Innocence (audio story)

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Innocence was the first story in the I, Davros series released by Big Finish Productions.

Publisher's summary

"I find it fascinating that a living creature would subject itself to such dangerous experimentation. Knowing that it would die..."

The Kaled and Thal races are at war. No one really remembers why, or when it started, but generations of people on both sides have lost so very much.

Born into an influential family is Davros. Now aged sixteen, he is being pulled in various directions — his father wants him to follow tradition and go into the military. His sister has joined the Military Youth. And his scheming, devoted mother wants him to pursue a life of science.

But no one seems terribly interested in what Davros himself wants. So he must begin to assert himself, begin to take control over his own life, begin to work towards his destiny...

Plot

Davros is returned to Skaro where he is informed that he is on trial by the Daleks. Angrily demanding to know what crimes he is accused of, he soon learns that it is a test rather than a courtroom trial. There is a schism within the Dalek ranks, conquests are failing and wars are being lost.  They require his direction to restore them to their former glory. He is furious at how low they have fallen, as they were created unbeatable and have the potential to be absolute but are now ghosts of what they once were. He agrees to plan a new destiny for the Daleks, but to learn what's needed for their future, he first needs to think about what's gone before...

On the battlefields of Skaro, Captain Brogan oversees the execution of several Kaled soldiers who, under strain and exhaustion, had panicked and deserted their posts. The event is witnessed by Colonel Nasgard, who dismisses them as traitors. He believes the strictest discipline must be maintained at all times in order to make the world a safer place for their children. Nasgard's children, Davros and Yarvell, mean everything to him and he'd willingly die or kill to protect them. 

At a busy social function, Lady Calcula, personal assistant to Councillor Quested, is engaged in a heated debate about the war. She believes the war is a useful way of keeping people out of trouble as it creates full employment and provides the young with skills and opportunities to progress... should they live long enough to take advantage of them. Councillor Quested arrives and tells her that the Council has been summoned to an emergency meeting and he needs her to deal with any enquiries on his behalf while he's away. As he leaves, Calcula is joined by the lecturer Magrantine, who wishes to finalise the syllabus for Davros's education. Magrantine is being paid a huge sum to give her son the best start in life, which he offers his services for free to teach the young prodegy, but Calcula refuses to be indebted to him. She suggests that he discuss the syllabus with Davros instead as only he knows what subjects will interest him.

Yarvell, under insuructions from Tashek, is sent to find Davros as it would soon be dark. She is shocked to find him swimming in the water of Drammakin Lake, as they've been warned that all sorts of things could be living in there. She has no interest in other life forms and finds the shelled creature he found at the bottom of the lake disgusting. Davros maintains that there's more to Skaro than just Kaleds and Thals, no matter what outward shape life takes. 

Colonel Nasgard receives a communiqué from central command, relieveing him of his duties with immediate effect and promoting Captain Brogan to the rank of Major. He is aware that Brogan went over his head by reporting on Nasgard's health problems and his erratic behaviour, to which Brogan respond that he was acting for the welfare of everyone, including Nasgard himself. Nasgardaccepts that Brogan acted out of good faith and admits he would have done the same if their positions were reversed. Nasgard then hands over his pistol and orders the Major to shoot him as per military protocol and his right to an honourable death on the battlefield. Brogan though refuses as the he could still live for some time and can now spend it with his family.

Davros is angry with his mother for arranging extra lessons for him, especially from Magrantine, as he finds the man irritating. Yarvell calls him ungreatful and she wouldn't mind extra lessons, but both Davros and Calcula agree that Yarvell is not destined for a future of academic excellence. As argument begins between Tashek and Calcula begins over her work in politics and her responibilities to her family, a Military Elite cruiser arrives outside, carrying their father. Calcula soon realises her husband has been forced to retire after his health finally let him down. Davros coldly asks him if he'll be dead soon and when Yarvell objects, Nasgard simply comments that such honesty is refreshing. He assures Davros he still has plenty of fight left in him, but Brogan believes he's pretending his health is better than it actually is. For Nasgard, the war is over and Brogan hopes he too will see an end to it in his lifetime. Calcula criticises his blind faith and points out that unless they gain a tactical advantage over the Thals, nothing is ever going to change and soldiers will continue to perish. Brogan believes the war will be won by politicians, but Calcula disagrees, believing the war will be won by scientists and by technological developments. Davros states that he wants to be a scientist to help bring the war to an end, but Nasgard objects strongly, insisting that Davros train as a soldier and follow in the family tradition, while also telling Davros to strive for what he wants to do.

