LS

long shot

S

Sef

MS

mid shot

K

Keryn

CU

close up

R

Ronan

FL

frame left

M

Mundry

FR

frame right

L

Lisa

S

shots (when preceded by a number)

s

seconds (when preceded by a number)

A

angles (when preceded by a number)

~

approximately

Scene 1

A field or park (possibly a wood). There is a shimmering over part of the picture, like a heat haze, or a disturbance in clear water. Within this part of the picture, an invisible door slides aside, to reveal part of a white room. Sef and Keryn appear within this room and step out of the door, into the field. Keryn is carrying a communicator (really the old cable remote control). The door closes behind them. Keryn turns to look at where they’ve come from. She presses a couple of buttons on her communicator, and the shimmering stops.

1) LS of S&K, from front, off to FR. When K closes the door, they are not obscuring it.

Do a safety from a different angle, in case I can’t get the transition to look right.

Sef

(looking around) Good old twenty-first century Ireland. As dull as ever, eh, Keryn?

2a) MS of S&K.

Keryn

(ignoring his comment, still looking down at her communicator) I’ve told the ship to re-emerge in two hours. (turns to face him and puts the communicator away) That should be plenty of time.

Sef

To prevent an attack by the Ammet?

3) CU S

Keryn

Sef, we’re not supposed to prevent the attack. We just have to make sure no-one gets hurt.

4) CU K

They begin to walk.

2b) Exit FL.

(5S, 4A)

Scene 2

A road that leads to a bridge over a river, on the bank opposite the village that we see in subsequent scenes. Sef and Keryn enter the shot.

1) LS. Enter FR. Show one end of the bridge.

Keryn

The message that HQ decrypted suggests the attack will be from a satellite in low orbit.

Sef

We’d better scan the skies, then.

Keryn

Yes.

They take out their communicators, press a few buttons and put them away again. Sef looks up at the skies as they do this.

2) MS.

They cross the bridge.

3) LS. Show the river on one side of the frame. Exit FR.

(3S, 3A)

Scene 3

They walk up the street where the church is.

1) LS, from the side opposite Mammy’s. Enter FR.

Sef

There don’t seem to be many people around, Keryn. Are you sure this is the right point?

Keryn

There’s an uncertainty of one klick in the spatial coordinates.

Sef stops. Keryn continues.

2) CU S

Sef

Great. So they could strike a crowded pub on the other side of that hill,

(he resumes walking to catch up with her, and steps in front of her) and the first we’d know would be the smoke and flames.

3) MS

Keryn stops, exasperated. Sef stops a moment later.

Keryn

The Ammet believe in minimum interference as much as we do, Sef. It’ll be one person, isolated, probably in the open.

4) CU K

Keryn resumes walking.

So does Sef.

5) LS

Do 2 versions, one where they leave the shot and one where they stay.

Sef

So can’t we just jump forward a couple of hours, see who the target is, and then come back and stop them from being there?

Could cut from the start of this line to the end of the scene. (20-25s)

Keryn

In theory, yes, but it’s not that simple.

There is a chime from Sef’s communicator.

Could cut from the chime to the end of the scene. (~10s)

Sef looks surprised, and stops walking. Keryn stops.

6) CU S

Keryn

Found something?

Sef takes his communicator out of his pocket and looks at it.

Sef

Just a GPS satellite.

7) MS. Exit FR.

(5-7S, 5-7A)

Keryn

The Ammet usually fly lower than that, Sef. Reduce the ceiling.

Sef nods and makes an adjustment to his communicator. He puts it back in his pocket. They resume walking.

Scene 4

They come to the junction at the top of the street. They look both ways. Sef looks at Keryn as if to say “which way?” Keryn shrugs. Sef goes left, with Keryn following. They are on the left of the street, from their viewpoint.

1) LS. K&S facing camera. Exit FR.

Ronan is further up the street, on the opposite side, coming towards them. They see him before he sees them.

2) MS from behind K&S. R visible between them or to one side.

Sef

(pointing) Do you think it’s him?

3) MS R.

Keryn

(thoughtfully shaking her head) Too young.

4) CU K

They carry on walking. As they approach Ronan:

5) LS of all 3, from behind K&S.

Ronan

(calls to them) Hello!

6) MS R.

Sef and Keryn wave to him, uncertainly.

7a) MS K&S from the front, looking to FL.

Ronan

Don’t be shy.

