[London]

(Starkey and K9 are running down the back of a building.)

STARKEY: Wait, wait, wait, wait.

(They stop. CCPCs march past without seeing them.)

CCPC: In line. Keep moving. Keep moving. Keep up the speed. Work to be done.
STARKEY: Now! (He and K9 move forward but stop when a flying probe appears.) Okay, wait!
K9: It can’t see us. It’s looking the other way.
STARKEY: Go!

(They go around a corner.)

K9: Starkey!

(K9 flies over a fence.)

STARKEY: What?
K9: I sense the police approaching. Quickly, Starkey!

(Starkey throws his bag over the fence and climbs over.)

[Woods]

K9: Well?
STARKEY: That’s what’s called kicking surveillance butt.
K9: I should attempt to kick surveillance posterior whenever possible from now on.
STARKEY: You’re a fast learner, K9.
K9: Why does the Department want to capture you?
STARKEY: Because I’m a dissident. It means I don’t do what I’m told.
K9: Am I a dissident?
STARKEY: Nope. You are an alien life form. They’re techos would pull you apart to see how you work, then turn you into cans for dog food.
K9: How ironic. Let’s hope Gryffen gets the STM working properly and soon, then.
STARKEY: Are you going to miss us when you go home, K9?

(K9 detects something.)

K9: Invisible camovehicle about to come around that corner. Strategic option number one: kick surveillance posterior.
STARKEY: I’ve got another option.

(Starkey hides behind a branch.)

K9: Awaiting details of better option.
STARKEY: K9! (The camovehicle, barely visible, drives past.) We lost them.
K9: Negative. Cybernetic Civic Pacification Officers have been avoided, not misplaced.
STARKEY: Either way, I’m a happy dude. Let’s eat.

(He presents a can of baked beans. K9’s analysis of the can alerts him to the potential for gas.)

K9: I recommend you chew well.

[The mansion]

(Darius serves dinner in the study and sits down. Gryffen is working on a piece of technology.)

GRYFFEN: What people don’t realise is that most scientific discovery isn’t a “ha!” moment. It’s slow and steady, trial and error.
DARIUS: That’s great, prof. Are you going to come and eat?
GRYFFEN: Yes, just be patient. (He walks with the device into the main hall.) I’ve just about got this temporal exciter working. It’s all about trial and… (He points it at the Space-Time Manipulator, which switches off.) Error.
DARIUS: Lunch is getting cold! Come on, I nicked all this food especially!

(Gryffen returns to the study.)

GRYFFEN: You what?
DARIUS: I picked all this food especially.
GRYFFEN: Just imagine, Darius. (He sits down.) When the Space-Time Manipulator is working at full capacity, I’ll be able to travel through space and time at will. I’ll be able to see my family again.
DARIUS: When it’s working.

(In the main hall, the Space-Time Manipulator powers up and a Korven arrives.)

GRYFFEN: Is it my imagination or has it suddenly gotten cold in here?
DARIUS: Yeah, it has. Let’s light the fire.

(Gryffen closes the study door.)

GRYFFEN: Let’s play a game! If you were to go back to any point in history, where would you go?

(Darius starts a fire.)

DARIUS: Any point?
GRYFFEN: Mm-hm.
DARIUS: I’d go back ten days.
GRYFFEN: That’s fairly specific.
DARIUS: Find out who stole my wallet. (The Korven walks up to Gryffen from behind and grabs him by the shoulder. He growls.) That should do it. (He looks around, but he is alone.) Prof? Hey, Prof!

[London street]

(Jorjie and June are walking down the street, carrying shopping bags.)

JUNE: It’s nice to do this with you sometimes.
JORJIE: What, supervise the clothes I buy?
JUNE: Oh, I look on it more as advising. Strongly advising. I should be home by midnight. Be in bed.
JORJIE: Yes, Mum.
JUNE: And if you need me, I’ll have my verometer.
JORJIE: And I’ll lock the door and not let anyone in until you get home and, yes, Mum, I do promise. Stop worrying.
JUNE: Never.

