Omega (BFM audio story)

Omega
Script release:	The Audio Scripts: Volume Four
Doctor:	Fifth Doctor
Main enemy:	Omega
Main setting:	Sector of Forgotten Souls
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Nev Fountain
Director:	Gary Russell
Producer:	Gary Russell, Jason Haigh-Ellery
Music:	Russell Stone
Sound:	Gareth Jenkins
Cover by:	Clayton Hickman
Release details
Number of parts:	4
Release number:	47
Release date:	27 August 2003
Format:	2 CDs Download
Production code:	6E/A
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-029-2 (physical) ISBN 978-1-84435-766-6 (digital)
Main Range
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Next →	Davros
Production order
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Omega was the forty-seventh story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Nev Fountain and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Ian Collier as Omega.

It was the first audio story in a rough tetralogy of single-word title stories featuring each Doctor from Big Finish's range; aside from the Eighth Doctor story Zagreus, each features an individual from the TV series. The next story was Davros, followed by Master.

Publisher's summary

A strange telepathic message prompts the Doctor to travel to the Sector of Forgotten Souls, a place where, thousands of years ago, Omega's ship vanished whilst detonating a star.

He's not the only one journeying towards it. Jolly Chronolidays prides itself on giving its tourists an experience of galactic history that is far better than mere time travel.

Its motto is, "We don't go into history, we prefer to bring history to you".

When Omega's ship suddenly materialises in front of their shuttle, and one of their employees goes insane and tries to destroy his hands...

...suddenly it's not just a motto any more.

And Omega — and his madness — is closer than they think.

Plot

Part one

A lady's voice introduces a story about a "foolish Time Lord" who was stopped by a "Heroic Time Lord" Before she begins the story, she asks whether somebody could do something for her...

Daland and Tarpov, embodying roles of Omega and Vandekirian respectively, rehearse their lines for their upcoming performance as part of the crew of Jolly Chronolidays, while Sentia makes an announcement, telling guests that they are nearing their destination, and reminding them not to use infra-temporal flash photography.

The Doctor is on board as a guest and he speaks with Glinda and Maven, two other guests who talk about how they prefer luxuries when they go on travelling experiences, rather than enjoying the locations themselves. As they speak, Sentia makes another announcement, stating that they are entering the Sector of Forgotten Souls. She goes on to explain that this is the location Omega completed his mission to detonating the star of Jartus and giving Time Lords the unlimited energy for time travel. She continues and states that his ship, the Eurydice, was caught in the resulting black hole, dooming Omega. She then states that there are stories and superstitions that the ship was caught between universes, and would reappear every hundred years to lure unwary travellers to their own doom.

As they pass the moon of Kavelron, there is a loud thunder-clap sound. Sentia tells passengers not to be alarmed, and that they are just going through a bit of galactic turbulence. The Doctor rushes through to the cockpit, to warn Sentia of the danger, believing that Omega’s ship is returning. Sentia begins to scold him for being in a restricted area, before recognising the Doctor. She tells him not to worry, and she makes another announcement, apologising to the passengers, and stating that the interactive heritage centre has appeared, fashioned like the Eurydice. The Doctor realises he was mistaken. They go into the heritage centre.

Dalan and Tarpov begin their performance for the guests. They depict Omega and Omega’s assistant, Vandekirian. In their performance, they show that Vandekirian is in fact planning to betray Omega on the orders of Rassilon. When Sentia continues this explanation to the guests, however, Tarpov contradicts her as Vandekirian, stating that Rassilon was an “innocent party” to Vandekirian's own plans. Sentia and Dalan try to get Tarpov back on script, before they fall back into the rehearsed production.

Later in the play, they depict Vandekirian's betrayal of Omega, resulting in Vandekirian cutting off his hand in remorse, and Omega cutting off his other hand as punishment. Omega also cuts through Vandekirian's hearts, killing him. Sentia apologises about Tarpov’s outburst to the Doctor, and reassures him that the stories of Omega’s cruelty are false, and that Omega is indeed a hero.

