The Thirteenth Floor Part One Wizards vs Aliens

'Congratulations, you've reached Level 13.'

-Alicia? What are you doing?

-Sorry, Mrs Hatcher.

I was just waiting for my dad to pick me up.

You were playing one of your own games again, weren't you?

Give me the memory stick.

-I wasn't doing any harm.

-Oh?

And what if your grubby game-code infected our systems with a virus?

You're a receptionist.

"Hello." Pick up the phone and leave the game designs to me.

Now please go home. Some of us have proper work to do.

Night.

Oh! Sorry!

I didn't mean to frighten you, miss.

Course not, Mervyn. Good night.

Taking the stairs? It's a long, long walk down, miss.

-'Doors opening.'

-No, thanks. I don't like lifts.

-But 20 floors, miss.

-I know.

I should've asked what floor it was before I took the job.

Good night, Mervyn.

'Doors closing.'

-Good night.

-Night.

ZAP!

The building seems deserted.

According to my scans the magical energy source is 18.6 metres

above your position. It registers like no form of magic seen before.

I shall investigate.

'Doors opening.'

Not only primitive but innumerate.

They have neglected to add a 13th floor - they are pathetic.

My examination of their culture reveals humans believe

the number 13 to be unlucky.

I find them so amusing.

I find them irritating.

'Doors closing.'

HE CHUCKLES

LIFT MUSIC PLAYS

What? What is this inferior human technology?

Varg, come in. Do you read me, Varg?

Hail the might of Nekron!

How does Varg's mission proceed?

I regret I have lost him. Varg, are you there?

CRASH!

-'Floor 13.'

-What?

'Doors opening.'

VARG SCREAMS

'Doors opening.'

HE CACKLES

This place is so cool.

-Hi, we're from King's Park School on work experience.

-Yeah.

-Tom Clarke, Benny Sherwood.

-Yeah, got you here.

Benny Sherwood, you're at Psyke Games on the 20th floor.

Tom Clarke, you're on the 12th, at Gabrielle Hair Products.

What?

Hang on, no. We're both supposed to be at Psyke Games.

Not what it says here.

YOU were supposed to hack into the school's work experience lists

and get us both into Psyke Games.

They've obviously messed them up this end.

I said we should've used magic.

Anyway, it makes no difference.

There've been bursts of magical energy in this building, OK?

They could be from the 12th floor or the 20th.

It doesn't matter. We just had to get on the inside.

Easy for you to say -

you're not stuck at Gabrielle Hair Products all week, are you?

'Doors opening.'

Look, just keep in touch, yeah?

If you see anything freaky, text me.

'Doors closing.'

Well, that's freaky for a start. There's no 13th floor.

Superstition, I guess.

Triskaidekaphobia.

What?

Triskaidekaphobia. Fear of the number 13.

Look, some streets don't have a number 13

and some airlines don't have a row 13.

But you're telling me there's not a magical reason for it?

No. Course there isn't.

'Doors opening. Floor 12.'

They're just the facts, Tom. Hope work isn't too hair-raising for you.

'Doors closing.'

'Doors opening. Floor 20.'

Psyke Games.

'Doors closing.'

Is that a tooth?

Oh, I found it on the floor.

It's weird. Never seen one like this before.

What's it doing round here?

It looks like...

I don't know, a boar's tooth?

Doesn't look like the sort of place you keep boars.

There's a lab on the tenth floor. They work with the museum.

Maybe it's something to do with them. Hold this.

Carnivore. Look at the serration on the edge.

Not a boar, then. They forage, they're pigs.

No, they're omnivores, they'll eat anything.

But I still don't see how it ended up here.

It's a mystery.

And who are you, anyway?

Oh, I'm Benny Sherwood. I'm on work experience. Psyke Games.

Better get a move on, then - my coffee break's over

and if you think a boar's vicious, wait till you meet Mrs Hatcher.

This place is cool!

Wow!

So you work here?

Good morning, sir. My name's Alicia. How can I help you?

