The Day
of the Clone - Part Five
Written by Victor Pemberton
Simon reaches out for the time barrier. He finds it. Liz tells
him she is scared of what lies beyond the barrier and where they
might end up. Even if they do get back, how can they stop what
is going to happen. Simon explains that it isn't Traynor who affected
the world but Devereaux. The Devereaux in the Ice Box wasn't a
real clone. He was a projection of one. The real Devereaux is
the cause of the burn up and not Traynor. Liz is confused and
needs more explanation but Simon drags her into the time barrier
before he can explain further.
Liz and Simon find themselves in the familiar surroundings of
the Ministry field. As they wonder what the year is, they come
face to face with Commander Traynor standing with a group of white-coated
scientists watching them. They are standing in the same positions
that they were in when Liz and Simon escaped from them into the
barrier. Traynor orders the men to take the children away. As
they are led from the field, Traynor stares impassively into the
time barrier...
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In their kitchen, Frank is questioning Jean about where Liz
and Simon could be. She doesn't know and Frank is getting more
frustrated by the minute. He apologises for his abruptness to
her. They both want to find the two children but are at a loss.
Frank suggests going direct to Colonel Murray at Whitehall. Jean
points out how fantastic the story of Liz and Simon's disappearance
would sound to him. Franks tries to get Jean to recall the details
of the office she saw Liz and Simon in whilst she was under the
influence of hypnosis. Jean cannot remember much about it - just
the children. Frank tries to dig deeper. He reminds her of the
man behind the desk. She didn't trust him. Jean breaks down and
cannot face her husband's questioning. She is scared she may never
see Liz or Simon again.
In an operating theatre at R1, surgeons are tending to an old
man obviously near death. Nearby Dr. Frazer and Pitman are examining
a slide under a microscope. Both men look weary. The conclusion
from the examination is obvious to Pitman. HA57 doesn't work.
They should stop the experiments now. They have no right to test
a drug that hasn't been proven "...on the laboratory bench."
It needs at least another five years, he concludes. Dr. Frazer
is more oblique. He suggests that there comes a time when human
life has to be put at some form of risk in biological research.
He still has the faith that HA57 will be as beneficial one day
to humankind as penicillin is. Pitman points out that HA57 is
having the reverse effect to that which Devereaux predicted. It
isn't slowing the ageing process... it's speeding it up. Pitman
tries to argue further but Dr. Frazer is having none of it. He
turns to a nurse and orders her to have the patient removed back
to the ward.
In the corridor outside, Pitman confront Dr. Frazer again. He
asks why they have to extend human life. Dr. Frazer storms off
towards reception as Pitman heads off in the other direction.
He passes the group of men bringing Liz and Simon back into R1.
As the group stand at the reception desk, an old woman exits the
lift and stumbles before collapsing to the floor. Liz goes across
to help and, to her horror, realises that the old woman is Maria.
She calls her name but Maria mumbles deliriously. Pitman joins
the group and tells the orderlies to get the patient on oxygen.
He heads off and runs straight into Commander Traynor. He tells
the Commander he wants to talk to him and explains that the patients
are not responding to treatment. Traynor suggests they discuss
it later, despite the fact that Pitman warns that some of them
may be dead within 48 hours. As Traynor walks off, Pitman stares
horrified after him.
Liz and Simon have been locked in the room with no windows. Liz
points out that now they are back in their own time, anything
could happen to them. Simon indicates the far wall and suggests
something may be beyond it. He is still puzzled by the fact that
time has appeared to stand still on this side of time barrier.
Traynor and his men were waiting for them in exactly the same
positions in the Ministry field as they were when they originally
escaped to 1965. The children are shocked when they realise that
Commander Traynor is standing at the door listening to the "...most
interesting theory." He closes the door and smiles, urbanely
asking Simon to explain it to him.