(June kisses Jorjie on the cheek and leaves. Jorjie turns a corner, looks back once June has gone and heads back the way they came.)

[The mansion]

(Darius runs into the laboratory.)

DARIUS: Prof? (He runs into the main hall.) Prof!?

[Woods]

(Starkey is cooking his beans over a small fire.)

K9: When the temperature of the fire is high enough, the contents of this can will be rendered edible?
STARKEY: You’ve forgotten it’s called cooking?
K9: And is it always this absurdly slow?
STARKEY: Hey, I’m doing my best here.
K9: Perhaps I could do some cooking.

(He fires his gun at the can. It heats up and the beans burst out of it.)

STARKEY: K9! Great!
K9: They are sufficiently hot.
STARKEY: Yeah, just the way I like them.
K9: Carbon-based life form approaching. Strategic option: avoidance or kick surveillance posterior.
STARKEY: Avoidance.

(Jorjie arrives.)

JORJIE: Starkey?
STARKEY: What are you doing here?

(Jorjie sits down with them.)

JORJIE: You said you had three hiding spots. I’ve already checked two. (She goes into her bag.) I brought you some food.
K9: We have already cooked.
STARKEY: You brought this all the way down here? How come?
JORJIE: Just thought you might be hungry.
K9: Increased surface temperature of cheeks. Condition commonly known as blushing.
JORJIE: I’m not blushing. I’ve never blushed in my life.
K9: Analysis suggests otherwise.
JORJIE: Well, I suggest you analyse your analyser.
K9: Analysing.
JORJIE: This is a terrible way to live. You can’t keep running forever.
STARKEY: I haven’t got much choice. Not until I can get my file wiped from the Department computer.
K9: That would require computer access codes to the Department’s mainframe.

(Starkey taps his pockets.)

STARKEY: I must’ve left them in my other jacket.

(Jorje laughs.)

K9: Recommend immediate search of other garment.
STARKEY: It’s a joke, K9.
K9: This unit will take your word for it.

(Jorjie’s phone rings. She answers it.)

JORJIE: Darius?
DARIUS: Jorjie, you have to come. Gryffen’s gone.
JORJIE: Gone? Gone where? He can’t leave the house.
DARIUS: Oh, I don’t know but he is not in the mansion and we’re going to check outside. (He goes out the mansion’s front door.) Okay, I’ll leave a key under the rock for you, okay?
JORJIE: Okay, I’ll see you soon. Bye.
DARIUS: Yeah, ta. (Call ends.) Where are you, prof?

[The main hall]

(Jorjie opens the front door. Darius is stood there.)

JORJIE: Find him?
DARIUS: Jorjie, I’m so glad you came. I’ve been…

(Darius walks in and notices Starkey.)

STARKEY: You’ve looked everywhere?
DARIUS: Yeah, of course I’ve looked everywhere. He hasn’t been outside the house for ten years and suddenly, whoosh.
K9: Phosphane gas is present in the atmosphere. Eight parts per million.
STARKEY: Phosphane? What’s that?
K9: It is a cooling agent which will not be invented for another three hundred years.
STARKEY: Well, how did it get here?
K9: Perhaps this will give us a clue.

(The Space-Time Manipulator powers up and creates the image of Medowin.)

