[Street]

(Vibeka is sat in the road with tape on her mouth, holding a sign reading “STOP THE SILENCE ON CCPC VIOLENCE”. Two CCPCs walk up to her and wrestle with her.)

CCPC: Move along.
CCPC: Here, we’d like a word with you.

(Starkey, Jorjie and K9 walk nearby.)

JORJIE: I need K9 for an hour, just to do my maths homework.
STARKEY: That’s not completely unlike cyber-cheating.
JORJIE: Hyper-logarithms are inhuman.
K9: Do CCPCs dance the tango?
STARKEY: What? No.
K9: Oh, then police brutality is happening ahead.
CCPC: Oi.

(Starkey and Jorjie see the two CCPCs manhandling Vibeka.)

K9: Course of action?
CCPC: You’re under arrest.
STARKEY: Record the arrest, publicise the violence.

(Starkey starts recording with his phone.)

CCPC: Hey, stop. You’re nicked. You’re coming with me.
JORJIE: K9, act normal.
CCPC: You’re under arrest.

(One of the CCPCs rips off Vibeka’s tape.)

VIBEKA: Get your metal mitts off me, you tin face!
CCPC: Close your gob.
CCPC: You’re nicked.
JORJIE: Starkey!
STARKEY: We have to get this footage onto vidscreens. People need to see the truth.
CCPC: You’re under arrest.

(Jorjie picks up a rock.)

STARKEY: Jorjie! They’re automatons. It’ll just bounce off them.
K9: Warning! Department camo!
STARKEY: Stop! It could be…!

(Jorjie throws the rock at a CCPC. Drake appears.)

JORJIE: Drake. Oops.
K9: This would be a good time to go.

(Starkey, Jorjie and K9 run away.)

DRAKE: Process the refuse in the camo. (Jorjie and K9 are cornered by two CCPCs.)
K9: Why was it necessary to provoke the tin faces?
JORJIE: Hey, I’m having fun. Are you having fun?
K9: Checking database. Modifying definition of “fun”.
JORJIE: It’s Sunday.

[Department camo]

(Drake is watching Jorjie and K9 on his screen. Vibeka is detained on a chair.)

DRAKE: Oh? So, you want to play? We may have found you a little friend.

[Street]

K9: Analysing escape. Solution: vertical.
JORJIE: That’s all very easy for you to say.
CCPC: Come along, now. Prepare to be nicked.

(A CCPC escorts Starkey to join Jorjie and K9.)

JORJIE: Okay, now it’s less fun.

(Starkey holds up his phone.)

STARKEY: Hey, tin face! Unauthorised recording of CCPC violence!
CCPC: That’s another (unclear), sunshine.

(A CCPC grabs the phone.)

JORJIE: The fun’s over, K9. I give up.

[Department camo]

DRAKE: Let’s see how you three respond to a bit of discipline. Deploy the Inhibitor.

[Street]

(Another CCPC joins the group, carrying the Inhibitor and a small rock.)

STARKEY: What is that thing?
JORJIE: I’ve never seen one before.
K9: Analysing. Composite mineral source. Origin: alien.

(The CCPC puts the rock into the Inhibitor.)

JORJIE: Hey, you! We said we give up. You can’t just…
K9: Get behind me.

(The CCPC fires the weapon. It hits K9 but also blows up the CCPC.)

STARKEY/JORJIE: No!

[Department camo]

DRAKE: How thoroughly disappointing. Find out who fitted the Inhibitor’s detonation device and bring him to me.

[Jorjie’s bedroom]

(Jorjie is sat in her bed. June walks in and clicks her fingers, switching on the light.)

JUNE: You threw a stone at a CCPC?

(Jorjie clicks her fingers. The lights turn off.)

JORJIE: I’ve got a headache.

(June turns the lights back on.)

JUNE: You’re lucky you’ve still got a head!
JORJIE: He had some crazy sort of weapon I’ve never seen before. It was this weird-looking…
JUNE: You nearly kill yourself and all you can do is bleed about having a headache! Do you know what it cost me to keep you out of pre-hearing detention?

(Jorjie turns the lights off.)

JORJIE: Yes, Mum, but I really do have a headache.

(June turns the lights on.)

JUNE: Why did you do it, Jorjie? Tell me why someone who has all the freedom they could possibly want would do such a thing. What exactly are you rebelling against?
JORJIE: Nothing. I’m rebelling for something.
JUNE: Oh, yes?
JORJIE: The right to rebel.
JUNE: It’s that boy, isn’t it?
JORJIE: I can think for myself. The CCPC don’t arrest you for that. Yet. Ugh, it’s just… It was Sunday. I was bored, all right?
JUNE: Well, when Drake drags you up to juvenile court, you’d want to have a better explanation than that.

