(A screen full of static.)
RASSMUSSEN [OC]: You must not watch this.
(The image clears to reveal a man's face. He wears large spectacles, and speaks directly to the viewer.)
RASSMUSSEN: I'm warning you. You can never unsee it. (static flicker) But if you do watch. Gagan Rassmussen. I'm Gagan Rassmussen. This is Le Verrier lab in orbit around Neptune.
(He turns as something large groans unseen in the background.)
RASSMUSSEN: I've put things together into some kind of order so that you can,er, understand, so that you can have some idea. There are bits missing. Sorry about that. I don't fully understand what's been going on here, but, er, this is what happened.
(The screen is filled with apparently random letters and numbers, but which actually spell out the names of the characters and location across, and Doctor Who illuminated vertically.
[Rescue ship]
(A soldier is kneeling, checking a rifle.)
CHOPRA: Stop staring!
(His face is framed by a facial recognition software, and his details pulled from his file. Chopra. (Osamu Aimi Chopra) Age: 28. Rank: Conscript. Survival rating 7/10)
RASSMUSSEN [OC]: They came from Triton. This is Chopra. Bit of an attitude, in my opinion.
(A stocky soldier with a white face that has black lines up and down and across it turns away.)
NAGATA: (woman with a Geordie accent) Calm down, pet.
CHOPRA: Well, it's ridiculous. That thing's meant to be a lethal fighting machine and it just moons around like a love-sick puppy.
(A soldier sits up from from an opening pod and puts on his helmet. Neon blue tubes are still attached to him.)
DEEP-ANDO: I could hear you ranting from inside the pod, Chopra, for the Gods' sake.
NAGATA: Feel better?
RASSMUSSEN [OC]: Commander Nagata. Young, for the responsibility. Quite a baptism of fire, I'm afraid.
(Nagata. (Jagganth Daiki-Nagata) Age: 30. Rank: Officer 2nd Class. Survival rating 8/10
DEEP-ANDO: Marvellous, ma'am. All hail, Morpheus, eh?
RASSMUSSEN [OC]: Deep-Ando. Conscript. Likes to think of himself as the joker of this little group. Well, he did.
(Deep-Ando. (Haruka Deep-Ando) Age: 40. Rank: Conscript 2nd Class. Survival rating 6/10)
CHOPRA: Morpheus, Morpheus, Morpheus. Sleep's the one thing left to us. The one thing they couldn't get their filthy mitts on. Now, they're even grabbing that. Colonising it.
NAGATA: Spoken like a true Rip.
CHOPRA: Oh, don't call me that.
NAGATA: Don't call me that, ma'am. Give it a rest, pet.
CHOPRA: Give what a rest?
NAGATA: This is a mission, Chopra. We find out what's happened on Le Verrier and then we all go home. Keep your politics to yourself, okay?
DEEP-ANDO: I know someone who'd love to get Chopra back home to Triton, eh? Ho-ho!
(He goes to the person with the strange face.)
RASSMUSSEN [OC]: This one's obvious from the markings, isn't it. We all know a Grunt when we see one.
(474. Age 5. Rank: Grunt. Survival rating 9/10.)
(474 takes a step forward and Deep-Ando backs away, hands raised.)
DEEP-ANDO: Whoa, whoa.
NAGATA: Come on. Behave.
(We see they are flying through space to a satellite station above a very blue gas giant.)
NAGATA: Nearly there, kiddies.
RASSMUSSEN [OC]: These are the rescue crew. Don't get too attached. Everything you're about to see is from their individual viewpoints or taken from the station itself.
(A monitor says 2 minutes to docking.)
RASSMUSSEN [OC]: The only footage available.
RASSMUSSEN: They came to find me. This is my station. My lab.
[Corridor]
RASSMUSSEN [OC]: I've pieced together the rescue as best I could. If you're going to watch, then pay close attention. Your lives may depend on it.
(The team go down the docking tunnel to the station itself. Static flash on screen.)
NAGATA: Emergency lighting only.
CHOPRA: Grav and orbit's stable. There must be power.
(The doors to the docking tunnel close and they move on, lighting the way with flashlights on their rifles.)
NAGATA: Nothing?
(474 shakes her head.)
NAGATA: No sign of anyone.
RASSMUSSEN: There was no crew. No crew left. They did find others, though. Strangers.
[Corridor]
NAGATA: What the hell happened here?
474: Hide seek. Maybe they play hide seek.
CHOPRA: Hide and seek! Why do they miss out words? It's infuriating.
474: Chopra, don't be anger.
CHOPRA: Don't be an-gry! Is it so hard to breed them to speak properly?
DEEP-ANDO: Oh, lighten up.
(474 holds up a clenched fist and they all stop.)
CHOPRA: What now?
474: Talk.
CHOPRA: What?
474: People talk.
CLARA [OC]: Do you ever get the feeling like you're being watched?
(The soldiers move quietly but quickly to a junction with another corridor.)
DOCTOR [OC]: Paranoia.
CLARA [OC]: Why is it so dark?
DOCTOR [OC]: Night-time setting. Faulty filament. Three-day week.
CLARA [OC]: So, orbit around Neptune?
DOCTOR [OC]: Yeah. This close into the planet, they must have some pretty powerful anti-grav shielding on board.
