Other Carriers

The Virus :

I am The Virus of The Nucleus of The Swarm. 

For millennia we have hung dormant in Space waiting for the right carriers to come along.

 

DOCTOR 2:

 Carriers?!? 

What do you mean, carriers?!

I'm not A Porter!!

 

NUCLEUS: 

Consider the Human Species. 

They send hordes of settlers across space to breed, multiply, conquer and dominate. 

We have as much right to conquer you as you have to strike out across the stars.

 

 

WMM: 

A Weak Vaccine against The Virus Agent Scully has been infected with. 

It must be administered within 96 hours. 

That leaves you little time to reach those coordinates.

 

MULDER: 

You're lying.

 

WMM: 

No. Though I have no means to prove otherwise. 

 

The Virus is Extra-Terrestrial. 

 

We know very little about it

except that it was

the original inhabitant of This Planet.

 

MULDER:

(unbelieving) 

A virus...

 

WMM: 

What is A Virus, but a colonizing force that cannot be defeated? 

Living in a cave, underground, until it mutates ... and attacks.

 

 

MULDER: 

This is what you've been conspiring to conceal?

A Disease?

 

WMM: 

No! For God's sake,

you've got it all backwards! 

 

AIDS, the Ebola virus, on an evolutionary scale they are newborns. 

This Virus Walked The Planet long before The dinosaurs.

 

MULDER:

(smiling in disbelief) 

What do you mean “walked"?

 

WMM: 

Your aliens, Agent Mulder. 

Your little green men arrived here millions of years ago. 

 

Those that didn't leave have been lying dormant

underground since the last ice age

in the form of an evolved pathogen,

waiting to be reconstituted by the alien race

when it comes to colonize the planet -- using us as hosts.

 

 Against this we have no defense,

nothing but a weak vaccine. 

 

Do you see why it was kept secret? 

 

Why even The Best Men,

Men like Your Father,

could not let The Truth be known. 

 

Until Dallas we believed The Virus would simply control us,

that mass infection would make us a slave race. 

 

Imagine our surprise when They began to gestate. 

 

My group has been working cooperatively with the alien colonists,

facilitating programs like the one you saw,

to give us access to the virus

in The Hope that we might be able to secretly develop A Cure.

 

MULDER: 

To save your own asses.

 

WMM: 

"Survival is The Ultimate Ideology" 

Your Father wisely refused to believe this.

 

MULDER: 

But he sacrificed My Sister. 

He let them take Samantha.

 

WMM: 

Without a vaccination, the only true survivors of the viral holocaust

will be those immune to it - human-alien clones. 

 

He allowed your sister to be abducted,

to be taken to a cloning program, for one reason...

 

MULDER: 

So she would survive. 

As a genetic hybrid.

 

WMM: 

Your Father chose Hope over Selfishness. 

Hope in the only future he had, his children.

 

His Hope for you was that you would uncover 

The Truth about The Project. 

 

That you would stop it, 

that you would Fight The Future.

 

 

Mulder lets it all sink in.

The driver's eyes look at him through the rear-view mirror.

Darn good driver if he ain't watching the road!

 

MULDER: 

Why are you Telling Me This?

 

WMM: 

For the sake of My Own Children. 

 

Once it's learned What I Have Told You, 

My Life will be over.

 

 

[The Doctor's Brain]

 

Mini-Lowe gets to connection seven and through the gunky bit.

 

NUCLEUS [OC]:

Hurry! Hurry! They are closing in. Hurry, hurry, hurry!

 

Over in the other half of the brain.

 

LEELA 2:

Is this your Land of Dreams and Fantasies?

 

DOCTOR 2:

Well, on the way to it.

 

LEELA 2:

The Evil Thing. Very close. And another.

Doctor, we're going to be trapped.

 

The Doctor goes a little further on,

and finds a three foot high pile of yuk

with a single clawed tentacle flailing around.

 

DOCTOR 2:

Who are you?

 

NUCLEUS:

I am The Nucleus.

 

DOCTOR 2:

You're trespassing, you know.

Treading on my unconscious, affecting my metabolism --

 

Nucleus of what?

 

NUCLEUS:

The Nucleus of The Swarm.

 

DOCTOR 2:

Oh. Oh, I see.

Why did you choose my brain?

