Space: 1999 s02e09 Episode Script

(Helena) 'Moonbase Alpha status report.
'565 days since leaving Earth's orbit.
Dr Helena Russell recording.
'Two days ago, we encountered a small planet moving across our path.
'Our scanners detected milgonite, 'a rare mineral vital to our life support system.
'Eagle Four, with a specially adapted laboratory section, 'was despatched to carry out a full geological survey of the planet.
' Hey, that was some cloud bank.
I almost forget what clouds look like.
You can say that again! (Beeping) We now have close visual contact.
The closer the better.
Too close too quickly can be dangerous.
Mm.
Definitely! (Koenig) 'Maya, what have you got for us?' She's a big girl, Tony.
She's not used to loud-mouthed Irish Romeos.
- But she's a quick study.
- Hmph! Geophysical scan confirms presence of large deposits of milgonite.
Life signs? Some kind of life form is registering.
- Minimal and unidentifiable.
- Atmosphere? Oxygen, nitrogen, inert gases, hydrogen.
- Breathable.
- Sounds all right.
(Koenig) 'A piece of cake.
' (Maya) 'What?' (Koenig) 'Nothing to give us trouble.
' Not a bad landing, Alan.
Not bad.
Not bad? You didn't feel a thing! How much time do we have before Alpha's out of range? If we're not off this planet in three hours Three hours and two minutes to be exact.
Three hours.
Let's conserve energy.
Switch to minimum power.
Hey! That's my lucky hat! Never seen one of these before, eh? That's the trouble with your planet.
They never had the state of Texas.
Or an Irish cowboy.
We had many wonderful things on Zycon.
(Koenig) All right, everybody, gather round.
- All set? - Mm-hm.
We've got exactly three hours.
Commander, in three hours we'll have enough milgonite - to last Alpha indefinitely.
- I hope you're right.
Maya, program Computer for three hours.
(Computer) 'Minus three hours to lift-off.
' (Helena) My turn to mind the store.
Somebody has to.
Tony, stay with her.
Let's go.
Aye-aye! I can hear that milgonite calling! Dave! Hello, hello, hello.
Well, that's her! Oh! (Laughs) What a beaut! What a beauty! Say hello to big Dave! I hate to break up your romance with this rock but we've got work to do! The rocks understand me, Commander.
Me wives never did but the rocks do.
Fastest gun on Alpha.
(Gun clicking) Right.
Wellget ready to dig for gold.
(Silence) Hello Now, that That is strange.
What is it, Dave? It's not milgonite.
- Then what is it? - I don't know.
But there must be a source of energy for that glow.
Let's take a sample back to the Eagle for analysis.
First, let's check it for radiation or dangerous elements.
Right.
(Humming) Uh-uh.
Nope No Negative.
Then, go ahead.
OK.
(Screeching) Right.
Hello? Something's off-balance.
Let's find out how off-balance.
(Koenig) Computer negative.
I don't buy it.
That rock has got to show some geological reaction.
There's no sign of any life form now.
Everybody leave it alone.
It's my baby.
(Screams) He's dead.
(Computer) 'Minus two hours - Get that thing out.
- Hold it! I said get it out! John! I'm getting brain wave patterns! (Koenig) You said he had cardiac arrest.
Yes.
All his organs are functioning normally.
His heart has stopped.
He's alive! This may shock his heart back.
- It might destroy the rest of him.
- I've got to chance it.
(Whirring) (Whirring) (Whirring) - It's no use.
- He began to respond.
- That was involuntary.
- Helena! I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker! I can cope with the known, but the unknown - Tony's brain is still functioning.
- It's one of the mysteries of life.
I said get rid of that! - You can't! - You saw what it did.
Any cure will be in the rock.
We don't know what the hell we're dealing with.
We take him back to Alpha and cure him there.
Maya's right, John.
The answer is here.
All right, but no one goes near that rock or looks at it.
- Is that clear? - Well - Where do you think you're going? - Out! Out to get what we came here for.
We've got bigger things to worry us now.
I know! Look, I I am sorry.
But I can't do your job.
I'm the geologist and you can't do mine.
And Alpha needs that milgonite.
Maya I am sorry about Tony.