He walks over to them and looks at them carefully.

8) LS of all 3, K&S on FL.

Ronan

I’ve not seen you before. Are you new here?

Keryn

We’re tourists.

9a) MS of all 3, behind & to 1 side of R.

Ronan

Oh. Where are you from?

10a) CU R, reverse angle.

Sef

Manchester.

9b

Ronan

Do you like it here?

10b

Keryn

(looking about a little) Yes. It’s a nice little place.

9c

Sef

We heard there was a castle near here. Do you know where it is?

Ronan

Yeah, if you go back over the bridge and up the hill, it’s about half a mile further. (pause) I can come with you as far as the river, if you like.

10c

Off-screen, there is a tremendous explosion, something like a thunderclap. Everybody looks towards it, in the direction of the bridge.

9d

Ronan

What was that?!

Sef

(looking up at the sky) Sounded like thunder.

Ronan

In November? I don’t think so.

10d

Sef

(to Ronan) Maybe you’d best get indoors. (to Keryn) You stay there. I’ll go and see what it is.

7b) S exits FL.

(17S, 10A)

He runs off towards the bridge. Keryn turns to watch him go.

Scene 5

Sef arrives, running, at the bridge, or rather where the bridge was.

1a) LS, looking back along the street. S enters FR

Most of the middle of the bridge has disappeared. The broken ends of the span are glowing a dull red, and there is smoke and steam in the air.

2a) LS of bridge. S partly visible on FR.

Sef

(whipping out his communicator) Damn!

3a) MS, from similar angle to (1).

He presses a few buttons and looks up at the sky again. The communicator beeps. (Do we need to show the screen? Some sort of schematic that shows part of the Earth’s surface, with a satellite above it.)

4a) CU on communicator.

Sef

I knew it. (He looks at the screen for a moment longer and then looks surprised. The satellite has disappeared.)

5a) CU S

He puts the communicator away and runs back in the direction that he came from.

1b) Exit FR.

(6S, 5A)

Scene 6

Keryn and Ronan talking. Sef approaches. Keryn turns to notice Sef. She turns back to Ronan and motions him to leave. He does, walking out of frame. Sef stops a little short of Keryn, who turns to join him.

1) LS of K&R from behind and to one side of R. S enters from FL.

Keryn and Sef walk back the way they came.

2a) LS of K&S walking. R is lingering in the BG.

Keryn

Well?

Sef

An Ammet Crab Claw just destroyed the bridge that we crossed.

Towards the end of the previous line, Sef looks back to see Ronan, who looks away and runs off.

3) MS of R, from S’s pov. Exit FR.

Keryn

Damn. Anybody hurt?

Sef

We’ll have to check from the ship, but I don’t think so.

2b) R has gone.

Keryn

And the Crab Claw?

Sef

Self-destructed.

Keryn

Why am I not surprised? (Pause. Sef looks behind him again.) Well, there’s nothing more we can do here and now. Let’s go back to the ship.

Could cut from here to the end of the scene. Do two versions of shot 4, one where they leave the shot, another where they stay put.

4) MS of K&S from one side, with them facing FL.

Sef

It’s over the bridge, remember.

5) CU S

Keryn

We’ll call it here, then.

6) CU K

She takes out her communicator and presses a few buttons. It chimes.

Keryn

Done. (She points in the direction of the hall - i.e. the opposite to the direction they were heading in.)It’s re-emerged about half a click that way.

7) MS of K&S from behind, still facing FL. Exit.

(8S, 7A)

Sef

(sighing) I thought Maintenance said they’d fixed the autopilot.

They head off in the direction Keryn indicated.

Scene 7

Inside Sef and Keryn’s ship, on the bridge. Use the corner of our living room with the table, which is some sort of projection device. Keryn is sitting on FL. Sef is in the middle of sitting down. Keryn touches a control on the table.

1a) LS K&S

Keryn

(talking to the air) Contact Commodore Mundry.

Sef settles into his seat. An image of Mundry appears above the table. To keep the eyelines as simple as possible, his eyes are at the same level as theirs. He is looking away from the camera at first, and then turns to face it. As he sees them, Sef and Keryn salute him. He nods to them.

Keryn

Group Kappa reporting, Sir.

Mundry

Go ahead.

Keryn

As predicted, Sir, the attack occurs on 26 November AD 2005 in sector Sierra Yankee, thirteen oh four local time. One laser shot from a Crab Claw, which then self-destructs.

