOR: Martha!

(The sewer entrance lid hasn't been put back properly. The Doctor puts his coat on.)

TALLULAH: Where are you going?

DOCTOR: They've taken her.

TALLULAH: Who's taken her? What're you doing?

(The Doctor goes down into the sewers.)

[Sewers]

TALLULAH [OC]: I said, what the hell are you doing?

[Props room]

TALLULAH: Crazy guy.

(Tallulah puts on a fur coat and goes down the ladder.)

[Sewers]

DOCTOR: No, no, no, no, no way. You're not coming.

TALLULAH: Tell me what's going on.

DOCTOR: There's nothing you can do. Go back.

TALLULAH: Look, whoever's taken Martha, they could've taken Laszlo, couldn't they?

DOCTOR: Tallulah, you're not safe down here.

TALLULAH: Then that's my problem. Come on. Which way?

(Tallulah goes down a tunnel.)

DOCTOR: This way.

(Tallulah comes back and follows him.)

[Sewer 2]

MARTHA: No! Let me go!

(Martha is pushed against a wall and a line of men is escorted past.)

FRANK: Martha.

MARTHA: You're alive! Oh! I thought we'd lost you.

(A pigman pushes Frank.)

MARTHA: All right, all right, we're moving.

FRANK: Where are they taking us?

MARTHA: I don't know, but we can find out what's going on down here.

[Sewer]

(The Doctor and Tallulah walk under a portcullis.)

TALLULAH: When you say, they've taken her, who's they exactly? And who are you anyway? I never asked.

DOCTOR: Shush.

TALLULAH: Okay, okay.

DOCTOR: Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush.

(The shadow of a Dalek is cast on the wall ahead of them.)

TALLULAH: I mean you're handsome and all

(The Doctor puts his hand over her mouth and drags her back into a service alcove until the Dalek is safely past and away.)

DOCTOR: No, no, no, no, no, no, no. They survived. They always survive while I lose everything.

TALLULAH: That metal thing? What was it?

DOCTOR: It's called a Dalek. And it's not just metal, it's alive.

TALLULAH: You're kidding me.

DOCTOR: Does it look like I'm kidding? Inside that shell is a creature born to hate, whose only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek too. It won't stop until it's killed every human being alive.

TALLULAH: But if it's not a human being, that kind of implies it's from outer space. Yet again, that's a no with the kidding. Boy. Well, what's it doing here, in New York?

[Dalek laboratory]

(Smoke is coming our of Sec's casing.)

DALEK: Stop the process. Dalek Sec is failing.

DALEK SEC: No, the experiment must continue. Administer the solution. We must evolve. Evolve. Evolve! (Sec is given an injection.)

[Sewers]

DOCTOR: Every second you're down here, you're in danger. I'm taking you back right now.

(A pigman is round the corner. Tallulah screams and it tries to hide.)

DOCTOR: Where's Martha? What have you done with her? What have you done with Martha?

LASZLO: I didn't take her.

DOCTOR: Can you remember your name?

LASZLO: Don't look at me.

TALLULAH: Do you know where she is?

LASZLO: Stay back! Don't look at me.

DOCTOR: What happened to you?

LASZLO: They made me a monster.

DOCTOR: Who did?

LASZLO: The masters.

DOCTOR: The Daleks. Why?

LASZLO: They needed slaves. They needed slaves to steal more people so they created us. Part animal, part human. I escaped before they got my mind, but it was still too late.

DOCTOR: Do you know what happened to Martha?

LASZLO: They took her. It's my fault. She was following me.

TALLULAH: Were you in the theatre?

LASZLO: I never. Yes.

TALLULAH: Why? Why were you there?

LASZLO: I never wanted you to see me like this.

TALLULAH: Why me? What I got to do with this? Were you following me? Is that why you were there?

(Laszlo turns around so that Tallulah can finally see him.)

LASZLO: Yes.

TALLULAH: Who are you?

LASZLO: I was lonely.

TALLULAH: Who are you?

LASZLO: I needed to see you.

TALLULAH: Who are you?

LASZLO: I'm sorry.

TALLULAH: No, wait. Let me look at you. Laszlo? My Laszlo? Oh, what have they done to you?

LASZLO: I'm sorry. So sorry.

DOCTOR: Laszlo, can you show me where they are?

