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{{Infobox Story SMW
{{Infobox Story
|image          = Mcg05 phobos big.jpg
|name= Phobos
|range          = Eighth Doctor Adventures (audio series)
|image=Mcg05_phobos_big.jpg
|series in range = Series 1 (8DA)
|series= [[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories#The New Eighth Doctor Adventures|The New Eighth Doctor Adventures]]
|series number in range = 1
|number= 1.5
|number in series = 5
|doctor= Eighth Doctor
|series         = ''[[Eighth Doctor Adventures (audio series)|Eighth Doctor Adventures]]''
|companions= [[Lucie Miller]]
|number         = 1.5
|enemy= [[Entity of Fear]], [[Kai Tobias]], [[Eris (Phobos)|Eris]]  
|doctor         = Eighth Doctor
|setting= Lunar Park, [[Phobos]], [[2589]]  
|companions     = [[Lucie Miller|Lucie]]
|writer= [[Eddie Robson]]
|enemy           = [[Entity of Fear]], [[Kai Tobias]]
|director= [[Barnaby Edwards (actor)|Barnaby Edwards]]  
|setting         = [[Lunar Park]], [[2589]]
|post production= [[Andy Hardwick]] and [[Gareth Jenkins]]
|writer         = Eddie Robson
|cover=[[Alex Mallinson]]
|director       = [[Barnaby Edwards]]
|publisher= Big Finish Productions
|producer        = [[Nicholas Briggs]], [[Sharon Gosling]]
|release date= [[May (releases)|May]] [[2007 (releases)|2007]]
|music          = [[Andy Hardwick]]
|format= 1 CD  
|sound          = [[Gareth Jenkins (sound designer)|Gareth Jenkins]]
|production code= BFPDWCDMG005  
|cover           = [[Alex Mallinson]]
|isbn= ISBN 978-1-84435-259-3  
|publisher       = Big Finish Productions
|prev=Immortal Beloved (audio story)
|epcount        = 1
|next=No More Lies (audio story)
|broadcast date  = 28 January 2007
|release date   = May 2007
|format         = 1 CD<br/>Download
|production code = BFPDWCDMG005  
|isbn           = ISBN 978-1-84435-259-3 (physical)<br/>ISBN 978-1-78178-480-8 (digital)
|prev           = Immortal Beloved (audio story)
|next           = No More Lies (audio story)
|made prev      = Blood of the Daleks (audio story)
|made next      = Immortal Beloved (audio story)
}}{{audio stub}}
}}{{audio stub}}
'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the fourth story, though fifth release part of [[Big Finish Productions]]' ''[[Big Finish Doctor Who audio stories#The New Eighth Doctor Adventures|The New Eighth Doctor Adventures]]'' audio stories that were co-produced with [[BBC 7]].  
{{you may|Phobos|n1 = the titular moon}}
{{spotify|album=0K7hsMZlCexjPGiC9ZRBqt|height=350}}
'''''{{StoryTitle}}''''' was the fourth story in the [[Series 1 (8DA)|first series]] of the ''[[Eighth Doctor Adventures (audio series)|Eighth Doctor Adventures]]'' produced by [[Big Finish Productions]]. It was written by [[Eddie Robson]] and featured [[Paul McGann]] as the [[Eighth Doctor]] and [[Sheridan Smith]] as [[Lucie Miller]].
 
Because ''[[Blood of the Daleks]]'' was released in two parts, it was the fifth release of the series. It was co-produced with [[BBC 7]].
 
The story was released along with the other stories in Series 1 in the collection ''[[The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller (audio series)|The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller]]'' on [[3 October (releases)|3 October]] [[2023 (releases)|2023]].


== Publisher's summary ==
== Publisher's summary ==
[[The Doctor's TARDIS|The TARDIS]] lands on [[Phobos]], [[moon]] of [[Mars]] — where extreme sports nuts of the future indulge their passion for [[gravity-boarding]] and [[wormhole-jumping]]. But there's something lurking in the shadows, something infinitely old and infinitely dangerous. It's not for nothing that "Phobos" is the ancient word for "fear"...
[[The Doctor's TARDIS|The TARDIS]] lands on [[Phobos]], [[moon]] of [[Mars]] — where extreme [[sport]]s nuts of the future indulge their passion for [[gravity-boarding]] and [[wormhole-jumping]]. But there's something lurking in the shadows, something infinitely old and infinitely dangerous. It's not for nothing that "Phobos" is the ancient word for "[[fear]]"...