Calcula receives a communication from Quested telling her that the members of the House of Congress have been recalled to the city for a crisis meeting; he thinks it likely they'll be seeking to negotiate peace with the Thals. He recommends she bring her family with her to keep them safe, but she argues that her husband is too ill. Quested is surprised to learn that Major Brogan is staying with them and demands that Brogan report to him first thing in the morning. The next morning, as Yarvell says goodbye to her father, Calcula finds Davros by Drammakin Lake. He's cradling the body of a dead bird which fell from the sky, and he's curious because nothing dies of old age on Skaro. He thinks it was contaminated by some kind of poison in the air, which means the poisonous chemicals must be coming closer. It may not be long before the lake itself is affected.

Calcula takes her children to meet Magrantine, who welcomes Davros back to the school. He offers to give Davros a guided tour of the education complex after which they can discuss the syllabus. Davros is hostile to the teacher and objects strongly to being addressed as “my boy”.

Back at their home, Nasgard tells his sister he can hear a strange noise, but she can't hear anything unusual and assumes that because he's been away for so long, his ears are sensitive to every sound the house makes. He's upset by her insinuation that he's imagining things and he accuses everyone of conspiring to make him believe he's ill when he's not. She tells him he's been ill for many years, since before Davros was even born, but he claims that can't be true as he sired a perfectly healthy child. She breaks the news to him that he isn't Davros's real father. Nasgard is shocked and doesn't believe her, but she tells him the poisons in his body had already done their work before Davros was conceived and he'd long been incapable of producing any more children. She saw his medical records when she was a nurse and the evidence proved conclusively that he was sterile. Calcula knows that Tashek has discovered the truth, which is why she's always hated her so much, but in return Tashek hates Calcula for not having the courage to tell Nasgard the truth and for putting Davros ahead of Yarvell at every opportunity. Nasgard thinks he can hear the noise again, but this time his sister hears it too. As they search, Nasgard asks if she knows who Davros's real father is, but before she can answer, they find a strange-looking device that was hidden in the communicator room. Nasgard realises straight away what it is but before he can do anything, the device suddenly explodes.

At the end of the tour of the education complex, Davros befomes fascinated with the radiation chamber used to analyse the effect of different levels of radioactivity on a variety of materials, including living animals. Although he doesn't actually disapprove, he questions the teacher's right to subject any sentient being to such dangerous experimentation, knowing that it will die. Magrantine points out that a scientist must keep his emotions and his work separate from each other and that most of the greatest discoveries throughout history were made at the cost of someone else's pain and suffering. Nothing matters more than the truth and sacrifices must sometimes be made in the search for scientific enlightenment. He asks Davros if he's ready to make sacrifices...?

Yarvell is devastated by the news of her father's death. Major Brogan tries to comfort her by pointing out that Nasgard and Tashek were at the centre of the blast and wouldn't have suffered. Yarvell can't understand who would want to kill him, but Brogan says there are millions of Thals who'd want him dead, not to mention the odd Kaled. She swears vengeance on the people who committed this crime and he notes sadly that this means the cycle of violence will continue as each side seeks to avenge what the other has done. He tells her there are better ways to strike back, and the best of these is not to strike back at all. Yarvell warns Brogan that he's starting to sound like a pacifist, but he says he'd prefer to be called a peace activist or just a soldier with a conscience.

