El Tel has a thing about metal tentacles attacking heroes - he would later use something similar in Redemption - although I don't think he likes them as much as the makers of Japanese cartoons seem to.
Sarah meets Bellal, who is a friendly Exxilon. Before they can help the Doctor, they have to hide from the Daleks who are coming, along with their komedy theme tune.
The Doctor hides from the tentacle until a Dalek comes and draws its attention and gets pewed instead of the Doctor. Then he goes back to Sarah and describes the tentacle as a "root."
"Yes, it must have been one of those sort of underground support systems for the city, I should imagine."
Sarah asks him what happened to the Dalek.
"The root: one. Dalek: nil."
he replies. They run away with Bellal before the other Dalek returns to the scene. This leads into a chase scene that is once again utterly undermined by the undramatic music that is accompanying the Daleks everywhere in this story.
When they are safe, Bellal gives the Doctor and Sarah exposition about the Exxilons:
Bellal: "Exxilon had grown old before life had even begun on other planets. Our ancestors solved the mysteries of science, built craft that travelled through space. They were the supreme beings of the universe."Doctor: "What destroyed their power? War?"Bellal: "No. They created their own destruction. Using all their knowledge, they built a city that would last through all of time."Sarah: "And they succeeded. It looked as though it was built only yesterday."Bellal: "They used their sciences to make the city into a living thing. It could protect itself, repair itself, maintain itself. They even gave it a brain."Doctor: "I see. So the city became an entity, though greater and more powerful than the many small parts that had created it."Bellal: "Yes, it then had no need of those who had made it. Our people had created a monster. They tried to destroy it. Instead it destroyed them, and drove out the survivors. Now we, and the other Exxilons you met, are all that remain."
The Exxilons are now divided into two groups, one that worships the city, and Bellal's group who want to destroy it but don't know how.
At the same time the Daleks have deduced that the city is responsible for their energy being drained. They too want to destroy it, and plan to send a patrol of two Daleks to go to the city to investigate it.
A root appears and pews an alien, then a Dalek.
Back with the Doctor, Bellal and Sarah, they are talking about the pictures on the side of the city. The Doctor says he has seen them before.
Doctor: "On the walls of a temple in Peru."Sarah: "Oh, that's impossible!"Doctor: "Yes, that's what they said about the Peruvian temple as well. Yes, it's one of Earth's great mysteries, that no primitive man could possibly have built such a structure. Well, now we've solved it."
When they reach the city the Doctor says
"Well now, that must be one of the 700 wonders of the universe."
then he sends Sarah to warn the spacemannys to get away as soon as they get power back, before the Daleks get a chance to betray them. Though really I think he just wants to go off with his new friend Bellal, lol.
The Doctor and Bellal reach the city and see the picture markings.
Doctor: "It's beautiful. Beautiful."Bellal: "To you, perhaps. To us, it is evil."
Good thing Bellal is here, or the Doctor could end up with his face getting melted. They are still looking at the "symbols" when the Daleks approach, their music in tow as ever and presumably making stealth even more difficult for them than normal. They start shooting, but the Doctor and Bellal get inside just in time, because the Doctor had luckily just solved the puzzle of how to open the door:
Bellal: "What did you do?"Doctor: "Well, I simply picked out the symbol that appeared to be different and traced its outline on the wall."Bellal: "And that made it slide open?"Doctor: "Well, I can't think what else."
The Doctor is so clever he can even solve puzzles by mistaik.
They are trapped in a room unless they can solve another puzzle, with skeletons of aliens who didn't manage to solve it left there as a warning of what will happen if they can't. This test is a fiendish maze, that takes the Doctor more time to explain to Bellal than to solve himself. It was harder for them to find the puzzle than to solve it, which must have been very embarrassing for the skeletons.
They get into the next room just before the Daleks get into the room they have left behind, which does add an extra element of danger to the Doctor and Bellal's situation, that they have to solve their own puzzles in less time than the Daleks take to solve theirs, so that they are always at least one step ahead and can avoid being exterminated. This added bit of jeopardy helps make up for the fact that the tests themselves are not proving very challenging on their own.
The Doctor and Bellal are proceeding cautiously forward through corridors when suddenly the Doctor says
"Stop, don't move!"
In front of them there is a red pattern on the floor.
Cliffhanger!
The crash into the end credits is perfectly timed, and this is one of the all time great cliffhangers, because it is so mysterious. It could mean absolutely anything, and we have no idea whatsoever what could lie in store for the Doctor and Bellal next episode. Unless we have seen this story before, of course. Mew.
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