Notes taken by Alastair and Samantha Beadle.
John Doe and Truth return from the secret cell block to see the others, and Mrs Rotherwood. They confirm that the corridor has moved again as they leave. They discuss this. John Doe states that the rock is not, as far as his genetic analysis power can tell, alive, and Noesis has not detected any mind in it.
Void, having signed his thick security document, watches as the others read it. Except Blitz, who is still refusing to sign his copy. The document appears to have been specifically written to be as incomprehensible as possible.
John Doe and Truth arrive, desolid, up through the floor into the middle of Mrs Rotherwood's desk. Truth put John Doe, in the form of a small blob, down on the desk. He grows into a large blob. At this point Void asks Blitz to destroy his signed copy of the security document; he does so with a blast of energy. Then John Doe turns into a copy of Mrs Rotherwood sitting on her own desk, reaches out, sticks his hand down her throat and 'rummages in her insides' (or at least her lungs). He makes his arm an air pipe so she does not suffocate, though.
"John Doe! What are you doing," exclaims Blitz. He is ignored by John Doe, hits him to get his attention. John Doe ignores this too. Truth explains what happened, in particular the explosion and gassing incidents, which they blame directly on Mrs Rotherwood.
Truth, still desolid, places a live grenade inside Mrs Rotherwood's stomach. Mrs Rotherwood does not really seem to notice this as she has other things on her mind (and in her lungs) at the moment.
Blitz suggests that Mrs Rotherwood should be allowed to explain herself. John Doe reduces the size of his appendage inside her, grabs her hair, yanks her head back and shouts, "Spill the beans, bitch!"
Void suggests a little more tact would be advisable.
Truth investigates the desk, finding it to be a paperless one like Commander Perrallta's. However, unlike his desk she finds a series of concealed buttons to one side, one of which Mrs Rotherwood is currently pressing! Mrs Rotherwood is removed from the desk. She is still refusing to say anything, though she now could if she wanted to.
John Doe wraps himself around Mrs Rotherwood as a second skin, but still with an appendage down her throat. He finds that she is wearing an ear-piece. He removes it and passes it to Truth, but nothing is heard on it at this time. John Doe and Truth then proceed to perform a full body cavity search on her, using their various talents to make it a very thorough affair. The grenade is still in her stomach. John Doe, using his being a second skin, and his superior strength, makes her say, in a very unconvincing accent and not entirely lip synched, "I am so gripped with remorse, I shall have to go and throw myself out of an airlock." He then makes her walk around the room.
The body search of Mrs Rotherwood reveals a cell phone, wallet, comb, lipstick and handkerchief. The rest of the room contains mundane furniture (chair, pictures, rug on the floor). But under the rug we discover an occult symbol - a complicated pentagram, in red.
"She's a witch," exclaims Void.
"Burn Her!" says Truth.
Blitz vaguely recognises the symbol from one of the 'camps' he used to work in. Void scratches the surface - it seems to be normal paint. John Doe memorises the symbol in case of need.
At this point we hear heavy footsteps from the corridor outside. Truth, invisible and desolid, goes to look. She sees about a dozen of Bascule's guard robots coming down the corridor. John Doe forces Mrs Rotherwood towards the door to tell the robots to turn back; she resists his every move. Truth goes into the corridor first to try damaging or deactivating the robots from the inside.
Noesis and Blitz put up their force fields. Void goes black and picks up a chair.
Truth examines the robots and promptly finds a concealed armoured panel in the middle of the robot's back with two buttons beneath it. One does nothing, but the other switches off the robot. She starts to turn them off - but the first one arrives and kicks the door in; it dives in followed by the others.
"Stand Down," John Doe commands in Mrs Rotherwood's voice. The second robot turns its weapon away from John Doe.
"Stand down and surrender," say all ten robots (there were 12) in unison. Meanwhile another falls over for no apparent reason. Truth, still invisible and desolid, enters the room and starts working on the other robots.
Blitz puts up his hands, and a robot reaches towards him in an about-to-apprehend manner. Blitz drifts out of its reach and promptly gets shot by another robot; the blaster bolt is absorbed by his shield, but still hurts. Void dives for cover. Noesis telekinetically hits one of the robots, knocking it back into the wall - it starts to get back to its feet. Servo starts to hit another robot with his truncheon.
