[The garage]

(Darius is asleep in Mariah’s backseat. Thorne knocks on the window and wakes him up. Thorne pulls the window down.)

DARIUS: What are you doing here?
THORNE: You’re a good sleeper. What I wouldn’t give to sleep like that.
DARIUS: Don’t know how you sleep at all. What do you want?
THORNE: I just thought you might like some news of your father.
DARIUS: Oh, yeah? What makes you think that?
THORNE: Come on, Darius. Don’t be so hard-hearted. The poor man is in prison for a long time.
DARIUS: Well, you do the crime, you do the VR time, right?
THORNE: But there’s VR time and then there’s VR time. He’s doing hard time, Darius. The hardest. And frankly we think he’s cracking up.
DARIUS: What, Harry Pike crack up? You don’t know my father.
THORNE: You’re right, of course, but maybe you could just take a peak and let me know if I’m wrong. Set my mind at ease. And yours. See for yourself how he’s doing. (Thorne holds out a pair of VR goggles.) I know you two have had your issues but he is your old dad. (Darius does not move.) All right, forget it. I’ll let myself out.

(Thorne goes to leave. Darius gets out of Mariah.)

DARIUS: Oi! Oi! Okay.

(Thorne tosses him the goggles.)

THORNE: Let’s find Daddy.

(Darius puts on the goggles. Thorne puts on another pair.)

[VR]

(Darius and Thorne see a white void. Pike is sat down, rocking back and forth and sobbing.)

DARIUS: Dad? Dad, what have they done to you?
THORNE: He can’t hear you. Imagine it, nothing but whiteness. No corners, not a detail to draw the eye or distract the mind. That’s poor Harry’s world and he has years of this to come.
DARIUS: What do you want?
THORNE: Nothing from you. We want something from K9.
DARIUS: So, why don’t you go ask him for it?
THORNE: He wouldn’t give it to me and I must have it
DARIUS: So, you want me to go get it for you. No way.
THORNE: Hear me out. We want a certain circuit from him. He can function perfectly well without it. Think of it as the cybernetic equivalent of an appendix.
DARIUS: So, why do you want it, then?
THORNE: We have our reasons.
DARIUS: Well, I have my reasons for saying forget it. (Thorne pulls out a device and presses a button. It emits a noise which distresses Pike.) Hey, wait. Stop it. Stop it!
THORNE: Certainly. (He does so.) Perhaps I could sweeten the deal. (The white void becomes a dream-like forest. Pike looks around.) Happy here, isn’t he? Cruel to send him back but all good things…
DARIUS: No. Just…
THORNE: Very well. We’ll let him be, shall we?

[The garage]

(Darius and Thorne remove their goggles.)

THORNE: We have a deal, then?
DARIUS: Hey, I’ll talk to K9 but, as far as getting him to actually hand the circuit over…
THORNE: I have a deal to offer him too. In exchange, we’ve got something of his he thought he’d lost forever. All I want from you is to tell him this. (He holds up a small round object.) We have his memory disc.
DARIUS: It was destroyed when K9 first came through the STM.
THORNE: Apparently not. Do we have a deal?
DARIUS: I’ll talk to K9.
THORNE: You’re a good son.

(Thorne leaves.)

[Tunnels]

DARIUS: No satellite cameras, no cops.
K9: This unit calculates the likelihood of a double cross 99.99%.
DARIUS: Huh. Thorne wanting to meet down here doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Look, I know we’ve had our differences…
K9: A result of your tendency to cause irritation.
DARIUS: But I really appreciate you doing this for me. You know, for my dad.
K9: You’re welcome but I am not doing this exclusively for your paternal forebear. The prospect of having my memory restored is extremely appealing.
DARIUS: So, you reckon the disc I saw is really it?
K9: Probability my memory disc survived the blast on my arrival remote but more than zero.

(Starkey and Jorjie are following Darius and K9 discreetly.)

STARKEY: They’re still moving east.

[The laboratory]

GRYFFEN: Good. Stay out of sight but don’t lose them.

[Tunnels]

JORJIE: What are we hiding for? If there’s a chance of helping them, I want to be involved.
STARKEY: We are helping. If this is some double-cross Thorne set up then we’re there to help Darius. If it is legit then we don’t want to get in the way of K9 getting his disc back. What’s that? (He scoops up a bit of green slime from the wall and sniffs it. He and Jorjie recoil.) That smell. It’s Jixen.
JORJIE: Jixen? I thought they were destroyed.
STARKEY: I guess they left us something to remember them by.

