The Lost World (1999) s03e19 Episode Script

I have long suspected this is much more than just a lost plateau.
Kind of hard to lose a whole plateau, I guess.
A plateau of the lost is what I mean, Creatures and civilisations, lost in time and space.
Dinosaurs from the past and you from the future.
All somehow brought together here by some extraordinary kind of magnet or vortex.
Black hole.
As in the Black Hole of Calcutta.
As in a star so massive not even a light can escape its gravity.
Great galaxies! Schwarzschild's singularity! Not even Albert Einstein thought they were possible.
In your time, were such things regarded as real? Yeah.
Sure, why not? A black hole, lost in space and time.
That's the most profound concept, I have Did you study astronomical physics in the twenty-first century? No, someone read it to me in a comic book.
Well, I would certainly like to talk to you more about this cosmic book when we get back to the treehouse.
Can we go now? First we must complete our task at hand.
You take charge of the staff, so that I can sight it from that rise across the valley.
I don't get it, I mean, why do you keep making maps? You've been here almost 3 years, surely you know your way around by now.
That's a reasonable assumption, Finn, However, when I compare the maps I make today with those that Veronica has made in the last few years, some of the topographical features appear to have shifted somehow.
So Veronica makes lousy maps.
Oh, no! Veronica is a very accomplished artist.
You would have seen her self portrait.
Artist, hunter, knows everything about everything - why does she need you guys? - Companionship, Finn.
Veronica is a survivor, as you are.
There's much more to a civilized life than mere survival.
When she returns, I'm sure you'll enjoy her company as much as we do.
Maybe.
But I doubt I'll get the chance.
Oh? Why is that? Well, if we're both survivors, living in a place where resources are minimal, one of us is going to have to kill the other.
What! It was a joke.
Does any of you guys have a sense of humor? Only when something is funny, young lady.
Now you keep an eye on the sun.
I will be back in an hour.
What have we here? Good heavens! It's an aeroplane! A Royal Air Force Vickers Vimy, modified for long-distance transportation.
Oh, it must have crashed here years ago! But why so far from England? Oh dear.
It's never right to die so far from home.
But if one pilot was buried there must be another to do the burying! Which means.
It means one pilot is still alive and still ready to fight! At the dawn of the last century A band of explorers searched for a prehistoric world Driven by ambition Secret desires A thirst for adventure And seeking the ultimate story They are befriended by an untamed beauty Stranded in a strange and savage land Each day is a desperate search for a way out of the Lost World are you? Who the blazes are you? As if you don't know.
Well, I assume you're the surviving pilot from that crashed plane I found.
See? You admit you've been looking for me.
Why on earth would I be looking ? Stop it! You know who I am, and I bloody well know who you are! All right.
You win.
I know who you are.
Yes, see, that's better.
And I've been looking for you, I've been looking for you for a long time.
I knew it.
That's why I set up the ambush, every day.
Every day! How long have you been planning this ambush? Five years.
Since the crash.
So that is your plane I found.
Of course it's my plane, you stupid MI5 lackey! Because I'm the one who took it! Me! Drummond, Phillips! James! Lieutenant! All right.
So you took the plane.
Not the plane The iridium! The iridium from the Laurentien Refinery processing batch Alpha Bravo 423.
So you have been looking for it.
Indeed I have, since 1917.
This is an outrage! Do you know how important my work is? Do you know how important I am? The Admiralty will hear about this the Prime Minister even the King! George Edward Challenger! Lionel Huxley.
It's an honor to meet you at last.
As it should be.
All right you two you are dismissed.
Er, Professor Challenger may I introduce my colleague, - Bartholomew Thorne.
- If you must, Mr.
Thorne.
Professor.
I must apologize for Thorne, Professor.
New breed, far too serious.
I'm being interrogated by MI5, an agency formed by the government to apprehend enemy spies.
I can't think of anything more serious or more annoying.
Oh, it's not what you think We're very new at all of this.
Which explains why you have your supervisors observing my interrogation room behind this one-way mirror.
Professor Challenger, please, this building is used to house the city police.
They used to use this room for interviews.
There's nothing in there except old files from the Boer war.
Ah, tea? I would prefer an explanation I can take to the Admiralty when they ask me why my work has been interrupted.