How comes you know about carnivore teeth?

The same reason you walk around with a magnifying glass.

I'm a geek.

-Are you the boy from King's Park?

-Yes, I'm Benny Sherwood.

Oh, Elizabeth Hatcher. Welcome to Psyke Games.

Now I suppose your idea of a work placement here means you'll be

playing Buck Warren and the Maltese Rabbit all day long.

Well, that won't be happening, young man.

You're here for work experience and work you shall do.

Actually, that's fine by me.

Excuse me. You've got a fault in your parser code.

-Look. Close the loop and the program will work.

-Excuse me...

-I promise. Try it.

-What are you trying to do, ruin me?

No, I know what I'm doing.

My dad runs his own software company.

Sherwood...

Richard Sherwood of Sherwood Intelligence?

Yeah, that's right.

Benny! I'm on my way to a meeting across town.

Why don't you come with me?

And on the way we can have a nice little chat about - I don't know -

the software business?

Be back later.

So, Benny my darling, tell me,

how many programmers does your daddy employ?

Oh. I'd say... twice as many as you have.

-Oh.

-At least.

-Really? That's a lot.

Mervyn! Will you watch what you're doing? Ouch!

Sorry, Mrs Hatcher, miss.

Please, miss, please...

Let me...

'Doors opening.'

Well, at least he's good for something.

Oh, my phone! I've left it on my desk.

-Be a darling, Benny, and get it for me.

-Course.

-I'll be downstairs in reception.

-OK.

-Excuse me.

-'Doors closing.'

Going down.

BANG!

This is ridiculous.

'Floor 13.'

This is stupid. There is no...

'Doors opening.'

This makes no sense!

Varg cannot disappear without trace.

Daughter, you have failed me.

I apologize, Father.

The wizards have captured him! I feel it in my molecules!

You will go to Earth and find him, Lexi!

But the work period of that Earth sector will have begun.

It will be teeming with humans.

Then use the form filter.

Walk among them as one of their own.

Search, and locate your brother!

As the King commands, so it is done.

So have you got that, Tom, yeah?

On ciabatta, got it.

Hey, Tom! What's big in hair this week?

They've got me running errands to the sandwich shop for lunch.

You get to play computer games

while I'm buying coronation chicken with mixed salad on onion bread.

Mine's a chicken salad sub, thanks.

Yeah, you're so funny. Meanwhile, we've got a job to do.

Something or someone here is pumping out bursts of magic and if we

don't shut it down, the Nekross are going to be stopping by for a snack.

-And not coronation chicken.

-Keep your eyes open.

Excuse me, do you know where Mrs Hatcher went?

-She was supposed to come here.

-I haven't seen her.

But she got into the lift.

Then she got off on another floor. She hasn't been down here.

Thanks.

Exquisite Excellency, all is prepared for your departure.

Thank you, Technician 15.

Forgive my indelicacy, I find this appearance distinctly...

nauseating.

It can be disconcerting. The humans are indeed repulsive.

But I must rescue my brother

and it is but a technological illusion.

I shall always be Nekross inside.

Indeed. Hail the might of Nekron.

Beam me to Earth.

As my Excellency commands.

Do not forget to wash your hands.

They say her car's still in the car park.

She hasn't gone anywhere.

-This is weird.

-Weirder than you think.

Why? What do you mean?

There's strange stuff going on here.

I mean, we're talking Gates Of Eternity level six strange.

-I've never played Gates Of Eternity.

-And you call yourself a geek?

Well, take it from me, it's brain-scrambling weird.

This office block has got a reputation for people going missing.

It's all in here - Wyvern House.

It was built ten years ago

and people have been going missing ever since.

People would come in for work and then at some point...

it's like they just vanished.

Their cars were just left in the car park. Like Mrs Hatcher's.

The CCTV cameras never even showed them leaving the building.

And it isn't just this building. Look...

Before they built Wyvern House there was a hotel here.

"Family disappears from Ambassador Hotel."