[Chamber]

K9: Lifeform detected.

(Thorne enters with CCPCs who block the various exits.)

DARIUS: Ah, the welcoming committee. What’s with the bodyguards? Afraid we’ll mug you?
THORNE: For what I’m carrying, I don’t think there’s any length K9 wouldn’t go to. I’m here to deal.

(Thorne holds up the disc. K9’s scan determines that it is indeed his.)

K9: That disc belongs to this unit. Please return it. Why should I negotiate?
THORNE: Excellent point. You can blast me and take it if you want, but there’s no need to resort to violence. Have it. Of course, I hate to think how the poor boy’s father is going to suffer in prison now.
K9: What do you want?
THORNE: One memory disc in exchange for a regeneration unit.

(Starkey and Jorjie enter.)

STARKEY: No. The answer’s no. You can’t do it.
DARIUS: What are you doing here? You’re going to ruin everything.
THORNE: Deal or no deal?
STARKEY: It’s no deal. You give him your regeneration unit and you’re as vulnerable as the rest of us.
DARIUS: K9, he’s right. You can’t do it. Not for me.
THORNE: It’s not for you. It’s for your poor old dad. Deal or no deal? Come on.
K9: What does the Department want with the regeneration unit?
THORNE: Explanations are not part of the deal. Well?
K9: Agreed.

(K9 approaches Thorne.)

STARKEY: K9!
THORNE: Let’s have it.
K9: You first.
THORNE: Such an untrusting machine. Very well. I’ll be the bigger entity. (Thorne holds out the disc. It glows and is swapped with the regeneration unit.) A pleasure doing business with you.
DARIUS: What about my dad?

(Thorne steps behind the CCPCs.)

THORNE: Oh.
DARIUS: You made that deal.
THORNE: I’d be more worried about myself than dear old Pop if I was you.
K9: Accessing memory disc. This unit remembers. Routing all power to photon reactor.
DARIUS: What have you done to him?
K9: Photon reactor reaching critical mass. Explosion imminent.
THORNE: A blast from the past, perhaps.
K9: All defensive measures failing. This unit will self-destruct in twenty seconds. Nineteen. Eighteen.
THORNE: (Unclear) fiery annihilation, I take my leave.

(Thorne leaves with the CCPCs.)

JORJIE: Come back! Starkey!
STARKEY: K9! Stop!
K9: Twelve. Eleven. Ten.
DARIUS: He ain’t going to stop.
K9: Nine. Eight. Countdown terminated. Explosion averted. Critical mass maintained. This unit is armed for self-destruct.
STARKEY: What do you mean “armed”? K9, what’s happening to you?
K9: There is a destruct sequence built into the memory disc.
STARKEY: Thorne.
K9: I cannot stop it being triggered.
JORJIE: Triggered by what?
K9: I do not know. The target is not specified in the program.
JORJIE: So, you’ve got no idea what’ll set it off?
K9: Correct. The target will not be revealed to me until it comes into range.
DARIUS: Great. So, we’re walking around with a live bomb.

[Camo]

(The technician is at the computer.)

TECHNICIAN: Jixen coming within range. Stun mines and gas cannisters ready to be dropped.
JUNE: Belay a moment. (She uses her vidcom.) Thorne? The tunnels are clear of civilians, aren’t they?
THORNE: (Over vidcom) Yes, of course. Completely.
JUNE: Tell them to go ahead with the mines but hold off on the gas. I’ll come and supervise that deployment myself.

[Tunnels]

STARKEY: Once we get back to the lab, the professor will know what to do.
K9: I think that is unlikely.

(A stun mine flies down into the tunnel and hovers in the air.)

JORJIE: What is that?
K9: My sensors indicate it is a stun mine.
DARIUS: You sure?
K9: 99% certain.
DARIUS: I’ve seen…

(Darius reaches out to touch it. It shocks him.)

K9: Make that 100%.
STARKEY: What are they stringing those things about for?

(They hear a roar.)

JORJIE: I thought that slime seemed awfully fresh.
DARIUS: What slime?
STARKEY: Jixen slime.
DARIUS: Jixen?
JORJIE: I know. You thought they’d been destroyed.
DARIUS: Obviously not quite.
K9: Target acquired. Target acquired. Attack. Attack. Attack.
JORJIE: Looks like we just found the trigger.
K9: Moving to intercept target.
STARKEY: K9, stop. Stay! You’re not a bomb. This is just a program. You can beat it.