2) CU K

A small road bridge is destroyed, but there are no casualties.

1b

Mundry

Good work. We’ve decrypted further Ammet messages. They indicate that the target is one James Seamus Brennan, a local politician, who takes part in the Second Unification Conference.

3a) CU M

Sef

An important person, then, Sir.

Could cut this line. ~2s

4) CU S

Mundry

Indeed. (pause) Anything else of note?

3b

Keryn

No, Sir.

1b

4A, 7S

Mundry

You can submit your full report later, then. Mundry out.

Mundry touches a button off-screen, and his image disappears.

Scene 8

Another part of the ship. Keryn and Sef are relaxing, or possibly meditating or praying. Some weird music in the background? There is a chime from the computer. Sef and Keryn look offscreen at some display.

1a) LS K&S. K on FR

Sef

(looks at Keryn) What does he want now?

2) MS S

Keryn

(frowns at Sef) I’ll get it.

1b

2A, 3S

She leaves the room, going to FR.

Scene 9

Bridge. The display is showing some sort of screensaver. Keryn enters and sits down FL. As she is sitting, she touches a control on the table. The image of Mundry appears. Keryn salutes him.

1a) LS K

Keryn

Group Kappa reporting, Sir.

Mundry

Keryn, about your report.

2a) CU M

Keryn

Sir.

Mundry

There’s something I’d like to clarify. You say you meet a boy, Ronan O’Grady, at thirteen oh two local time.

Keryn

Yes, Sir.

3a) CU K

Mundry

Would I be right in thinking that, if you didn’t speak to him, he would be on or near the bridge at the time of the attack?

2b

Keryn

(thinks about it for a moment) Ninety-five percent plus, Sir.

3b

Mundry

Well, I’ve checked over this boy’s subsequent life,

2c

and he doesn’t do anything important.

3c

Keryn

(Pause. Uncertainly) Sir, our orders were to make sure no-one was hurt.

Mundry

(patiently) Keryn, you do realise that when orders say things like that, they mean “no-one important.”

2d

Keryn

Yes, Sir.

1b

Mundry

There are six billion people on Earth alone in AD 2005.

We can barely track all of them, never mind protect them from the consequences of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

2e

Keryn

I understand, Sir. Keryn out.

3d

She touches the same control as before, and the image of Mundry vanishes. She sits back, looking troubled for a moment.

She stands and leaves FL.

1c

3A, 12S

Scene 10

As Scene 8. Sef and Keryn are arguing.

Sef

He said what?

1a) CU S

Keryn

Remember the second law: minimum interference.

2a) LS. K on FL

Never do a lot when you can do a little, and never do a little when you can do nothing.

3a) CU K

Sef

This isn’t doing nothing, Keryn. This is killing an eleven-year old boy.

1b

Keryn

Standing aside and letting him die. It’s not the same thing.

3b

Sef

Maybe so, but we’ve already interfered by talking to him and delaying him.

1c

(throwing his hands up in disgust) And now the Commodore wants us to interfere some more to undo it?

2b

Keryn

Yeah, well I don’t like it any more than you do. But orders are orders.

(pause) Don’t make me pull rank on you, Sef. Otherwise, I’ll have to report it, and it’ll go on your file.

Could cut “But orders are orders.” and/or “Otherwise, I’ll have to...”

3c

Sef

Oh, and that’ll make it right to kill him, will it?

1d

(pause – show Keryn’s reaction)

3e

Look, before we jump back into real time, there’s something I think you should see.

2c

3A, 11S

Sef leaves FR. Keryn follows, looking quizzical.

Scene 11

Sef and Keryn on the bridge. Where Mundry appeared previously, there is a picture of a middle-aged man, sunning himself on a beach. There are some numbers and displays surrounding the picture.

1) CU on picture

Keryn

Who’s this?

Sef

James Seamus Brennan, the alleged target of today’s attack.

Keryn

Where is he?

2a) LS

Sef

Rhodos, an island in the Aegean.

3a) CU S

Keryn

(puzzled, looking at other displays) But that’s... three thousand clicks away.

4a) CU K

Sef

(nodding) He’s on holiday. And has been for a week.

3b

Keryn

(turns to Sef) Then he can’t be the target.

4b

Sef

So perhaps we should investigate Mr Ronan O’Grady a little more closely before consigning him to the scrapheap of history.

