When a power-eating alien cloud descends on London, K-9 faces his worst nightmare — a world without Wi-Fi.
Short Synopsis
Something sinister is snacking on electricity across London, plunging the city into rolling blackouts. When even K-9’s circuits start running on empty, the team must uncover the source before humanity’s lights — and life support systems — go permanently dark.
Extended Storyline
The episode opens on a familiar sci-fi cliché: a dark and stormy night — except the storm’s indoors. The Gryffen Institute flickers with power surges as K-9 whirs awake, declaring, “Alert: energy consumption anomaly detected. Hypothesis: someone left the kettle on.”
Moments later, every device in the lab sputters out — including K-9 himself, who manages a faint “Goodni—” before collapsing mid-sentence. Gryffen panics, naturally blaming the Rift. Starkey blames the power company. Darius blames Starkey. And Jorjie blames everyone, because it’s that kind of episode.
Out in the city, chaos reigns. Lights flicker, maglev trains stall mid-air, and holo-billboards fizzle into static. The Department immediately issues a statement blaming “solar anomalies,” which is bureaucrat-speak for we have no idea what’s happening. But Jorjie isn’t buying it — she’s noticed that the blackouts follow a pattern, moving like a storm front.
With K-9 temporarily offline, the team’s forced to investigate old-school style — by foot, with flashlights. Starkey quickly decides he hates the 21st century without batteries. They trace the outages to an old substation beneath the Thames, where they find a surreal sight: a shimmering, oil-like vapor slithering through the cables. Gryffen takes one look and mutters, “That’s not electricity — that’s feeding.”
Meanwhile, K-9 reboots himself in safe mode (a state in which he sounds slightly more polite and significantly more British). His sensors detect an “energy organism” of unknown origin, traveling through London’s grid like a cosmic parasite. The creature consumes electrical current and organic bio-electricity alike, hence the name it’s later given: The Black Hunger.
K-9’s attempt to communicate with the entity is classic him — logical, calm, and slightly condescending.
“Statement: you are exhibiting inefficient feeding behavior. Suggest dietary modification.”
The creature responds by draining his power core to critical. Gryffen realizes the entity’s attracted to concentrated energy sources — like Rift tech, fusion reactors, and, inconveniently, their metal dog.
The team discovers that FendleCorp’s experimental reactor (yes, them again) accidentally opened a micro-rift, giving the Black Hunger an all-you-can-eat buffet across London’s power grid. The Department plans to blow the reactor sky-high, which, of course, would only feed the creature enough to go supernova.
So it’s down to Gryffen and the kids (plus a flickering K-9) to come up with an alternative plan. Using one of Gryffen’s old Rift modulators — the kind he swore he’d never touch again — they intend to lure the Black Hunger into a self-contained energy loop: essentially a cosmic hamster wheel.
K-9 volunteers to act as the lure, since his systems can emit a unique power signature irresistible to the entity. Gryffen protests (“I just got him working again!”), but K-9 insists. “Statement: self-sacrifice: acceptable if statistically efficient.”
In a sequence that’s half tragedy, half techno-opera, K-9 rolls into the reactor chamber as the lights die one by one. The black vapor swirls around him like smoke given sentience. He activates the Rift modulator, generating a feedback pulse that traps the entity — but also fries his systems beyond reboot. The creature’s howls echo and fade, and the city’s lights flicker back on.
For a moment, silence. Gryffen kneels beside K-9’s charred shell, whispering, “Good dog.”
But because this is K-9, the melancholy doesn’t last. Back in the lab, Darius is grumbling about having to sweep up burnt circuitry when K-9 suddenly reactivates — with a new, sleeker voice modulation and upgraded optics. “Statement: self-repair successful. Note: minor improvements installed.”
Starkey blinks. “You upgraded yourself while dying?”
“Correction: multitasking.”
The team celebrates with instant noodles by flashlight. Outside, the city hums again — unaware how close it came to permanent darkness.