[Cwmtaff]

(South Wales, 2020. An old mining village with half the homes boarded up. A man is helping a boy to read.)

MO: But who is this creature with terrible claws, terrible teeth in his terrible jaws? Go on, your bit. He, he has. Go on.

ELLIOT: I can't do it, Dad. I can listen to books, anyway.

MO: I know it doesn't come easy, son, but you've got to keep at it. All right? You're not on your own with this.

(A woman brings a lunch box.)

AMBROSE: Mo, you'll be late for your shift.

MO: Yeah, you're right. Sorry, El, got to go. Now, who loves you more than me?

ELLIOT: No one.

AMBROSE: Stop saying that.

(Mo bicycles up to the mine, with its high tech equipment installed.)

[Control room]

COMPUTER: Approaching stage four target drilling depth. Stage four target drill depth scheduled in five, four, three, two, one. Stage four target drill depth achieved. Drill depth now twenty one kilometres.

(Quiet celebrations. The Indian woman in charge makes a telephone call.)

NASREEN: Hi. Nasreen here. Just to let you know we have just hit our new target.

(The older man, Tony Mack, makes an announcement on the tannoy.)

MACK: Twenty one kilometres, folks. Further than anyone's ever drilled into the Earth. Thanks for your amazing work. Have a great weekend. Onwards and downwards.

NASREEN: How much further do you think we can we go, Mack?

MACK: Into the unknown. Exciting, isn't it?

NASREEN: Yeah.

(Mo enters.)

MO; Aye, aye. Stop that. The real worker's here now.

MACK: Evening, Mo.

MO: Twenty one k? Whoo hoo. You wanted to grab all the glory before I come on shift. Right, off you go. Get out. My gaff for the night.

(All alone with the computer screens, Mo gets the book out of his knapsack - the Gruffalo.)

MO: Brilliant.

(The ground starts shaking, then everything stops. The CCTV screens go dead one by one. The power fails so Mo takes a torch to check everything is okay.)

[Store room]

(There is a steaming hole in the floor.)

MO: That is mad.

(He reaches in and something grabs his arm.)

MO: Oh, no. Please.

(He struggles free and tries to escape, but he is pulled into the hole backwards, screaming.)

[Graveyard]

(The Tardis has landed.)

DOCTOR: Behold, Rio.

AMY: Nah.

RORY: Not really getting the sunshine carnival vibe.

DOCTOR: No? Ooo, feel that, though. What's that?

(The Doctor jumps up and down.)

DOCTOR: Ground feels strange. Just me. Wait. That's weird.

RORY: What's weird?

AMY: Doctor, stop trying to distract us. We're in the wrong place. Doctor, it's freezing and I've dressed for Rio. We are not stopping here. Doctor. You listening to me? It's a graveyard. You promised me a beach.

DOCTOR: Blue grass. Patches of it all around the graveyard. So, Earth, 2020-ish, ten years in your future, wrong continent for Rio, I'll admit, but it's not a massive overshoot.

AMY: Why are those people waving at us?

(Two figures on the other side of the valley.)

DOCTOR: Can't be.

(Rory starts to wave back.)

AMY: Don't.

(The Doctor uses a pair of binoculars.)

DOCTOR: It is. It's you two.

RORY: No, we're here. How can we be up there?

DOCTOR: Ten years in your future. Come to relive past glories, I'd imagine. Humans, you're so nostalgic.

AMY: We're still together in ten years?

RORY: No need to sound so surprised.

AMY: Hey, let's go and talk to them. We can say hi to future us. How cool is that?

DOCTOR: Er, no, best not. Really best not. These things get complicated very quickly, and oh look. Big mining thing. Oh, I love a big mining thing. See, way better than Rio. Rio doesn't have a big mining thing.

AMY: We're not going to have a look, are we?

DOCTOR: Let's go and have a look. Come on, you two, let's see what they're doing.

RORY: If he can't get us to Rio, how's he ever going to get us back home?

AMY: Did you not see over there? It all works out fine.

