Pandora (audio story)
Pandora (identified on the cover simply as Chapter Seven) was the third story of the second series of Big Finish's Gallifrey audio series. It was written by Justin Richards.
Publisher's summary
"The APC-Net stores the preserved brainwaves of dead Time Lords... But not all our thoughts are pure and innocent."
A rogue TARDIS that should not exist... A mutilated, comatose Time Lord who cannot be identified... A new castellan desperate to make his mark... Evils of the past, events of the present, and echoes of the future conspire to destroy the very heart of Gallifrey's civilisation.
Only Romana can understand it — but she is haunted by her own ghosts. Only Leela can sense it — but she has unfinished business. Only Braxiatel can stop it — but he cannot begin to guess the personal cost.
With both Narvin and Darkel waiting for Romana to make a mistake, the President must take decisions that will change Gallifrey forever. And an ancient evil is ready and waiting for just that moment...
Plot
The broken man is transported to the Capitol, where Narvin has Hallan put him in a stasis vessel and taken to containment. K9 Mark I tells Leela that this is necessary due to the pathogen being presumed to be hostile to Time Lord physiognomy.
Romana, Braxiatel and Wynter are joined by the delayed Narvin to discuss the current situation. K9 Mark II disconnects from the Matrix and suggests that the log of the version of the broken man's TARDIS on Gallifrey be checked for a record of making the flight to Davidia. This has already been done and showed no such journey but, whilst the journey could have been wiped, Wynter realises that the use of the presidential codes would be noted in the temporal flight recorder.
Romana has K9 send the codes to Wynter's personal Matrix data storage as she cannot access the Matrix herself until the K9s have successfully sealed Pandora back into the APC Net in the partition into which the dark thoughts of dead Time Lords are siphoned. Pandora had been the dominant force within this partition until somebody released her and made a connection between her and Narvin.
To avoid the pathogen being passed on to other Time Lords, K9 Mark I is given the task of entering the air-locked containment room and examining the broken man whilst Leela observes. K9 lowers the stasis field and begins his work.
Darkel enters Romana's office unannounced and demands to know why she was not informed sooner about the broken man being taken into containment given that she is in charge of the investigation. Both Narvin and Wynter disagree, each believing that it belongs in their separate jurisdictions. Romana decrees that Darkel with serve in an advisory matter to whoever she decides to be in charge, ordering the bickering Narvin and Wynter to leave. Darkel says that Narvin would be the better choice, but Romana agrees with Braxiatel that Wynter needs an opportunity to gain experience.
Gillestes makes her final message, believing that Braxiatel might suspect her. She has a concentrated mixture which she will soon disseminate in diluted form and bring about the end of the Time Lords.
Braxiatel again tries to convince Romana to make him Chancellor, an act that would strengthen her position but which she believes would look like centralising power. He will remain her unofficial second and head of the Academy; on that topic, he mentions a student from the Princessipality of Yevnon who he is worried about as her Matrix behavioural projection flagged her as subversive and he believes that he tried to download his Matrix access codes. Romana is not concerned, remarking that all students are subversive.
Wynter, most of whose men are in the Vaults looking for Andred, comes to containment to observe K9 and learns from Leela that the broken man has died. K9 informs Wynter that his observation is not necessary and says that the broken man's injuries came from a focused laser weapon at high intensity but low power. Wynter supposes that somebody did not want him to be able to communicate, having crushed his hands and removed his tongue, but K9 lists a myriad of other ways that he could have communicated before entering his coma. He believes that the injuries were to prevent identification.
K9 Mark II informs Romana that the Pandora partition is now fully operational, although part of Pandora could have escaped and entered another mind. As there is no evidence of this, K9 says that there is no reason to worry. Romana is instead worried about who released Andred, sent him to free Pandora and gave him the necessary codes.
K9 Mark I cannot say whether the broken man was infected with the infection before or after he was injured but, having completed his examination of the injuries, he prepares to analyse the pathogen. Wynter says that this is not a priority and that he should instead work on identification.
to be added
Cast
- President Romana - Lalla Ward
- Leela - Louise Jameson
- K9[1] - John Leeson
- Inquisitor Prime Darkel - Lynda Bellingham
- Cardinal Braxiatel - Miles Richardson
- Coordinator Narvin - Seán Carlsen
- Andred - Andy Coleman
- Castellan Wynter - Ian Hallard
- Commander Hallan - Michael Cuckson
- Pandora - Brenda Longman
- Gold Usher - Nicholas Briggs
- Student Gillestes - Lucy Beresford
- Cardinal Valyes - Steven Wickham
- Time Lords - John Ainsworth, Nigel Fairs, Toby Robinson
References
- The broken man is transported to TARDIS Bay 9.
- Gillestes is part of the group from the Princessipality of Yevnon.
- Braxiatel has the Matrix run a behavioural projection for each of the students from off-world.
- Braxiatel believes that Gillestes tried to download his Matrix access codes from an Academy terminal.
- K9 attempted to use the unique artron activity in the broken man's brain to identify him.
- Darkel tells Romana that Braxiatel has been breaking the First Law of Time and making contact with his past and future selves.
- Andred found Gillestes attempting to contaminate the Capitol's water supply in the name of Free Time.
- Wynter considered threatening Gillestes with a mind probe.
- Braxiatel gets appointed to the position of High Chancellor.
- Braxiatel appoints Leela as temporary Castellan due to the absence of Wynter.
Notes
- Pandora was recorded at the Moat Studios.
- Nicholas Briggs reprises his role as the Gold Usher from Auld Mortality.
- This story was released on CD. It is now available as a download only.
Continuity
- Braxiatel previously revealed to Narvin that he had been supplying his future self with artefacts for his collection. (AUDIO: Lies)
External links
- Official Pandora page at bigfinish.com
- Pandora at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
Footnotes
- ↑ Leeson plays both K9 Mark I and K9 Mark II.
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