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The Silurians
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When Vislor Turlough announces he has changed his mind about going home The Doctor decides to show Tegan Jovanka something of Earth’s future. At first the TARDIS materialises in space but it is soon intercepted and attacked by Sentinel Six, a robot weapons system. The Doctor however, manages to avoid the TARDIS being destroyed by performing a materialisation flip-flop.
The TARDIS then materialises in an underwater base around the year 2084. However, unknown to those in the base they are being monitored from a nearby battle cruiser by a group of three Silurians – Icthar (the sole survivor of the Silurian Triad), Tarpok and Scibus - who later revives the Sea Devil warriors of Elite Group One, led by Sauvix.
The Doctor, and his travelling companions, have arrived on Sea Base 4, which is commanded by Vorshak with Bulic as his second in command, during a time when a cold war is in progress. They have arrived when the base is going through frequent practice missile runs for which a sync operator in required to link with the computer and thereby control the firing of the missiles. Maddox, a temporary sync operator, however, is uncertain of his ability to carry out this high pressured and critical role.
| Tegan and Turlough with The Doctor |
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In charge of the base’s medical lab is Doctor Solow who is in truth an enemy agent in league with Nilson. They plan to program Maddox to destroy the computer circuitry. To do this they ask Vorshak to release Maddox’s duplicate program disk under the pretext of helping the sync operator cope with his job. Vorshak does so, and Maddox is programmed in the base’s psycho-surgery unit.
While exploring the time traveller’s presence on Sea Base 4 is detected when Turlough summons an elevator. In an attempt to evade capture The Doctor programs the base’s reactor to overload. This however, fails and the time travellers are all taken prisoner. The base’s security officer, Preston, also discovers the TARDIS.
| The Silurians |
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It is then that the Silurians launch an attack on the base and The Doctor, recognising their ship on the monitor screen, tries to prevent Vorshak from firing on them. Vorshak ignores him, however, and the base’s defences are neutralised as the Silurians deflect its fire. The Silurians then unleash a huge reptilian creature called the Myrka. While this is attacking Airlock 1, the Sea Devils launch an assault on Airlock 5.
Using the attacks as a diversion, Solow and Nilson activate Maddox, who starts tampering with the equipment. When Karina, another of the base personnel, becomes suspicious Nilson makes Maddox kill her.
The Myrka manages to force its way into the base, temporarily trapping The Doctor and Tegan until Turlough gets the inner airlock door opened to save them. The creature then starts making its way towards the bridge, killing people by electrocution. Meanwhile the Silurians make ready a device called the manipulator and prepare to enter the base themselves. The Sea Devils break through Airlock 5 and start the push for the bridge, killing any members of the base’s crew that stand in their way.
| Solow |
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The Doctor attacks the Myrka using an ultra-violet light generator which blinds and then kills it. However, this comes too late to save Doctor Solow, who attempted to engage the creature on her way to an escape pod.
Nilson, who has been unmasked as a traitor by Vorshak, takes Tegan hostage. The Doctor blinds him with the ultra-violet device, and a group of Sea Devils appear and kill him. The Doctor and Tegan are taken as prisoners to the bridge, which is now under the control of the Silurians. The Doctor knows Icthar of old and thought he had been killed. The Silurians’ plan is now revealed: they intend to get mankind to destroy itself by triggering a global war. They fix Maddox’s tampering and connect the manipulator to the base’s systems.
The Doctor escapes from the bridge and tries, in a store room, to find something to use against the reptiles. He discovers some cylinders of hexachromite gas, which is lethal to them. Sauvix kills Preston before being sprayed with gas and killed by Bulic. As the Silurians prepare to fire the missiles, The Doctor bows to pressure from Bulic, Tegan and Turlough (who have also got free) and agrees that they should feed the gas into the ventilation system. Bulic stays in the chemical store to ensure that the gas keeps flowing, while The Doctor and his companions leave for the bridge to try to stop the Silurians.
The reptiles collapse under the effects of the gas and The Doctor tells Tegan and Turlough to give the Silurians oxygen to keep them alive. Meanwhile, aided by Vorshak, he tries to stop the missiles by linking himself into the equipment as sync operator. The Doctor succeeds, but Vorshak is killed by one of the Silurians before the Silurian itself is killed by Turlough. The Doctor and his companions have won through, but everyone bar themselves and Bulic has been killed. With Silurians and Sea Devils lying dead all around him and his companions, The Doctor grimly comments that there should have been another way.
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