ROSE [OC]: Planet Earth. This is where I was born. And this is where I died. For the first nineteen years of my life, nothing happened. Nothing at all. Not ever. And then I met a man called the Doctor.

DOCTOR 9: Run.

ROSE [OC]: A man who could change his face. And he took me away from home in his magical machine. He showed me the whole of time and space. I thought it would never end.

[Planet]

DOCTOR: How long are you going to stay with me?

ROSE: Forever.

ROSE [OC]: That's what I thought. But then came the army of ghosts. Then came Torchwood and the War. And that's when it all ended. This is the story of how I died.

[The Tyler's flat]

(The Tardis materialises in a corner of the children's playground on a bright, sunny day. Rose has a very heavy rucksack with her.)

ROSE [OC]: Mum, it's us! We're back!

JACKIE: Oh, I don't know why you bother with that phone. You never use it!

ROSE: Shut up, come here!

JACKIE: Oh, I love you!

ROSE: I love you!

JACKIE: I love you so much!

(Jackie and Rose hug. The Doctor makes his way past.)

JACKIE: Oh no, you don't. Come here!

(Jackie kisses the Doctor.)

JACKIE: Oh, you lovely big fella! Oh, you're all mine.

DOCTOR: Just, just, just put me down!

JACKIE: Yes, you are.

(Rose hands over her rucksack.)

ROSE: I've got loads of washing for you. And I got you this.

(A small ornate metal nick-nack.)

ROSE: It's from the market on this asteroid bazaar. It's made of, er, what's it called?

DOCTOR: Bazoolium.

ROSE: Bazoolium. When it gets cold, yeah, it means it's going to rain. When it's hot, it's going to be sunny. You can use it to tell the weather.

JACKIE: I've got a surprise for you and all.

ROSE: Oh, I get her bazoolium, she doesn't even say thanks.

JACKIE: Guess who's coming to visit? You're just in time. He'll be here at ten past. Who do you think it is?

ROSE: I don't know.

JACKIE: Oh go on, guess.

ROSE: No, I hate guessing. Just tell me.

JACKIE: It's your granddad. Granddad Prentice. He's on his way any minute, Right, cup of tea!

(Jackie goes into the kitchen.)

ROSE: She's gone mad.

DOCTOR: Tell me something new.

ROSE: Granddad Prentice, that's her dad. But he died, like, ten years ago. Oh, my God. She's lost it. Mum? What you just said about granddad.

[Kitchen]

JACKIE: Any second now.

ROSE: But he passed away. His heart gave out. Do you remember that?

JACKIE: Of Course I do.

ROSE: Then how can he come back?

JACKIE: Why don't you ask him yourself? Ten past. Here he comes.

(An ethereal humanoid shape walks through the outside wall and stands next to Jackie.)

JACKIE: Here we are, then. Dad, say hello to Rose. Ain't she grown?

[Powell Estate]

(The Doctor and Rose run out of the block of flats.)

DOCTOR: They're everywhere!

(And no one is alarmed at the sight of them.)

ROSE: Doctor, look out!

(One of the shapes walks through the Doctor. It is not a comfortable sensation.)

JACKIE: They haven't got long. Midday shift only lasts a couple of minutes. They're about to fade.

DOCTOR: What do you mean, shift? Since when did ghosts have shifts? Since when did shifts have ghosts? What's going on?

JACKIE: Oh, he's not happy when I know more than him, is he?

DOCTOR: But no one's running or screaming or freaking out.

JACKIE: Why should we? Here we go. Twelve minutes past.

(Somewhere, a man in a lab coat pulls a big lever, like the sort used to change railway points. The images vanish.)

[Lever room]

(A well-dressed management type woman comes out of her glass fronted office with the words Torchwood Institute etched on it.)

YVONNE: Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to announce we've just measured the ghost energy at five thousand gigawatts. Give yourselves a round of applause.

[The Tyler's flat]

(The Ghostwatch programme is on the television, presented by that bloke from Cash in the Attic.)

ALISTAIR APPLETON [on TV]: On today's Ghostwatch, claims that some of the ghosts are starting to talk, and there seems to be a regular formation gathering around Westminster Bridge. It's almost like a military display.

DOCTOR: What the hell's going on?

(The Doctor changes the channel.)

WEATHERMAN [on TV]: And tonight we're expecting very strong ghosts from London, through the North and up into Scotland.

(Trisha Goddard's show - I married a dead man.)

TRISHA [on TV]: So basically, Eileen, what you're telling me is, that you are in love with a ghost.

EILEEN [on TV]: He's my ghost, and I love him twenty four seven.

