The space freighter Tintin has just jumped out of hyperspace in Quadrant Delta Three Black when it is surrounded by a dozen Judoon ships. Without any attempt at communications the Judoon attach a boarding tunnel and cut their way into the Tintin. When they are aboard the Judoon begin a thorough search for the criminal agent known as the Invisible Assassin. So thorough is the search that many of the freighter’s systems are damaged. They question the freighter’s captain about a passenger, Aroon Manish, who failed to board the freighter. When nothing is found, the Judoon leave as abruptly as they arrived. It is only as they retract the boarding tube that the crew of the Tintin realises there is a hole, two metres in diameter, in the side of their ship.

The captain tries to shut the bulkhead doors as the air pours out into space. The damage caused by the Judoon has left many life support systems offline and the crew faces a very quick death, losing consciousness rapidly. Kareel Rossiter, the Tintin’s trainee pilot, barely has time to send an SOS before she passes out.

The TARDIS materialises aboard the freighter and the Doctor performs emergency repairs, saving the life of everyone except the captain. He speaks to Kareel who tells him about the Judoon and their search for a passenger who was heading for New Memphis spaceport. The Doctor decides that someone needs to tell the Judoon about the effects of their incompetence and resolves to be at New Memphis before the Judoon cause chaos there. This makes Kareel laugh and she tells the Doctor that with all the problems at Elvis the King spaceport it is hard to imagine the Judoon making the situation worse.

New Memphis was an unexceptional planet until the human race expanded out into the universe using hyperspace jump technology. It rapidly became the hub for intergalactic travel in its own region of space. By 2487 it has grown into a bustling spaceport (Elvis the King) and an attendant city-state (New Memphis). After eight years of construction the spaceport has just opened Terminal 13, intended to be a state of the art transit terminal, but things have gone badly wrong. Seven days of teething problems have seen baggage disappearing at an alarming rate, systems failing inexplicably and queues growing at every desk or facility. Jase Golightly, the manager of the spaceport, is under heavy pressure from his investors and the media and is struggling to find solutions. Into this chaos come two more travellers to give Golightly problems: the first is the Doctor and the second is simply known as The Courier.

The TARDIS materialises in a baggage warehouse inside Terminal 13 and as the Doctor steps out he is immediately arrested by a squad of armed security officers. He tries to use his psychic paper to bluff his way out of the situation but the chief of security, General Moret, is a veteran of the Telepathic Uprising of ’54 and sees through the ruse.

The Courier, on the other hand, arrives discretely on a shuttle from Heddon Two. Among his many passports is one bearing the alias Aroon Manish. He makes his way to the left luggage hall and deposits a case in one of the lockers. He pockets the reclaim chip and makes his way through the crowds in the arrivals concourse. On his way he is knocked over by a blue-skinned humanoid but picks himself up and carries on his way. He spots two men in a cafeteria that he knows. They are the Walinski brothers, a pair of albino twins who are the notorious henchmen of New Memphis’s leading gangster, a man simply known as Uncle. The Courier is perplexed that Uncle would send such high profile criminals to collect the case after all the secrecy involved in getting it to New Memphis. He approaches them nervously. They offer him a cup of coffee but his instinct tells him not to drink it. Instead he takes a drink from one of the cups in front of the brothers. He tells them that the case is in a locker in left luggage but when he looks for the reclaim chip he realises that it is missing. With horror he remembers his collision with the blue-skinned alien and realises that he has been pick-pocketed. Suddenly feeling unwell he rushes to the restrooms where he promptly bursts into flames and explodes.

The Doctor is being led through Terminal 13 by the security guards when news of the exploding man comes over their radios. They arrive at the restroom where a medic has declared the dead man as a victim of spontaneous human combustion. The Doctor argues that this is not possible just as Jase Golightly arrives. Golightly asks if the Doctor is implying that the death was due to murder and the Doctor promptly offers his help, showing his psychic paper to the manager. It declares him to be an undercover agent of the Galactic Law Authority and Golightly is fooled immediately.

