Zoe is still on Death Row when Jen, her interrogator from The Memory Cheats returns, and again insists that Zoe's life can only be saved if she proved she travelled in time. This time, Zoe is able to remember one of her adventures. It all started when the TARDIS was drawn off course, and they arrived at the funeral of a young woman, a stranger to them.
At the wake, Zoe met a young man called Archie, who was close to Meg, the dead woman; they'd lived next door to each other as children. Meg was engaged in some kind of scientific research, and exactly how she died was a mystery. The Doctor made arrangements to accompany Archie when he went to pick up Meg's possessions.
As the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe returned to the TARDIS, they were suddenly surrounded by small, huge-eyed aliens, who zapped the Doctor with electricity. He survived, thanks to his rubber boots, and the shock drove the creatures away.
The following morning, Archie met the other three on the bus to the research institution where Meg worked, and said that the previous night he'd heard Meg's ghostly voice on a Tin-Can Telephone they'd played with as children.
Once they arrived at the institute, the Doctor and Jamie distracted the receptionist while Archie and Zoe explored the room where Meg died. It contained what Zoe recognised as an early attempt at a quantum computer. Just standing in the right place was sufficient to activate the computer, and as it came on, the aliens reappeared, surrounding them...
Tropes:
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Zoe has trouble understanding emotional motivations sometimes.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Archie and Meg.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Zoe doesn't get the boy.
- Did You Die?: Immediately after the cliffhanger recap, in which Zoe gets zapped by the aliens.Jen: How could you possibly have survived?
Zoe: I didn't — I'm a ghost.
Jen: You're not helping. - Forced into Their Sunday Best: The Doctor insists that Jamie and Zoe change into smart clothes when visiting the institute. As it turns out, he has a very practical purpose in mind.
- I Have Your Wife: The Company have Jen's children.
- It Always Rains at Funerals
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Zoe consoles herself that Archie may not have had feelings for her, but he and Meg were always meant to be together. Jen promptly tells her they divorced six years later.
- Refuge in Audacity: At one point, Zoe basically rejects her own memory because she can’t believe the TARDIS interior was that big.
- Reset Button: A machine is being used to bypass the block on Zoe's memory; as soon as the machine is switched off, she snaps back and forgets her entire interrogation.
- Sand In My Eyes: Zoe puts her tears at the funeral down to hay fever.
- Sole Survivor: Zoe speculates her conditioning has been broken to account for her ability to explain what happened to her in the Elite Programme.
- Trilogy Creep: The CD sleeve notes on The Memory Cheats described it as part 2 of 3. The notes on this CD describe it as part 3 of 4.
- 20 Minutes into the Future: The story-within-a-story takes place in the 2020s.
