The Glittering Storm (audio story)

The Glittering Storm was the first made-for-audio Sarah Jane Adventures story. It was written by Stephen Cole, produced for BBC Audio and read by Elisabeth Sladen. It accompanied the CBBC broadcast of series 1.

Publisher's summary
When Sarah Jane disturbs a burglar in the night, she is surprised to find a middle-aged woman, her pockets stuffed with jewellery, demanding gold. The next day, she reads a newspaper story about a granny who broke into a jewellers, and then Maria reports that a woman has been stealing rings and necklaces from the girls' changing room at school.

All the women had recently attended the Auriga Clinic, a private health centre specialising in treating muscular aches and pains. Is there a link between the clinic and the odd behaviour of its patients?

Sarah Jane decides to find out, but she soon discovers that the clinic's secret agenda is more sinister than she could ever have imagined...

Plot
In the middle of the night Sarah Jane Smith hears a loud noise. She goes downstairs and sees a woman with bits of jewellery dangling from her pockets. The woman asks Sarah Jane for gold. When Luke comes to the room the woman says "Our ... thoughts ... shine" and leaves.

The next morning, Maria Jackson tells Sarah Jane about an article in the newspaper in which was written that a granny broke into jewellers, stole the gold and left the more expensive jewellery behind.

At school, Maria hears that somebody stole gold necklaces and rings from the girl's changing rooms. She soon hears that Dana Price, the mother of one of Maria's school mates, has stolen the things.

Sarah Jane and Maria soon find out that Dana Price and the granny, who is called Hilda Sheen went to the same clinic, the Auriga Clinic. They decide to go there as well.

At the clinic Sarah Jane introduces Maria as her niece. While Sarah Jane is doing an interview with the owner of the clinic, Francis Augur, Maria is injected with gold, without Sarah Jane's agreement. Sarah Jane is angry about this. She and Maria leave the clinic.

At 13 Bannerman Road, Mr Smith says that Maria was injected with small particles of gold, which will be gone out of her body automatically within the next seven days.

At night Luke and Clyde are watching the Auriga Clinic. Suddenly Maria comes out of the clinic. She doesn't react to them when they are calling her. Luke realises that Maria is in some kind of cataleptic state, not fully aware of her environment, and unable to respond to stimuli. Then Maria says "Our thoughts shine". At Bannerman Road Luke and Clyde tell Sarah Jane about their experiences.

The following morning Maria isn't able to remember the events of the night. Mr Smith scans her and sees that she is under the control of a Keratin, who controls her through the gold injection. The Keratin uses Maria to spy on Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane does not want to worry Maria and does not want to let the Keratin know that she found out about their control of Maria's mind, which could endanger Maria's life. Sarah Jane tells Clyde and Luke not to mention the Keratin or Maria's nightly visit of the Auriga Clinic towards Maria.

The next night Sarah Jane and Luke follow Maria to the Auriga Clinic. Maria, Dana and the other people who are controlled by the Keratin want to take away the oceans of the planet Earth to get the gold of the ocean. The Keratin wants to use the gold to be able to control the whole universe. Sarah Jane later presses a patch with lithium citrate on Maria's neck and Maria gets free of the Keratin's mind control. The Keratin is killed by salt water and can't invade Earth any longer.

Characters

 * Sarah Jane Smith
 * Maria Jackson
 * Luke Smith
 * Clyde Langer
 * Mr Smith
 * Alan Jackson
 * Francis Augur
 * Dana Price
 * Julie Price
 * Hilda Sheen
 * The Keratin

Continuity

 * Sarah Jane refers to an asteroid of gold. (TV: Revenge of the Cybermen)
 * Luke was grown by aliens. (TV: Invasion of the Bane)