 

NUCLEUS:

Because of your intelligence

.

DOCTOR 2:

Oh, well, I can understand that,

but do you realise you have No Right --

 

NUCLEUS:

I have every Right!

 

It is The Right of every creature across The Universe to Survive,

Multiply and Perpetuate it's Species.

 

How else does The Predator exist?

We are all Predators, Doctor.

We Kill, we Devour, to Live.

 

Survival is All, you agree?

 

DOCTOR 2:

Oh yes, I do, I do. And on your argument,

I have A Perfect Right to dispose of you.

 

NUCLEUS:

Of course. The Law is,

'Survival of The Fittest'.

 

DOCTOR 2: Touch�.

 

NUCLEUS:

Your time is running short.

How do you intend to dispose of me?

 

You have no weapons,

and in minutes you will cease to exist.

 

I am The Virus of The Nucleus of The Swarm --

For millennia we have hung dormant in space waiting for the right carriers to come along.

 

DOCTOR 2:

Carriers? What do you mean, ‘carriers'?

I'm not A Porter!!?

 

NUCLEUS:

Consider The Human Species :

They send hordes of settlers across space

to breed, multiply, conquer and dominate.

 

We have as much Right to Conquer you

as you have to strike out across the stars.

 

DOCTOR 2:

But you intend to dominate both worlds,

The Micro and The Macrocosm.

 

NUCLEUS:

We have waited, waited in the cold wastes of space.

Waited for Mankind to come.

 

And now we have not only Space but Time Itself within our grasp.

 

DOCTOR 2:

Time?

NUCLEUS: Through you, Time Lord.

 

Meanwhile, mini-Leela has found mini-Lowe and snuck up behind him.

They grapple briefly. He shoots her then she stabs him.

Phagocytes arrive and attack mini-Lowe as the injured Leela makes her escape.

 

NUCLEUS:

So, Doctor, how can you puny creatures compare yourselves to Us,

The Swarm, The New Masters of Time, Space and The Cosmos.

 

DOCTOR 2:

New Masters?

Not if I can help it.

 

NUCLEUS:

But you cannot. Your time is up.

You have fallen for my stratagem.

Already you cease to exist.

 

Leela arrives.

 

DOCTOR 2:

Get out of My Brain.

 

[Isolation ward]

 

Marius collects something from the Doctor's left tear duct onto a microscope slide.

 

LOWE:

Destroy them!

Destroy them now!

 

MARIUS:

No, no, we must find out What Happened.

We must restore them to their full size and interrogate them.

 

Marius puts the slide in the cubicle and activates the RDS.

Whatever is growing in there, it isn't the Doctor and Leela.

 

[The Doctor's brain]

 

DOCTOR 2:

Get Out of My Brain!

 

There's a flash and the Doctor, Leela and the nucleus vanish.

 

DOCTOR [OC]:

The tear duct. The tear duct. The tear duct. The tear duct. The tear duct. Tear duct.

 

Leela's knife and leather clothes remain.

 

[Isolation ward]

 

The scales disappear from around The Doctor's eyes,

and from his skin.

 

The thing in the cloning cubicle is fully grown,

with several pairs of claws and lots of bristles, but no feet.

 

It's a prawn, sort of.

 

NUCLEUS:

Help me out.

 

DOCTOR:

Professor Marius.

Oh no, not you too.

 

MARIUS:

Yes, Doctor.

Contact Has Been Made.

Now I serve The Purpose.

DOCTOR:

What? That pathetic crustacean, your leader?

MARIUS: You are speaking of the Nucleus, the Nucleus of the Swarm.

NUCLEUS: Take me to him.

DOCTOR: Finding the macro world difficult?

NUCLEUS: It suits me well.

DOCTOR: I thought I'd got rid of you.

NUCLEUS: You were mistaken. I made use of your escape route through the eye.

DOCTOR: Yes, you'd have known about that, wouldn't you.

 

NUCLEUS:

Another mistake, and a costly one, Time Lord, because now, thanks to your dimensional stabiliser, I am no longer forced to exist in the micro world to breed and multiply.

 

My Swarm, when it is hatched on Titan, will no longer be invisible microbes prey to all,

but mighty and invulnerable creatures, invincible.

 

The Age of Man is over, Doctor.

The Age of The Virus has begun.

