Prime Target (2025) s01e03 Episode Script

The Sequence

["Queer" playing]
My, uh, flatmate, she's sort of brilliant.
[clubber 1 grunts]
[clubber 1] Would you like a whiskey
with your coffee?
- [clubber 2] Yeah.
- I think I have some somewhere.
- [clubber 2] Hi. You all right?
- [grunts]
Do you, um
Do you usually work
until 3:00 in the morning?
Different biorhythms.
[stammers] You what?
I've changed my internal clock.
I I'm doing 21-hour days.
So I I don't [stammers] I don't get it.
[ticking stops]
Uh, term is eight weeks, 56 days.
It's not enough time for me
to finish my thesis.
But if I make each day last 21 hours,
then I get a whole extra week.
[whispering] Right.
Means I end up eating breakfast
when you're about to go to sleep.
- [clubber 1] I did warn you.
- Hmm.
Okay. Well, um
[clicks tongue] Yeah, good luck
with whatever it is you're writing.
Proof of my theorem.
[whispering] Right.
- Night, Safiya. [chuckles]
- Oh.
[door closes]
[clock ticking]
[gulls squawking]
[floorboards creaking]
I need your help.
[door closes]
Are you here alone?
Uh-huh. My parents are away.
- Mmm.
- What happened? You okay?
Listen, I'm gonna need you
to run to the store for me, okay?
- You don't want to go home?
- I can't.
All right. Um
Write me a list and I'll go.
[speaks French]
[in English] It's bullshit.
You're better than that, Safiya.
[Nield] Hey. It's Stephen.
From the institute.
Just hear me out, will you?
You're a number theorist, right?
It's an important area for us.
Cryptography.
Genus theory.
Look, what happened
to Robert Mallinder, it was a tragedy.
It was.
And with Ray Osborne's illness
now progressing
You know Osborne?
Edward, we're a research institute
in Cambridge.
We know all the stars.
Past, present, future.
You're gonna need
someone new to guide you.
We were rather hoping it might be us.
You won't find a more substantial
endowment on either side of the Atlantic.
[Nield] Kaplar Institute.
Privately funded.
Fostering talent.
Leave the world in a better place
than we found it, eh?
[chuckles]
You can stay in Cambridge.
Finish your opus, whatever that may be.
We'll look after you.
Take all the time you need.
You got my card.
[clock ticking]
[door unlocks, opens]
[clubber 1] Come on.
- Uh, Soph, uh. Please.
- No. No. No, no.
Saf, you have been working on
that ridiculous schedule of yours
for months now.
Come on. The work is over.
We are celebrating.
Where's Mr. Mallinder?
- Robert has gone.
- What do you mean gone?
Gone as in left me.
Gone as in it's over between us.
Bastard. Are you okay?
Yeah.
Is this it?
Mm-hmm.
My finished thesis.
[Soph blows]
Is there any point
in me trying to read this?
- [chuckles] No.
- [laughs]
What happened?
He didn't like my work.
Huh?
No, seriously.
That's why.
He thinks I should
just stop all of this primes nonsense
and he said that I shouldn't
show it to anyone. Let alone publish it.
- Why? Why would he do that? He loves you.
- [scoffs, chuckles]
He wanted me to abandon it,
but he knows I would never do that.
[sighs]
[sighing]
Thanks.
Pleasure.
[phone chimes]
[line ringing]
- [Alex] Yeah?
- Alex, it's Taylah.
Taylah, where are you?
Just listen to me.
The unit's been corrupted.
Someone killed Olson
and they tried to kill me too.
Okay? It's got to be something
that we've seen.
- Wait, T Taylah
- Someone is wiping out our unit
and I need you to get me
access to the files as soon as possible.
- I need to know what's going on.
- [knocking on door]
- Someone hacked our communications.
- Taylah
Okay? Someone must
have been listening to us.
Hold on, someone's at the door.
No. Do Alex, don't answer it.
Just go around the back.
- Hello?
- Alex!
Yeah, who who are you guys?
[Alex grunting]
[stammers]
- [line beeps]
- [pants]
I thought you'd want food.
- Real food, I mean.
- [chuckles] Thanks. Uh
I don't I don't want
to put you out though.
[chuckles]
I, um, like you, Taylah.
