SCENE ONE

Opening Theme Music into recap

ROBERT

They used to let kids down here, the smaller the better.  Now we just use them to guide the ponies.  Lucky we’re blasting, they’re on the surface out of the way.

The slow drip, drip of water, breathing and tap, tapping

DOCTOR

They’ve stopped tapping, on the other side.

ADAM

They’ve given up?  They’re leaving us for dead?

DOCTOR

No.  (beat) I don’t think that’s the reason.

ADAM

What else can it be?

DOCTOR

It’s nothing to worry about Adam.

ADAM

What else can it be?

ROBERT

They’re making sure that they heard John and now they’re shutting up to make sure they’re hearing a sound they’re not making.

ADAM

We’re getting out of here?

DOCTOR

Another reason why you should listen to your Doctor.

ADAM

(laughs hysterically)

We’re getting out of here?  We’re getting out of here!

DOCTOR

It will still take us some time for the rescue party to reach us.  I believe Robert was telling us a story.

The slow drip, drip of water, breathing and tap, tapping

ADAM

Pity we don’t have Sky down here, we could watch the football, it’d be like lads night in.

ROBERT

Like a sing song on a Friday at shifts end?

ADAM

Exactly, but with a satellite dish.

DOCTOR

Please continue Robert.

ADAM

Yeah, sorry mate.

The slow drip, drip of water, breathing and tap, tapping

ROBERT

Last mine I worked at was a real mine.  The owner looked after his worker see.  Put responsible and experienced men in charge as foremen.  (beat) I had just come off shift but instead of writing my report I went home.

ADAM

That’s exactly the same way I felt about school work.

ROBERT

I had never done anything like that before, some of the other lads did it occasionally but there was never any harm done, not really.  (beat) Stern lecture was all they got.

ADAM

Sounds like a fair enough sort of boss.

The slow drip, drip of water, breathing and tap, tapping

ROBERT

He was that lad.  Well when I was down there I noticed a cracked beam, must have been like that since before I came on.  I figured it must have been reported already and there’d be a repair crew down with the next shift.  (beat) So I went home, figuring I’d do the report in the morning and get a bit of verbal from his nibs.

DOCTOR

What happened next?

ROBERT

The wife woke me up at three in the morning.  The neighbours woke her up and of course I got my gear on ready to go and join the rescue party.  It was the least I could do, many of my friends were on the night shift.

The slow drip, drip of water, breathing and tap, tapping

ADAM

(clears his throat)

Is it me or is the dust getting worse in here?

DOCTOR

Sit up, the dust is settling down there.

ROBERT

We dug and dug, cleared a ton of rock in ten minutes but there was too much rock, we found the first body after half an hour, crushed flat he was.  Could only identify him by his disc, G6.  I looked his name up later, he was Alfie Small, my next door neighbour.  (beat) We found more bodies and soon they began to smell, real bad.

DOCTOR

You don’t have to tell us this if you don’t want to.

The slow drip, drip of water, breathing and tap, tapping

ROBERT

I’ve told the story often enough.  It’s the least I can do to keep the memory of those lost lads alive.

DOCTOR

I understand.

The slow drip, drip of water, breathing and tap, tapping

ADAM

You weren’t giving me this touchy feely stuff.  You were all confrontational and in my face.

DOCTOR

You’re not the same sort of person as Robert is.  That’s one of the reasons I like humans so much, the diversity.  It’s one of your species best qualities, if you ever meet my people you’ll know what I mean.

ADAM

Yeah, but I don’t go around telling people what they should do all the time.  I’m not some sort of puppet you can control and make do what you want.

DOCTOR

No, you’re young, immature, brash, impetuous and angry at the world.  Reminds me of me when I was about your age.

The slow drip, drip of water, breathing and tap, tapping

ADAM

So this is when you get all touchy feely with us?

DOCTOR

It’s just talk, a distraction from a distraction, in the end we create our own realities, our own little bubbles of expectations and desires.  I try to see past mine and sometimes I meet people who can help me do this.  Is it too much to offer the same?

ADAM

Now you’re being evasive.

DOCTOR

There are some things, private things I do not wish to discuss with anyone.

The slow drip, drip of water and breathing

ADAM

Sometimes it’s good to share things.  You taught me that.

DOCTOR

Then I’ll share something else…

Footsteps, approaching rapidly

JOHN

(upset)

It’s stopped.  The sounds have stopped.  I kept banging but there was nothing.

ADAM

Have they given up on us?

