Tempest (audio story)
Tempest was the second story in the audio anthology Incursions, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Lisa McMullin and featured Jemma Redgrave as Kate Stewart and Ingrid Oliver as Petronella Osgood, James Joyce as Josh Carter and Warren Brown as Sam Bishop.
Publisher's summary
When the planet's weather systems start behaving strangely, Osgood is worried. Soon, she and Sam Bishop are heading to a remote Scottish island where an eccentric old woman speaks to the wind itself.
Meanwhile, Kate Stewart visits a deep-sea oil-rig where strange things are afoot. A tempest is coming, and it could be disaster for the entire world.
Plot
Osgood looks at a report from meteorology and sees that hurricanes are predicted in the Arctic and tornadoes across Greenland. This reminds Sam of a call he received earlier from Mother McCracken about wind talking to her; he calls her back and records the sound of an extraterrestrial SOS signal coming from her chimney, which he then plays for Kate. She agrees that they can fly to the Outer Hebrides to investigate whilst she goes to an oil rig in the North Atlantic where the same message is being given in Morse code and drawing the workers into the water.
The aeroplane loses its engines and, according to Osgood, a cloudy hand steadies it and guides it to land safely. Sam is sceptical, however. They meet Mother McCracken, whose owl, Dougal, attacks Sam and gives him a nosebleed. The voice speaks through the chimney and Osgood and Sam are almost sucked up it before it suddenly stops. The news reports that a train was derailed by winds in Canada and that there have been similar occurrences in Russia, Japan and mainland Europe, which Osgood believes must be connected.
Kate meets Joel Sanders and Barney Thorpe, the latter of whom tells her that people are being drawn not by the lights but by voices and a strange sensation. She is joined by Josh and has him get everybody inside when an oddly-behaving waterspout makes a whirlpool strong enough to threaten the rig's integrity. She assumes command from Sanders, evacuates the rig and sends a probe into the sea after detecting electromagnetism likely caused by a crashed spacecraft also causing the lights.
Osgood wonders if the voice is trying to get them up onto the roof and goes with Sam to the attic. He climbs through a skylight and onto the roof where the wind grabs onto him and he sees coordinates carved into grass nearby which Osgood sends to Kate. The coordinates, Kate finds, correspond to where she is searching for the spaceship. Osgood accesses UNIT's digital archive and learns of the Animoi, a benign race who start using Mother McCracken's voice to ask for help. She informs Kate, who is unable to move the ship without damaging the air pocket keeping it stable.
Kate comes up with a plan to release the ship's life pods by having the Animoi create an atomic sub-vacuum using an air belt, but Sanders sends Barney and his other men to plant explosives to destroy the ship. Osgood and Sam ask the Animoi to do this and the plan is successful, the explosives not having been planted, and the Animoi are freed. A rescue ship arrives and takes the life pods aboard, after which Osgood and Sam remain at Mother McCracken's cottage to help her tidy up.
Cast
- Kate Stewart - Jemma Redgrave
- Osgood - Ingrid Oliver
- Lieutenant Sam Bishop - Warren Brown
- Mother McCracken - Alexandra Mathie
- Joel Sanders - Chris Jarman
- Captain Josh Carter - James Joyce
- Barney / Animoi - Hywel Morgan
Worldbuilding
- Sam suggests that they wear Scooby Doo costumes to Josh's party. He says that Osgood would make a good Velma.
- Osgood eats a lot of kale.
- Sam mentions The Wizard of Oz.
- Dougal is Mother McCracken's owl. He killed her cat.
- Mother McCracken is not expecting her brother to visit until Pancake Day.
- Mother McCracken used to help her mother polish an old dresser on Saturday mornings.
- Mother McCracken's husband is in Aberystwyth.
- Osgood has read the files on the Big Bad Wolf.
- The Animoi are a peaceful species. They have delicate ethereal bodies, but powerful psychic abilities which allow them to harness and control the wind.
Notes
- Tempest was recorded at WiseBuddah in November 2018.
Continuity
- Sam mentions that he and Osgood have survived Daleks (AUDIO: The Dalek Transaction) and Cybermen. (AUDIO: Code Silver, Master of Worlds)
External links
- Official Tempest page at bigfinish.com
