Litefoot awakens on a slab in his mortuary. He is surprised to find Jago and Inspector Quick standing over him, even more so when Quick refers to Jago as ‘Professor’ and that Litefoot was a Theatre Empresario who died of natural causes. Litefoot calls out to his two friends, but they do not respond to him. Jago asks Quick to grab a large scalpel as he proceeds to dissect him…
Litefoot awakens with a start, heavily breathing from the shocking events he just witnessed. Thankfully, he had only just had a nightmare. But he then notices that he had been asleep while standing up…
That evening at the Red Tavern, Litefoot recounts what he had seen to Jago. He recounts how his senses were rather keener than they should have been to be a dream. Despite being dead inside the dream, he was able to still feel and sense his surroundings as if he were still alive. Litefoot is not sure whether he had witnessed a dream, hallucinating, or something sinister? Both men rule out the possibility of a premonition and a viewing of their past selves in a different life. But they do ponder whether Litefoot may have witnessed a time or universe where their careers were different…
At the East India Dockyard, a woman called Agent Cara asks a worker to see the records of the Dockyard. After a moment’s hesitation, he directs her to the office. Cara storms into the office and demands to see the passenger list for a boat called the S.S. Earl King that arrived in 1889 from China. The shipping clerk is less than willing to cooperate, so Cara raises her wrist and talks into a strange, futuristic bracelet stating that the use of her ‘Cortex Manipulator’ is now justified. A beam of energy beams into the clerk’s head as he screams in pain. Cara confirms that she has found what she needs in his head. She opens a cabinet filled with files and finds the passenger list. The clerk complains that he cannot think straight after what she did to him, so Cara coldly executes him with a laser weapon…
Litefoot visits his friend Dr. Hilary Standish, a psychologist. He asks her for a second opinion regarding his dreams. He lays down on the couch and recounts his dream to Standish. Standish deduces from Litefoot’s dream that he has a morbid obsession with death. He feels that his confidence pales in comparison to Jago’s, plus he deep down believes that Jago wants him dead!
At the New Regency Theatre, Jago receives a visitor from his old friend and stage performer Harry Hypno. As they assess the stage for his upcoming performance, Hypno notices a strange ball of light humming in the wings above the stage. Jago walks up to the wings to investigate. He lays his hands on it…and the world around him begins to change! He looks down at the stage and sees Litefoot presenting a variety show! What’s more is that he is introducing Jago as the next act! Jago performs a rather poor-quality act of singing and joke telling and is booed by the crowd. As the booing overwhelms him, the stage begins to fade around Jago and he finds himself back in the wings of the New Regency Theatre next to Harry Hypno. Jago is frightened by what he saw and is more perplexed when Hypno tells him that he saw nothing strange…
Cara reports she has traced her target to Limehouse Lane. While she notes that her vortex manipulator is severely damaged, it is stable. She knocks on the door of a lodging house and demands to be let in. When she receives a less than satisfying reply from the manager, she kicks the door off its hinges. She demands to know about a former lodger who lived in the house, a man called…Magnus Greel. The manager remembers him despite Greel visiting 5 years ago. He rambles about how he mixed with some dangerous individuals, including a Chinese stage magician. Cara loses patience and uses her cortex manipulator to extract the name of the magician - Li H’sen Chang. Cara leaves to pursue Chang…but not before killing the manager…
At the Red Tavern, Jago recounts his dream to Litefoot. Litefoot deduces from Jago’s dream that he fears that without his theatre or his confidence, he would be nothing. They both conclude that there is more to these dreams than meets the eye. They call for Ellie to bring over another round of drinks, but they notice that she has been completely immobilised behind the bar. The pint of ale she is pouring is overflowing the glass. Jago prods Ellie to get a reaction, suddenly the world around them begins to change into the underground catacombs of The Old One! Ellie emerges from the darkness fully transformed into her vampire form and demands they refer to her as The Old One and they are her agents! She demands that they both hunt down the officer who has been meddling in their affairs and kill him – Inspector Quick! Ellie suddenly awakens from her trance. The barman states that Jago and Litefoot came to help but went into a trance with her. What he describes as a few seconds felt a lot longer to the three friends however. Ellie drags the Infernal Investigators to one side and demands to know what happened. Litefoot explains about the dreams and promises that they will find out what’s going on…
Cara arrives at the Palace Theatre. She tries to get inside but finds the doors are locked. The caretaker arrives and tells her that she is early for the evening show. Cara demands he give her an alternative entrance to the Theatre. He complies and shows her to the stage door. Cara holds the caretaker at gunpoint and demands he let her inside. He complies unwillingly and lets her in. Cara demands to see the theatre records for a Li H’sen Chang. The caretaker remembers he was booked in for a performance several years ago when Jago was the proprietor. Cara demands to know more about Jago and his location. The caretaker states that Jago runs the New Regency Theatre. With this knowledge, Cara brutally executes the caretaker and heads to the New Regency Theatre to find Jago…