(Clara's flash light reveals an oriental mask on a red wall.)
CLARA: Looks like a Japanese restaurant. Oh! Have you brought me to a space restaurant?
DOCTOR [OC]: People never do that, you know?
CLARA: Do what?
DOCTOR: They never put the word space in front of something just because everything's all sort of hi-tech and future-y. It's never space restaurant or space champagne or space, you know, hat. It's just restaurant, champagne or hat.
(The soldiers follow them as they walk.)
DOCTOR: Even if this was a restaurant
CLARA: What about spacesuit?
DOCTOR: Pedant.
(The Doctor and Clara turn as they hear the energy rifles powering up, eyes wide like rabbits in caught in car headlights.)
DOCTOR: Hello.
CLARA: Are you crew? Are you crew?
(The Doctor carefully reaches into his inside jacket pocket and gets out his psychic paper. He holds up up to each soldier until -)
NAGATA: Engineering stress assessors?
DOCTOR: Yes. Yes, we are.
(He puts the psychic paper away again.)
DOCTOR: We're here to, er.
CLARA: We're here to assess stress.
DOCTOR: Stress.
NAGATA: So, what happened?
DOCTOR: From the beginning of time? That's a very long story.
CLARA: (sotto) Doctor.
DOCTOR: Well. Well, we just arrived, you know, and there was nobody about. What are you doing here?
(Nagata lowers her rifle.)
NAGATA: Twenty four hours ago, this station fell silent. No comm signal. Nothing. Dead. We've come to find out why.
DOCTOR: Theories?
NAGATA: Could be anything. Meteorite strike. Space pirates.
CLARA: Ah, see? Not just pirates, space pirates.
DOCTOR: So, what, you are a rescue mission?
NAGATA: Yes.
DOCTOR: Of four?
NAGATA: Cuts, pet. Right, you're to consider yourself
DOCTOR: (sings) ♪ Part of the furniture! ♪
NAGATA: Under my command.
DOCTOR: Okay. Really?
NAGATA: Yes, really. Come on.
DOCTOR: (sotto) Okay.
(The Doctor and Clara follow at a short distance.)
CLARA: We still don't know where we are.
DOCTOR: Indo-Japanese.
(He wets his finger and holds it behind his right ear. We are apparently watching from a wall screen.)
DOCTOR: Thirty eighth century. (tastes his finger again.) Tuesday.
CLARA: Thirty eighth century?
DOCTOR: Hmm. After the Great Catastrophe, there was a tectonic realignment. India and Japan, they were sort of merged.
CLARA: We still don't know where the rest of the crew are, though. I mean, a place this size? Hey, what? Great Catastrophe? What Great Catastrophe?
DOCTOR: Well, you've got all that to look forward to, haven't you? Mind you, this place looks as if it's been dead for a long while now.
(He runs his finger along an edge then blows a lot of dust off it, and looks straight at us. Static flicker to change of scene / viewpoint. They have caught up with the soldiers again.)
DOCTOR: What is it?
CLARA: I still can't shake the feeling.
474: Eyes. Watch. Eyes in sky.
CHOPRA: What the hell is that supposed to mean?
474: Chopra not worry. 474 protect Chopra. Chopra pretty.
(474 reaches to stroke Chopra's cheek and he slaps the hand away.)
CHOPRA: Oh, for the Gods'. Just back off!
(Chopra pushes 474 who reacts by getting behind him and putting on a choke hold.)
DEEP-ANDO Oh, come on now.
NAGATA: Let him go, pet!
474: 474 sorry.
NAGATA: Let him go, now!
474: Not help it!
(The software display tells us that 474 is programmed to respond to physical threat. She releases Chopra from the choke hold and crouches by the wall, whimpering.)
CHOPRA: It could have killed me!
NAGATA: That's how they're grown. You know that. They react to any attack.
CLARA: Grown?
NAGATA: They might not give them much upstairs, but our friend here certainly knows how to fight.
(The Doctor kneels in front of 474.)
NAGATA: You'd be glad of her in a tight corner, I'll bet.
CLARA: What does she mean, grown?
DOCTOR: She's a Grunt, Clara. They're bred in hatcheries. Cloned muscles. Low intelligence. Brute force. Instant army.
CLARA: That's disgusting.
DOCTOR: Well, that's how they roll in the thirty eighth century.
(Something large growls and moans.)
DOCTOR: (sotto) Hold my hand.
CLARA: I'm okay.
DOCTOR: I'm not.
(Clara takes the Doctor's hand.)
(Another growl nearby, and they panic as the lights on the rifles briefly illuminate two humanoid creatures ahead of them.. Some shots are fired, then they turn and -)
DOCTOR: Oh, run, run, run! Run! Run!
(At a junction.)
DEEP-ANDO: Follow me! Straight ahead.
NAGATA: No! This way! Deep-Ando!
DEEP-ANDO [OC]: Come on!
[Laboratory]
DOCTOR: Quick! Push anything in front of it! We've got to keep them out!
(The Doctor moves a cabinet as Chopra tries to push the door shut.)
NAGATA: Deep-Ando! We've lost him! What the hell are they?
DOCTOR: Not pirates.
NAGATA: We've got to get Deep-Ando!
