Épisode La nuit de terreur de Nikola Tesla S12E04 - Doctor Who (2005) Saison 12

En 1903, Nikola Tesla reçoit des investisseurs potentiels dans ses locaux aux chutes du Niagara, à l’origine de la puissance de son générateur. Après cette entrée en matière, il leur parle de son système de transmission d'énergie sans fil mais ils ne le prennent pas au sérieux.

Alors qu’on lui signale un employé mort, visiblement électrocuté, il accepte de vérifier ses systèmes afin de comprendre ce qui a pu se passer. Dans la nuit, alors qu’il se rend compte que des pièces sont manquantes, il entend des bruits étranges et se retrouve face à une sorte de petit globe vert volant qu’il attrape. Sentant la présence d’un danger, il tente de s’enfuir avec Dorothy Skerritt, son assistante mais la porte est verrouillée.

La Docteur fait irruption alors qu’on leur tire dessus. Le tireur qui s’avère être un des investisseurs potentiels est tué par une silhouette masquée qui s’en prend à eux. La Docteur leur dit qu’elle a un moyen de s’enfuir et ils rejoignent la Tribu dans le wagon d'un train en direction de New York.

Alors que la Docteur découvre qu’elle vient de sauver la vie à Nicola Tesla et essaie de comprendre d’où vient la source d’énergie qui l’a guidé jusqu’à lui, la silhouette les attaque de nouveau avec une arme silurienne, ils parviennent à lui échapper en changeant de wagon et en détachant celui dans lequel ils se trouvaient.

Arrivés à  New York, ils trouvent un groupe de manifestants devant le laboratoire de Tesla qui milite contre le courant alternatif et sa dangerosité. Tesla leur dit que c’est faux et leur demande de les laisser passer mais cette incompréhension semble lui peser.

En l’attendant dans son laboratoire, la Docteur explique qui il est à  la Tribu. Elle leur parle de toutes ses inventions et de son génie avant-gardiste mais pas reconnu. Tesla lui montre le globe qu’il a récupéré et la Docteur l’identifie comme un Orbe de Thassor, un appareil conçu par un peuple ancien afin de partager leurs connaissances. Ne comprenant pas ce qu’il fait là, elle le scanne avec son tournevis sonique et découvre que l’Orbe a été reprogrammé à d’autres fins sans comprendre lesquelles. Tesla est fasciné par l’appareil de la Docteur et comprend qu’elle est un inventeur comme lui et pense qu’elle peut le comprendre.

Alors qu’ils discutent, ils repèrent un espion de Thomas Edison.  La Docteur, Graham et Ryan se rendent à son atelier où il est en train de faire peur aux gens à propos du courant alternatif de Tesla. Pensant qu’il est aussi à l’origine de  l'attaque contre Tesla, ils l’interpellent et il les invite dans son bureau.

La silhouette masquée arrive au laboratoire d'Edison et tue toutes les employés présents dans l'atelier avant d’essayer de s’en prendre à Edison. Le groupe parvient à piéger la créature dans un anneau de feu chimique, mais elle s'échappe par téléportation. La Docteur essaie d'avertir Tesla et Yaz qui sont restés dans le laboratoire, mais ils sont capturés et transportés dans un vaisseau extraterrestre. Le Tardis apparaît dans le laboratoire de Tesla trop tard et la Docteur cherche à les retrouver alors qu’Edison est fasciné par son vaisseau.

La reine des Skithra exige de Tesla qu’il améliore leur vaisseau et leurs armes. La Docteur connecte l’orbe au Tardis et voit qu’il espionnait la Terre et qu’il a trouvé ce qu’il cherchait, Nicola Tesla. La menace vient de l’espace et Dorothy confirme que Tesla a détecté un signal venant de Mars. Ils se rendent dans l’autre laboratoire de Tesla à Wardenclyffe afin de trouver les relevés de de l’inventeur pour le retrouver ainsi que Yaz.

Tesla refuse de collaborer mais la reine menace de tuer Yaz puis la ville. La Docteur les rejoint grâce à un sauteur Braxien mais il faut qu’elle gagne du temps pour qu’il se recharge et les ramène. Elle constate que le vaisseau Skithra n'est qu'une accumulation de pièces volées à différentes espèces et que les Skithra volent et se servent des idées des autres. La reine trouve la Docteur assez intelligente pour assister Tesla et cette dernière répond qu’elle a vu pire comme job. Elle demande pourquoi ils ont enlevé Tesla et on lui dit qu’il a été choisi comme "ingénieur" car il a répondu leur signal mais ce dernier ignorait que ça avait marché.

Le Docteur les ramène au laboratoire de Wardenclyffe où les attendent Graham, Ryan et Edison. Tesla se demande ce que fait son rival dans son laboratoire mais la découverte du Tardis le fascine.

La Docteur ordonne à la reine de partir mais cette dernière menace de détruire la Terre si on ne lui livre pas Tesla. Ce dernier refuse de sacrifier la Terre mais la Docteur ne veut pas gâcher le talent de l’inventeur pour cela. Après qu’il leur ait expliqué la fonction de  sa tour destiné à une connexion sans fil, en gros le wifi avant l’heure, ils décident de s’en servir contre le vaisseau. La Docteur étend le bouclier du Tardis à Wardenclyff, lui permettant de le connecter à la tour de Tesla.

Yaz et Edison partent prévenir la population de se mettre à l’abri, mais personne n’écoute la jeune femme. Edison leur crie que Tesla est en train de tester une invention très dangereuse et les gens rentrent chez eux. Yaz et Edison échappent de peu à une attaque de scorpion Skithra. Graham, Ryan et Dorothy cherchent des armes dans les inventions de Tesla pour repousser l’attaque des Skithra quand Yaz et Edison les rejoigne.

Le bouclier finit par tomber et dans le Tardis, la Docteur et Tesla sont prêts à activer la tour, mais la Reine n’est plus dans son vaisseau. Le plan étant de se débarrasser de la Reine pour que les Skithra abandonnent l’attaque, la Docteur parvient à la renvoyer sur son vaisseau en usant d’une feinte pour lui donner le sauteur qu’elle avait utilisé pour aller récupérer Tesla et Yaz. Tesla active la tour qui émet un éclair assez puissant pour  toucher le vaisseau Skithra, le forçant à quitter la Terre.