Truth has turned off all but four robots. Void wrests a gun from a fallen, but not turned off, robot. He points the gun at another robot and pulls the trigger - click - it does not work. He throws it at the robot instead - it bounces of its head.
John Doe falls to his knees and crawls towards a robot. Blitz blasts back the robot that hit him, melting parts of its case but not knocking it over. It aims to fire at Blitz again, and John Doe grows a blade tipped pseudopod that slashes at it, causing it to duck. It turns towards John Doe - who surrenders!
Blitz attempts to blast another robot but it ducks to one side. They seem to be at least as fast as some of the London Knights! The robot shoots him back in return and he tumbles through the air, slightly stunned. The robot then slumps to the floor as Truth turns it off.
Everything goes quiet as Truth finishes turning off the robots.
Void asks John Doe if he, "has checked Mrs Rotherwood for a third nipple, at which the devil sucks?"
John Doe says he will do this thing. He also discusses taking Mrs Rotherwood on a long journey - to Pluto! Various grisly ways of keeping her alive on the trip (such as just keeping her brain alive while it and John Doe feed on her body) are mentioned. John Doe leaves for the nearest airlock to take her out into space for safekeeping.
Void demands to know what we are up to. We explain that John Doe is taking Mrs Rotherwood off to keep her 'safe' and the rest of us are going to find the Warden and Ms Sejnowski to find out what is going on.
Noesis decides to go off with John Doe. They want to find the outside door of the airlock to the 'moving corridor'. They think that they will probably need Truth to work from the inside to do this properly. She agrees to do this and shimmers away through the floor.
Blitz, Void and Servo head off - the corridor has two unmarked doors (one of which is Mrs Rotherwood's office) and two marked doors - Commander Perrallta and the Deputy Commander Finch. Blitz tries the other unmarked door and, finding it locked, kicks it in and enters, force field on. A yellow blaster bolt hits him in the chest and throws him back out again, into the far wall. Servo enters the room and smashes the blaster with his truncheon. It seems to have popped down from a hidden housing in the ceiling. The room is otherwise empty of people.
Void enters. He heads straight for the rug and pulls it back. Underneath it he finds another pentagram, of slightly different design to the previous one, this time in dark blue. He checks the rest of the office, and finds it similar to Mrs Rotherwood's.
Blitz goes off to try the Wardens door. It is open but empty, as is the Deputy Wardens. He picks up a phone and tries to get through to someone in command and/or control.
At this point there is a beeping. Servo pulls out a pocket computer and types away on it. He says one of his invisible object detectors has gone off - it could be the Brood arriving! Servo goes off to the labs to fine tune the detector. Void goes off in that direction too, to find the 'war bridge' he expects may be in the area of security.
John Doe finds an air lock and leaves, taking all the air inside with him. He turns himself into a transparent cube with rocket thrusters so that Mrs Rotherwood can see where she is. She shows little sign of panic, or indeed of any other emotion. John Doe turns on his rocket motors and exclaims, "To Pluto!" After five minutes he stops ("Not to Pluto, yet!") and returns to look for the 'moving corridor' air lock.
Noesis comes out of the airlock behind him and follows.
Truth finds the 'moving corridor'. It has moved again, even further than last time. The gas is still around and still potent. The airlock remains free of gas though. She uses her mobile phone to call John Doe and Noesis.
John Doe asks if Noesis can do anything with Mrs Rotherwood.
"No, her mental defences are too strong," he says.
Truth asks Noesis if she can 'stimulate' Mrs Rotherwood's brain directly to reduce her mental defences. That is, will poking Mrs Rotherwood's brains with her mostly desolid fingers help any. Noesis does not know, but does not recommend it.
She then describes roughly how the corridor has moved to help John Doe find it from the outside. She gets the arm of one of the spacesuits in the locker by the 'moving corridor's' airlock and waves it out through the door (literally through - she does not open it!) to signal them. Mrs Rotherwood, when asked, refuses to tell them the combination so Truth leaves the spacesuit arm sticking out into space and starts to randomly press airlock door keys in an attempt to open it.
