[Online Prequel - Captain's cabin]
(Writing as we tour the quiet yet treasure-laden vessel.)
AVERY [OC]: April the first, 1699, the good ship Fancy. Captain's journal. Eight days we've been stranded in these waters, and still there is no wind to fill our sails. The ship is helpless, marooned in a silent ocean. We cannot run and we cannot fight. All we can do is await our fate. An enemy lurks out there in the darkness. She comes for us when the ocean is still. One by one the crew have been taken. The men are exhausted with fear. We cannot last much longer. I feel an evil presence lurking in the shadows somewhere, forever watching me. I pray for a fair wind that will carry us away from this accursed place, but I fear that we are all doomed to die here.
[On deck]
(A group of seventeenth century sailors row back to their ship, becalmed in the mist.)
BOATSWAIN: What's wrong?
MILLIGAN: Man wounded.
BOATSWAIN: Wake him.
[Captain's cabin]
(Lots of gold loot lying around.)
BOATSWAIN: He slipped in the bilge water, Cap'n and fell on to the rigger. His hand. I Don't know if he'll survive.
(The Captain turns and looks at the tiny cut on the man's middle finger.)
AVERY: You're a dead man, McGrath.
(His other hand has a black spot on the palm.)
AVERY: Same as all the others.
(A woman's voice starts singing.)
AVERY: She's here.
BOATSWAIN: Oh, save our souls.
McGRATH: I've got to escape!
BOATSWAIN: Don't go out there! McGrath, don't listen, for God's sake. The siren is a-calling.
(McGrath grabs a duelling piece and runs out onto the deck. Captain Avery locks himself and his crew into his cabin. The singing stops, there is a scream and then silence.)
[On deck]
(Captain Avery picks up his duelling piece.)
AVERY: Same as all the others. No sign of a struggle, no bones or blood.
BOATSWAIN: We're shark bait, every single one of us. Stuck on the ocean, waiting.
AVERY: Until the wind changes.
(There is a thumping from below decks.)
AVERY: What's that?
BOATSWAIN: It's the creature. It's returned.
(The hatch to the hold bursts open.)
DOCTOR: Yo ho ho! Or does nobody actually say that?
[Captain's cabin]
AVERY: We made no signal.
DOCTOR: Our sensors picked you up. Ship in distress.
AVERY: Sensors?
DOCTOR: Yes. Okay, problem word. Seventeenth century. My ship automatically, er, noticed-ish that your ship was having some bother.
AVERY: That big blue crate?
BOATSWAIN: That is more magic, Captain Avery. They're spirits. How else would they have found their way below decks?
DOCTOR: Well, er, I want to say multidimensional engineering, but since you had a problem with sensors, I won't go there. Look, I'm the Doctor. This is Amy, Isabella Ronald and Rory. We're sailors, same as you. Ooo ar. Except for the gun thing. And the beardiness.
AVERY: You're stowaways. Only explanation. Eight days, we've been stranded here, becalmed. You must have stowed away before we sailed.
BOATSWAIN: Now what do we do with 'em?
AVERY: Oh, I think they deserve our hospitality.
[On deck]
(The Doctor is being made to walk the plank.)
DOCTOR: I suppose that laughing like that is in the job description. Can you do the laugh? Check. Grab yourself a parrot. Welcome aboard.
AVERY; Stocks are low. Only one barrel of water remains. We don't need three more empty bellies to fill. Take the doxy below to the galley. Set her to work. She won't need much feeding.
Isabella : Ronald? A little help?
(Ronald is being held by Dancer, an African born sailor.)
RONALD : Yeah. Hey, listen, right? She's not a doxy.
Isabella : I didn't mean just tell him off. Thanks anyway.
AVERY: If you're lucky you'll drown before the sharks can take a bite.
DOCTOR: If this is just because I'm a captain too, you know, you shouldn't feel threatened. Your ship is much bigger than mine. And I don't have the cool boots. Or a hat, even.
AVERY: Time to go.
DOCTOR: A bit more laughter, guys?
(Amy and Isabella have gone to the hold and found a crate of cutlasses.)
DOCTOR: Where are the rest of the crew? This is a big ship. Big for five of you. I suppose the rest of them are hiding some place, and they're going to jump out and shout boo.
AMY and Isabella : Boo!
(Amy and Isabella have taken the time to don a coat and tricorn hat.)
AMY: Throw the gun down.
(Avery obeys. She kicks it away.)
Isabella : The rest of you, on your knees.
DOCTOR: Amy, Isabella what are you doing?
AMY: Saving your life. Okay with that, are you?
AVERY: Put down the sword. A sword could kill us all, girl.
Isabella : Yeah, thanks. That is actually why I'm pointing it at you.
(The rest of the sailors start a sword fight with Amy, using wooden staves, while Avery holds on to the Doctor. This might be a good time to point out that there was an Avery mentioned in who hid his gold in the Cornish church. However, the sailors are terrified of getting even the smallest cut from Amy's and Isabella's blade. Amy runs up some steps then swings across on a rope, slashing at the sailor holding Rory as she goes.)
DANCER: You have killed me.
AMY: No way. It's just a cut.
(The black spot appears on his palm.)
Isabella : What kind of rubbish pirates are you?
AVERY: One drop, that's all it takes. One drop of blood and she'll rise out of the ocean.
AMY: Come on, I barely even scratched him. What are you all in such a huff about?
(Isabella makes another swing and is grabbed. She is drops the cutlass and Ronald grabs for it, cutting himself.)
RONALD : Ow! Argh!
(The black spot appears.)
RONALD : Er, Doctor, what's happening to me?
AVERY: She can smell the blood on your skin. She's marked you for death.
RORY: She?
AVERY: A demon, out there in the ocean.
DOCTOR: Okay. Groovy. So not just pirates today. We've managed to bagsy a ship where there's a demon popping in. Very efficient. I mean, if something's going to kill you, it's nice that it drops you a note to remind you.
(The wordless singing starts.)
BOATSWAIN: Quickly now, block out the sound.
RONALD : What?
AVERY: The creature. She charms all her victims with that song.
RORY: Oh, great. So put my fingers in my ears, that's your plan? Doctor, come on. Let's go. Let's get back to the er, back to the er
(Rory Ronald and Dancer start giggling.)
BOATSWAIN: The music. It's working on him. Look.
RONALD : You are so beautiful.
Isabella : What?
RORY: I love your get up. That's great. You should dress as a pirate more often. Hey, hey, cuddle me, shipmate.
AMY: Rory, stop.
RONALD : Everything is totally brilliant, isn't it? Look at these brilliant pirates. Look at their brilliant beards. I'd like a beard. I'm going to grow a beard.
Isabella : You're not.
AVERY: The music turns them into fools.
AMY: Oh, my God.
(A bright light is rising up through the water. A female figure then flies up and gently lands on the deck. Dancer goes towards her while Amy tries to hold Rory back. When Dancer touches her finger, he explodes in a cloud of soot.)
RONALD : I have to touch her. Let me touch her.
Isabella : Sorry, but he is spoken for.
(The Siren turns from white to angry red, and a blast of energy throws Isabella backwards.)
DOCTOR: Isabella! Everybody into the hold. Rory Ronald! Come on!
(The Doctor drags Rory away.)
RORY: Hey! Wait!
YOU ARE READING
The Story of a mad Man with a box series 6 (Doctor Who)
ActionAmy, Isabella Ronald Rory and River Song receive invitations to the Utah desert where they meet the Doctor, who claims to be nearly 200 years older than when they had last seen him and says that he will take them to "Space: 1969". As they dine besid...
