Kaleidoscope (audio story)

Kaleidoscope was the story comprising the tenth release in The Third Doctor Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Alan Barnes and featured Tim Treloar as the Third Doctor, Sadie Miller as Sarah Jane Smith, Jon Culshaw as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and Christopher Naylor as Harry Sullivan.

Publisher's summary
His name is Kaleidoscope. He claims to have travelled halfway across the universe to warn all humankind that it stands on the brink of extinction. And a certain tenacious young journalist has got an exclusive interview with this alien messiah...

But it's not Sarah Jane Smith who's got the out-of-this-world scoop - it's her rival, the unscrupulous Jenny Nettles. Sarah's busy helping the Doctor and UNIT work out if Kaleidoscope is for real or a fake when RAF Phantoms scramble to intercept an unidentified something homing in on a top-secret missile base.

It seems like Kaleidoscope's apocalyptic predictions might all be about to come true.

Part one
On Around and About, Jenny Nettles interviews supposed-alien Kaleidoscope and asks him about his home planet. He places his fingers on her temples so that she can hear the Music of the Cosmos and speaks to the viewers, claiming to have travelled halfway across the universe to warn them that humanity stands on the brink of extinction and should follow him to change the future.

The Brigadier shows the Doctor and Sarah a recording of the interview and informs them that, following broadcast, hundreds of teenagers swarmed the TV studios on the South Bank and begged to be taken into space. Whilst Sarah does not believe Kal, the Doctor wonders if he is connected to the hovering octagon found by UNIT at Hampstead Heath three nights earlier. The Brigadier tells them that they have Kal in custody and leaves to discuss the matter with the Home Office.

Whilst the Doctor and the Brigadier interview Kal, Sarah and Jenny watch from the gallery and argue about their respective news pieces. Kal claims to have travelled to Earth through a space-time tunnel, but the interview is cut short when the Brigadier is informed that Air Commodore Hurley at RAF Weatherton has sent out Phantoms to identify and intercept an unidentified flying object. The object seemingly disassembles itself before it is struck by a missile and the Brigadier, irritated by Hurley's lack of communication, quickly arranges a salvage mission.

The Doctor asks Sarah to continue to investigate Kal whilst he follows the Brigadier in his new car. She witnesses Kal use his telekinetic powers to open the locked interview room door and put a soldier to sleep.

Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor finds that the debris is mildly radioactive but will disable radio contact. Jenny takes photographs of what looks like a silver man until the Brigadier orders her arrest and she runs to it. The Doctor determines that the silver man is not an alien but Flight Lieutenant Waxman, the pilot of one of the Phantoms, infected by whatever was in the flying object and now speaking strangely and unintelligibly. When the Doctor tells him that he has come to help, Waxman chokes him.

Part two
Waxman lets the Doctor go when Hurley, using a megaphone, orders him to. When Waxman reaches the RAF convoy, Hurley has the medics subdue him and put him on a stretcher to be taken back to base, believing him to have been afflicted by a Soviet invention. He ignores the Brigadier, who promises to take his complaint of the RAF's involvement to the highest level. The Doctor takes samples of the debris and heads to RAF Weatherton with the Brigadier, accompanied by Jenny, whose photographs have been ruined by the Brigadier. On the way, the sample is fund to contain nothing.

Sarah helps Kal escape outside to her car and takes him to the UNIT site, but they are stopped by a barrier which Kal raises with his powers. When they arrive and find the place deserted, Sarah plans to head to a pub to make a few calls and find out where Weatherton is, but Kal is able to point out its location on a map thanks to the voices in his head.

Hurley arrives at Weatherton and hands Waxman over to Fairford. Fairford observes that the metal parts that were attached to Waxman have apparently moved inside his body and is ordered to remove them.