Blitz gets through to security and demands to talk to Commander Perrallta. He is told that he is under arrest, along with all the others. Then Commander Perrallta is put on. Blitz explains all about Mrs Rotherwood and Ms Sejnowski and the 'moving corridor'. Commander Perrallta is 'interested'. Blitz finishes with "Oh, one of Servo's alarms has gone off. The Brood may be arriving."
Void arrives at the corridor to central security. A heavy security bulkhead blocks it. He gets on the intercom. "We currently have a security alert," he is told.
"Really! What is your one?" he asks. "We have two witches and a load of mad robots."
They discuss the defence of the station. Security refuses to give him a weapon because 'Emergency Regulations' forbid it.
Blitz goes to the airlock, finds a spacesuit, puts it on, double checks it, adjusts it so it will actually work, and leaves the station. He goes off to look for Brood.
John Doe bores Mrs Rotherwood with his description of FTL travel principles, threatening to make her the first human to travel in that manner.
Having reached the spacesuit arm Truth put through the 'moving corridor's' airlock door, he looks around the rock outside the door looking for buttons that will open the door.
Inside, Truth goes to have a look at the prisoners. Hank, the old woman Truth didn't get to speak to, psychic powers man and the other old man are all still asleep and cannot be woken. Adam is still in bits - most of his chest blown out.
Truth checks and finds similar bombs under the beds in all of the rooms. She goes to the empty room and experiments with disarming it. Not that she has any technical or demolitions skills. She pulls random wires out of it. Nothing happens. Then it goes off - BOOM! Fortunately she is desolid.
She checks on the prisoners again, and notices that Adams chest appears to be regrowing!
She finds where the gas is coming in from - a large number of tiny vents scattered about the walls, very difficult to block. She examines the doors and locks, but cannot open them as she does not have the required electronics knowledge. They do not look 'grenadeable' (there is not enough space inside for a grenade to fit, for one). She goes to the airlock, becomes solid, and phones Servo for advice.
Void gets bored talking to the security chief and heads off in the direction he last saw Servo going in. He arrives at the security door to Engineering - which is also closed. He talks to Bascule on the intercom. Apparently they have had no trouble in this area.
Void describes the robot behaviour as 'malfunctioning'. Bascule is concerned at this! However, Bascule also refuses to open the security door while the emergency is in progress. Void heads back to the nearest airlock and dons a spacesuit, which takes a while as the design is different to what he is used to. He then leaves the space station and goes to look around. Outside, he sees Blitz flying around.
John Doe searches the SI-12 woman for a third nipple but doesn't find one.
Noesis says he cannot find any way of opening the airlock.
John Doe is running low on air by now so goes back to one of the airlocks. But he cannot open it...
Truth phones Servo and asks how to open the cell door locks he says he cannot really describe how to open them over the phone. He would have to be there to do it properly. Truth rings off.
John Doe rings Truth and tells her about being unable to get back into Project Safeguard. She tells him can get John Doe in but not the SI-12 woman (as John Doe can shrink himself down to a small enough size that she can make him desolid).
John Doe rings off and talks to Blitz and Void instead.
They also do not know how to get any air if the airlocks are sealed. John Doe talks to station security. They say they cannot let anyone in because of the security alert.
When quizzed about this, they say we are the security alert. We say we are all outside, so how can we be the security alert?
They say we should go. John Doe explains that Mrs Rotherwood will die shortly if he is not allowed to enter the station. In reply they promise to put some air tanks out of airlock four - the furthest airlock from John Doe's current position.
We plead with security some more regarding why we behaved in the manner we did with Mrs Rotherwood.
John Doe heads off for airlock four and finds four air tanks floating outside, which he gobbles up. He glues them to the rock outside the 'moving corridor'.
Truth continues her search, retracing the conduits in the walls from the main control panel. She finds a large junction box for communications and data cables, but not for power. She follows what appears to be the main link to it. It branches off at several points to cameras and other equipment. Only a single data line seems to connect this part of the station to the main part. She returns and finds the power connections from a large power cell behind a panel in the control room - it is on, but there is a security lock preventing the system from activating. She starts disconnecting things to try and reboot it, with little success. By now she is getting tired from being desolid for so long, so she returns to solid form (not being affected by the gas).