RORY: After everything we've seen, we just drop back into our old lives? The nurse and the kissogram?

AMY: I guess. He's getting away.

RORY: Hang on. What are you doing with that?

AMY: Engagement ring. I thought you liked me wearing it.

RORY: Amy, you could lose it. Cost a lot of money, that.

AMY: Hmm. Spoilsport.

(Amy gives the ring to Rory.)

RORY: Go on. I'll catch you both up.

(He runs back to the Tardis.)

AMY: Doctor.

[Store room]

MACK: The drill's shut down. There's no sign of Mo. Nobody's been in or out of the perimeter between last night and now. What's that? That wasn't there last night. How the hell did that get there?

NASREEN: I don't know.

[Graveyard]

(Rory puts the ring back in its box and safely on the console. He comes out of the Tardis to meet Elliot's mum.)

AMBROSE: Well, that was quick.

RORY: Was it?

AMBROSE: It's great that you came.

ELLIOT: Bit retro. What is it, portable crime lab?

RORY: Oh, er, sort of.

AMBROSE: Ambrose Northover. I was the one who called. I run the meals on wheels for the whole valley. This is my son, Elliot.

ELLIOT: Where's your uniform?

AMBROSE: Don't be cheeky, Elliot. He's plain clothes. CID, is it? Anyway, it's over here.

RORY: Er, okay.

[Mine gates]

DOCTOR: Restricted access. No unauthorised personnel. Hmm.

(He sonicks the lock.)

AMY: That is breaking and entering.

DOCTOR: What did I break? Sonicking and entering. Totally different.

AMY: Come on, then.

DOCTOR: You're sure Rory'll catch us up?

[Graveyard]

(By an open grave.)

AMBROSE: It's a family plot, see. My aunt Gladys died six years ago. Her husband, Alun, died a few weeks back. He lived in the house two doors down. There's not many of us left up here now.

ELLIOT: Mum, he doesn't care about that. He wants to know about the dead bodies.

AMBROSE: Yes. Sorry. Well, they always wanted to be buried in the same plot, together. But when we went to bury Uncle Alun, Gladys wasn't there. Gone. Body, coffin, everything.

RORY: What?

AMBROSE: The mad thing is, on the surface, the grave was untouched. No signs of it having been messed with.

RORY: I'm sorry, I don't understand.

AMBROSE: Nobody has touched the grave since my aunt was buried. But when they dug it open, the body was gone. How is that possible?

[Tunnel]

DOCTOR: What about now? Can you feel it now?

AMY: Honestly, I've got no idea what you're on about.

DOCTOR: The ground doesn't feel like it should.

AMY: It's ten years in the future. Maybe how this ground feels is how it always feels.

DOCTOR: Good thought, but no, it doesn't. Hear that, drill in start-up mode. Afterwaves of a recent seismological shift and blue grass.

(Of which the Doctor has a few leaves. He tries eating one.)

AMY: Oh, please. Have you always been this disgusting?

DOCTOR: No, that's recent. What's in

[Store room]

DOCTOR: Here? Hello.

NASREEN: Who are you? What're you doing here? And what're you wearing?

AMY: I dressed for Rio.

DOCTOR: Ministry of Drills, Earth and Science. New Ministry, quite big, just merged. It's lot of responsibility on our shoulders. Don't like to talk about it. What are you doing?

NASREEN: None of your business.

DOCTOR: Where are you getting these readings from?

NASREEN: Under the soil.

MACK: The drill's up and running again. What's going on? Who are these people?

AMY: Amy, the Doctor. We're not staying, are we, Doctor?

DOCTOR: Why's there a big patch of earth in the middle of your floor?

NASREEN: We don't know. It just appeared overnight.

DOCTOR: Good. Right. You all need to get out of here very fast.

NASREEN: Why?

DOCTOR: What's your name?

NASREEN: Nasreen Chaudhry.

DOCTOR: Look at the screens, Nasreen. Look at your readings. It's moving.

MACK: Hey, that's specialised equipment. Get away from it.