I think you know that.
Yeah, I picked up on it.
[chuckles]
Do you want to tell me what happened?
Uh.
Maybe over a drink?
Yeah. Okay.
Um, wine?
- Sure.
- Okay. Red? White?
Um, whatever you want.
Okay.
What do you think?
[car beeps]
Taylah?
[engine starts]
[bell tolling]
How can someone like Safiya Zamil
make such obvious errors?
Professor.
Safiya Zamil?
Do you remember? You You gave me
permission to look at her old papers.
Her rough work?
In case it would help me
retrace my own workings.
[smacks lips]
The powers of three are never even.
Multiply an odd number by itself,
the answer is always odd.
Of course.
Why has she put that the answer's two?
Well, exactly. And And she's done
it again here. Look.
[stammers] "Two N-squared
minus one is square. N equals six."
She's crossed out the right answer
and altered it.
It's like It's like she deliberately
wanted it to be wrong.
It happens again, and again, and again.
It's, uh
I made a list of all her mistakes.
A sequence?
I think so, but I can't find it.
Well, we'll just have to ask her.
What is it, Ed?
[clears throat, sighs]
Safiya's dead, Professor.
A long time ago now.
She took her own life.
No.
But that's awful.
Awful.
Why?
Why, Edward?
[clock ticking]
Uh Move it up here.
Take a two. [mutters]
- [door opens]
- Uh, multiply.
- Uh, six
- [Soph] Saf, what
- Six [muttering]
- This is a solicitor's letter.
[sighs]
Sounds very threatening.
- What do they want from you?
- What do you think?
They want my thesis.
They're not gonna have it.
[whispering] Put it there.
Or there. Yeah. Two.
- Two
- Is this thing playing up?
Why've you ripped the cover off?
[Safiya grunts]
- Hey, give me that.
- Jesus.
Saf, what's wrong?
[Ed] What are you trying to say, Safiya?
- Just writing shit.
- Talking to yourself again?
[exhales] Tragic.
- [chuckles]
- [chuckles] My round?
[sighs]
Do you know, I think I'd rather
just get out of here.
Okay.
I need to tell my dad about college.
Hey, if you take this money
from the institute,
you can just tell him that instead.
"Yeah, I I got kicked out of university
but it's okay because someone else
wants to make me rich."
[chuckles]
Yeah, he wouldn't care.
What?
Don't your parents want you to do well?
My mum did. But he
he's just always
wanted me to be more like him.
We don't really communicate or connect.
He's not a bad guy. We just
We don't intersect.
[Adam] Hmm.
What about your mum?
[inhales deeply]
She died when I was 16.
[smacks lips]
[inhales deeply, sighs]
Jesus, Ed. I'm I'm so sorry.
[Ed] Mmm.
The universe is cruel.
- [clicks tongue] Dad's got two boys now.
- Hmm?
Decent kids.
Maybe he tried harder the second time.
[breathes deeply]
[sighs]
[water running]
[sighs]
[gulps]
[Ed inhales deeply]
They're watching me.
Following me.
Who?
Kaplar.
The people whose money
you think I should take.
[sighs]
[chattering]
[speaks Arabic]
[speaks Arabic, chuckles]
[all speaking Arabic]
[speaks Arabic]
Dr. Nathoo?
- Ah. Hey.
- Akram Nizar.
Baghdad Department
of Culture and Antiquities.
Yeah.
Andrea said to expect you.
Yeah. [stammers] Look, she sends her best.
Um, obviously she would
have loved to be here. But
Yeah.
- Tragedy for her.
- Awful. Awful.
- Hey.
- Hassan Kasem. Structural engineer.
Okay. So you're here to make sure
the place doesn't fall down on top of us.
- Well, I can't promise. [chuckles]
- [chuckles]
But But yes,
I'm here for everyone's safety.
- Okay.
- [Akram] Bogdan.
- [Charan] Uh
- Head of security.
Right.
- Shall we?
- Yeah, sure.
[Akram] Follow me, please.
Doctor, watch your step.
You can leave it here.
[Akram] So what do you think?
Magnificent, isn't it?
[gasps]
[Charan] I have to tell Andrea.
It's incredible.
[Alderman speaking Latin]
Amen.