At that moment, the Judoon arrive in force. The Doctor explains who they are in time for Golightly to introduce himself to the Judoon Commander. The commander orders that nobody can enter or leave the terminal until they have been verified and searched. The Doctor asks if they are going to leave the place in the same parlous state as the Tintin. The commander says that his men will do whatever is necessary to find the Invisible Assassin. As they leave to start the search the Doctor wonders if the search for the Invisible Assassin will be beneficial; it might help to locate the missing baggage. Golightly comments that the terminal seems to be jinxed, citing a series of problems that date back to the planning and construction stages. He says that the terminal wasn’t ready to open on time but the investors insisted. He is interrupted by the arrival of Derek Salter, the wheelchair-bound majority investor, who claims that the decision to open on time was entirely his. The Doctor offers his help but says he needs to find the TARDIS first. Golightly tells General Moret to help the Doctor find his blue box. When they get to the place where the TARDIS landed, however, it is gone. The Doctor voices his suspicion that all of the problems that have beset the terminal are connected and resolves to get to the bottom of it. They return to the office where the Judoon Commander states the search has been completed with no sign of their quarry. They conclude that the passenger must be at large in the city and resolve to widen their search into New Memphis.

New Memphis city is a seedy sprawl of functional buildings, populated by undesirables and criminals. It also rains every day. The police force is corrupt and the criminal gangs have more power than the elected government. In one of the downtown food courts a pretty seventeen year old girl, Nikki Jupiter, is serving Kronkburgers to two men. While she is an adept and considerate waitress, she is also a private detective on a job.

Unfortunately, the two men that she is eavesdropping on, via a transmitter under their table, accidentally discover her plan. She is forced to pursue them and use her martial arts techniques to apprehend one of the men.

After returning to the offices of the Jupiter Detective Agency, Nikki ponders the disappearance of her father. He left for an unspecified job three weeks earlier and has barely been in touch since. It is bad enough that their offices are in a shabby suite of rooms on the run-down Lower East Side of the city, but worse than that is the fact that they have few clients. Thus, Nikki has to use a little deception to convince an old woman who rings their number to come into the office.

Nikki finds the meeting with Mrs. Kellingham difficult at first. The old lady is nearly ninety but cosmetic surgery has given her the look of forty years less. She is initially disdainful of the office but is eventually won round by Nikki’s honesty. She drops a diamond worth five thousand credits on the desk as payment and throws in a bonus – better offices in an up market building – as a sweetener. She tells Nikki that she wants her to retrieve an antique watch that was stolen from her by a pickpocket at Terminal 13. The description she gives of the thief is a blue skinned alien.

The Doctor is arguing with the Judoon Commander. He insists that a Judoon search of the city will only lead to unrest. He volunteers to find the Silent Assassin himself, giving as motivation his need to find his TARDIS. The Judoon refuses to listen so the Doctor suggests a compromise: the Doctor and the Commander go into the city together and look for the missing man. If they fail to find him within forty-eight hours the rest of the Judoon force will be called in. The Commander agrees, but reduces the time to twenty-four hours.

Nikki uses her contacts at the New Memphis Police Department to identify the blue skinned pickpocket as Horat Deselup. She traces him to a bar, The Black Hole, where she sees him leave a gambling room at the back before dropping some coins into a charity box and exit the bar. She follows him at a distance down the busy street outside but loses him in the crowd. She retraces her steps to look for him and is dragged into a doorway. Deselup holds her tightly but sounds scared. He asks if the Widow sent her and Nikki implies that this is the case. Deselup tells her that she must tell Yilonda that he is not taking sides in a gang war and abruptly runs away. Nikki is pleased with this outcome; not only has she gained interesting information but she has also put a tracking device into Deselup’s pocket.

The Doctor and the Judoon make the police their first port of call. They demand to see an officer and are eventually introduced to Detective Angie Corilli, a middle aged woman who is unimpressed by the Judoon’s bluster. When they say that they are looking for the killers of Aroon Manish and describe the Walinski brothers as his last known contacts she immediately calls in Detective Dantin. It is Dantin that tells them the Walinskis are the henchmen of a man called Uncle, the biggest gangster in New Memphis. He says that Uncle makes a lot of money from legitimate business but even more from protection, drugs and smuggling. The Walinski brothers are albino twins with a reputation for ruthless violence. The Judoon Commander says that Uncle must be their next interviewee and while Dantin is surprised by this direct approach he directs them to The Grand Casino. As they all leave the office Corilli makes a surreptitious phone call, telling someone that there is a possible problem.