(Amy squats down by the hole.)

NASREEN: What is?

AMY: Doctor, this steam, is that a good thing?

DOCTOR: Shouldn't think so. It's shifting when it shouldn't be shifting.

NASREEN: What shouldn't?

(Rumble.)

DOCTOR: The ground, the soil, the earth, moving. But how? Why?

AMY: Earthquake?

MACK: What's going on?

DOCTOR: Doubt it, because it's only happening under this room.

(Two more holes appear in the floor, then three more.)

DOCTOR: It knows we're here. It's attacking. The ground's attacking us.

NASREEN: No, no that's not possible.

DOCTOR: Under the circumstances, I'd suggest, run!

(They do. More holes appear and Mack's foot does down one of them.)

NASREEN: Tony!

DOCTOR: Stay back, Amy. Stay away from the earth.

(Amy jumps over a hole to help Mack.)

AMY: It's okay.

(A hole opens under Amy's feet.)

AMY: It's pulling me down.

DOCTOR: Amy!

AMY: Doctor, help me. Something's got me.

DOCTOR: Stay away from it.

AMY: Doctor, the ground's got my legs.

DOCTOR: I've got you.

AMY: Okay.

(Nasreen pulls Mack free.)

AMY: Don't let go.

DOCTOR: Never.

AMY: Doctor, what is it, and why is it doing this?

DOCTOR: Stay calm. Keep hold of my hand. Don't let go. Your drill, shut it down. Go. Now!

(Nasreen and Mack run out.)

AMY: Can you get me out?

DOCTOR: Amy, try and stay calm. If you struggle, it'll make things worse. Keep hold of my hand.

[Control room]

NASREEN: Shut down all drilling activity as quick as you can.

MACK: Reducing main unit power.

[Store room]

DOCTOR: I'm not going to let you go.

(Their grip fails.)

AMY: Doctor, it's pulling me down. Something's pulling me.

DOCTOR: Stay calm. Now, hold on till they can just shut down the drill.

AMY: I can't hold on!

[Control room]

NASREEN: Tony, we've got to be faster.

MACK: I'm doing my best. Come on, shut down.

[Store room]

AMY: What's pulling me? What is under the earth? I don't want to suffocate under there.

DOCTOR: Amy, concentrate. Don't you give up.

AMY: Tell Rory

DOCTOR: No. Amy! Amy, no!

(Amy disappears below the soil.)

DOCTOR: No! No! No! No! No. No! No. No. No. No. (etc etc)

(The sonic screwdriver cannot help either. Nasreen and Mack run in.)

NASREEN: Where is she?

DOCTOR: She's gone. The ground took her.

[Graveyard]

(Rory is in the grave cut, investigating.)

ELLIOT: Do you want sugar?

RORY: Sorry?

ELLIOT: In your tea. Mum's asking.

RORY: No. Just white, thanks.

ELLIOT: There's only one explanation, as far as I can see.

RORY: What's that, then?

ELLIOT: The graves eat people. Devour them whole, leaving no trace.

RORY: Not sure about that.

ELLIOT: They didn't steal the body from above. They couldn't have got in from the sides. Only other thing is, they get in from underneath.

RORY: Not very likely, though.

ELLIOT: When you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.

RORY: Sorry?

ELLIOT: Sherlock Holmes. Got the audiobook. The graves round here eat people.

[Store room]

MACK: Is that what happened to Mo? Are they dead?

DOCTOR: It's not quicksand. She didn't just sink. Something pulled her in. It wanted her.

NASREEN: The ground wanted her?

DOCTOR: You said the ground was dormant. Just a patch of earth, when you first saw it this morning. And the drill had been stopped.

MACK: That's right.

DOCTOR: But when you re-started the drill, the ground fought back.

NASREEN: So what, the ground wants to stop us drilling? Doctor, that is ridiculous.

DOCTOR: I'm not saying that, and it's not ridiculous, I just don't think it's right. Oh, of course. It's bio-programming.

NASREEN: What?

