Transcript of ‘The Sevenfold Crown’

Kerr Avon 

Paul Darrow

Vila Restal 

Michael Keating

Del Tarrant 

Steven Pacey

Dayna Mellanby 

Angela Bruce

Soolin 

Paula Wilcox

Orac and Slave 

Peter Tuddenham

Servalan 

Jacqueline Pearce

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King Gheblakon 

Pip Donaghy

Doctor Kapple 

Christian Rodska

Lieutenant Vledka 

Graham Padden

Jelka 

Janet Dale

Others

Played by Simon Carter, Kim Durham, Cornelius Garrett, Susan Jeffrey, Katherine Mount, Rob Swinton:

Flandar 

Wempin 

Gradzil 

Assorted Feds 

Various Torellans

Tourists

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[Sound of wolf-snakes howling and a whip]

AVON 

Ugh-ah!

SERVALAN 

Twenty three.

AVON 

Ugh!

SERVALAN 

Twenty four.

AVON 

Aeigh!

SERVALAN 

Why don’t you beg for mercy, Avon?

AVON 

Never! [whip] Urgh!

SERVALAN 

Twenty five. Now...which would be more enjoyable? To flog you to death—it shouldn’t take more than a couple of hundred strokes—or to leave you tied to the stake to be eaten by the wolf-snakes? A faster death, certainly, but possibly even more painful in the end. Yes...much better.

AVON 

Surely you wouldn’t deprive me of the pleasure of your company, Servalan?

SERVALAN 

[laughs] Believe me, the pleasure is all mine, my dear. There, you see—I feel almost affectionate towards you now that I have you in my power at last.

AVON 

You’d better kill me quickly. You’re alone down here. When Scorpio comes back you’ll have no chance—

SERVALAN 

Scorpio has been destroyed, and your motley crew are on their way to a fair trial. Correction—on their way to as unfair a trial as I can arrange. In any case I can’t stand here chatting. Now don’t worry about the wolf-snakes. You’ll probably die of shock long before they’ve chewed their way through to any vital...organ. Take me up, commander. Goodbye, Avon.

AVON 

Servalan! [sound of wolf-snakes attacking] No, not again. Augh! Help! Help! Help! Aaaaugh!

DAYNA 

Avon! Avon, wake up!

AVON 

Get them off! No...no...

DAYNA 

Wake up!

AVON 

What...Dayna?

DAYNA 

You were having a bad dream.

AVON 

It was...Servalan was there...

DAYNA 

You’re needed on the flight deck.

AVON 

[now fully awake] Why?

DAYNA 

Slave’s spotted a Federation ship headed our way, and there seems to be trouble with—

AVON 

Come on!

[Scorpio flight deck]

SLAVE 

ETA Federation vessel 2.3 minutes.

TARRANT 

Can you make out what type of ship it is?

SLAVE 

Negative, master.

TARRANT 

Orac?

ORAC 

Mark three Star class battle cruiser. Armament: 12 heavy duty laser disintegrators, 64 bio-seeking torpedoes, 132—

TARRANT 

All right, all right, that’ll do.

SOOLIN 

For God’s sake, Tarrant, use the reserve cells.

TARRANT 

Slave.

SLAVE 

Yes, master

TARRANT 

Execute hyper-jump. Utilise all energy banks, repeat all. Maximum velocity.

SLAVE 

Insufficient power, master.

TARRANT 

Don’t argue, just do it.

SLAVE 

Oh, if you insist.

[Stardrive powers up then dies away]

SLAVE 

I told you so.

VILA 

What you might call...escapus interruptus.

TARRANT 

If you can’t find anything more helpful to say, Vila, I’d advise you—

AVON 

[entering flight deck] Slave! Give me a status report.

SLAVE 

Federation vessel approaching on interception course. Within firing range in one minute 25 seconds.

SOOLIN 

And there’s not enough power to outrun them on the reaction drive.

VILA 

What did you expect? Our cutting-edge state-of-the-art new photonic thingummy was never meant to run on a couple of old torch batteries. We’re running out of juice!

AVON 

Thank you, Vila. Slave, report fuel status.

SLAVE 

6.359 percent of capacity, master. I blame myself, I should have warned you, but I,  I foolishly made the assumption that you had made plans to—

FED VESSEL 

[hailing them] Freighter. Identify yourself.

AVON 

Slave. Maximum power available. Stand by for hyper-jump.

SLAVE 

Uh, yes, master.

TARRANT 

D‎’you think we haven’t tried that?

AVON 

Quiet! At my command, execute lateral double hyper with a two nanosecond interval. Minimum velocity.

SOOLIN 

Oh, well done!

FED VESSEL 

[at the same time] I say again: identify and give the password.

SLAVE 

Fifteen seconds.

FED VESSEL 

State your identification code, or I fire.

SLAVE 

Ten...nine...eight...seven...six...five...four...three...two ...