DOCTOR: Where's your friend?
CHOPRA: Deep-Ando? I dunno. He's
NAGATA: He's still out there!
(The creatures are pushing at the door. One thrusts an arm through the gap.)
NAGATA: 474!
(474 charges the door, shutting it and cutting off the arm, which turns to sand and falls to the floor.)
NAGATA: What the hell are they? Where did they go?
[Corridor]
DEEP-ANDO: Chief Nagata, this is Deep-Ando. Where did you go? Nagata, this is Deep-Ando. May the Gods look favourably upon you. (static) May the Gods. Are you there?
(He walks on, sweeping his flash light around as he goes.)
[Laboratory]
NAGATA: Deep-Ando, this is Nagata. May the Gods look favourably upon you. Deep-Ando, are you there?
(The Doctor takes a sample of the sand from the floor and puts it under a microscope.)
NAGATA: What are you doing?
DOCTOR: Finding out what they're made of.
NAGATA: Deep-Ando, are you there?
CHOPRA: Send the Grunt.
NAGATA: No.
CHOPRA: Why not? That's what it's for. Look, he's still out there! You can't just abandon him.
NAGATA: I need proper intel before I risk anyone else, including 474. Keep trying the comms.
CHOPRA: Deep-Ando, may the Gods look favourably upon you.
NAGATA: Well?
DOCTOR: Organic. Definitely organic. Blood cells. Skin cells. Mucus.
474: Deep-Ando, may the Gods look favourably upon you. Deep-Ando.
(Clara is standing between two large white cabinets.)
CLARA: What are these?
CHOPRA: Morpheus?
CLARA: Morpheus? Named after the God of Dreams? Oh, yeah. Ooh, yeah. Not just this.
(She indicates her pretty face.)
CLARA: So, what are they, then? Sleep pods?
CHOPRA: More than that. (static) Deep-Ando? Deep-Ando, can you hear me?
NAGATA: Keep trying.
DOCTOR: I could take a look at that. You know, triangulate the signal, help you find your friend.
NAGATA: First, tell me what those things are.
CHOPRA: Deep, Deep-Ando.
DEEP-ANDO [OC]: (sotto) This is Deep
CHOPRA: Deep-Ando, this is Chopra. I'm getting a signal. Deep-Ando, can you hear me? Deep-Ando? Deep-Ando, this is Chopra. Can you hear me?
CLARA: Doctor!
(Thud. Clara has disappeared inside a Morpheus cabinet.)
DOCTOR: Clara!
(An alarm sounds, then four small holographic ladies in Dior New Style dresses with full skirts appear on the cabinet and start singing Pat Ballard's 1954 hit, just like the Chordettes did.)
SINGERS: ♪ Bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom. Mister Sandman, bring me your dreams. ♪
DOCTOR: Clara!
NAGATA: It's fine, it's just Morpheus.
SINGERS: ♪ Make him the cutest that I've ever seen. ♪
(The singers vanish as the Doctor opens the cabinet. Clara is lying there, eyes closed and with neon blue tubes attached to her head and hands.)
DOCTOR: What did you think you were doing?
(She opens her eyes and he removes the tubing.)
CLARA: Huh? (she sits up) It dragged me in. The wires, they were like snakes, like it was alive.
DOCTOR: Are you okay?
CLARA: Yeah. It just kind of flicked over my eyes. Did I sleep?
CHOPRA: Yeah, you did.
CLARA: Why, why did it just grab at me?
DOCTOR: Semi-sentient. It thinks it knows what's good for you. You obviously needed forty winks. Clever little sleep pod. You said it was something more than that, though.
(Static flicker on picture.)
NAGATA: Come on, everyone knows.
DOCTOR: (to camera) Well, let's just say, for the sake of argument, that we don't. What is Morpheus?
474: Last pod. This pod. Not empty.
(The Doctor puts on his sonic sunglasses. The singers return on the last pod.)
SINGERS: ♪ Bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom. ♪
DOCTOR: Oh, no. No, no. enough of that.
(He pulls out a 38th century square DVD and they vanish. He takes off his glasses then tries to force down the shutter over the observation hatch where the sleeper's head should be.)
DOCTOR: It's almost like someone's
(He nearly gets it open and it slams shut again.)
CLARA: Careful!
(Weapons are powered up.)
CLARA: Here. Let me try.
(She listens to the regular buzz from the pod then taps on the metal cover.)
CLARA: Hellooo? It's okay. We're not going to hurt you. Will you open up now? Come on. Let's er, let's start with names, shall we? Er I'm Clara. This is the Doctor.
(The hatch opens.)
CLARA: It's okay.
(Rassmussen pokes his head out of the pod. Freeze image.)
RASSMUSSEN [OC]: Ah, this is where I come in.
RASSMUSSEN: Hello. I wanted to get out of there. Immediately. Of course I did. But er, this man, the Doctor, he wanted explanations first. So
[Laboratory]
(A large holographic disembodied lady's head appears above the pods.)
PRESENTER: May the Gods look favourably upon us all. Friends. We live in a time of unparalleled prosperity. A golden age of peace, harmony and industry. But every shift must come to an end. Every working day must stop.
(A holographic yawning woman appears on her outsized hand.)
