Fractures (audio story)

Fractures (identified on the cover simply as Chapter Ten) was the first story of the third series of Big Finish's Gallifrey audio series. It was written by Stephen Cole.

Publisher's summary

 * It learns. It evolves. It wants. It hungers. And now Romana has delivered herself to its very door.

Gallifrey is a world at war with itself. The Pandora entity, clothed in the body of President Romana's first incarnation, seeks to control the populace through mind control and manipulation. The real Romana has resorted to destroying key parts of the Capitol, hoping to weaken Pandora's power base.

But when one such attack goes horribly wrong, Leela is left injured and Romana's base of operations is exposed. Hunted by their enemies, Leela must make for a medical outpost on the fringes of the fighting while Romana seeks a desperate solution in the planet's Anomaly Vaults. But what each discovers will alter their lives, and Gallifrey's future, forever.

Plot
In the older levels of the Capitol, Lord Gerber reports on the civil war raging on Gallifrey, one side led by President Romana and the other by Imperiatrix Pandora, and warns his viewers that the only just cause is to support Romana as Pandora will only lead Gallifrey into war. Whilst Pandora converts Time Lords to her cause using fear and the Dogma Virus, Romana has, since defending the condemned off-worlder students at the Gallifreyan Academy, been using sabotage and regularly causes power outages in the city. Gerber believes that she is alienating her supporters and that persuasion would be more effective.

Leela and Narvin place percussion grenades in the empty Artron Forum, one of which detonates sooner than intended and before the pair can escape.

In the presidential suite, Pandora is told by Chancellor Valyes of the explosion at the Forum and that Inquisitor Prime Darkel and her guards are heading there. K9's assessment is that the Forum has not suffered extensive damage, leading Pandora to wonder if it is a distraction or a trick to lull her into a false sense of security.

Romana and Commander Hallan await Leela and Narvin's return in the Maelstrom Cloisters. When they finally do arrive, they find that Narvin has suffered serious cranial damage and that Leela is blind, although she believes that she will get her sight back just as she did when she suffered pigmentation dispersal.

Valyes informs Pandora that more bombs have been found at the Forum and that a trail of blood leads into the lower levels, likely showing the way to Romana's base. To alienate Romana's supporters, they agree to leave some guards in the Forum to be killed by the imminent explosions and to arrange for other innocents to be caught in the area, including her own supporters. Pandora sends K9 with the guards to find Romana, ordering him not to kill his former mistress but giving him permission to kill Leela, Narvin and Lord Matthias.

to be added

Cast

 * Former Lady President Romana - Lalla Ward
 * Leela - Louise Jameson
 * K9 Mark II - John Leeson
 * Imperiatrix Pandora - Mary Tamm
 * Inquisitor Prime Darkel - Lynda Bellingham
 * Coordinator Narvin - Seán Carlsen
 * Chancellor Valyes - Steven Wickham
 * Lord Matthias - Stephen Perring
 * Commander Hallan - Michael Cuckson
 * Elbon - Paul Grunert
 * Captain Annos - Dickon Tolson
 * Captain Janartis - Charlie Ross
 * Henzil - John Dorney
 * Commentator Gerber - Charles Pemberton
 * Aesino - Lisa Bowerman
 * Robersuun - David Cromarty

Continuity

 * When blinded, Leela states that this is the second time that she has been so afflicted. (TV: Horror of Fang Rock) Her sight would eventually be returned through the infusion of vampire blood on the Gallifrey of an alternative timeline. (AUDIO: Annihilation)
 * Raldeth, who previously appeared in AUDIO: The Sirens of Time and AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element, is mentioned but does not appear. He would later return in AUDIO: Appropriation.