Alan, keep him company.
I'll be right with you.
Isn't there any way we can reach him? His brain is still alive.
There'sthere's that hope, Maya.
Right Well, that should do it.
Erwhen I tell you, Alan, - that one.
- Mm-hm.
Is it reading? - (Machine clicks) - Yo.
Right, let's have a look.
Quartz, orthoclase, hornblende, augite olivine, feldspar (Koenig) No milgonite? There has to be! I checked the area thoroughly before I asked you to land here.
The computer on Alpha confirmed it.
- You couldn't have made an error? - No way! I double-checked.
The computer could've malfunctioned.
Now, that's the human mind - doubt and disbelief.
The computer checked out every component part of milgonite, and I read it straight.
No Maya, will you be getting the microscope for me, please? I want to have a look at this "rock fluid" on the slide.
Now, hold it! I told you, nobody cuts up that rock.
Nobody looks at it.
- We must, if we're to help Tony! - It's too dangerous.
The secretion won't be as powerful, and with my molecular structure, I won't be in as much danger.
No, no, no, no, you don't, little lady.
The eyes of Texas are upon me.
Eris it all right? It's only the rock fluid.
I'm just examining it under the microscope.
All right.
Would you mind? Well, the little old Texas heart is still beating.
(High-pitched humming) (Beeping of monitor quickens) (High-pitched humming) (Koenig) What do you make of it? I don't know.
It's not the source of power, or I'd have been dead like Tony.
Take a look yourself, Commander.
(Koenig) Like blood corpuscles.
(Dave) Yeah.
(Koenig) Only they keep separating.
I reckon whatever it is, it feeds the nerve system of the rock.
Then the rock must be a living organism.
The life form our sensor picked up.
Oh, yes.
It's alive, all right.
And lethal.
Tony? Tony! What made the rock have the power to strike Tony, yet leave us alone? - 'John.
John!' - Yes, Helena? - Tony's gone.
- What? - 'He walked out of here!' - Then he's alive? Nowell, I don't know.
He must be! - (High-pitched humming) - 'Helena? 'Helena! Are you all right? Helena!' John II think that that rock has control of Tony.
'John, I'm scared.
' 'Stay where you are.
'You're safer there until we find Tony.
' All right.
Let's split up.
Let's go.
Tony! Tony! (Beeping) (Koenig) Tony! (All) Tony! Tony! Tony! Tony! Commander! Commander, over here! He's blown another piece of rock off.
He's been here.
Tony Tony, can you hear me? (Crackling) Helena? You said he was alive.
Helena! Oh, yes, hehe is alive.
He came in here with a rock, he put it over there next to the other one, and they fused themselves together.
That does it.
We're getting off this planet.
- What about the rock? - We must take it.
We will, but we'll dump it in space.
- We must take it back to Alpha.
- What? I need to examine it.
You need to examine your head.
That thing goes.
- Nothing - no response.
- We got trouble up here! All systems are dead.
Eagle Four calling Moonbase Alpha.
Eagle Four calling Moonbase Alpha.
Come in, Alpha.
Come in, Alpha.
Nothing.
Moonbase Alpha, this is Eagle Four.
Moonbase Alpha, this is Eagle Four.
(Computer) 'Minus one hour Eagle Four to Moonbase Alpha.
Eagle Four to Moonbase Alpha.
Do you read me? (Alan) This is Eagle Four.
Come in, Alpha.
Alpha, are you reading me? Alpha, perhaps you're reading me but we're not getting anything from you.
(High-pitched humming) (Alan) .
.
in some way, can you contact us? Alpha, We are getting no contact with you.
There, you take that.
There we are.
Right? Keep trying.
(Alan) Eagle Four to Moonbase Alpha - How long's it been pulsating? - It just started.
- Any change? - No.
He's the same.
That thing's got to go.
It's too dangerous.
John, Tony is still alive.
Maybe we can find a way to break through to him.
We'll work on that outside.
- Don't go near! It could kill you! - So could old age.
(Alan) Alpha, do you read me? (Helena) John! Alan! I'm all right.
I'm all right.
- What's happening? - There was a blue light.
The rock The rock hit me with a blue light.
- It caused a paralysing pain.