(Elsewhere, another stun mine is lowered and shocks the Jixen, forcing it to take another route.)

DARIUS: Is it just me or is that getting closer?
K9: Photon reactor explosion will destroy all lifeforms in the vicinity of this unit. I cannot allow target to get any closer.

(K9 heads off. Starkey follows.)

STARKEY: K9! Stay!
JORJIE: Starkey!

(Darius and Jorjie’s way is blocked by a stun mine.)

DARIUS: Ah, crumbs.

(The stun mine shocks him. He gets up and he and Jorjie go another way.)

STARKEY: K9! K9! You’re being used! (Starkey’s way is blocked by a stun mine. A cannister starts releasing gas.) K9!

(Starkey coughs and collapses.)

[Street]

(June approaches a group of CCPCs.)

JUNE: The last of the gas cylinders have been deployed?
CCPC: Confirmed, Inspector.
JUNE: Very well. Deploy the final one and seal the exits.
CCPC: Confirmed. (He looks down a grate.) Oi, there’s citizens down there.
JUNE: Well, get them out! They’d better have a very good reason for being in a Department restricted area.
CCPC: There’s two of them, Inspector.

(Two CCPCs remove the grate. Jorjie and Darius climb up, coughing.)

JUNE: Jorjie?

[Camo]

(Two CCPCs escort Jorjie and Darius inside.)

DARIUS: Easy! You can’t keep me here. I haven’t done anything wrong.
JORJIE: We were just wandering around!
JUNE: You were apprehended at a security zone. You’ve done everything wrong.
DARIUS: Starkey’s still down there!
JUNE: Then he’ll have to take his chances. Does he have K9 with him?
DARIUS: Sort of.
JUNE: Then I’m sure he’ll be fine.
JORJIE: What about the gas?
JUNE: It’s a sleeping agent. At worst, he’ll be nursing a headache tomorrow. It’s not his main problem.
JORJIE: You mean the Jixen.
JUNE: You know about it?
JORJIE: That’s right. And it’s actually not his only problem. He also has every chance of being vapourised by a bomb.
JUNE: A bomb?
DARIUS: Hey, tin face. Your fly’s undone. (The CCPCs look down.) Run!

(Darius runs away.)

JUNE: You don’t have flies.

(The CCPCs stop Jorjie from escaping.)

JORJIE: Let go of me!

(June’s vidcom rings. She answers.)

JUNE: Inspector Thorne.

[Blue room]

(Thorne is holding K9’s regeneration unit.)

THORNE: Inspector Turner. It has come to my attention that your operation just stalled. Care to comment on these obviously false reports?

[Camo]

JUNE: Yes, they are false. The operation isn’t stalled. As of now, it’s suspended.

[Blue room]

THORNE: On whose authority?

[Camo]

JUNE: On my authority. I don’t answer to you, Thorne.

[Blue room]

THORNE: Correct but, like me, you answer to those above us and that’s where these orders are coming from. On high.

[Camo]

JUNE: The mission is suspended. Contrary to your reports, there are civilians in the operational zone.

[Blue room]

THORNE: And?

[Camo]

JUNE: And I won’t be responsible for a possible death.

[Blue room]

THORNE: June, you’re not responsible for anything. You’re following orders. Now, unsuspend the mission and obey your orders.

[Camo]

JUNE: No.

(Lomax appears behind a screen.)

LOMAX: Inspector Turner.

(June ends the call.)

JUNE: Yes, sir.
LOMAX: Are the orders not clear?
JUNE: Sir, the orders need clarifying in light of the new information.
LOMAX: The orders make sense to those who make them. You don’t need to understand to obey.
JUNE: I have a question.
LOMAX: And we have a schedule.
JUNE: What was Inspector Thorne doing in the mission zone before the gas purge began?
LOMAX: Inspector Thorne was acting in the best interest of the Department. Inspector, complete your mission.
JUNE: But, sir, we have to question the motives…
LOMAX: Do your duty.

[The laboratory]

(Gryffen is at a screen.)

GRYFFEN: Starkey? K9? Anyone? Where are they all?
K9: (Over computer) Is that you, professor?
GRYFFEN: K9? Is everything all right?

[Tunnels]

K9: Everything is as it should be.

[The laboratory]

GRYFFEN: I have been trying to get through for ages. There seems to be some sort of electronic interference.
K9: (Over computer) Most probably the stun mines.
GRYFFEN: Stun mines? Why are there stun mines?