Outside, Void threatens to break into the station forcefully. He is politely advised not to do this. He finds a toolkit on his spacesuit and starts working on the outside of one of the prison cells, dismantling it to get a way in. Note that the spacesuits in the 'moving corridor' area do not have inbuilt tool kits.
John Doe asks for a spacesuit to be pushed out, just in case it becomes necessary to return his hostage. A spacesuit is provided, again, at the airlock furthest from his current position.
Truth returns to Adam and finds the hole in his chest is now two thirds the size it was originally.
Outside, Void discusses with Blitz his plan to enter the station via a prison cell.
John Doe phones STOP in London. When he gets through he has himself put through to Chief Inspector Heatherington.
"Er - we have a problem," he tells the Chief Inspector. "They won't let us back in!" He gives a brief summary and then asks, "What shall we do?"
"We'll look into it and call you back" is the answer.
He then phones Alan Chessex, his news contact at the BBC and head of local news for London. He tells him everything as well, and is put through to Peter Redfern of the BBC's world-wide news. The story is told yet again. Peter Redfern asks if he has any evidence, which of course he does not. However, he agrees to take some 'photographs' and get the support of the other London Knights for the story.
Truth takes all the paper from Hank's room into Adam's room. She tracks back the gas pipes to a number of gas cylinders in an autonomous air recycling plant. She prepares herself a quick meal in the lounge area and has a rest and think. She remembers, from her previous search of the entire station, where everything is. In particular, the nearest weapons locker is about 60 metres away, and the station's main power plant is about 300 metres away in a different direction. The nearest main power cable is about 40 metres away.
Outside, Noesis, John Doe and Blitz discuss their predicament.
John Doe leaves Mrs Rotherwood with Blitz for a while and heads off to the 'moving corridor' airlock.
"Do you have any explanation as to what has been going on?" Blitz asks Mrs Rotherwood.
"We do what is best for everyone," she tells him coldly.
"Who decides what is best?"
"We do, the government does. The government funds us."
"Does the Prime Minister approve your detailed plans?"
"No."
"Hmm - I have met people like you before," says Blitz. The conversation ends.
John Doe and Truth meet up. Truth brings John Doe into the 'moving corridor' and they exchange notes. John Doe starts working on making biological filters to clear out the gas. He thinks it will take some while to work out how to do this.
Blitz talks again to Commander Perrallta to ask what is going on. He repeats the allegations against Mrs Rotherwood and Ms Sejnowski, and suggests that Ms Sejnowski be treated as a suspect. Commander Perrallta takes this 'under advisement'.
He also tells Commander Perrallta that Ms Sejnowski's room is booby trapped and that she may well have an ear-piece to an independent communications system.
John Doe has Truth put him outside again and asks Commander Perrallta for a small camera to take photos of the inside of the 'moving corridor' as further evidence. A suitable camera is supplied, as before via the furthest-away airlock. John Doe collects it and returns to Truth, who takes the photos and returns the camera to the security centre.
Invisible, she drops it into Commander Perrallta's lap, where it suddenly appears. The occupants of security are slightly taken aback by this. Then she checks Ms Sejnowski for an ear-piece. She has one, so Truth grabs the ear-piece from Ms Sejnowski's ear. Ms Sejnowski claps her hand to her ear when this happens, not that it bothers Truth. As she grabs the ear-piece, Truth says "Very Bad!"
Truth then returns to the 'moving corridor'. All is still the same down there, prisoners asleep (or regenerating slowly) and John Doe still working out how to make gas filters.
Blitz contacts Commander Perrallta again to ask if he has seen the video evidence. He has and describes it as 'very suspicious'. However he still has not detained Ms Sejnowski!
A plan is hatched - blow up the outer airlock door of the 'moving corridor' so that Commander Perrallta can see it! Commander Perrallta agrees to send a security robot out to witness this.
Truth starts to pack grenades and battery packs to the outer airlock door as a makeshift bomb. It is suggested that John Doe form a large mass behind the explosives to make it a shaped charge. He wisely turns down this kind offer. Truth sets the device off. It scorches the door but otherwise leaves it intact.
