TEXT: A screen buzzes into life, and a charming blonde news anchor smiles out of it. SALLY CALYPSO: Salutations! This is Sally Calypso with the traffic news at 10:15. We've got reports of a multiple stackpile at Junction 509, with a spate of carjackings reported on New Fifth Avenue. So you take care now! Drive safely. Zooming out, we see a middle-aged couple, bouncing around in what is apparently some kind of vehicle. These are Ma and Pa, the currently frantic-looking parents of an as-yet-unseen character. MA: They're gonna get in. There's no stopping them. PA: The police are on their way, I promise. I've sounded the alarm. He holds a small remote what looks to be a vocal transmitter. PA (speaking into transmitter): Repeat. This is Car One Zero Hot Five. We have a problem. Require urgent assistance. ELECTRONIC VOICE (over transmission): Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold. MA: It's all your fault. You lied to the computer. You said there were three of us. You told them three! She begins to sob as the car crashes back and forth. PA: Repeat! Urgent assistance! Car One Zero Hot Five! This is an emergency! Help us! Oh my God, I'm begging you. Please, help us! Both Ma and Pa scream as the car continues to buck and roll. A terrible growling roar is heard, warning lights sound, sparks fly into the compartment, and the last thing we see is a single hand sliding off the face of the screen where the news report is still blaring. SALLY CALYPSO: The weather is at 36 degrees, and it's blue skies all the way home. This is Sally Calypso, signing off. Missing you already! OPENING CREDITS In the TARDIS, Martha sits demurely while the Doctor flips a few levers. He's in a good mood. THE DOCTOR: Just one trip. 'S'what I said. One trip, in
SUMMARY:
The Doctor takes Martha to the undercity of New New York on the planet New Earth in the year 5,000,000,053. 24 years earlier, a virus mutated which killed nearly everyone on the planet. The undercity was sealed off to save it from the virus, its system being maintained by the Face of Boe and his nurse Novice Hame, but they did not have enough power to reopen it. Martha is kidnapped by two motorists in flying cars to grant them access to the fast lane on the Motorway. The fast lane is infested by crab-like Macra, old enemies of the Doctor and the former rulers of an empire in this galaxy who have since devolved. Aided by the Face of Boe, who uses the last of his life, the Doctor finds a way of restoring power to the system which opens the roof of the Motorway, finally freeing the inhabitants trapped in the undercity's Motorway and saving Martha and her kidnappers from the Macra. Before dying, the Face of Boe tells the Doctor he is not alone.