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SAM: You’re zombies. That’s all you are. TV zombies.

COMPASSION: So… you don’t listen to your transmissions?

SAM: No.

COMPASSION: Then what are they there for?

* * *

Scene 12. Behind the Bike Sheds

[Black and white. SAM’S point of view. SAM is still in conversation with MARK LESSING.]

MARK: It’s ’cos your parents are total do‐gooders. They won’t even let their kid drink Coke.

SAM: That’s not true!

MARK: Yes, it is. They told you to say no to drugs, didn’t they? And you went and listened to them.

SAM: I made up my own mind!

MARK: No one makes up their own mind. You’re just picking up your parents’ signals, that’s all.

[A shocked pause from SAM.]

SAM: What are you talking about, Mark?

MARK: It’s gibberish. All the signals are gibberish. You’re just trying to turn them into principles.

SAM: Gibberish? [Pause.] That’s what the Doctor said about –

MARK: You don’t know the Doctor. You haven’t even met him yet.

SAM [thrown]: No, I… look, I mean…

MARK: Face it, Sam. This is just like television.

SAM: What?

MARK: It’s a flashback. You’re twenty‐two. Not fifteen. Remember?

* * *

Scene 13. The Hotel Room

COMPASSION: You listen to your transmissions, just like we do. Only we’re more direct about it. We use the receivers. You let your transmissions tell you what’s good and what’s bad. They tell you matches are right and shock batons are wrong, and you believe them.

SAM: At least we can think for ourselves.

COMPASSION: Nobody thinks for themselves. We’re more honest about it than you are, that’s all.

SAM: We’ve got principles…

COMPASSION: We don’t need principles. We’ve got the media. And we’ve got the Cold.

[SAM suddenly realises something. She looks around the room.]

SAM: Wait a minute. This makes sense.

COMPASSION: What?

SAM: This. All of it. The flashbacks I’ve been getting. There’s a kind of story, it’s like… I’m having the flashbacks in order. It’s like the hallucinations are trying to tell me something.

* * *

Scene 14. The Attic of Sam’s House

[SAM is staring into the distance. Her friends are leaning over her, looking more concerned than ever.]

FRIEND 2: Sam? You there?

SAM: They’re coming.

FRIEND 3: Who’re coming?

[From somewhere outside the attic, there’s a crashing, splintering sound. The girls all jump. Except for SAM.]

FRIEND 1: What was that?

FRIEND 2: S’probably just her dad. Don’t panic.

SAM [panicking anyway]: The Remote.

FRIEND 2: What?

SAM: The Remote. It’s the future. This is the future, and they’re breaking in. Don’t you get it? It’s tomorrow. I’m in the hotel, and tomorrow’s the day it happens.

FRIEND 1: She’s tripping her nuts off.

FRIEND 3: ‘Nuts’?

* * *

Scene 15. The Hotel Room

COMPASSION: So?

SAM: So. I should be just picking up random signals, shouldn’t I? I should have a head full of Sky TV and Radio One by now. If I was like you, none of this’d make sense. But I’m not. Your receiver isn’t working on me. Not properly.

[COMPASSION moves in closer, and inspects the receiver at her neck.]

COMPASSION: Mmm. You’re resisting it. Your subconscious must be trying to make sense out of the signals you’re picking up.

GUEST: Compassion?

[COMPASSION turns. Four figures have entered the room. At the fore stands GUEST, as played by WESLEY SNIPES (again, with an English accent). Behind him is SARAH, flanked by the two SECURITY GUARDS.]

GUEST: Well? Is she the attack?

SAM: Attack?

COMPASSION: I don’t know. The receiver’s not working properly. She says she’s got too many principles. Me, I think she’s just covering something up. [Indicating SARAH.] How about her?

SAM [hurriedly]: She doesn’t have anything to do with this.

SARAH [quietly]: Sam –

SAM: She found my binoculars. She thought I was a spy. For another company. She tried to –

SARAH: Sam… it’s all right. They know. They found my credentials.

SAM: Your credentials?

SARAH: My real credentials.

SAM: Oh.

GUEST: All right. [He nods towards COMPASSION.]

[SAM’s point of view. COMPASSION