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
In an unknown location, a woman named Chrissie rides through a whirlpool to a tunnel while communicating to Scott. Chrissie enters to a giant chamber and worries if coming back would be troublesome. Scott answers that she'll be fine and he'll secure a rope so she can make her back up and fight against the current. She agrees to this and Scott's voice through the communicator begins to panic. She asks if everything's okay and Scott's scream is heard, followed by silence.
Chrissy is sucked into a [[whirlpool]] and down through a series of tunnels. Finding herself trapped in an underground is cutting in and out. Through the distortion, Chrissy can hear Scott begin to scream.
 
The [[The Doctor's TARDIS|TARDIS]] lands halfway up an icy mountain on [[Phobos]]. When Lucie falls into an icy pool, Hayden and Drew arrive and lift her out.
 
Amy and Farl are taking a [[Shuttlecraft|shuttle]] to [[Martian Lunar Park]]. Amy recalls seeing something resembling a "big [[ant]]" on their approach to the park. When they arrive, Eris introduces herself as the camp engineer, and tells them nobody has officially been in charge of Lunar Park for a while. She offers to take their bags, and on the way to their cabin Eris shows them the [[environment dome]].
 
Drew and Hayden ask the Doctor about his TARDIS. They then say that a park guide told them he'd seen a monster. Drew tells the Doctor and Lucie about a [[wormhole]] at the top of a nearby mountain. He says that thrill seekers can jump into the hole and fall through without ever touching the sides, something the Doctor considers to be a gravitational anomaly.
 
Amy and Farl unpack in their room. The park guide Kai arrives and helps them turn their cabin the right way up. He tells them the park is full of adrenaline junkies, who he calls "[[drennie]]s", and is surprised to find that Amy and Farl are not thrill seekers. He tells them to be careful at Lunar Park, and to avoid the monsters which live in the wormhole on the mountain.
 
Drew and Hayden take the Doctor and Lucie to the wormhole. They prepare to [[Bungee jumping|bungee jump]] into the hole, tying climbing ropes around themselves. They tell the Doctor and Lucie that nobody's ever hit the bottom, but whoever goes deepest into the hole gets the most respect.
 
Amy asks Kai is he could have imagined the monsters, but he says he's seen them with his own eyes. He calls them [[Phobian]]s, describing them as strange animals that make a whinging, screaming noise. He says nobody believes his warnings. When a strange noise is then heard in the distance, Amy believes it could be one of the Phobians.
 
Hayden jumps into the wormhole, expecting to bungee to a depth of 3 kilometers. After Lucie spots something in the distance, the Doctor retrieves a [[telescope]] from his pocket and Lucie looks at a man and a woman in the distance. They are lying on the ground, not moving. Drew begins reeling Hayded back up the hole, and they all head over in a [[Space buggy|buggy]] to investigate.
 
Back at Amy and Farl's cabin, Eris arrives and asks Kai to stop scaring the guests with "ghost stories". When Kai leaves, she tells the newly arrived guests that Kai's stories aren't even consistent.
 
Hayden and Drew recognise the bodies as their parkmates Chrissy and Scott. Scott has been savagely killed, Chrissy is alive and shivering. Drew suggests that she might have [[hypothermia]], but it turns out instead that she's shaking from [[fear]]. Drew heads off to get some help. Inside the park building, Eris is again telling Kai to stop staring tourists when Drew bursts in. He tells them that that he needs their help. Kai, Eris and Drew meet up with the Doctor and Lucie, where the Doctor is inspecting Scott. He has been ripped in half, viciously, by something more powerful than a human.
 
The next morning, Hayded sneaks up on Drew to scare him. Drew does not find it funny, since he's been feeling paranoid about monsters all night. Hayden asks if he has a spare [[pressure valve]] so they can go [[Gravity-boarding|Grav-boarding]]. Hayden says he wants to chase [[adrenalin]]e to clear his head, and Drew agrees to join him.
 
When the Doctor sees Lucie in the [[canteen]] that morning she has barely slept, and is on her third cup of [[coffee]]. Amy and Farl walk into the canteen having a shifty conversation. They are worried about being found by someone. The Doctor and Lucie hear this and speculate on why those two could be acting unusually. The Doctor and Lucie are then eavesdropped on by Eris, who tells them Amy and Farl are unlike the regular drennie tourists. Upon the mention of the monsters, the Doctor tells Eris that he wants to speak to Kai.