PRESENTER: Of course, we can take stimulants to make that deadline, to keep us propped up through that important meeting. But always, always, sleep claims us in the end.
(The woman lies down to sleep.)
PRESENTER: Until now.
DOCTOR: Sleep-deprivation pods?
CHOPRA: Not exactly.
PRESENTER: Welcome, Morpheus.
SINGERS [OC]: ♪ Bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom. (song continues underneath dialogue) ♪
PRESENTER: The Morpheus machine concentrates the whole nocturnal experience into one five minute burst. Now, you can go a whole month without sleep.
CLARA: A month?
PRESENTER: All the chemical benefits of rest, but freeing up the nights to continue working, working, working. To get the edge on your competitor. To turn that extra profit.
CLARA: That's insane. That's horrible!
CHOPRA: Finally, someone who sees it for what it is.
PRESENTER: Leave the Rip Van Winkles behind and become one of a new generation of Wide-Awakes! The future is here. The future is now. Let yourself slip into the arms of Morpheus!
SINGERS [OC]: ♪ Mister Sandman, bring me a dream. ♪
(The Presenter's head vanishes.)
DOCTOR: But sleep is
(And reappears.)
PRESENTER: Terms and conditions apply.
(And gone again.)
DOCTOR: Sleep is vital. Sleep is wonderful. Even I sleep.
CLARA: When?
DOCTOR: Well, when you're not looking.
(The Doctor leans forward and stares at us. The viewpoint turns look at the next speaker, and keeps swinging around as others join in the conversation.)
RASSMUSSEN: Morpheus is mine. My invention. It's changed Triton society forever.
DOCTOR: So, how does it work?
RASSMUSSEN: Er, the pod sends out a coded electronic signal that acts on certain parts of the brain. Changes the fundamental chemistry.
CHOPRA: It's disgusting. Making people into bloody drones. I've said it before
NAGATA: Aye, you have.
CHOPRA: Colonising our sleep. Is nothing sacred?
RASSMUSSEN: We spend a third of our lives asleep. And time is money.
NAGATA: He's right, man. It's amazing. Everyone on Triton's using it.
DOCTOR: Are they now? Sleep, that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care. The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath. Balm of hurt minds, chief nourisher in life's great feast. Congratulations, Professor. You've revolutionised the labour market. You've conquered nature.
RASSMUSSEN: Thank you.
DOCTOR: You've also created an abomination.
RASSMUSSEN: The Doctor said that we had to find the other soldier. And to find answers. So, we left the lab. He thought that there was some connection between my Morpheus process and those creatures that attacked us. Anyway, you'll see, he had a theory.
[Corridor]
(We are watching from Clara's viewpoint.)
CHOPRA: Sleep dust?
DOCTOR: Sleep dust.
NAGATA: You're kidding.
DOCTOR: Well do I look like I'm kidding? Is this a kidding face? Ask the crew of this station if they're kidding. Or what's left of them.
NAGATA: But sleep dust?
DOCTOR: Yes. The stuff in the corner of your eye. The stuff you wipe away every morning when you wake up.
RASSMUSSEN: That's ridiculous. This is getting us nowhere.
CLARA: Okay, how, Doctor? How can those things be made of sleep dust?
DOCTOR: Well, when we sleep, the mucus crust builds up in our eyes. Blood cells, skin cells. That's what dust largely is. Human skin. But your meddling has evolved it. Hot-housed it. What used to be sleep in your eye has turned into a carnivorous life form.
RASSMUSSEN: You can't just throw accusations like that around!
CLARA [OC]: So, the longer you're in Morpheus, the more the dust builds up?
RASSMUSSEN: That's slander!
(Static flicker.)
DOCTOR: Lying there in those pods, people are a ready-made food source.
CLARA [OC]: Well, where are they, then?
(We switch to Nagata's viewpoint.)
CLARA: Where's the crew?
DOCTOR: Digested.
NAGATA: Come on, we need to find Deep-Ando.
[Another corridor]
(Deep-Ando is looking at a projected schematic of the local area, a corridor joining with another that appears to run all the way round the spacestation.)
DEEP-ANDO: Come on. Oh, come on. Must be an exit here somewhere. (activates comms) Listen to me. Those things, they're everywhere. For the Gods' sake, come and get me.
(A roar nearby.)
[Corridor]
(Mostly from Clara's viewpoint, apart from the occasional black and white external)
NAGATA: What about us? We've all used the pods back on Triton.
CHOPRA: Not all of us.
NAGATA: This isn't a good time to be smug, pet.
DOCTOR: Well, my guess is that the ones you're using are pretty primitive compared to what's going on up here. These are a sort of a Mark Two, yeah?
RASSMUSSEN: Obviously, I have tried to improve the process. Speed things up.
DOCTOR: You've succeeded there.
NAGATA: But how does the dust become those creatures?
DOCTOR: You saw what happened. The dust conglomerates and moulds itself into humanoid form. It's adaptable. It's clever.
(A loud long noise nearby. They power the weapons up.)
DOCTOR: And it's coming for us.
RASSMUSSEN: Look, you came to rescue the crew. I'm crew, so rescue me!
CLARA: How come you're the only one left?