ROBERT

Could be a shift change, get some fresh muscles down here, takes time to haul men up and send men back down.

JOHN

(relieved)

That’s what it is.  I got scared.

The slow drip, drip of water and breathing

ROBERT

No one can blame you John.  I’d do the same if I were you.

JOHN

Yeah, well you’ve always loved the mines.  Me, I was a city lad until I got caught pinching a loaf of bread.

DOCTOR

Hardly a fair punishment to send someone down here.

JOHN

Wasn’t my first time, not even my second, third or fourth.  My parents had me late, they were pushing fifty and there was never enough food.  I had to do something to keep them fed.

ADAM

What happened?

JOHN

The beak put me in a work house, took me away from everything I’d ever known.  (beat) Put me in a room with twenty other boys.

ADAM

I’ve heard about them, I have a few audio books of the Dickens classics

JOHN

We spent days doing stupid things, building walls and knocking them down the next day.  Digging holes one day and filling them in the next.  (beat) They said they were training us but we learned nothing except the futility.

DOCTOR

You don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to.

JOHN

That’s alright Doctor.  After a couple of years in that flea pit these different Lords started turning up and buying boys and men.  (beat) Some went to factories and others like me ended up in mines.

ADAM

That’s so unfair.

DOCTOR

That’s the law of this era.

ADAM

The law can bite me.

The slow drip, drip of water and breathing

JOHN

They started me off with the ponies, filing tubs and other stuff.  But I got big, quickly, so they put me into a work gang.  (beat) Been hewing for four and a half years now.  It’s not so bad.  Backbreaking work but I get paid enough to pay for the house and food.  (beat) Met a lass who doesn’t mind the sight of me before a bath.  I hope she’s there when we get out of here.

ROBERT

You’ll see her again.  You never told me you were courting a lass.

JOHN

Something’s you don’t talk about until you need to I reckon.

ROBERT

I can understand that lad.

The slow drip, drip of water and breathing

DOCTOR

Perhaps you were right before Adam.

ADAM

Which time?

DOCTOR

About doing nothing.  I’m a Doctor of action, there is always something you can do.

ADAM

Score one point for the humans.

DOCTOR

Of course it might be long and hard work but anything worth the effort is always worth the effort.

ADAM

So we’re going to escape?

DOCTOR

We were always going to escape, but I think we should save ourselves, not rely on others to save us.  That’s what I do, I save others, I won’t have anyone steal my thunder.

ADAM

That’s my Doctor.

ROBERT

What do you want us to do?

DOCTOR

How about an honest day’s work?

Sounds of people standing up

JOHN

Beats sitting here doing nothing.

ROBERT

We should take shifts.

ADAM

I’m on Team Adam with the Doctor.

DOCTOR

Can’t we call it Team TARDIS?

ADAM

No, I called it first.

DOCTOR

If you insist.

Footsteps as they walk along the mine shaft.

JOHN

Robert and I will go first, we’re used to hauling rocks.

ADAM

I managed to shift a few of the smaller ones myself, you’re welcome to the heavy ones.

DOCTOR

This is better isn’t it?

The slow drip, drip of water and breathing

ADAM

What about the air Doctor?

DOCTOR

What about it?

ADAM

Will there be enough of it to last if we go at it gung ho?

DOCTOR

Does it matter?

ADAM

You don’t think it’ll last, do you?  We have been abandoned, they’ve given up on us.  This is our only way out (beat) isn’t it?

DOCTOR

I hope I’m wrong Adam.

ADAM

Shouldn’t we tell John and Robert the truth?

DOCTOR

And use up more air panicking?  This requires slow and steady work, a frantic pace will use up the air before we reach the ship.

The slow drip, drip of water and breathing

ADAM

When I’m right I’m really right, aren’t I?

DOCTOR

Perhaps, but everyone needed to talk anyway.

ADAM

Everyone but you.

DOCTOR

As yet I do not feel any such need to speak.

ADAM

I’m always around, if you ever have a need.

DOCTOR

I know Adam, besides Kitty will be wondering where we are.  I do hope she doesn’t get upset left on her own.

Sounds of loose shale falling from the ceiling.

ADAM

That’s all we need, old grumpy waking up again.

DOCTOR

John, Adam, get back here.

JOHN

What?

Sounds of stones falling

DOCTOR

The props are giving way, they’ll be trapped between two falls.

ADAM

(Shouts)

John, Robert, hurry back!

Sounds of a section of room falling in

DOCTOR

It’s too late…

Closing Theme Music