The Defectors (audio story)
The Defectors was the 198th story in Big Finish Productions' Doctor Who monthly range. The beginning of the "Locum Doctors" trilogy, it partnered the Seventh Doctor with Third Doctor companion Jo Grant.
Publisher's summary
Jo Grant is shocked to find most of her colleagues are missing. Then she discovers that the Doctor has inexplicably changed.
But there’s little time to worry about it all, as she and her misplaced Time Lord friend are whisked to the mysterious Delphin Isle on a matter of national security. There, they encounter a disturbingly odd form of local hospitality and learn of a highly classified incident that took place during the Cold War.
Why exactly have they been brought here? And what is the truth concerning the bodies in the harbour and the vast project being undertaken under a cloak of secrecy?
Plot
Part one
Jo Grant watches from a window at UNIT HQ as a helicopter lands. Thinking it might be the Brigadier, she calls out to the Doctor, who is in his laboratory. Upon hearing odd sounds from the TARDIS, she assumes that he is busy working on it. Jo notices a lot of soldiers coming out of the helicopter. As she still can't get any response from the Doctor, she decides to go talk to Mike Yates, who is standing in for the Brigadier, while he is in Geneva.
However, upon reaching his office, Jo is surprised to find Mike gone, and a Captain Cornelius in his place. Cornelius explains that Mike has been relieved of duty, and is now at a top level security briefing in London. All UNIT personnel have been evacuated from UNIT HQ and Cornelius has orders to take the Doctor and Jo to a secure location. As Jo proclaims that there's no way that they'll convince the Doctor to go along with it, she opens the door to leave the room, only to find the Doctor outside the room. However, instead of it being the Third Doctor, the Seventh Doctor is the one who is standing there.
Meanwhile, at an unknown location, Shedgerton is standing in some sort of daze, mumbling to himself. A group of soldiers approach him, led by Commander Wingford, who convinces the dazed and confused Shedgerton to return to the base with him, for a matter of national security.
Back at UNIT HQ, Jo questions the Doctor on what is going on. But, the Doctor is just as confused as she is, having no idea what has just happened. Jo suspects that it might be another incident, like the one where she met the First and Second Doctors, but now she's meeting a fourth Doctor. The Doctor reveals he is the seventh incarnation, and that none of his other selves are here. He has no idea what is going on, not even if it's interference from the Time Lords. Jo is suspicious now, questioning whether this strange man in front of her really is the Doctor.
Cornelius joins the conversation, somehow recognizing the Seventh Doctor. He tells the Doctor that he and Jo will be moved to a secure location. The Doctor asks Jo what is going on, but she has no idea. When the Doctor tries to object to being taken away, Cornelius' soldiers aim their guns at the duo, leaving them with no choice but to go along to the helicopter. As the two are taken away to the helicopter, Cornelius goes and confirms the location of the TARDIS.
The Doctor is curious what took Cornelius so long to join them in the helicopter, but he gets no answers. As the helicopter lifts off, Jo notices a lorry arriving at UNIT HQ. Upon question Cornelius, he decides it's time for hoods to be put on the two, so they can't see anything further.
Meanwhile, Shedgerton, still confused and dazed, is in his room at the base, when he is visited by Wingford. Wingford recommends for Shedgerton to go to Level Zero-One.
Back in the helicopter, three-and-a-half hours later, the Doctor wakes up Jo, who fell asleep. He predicts that they're about to land. His prediction is proven correct, as the helicopter lands a minute later. Jo is still suspicious of the Doctor, as he hasn't explained anything about his presence, but the Doctor has no explanation to give.
The hoods are removed from their heads, revealing that they are now on an island, somewhere. Cornelius leads them to a village on the island, where the two will spend the night at the pub called The Delphin Arms, before coming to the base the following morning. The Doctor finds this all suspicious, since he and Jo were urgently required to come to the island, but now their time is being wasted at a pub. Cornelius just states he's following Commander Wingford's orders.
Inside the pub, the Doctor reveals that he noticed that Cornelius was wearing makeup. The pub's owners, Claire and Jeremiah, welcome the two, having been expecting them. They reveal that the island is Delphin Island, before getting the two some beer.
