Primeval (audio story)
Primeval was the twenty-sixth story in Big Finish's main range. It was written by Lance Parkin and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor and Sarah Sutton as Nyssa.
Serving as a prequel to The Keeper of Traken, it was notable for exploring the history of Nyssa's home planet of Traken and the wider Traken Union, as well as for being novelist Lance Parkin's first audio story.
Publisher's summary
Nyssa will die at dawn, and the Doctor doesn't even know why.
To save her life, he must make a desperate journey to the only place in the universe where a cure might exist to heal her.
When even that fails, the Doctor has a choice — let Nyssa die, or make a deal with the devil.
After all, the road to hell is paved with good intentions...
Plot
Part one
The Doctor begs Shayla, a great Trakenite doctor, and her assistant Sabian to help Nyssa, who has collapsed. She is in critical condition. This illness is the same as the one the Doctor tried to fix before by putting her into deep sleep (TV: kinda) and has been causing increased psychic sensitivity. They are 3000 years in Traken's past, so that Nyssa can be treated by an expert on Trakenite biology. Nyssa wakes up, and Sabian agrees to stay with her while the Doctor goes with Shayla to announce his presence on the planet to the Consulate. Consul Hyrca keeps watch while Consul Janneus communes with the source to learn more about the Doctor, finding danger, and a strange pattern across space and time.
Shayla explains that Nyssa has been exposed to evil, and this is acting like a cancer to cause this illness. The Consuls and Shayla discuss perfection and evil with the Doctor. The Traken Union believes they exist in a state of perfection, with leaders chosen among the elite by the elite, and their society and decisions are guided by the Source. Meanwhile on a ship, Anona talks to Captain Narthex, who expressed some doubts about his Lord Kwundaar, who then summons him. However, Narthex tells Anona to go instead. She feels it is an honour, but becomes worried as she enters a room, alone, to the sound of laughter.
Nyssa tells the Doctor that in her time they did not study Traken's history, because surely nothing can be learned from it, but she knows that they must be in the Primeval times. The time before the Keepers, when the Source governed itself, and back when they still had disease and religion. At the same time, Anona is told by Kwundaar that the source is burning him, and enters her mind, telling her that she cannot remember the time before she came to the ship, and must not look at his face. Anona promises to obey him as he declares that he will bring the Traken Union down and destroy the Source. Sabian explains that the Source is a mechanical sun, built to allow Traken to exist in a state of paradise. Hyrca believes the Doctor poses too great a challenge to their authority, a danger to their way of life, whilst Shayla explains that Nyssa has been through so much, and is unlikely to survive more than a few days, while Janneus calls the Doctor "borderline abusive" for putting her in so much danger. They discuss removing the Doctor and Nyssa from Traken to protect their society.
Narthex knows what questions Anona has about Kwundaar because he has them too, describing him as a "living God". He tells Lieutenant Anona that the Source will turn them to stone if they get any closer. Meanwhile, Shayla breaks the news to the Doctor, telling him he must leave by nightfall and pledge never to return, but then Sabian interrupts them, saying that Nyssa is relapsing. Shayla tries to help her relax, allowing her to sleep. She suggests that their only hope may be Kwundaar, with the only way to get there being Captain Kabe.
Sabian begs them not to leave, but they go to the space port anyway. The pair ask Kabe to be smuggled out of the Union, and the Doctor agrees to pay whatever he wants.
Nyssa and Sabian talk about how incredible Shayla is at saving lives, but she isn't convinced when he tells the Consuls that they went to the northern shores. Nyssa's presence is demanded for a meeting with the Consuls, whilst on Kwundaar's ship, the crew note Kabe's approach, believing them to be his agent on Traken. Anona is told telepathically to intercept the ship and do what they will with the passengers. Kabe tells the Doctor and Shayla where Kwundaar is stationed, and that they're basically pirates, splitting loot and worshiping Kwundaar. Some "pirates"- including Anona- intercept them, boarding the ship and killing Kabe. They take the Doctor and Shayla to see Kwundaar. Meanwhile, Nyssa proclaims that the Doctor is in terrible danger and about to die. The Doctor and Shayla find the ship to be old and Kwundaar to be reportedly immortal before the Doctor is sent to see Kwundaar alone. He already knows about Nyssa's condition, and the Doctor tells him that he'll do whatever Kwundaar wants to save Nyssa, then asks Kwundaar to show his face. The Doctor gasps and yells as he sees Kwundaar's face, who is laughing all the while.
Part two
Anona tells Shayla not to see if the Doctor is alright, and Narthex arrives to tell her the same. Shayla confronts the pair about what happened to Kabe, calling them fools for following Kwundaar. They feel no guilt. The Consuls talk to Nyssa, with Sabian still protesting due to her weakened state. They gasp when she calls the source 'just a machine", and accuse her of heresy as they continue questioning her. On the ship, the door to Kwundaar's room opens, and they find the Doctor's hearts beating rapidly as he appears to be unconscious. He awakens quickly.
Meanwhile, the Consuls continue to concoct an idea that Shayla has removed the Doctor from Nyssa's presence to prevent the evil within him from spreading further, and that Nyssa must be disintegrated to prevent the evil from spreading. As Nyssa begins to protest, she collapses once more.