The Doctor heads to a bookshop in the heritage centre, and buys a copy of Omega – The Prodigal Sun. He meets Professor Ertikus, who calls the book rubbish, giving the Doctor a copy of his own book, Omega – The Blackest Star of Them All.

In the crew section of the ship, Daland and Tarpov discuss the performance, while Sentia chastises Tarpov about sticking to the script. Tarpov apologises, but Daland defends Tarpov’s actions as good improvisation skills. As Sentia leaves, Daland and Tarpov begin rehearsing again, Daland encouraging Tarpov to keep improvising. However, Tarpov begins to get carried away, screaming at Daland and brandishing a metal bar. Daland runs away and warns Sentia about Tarpov, while Tarpov remains in the room. Tarpov screams out to Omega while turning on the waste disposal.

Shortly after, Daland and Sentia come into the room, where they see the Doctor with Tarpov’s unconscious body. The Doctor asks for help getting Tarpov out of the waste disposal unit, and they realise that his hand is missing, having gone into the disposal. As the Doctor applies a tourniquet to Tarpov, he wakes up and begins rambling about stopping Omega, mentioning Scintillans.

Sentia explains to the Doctor that this happens every so often. In the Sector of Forgotten Souls, there is a high amount of background psionic energy. This energy can make people susceptible to psionic impulses. Daland confirms this but states he has never seen it reach this level before. The Doctor recalls seeing a medical robot earlier, and Sentia leaves to go get it.

Ertikus enters and sees Tarpov, and the three of them speculate on what may have happened. The Doctor is concerned that there has to have been another person with Tarpov when his hand went into the waste disposal unit, as the controls to turn it off are on the other side of the room, and the system does not turn off automatically. The Doctor and Ertikus get concerned that Sentia has not returned yet, and go off to find her, leaving Daland with Tarpov.

Ertikus and the Doctor discuss how Tarpov is acting out a twisted version of the Omega myth, but neither of them are familiar with the term Scintillan. Ertikus leaves to go through his books on Gallifrey’s history, as the Doctor finds Sentia. He overhears Sentia talking to herself about doing something dangerous to the Doctor, but she tells him he misheard her talking about the medibot. The Doctor introduces himself to Sentia, stating that he is aware she knew who he was before he told her. He is not on the flight manifest, so he asks how she knows him. Sentia responds by pulling a gun out and pointing it at the Doctor, stating that he needs to see Omega. The Doctor does not believe Sentia will shoot him, and leaves.

Back with Tarpov, the medibot enters and advises out loud to leave the area while Tarpov continues muttering to himself. The voice of Omega booms out, saying that Vandekirian will not stop him, because he will kill Vandekirian first.

Part two

The Doctor, unconscious, speaks with Omega through a dream. Omega explains to the Doctor that after his last encounter with the Doctor, he was left formless in a void until he was able to communicate with Sentia, due to her telepathic abilities. Sentia was able to reach out to him, and finally begin to bring him back. Omega claims that he no longer wishes destruction, but wants to return to Gallifrey.

Back on the ship, Daland finds Sentia and tells her that he left Tarpov alone for a minute, and now he has disappeared, along with the Doctor. Sentia injects Daland with a sleeping agent, knocking him out.

The Doctor tells Omega that he is unable to help, as he is not able to enter Omega’s anti-matter universe. Omega ominously states that the Doctor will help him, before the Doctor wakes up to see Sentia. Sentia tells the Doctor that he owes it to Omega to at least try and help him, to which the Doctor disagrees. Ertikus enters the room and draws the Doctor’s attention to Omega’s ship, which has appeared outside. This time, Sentia confirms the ship is real.