3c

4A, 7S

Scene 12

Sef and Keryn on the bridge, gathering data on Ronan. They have some sort of surveillance system following him. They move rapidly through real time as they watch him. Every now and again they drop into normal speed to see if they can spot anything. We can get away with putting the camera in several locations in his house and filming a few minutes in each place. It would be nice to have all of his life, but if it’s sped up, the viewer may not notice.

1a) CU on display of sped-up footage.

2a) LS of table

3a) CU S

4a) CU K

The following, up to where Sef says “Yes, Sir,” is optional.

At some point, we cut to a close up of the footage from one room in the house. Ronan and Lisa come in and start playing chess.

1) LS R&L

Keryn

(voiceover) Who’s the girl?

Sef

(ditto) Lisa Mary Simmons, aged ten. She’s one of his cousins, daughter of his mother’s younger brother.

Keryn

(thoughtful) Drop into real time for a bit.

2) CU K

Sef touches a control, and the picture slows down to normal speed. At first, there is no sound.

1 continues, but with a digital zoom to R&L

Keryn

Can you get audio?

Sef

I’ll try.

Could have audio there as soon as the picture slows down to normal speed.

A soundtrack emerges. The game is nearing its end. Ronan and Lisa are more or less evenly matched. It’s Ronan’s move. He’s concentrating on the chess board at first, not really paying attention to what Lisa is saying.

Lisa

They’ve started building the new bridge at last.

Ronan

Oh.

3a) CU R

Pause.

4a) CU on board from between R&L

Lisa

I saw them when Daddy was bringing me here.

He says it’s twelve kilometres further.

5a) CU L

Ronan

Further than what?

6a) MS

Lisa

Than when the bridge was there, silly. (pause) It’s a good thing no-one was on it when it collapsed.

5b

Ronan has a flash of inspiration and sees a move.

3b

He makes it, quickly.

4b

Ronan

(looking at her) It didn’t collapse.

3c

Lisa

(sceptical) How do you know?

As she speaks, she looks at the board for a moment.

5c

She makes a move, casually.

4c

Ronan

I was there.

Lisa

You never told me.

5d

Ronan

Yeah, well, there’s a lot of things I don’t tell you.

6b

Lisa looks hurt.

Ronan

Look, the bridge didn’t collapse. Someone destroyed it.

3d

He returns his attention to the board, considering his next move.

Lisa

Yeah, right. Who’d want to destroy our bridge?

5e

Pause. Ronan does not answer.

Lisa

I said, who’d want to destroy our bridge?

Ronan

Terrorists.

7a) MS on R, showing board too.

Lisa

They’d have said they did it.

6c

Ronan

They don’t always.

Ronan completes his move and looks up at Lisa. She isn’t satisfied with his answer.

Ronan

Alright, maybe it was aliens, then.

3e

Lisa

(matter of fact) Aliens.

5f

Ronan

Or maybe the Americans or the Chinese

have got some super secret death ray, and they wanted some target practice.

3f

Lisa

So they chose our bridge.

5g

Ronan

Yeah. (pause)

Prove me wrong, then.

3g

Pause.

Lisa

Ronan O’Grady, you are so full of yourself that it’s a wonder your head hasn’t exploded. Oh, and by the way -

5h

She looks at the board and moves a piece.

4d

Lisa

- checkmate.

5i

Ronan looks at the board in disbelief. Pause the footage of this shot for a second or two as Sef says the start of his line.

7b

(26S, 7A for Ireland)

Back to the bridge of the ship.

Sef

(partly in voiceover on 7b) Mr O’Grady’s suggestions are remarkably accurate for wild guesses. Either he’s got a vivid imagination, or someone’s been talking.

8a) LS

Keryn

(defensive) Well don’t look at me.

Sef

You’re alone with him when I’m at the bridge. What do you say to him?

9a) CU S

Keryn

(shrugs) Just that there might be a storm coming, and he ought to go indoors.

10a) CU K

Sef

You take your time saying it. He’s still there when I come back.

9b

Keryn

(vexed) Sef, if you think I break the rules of containment, then say so, and lodge a complaint with the Commodore.

10b

Otherwise, shut the hell up.

8b

Sef

(mutters, sarcastic) Yes, Sir.

Pause while Keryn glowers at Sef. She turns back to the display.

Keryn

Well, I think we’ve got enough data on him.

10c

Sef nods and touches a control on the table.

8c

Sef

Computer, run the extrapolation program.