(Change channel to an interview with a ghost hunter.)

DEREK ACORAH [on TV]: Well, no one needs me anymore!

(If only. Change channel to an advert.)

HOUSEWIFE [on TV]: My ghost was pale and grey until I discovered Ectoshine!

FRENCH NEWSREADER [on TV]: Et le President d'aujourd'hui, quelle est

(An Indian newsreader follows, then a Japanese lady.)

JACKIE: Oh, yes.

DOCTOR: It's all over the world.

(Eastenders.)

PEGGY [on TV]: Listen to me, Den Watts. I don't care if you have come back from the grave. Get out of my pub! The only spirits I'm serving in this place are gin, whisky and vodka. So, you heard me. Get out!

(The Doctor turns the TV off.)

DOCTOR: When did it start?

JACKIE: Well, first of all, Peggy heard this noise in the cellar, so she goes down

DOCTOR: No, I mean worldwide.

JACKIE: Oh. That was about two months ago. Just happened. Woke up one morning, and there they all were. Ghosts, everywhere. We all ran round screaming and that. Whole planet was panicking. No sign of you, thank you very much. Then it sort of sank in. It took us time to realise that we're lucky.

ROSE: What makes you think it's granddad?

JACKIE: It just feels like him. There's that smell, those old cigarettes. Can't you smell it?

ROSE: I wish I could, mum, but I can't.

JACKIE: You've got to make an effort. You've got to want it, sweetheart.

DOCTOR: The more you want it, the stronger it gets.

JACKIE: Sort of, yeah.

DOCTOR: Like a psychic link. Of course you want your old dad to be alive, but you're wishing him into existence. The ghosts are using that to pull themselves in.

JACKIE: You're spoiling it.

DOCTOR: I'm sorry, Jackie, but there's no smell, there's no cigarettes. Just a memory.

ROSE: But if they're not ghosts, what are they then?

JACKIE: Yeah, but they're human! You can see them. They look human.

ROSE: She's got a point. I mean, they're all sort of blurred, but they're definitely people.

DOCTOR: Maybe not. They're pressing themselves into the surface of the world. But a footprint doesn't look like a boot.

[Lever room]

(Yvonne makes the rounds of the bright young things at their computer terminals. Everyone is wearing a bluetooth earpiece.)

YVONNE: So, what've we got? Any sign of that power loss?

ADEOLA: There's no problems. Must've been a glitch.

YVONNE: Rajesh?

[Sphere laboratory]

YVONNE [OC]: You got anything?

RAJESH: It's so busy down here, I'm on Sudoku book 509.

[Lever room]

YVONNE: Well, we just had a great ghost shift.

RAJESH [OC]: I know.

[Sphere laboratory]

RAJESH: But we had nothing. Did they tell you? RND came up with a new spectrometer yesterday. Barged in here, all full of themselves. Said they could detect the heat off a single protozoa through half a mile of steel.

YVONNE [OC]: And what did they find?

RAJESH: Nothing. It gave them nothing. Same as ever. The machines keep saying the sphere can't exist. But there it is.

(A big blank sphere hanging in midair at the end of the laboratory. There is a ladder just below it.)

YVONNE [OC]: Anything we can do?

RAJESH: No, I'm all right. It's just, it gets into your head, this thing. Like it's staring at you.

YVONNE [OC]: All right, we'll catch up later. Thanks, Raj.

RAJESH: Yeah.

(Rajesh goes up the ladder and tries to touch the sphere, but he can't.)

[Lever room]

YVONNE: Matt, get on to hospitality, will you? Send Rajesh something. He's going mad down there. Not alcohol.

(A technician gives Adeola a printout, which she files, then she looks across at a male co-worker. She sends him an internal message.)

ADEOLA [text]: god im bored.

GARETH []text]: me too yawn

ADEOLA [text]: fancy a coffee?

GARETH [text]: though u never ask

MAN [OC]: Kept it stable at fifty six point one.

YVONNE [OC]: So, if you just check the statistics.

GARETH: Yvonne? I'm going to double check the stacks, just in case.

YVONNE: Sure.

(Gareth leaves.)

ADEOLA: Yvonne, I'm going to go and cross reference the levels with the sphere.

YVONNE: Okay, fine.

(Adeola leaves.)

YVONNE: And they think we haven't noticed.

[Unoccupied floor]

(Plastic sheeting, painter's ladder and pots, and a No Entry sign.)

GARETH: Come on. It'll be all right down here. Just two minutes.

ADEOLA: This is out of bounds.

GARETH: Yeah, and that's the point. It's completely safe. They're just building new offices.

ADEOLA: What about the workmen?