At the mortuary, Litefoot is examining the body of the shipping clerk from the East India Dockyard. He discovers no external injuries, but his insides have been completely scrambled, which Litefoot deduces was caused by an alien weapon. Quick mentions that a landlord has also been murdered and is due for Litefoot to look at. Litefoot warns Quick that there may be a dangerous killer on the streets who is not native to their time or world…
That evening at the Red Tavern, Jago, Litefoot and Ellie discuss their dreams. They note how in Ellie’s dream of being servants to Ellie made them hungry for blood, as if their consciousnesses were being overwritten by a malevolent force. Suddenly, they hear electrical crackling from the bar area. The three of them leave the backroom to investigate and find a woman in strange clothes behind the bar – Cara. Litefoot looks at the weapon Cara is carrying and deduces that she is the killer that has been murdering all the people in his mortuary! Cara points her weapon at Jago and demands he confirm his identity. The barman inadvertently confirms Jago’s identity…and is executed by Cara for his trouble in front of the terrified patrons. She demands to know where she can find Magnus Greel. Litefoot deduces that Cara possibly comes from the same time-period as Greel – the 51st century. As Cara threatens them with a laser weapon, both men refuse to answer her questions, she activates her cortex manipulator and begins to scan Litefoot’s head – causing him severe pain. She sees all the information about Greel, from his lair beneath the sewers to his horrifying distorted face. She powers up the cortex manipulator as she believes Litefoot is hiding Greel’s whereabouts. Before the process can kill Litefoot…Jago sneaks up behind Cara and strikes her across the head with a heavy donation jar, disorientating her and severing the link to Litefoot’s head with the cortex manipulator. Before they can question the strange woman, Cara activates her vortex manipulator and teleports out of the pub.
The next day, Jago, Litefoot and Ellie are in Dr. Standish’s office. They discuss the possibility of Cara being involved in their strange dreams, but Litefoot feels it prudent to have their dreams psychoanalysed before they make any moves. Standish arrives and begins her assessment with Jago. She concludes from Jago’s dream that Jago deep down has a deep-seated belief that he is not worthy of his entertainer status and that Litefoot is ten times the man he is. With Ellie, Standish tells her that she reads too many gothic novels. And with Litefoot, she advises him to investigate hypnotherapy, but the only man qualified in London is expensive and has a waiting list. Jago however knows another man who may not be able to provide the therapy, but he can provide the hypno! Harry Hypno.
Harry Hypno comes to Litefoot’s house to perform his hypnosis on Jago, Litefoot and Ellie. Standish is rather sceptical of Hypno’s skill and requests that Hypno hypnotises the trio under her direction. Hypno begins by hypnotising Ellie with a swinging pocket watch. Eventually Ellie starts to feel weary and with a snap of his fingers, Ellie falls into a trance. Standish asks Ellie to recall what she remembers before she went into her dream state. Ellie remembers seeing a light behind the bar. She remembers touching the light and being transported. Litefoot reveals that he too saw something similar when he went into his dream. He recalls seeing a light outside his bedroom window before he went into his trance. Jago and Hypno confirm they saw a similar light in the theatre. But the strange thing was they all forgot seeing this light after they ended their dreams. Suddenly, they hear a scream outside the house!
The group heads into the hall and Litefoot fears that Cara has attacked his housekeeper Mrs. Hudson. Standish believes Litefoot to be suffering from paranoia and begins to divulge into another tirade of psychoanalytical subject matter…until Hypno snaps his fingers and puts her to sleep, much to the group’s approval. They all agree to split up and find Cara. Jago and Hypno discover Mrs. Hudson in the kitchen knocked out, but with no sign of Cara. With one exit out of the kitchen, they fear Cara is heading for Litefoot.
In the study, Cara corners Litefoot and Ellie and demands once more he tell her everything about Magnus Greel. She explains that he must be brought back to the 51st century to stand trial for his crimes. Litefoot tries to explain that it has been several years since he and Jago battled Greel and that Cara is way too late to find him. Jago and Hypno arrive. Hypno deduces that Cara’s energy weapon is malfunctioning as she would have killed Mrs. Hudson. But Cara denies this…by shooting Hypno through the chest and states she was merely conserving resources by simply stunning him and Mrs. Hudson and warns the group that the next shot will be fatal. Suddenly, another ball of light emerges, this time it sputters out of Cara’s vortex manipulator. She claims that it is leaking chronoplasm, an energy source that enables her to time travel. Ellie accuses her of causing their waking nightmares, to which Cara does not understand nor does she care. She demands once more where Greel is. The Infernal Investigators finally tell Cara that Greel died in his distillation chamber. Cara demands proof, but the two refuse to say anymore. With no other options, Cara restrains them with a pair of handcuffs materialised from thin air. She uses her cortex manipulator on Jago, telling him that he has told her everything he needs to know. Cara primes her vortex manipulator to transport herself, Jago and Litefoot, even though it warns her the energy supply is dangerously low. As it powers up, Litefoot tells Ellie to fetch Inspector Quick. Before he can relay any further instructions, he, Jago and Cara are teleported out of the room.