Le lendemain, le journal titre sur la nuit de terreur causé par l’invention de Tesla sans se douter qu’il leur a sauvé la vie. Edison reconnaît le talent de Tesla et lui propose du travail mais il refuse.

Yaz est déçue d'apprendre par la Docteur que même si Tesla a sauvé la Terre, son avenir reste inchangé et qu’il mourra dans la pauvreté malgré son génie. La tribu encourage Tesla vis-à-vis des critiques qu’il subit et  il leur répond : « Laissez les parler, le présent leur appartient, je travaille pour le futur et le futur m’appartient. »

 

(Par ShanInXYZ)

[Niagara Falls]

(Lights are flickering in a building just downstream of the famous horseshoe of waterfalls. A collection of gentlemen in top hats are gathered on the opposite side)
TESLA: Niagara Falls. Is there a better demonstration of the sheer power of nature? When I first saw this view, I was inspired to build my Niagara Generator, and now these waters power a city. But there's so much more in nature that cannot be seen by the naked eye. Forces invisible to us which animate the universe. And they were hidden from our understanding until now. Gentlemen, I, Nikola Tesla, have invited you here to pull back the curtain. Shall we begin?

 

[Laboratory]

(Tesla pulls a lever and electricity flows between a pair of what look very like van der Graff generators to me, but I'd love to hear from an expert.)
TESLA: Observe, ladies and gentlemen (Gasps and applause) I plan to harness these forces of nature on a scale never seen before. (He holds up a glowing gas discharge lamp) A world wireless system. A way for each of us to reach beyond our immediate sphere into every corner of the Earth.(The electricity is turned off.) I only require the small investment of 50,000 dollars.
BRADY: 50,000 dollars?
TESLA: A small price to pay to transmit energy through the ether with no wires.
TALLOW: You mean flying around in the air?
BRADY: Poppycock! They're even more far-fetched than those Mars stories that we've all been hearing about.
DOROTHY: I'm sure you gentlemen know better than to believe everything you read in the Times.
TESLA: Thank you, Miss Skerritt, but I did in fact receive a feeble electrical signal, and I calculate it comes from Mars.
BRADY: Absurd.
TESLA: But er... that's not the focus of this project.
BRADY: Mister Tesla, I'm not in the habit of investing in fairy tales. Good day to you.
TESLA: Mister Brady, sir, please. My work is not a fairy tale. I promise you, within about a year, my Wardenclyffe project will be as real and functioning as this very generator.
(The lights flicker. A more working class man enters.)
FOREMAN: Mister Tesla? We have an emergency.

 

[Room]

(They uncover the staring face of a dead man)
DOROTHY: Oh, dear. How did this happen?
FOREMAN: I think an electric shock, miss.
DOROTHY: What?
FOREMAN: One of these machines must have killed him.
TESLA: That's impossible. All the apparatus here is perfectly safe.
DOROTHY: Nonetheless, Mister Tesla will be happy to take a look. After all, we can't have people thinking there's some deadly flaw in your designs, can we, sir?
TESLA: Very well. I work alone.

 

[Generating plant]

(Night time, working by the light of oil lamps. The clang of a door.)
TESLA: Ah, Miss Skerritt! I have solved the riddle. Of course, there is no flaw with my machinery. Ha, ha! Parts are missing. We have a thief at work. Miss Skerritt? Hello? Anybody there?(He walks through the building, opens a door and sees a small glowing green globe floating in mid-air.) Incredible. (It lands on his outstretched hand.)
DOROTHY: What is it?
TESLA: I... I have no idea.
(Another distant clang startles them.)
DOROTHY: I thought the foreman went home.
TESLA: Miss Skerritt, we need to leave now.(They run through the building to the main door) It's locked! (Footsteps are coming down the stairs.) There.
DOROTHY: Oh, right.
(They hide from the person in the heavy boots and head light, but not very well.)
DOCTOR: Oh. Hi! I don't suppose you've seen anything weird around here? (gunshot) Argh! I'll take that as a yes. Mind if I join you?
(Someone else is coming down the stairs. Gunshot, and he falls the last few steps.)
DOROTHY: It's Mister Brady.
TESLA: Why would a potential investor be shooting at us?
DOCTOR: More urgently, who shot him?(A laser bolt whizzes between them.) Run!
TESLA: Who are you?
DOCTOR: Someone with a fast way out of here!

 

[Steam train]