- Blue? It's yellow.
It was blue.
Yelloworange and blue.
I wonder what colour kills? - Did you get through? - No, no, communications are dead.
I wish it could tell us what it wants.
Maybe it was trying to communicatesay something.
All right.
Maybe it's angry.
Its natural habitat is out there and we've taken it out of its natural habitat.
Did we? Or did it bring us to it? (Alan) Maybe it brainwashed the computer into believing milgonite was here.
Oh, boy! That's gonna make the cowboy jump for joy! It took over Tony's body, using him to slice off a piece of the parent rock to bring it back No.
It had the biological powers to fuse itself.
Maybe when it gets what it wants, it'll release Tony.
What does it want? All right - one more time.
What does it want? I don't get it.
I've brought in wildcat oil wells back on Earth, tapped uranium, butbut this There's been water here.
Geologically speaking, there ought to be water.
But the whole planet is like a It's like a desert.
What happened to the milgonite? Don't say happened, Maya.
Think positive.
There are clouds above that have dropped no rain.
The hydrostat said so.
I'm not worried about the rain.
Could be an ecological goof-up.
- I'm looking for milgonite.
- Not on this planet, cowboy.
What does that mean, astronaut? Dave, your computer reading was right.
But your source was all wrong.
What do you mean, my source was wrong? We think that rock programmed our computer to get us here on the pretence we'd find milgonite.
That rock has power, energy, intelligence and purpose.
You're talking as though it's human! It's not human, but it is a life form.
What we don't know is its purpose.
And Maya, I think you can help us find that out.
If I could reach it.
- I could save Tony.
- Maya, wait a minute! You've seen what that rock can do! - It can be dangerous.
- Then why let her do it? There's no other way! - You can't think of one! - Any suggestions? - No! - Give your mouth a rest! Discussion ended! John, I think she's in communication.
(High-pitched humming) If that thing really is alive and it's talking to Maya then it's off its guard.
I was only seeing if our weapons could be effective! - You fool! - I had it on stun! I wasn't trying to kill it! It's a geological marvel! Suppose it then killed Maya? - I was trying to help Maya! - To her grave! I'm sorry, Commander.
I can't communicate with it.
It's a life form.
You can change into anything organic.
- You should be able to communicate.
- It refuses.
(High-pitched humming) - John.
- 'Yes, Helena?' The rock changed colour.
It's green.
Helena, get out of there.
That could be the death colour.
(Screeching) - John! - 'I told you to get out, Helena!' (Koenig) 'Helena? What's going on in there?' - It won't let me go.
- 'Are you all right?' Yes.
It doesn't seem to want to hurt me.
It seems to be holding me hostage.
(Koenig) 'Helena.
Helena.
You all right?' It seems to be searching for something.
(Screams) I told you to get out of there.
I can't get out! Helena? We're right close.
'Are you still held? Can you get out?' - Door won't open! - 'Try to get out.
' Stay put.
(Piercing whine) Try Computer.
I can't! The green light stops me! - Any pain? - 'No feeling.
Numb.
' I can't move! Helena.
It's moving around! It's exploring our storage supply wall! - Go into the pilot section.
- 'I still can't move.
' It's fixed itself on our water supply.
The rock has absorbedall of the water! 'That's what it wanted!' Water! It needs water to survive! - Yes - 'And it'll get it any way it can.
' I think I get the scene.
The rock all these rocks, needed water to survive.
These others are dead.
Over centuries, they drained this planet dry.
It didn't have to commandeer our Eagle! We could have taken it to a planet with water.
When humans panic, they don't think too well.
Amazing! Imagine the geological paper I can write on this! Commander.
The human body is mostly water.
And Helena's in there with that rock! John, the green light has moved off of me.
(John) 'Make a break for the door.
' I can't get the door open! (Humming) (Click) (Engines roaring) It's lifting off! (Dave) It's taking the rock with it! You've got a one-track mind in a Stone Age skull! Look All you can think of is that damn rock! Get away from me! It's coming down! Yes! It can't leave the rest of itself behind! Helena? What's happening in there? I don't know.
I don't know.
- What about Tony? - 'No change.
' (Rock hums) The rock has begun to pulsate again.