The Brigadier arrives shortly before the Doctor and Jenny and is harrassed by the female protestors, one of whom, Daphne Green, he knew when he was a captain. Her husband, Major Johnny Green, died as result of exposure to unsafe atomic tests, leading her to become a peace campaigner. Due to Hurley's no-fly zone, the letter that the Brigadier requires to get access to the base cannot arrive by helicopter and he sends Sergeant Major Roach to collect it. Sarah arrives with Kal, who helps the Doctor confirm that the debris containing the essential matter is inside Waxman.

Kal uses his powers to open the gates and leads the protestors inside, after which the Brigadier alerts the security detail to a journalist taking photographs. This gives the Doctor the opportunity to sneak inside, followed by Jenny, and reach the medical centre where Fairford is preparing to operate on Waxman under duress. The nanobots within Waxman emerge and swarm.

Part three
The Doctor asks the nanobots to state their purpose, but they consider him to be beneath their concern and force their way into the ventilation system. He speculates that the nanobots deliberately caught the attention of the RAF so that they would be brought to Weatherton and could access the missiles of the Minerva Project. The Doctor and Jenny head there

The Brigadier places the airman under his command and has the hangars secured, but is forced to withdraw when Hurley orders him to stand down. Hurley orders his men to fire at the nanobots to no avail as they take over the substructure of the base and enter the hangars and then sends Flight Lieutenant Matterdale to obtain the codes to detonate the missiles remotely. The Doctor sends Jenny to warn everybody she sees to flee, including Sarah, and learns that the missiles will implode and suck everything within 2.5km into a microsingularity. The base is evacuated and, to stop Hurley from detonating the missiles, the Doctor triggers his briefcase's failsafe.

When Jenny tells Sarah that they have to leave, Sarah gives her her car keys and heads into the base with Kal to help. The nanobots use one of the Phantoms to shoot at Kal, who causes the bullets to disappear. The Doctor gets him and Sarah to safety and communicates with the nanobots whilst the Brigadier and Hurley get to the sprinkler system to render them inert. The nanobots refuse to enter an ammunition box and go to the Lightning Reefs of Galaxy Six, so the Doctor gives the Brigadier the go-ahead. The water forces the nanobots to leave the missiles and take refuge inside of the Doctor.

The Doctor, controlled by the nanobots, sets the missiles to launch using his sonic screwdriver. The Brigadier tells Sarah to run, but Kal steps forward and uses his powers to compel the nanobots to leave the Doctor's body and enter the ammunition box. To keep Kal from having to continue to concentrate on the swarm, the Brigadier has one of his men bring an electromagnet. Hurley arrests the Doctor for high treason, a crime for which the death penalty still applies.

Part four
to be added

Part five
to be added

Part six
to be added

Cast

 * The Doctor - Tim Treloar
 * Sarah Jane Smith - Sadie Miller
 * Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart - Jon Culshaw
 * Harry Sullivan - Christopher Naylor
 * Sergeant Major Roach / Air Commodore Hurley / Norwegian Radar Controller / Nanobots - Mark Elstob
 * Kaleidoscope - Gerran Howell
 * Jenny Nettles / Lieutenant Kuznetsova - Jasmin Hinds
 * WRAF Controller - Imogen Church
 * Daphne Green - Helen Goldwyn
 * Solokov / Keith Hazel / Fairford / Phantom Pilot / Nanobots - Stephen Noonan

Continuity

 * Jenny mentions Sarah's stories on scientists being taken to the Middle Ages (TV: The Time Warrior) and dinosaurs in London. (TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
 * The Brigadier mentions the Cybermen, whom he fought alongside the Second Doctor. (TV: The Invasion)
 * The Whomobile cannot fly, but the Doctor is working on it. (TV: Planet of the Spiders)
 * The Brigadier mentions that he has fought Yeti, (TV: The Web of Fear) Cybermen, (TV: The Invasion) Daleks, (TV: Day of the Daleks) Autons (TV: Spearhead from Space, Terror of the Autons) and Axons. (TV: The Claws of Axos)