Magrantine returns to the classroom and finds Davros reading up on some of his old experiments. He's interested in finding out more about the mutated plants mentioned in the reports but Magrantine explains that they were deemed too dangerous by the Council and he was ordered to destroy them. Both he and Davros agree the councillors were fools as there was a lot of potential in the plants, but Davros has been able to break the code in which Magrantine wrote the records and can prove the teacher disobeyed his orders. Magrantine offers Davros his condolences and the boy realises he's trying to change the subject so he suggests continuing with their experiment. He asks whether anything has survived inside the radiation chamber and Magrantine invites him in to see for himself. As they enter the laboratory, Davros is immediately struck by the smell of scorched flesh and Magrantine explains that prolonged exposure to radiation causes alterations to the genetic make-up, including both internal and external mutation. Alas, the subjects rarely survive and certainly not for long. Davros realises this makes it impossible to know what the ultimate form of such mutation takes and for the first time Magrantine understands that his student regards the experiment as a form of evolution. The teacher offers to go inside the chamber alone as the effects of the radiation are still a little unpredictable, but Davros insists on seeing the results of the test for himself.

In the House of Congress, an air-raid siren signals the evacuation of the building. A Thal missile is heading for somewhere east of the city centre in the vicinity of the education complex, where Davros is. The Thal missile hits and although it is not nuclear, the damage to the education complex is considerable. Davros pulls Magrantine to safety, who insists they leave immediatly instead of waiting for rescue parties as there may be other missile targeted.  They walk miles and eventually stop for a rest on top of a hill overlooking the city.  Magrantine urges him to look to the other side of the hill to the desert was where his son was murdered - by Davros's father! The teacher pulls out a gun and explains that his son was executed after being accused by Nasgard of running away. Davros refuses to be blamed for his father's actions, but Magrantine is angry that someone else killed Nasgard before he had the chance to do it himself. He thinks the bomb was too quick and that Nasgard didn't suffer enough. Magrantine wanted him to lose every member of his family, one by one - starting with his innocent little boy. This is the real reason he offered to give Davros unpaid tutorials if necessary, to get close to him. Davros is disappointed as he thought Magrantine was genuinely interested in his intellectual development, but the teacher assures him he is and he actually regrets the loss of such a promising young life. His own son always wanted to be a scientist too, but he lacked Davros's intelligence and died as a humble and now disgraced Corporal. Magrantine's personal ambitions died with his son and all he has now is the desire for revenge, but Davros points out that if he gives in to his emotions he will cease to be a true scientist. Davros suggests there are things he can learn from Magrantine that he would never have been able to teach his own son. Eventually, Magrantine agrees and Davros takes the gun, just in case he changes his mind.

They return to the laboratory which is still intact. Davros assures Magrantine the incident is already forgotten and he'll say nothing of it to his mother. Magrantine and his radiation experiments are too important to him and there's still work to be done. Davros will need his teacher to explain the next batch of test results, but Magrantine hasn't even selected the subjects yet. Davros points out that several people were killed during the missile attack and a number of others were injured and are close to death. He suggests their research would be better served by a study of how radioactivity affects the Kaled metabolism and they could use the near-dead as test subjects. The information they learn will provide greater long-term benefits for their people in the event of a nuclear war. Magrantine agrees readily and says the hospital can supply them with their next 'volunteers'.

Councillor Quested accompanies Calcula to watch her daughter's first participation in an execution squad. Yarvell was hand-picked by the Council from the Military Academy. She's been told that a traitor has been discovered and was also involved in her father's death. She is horrified to learn that it's Major Brogan. He protests his innocence but Calcula insists that Brogan had the motive, method and opportunity to murder Nasgard. Brogan calls out that his only crime was to want peace, but Calcula twists his words so they appear to be a confession. 

Later, Davros returns home and finds Yarvell alone. She tells her brother that Calcula is attending a meeting at Quested's apartment. Davros tells her he wanted to speak to their mother about the execution, but he can talk to Yarvell instead as Major Brogan was her friend. She still believes the wrong man was executed and no longer knows whether she wants to be a soldier if it means having to kill innocent people. She tells Davros that Brogan only wanted to help find a peaceful solution to the war and her brother wonders if that means the Major would have agreed to help him too. She thinks he would, so Davros asks her to find out whether he can have Brogan's body for medical research as it would be such a waste if his body was just burned or thrown away. Yarvell is horrified at the suggestion and pushes Davros away, calling him a sick, cold-hearted monster. She screams at him and tells him she no longer regards him as her brother.