Well, you're right about that, Your work has been interrupted.
But not by us.
The iridium you've been expecting has been stolen.
What!? That iridium is vital to the Van de Waals process! I cannot complete my work without it! Which is why we're taking this theft so seriously.
Where were you two nights ago, professor? You think I stole my own iridium!? That iridium is the property of His Majesty's government.
With that iridium, I could end this war overnight! Are you listening to me in there? Nobody need die! Not on this side, and not on the other! Do you think there's something wrong with the enemy dying? I think there is something wrong when the greed and pride of self-serving megalomaniacs drags the world to the brink of destruction! Some might argue, that it is the scientists who have made this war so much worse than the others.
The secrets of nature are all around us.
It is the scientists who reveal them and the politicians who pervert them! And I for one would walk to hell and back to end the blind stupidity that drives one man to believe that the only way he can advance himself is by crushing another.
Quite the visionary.
Can any one man summon the future? All it takes, is one person.
And then there will always be others, brave and true enough to follow.
With that iridium, I could have developed a process that would have put an end to war forever.
Well, no wonder our enemies want to steal it.
Thank you for your time, professor and for your inspiring words.
You still haven't answered the question, where were you two nights ago? I was in my lab.
I'm always in my lab.
Ask my wife.
We will of course let you know what we find out.
No you won't.
You're like the rest of them.
You'll tell me what you want and the truth be damned! How did you manage to steal it? After all this time, you think I'll just give you names.
So you can put me up against a wall and shoot me as a spy? That long brutal war is over, Drummond.
No one cares about my work with the navy, or the iridium.
Nobody is looking for you anymore.
I wasn't meaning to pry, Marguerite.
But that's exactly what you're doing.
A simple question about your childhood.
- That's all I asked.
- No childhood is ever simple.
Coffee? You know you told me once that you played on the standing stones and fairy rings at Avebury.
Do you remember that? That's where my family estate it.
It would be fascinating, don't you think, if our paths had crossed as children? I mean, what an incredible coincidence.
There's no such thing as a coincidence.
So you think everything happens for a purpose? Yes! And that purpose is usually to make my life miserable.
With the possible exception of your coffee.
Thank you.
Okay.
Did you ever see a gawky young girl with a long red scarf twirling about the standing stones of Avebury like a drunken monkey! No.
I don't suppose you ever saw a dashing young lad come riding passed on an slightly arthritic old pony went by the name of Mr.
Robinson.
- The boy? - My pony! Some of us didn't have a pony or a childhood.
- Marguerite, I - Roxton, stop! Stop stirring up the past.
There's nothing there for any of us! - Look, I was only - Well, you're not! I think I should go do some hunting.
I'm Hey, you in the cape! I'm looking for this old guy.
- Now that's a mistake! - Yours, not mine.
Veronica, quit it! - Who are you? - Your new housemate.
Lieutenant Drummond, after all these years, why didn't you ever try to leave.
I had my orders.
To remain here, all this time? My orders are to protect the iridium at all costs.
Your performance of your duty is most commendable.
And I'm never to leave the iridium unguarded for an instant.
Is that why you've never left? Because you couldn't leave the iridium? How could I carry it? Where would I carry it? Not alone.
You could have buried it.
Well, yes.
That's the second thing I did.
After the crash, I I buried my co-pilot.
Then I buried the iridium.
But then, I could never be certain, could I? Certain of what? That one of you spineless MI5 toads wouldn't come in the middle of the night and steal it! What did you do that? Well, I had to dig it up again, didn't I? I had to open the box and check the bars again, and then I could be certain.
- And when you were certain? - Then I I buried it again, for another night.
So you dug it up and reburied the iridium every day for five years? I said I had my orders.
After all this time I doubt your orders remain in force.
Then I would have received new orders! Well, how? This.
The radio from your plane? How long is it since it worked? Since the crash.
I believe I could fix that.
How? we're in the middle of the jungle.
I live in a remarkable place.
Not too far from here.
It was built by people from an expedition who also brought with them a vast array of scientific apparatus.
What kind of apparatus? Well, I have facilities for glassblowing, for repairing electrical circuitry.
I even built a windmill to generate electricity.
