The Queen of Time (audio story)
The Queen of Time was the second release in the fourth series of The Lost Stories.
Publisher's summary
Somewhere outside our universe, she is waiting.
A god-like immortal, living in a realm of clocks. The hours tick slowly by as she plots and plans. She is readying her trap. A trap for a very special man in a very special police box.
Hecuba has all the time in the world. But for the Doctor, time is running out.
Plot
Part one
The Doctor is piloting the TARDIS towards their next destination while Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot play a game of backgammon. Suddenly there is a loud bang and a woman appears on the TARDIS view-screen and cackles. The Doctor cannot figure out who she is although she seems familiar. An envelope floats towards them which contains an invite. A hand reaches out of the screen and crumples the invitation. The TARDIS mysteriously lands and The Doctor then heads out, followed by Jamie and Zoe.
They enter a corridor filled with many different kinds of clocks and a floor covered in sand. They continue on down the corridor inspecting some of the more peculiar clocks. Zoe thinks she hears footsteps. Continuing on they enter a room full of more clocks. The Doctor and Jamie carefully examine a grandfather clock. Suddenly they hear footsteps as well. Jamie runs off to find the source and the Doctor follows suite. Zoe finds herself all alone. She hears strange noises,and edges towards the clock Jamie and the Doctor were inspecting earlier. It feels warm. The large gargoyle at the top bites her and startled, she retreats and begins to run towards a light. Suddenly the Doctor and Jamie run towards her followed by cuckoos. Jamie diverts them through a door in the hall. They enter what appears to be a great hall with a large fountain.
Zoe notices steps appear from the waterfall and a beautiful woman descends down the staircase. She reveals that she knows the Doctor’s identity. Suddenly she snaps her fingers and the walls fall away to reveal more clocks. The Doctor reveals that the clocks on the wall were once people too who he suspects refused to play the woman’s game. The woman claps and a large clock emerges from the ground with 12 animal faces. The woman asks the Doctor to explain to his companions her “grand chronometer”. Zoe bursts out how the grand chronometer can make time move backwards or forwards. Jamie, meanwhile, becomes entranced by the woman. The Doctor leaves followed by the woman, leaving Jamie and Zoe behind. The hands of the grand chronometer begin to speed up and Zoe and Jamie, in order to avoid being cut down, must jump over the moving hands each time they come around.
The Doctor and the beautiful woman enter a room together. The Doctor tries to explain that the TARDIS is trapped in a time loop but the woman takes no notice. She leads him down a corridor filled with more clocks, and she explains their origins and how each one is someone who failed one of her challenges. She explains that those who arrive here play games and if they refuse or lose they are turned into clocks. The Doctor asks what happens if one wins to which she replies that no one ever wins and laughs maniacally.
Meanwhile Zoe and Jamie attempt to avoid the grand chronometer’s hands while trying to find a way out. Jamie tries to open some of the doors in the room. Zoe wonders why they have ended up here and why the woman knew the Doctor.
The woman takes the Doctor to a large room with a grand table and cutlery and dishes made of gold. The Doctor asks her if his friends are unharmed and what has happened to them. She reveals a TV screen and shows him the room where Zoe and Jamie are. The chronometer casts metal shards at his friends but they manage to survive while the Doctor is then forced to accept the woman’s challenge. The first challenge revolves around Oysters. They are brought out by strange dragon-like servant creatures. She asks the The Doctor to eat first but he politely declines and emphasizes that the woman should have the first taste.
Meanwhile Jamie and Zoe overhear the Doctor and the woman
through the TV. She asks the Doctor if he knows who she is but before
the Doctor can reply the sound disappears. Suddenly the woman
whispers the names of Jamie and Zoe. She explains that she has
stopped the Doctor’s metabolism and that they have 5 minutes to
find the clock in the room they are currently residing in and which
controls the Doctor’s life in order to restart it. Jamie and Zoe
begin to panic as there are hundreds of clocks that must be checked
while the woman laughs maniacally and reveals that she is Hecuba, the
queen of time.
Part two
to be added
Part three
to be added
Part four
to be added
Cast
References
to be added
Notes
Continuity
to be added
External links
- Official The Queen of Time page at bigfinish.com
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