The TARDIS materializes on a snowy mountainside. Lucie groans as she and the Doctor find themselves on a mountain again and nearly falls. The Doctor steps out and states that they are in the year 2589. Lucie slips and falls, but is suddenly caught by what seems to be a giant net. As the Doctor wonders what this is, two people-- Drew and Hayden, find them.
Farl storms away from his and Amy's table, and Lucie goes to see if Amy is okay. Amy says they want to leave the park but there's no shuttles leaving for another three days. Lucie asks why they're on Phobos in the first place, and Amy invites her on a walk.


In a high-tech base called Lunar Park, a woman named Amy and a man named Farl enter. Farl has been complaining about controls of the ride from the shuttle, much to Amy's annoyance just when another woman, Eris, greets them. Eris introduces herself as the camp engineer and repairs certain items. She then shows them around the base as it is Amy and Farl's first time to the base on Phobos, Mars' moon.
After seeing Farl storm off, Kai goes to him and apologises on behalf of the park, mistakenly believing Farl has overheard someone making unpleasant remarks being made about [[Githian|his race]]. Farl wants to know who has been making these remarks, but Kai is swept away by Eris before he can tell him.
 
Drew and Hayden are preparing to grav-board. Hayden begins boarding first with Drew following him down the slope, and they talk to each other through their headset radios as they go.
 
Eris apologies to Kai for never believing him about the monsters. Kai tells the Doctor that the creatures have always been on Phobos, and he believes they were what halted the still-unfinished construction of Lunar Park. Eris says that stories of the park being dangerous only add to the excitement for the drennies, making it seem like a haunted house.
 
Amy and Lucie put on [[space suit]]s then step through an [[airlock]] onto the surface of Phobos. Lucie tells Amy that Farl is a Githian, a member of a pwople whose numbers are dwindling, and so can't marry outside of his species without being condemned by his family and friends. Amy says Farl's family have hired a hunter to bring Farl back home. Farl wants them to split up for Amy's sake, but Amy is [[Pregnancy|pregnant]] and Farl doesn't know. Suddenly, Amy and Lucie pick up a signal on their short-range headsets - it's someone screaming. They set out to find where it came from. When they discover the body of [[Kelly (Phobos)|Kelly]] they radio the Doctor asking for help. The Doctor and Eris head out to find them, and Kai stays with the radio in case Lucie gets in touch again.
 
Drew sees a monster moving behind a rock near Hayden. He radios Hayden telling him to stop, but Hayden doesn't get the message and keeps going towards the monster. When Hayden is out of sight, Drew hears him scream over the headset.
 
Amy and Lucie see a monster in the distance and decide to leave Kelly behind. They bump into Drew, and he tells them Hayden is badly injured. The creature that attacked him had been knocked off balance by Hayden's grav-board and fallen into a [[crater]]. When the creature reappears Lucie throws rocks to distract it, but this only appears aggravates it.
 
Meanwhile, Farl encounters some rude drennies who [[Racism|insult and abuse]] him for being a Githian. Farl punches one of them, breaking his nose.
 
Eris and the Doctor set out of the airlock on a buggy. When they're within radio range of Lucie and Amy, Lucie tells the Doctor that she's being chased by one of the Phobians. The Doctor directs them towards a big rock and tells them to climb. He quickly reaches the bottom of the rock and throws a climbing rope up to Lucie, who then clamps it onto the Phobian. The buggy drives away, dragging the creature behind it. They take the creature back to the park, tied up and apparently unconscious. Upon inspection, the Doctor discovers it to be an old [[construction droid]] covered with sack cloth.
 
The Doctor explains that these droids are usually used for jobs such as surface mapping, manual repairs and mineral drilling. This droid does not appear to be malfunctioning, but rather has been reprogrammed to attack on sight. Or perhaps, the Doctor speculates, it could be under remote control.
 
Kai finds Farl and informs him that Amy had left the camp and then been rescued. When Farl goes to find Amy, Kai sends the abusive tourists to the med bay. With Farl out of earshot, Kai turns to the tourists and says Githians are "savages".
 
Farl is frustrated with Amy for going outside and the pair argue. Farl tells Lucie and the Doctor to stay away from him and his wife since he doesn't trust them. The Doctor tells Farl never to threaten him. A drennie asks Farl to leave Lunar Park, saying a number of people have said that they're uncomfortable with him being there after assaulting a guest. Amy then sees the boy's broken nose and is frightened. She runs away from Farl.
 
The Doctor accuses Kai of controlling the refashioned construction droids. He believes Kai did it to drive the monster in the wormhole away, but Kai denies it. He then knocks the Doctor and Lucie unconscious before radioing [[Droid 4]] and instructing it to take the Doctor and Lucie to the wormhole.
 