GARETH: They must be allocated somewhere else.

ADEOLA: It's not worth it for a snog.

GARETH: It is. Come on. (Gareth goes through the plastic sheeting. The workmen return for their ladder and paints, then leave.)

ADEOLA: Gareth? Now, don't be daft, where've you gone? Gareth! Look, I'm going to head back. I'm seeing you tonight anyway. Gareth? I'm going to go back to work.

(She steps through the plastic sheeting.)

ADEOLA: This is it. I'm going. See you. Now stop it, Gareth. I'm not kidding, just stop it!

(There are more curtains of plastic. One has the shadow of a figure behind it.)

ADEOLA: Sorry, I'm just looking for my friend. Did anyone come down here?

(The curtain is pulled back to reveal a Cyberman. Adeola screams.)

[Tardis]

ROSE: According to the paper, they've elected a ghost as MP for Leeds. Now don't tell me you're going to sit back and do nothing.

(The Doctor pops up from below the console floor wearing a backpack and holding a hosepipe like device.)

DOCTOR: Who you going to call?

ROSE: Ghostbusters!

DOCTOR: I ain't afraid of no ghosts.

[Playground]

DOCTOR: When's the next shift?

(The Doctor puts three metal cones linked by wires on the grass.)

JACKIE: Quarter to. But don't go causing trouble. What's that lot do?

DOCTOR: Triangulates their point of origin.

ROSE: I don't suppose it's the Gelth?

DOCTOR: Nah. They were just coming through one little rift. This lot are transposing themselves over the whole planet. Like tracing paper.

JACKIE: You're always doing this. Reducing it to science. Why can't it be real? Just think of it, though. All the people we've lost. Our families coming back home. Don't you think it's beautiful?

DOCTOR: I think it's horrific. Rose, give us a hand.

[Tardis]

(They plug the power cable into the Tardis console. Jackie follows them in and closes the door. Neat trick with such a thick cable running through it.)

DOCTOR: As soon as the cones activate, if that line goes into the red, press that button there. If it doesn't stop

(He hands her the sonic screwdriver.)

DOCTOR: Setting fifteen B. Hold it against the port, eight seconds and stop.

ROSE: Fifteen B, eight seconds.

DOCTOR: If it goes into the blue, activate the deep scan on the left.

ROSE: Hang on a minute, I know. Push that one.

DOCTOR: Close.

ROSE: That one?

DOCTOR: Now you've just killed us.

ROSE: Er, that one.

DOCTOR: Yeah! Now, what've we got. Two minutes to go?

[Lever room]

YVONNE: Two minutes to the next shift. Let's make it a good one, people.

(Adeola enters, wearing two earpieces.)

YVONNE: Come on, you two.

ADEOLA: I'm sorry we're late.

YVONNE: Save it 'til later.

(So is Gareth.)

GARETH: Sorry we're late.

YVONNE: And powering up.

(The man in the lab coat moves the big lever. Gareth and Adeola's earpieces flash, and they type into their computers.)

[Playground]

(The Doctor activates the cones.)

DOCTOR: What's the line doing?

[Tardis]

ROSE: It's all right. It's holding!

JACKIE: You even look like him?

ROSE: How do you mean? I suppose I do, yeah.

JACKIE: You've changed so much.

ROSE: For the better.

JACKIE: I suppose.

ROSE: Mum, I used to work in a shop.

JACKIE: I've worked in shops. What's wrong with that?

ROSE: No, I didn't mean that.

JACKIE: I know what you meant. What happens when I'm gone?

ROSE: Don't talk like that.

JACKIE: No, but really. When I'm dead and buried, you won't have any reason to come back home. What happens then?

ROSE: I don't know.

JACKIE: Do you think you'll ever settle down?

ROSE: The Doctor never will, so I can't. I'll just keep on travelling.

JACKIE: And you'll keep on changing. And in forty years time, fifty, there'll be this woman, this strange woman, walking through the marketplace on some planet a billion miles from Earth. But she's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore. She's not even human.

DOCTOR [OC]: Here we go!

ROSE: The scanner's working. It says delta one six.

[Playground]

DOCTOR: Come on then, you beauty!

[Lever room]

YVONNE: And we're into Ghost Shift.

(She puts on a pair of dark glasses as the room fills with bright light.)

COMPUTER: Online.

(In the playground, a ghost appears between the cones, and gets trapped. Jackie and Rose watch it on the scanner. The Doctor puts on a pair of red and blue 3D cardboard spectacles and makes an adjustment to his control box. An alarm sounds in the Institute.)

YVONNE: What've we got?

MATT: Something's interfering with the ghost field.