DARIUS: What is that?
MEDOWIN: Release me from this device. I need to speak to someone urgently.
STARKEY: I’m sorry. We don’t know how.
JORJIE: Who are you?
MEDOWIN: Senior Lieutenant Medowin Gelf. Special Operations Commando, Global Command, Planet Earth in the year 2618, despatched to this time and place to neutralise the Korven.
JORJIE: What is the Korven?
MEDOWIN: The Korven are one of the most dangerous and destructive aliens from our time. They absolutely must be stopped at all costs, preferably with extreme prejudice.
K9: Korven are an alien race due to invade Earth in the year 2480.
MEDOWIN: Correct.
STARKEY: But that’s centuries from now.
MEDOWIN: The Earth itself has been our ally. It’s too warm for the Korven to function at their maximum strength.
DARIUS: So they like the cold.
STARKEY: And I guess they’ve got access to this phosphane stuff?
K9: Affirmative.
MEDOWIN: The Korven are sending finders back in time to find a group of scientists that history tells us had created a system to cool the Earth. It was misused in your time. Now the Korven are after it.
JORJIE: Gryffen.
DARIUS: That must be what happened to the professor. They’ve grabbed him. What are they going to do to him?
K9: They absorb all information from the brain. They then abandon the host body, leaving it like an empty shell. It’s called leeching.
DARIUS: The prof is going to be lost without his brain.
MEDOWIN: If they get the data they need from these scientists, they will cool the Earth and destroy humanity.
STARKEY: Well, how do we stop them?
MEDOWIN: The Korven are an incredibly powerful, almost indestructible, enemy. Their only weakness is–

(Medowin disappears.)

JORJIE: What? What’s their only weakness?
DARIUS: Hey, come–! Well, he couldn’t have started by telling us that, could he?
K9: I am acquainted with the Korven’s weakness. During the leeching process, their entire being is focused on their victim. It’s the only known time that they’re vulnerable.
DARIUS: I guess they don’t tend to hang about, taking in the sights.
K9: Once a Korven finds a cold enough place, the leeching will commence.
DARIUS: So, I guess you’re looking for somewhere cold.

(K9 detects something and spins around.)

K9: The trail of phosphane gas leads this way.
STARKEY: Be careful.
K9: That is my default position.

(K9 starts flying off.)

DARIUS: Hang on. You’re going to need a second pair of hands. Or a pair of hands. I can’t risk the prof getting his brain sucked out. He owes me for lunch.

[The ice works, tunnel]

(The Korven walks down the tunnel with Gryffen hovering in tow.)

GRYFFEN: Whatever you want, please don’t take me outside! I hate being outside! (He sees a sign on a door reading “Caution Extreme Cold”.) Oh, well, that settles it then. I demand that you take me back to my house!

(The Korven holds out his hand and shoots electricity at the door. It opens. The Korven and Gryffen enter.)

[Department vehicle]

(June is on her phone.)

JUNE: Jorjie, I’m assuming the reason that you’re not answering is that you’re busy doing your homework. If not, then…
DRAKE: Busy as always, Inspector Turner?
JUNE: Of course, Inspector Drake.
DRAKE: I understand there’s been an upsurge in alien arrivals in recent days. Care to update me?
JUNE: Not really.
DRAKE: And why would that be?
JUNE: Because I’m the Head of the Alien Activity Section and you’re the Head of Security. I don’t report to you.
DRAKE: Never heard of information sharing?
JUNE: Of course. It works on a need-to-know basis. When I feel you need to know something, I’ll share it with you.
DRAKE: And I’ll be sure to operate the same way. One big happy Department. I’ll let you get back to your daughter.

[The ice works, tunnel]

(K9, Starkey, Jorjie, Darius hurry down the tunnel. The boys are carrying torches.)

DARIUS: This is a back entrance to the ice works.
STARKEY: What are we going to do once we find this Korven? We need some kind of plan.
DARIUS: I’ve got a plan. Save the prof.
K9: Phosphane detected. Phosphane won’t be invented for another three hundred years.
JORJIE: We know that.
DARIUS: Look, this place is Korven central. Let’s get our skates on.
STARKEY: Are you alright, K9?
K9: (Weakly.) Affirmative.
STARKEY: Good, because I think we’re going to need you, big time.
K9: This unit is ready for the big time.

[The ice works, room]

(Gryffen is on a table.)

GRYFFEN: You’ve clearly brought me here for a purpose. Uniform suggests a military operation which clearly needs to be a cold weather one, but the examination table suggests an entirely different type of operation. What are you going to do to me? (The Korven places his hand over Gryffen’s head.) What are you…? No! I’ll do what you want! (Unclear.)