Eris sees Droid 4 taking the Doctor and Lucie up the mountain. She takes Farl and Drew to investigate while Amy stays behind with Hayden.
 
The Doctor and Lucie wake up and find they've been tied up. Kai tells them he's planning to throw them into the wormhole. Before he gets the chance Drew arrives and knocks him out by firing a climbing rope at him. Drew reveals that he took the buggy most of the way up the mountain, but climbed the last leg of the journey to avoid being detected. While Kai is incapacitated Drew ties him up.
 
When Farl arrives he is attacked by Droid 4. The Doctor unscrews one of the droid's legs with his [[sonic screwdriver]], which completely disables the droid. With Kai being unconscious, the Doctor wonders how he could have been controlling it.
 
Kai quickly comes round, and the Doctor asks him what's in the wormhole. He says it hides a "God of Fear" from another reality, a reality of fear. The Doctor deduces that [[Entity of Fear|this entity]] created the wormhole, a [[singularity]] bridge, to enter [[N-Space]]. It also created the unexpectedly humid atmosphere on Phobos, making the [[moon]] more suitable for its pending arrival.
 
According to Kai this entity fed on fear and adrenaline, but pure fear without a "spoonful of sugar" in the form of [[love]] or [[excitement]] would poison it. To appease the entity, Kai created the Phobians from the park's construction droids, and designed them to kill guests and generate fear among the adrenaline-filled visitors. This fed the entity, but was also making it stronger.
 
The entity begins to speak through Eris, revealing that has learned about this reality from Kai, but speaks through the body of someone he loves so that Kai will obey it. As well as making Kai obedient, this will also sustain within him the combination of fear and love that the entity feeds upon. The Doctor tells Drew to grab Eris and tie her up, immobilising the Entity which has yet to fully break through to its new reality. When Eris is tied, Kai reveals his plan was to terrify Doctor and Lucie before throwing them into the wormhole, in order to poison the creature with pure fear.
 
Using a climbing rope, the Doctor descends into the wormhole to [[Telepathy|communicate telepathically]] with the entity. He shows it all of the horrors he has seen. The entity begs him to stop but he keeps going. The entity says it will give him everything he wants. He keeps going, showing it fears of the future. Eventually the entity is sick from the pure fear it has been fed, and lets go of Eris' body. Lucie comforts Kai when they both realise that Eris is dead. The Doctor then shouts up, asking them to pull him out of the wormhole.
 
Drew goes to tell Hayden what happened. Farl tells Amy that he doesn't want to split up with her, but was afraid about their safety. Amy tells him that she's carrying his baby.
 
Kai asks Lucie to light Eris' [[funeral]] pyre. He tells Lucie and the Doctor that he'd heard the Entity in his head for so long that he had lost all perspective. The Doctor said Eris bought them vital time by fighting back against the entity, preventing it from fully moving into their reality. Even though the entity has retreated, the Doctor suggests keeping Lunar Park adrenaline-free for a while to be on the safe side. The Doctor and Lucie then give Kai some time alone with Eris.
 
Lucie asks the Doctor about all of the fear he has, but he dodges the question. Lucie suggests that he might be scarier than the monsters, and they head back to the TARDIS.
 
Drew is feeding Hayden in the hospital when Hayden asks why Drew puts up with so much from him. Drew is about to confess his love for Hayden when a woman named 'Rosa' comes round from a head injury she had sustained when falling of a [[bicycle]] a few days previously. Almost immediately, Rosa asks Hayden and Drew if a woman named Lucie Miller has arrived yet. They tell her that Lucie has been and gone, and Rosa (who is revealed to in fact be the Headhunter) sets off to chase her.


== Cast ==
== Cast ==
* [[Eighth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Paul McGann]]
* [[Eighth Doctor|The Doctor]] - [[Paul McGann]]
* [[Lucie Miller]] - [[Sheridan Smith]]
* [[Lucie Miller]] - [[Sheridan Smith]]
* [[Headhunter]] / [[Amy (Phobos)|Amy]] - [[Katarina Olsson]]
* [[Headhunter]] / [[Amy (Phobos)|Amy]] / [[Chrissie (Phobos)|Chrissie]] - [[Katarina Olsson]]
* [[Kai Tobias]] - [[Timothy West]]
* [[Kai Tobias]] - [[Timothy West]]
* [[Eris (Phobos)|Eris]] - [[Nerys Hughes]]
* [[Eris (Phobos)|Eris]] - [[Nerys Hughes]]
* [[Drew (Phobos)|Drew]] - [[Ben Silverstone]]
* [[Drew (Phobos)|Drew]] / [[Scott (Phobos)|Scott]] - [[Ben Silverstone]]
* [[Hayd]] - [[John Schwab]]
* [[Hayd]] - [[John Schwab]]
* [[Farl]] - [[Tim Sutton]]
* [[Farl]] - [[Tim Sutton]]


== References ==
== Crew ==
* [[Githian]]s are huge, furry humanoids that humans dislike due to their muscular bodies.
 
