(WIND HOWLS)
(SNORING)
Yegros-alpha - atavistic therapy on primitive asteroid.
Zaakros - galaxy's largest flora collection.
Zeen-4 - historical re-enactments. Catalogue ends, mistress.
I don't think much of this Earth idea of recreation.
Can't we do something constructive?
Sea-bathing recommended. A traditional Earth exercise.
Go on, then. You exercise. Fetch!
K9!
(SNORING)
- Look what you've done. - What?
You've got the century wrong, the season wrong and K9's sea-water defences wrong.
- Well, I can't get everything right. - Just something would be a help.
- Always accept the unexpected. - That's not what you said when we arrived.
It's the second time I've missed the opening of Brighton Pavilion.
- Right place, wrong time. - What?
You know how dangerous it is bypassing the randomiser.
I can't spend the rest of my life running from the Black Guardian.
We should be safe here. I shouldn't think he fancies freezing to death.
- Do you have a better suggestion? - I have.
What?
K9's given me a list of recreation facilities in this galaxy.
- Fascinating. - I like the sound of Argolis.
- Argolis? Tell me about it. - It's the first of the leisure planets.
In relative Earth date 2,250,
there's a hideous war against some reptile people called the Foamasi.
Most of the planet gets wiped out by 2,000 interplanetary missiles,
but the survivors build a recreation centre called the Leisure Hive.
And there's something called an Experiential Grid -
cells of different environments designed to produce physical, psychic
and intellectual regeneration.
That sounds more like it, don't you think, Doctor?
- Doctor? - (SNORING)
Dangerous, ladies and gentlemen.
- The atmosphere out there is deadly. - Guide Vargos wanted in the boardroom.
Acknowledging. Ladies and gentlemen, I leave you to enjoy the view of Argolis.
I will return shortly.
I must tell you that even those based on optimum exploitation
predict a serious financial down run.
That is the optimistic scenario.
You won't believe this. Brock looks like backing out.
Argolis has an escalating negative cash flow.
- What does that mean in plain language? - Argolis is headed for bankruptcy.
This Leisure Hive is expensive to maintain. Bookings last year were bad.
Next year looks catastrophic. I apologise for the unfortunate choice of words.
- You're responsible for bookings! - Calmly, my son.
Argolis is out of date. Planets like Limnos 4, Abydos are much more competitive.
I hear they have non-gravity swimming pools.
And sleep-reading stations -
accelerated learning experiences for every subject of the Technic Index.
And such vital pastimes as robotic gladiatorial games.
So what? Which of these other planets has created a whole new science?
Argolis is justly proud of tachyonics,
but that science remains, after 40 years, little more than a curiosity.
- There are developments. - I've heard rumours.
But these expensive experiments return us to the question of finance.
I regret I must turn down your kind offer to join you on the board
and decline your invitation to invest. Nevertheless...
That was discourteous, Pangol. There must be no aggression on Argolis.
You have only to look at me to be reminded of that.
Attention. Earth shuttle arriving.
- At least wait until your mother returns. - You're the chairman.
She will be the next. Are you not curious to know the results of the Earth experiments?
Mena's Earth scientist. What does he know about tachyonics?
Earth Agent Brock to see you, sir.
Brock! Come to convey his insult personally, no doubt.
Mr Chairman, after all our years of dealings over the telecommunicator,
here I am at last.
My dear Pangol. It's good to see you, Mr Chairman.
But, Morix... I'm sorry. I didn't realise...
- Have a look. It's the way we Argolins die. - You must forgive my son, Brock.
- Oh. Klout, my lawyer. - Lawyer?
- I've decided to accept the directorship. - I'm very pleased.
The question of investment we'll keep on hold. It may not be necessary.
- I had an offer from another group. - To finance us?
Not exactly. They want to buy you out.
We cannot leave the Hive. No one can survive outside it.
- They want the whole of Argolis. - No. It's not for sale.
A dead world in a radioactive atmosphere?
Demonstration of the Tachyon Recreation Generator is about to start.
It seems you are wanted, my son.
You have duties. Perform them!
- (APPLAUSE) - Ladies and gentlemen...
What you're seeing is non-gravity squash.
A solid image relayed from our own squash courts.
The Generator powers the game as well as relaying the image.
(TARDIS WHOOSHES)
Visitors have been interested in the tricks you can play with these images.
So by way of a preface to the scientific analysis,
let me demonstrate some of the possibilities.
- It's got to be unreal transfer. - Why?
It's the only way to manipulate solid objects.
What if I told you this part of the galaxy doesn't discover unreal transfer until 2386?
- Then how's it done? - I don't know.