RASSMUSSEN: Because I hid. I hid in the only place I thought those monsters wouldn't find me. Look, we've got to get out of here!
DOCTOR: No. We can't leave this place until there's not a trace of the dust or your machines left. Or that's it for your lot.
NAGATA: Our lot? What do you mean?
DOCTOR: Oh, the human race.
[Storage area]
(Deep-Ando's light sweeps over containers and stuff and sees a bulkhead door. He puts his hand on the keypad. Most of this is views through the grid of the pad, computer's point of view.)
COMPUTER: Hey.
DEEP-ANDO: Haruka Deep-Ando, 6897. Let me in.
COMPUTER: I'd love to.
DEEP-ANDO: Well, do it then. Me ID must be on the Corporation index.
COMPUTER: You have to do the song.
DEEP-ANDO: What?
COMPUTER: You have to do the song, Deep-Ando 6897.
DEEP-ANDO: I haven't got time for this.
COMPUTER: Do the song, please.
DEEP-ANDO: What the hell are you talking about?
COMPUTER: After the Maha Shivaratri slash Oshogasu slash Christmas party, some of the crew reprogrammed me.
DEEP-ANDO: They did, did they?
COMPUTER: Yes. In order to enter rooms, everyone must do the song. It's very amusing.
DEEP-ANDO: But you know who I am. You've just called me by my name.
COMPUTER: 'Nevertheless.
DEEP-ANDO: Oh, ffff. What song?
COMPUTER: You know the one.
DEEP-ANDO: I don't!
COMPUTER: Now you're just being silly. Of course you do. Silly Deep-Ando 6897. You must know the song. Everyone here knows it.
(Groaning echoes around him.)
DEEP-ANDO: I'm not from this station. I'm on a rescue mission.
COMPUTER: ♪ Bom bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom. ♪
DEEP-ANDO: Morpheus?
COMPUTER: The Morpheus song!
DEEP-ANDO: Oh, this is insane!
COMPUTER: The song, please.
DEEP-ANDO: Morpheus. ♪ Mister Sandman, bring me your dreams. Make it the cutest ♪ Haruka Deep-Ando 6897. Let me in!
COMPUTER: More, please.
DEEP-ANDO: ♪ Give him two lips like roses in ♪ Please, let me in. Let me in!
(Two of the creatures are there.)
DEEP-ANDO: Let me in!
(Deep-Ando screams. The bulkhead doors close in front of the creatures. In the observation room, with a nice big window looking out on Neptune, Deep-Ando checks his station schematic projected onto it. Then he turns to see the gaping maw of a creature.)
RASSMUSSEN: Er, he was the first of them to die. We heard the scream but er, well, we, we had our own problems.
[Laboratory]
(The spacestation is shaking violently. Everyone is hanging onto something for dear life.)
CHOPRA: What's happening?
NAGATA: Engines?
CHOPRA: No! It's the gravity shields! They're failing!
(Neptune is getting closer through the window.)
DOCTOR: Nagata! That thing, the schematic. Give it to me!
NAGATA: Who the hell do you think you are?
DOCTOR: Me? I'm in charge.
NAGATA: You have no authority
DOCTOR: No, but I'm in charge. I can bypass the main systems and reboot the grav-shields!
CLARA: Listen to him, for God's sake! He knows what he's talking about!
(Nagata lets go to hand the Doctor her helmet and they slide on the floor.)
CLARA: Doctor? Doctor, if the grav-shields are decaying
DOCTOR: Don't say it. Please don't say it!
CLARA: We're being pulled towards Neptune!
CHOPRA: Oh, Gods! Oh, Gods! Oh, Gods!
DOCTOR: Hang on!
CLARA: Argh, this day couldn't get any worse!
(A creature smashes a small glass window in the door, and opens it. The Doctor is projecting the schematic onto a cabinet door.)
DOCTOR: I can do this! I can fix this!
RASSMUSSEN: No! Please! Help me. Argh!
(A creature looms over him.)
CLARA: No! No!
DOCTOR: The G-force is increasing the closer we get to the planet! Hold on!
(A creature reaches out, bits falling off it. Static flicker.)
DOCTOR: We're back online! Grav-shields fixed! We're rising! Go. let's get out of here! Go, go! Out of here. Come on!
NAGATA: Chopra! 474! Come on!
DOCTOR: Keep going, move it, move it, move it!
[Cold store]
DOCTOR: Nagata!
NAGATA: No, I can't leave them!
(The Doctor pulls her inside and closes the door.)
NAGATA: Chopra. 474. May the Gods. Where are you?!
(They are running down a corridor, still alive.)
CLARA: Oh, God. Of all the places! A cold store. Nagata, are you okay?
NAGATA: No, I'm not.
CLARA: What about the others?
DOCTOR: I don't know.
CLARA: We have to go after them.
DOCTOR: Don't be ridiculous.
CLARA: Doctor!
NAGATA: They're under my command. I owe it to them.
DOCTOR: To die? They wouldn't thank you for that. Nor you, Clara. To die, to die. Glamis hath murdered sleep, therefore Cawdor shall sleep no more. Macbeth shall sleep no more.
NAGATA: What?
(Clara's point of view.)