(In a box car, the rest of the 'fam' are in 1903 period costume.)
DOCTOR: Here we go. Perfect getaway vehicle! Full speed, straight to New York. What did I say? Night train, right on schedule.
RYAN: Did you find out what was causing this energy thing, then?
DOCTOR: No, but I found these two.
(Graham doffs his bowler.)
GRAHAM: Welcome aboard the Orient Express. We travel in style.
DOCTOR: This is Graham, Yaz and Ryan. We were doing the sights when I picked up a funny energy reading. Thought I'd check it out. Ran into a tiny bit of trouble at the plant. Nothing to worry about. We've lost them. So, here we are. I'm the Doctor, by the way. Why don't you tell me who you are and who's shooting at you?
DOROTHY: Dorothy. Dorothy Skerritt.
TESLA: I am Nikola Tesla, and I assure you I have no idea.
DOCTOR: Tesla! I knew you looked familiar. (sotto to the others) It's only Nikola Tesla!
YASMIN: Who?
RYAN: Nicholas something.
DOCTOR: Total genius! I always wanted to meet you. Shame you're a big fat liar.
TESLA: Pardon me? (The train jerks to a halt. The door to the car opens)
YASMIN: Doctor!
DOCTOR: And we're off again.
GRAHAM: Look out! Go, go, go!
RYAN: Who's that?
DOCTOR: I don't know.(They get out before the green energy beam can hit them. Sonic screwdriver.) Locked it. Keep going! Go!
(Yasmin jumps the gap between cars.)
RYAN: No way.
GRAHAM: Go on, Ryan.
YASMIN: You've got this!
(Ryan jumps, Yasmin catches him. The being is banging on the door)
RYAN: Argh!
(Graham jumps.)
GRAHAM: Now!
(The banging stops.)
TESLA: It's quiet.
DOCTOR: Why has it gone quiet?
(The being drops through the roof. The Doctor dodges the beam again. The being turns to Tesla, so the Doctor sonicks a metal bar to drop on its head, then grabs the weapon.)
DOCTOR: I'll take that. Keep it moving, then.
(They cross to the next car. She turns to confront the being.)
DOCTOR: Missing something?(The being starts to generate ball lightning in its hand, so the Doctor uncouples the cars.) Come on. Argh! It's rusted together. Got ya!
(It fires its energy ball but the widening gap means it misses its target. It returns to the box car and lifts its heavy hood to reveal that it is the other potential investor, but with glowing red eyes.)
DOCTOR: Silurian Blaster. Nasty, deadly thing. But here's the funny part. Whatever was firing it wasn't Silurian. So, Nikola Tesla, why is someone chasing you with an alien gun?
TESLA: You believe this is alien?
DOCTOR: Not so fast, you big fat liar.
TESLA: Why do you keep saying that?
DOROTHY: Is she always this impertinent?
THREE: Yes.
DOCTOR: First thing I asked you, I said, have you seen anything weird? And there's one important thing you've failed to mention. See, I started this evening chasing an unusual energy reading. I followed that signal, loud and clear, to the Niagara Generator. So why am I still detecting it on board this train with you? Whatever it is, hand it over.
TESLA: This is one of the most miraculous things I've seen in my life. It's a mystery I intend to solve. And I have no intention of handing it to total strangers.
YASMIN: Strangers who just saved your life. Whatever you found is putting you in danger.
RYAN: Yeah. Both of you. You all right with that?
DOROTHY: I agree with Mister Tesla. If anyone can make sense of this, it's him.
DOCTOR: Well then, if you won't hand it over, you leave us no choice. We're not letting you out of our sights until we've worked this out. So, where's this lab, then?

 

[New York City]

(The Doctor, Ryan, Yasmin and Graham are walking down the middle of a road.)
DOCTOR: Now, this is a bit of all right. Gilded Age New York. This is when the modern world begins. New ideas, new technologies, new skyscrapers. More people getting rich quick, and more poor people than ever before.
RYAN: I always wanted to visit New York, see Times Square.
DOCTOR: Yeah, bit early for that.
GRAHAM: Empire State Building?
DOCTOR: Not yet.
YASMIN: Central Park?
DOCTOR: Yeah! Now, that has been around for ages.
RYAN: Can you hear yelling?
CROWD: No to the death current, no AC! No to the death current, no AC! No to the death current, no AC!
(Tesla and Dorothy were walking ahead.)
RYAN: Who are they?
DOROTHY: Protesters.
YASMIN: What are they protesting about?
TESLA: Me.
WOMAN: There he is! Do you have any idea what you're doing? Shame on you!
MAN: He's dangerous! Go back to Mars!
CHECK SUIT: How many more people have to die before you admit your machines aren't safe?
TESLA: My inventions never hurt anyone.
REPORTER: Isn't it true your last invention caused an earthquake?
TESLA: Those were only mild tremors.
WOMAN: Why are you building weapons on Long Island?
DOROTHY: Mister Tesla isn't building any kind of weapon or going to answer any questions. Excuse me.
NO TIE: Foreign lunatic! You don't belong in America.
MAN [OC]: Yeah!
TESLA: I am an American citizen! And you are trespassing in front of my lab.
(The camera zooms to show us a man with a camera sitting at a table across the street)

 

[Tesla's office]

(Sorting his post)
TESLA: Me, a lunatic? They wouldn't recognise genius if it hit them in the face.
YASMIN: Are you all right?
TESLA: Oh. Absolutely, yeah. Their opinions do not affect me.
(He slams the door on his way out.)
DOROTHY: He'll just be a moment.(Objects being thumped in the middle distance.) Why don't you go on through?
DOCTOR: Tesla's lab. This is going to be something special.

 

[Tesla's lab]