Truth takes John Doe up to see Ms Sejnowski. At John Doe's request she places him into her windpipe in long and thin form. Ms Sejnowski starts gasping and choking as John Doe climbs up towards the mouth.
Then Truth looks around security control. Commander Perrallta is watching the other team members on cameras, including the view through the eyes of the security robot that is arriving on the scene. Ms Sejnowski is sat right next to him, but not, it seems, under arrest.
John Doe 'talks' to Ms Sejnowski by making noises at the back of her throat.
"I have come from Adam," he grates. "For 150 years you have imprisoned me. I have come for revenge."
"Medic!" she croaks.
"They cannot help you. Only the truth can save you now!"
"What do you want?"
"I want the world to know. For 150 years you have held me, what harm can it do now?"
"The world cannot know."
"Why, what is so hideous? The secrets are long since exposed or moved on."
"If you are from Adam you will already know."
"Show them or suffer an eternity of torment as I have done!"
"If that is necessary."
John Doe continues his interrogation and mental torture of Ms Sejnowski. Unfortunately she seems quite tough.
Outside, the security robot is brought to the airlock door. Truth traces its outline with her (desolid) arm. Blitz would like to use his powers to blast away the door, but that will also destroy his spacesuit. Servo offers to send out his cutting torch instead, and this is done.
Rock is cut away to expose the metal of the airlock door. This convinces Commander Perrallta. The metalwork can be seen to be moving slowly under the surface of the rock. A hole is cut into the door, large enough for a person in a spacesuit to squeeze through, but this has exhausted Servo's cutting torch's power. Three additional space suits are sent down and passed through, in small pieces, to Truth. The air tanks are too large and have to wait outside.
Some more heavy-duty cutting gear is also passed outside.
Meanwhile, John Doe is slowly driving a spike up into the back of Ms Sejnowski's throat. "Tell them while you can. It is all over now anyway."
"It is never over."
The spike is allowed to go in about a centimetre, but still she does not crack.
John Doe begins to dribble out of her mouth and down inside her clothes, heading for her sidearm. She wipes the dribble off and flicks it away, so he chokes her unconscious and does it anyway.
Outside, the heavy duty cutting gear is placed in the airlock, and Blitz follows. He allows the airlock to be sealed behind him due to the motion of the airlock through the rock, then cuts through the inner door and enters the complex, with the space suits and tanks, but without depressurising the entire place. Clever.
Once inside, he cuts his way to the cell through the armoured internal doors. The cells are also cut open, and each prisoner is put into a spacesuit.
John Doe repeats his dribble trick. People are gathering around Ms Sejnowski to see what is wrong and assist. They find nothing wrong with her and she starts to come around of her own accord, so John Doe regulates the oxygen is getting to keep her unconscious without killing her. He then forms a second skin under her clothing before she is completely awake (no, she does not have a third nipple either). With John Doe controlling her through the second skin she jumps to her feet and says "No, this cannot be allowed to happen, this is too much."
She grabs her sidearm and backs towards the door, shooting one of the monitors which is showing the robocam pictures.
"Don't you understand," 'she' shouts. "They have to die! It is too late now, they know too much!"
He/she then shoots another monitor 'by accident'. Someone shoots him/her in the back, twice. It hurts them both, but Ms Sejnowski is worse off. He/she falls to the floor, and is disarmed and arrested by two burly Wardens. John Doe ceases his control and leaves her body just before they wheel her away.
Truth goes back 'upstairs' by the normal (i.e. desolid) route.
Blitz arranges the movement of all the prisoners from the 'moving corridor' to new holding cells in the conventional part of Project Safeguard.
Truth invisibly watches this from the monitors in security control when she gets there.
The space-walking members of the party and the prisoners are allowed back into the station, having, by now, convinced Commander Perrallta that they were not entirely responsible for the security alert. The prisoners are taken to their new cells and put inside for the time being.
John Doe sneaks around in an attempt to make it appear that he entered the station from space with them. However, as he is wandering around in the form of one of the Wardens, he meets a Warden - the same one that he is impersonating! Whoops! They point guns at him until he explains himself, when they warn him not to do it again.
We release Mrs Rotherwood. She is to be kept 'under surveillance' by security.