Don't worry, everything is under control... Or nearly everything.
You seriously advise me to sell Argolis to the race against whom we fought the war?
- An excellent solution. - It's as well my son did not hear this.
But that war has been lost and won. We're discussing business.
- For some that war leaves a bitter memory. - For your son, perhaps.
Pangol is sensitive to all aliens.
Natural in the youngest of a race that was all but wiped out.
I sympathise. Those Foamasi make my skin crawl. It must be the green scales.
Come, now. Part of the business of this Hive is to develop cross-cultural understanding.
The Foamasi are reptiles with highly developed intelligence.
I don't suppose we appear attractive to them.
True. Frankly, I can't think what they want with Argolis.
That's easily answered. Reptiles are resistant to radioactivity.
Only one life form in the galaxy could live on the surface.
- The Foamasi? - Precisely.
But to be forced to sell them our planet, our home...
Would not that be the ultimate defeat?
(HISSING)
The development of tachyonics to the stage you see it now
and the spectacular luminosity you've all been admiring
are both a result of the war.
Tachyonics. The tachyon was first hypothesised on Earth.
- Yes. Nobody there did much with it. - No.
A tachyon field can be made to arrive at point B - that Visidome, say -
before its departure from point A, the Generator.
For the next hour and a half, we will examine the wave equations
that define the creation of tachyonic images.
I... will not sell... Brock.
Morix! Morix! Where is everyone? For goodness' sake, get somebody!
- How long has he been like this? - Just now. Can we do anything?
Nothing. His time has come.
(HISSING)
(PANGOL) This was the stumbling block in our first series of practical experiments.
Paradoxically, the solution is to introduce a random component
into the tachyonic emission, as long as we can deduct...
Attention. Earth shuttle arriving.
My dear Mena, I must say how sorry I am about Morix. He was a fine Argolin.
He did his duty. I become chairman in his place.
We expected the Earth scientist.
Hardin will be here by the next shuttle. I have a holocrystal of the first trial.
- Pangol will want to see this. - Leave him.
Your son has no love for this Earth scientist?
He resents the fact that Hardin has found a better use for tachyonics.
- A better use? - Yes, Brock.
Hardin has learned to manipulate time.
And this matching tachyon field creates a temporary reduplication of any physical object.
Are there any questions?
I'd forgotten about tachyonics. Those solutions are neat.
- Especially the duration problem. - Yes.
Visitor Loman thinks the demonstration might have been a recording. Try it yourself.
A tachyon image could never be permanent.
First, the projection. Two temporally coincident Lomans are now in existence.
Now we can manipulate one without harming the other.
Aaagh!
No need to panic.
- Something's wrong. I'm a doctor. - The scientist?
- Yes. - My mother's anxious to meet him.
He's terribly hurt. Clear the area!
- Medical facility to the Generator. - His mother's anxious to meet you.
- His mother? - Madam Chairman wishes to see you.
- Who's in charge? - Madam Chairman.
- Must be his mother. - Good. Take me to his mother. Romana.
- Morix sent you to Earth just for this? - Watch.
In this experiment we propose to explore the temporal anomaly inherent in the tachyon.
- What? - The tachyon travels faster than light.
We knew time mechanics was theoretically possible.
The device is now activated.
(BROCK) What's happening? (MENA) Watch.
(BROCK) I don't believe it.
(MENA) Complete cellular rejuvenation.
Hardin has a technique that works for living entities.
No wonder there's so much secrecy.
- Hello. How do you do? Who are you? - Stop! Who are you?
- Who am I? Ask him. - The Earth scientist, Madam Chairman.
- This isn't Hardin. - No, but it's an understandable mistake.
How did you get here? All visitors have identification.
Oh... We must have missed the usual channels, as usual.
They were taking notes at the lecture.
- And they've seen the Earth experiments. - Just a glimpse.
The Medical Centre requests instructions.
- Earth Visitor Loman is now dead. - Dead?
Prepare the body for repatriation. We must investigate this.
Where are those two? I want them brought back here.
- That experiment was a fake. - You spotted that? Good.
Let's get back to the Tardis.
- Can I help you? - No, thank you.
There are two unauthorised visitors here. Keep an ear cocked for a description.
- Thank you. - Attention.
All security guides to be on the alert for two unidentified visitors. Description.
One tall curly-headed humanoid with humanoid female.
Don't let me interrupt you.
Two discontinuous holograms had been edited together. I noticed interference.
- And the necklace. - What?
- The necklace was different. - Yes, that too. Of course.
- Of course. - Why are they so competitive?
Hey.
I wonder...
Doctor?
Fascinating.
Doctor?
Doctor!