[all] Amen.
Professor,
- would you like to slip along to the end
- Ah, yes.
- so that I can invite
- Yes, of course.
Over here. Sit with me.
[speaks Latin]
How about in English?
Horace.
Commending the brave.
[bell chimes]
[chattering]
[Andrea] I'm not sure, because
Honestly, the madness
of the act itself aside
there's not a moment since he died
that I don't feel he was a mystery.
I mean, you weren't worried
about him, were you?
Being a master of college,
everyone assumes you're some sort of guru.
I'm as confused as everybody.
Sometimes there are no answers.
The dean was thinking of having
a little college memorial service.
Not a wake, of course.
A celebration.
Well, it will have to wait
until I'm back from Baghdad.
I love my work, James.
And this might actually be
the House of Wisdom.
If I don't go see it for myself,
I will end up a very bitter woman.
And none of us want that, do we?
[chuckles] No.
Of course not.
You know how much
I admire your work. You must go.
[yelps, grunting]
[assailant] Grab the bag.
- [Ed grunting] No! Get off me!
- [assailant] Give me the bag.
[grunting]
[Ed inhales deeply, coughs]
[panting]
[grunts]
[coughing, gasping]
[coughs, spits]
[rain pattering]
Hey. Look at that.
It could almost be an act of God.
The damage from the explosion, I mean.
If the explosion had been
just inches from where it was,
the whole structure might have come down.
[Akram] But here it is.
Almost untouched.
It's remarkable, really.
[Akram] Oh, yeah.
[Hassan sighs]
Perhaps it wanted to be found.
- [Bogdan] Nizar.
- [Charan stammers]
[vendors clamoring]
[in Arabic] D'you wanna kiss?
Queerboy.
[exclaims]
[kisses]
[spits]
- [laughing]
- [knocks on door]
- [harasser exclaims]
- [speaks Arabic]
["Al Remmaneh" playing]
[in English] Hey.
Brave of you to come.
Well, it's brave of you to ask me.
You don't know
what this meeting is about yet.
Something dangerous is happening.
What?
I need to show you something.
I don't know who to trust with this,
but something is going on at the site.
[Ed sighs]
Excuse me, but if you're not gonna drink,
can you go and not drink somewhere else?
I'll get another one.
- [sighs] Same again.
- Yeah, sure.
Thanks.
So what have you tried?
Differences, ratios?
It's okay.
Got it all right here.
You need to delete that.
I may.
- What's the work, Ed?
- Don't call me Ed.
[stammers] How do you know my name?
You'd be surprised with what I know.
Like, I know you got mugged
the other night.
Now sit.
So what'd those guys take off you?
It wasn't money, was it?
It wasn't your phone.
I need to know what work you're doing
because that's what they wanted,
and that's what they took from you.
It wasn't my work they took.
Who are you?
[sighs, chuckles]
The same people
who came after you came after me.
They tried to kill me.
So they're not playing around.
And until I work out what's going on,
you're all I've got.
- Hey, I want to help you.
- I don't need help.
Yes, you do.
Trust me, you do.
Now, what is this?
Whatever it is, it's valuable to someone.
- It's from a student.
- Great.
- Do they have a name?
- They're dead.
Huh.
Well, are you sure it's math?
It's a sequence of numbers.
Of course it's maths.
Well, can't a number just be a number?
[chuckles] Like, I don't know
Like a a menu in a Chinese restaurant?
It's 11 digits long.
It could be a long menu.
[whispering] Long menu.
- Thanks.
- I'm coming with you.
[clock ticking]
[breathing shakily]
[Ed] There's our sequence.
[Taylah] Got it.
- [worker speaks Arabic]
- [Charan speaks Arabic]
[Akram] Dr. Nathoo.
[panting]
[Akram] Everything all right?
[Charan] Well, actually, um, no.
[coughs] No, I'm I'm concerned
about the stability of the site.
The department have signed off on it.
Right, okay. But, I mean, where is Hassan?
You know, where's
where is the structural engineer?
'Cause there's meant to be someone here
at all times, so
You know, I heard that
there's been some disagreement
about the source of the explosion.
[Bogdan] Okay, okay.
Doctor, you listen to me carefully.