Nikki is also on the way to the Casino. The signal from Deselup shows that he has already entered the premises. Unfortunately, Nikki is only seventeen and therefore four years too young to follow him in. Resorting to desperate measures she accosts one of the waitresses outside and bribes he rot let Nikki take her place for the night. It is only when she puts on the waitress costume, little more than a lot of make-up, a pair of high heeled shoes and a tiny skirt, that she feels things might not be as comfortable as she had hoped. Fortunately, her embarrassment is spared by the fact that, once she starts work in the gaming halls, the gamblers are more interested in their bets than in the girls serving them drinks. Her ‘uniform’ has meant that she has had to abandon her wrist computer, but before she leaves the changing rooms she ascertains that the pickpocket is somewhere on the third floor.

The Doctor leaves the Judoon Commander outside the Casino before demanding that the doorman takes him to Uncle. His request is helped when Derek Salter arrives at the same door and uses his influence to persuade the doorman. As they approach the lifts the Doctor helps to steady a waitress who is tottering on high heels. The doorman thinks that the Doctor’s backward glance is due to the girl’s lack of clothes but the Time Lord is more interested in her apparent nervousness.

Nikki is disconcerted by the Doctor’s stare, immediately finding him mysterious and fascinating. She takes a parallel course to the lifts so that she can keep him in her sight. As such, she notices the number that the doorman keys into the lift control and memorises it.

The Doctor is met by Uncle himself, a charming man in his sixties. He is taken through to a tasteful apartment and introduced to a pretty blonde woman, Uncle’s daughter Hope. When the Doctor mentions that he is looking for the Walinski brothers Uncle asks Hope to leave. He explains to the Doctor that his daughter is innocent of the true nature of his business and that he wants to keep it that way.

Nikki uses the private lift to get to the third floor. In a waiting area she spies on Deselup as he makes a disgruntled phone call; clearly he is not pleased at having to wait for Uncle’s attention and remarks that he will take his business to Yilonda.

The Doctor’s interview does not go well. Uncle states that the Walinski brothers’ brief meeting with the exploding man is hardly suspicious and tells the Doctor to leave. Outside, meanwhile, Deselup has stormed off in frustration and Nikki has decided to explore the corridor. The Doctor sees her as he makes his way to the lift and decides to follow. She sneaks into an unlocked bedroom, clearly belonging to a woman. There is only one thing out of place, a small control device that looks highly technical. Before she has time to investigate further the door opens and she finds herself face to face with the Judoon Commander. She screams. The Doctor opens the bedroom door and sees the Commander with his hand over Nikki’s mouth while telling her that he does not want to be discovered either.

The Doctor asks the Commander to let Nikki go and the three investigators introduce themselves. The Commander announces himself as Judoon Commander Rok Ma, Galactic Law Enforcer. Nikki is pleased that they all seem to be on the same side and shows them the control unit that she found. The Doctor notices that it has a time delay on it, whatever it is, and that it is about to go off. They all duck for cover but nothing happens at first, then an alarm begins to ring. Looking into the corridor they see fire and smoke billowing from the room where the Doctor met Uncle. The Commander leads them to the stairs and they make for the ground floor which is also on fire.

The Doctor uses a fire extinguisher to beat back the flames while the Commander throws a heavy gaming table across another fire to help trapped gamblers escape. As the fire services arrive the Doctor and Rok Ma find Nikki at the reception desk. They wonder what caused the blaze and Uncle provides the answer: incendiary devices. He blames the Widow but his fury is tempered by the fact that his daughter is missing.

The Doctor races up the stairs and back to Uncle’s room. He finds a damaged fire bomb in the room and notes that it is of the same design as the control device. A noise in the corridor leads him to find Hope and she is carrying the control device. She says she saw someone drop it near her room and asks the Doctor what it is. When the Doctor asks her who dropped it she replies that it was a man with blue skin.

Uncle is overjoyed that the Doctor has brought his daughter down safely. Nikki has retrieved her own clothes and is dressed again. She and the Judoon Commander are deep in conversation when the Doctor approaches and it is becoming apparent that the three of them are on similar cases. They decide to work together. Nikki listens to the Doctor’s account of his conversation with Hope but she does not agree with the idea that Deselup started the fires; he is a pickpocket, not an arsonist and, anyway, he wasn’t carrying any bombs when she tracked him. Between them they work out that Deselup must have stolen something from the exploding man before he met the Walinskis, and that he had come to see Uncle in order to do a deal. They decide to find Deselup and Nikki tells them about the tracking device that she planted on him.

The trio of investigators make their way through the rainy streets of the city while they discuss the situation. Nikki fills them in on some details of the criminal underworld: Uncle is the major crime boss and has been for years, but recently the Widow’s Gang has begun to move into his territory. Nobody knows much about the Widow apart from her name, Madame Yilonda. They find themselves outside the Spa, where the tracking device has located Deselup. Nikki is not surprised because it is also the Widow’s headquarters.