(June switches off the light and leaves.)

[The laboratory]

(Gryffen is working on K9. Starkey is pacing.)

K9: My hyper balance is disabled.
GRYFFEN: Fragments from the explosion must have caught you mid-thrust.
K9: (Laughs) That tickles.
GRYFFEN: It’s going to take me some time to repair these circuits. (Starkey hits the desk.) Starkey!
STARKEY: Four CCPCs and a Department camo to arrest a single protestor! Drake is up to something.
GRYFFEN: Well, that may be but K9’s suffered serious damage due to your tomfoolery.
K9: It wasn’t…
STARKEY: Sorry, K9. I didn’t mean to hurt you.
GRYFFEN: Only June’s favour allows K9 to stay in this house, protected from the darker elements of the Department, and you fling it in her face!
K9: Starkey didn’t fling.
STARKEY: It won’t happen again.
GRYFFEN: Without hyper balance, you’re grounded.
K9: Rats!

[Department camo]

JUNE: That weapon they were using…
DRAKE: Submission device.
JUNE: New, wasn’t it?
DRAKE: R and D are calling it the Inhibitor.
JUNE: Oh? Why haven’t I heard of it?
DRAKE: It was in the Gazette last month. Perhaps you missed it because of your domestic distractions.
JUNE: You wouldn’t put alien material in a weapon for use on citizens, would you? That would be unpopular, even embarrassing.
DRAKE: Not at all. It’s just early days. It’s little more than I toy. I just thought I’d take it out for a test drive. Prematurely, as it turned out. Of course, if I’d known it was your recalcitrant daughter, I…
JUNE: Jorjie’s just going through a rebellious stage.
DRAKE: Correction, June. She’s fallen in with a bad lot and become a real anti-authoritarian troublemaker.
JUNE: She has a bit of a problem with discipline.
DRAKE: She has a career-threatening record of arrest teetering on the very edge of her file. Unless…
JUNE: No. Whatever it is, no.
DRAKE: Magdalen Academy. They have an excellent reputation for dealing with troublesome teens.
JUNE: Magdalen?
DRAKE: Traditional approach to discipline.
JUNE: Yes, I know.
DRAKE: Well, think on it.

[Two weeks later: Classroom]

(Jorjie enters and sits at a table. Melaina shakes her hand.)

MELAINA: Melaina.
JORJIE: Jorjie, with a J. Two Js.
MELAINA: Welcome to Magdalen.
JORJIE: I think I’m in the wrong room.

(Jorjie gets up to leave, but a laser is shot from the ceiling and hits her hand.)

VIBEKA: Cyber-ruler. There’s no point trying to leave. There’s a minefield around this place ‘til recess.
JORJIE: I saw your protest!
VIBEKA: Pointless, right?
JORJIE: Sometimes it’s worth rebelling just for the practice.
VIBEKA: They gave me a choice. Magdalen Academy or else.
JORJIE: Or else what?

(The teacher appears on a screen.)

VIBEKA: Quick.
TEACHER, MELAINA, HILENA AND KALENA: Aim for perfection, nothing less.
VIBEKA: Whatever you do, don’t put on the bracelet.
JORJIE: What?

(Melaina, Hilena and Kalena are all wearing silver bracelets.)

TEACHER: The modern technology we take for granted, our vidcoms, vidscreens, the very CCPCs who keep us safe, would all be impossible without mathematical advances in hyper-logarithms. Hyper-logarithms. Anyone?

(Melaina stands.)

MELAINA: Hyper-logarithms. A binary calculating tool capable of integrating polynomial limits for all levels of differential trends in order to equate area and volume under quadratic… (Continues)
VIBEKA: Those two were normal before they joined Melaina’s study group.
JORJIE: Normal?

VIBEKA: We’ll talk at first break. MELAINA: … logarithms can be catenary, parabolic or elliptical depending on the surface being described by the equation.

(Hilena and Kalena clap. Melaina sits.)

[Magdalen Academy quadrangle]

VIBEKA: When I got here, it was just Melaina in the bracelet, then one went down. The next day, two. Now there’s a cult.
JORJIE: It’s not just the hyper-logarithms. It’s the perfect hair.
VIBEKA: The flawlessly polished school shoes.
JORJIE: The creepy catwalk sashay.
VIBEKA: The whole, I don’t know…
JORJIE AND VIBEKA: Suckiness.

