Part Three
[Lakeside]
(Karra dismounts)
KARRA: Come hunting, sister.
DOCTOR: Wait.
KARRA: Come hunting.
DOCTOR: No.
(Ace runs off with Karra, laughing)
SHREELA: Ace! It's happened. It's happened to her. She's changing.
DOCTOR: Yes.
PATERSON: Who's next, eh? Who's next? If I had a gun 00
DOCTOR: We'd be in even more trouble than we are already! Right, stay here. I'll follow her.
PATERSON: Just a minute.
DOCTOR: I can leave you in charge, can't I, Sergeant?
PATERSON: Yeah, sure.
SHREELA: But what if more Cheetahs come?
DOCTOR: Stay still and try not to look like a hamburger. Don't look so glum. It could be worse. It could be Perivale.
[Midge's flat]
(There is a picture of a leopard and her cub on the wall. Midge is lying on the sofa, yowling. The Master looks at himself in the mirror opposite.)
MASTER: I will be free of it. I will be free of it.
(The yellow eyes and fangs vanish)
MASTER: Ah. You are all animal now. You're so weak, your will devoured. A stronger mind will hold onto itself longer, a will as strong as mine. How much longer? If I have to suffer this contamination, this humiliation, if I am to become an animal, then like an animal I will destroy you, Doctor. I will hunt you, trap you, and destroy you.
[By a pond]
(Karra is drinking)
ACE: I thought cats hated water.
KARRA: I'm not a cat. I'm Karra. I'm your sister.
ACE: No, you're not. Why do you keep calling me that?
KARRA: You're like me.
ACE: Yeah?
KARRA: You will be.
ACE: This is good. I like feeling like this. (Ace sees her yellow eyes reflected in the water) Where's the Doctor? I've got to get back to the Doctor.
KARRA: Are you hungry? The chase.
ACE: What?
KARRA: The hunt. Smell the blood on the wind. Hear the blood in your ears. Run, run beyond the horizon and catch your hunger! (Karra howls and two horses come to them.) Are you hungry, sister? Come hunting.
[Cheetah World]
DOCTOR:Oh, Ace, you're running, but what are you running towards?
(The Doctor is using the lid of his pocket watch as a sort of detector on a set of tracks.)
DOCTOR: Ace, how far have you gone? Can you come back?
(A Cheetah is feeding nearby)
[By an old kill]
(Karra leads Ace to a partly eaten corpse)
KARRA: Good hunting. Good.
ACE: You kill people. You eat people.
KARRA: When I'm hungry, I hunt. When I hunt, I eat.
ACE: Would you eat me?
KARRA: There is meat here.
ACE: Yeah, but if there wasn't, would you kill me?
KARRA: How fast can you run, sister?
ACE: Fast enough.
KARRA: Ah, that would be a good hunt. Are you hungry? Come and eat.
(Ace dismounts and starts towards the corpse when the Doctor arrives.)
DOCTOR: Ace! Ace, come back. Come home. Come home.
(Ace runs to the Doctor, her eyes human again.)
KARRA: Good hunting, sister.
ACE: What's happening to me, Doctor?
DOCTOR: It's all right, Ace. We're going home.
[Midge's flat]
MASTER: Look at me. Look at me. You have power now. We have power now.
MIDGE: Yes.
MASTER: You can do anything you want now. Anything.
MIDGE: Yeah!
MASTER: You're my hunting dog, Midge. The teeth for my trap. Trust me, Midge. Trust me.
MIDGE: Trust me, Midge. Trust me.
[Lakeside]
(The Doctor and Ace return to Paterson, Shreela and Derek)
DOCTOR: Ace, listen to me. You're possessed. It's the planet, the Cheetah people. You've changed.
ACE: Yes.
DOCTOR: You're powerful, dangerous.
ACE: Yes.
DOCTOR: You can do what they do. You can carry your prey home. You can help us escape.
ACE: Yes?
DOCTOR: But if you do that, you may never change back. You'll become like the Cheetah people forever.
ACE: What shall I do? Tell me, Doctor. I trust you.
DOCTOR: The choice is yours. (Ace looks back for a moment, then offers the Doctor her hand. He takes it) We're going home!
(All five link hands and then Flash!)
[Bleasdale Avenue]
(They arrive next to the Tardis)
ACE: I did it. I got us back! I'm all right now, aren't I?
DOCTOR: Yes, Ace.
SHREELA: Perivale. We're back. I've got to get home!
(Shreela hugs Ace, then leaves.)
PATERSON: What's your game, then?
(Paterson lets go of Derek's hand.)
PATERSON: So, I had a blackout. It's perfectly normal. Stress, overwork, that's all. I've had medicals. You should've got a doctor to me, though. That's the least you could've done, instead of keeping me lying about in the street. You're a doctor, right? You should know better.
ACE: Thanks, Ace. Thanks, Doctor. Thanks for saving my life, getting me back home.
PATERSON: I don't know what you mean. What are you talking about?
DEREK: Thanks, Ace. Thanks, Doctor. Thanks for saving my life and getting me back home!
(Derek runs off, laughing.)