The Doctor decides he wants to visit the ship, and asks Ertikus if he can gift the Doctor a lift in his TARDIS. Ertikus is surprised that the Doctor was able to tell he is a Time Lord, but agrees to visit the ship with the Doctor. On the way to the Eurydice, Ertikus explains to the Doctor that Gallifrey thought Omega was a hero until the events of the Doctor’s last encounter with Omega, after which Omega’s public opinion started to falter.

On the Eurydice, the Doctor calls out to Omega, who appears as a psionic projection. He explains he can only do this in the very sector of space they are in. Omega convinces the Doctor to help repair the ship, and the Doctor begins troubleshooting the engines. At Omega’s suggestion, the Doctor connects the dimensional stabilisers of Ertikus’ TARDIS to the Eurydice, and continues working on the engines.

Meanwhile, Ertikus is exploring the Eurydice while recording memos. He sees something shimmering on the walls. He investigates, and a silvery, semi-transparent creature appears. The word “Scintillan” is whispered in the air, and Ertikus asks the creature what Omega means to them. The creature responds with the word “death”.

The Doctor realises that the Eurydice’s cipher indent mechanism requires the crew’s symbiotic imprint. As he works to make a bypass, he and Omega discuss Omega’s legacy on Gallifrey. The Doctor tells Omega he is still revered as a hero of time and one of the great founding fathers of Gallifrey. Omega asks if his statue in the academy is still there, the Doctor answers that it was damaged in an invasion and removed.

The Doctor explains that Omega remains one of his personal heroes, however in comparing them together, Omega becomes enraged that the Doctor was forgiven for his crimes while he himself is not. He tells the Doctor that he has been in The Matrix, and knows that he is both feared and pitied.

Ertikus begins being chased by the semi-transparent creature, and he runs into the room with the Doctor and Omega. He does not see Omega, but tells the Doctor about the Scintillan. As he leaves to continue exploring, the Doctor asks Omega about the Scintillan, but does not get a definitive answer. Sentia’s voice comes from the speaker, trying to make contact with Omega.

Omega then reveals that he has tricked the Doctor into making the Eurydice inhabitable for Sentia to come aboard. Sentia reveals that she and Omega are to be married, with Daland being forced to perform the wedding service.

Tarpov comes into the room with Sentia, and grabs the microphone, confronting Omega. Omega identifies Tarpov as Vandekirian , and demands that he face him. Tarpov says he will defy Omega, just as Omega defied “them”. Tarpov attacks the intercom.

Part three

After destroying their communications, Tarpov tells Sentia about the Scintillans, who were “already dead”. Sentia tells Tarpov, still believing himself to be Vandekirian, to leave in order to save himself. As he leaves, Omega enters, asking Sentia what Tarpov told her. Sentia tells Omega that Tarpov did not tell her anything.

The Doctor talks to Omega and states that their deal only entailed Omega’s return to the anti-matter universe, not Sentia’s. When Sentia asks, the Doctor and Omega explain that they are in a sector of space in which only Time Lords can survive, the only reason any others are alive is due to the dimensional stabilisation of Ertikus’ TARDIS. Sentia suggests bringing all the guests with them to the anti-matter universe instead of stranding them, but the Doctor refuses.

The Doctor and Daland go to look for Tarpov, but instead find Glinda and Maven. Daland surmises that they must have been in the first-class lounge and found their way onto the ship when they docked. The Doctor takes them back to the shuttle before rejoining Daland in the search for Tarpov.

As they search, Daland explains to the Doctor that when they left Tarpov alone earlier, they returned to find the medibot destroyed, and a body dragged from the room. The Doctor suggests that a person attacked Tarpov, the medibot attacked the person, then another person dragged the initial attacker out of the room. They finally find Tarpov, who is laying on the ground. He has been stabbed and his remaining hand removed. They realise that this event also happened in the legend of Omega and Vandekirian.

Sentia and Omega discuss bringing the guests to the anti-matter universe, before the Doctor comes in and confronts Omega about Tarpov’s death. The Doctor states he is going to collect Glinda and Maven and take everybody back in Ertikus’ TARDIS. Omega laughs and reveals that Glinda and Maven are now locked in the heart of the dead ship. Omega has also somehow stolen the remote activator held by the Doctor.