LASZLO: They'll kill you.

DOCTOR: If I don't stop them, they'll kill everyone.

LASZLO: Then follow me.

[Sewer 2]

FRANK: What are they keeping us here for?

MARTHA: I don't know. I've got a nasty feeling we're being kept in the larder.

(Laszlo brings the Doctor and Tallulah to where they can see Martha and Frank. The pigmen get nervous.)

FRANK: What're they doing? What's wrong? What's wrong?

DALEK 1: Silence. Silence.

(Laszlo hides.)

MARTHA: What the hell is that?

DALEK 1: You will form a line. Move. Move.

MARTHA: Just do what it says, everyone, okay? Just obey.

DALEK 1: The female is wise. Obey.

DALEK: Report.

DALEK 1: These are strong specimens. They will help the Dalek cause.

MARTHA: Dalek?

DALEK 1: What is the status of the Final Experiment?

DALEK: The Dalekanium is in place. The energy conductor is now complete.

DALEK 1: Then I will extract prisoners for selection.

(A pigman drags an older black man forward.)

DALEK 1: Intelligence scan, initiate.

(The Dalek puts its sucker onto the man's face.)

DALEK 1: Reading brain waves. Low intelligence.

MAN: You calling me stupid?

DALEK 1: Silence! This one will become a pig slave. Next.

MAN: No, let go of me. I'm not becoming one of them. No! No.

(He is dragged away.)

DALEK 1: Intelligence scan. Initiate.

LASZLO: They're divided into two groups. High intelligence and low intelligence. The low intelligence are taken to become pig slaves like me.

TALLULAH: Well, that's not fair.

DOCTOR: Shush.

TALLULAH: (sotto) You're the smartest guy I ever dated.

DOCTOR: And the others?

LASZLO: They're taken to the laboratory.

DOCTOR: Why? What for?

LASZLO: I don't know. The masters only call it the Final Experiment.

(The Dalek has scanned Frank)

DALEK 1: Superior intelligence.

(Martha's turn.)

DALEK 1: Intelligence scan, initiate. Superior intelligence. This one will become part of the Final Experiment.

MARTHA: You can't just experiment on people. It's insane! It's inhuman!

DALEK 1: We are not human. Prisoners of high intelligence will be taken to the transgenic laboratory.

DOCTOR: Look out, they're moving!

(Laszlo leads Tallulah away, but the Doctor stays.)

LASZLO: Doctor. Doctor, quickly!

DOCTOR: I'm not coming. I've got an idea. You go.

TALLULAH: Laszlo, come on.

LASZLO: Can you remember the way?

TALLULAH: Yeah, I think so.

LASZLO: Then go, please.

TALLULAH: But Laszlo, you got to come with me.

LASZLO: Where would I go? Tallulah, I'm begging you. Save yourself. Just run. Just go. Go.

(Tallulah leaves. Laszlo and the Doctor let the Daleks glide past then join with the humans following.)

DOCTOR: Just keep walking.

MARTHA: Oh, I'm so glad to see you.

DOCTOR: Yeah, well, you can kiss me later. You too, Frank, if you want.

(Meanwhile, Tallulah gets lost in the sewer tunnels.)

[Dalek laboratory]

(The Daleks don't realise they have two extra prisoners.)

DALEK 1: Report.

DALEK THAY: Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution.

DALEK: Scan him. Prepare for birth.

DOCTOR: Evolution?

MARTHA: What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?

DOCTOR: Ask them.

MARTHA: What, me? Don't be daft.

DOCTOR: I don't exactly want to get noticed. Ask them what's going on.

MARTHA: Daleks, I demand to be told. What is this Final Experiment? Report!

DALEK 1: You will bear witness.

MARTHA: To what?

DALEK 1: This is the dawn of a new age.

MARTHA: What does that mean?

DALEK 1: We are the only four Daleks in existence, so the species must evolve a life outside the shell. The Children of Skaro must walk again.

(Sec's shell stops smoking and the light goes out in its eye stalk. The casing opens and a biped struggles out. The casing shuts and the biped straightens.)

MARTHA: What is it?

(It has the one-eyed head and hands of a Dalek blob, but is wearing Mister Diagoras' suit. It takes a deep breath and speaks with Diagoras' accent.)

SEC: I am a human Dalek. I am your future.

To Be Continued