AVON 

Now!

[a muffled boom, a warbling sound, another boom]

DAYNA 

It’s vanished!

AVON 

That’s right—into hyperspace. It’ll be several light-years away by now.

VILA 

But...I don’t get it.

SOOLIN 

It’s simple, brilliantly simple. There wasn’t enough power to make a run for it, but there was enough to jump in and out of hyperspace. Right, Avon?

AVON 

What you’d call doubling back on ourselves, Vila.

VILA 

Oh, I see...I think.

DAYNA 

And the two nanoseconds?

AVON 

You were in the Federation space service, Tarrant. Tell her.

TARRANT 

It takes forty seconds for a Federation ship to make the jump.

DAYNA 

Mm-hmm?

TARRANT 

As analogous hyper-time—meta-time—runs twenty million times faster, we jumped back at the precise moment they jumped in.

SOOLIN 

As far as they were concerned, we were the ones who vanished.

TARRANT 

It seems I have to thank you for saving my life, Avon.

DAYNA 

Don’t strain a muscle, Tarrant.

AVON 

Orac, why didn’t you suggest that?

ORAC 

You didn’t ask me.

AVON 

There’s not enough power to keep playing the same trick. We’ve got to find some more fuel, or next time we’ll be sitting on the duck pond waiting for a torpedo up our tail-feathers.

VILA 

Oh, very poetic.

[Xenon base]

DAYNA 

Servalan’s base? You want to raid Servalan’s HQ?

VILA 

[while eating] He’s flipped at last, Dayna. I could see it coming. Don’t you want that lizard burger?

DAYNA 

Oh, it’s disgusting. Take it.

AVON 

Surprising as it may seem, Vila was right. Scorpio’s energy banks can’t cope with the demands of the photonic drive. Where are we going to find spare high-capacity energy cells if we don’t raid a Federation dump?

DAYNA 

Yes, but Furno? Of all the planets in the galaxy?

VILA 

[eating the burger] Yeah, like shoving your head in the lion’s mouth. Mm...yum-yum.

AVON 

That dream of mine was no ordinary one. It was so vivid that it still seems real.

DAYNA 

So?

AVON 

I think Servalan was controlling it. Generating it in some way.

VILA 

[mouth full] Flipped did I say? Turning double somersaults, more like.

AVON 

Aren’t you supposed to be relieving Tarrant?

VILA 

[still eating] I’ve got...three and a half minutes more. [he pauses to check his watch] Mm, I tell a lie—three and a quarter.

DAYNA 

You mean Servalan has some new scheme?

AVON 

Precisely. If she’s started playing psionic games, wouldn’t it be a good idea to know exactly what. If we go to Furno, maybe I can find out.

DAYNA 

And maybe that’s just what she wants you to do.

AVON 

Ah, I should hate to disappoint her.

VILA 

[getting up] Well, rather you than me.

AVON 

You’ll be coming with me. I may need your special talents.

VILA 

Now, wait a minute.

AVON 

You’ve got some tomato ketchup on your chin.

[Scorpio flight deck]

SLAVE 

Visual contact of Furno available.

AVON 

Show me. [he looks at the screen] Mm, good.

SOOLIN 

Which one is Furno?

AVON 

There—the one with the three moons.

TARRANT 

I have grave doubts about this whole enterprise. A Federation base? D’you really think we’ll be able to get anywhere near without their spotting us?

SOOLIN 

He’s got a point, you know.

AVON 

If we stand off at maximum teleport range, we stand a good chance.

TARRANT 

Yes, a good chance of being blown out of the sky.

SLAVE 

If you’ll pardon my presumption, master, may I make a suggestion?

AVON 

Well?

SLAVE 

If we mask our approach by the largest of the moons, we could hide behind it in a matching orbit.

SOOLIN 

Brilliant! Well done, Slave.

AVON 

Good. Do it then.

SLAVE 

Yes, master.

[whining sound decreasing in pitch and volume]

SLAVE 

Deeply sorry, master. Computation of approach curve too complex for my humble navigational circuits.

TARRANT 

Brilliant! Well done, Slave.

AVON 

Orac, patch yourself into the control net and take us in.

ORAC 

Certainly. I suggest that fifty kilometres from the surface of the moon should meet your requirements.

AVON 

Soolin will remain on board. Vila and I will try to get into Servalan’s quarters, while Tarrant and Dayna make for the fuel store. That is, if you decide to honour us with your presence.

TARRANT 

Oh, very well, whatever you say. Your liquidation will make a handy diversion at least.

VILA 

Do you mind?

SLAVE 

Designated orbit established, fifty kilometres from surface. And may I take this opportunity of saying how sorry I am—

AVON 

No, you may not.

SLAVE 

—and how grateful I am to my fellow computer—

AVON 

Slave, be quiet. Right. Stand by to take us down, Soolin.