(Sparsely furnished, but plenty of rugs on the floor)
DOCTOR: I won't lie. I was expecting more.
GRAHAM: Hmm. Well, let's have a look about.
DOCTOR: Mmm.
RYAN: So, Tesla. Is he something to do with the cars, then?
GRAHAM: Yeah, well, they're named after him. He's a famous inventor, ain't he, Doc?
YASMIN: Yeah? And what did he invent?
GRAHAM: Well, he invented the er... the whatchamacallit. Tell 'em, Doc.
DOCTOR: Nikola Tesla dreams up the 20th century before it happens. Before you have X-rays, Tesla has shadowgraphs. Before you have drones, Tesla has automatons. Before Marconi gets the patent for radio, they have to take it from Tesla because he invents it first. His work on alternating currents helps electrify the world. He should have been the first billionaire by now, if he hadn't have torn up his contract. Business isn't his strong point.
(Tesla enters)
TESLA: Doctor? I believe you wanted to see this.
(The glowing green globe)
DOCTOR: Is this what you found in the generator? Giving off all that energy, but why?
(The globe flies off Tesla's hand)
RYAN: Whoa!
TESLA: You see how it moves independently? I believe this is something I like to call remote control.
RYAN: Remote control? You came up with that?
TESLA: I believe this is operating on a similar principle. If we could just work out its purpose...
DOCTOR: I know what it is. It's an Orb of Thassor. But I've no idea what it's doing here. (She holds out her hand and it drops into it.) The Thassor were one of the ancient races. Amazing storytellers. Inventors, explorers. They built these orbs as a way to spread information, to send out among the stars as a way to share their legacy long after they were gone.
YASMIN: Why would someone try to kill us to get their hands on that?
DOCTOR: I've no idea. But maybe I can find out. (She puts the Orb down and sonicks it.) I think it's been repurposed, but I can't work out what it's doing instead. This is all wrong. Something this elegant shouldn't be giving off this kind of noise. Its energy readings are off the charts!
TESLA: That instrument detects energy? Is... is this your own design?
DOCTOR: I made it! Mainly out of spoons.
TESLA: You're an inventor!
DOCTOR: I have my moments.
TESLA: I knew it! So you... so you can understand how it feels, you know, when you have an idea and... and to make it real. I don't think there's any greater thrill.
DOCTOR: I couldn't agree more.
TESLA: You... you spoke of aliens. People, you know, laugh at the very idea.
DOCTOR: But not you.
TESLA: Well, apparently I'm not like other people. It can be difficult, you know, to feel no one else sees the world the way you do. It's like you're, er...
DOCTOR: Out of place.
TESLA: Yeah. I... I thought... I thought things would be different. You know, when I first arrived in America, I had four cents to my name. I was robbed on the journey. But still I thought, this is the beginning. Here I would prosper, my ideas would live.
DOCTOR: Changing the world takes time. You have to be patient.
TESLA: I try. But you saw them outside. They... they talk as if I was dangerous or mad, or...
DOCTOR: So prove them wrong.
(Dorothy enters.)
DOCTOR: Sir, this was just delivered. It's from Mister Morgan.
TESLA: Excellent. Mister Morgan is the investor behind my Wardenclyffe project. With his help, we... (reads letter) He's pulling the funding.
DOROTHY: What?
TESLA: I er... can't complete Wardenclyffe without it. I'm never going to be able to prove it works.
(A flash bulb goes off at a window, then the man from across the street hurries down the fire escape. The Doctor scans the space.)
RYAN: Who's that?
DOROTHY: That was Harold Green. One of Edison's men.
YASMIN: As in Thomas Edison? Light bulb guy?
GRAHAM: All right. We all know Edison. It's Tesla you've never heard of.
RYAN: Oi, he's literally standing right there.
GRAHAM: Yeah. Sorry, son.
TESLA: Edison. Edison. Of course it's Edison. He's plagued me every step of my career.
DOROTHY: Edison champions a rival form of electric current to Mister Tesla's AC.
TESLA: Direct current. Of course, he would champion something so slow and inefficient. That man is a liar and a thief.
YASMIN: Are we saying Thomas Edison is after the Orb of Thassor?
GRAHAM: Don't be daft. How's Edison's men going to get their hands on a Slymurian laser blaster?
DOCTOR: Silurian. Let's go and find out. You three, stay here and guard the Orb. You two, with me. Time we paid a visit to Mister Thomas Edison.

 

[Outside The Edison Electric Illuminating Company]

EDISON: Ladies and gentlemen, AC is the most deadly force known to science. For the public's safety, the Niagara Generator should be shut down.
DOCTOR: And let me guess. An Edison Generator built in its place.
EDISON: Couldn't have put it better myself.
DOCTOR: Thomas Edison, we need to talk.
EDISON: As I was saying...
DOCTOR: We could talk here, but I think you'd prefer to go somewhere more private.
EDISON: You want to make an appointment, speak to my secretary.
DOCTOR: Alien weapons. How are you getting your hands on them?
EDISON: Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho! Alien weapons. You have the wrong inventor, ma'am. It's Nikola Tesla's been talking to Mars. I keep my feet on the ground.
RYAN: So, you don't recognise this? (He has the blaster under his jacket.)
EDISON: Let's take this inside.

 

[Laboratory]

(Walking between rows of benches where white-coated men are working.)
GRAHAM: Whoa! This is some set-up he's got.
RYAN: See, this guy I've definitely heard of. He's got to be America's most famous inventor.
GRAHAM: Yeah. But not exactly a shrinking violet, is he? I mean, he's plastered his name all over the shop. Talk about tooting your own horn.
(One sign says Edison Brings Light.)

 

[Edison's office]

EDISON: I have never seen anything like this in my life. Is it your design? Who has the patent?
DOCTOR: This isn't a business opportunity. Someone tried to shoot us with it, just before we caught an employee of yours spying on Nikola Tesla. Someone's trying to steal from him, and he seems pretty sure it's you.
EDISON: Does he, now. Ma'am, I may keep an eye on my rivals, but I do not steal. I have no need to. There are a thousand patents in the Edison name. You might have seen it on the building.
RYAN: That's not how Tesla sees it.
EDISON: He's sore about the past. You know, I gave him a job when he first arrived in this country on the factory floor. He ended up digging ditches for two bucks a day.
GRAHAM: Tesla? Dapper dude who dresses for the opera? How did he end up digging a ditch?
EDISON: He heard me say I'd pay 50,000 dollars to the man who could fix my generator. He worked on that thing day and night for a year, and he did it.
GRAHAM: And you being the upstanding businessman, paid every last cent, I presume.
EDISON: I offered him a ten buck raise. He quit and chose to dig. Man just didn't understand the American sense of humour.

 

[Tesla's lab]

YASMIN: I thought you'd have more stuff. Sketches, blueprints, you know, for all your inventions.
TESLA: All in here. (his head) Before anything else, I... I build things here.
YASMIN: Tell me about this Wardenclyffe project.
TESLA: Er... imagine if, er... wherever you were, you were able to hear music or, er, the speech of a great leader, or, er... conjure a map of what lay beyond. That's what I propose with Wardenclyffe. All of human knowledge shared freely.
YASMIN: Now that sounds like the future.
TESLA: Yeah. Yeah. It will change the world. Why can't anyone else see that?
YASMIN: There must be someone who'll invest in it.
TESLA: Well, if there is, I can't find them. And, er, without money, I have no power source, and without power...
(The orb comes to life.)

 

[Laboratory]

MARTIN: Sir, if you'll just permit me...
SORENSON: No! No, the grounding coil goes in separately. I said don't touch!
(The copper coil falls to the floor.)
MARTIN: Sorry.
(The red-eyed man is walking down the laboratory.)
SORENSON: Really? Go over there!
(The red-eyed man generates his ball of electricity and blasts all the people standing in the lab, except for Sorenson who was under the table picking up the coil. Red-eye walks past, and he drops it. He has been found.)

