Original subtitles

Children: ♪ see saw, sacredown

♪ which is the way to London town?

♪ One foot up and the other foot down

♪ this is the way to London town. ♪

Upbeat music plays who's up there?

Come on!

No.

Ah! Would you like to play with these children?

Shall I bring them?

Yes, please.

♪ See saw, sacredown which is the way to London town?

♪ One foot up and the other foot down

♪ this is the way to London town! ♪

All irregularities will be handled

by the forces controlling each dimension.

Transuranic heavy elements may not be used where there is life.

Medium atomic weights are available.

Gold, lead...

Copper...

Jet, diamond, radium, sapphire, silver and steel.

Sapphire and steel have been assigned.

Children talking and laughing

Doorknob rattling

What is this? The side door.

Oh.

Front door was simple.

So was the alarm. Good.

There were children. Where?

In the yard, playing on the step.

They disappeared. I thought perhaps they'd gone inside.

No. No-one came through the door.

Doesn't appear to be anyone in the bottom part of the building.

How many children? Seven.

What did they look like?

I don't know, they were just children. It wasn't very clear.

Well, were they real?

I didn't really see enough to... From what you did see?

No, I don't think they were real. Nor do I think they were images.

I think they were something in between.

Is this the place?

Maybe.

Some kind of shop.

Lost property.

That's what they sell. And buy.

You mean people lose these things?

The purpose of this place and places like it

is to trade lost property.

Thus is a cross between a second-hand bargain shop

and pawnbroker's.

There's nothing new here. No.

A room full of triggers. Thousands of them.

Could be any one of them. No.

Time has broken through, hasn't it? Yes.

And we, as usual, have been told too late.

Well, we're not too late to stop whatever's happening.

We're too late to have prevented it happening in the first place.

We should have been here earlier, before things happen,

before things... break through.

Someone should behave, waiting. That's impossible.

It's not at all impossible. There aren't enough of us.

There are more than enough of us. Well, who would volunteer?

Volunteer? Yes, simply to sit and wait.

Maybe for hundreds of earth years. Would you?

That depends.

You wouldn't. I know you.

Well, there are those of us who are very good

at sitting about and doing nothing.

They do it nonstop.

The specialists.

The specialists?

Well, what are we? What am I?

You're an operator. We're all operators.

Oh, those...

Well, this particular operator has made up his mind about something.

And, in his expert opinion, this room is loaded with active triggers.

Any one of them could cause a breakthrough.

Some of them even speak for themselves.

Well, in that case, this one has nothing to say. What?

No-one's ever died by this sword. Not even been hurt by it.

Ever.

It's a depressing place, isn't it? Yes.

Nothing here but the belongings of the poor...

..And the hopeless and the dead.

That's right. But it is in here.

No.

In this building, yes. In this room... no.

You mean it hasn't had to use any of this?

How can you be so sure?

It hasn't needed to.

But wherever the time break is... It's very close by.

I do know that much.

Telepathically: 'Steel?'

'yes?' 'move to the door.

'Tell me what you see.'

'well, tell me what I'm looking for.'

'a child. Somewhere in here with us, hiding.'

'I don't see any child.' Just stay by the door.

'I'll try to find her.'

girl, whispering: ♪ see saw, sacredown

♪ which is the way to London town?

♪ One foot up and the other foot down

♪ this is the way to London town. ♪

'did you hear that?' 'Hear what?'

'a child's voice, chanting a rhyme. A kind of... skipping song.'

'no, I didn't hear it.'

girl laughs

Girl laughs

'i think I've found her.

'Stay where you are. Watch the door.

'I've found her. Whatever she is, I've found her.'

Steel!

Thinking: ♪ this is the way to London town... ♪

That was it. The time break, that was part of it.

And you said it wasn't part of this room!

I said it didn't come from here, it didn't start here.

It's simply using things from here as part of its game. It?

The child. It would appear to be a child.

I saw you. From here, I could see you.

I couldn't move, but I could see. I could see you.

Yes? It was...

It was as if you were part of a photograph.

You were the same.

What did the child look like?

She looked as though she was from a photograph.

Her hairstyle, her clothes, the colour quality...

Everything looked like she was part of an old photographic picture.

Except that she was three-dimensional. Yes.

And, for a short time, we weren't.

Photographs. Is that how it's being done?

That how time has broken through?

With a little help and encouragement, maybe.

Let's look upstairs.

I'm sorry.

I just wanted to play, that's all.

Anyway, I'm sorry.

I have said I'm sorry!

And... I think you'd better come home.

Now. Please come home!

Children: ♪ eeny meeny macharaka... ♪

steel? ♪ Hie die doma nacka... ♪

look. ♪ Sticka stacka rima racka

♪ om pom push! ♪ Children giggle

can you see them?

Yes. Girl squeals

yes, this time, I do. It's children again.