Meanwhile, Cornelius is contacted by Wingford, who wants to know if the Doctor and Jo are happy. Cornelius reveals that the Doctor is suspicious of them, but Wingford is convinced that they'll be happier by tomorrow. Cornelius asks Wingford about what is going on in London, and Wingford reveals that all security protocols are still active and that they shouldn't have any trouble before they are ready. Wingford then asks for Cornelius to keep an eye on the pub.
Back in the pub, the Doctor and Jo find that the beer tastes horrible, and that the food is nothing more than canned food. They pretend to enjoy it to keep the pub owners at ease. After the meal, the two are taken upstairs to their bedrooms by Claire, who surprises them by referring to them by name, even though she didn't know their names earlier. The Doctor goes into his room, but Jo lingers outside for a little longer, having noticed that the bar has gone silent. Once inside her room, she pulls out a transceiver that she had concealed, and contacts Mike.
Meanwhile, Cornelius reports in to Wingford, who is monitoring the conversation between Jo and Mike. Mike has no idea what's going on, as he's been unable to get any answers, nor has he been able to contact the Brigadier. Before Jo can tell Mike much of anything, Wingford jams the signal. He's not worried, as he's sure the Doctor and Jo will adjust to being there.
Back in her room, Jo tries and fails to reestablish contact with Mike. The Doctor walks in, revealing that they were talking loud enough for him to hear from his room. Jo decides to question the Doctor on his identity and tests him. He answers all her questions correctly, but she is still not fully convinced. The Doctor and Jo leave the room to go investigate a few places.
Their investigation of the pub reveals that the food was indeed canned food, and that the beer was years old and would've probably killed them if they had drank the full pint they had been given. The two head to the harbour, to investigate the boats there. They sneak past the soldier standing guard outside the pub, but they notice he is acting oddly, just staring at nothing. Upon reaching the boats, they find something in the water. Looking closely, they realize that there are bodies in the water, the bodies of the people who were in the pub, all of them dead.
Part two
The Doctor and Jo quickly rush to pull the body of Jeremiah out of the water. The Doctor checks his pulse and confirms he is dead. The Doctor also notices an odd detail. The bodies of the people are blue, too blue than what would be expected of drowned bodies. The soldier from the pub arrives and pulls his gun on the duo, somehow not seeing the dead bodies. Cornelius arrives and takes charge of the situation. When the Doctor and Jo point out the dead bodies, Cornelius notices them, and is horrified. He quickly orders the soldier to go get some help. Cornelius proclaims that he'll inform the local police officer, who will then get help from the mainland. When asked by Jo exactly where the help will come from, he refuses to answer, proclaiming it to be top secret. He assures them that a full investigation will occur, but help won't be able to arrive on the island until Thursday, which is five days from now. He promises to see if they can get help to arrive sooner than that.
The soldier from before returns with other soldiers. Cornelius orders them to get the bodies out of the water and to a hospital, where they might be saved. Jo is perplexed by that, as the people in the water are likely beyond saving at this point. The Doctor is curious how the locals are able to cope with all of this, but Cornelius tells him that they all agreed to this. The people and the village are here as camouflage for the base. The Doctor notices that no one has come out of any of the houses to see what is going on, but Cornelius states that the villagers know not to ask questions. Cornelius decides it's time for the Doctor and Jo to go to the base. As the two are being taken away, the Doctor notices one more thing, now that the sun has come up. The boats are old, rotten, and falling apart, which means no one has been using them for a long time.
Meanwhile, a soldier at the base knocks on the door of Shedgerton's room, who's locked himself in, refusing to go to Level Zero-One. The soldier leaves to go get a passkey to get into the room. Shedgerton continues the mumble to himself.
In his office, Wingford receives a call from an unknown individual. Wingford assures his caller that a vital component will soon arrive from the mainland. He also assures the caller that the security protocols that he had activated are still active and unquestioned, and that the Doctor and Jo are being brought to the base right now. He is then instructed to have all nonessential personnel wear security masks. He admits that the Doctor and Jo are becoming suspicious, but there's nothing the two could do now to ruin things.