YVONNE: Location?

MATT: It's close. It's within the city.

[Playground]

(The ghost is starting to writhe inside the field.)

DOCTOR: Don't like that much, do you? Who are you? Where are you coming from? Whoa!

(The ghost tries to break out of the field.)

DOCTOR: That's more like it! Not so friendly now, are you?

[Lever room]

YVONNE: Close it down. Close it down!

COMPUTER: Offline.

(We now see there are two levers to be moved, on either side of the room. The ghost fades and vanishes. The Doctor gathers up the cones.)

MATT: It was a very specific excitation of the ghost field, and that makes it easy to pinpoint. Almost there South London. South East fifteen. It's a council estate. The Powell Estate. SU15 7GO. It was a public area.

YVONNE: Can we patch into the CCTV network?

MATT: Doing it now.

(The Doctor runs into the Tardis.)

MATT: Here we go. We've got a camera within fifty yards.

(The Tardis comes into view.)

YVONNE: Oh, my God.

MATT: Is it him?

YVONNE: It's him.

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: I said so! Those ghosts have been forced into existence from one specific point, and I can track down the source. Allons y!

[Lever room]

(The Tardis dematerialises.)

YVONNE: He's coming.

(Yvonne runs out. Adeola and Gareth look at each other.)

[Corridor]

YVONNE: Rajesh. It's him!

[Sphere laboratory]

RAJESH: Now we've got you.

[Tardis]

DOCTOR: I like that. Allons y. I should say allons y more often. Allons y. Watch out, Rose Tyler. Allons y. And then, it would be really brilliant if I met someone called Alonso, because then I could say, allons y, Alonso, every time. You're staring at me.

ROSE: My mum's still on board.

JACKIE: If we end up on Mars, I'm going to kill you.

(The Tardis materialises in Torchwood Loading Bay 2, and is immediately surrounded by armed troops. The Doctor watches them on the scanner.)

DOCTOR: Oh well there goes the advantage of surprise. Still, cuts to the chase. Stay in here, look after Jackie.

ROSE: I'm not looking after my mum.

DOCTOR: Well, you brought her.

JACKIE: I was kidnapped!

ROSE: Doctor, they've got guns.

DOCTOR: And I haven't. Which makes me the better person, don't you think? They can shoot me dead, but the moral high ground is mine.

[Loading bay]

(The Doctor steps outside and raises his arms. Yvonne runs in on her high heels.)

YVONNE: Oh! Oh, how marvellous. Oh, very good. Superb. Happy day.

(She starts clapping and the soldiers join in. The Doctor lowers his arms.)

DOCTOR: Er, thanks. Nice to meet you. I'm the Doctor.

YVONNE: Oh, I should say. Hurray!

DOCTOR: You, you've heard of me, then?

YVONNE: Well of course we have. And I have to say, if it wasn't for you, none of us would be here. The Doctor and the Tardis.

(More applause.)

DOCTOR: And you are?

YVONNE: Oh, plenty of time for that. But according to the records, you're not one for travelling alone. The Doctor and his companion. That's a pattern, isn't it, right? There's no point hiding anything. Not from us. So where is she?

DOCTOR: Yes. Sorry. Good point. She's just a bit shy, that's all.

(The Doctor reaches in through the slightly open door and grabs the first person he can.)

DOCTOR: But here she is, Rose Tyler.

(Oh no it isn't.)

DOCTOR: Hmm. She's not the best I've ever had. Bit too blonde. Not too steady on her pins. A lot of that.

(Yakkety yak.)

DOCTOR: And just last week, she stared into the heart of the Time Vortex and aged fifty seven years. But she'll do.

JACKIE: I'm forty.

DOCTOR: Deluded. Bless. I'll have to trade her in. Do you need anyone? She's very good at tea. Well, I say very good, I mean not bad. Well, I say not bad. Anyway, lead on. Allons y. But not too fast. Her ankle's going.

JACKIE: (sotto) I'll show you where my ankle's going.

[Warehouse]

YVONNE: It was only a matter of time until you found us, and at last you've made it. I'd like to welcome you, Doctor. Welcome to Torchwood.

(A massive warehouse area, with lots of crates, jeeps and trucks running around, and a flying saucer.)

DOCTOR: That's a Jathar Sunglider.

YVONNE: Came down to Earth off the Shetland Islands ten years ago.

DOCTOR: What, did it crash?

YVONNE: No, we shot it down. It violated our airspace. Then we stripped it bare. The weapon that destroyed the Sycorax on Christmas Day? That was us. Now, if you'd like to come with me. The Torchwood Institute has a motto. If it's alien, it's ours. Anything that comes from the sky, we strip it down and we use it for the good of the British Empire.