DOCTOR: Bio-programming. Oh, it's clever. You use bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects. It's mainly used in engineering and construction, mostly jungle planets, but that's way in the future and not here. What's it doing here?

NASREEN: Sorry, did you just say jungle planets?

MACK: You're not making any sense, man.

DOCTOR: Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up. The earth, the ground beneath our feet, was bio-programmed to attack.

NASREEN: Yeah, even if that were possible, which, by the way, it's not, why?

DOCTOR: Stop you drilling. Okay, so we find whatever's doing the bio-programming, we can find Amy. We can get her back. Shush, shush, shush. Have I gone mad? I've gone mad.

NASREEN: Doctor.

DOCTOR: Shush, shush. Silence. Absolute silence. You've stopped the drill, right?

NASREEN: Yes.

DOCTOR: And you've only got the one drill?

NASREEN: Yes.

DOCTOR: You're sure about that?

MACK: Yes.

DOCTOR: So, if you shut the drill down, why can I still hear drilling? It's under the ground.

MACK: That's not possible.

(The Doctor sonicks the computers nearby.)

NASREEN; Oh no, what, what are you doing?

DOCTOR: Hacking into your records. Probe reports, samples, sensors. Good. Just unite the data, make it all one big conversation. Let's have a look. So, we are here and this is your drill hole. Twenty one point zero zero nine kilometres. Well done.

NASREEN: Thank you. It's taken us a long time.

DOCTOR: Why here, though? Why'd you drill on this site?

NASREEN; We found patches of grass in this area, containing trace minerals unseen in this country for twenty million years.

DOCTOR: The blue grass? Oh, Nasreen. Those trace minerals weren't X marking the spot, saying dig here. They were a warning. Stay away. Because while you've been drilling down, somebody else has been drilling up.

(The deep sensor readings resolve themselves on the screen.)

DOCTOR: Oh, beautiful. Network of tunnels all the way down.

MACK: No, no, we've surveyed that area.

DOCTOR: You only saw what you went looking for.

NASREEN; What are they?

DOCTOR: Heat signals. Wait, dual readings, hot and cold, doesn't make sense. And now they're moving. Fast. How many people live nearby?

MACK: Just my daughter and her family. The rest of the staff travel in.

DOCTOR: Grab this equipment and follow me.

NASREEN: Why? What're we doing?

DOCTOR: That noise isn't a drill, it's transport. Three of them, thirty kilometres down. Rate of speed looks about a hundred and fifty kilometres an hour. Should be here in ooo, quite soon. Twelve minutes. Whatever bio-programmed the Earth is on its way up, now.

[Cwmtaff]

MACK: How can something be coming up when there's only the Earth's crust down there?

DOCTOR: You saw the readings.

NASREEN: Who are you, anyway? How can you know all this?

(Slow red lightning in the sky.)

NASREEN: Whoa, did you see that?

DOCTOR: No, no, no.

(The Doctor uses his catapult to fire a stone into the air. It hits an energy shield and vapourises.)

DOCTOR: Energy signal originating from under the Earth. We're trapped.

RORY: Doctor, something weird's going on here, the graves are eating people.

DOCTOR: Not now, Rory. Energy barricade, invisible to the naked eye. We can't get out and no one from the outside world can get in.

RORY: What? Okay, what about the Tardis?

NASREEN: The what?

DOCTOR: Er, no. Those energy patterns would play havoc with the circuits. With a bit of time, maybe, but we've only got nine and a half minutes.

RORY: Nine and a half minutes to what?

NASREEN: We're trapped, and something's burrowing towards the surface.

RORY: Where's Amy?

DOCTOR: Get everyone inside the church. Rory, I'll get her back.

RORY: What do you mean, get her back? Where's she gone?

DOCTOR: She was taken. Into the Earth.

RORY: How? Why didn't you stop it?

DOCTOR: I tried. I promise, I tried.

RORY: Well, you should've tried harder!

DOCTOR: I'll find Amy. I'll keep you all safe, I promise. Come on, please. I need you alongside me.