If you're lying, you know what I'll do to you.
In a word yes.
John, I want to apologize no John, I would like to apologize.
John, I apologize.
George! Oh, Marguerite! I hoped you'd be out hunting with Roxton! Who the hell are you? Don't make trouble and you might not die.
The Royal Navy iridium.
Marguerite, how do you know about the iridium theft? Mr.
Thorne, I believe our next guest has arrived.
Thank you so much for your cooperation Miss, um Baroness, Von Helsing.
baroness at least Perhaps you'll be more comfortable in this chair.
I'm sure I won't be here long enough for comfort to matter.
When did you marry a German, Baroness? Prussian.
The baron is Prussian in exile.
Anxious for the allies to be victorious so he can help rebuild his beloved country.
The question stands: when did you marry him? When did it become any of your business? Let's begin! Four months ago you were in Shanghai.
Was I? Three months ago Constantinople.
Oh, I hear the Bosphorus is lovely in the fall.
- After that Paris.
- I have been busy.
- It goes with the job.
- And that would be? My job is the same as yours.
Oh, I see.
You also marry rich older men, secretly poison them, and inherit their estates, do you? Why? Is that what you do? People will gossip.
What about Baron Von Helsing? - What about him? - Do you plan on murdering him? Like my other husbands? How many husbands have you had? My own? Or other women's too? - This is a serious matter! - I agree! If I am not back at my husband's suite at the Goring within the hour, I can think of one insolent government clerk who's going to find himself transferred to His Majesty's Canadian hinterlands by morning.
- Are you threatening me? - No.
You're not worth the bother.
I have wasted quite enough of your time, Mr.
Thorne.
I won't keep you any longer.
Good evening.
No, no, I'm sorry! You can't leave! No? What does papa bear say? Baroness, of course you're free to go at any time.
Thank you! In fact, I'm not quite sure why Mr.
Thorne summoned you here in the first place.
We really have only one simple question to ask you.
- Only one? - If it's not too much trouble.
That depends.
Have you ever heard of iridium? Is it anything like platinum? I'm rather fond of platinum.
So I see, but no, iridium is used more Well, these days its merits are more military than decorative.
Oh.
And you are asking me about this because? Some of it seems to have gone missing.
- Iridium? - Pinched.
Oh.
In the interests of time you think that I pinched the iridium.
I have to ask.
- I quite understand.
- I'm frightfully sorry.
Well? - Did you steal the iridium? - No.
Very well.
Um, your driver is upstairs.
He'll return you to your hotel.
My regards to the baron.
What? That's it? That's your idea of interrogating a woman of her reputation? Our job, Thorne, is to turn up the heat.
Now two of our agents will follow her and see if we've brought her to the boil.
If she is the one who stole the iridium, she has to tell someone about what just happened.
When she does, then we'll have her.
Did she really kill her husbands? Well, let's just say be grateful you're not her latest one.
In Vienna they call her the Black Widow! Oh, that's astonishing, Marguerite.
We must have been interrogated within five minutes of each other.
I never heard more about the case.
Did you ever find out who was responsible? I did.
It was quite a surprise, too.
- The spy who stole the iridium was - Silence! My orders are clear! Secrecy must be maintained at all costs! Which means you know too much to live! If you expect me to repair that radio, you leave her I have my orders.
Your orders are to preserve secrecy.
The secrecy of what? Your cell of spies has already been broken, your leader arrested.
You don't have to do this! You were going to say my leader's name! No, I couldn't say his name because I don't know it! I only know his position.
Your leader was an officer in MI5.
He was a double agent.
He had everybody fooled.
He was the one who stole the iridium.
Who? Who? Parsifal.
- Parsifal.
- That was his code name.
A youth made wise through compassion.
The savior of the Grail Knights! He was sent to prison for life, but his identity was never revealed at least not to the public.
The scandal would have been Glorious! I suppose that depends whose side you're on.
Whose side are you on? Are you still planning to kill me? Er not now.
Then I'm on your side.
So after you went off with the Zanga trading party, did you find that other tribe, the ones that made the mask with that triangle thing on it? It's called the Trion, the eye of heaven.
It belonged to my mother.
Yeah? I found the village where the mask was made, home to a tribe called the Horta.
