From: rad@cix.compulink.co.uk (Cray Communications)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.drwho
Subject: Summary: The Abominable Snowmen pt 5
Date: 8 Jan 1993 12:49:51 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Reply-To: rad@cix.compulink.co.uk
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu


WARNING: Spoilers for episode 1 20 lines ahead




















Episode 5
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Victoria comes face to face with the aged emaciated form of 
Padmasambvha. He speaks gently to her: "DO NOT BE AFRAID ... YOU WISH 
MY HELP, IS THAT NOT SO ?" Victoria starts to explain about the Dr but 
Padmasambvha interrupts her as he realises that Songtsen has carried 
out his instructions. "THE COURTYARD IS EMPTY," and now his voice 
seems almost apologetic, "I MUST DO WHAT I AM COMPELLED TO DO." 
Reaching out over the model landscape he picks up a miniature Yeti. 
This he shows to Victoria, who recognises it ("it's one of those 
horrible creatures - a Yeti !"), but then with a gesture she is put 
into a hypnotic trance. Padmasambvha places the Yeti plus two others 
right inside the monastery. Out on the mountainside, three Yeti lumber 
off in obedience, down the mountain, into the deserted courtyard and 
then in separate directions into the rest of the monastery.

Back in the crowded little cell, Jamie's wondering why Victoria ran 
off from the monks. Thomni can't help: "Her motives were not clear to 
me, Mr Jamie." Then, with a yell, Travers regains consciousness.  The 
Dr tries to get him to calm down and explain precisely what it was he 
saw, but Travers can only remember a bright light, a piercing noise, 
and "evil, a feeling of evil, like a shadow on my mind ... I felt as 
though I was going to drown".  As, exhausted, he falls into a deep 
sleep, there comes the sound of screams and smashing furniture as the 
Yeti set about their rampage. The Dr is pleased by this as he starts 
fiddling again with his signal measuring device.

Songtsen once more addresses all the monks and lamas, though Khrisong 
now admits he should have 
listened to him in the first place and swears his allegiance. Sapan is 
worried about Rinchen who was convinced that Victoria was behind all 
the trouble and refused to stop searching for her and go to safety. As 
all around them the destruction continues, Rinchen's broken body is 
found and brought to the monastery gates. This sight makes Khrisong 
bitter: "The monastery of Detsen is accursed !" With their work now 
done, the Yeti depart and head back to the mountains.

In the Inner Sanctum, Padmasambvha communes with the Great 
Intelligence: "NOW IT IS COMPLETE; 
NOW THE MONKS WILL LEAVE. BY NIGHTFALL THE MONSTERY WILL BE EMPTY - 
THE MOUNTAIN YOURS. WILL THIS THEN BE YOUR FINAL COMMAND ? WILL YOU 
THEN BE CONTENT ? [pause] I DO NOT UNDERSTAND, BUT I WILL CONTINUE TO 
SERVE YOU." Turning to Victoria, still in her hypnotic trance, his 
voice becomes a little gentler: "THE DR IS NOT EASILY FRIGHTENED LIKE 
MY POOR MONKS. THEREFORE MY CHILD YOU WILL ASSIST ME. TOGETHER WE WILL 
MAKE SURE THAT HE LEAVES."

Thomni draws a map of the monastery and its surrounding area on the 
cell floor as the Dr explains that he has obtained one reading but 
must obtain a second if he is to find out *where* the control units 
are obtaining their instructions from. Of course that still doesn't 
explain *why*. Travers suddenly awakes, still suffering from amnesia, 
and now with a dreadful headache. He tries to go out for a breath of 
fresh air but finds, to his consternation though no-one else's 
surprise, that the cell door is locked.

Back in the courtyard, Songtsen reassures Khrisong that there was 
nothing he could do to prevent 
Rinchen's death. After the next hour of meditation, they are all to 
leave. Padmasambvha will stay, the strangers will come with them. As 
Sapan points out that the girl is still missing, Victoria arrives, in 
a trance, carrying the holy Ghanta. From her lips the voice of 
Padmasambvha speaks: "THIS IS A TIME OF MUCH DANGER. I HAVE CHOSEN TO 
SPEAK TO YOU MYSELF THROUGH THE LIPS OF THIS MAIDEN. SHE BEARS THE 
HOLY GHANTA. BEAR IT AWAY TO SAFE KEEPING. TREAT THIS CHILD WITH 
KINDNESS. SHE AND THE STRANGERS ARE INOCENT OF ANY MALICE TOWARDS YOU. 
THEIR WISH IS BUT TO HELP YOU AGAINST THE YETI. BUT IN MY WISDOM I 
TELL YOU: THERE IS NO HELP ! DETSEN MUST BE ABANDONED ! WHEN THE WIND 
DESTROYS THE NEST SO THE BIRD WILL BUILD ANOTHER." Songtsen voices his 
doubts 
but Padmasambvha is insistent: "GO WITH MY BLESSING ... I WILL REMAIN 
HERE UNTIL THE END." Sapan's question "Will the day come for our 
return to Detsen ?" is left unanswered. Songtsen 
orders the prisoners be released as the prayer gong goes off for the 
last time in Detsen.

