Oroborus ( TV story ) Oroborus was the eleventh episode of series 1 of " K9 " . It revealed Starkey ' s backstory . It also developed his relationship with Gryffen . Synopsis . K9 notices a change in behaviour in his friends and discovers time itself is being disrupted . Small chunks of time are being eaten away . A Time Snake has invaded the mansion and Starkey makes a discovery about his own parents that means he alone can face the Oroborus . He offers himself as a meal to defeat the creature . Plot . At the Gryffen house , the STM suddenly activates and starts pulling everything in the room towards the vortex . Gryffen and Starkey express their disbelief the STM could have turned on by itself . K9 registers the power source as unknown . He fires on the STM , locking off the plasma thrusters and shutting it down . After K9 ' s long and detailed explanation of how he did it , Darius and Jorjie walk in , wondering what happened . Gryffen suspects someone has touched the STM , but Darius and Jorjie say they haven ' t , as does Starkey , who has a strange itch on his arm . Gryffen determines someone or something has breached the vortex . He sends K9 to search the house . Darius gets his payment from Starkey for a pair of resistors which don ' t work . Starkey witnesses a weird distortion and loop , when Jorjie complains about Darius . K9 returns to Gryffen and tells him he has found no presence . That night , K9 wakes next to Starkey and tries to warn him of something , but time suddenly reverses and K9 goes back to sleep . Starkey feels the same strange itch as before . That morning , Gryffen is cooking breakfast when Starkey walks in . Gryffen is startled and drops an egg . Time loops and his dropping the egg repeats . Starkey keeps feeling the same strange itch and starts sneezing . Gryffen wonders if he ' s allergic to something . Gryffen decides to check and takes a blood sample from Starkey . Gryffen finds a strange mark on Starkey ' s arm . Starkey tells him it has suddenly become itchy , which it never had before . Darius returns back from shopping , confusing Gryffen as he thought Darius went shopping the day before . Darius tells Starkey to pay for the resistors and Starkey tells him he paid him yesterday . Darius refuses to believe it and demands he pay up , starting an argument . Starkey calls Jorjie , thinking she ' ll back him up , but she says Darius gave him the resistors yesterday and he didn ' t pay him . Even though K9 didn ' t witness it , he scans Starkey and determines he isn ' t lying . Starkey gives up and pays Darius . As K9 records it , a " temporal error " occurs , reversing time . Starkey talks to K9 in his bedroom . He wonders if Jorjie lied or if he really didn ' t give Darius the money . K9 detects a temporal loss ; he lost seven seconds . Starkey researches schizophrenia and tells K9 he heard voices and saw faces as a child . He hopes they are memories . K9 tells Starkey to relax when he thinks he ' s going mad . K9 has had similar moments . Darius asks Gryffen if he ' s found out what happened to the STM , wondering if it has been sabotaged . Both Gryffen and Darius say it wasn ' t them . Gryffen asks Darius who else was here . His question is answered when Starkey walks in . Gryffen tells Starkey his blood results are ready and goes to have a look . Gryffen is shocked at the readings . Starkey ' s body is producing strange antibodies . K9 scans them and confirms they are alien . Darius assumes he ' s an alien but Gryffen says Starkey ' s immune system is capable of defending against alien pathogens . Darius insists Starkey ' s an alien but K9 confirms he ' s human . Gryffen states that alien immunology is beyond known science and only two people have experimented with it , a couple who tested the antibodies on themselves and their son . This leads Starkey and Gryffen to believe that the child is Starkey . In his bedroom , Starkey researches and analyses his alien antibodies , experiencing the itch again . A strange creature slithers through the cellar and the STM activates . Starkey asks K9 ' s help but he is asleep . Starkey tries to stop the STM , using the same method K9 did . He succeeds , but Gryffen walks in , demanding to know what Starkey is doing . He finds someone has tried to access time , but when Starkey says it is the same as the incident yesterday , Gryffen and K9 tell him it never happened . Gryffen thinks Starkey switched it on . Starkey leaves to get his stuff and K9 offers to join him . They notice that everyone has lost memories . K9 checks his memory of searching the house after the first breach and learns temporal loss corrupted the file of the cellar . They go down and discover strange tracks . Gryffen and Darius discuss Starkey tampering with the STM . Gryffen believe that Starkey is trying to find his parents . As Starkey and K9 search , they hear slithering . A time distortion occurs and K9 shuts down . Jorjie goes to Gryffen and Darius , looking for Starkey . They tell her what Starkey was doing with the STM , but Jorjie wonders if the STM is what ' s causing time - shifts across London . When Gryffen says the STM is localised , Jorjie determines Starkey isn ' t tampering and turns on the news . The newsreader apologises that the King ' s birthday message was both not shown and shown twice . He interviews Brook Thomas , a spokesperson for a train company , about the news that all the trains are arriving on time . She says that the trains are 100 % on time even if they are several hours late and that some trains are arriving even before they leave . The newsreader introduces the interview again and the spokesperson repeats her statement . Back in the cellar , K9 reactivates and determines he has lost three seconds . Starkey finds some reptilian skin . Starkey shows Gryffen , who apologises for doubting him . The team realise the snake skin was shed . The snake is growing and is getting hungrier . Gryffen ' s analysis identifies it as an Oroborus , a time - consuming snake . Starkey decides to go alone to the cellar and stop it since he has alien antibodies . They plan to lure the Oroborus beneath the STM , then Gryffen will activate it . If the vaccine isn ' t effective , Starkey will be consumed . Starkey goes to the cellar and faces the Oroborus , then slowly backs away . The Oroborous gets right beneath the STM room , but Starkey is trapped in a dead end and the Oroborus blocks the door . Gryffen activates the STM and sends the Oroborus away , while K9 finds Starkey . They return to the others , who are relieved to have them back . Later that night , when Starkey is in bed , Gryffen visits and apologises for doubting him . He gives Starkey a picture he found of two scientists he believes are his parents and bids him good - night as Starkey looks at the photo . Story notes . " to be added " Ratings . " to be added " Myths . " to be added " Filming locations . " to be added " Production errors . " to be added " Home video releases . This episode is featured in the following DVD sets :