In the basement of the Spa there is an abandoned train station, part of the defunct underground railway. It is here that Deselup is meeting the Widow. She is a glamorous woman, wearing a low cut black dress to emphasise her perfect body. Her eyes are hidden behind blue-tinged shades but her face is pale and her lipstick a vivid red. Her hair is cut into a black bob. Deselup is just starting to tell her that he has something that Uncle wants when he is interrupted. The Judoon has smashed his way into the Spa’s atrium and ordered that Horat Deselup be given up. This is only a distraction for the Doctor and Nikki to enter the lift unnoticed. They make their way to the basement but are promptly met by a small, wide man with a gun. He takes them to the Widow.

When they enter Madame Yilonda’s lair there is no sign of Deselup. He has left the basement, once more annoyed at being put on the back burner while someone else is dealt with. He takes the stairs to the atrium where he finds Commander Rok Ma and, in panic, flees into the night. When the Yilonda denies seeing Deselup the Doctor and Nikki take their leave, stepping round the bulky bodyguard, Taron, and returning to the surface the way they came in.

Meeting up with Rok Ma, the Doctor and Nikki go round the corner into an all-night café. The Commander is upset that Deselup got away from him and is having second thoughts about sending his troops back into space. He thinks that a thousand Judoon men on the ground would soon sort out the problem. The Doctor tries to argue that less is more but Rok Ma says that it will be “Less efficient. Less justice.” This is apparently a joke because the Commander starts to laugh, the first time the Doctor has seen such a thing. After a while the Doctor suggests that they give up the search for Deselup and look, instead, for whatever he stole, which is unlikely to be about his person. They call Detective Dantin on Nikki’s phone and are given Deselup’s address. The Commander then takes the device and installs emergency numbers so that Nikki can contact him or the Judoon fleet if there is an emergency.

Uncle is unhappy with the bomb attack and blames the Widow. He also blames the Walinski brothers for failing to pick up the Invisible Assassin and tells them that Deselup is the key to the Assassin’s whereabouts. He tells the brothers to find Deselup and get the reclaim chip from him.

The Doctor takes Nikki and Rok Ma to Deselup’s apartment block, but once inside the building Nikki has to pick the lock to get into the apartment itself. However, there is a room inside that is locked beyond their means of entry so Nikki has to climb out of the window and make her way along the ledge. Using the Doctor’s screwdriver she releases the window lock. Unfortunately for her the room has already been ransacked so she sets out to explore the other rooms. The Walinski brothers are already there waiting for her and knock her out with a sonic device of their own. When she regains consciousness the brothers have gone and the apartment is on fire.

Rok Ma bursts through the wall of the apartment and grabs Nikki before racing down the stairs into the fresher air of the street. She tells them that the Walinskis were there first but the Doctor surmises that they only set the apartment on fire because they couldn’t find what they were looking for. The three investigators try to think where Deselup may have hidden something and decide to start with the Black Hole bar. The premises are empty so entry is easy for them. Casting his eyes round and trying to think like Deselup, the Doctor spots the clown-shaped charity box. He knocks the box to the floor where it smashes and Nikki picks up the reclaim chip from among the spilled coins. She explains what it is and heads for the exit. The Doctor stops her and tells her to call Detective Corilli about their find. The Detective orders them to stay where they are but Nikki decides to leave, saying she also has to find Mrs. Kellingham’s watch. Rok Ma starts to follow her but the Doctor tells him Nikki is actually worried about her father’s disappearance. Nikki reappears immediately with a thug holding a gun to her head. Then a voice tells them that Corilli couldn’t make it to the bar so sent him instead. The voice belongs to Uncle, who steps into the room, holding the reclaim chip in his hand. He tells them that Terminal 13 is still locked down so the Doctor and the Judoon will have to go to the left luggage hall and collect his case. He gives them six hours before he kills Nikki.

Golightly gives them permission to collect the luggage but General Moret insists on accompanying them. They use the reclaim key to locate the locker but for some reason it won’t open the door. Golightly uses the master key to override the system and retrieves a suitcase from the locker but Moret produces a gun and takes it. He says he is taking it to his boss, the Widow. He shoots Golightly in the leg and makes his escape while the Doctor and Rok Ma are tending the injured man.