[Tunnels]

K9: I would presume that they are the Department’s attempt to corral the Jixen.

[The laboratory]

GRYFFEN: There’s a Jixen?
K9: (Over computer) Don’t be alarmed, professor. This unit is en route to deal with it.
GRYFFEN: Oh, well, that’s good news.

[Tunnels]

K9: It’s part of my new programming imperative.

[The laboratory]

GRYFFEN: New programming?
K9: (Over computer) Implanted in me in exchange for my regeneration unit.
GRYFFEN: What is this new imperative?

[Tunnels]

K9: As soon as I am in range of the Jixen, I will initiate self-destruct sequence.
GRYFFEN: (Over computer) Self-destruct?
K9: Affirmative. Destroying the Jixen with maximum prejudice.
GRYFFEN: But, K9, without your regeneration unit you won’t have the capacity to regenerate!
K9: An excruciatingly obvious remark, professor.

[The laboratory]

GRYFFEN: What I’m saying is you’ll be destroyed! No more (unclear)! Gone forever!

[Tunnels]

K9: Correct. However, that is my program. I would indeed seem destined to expire permanently in an explosion of Jixen pieces. My sensors indicate its presence in this tunnel.

[The laboratory]

GRYFFEN: K9, no! No, no, no, K9! K9!

[Jixey’s cave]

(Starkey wakes up in a cave full of books. Jixey enters.)

JIXEY: This stench on your clothes is masking the scent I marked you with all those weeks ago.
STARKEY: You speak?
JIXEY: Well, evidentially.
STARKEY: Dently. It’s evidently. Since when do you speak?
JIXEY: I have had time to learn your tongoo.
STARKEY: Tongue.
JIXEY: Do not correct me or I’ll forget my duties as a horse.
STARKEY: Horse?
JIXEY: Yes. You think a Jixen cannot be a good horse?
STARKEY: Host. You mean host.
JIXEY: I warned you.
STARKEY: Okay, okay, you’re a good horse.

[Tunnels]

DARIUS: Starkey!

[Jixey’s cave]

(Starkey picks up a damaged book.)

STARKEY: So, you read these or you eat them?
JIXEY: I read.

(Starkey picks up Land of the Lost by Ganton Emmerich.)

STARKEY: You’ve actually got some good stuff here.
JIXEY: That book tells my story. A peaceful emissary from another time protecting an ignorant people from the monster living among them.
STARKEY: You? You’re the peaceful emissary?
JIXEY: I was the emissary’s guard and I failed to protect him from the machine. My enemy, your friend.
STARKEY: K9.
JIXEY: Yes, the beast.
STARKEY: You’re confused. You and your mates started smashing up the mansion when you came through the STM. K9 came and protected us. He gave his life, his previous life, to save us.
JIXEY: No. You are the one confused. We were protecting the emissary.
STARKEY: I’ve heard some good yarns in my time, but…
JIXEY: Good yarn?
STARKEY: A made-up story.
JIXEY: No. It’s the truth.
STARKEY: Then how come it took you so long to tell me?
JIXEY: And how could I have done that? I could not exactly go wandering the streets looking for you. On our home planet, we Jixen were winning a war against the Meron until new energy weapons cost us our rightful home. These weapons were supplied by the Korven. Do you know this name?
STARKEY: Unfortunately, yes. So, let me get this right. You guys were the peaceful emissaries, us humans were the ignorant people and the monster the Korven?
JIXEY: Yes, correct. Especially the part about the ignorant people.
STARKEY: Well, if it’s true then how exactly were you going to warn us?
JIXEY: That information was lost with the emissary, destroyed by the Korven agent.
STARKEY: Korven agent? You mean K9?
JIXEY: Yes.
STARKEY: You’re saying K9 was actually working for the Korven? No, not possible.
JIXEY: If this is only a story, why does the Beast hunt me?
STARKEY: It’s not him. It’s a program the Department installed in him. The same program that’s making him want to destroy you.
JIXEY: Then your Department has been infiltrated by the Korven. You will lose your home like we lost ours.
STARKEY: Then I need to get out of here. I need to tell my world.
JIXEY: You believe what I’ve told you?
STARKEY: Absolutely. Totally.

(Jixey opens the door.)

JIXEY: You are free, but consider this. Why would I have brought you here, saved you from the gas, revealed my lair if I was not telling you the truth and wanting to save you?

[Tunnels]

DARIUS: (OC) Starkey! Starkey!