The Doctor and Jo are brought to a pool of water and get on a boat. The boat is rowed to a specific area of the pool. Cornelius contacts the base and tells them to activate it. They are suddenly pulled downward in a whirlpool, revealed to be a secret water elevator.
The soldier returns to Shedgerton's room and opens the door, only to find that Shedgerton has disappeared. He contacts Level Zero-One and confirms that Shedgerton didn't go there.
The Doctor and Jo are brought into the base, and Cornelius leads them towards Wingford's office. Watching them from the shadows is Shedgerton, who mumbles to himself about how the Doctor and Jo are new people who haven't defected yet. The Doctor notices the workers wearing anti-radiation gear. Cornelius tells them it's to protect them from radiation, but doesn't say what kind or where it's coming from.
Back in his office, Wingford receives another call. It's the soldier, telling him that Shedgerton has disappeared. Wingford orders he soldier to find him and make sure he goes to Level Zero-One. A knock on the door forces him to hang up. Cornelius enters the room with the Doctor and Jo. Wingford welcomes the two to the base. He offers to have some tea made, but the duo jokingly respond that would rather have sour beer and lukewarm canned food, which confuses Wingford. He expresses his sympathies for what they experienced at the harbour, with discovering the dead bodies. The Doctor asks him if anything like this has happened before. Wingford assures him that nothing of the sort has ever happened. Jo asks if the police have been informed about the bodies, to which Cornelius says that they have. Jo then asks when he informed them, as he was with the two of them the entire time. Cornelius quickly states that he told his sergeant to take care of it.
Jo invokes her security clearance as a member of UNIT and asks that she and the Doctor be told what's going on in the base. Wingford surprisingly agrees. He arranges for Jo to be taken on a tour of the facility, while the Doctor is to remain with him, as he has much to discuss with him. The Doctor states he wants to also go on the tour, but Wingford wants the Doctor to look over some things in the office, before joining Jo on the tour. Jo would rather have the Doctor come along with her, but Cornelius tells her that the Brigadier is anxious to see her. The duo are surprised to hear that the Brigadier is on the island, when he should be in Geneva. According to Wingford and Cornelius, he arrived shortly before they did.
The Doctor asks to speak with the Brigadier. Wingford agrees and Cornelius calls Level Zero-One, asking a worker there to put the Brigadier on the line. Cornelius apologises for the static, as the signal in the base isn't good in the lower levels. The Doctor talks to the Brigadier, who apparently recognizes the voice of the Seventh Doctor, but the signal cuts out. The Doctor suggests that Jo stay here with him, but Cornelius is against it, as there is a tight schedule to follow. Jo questions that, as their time was wasted by going to the pub. Wingford promises that the duo will get their answers and insists that Jo go with Cornelius to see the Brigadier, while the Doctor remains with him. The Doctor finally agrees, stating that he doesn't believe they have a choice. The Doctor asks Jo to pass a message to the Brigadier, apparently a joke between the two of them. Wingford is confused at the idea of a joke for a moment, but then proclaims that the joke was amusing. He then begins to tell the Doctor about the base.
As they walk along, Jo asks Cornelius how long he's been working on the island. Cornelius tells her he's been working there for a long time, and that's all he'll tell her. However, he has now been authorised to tell her about the base. The base was established back during the Cold War, as a top secret debriefing safe haven for high ranking defectors, the kind of high ranking defectors they wanted the Soviet Union to think had vanished or died. An island no one knew existed was the perfect place to hide them. Cornelius leads Jo to an elevator, which they take down to Level Zero-One.