Nikki finds herself being driven to the Casino where she is locked into one of the apartments. She uses her time in captivity to ponder on the whereabouts of her father. After a while she decides to try to escape and climbs up to the suspended ceiling, through the thin tiles and onto the metal framework. Crawling deftly through the space above the ceiling she comes to a halt above Uncle at his desk. Crawling further she arrives above the corridor and drops into the space in front of the lifts. The lift doors open and the Walinski brothers step out. She abruptly kicks out at them, knocking them off balance and runs up the corridor. One of the brothers hauls her to the ground but collapses immediately, as does his twin. Nikki is amazed to see Taron in the corridor with a stun gun in each hand. Taron demands to know where the others are and if they have the key. She confesses that they have gone to the spaceport. Surprisingly he asks her to trust him and asks her to hide so that she can be of use to her friends.

She returns to the crawl space above the ceiling and listens in as Uncle berates the Walinskis once more. However, he is in a better mood when he thinks that the Invisible Assassin is nearly in his reach.

After taking Golightly to the hospital, the Doctor and the Judoon return to the Spa. Moret is already ahead of them. His mind is ticking over events of the recent months: his recruitment by Uncle, his defection to the Widow and his usurping as her confidant by the sudden arrival of Taron. Now Moret has to allow Taron to search him before he can take the case to the Widow.

The Doctor leaves his Judoon friend outside the Spa and climbs down through a manhole in the back alley. He makes his way to the Widow’s basement but is apprehended by Moret. Meanwhile, the Judoon has been caught by Taron who has more surprises. He tells Rok Ma that Nikki is safe and at large in the Casino. He then gives the Judoon a phone so that he can call Nikki and confirm the story. Nikki tells him that she trusts Taron without really understanding why. Rok Ma says that he will trust him, too. Taron then gives him a security override device for the Widow’s base and departs.

The Doctor is led to the Widow who is speaking directly to Uncle on a communication screen. She is taunting him, saying he is old and past it. While Uncle retorts angrily the Doctor can’t help but feel there is something rehearsed about this response, and as the communication ends he notices a look of triumph cross Uncle’s face.

Above Uncle’s office, Nikki is learning the truth about the Invisible Assassin. Uncle is telling Corilli that the Assassin isn’t a person. In fact it is a virus that will be released when the Widow opens the case. It is short lived in oxygen and so shouldn’t pose a major threat to the city. Nikki calls the Judoon and tells him this, and he bursts into the Spa and makes it to the basement just as the Widow is about to open the case. He tells her the true nature of the Invisible Assassin. Taron makes a grab for the case but the Widow shoots him in the thigh. She orders Moret to lock the Doctor and Taron in a store room while the Judoon runs an errand for her. She wants him to return the case to Uncle and tell him that the plan has failed. She adds that if Uncle is prepared to relinquish his control over certain neighbourhoods she will allow him to carry on his business.

Nikki has made it down into the rooms below and is hiding in a conference room when people approach. She hides under the table. Thus, she overhears the meeting between Rok Ma and Uncle. The Judoon returns the case, adding that the Widow thinks it a coward’s weapon. Uncle wonders how she learned not to open it. He orders his goons to stun the Judoon who collapses onto the table. He tells his men to chain the Judoon to a bomb that has been planted in Terminal 13. Nikki’s blood runs cold when she hears that this bomb is one of a hundred that are hidden in the terminal.

Taron is not bleeding, despite the bullet that entered his thigh. Smiling, he pulls off a mask to reveal that he has been wearing a padded suit; The Doctor guesses that he is Nikki’s father, Conrad. The detective says that he has been working undercover for weeks. He has found out a number of things about the Widow but not who she is or why she is determined to topple Uncle. The Doctor simply tells him that Madame Yilonda is actually Hope, Uncle’s daughter. Conrad wonders why she sent the case back to her father but the Doctor suggests she may have tampered with it in some way.

In the store room Conrad is telling the Doctor about his findings: Uncle has been trying to shut Terminal 13 down so that Derek Salter, the major investor, can claim a massive insurance payout. As he talks the Doctor is lifting floorboards to give them access to the old railway tunnel below. As they make their way out, the Doctor fills Conrad in on the investigation he has been undertaking with Nikki.