(The Korven opens a cannister.)

[The ice works, stairway]

K9: Phosphane trail rarely found in this atmosphere but still present.
STARKEY: Good boy, K9.
K9: I am not a boy. I’m a cybernetic construction containing quantum consciousness.
STARKEY: Who needs to lighten up, just a little. It’s a term of affection.
K9: Define “affection”.
DARIUS: I’m really sorry to interrupt, guys, but you do remember the professor? He’s the guy about to have his brains relocated.
STARKEY: Yes, I do remember him. I also remember we don’t have a plan for what we’re going to do about this Korven.
DARIUS: We find him and K9 will zap him.
K9: Zap the Korven.
JORJIE: Let’s start by finding him.
DARIUS: It’ll work better if we all split up. Jorjie and I go that way, you and K9 go up there.
JORJIE: You think? I mean, maybe Starkey and I should…
STARKEY: Darius’s way makes sense.
DARIUS: Okay. Stay in vidcom communication.

(The two pairs split.)

[The ice works, corridor]

JORJIE: You spend a lot of time with Professor Gryffen, don’t you?
DARIUS: When I’m not out making a living, yeah.
JORJIE: Doesn’t sound like you spend much time at home.
DARIUS: I ain’t got one anymore. Me and my parents don’t really see eye to eye. Parents are always giving you rules and telling you what to do. Prof doesn’t do that.
JORJIE: Hm. I guess.
DARIUS: Come on. Parents can’t help themselves. I bet your mum – she’s always watching over your shoulder.
JORJIE: No, not all the time. Okay, then, most of the time.
DARIUS: You should get a taste of freedom like me. You should move into the mansion. You know, in a spare bedroom. Prof would be cool with it.
JORJIE: Uh, thanks, but maybe we should find him before you start giving away bits of his house.
DARIUS: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. It’s what we’re here for.

[The ice works, corridor]

STARKEY: It’s getting colder.
K9: Assessment logical.
STARKEY: I guess that means we’re getting closer. What’s the latest on the phosphane count?
K9: Phosphane won’t be invented for over two hundred years.
STARKEY: You told us that. And it’s three hundred.
K9: Two hundred, three hundred. You won’t be around to see it.
STARKEY: What?
K9: This unit’s process is being affected by the phosphane. Phosphane search two hundred parts per million. The Korven is very close.

[The ice works, room / corridor]

(Starkey looks in, unseen.)

GRYFFEN: Tell me what you want! I can speak. Couldn’t you just get me a blanket or something? All right, I’ll be quiet.

(The Korven holds his hand over Gryffen’s head and starts draining his knowledge.)

STARKEY: It’s started the leeching. (K9, sat on some bags behind him, moans.) What’s wrong?
K9: Gas hurting doggy. Doggy’s processors.
STARKEY: K9, we need you.
K9: Nice to be needed.
STARKEY: I’ll call the others. Is there anything I can do to help?
K9: Run.
STARKEY: What?
K9: Too late.

(The Korven approaches. Starkey screams. Later, Starkey is laying on a table next to Gryffen.)

GRYFFEN: It’s some type of immobilising force field. Don’t struggle. It’s pointless.
STARKEY: We can’t just lie here and let it suck our brains out!
GRYFFEN: Is that what it wants?
STARKEY: Yes!
GRYFFEN: I need my brain! For thinking!
STARKEY: K9! K…!

(The Korven holds his hand over Starkey’s head for a moment.)

GRYFFEN: You won’t be able to speak for about ten minutes. It’s painless but it’s…

(The Korven puts his hand over Gryffen’s head again. Jorjie and Darius find K9 in the corridor.)

DARIUS: Hey.
JORJIE: K9. Where’s Starkey?
K9: I told him to run. Would he listen?
JORJIE: Where is he?
K9: (Unclear.)

(Darius looks into the room.)