JACKIE: For the good of the what?

YVONNE: The British Empire.

JACKIE: There isn't a British Empire.

YVONNE: Not yet. Ah, excuse me. Now, if you wouldn't mind.

(A soldier hands Yvonne a very big gun.)

YVONNE: Do you recognise this, Doctor?

DOCTOR: That's a particle gun.

YVONNE: Good, isn't it? Took us eight years to get it to work .

DOCTOR: It's the twenty first century. You can't have particle guns.

YVONNE: We must defend our border against the alien. Thank you, Sebastian, isn't it?

SEBASTIAN: Yes, Ma'am.

YVONNE: Thank you, Sebastian. I think it's very important to know everyone by name. Torchwood is a very modern organisation. People skills. That's what it's all about these days. I'm a people person.

DOCTOR: Have you got anyone called Alonso?

YVONNE: No, I don't think so. Is that important?

DOCTOR: No, I suppose not. What was your name?

YVONNE: Yvonne. Yvonne Hartman.

(The Doctor picks up a black plastic step-stool with a handle on top.)

YVONNE: Ah, yes. Now, we're rather fond of these. The Magnaclamp. Found in a spaceship buried at the base of Mount Snowdon. Attach this to an object and it cancels the mass. I could use it to lift two tonnes of weight with a single hand. That's an imperial ton, by the way. Torchwood refuses to go metric.

JACKIE: I could do with that to carry the shopping.

YVONNE: All these devices are for Torchwood's benefit, not the general public's.

DOCTOR: So, what about these ghosts?

YVONNE: Ah yes, the ghosts. They're er what you might call a side effect.

DOCTOR: Of what?

YVONNE: All in good time, Doctor. There is an itinerary, trust me.

(The TARDIS is driven past on the back of a truck.)

JACKIE: Oi! Where are you taking that?

YVONNE: If it's alien, it's ours.

DOCTOR: You'll never get inside it.

YVONNE: Hmm! Et cetera.

(Rose peeks out of the Tardis. The Doctor gives her a little nod.)

[Tardis]

(Rose goes through the Doctor's coat pockets.)

ROSE: Psychic paper, psychic paper.

[Lever room]

ADEOLA [text]: Hey Matt. Want to see something good?"

MATT: (silent) What?

ADEOLA [text]: Come and see.

(Adeola leaves. Matt follows, leaving the messages live on his screen.)

[Corridor]

DOCTOR: All those times I've been on Earth, I've never heard of you.

YVONNE: But of course not. You're the enemy. You're actually named in the Torchwood Foundation Charter of 1879 as an enemy of the Crown.

DOCTOR: 1879. That was called Torchwood, that house in Scotland.

YVONNE: That's right. Where you encountered Queen Victoria and the werewolf.

JACKIE: I think he makes half of it up.

YVONNE: Her Majesty created the Torchwood Institute with the express intention of keeping Britain great, and fighting the alien horde.

DOCTOR: But if I'm the enemy, does that mean that I'm a prisoner?

YVONNE: Oh yes. But we'll make you perfectly comfortable. And there is so much you can teach us. Starting with this.

[Sphere laboratory]

YVONNE: Now, what do you make of that?

RAJESH: You must be the Doctor. Rajesh Singh. It's an honour, sir.

DOCTOR: Yeah.

JACKIE: What is that thing?

YVONNE: We got no idea.

JACKIE: But what's wrong with it?

RAJESH: What makes you think there's something wrong with it?

JACKIE: I don't know. It just feels weird.

YVONNE: Well, the sphere has that effect on everyone. Makes you want to run and hide, like it's forbidden.

RAJESH: We tried analysing it using every device imaginable.

(The Doctor puts on his 3D glasses.)

RAJESH: But according to our instruments, the sphere doesn't exist. It weighs nothing, it doesn't age. No heat, no radiation, and has no atomic mass.

JACKIE: But I can see it.

RAJESH: Fascinating, isn't it? It upsets people because it gives off nothing. It is absent.

YVONNE: Well, Doctor?

DOCTOR: This is a Void Ship.

YVONNE: And what is that?

DOCTOR: Well, it's impossible for starters. I always thought it was just a theory, but it's a vessel designed to exist outside time and space, travelling through the Void.

RAJESH: And what's the Void?

DOCTOR: The space between dimensions. There's all sorts of realities around us, different dimensions, billions of parallel universes all stacked up against each other. The Void is the space in between, containing absolutely nothing. Imagine that. Nothing. No light, no dark, no up, no down, no life, no time. Without end. My people called it the Void. The Eternals call it the Howling. But some people call it Hell.