(Melaina and her entourage walk in sync to Jorjie.)

MELAINA: This is Jorjie with a J. Two Js.
HILENA AND KALENA: Hi, Jorjie.
MELAINA: You can join our study group.
JORJIE: So sweet of you, Melaina, but Vibeka and I have our own special way of learning hyper-logarithms.
MELAINA: Oh. Vibeka can join too. Everyone is welcome.
VIBEKA: Oh, haha, I think I’m washing my hair that year.
MELAINA: But, Vibeka, your hair is lovely.
MELAINA, HILENA AND KALENA: Lovely.

[Department camo]

(Drake is watching Melaina on a screen.)

DRAKE: Higher. (Melaina’s laugh increases in pitch.) Higher. (Again.) Perfect.

[The main hall]

(Darius is pacing with a tool. Jorjie walks in.)

JORJIE: This new school’s a nightmare.
DARIUS: Whoa. Love the outfit. You’re like manga.

(Jorjie shakes her head and walks off.)

[The laboratory]

(Jorjie walks into the laboratory where Starkey is watching Gryffen work on K9.)

JORJIE: It’s like going back to the Dark Ages. Look at this. (She presents a scar on her hand.) I thought corporal punishment was outlawed last century.
GRYFFEN: K9’s hyper balance is still askew.
JORJIE: Is this going to be a long guilt trip? Shall I pack a bag?
GRYFFEN: Jorjie, you put your mother in a difficult position.
JORJIE: I didn’t ask her to work for the Department.
GRYFFEN: I work for the Department!
JORJIE: Give me a break. This was the worst day of my life. Starkey?
STARKEY: You’re right, Jorjie. Tough day at private school probably was the worst day of your life.

(Jorjie leaves.)

[Jorjie’s bedroom]

(Jorjie is lying on her bed on her vidcom. June enters.)

JUNE: So, how was the new school?
JORJIE: Perfect. Everything about the place is perfect. They all do exactly what’s expected of them.
JUNE: You’ll become used to it in time.
JORJIE: That the Department’s philosophy, is it? You keep people under the thumb long enough and sooner or later they’ll give up fighting.
JUNE: That’s him talking again. Starkey.
JORJIE: You’ll be pleased to know he’s taking your side this time.
JUNE: Really? What a refreshing change.

(June leaves.)

JORJIE: You think.

[The laboratory]

(The next day.)

STARKEY: Feeling any better, K9?
K9: Affirmative.
STARKEY: How about, “I’m coming along fine, thank you”?
K9: Affirmative.
GRYFFEN: I’ve discovered what’s been destabilising K9. Blast residue insinuated itself into his body, bonded to his control circuits and set up a call and response feedback loop.
K9: Whatever he fired from that weapon was trying to control me.
STARKEY: What sort of substance could control someone?
K9: Nothing on Earth.
GRYFFEN: Watch what K9 saw when the weapon was fired. (Gryffen points at a screen which shows the CCPC shooting at K9.) The substance vaporises when put under pressure.
STARKEY: Well, if Drake can’t fire at people he can’t use it as a weapon.
GRYFFEN: Ah, but not all weapons are fired.

[Classroom]

(Jorjie enters and hurries to sit next to Vibeka.)

MELAINA, HILENA, KALENA AND VIBEKA: Aim for perfection, nothing less.
JORJIE: Seconds to spare.
VIBEKA: No talking in class.
JORJIE: That’s hilarious. You sound just like her.

(Jorjie’s hands are zapped.)

TEACHER: Jorjie! Pay attention! The Great Cataclysm was a defining event for the Earth’s climate. Vibeka, would you lead today’s discussion?

(Vibeka stands. Melaina, Hilena and Kalena applaud.)

VIBEKA: There is irrefutable scientific evidence that a sudden rise in sea levels due to melting icecaps was the underlying cause of the Great Cataclysm. Human intervention directly caused…

(Jorjie notices that Vibeka is wearing a bracelet and gets out her vidcom.)

[The laboratory]

(Starkey answers his ringing vidcom.)

[Classroom]

JORJIE: Starkey, it’s the school. They’re stealing people’s personalities.

[The laboratory]

STARKEY: Are you all right?

[Classroom]

JORJIE: Not me. Vibeka. They made her take the bracelet.

(Jorjie’s hands are zapped again and she drops her vidcom.)

[The laboratory]

(The call ends.)

STARKEY: Jorjie? I think she’s in trouble.