DARIUS: Okay, you tin mutt. It’s zapping time.
K9: Zap. That’s a funny word.
JORJIE: K9, we need you. Gryffen needs you. Starkey needs you.
K9: Starkey?
JORJIE: That’s right. Starkey
K9: Must focus.
DARIUS: Yeah, come on.
K9: Phosphane dangerous to unit. Self-protection protocol engaged. Shutting down.
JORJIE: K9!
GRYFFEN: Mina! Jacob! Eleanor! No! No!

(He remembers his smiling daughter, son and wife. Darius hears Gryffen and heads towards the room.)

JORJIE: Don’t!
DARIUS: Right, that’s it, Phosphane Rat. Wake up in there! (He enters the room and shines his torch in the Korven’s face.) Yeah, that’s right, you, Icicle Butt. (The Korven does not react. Darius picks up and smashes the cannister.) How about that? That get your attention?

(The Korven stops leeching. K9 and Jorjie enter.)

STARKEY: K9! K9! We need you, K9!
K9: Must override self-protection protocol. Time for skates on.

(K9 shoots the Korven in the side. The Korven collapses.)

DARIUS: K9! Prof!
K9: Current power exhausted. (He switches off.)
GRYFFEN: Darius?
STARKEY: He remembers you. Great.
K9: (Switches back on.) Alien life force detected.

(The Korven gets up.)

STARKEY: Look out!
JORJIE: K9, fire!
K9: Fire? Everybody out!

(Darius wrestles with the Korven.)

STARKEY: K9, your photon beam. Fire your photon beam!
K9: Baked beans?
STARKEY: Baked beans!
K9: Baked beans. Cooking required to render edible. Command understood, master. (K9 fires at the Korven, who explodes.) This unit needs seriously to recharge. (He deactivates.)
JORJIE: Darius, are you all right?
DARIUS: Do I know you? Jodie?

(Jorjie hits him. He laughs.)

[The dining room]

(Gryffen is repairing K9. Starkey, Jorjie and Darius all have blankets.)

STARKEY: Is he going to be okay?
GRYFFEN: His power activation module was damaged by the phosphane but, with a few minor repairs and a bit of a recharge, he should be fine.
DARIUS: And how’s your memory, travelling prof?
GRYFFEN: The human brain is a remarkable organ. It can retrieve fragments of memories even if they’ve first been lost.
DARIUS: So, it’s good?
GRYFFEN: Yes, it’s good thanks to you, Darius.
DARIUS: Being heroic is what I do, prof.

(Gryffen uses his computer.)

GRYFFEN: All right, Starkey. Here we are. The Department mainframe. You know this is ridiculously illegal.
STARKEY: I figured it might be.
GRYFFEN: It’s funny that we’ve just saved humanity but if we get caught doing this we’ll be wanted criminals.
DARIUS: So glad to see your sense of humour wasn’t affected there.
GRYFFEN: All right. The Department uses a unique encryption code. It’s almost impossible to break if you don’t know what you’re doing but, if you do…
STARKEY: And that’s it?
GRYFFEN: You are officially no longer a wanted dissident. In fact, you may not even exist.
STARKEY: I don’t have to run anymore.
JORJIE: Or sleep behind a fence.
STARKEY: Not until I find somewhere else to live, anyway.
JORJIE: Darius tells me there’s a spare room here.
GRYFFEN: Absolutely splendid idea. We could use some company, couldn’t we, Darius?
DARIUS: Right, company. Yeah.

(Darius leaves. Gryffen shakes Starkey’s hand.)

[Spare bedroom]

(The spare bedroom has clearly been used for storage and is full of paintings, frames, chairs and bottles. Starkey sits on the bed with K9, who has a blanket on and is attached to a small machine.)

STARKEY: How are you feeling?
K9: I should emit the remainder of my gas during the night and I should be fine by the morning.
STARKEY: Night, K9.

(He gets into bed.)

K9: Night, master. (He expels wind.) Pardon me.

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.