Jago, Litefoot and Cara materialise inside the House of the Dragon, where Greel made his final stand against the Infernal Investigators, The Fourth Doctor and Leela. The room has not been touched since that encounter, even Greel’s distillation chamber is still present. Cara uses a device to scan the area for Greel’s DNA. Litefoot wonders that if the chronoplasm leaks from Cara’s vortex manipulator, how did it end up at the New Regency Theatre and his house before she even visited them? Cara explains that it has a lingering 48-hour effect during which time it travels forwards through time, so it acts as a footprint of sorts of Cara’s whereabouts in the 48 hours to come. Cara finds traces of Greel’s DNA on the distillation chamber. With this confirmation, Cara announces that her search is over, but she does have two loose ends she needs to deal with, and she turns to Jago and Litefoot. As they have repeatedly obstructed her investigation, she will need to kill them. Litefoot pleads that she can change for the better, but Cara refuses to listen and prepares to execute Litefoot. She fails to notice that Jago has managed to free himself of his cuffs and he sneaks up behind her and knocks her out with a small statue. Jago frees Litefoot of his bonds and the two leave the room with Cara out cold on the floor.
Unfortunately, the two fail to remember where the exit to the building is. Litefoot finds another portion of chronoplasmic light in the dumbwaiter, indicating that Cara will be inside it in the future. Realising that they can use it to render Cara helpless, Litefoot tells Jago that they can overpower Cara and shove her into the dumbwaiter with the chronoplasm. They hear her footsteps coming their way, so Litefoot hides behind the door while Jago stands out in the open as bait. However, Cara enters the room and is not fooled as she immediately deduces that Litefoot is behind the door. With no other choice, Jago grabs Cara and tries to shove her forcibly into the dumbwaiter as planned, but Cara is much stronger than he anticipated. Litefoot decides to take a gamble and he grabs Jago’s hand while he holds Cara and Litefoot touches the chronoplasm with his other hand…
The Infernal Investigators materialise in a futuristic world. They deduce that this must be Cara’s time. Litefoot mentions that they feel different, much like in Ellie’s dream when their minds were being overwritten. They are surprised to notice that they are no longer wearing their 19th century clothes, but the uniforms of the Time Agency! Jago is a sergeant and Litefoot is a commissioner! A screen activates and announces that court is now in session with Commander Quick presiding. They discover a much younger Cara is the person on trial and that Sergeants Jago and Litefoot are acting as prosecution!
At the trial, Commander Quick charges Cara with fatal dereliction of duty during a mission to apprehend a terrorist from a group called Earth Free Media. Quick states that Cara’s failure to obey orders and her lesser judgement got her entire team killed. The court has voted Cara guilty and is to be executed on the spot. Quick tells Litefoot that as Commissioner, he has the power to order a different punishment…which Litefoot does not! Litefoot orders Jago to ready his soldiers to execute Cara. Jago orders his men to raise their weapons…but he suddenly begins to panic! He claims to not be Sergeant Jago, he is Henry Gordon Jago! He tries to make Litefoot and Quick see sense. Then Cara’s cortex manipulator announces that it has a malfunction. Litefoot comes around and realises the problem – the chronoplasm from Cara’s vortex manipulator has been polluted by the extracted memories from the cortex manipulator! He dubs it Chronocortalplasm and it has the power to transport anyone who touches it into a new reality, but not at random, it chooses a reality depending on what the victim is closely associated with in their minds. This is the cause of their waking nightmares! Cara’s memories return to her as well and she brutally shoots all Jago’s soldiers and Commissioner Quick. She tells the two men to follow her before they are captured. Alarms begin to sound as soldiers begin to give chase.
Outside the court, Jago is perplexed that they have not woken up in the real world. Cara reveals she was able to revert their memories back to normal and she will now try to get them back to their time. Litefoot deduces that with the vortex manipulator damaged, it transported them not into a dream world, but the real future! Cara tries to power up the vortex manipulator, but it informs her that the chronoplasm has been completely depleted. Suddenly the manipulator begins to glow as Cara panickily warns the group that it is about to self-destruct and scatter her atoms through time! Before the Infernal Investigators can do anything, Cara explodes leaving behind large amounts of chronoplasm like a portal. Jago asks if the portal can return them to the 19th century. Litefoot is not so sure. When he was merged with his 51st century counterpart, he had all the knowledge of time travel he could need, but with his former memories restored he has no idea. With no other choice, he and Jago decide to take a leap of faith and step through the portal into the unknown…
The Infernal Investigators land outside The House of the Dragon. They remember this was where they were before they were transported to the 51st century! They pinch themselves to make sure that they are awake and conscious, to which they confirm they are. They have successfully managed to return home…or have they…?