DOCTOR: Shakespeare. He really knew his stuff. They all did. The Ancients. The poets. All those sad songs. All those lullabies. Sleep is essential to every sentient being in the universe. But to humans. Greedy, filthy, stupid humans. It's an inconvenience to be bartered away. Well, now we know the truth. Sleep isn't just a function. It's blessed. Every night we dive deep into that inky pool, deep into the arms of Morpheus. Every morning, we wake up and wipe the sleep from our eyes, and that keeps us safe. Safe from the monsters inside.
NAGATA: Well, the bloody monsters are outside now. What do we do?
(Thud! They turn and move into the area where meat is hanging from hooks in labelled covers.)
NAGATA: Dead meat.
[Corridor]
CHOPRA: Dear Gods, what are we going to do?
474: Get ship. Go home.
CHOPRA: We can't let those things off here. If they were to get out, to spread. It's like an infection. You don't understand, do you?
474: Sleepmen bad. Kill sleepmen.
CHOPRA: Yeah. That about sums it up. Chief Nagata, this is Chopra. May the Gods look favourably upon you. Chief Nagata, this is Chopra. May the. We'll head for the rescue ship. If we don't hear from them soon, I'm going to have to assume they're dead.
474: Then what Chopra do?
CHOPRA: I have no choice. I'll have to destroy this whole station.
[Cold store]
(The Doctor has donned his sonic sunglasses and is projecting an image on the wall of himself and Clara when they first came on board.)
NAGATA: What are you doing?
DOCTOR: I've hacked into your helmet cams.
NAGATA: What?
DOCTOR: Reviewing the footage. There's something not right here.
NAGATA: We don't have helmet cams.
DOCTOR: Why did it kill Rassmussen like that?
CLARA: That's what they do, isn't it? Kill people?
(The Doctor removes his glasses.)
DOCTOR: But that's a direct attack. That's not how they operate. Dust grows. Consumes the host.
CLARA: They evolve. You said so yourself.
DOCTOR: Maybe. There's something going on here. Something we're not getting.
[Corridor]
(Black and white view of a Morpheus pod gliding along above the walkway.)
COMPUTER: Please stand clear of the pod. Dangerous materials in transit.
[Cold store]
CLARA: What now? We can't stay in here. We're going to freeze to death. And we can't go back out there because the Sandmen will get us.
(Static flicker.)
DOCTOR: Sandmen?
CLARA: Yeah, it's a good name. It fits, like the song. ♪ Bom, bom, bom. ♪
DOCTOR: No, you don't get to name things. I'm the Doctor. I do the naming.
CLARA: All right. Sorry.
DOCTOR: It's like the Silurians all over again.
CLARA: Okay, well, what would you prefer then? The Dustmen?
DOCTOR: Sandmen. (to Nagata) What did you just say?
CLARA: When?
DOCTOR: One point eight three minutes ago.
NAGATA: I said we don't have helmet cams.
(Banging on the door. Roaring. They hide amongst the hanging meat.)
CLARA: Doctor, that door isn't going to last much longer.
NAGATA: So, what do we do?
DOCTOR: We let them in.
NAGATA: What?
DOCTOR: We let them in.
RASSMUSSEN: Hmm. Clever, that. Clever strategy. If they'd stayed in there, they'd have frozen to death, so the Doctor had to let the creatures in. That was his theory. Oh, I'm not dead. You've probably guessed that by now.
(The sound of heartbeats as the creatures prowl the cold storage. Our heroes are hiding inside empty meat sacks. Suddenly, Boom!)
[Corridor]
474: What happen?
CHOPRA: Must be damage from when we fell out of orbit.
(There is a fire blocking the corridor in front of them.)
CHOPRA: We have to go back.
(But there is at least one Sandman behind them.)
CHOPRA: I don't know what to do. I can't save us.
474: 474 can.
CHOPRA: What?
(Thump. She knocks Chopra out then picks him up and walks through the flames.)
[Cold store]
(The Doctor looks out of his sack then gestures, first covering his eyes then the shush sign.)
RASSMUSSEN [OC]: The Doctor worked it out. The creatures can't see.
(Clara gestures to Nagata. They tiptoe past the Sandmen then the Doctor accidentally kicks something, alerting them.)
DOCTOR: Run! Engine room!
(He shuts the Sandmen in the cold store.)
[Corridor]
CHOPRA: What happened?
474: 474 help.
(474 is badly injured. Chopra goes to her.)
CHOPRA: What?
474: 474 die soon.
CHOPRA: No, no, no. Don't, don't say that! You got us through. You can survive this.
(There are Sandmen cowering on the other side of the flames.)
474: Chopra go. Get ship. Chopra be safe. Chopra pretty.
(Chopra takes 474's hand, then she pushes him away. He leaves as the first Sandman braves the flames and walks through them. We get a very good view of them, with vertical maws running down their throats, hands reaching out blindly. 474 picks up her rifle and runs towards them.)
474: Yaaaargh!
[Engine room]
DOCTOR: You said you felt like you were being watched, Clara.
CLARA: Paranoia, you said.
DOCTOR: Not this time.
(He puts his sunglasses on a ledge and projects an image onto the wall.)
DOCTOR: There is a feed. Wireless. These images are being stored by someone. Collated. Nagata, look at this footage. What's wrong with it? What's wrong with it?