As they speak, the Doctor turns on the intercom, leading Daland and Ertikus to overhear. Ertikus barges in on Omega, Sentia, and the Doctor, demanding to speak to Omega. Omega appears to Ertikus and states that he killed the Scintillans because he was mad. Omega then kills Ertikus. The Doctor scolds Omega, telling him that Ertikus was on his last body, and cannot regenerate.

The Doctor leaves to find Daland, and explains that he has taken part of the telepathic circuit from Ertikus’ TARDIS. It acts as a smaller scale matrix, with the idea that it may be able to store Omega in the same way it stores thoughts. The Doctor also reveals he used the circuit to contact the Time Lords, who may be able to come soon and help.

Meanwhile, the Doctor enlists the help of Daland and Sentia to set up the wedding ceremony in an attempt to draw Omega out into the open. Omega, however, does not appear. Suddenly, Daland becomes aggressive to the Doctor, acting the same way as Tarpov. As this happens, the Doctor realises that every instance of a gun so far has been the very same flare gun owned by Sentia. The Doctor realises now that he is in fact the person who killed Tarpov. Daland confirms this by playing a tape showing the Doctor’s actions.

As the Doctor realises he has been acting as Omega this whole time, another TARDIS materialises. Out of this TARDIS comes The Doctor, who introduces himself.

Part four

The Doctor, stepping out of the TARDIS, identifies that Omega has been using his own face. Omega explains that he used the Doctor’s biodata to gain access back to this universe. Sentia goes on, however, to say that his has also given Omega two minds, his own and that of the Doctor’s.

As the Doctor tries to get the location of Glinda and Maven from Omega and Sentia, they all hear a ship docking onto the Eurydice. At the same time, Ertikus’ TARDIS begins to dematerialise, causing Daland and Sentia to feel dizzy. The Doctor explains that since Ertikus’ TARDIS is powering the dimensional stabiliser, if it leaves, everyone except for himself and Omega will be torn apart. While the Doctor and Daland try to convince the TARDIS to stay, it does not, and the Doctor quickly sets up the dimensional stabiliser in his own TARDIS.

Meanwhile, Omega is shifting between dreams. In the first, he hears Lord Cardinal Luvis scolding him on his paper at the academy. Luvis states that theory written by Omega, currently named Peylix, to detonate a star in the Sector of Forgotten Souls is ludicrous, and gives him an omega, the lowest theoretical mark. In the second dream, Omega and Rassilon climb Mount Plutarch, before seeing that the capital is on fire. Rassilon tells Omega the revolution has begun. In the third dream, Omega speaks with Vandekirian, who tells Omega there are life forms of Scintillans orbiting Jarvis Twelve, and detonating the star would kill the entire species. Omega tells Vandekirian that it would take too long to find another star to detonate. In his last dream, another Time Lord tells Omega that Vandekirian was found trying to cut off his hands. Omega states he needs the handprint of every crew member to activate the symbiotic link on the ship, and takes Vandekirian's second hand.

The Doctor sets up the TARDIS scanner to track psionic energy, and sees that there are no actual Scintillans on the ship, they are more energy created by Omega. Sentia wakes Omega up, and he tells her about the Scintillans. She states she does not care, and still loves him, but this only angers Omega, attacking her and leaving.

The Doctor soon finds Sentia, and she releases all the guests on the ship. The Doctor tricks them all into following him into his TARDIS, and soon Omega appears to confront the Doctor. Omega tells the Doctor he feels guilt about the Scintillans, but the Doctor tells Omega this is unfounded, as the Scintillans were in fact accidentally killed by the Doctor in the past. Omega just believed that he had killed the Scintillans because his mind had merged with the Doctor's.