[Outside Magdalen Academy]

(Starkey walks towards the entrance to the academy but is stopped by a force field. He reads a notice saying, “AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY”. He takes a lockpick out of his shoe, picks a padlock, opens a panel and connects it to his vidcom. He uses the vidcom to change the hologram above the entrance from “PERFECTION IS OUR AIM” to “DETENTION IS OUR AIM” and to get past the force field.

[Magdalen Academy quadrangle]

Jorjie sees that a different sign has changed and notices Starkey.)
JORJIE: Starkey!

(Vibeka steps in front of him.)

VIBEKA: Well, hello.
STARKEY: Are you talking to me?
VIBEKA: You are the best-looking boy in the quadrangle, aren’t you?
STARKEY: Well, I’m a boy and I’m in the quadrangle. Will two out of three count?
VIBEKA: With a nice turn of self-deprecating irony. I’m in love already. So, what’s your name?
STARKEY: St… Starkey.
VIBEKA: So masculine and mysterious at the same time.
STARKEY: What’s yours?
VIBEKA: Vibeka.
STARKEY: Beautiful name.

(Jorjie pulls Starkey away.)

VIBEKA: Hey, Jorjie, that’s not very nice.
JORJIE: They’ve done something to her, Melaina and the others. She used to be normal.
STARKEY: And now she’s an angel.

(Jorjie closes Starkey’s open mouth.)

JORJIE: Just tell me you’re being sarcastic because otherwise I’m going to get really upset.
STARKEY: I was talking to her.
JORJIE: She’s been made totally plastic, Starkey.
STARKEY: But once you get beneath the surface…
JORJIE: You’ll find more surface.
STARKEY: I need to talk to her again. I have a scientific interest in mind control, as you know.
JORJIE: Oh, really? And tell me just who’s controlling who here?
VIBEKA: Starkey? I don’t quite understand this joke. (She looks at the hologram sign.) Can you come and explain it to me?
STARKEY: Scientific research. (He goes over to Vibeka.) Well, all it is is it’s really easy…
VIBEKA: Handsome and intelligent.

[The laboratory]

(Gryffen and Darius are repairing K9. Starkey walks in.)

GRYFFEN: Ah, Starkey. We’ve discovered the substance Drake used in his weapon. Cerulium.
K9: Course of action: computational analysis of cerulium.

(Starkey is on his vidcom.)

DARIUS: What are you doing?
STARKEY: Writing.
DARIUS: Oh, duh, I can see that. What are you writing?
STARKEY: A poem.
DARIUS: Oh, well, look at you!
GRYFFEN: Starkey, what substances counteract the synthetic neurotransmitters?
DARIUS: Who’s the poem for?
STARKEY: What is this? Twenty questions? I need some peace and quiet.

(He leaves.)

DARIUS: All that clean living’s finally rotted his brain.
K9: Poor Starkey. He is in an induced state of empathetic bliss.
DARIUS: Meaning?
GRYFFEN: He thinks he’s in love.
K9: Long-term exposure to cerulium destroys free will. It was absence of free will that caused the destruction of the planet Ceres. Ceres had a two-class society: the Master and the Scribe.

[Classroom]

MELAINA: Hi, Jorjie.

[The laboratory]

K9: The Scribe class was controlled by the application of cerilium bracelets.

[Classroom]

MELAINA: I’ve got something for you.

(Melaina presents Jorjie with a box containing a cerilium bracelet.)

K9: (Voiceover) Over time, a symbiotic relationship between Scribe and Master developed. The Master was enchanted by the Scribe and the Scribe had no thought but to compliment and assist the Master. They were so entranced by each other, they never noticed they were on a collision course with a giant asteroid.

[The laboratory]

DARIUS: Ouch.
K9: Chunks of cerilium formed meteorites still hurtling throughout the galaxy.
GRYFFEN: But why did it blow up Drake’s weapon?
K9: Cerilium explodes if it is forced at an unwilling subject. The mind control only works if you accept it voluntarily.

[Classroom]

(Jorjie takes the bracelet.)

JORJIE: Thank you.
MELAINA: Aren’t you going to put it on?
JORJIE: I, uh…
VIBEKA: Starkey adored mine. He said it made my skin shine.

[The laboratory]

GRYFFEN: So, if the Department were able to trick people into wearing cerilium, they’d have the perfectly obedient unthinking population they’ve always dreamed of.
K9: Affirmative.

[Classroom]

(Jorjie puts the bracelet on.)

MELAINA: There. Now we’re all the same.
HILENA, KALENA AND VIBEKA: All the same.
JORJIE: All the same.

