We have an idea.
Good, where?
Well, we should know all about that when we have a look at the scanner, shan't we?
Now, you can both take a look.
Where are we, Doctor? Is it a planet you recognize?
Keep still, you mutants.
Quiet, both of you, will you? Listen.
Listen, there's no water down here, I think.
Exactly, exactly. There isn't a sound out there. Not a sound.
Silence.
Rarely. That's a shame.
Pressure's quite normal. Oxygen. Temperature, radiation.
It's all quite normal, I wonder.
Hmm. I wonder if it's possible to have a planet so obviously conducive to life and yet without any.
Well, I've finished chopping this fellow. Can we go out to sea?
Yes, I don't see why not, my child. It appears absolutely deserted.
As a matter of fact, I think we should get some long-deserved, undeserved peace for once.
Not bad. A bit amateurish, but.
Oh, come on.
Hey, you know, there might be a lake or a river around, Doctor.
You fancy a swim?
My dear young man, this isn't a joyride. This is a scientific expedition.
Come off it, Doctor. You can't be scientific all the time.
Anyway, look as if you could do with a good washdown.
But get him in cold water. You'll be lucky.
From past experience, we must always be on our guard.
Yes, well, I'm prepared to take the risk.
Well, are we all ready then?
Doctor, I think I'm feeling its way around the ship.
Yes, like something trying to discover by touch. Something blind.
Just reaching this corner now.
Yes, it is blind.
Whatever it is?
As you say, my dear. Whatever it is.
Look at that.
Just look now.
Now look, there's something quite different.
You know, Doctor, it looks to me as if it's sending some kind of message.
Yes, it might be that.
To its controller, whoever it might be.
Yes, or whatever it might be.
Oh, look, it's got a sort of chumbly movement.
Chumbly?
Yes, you know, a sort of...
Chumbly.
Come along now.
Bang goes my swimming.
Oh, it doesn't take much to put you off a sweet little thing like that.
You know, I must be wrong, child.
There is life out there, yes.
A very intelligent, highly intelligent life that build machines like that.
Chumbly.
Chumbly, if you like, my child.
You know, Doctor, that thing might have been dangerous.
What are we going to do about it?
I'm going to find out. Come along, my child, and bring my stick.
Oh, it's delightful.
Yes, thank you.
Just about the right amount of oxygen.
I can smell flowers.
Oh, indeed, how delightful.
Well, there's one thing, child, there's no chumblies about.
Quickly.
Three suns?
Yes, I wonder which one we're revolving around.
Oh, look, there's those flowers I could smell.
Hey, they're roses.
No, they're not quite roses, but almost.
This silence reminds me of the planet, uh, Zira.
You don't think we've jumped a time track again, do you?
No, no, my dear, not again, not again.
But, uh, it's so quiet.
It's almost too quiet.
Doctor!
I...
You're great.
That one looks pretty vicious, Doctor.
You've done it, John.
Excellent.
Otherwise we all might be killed.
We come in peace.
We don't wish you any harm.
He can't speak.
No, but, uh, by the look of that thing sticking out in front,
it's unmistakably like a speaker to me.
Trying to talk?
Stephen, look out!
Don't pull!
Oh, indeed, that's very noble of you, indeed.
Now you put the thing on its guard.
Yes, it's interesting, it's resonating.
Did you notice that it didn't do anything until you made a noise?
Yes, it is blind.
But it can hear.
Oh, yes, and very accurately.
You know, I believe it can locate us by some form of heat wave, as it were.
Really?
Do you get that feeling that it wants us to go somewhere, Doctor?
Stand still.
Don't let it move you.
As neat as fresh as ever I saw.
What?
There is some kind of light ray, but it's half endangered, I would say.
I think we'd better do what the King wants us to do.
Yes, come on, Mickey.
What's that?
Who are they?
I've no idea, but aren't they a lovely surprise?
We are the Dravins.
Very nice.
What might the Dravins be?
We are from the planet Drava, in Galaxy 4.
Yes, well, you seem to have put a pretty effective stamp on it.
I'm not sure.
We actually see thisBU en it as Christmas gift,
As long as the metal mesh covers it,
The control waves cannot reach it.
What do you want?
We came to rescue you from the Machine.
Why?
Marga will tell you.
Marga?
Our leader!
Then why can't you tell us?
Our mission was to rescue you!
We have done that.
We have to take you to Marga.
We do nothing until a leader speaks.
You are welcome to come.
Sir, I don't trust them.
I don't think we should go.
I don't think we should go with them.
If you stay here, more machines will come.
They will capture you and take you to the Rills.
The Rills?
Are these the people that control these things?
They are not people.
They are fiends.
They crawl.
They murder.
Murder?
They have already killed one of us.
Oh, I should like to meet these Rills.
And be killed, Doctor?
It's only what they say, and who are they?
Well, at least they stopped the chandelier.
Doesn't that prove something?
Yes, all right.
Well, perhaps you'd better take us to this margar,
this leader, whatever it is.
Doctor, that's more chandelier.
The mess.
It's caught.
They're all bagged up high so that you can't get the top off.
We're getting close.
Goodness gracious.
They won't come off.
Let's leave it.
We were instructed, Doctor, to be careful.
We were instructed to be killed as well.
Let's go.
Let me go.
Let's go.
All right.
Let's go.
I'm going to kill you.
Goodness gracious.
Are you all right?
Yes, I think so.
It's all this physical exercise.
They're nearly here.
Quickly, inside.
Close external doors.
Well, it was a decent spaceship once.
It's pretty backward now, isn't it?