 

[Edison's office]

(The Doctor is waving her sonic screwdriver around.)
DOCTOR: Something's wrong.
EDISON: Oh, I should say. We've done this dance for long enough. Now, what have you done with my man, huh? Oh, don't play dumb. He was keeping tabs on that dog-and-pony show of Tesla's at Niagara. Now he's gone quiet, the very day you show up pointing the finger, huh?
DOCTOR: Trust me, Mister Edison, we're not the people you should be worried about. He is.(Red-eye has entered the room, snarling.) Behind me!
EDISON: Harold? What's the matter with him?
DOCTOR: That's not Harold Green. No human readings? What is that? Not possession. Psionic image cloaking? Hologram?
EDISON: What are you talking about?
(Ryan grabs the blaster from Edison's desk.)
DOCTOR: No guns, Ryan! Whatever you are, whatever you've come for, nobody else needs to get hurt.(Harold lunges for the blaster.) Desk! Run!

 

[Laboratory]

EDISON: Oh, my God.
DOCTOR: No time. This way.

 

[Chemical lab]

DOCTOR: In here.
GRAHAM: Doc, look! (A man is sitting propped up against a bench) Oh, he's dead.
DOCTOR: He's the real Harold Green. Whatever's chasing us is projecting his image and using it to keep its true self hidden. (to Edison) You'd better not be hiding anything. People have died.
EDISON: My workers! All those men work for me. They had families. I had dinner with this guy and his wife last week. I have to tell her, tell the families. Now give me the gun.
RYAN: Definitely not.
DOCTOR: We're not shooting it! We need to contain it, work out what it wants. This is your chemical lab. Perfect! Ammonium nitrate, bit of green stuff. Where's your zinc?
EDISON: Zinc? Have you lost your damn mi...? Oh.
DOCTOR: Finally thinking like a scientist.

 

[Tesla's lab]

(Tesla has linked up the Orb to various brass contraptions and light bulbs.)
YASMIN: What is that?
TESLA: Power, waiting to be harnessed. Your... your Doctor was right. The Orb is emitting huge amounts of energy.
YASMIN: It's pulsing, like a siren. Or radar.
TESLA: Radar?
YASMIN: Using energy waves to work out what's around you. It's just a theory.
TESLA: I've been working on a similar theory myself. I call it my exploring ray. But anyway, the Orb is emitting distinct waves of energy. Ah, it's... it's like it's, ah, sensing its surroundings.
YASMIN: Or scanning. Which makes me wonder, what is it looking for?

 

[Chemical lab]

(They hide under a bench as not-Green enters, snarling. The Doctor tries to strike a match and it hears her, then steps on a trail of grey powder as she sets it alight. Flames surround the being. Gotta love chemical exothermic reactions.)
DOCTOR: There'll be more where that came from. How about we try this again? Who are you? Show your true form.
(Its face distorts.)
EDISON: What in God's name?
(Then it vanishes.)

 

[New York City]

(Running along the street, the Doctor is on her mobile phone.)
DOCTOR: Yaz! It's not Edison! I mean, it was, but it turns out it's aliens too. They can look like anyone, so don't let anyone in.

 

[Tesla's lab]

DOCTOR [OC]: Tell Tesla. Tell Dorothy. Lock every door.
(Too late. Dorothy enters with two red-eyed men behind her - Sorenson and the man with no tie from the demonstration.)
DOROTHY: I'm sorry.
DOCTOR [OC]: Yaz? Yaz, are you all right?
(Yasmin hides her phone.)
TESLA: You're dead.
YASMIN: We know you want the Orb. Let her go.
TESLA: Exactly. You don't have to hurt her. With your levels of technology, you must understand there is no need for violence.
NOT-SORENSON: We did not come for the Orb. We came for you.
YASMIN: No!
(The two beings grab Tesla at the same time Yasmin does. They all vanish)

 

[Skritha ship]

(Red lighting and semi-organic architecture, and a ceiling crawling with scorpions. Their leader - who looks like a close cousin of the Racnoss - speaks.)
QUEEN: Welcome, Nikola Tesla.

 

[Tesla's lab]

(Dorothy watches the Tardis materialise, then the door opens.)
DOCTOR: You're all right. You've probably got questions.
DOROTHY: They took them.

 

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: Where did they take them? We know they've got cloaking tech, but if I rig a bypass... Luckily, high-speed inventing is one of my specialisms.
(Edison is watching keenly.)
RYAN: First time here can be a lot.
DOROTHY: It certainly is... a lot. But you take it in your stride. Where do you even come from?
RYAN: Yorkshire, England. I was at home. You know, normal life, work - then, boom - The Doctor. Changed me whole life.
DOROTHY: I was the same before I met Mister Tesla. I wanted my own career, something steady, then he showed me all these discoveries that could be made. But it seemed like impossible things. And now, something normal, steady...
RYAN: Doesn't seem so important. We'll get him back. She's good at impossible, too.
DOCTOR: Right, then. On you pop.
(The Doctor places the Orb in her gizmo.)
EDISON: This is the most extraordinary thing. Is it a single machine or some kind of, er... mechanical factory?
(He reaches for a lever, and Graham slaps his hand away.)
GRAHAM: Oi! You're in here strictly on the QT, right? So get those dollar signs out of your eyes cos this little lot ain't for sale. Copyright, her.
EDISON: That's a British accent, isn't it?
GRAHAM: Yes.
EDISON: Now there's a country who's never understood business.
DOCTOR: Please work.
(The Orb burbles.)
GRAHAM: Have you got something, Doc?
DOCTOR: Of course! That's why they left it behind. It's been hacked. It's not broadcasting any more. It's receiving.
(Projecting images of 1900s Earth onto a hexagon. Stonehenge, horses and carriages, steamboat and other stuff flickering past very quickly.)
GRAHAM: You mean it's a bugging device. Thought so, moment I saw it.
DOCTOR: Exactly. Repurposed from its original intent. It's been scanning the Earth since it got here. (She sonicks the image) And it must have finally found what it's been looking for.(Nikola Tesla)

 

[Skritha ship]

TESLA: What is this place?
QUEEN: You stand in the Throne Ship of the Skithra, high above your meagre city. (viewing hatch opens in the deck) You can see your city, but your city cannot see us. We have been watching, hidden from human eyes while we searched.
(Tesla spots a familiar component.)
TESLA: This is an electrical condenser from my generator.
QUEEN: We have gathered supplies. Now you will work.
TESLA: Work on what?
QUEEN: Our ship. Our weapons. Everything.