There is a chime and some sort of “screensaver” appears in place of the footage of Ronan.

Keryn

(looking at Sef) Best find something to do while it grinds through that. (She begins to stand as she is saying this, though it may be difficult for the camera to track with her in close-up.)

10d

There is another chime from the computer. Sef, who had been looking at Keryn, turns to look at the display. At the same time, Keryn looks at the display.

8d

Keryn

That was quick. (She sits down again.)

Sef

It’s hit a sharp discontinuity. It says it can’t reconcile the equations with O’Grady’s history.

Could cut the second sentence.

The picture on the display has gone back to the shots of the house. It’s empty.

11a) CU on display

Keryn

Where is he?

They step through each room, magnifying the picture from that room to fill the whole display. They’re all empty.

Sef

And where’s his mother?

Keryn

You don’t think they’ve just gone on holiday, do you?

8e

Sef

No, the program can cope with that sort of thing. Computer, step back to the last time the subject was in the house.

The computer chimes, and the picture alters. It’s night. They focus on Ronan’s bedroom. Ronan is in bed, sound asleep. After a few seconds, he vanishes. Sef and Keryn look at one another, stunned into silence.

11b

Keryn

Go back. One fifth normal speed.

Sef fiddles the controls to step back to just before Ronan disappears. The footage plays back in slow motion.

Sef

Nothing. He just... vanishes.

9c

Keryn

No, I think I saw something. Go back at one twentieth.

10e

Repeat the shot again, more slowly. This time, there’s a really cool fade out effect that would be too fast to see at normal speed.

11c

Sef

Hey,

(looking at a side display) the photino flux is seven hundred above background.

8f

Keryn

That explains it. Someone’s pulled him out of real time.

Sef

Who would have done it?

Could cut this line and “three guesses.”

9d

Keryn

Three guesses. Computer, compare the photino flux pattern against the database.

10f

The computer chimes.

Keryn

(looking at the display) I might’ve known. A Turak Type W Interface Probe.

Sef

The Alliance?

8g

4A, 20S

Keryn nods.

Scene 14

Bridge. Mundry is on the display.

Mundry

Well, it seems our calculations were off, to say the least.

1a) CU M

The fact that the Alliance take him makes it more important for you to undo your earlier interference,

2a) LS K&S

but I’m concerned that would be doing the Ammet a favour. (pause) This is what we’ll do. Get a bio scan from him, and the mother too if you can, and see if they match anything on file.

1b

Keryn

Yes, Sir.

3a) CU K

Mundry

Mundry out.

1c

He presses a button off-screen and his image vanishes.

Sef

Great. So how do we get close enough to them to do that?

2b

Keryn

Standard procedure is to brush past them in a crowd.

Sef

Yeah, well there aren’t many of those where they live.

4) CU S

Keryn

Failing that, do it when they’re asleep.

3b

4A, 8S

Scene 15

Outside Ronan’s house, at night. Sef and Keryn enter the shot. They are wearing infrared goggles (alright, sunglasses). Sef is carrying his communicator. They are looking around them, carefully. Dialogue in this scene is whispered.

1) LS. Enter FR

Keryn

Anybody else around?

2a) CU K

Sef looks at his communicator and shakes his head.

3) CU S. Show comm.

Sef

Just our two subjects.

Keryn takes something resembling a screwdriver from her pocket.

4a) MS

She touches it to the lock on the front door. There is a spark or some sort of laser effect.

5) CU on door lock.

The door swings open.

4b

Keryn

I’ll get the boy. You get the mother.

2b

Sef

Right.

4c

(7S, 5A)

Keryn takes out her communicator. They enter the house, Keryn first.

Scene 16

Keryn creeping down a corridor towards Ronan’s bedroom. She is tense. Every now and again she checks her communicator to see if she’s going the right way. She reaches the bedroom. The door is closed. She checks her communicator again before trying to open the door.

1a) Handheld. Stay close on K, mostly in front of her.

She opens the door slowly, trying not to make any noise.

2) CU door handle.

She enters the room.

1b

(3S, 3A)

Ronan’s bedroom. He is asleep in bed.

1a) CU R

Keryn enters, looking around. She walks over to Ronan. She takes a sampler out of her pocket.

2a) MS K

She holds it close to his skin for a few seconds. As she withdraws the sampler, he rolls over, restless.

1b

She freezes in fear for a moment, and then relaxes as she sees he hasn’t woken up. She pockets the sampler and leaves the bedroom.