(Somewhere, Amy is being scanned by green light.)

[Church porch]

AMBROSE: Where's Mo? Is he with you?

MACK: This flaming door. Always sticking. I thought you were having it fixed.

AMBROSE: Dad!

ELLIOT: Something's happened to him, hasn't it?

[Church]

(A nice stained glass window behind the altar, but the small building is just used for storage now.)

AMBROSE: So we can't get out, we can't contact anyone, and something, the something that took my husband, is coming up through the Earth.

DOCTOR: Yes. If we move quickly enough, we can be ready.

AMBROSE: No, stop. This has gone far enough. What is this?

MACK: He's telling the truth, love.

AMBROSE: Come on. It's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals. Reception's always rubbish.

NASREEN: Look, Ambrose. We saw the Doctor's friend get taken, okay? You saw the lightning in the sky. I have seen the impossible today, and the only person who's made any sense of it for me, is the Doctor.

AMBROSE: Him?

DOCTOR: Me.

ELLIOT: Can you get my dad back?

DOCTOR: Yes. But I need you to trust me and do exactly as I say from this second onwards, because we're running out of time.

AMBROSE: So tell us what to do.

DOCTOR: Thank you. We have eight minutes to set up a line of defence. Bring me every phone, every camera, every piece of recording or transmitting equipment you can find.

[Graveyard]

DOCTOR: Every burglar alarm, every movement sensor, every security light. I want the whole area covered with sensors.

[Church]

(The equipment is set up. The dots are still heading up towards the surface on the computer screens.)

DOCTOR: Right, guys, we need to be ready for whatever's coming up. I need a map of the village marking where the cameras are going.

ELLIOT: I can't do the words. I'm dyslexic.

DOCTOR: Oh, that's all right, I can't make a decent meringue. Draw like your life depends on it, Elliot.

MACK: Six minutes forty.

(Five minutes to go. The new CCTV array is ready.)

MACK: Works in quadrants. Every movement sensor and trip light we've got. If anything moves, we'll know.

DOCTOR: Good lad.

[Cwmtaff]

(Four minutes, and the Doctor is examining the inside of Ambrose's meals on wheels van.)

AMBROSE: Oi! What're you doing?

DOCTOR: Resources. Every little helps. Meals on wheels. What've you got here, then. Warmer in the front, refrigerated in the back.

(Ambrose puts an armful of rifles and a cricket bat on the seat.)

AMBROSE: Bit chilly for a hideout, mind.

DOCTOR: What are those?

AMBROSE: Like you say, every little helps.

DOCTOR: No, no weapons. It's not the way I do things.

AMBROSE: You said we're supposed to be defending ourselves.

DOCTOR: Oh, Ambrose, you're better than this. I'm asking nicely. Put them away.

[Church]

(Less than three and a half minutes. Elliot runs in with his map.)

DOCTOR: Look at that. Perfect. Dyslexia never stopped Da Vinci or Einstein. It's not stopping you.

ELLIOT: I don't understand what you're going to do.

DOCTOR: Two phase plan. First, the sensors and cameras will tell us when something arrives. Second, if something does arrive, I use this to send a sonic pulse through that network of devices. A pulse which would temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe.

ELLIOT: Knock 'em out. Cool.

DOCTOR: Lovely place to grow up round here.

ELLIOT: Suppose. I want to live in a city one day. Soon as I'm old enough, I'll be off.

DOCTOR: I was the same where I grew up.

ELLIOT: Did you get away?

DOCTOR: Yeah.

ELLIOT: Do you ever miss it?

DOCTOR: So much.

ELLIOT: Is it monsters coming? Have you met monsters before?

DOCTOR: Yeah.

ELLIOT: You scared of them?

DOCTOR: No, they're scared of me.

ELLIOT: Will you really get my dad back?

DOCTOR: No question.

ELLIOT: I left my headphones at home.

(One minute.)

[Graveyard]

DOCTOR: How're you doing?

(Rory is completing the sensor array.)