RAJESH: But someone built the sphere. What for? Why go there?

DOCTOR: To explore? To escape? You could sit inside that thing and eternity would pass you by. The Big Bang, end of the Universe, start of the next, wouldn't even touch the sides. You'd exist outside the whole of creation.

YVONNE: You see, we were right. There is something inside it.

DOCTOR: Oh, yes.

RAJESH: So how do we get in there?

DOCTOR: We don't! We send that thing back into Hell. How did it get here in the first place?

YVONNE: Well, that's how it all started. The sphere came through into this world, and the ghosts followed in its wake.

DOCTOR: Show me.

(The Doctor walks out and turns left.)

YVONNE: No, Doctor.

(He turns round and goes right.)

[Unoccupied floor]

MATT: I don't get it. What is it? What am I supposed to be looking for?

ADEOLA: Just go to the left.

MATT: Yvonne's going to be back any minute.

ADEOLA: Just go to the left.

MATT: What, you mean in here?

(Matt goes through the plastic curtains. There is the whirr of a circular saw then a scream.)

[Yvonne's office]

(Rose sneaks out of the Tardis, which has been put next to a very large and brightly decorated mummy case. She grabs a white coat from a bench and walks out.

Yvonne points the Doctor at the blank wall at the far end of the Lever room.)

YVONNE: The sphere came through here. A hole in the world. Not active at the moment, but when we fire particle engines at that exact spot, the breech opens up.

DOCTOR: How did you even find it?

YVONNE: We were getting warning signs for years. A radar black spot. So we built this place, Torchwood Tower. The breech was six hundred foot above sea level. It was on the only way to reach it.

DOCTOR: You built a skyscraper just to reach a spatial disturbance? How much money have you got?

YVONNE: Enough.

(Jackie is looking out of a window.)

JACKIE: Hold on a minute. We're in Canary Wharf. Must be. This building, it's Canary Wharf.

YVONNE: Well, that is the public name for it. But to those in the know, it's Torchwood.

DOCTOR: So, you find the breach, probe it, the sphere comes through six hundred feet above London, bam. It leaves a hole in the fabric of reality. And that hole, you think, oh, shall we leave it alone? Shall we back off? Shall we play it safe? Nah, you think let's make it bigger!

YVONNE: It's a massive source of energy. If we can harness that power, we need never depend on the Middle East again. Britain will become truly independent. Look, you can see for yourself. Next Ghost Shift's in two minutes.

[Lever room]

DOCTOR: Cancel it.

YVONNE: I don't think so.

DOCTOR: I'm warning you, cancel it.

YVONNE: Oh, exactly as the legends would have it. The Doctor, lording it over us. Assuming alien authority over the Rights of Man.

DOCTOR: Let me show you. Sphere comes through.

(He points his sonic screwdriver at her glass wall. It cracks.)

DOCTOR: But when it made the hole, it cracked the world around it. The entire surface of this dimension splintered. And that's how the ghosts get through. That's how they get everywhere. They're bleeding through the fault lines. Walking from their world, across the Void, and into yours, with the human race hoping and wishing and helping them along. But too many ghosts, and

(He taps the glass and it shatters.)

YVONNE: Well, in that case we'll have to be more careful. Positions! Ghost Shift in one minute.

DOCTOR: Miss Hartman, I am asking you, please don't do it.

YVONNE: We have done this a thousand times.

DOCTOR: Then stop at a thousand!

YVONNE: We're in control of the ghosts. The levers can open the breach, but equally they can close it.

DOCTOR: Okay.

(The Doctor goes back into her office and fetches a chair to sit on.)

YVONNE: Sorry?

DOCTOR: Never mind. As you were.

YVONNE: What, is that it?

DOCTOR: No, fair enough. Said my bit. Don't mind me. Any chance of a cup of tea?

ADEOLA: Ghost Shift in twenty seconds.

DOCTOR: Mmm, can't wait to see it.

YVONNE You can't stop us, Doctor.

DOCTOR: No, absolutely not. Pull up a chair, Rose. Come and watch the fireworks.

ADEOLA: Ghost Shift in ten seconds. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two

YVONNE: Stop the shift. I said stop.

DOCTOR: Thank you.

YVONNE: I suppose it makes sense to get as much intelligence as possible. But the programme will recommence, as soon as you've explained everything.

DOCTOR: I'm glad to be of help.

YVONNE: And someone clear up this glass. They did warn me, Doctor. They said you like to make a mess.

(Matt is at his computer, wearing two earpieces. Now there are three busily typing.