 

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: They're hiding their real faces behind projections. They could look like anything, be anywhere. There's no trail!
RYAN: If we're looking for a trail to follow, what if Tesla already found it?
DOROTHY: But he did. The Mars signal. I didn't believe him, not really. But he records all his observations. We have to go to Wardenclyffe.
(Projected image of a headline in the New York Bugle - Tesla: I Heard Message From Mars.)

 

[Wardenclyffe]

(A real, listed Historic Place, (but without the tower now) in Shoreham, Long Island Sound, New York.)
RYAN: Wow. Now this is a lab.
DOROTHY: Mister Tesla started transferring all of his work to Wardenclyffe months ago. He intercepted the Mars signal with this. (Looks like a telescope to me.) He calls it his Teslascope. Here are all the readings he took.
DOCTOR: They must have increased the cloaking when they realised he'd spotted them.
DOROTHY: Hey. Don't take your eyes off him, and don't let him touch anything.
EDISON: We're on Long Island. This box transported us halfway across New York. Unbelievable.
GRAHAM: Yeah, well, keep it to yourself, or people'll say you're as crazy as Tesla.
EDISON: That, my friend, will never happen.
GRAHAM: Yeah. Still, bet you'd jump at the chance to have him back working for you, wouldn't you?
EDISON: Yeah?
GRAHAM: Yeah.
EDISON: How'd you figure that?
GRAHAM: Cos I had a supervisor like you at my old depot. And men like you don't pay a bloke that much attention unless you think there's a pay-out coming.
DOCTOR: It must be here somewhere. Ah, I've found it! The signal readout. Now we're in business.

 

[Skritha ship]

(Rummaging through bits and pieces.)
YASMIN: One of these must be good for getting out of here. Got to find a way off the ship.
TESLA: Well, we're hundreds of feet above New York. What do you suggest we do, open a door?
YASMIN: I'd suggest we don't surrender to the giant alien scorpion.
TESLA: You're right. I'm sorry. This is all my fault. You shouldn't even be here.
YASMIN: Just cos you're a genius doesn't mean you have to figure everything out on your own. We're in this together.
QUEEN: You have examined the equipment?
TESLA: Ahem. Yes, I have. There are more secrets on this ship than I could discover in a lifetime. Er... it... it is a scientist's dream.
QUEEN: Then your work shall begin. You will prepare us for battle.
TESLA: No, I won't.
(The scorpions don't like that)
QUEEN: Your work would burn a path across the galaxies. On Earth, you are nothing.
TESLA: Perhaps I will achieve nothing. But if I achieve anything, it will be in the name of progress, and you are not my idea of progress.
QUEEN: Kill the stowaway.

 

[Wardenclyffe]

DOCTOR: I knew I had one in my tool box. Braxium Bouncer, Mark III. Found it at a bazaar. Bit wonky, but I can't take the Tardis. This should give us enough power to transport me, Yaz and Tesla back here. But once I'm there, I can't jump back until it recharges itself. Which, you know, I'm not worried about. Definitely. And you shouldn't be worried about it either. Not in the least.
(She places part of the device over her left hand)

 

[Skritha ship]

QUEEN: This is the price of refusal. First, she dies, then everyone down there.
TESLA: Stop! She's my assistant, I need her.
NOT-GREEN: She's not important.
DOCTOR: I'm going to have to disagree with that. Ah. Nice place you've got here. Probably. If you cleaned up a bit. I mean, I'm messy, but this? Are you guys all right?
YASMIN: Better now you're here.
(The Doctor stands in front of Yasmin and Tesla.)
DOCTOR: I'm the Doctor. I don't believe we've met.
QUEEN: You address the Queen of the Skithra. You trespass on my ship.
DOCTOR: Oh, this is your ship? Because it looks Venusian to me, and I'm pretty sure that's a Klendov warp drive. Is there a single thing on this ship that you've built yourselves?
QUEEN: This one is clever. She will assist Tesla.
DOCTOR: I've had worse jobs.
QUEEN: Or she will die.
DOCTOR: Stolen tech, stolen faces, and now all your stolen gear is breaking down. And what do you do? Steal someone else to fix it. All this killing and looting. Did it never occur to you to try thinking or building something instead?
QUEEN: Why would we build when all there is is ours to take?
DOCTOR: Tesla. Why Tesla? Why send the sphere to track him, an inventor from 1900?
NOT-SORENSON: We required an engineer.
(The Queen sends a red energy pulse from her sting that possibly kills him.)
QUEEN: I was talking! We required an engineer. Tesla showed superior signs of intelligence. He discovered our signal.
DOCTOR: But how did you know that?
QUEEN: He signalled back.
DOCTOR: You didn't think to mention that?
TESLA: I didn't know it worked.
YASMIN: Seriously?
QUEEN: The Skithra have always taken what we need. And Doctor... I do not see a need for you.
(She raises her sting again.)
DOCTOR: Oh, is that a Dullirian resonator? Oh, and this can power a starship for months. You think Tesla's clever? We make him look like the village idiot. A smart, forward-thinking scorpion queen like yourself, I wouldn't go killing me and Yaz. Cos Yaz...
(She turns her back to check on the Bouncer's recharge status.)
DOCTOR: ..can tell you what this is.
YASMIN: It's a camera.
DOCTOR: Bingo.
(The Doctor fires the flash on the camera, then bounces the trio out.)