NAGATA: Don't know.
DOCTOR: Look, there's one very obvious thing about it. Do you see it yet? No? Okay, I'll tell you what's wrong. There's footage here of everyone. But what's missing in all of it? What can't you see anywhere? Not in the footage, not on this ship. Look. Really look. There are no cameras here. No CCTV. No helmet cams. So, how and why does this footage even exist? The dust has been watching us. Each little organic speck, just a tiny spy drifting through the air. The monsters have been with us all along. That's why the Sandmen are blind. Their visual receptors are being hijacked. But by whom, and why? And then, there's this.
(The projected image is the now, the Doctor pointing over his shoulder at the image, showing him pointing over his shoulder at the image ad infinitum.)
DOCTOR: That's you, Clara. That's you, looking at me.
CLARA: Me?
DOCTOR: You went into the pod. The Morpheus process has begun.
CLARA: Er, well.
DOCTOR: There's nothing here from Chopra's point of view because he refuses to use Morpheus. But everybody else is here. Including you. You don't have a camera, Clara. But you will have by now, sleep in your eye.
CLARA: Okay, well, we'll fix this. You will fix this.
DOCTOR: Yes. I'm sure it'll be fine. I'm sure you'll be fine.
CLARA: Sure?
DOCTOR: We will sort this, Clara. We'll sort you. We'll sort Nagata, and everyone back on Triton. And then we will destroy Morpheus forever.
CLARA: Okay then. Let's get on with it. The power's been almost entirely out since we arrived, but we've still got emergency lighting. But the engines are still on.
DOCTOR: Well, there was that incident with the grav-shields, but. Ah.
CLARA: What, what, what, what, what?
DOCTOR: The grav-shields didn't fail. They were deliberately powered down.
NAGATA: By the Sandmen?
DOCTOR: Well, that's not their style, is it?
(He picks up two disconnected power couplings.)
DOCTOR: It's like, it's like something's been kept here, near the engines, where it's hot. Like something's being kept alive.
[Corridor]
(The Morpheus pod is still gliding along.)
COMPUTER: Warning. Dangerous materials in transit. Human contact not advised. Warning. Dangerous materials in transit. Human contact not advised.
[Engine room]
NAGATA: Well, you said someone's watching, collating images.
DOCTOR: Yeah.
NAGATA: Well, if it's not the Sandmen, then who is it?
DOCTOR: I have an idea who. A very nasty idea.
(He turns off his sunglasses and they leave.)
[Docking tube]
CHOPRA: In the absence of any further communication with Chief Nagata and the others, I must regrettably assume them to be deceased. Under the circumstances, I'm now returning to the ship and will begin preparations to destroy Le Verrier station.
(The bulkhead doors open, a Sandman roars. Chopra readies his rifle and walks forward.)
[Rescue ship]
CHOPRA: Who's there? Chief?!
(There is a closed Morpheus pod in the compartment. He goes forward to the next, where the one that Deep-Ando had been using is still open. The doors close behind him. There is a roar and he screams.)
[Docking tube]
NAGATA: Rescue ship? Why are we going to the rescue ship?
DOCTOR: Because that's where he'll be.
[Rescue ship]
RASSMUSSEN [OC]: Gagan Rassmussen. I'm Gagan Rassmussen. This is Le Verrier lab in orbit around Neptune. I've put things together into some kind of order.
DOCTOR: You had that prepared well in advance, didn't you? Your statement. Your alibi. There would inevitably be questions when you got to Triton. So, you needed to get your story straight.
RASSMUSSEN [OC]: This is what happened.
(A portion of hull slides back by the closed pod.)
RASSMUSSEN: You can't fight them, Doctor. There's no point. They're the future. A new life form. A better life form. That's very clear to me now. They've made me understand. And we're to be their food, and that's only correct. I just needed to find a way to get them off this station, and back to Triton. And then, they'll spread. Spread everywhere.
CLARA: And that's what you want? You're helping them wipe out humanity!
RASSMUSSEN: Things have been made very clear to me!
NAGATA: But we saw you die. The Sandmen swallowed you.
DOCTOR: I think the Professor has been playing a long game. Am I right?
RASSMUSSEN: They speak to me in my mind. Trust me, I think. But they're like children. Babies. So new. Evolving. Hungry. Always so hungry. I made them understand. We had to find a way out. And then there'd be new food sources. Unlimited. So, they spared me. And we waited.
DOCTOR: You and your cargo.
RASSMUSSEN: (nods) I got it in here while you were all distracted.
(He opens another bulkhead door to reveal the closed Morpheus pod that had been gliding through the station.)
CLARA: What's in there? Dust?
DOCTOR: It's like smuggling a jam jar full of germs through customs.
RASSMUSSEN: No. No, more than that.
DOCTOR: What do you mean?
RASSMUSSEN: I've been working on Morpheus for a very long time, Doctor. I had to start somewhere. Morpheus's first client. Patient Zero. The ultimate Wide-Awake. Inside there is a man who hasn't slept in five years.
DOCTOR: Or what's left of him.
RASSMUSSEN: He's the well-spring. Once we get to Triton, he will spread his spores.
CLARA: But you said it was an encoded signal. Something electronic in the Morpheus process that changed the chemical reaction in the brain.