RORY: It's getting darker. How can it be getting dark so quickly?

DOCTOR: Shutting out light from within the barricade. Trying to isolate us in the dark. Which means

(Rumble.)

DOCTOR: It's here.

[Church]

NASREEN: They're close to the surface now.

(She puts her hand on Mack's then they embrace and kiss.)

NASREEN: Tony.

MACK: Like you didn't know.

(Zero. The dots stop moving.)

[Church porch]

AMBROSE: I can't open it. It keeps sticking. The wood's warped.

DOCTOR: Any time you want to help.

RORY: Can't you sonic it?

DOCTOR: It doesn't do wood.

RORY: That is rubbish.

DOCTOR: Oi, don't diss the sonic.

(Three shoulders force the door open.)

[Church]

(The ground starts shaking. Stacked objects begin to tumble.)

DOCTOR: See if we can get a fix.

(The lights explode.)

MACK: No power.

DOCTOR: It's deliberate.

RORY: What do we do now?

DOCTOR: Nothing. We've got nothing. They sent an energy surge to wreck our systems.

RORY: Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?

NASREEN: I'm fine.

AMBROSE: Me too.

(Big rumble.)

RORY: Doctor, what was that?

MACK: It's like the holes at the drill station.

NASREEN: Is this how they happened?

DOCTOR: It's coming through the final layer of Earth.

NASREEN: What is?

(Silence falls.)

MACK: The banging's stopped.

AMBROSE: Where's Elliot? Has anyone seen Elliot? Did he come in? Was he in when the door was shut? Who counted him back in? Who saw him last?

DOCTOR: I did.

AMBROSE: Where is he?

DOCTOR: He said he was going to get headphones.

AMBROSE: And you let him go? He was out there on his own?

[Church porch]

(Something is moving in the graveyard.)

ELLIOT: Mum! Grandpa Tony! Let me in!

[Church]

AMBROSE: Elliot!

ELLIOT [OC]: Let me in.

AMBROSE: He's out there. Help me!

[Church porch]

ELLIOT: Open the door. Mum! There's something out here.

[Church]

AMBROSE: Push, Elliot.

[Church porch]

(Something flashes past.)

AMBROSE [OC]: Push, Elliot. Give it a shove.

ELLIOT: Mum. Hurry up.

(Something looks down on Elliot.)

ELLIOT: Mum.

[Church]

MACK: Come on.

(The door finally opens.)

[Church porch]

AMBROSE: Elliot! Where is he? He was here. He was here. Elliot!

DOCTOR: Ambrose, don't go running off!

MACK: Ambrose!

[Graveyard]

AMBROSE: Elliot, it's Mum.

(She finds his headphones on the ground.)

AMBROSE: Nooo!

(Something knocks her over.)

AMBROSE: Get off me!

(Mack grabs it from behind. It wriggles free. He shines his torch on a human sized reptilian biped. It flicks its extensible tongue and hurts his neck, then gets away.)

AMBROSE: Dad!

DOCTOR: What happened?

AMBROSE: My dad's hurt.

DOCTOR: Get him into the church now.

AMBROSE: Elliot's gone. They've killed him, haven't they?

DOCTOR: I don't think so. They've taken three people when they could've just killed them up here. There's still hope, Ambrose. There is always hope.

AMBROSE: Then why have they taken him?

DOCTOR: I don't know. I'll find Elliot, I promise. But first I've got to stop this attack. Please, get inside the church.

AMBROSE: Come on, Dad.

RORY: So what now?

[Cwmtaff]

(The Doctor dons a pair of infra red sunglasses. He spots a dark shape moving through the bushes.)

DOCTOR: Cold blood. I know who they are.

(He goes to the van and gets the CO2 fire extinguisher. Something hisses nearby and he lets it off. It screams. Rory bursts out of the back of the van, and he and the Doctor bundle it inside.)

RORY: We got it.

DOCTOR: Defending the planet with meals on wheels.

(Their high five is interrupted by another rumble.)

RORY: What was that?

DOCTOR: Sounds like they're leaving.