If our assurances mean nothing to you,
then perhaps you need to leave.
[scoffs]
[Charan]
Then I'll follow up on this myself.
[speaks Arabic]
Oh. Ah.
[speaks Arabic]
Um, I I'm I'm looking for Hassan Kasem.
Do you speak English?
[stammers] We work together.
My name's Charan.
The office gave me his address.
What do you want?
Well, I was hoping to speak to him.
He didn't come to work yesterday.
He hasn't been here.
I don't know where he is.
When he comes home,
could you ask him I Sor
[sighs]
There's nothing here.
There's no notes. No clues, nothing.
What? Wait, let me see.
Not until you tell me what you do.
Um
NSA.
The US National Security Agency.
Surveillance.
Bullshit.
[Taylah] Wait, so where have you looked?
Everywhere. The whole thing.
[Ed sighs]
Okay.
That's her handwriting.
Whose?
Safiya Zamil.
The girl whose work those guys stole.
"Proof is the idol
before whom we all kneel.
Proof is everything in life.
- Proof that we are loved."
- Proof that we are loved.
That we're desired.
"Needed."
"So here's mine."
Proof of what is happening
"to me."
What?
[alarm bell ringing]
Is that a test?
I don't think so.
But How often does that happen?
Never. Why?
Never is not good.
- [librarian] Let's go then.
- [ringing continues]
[Taylah] Here. Take this.
[librarian] Don't run.
[librarian]
Clear the building now, please.
[speaks indistinctly] to rush.
Wait.
Look, I'm sorry, but you can't get in.
Let's go.
[librarian] Sirs! Wait.
[Taylah] We've gotta split up.
Look, they only care about you.
I'll circle back.
[both grunting]
[grunting continues]
Go!
[ringing continues]
[choir singing]
[singing continues]
[panting]
Okay, what's the work, Ed?
Your work that Robert Mallinder destroyed.
What is it?
- You know about that?
- Yes, I was watching.
That was my job at the NSA. To watch him.
Why?
We watch a lot of mathematicians.
He was just one of them.
Ed, I think Robert's suicide was faked.
I think he was murdered.
When I reported it to my boss,
he was killed and I just barely escaped.
So I'm gonna ask you again.
What's the work?
Look, Ed, I'm the person that you tell.
Okay?
Help me figure this out.
Number patterns. Prime numbers.
Patterns in primes?
- That's what you're looking for?
- Yeah.
[members chattering]
My work's abstract.
It's It's pure mathematics.
Yeah, but coincidentally the the
the cornerstone to all digital security.
You should know that if you, Safiya,
or anyone for that matter,
found a pattern in the primes,
that they could crack any digital code.
Look, all digital locks
are based on randomly selecting primes.
If you prove they're not random,
then do you know how valuable,
how dangerous you become?
I'm talking about bank accounts,
defense systems,
government records, classified reports.
Everything is left wide open.
Nothing stays hidden.
- So would that be such a bad thing?
- [chuckles]
You don't get out much, do you?
Look [stammers]
Taylah.
Taylah, whatever. A A prime finder.
A ru A rule for finding primes.
[stammers] It's a theory.
Like capturing sunlight,
it's not meant to be possible.
But you think you found a way?
That Safiya found a way?
I don't know. I don't know. Maybe.
I can't know for sure
until I see her thesis.
What else was in the book?
[singing continues]
[papers rustling]
[Ed] "Cambridge doesn't feel safe anymore.
- I am surrounded by a kind of"
- [Safiya] a kind of dark geometry.
- [Soph] Saf!
- [porter] Hello! Safiya.
[Safiya] Something that I thought
was impossible,
might actually be possible.
[no audible dialogue]
If you're reading this,
then what I feared most has happened.
And although it's too late for me,
you must
- shine a light on what's going on.
- [Ed] "a light on what's going on."
It's an abstract.
It's a summary of her thesis.
[Taylah] And?
And it's the exact same area as mine.
[Taylah] What's this?
[Ed] Kaplar Institute.
Uh,
it's a research institute in Cambridge.
They asked me to join, but
But Ed, what?
Her work could be there!
[sighs] I don't want any part of this.
No, Ed. [stammers]
Kaplar could be our key.
Don't you see?
It's the only way
we figure all of this out.
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