RASSMUSSEN: That's how it started, yes, but it's changing all the time. Evolving new ways to infect, to flourish. Whole moons, whole planets, whole civilisations. They'll spread everywhere.
DOCTOR: You know I can't allow that.
RASSMUSSEN: You can't stop them. None of us can.
(Nagata aims her weapon at Rassmussen.)
NAGATA: I wouldn't bet on that, pet.
(Rassmussen raises his hands, then grabs a lapel. The pod starts to open. A Sandman sits up and roars. Nagata shoots at it.)
CLARA: Doctor! Doctor!
(Rassmussen runs out, closing the bulkhead door. The Doctor, Clara and Nagata stay still and whisper.)
DOCTOR: What he wants is to get that thing off this ship. We have to stop him.
NAGATA: Any ideas?
DOCTOR: The doors are not a problem.
(He puts on his sonic sunglasses.)
NAGATA: But that is.
(Rassmussen is operating controls.)
DOCTOR: We need a distraction.
(He takes the song holo-disc from his pocket.)
DOCTOR: When I say run, run.
(He puts the holo-DVD on a storage container and activates it.)
DOCTOR: Hey! Sandy!
SINGERS: ♪ Bom, bom, bom, bom, bom ♪
DOCTOR: Run!
(The Sandman is distracted by the holograms.)
SINGERS: ♪ Bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom, bom ♪
DOCTOR: Doors!
SINGERS: ♪ Mister Sandman, bring me your dreams. ♪
(The doors open and they run into the compartment where Rassmussen is working the controls. Doors close again.)
DOCTOR: Rassmussen! Turn off the engines. Shut this ship down!
RASSMUSSEN: I can't do that, I'm afraid, Doctor. We can't fight the inevitable. Humanity's day is done.
NAGATA: Yeah? Well, Humanity might have something to say about that, pet.
(Nagata shoots Rassmussen, who falls back into a chair.)
RASSMUSSEN: Argh!
DOCTOR: No!
CLARA: Is that your answer for everything?
NAGATA: Did you have a better one?
DOCTOR: He's not the only one dead. According to this data, we're the only ones left alive on this station.
(The Sandman bangs on the door. We can still hear the Singers too.)
CLARA: Doctor.
NAGATA: Come on, man. We've got to go!
(The Doctor has his glasses on again.)
DOCTOR: This doesn't make any sense.
CLARA: What?
DOCTOR: A man who hasn't slept for five years?
CLARA: Well, you heard what he said. That's the first Morpheus patient.
DOCTOR: But the dust consumes the host.
CLARA: And then they make Sandmen. They conglomerate.
DOCTOR: We escaped from that cold storage room because they were blind. And why power down the grav-shields when he did? It's like this is all for effect.
CLARA: Look, can we maybe have this conversation when we get off this thing?
(The Doctor removes his glasses.)
DOCTOR: Like a story.
NAGATA: Come on!
[Docking tube]
NAGATA: How do we get off this crate?
DOCTOR: Alternative transport.
(The Sandman forces the tube doors open and follows them.)
[Storage area]
DOCTOR: We have to get to Triton, destroy all the Morpheus machines. End this. This is how we get home?
CLARA: I've never been so pleased to see
(Sandmen move between them and the Tardis. More approach from behind.)
DOCTOR: Nagata!
(He turns Nagata round and uses her helmet schematic projector on a copper sheet.)
CLARA: Doctor, quickly!
(The Doctor taps the projection of the anti-grav shield generators.)
NAGATA: What did you just do?
DOCTOR: Self-destructed the grav-shields.
NAGATA: What?
(The spacestation tilts. The women cry out.)
DOCTOR: It's working!
(Clara uses her key to open the Tardis door. The Sandmen are stationary, falling to pieces.)
DOCTOR: Neptune's gravity is pulling them apart, bit by bit! It doesn't make sense. None of this makes any sense.
(They run inside the Tardis and it dematerialises.)
(The station is shaking as Rassmussen pops up on our screen. We now know these messages have been compiled in the rescue ship.)
RASSMUSSEN: Hello again! Thing is, you see, this message, this testament, it wasn't just my alibi. It was my plan. There are no spores, no infection. The Morpheus process remains the same. An electronic signal that affects the sleep centres of the brain. Changes them. An electronic signal that's contained in this recording. (static flicker.) There it is. Tickles, doesn't it? I've just got time to fit this bit in and then I can finish the story, and then I'm going to transmit this footage to the whole Solar System. I do hope you've enjoyed the show. I did try to make it exciting. All those scary bits. All those death-defying scrapes, monsters, and a proper climax with a really big one at the end! Compulsive viewing. I did tell you not to watch.
(Rassmussen rubs his eye. Dust falls out, leaving a hole in his head.)
RASSMUSSEN: (deeper slower voice) There's nothing left of Rassmussen any more. Only us. Only us. You will show this film to your family, won't you? And your friends. And everyone, really. Then we can all be together, dust to dust. Excuse me, you've got something there, just in the corner of your eye.
(Rassmussen's head falls to dust as he points to the top left corner of the screen. He laughs as he crumbles to pieces, then the cathode ray screen goes black, with just a small fading dot of light in the centre.)