It always seems to be children.

Yes.

Somebody's at home.

Someone isn't too bothered about opening their mail.

"Mr h Williamson". "H Williamson esquire".

"H Williamson". How far back do they go?

Several months.

No food, no provisions.

Well, whoever he is, he appears to live here, above his shop.

He appears to sleep here,

but he doesn't eat, and he doesn't read his mail.

He reads books, though.

There are more here on the same subject.

Tumbler and spring.

The wards are here, the bolt... there.

He does more than just read about it.

Old photographs again. Yes.

When somebody makes a hobby or profession of photography,

doesn't that mean that they... Take new photographs?

Usually, yes.

Especially with this kind of equipment.

Why aren't there any new photographs in here?

Can you see any? No.

Steel?

There's something wrong with this photograph. Wrong?

The balance is wrong. There are things missing from it.

What kind of things? People.

Well, whose mistake was that? The original photographer?

No, the balance was there when the photograph was taken.

The people were there.

Four... four small figures.

Children.

There were four children in this photograph.

They were part of it. They belong to it.

You mean it's been faked? It's been worked on?

No, the background is intact,

and so, too, is the ground where the children were standing.

And the water's still there. What water?

The water that they split when they were drinking at fountain...

In 1884.

96 years ago. Mm.

Right, children... Children taken from photographs.

Or lost. Or stolen.

I suppose you could call it a different kind of lost property.

I think the same thing's happened to that one.

And this. And to all of them.

Steel, do you remember the child in the shop below?

I think she belongs there.

So these children are not alive, they're not living? No.

And you said they're not ghosts, they're not images...

But something in between.

Children: ♪ see saw, sacredown

♪ which is the way to London town? ♪ What about these?

♪ One foot up and the other foot down... ♪

I expect they're waiting to be brought here.

Both: This is... ..The way to London town.

Upbeat music plays how quaint.

There's someone in there. Alone.

Door opens

what the...

Look, if you want the landlord, he isn't in.

And if you want me, I'm not in, either.

So... out!

The landlord? I said he isn't in.

He lives below? Yes.

He owns the shop? He owns the whole building.

And I pay my rent.

So... would you mind?

We haven't finished yet. Well, I have.

Look, tell your boyfriend, will you?

Doors are for knocking on. You don't just barge in.

Just a minute! Who are you, anyway?

Police? Creditors? What?

We are visitors. Well, I'm sorry, but...

Do you live alone? Of course I live alone.

Turn that thing off, will you? Music stops abruptly

now, just a minute!

Here... I can't move.

For god's sake...

If you live alone, why are there two beds in this room?

Why are there another person's clothes in the cupboard,

another person's possessions?

They belong to my friend.

Now, let me move, will you? You're scaring me.

Where's your friend now? She hasn't been home for a while.

For long? For several months.

You mean she left here without taking any of her things,

any of her clothes? Yes.

Have you heard from her since? No.

Bring her with you. Look, I said I have to work.

The old landlord left. When?

Several months ago.

I suppose he must have sold out.

I mean, he left all his furniture, his photographic gear, his stock.

Have you seen him since? No.

What about the new landlord? Oh, he's marvellous.

Well, he doesn't bother me. Doesn't even ask his rent.

I just leave it on the top of the stairs when I feel like it.

All right. So he can't be earning much.

Well, he wouldn't, would he, if he never opened the shop?

A man who earns his living in a shop that's never open?

Well, maybe he's waiting.

Waiting? What for? Well, I don't know.

Do some work on the place. Get rid of the ghosts.

Ghosts? Yeah!

You can't go in there. It's private!

These... ghosts...

Oh, they don't bother me. Well, not so far.

I mean, all right, so the place is haunted... but the rent's cheap.

Anyway, they're only little ghosts. About that high.

You've seen them? Well, glimpses of 'em, that's all.

This new landlord... Oh, he's all right.

Well, he must be. He's always talking about his kids.

Children.

The way he talks about them, he must have dozens of 'em.

I've not seen them, though. Not yet.

Describe him. What?

The new landlord. Describe him to us.

Well, he's...

That's weird.

What is? Well, I've known the man a few months.

Talked to him enough times, like I'm talking to you now, but...

She chuckles that's crazy!

Tell us. Well...

I don't what he looks like.

Boy muttering happily

there are some people here. Man: People?

Yes. What kind of people?

A man and a lady. Can we hurt them?

Oh, please, let's hurt them.

What's wrong?

They haven't come to send us back, have they?

Because we don't want that. We don't want to go back.

We want to stay here with you!

No-one's come to send you back, my children.

I brought you here. I brought you with me.

No-one else on this world can send you back.

You just remember that.

I mean, that really is crazy.

I've talked to the man. Talked to him face-to-face, and...

..Yet I can't remember his face.

Be still, my children. Be still.

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