Nikki, meanwhile, has waited until the Judoon is dragged from the conference room and everyone else has left before she accesses a computer terminal. She soon finds the locations of all of the hidden bombs. Next she makes her way to a communications room and disposes of the young operative. She hides his unconscious body in a stairwell before making a call to the Judoon ships. After some difficulty she manages to convince the Judoon of her story and uploads the bomb locations. She then glances at a monitor screen and sees the Doctor and her father approaching the Casino. She uses her position at the heart of the Casino’s security network to lead the two men to her position. After a touching greeting she tells them of the predicament facing Rok Ma, and the other bombs. The Doctor is awestruck that she managed to call down the Judoon. He wonders if there is a single signal that will override the detonators in the bombs and sets out to find Uncle.

The Judoon beam into the terminal and begin to find and disarm the bombs. Unfortunately, some are hidden within the structure and explode, killing a number of the Judoon.

The Doctor finds the Walinskis outside Uncle’s room and uses a martial arts move of his own to render them unconscious. He enters Uncle’s office but the old man is clearly dying. The suitcase is open and the virus has been released. Uncle is perplexed because the virus has been coded to the Widow’s DNA and should only kill her. The Doctor informs him that the Widow is actually Hope in disguise. He begs the old man to tell him the password to save the people in the terminal, saying that it would be a good thing if Uncle’s last action was to save lives. Sadly, Uncle dies without speaking. The Doctor calls Hope and tells her the news. She is distraught at the death of her father and tells him that she created the Widow so that she could be part of his life. She meant to take his empire from him and then confess the truth. He asks her if she knows what the password might be but she cannot help. Then he warns her that the virus is loose in the atmosphere and that she needs to leave the planet quickly for her own safety.

Nikki and Conrad reach the Terminal and persuade Golightly to give them access to the schematics of the building. They quickly find the access tunnel where Rok Ma is chained to a bomb. When they arrive they find that the padlock on the chain belongs to the spaceport and Golightly has the master key. They free the Commander with two minutes to spare. Conrad realises that the bomb is extremely large and would cause incalculable damage. He asks the Commander to take Nikki to safety while he tries to take out the detonator. She protests but the Commander picks her up and runs to the far end of the tunnel. Behind him there is a large explosion.

The Doctor finds two names inscribed on the inside of Uncle’s wedding ring: Vikta and Malinda. He races to the terminal and types in Malinda, sending the signal to override the bombs.

When he arrives at the space port he finds that his efforts have been successful. The emergency services are tending to the injured while the Judoon are taking care of the rest of the bombs. Conrad is brought out on a stretcher. It appears that he managed to take out the detonator and throw it but it exploded. However, the bomb itself did not go off. Although he was injured by falling masonry he is still alive. As Conrad is taken to hospital Dantin arrives. His next target is Dantin.

The Doctor and Rok Ma join armed police at Salter Towers, a massive tower block downtown. Search parties flood the building but there is no sign of Salter even though he was seen entering shortly before their arrival. The Doctor has noticed from the architecture of the building that there is a hidden floor and uses his sonic screwdriver to make the elevator stop there. He and the Judoon Commander step out into the hidden rooms at the top of the block. The Doctor finds Salter looking at news reports on a massive view screen. Salter is unrepentant and confesses that he needed the money from the insurance to pay massive gambling debts to Uncle. He produces a gun but Rok Ma creeps in behind him. However, Salter shows the Doctor an image of the TARDIS and says it is in a place where the Doctor cannot find it with the rest of the missing luggage. Rok Ma insists that justice must be meted out for the deaths of seven Judoon in the terminal explosions. He fires his own gun but only to disintegrate Salter’s weapon, adding that justice will be delivered by due process in New Memphis.

The next two days are spent helping the authorities restore order. Judoon troopers make repairs to the bomb sites and the Doctor helps Dantin, now Head of Detectives, to crack down on the gangs led by Uncle and the Widow. Hope’s body has been found near the spaceport, the second and last victim of the virus. Eventually, the Doctor and Rok Ma meet at the hospital. The news from Nikki is mixed, her father will live but his injuries will keep him out of work for a long time. Rok Ma surprises the Doctor by telling him that he has resigned from his position and the Judoon fleet has left without him. Instead he intends to stay on New Memphis and work for the Jupiter Detective Agency. As Nikki and Rok Ma bicker playfully about their new relationship the Doctor sneaks away.

He returns to the spaceport and uses the TARDIS’s energy signal to track it down, along with the rest of the luggage. He pays a final visit to Jase Golightly who has now been transformed in public perception to a successful administrator who oversaw a potentially disastrous situation and came up with the right result.

Nikki and Rok Ma make their first case the retrieval of Mrs.’ Kellingham’s watch. When they return it to her she makes good her promise to give them new offices in a better location.