 

DOCTOR:

— I've heard it all before.

You megalomaniacs are all the same.

 

NUCLEUS:

Bring him with us to Titan,

to be consumed by the Swarm.

 

[Bi-Al Foundation]

 

Elsewhere, Leela has got dressed up in a green nurses uniform,

and applied silver makeup around her eyes.

 

LEELA:

How do I look?

 

K9:

Friend, mistress.

 

LEELA:

If I can just get close enough to that Nucleus,

we'll see how friendly I am.

 

K9:

Hostiles approaching with The Doctor.

 

LEELA:

Come on.

 

(In a corridor.)

 

NUCLEUS:

Hurry, hurry. It is time for The Spawning.

I must get to the place prepared on Titan.

 

MARIUS:

Nurse, take over here.

I must assist The Nucleus.

 

NUCLEUS:

Hurry!

 

MARIUS:

Come with me.

 

NUCLEUS:

Breeding time approaches.

 

Marius and Lowe leave the Doctor's gurney in the hands of the nurse, Leela, and go on ahead.

Leela cuts the Doctor's restraints with her knife.

The party are assembled at Shuttle airlock entrance when Leela wheels him past.

MARIUS:

Nurse, not that way.

The Doctor rolls off the gurney.

 

MARIUS:

Stop them!

The Doctor pushes the gurney at Lowe as Leela takes cover and starts shooting, then they run.

 

LOWE:

They're getting away!

 

NUCLEUS:

No, they are simply trapped.

 

K9 enters.

 

NUCLEUS:

Marius, stay here to make sure the Doctor doesn't escape,

and Make Contact with all other staff in The Foundation.

Bring The Doctor to us later. Hurry!

 

[TARDIS]

 

The Doctor and Leela watch on the scanner. K9 has joined them.

LEELA: Now what?

 

DOCTOR:

Now nothing.

 

LEELA:

Doctor, if we get to Titan first, we can still beat That Thing.

 

DOCTOR:

No, we can't.

The Dimensional Stabiliser's still in the isolation ward.

Without it, The TARDIS won't move an inch.

 

LEELA:

You mean there's nothing we can do?

 

DOCTOR:

I didn't say that.

 

K9. Now listen to me, K9.

 

Do you think you could poleaxe,

do you think you could poleaxe Marius?

 

K9:

Poleaxe?

 

DOCTOR:

Yes, knock him out.

 

K9:

Affirmative.

My photon beam weaponry

has four levels of intensity, Doctor.

Kill, paralyse --

 

DOCTOR:

No, no, no, not kill.

Not kill. Just knock out.

 

K9:

Affirmative.

 

DOCTOR:

Good Dog.

 

The Doctor opens the doors and K9 leaves.

 

[Bi-Al Foundation]

 

Marius activates the tannoy, as seen on the scanner in the previous scene.

 

MARIUS:

All senior staff, report to Reception.

This is Professor Marius speaking.

All senior staff report to Reception.

 

Ah, K9. K9, I no longer require you to obey --

 

K9 shoots him. Marius falls at the base of the TARDIS.

 

DOCTOR:

You're A Good Dog, K9.

Good Dog.

 

The little ambulance spaceship leaves the asteroid.

 

[Isolation ward]

 

Marius is on the examination table.

Leela is back in her leathers.

 

DOCTOR:

Come on, Leela, quickly. We haven't got a moment to spare.

Not frightened of blood, are you? You, The Mighty Huntress.

 

LEELA:

Just hurry up.

 

The Doctor pricks her finger and puts the sample into the scanner.

 

LEELA:

Haven't we been through all this before?

 

DOCTOR:

I had a virus then. I'm immune now.

Something Must Have Happened while you and I

were inside my head.

 

I want to find out what.

 

Ah, that's interesting.

You see that?

 

An image of the blood sample is on the screen.

 

DOCTOR:

That little fish-hook is the only thing that you and I have in common.

It wasn't there before, so it must be the antibody,

The Immunity Factor.

 

LEELA:

How did What I Have

get into your bloodstream?

 

DOCTOR:

Quite simple. Your clone was absorbed into my bloodstream

and passed on the immunity to me.

All we've got to do is isolate it, analyse it, duplicate it

and inject it into Marius here,

and he in turn will be able to cure all the others.

 

LEELA:

What about the Nucleus?