Rose follows another scientist along a corridor to a sign saying Torchwood Institute, Reception, Lever Room, Maintenance. She kisses the psychic paper then puts it against the entry reader for the door the scientist has just gone through.)

[Sphere laboratory]

(Rose enters, and is transfixed by the sphere. Rajesh comes over to her.)

RAJESH: Can I help you?

ROSE: I was just

RAJESH: Try not to look. It does that to everyone. What do you want?

ROSE: Sorry. They sent me from personnel. They said some man had been taken prisoner. Some sort of Doctor? I'm just checking the lines of communication. Did they tell you anything?

RAJESH: Can I see your authorisation?

ROSE: Sure.

(She hands him the psychic paper.)

RAJESH: That's lucky. You see, everyone at Torchwood has at least a basic level of psychic training. This paper is blank, and you're a fake. Seal the room. Call security. Samuel, can you check the door locks? She just walked right in.

(Samuel turns round. It's Mickey! He gives Rose the thumbs up.)

MICKEY: Doing it now, sir.

RAJESH: Well, if you'd like to take a seat.

[Yvonne's office]

YVONNE: So these ghosts, whatever they are, did they build the sphere?

DOCTOR: Must have. Aimed it at this dimension like a cannon ball.

RAJESH [OC]: Yvonne? I think you should see this. We've got a visitor. We don't know who she is, but funnily enough, she arrived at the same time as the Doctor.

(Yvonne turns her laptop so the Doctor can see Rose and Rajesh on the webcam.)

YVONNE: She one of yours?

DOCTOR: Never seen her before in my life.

YVONNE: Good. Then we can have her shot.

DOCTOR: Oh, all right then. It was worth a try. That's, that's Rose Tyler.

ROSE [on screen]: Sorry. Hello.

YVONNE: Well, if that's Rose Tyler, who's she?

JACKIE: I'm her mother.

YVONNE: Oh, you travel with her mother?

JACKIE: He kidnapped me.

DOCTOR: Please, when Torchwood comes to write my complete history, don't tell people I travelled through time and space with her mother.

(Clunk!)

JACKIE: Charming.

DOCTOR: I've got a reputation to uphold.

YVONNE: Excuse me? Everyone? I thought I said stop the ghost shift. Who started the programme? But I ordered you to stop! Who's doing that?

(The levers are moving.)

YVONNE: Right, step away from the monitors, everyone. Gareth, Addy, stop what you're doing, right now. Matt, step away from your desk. That's an order! Stop the levers! Andrew!

(A scientist grabs one of the levers.)

YVONNE: Stop the levers!

DOCTOR: What's she doing?

YVONNE: Addy, step away from the desk. Listen to me. Step away from the desk.

DOCTOR: She can't hear you. They're overriding the system. We're going into Ghost Shift.

[Sphere laboratory]

RAJESH: Yvonne, I thought you said the next Ghost Shift was cancelled. What's going on? Yvonne?

(Bang! Rumble.)

RAJESH: It can't be. It's active!

[Lever room]

DOCTOR: It's the ear piece. It's controlling them. I've seen this before. Sorry. I'm so sorry.

(He zaps Adeola's ear piece with his sonic screwdriver. She screams, and so do Gareth and Matt. Then they collapse.)

YVONNE: What happened? What did you just do?

DOCTOR: They're dead.

JACKIE: You killed them.

DOCTOR: Oh, someone else did that long before I got here.

JACKIE: But you killed them!

DOCTOR: Jackie, I haven't got time for this.

YVONNE: What are those ear pieces?

DOCTOR: Don't.

YVONNE: But they're standard comms. devices. How does it control them?

DOCTOR: Trust me, leave them alone.

YVONNE: But what are they?

(Yvonne pulls one off Adeola. A rope of gray matter comes with it.)

YVONNE: Urgh! Oh, God! It goes inside their brain.

DOCTOR: What about the Ghost Shift?

YVONNE: Ninety percent there and still running. Can't you stop it?

DOCTOR: They're still controlling it. They've hi-jacked the system.

YVONNE: Who's they?

DOCTOR: It might be a remote transmitter but it's got to be close by. I can trace it. Jackie, stay here!

(Rajesh is on Yvonne's laptop with the message Sphere Activated.)

YVONNE: Keep those levers down. Keep them offline.

[Sphere laboratory]

RAJESH: We've got a problem down here. Yvonne, can you hear me?

(The sphere is trembling.)

RAJESH: Yvonne, for God's sake. The sphere is active! The readings are going wild! It's got weight, it's got mass, an electromagnetic field. It exists!

(Clunk, thump.)

RAJESH: The door's sealed. Automatic quarantine. We can't get out!