(Starkey and Jixey return to the tunnels.)

JIXEY: I am increasingly uncertain about this plan.
STARKEY: It’s simple. You and K9 should be on the same side. You’re both interested in saving us ignorant humans. You just need to get together and talk about it like you and I did, right?
JIXEY: And you believe the cybernetic beast is capable of such understanding?
STARKEY: Totally. Now, just chill and follow me. And one more thing. He doesn’t like being called a dog, okay?
JIXEY: Very well.

(Darius turns a corner and bumps into them.)

DARIUS: Whoa, Jixen!
STARKEY: It’s okay, it’s okay! He’s a friend. He’s on our side.
DARIUS: It’s a Jixen.
STARKEY: A friendly Jixen. It’s a long story.
DARIUS: A friendly Jixen.
JIXEY: It is the truth.
DARIUS: A friendly speaking Jixen.
STARKEY: Yeah, and he’s here to help us.
DARIUS: Help us?
JIXEY: I am your alibi.
DARIUS: What? Oh, you mean ally?
STARKEY: He doesn’t like being corrected.
DARIUS: Right.
STARKEY: Right now, we need to find K9 and explain to him that the Jixen isn’t his enemy.
DARIUS: I definitely think we should. I think we should explain it to him really, really fast.

(Darius points at K9.)

K9: Warning! Target visually confirmed. This unit is armed and primed. Explosion imminent. Twenty. Nineteen.
JIXEY: Prepare to be destroyed.

(Starkey gets between the two of them.)

STARKEY: No, this is crazy, you two! Stop threatening each other and talk!
K9: Explosion in T minus thirteen seconds. Run, young master.
STARKEY: No. I’m not going to let either of you destroy the other. K9, stay! Jixey, stop!
JIXEY: Jixey?
STARKEY: If we’re going to be friends, I can’t just call you Jixen and I don’t know your name.
JIXEY: Jixen have no names. We are part of a collective.
STARKEY: You hear that, K9? No names. It’s kind of sad.
K9: Tragic. Twelve. Eleven.
STARKEY: K9!
K9: Young master, you can interrupt the countdown but you cannot stop it. You must run.
DARIUS: Sounds like good advice to me.
STARKEY: No. We are going to sort this out. K9, the program Thorne put in you is Korven tech. You have to fight it.
K9: My sensors would have detected it if it was Korven.
STARKEY: Your sensors got it wrong!
K9: Highly improbable.
STARKEY: They’re using you, K9. They wanted the Jixen destroyed because he came here to warn us about them. You have to fight this program.

(June and Jorjie arrive. June has a weapon.)

JUNE: Nobody move or I will use this!
K9: Seven. Six. Five. Four.
STARKEY: Stay!
K9: Sorry, young master. I’ve managed to reroute my circuits. I’m in control of them again.
DARIUS: I wish I could say the same about mine.
K9: I have overwritten the program. Imminent explosion averted. This unit is no longer being used by the Korven. Four. Three. Two. One. Bang.
STARKEY: K9, tell me that wasn’t a joke.
K9: Very well, young master. That wasn’t a joke.

(Jixey laughs.)

STARKEY: You can laugh?
JIXEY: Of course. Jixen are famous for their sense of hummer.

[The laboratory]

(Starkey hands the memory chip to Gryffen.)

GRYFFEN: Nasty piece of technology.
STARKEY: But we beat it.
DARIUS: Yeah, thanks to our shell-headed friend.
JUNE: The Jixen, an ally of humanity. It’s a remarkable development.
JORJIE: Not the only remarkable development. Mum told her boss to stick it.
JUNE: I didn’t use the words “stick it”.
JORJIE: They wanted them to keep dropping gas in the tunnels. She wouldn’t do it. So cool.
JUNE: And I managed to check on your father too, Darius. He’s safely in a minimum-security environment.
DARIUS: My dad’s safe, Jixen got away, K9 avoided blowing himself and the rest of us up. Sounds to me like we scuppered that Korven plan good and proper.
GRYFFEN: Not quite.
K9: The professor is correct. A significant part of their plan would appear to have been for Inspector Thorne to get possession of my regeneration technology. That part succeeded.
STARKEY: That’s right. Thorne still has the regen disc.
GRYFFEN: The question is, what does he want it for?

[Blue room]

(Thorne holds up the regeneration unit.)

Transcript originally provided by Chrissie. Adapted by TARDIS.guide. The transcripts are for educational and entertainment purposes only. All other copyrights property of their respective holders.