CAST LIST

SYNOPSIS

Outside the Eastern European Monetary Commission, a woman stands and waits. Moments later she is inside: her name is Pyke, and the Commission is employing her in Technical Services. Her boss Dench informs her she has no need to worry about financial details, it’s hard work Pyke is being employed for. Arriving at a Voice Activated door lock Dench opens it with a Voice ID, unaware that Pyke has recorded the operation… Inside the Main Control Centre Dench explains that all the Commission’s main functions are run from the room: including the Gold Vaults, which Pyke seems to know more about than her superior. As Dench explains the main control systems to Pyke, she shoots him…with a tranquilizer dart. Meanwhile a mystery man instructs her to let their "friends" loose…which Pyke does, using a bug-shaped device inside the ventilation system. The effect on the EEMC is instantaneous, with Vanguard (the Commission’s Director) seeing an instantaneous collapse of the Trading Network…a collapse watched also by the mystery man. One currency, the Baltic Mark, is unaffected…as Pyke goes to leave a drugged Dench goes after her, only to blown up in the process…

The team arrives twenty-two minutes after Pyke has released her "virus", with a complete systems failure less than ten minutes away. Unable to enter the Control Suite as the system is down Vanguard is unable to let the team in…but locks never stopped Beckett before. AS they enter Ed tells Vanguard perhaps she needs a better security consultation. Inside the Control Suite Ros quickly sets to work on the system: computer failure has already occurred on 3 floors and is travelling up the building to the main suite on Level 10. Ros decouples the computer functions on Level 8 to create a dead area around the data to protect it…but the virus jumps this "moat" and continues upwards. Informed that there is a cooling system around all the computers Beckett surmises the "virus" is in fact airborne and not electronic…which is why the computers they are currently using have not been affected. Ros is running out of ideas: if it were as simple as pulling the core data from the machine. Vanguard tells her that in this case it is, as the computer system has dynamic RAM with its own power supply: Ros is impressed, and Ed is sent on the ten-floor sprint to retrieve them. Beckett heads to the Basement to override the Cooling System, and whilst deactivating the system he spots Pyke’s "bug" in the Ventilation system. Ed arrives at the Data Store as the Ventilation system deactivates: without it, the system will explode. He manages to escape with the three boards seconds before the Core goes up. In cell 1187-463, Jean-Daniel is teaching the Governor the ins and outs of currency speculation…

Back at Gizmos, Ros discovers someone with an interest in the day’s events: Maximillian Kristo (the mystery man) has been buying huge amounts of the Baltic Mark, whose value soared after the collapse of the other currencies. He is the new owner of Bio Gro, who Ed speculates may have a developed a virus with a taste for computers… Posing as a Safety Inspector, Ed goes to their lab posing as a Dr Russell…and is met by Pyke. Beckett is concerned that he or Ros should have taken the job, but Ros is confident of Ed’s ability to charm. The pair takes the "bug" found at the EEMC to pieces, and Ros examines residue of the substance inside under the microscope, confirming it is a live virus. Ros is having problems with her ring, and takes it off after it begins to itch…and it promptly disintegrates! It seems that the virus eats gold, a metal previously completely stable and impervious to such attacks…and a main component in printed circuit boards. Pyke is suspicious of Ed and calls Kristo, who urges her to test him. Ed in the meantime has found the virus: Thiobacillus Auric Oxidans, and is talking to Ros as Pyke arrives…who quickly trips Ed up on his biochemistry and promptly tranquilizes him…