As Jean is clearing the kitchen table, Frank is desperately thumbing
through the yellow pages trying to find a number for the Ministry
of Forward Development at Whitehall. He finds it and makes for
the telephone. Jean tries to consider the situation more carefully
but Frank is adamant. He gets through to the Ministry and demands
to speak to Commander Traynor.
In the room with no windows, Traynor is still questioning Liz
and Simon. Simon argues that HA57 doesn't work. Traynor's way
of controlling time for humankind is flawed and he knows it. Traynor
appears to agree but, as he points out, the two of them have seen
the future and can help him progress the research by twenty years.
Simon reminds him that he was unable to discover the formula for
the HA57 in the Ice Box. Liz wants to know why he is holding them
prisoner, after all the help they've given him. Traynor rebuffs
her with the fact that they've done nothing but hinder. Liz tries
to remind him about the help they gave in 1965 when he was a prisoner
of Devereaux. Traynor seems taken aback for a moment and repeats
the year 1965 under his breath. Simon demands answers: Why did
he lie to them? What happened in the room after they left him?
Why was he given a year's leave of absence from his office? HA57
doesn't work... Traynor is confronted with the horrible truth
about the experiments on the young volunteers and clutches his
forehead in apparent anguish. He turns to face Simon who steps
back in fear. There is a pause before the Commander turns and
heads silently out of the room.
Frank is still on the telephone demanding to speak with Traynor.
He threatens to go straight to the Minister himself. Dejected,
Frank replaces the receiver explaining to Jean they hung up on
him. Frank believes Traynor is there and is refusing to take his
call. Despite Jean's protests, he plans to go to Whitehall and
find the Commander himself. Then it is Frank's turn to protest
as his wife decides to accompany him. Jean makes Frank realise
that as Liz's mother, she has as much of a stake in the situation
as he does.
Liz is lying on the bed when she suddenly announces that she
thinks Commander Traynor is "stark raving mad." Simon
thinks there is more to it than that. When they mentioned the
events of 1965, he seemed troubled by it. Liz points out that
the Commander has changed from then. Suddenly Simon recalls something
that Dr. Bukov told him in the Ice Box about clones - that a clone
only remembers what happened to it from the point at which it
was created. "All the previous memories are only partially
transmitted." It takes seconds for Liz to realise the implications
and for Simon to acknowledge that the final piece in the jigsaw
had been staring them in the face all the time... The Commander
Traynor who met them at St. Oswald's, who had dealings with Liz's
parents and sent Simon back to the Ice Box is really a clone!
Devereaux's clone in the Ice Box was only a projection within
a time bubble. In reality, the clone didn't survive. Devereaux
cloned Traynor instead!
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At Whitehall, Frank is talking to Miss Stebbins in Traynor's
office. She is warning him that he can expect serious trouble
from breaking into a government building. He angrily demands that
the secretary tell him where Traynor is and more to the point,
where his daughter and Simon Randall are. She recognises Simon's
name but continues to insist that Commander Traynor is unavailable
and cannot be disturbed. She lets slip that he is at R1. Frank
asks what R1 is but Miss Stebbins refuses to elaborate. Suddenly,
Jean bursts into the room much to Miss Stebbins' chagrin. She
recognises the office as the one she 'saw' under hypnosis. Frank
becomes more assertive and demands to see Traynor. He wants to
know the whereabouts of R1. Miss Stebbins is evasive until Frank
points out that his daughter's life is at stake. Without a word,
she opens a notepad and starts to write directions on it.
Simon is asleep. He is woken by the sound of voices. He wakes
Liz up. The voices appear to be coming from a vent above the bed.
He realises it is Traynor.
In the room next door, Traynor, Pitman and Dr. Frazer are tending
to a clearly critically ill Maria. She is unconscious. Pitman
forcefully points out to Traynor the failure of HA57. He wants
the longevity programme cancelled. Traynor refuses point blank
and Pitman leaves. Dr. Frazer calmly tells Traynor that he agrees
with Pitman. Many of the other patients are showing similar symptoms
to Maria. Traynor still wants to carry on the programme insisting
it will succeed. The cloning programme will also go ahead.