 

[Wardenclyffe]

GRAHAM: Doctor!
RYAN: Ah, Yaz.
DOROTHY: Mister Tesla!
TESLA: Miss Skerritt.
EDISON: Well, I'll be darned. She actually got you back.
TESLA: What is he doing here?
EDISON: Tesla, quite a day we're all having.
DOCTOR: It's not over yet. Come on.
TESLA: This is my private laboratory, Edison. You have no right to be here. (They have all gone into the Tardis.) What is this? Wh... Wh... (Tardis door closes) Where are you all going?

 

[Tardis]

TESLA: Fantastical!
EDISON: I couldn't figure it out either.
TESLA: The internal dimensions transcends the external.
DOCTOR: Spot on. (She sonicks the Orb.) Listen up, Skithra Queen. It's me, on behalf of Tesla. Consider this your official eviction notice. Get your ship away from Earth right now.
QUEEN [OC]: We will take the engineer, or this planet shall burn! Surrender him and your lives may be spared.
DOCTOR: You can't have him. He's with us, and we're not going anywhere.
QUEEN [OC]: Then we will kill all the teeming millions that infect this world, and you and your friends will die first. This is the choice you must make. Give us Tesla, or the planet, and all who live on it, shall die.
TESLA: It cannot be me or the Earth. You can't place this burden on me.
DOROTHY: Mister Tesla!
(Tesla leaves the Tardis.)

 

[Skithra ship]

QUEEN: Find them.

(Not-Green and Not-No-tie vanish)

 

[Wardenclyffe]

(The Doctor comes out of the Tardis and stands next to Tesla.)
TESLA: I've spent my life wondering what might be out there. But creatures who would destroy the whole planet just to get their hands on me?
DOCTOR: Recognition at last. You do realise it's killing Edison that they want you and not him.
TESLA: This place, Wardenclyffe. I was so close. People would finally see what it can do. What I can do. Now no one will ever know. You must all go. Let them take me.
DOCTOR: That's not going to happen.
TESLA: I have to surrender myself. There is nothing else to be done. This is beyond me.
DOCTOR: No.
TESLA: No?
DOCTOR: Nikola Tesla, you're going to change the world. But first, you're going to save it. Now, tell me all about Wardenclyffe.
(Slightly later, using a diagram of the World Wireless System - Wardenclyffe Power Plant Prototype.)
TESLA: The tower works by harnessing the electric field of the Earth itself. Here, my magnifying transformer pumps millions of volts into this tunnel. The current races down through the Earth until it reaches the other side of the planet, and then bounces back. Then it's channelled into the tower, wave after wave after wave, and up into the air. My intention was to build a series of these towers, transmitting energy throughout the ether. A world wireless system.
RYAN: That's Wi-Fi. Did Tesla have the idea for Wi-Fi?
DOCTOR: But with enough power, it could be used to send a single bolt of lightning high up into the sky.
TESLA: Yeah, well, if we generate one large enough, it could strike the ship, like so.
DOCTOR: Yes! High five. Too early.
EDISON: In a pig's eye. You want to bet our lives on a contraption like this, huh? Some fantastical idea no sane man would ever invest in?
TESLA: At least I have ideas. You have filled a factory full of men to do your thinking for you. Half of your inventions were thought up by other people.
EDISON: Anyone can have ideas. I make them happen. All those men, all those inventions, I turn them from a sketch into real things people can buy. That's how you change the world. You're too blind to see that my factory is the best idea either one of us ever had.
TESLA: And you are too narrow-minded to grasp the genius of my work, and that is why you will never achieve real greatness. You're not a man of vision, you're a man of... parts.
GRAHAM: Oi! AC/DC. You two might be the greatest minds of the age, but is there any chance you can stop squabbling while we try and save the planet?
DOCTOR: We need to move quickly. We have to prepare the tower. Here's what we're going to do.
(Over them doing what she says...)
DOCTOR [OC]: You and me will finish the tower. I can extend the Tardis shields within the boundaries of Wardenclyffe. That should keep us safe... for now. Edison, Yaz, I need you to get people off the streets. The Skithra are on their way. Dorothy, Graham, Ryan, find anything we can use to defend Wardenclyffe. And be fast. For all we know, they've already found us.

 

[Street]

YASMIN: Please! Please! Everybody inside! Please! Please move inside. Everybody inside. Why is nobody listening to me? Is it the accent? Please, it's an emergency! Please can you go inside?
(Edison has spotted the anti-Tesla headline on the newspaper.)
EDISON: That fool Tesla is still experimenting with his deadly tower. We're as good as fried if we stay outside. He's firing it up right now! Spread the word!
(The people panic and start running indoors.)
EDISON: No one is safe!
(The Skithra agents zap in)

 

[Wardenclyffe]

(Reading the labels Tesla has put on his devices.)
RYAN: Mechanism for photographing thoughts?
GRAHAM: No.
RYAN: No.
GRAHAM: Apparatus for producing ozone.
RYAN: Prototype Death Ray?
GRAHAM: Yes!
RYAN: Yeah?
GRAHAM: Yes!
(Ryan points it at Graham.)
RYAN: Argh!
GRAHAM: No, no.
(The Doctor plugs the Tardis power supply into the Tower)

 

[Street]

NOT-GREEN: Where is Tesla?
(The boy points to the Tower.)
YASMIN: Hey! You stay away from him!
EDISON: Get down, kid! (Edison fires his pistol but the disguised Skithra vanishes.) Where the hell did he go?
YASMIN: Quick, inside! (She helps the scared boy to the nearest door.) When did you get that?
EDISON: Just be glad I did.
(A giant scorpion appears on the wall of H J Bradshaw's grocery, then scuttles down to approach them.)
EDISON: Oh, my dear Lord, what is that?
YASMIN: Come on, run! (The boy watches a second scorpion appear, then a third) Run!
(And more, and more. Edison shoots one dead)
EDISON: Are you sure this is right?
YASMIN: Tesla said it should be just... Here! This tunnel leads us back to Wardenclyffe.
(She opens the door)
EDISON: Okay!
(Several scorpions squabble as they get tangled skidding round a corner)

 

[At the Tower]

TESLA: Doctor? We have company.
(Scorpions behind a forcefield, which lights up when they try to breach it)
DOCTOR: Shield's working, then. Come on. Come on!