* Cover Art - [[Alex Mallinson]]
* Associate Producer & Director - [[Barnaby Edwards]]
* Executive Producer - [[Jason Haigh-Ellery]] and [[Nicholas Briggs]]
* Music - [[Andy Hardwick]]
* Producer Nicholas Briggs and [[Sharon Gosling]]
* Script Editor - [[Alan Barnes]]
* Sound Design - [[Gareth Jenkins (sound designer)|Gareth Jenkins]]
* Writer - [[Eddie Robson]]


=== Popular Culture ===
== Worldbuilding ==
* When the Doctor confronts Kai after exposing his scheme, he says "And I would have gotten away with it." Lucie Miller responds with "...if it weren't for us meddling kids?", a reference to the immortal catchphrase from the show.
* [[Githian]]s are huge, [[fur]]ry [[humanoid]]s that humans dislike due to their muscular bodies.
* Lucie compares Amy to [[Polly Pocket]] and Farl to [[Hagrid]].
* Lucie is amazed when she looks up and sees the surface of [[Mars]].


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
* This audio drama was recorded on [[22 August (production)|22 August]] 2006 at [[The Moat Studios]].
* This audio drama was recorded on [[22 August (production)|22 August]] [[2006 (production)|2006]] at [[the Moat Studios]].
* This story is available on CD and download, as well as to stream on [[Spotify]].


== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
* The TARDIS lands halfway up a mountain. It previously did that in the previous story ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Immortal Beloved (audio story)|Immortal Beloved]]'') and on Peladon. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Curse of Peladon (TV story)|The Curse of Peladon]]'')
* The TARDIS lands halfway up a mountain. It had previously done so in the previous story [[AUDIO]]: {{Cs|Immortal Beloved (audio story)}} and on Peladon in [[TV]]: {{Cs|The Curse of Peladon (TV story)}}.
* The idea of a god-like entity pushing its way through from another universe, feeding on emotions, was explored in greater detail in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Where Angels Fear]]'' and [[PROSE]]: ''[[Twilight of the Gods (BNA novel)|Twilight of the Gods]]''.
* The idea of a god-like entity pushing its way through from another universe, feeding on emotions, was explored in greater detail in [[PROSE]]: {{Cs|Where Angels Fear (novel)}} and [[PROSE]]: {{Cs|Twilight of the Gods (BNA novel)}}.
* [[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Fearmonger]]'' also features an entity which fed off of fear.
* [[AUDIO]]: {{Cs|The Fearmonger (audio story)}} also featured an entity which fed off of [[fear]].
* [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Deimos (audio story)|Deimos]]'', like ''Phobos'', is named after the Martian moon on which it takes place. It also features space tourists encountering an ancient threat. Both stories note the meaning of their name in Greek, "dread" and "fear", respectively.
* [[AUDIO]]: {{Cs|Deimos (audio story)}}, like ''Phobos'', was named after the Martian moon on which it took place. It also featured space tourists encountering an ancient threat. Both stories noted the meaning of their name in Greek, "dread" and "fear", respectively.
* Lunar Park was already operational by the [[23rd century]]. Gregson Grenville, a security guard on the [[Deimos]] moonbase, described it as a "hippie holiday camp." ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Deimos (audio story)|Deimos]]'')
* [[Lunar Park]] was already operational by the [[23rd century]]. [[Gregson Grenville]], a security guard on the [[Deimos]] [[moonbase]], described it as a "hippie holiday camp" in [[AUDIO]]: {{Cs|Deimos (audio story)}}.