Simon listens as Traynor tells Dr. Frazer that Devereaux's future
must succeed and that they must "open the minds of those
who are unwilling to part with its secrets." Dr. Frazer realises
Traynor is referring to Liz and Simon.
Dr. Frazer is aghast at Traynor's willingness to use hypnosis
on the two children and reminds him that after the government
investigation in 1965, they were "...forbidden to use human
life in psychiatric research of this type." Traynor is adamant.
The technological master plan will succeed purely through scientific
research! He leaves an angered Dr. Frazer with his dying patient.
Liz asks Simon what he heard. Simon tells her that he heard enough
to tell him that they need to escape. He indicates the false wall
behind which he knows is a window that leads to the outside world.
Frank and Jean stop their car by the Ministry field. Frank wants
to move on to R1 but Jean wishes to stop there a while. He acknowledges
the fact that R1 is close by. Jean knows the children are somewhere
about and wants to move closer to the time barrier. Despite Frank's
protestations, Jean heads off towards it on her own. Frank follows.
Pitman is studying a microscope slide in the lab when Dr. Frazer
enters. The doctor warns Pitman that he must leave as soon as
possible. Pitman is suspicious and demands to know what Traynor
really is. Dr. Frazer admits that he is a sick man. He must go
on with the research. It is the way Devereaux wanted it. He further
explains that the Commander "...exists on only half a brain."
One half is genius that Devereaux created, the other is a danger
to them all. Pitman suggests that Traynor is a schizophrenic but
Dr. Frazer knows him to be worse than that.
Traynor enters Dr. Frazer's office. He closes the door and begins
rifling through the doctor's desk. He picks out a folder titled
"The Art of Genetic Synthesis - 3 - An Analysis by Morgan
C. Devereaux" He frantically leafs through the pages until
he finds an anatomical diagram of a human body. It bears the legend
"Charles Traynor 1965-1967" Attached to it is a portrait
photograph of him.
Simon manages to wrench the cover from the air vent above the
bed. It's to little avail since the hole is too small for either
of them. Simon wanders about and tries the door handle. Liz reflects
again on the fate of Beth and her world during the burn up. Simon
reminds her again that the futures they see beyond the time barrier
are only projections and that they can prevent them from happening.
Liz says she feels sorry for Commander Traynor - being the first
of a new species. Simon points out that Traynor's problems are
worse than that since he only has "...half a brain."
His mind is split in two with neither side knowing what the other
is doing. "Like living in sunshine on one side and darkness
on the other." He acknowledges that the Traynor clone is
beyond any help now.
In Dr. Frazer's office, Traynor is staring aghast at the file.
Jean is staring into the time barrier. She can see something.
Frank asks her what. She isn't sure but it isn't Liz. Suddenly,
she realises that it is Traynor himself.
As Traynor become more and more agitated by the contents of the
file, he is struck by a shaft of sunlight through the office window.
Reeling from the brightness, he crosses to the window and closes
the curtains plunging the room into darkness. He turns, terrified
at the realisation of his true nature...
Complete cast for part five
Cheryl Burfield (Liz Skinner), Spencer Banks (Simon Randall),
Iris Russell (Jean Skinner), Derek Benfield (Skinner), Denis Quilley
(Commander Traynor), Ian Fairbairn (Dr. Frazer), Pitman (John
Swindells), Randall (John Cazabon)*1, Teresa Scoble (Miss Stebbins),
Mary Larkin (Maria)*2.
Script Editor Ruth Boswell
Scientific Adviser Geoffrey Hoyle
Designer Gerry Roberts
Director Ron Francis
Producer John Cooper
*1 - Although credited in the end titles, John Cazabon does not
appear in the episode.
*2 - Mary Larkin appears as a bed-ridden Maria in the episode
but is un-credited in the end titles.
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