And it says they all disappeared from room 13.

There's something taking people, Benny.

-That's why I came to work here.

-Why?

Where was I going to work, somewhere boring and normal?

Or somewhere where there's a mad mystery to solve?

Mad mysteries are cool.

I knew you'd see it like me. Geeks united!

-Have you still got that tooth?

-Yeah, of course.

Thanks.

And, you know, there could be a connection.

Like, between the Hand of Multekh and the missing children

of Buck Warren and the Last Hutch on the Left.

Yeah, that's what I was just thinking.

Apart from the hand thing. I need to make a phone call.

Look, Benny, don't do anything, not till I get back.

It's all right, Tom.

We don't need magic right now, we need science.

There's a research lab on the tenth floor.

I need to get in there.

-What, in the middle of the day?

-I've got a plan.

When you get back, find a back door. And don't worry, there's no fire.

Benny, what are you talking about? What fire?

-Benny! What are you doing?

-Come on.

-Let's go, come on!

-Benny?!

ALARM WAILS

You can't just go setting fire alarms off!

Look, if people are missing, then it's not safe here.

I need to evacuate this building until I find out what's going on.

You mean until we find out. This is my investigation, remember?

'Please evacuate the building.'

'Please evacuate the building.'

'Please evacuate the building.'

'Please evacuate the building.'

'Please evacuate the building.'

It's all right. No-one's here.

That's a dissecting microscope.

Yeah, that's right. I need to take a closer look at this.

-What are you looking for?

-Proof...

that this tooth has a connection with what's going on here.

And? What do you see?

This cellular composition...

I've never seen anything like it before.

-DOOR CLOSES

-Someone's coming! Hide!

-Quick, run!

A magical molar.

How mirthful.

Do you want to come out now?

Or shall I just disintegrate where you hide like rodents?

OK.

Don't shoot!

Who are you?

An old friend of Benjamin Sherwood's.

I don't believe we've met.

-I'm...

-Irrelevant.

If he doesn't tell me what he has done with my brother,

in five seconds you'll be nothing more than a momentary flash

of hydrogen and carbon particles.

Leave her alone! I haven't done anything with your brother!

Is he with Tom Clarke?

I think I'd notice a yellow, snake-headed big guy in blue armour.

Hello again, Lucy. Long time no see.

Don't play games with me.

Varg came to this building

when we detected traces of strong magic here.

Magic? She said magic!

And then we lost all contact with him.

This is the work of wizards!

Wizards?! She said wizards!

Lexi, I swear I don't know what you're talking about.

We don't go around kidnapping aliens!

-Aliens?! He said aliens!

-Just go with it.

Lexi, it wasn't us that took your brother.

It was this building.

People have been disappearing for decades.

Mrs Hatcher, Alicia's boss, she vanished today.

I think there's something that they fall through, and maybe

that's what happened to Varg - only that tooth has magic in it.

So maybe that something is a threshold of enchantment.

Can I have a look at that?

Does anybody want to tell me what they're talking about?

Please?

I agree with the Earth girl. Explain. Quickly.

It's not a threshold of enchantment.

It's a Never-way. A magical gateway. This is from the Neverside.

I can feel it.

And you can't go there, Lexi.

I will rescue my brother wherever he is.

You are a wizard - you will take me there!

No. I can't.

You will take me there or they will be obliterated.

Moh-shah-dah!

Run, Benny!

Is this amazing, or what?!

'Doors closing.'

'Doors opening.'

Not so fast. I intend to find my brother

and YOU will help me.

'Doors closing.'

LIFT MUSIC PLAYS

BANG!

-Is this your doing?

-No! No way!

'Floor 13.'

But there isn't a 13th floor.

'Doors opening.'

This is impossible.

This is just a crude transportation device.

We can't have been teleported.

We haven't.

We've come through a Never-way.

Out there...

that's the Neverside.

A realm of raw magic, of chaos.

A place of dreams and nightmares.

