The Web of Time (audio story)

The Web of Time
Main character(s):	River Song
Featuring:	Knight
Main enemy:	The Great Intelligence
Main setting:	Bloomsbury and London Underground, 20th century
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	John Dorney
Director:	Ken Bentley
Producer:	David Richardson
Music:	Howard Carter
Sound:	Howard Carter
Cover by:	Tom Webster
Release details
Number of parts:	1
Release number:	6.2
Part of:	The Diary of River Song: Series Six
Release date:	27 August 2019
Format:	1 CD Download 2nd of 4 stories
Production code:	BFPDWRIVER06
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-78703-507-2 (physical) ISBN 978-1-78703-508-9 (download)
The Diary of River Song
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The Web of Time was the second story of the audio anthology, The Diary of River Song: Series Six. It was written by John Dorney and featured Alex Kingston as River Song and Ralph Watson as Captain Ben Knight.

Publisher's summary

The capital has been evacuated. Monsters stalk the Underground. For River, it's the perfect opportunity to steal a priceless artwork, so long as she can avoid looters, soldiers and an alien invasion.

With the gallant Captain Knight at her side, River faces the Great Intelligence and its Yeti army. But her biggest challenge may be keeping time itself on track...

Plot

River is summoned by Madame Neon, an art collector, to track down the sixth copy of a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, part of a cycle on the seasons. The collector has tracked down the last location of the copy in London during the Yeti attack, and wants River to retrieve it before the building in which it is located collapses.

River accepts the assignment and, after carefully reading her husband's diary, materialises in the London of the time. A few moments before she arrives, however, two looters, Maude and her daughter Erin Harris, have already stolen the painting by removing it from the frame; what is worse, River is intercepted by a group of soldiers who are proceeding to the forced evacuation of civilians from the area. At their command is Captain Ben Knight, whom River has read about in the diary, and who she knows must survive to save the Doctor's life. The group of soldiers is attacked by the Yeti; River doesn't know it, but they are looking for her: the Intelligence has detected her arrival, and thinks she might be the Doctor.

River tries to save all the soldiers by shooting the Yeti, but realising she can't do it, decides to save only Knight, teleporting out of the building just before it collapses. Together, the two go in search of the looters, River to find the painting, Knight to do his duty as a soldier. River tries to explain to him what's going on, telling him that she's from the future and shouldn't interfere too much with history: if it doesn't go as it should, the consequences of the event will change drastically. Knight somehow understands, and asks if they will be able to repel the invasion (River says yes) and if he will be happy in the future (River again says yes, somehow lying to him). Knight also suggests that River is actually less callous than she suggests, declaring himself convinced that she will do the right thing in the end.

River and the soldier find Erin in a nearby house, alone (her mother has gone out to find supplies), and River forces the girl to give her back the painting at gunpoint. The three of them are again attacked by the Yeti, whom River shoots away; Erin manages to escape, after hitting River and stealing her vortex manipulator. River realises this only later, while she is trying to leave with the painting: she is forced to stay and look for the girl with Knight, unaware that the latter has just been captured by the Intelligence, who killed her mother and possessed her body.

River and Knight are also captured by the Yeti, led by the Intelligence in the body of Corporal Buscombe, Knight's fellow soldier killed in the previous confrontation. With the threat of hurting the little girl, Buscombe forces the two of them to follow him to his lair, in Euston station the Intelligence has realised that River is not the Doctor, but it has also guessed that her intelligence is almost on par with the Doctor's, so it has decided to absorb her brain. River pretends to hug Erin to console her for her mother's death, but actually steals her manipulator and uses it to leave - actually returning soon after with the gun loaded again to help Knight and Erin, thus confirming her good heart in the soldier's eyes. River shoots the pyramid of the Intelligence, causing the centre to explode, but in the ensuing escape she finds herself forced to choose between keeping the painting and saving Erin: reluctantly, she decides to let the painting burn.

Back outside, River explains that she didn't really defeat the Intelligence: she just disconnected it, but it's still out there, ready to find another lair (it will be defeated in a few days by the Doctor, anyway). With a kiss, she makes Knight forget everything and then leaves, taking Eryn with her to Neon: the girl will have a job as a new tour guide to her collection.

Cast

• River Song - Alex Kingston
• Captain Ben Knight - Ralph Watson
• Erin Harris - Kathryn Drysdale
• Maude / Neon - Mandi Symonds
• Corporal Buscombe / The Intelligence - Sam Clemens

Worldbuilding

• Neon's collection contains:
  • A glitter gun.
  • The remains of Valderon's control sphere.
  • A mecha suit containing a man who's head was said to have been frozen when he died.
  • Two copies of Edvard Munch's The Scream.
  • The Seasons by Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
  • In a sealed vault is one of the few extant pictures containing the Red Lady.
• After checking Soho for civilians, Captain Knight and his team move into Bloomsbury.
• Erin and Maude hide away in the vestuary at St George's.

Notes

• This story is concurrent with the novel Fear of the Web. During the course of that novel, it is mentioned that Captain Knight disappears for a time into Soho with Corporal Buscombe.
• This story takes place before the Second Doctor's involvement in TV: The Web of Fear.
• Referencing the UNIT dating protocol, one in-universe explanation for the UNIT dating controversy, River cuts Captain Knight off before he can reveal the year this story is set in.

Continuity

• River sees one of the multiple paintings of "The Scream" by Edvard Munch. She recalls that one of these paintings contained the Warp Core. (AUDIO: Dust Breeding) She also mentions how it reminds her of something she can't remember. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut, Day of the Moon, The Wedding of River Song)
• The Relic Room also contains a glittergun (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen, AUDIO: The Tyrants of Logic) and the remains of Valderon's control sphere. (AUDIO: Prisoner of the Ood)
• River is also pointed to a sealed vault containing one of the only remaining pictures of the Red Lady. She and her guide agree that it is best they do not enter it, or look upon that image. (AUDIO: The Red Lady)
• River has recently borrowed the Doctor's TARDIS without him knowing. (TV: The Husbands of River Song; AUDIO: Whodunnit?) While there, she read through one of his old diaries. River says the Doctor's diary was very thorough at this point in time. (TV: The Power of the Daleks, The Tomb of the Cybermen, AUDIO: Survivors in Space)
• The Great Intelligence shows its ability to possess dead bodies. (TV: The Abominable Snowmen, The Web of Fear, et al.)
• River references UNIT's dating protocols, and mentions the difficulties which arise when trying to work out specific years in this era. According to River, UNIT had to invent whole new dating protocols after an encounter with a displaced time traveller. This is referring to Puncheon and the events of AUDIO: The Split Infinitive.
• River mentions living on the streets as a child. (TV: Day of the Moon, Let's Kill Hitler)
• River mentions how only one woman survives the London Event: Anne Travers. (TV: The Web of Fear)

External links

• Official The Web of Time page at bigfinish.com