Kwundaar is a powerful telepath, and the Doctor is still trying to figure out what leverage he can have over a seemingly omniscient being in order to get him to save Nyssa. Anona is assigned to watch over Shayla and the Doctor while they're on the ship. On Traken, Sabian is charged with Nyssa's care until the morning, when the Consuls will commune once more to decide her fate for certain. Sabian takes Nyssa to a healing spring to ease her pain while she waits to die. Anona tells the Doctor that she is 18, like Sabian, as they attempt to convince her that Kwundaar is evil. Anona tells of how her parents died because people like the Trakenites refuse to share their medical knowledge with those they deem unworthy. Anona refuses to hear of the outside universe, saying she is happy serving Kwundaar.
Narthex, on the other hand, talks about how working there allows him to provide for his three daughters, doing this for them rather than for Kwundaar's purpose. Nyssa invites Sabian into the water with her, and he explains that the source is what provides this water with these healing properties, as the interface for it is housed below the stream that feeds into this spring. Nyssa seems to think the Doctor is her only hope. The Doctor returns to Kwundaar's room, reminding him that his purpose for being there is urgent. He tells of the security of the Traken Union, even if it is a "guilded cage", and says he will not destroy it, even for Nyssa. Instead of destroying the union, the Doctor is given the combination to the chamber where the source is stored (245680) and told that Nyssa will live if he brings him something from the chamber, but the Doctor isn't sure what.
Shayla adds medical information to the computer on the ship as the Doctor returns to tell her they will leave. However, Kwundaar, speaking through Anona, tells them that Shayla will stay on the ship as a plaything. The Doctor grabs Shayla and runs. Hyrca announces to Nyssa and Sabian, who left the spa where the spring was and found the TARDIS removed, that she will be placed in quarantine until they decide if she needs to be disintegrated. They put the TARDIS in quarantine too, until they can work out how to dispose of it, and say Sabian will also be monitored for signs of illness. Nyssa appears to have been cured by the spring.
The Doctor and Shayla attempt to escape in the merchant ship, but find they can't get to it as it is sealed behind a lock. The Doctor doesn't have his sonic, but is able to guess the correct combination for the lock and get to the ship. They escape Kwundaar's ship. Anona is told that Nyssa is Kwundaar's agent on Traken, and he infected her in the first place, finding her through the evil she'd been exposed to. This is why her psychic potential has been unlocked, and it is his voice she has heard in his dreams. Nyssa has been resisting, and so the Doctor is his real agent, doing what he asks more than Nyssa does. Once he has no more use for the Doctor, he will kill him.
Part three
to be added
Cast
- The Doctor - Peter Davison
- Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
- Shayla - Susan Penhaligon
- Kwundaar - Stephen Greif
- Sabian - Ian Hallard
- Anona - Romy Tennant
- Janneus - Rita Davies
- Hyrca - Mark Woolgar
- Narthex / Captain Kabe - Billy Miller
- Etrayk - Alistair Lock
Crew
- Cover Art - Clayton Hickman
- Director - Gary Russell
- Executive Producer - Jacqueline Rayner
- Music - Russell Stone
- Producers - Gary Russell and Jason Haigh-Ellery
- Sound Design - Gareth Jenkins
- Writer - Lance Parkin
Worldbuilding
- In this era, the Source exists but there is no Keeper.
Notes
- The story is both a sequel and a prequel to The Keeper of Traken.
- All the characters are named after or have names based on mediaeval theologians or aspects of mediaeval theology.
- This audio drama was recorded on 24 and 25 August 2001 at The Moat Studios.
- An illustrated preview of this story featured in DWM 311 illustrated by Lee Sullivan.
- Russell Stone's score for the story was released on the CD Music from the Fifth Doctor Audio Adventures, alongside the scores for The Eye of the Scorpion and Loups-Garoux.
- This story is set between Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity.
- This story was originally released on CD. It is now only available as a download, as well as to stream on Spotify.
Gallery
Original CD cover
Illustration by Lee Sullivan from DWM 311
Textless version of the DWM preview art
Continuity
- This story portrays the planet Traken three thousand years before TV: The Keeper of Traken. It also tells how the Keeper's position came to be.
- This story reveals that Nyssa's collapse in TV: Four to Doomsday and the telepathic powers which she demonstrates in TV: Time-Flight are the results of Kwundaar's manipulations. Seeking to regain control of the Source, Kwundaar needed to use a native of Traken who had left the union. He chose Nyssa. Ultimately, it is the Doctor that Kwundaar wants to use to regain control of the Source.
- Kwundaar knows of Traken's eventual destruction. (TV: Logopolis)
- Nyssa refers to Adric's death. (TV: Earthshock)
- Nyssa had previously considered asking the Doctor to take her to Traken before its destruction on numerous occasions before he actually did so. (PROSE: Empire of Death)
- Nyssa teaches Sabian the Charleston. She had herself been taught the dance by Tegan Jovanka while attending a party at Cranleigh Hall in Oxfordshire on 11 June 1925. (TV: Black Orchid)
- The Doctor alludes to the loss of his sonic. (TV: The Visitation)
External links
- Official Primeval page at bigfinish.com
- Primeval at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- DisContinuity for Primeval at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
