Capture the Chronovore! (audio story)
Capture the Chronovore! was the second story in the audio anthology Nemesis Express, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Lizbeth Myles and featured Eric Roberts as the Bruce Master, Chase Masterson as Vienna Salvatori and Teri Ann Bobb-Baxter as Passion.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
Vienna and Passion pursue the Master, but to find out what he's up to they must find a way through the ship's classier compartments.
With their weapons confiscated and champagne on ice, they're invited to join an exclusive shooting party, hunting the Vortex's great game - Chronovores! - and the Master is most definitely dressed for the occasion.
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
Whilst shooting Chronovore in the Time Vortex from a shielded platform, the Master deactivates the Hunt-Master's shield and allows him to be killed by one of the creatures so that he can take his job. Vienna and Passion hotwire their way along the Kairos with the aim of accessing the surveillance systems at the control seg and locating the Master. They use a ventilation duct to avoid the Sparks and reach the second-class segs, finding that Vienna has been authorised to enter the Ammonite seg with a companion as of three minutes prior. After handing over their weapons, Vienna and Passion join a reception.
The Master welcomes Vienna and Passion to the next day's hunt, having given them permission to enter, and they mingle with the guests. Vienna meets Princess Natalia, who is hunting so that she can return to her mother with the body of a Chronovore and get permission to marry a commoner per her society's customs, and the retired Commodore Blixen whilst Passion meets Dr Miroy, a temporal zoologist who wants to take the Chronovore alive from the vortex. Learning that the hunt's weapons are only effective on the time sensitive, Vienna wonders if they would work on the Master, but he assures her that they no longer would.
Vienna and Passion do not partake in the hunt the following day and watch from the viewing platform, disgusted by the display. The Master encourages the dismayed Princess Natalia after she fails to catch any Chronovore and claims that he is supporting her because of her romantic story, but Vienna is sceptical and Princess Natalia too wonders if he has an ulterior motive. Whilst most of the captured Chronovore are kept in stasis chambers to keep them in existence, Dr Miroy holds one using time locks so that he can study it. The Master releases it, however, and it ages Dr Miroy to death before returning to the vortex. Later, Vienna and Passion find the body and view the surveillance footage of the killing.
The guests do not believe Vienna and Passion's accusations against the Master and Princess Natalia sends a message to the Sparks to have them removed from the seg when they are unable to provide identification. Vienna and Passion flee and Blixen informs the Master of what has happened, only for him to test Dr Miroy's temporal cannon on her and have the Sparks detain Princess Natalia after she walks in on the aftermath. Having seen the footage of Dr Miroy's myrder, Mr Chule saves Vienna and Passion from a Spark and reveals that he has come aboard to steal the Chronovore from the stasis chambers, which have been adjusted since his initial sabotage.
Mr Chule saves Princess Natalia and distracts the other Sparks whilst Vienna and Passion head to the stasis chambers to investigate and Princess Natalia goes to get a weapon, but the Master catches her and kills her with the temporal cannon. The Master arrives at the stasis chambers after Vienna, Passion and Mr Chule have regrouped and threatens them with the cannon, in which he has trapped a Chronovore, before explaining that he has drawn the Chronovore mother to the Kairos so that he can trap her using the stasis chambers and harness her power. When she arrives, she kills Mr Chule and Vienna shuts down the chambers before running with Passion, permitted to continue on through the ship thanks to the evacuation protocol. The Master congratulates them.
Cast[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Master - Eric Roberts
- Vienna Salvatori - Chase Masterson
- Passion - Teri Ann Bobb-Baxter
- Princess Natalia - Michelle Asante
- Mr Chule - Nicholas Boulton
- Dr Miroy / Hunt-Master - Justin Salinger
- Commodore Blixen - Anna Savva
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
- One of the hunters has a temporal cannon.
- Blixen owns a Janus gun that has been in her family since the collapse of the Silverite Acropolis nine generations ago.
- Vortex game include Chronovores, Vortisaurs, Temperaks and Reapers.
- Mr Chule claims to lose a small moon in a card game.
- Vienna says that she will complete a task in a "New New York minute".
- Commodore Blixen was defender of the Ten Fractal Worlds and liberator of the Blue Storm Cluster.
- Royals of Natalia's planet are only permitted to marry within the Seven Great Families of the Hegemony.
- The Kairos's eon generator stabilises a portion of the vortex, synchronising it with the ship.
- Mr Chule claims that he belongs to the Vermillion Kin.
- Mr Chule uses a Malestrom X7 Launcher.
- The Master suggests that Passion use a quantum phase breach loader.
- Blixen blames the time winds for ruining her shots.
- The Chronovore are stored in stasis chambers.
- Dr Miroy has time locks lacking in insulation.
- Mr Chule has a weapon hidden in a quantum box.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
- This story marks the first performed appearance of the Chronovores since The Time Monster 50 years earlier.
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Master has had dealings with the Chronovores before. (TV: The Time Monster; PROSE: The Quantum Archangel)
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Official Capture the Chronovore! page at bigfinish.com
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