Fugitives (audio story): Difference between revisions

|production code  =BFPDWCDMG035  

On [[6 July]] [[1970]], at the IDES Scientific Institute, advanced experimental voice-activated computer [[VSAI 001]] announces to its creator and operator, Dr [[Sally Armstrong]], that it has a message for her - surprising since it’s not connected to anything yet. The message contains funds and instructions on how to build a device - and the message is from “the Doctor”...

In World War I France, the Doctor and Molly escape attacking Daleks on horseback, then in a small plane, but they are shot down by flying Daleks just as they locate the TARDIS in No Man’s Land. They crash but both survive unscathed, to the Doctor’s astonishment. The Doctor realises the unusual metallic noise reported by several people is actually the sound of Daleks scraping against barbed wire; they’ve been following them, unseen, all along, without attacking - until now. The Doctor and Molly get into the TARDIS and take off. The Daleks report in to the [[Dalek Time Controller]], who considers the first phase of the plan complete.

[[Straxus (The Great War)|Straxus]] lands his TARDIS on a mountain on the planet [[Srangor]], where he asks a local inhabitant to kill him. When the local refuses, he throws himself off the mountain, against the local’s protests.

Inside the TARDIS, Molly realises she's been in it before, though she can’t remember when or why. The Doctor admits he doesn’t know why he’s saving her, and looks up Molly’s name in the TARDIS database, noting that one of the meanings of O'Sullivan is “dark-eyed”, which matches her unusually dark eyes. Molly complains about the Doctor’s treatment of her, and he relays the story of Straxus recruiting him to save her - she is the “random human female” at the centre of an insane plan to destroy the Universe.

The Doctor tries to contact [[Gallifrey]], but there’s no response, so he sets the TARDIS controls to travel there. Molly opens the door, and it turns out the TARDIS has instead landed in [[Dunkirk]] aboard the [[HMS Grenade|HMS ''Grenade'']] on the 29 May, 1940, just as it is struck by enemy fire and sunk, sending the TARDIS into the sea. The Doctor and Molly are washed up on shore but avoid enemy fire and return to the TARDIS underwater. The Doctor asks how Molly knew which control opens the door, but she doesn’t know; he again tries to get to Gallifrey.

The TARDIS lands in 1972 London, specifically [[107 Baker Street]] - a house owned by the Doctor. They meet Sally Armstrong, who has built the device in the instructions she received, and recognises both of them since the message included a captioned photo of the Doctor and Molly in Dunkirk. The Doctor knows nothing about this - as also mentioned in the message - and the device turns out to be a time-space portal, and it activates, allowing Daleks to emerge. The Doctor and Molly escape in a cab with Sally, doubling back to the Doctor’s house to return to the TARDIS. Sally follows them and is killed by a Dalek just as she expresses a desire to travel with the Doctor. This death is a final straw; he can’t face the idea of endless death in a war against the Daleks, and refuses to run when the Daleks catch up. He demands they kill him, but they hesitate. Molly knocks him out and drags him into the TARDIS; by the time he comes to, she is unsucessfully trying to take off. She talks him down from his despair and they become playful, Molly deciding that since they can’t make to Gallifrey, they should go somewhere nice.

The Doctor takes them to [[Halalka]], a planet with a beautiful gravity-suspended [[waterfall]] in which tourists can swim. Oddly, Molly can’t understand a local policeman with whom the Doctor speaks - the TARDIS is not translating for her. While they swim amongst local dolphin-like creatures, the policeman reports to [[Kotris]] that the Doctor and Molly are here, and one of the dolphin-creatures is compelled to attack. The Doctor is forced to kill it in self-defence, and notices a mind control device attached to it just as a Dalek saucer attacks.