Yes, it's almost fossilized.
I don't know.
It's got one or two good features.
Beat those chums.
They're still outside.
Are we safe here?
Yes.
They cannot enter.
Silence.
Margar is coming.
Margar.
We're back.
Report.
Mission accomplished.
We have brought the prisoners.
Prisoners?
And the metal mesh?
It stopped the machine.
What?
We could not get the mesh back.
What?
It became a fix to the machine.
She's got them pretty frightened, hasn't she, Doctor?
Yes, madam.
The young lady speaks the truth.
The chumneys are magnetized.
I will deal with you both later.
Sit.
I'm sorry to have kept you waiting.
Won't you sit down?
Yes.
Thank you, I will.
I have to hear the report first.
Oh, naturally.
It is necessary when you are at war.
At war?
With the Rills and their machines.
John Lee, this is a fight to the death.
For existence itself.
I see.
In which one of us will be obliterated.
Oh, as bad as that?
Yes.
So bad that it is conceivable that you too will be obliterated.
Oh, come now, there's no need to exaggerate.
There's no exaggeration.
You want to kill us, don't you?
You want to.
When a planet disintegrates, nothing survives.
Disintegrates, this planet?
Yes.
It's in its last moments of life.
Soon, it will explode.
When?
At 14 dawns time.
How do you know?
How can you be so certain?
The Rills told us.
That is why they are repairing their spaceship.
So that they can escape.
Well, that sounds reasonable enough to me.
We must capture that spaceship from them.
But this is a spaceship as well, isn't it?
Yes.
But it cannot fly.
The Rills shot us down, we cannot move.
You... you don't belong here.
No.
Nor do the Rills.
There is no life on this planet.
We come from Drava.
Some 400 dawns ago, we were investigating this particular section of the galaxy.
We were looking for planets such as this, capable of supporting life, so that we might colonize it.
There are too many of us on Drava.
All women.
Women?
Yes, women.
Women, females.
Oh, we have a small number of men, as many as we need.
The rest we kill.
They consume valuable food and fulfill no particular function.
And these are not what you would call human.
They are cultivated in test tubes.
We have very good scientists.
I am a living being.
They are products.
An inferior product.
Grown for a purpose and capable of nothing more.
Grown for what purpose?
To punch.
To kill.
Yours must be a very interesting civilization.
You attacked the Rills?
No.
We were in space above this planet, when we saw a ship such as we had never seen before.
We did not know it, but it was a Rills ship.
It fired on us and we crashed.
But before we did, we managed to fire back so that they crashed too.
On landing, they killed one of my soldiers.
What are they like, these Rills?
Disgusting.
Well, see, that's no description.
No description at all.
That's all I'll say.
Yes, I think I'm beginning to understand.
So am I, Doctor.
This planet's about to explode.
The Rills have managed to repair their ship in time so they can escape.
You haven't, so you want their ship.
We have no desire to be here when this planet ceases to exist.
Machine approaching.
To your station.
Stop the outside radio.
What are they doing now?
They're going to have another go at the Chumleys while they're looking for things.
Stop the outside radio? Why, I wonder.
They send machines to tell us lies. We do not wish to hear them.
Yes, madam, you may not, but I'd like to hear it.
It's not good for my soldiers.
Yes, see, it's stopped.
Yes. Now it is sending its message.
Fire!
You didn't do it very much damage, did you?
My only intention was to scare it off.
I think we've succeeded. To your station.
And you haven't destroyed one Chumley yet.
We will.
You know, I think you'd rather underestimate the Rills.
Why should they tell you that this planet is going to die, hmm?
They were trying to tempt us on board their spaceship so that they may kill us.
You know, it seems to me as if they offered you help.
That is what they may say. They might have been speaking the truth.
They might have meant it.
On the other hand, it might have been a pack of lies.
What do you mean?
Well, this planet could last another billion years.
Yes. That we have no way of proving.
I have. I'm a scientist.
Very well. I should be grateful if you would find out.
Oh, thank you. Thank you.
Well, I'm afraid we shall have to go back to my ship.
Oh, wait. You cannot all go.
Oh, but why?
Prisoners. Are we?
Of course not. But if you should encounter the machines...
What of it?
I could not guarantee to rescue you again.
Oh, you worry too much.
I should feel easier if one of you remained behind.
I'll stay.
But, my dear...
I'll stay.
You'll need Stephen anyway if you bump into the Chumblies again.
Well, very well.
Young man, you and I will go.
Door opening.
You won't be long, Vicki. Promise we won't get lost.
Chumblies?
What do you think of them, Doctor?
Well, they'd have to be pretty well advanced to break my force barrier.
How do you know they are?
You're a fool.
I wonder what they're up to, eh?
Something else, by the look of it.
I wonder what they're up to.
There, you see my boy? Look. Not a scratch. Not a scratch.
Well, are we going in or not, Doctor?
I certainly excelled myself with that force barrier.
Yes, Doctor.
Now, wait a minute.
I think they've all gone to bed.
Well, it's a very good thing I brought you around, young man.
To tell me what I'm supposed to be doing.
Yes, you're so right, Doctor.
Well, Doctor, will this planet explode?
The rails were quite right.
Then we've got to get off the planet.
Yes, if the dravins let us go.
We've got to make sure that they do.
Indeed, I hope with the rails. Why do you think they've held Vicky back?
Okay, but we've got to get up here somehow.
It's imperative we leave at once.
Why's that? The dravins did say 14 dawns.
Two dawns.
Tomorrow is the last day this planet will ever see.
So.