Year Zero (audio story)

Year Zero was the fifty-first Bernice Summerfield audio story released by Big Finish Productions. It was the third story of the eleventh season.

Publisher's summary
Planet Raster, Year 54: Professor Bernice Summerfield is arrested on suspicion of Archaeology. She immediately admits that she is an Historian: is she a dangerous revolutionary, or simply mad? Inquisitors have an hour to decide, before she is terminated to prevent the spread of the contagion.

If she can ever return home, Bernice Summerfield must first discover where and when she really is. And that means illegal investigations into the past... into whatever happened at the beginning... in Year Zero.

Plot
Whilst examining a building destroyed by fire, Benny is arrested for unlicensed archaeology by Pallis and told by Gormune that she will be executed. She learns that she is on Raster, a planet that she has never heard of, and asks Pallis why only about three dozen stars are visible from the planet, but she does not answer. Pallis believes that Benny is mad and should be locked up, but Gormune thinks that she could have been in stasis since before Year Zero and could cause a revolution unless she is killed.

Benny attempts to find out why the people of Raster have attempted to erase all history prior to Year 1 and asks Pallis about what she heard the historians say when she was a child, which included an advert jingle about space travel. Benny impresses Pallis by making various deductions about the society from a can of fizzy drink and speculates that she became an inquisitor because of a thirst for knowledge. Pallis tells Gormune that Benny should be sent to Zordin by spacecraft as she could be of use to the Great Leader, but he disagrees in case they lose their jobs as a result.

Returning to Benny, Pallis admits that she wants to know the truth about Year Zero. They escape to Pallis's car via a forgotten stairway and a small window and meet Matka, a historian who pretended to work at forensics and returns Benny's Time Ring which was confiscated by the inquisitors. Pallis is killed by Gormune and Matka drives out of the city to get Benny to Zordin, telling her that they have work to do.

Cast

 * Bernice Summerfield - Lisa Bowerman
 * Gormune - Chris Porter
 * Pallis - Evie Dawnay
 * Matka - Maria McErlane

Worldbuilding

 * Gormune used to be called "Fearmin". His new name was randomly generated by the Great Leader.
 * Benny asks to be pointed in the direction of the Collection.
 * Raster's television programmes are all gameshows and nature documentaries.
 * Benny asks if she can have a lawyer.
 * The government mandates fostering.
 * Benny says that Mother's Day must have been "a riot" in Year One.
 * Gormune does not know about horoscopes.
 * Benny's Time Ring does not work.
 * Bethlam Cortez of the Fifteenth Old People's Home talks about a public figure from before Year 1.
 * Ehrvag works in forensics.
 * Benny mentions the Rosetta Stone.
 * Tenaran is the language spoken on Tenar, a planet which orbits a blue star.
 * Benny mentions the Deindum.
 * Gormune waits for a teleprint.

Continuity

 * Benny does not know where she is in time nor space. (AUDIO: Escaping the Future)