The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel (audio story)

The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel
Main character(s):	Benny
Featuring:	Mycroft, Peter, Straxus
Main enemy:	Septimus
Main setting:	London, May 1893
Key crew
Publisher:	Big Finish Productions
Writer:	Jim Smith
Director:	Nigel Fairs
Producer:	Eddie Robson
Music:	David Darlington
Sound:	David Darlington
Cover by:	Adrian Salmon
Release details
Story number:	43
Number of parts:	1
Release number:	3
Release date:	September 2008
Format:	1 CD
Production code:	BFPCD43
ISBN:	ISBN 978-1-84435-328-6
Bernice Summerfield
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The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel was the forty-third Bernice Summerfield audio story released by Big Finish Productions. It was the third story of the ninth season and introduced Straxus, a Time Lord who would go on to appear in several Doctor Who audio adventures, most notably - The Eighth Doctor Adventures. It was also notable for incorporating elements original to the Faction Paradox series, principally the Cwejen, introduced in The Book of the War.

Publisher's summary

Diverted to Victorian London by persons or powers unknown, twenty seventh century archaeologist, adventuress and inadvertent absent mother Bernice Summerfield finds herself beset with problems of a kind that those unused to time-travel could barely even imagine.

What are the plans of the mysterious Lord Straxus? Who is Ludvig Cooray and what has the number seven to do with all this? Can Bernice acquire the help of Mycroft Holmes, the cleverest man of the age, and more importantly how is she going to get home?

Plot

Travelling back to her spaceship using her Time Ring, Benny unexpectedly finds herself in Regent's Park Zoo in 1893 with her Time Ring no longer functioning and lies her way into the Diogenes Club to employ Mycroft Holmes's help, Sherlock supposedly having died at the Reichenbach Falls and Watson on holiday with his wife, Mary. He knows of her as he has read the unpublished copy of Watson's The All-Consuming Fire and deduces her identity based on her manner of speaking, her strange clothes, vocabulary and attitude and her mention of Menaxus, so he agrees to help her and lets her stay at his home.

Benny decides to attract the attention of those who monitor time by changing it and, in the meantime, accompanies Mycroft to the mortuary, learning that there has been a series of murders all involving the number 7 but otherwise apparently unconnected. Having previously thought that he might be inventing a pattern where there was not one, he has now received a visiting card containing only the word "seven" written in different languages and in both Arabic and Roman numerals. Benny recognises the corpse as that of the zookeeper at Regent's Park. Over the next few days, they solve cases together and are watched by Straxus and Septimus.

Mycroft explains to Benny that Straxus runs Straxus Imperial, which auctions off antiquities, and that he has been keeping an eye on him in Sherlock's absence given his possible criminal connections and likely involvement in the disappearance of a German aristocrat in Ceylon. Unbeknownst to the two of them, Straxus is an extraterrestrial with a malfunctioning Time Ring which has drawn Benny here, trapping her with a consular lock, so that he and Septimus might escape, having been stranded for some time. Septimus is able to use Straxus's ring to steal Benny's as she sleeps, but it does not work and Straxus takes it apart to find out what is wrong, coming to the conclusion that there might be a genetic lock. Benny soon becomes aware of the theft.

Septimus knocks out Benny, who mistakes him for Chris Cwej, and takes her to Straxus at the Langham Hotel. She realises that Straxus is a "lord of the temporal variety" and learns that Septimus is actually one of the Cwejen, being one of the seven clones of a seventh clone of Chris. Brother Seven, the only other surviving member of the seven clones, brings Mycroft in at gunpoint and the two Cwejen impale Straxus, revealing that they revere the Pale God Mr Seven, a figure from Chris's memories, and have been committing the recent murders to attract his attention. By making Mycroft process the matter whilst in contact with Benny, space and time have been subtly transformed by quantum mnemonics and they will soon destroy London with a bomb so that Mr Seven will come to rescue them.

Straxus replaces his body and deactivates the Cwejen with the code word "fidelio". Benny finds the bomb in a box with Mycroft's help and uses the now-charged Time Ring to throw it into the sea, after which she finds herself in a bubble in the Vortex with Straxus, who has his old face. He explains that he is from a point prior to his face changing, that he noticed the changes to time being made and that he saved her life by pulling her from her time stream before the bomb's explosion to avoid further changes. His next incarnation is locked up and the two Cwejen awaiting dissection to ensure no others go insane as they did. Straxus gives Benny a new Time Ring to keep and recommends that she makes a few "house calls" before she returns home, also assuring her that his people will do something about Braxiatel if necessary.

Benny returns to 1893 and, dressed in 19th century garb complete with a parasol, invites Mycroft to take her to dinner so that she can answer his many questions. He says that it would be a pleasure.

Cast

• Bernice Summerfield - Lisa Bowerman
• Peter Summerfield - Thomas Grant
• Mycroft Holmes - David Warner
• Straxus - Peter Miles
• Septimus - Simon Kingsley

Worldbuilding

• Mycroft Holmes works at Her Majesty's Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
• Straxus runs Straxus Imperial.
• Straxus hosts an auction at the Langham Hotel.
• Straxus thanks Colonel Sanderson.
• Oscar Wilde drinks madeira and eats seed cake paid for by Straxus.
• Straxus auctions items from Egypt, Ceylon and South America.
• Benny writes in a moleskin notebook with a fountain pen.
• Henry VII was Earl of Richmond.
• Bernice's time ring deposits her in the London Zoo. Not knowing anyone else in London, she seeks out Sherlock Holmes and John Watson. When that fails, she goes to the Diogenes Club, looking for Mycroft.
• Mycroft mentions his brother Sherringford.
• Benny drinks tea.
• Mycroft's lawyers are Tulkinghorn's.
• Straxus mentions Judge Simon "The Butcher" Jones.
• The Carlton Club is a few doors down from the Diogenes Club.
• Straxus sells antiques at Devesham, Walmington, Casterbridge, Tarminster, Condicote and Frambourne.
• Three Cwejen appear. They are clones of Chris Cwej created by the Time Lords.
• The Cwejen argue that Mycroft Holmes and Bernice have made their abstract plan to summon "Mister Seven" more concrete and real, via quantum mnemonics.
• Straxus regenerates.
• Straxus ponders if Bernice is "a Factional" or "a Transuranic".

Notes

• This story was recorded on 25 February 2008 at the Moat Studios.
• This marked the first appearance of the Time Lord Straxus and the first time story elements of Faction Paradox were incorporated into a Big Finish production.
• A download version of this story was released on 23 May 2022.

Continuity

• Benny previously met Sherringford Holmes, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson whilst aiding the Doctor in defeating an alien posing as the Old One Azathoth. (PROSE: All-Consuming Fire, AUDIO: All-Consuming Fire) She later met Holmes and Watson once more at her wedding to Jason Kane. (PROSE: Happy Endings)
• Bernice mentions the planet Menaxus. (PROSE: Theatre of War, AUDIO: Theatre of War)
• Bernice last encountered Chris Cwej in PROSE: Twilight of the Gods.
• Bernice was given her time ring in PROSE: Happy Endings.
• Bernice travelled to 1893 from prehistoric Earth. (AUDIO: The Adolescence of Time)
• Another incarnation of Straxus met the Eighth Doctor and his companion Lucie Miller on two occasions. (AUDIO: Human Resources, AUDIO: Sisters of the Flame / The Vengeance of Morbius) His next incarnation sent the Eighth Doctor to No Man's Land in France during World War I at the behest of the Lord President of Gallifrey. (AUDIO: The Great War)
  • Straxus would again oppose his next incarnation in the future. (AUDIO: X and the Daleks)
• Straxus knows that Benny has met the Cybermen before. (AUDIO: Silver Lining, Professor Bernice Summerfield and the Crystal of Cantus)
• Bernice and Mycroft later deal with repercussions of Straxus' activity on Earth in PROSE: A Gallery of Pigeons.
• Oscar Wilde, another resident of the hotel, met the Doctor on several occasions (COMIC: Bat Attack!, Dead Man's Hand, PROSE: The Scarlet Empress, The Gallifrey Chronicles, AUDIO: The Sword of the Chevalier)

External links

• Official The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel page at bigfinish.com
• The Adventure of the Diogenes Damsel at the Doctor Who Reference Guide