Sentia is heard over the intercom, and she says she is about to take them to Omega's universe. While the Doctor does not wish to leave Sentia and Omega on the ship, Daland takes initiative and believes they need to save the guests, and he dematerialises the TARDIS himself. Sentia and Omega are sent back into Omegas' universe.

Speaking with Maven, the Doctor leans she is from the Celestial Preservation Agency, and they came here to ensure the Doctor's accidental killing of the Scintillans is not found out, as there is a museum dedicated to the Doctor in the future, and they do not wish for his legacy to be tarnished.

The Doctor asks Maven how this story will be presented in the museum, and she introduces a story about a "foolish Time Lord" who was stopped by a "Heroic Time Lord" Before she begins the story, she asks whether the Doctor could give her an autograph.

Cast

• The Doctor - Peter Davison
• Omega - Ian Collier
• Sentia - Caroline Munro
• Professor Ertikus / Luvis - Patrick Duggan
• Daland - Hugo Myatt
• Tarpov / Rassilon - Conrad Westmaas
• Zagreus - Jim Sangster
• Maven - Faith Kent
• Glinda - Anita Elias
• MediBot / VidiBot / Scintillans / Mugging Machine - Gary Russell

Crew

• Cover Art - Clayton Hickman
• Director - Gary Russell
• Executive Producer - Jacqueline Rayner
• Music - Russell Stone
• Producers - Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery
• Sound Design - Gareth Jenkins
• Writer - Nev Fountain

Worldbuilding

The Doctor

• The Doctor mentions that he is almost nine hundred years old.
• The Celestial Preservation Agency state that the Doctor is a great hero of their time in Gallifrey's history.

Energy and radiation

• There is a high level of psionic radiation in the Sector of Forgotten Souls. It occasionally drives people mad.

Organisations

• A member of the Celestial Preservation Agency arrives in what appears to be a Type 103 sentient TARDIS.

Time Lords

• Rassilon was a Prydonian and stole all of Omega's glory for himself.
• Omega ignited the star of Jartus in the Sector of Forgotten Souls where time itself is oldest to get mastery over time.

Spacecraft

• Omega's starship is an Omegan sunskipper named the Eurydice.

Notes

• This story marks the first appearance of Omega in an audio drama, with Ian Collier reprising his role as the titular character.
• The Doctor is sitting in seat 6E on the tour shuttle. 6E is the production code for Arc of Infinity.
• This audio drama was recorded on 4 and 5 February 2003 at the Moat Studios.
• An illustrated preview for this story featured in DWM 334 with artwork by Martin Geraghty.
• In January 2020, Omega was provided as a free gift to purchasers of DWM 547, along with Davros and Master, as part of the so called Classic Villains Trilogy with a brand new cover.
• This story is set between Arc of Infinity and Snakedance.

Continuity

• Omega last appeared in PROSE: The Infinity Doctors.
• Omega refers to the Sontaran invasion of Gallifrey. (TV: The Invasion of Time)
• While the Doctor is dealing with Omega in the Sector of Forgotten Souls, his companions Nyssa and Tegan Jovanka spend several days on holiday in Amsterdam in January 1983 before the three of them travel to Florana. (AUDIO: The Waters of Amsterdam, The Elite)
• The Doctor would later visit the "elephants' graveyard" of TARDISes in the company of Peri Brown and Erimem. (AUDIO: The Axis of Insanity)
• After Rassilon stole Omega's plans to make time travel possible for Gallifreyans, he used them to create the Eye of Harmony, utilising the limitless power of a collapsing star suspended in time. (TV: The Deadly Assassin, Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS)

Cover gallery

• 

  Original CD cover

• 

  Classic Villains Trilogy 2020 cover (DWM 547 digital promo)

• 

  Classic Villains Trilogy 2023 cover

• 

  Illustrated preview from DWM 334 by Martin Geraghty

External links

• Official Omega page at bigfinish.com
• Omega at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• DisContinuity for Omega at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide