Intelligence for War (audio story)

The Doctor and Liz Shaw investigate a disturbing incident in the quiet Norfolk village of Huncleath, involving a vanishing Nazi soldier. Is time travel technology to blame? And what is the link between the disappearance of the village's wealthiest resident, Francis Teeling, and anti-war campaigners in Cambridge?

As the Brigadier mobilises UNIT, a secret branch of the British military has serious concerns about UNIT's scientific advisor — Dr Elizabeth Shaw.

In the ensuing struggle, Liz must make connections with her past, consider her future and fight against both incarceration and an unusual alien weapon. And try as he might, the Doctor may not be able to help her!

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

The Doctor reads in The Clarion about a Nazi captain invading a pub in Huncleath and, after speaking with landlord Ken Sharp over the telephone, he heads off in Bessie to investigate the possibility of a temporal anomaly. Liz, sceptical of the story in part because of the newspaper's reputation, accompanies him to the pub for lunch and deduces that the Doctor is hoping to use the technology causing the anomaly to get the TARDIS working and leave Earth.

Before the Brigadier can leave for Geneva, he meets with Colonel Matthews of the military's Pinpoint Division and learns that Liz has been flagged for her membership of the Anti-War Alliance when she was a student. The Brigadier has long been aware of this, however, and believes it to be of no concern.

The Doctor and Liz fail to detect an energy signature at the pub and question the locals, coming to the conclusion that Ken is trustworthy and unlikely to have lied. They help Florrie after she claims to have been attacked by a Spanish nationalist and the Doctor theorises that people are being targeted by opponents from wars that they experienced. After calling UNIT, they visit the house of the murdered George and chase a Sylimenta, but Matthews arrives with the Brigadier and arrests Liz for treason.

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

Liz is taken away by Matthews at gunpoint and taken to a secure facility where she is accused of passing confidential UNIT documents, which she claims to have never seen and which have been partially redacted due to them being beyond Matthews's clearance, to an unaffiliated individual. During questioning, they inexplicably switch roles for a time and Liz accuses Matthews of trying to make her think that she has gone insane.

The Brigadier joins the Doctor in his investigation, finding the Nazi in the pub and watching it mutate into the Sylimenta before disappearing. The search continues when reinforcements arrive and the creature is found at Denise Morris's cottage, but the Brigadier orders it to be shot when it attacks the Doctor and it dies after mentioning a case, taking on a human form in death. Ken identifies the body as that of wealthy local Francis Teeling and the Doctor finds a device on Teeling's neck which he reasons is responsible for his transformations, intended to distract from an imminent invasion.

Part three[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor investigates Teeling and speaks with his housekeeper, Bryony Walker, who is initially reticent to discuss Teeling's business but eventually admits that he sold weapons and that some were in a dark green suitcase. She takes him to the stables where Teeling met with his customers and they find piles of clothes belonging to Teeling's security in addition to a device similar to the one found on Teeling's neck. The Doctor supposes that a device other than the one on Teeling's neck backfired and goes to visit Liz whilst the Brigadier regroups.

Liz is freed from her cell by Lincoln Hall and finds herself in a lecture hall where she delivers a talk on asteroids and is asked by her students about what happens to technology acquired by UNIT. She is then accused by the Brigadier of abusing her position in UNIT by passing on information before finding herself in her old college with Lincoln whilst the London Event is being reported on, making her realise that what she is seeing is not real. When the Doctor comes to see her, Liz does not believe that it is really him and tells him that he is not real.

Part four[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor convinces Liz that he is real by pointing out that she is not in a room shaped from her memories as she was with her students, the Brigadier and Lincoln and later informs the Brigadier by telephone that Pinpoint are likely using alien technology. The Brigadier is unable to have Liz released, however, so the Doctor breaks her out using Teeling's device to disguise himself and then transform a guard into Liz to take her place. She is concerned about Lincoln, but learns that she is the only prisoner and that Lincoln has not been arrested as she believed.

Disguised as a guard once more, the Doctor escorts Liz through the facility and gets them both outside using the Time Vector Generator and the rotation of the Earth. The Doctor returns to UNIT HQ after dropping Liz off at her home and the Brigadier confirms the existence of a store of alien weapons obtained by the organisation and the army which Teeling might have been selling illegally. Whilst the Doctor and Brigadier head there and Liz arranges a meeting with Lincoln in Cambridge, Matthews realises that the Liz in the prison cell is not the real one as the externaliser no longer works on her.

Part five[[edit] | [edit source]]

Her hair dyed black, Liz meets with Lincoln and learns that Pinpoint arrested and interrogated him and other members of the AWA. They visit Glenda, a member who avoided arrest as she was in Huncleath taking photographs of Teeling and who took the suitcase after Teeling was transformed and the others in the stable vanished. Liz and Glenda recover it from lecturer Brian Sherborne's house where it was hidden, but Sylvia, who explains to Brian that she is the weapon that was inside the case, alters Glenda's perception so that she does not realise that the weaponry is gone.

The Doctor is suspicious of an inconclusive report on a psychic manipulator and has the Brigadier begin a search for the suitcase. Looking at photographs of the cottage where UNIT cornered Teeling, the Doctor realises that he was transforming into a Mercurian and that Denise must therefore have been familiar with the race despite humanity not having encountered them yet. He heads to Cambridge after receiving a telex, the sender of which he keeps a secret, and the Brigadier is taken by Matthews to assess the facility where Liz was being held per his complaint. When the Doctor meets up with Liz, Lincoln and Glenda, the suitcase is opened and found to contain a bomb.

Part six[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to slow the bomb's countdown, allowing him to defuse it. Glenda recognises a photograph of Denise as a woman whom Teeling met several times in London and the Doctor goes with her to find her whilst Liz and Lincoln head back to Brian's house. Denise affects the Doctor and Glenda's perceptions and suspends temporarily suspends gravity in an attempt to escape them, but she agrees to speak with them in public and admits that she is an Amcynica refugee. She sold Teeling a weapons array which believes that humanity is the enemy because of her order to kill Teeling.

The Brigadier is detained by Matthews, who intends to replace UNIT with a British alternative, and sees false versions of both the Doctor and Liz. Meanwhile, Sylvia, the form taken by the weapons array to fit in amongst humanity, transforms her internal systems to create a combustion engine which she fills with petrol from cars with Brian's help, planning to use her powers to control nearby humans and turn them into foot soldiers to help in Amcynic's war against the Consensus. Liz and Lincoln are chased by Pinpoint and forced to surrender themselves, but Sylvia's power affects the soldiers and Liz and they start chanting in an alien language.

Part seven[[edit] | [edit source]]

Liz snaps out of the conditioning after Sylvia makes an adjustment and she and Lincoln follow the affected people as they walk to a car park and drive away. Brian reveals that Sylvia is looking for a stockpile of weapons which she learnt of from Liz's mind for power and gives Liz and Lincoln his car keys to stop her. Lincoln leaves a message with UNIT for the Doctor, who goes to the bunker with Glenda to meet them and Denise and calls in UNIT. He confronts Sylvia with Denise and is soon followed inside by Liz, whom he left outside with Glenda and Lincoln, after Matthews arrives with Pinpoint and threatens to destroy the bunker.

Liz lets Sylvia look into her mind to see her fears of war breaking out on Earth, convincing her to give up on her plan to help with the Amcynica's war. She releases the Doctor, Liz and Denise as well as those under her control and destroys the bunker, which Matthews and his men enter prior to the explosion despite being warned. The Brigadier is freed and learns that Matthews intercepted the research report on the psychic manipulator and had the scientists build him his own version to help Pinpoint take UNIT's place, a goal which he and the Doctor believe some others might still believe in.

Transported out of the bunker, Denise and Sylvia leave Earth in Denise's spaceship to stop the war against the Consensus. The Doctor and Liz return Lincoln and Glenda to Cambridge and the Doctor confronts Liz about the leaked documents, which she admits she showed to Lincoln to tell him about the bunker. She asks if she was wrong to do so, but he agrees that the contents of the bunker needed to be made public in order to prevent war.

Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cover Art - Sean Longmore
Music, Script Editor & Director - Nicholas Briggs
Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
Producer - Heather Challands
Sound Design - Luke Pietnik and Ellie Nielson
Writer - Eddie Robson
Senior Producer - John Ainsworth

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Ken Sharp fought in the Second World War.
George Finch lives on the road to King's Lynn. He survived the Battle of the Somme.
Florrie Taylor was a nurse in the Spanish Civil War.
The Malnik Empire is formed in the 110th century.
Munro fetches a full platoon after speaking with the Doctor.
The Doctor drinks claret.
Mick is Teeling's driver.
Wendy works for Teeling.
Mrs Teeling is in London and her children at school.
Pete and Russell are Teeling's guards.
Harold Chorley interviews a soldier whilst London is closed because of Robot Yeti in the London Underground.
The Doctor asks if Sir Philip Burkiss-Jones is responsible for the Pinpoint Division.
The Doctor calls the Brigadier from a telephone box on the A142.
Brian criticises Harry Ogleby.
The Doctor uses the Time Vector Generator.
Connie is Brian's wife.
Liz uses black hair dye to disguise herself.
Peter Bly's house was raided.
The Special Scientific Council makes sure that alien technology is shared appropriately.
Brian lectures in sociology.
Gary Drake writes for the Borderline Call.
Glenda likes birdwatching.
The Doctor receives a telex.
Matthews speaks with the UNIT Oversight Committee.
Gardner and Kingsley work for UNIT.
Denise is from Amcynic. The Amcynica are at war with the Consensus alliance.
Lincoln was born in Trinidad and moved to the United Kingdom when he was two.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

This story was recorded at Audio Sorcery between 13 and 15 March 2023.
Unlike the rest of the cast, Keith Wickham and Imogen Church were recorded remotely. (BFX: Intelligence for War)