What about Titan?

 

DOCTOR:

Come on, one thing at a time.

One thing at a time.

 

[Shuttle]

 

NUCLEUS:

Faster, faster.

 

LOWE:

We can't. We'll burn out the motors.

 

NUCLEUS:

Let them burn out.

Once we reach Titan and the breeding tanks,

our job is finished.

 

THE PHYSICAL ENVELOPE IS OF

NO CONSEQENCE

 

LOWE:

What about The Doctor?

 

NUCLEUS:

He will follow.

Marius will make sure of that, Whatever Happens.

 

 

It’s been inside his head --

It knows What Marius Will Do,

regardless of whether he still remains infected or not.

 

Faster. Use all the fuel. Faster!

 

[Isolation ward]

 

LEELA:

Doctor, look! It's working.

 

Marius' scales vanish.

 

DOCTOR:

Sometimes my brilliance astonishes even me.

Come on, Marius. Wake up, wake up. Come on.

 

MARIUS:

Where's Parsons?

What Happened?

 

DOCTOR:

He's dead, I'm afraid.

Do you remember anything?

 

MARIUS:

I remember Lowe coming in, and then Parsons,

and then a flash and then nothing.

 

Did The Experiment work?

 

DOCTOR:

Yes and No.

Unfortunately the Nucleus got away by means of the Dimensional Stabiliser.

It's on its way to Titan to breed.

 

MARIUS:

Was I taken over?

 

DOCTOR:

Yes, it got to you.

 

MARIUS:

But we found The Immunity Factor,

so we're safe here for a while. What was it?

 

DOCTOR:

It was something in Leela.

Something we all missed. This is it.

 

You'll have to cultivate a great deal more.

 

MARIUS:

Yes.

 

DOCTOR:

If those antibodies can confer immunity,

they can be used to attack the Nucleus.

 

MARIUS:

Attack The Nucleus?

Oh, that's dangerous.

 

DOCTOR:

Of course it's dangerous.

If we allow the Nucleus to breed and swarm,

it'll go through the entire Solar System like a plague of giant locusts.

 

MARIUS:

But will you get to Titan on time?

 

DOCTOR:

Yes, by means of the Dimensional Stabiliser.

 

[Base control]

 

SAFRAN:

Safran on Titan. Safran on Titan. The Hive is prepared.

The breeding tanks are ready. Temperature and humidity are set.

I await your arrival for The Generation of the Swarm.

 

[Shuttle]

 

LOWE:

Maximum speed. We have reached maximum speed.

 

NUCLEUS:

Faster! We must go faster!

Now the time for spawning is very close.

 

[Isolation ward]

 

Marius has enlisted help to cultivate the antibodies.

 

LEELA:

How much longer?

 

DOCTOR:

We can't rush these things.

They're breeding as fast as They can.

 

K9 will tell us when they've got the most powerful strain.

 

LEELA:

Doctor, why don't we just blow up Titan?

Nucleus, breeding tanks, everything.

 

DOCTOR:

That's Your Answer to everything, isn't it,

Knock it on The Head.

 

LEELA:

Effective, isn't it?

Smash it once and for all. Well?

 

DOCTOR:

With what?

This is A Hospital, not an arsenal.

 

LEELA:

All right, what are you going to do?

 

K9:

Confirm. Confirm strain C five three one has lethal capacity.

 

MARIUS: 

Doctor, we've done it! Congratulations.

There isn't a moment to be lost. Cultivate C five three one.

DOCTOR:

Thank you, K9.

 

LEELA:

And?

 

DOCTOR: 

Now, just get it into the tanks

and wait for it to attack the Nucleus in the same way it attacked us.

Microscopically. It's neat, don't you think?

 

 

LEELA: 

Is that all?

If we can get to Titan on time,

if we can get past Lowe and the others,

if it works when we get it in there. If. 

 

I thought you didn't like Killing?

 

DOCTOR:

I Don't.

 

LEELA: 

Then why are you doing all this?

 

DOCTOR: 

The Virus has A Perfect Right to Exist as A Virus,

not as a Giant Storm threatening The Entire Solar System. 

 

Everything Has its Place. 

 

Otherwise The Delicate Balance of The Whole Cosmos is Destroyed.

 

LEELA:

I still say we should blow it up.