Taphony and the Time Loop (TV story)

Synopsis
Gryffen tries to free a time being imprisoned by The Department. He was responsible for an experiment that bought the Time Blank into being and K9 assists him in his plan. Unfortunately the blank, in the guise of a girl (Taphony) turns on Gryffen and beings to drain Jorjie's life force in an attempt to stabilise her own existence.

Plot
In a Department prison, a girl walks looks at her virtual reality surroundings with confusion when Gryffen suddenly appears. He asks her if she knows her name, she replies that she doesn't. He asks her if she knows where she is but she says she doesn't know that either. Gryffen tells her not to be scared and he's her to help, he tells her that her name is Taphony and she is in a virtual reality prison. He explains to her that she doesn't know this because her memory has been blocked. He tells her he's getting her out of here, in 30 seconds he will disrupt the prison's security circuits and she will be able to escape, she will have to step out of her cell and go to a portal that will appear. She asks him who he is, he says he is a friend and tells her to be brave as she disapears. The security system is breached and Taphony puts off her VR goggles, the door opens for her and she exits her cell. She is met by two CCPCs who tell her to halt and return to her cell, when they grab her she reverses them and turns them into dust.

At the mansion Gryffen and K9 are working on the STM, Gryffen says it's taking too long and she should be away by now. K9 warns him he has no control as she is an unstable time entity, Gryffen says that's no reason to lock her out. He's releasing her into time to allow her to find a place where she belongs. Despite K9 persisting it's a bad idea, Gryffen doesn't listen. At the Department Mobile HQ, Thorne orders that the perimeter is sealed and make sure no-one enters or leaves the prison. June arrives and says it's an internal security matter, Thorne tells her that is was clearly engineered from outside the prison. The locking system was tampered with to a single cell, Thorne says he won't know if only one escaped until the video link to the prison is restablished. Thorne tells June the prisoner is a maximum associated with Project Taphony. Back at the mansion, Gryffen can't keep the portal open much longer, he is confused why she hasn't gone through. K9 explains that as a Time Blank she does not obey the normal rules of time, she has pyshical presence but her essence exists outside normal time. However, Gryffen is relieved to see she has gone through. Darius suddenly walks in with Gryffen's birthday cake singing 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow' when he spots Taphony and they introduce themselves to oneanother. He offers her some cake but when she touches it, it disintergrates. Gryffen and K9 come down to meet her as Darius introduces Taphony to Starkey and Jorjie who have just walked in.

Gryffen tells Darius his birthday isn't until tomorrow as K9 scans Taphony, finding a partial memory block and a strange energy force. Gryffen introduces himself to her as Darius shows her to the lab. K9 warns Gryffen that as a Time Blank, Taphony will only be able to sustain her existance by absorbs the lifeforce of another which is why they need to get her back into the portal as soon as possible but as Gryffen says, he owes an explanation. Gryffen takes a look at her and finds no Pyshical damage as a result of her incarceration or escape. All Taphony remembers was that she was in prison but doesn't now why she's here, Gryffen explains to everyone that she didn't do anything and something was done to her. When the Department first started acquiring alien technology they began experimenting to see if they could create a being capable of time travel, Gryffen was briefly brought in because of his experience in the subject. The Department considered the experiment a failure and Gryffen recently learned that to keep it a secret, Taphony was locked up in prison. Gryffen couldn't rest until he freed her. Darius suggests showing Taphony around, Gryffen says it's a good idea and the kids leave.

K9 then quotes Gryffen's warning that "we've got to get her into the STM as quickly as possible", Gryffen says she is only a young girl that has been locked away and she should have some fun. K9 warns that the odds that she will cause a major time disruption is 94.78%. Gryffen tells him that as he had a role in what happened to her and his birthday is nearing, as he gets older he has to make amends for what has happened in the past. Gryffen says the Department imprisoned her because they are "inhumane and unscrupulous", K9 says also because she is very dangerous. As Gryffen and K9 watch Darius and the others show Taphony around, K9 finds that Jorjie is considerably paler than usual while Taphony is "blooming". Gryffen gives in, when Darius sees no reason that Taphony can't stay here, K9 warns it is in advisable as Taphony does not belong to our Time-Space continuum. Gryffen says his plan was to set Taphony free and not to have her stay here. Taphony doesn't want to leave here as it feels like home, Gryffen tells her that she must and that it's too dangerous. She gets angry and grabs him, causing him great pain and making him collapse. The team help him up and are shocked to find him has been rapidly aged.

K9 scans Gryffen's DNA aging rate, it's degradation has accelerated by a factor of 100. Jorjie asks why she has done this, Taphony says that he helped make her the way she is now he can feel what it's like to be a "freak in time". Jorjie follows her as she leaves the Chess room, she confirms to Taphony that everyone is angry at what she has done to Gryffen as he is their friend. Taphony says should't she be more concerned as she is sick herself, she dismisses it saying the Gryffen is in worse shape than she is. Jorjie suspects that Human relationships is new to her, she tells Jorjie that she feels lost. Jorjie trys to comfort her but Taphony warns that she doesn't touch her. Jorjie assures her that she knows she has had a bad time and is there for her, Taphony says that in all her life Jorjie is the only friend she's had. Jorjie says they will talk more later as she goes to lie down. Gryffen tells Darius, Starkey and K9 that the only thing that can help him is getting rid of Taphony. K9 confirms this, as long as she is here the disruption to Gryffen's timeline will continue. Gryffen accepts K9 was right all along, K9 warns him that if he has a Birthday in his present state it will become permanent.

When K9 says Gryffen has already nominated the solution Starkey warns that it's dangerous to get Taphony to do things she doesn't want to do. Darius says they don't want to become a "dried up pile", when this offends Gryffen Darius says he was talking about the cake. K9 stops the discussion of the Cake and says for Gryffen and Jorjie's sake, Taphony must be dealt with. Later in the Chess room, Jorjie tries to convince Starkey and Darius that she is not dangerous, she just doesn't understand as she hasn't mixed with people before.

Cast

 * K9 Mark 2 - John Leeson
 * Starkey - Keegan Joyce
 * Jorjie - Philippa Coulthard
 * Darius Pike - Daniel Webber
 * Professor Alistair Gryffen - Robert Moloney
 * June Turner - Robyn Moore

Production crew
to be added

Story notes
to be added

Ratings
to be added

Myths
to be added

Filming locations
to be added

Production errors
to be added

Continuity

 * Gryffen is rapidly aged by Taphony, this has happened many times in the Whoniverse. Most notably to the Fourth Doctor in DW: The Leisure Hive, the Tenth Doctor in DW: The Sound of Drums and Martha Jones in TW: Dead Man Walking.

Home video releases
to be added