It’s Not Just You

“This is Why Clowns are Good —because they show that The Image is not a fact, but it’s a reflex of some kind.

And when you think everything is just that way, The Trickster comes in and it all blows apart, and you get The Becoming Thing again.”

HINDLE: Silence! I need time to think. 

TODD: What will Sanders say? 

HINDLE: Silence! 

TODD: Doctor, tell him. 

HINDLE: Sanders will not return. 

TODD: I hope for your sake he does. 

HINDLE: Why should he? The others didn't. 

I wish to announce the strategy for the defence of The Dome, implementation immediate. 

We will raze to the ground and sterilise an area of forest some fifty miles radius. 

Objective, the creation of a cordon sanitaire around the dome. Method of implementation, fire and acid. Acid and fire. 

TODD: This is insane. There is no danger. 

DOCTOR: And then? 

HINDLE: And then we will wait for rescue. 

The mother ship. 

TODD: Mother ship doesn't return for six seasons. 

HINDLE: We'll be patient. 

TODD: Doctor, tell him. 

DOCTOR: What are you defending the dome against? 

HINDLE: Against out there. The trees, plants. 

DOCTOR: Oh, I see. 

HINDLE: Yes? 

DOCTOR: Well, perhaps if we could define the exact nature of the threat posed by the trees 

HINDLE: I've told you. Seeds, spores and things. 

Everywhere. Getting hold, rooting, thrusting, branching, blocking out the light. 

DOCTOR: Yes, but I-

HINDLE: Don't you see! 

DOCTOR: Nearly, nearly, nearly. I thought that the Kinda -

HINDLE: No, the Kinda are not important. They're just the servants. 

DOCTOR: Of? 

HINDLE: Of the plants. The plants feed them. Did you know that? Then return, that's why. That's why. 

DOCTOR: Why do you think the plants are hostile? 

(The Kinda raise their weapons and move forward.) 

HINDLE: Because they are. 

[Forest]

(Todd stops by some shrubs.) 

TODD: 

Doctor, there's something following us. 

DOCTOR: 

Nonsense. 

(He walks on, then a twig snaps.) 

DOCTOR: 

There's something FOLLOWING us....!!

TODD: 

Come out from there, whatever you are. 

(Someone holds out a figure like the jack-in-the-box. Todd goes to there and the person leaps out from the other side of the shrubs. It wears a mask just like the one in the dome, and holds the doll, then ducks out of sight again.) 

DOCTOR: 

Look. 

(A group of Kinda arrive.) 

TODD: 

So many of them. They normally only associate in groups of three or four. 

(The masked figure jumps out again between them and the Kinda.) 

TODD: 

Doctor. 

DOCTOR: 

Culturally non-hostile, didn't you say? 

(The figure removes his mask. He's the Trickster or village jester. He tries to step forward, but mimes that his right foot is stuck to the ground. When he pulls it free, he jumps forward to land at the Doctor's feet. The Doctor helps him up, smiling. The Trickster moves his hand in front of his face, changing his expression from neutral to scowl and back again.) 

DOCTOR: 

Yes, we take the point, don't we. 

TODD: 

Yes, the clown stroke jester's a familiar figure, anthropologically speaking. 

He diffuses a potential source of conflict through mockery and ridicule, don't you. 

(Trickster nods while his marotte shakes its head. Then he points at the Doctor.) 

TODD: 

Your turn. 

DOCTOR: 

Er, well, I don't really see what I could, er. 

Wait a minute. 

(The Doctor holds up his coin, puts his hands behind his back then brings them back for the Trickster to choose. Both hands turn out empty. The Doctor produces the coin from the Trickster's ear. The Kinda applaud.) 

DOCTOR: 

It's all quite simple, really. 

Just a, just a matter of practice. 

Your turn.