PATERSON: I'm late for self-defence.
ACE: Looks like everything's back to normal, then. Well, come on, Professor. What are we hanging about for?
DOCTOR: Unfinished business.
ACE: What?
DOCTOR: The Master.
ACE: Oh, he's not still around here, is he? Dump of the universe.
DOCTOR: It was you ..
ACE: Yeah, yeah, who wanted to come home, I know. Listen, this is the only home I've got now, right?
(Ace puts her hand on the Tardis.)
DOCTOR: No, it was you who brought us here, home. Therefore, Midge must have. Where does Midge live?
ACE: Who?
DOCTOR: Midge!
ACE: Oh, I don't know. He used to live in some flats over there somewhere.
DOCTOR: Come on!
(The Doctor runs off, watched by a kitling)
DOCTOR: Ace!
[Motorbike shop]
(Tea pours down the cord of a telephone that is hanging off the hook from a desk. Midge straddles a nice new motorbike as the Master appears outside.)
MIDGE: Just the start, Midge. Just the start. Yeah. Yeah. I know what to do.
(Midge puts on a pair of dark glasses and starts up the bike.)
[Midge's flat]
(Ace looks at the cover of an LP while the Doctor looks at a photograph of Midge on the mantlepiece. It is U2's War - the one with the young boy on the cover.)
ACE: Are they still on the go, then? They were practically drawing their pensions when I was clubbing it.
(The Doctor spots the bloody corpse of a cat by the sofa, then they hear a little girl crying. She is hiding behind the kitchen cabinets.)
ACE: What's up?
SQUEAK: My cat.
ACE: What happened?
SQUEAK: The bad cat killed it. The bad cat the man brought.
DOCTOR: What man? Which way did he go? Show me!
[Gymnasium]
(Midge enters wearing dark glasses and the latest design of shiny suit.)
MIDGE: Waiting on the Sarge? He's been held up. He asked me to have a little chat with you. I learned a secret today. The secret of success. Thought I'd share it with you.
[Outside the flat]
SQUEAK: Over there. Midge and the bad cat man. Midge went away and then he came back. He's my big brother. He's got funny eyes now.
ACE: Where's your mum, Squeak?
SQUEAK: She saw the bad cat man. He made her go away!
ACE: What's he doing it for? Why? He's escaped, hasn't he? He doesn't need to keep the Cheetahs busy. He's safe! What's he still doing it for?
DOCTOR: Malice.
ACE: Her gran's the next floor up. I'll take her. It's not just malice.
DOCTOR: Survival. Huh. It's what he lives for. He must hope, believe, he can find something.
ACE: What?
DOCTOR: To destroy me.
ACE: You'd wipe the floor with him!
DOCTOR: Yes, well, we are an explosive combination. One day, one of us might blot the other one out. (A cat yowls nearby.) If only I could track him down, take him by surprise before he's ready.
(Ace sinks to her knees and her eyes turn yellow.)
SQUEAK: Bad cat man.
[Outside the youth club]
(The Master puts down the kitling and walks up to the glass door to the youth club. His eyes are yellow)
MASTER: Ace.
[Outside the flat]
ACE: He's at the youth club. (She stands up, eyes normal) He's at the youth club. I know he is!
[Gym]
MIDGE: It's common sense, right? It's just the way of the world, right? Survival of the fittest. Get rid of the deadwood, let the wasters go to the wall, and the strong will inherit the earth. You and me. Do you hear what I'm saying? Do you know what I'm talking about? (Midge slowly removes his dark glasses to reveal his yellow eyes) Don't move.
MASTER: Come here. You understand me?
MIDGE: You understand me all right.
MASTER: You'll do anything I say.
MIDGE: You'll do anything I say.
MASTER: Won't you?
MIDGE: Won't you?
BOYS: Yes, sir.
(Paterson enters.)
PATERSON: Right, lads. Sorry I'm late. Had a wee accident, but everything's all right now. Right, come on then, let's get things moving. Let's start showing a bit of sweat.
(The boys part to reveal the Master and Midge. Paterson swallows hard.)
MASTER: Why don't you take over now, Midge?
(Midge walks up to Paterson and smiles his new extra-toothy grin. When the Doctor and Ace run in, the place is deserted except for Paterson, lying dead on the floor.)
DOCTOR: So much for the SAS survival course. (Ace stiffens and gets her yellow eyes back.) Where?
[Horsenden Hill]
(A new motorbike is waiting here)
DOCTOR: He's chosen the time, the place, and the means.
ACE: The trails stops here.
DOCTOR: Ace. (Her eyes turn brown again.) That's better.
ACE: Did I go again? I don't even feel it! I don't even feel myself go. Doctor, will I stay like this?
(Midge comes up the hill on a bike, accompanied by the boys from the gym.)
DOCTOR: Stay out of this, Ace!
(The Master arrives last of all.)
MASTER: You are my hunting dog, the teeth for my trap, the teeth to destroy.
(The Master gives Midge the sabre tooth he used to kill the Cheetah. Ace's eyes turn yellow and she gets on the bike.)