2b

(4S, 2A)

Scene 18

Outside the house. Sef is waiting as Keryn comes out of the front door.

1) As per shot 4 in scene 15. Exit FR.

(1S, 1A)

Keryn

Done?

Sef

Yeah.

Keryn

Let’s go.

They exit in the direction that the entered from.

Scene 19

Bridge. Sef and Keryn are talking to Mundry.

Keryn

Well, Sir, there was no match for the mother,

1a) CU K

but the boy’s scan brought up an exact match for someone called Michael di Gama, on Earth’s moon in AD 2087.

2a) LS

Mundry

(awkwardly) Ah. (pause) I suppose that means we have to let him live.

3a) CU M

Sef

Why? What’s so special about him all of a sudden?

4a) CU S

Mundry

Michael di Gama is the first leader of the Lunar Independence Movement,

3b

which breaks away from the Tycho Central colony in 2089.

2b

We’ve long suspected temporal interference in his life, because there’s no other way he can reach the moon, but this is the first proof of it.

3c

Keryn

Doesn’t that movement eventually colonise Mars, Sir?

1b

Mundry

The same. And in the 23^rd century, those colonists form the nucleus of the Alliance.

3d

Sef

I thought you said we had to let him live.

4b

Mundry

Well, yes, our lives would be a lot simpler without the Alliance in the 23^rd and 24^th centuries, but all the research that we put into hunting them down in those years means that we’re able to resist the first attacks by the Ammet in 2438.

3e

Sef

And if we don’t fight them off then, they conquer us, and it’s game over.

2c

Keryn

Won’t the Lunar Independence Movement happen anyway, Sir?

Mundry

Many of our historians think so, it’s true. A lot of the colonists are angry about the heavy-handed and petty control that Earth has over them. But without di Gama, there’s no-one to unite them.

3f

We’ve done simulations to see what would happen without him.

2d

In most of them, a breakaway colony does form, but not for another fifteen to twenty-five years. By then, Earth’s control is even stronger, and the colony can’t remain hidden for long enough to become self-sufficient. In about ninety-five percent of the scenarios,

3g

the colony is destroyed or reabsorbed within ten years.

2e

In most of the rest, they’re allowed to survive because they present no threat. In the few scenarios where they do reach Mars, Earth and the other colonies are there long before them.

Should probably cut this speech, or most of it, after “no-one to unite them.” ~40s

3h

Sef

So this insignificant little boy is actually the most important person in the entire 21^st century.

4c

Mundry

You could say that.

3i

Sef

And to think you wanted us to let him die.

4d

Mundry

Clearly, our calculations were wrong.

3j

Sef

(raising his voice) I’ll say they were. If we’d followed your orders, we could have wiped ourselves out.

4e

Mundry

Your concern is noted. That will be all. Mundry out.

3k

Mundry vanishes from the screen.

Keryn

(turning to Sef) Sef, do you want to end up on report?

2f

Sef

Of course not. [Or: Sef looks surprised, and doesn’t answer.]

Keryn

When a senior officer’s big enough to admit he was wrong, the one thing you don’t do is rub his nose in it.

1c

Sef

It’s true, though, isn’t it?

The guy that Mundry thought was the target is three thousand klicks away at the time. How hard is it to check that?

4f

Ronan, ultimately, is the reason that the Order exists. It’s largely thanks to us that the Ammet don’t kill him.

2g

If we’d let him die, then by the time anybody had realised what we’d done, the effects would have propagated to the coordinates where the Order is created.

Cut this sentence.

4g

Keryn

Even that isn’t fatal. The Order wouldn’t disappear all at once. We could still undo it.

[If we cut Sef’s last sentence, she should say: “Even if they do, the Order wouldn’t disappear all at once. We could still undo it.”]

1d

Sef

Maybe so, but I know an oscillating paradox when I see one.

4h

Keryn

Just leave it, will you? We got the result we needed.

2h

Sef

More by good luck than by good judgement. (pause) OK, Keryn, one more question.

What if we hadn’t got a match on Ronan’s bio scan? What if it turned out he wasn’t anyone important? Would you have let him die?

4i

Keryn

Would I have disobeyed orders, you mean.

1e

Sef

If you put it like that, yes.

2i

4A, 34S

Keryn

You should know the answer to that, Sef. (pause) Let’s go. We’ve got work to do.