Khrisong arrives at the cell and unlocks it to release the prisoners, 
bringing with him Victoria, apparently still in her trance. As soon as 
the Dr speaks to her she reacts to his voice as follows: "Dr (yes 
Victoria) There is great danger. You must take me away. Take me away. 
Take me away!" The second time this happens her voice is just a little 
bit more frantic. Jamie and the Dr are concerned so Khrisong explains 
about her speaking with the voice of the master, and Thomni adds that 
she was trying to reach the Inner Sanctum certain that Padmasambvha 
would recognise the Dr since he had visited Detsen before. The Dr 
can't believe his ears: "But that was 300 years ago! The same man !" 
Travers, Khrisong and Thomni, now forgiven, go off to the courtyard to 
get ready to leave. Jamie is still concerned about Victoria but the Dr 
reassures him that he will be able to do something about it after he's 
visited a very old friend.

While in the mountain cave the ooze  gushing from the pyramid spreads 
further and further, in the Inner Sanctum Padmasambvha speaks : "OH 
INTELLIGENCE. YOU PROMISED TO RELEASE ME. 
YET STILL I FEEL YOUR GRASP UPON THIS FRAIL BODY. WHY ? WHAT IS 
HAPPENING ? THIS WAS NOT YOUR PLAN BUT IF YOU CONTINUE TO EXPAND ...", 
and now with a note of sadness he reaches the inevitable conclusion: 
"I HAVE BROUGHT THE WORLD TO ITS END !"

The Dr arrives at the Inner Sanctum and Padmasambvha bids him enter as 
the doors creak open. "it's good to look upon your face again" he 
tells the Dr, and now his voice sounds like a frail old man, weak and 
wavering. The real Padmasambvha is in control: "I've been kept alive 
... so many years", but his voice is barely audible. He explains to 
the Dr how he made contact with the Intelligence floating 
insubstantially in space. He allowed it to pursue its experiment 
without realising what its real purpose was. Before the Dr can solicit 
any substantial information from him his body goes limp and apparently 
dead. Sadly, the Dr leaves the Inner Sanctum, not seeing 
Padmasambvha's body jerk back into life, its eyes glaring with the 
malevolence of the Great Intelligence as it once more regains control.

The Dr arrives, thoughtful, back to Jamie and Victoria, triggering off 
Victoria's crazed soliloquy. Jamie's getting anxious about her. He 
reminds the Dr that he should deal with her problem first and the Dr 
agrees: "It may be just simple post hypnotic suggestion. On the other 
hand, it may be something worse."  As Victoria starts her routine 
again, the Dr interrupts: "Listen to me. You've *been* taken away. 
You're no longer in the monastery - you're safe in the TARDIS ... Look 
at me. Look at my eyes. You're feeling tired. Very sleepy. Drift away. 
Let yourself drift away to sleep. Deeper. Deeper. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. 
Sleep". "Oh, not you Jamie !", as Jamie's eyes begin to close.

"I don't think I dare probe too deeply. The important thing is to get 
rid of this implanted fear. It's growing every minute !"

"What if you can't ?"

"We'll just have to do as she says and take her away. If we don't ... 
she'll go out of her mind ... That's the object of the exercise - to 
get us away from the monastery. But I'm not beaten that easily."

"You're taking an awful risk."

"I know", but happily the Dr succeeds in removing the implanted fear. 
Victoria wakes up having forgotten everything that happened after she 
was in the cell with Thomni. His work done, the Dr goes off towards 
the gates and meets up with Travers, who still can't remember what 
happened up the mountain. The Dr needs to take another measurement 
with his device in order to be able to pinpoint where the instructions 
for the Yeti are coming from. He persuades Travers to help him and 
together they move up the mountain towards three Yeti in the distance, 
standing immobile after their destruction of the monastery was 
completed. When they reach them, Travers goes over to the monsters to 
stir things up while the Dr takes his readings.

Meanwhile Khrisong reports to Songtsen that the evacuation of Detsen 
is complete; the Abbot then leaves to get a last blessing from 
Padmasambvha before they depart. He has just gone when the Dr and 
Travers arrive, very excited. They explain to Khrisong that they have 
discovered that the source of the control signals is right inside the 
monastery. Since the only person left in Detsen is Padmasambvha it 
must be him that is behind all this danger. Khrisong, fearing for 
Songtsen's safety, rushes off towards the Inner Sanctum. At the same 
time Travers' memory slowly starts to return - he begins to remembers 
about the events in the cave.

And in that cave, the Intelligence has grown to cover all of the 
tunnel floor, and is expanding faster and faster.

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