It had been deserted for at least a year, except for a blind shaman.
That's like some kind of spiritual leader? He knew my name, Finn almost as if he'd been expecting me.
He gave me the pendant, told me my mother had worn it, and now it was my turn to know.
Your turn to know what? That's all he would say.
And then the next day he was gone too.
This plateau has got to be like the weirdest place in the universe.
It's not a wonder it's lost.
This is where you last saw Challenger? He went off into that valley, heading for that rise.
Are you any good at tracking? Better than you.
Then why haven't you found him yet? Tomato There's plenty of food in the larder.
Plenty of fruits and fresh vegetables at least.
As someone once said, could this day get any better? Challenger was definitely here.
Obviously.
Then why did you walk right by.
So why did he dump his stuff right there? Finn, look! If I know Challenger, he couldn't resist this.
Looks like some sort of a flying machine, it must have crashed.
They had airplanes in the old days? Challenger must have stood right here! Someone came up from behind him must have hit him, because he fell! His attacker dragged him off in that direction! Right.
Well, we're in luck.
Seems the tubes are all intact.
We just need to replace the melted wires and burned insulation.
- How long? - To effect the repairs? A few hours.
But I think we should wait until this storm passes before we connect the radio to the windmill and set up the antenna.
The storm's not here yet.
Work faster! Yes.
Exactly what I was going to suggest.
Marguerite bloody hell! Marguerite, I I apologize.
Apologize for what, I don't know.
No, no, no! I'm sorry! Please let me explain.
I just This doesn't look good! Kind of dumb business.
Someone from that crashed airplane must have survived.
Must have lived in here for years.
Smells more like somebody died in here.
Is there something about the future that makes people clumsy? I don't know.
Is there something the past that makes people dumb? Hmm, this looks important.
It is, for somebody who can read.
I found it! It's a radio instruction book.
You have radio in 1922? Challenger's been trying to build one for years.
Trouble is, he says there's something on the plateau that keeps radio from working the way it does in the rest of the world.
How big is a radio these days? About as big as a gramophone.
Why? Because I bet there has to be a radio to go along with this book.
You're right Something's missing! And if it came off that plane wreck, 10 to 1 it was broken.
I bet it's easier to fix one than to build one.
And when Challenger saw it, he offered to fix it and the only way he could to that was to go back to the treehouse! - So that's where they are.
- Obviously.
So what are we standing around here for? Drummond, stay calm! We'll explain everything so there need be no trouble! - Marguerite, I - No, Roxton! We're all right! But they won't stay that way unless you put that rifle on the floor.
Lieutenant Drummond has been on his own for five years.
He's just a little tense.
But as soon as we fix his radio, there'll be plenty of times to sort things out.
Lieutenant Philip James Drummond? So you've been looking for me too! Not really.
But I had always wondered what happened to you.
- You know Drummond? - Oh, I know what he did.
He and his partner commandeered an experimental air transport for Bloody hell! You know about the iridium too? Oh! I know everything about this.
After I was arrested for its theft, well, it ended my career.
So you stole the iridium and put it on the transport? You're Parsifal? Parsifal? Yes that was the code name that they Then you, sir, are my leader! The greatest double agent in the history of espionage! I refuse to believe it.
John you were not a spy.
The iridium theft was one of the biggest secrets of the war, Marguerite.
How would you know anything about it? When I was an interpreter, my business contacts made me a suspect.
I just learned that Challenger and I were interrogated for the theft on the same night.
It's you? You're Baroness Von Helsing? The Black Widow of Vienna? - Is the baroness no longer a suspect? - No.
I've started thinking about what that reporter said.
What? the obnoxious American? - Somebody Malone? - Those questions he asked, the rumored theft of the secret weapon.
Someone fed him information from the inside.
Well, Malone was remarkably well informed for somebody just back from the front.
Inside information like that can only come from one of two possible sources.
And the sources would be? The person leading this investigation.
Which is of course preposterous.
And the person responsible for the theft.
Look, er, do you know what you're suggesting? I don't like it any more than you do.
But if there is a traitor within MI5, it can only be one person.
Major, could I trouble you to join us? I presume you have good reason for calling me in here.
Actually, sir, we'd like to ask you a question.