RORY: Without this one?

(The energy dome becomes transparent, letting the sunshine in.)

RORY: Looks like we scared them off.

DOCTOR: I don't think so. Now both sides have hostages.

[Underground]

(Amy wakes up in a glass coffin, for want of a better description at present.)

AMY: Let me out. Can anybody hear me? I'm alive in here! Let me out! I know you're out there. My name is Amy Pond and you'd better get me the hell out of here or so help me I am going to kick your backside. Please?

(A figure leans over her.)

FIGURE: Shush.

AMY: Did you just shush me? Did you just shush me?

(Gas enters the coffin.)

AMY: No, no, no. No, don't do that. No gas. No gas!

(Amy coughs and passes out. )

[Graveyard]

DOCTOR: So, I think I've met these creatures before. Different branch of the species, mind, but all the same. Let's see if our friend's thawed out.

[Crypt]

RORY: Are you sure? By yourself?

DOCTOR: Very sure.

RORY: But the sting?

DOCTOR: Venom gland takes at least twenty four hours to recharge. Am I right? I know what I'm doing. I'll be fine.

(Rory leaves. Their prisoner moves out of the shadows, her chains rattling.)

DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor. I've come to talk. I'm going to remove your mask.

(The mask looks like a reptile face, with very big black eyes. He removes it gently.)

DOCTOR: You are beautiful. Remnant of a bygone age on planet Earth. And by the way, lovely mode of travel. Geothermal currents projecting you up through a network of tunnels. Gorgeous. Mind if I sit? Now. Your people have a friend of mine. I want her back. Why did you come to the surface? What do you want? Oh, I do hate a monologue. Give us a bit back. How many are you?

ALAYA: I'm the last of my species.

DOCTOR: Really. No. Last of the species. The Klempari Defence. As an interrogation defence, it's a bit old hat, I'm afraid.

ALAYA: I'm the last of my species.

DOCTOR: No. You're really not. Because I'm the last of my species and I know how it sits in a heart. So don't insult me. Let's start again. Tell me your name.

ALAYA: Alaya.

DOCTOR: How long has your tribe been sleeping under the Earth, Alaya? It's not difficult to work out. You're three hundred million years out of your comfort zone. Question is, what woke you now?

ALAYA: We were attacked.

DOCTOR: The drill.

ALAYA: Our sensors detected a threat to our life support systems. The warrior class was activated to prevent the assault. We will wipe the vermin from the surface and reclaim our planet.

DOCTOR: Do we have to say vermin? They're really very nice.

ALAYA: Primitive apes.

DOCTOR: Extraordinary species. You attack them, they'll fight back. But, there's a peace to be brokered here. I can help you with that.

ALAYA: This land is ours. We lived here long before the apes.

DOCTOR: Doesn't give you automatic rights to it now, I'm afraid. Humans won't give up the planet.

ALAYA: So we destroy them.

DOCTOR: You underestimate them.

ALAYA: You underestimate us.

DOCTOR: One tribe of homo reptilia against six billion humans? You've got your work cut out.

ALAYA: We did not initiate combat, but we can still win.

DOCTOR: Tell me where my friend is. Give us back the people who were taken.

ALAYA: No.

DOCTOR: I'm not going let you provoke a war, Alaya. There'll be no battle here today.

ALAYA: The fire of war is already lit. A massacre is due.

DOCTOR: Not while I'm here.

ALAYA: I'll gladly die for my cause. What will you sacrifice for yours?

[Church]

RORY: You're going to what?

DOCTOR: I'm going to go down below the surface, to find the rest of the tribe, to talk to them.

AMBROSE: You're going to negotiate with these aliens?

DOCTOR: They're not aliens. They're Earth-liens. Once known as the Silurian race, or, some would argue, Eocenes, or Homo Reptilia. Not monsters, not evil. Well, only as evil as you are. The previous owners of the planet, that's all. Look, from their point of view, you're the invaders. Your drill was threatening their settlement. Now, the creature in the crypt. Her name's Alaya. She's one of their warriors, and she's my best bargaining chip. I need her alive. If she lives, so do Elliot and Mo and Amy, because I will find them. While I'm gone, you four people, in this church, in this corner of planet Earth, you have to be the best of humanity.