DOCTOR: Ace! Listen to me. Listen to me! (The Doctor pulls her off the bike.) If you fight, you'll change, you'll change completely forever!
(The Doctor leaps on the bike and starts it up. The motorised joust begins.)
ACE: No! (The two bikes crash and there is a big fireball.) No.
(Midge is thrown clear, but burnt.)
MASTER: Survival of the fittest. The weak must be eliminated so that the healthy can flourish. You know what to do, Midge.
(Midge dies.)
MASTER: Good boy.
(Ace runs over and picks up the Doctor's hat. The boys advance on her.)
ACE: I must not fight. I must not fight. Help me! Help me! Won't somebody help me?
(Flash! and Karra appears on her horse. The boys stop, uncertain.)
KARRA: The chase. To hunt in the morning and live till evening. Run out of the light, and slip into the dark. Smell the blood on the wind. Hear your blood in your ears. Die at last, with your enemy's blood in your mouth. With your enemy's blood in your mouth!
(Karra charges at the boys, who scatter and run for their lives. She circles Midge's body then stops in front of the Master.)
MASTER: Get off the horse. (Karra dismounts.) You have no power here. This is not your place. I command here. I command you. You've no power over me. I can do anything I wish with you and you can do nothing, nothing, to me.
KARRA: Do you bleed? I can always do something to you if you bleed.
(Karra pounces on the Master, who stabs her with the sabre tooth he took from Midge.)
ACE: Karra!
(The Master chuckles and leaves. Part way down the slope he sees the Doctor's legs sticking out of a pile of fly-tipped rubbish including an easy chair and some bin bags. He carries on and the Doctor extricates himself.)
DOCTOR: Oh, very good. Very amusing.
ACE: Karra!
(Ace runs to her Cheetah friend, who has turned into a human woman.)
KARRA: I can hunt in the dark.
ACE: I'll get you something. I'll make you well again.
KARRA: I can run into the dark. Run forever.
ACE: Just wait. I'll get you something.
KARRA: Good hunting, sister. (Karra dies.)
ACE: Good hunting.
[Bleasdale Avenue]
(The Master is trying to pick the lock of the Tardis.)
DOCTOR: Good hunting.
MASTER: Yes. It would have been too easy. It seems we must always meet again.
DOCTOR: They do say opposites attract.
MASTER: But this is the end, Doctor. You see it. It's a power. A power from that planet. It's growing within me. Are you frightened yet?
DOCTOR: No.
MASTER: You should be. You should be. It nearly beat me. Such a simple, brutal power. Just the power of tooth and claw. It nearly destroyed me, a Time Lord. But I won. I control that force, Doctor. And now, at last, I have the power to destroy you.
(The Master grabs the Doctor by the throat. Flash!)
[Cheetah camp]
(Fires are burning all around. The Master raises a long bone to use as a club.)
MASTER: Welcome to my new home, Doctor!
(The Doctor is surprisingly strong. He forces the Master down on to his back and grabs a skull. The Doctor's eyes are yellow when he raises it to smash down on the Master, then he sees the Cheetah people disappear.)
DOCTOR: They've gone. What am I doing? I've got to stop. We've got to go.
MASTER: You can't go. Not this time.
DOCTOR: Yes, we can!
MASTER: Escape to what? I don't choose to live as an animal.
DOCTOR: If we fight, we'll destroy this planet. We'll destroy ourselves!
(The Master grabs the Doctor's throat again.)
MASTER: You should have killed me, Doctor.
DOCTOR: If we fight like animals, we'll die like animals!
(The Master brings down a long bone to hit the Doctor. Flash!)
[Bleasdale Avenue]
DOCTOR: If we fight like animals, we'll die like animals!
(Then he realises where he is, and stands up.)
DOCTOR: Home.
(A young blonde woman in a green jacket comes over.)
BLONDE: Did you hear that racket? Did you hear it? Flipping cat fights all hours of the day.
DOCTOR: I think you'll find things quieting down now.
BLONDE: So you say. Flipping cats. It's the owners I blame. They want the pet, right? They want the animal, but do they keep it under control?
DOCTOR: Well, we try.
BLONDE: So you say.
[Horsenden Hill]
(Ace is weeping over Karra when another Cheetah on a horse flashes in. She runs. The Cheetah rides over to Midge and Karra and Flash! they have gone. Ace puts the Doctor's hat on and kneels down.)
DOCTOR: Mine, I believe. (He takes back his hat and umbrella.) Thank you.
ACE: Where have they gone?
DOCTOR: They've been taken back to the wilderness. The place is different but the hunt goes on. You know all about the hunt, don't you, Ace?
ACE: I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet and just run forever.
DOCTOR: The planet's gone, but lives on inside you. It always will.
ACE: Good. And the Master?
DOCTOR: Who knows? Where to now, Ace?
ACE: Home.
DOCTOR: Home?
ACE: The Tardis.
DOCTOR: Yes, the Tardis.
(The Doctor and Ace walk off arm in arm down Horsenden Hill.)
DOCTOR [OC]: There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, where the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream. People made of smoke, and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace, we've got work to do!