Back in Wingford's office, he continues to tell the Doctor about the base. Back in 1951, an experimental Soviet craft crash landed in the sea, just off the island. They recovered the craft and pilot, who was a defector. According to Wingford, that defector is still alive and on the island. He is helping Wingford and the others to repair his craft, which the Doctor finds odd, considering that 1951 was years ago. The pilot is old now, and on life support down at Level Zero. According to the medics, he doesn't have long to live. The Doctor realises he was brought here to help repair the craft. The Doctor wonders why all this secrecy was used, instead of them asking him directly. Wingford says that he wanted the Doctor to be comfortable. The Doctor calls that into question, bringing up the poisonous beer and the horrible food at the pub. A pub whose owners along with all of their customers end up dead in the harbour. Wingford is confused about the beer and food, and states that what happened to the people was most regrettable. The Doctor asks him whether he believes it was mass suicide or mass murder, but Wingford doesn't have an opinion on the matter, and is strangely focused only on the task at hand. The Doctor asks him how experimental the crashed Soviet craft is. Wingford tells him that its drive mechanisms are unique on this planet.
Jo and Cornelius arrive at Level Zero-One. Cornelius guides Jo to an airtight door, to which he tells her will lead to the room that the Brigadier is in. Jo can hear his voice through the wall, and goes into the room, only to find it's an empty chamber. Cornelius suddenly closes the door behind her and locks it, trapping her inside. As she bangs on the door, demanding to be let out, a sticky, blue liquid starts pouring into the room.
Wingford shows the Doctor the drawings they made of the craft's drive systems. The Doctor notices how highly advanced those systems are. At that time, another call comes in for Wingford. It's Cornelius, reporting that Jo is with the Brigadier now.
Back in the chamber, Jo fights to stay above the liquid filling the room. A hatch on the ceiling suddenly opens, revealing Shedgerton, who pulls Jo to safety in an air duct. They watch as the chamber fills the rest of the way. Jo wonders what's going on and where the Brigadier is. Shedgerton reveals that the Brigadier was never here. Jo and the Doctor were being tricked by recordings. Shedgerton examines Jo and determines that none of the liquid got into her body. Jo notices that Shedgerton's skin is completely blue. Shedgerton points out that the blueness is beginning to fade, but that it will take a while to completely fade away. Jo wants to know why Cornelius locked her in that chamber. Shedgerton proclaims that everyone is a defector, everyone on the island and in the base. However, the blue liquid has been losing effect as time has gone by, to the point in which Shedgerton's mind began to reassert itself, enough for him to avoid one of his scheduled submersions in the liquid. Upon avoiding that submersion, he found his memories and identity beginning to come back to him. However, his body hasn't fully purged the effects of the liquid yet, so he is still getting bouts of confusion. When he saw Jo and the Doctor arrive, he knew he had to stop them from being turned into defectors. Shedgerton decides to show Jo everything that's going on.
Back in Wingford's office, the Doctor has studied the drawings and has noticed that the drawings aren't quite drawings at all, and that the paper is a very odd material. He's also noticed that the craft is more advanced than any sort of jet airplane.
Back in the ducts, Shedgerton leads Jo to a panel. With her help, he is able to remove it. He gestures for her to look down into the room below. She can see the workers in there, no longer wearing the anti-radiation equipment. They were wearing it before to hide their blue skin. To Jo's shock she recognises two of the workers as Claire and Jeremiah, but that's impossible, as she knows the two are dead.
Part three
to be added
Part four
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
- Jo Grant - Katy Manning
- Captain Yates - Richard Franklin
- Captain Cornelius - Neil Roberts
- Commander Wingford - Barnaby Edwards
- Shedgerton - David Graham
- Europan Leader - Rachel Bavidge
- Europan - Jez Fielder
Uncredited
- Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Nicholas Courtney (archive recording)
References
- Jo mentions Peladon.
- Jo mentions the Time Lords fixing the TARDIS.
- Mike Yates is temporarily standing in for the Brigadier whilst he is in Geneva.
Notes
- This story was recorded on 11 and 12 November 2014 at The Moat Studios.
- The Third Doctor theme tune is used, keeping with the era of the companion rather than the era of the Doctor.
Continuity
- Jo tests the Doctor by asking him why his first three incarnations were brought together. (TV: The Three Doctors) She also tests him by asking him on which planet did she pretend to be a princess. (TV: The Curse of Peladon)
External links
- Official The Defectors page at bigfinish.com
