The Becoming (audio story)
The Becoming was the fourth story in the audio anthology, The Memory Bank and Other Stories, which comprised the two hundred and seventeenth release in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Ian Potter and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Mark Strickson as Turlough.
Publisher's summary
A young woman climbs a perilous mountain in search of her destiny. The Doctor and Turlough save her from the monsters on her trail – but what awaits them in the Cavern of Becoming is stranger, even, than the ravening Hungerers outside.
Plot
The Doctor and Turlough arrive in an unmapped section of the Pandana system and the Doctor insists they be the "first" to explore. The Doctor spots irrigated land below the stormy mountain environment they've landed in, suggesting intelligent life and they decide to go there to get shelter from the storm. Meanwhile, Waywalker is guided by the voices of "Spring" and "Autumn". The voices lead her to a nest and tell her to open the ambricore (yellow fruit thing). The voices leave her and she calls out to them but gets no response... until the Doctor arrives just in time to save her from falling off the branch of the life tree where she obtained the fruit. Waywalker reveals she needs the ambricore for her "becoming". Just then they hear voices which are identified as entities called the "Hungerers", which begin to surround them, preparing to hunt them. The three try to head down after Waywalker asks the old ones (voices) for advice. The Doctor manages to cause a landslide to stop the creatures pursuing them, however, Waywalker ends up breaking her leg. Waywalker explains that she needs to get to the "Cavern of Becoming" before the ambricore goes off otherwise she will fail. The Doctor consents but convinces her to first let them gather some material to create a crutch support for her injured leg. They depart but just then Waywalker catches up and it is revealed she is quickly self-healing although they do not know why.
They ask her why she is doing this and she reveals that the "ritual of Becoming" is how they learn what they should "become" in their society and their identity is based upon they path they take. They travel to the Cave of Becoming.
When they arrive, Waywalker is instructed to break the ambricore and drink the fluid inside, which the Doctor realizes is the same as the "jelly" substance surrounding them, called the "Pathmaker". Waywalker walks into the large gelatinous mass and although Turlough tries to stop her, the Doctor prevents him and insists she be allowed to follow her own directions and they should not interfere with what the Doctor sees as a natural process. The Doctor surmises that the two have a symbiotic relation and that those that enter the Pathmaker are absorbed into the tree and are remade into ambricore. Turlough, against the Doctor's warnings, thinks something is wrong and dives in to save her. Once brought out, she reveals that the Pathmaker attacked her and rejected her because the voice of the elders did not leave her.
Cast
- The Doctor - Peter Davison
- Turlough - Mark Strickson
- Waywalker - Kae Alexander
- Elder/Spring Voice - Ian Brooker
- Autumn Voice - Suzann McLean
References
Notes
- This story was recorded on 26 or 27 May at The Moat Studios.
Continuity
- The Doctor refers to the fact that the Tractator invasion of Trion etched itself onto the racial memory of the Trions. (TV: Frontios)
External links
- Official The Becoming - The Memory Bank and Other Stories page at bigfinish.com