== External links ==
== External links ==
* {{bigfinish|releases/v/phobos-519|Phobos}}
{{bigfinish|releases/v/phobos-519|Phobos}}
* {{dwrefguide|bbc7_04.htm|Phobos}}
 
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150309054721/http://www.chakoteya.net/8Doctor/105.html Phobos Transcript]
{{dwrefguide|bbc7_04.htm|Phobos}}
* {{whoniverse|bf8d01_04|Phobos}}
* {{tetrap|8/phobos.html|Phobos}}
* {{tetrap|8/phobos.html|Phobos}}
{{BF EDA}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{BF EDA}}
 
[[Category:Series 1 (8DA) audio stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in 2589]]
[[Category:Audio stories set in the Sol System]]
 
[[fr:Phobos (Big Finish)]]
[[fr:Phobos (Big Finish)]]
[[Category:Stories set in the 26th century]]
[[Category:Eighth Doctor audio stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in the Sol System]]
[[Category:One part audio stories]]
[[Category:Eighth Doctor Adventures audio stories]]
[[Category:2007 audio stories]]
[[Category:2007 audio stories]]
[[Category:Stories that use the David Arnold theme]]

Latest revision as of 14:11, 26 July 2024

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audio stub
You may be looking for the titular moon.
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Spotify

Phobos was the fourth story in the first series of the Eighth Doctor Adventures produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Eddie Robson and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and Sheridan Smith as Lucie Miller.

Because Blood of the Daleks was released in two parts, it was the fifth release of the series. It was co-produced with BBC 7.

The story was released along with the other stories in Series 1 in the collection The Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller on 3 October 2023.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

The TARDIS lands on Phobos, moon of Mars — where extreme sports nuts of the future indulge their passion for gravity-boarding and wormhole-jumping. But there's something lurking in the shadows, something infinitely old and infinitely dangerous. It's not for nothing that "Phobos" is the ancient word for "fear"...

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Chrissy is sucked into a whirlpool and down through a series of tunnels. Finding herself trapped in an underground is cutting in and out. Through the distortion, Chrissy can hear Scott begin to scream.

The TARDIS lands halfway up an icy mountain on Phobos. When Lucie falls into an icy pool, Hayden and Drew arrive and lift her out.

Amy and Farl are taking a shuttle to Martian Lunar Park. Amy recalls seeing something resembling a "big ant" on their approach to the park. When they arrive, Eris introduces herself as the camp engineer, and tells them nobody has officially been in charge of Lunar Park for a while. She offers to take their bags, and on the way to their cabin Eris shows them the environment dome.

Drew and Hayden ask the Doctor about his TARDIS. They then say that a park guide told them he'd seen a monster. Drew tells the Doctor and Lucie about a wormhole at the top of a nearby mountain. He says that thrill seekers can jump into the hole and fall through without ever touching the sides, something the Doctor considers to be a gravitational anomaly.

Amy and Farl unpack in their room. The park guide Kai arrives and helps them turn their cabin the right way up. He tells them the park is full of adrenaline junkies, who he calls "drennies", and is surprised to find that Amy and Farl are not thrill seekers. He tells them to be careful at Lunar Park, and to avoid the monsters which live in the wormhole on the mountain.

Drew and Hayden take the Doctor and Lucie to the wormhole. They prepare to bungee jump into the hole, tying climbing ropes around themselves. They tell the Doctor and Lucie that nobody's ever hit the bottom, but whoever goes deepest into the hole gets the most respect.

Amy asks Kai is he could have imagined the monsters, but he says he's seen them with his own eyes. He calls them Phobians, describing them as strange animals that make a whinging, screaming noise. He says nobody believes his warnings. When a strange noise is then heard in the distance, Amy believes it could be one of the Phobians.

Hayden jumps into the wormhole, expecting to bungee to a depth of 3 kilometers. After Lucie spots something in the distance, the Doctor retrieves a telescope from his pocket and Lucie looks at a man and a woman in the distance. They are lying on the ground, not moving. Drew begins reeling Hayded back up the hole, and they all head over in a buggy to investigate.

Back at Amy and Farl's cabin, Eris arrives and asks Kai to stop scaring the guests with "ghost stories". When Kai leaves, she tells the newly arrived guests that Kai's stories aren't even consistent.

Hayden and Drew recognise the bodies as their parkmates Chrissy and Scott. Scott has been savagely killed, Chrissy is alive and shivering. Drew suggests that she might have hypothermia, but it turns out instead that she's shaking from fear. Drew heads off to get some help. Inside the park building, Eris is again telling Kai to stop staring tourists when Drew bursts in. He tells them that that he needs their help. Kai, Eris and Drew meet up with the Doctor and Lucie, where the Doctor is inspecting Scott. He has been ripped in half, viciously, by something more powerful than a human.

The next morning, Hayded sneaks up on Drew to scare him. Drew does not find it funny, since he's been feeling paranoid about monsters all night. Hayden asks if he has a spare pressure valve so they can go Grav-boarding. Hayden says he wants to chase adrenaline to clear his head, and Drew agrees to join him.

When the Doctor sees Lucie in the canteen that morning she has barely slept, and is on her third cup of coffee. Amy and Farl walk into the canteen having a shifty conversation. They are worried about being found by someone. The Doctor and Lucie hear this and speculate on why those two could be acting unusually. The Doctor and Lucie are then eavesdropped on by Eris, who tells them Amy and Farl are unlike the regular drennie tourists. Upon the mention of the monsters, the Doctor tells Eris that he wants to speak to Kai.

Farl storms away from his and Amy's table, and Lucie goes to see if Amy is okay. Amy says they want to leave the park but there's no shuttles leaving for another three days. Lucie asks why they're on Phobos in the first place, and Amy invites her on a walk.

After seeing Farl storm off, Kai goes to him and apologises on behalf of the park, mistakenly believing Farl has overheard someone making unpleasant remarks being made about his race. Farl wants to know who has been making these remarks, but Kai is swept away by Eris before he can tell him.

Drew and Hayden are preparing to grav-board. Hayden begins boarding first with Drew following him down the slope, and they talk to each other through their headset radios as they go.

Eris apologies to Kai for never believing him about the monsters. Kai tells the Doctor that the creatures have always been on Phobos, and he believes they were what halted the still-unfinished construction of Lunar Park. Eris says that stories of the park being dangerous only add to the excitement for the drennies, making it seem like a haunted house.

Amy and Lucie put on space suits then step through an airlock onto the surface of Phobos. Lucie tells Amy that Farl is a Githian, a member of a pwople whose numbers are dwindling, and so can't marry outside of his species without being condemned by his family and friends. Amy says Farl's family have hired a hunter to bring Farl back home. Farl wants them to split up for Amy's sake, but Amy is pregnant and Farl doesn't know. Suddenly, Amy and Lucie pick up a signal on their short-range headsets - it's someone screaming. They set out to find where it came from. When they discover the body of Kelly they radio the Doctor asking for help. The Doctor and Eris head out to find them, and Kai stays with the radio in case Lucie gets in touch again.

Drew sees a monster moving behind a rock near Hayden. He radios Hayden telling him to stop, but Hayden doesn't get the message and keeps going towards the monster. When Hayden is out of sight, Drew hears him scream over the headset.

Amy and Lucie see a monster in the distance and decide to leave Kelly behind. They bump into Drew, and he tells them Hayden is badly injured. The creature that attacked him had been knocked off balance by Hayden's grav-board and fallen into a crater. When the creature reappears Lucie throws rocks to distract it, but this only appears aggravates it.

Meanwhile, Farl encounters some rude drennies who insult and abuse him for being a Githian. Farl punches one of them, breaking his nose.

Eris and the Doctor set out of the airlock on a buggy. When they're within radio range of Lucie and Amy, Lucie tells the Doctor that she's being chased by one of the Phobians. The Doctor directs them towards a big rock and tells them to climb. He quickly reaches the bottom of the rock and throws a climbing rope up to Lucie, who then clamps it onto the Phobian. The buggy drives away, dragging the creature behind it. They take the creature back to the park, tied up and apparently unconscious. Upon inspection, the Doctor discovers it to be an old construction droid covered with sack cloth.

The Doctor explains that these droids are usually used for jobs such as surface mapping, manual repairs and mineral drilling. This droid does not appear to be malfunctioning, but rather has been reprogrammed to attack on sight. Or perhaps, the Doctor speculates, it could be under remote control.

Kai finds Farl and informs him that Amy had left the camp and then been rescued. When Farl goes to find Amy, Kai sends the abusive tourists to the med bay. With Farl out of earshot, Kai turns to the tourists and says Githians are "savages".

Farl is frustrated with Amy for going outside and the pair argue. Farl tells Lucie and the Doctor to stay away from him and his wife since he doesn't trust them. The Doctor tells Farl never to threaten him. A drennie asks Farl to leave Lunar Park, saying a number of people have said that they're uncomfortable with him being there after assaulting a guest. Amy then sees the boy's broken nose and is frightened. She runs away from Farl.

The Doctor accuses Kai of controlling the refashioned construction droids. He believes Kai did it to drive the monster in the wormhole away, but Kai denies it. He then knocks the Doctor and Lucie unconscious before radioing Droid 4 and instructing it to take the Doctor and Lucie to the wormhole.

Eris sees Droid 4 taking the Doctor and Lucie up the mountain. She takes Farl and Drew to investigate while Amy stays behind with Hayden.

The Doctor and Lucie wake up and find they've been tied up. Kai tells them he's planning to throw them into the wormhole. Before he gets the chance Drew arrives and knocks him out by firing a climbing rope at him. Drew reveals that he took the buggy most of the way up the mountain, but climbed the last leg of the journey to avoid being detected. While Kai is incapacitated Drew ties him up.

When Farl arrives he is attacked by Droid 4. The Doctor unscrews one of the droid's legs with his sonic screwdriver, which completely disables the droid. With Kai being unconscious, the Doctor wonders how he could have been controlling it.

Kai quickly comes round, and the Doctor asks him what's in the wormhole. He says it hides a "God of Fear" from another reality, a reality of fear. The Doctor deduces that this entity created the wormhole, a singularity bridge, to enter N-Space. It also created the unexpectedly humid atmosphere on Phobos, making the moon more suitable for its pending arrival.

According to Kai this entity fed on fear and adrenaline, but pure fear without a "spoonful of sugar" in the form of love or excitement would poison it. To appease the entity, Kai created the Phobians from the park's construction droids, and designed them to kill guests and generate fear among the adrenaline-filled visitors. This fed the entity, but was also making it stronger.

The entity begins to speak through Eris, revealing that has learned about this reality from Kai, but speaks through the body of someone he loves so that Kai will obey it. As well as making Kai obedient, this will also sustain within him the combination of fear and love that the entity feeds upon. The Doctor tells Drew to grab Eris and tie her up, immobilising the Entity which has yet to fully break through to its new reality. When Eris is tied, Kai reveals his plan was to terrify Doctor and Lucie before throwing them into the wormhole, in order to poison the creature with pure fear.

Using a climbing rope, the Doctor descends into the wormhole to communicate telepathically with the entity. He shows it all of the horrors he has seen. The entity begs him to stop but he keeps going. The entity says it will give him everything he wants. He keeps going, showing it fears of the future. Eventually the entity is sick from the pure fear it has been fed, and lets go of Eris' body. Lucie comforts Kai when they both realise that Eris is dead. The Doctor then shouts up, asking them to pull him out of the wormhole.

Drew goes to tell Hayden what happened. Farl tells Amy that he doesn't want to split up with her, but was afraid about their safety. Amy tells him that she's carrying his baby.

Kai asks Lucie to light Eris' funeral pyre. He tells Lucie and the Doctor that he'd heard the Entity in his head for so long that he had lost all perspective. The Doctor said Eris bought them vital time by fighting back against the entity, preventing it from fully moving into their reality. Even though the entity has retreated, the Doctor suggests keeping Lunar Park adrenaline-free for a while to be on the safe side. The Doctor and Lucie then give Kai some time alone with Eris.

Lucie asks the Doctor about all of the fear he has, but he dodges the question. Lucie suggests that he might be scarier than the monsters, and they head back to the TARDIS.

Drew is feeding Hayden in the hospital when Hayden asks why Drew puts up with so much from him. Drew is about to confess his love for Hayden when a woman named 'Rosa' comes round from a head injury she had sustained when falling of a bicycle a few days previously. Almost immediately, Rosa asks Hayden and Drew if a woman named Lucie Miller has arrived yet. They tell her that Lucie has been and gone, and Rosa (who is revealed to in fact be the Headhunter) sets off to chase her.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The TARDIS lands halfway up a mountain. It had previously done so in the previous story AUDIO: Immortal Beloved [+]Loading...["Immortal Beloved (audio story)"] and on Peladon in TV: The Curse of Peladon [+]Loading...["The Curse of Peladon (TV story)"].
  • The idea of a god-like entity pushing its way through from another universe, feeding on emotions, was explored in greater detail in PROSE: Where Angels Fear [+]Loading...["Where Angels Fear (novel)"] and PROSE: Twilight of the Gods [+]Loading...["Twilight of the Gods (BNA novel)"].
  • AUDIO: The Fearmonger [+]Loading...["The Fearmonger (audio story)"] also featured an entity which fed off of fear.
  • AUDIO: Deimos [+]Loading...["Deimos (audio story)"], like Phobos, was named after the Martian moon on which it took place. It also featured space tourists encountering an ancient threat. Both stories noted the meaning of their name in Greek, "dread" and "fear", respectively.
  • Lunar Park was already operational by the 23rd century. Gregson Grenville, a security guard on the Deimos moonbase, described it as a "hippie holiday camp" in AUDIO: Deimos [+]Loading...["Deimos (audio story)"].

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

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