MICKEY: It's all right, babe. We've beaten them before, we can beat them again. That's why I'm here. The fight goes on.

ROSE: The fight against what?

MICKEY: What do you think?

(The sphere's shudders are becoming more violent.)

[Corridor]

(The Doctor is tracking the signal with his sonic screwdriver. They pass two soldiers going the other way.)

YVONNE: You two. You come with us.

SOLDIER: Yes, ma'am.

(The scientists are struggling to stop the levers from reaching activation point.)

[Unoccupied floor]

DOCTOR: What's down here?

YVONNE: I don't, I don't know. I think it's building work. It's just renovations.

DOCTOR: You should go back.

YVONNE: Think again.

(They go through the plastic curtains.)

YVONNE: What is it? What's down here?

DOCTOR: Ear pieces, ear pods. This world's colliding with another, and I think I know which one.

(Figures appear behind plastic curtains.)

YVONNE: What are they?

DOCTOR: They came through first. The advance guard.

(The figures rip the plastic sheets, just like they did in their Tomb, and step through.)

DOCTOR: Cybermen!

(The soldiers open fire.)

[Sphere laboratory]

MICKEY: We had them beaten, but then they escaped. The Cybermen just vanished. They found a way through to this world, but so did we.

ROSE: The Doctor said that was impossible.

MICKEY: Yeah, it's not the first time he's been wrong.

ROSE: What's inside that sphere?

MICKEY: No one knows. Cyber Leader, Cyber King, Emperor of the Cybermen. Whatever it is, he's dead meat.

ROSE: It's good to see you.

MICKEY: Yeah. It's good to see you too.

[Lever room]

(Cybermen escort the Doctor and Yvonne in.)

DOCTOR: Get away from the machines. Do what they say. Don't fight them!

(The Cybermen activate their arm guns and shoot the scientists holding back the levers.)

JACKIE: What are they?

CYBERMAN: We are the Cybermen. The Ghost Shift will be increased to one hundred percent.

(The levers move up.)

COMPUTER: Online.

DOCTOR: Here come the ghosts.

(The shadowy images appear as usual.)

ALISTAIR APPLETON [on TV]: It's extraordinary, there are more ghosts than we've ever seen before, and it's happening all over the world.

POLICE COMMANDER [on TV]: As far as we know, the increase in ghost activity is harmless.

(Heavy boot steps are heard through the blank wall at the end.)

[Sphere laboratory]

RAJESH: Can anyone hear me? Come on, I need help down here! I need

(Creak, thunk. Mickey removes his white coat and ear piece.)

MICKEY: Here we go.

(The Sphere starts to crack open, then a black hole appears.)

[Lever room]

JACKIE: But these Cybermen, what've they got to do with the ghosts?

DOCTOR: Do you never listen? A footprint doesn't look like a boot.

CYBERLEADER: Achieving full transfer.

DOCTOR: They're Cybermen. All of the ghosts are Cybermen. Millions of them, right across the world.

(The ghosts solidify and form up in squads everywhere. People start to scream and run.)

[Ghostwatch studio]

PRESENTER: They're not ghosts! They're metal men

(A Cyberman strangles him.)

POLICE COMMANDER [on TV]: I urge you, stay in your homes!

(Cybermen break down front doors and appear on upstairs landings.)

[Lever room]

YVONNE: They're invading the whole planet.

DOCTOR: It's not an invasion. It's too late for that. It's a victory.

COMPUTER: Sphere activated. Sphere activated. Sphere activated. Sphere activated.

[Sphere laboratory]

MICKEY: I know what's in there, and I'm ready for them. I've got just the thing.

(Mickey gets his really massive gun from underneath the platform below the sphere.)

MICKEY: This is going to blast them to Hell.

RAJESH: Samuel, what are you doing?

MICKEY: The name's Mickey. Mickey Smith. Defending the Earth.

(Lock and load.)

[Lever room]

DOCTOR: But I don't understand. The Cybermen don't have the technology to build a Void Ship. That's way beyond you. How did you create that sphere?

CYBERMAN: The sphere is not ours.

DOCTOR: What?

CYBERMAN: The sphere broke down the barriers between worlds. We only followed. Its origin is unknown.

DOCTOR: Then what's inside it?

JACKIE: Rose is down there.

[Sphere laboratory]

(The sphere is slowly disappearing in a blaze of light. Then four oversized pepperpots glide out of the Void.)

MICKEY: That's not Cybermen.

ROSE: Oh, my God.

BLACK DALEK: Location, Earth. Life forms detected. Exterminate!

DALEKS: Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!

To Be Continued