- What colour? - 'Yellow.
' (Computer beeps) It's taken over the computer.
There are different star charts flashing on the screen.
It's looking for a place with water.
It's facing a deadline, like we are.
Which deadline runs out first - its or ours? - I don't know.
My guess is our friend has to get off this planet or it'll die.
We know that feeling.
(Koenig) 'Are the star charts still flashing?' No, it's stopped.
The screen's blank.
We think that rock wants to get off the planet.
If it is, Tony has to do his rock-gathering bit again.
'The second he leaves the ship, I want you to alert us.
OK?' All right.
Let's move.
All right.
You two stay clear of the action.
- We'll take care of Tony.
- What are you going to do? We can't let him take any more rock.
- How can we stop him? - Stun him.
Maybe we can loosen the rock's hold.
You two, get behind those rocks.
Alan, you come with me.
(High-pitched hum) (Comlock beeps) - 'He's out, John.
' - OK.
Stay where you are.
Make sure that gun's set on stun.
You too, huh? You think the rock is all I care about.
What happened? The laser energy added to the rock's powers affected his molecular structure.
- (Comlock beeps) - Yes? (Helena) 'John.
Tony has reappeared.
Materialised.
' He was transported! We hit him with our lasers, hoping to loosen the rock's grip on him.
(Groaning) He's moving.
He's making some sounds! The sudden power surge has weakened the rock! (Koenig) That means it's most vulnerable now.
If we can take Tony's comlock, we can open that Eagle door.
(Koenig) 'We have Tony's comlock.
We'll try and open the Eagle door.
' I've got his laser.
Where's the comlock? Hey, cowboy! He's gonna do something stupid! Tony? Oh, Helena.
What happened? (Computer) 'Minus one hour Come on.
Let's get out of here.
- Dave! - Out, both of you! (Tony) Quit your shoving! (Rock humming) All right, now.
Take it easy.
You'll be all right.
- Tony! - He'll be all right now, Maya.
(Beeps) (Humming) (Koenig) 'Come in, Dave.
Come in, Dave! 'Come in, Dave!' Come in, Dave.
Come in, Dave! Come in, Dave! Maybe he's dead.
No.
If it wanted to kill us, Helena would be dead now.
He's been taken over like Tony was.
- He had to go charging in there! - We owe him for that.
It got Helena and Tony out.
How are you doing? This laser gun is taking longer to adapt than I thought.
- How much longer? - Not long.
Will it work? Four laser beams will be enough to dry up a reservoir.
It's a cinch to dehydrate the rock.
Weaken it.
Perhaps kill it.
If we have to, then we have to.
- Better get ready, Maya.
- For what? If that rock is using Dave, he should be coming out any time now.
We can't let Dave bring any of the parent rock back.
That rock could become too powerful to beat.
Alan, go to the Eagle.
Tell us when he comes out.
Here he comes.
Maya, you know what to do.
(Computer) 'Minus 15 minutes to lift-off.
Range critical.
' Commander! Help me! Maya! Get out of there! I can't! It's pulling me towards it! You can break its grip! It's using most of its power to fuse me! Break away now! Break away now! - The rock's turned red! - Red is death! Red is death! Use your laser gun! Dehydrate it! (High-pitched humming) - Easy, there.
- It's OK.
You're all right.
How's he? He's OK.
Call Helena and Tony.
We're getting off this planet.
Helena? Tony? Get back here now! All right, Alan.
Take her up.
(Tony) It's dying.
Yes, it will in a couple of hours unless it gets water.
It didn't want to hurt us.
It only wanted to survive.
It's too bad the clouds won't give up their water in time.
We can make them give it up! Nucleoid active crystals.
We've got plenty on board.
We can make it rain by dropping them on the clouds! You set it up.
John.
We'd like to drop nucleoid crystals into those clouds.
Nucleoid? - Maya? - 'Yes, Commander?' - You all set, rainmaker? - Yes, Commander.
Jettison crystals.
(Thunder rolls) (Rock humming) Well, we, er didn't get away with any milgonite.
No, but we got away with our lives.
Here.
(Irish accent) For milgonite, another time.
(Both laugh) Alan, you think you can find our way back? Can I! Let's go home.