Very well.
One question.
Where were you two nights ago? If you think I am in any way involved in this traitorous act then you are no better than traitors yourselves! Am I to take that as, you have no answer for us? Or are you so arrogant, that you didn't even bother to arrange an alibi? - I'll see you in chains.
- No sir.
You will not.
Guards! Major Lord John Roxton, I arrests you for high treason! Take him to the holding cells.
If that's what really happened, there's surely something you're not telling us.
I know you're not a traitor, John.
You're not the only one with secrets, Marguerite.
The future of the world does not depend on a corrupt monarchy.
And with men like you, the struggle for a new order isn't over yet.
I thought this day would never come.
Stand at ease, soldier! I'll take it from here.
She said Parsifal was sent to prison for life.
*** The British didn't have the stomach to send one of their own to prison.
It was easy enough to make a deal.
A deal! You gave away our secrets to save yourself while I was rotting in this jungle? - That's coming from the treehouse! - They need us! *** Get back to work! Even in this rotten jungle, I stayed true to the cause.
But he put himself first and betrayed both sides! Stop it! Lord John Roxton betrayed no one! How could you possibly know! Because I was Parsifal! You're safe now.
The investigation is over so soon? Poor Thorne suspected nothing.
I led him around like a bull with a ring through its nose.
Led him to whom? Better you don't know.
A nameless officer too stupid to realize he was being set up from the very beginning.
So our tracks are covered.
Oh, perfectly.
The iridium is en route to our friends in South America.
His Majesty's Naval Office of Special Research is in complete disarray.
And Parsifal? As enchanting, bewitching and absolutely unsuspected.
Well done! - It's my pleasure.
- No doubt.
Er, another thing Thorne failed to notice.
This file contains the new ciphers for all transatlantic cables between London and Washington starting this month.
They will be in the diplomatic pouch by morning, and Berlin by night.
No wonder we're winning this war.
Someone has to.
You! A woman, the greatest double agent in history! No.
She was a triple agent.
What? I was the Army's senior liaison officer to MI5 and not even I knew Parsifal was a woman.
Parsifal ran the entire spy ring operating in England.
Yes.
Which meant that every enemy spy in the country gave their secrets to a British woman who they thought was working for the enemy.
But she was really working for England.
To keep our secrets safe.
Parsifal planned the theft of the iridium! We needed to give HIM a success that would convince Berlin he was effective, without jeopardising the war effort.
What!? My work could have ended the war! I'm sorry, George.
As the volunteer who was arrested to protect Parsifal.
I chose your work as the sacrificial lamb.
In heaven's name, why!? Because of the Summerlee Commission.
Arthur Summerlee! He headed a secret committee that reviewed special ongoing defense projects.
They judged the likelihood of their success.
And he thought my project unlikely to succeed.
Not in time to be used in the war.
Look, for what it's worth, I've regretted the decision ever since! And so you should! George you have no idea how many times I wanted to tell you I was there that night.
that I heard what you said, and what it meant to me.
You're lying, all of you! Fix the radio, now! The storm is so close, I should disconnect the antenna first.
Finn! I don't care who it is! - Look out! - No more interruptions! No! What? - I make my own orders! - Marguerite! Drummond! Whoa.
Well, there's no way that radio's getting fixed! Pleasant thoughts, I hope.
Arthur's report, Challenger's iridium.
The three of us in the same building on the same night.
Even Malone, investigating the story for his newspaper! Well, what does someone who doesn't believe in coincidence make of all that? You don't suppose it's possible that we're not all here by accident.
Oh, nonsense.
Our involvement with this iridium followed by our presence here on the plateau is nothing more than random happenstance.
Well, what have you two been up to? Oh, just trading stories.
About men, mostly.
Oh it is good to hear your laughter again.
You have being missed.
Oh, tell me about it, Veronica knew this, Veronica did that.
These guys wouldn't last a month without you.
Your new pendant is very beautiful.
It was her mother's.
That symbol is the same as on Summerlee's mask.
May I? Oh, that is odd! I believe that this pendant is made of iridium! Well, George if you can believe that all the mysteries of the plateau might have one answer, why can't we believe we were brought here for a specific purpose? Whatever could that purpose be? *