Beckett tries to locate Ed using his transmitter, whilst Ros confirms her suspicion that the virus creates a new gold compound with gold, destroying the metal forever. Ros theorises that with a pure sample of TAO she could possibly create a natural enemy for the virus: Beckett is more concerned at finding Ed, however. When he finally manages to retune his receiver he discovers that Ed is still inside Bio Gro… Ed awakes to find himself bound by Pyke and Kristo: the pair are impressed with his understanding of their plan thus far. Kristo tells him they are about to attack the EEMC again, but this time they will directly target the Gold reserves…with a device already in place. Ed’s surfeit of knowledge also means he will need to be killed…but not at Bio Gro. He’s locked in a van which Kristo and Pyke drive away, but which has Ros and Beckett in close pursuit (even if it’s with Beckett driving!) Managing to free himself, Ed escapes through the top of the van, something both Pyke and Kristo had hoped for…Whilst Ros looks for a killer for the virus, Beckett and Ed go back to Vanguard at the EEMC and ask her for permission to search the safe area. Back at Bio Gro, Kristo and Pyke are confident their "plan" will soon come to fruition. Entering the vault with Vanguard (who uses a retinal scanner to enter) Ed and Beckett come face to face with a vast amount of gold: as Pyke activates her "device". Ed’s pocket begins to beep at him, and as he takes out his pocket tape recorder, it explodes and releases an amount of TAO. The virus activates the automated security systems, closing the vault door…Vanguard and Beckett manage to get out, but Ed is trapped within.

Ros is off to Bio Gro, but Beckett is concerned that the serious science involved will mean she won’t have time to create an antigen. Confident that much of the groundwork will have been done, Ros asks about finding a way of unlocking the automatic safe: there is a key, but the existing Security Consultants hold it off site. Whilst Vanguard and Beckett wait for its arrival Beckett explains that there is a limit past which the gold will not be recoverable: 120 degrees. The pair uses a temperature sensor to check the gold’s stability…and it’s safe, at least for half an hour. Ed is the hottest thing in the safe… Ros arrives at Bio Gro and manages to gain entry. Using night vision goggles she makes her way inward, avoiding laser sensors on the way, and finds the TAO. Ed has problems of his own, as he inadvertently activates the Threat Analyzer, which targets him as potentially dangerous and fires a laser at him! Desperate to reset the Vault door, Beckett asks if there is any other way into the Power Room: there is a way, but it involves a dangerous trip through vents filled with toxic exhaust fumes. Mindful of what is at stake, Beckett takes the challenge, using breathing equipment provided by Vanguard…whilst Ros has isolated an antigen. It will take time to replicate…and Ros isn’t helped by a wandering security guard. Ed is meanwhile moving slowly enough to avoid detection by the vault’s movement sensors…

Kristo and Pyke are about to leave Bio Gro when they notice power consumption in the Main Lab is up: going to investigate they find Ros with a sample of antigen. Ros is able to throw the pressure valve on the vat of TAO, which explodes, activating the security system and trapping both Pyke and Kristo in the vault… Ros gets away, but Kristo is not far behind… Beckett enters the exhaust system, as Ros tells Ed he has to be out of the vault before she can release the antigen, as it’s harmful to organic life. With 10 minutes to go, Beckett heads for the control room, Ros speeds towards the EEMC and Ed has to contend with a second laser…as Beckett realises that to reach the Power Room he’ll have to take off his breathing equipment. The access tunnel is too large for him to fit through with his breathing gear… Ros arrives, with the Security Consultant mere seconds behind her.... attaching her antigen to the fire control system she can’t understand why Ed is still in the vault. It transpires that the security consultant is really Kristo, who shoots a Security Guard and holds the two women at gunpoint. Finally breaking through to the Power Room Beckett is almost asphyxiated…and Ed is able to distract one laser with a diversion, allowing him to grab the other and point it at the first, so one shorts the other out. Hitting the first with a gold bar, a third appears to block his exit…as Beckett trips the power override. The distraction is enough for Ros to grab Kristo’s gun: the ensuing scuffle allows Vanguard to grab a gas cylinder and help Ros push Kristo into a power panel. With seconds to spare the antigen is released, with Beckett arrival acting as the perfect distraction for the laser, allowing both him and Ed out of the vault safely…

Back at Gizmos, Ros is presented with a new ring to replace her old one, courtesy of the EEMC…whilst Jean-Daniel is congratulated by his Governor, outside his cell, on his generosity of spirit and his killing on the Foreign Currency Market. The Governor petitions to have Jean-Daniel’s sentence halved, and is interested to know what happens when his investments reach their required goal. As the pair speaks, in cell 1187-463, that target is reached…