The Eternal Battle (audio story)

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
RealWorld.png

audio stub

The Eternal Battle was the second story in the sixth series of The Fourth Doctor Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright and featured Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, Lalla Ward as Romana II and John Leeson as K9 Mark II.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

The TARDIS has landed in a war zone. The Doctor, Romana and K9 find themselves traipsing through an inhospitable battlefield. Strange lights flicker in the sky, and stranger creatures lurk in the darkness.

When rescued from an attack by a Sontaran tank, the time-travellers discover they’re facing a far more dangerous foe than the battle-hungry clones. This terrifying fight has been going on longer than anyone can remember... and shows no signs of stopping.

With the TARDIS missing and their luck running thin, the Doctor and his friends’ only hope of survival is to uncover the truth about what is happening on this planet. If they can discover the secret of the eternal battle they might just survive... but it might just mean the end of them all.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Part one[[edit] | [edit source]]

En route to the Lake District, the Doctor, Romana and K9 find themselves on a desolate, rain-sodden world along with a squad of battle-weary Sontarans.

The Sontarans are fighting a campaign on two fronts: Against crazed, undead humans on one side, and crazed, undead Sontarans - their former allies - on the other.

Strange lights appear sporadically in the sky, but the Sontarans seem completely unaware of them.

When the TARDIS goes missing, the Sontarans agree to join forces with the time travellers.

Using a Sontaran communicator, the Doctor is able to detect chronon pulses coming from the likely relocation of the TARDIS - behind enemy lines. The Doctor and Major Stom set off in a Sontaran tank to retrieve it.

Meanwhile, Romana and K9 examine the recently deceased body of Sontaran trooper Varn, detecting some sort of time element to the zombie disease. As they continue the examination, the undead Sontaran suddenly reanimates and attacks.

The Doctor and Stom arrive at their intended location, but instead of finding the TARDIS, they find a transmitter - a projection node - buried in the mud.

A platoon of human soldiers suddenly appears, and their leader gives the order to execute.

Part two[[edit] | [edit source]]

Using the projection node, the Doctor transports himself and Stom to a control centre operated by the Sycon - alien beings from the far, far future.

The Sycon have time-looped hundreds of battles and skirmishes throughout history, to teach their society the futility of war.

However, after operating for thousands of years, the battle matrix is out of sync. Instead of the time-bubbles being reset, the dead combatants are respawning as undead monsters.

The TARDIS is also at the Sycon control centre. When it detected it had landed in a time bubble, it activated emergency maneuvers, then contacted the Doctor through the time bubble's projection node.

Lenk rescues Romana and K9 from the undead Sontaran, while the human soldiers requisition the abandoned Sontaran tank and launch an attack on the Sontaran base. Lenk resolves to destroy the entire base in a bid to wipe everyone out.

The Doctor reveals the truth to the Sycon AI - the Sycon themselves were wiped out in a war long ago, their planet too is now just a desolate wasteland.

The Sycon resolves to shut down the time-bubbles, destroying all within. The Doctor convinces the Sycon AI to instead deactivate itself, saving the combatants within the bubbles.

The Doctor and Stom rescue Romana and K9 before the Sontaran base explodes.

Stom and the survivors of the time bubbles must now make the abandoned Sycon planet their new home. Stom allows himself to be rendered unconscious by the Doctor, allowing the time travellers to leave in peace.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Time technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

Sontarans[[edit] | [edit source]]

Sayings[[edit] | [edit source]]

Sycons[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Textless cover.

to be added

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]