[The laboratory]

(K9 is restless.)

GRYFFEN: Stop wriggling! I know you’re dying to get out of here.
STARKEY: Gryffen? How can you tell if a girl likes you?
GRYFFEN: That, my dear boy, is a mystery beyond all realms of science.
K9: Incorrect. By analysing the level of cannulating Defat-2, the Hurons are able to calibrate the degree of attraction between two beings within 1 millijoule.
GRYFFEN: No wonder you’re single.

(Darius enters.)

DARIUS: Oh, hey, Fido. You’re still grounded, are you?

(K9 growls.)

GRYFFEN: Ignore him. We’re nearly there.

(Darius leaves.)

[The main hall]

(Darius enters. Jorjie has just come in through the front door.)

JORJIE: Well, don’t you look hot?
DARIUS: I’ve been working on Mariah.
JORJIE: Well, isn’t she the lucky one? Why let people think you’re just a mechanic when you’re so much more? So very much more, Darius.
DARIUS: You really think so?

(K9 has identified Jorjie’s behaviour as strange. He, Gryffen and Starkey enter and watch.)

JORJIE: You have got a fabulous physique. You’ve just got to learn to flaunt it a little.
GRYFFEN: Defat-2 levels cannulating, I suppose?
K9: Alien presence detected.
GRYFFEN: What?
K9: Alien material identified. Analysis complete. Low-grade cerilium alloy detected. Course of action: destroy.
GRYFFEN: It’s the bracelet!
STARKEY: Jorjie! Take off the bracelet!
JORJIE: What bracelet?
DARIUS: Leave her alone.
STARKEY: K9, no!

(K9 shoots at the bracelet. It falls off and sparks.)

DARIUS: Jorjie, are you okay?
JORJIE: Get off me.
GRYFFEN: Jorjie, where did you get this?
JORJIE: A girl called Melaina gave it to me.
STARKEY: Now, where does a schoolgirl get a supply of alien-inspired mind control devices?

[Magdalen Academy quadrangle]

(Jorjie goes up to Melaina, Hilena and Kalena, pretending to still be controlled. Gryffen watches on a screen in the laboratory.)

JORJIE: Hi, Melaina.

(Melaina waves and giggles.)

HILENA AND KALENA: Hi, Jorjie.
JORJIE: I love my bracelet. I’d love to get one for my mother. Do you know where I could buy one?

[Department camo]

(Drake is also watching.)

DRAKE: June wants one? What? The girl knows.

[The laboratory]

(Gryffen notices a sudden change in Melaina’s demeanour.)

GRYFFEN: Starkey, they know! Get in there now!

[Magdalen Academy quadrangle]

(Jorjie tries to grab Melaina’s bracelet. Melaina knocks her down.)

MELAINA: Do not touch the bracelet.

(K9 flies overhead.)

K9: Sit tight, Jorjie. I will remove their bracelets. Setting cannon to stun!

(He shoots Vibeka, Hilena and Kalena’s bracelets. Vibeka falls into Starkey’s arms.)

VIBEKA: Umm… What do you want? I’m fine. I don’t need you. (She adjusts her uniform.) Jorjie! Who did your hair?
JORJIE: Now for the Queen Bee.

[Department camo]

DRAKE: Well, you certainly are your mother’s daughter. Farewell, sweet Melaina.

(He pushes a button.)

[Magdalen Academy quadrangle]

(Melaina collapses. Jorjie, Vibeka, Hilena and Kalena run over to her and see robotic parts on the back of her neck.)

VIBEKA: So, you mean she wasn’t human?
JORJIE: Remote controlled, like a CCPC. Hey, Starkey. It’s good to be back.
STARKEY: Yeah, it is.

[Department camo]

DRAKE: Aim for perfection, nothing less.

[The main hall]

(Jorjie runs down the stairs. Starkey is sat on the bottom step on his vidcom.)

JORJIE: Any good?
STARKEY: I might be the worst poet to ever twinkle at a little star. Does she ever ask about me?
JORJIE: Nobody remembers what happened under the influence of the bracelet.
STARKEY: Nothing wrong with dreaming, is there?
JORJIE: No, there’s not. You’ll find someone one day.
STARKEY: Maybe she’ll even be real.
JORJIE: You’re so picky.
STARKEY: Now, I need some help. What rhymes with “passionate”?
JORJIE: “Passionate”? Umm… “Massionate”.
STARKEY: That’s not even a word. Doesn’t this thing have a rhyming dictionary? Look what I wrote here. Seriously.

(Jorjie laughs.)

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.