And things that go bump in the night.

I have studied the tales your kind tell your children.

To scare them at bedtime. And you call the Nekross cruel.

People told kids those stories to protect them.

And most of those stories started here.

Then we shall look for this "bogeyman".

He may be able to find my brother!

No, no, no! We have to go back inside.

Not until we find Varg!

-'Doors closing.'

-No!

Spectacular!

MERVYN CHUCKLES

'Doors opening.'

Ah...nectar of the Neverside!

Lexi, listen to me, please. This is crazy.

You don't know where Varg is.

And the Neverside - it's huge.

There are all sorts of different realms here -

different worlds, almost.

-You've got no idea what you've got us into.

-Are you scared?

I know what this place is, what sort of things live here.

You don't.

ROARING

Things like that.

My weapon's failed.

But that can't happen! This isn't right.

Run!

I told you this place was dangerous.

And your gun, it won't work here. No technology will.

-It's magic only.

-Well, that's not right, is it?

Or I wouldn't still look like Lucy, would I?

Are you all right? You sound...

-different.

-I don't know what you're talking about, I'm fine.

I think my form filter's jammed.

-Lexi...

-No! What's happened? What's happened to me?

You've become human. It's the Neverside.

Somehow it's turned you into what the form filter was

pretending you were.

-It's like it made your wish come true.

-I don't wish to be human!

I know, all right? I know. I don't understand it.

I don't know anything like enough about the Neverside.

But the whole place is raw magic.

Anything can happen here.

This skin, it's soft, warm...

-and this...

-It's hair.

It's pointless. But it doesn't matter.

I'm Nekross inside, and I still have a mission - to save my brother.

I presume the unfortunate effects of this magic will reverse

-once we leave.

-Yes. I think so...

It had better!

Then we must find Varg and find a way out of this wretched world.

I can't get hold of Tom's phone.

It's saying it's out of range, but it can't be.

You don't think - you know - that they've gone...

-like Mrs Hatcher, and the others?

-I don't know.

Mervyn, Mervyn, we're looking for someone.

A really tall blonde woman and a boy about 16 with dark hair.

-Have you seen them?

-Friends of yours?

One of them is. Have you seen him? It's really important.

Maybe they'll have gone missing like the others.

-Is that what you're thinking?

-You know about the missing people?

None of them ever comes back. Not one.

Not ever.

Well, I'm getting Tom back. Wherever he is.

Come on.

To survive in a hostile environment information is essential.

Tell me what you know about the Neverside.

I suppose you would call it another dimension.

My gran taught me a bit about it, and I bet she'll come and find us.

How comforting.

It's like a twin to our world, only back there magic is rare

and here it's...

It's in everything.

Including the life forms?

Yeah.

Wraiths, banshees, goblins, Neverside witches.

Who are you, hag?

Wait! Are you a witch?

I never thought I'd see another human.

All these years I've been here, and nobody else came.

You mean you came through the Never-way? From Wyvern House?

How long have you been here? Who are you?

My name? My name....

My name...

My name is...

Elizabeth Hatcher.

Elizabeth Hatcher!

No. You can't be.

You're the boss of Psyke Games.

Yes. I was...

a long time ago.

Benny said he saw you get in the lift. That was only...

a couple of hours ago.

-I've been here over 30 years!

-That's impossible.

I counted every single day, waiting for someone to come.

-Waiting for the lift to come back.

-What's going on?

It's the Neverside.

Look, my gran might be able to find us.

And it might only take her a couple of hours

but this side of the elevator - time works differently.

Lexi...

we could be here for decades.

TWIG SNAPS

GROWLING

HE ROARS

-But I'm your enemy.

-Not any more.

CREATURE ROARS

Every Never-way has a troll as a gatekeeper.

They live off its magical energy.

I don't want to be here years! I want to go home!

We want my son back from the Neverside.

-You might not want him back now.

-What's that supposed to mean?

TOM CASTS SPELL

What can you offer a troll for his services?

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd