World Enough and Time (audio story)
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World Enough and Time was the third story of the audio anthology, The Diary of River Song: Series Two, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by James Goss and featured Alex Kingston as River Song and Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
When it comes to bringing down corrupt and exploitative regimes, there is no-one quite like River.
Until she arrives at Golden Futures and discovers that someone else has already taken on her job. Someone with almost as much style and panache as herself.
The Doctor is about to get the shock of his lives.
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
River Song arrives at Golden Futures as a part-time worker; while trying to find out what the company is all about, she discovers to her amazement that the managing director and majority owner of the stock is the Sixth Doctor - who finds her "remarkable" from the start.
With the help of Todd "the Pod", River discovers that the company's wealth depends on the dreams of wealthy customers, who pay to be put into special pods that immerse them in their own imaginations so they can live the life (or moment) they desire. She also sees that an unspecified creature, some kind of large insect, is with one of them in the capsule. She tries to call for help, but both Todd and the Doctor (who has come to escape a tedious day of meetings about trivial matters) dismiss her concerns as suggestion. River doesn't give up, and while even the Doctor seems to notice something strange, she manages to force open a door that leads her straight to the discovery of something that frightens her.
She is almost immediately captured by the Doctor's PA, who puts her in a capsule, but she shakes off her dream (she is waiting for the Doctor for breakfast by the sea), shoots the creature with her in the capsule and joins the Doctor in his suite. She then shows him first the specimen she killed, convincing him that there really are beings attacking the sleepers, and then the "Elysium Project": an almost exact duplicate of Earth, built by stitching together various pieces of the planet taken from alternative realities. The Doctor, who had only infiltrated the company because he was curious about its rapid rise and fall in human history, assures her that he knew nothing about it, but River is still upset and doesn't know whether to believe him: she then makes an appointment to meet him for lunch the next day on the duplicate, in Iceland.
The Doctor searches for news about the Elysium project, but neither an inspection of his email and office, nor a discussion with the company's department heads provides him with any information; instead, it only makes him late for his appointment with River, giving local security time to capture her and put her back in the pod. Eventually, however, the PA capitulates, and reveals that Project Elysium involves destroying Earth and replacing it with a duplicate, so that the surface can be sold at market value. The creatures feed on missed opportunities and wasted potential, and the Doctor himself has been kept there, trapped, for so long as to provide them with an abundant source of nourishment.
Desolate, the Doctor breaks into River's dream and reveals everything, apologising both for disappointing her and for allowing himself to be manipulated. River understands and forgives him, and together they devise a plan to stop them. As River rigs Elysium's construction circuits so that the wave that is to destroy Earth at 17.29 actually falls on the duplicate, the Doctor bursts into the shareholders' meeting and reveals the truth about the company, then has his PA chase him to the pod room: she's working for the true masters of the Golden Future, the Speravore, a race that lives on the edge of the Time Vortex and has taken over the company in order to build Elysium and gather a new group of rich people on the new planet to use as sustenance. The pods contain Speravore larvae, but these are now growing into adults, and can feed on anyone - as the assistant demonstrates by killing Todd. He then threatens the Doctor: the Speravores will kill the sleepers if he does not release his shares in the company to them. However, the Doctor reveals that he has already transferred those shares to the sleepers, so his death (and theirs too) serves no further purpose.
As the assistant goes back upstairs to follow up the activation of the Project with the shareholders, the Doctor joins River at the planet's duplicate. She has managed to fix the circuits, but they need power for them to effectively work. The Doctor suggests letting a Speravore larva feed on him, providing him with the energy to deflect the wave; River pretends to agree, but in fact she lets the larvae into the shareholders' room through the air vents, so it is their deaths that provide the energy needed for the plan to work. River returns to the Doctor, and the two enjoy a glass of champagne and a romantic moment while they wait for their plan to succeed. Unfortunately, however, the accumulated energy isn't enough: instead of affecting only Elysium, the cancellation wave splits reality in two, creating slices of alternate Earth. The Doctor begins to apologise, before passing out: River used her special lipstick, the one that causes amnesia, to make him forget everything, so as to spare him the guilt. He then drags his body back to the TARDIS, before leaving the exploding Golden Futures facility in turn - back to Earth.
Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]
- River Song - Alex Kingston
- The Doctor - Colin Baker
- The PA - Sara Powell
- Todd the Pod - Sam Alexander
- Autocorrect - Barnaby Edwards
- Computer - Aaron Neil
- Speravore - Alan Cox
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be added
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The cover reveals a new purple costume for the Sixth Doctor.
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- To infiltrate Golden Futures, the Doctor purchases 51% of shares in company. He would use same strategy to infiltrate SERVEYOUinc. (COMIC: The Rise and Fall)
- The Sperovores also appear in AUDIO: A Life of Crime.
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Official The Diary of River Song Series Two page at bigfinish.com
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