MACK: And what if they come back? Shouldn't we be examining this creature? Dissecting it, finding its weak points?

DOCTOR: No dissecting, no examining. We return their hostage, they return ours, nobody gets harmed. We can land this together, if you are the best you can be. You are decent, brilliant people. Nobody dies today. Understand?

(Nasreen applauds the speech.)

[Graveyard]

(Nasreen follows the Doctor to the Tardis.)

DOCTOR: No, sorry, no. What are you doing?

NASREEN: Coming with you, of course. What is it, some kind of transport pod?

DOCTOR: Sort of, but you're not coming with me.

MACK: He's right. You're not.

NASREEN: I have spent all my life excavating the layers of this planet, and now you want me to stand back while you head down into it? I don't think so.

DOCTOR: I don't have time to argue.

NASREEN: I thought we were in a rush.

DOCTOR: It'll be dangerous.

NASREEN: Oh, so's crossing the road.

DOCTOR: Oh, for goodness sake. All right, then. Come on.

MACK: Hey. Come back safe.

NASREEN: Of course.

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: Welcome aboard the Tardis. Now, don't touch anything. Very precious.

NASREEN: No way. But, but that's, this is fantastic. What does it do?

DOCTOR: Everything. I'm hoping, if we're going down, that barricade won't interfere.

(They get knocked off their feet.)

DOCTOR: Did you touch something?

NASREEN: No. Isn't this what it does?

DOCTOR: I'm not doing anything. We've been hijacked. I can't stop it. They must've sensed the electro-magnetic field. They're pulling the Tardis down into the Earth.

[Crypt]

ALAYA: You had to come and see me.

RORY: We are going to keep you safe.

AMBROSE: Your tribe are going to give us back our people in exchange for you.

ALAYA: No. Shall I tell you what's really going to happen, apes? One of you will kill me. My death shall ignite a war, and every stinking ape shall be wiped from the surface of my beloved planet.

MACK: We won't allow that to happen.

ALAYA: I know apes better than you know yourselves. I know which one of you will kill me. Do you?

(Alone, Mack checks his injury in an old mirror. Green veins are spreading from it down to his chest.)

[Tardis]

(The Tardis comes to a sudden stop, throwing the Doctor and Nasreen to the floor.)

NASREEN: Where are we?

[Tunnel]

(Loose soil is raining down, gently, from the hole above the Tardis.)

DOCTOR: Looks like we fell through the bottom of their tunnel system. Don't suppose it was designed for handling something like this.

NASREEN: How far down are we?

DOCTOR: Oh, a lot more than twenty one kilometres.

NASREEN: So why aren't we burning alive?

DOCTOR: Don't know. Interesting, isn't it?

NASREEN: It's like this is everyday to you.

DOCTOR: Not every day. Every other day.

[Laboratory]

(Amy wakes up strapped to a near vertical examination table.)

MO: Don't struggle. Close your eyes and don't struggle.

AMY: What? Where am I? Why can't I move my body?

MO: Decontamination, they call it. They did it to me while I was conscious.

AMY: Okay, you're freaking me out now. Did what? Who did?

MO: Dissected me.

(He has a lovely scar running from sternum to naval.)

AMY: No.

MO: He's coming. I'm sorry. I wish I could help you.

(A Silurian scientist approaches with a scalpel.)

[Tunnel]

DOCTOR: We're looking for a small tribal settlement probably housing around a dozen Homo Reptilia? Maybe less.

(Nasreen goes down a side passage and stops.)

NASREEN: One small tribe.

DOCTOR: Yeah.

NASREEN; Maybe a dozen?

DOCTOR: Ah.

(They look down on a vast chamber.)

DOCTOR: Maybe more than a dozen. Maybe more like an entire civilisation living beneath the Earth.