Quested proposes to Calcula as she was unhappy in her marriage to Nasgard and has two children to provide for with dwindling finances. He also wonders if Davros should finally be introduced to his real father, as he is now old enough to understand, but Calcula is worried he'll resent her for keeping the truth from him for so long. 

Magrantine wants a living body for their next experiment because their last 'volunteer' died too quickly to be of any real use. Magrantine asks him to collect some samples from outside the radiation chamber, but once he's stepped outside, Davros slams the door shut, trapping the teacher inside. He tells Magrantine that he wants to find out what happens to living healthy tissue when the radiation is set to maximum power. His teacher demands to be released and threatens to tell Davros's mother, but Davros plans to visit her right now at Quested's apartment and tell them Magrantine committed suicide over the death of his son. He leaves the laboratory, ignoring the desperate banging on the chamber door.

The argument between Quested and Calcula is becoming heated as the Councillor insists Davros has the right to know who his real father is. Calcula believes this would hurt her son as the lineage of Nasgard is held in high regard by Kaled society and she doesn't want that reputation tainted by scandal or gossip. However, Quested argues that although he's respected her wish to say nothing about their relationship for the last 16 years, it was always understood that should the situation change they'd be able to form a more permanent and visible partnership. Calcula laughs and says she never felt they'd have anything other than a working relationship, which Quested finds amazing as they had a child together. He's worried Davros will believe his mother became pregnant simply to further her own ambitions. He tries to persuade her they have nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to hide, but she tells him she's gone to a great deal of trouble to cover her tracks. It was useful that Major Brogan shouldered the blame for the deaths of her husband and his increasingly indiscreet sister, but perhaps he was an innocent scapegoat for the real spy - Quested has been making a number of "diplomatic" visits to the Thals in recent years. Calcula reminds Quested of a quote he made recently - even if there isn't a spy, it might be useful to invent one, just in case... It suddenly dawns on him that Major Brogan was executed purely on Calcula's evidence and that she condemned an innocent man. He grabs her and demands to know how many other people have died because of her. At that moment, Davros arrives and orders him to leave his mother alone. Quested assures Davros he wouldn't hurt either of them, but Davros pulls out Magrantine's gun. The Councillor reveals that he is Davros's father, but the boy refuses to believe it and shoots Quested dead before he can say anything more.

Davros takes his mother back to the laboratory and shows her the mutated form of Magrantine inside the radiation chamber. The teacher is still alive but in a barely recognisable state and he pleads with Davros to kill him. Calcula is horrified - does Davros have no idea how difficult it is to find a good tutor? To have survived in there for this length of time, Magrantine must be stronger than he looks. Calcula thinks it would have been better if he'd perished, but Davros disagrees - it's better if he lives so he can help with Davros' further experiments. Just then, the air raid sirens begin again, but Calcula assures her worried son that this isn't the end - it's the beginning... 

Cast

References

  • Davros' family consists of Colonel Nasgard (who is, in actuality, his stepfather as opposed to his biological father), his half-sister Yarvell and his mother Calcula.
  • Quested is Davros' biological father and a member of the Council of Twelve.
  • Calcula is a member of the Kaled House of Congress.
  • Davros' home is beside Drammankin Lake. The ancestors of his stepfather Nasgard's family have lived on the property for centuries.
  • Colonel Nasgard is a senior member of the Military Elite.
  • Major Brogan is also part of the Military Elite as well as being a peace activist.
  • Yarvell is part of the Military Youth.
  • When Kaleds are exposed to radiation and begin to mutate, their rib cages becomes tendril-like.
  • Magrantine's son was killed by Nasgard.
  • Davros places Magrantine within his radiation chamber, mutating him. He is subsequently dumped in the radioactive wastelands.
  • Skaro's moons are Falkus and Omega Mysterium. During Davros' youth, they could be seen clearly from his stepfather Colonel Nasgard's house on Drammankin Lake. Elsewhere on Skaro, they were obscured by the high levels of radiation in the atmosphere.

Notes

Continuity

External links

v • e
Big Finish I, Davros series
Series 1
Series 2
audio stub
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