 

[Wardenclyffe]

(Graham is boarding up a window when Edison and Yasmin come out of the tunnel)
DOCTOR: Just in time. We need to barricade the door now.
EDISON: Good God.
YASMIN: There's too many of them.
TESLA: Well, they may have superior numbers, but we have superior minds.
DOCTOR: We just have to hold them off. They're a hive species, so if we take out the Queen...
YASMIN: We take out all of 'em.
DOCTOR: Yes! She's still on the ship, and hopefully we're about to zap her with a lot of Wardenclyffe electricity.
GRAHAM: There's a but.
DOCTOR: Small detail. Once we power up the Tower, the Tardis shields will drop, but it will be about thirty seconds before we can blast the ship. There's not enough juice for both.
DOROTHY: What? What's going to keep them out, then?
RYAN: We are.
GRAHAM: Don't worry. This ain't our first rodeo.
RYAN: We've never been to a rodeo.
GRAHAM: You're not helping, Ryan.
DOCTOR: Ready?

 

[Tardis]

(The Doctor cranks up the Tardis and power surges out to Tesla's Tower)
TESLA: It's working.
DOCTOR: The Tower's charging. Nearly there.

 

[Wardenclyffe]

(Graham is clutching the prototype Death Ray.)
DOCTOR [OC]: Get ready out there. Shields are about to drop. Shields down. A few more seconds.
GRAHAM: We ain't got a few seconds, Doc.
(The door rattles)

 

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: What? Signal coming from the Skithra ship.

 

[Wardenclyffe]

(The door flies open but the scorpions don't rush in. Dorothy grips her axe tightly.)
YASMIN: What are they doing? Why aren't they attacking?

 

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: Oh no.
TESLA: What is it?

 

[Wardencliffe]

(Not-Green and Not-No-Tie enter.)
GRAHAM: Let's see what this thing can do. Stay out of our lab! (The Death Ray splutters and blows off a few sparks) Oh.

 

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: We can't blast the ship because the Queen's no longer on it.
(She's standing at the door to Wardenclyffe)

 

[Wardenclyffe]

EDISON: This was not the plan.
QUEEN: Was this meant to be your fortress, and you its defenders? What was the plan? To shiver in the dark until we went away?
(Edison raises his pistol, and she zaps it out of his hand)
QUEEN: Oh, you really are fragile creatures, aren't you? It's a miracle your world has spun on so long undisturbed. Now, tell me. Where is he? No? Then which of you would like the privilege of dying first?
DOCTOR: Stop! If you want Tesla, you have to go through me.
QUEEN: Doctor, did you really think I'd let you hide away down here, hatching your little plans?
DOCTOR: If I'd known we were going to have a royal visit, I'd have put the kettle on.
QUEEN: As queen, I grant myself the pleasure of killing you in person.
DOCTOR: And what are you Queen of, exactly? A stolen ship and second-hand guns? A Queen of shreds and patches. You're not a ruler, you're a parasite.
QUEEN: And what are you? So clever, stealing onto my ship, taking what I claimed as mine. But where has it got you? No weapons. No armour. No escape. Just the desperate hope you might change my mind.
DOCTOR: No, we're way past that. I gave you your chance.
QUEEN: A chance to be like you?
DOCTOR: A chance to evolve, but you were too stupid to take it. When you die, there'll be nothing left behind. Just a trail of blood and other people's brilliance. No one will even know you existed.
QUEEN: It's important you understand, Doctor, that we would have only taken the engineer. Now, because of you, I will take everything. We will overrun this world and pick the bones clean. Have you ever seen a dead planet?
(The Doctor edges towards the Bouncer.)
DOCTOR: I've seen more than you can possibly imagine.
QUEEN: And yet you still think I can be fooled by the same trick twice.
(Not-No-tie grabs the Doctor.)
YASMIN: Doctor!
DOCTOR: Stay back!
QUEEN: A final weapon for our collection. And what were you planning to do with this?
(Not-Green gives the Bouncer 'glove' to the Queen.)
DOCTOR: Nothing. I just wanted you to take it.
(She shrugs off the Skithra and sonicks the Bouncer. The Queen is back on her ship, and she is annoyed.)
DOCTOR: Tesla, now! (Electricity surges up from the Tower and lances out into the sky.) That is it!
(Until it is able to ground out through the Skithra ship nearby. The two disguised Skithra vanish, the Queen writhes and sparks, all the scorpions reappear on board and the ship zooms away. The Tower stands silent. Tesla seems rather pleased with himself)

 

[Street]

(Edison buys the latest newspaper - headline, Night of Tesla Terror!)
EDISON: There you go, kid. Thank you. (walks over to Tesla) I gotta hand it to you. You did it. Come work for me again. You keep working on this thing, you'll be bankrupt within the year.
TESLA: Perhaps. But how could I stop now?
(Across the street.)
GRAHAM: You take good care of yourself.
DOROTHY: You too. Was that more or less impossible than your usual day?
RYAN: Yeah, about average. You?
DOROTHY: Slightly stranger. Normal would be boring, wouldn't it? Bye.
YASMIN: Now this all changes, right? The protests, the funding. Tesla's tower's just saved the world. That's gotta mean rich and famous.
DOCTOR: No. Nothing's changed. A few years from now, Wardenclyffe is torn down. Tesla keeps on inventing, but no money, no fame, he dies penniless. History leaves him behind. But his vision of wireless energy, that does happen, a connected world, and that idea starts here, with him.
YASMIN: That's not right. People should know.
DOCTOR: Either way, it doesn't change what he's done.
TESLA: Doctor, you have to let me study that machine of yours. It is by far the most magnificent invention I've ever seen in my life.
DOCTOR: Never mind the Tardis, you've got enough magnificent inventions of your own.
TESLA: Yes. Yes, you're right. You're right, of course. There's so much to be done. Thank you. Thank you, all.
DOCTOR: Don't give up.
YASMIN: Whatever anyone says.
TESLA: Well, let them talk. The present is theirs. I work for the future. And the future is mine.
(He leaves)
DOCTOR: Shall we?