State of Bliss (audio story)

 was the first story in the audio anthology The Eighth Doctor: Time War: Volume Three, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Matt Fitton and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, Rakhee Thakrar as Bliss and introduced Adèle Anderson as Major Tamasan.

Publisher's summary
Bliss has lost her home, her family, and her friends – an orphan of the Time War. The Doctor attempts to find out where things went wrong. Across a multiverse of possibilities, Bliss discovers the many paths her life could have taken – but do they always lead to the Time War?

And if Bliss can save her past, will she destroy her future – and the Doctor’s?

Plot
Wanting to find out what has happened to Bliss's timeline, the Doctor opens up the TARDIS's telepathic circuits and has her reach in her hand and think about how she came to be aboard the Theseus. She cannot remember why, but then the circuits begin to work.

Aboard a ship near Titan, Bliss, Calla and Ryall observe an expanding tear in spacetime. They lose contact with Professor Deepa and find that her ship and the entirety of Titan have disappeared. The tear continues to grow and Calla reveals that there is something that she should have told Bliss. The anomaly engulfs them and Bliss hears the voice of the Doctor, which she does not recognise, telling her to find and live her true timeline.

On Derilobia, having taken a sick day, Bliss searches for a hidden vidcast which supposedly shows the universe without the Lords of Time. She succeeds and, with Calla and Ryall, sees the city without a dome and where interplanetary travel is possible. When Bliss sees the Sythes enter the house, she tells her friends to escape through the fire escape and into Shaylor's house whilst she surrenders, having been seen.

Bliss is arrested and demands to speak to the Lords of Time or their leader, the Doctor of Derilobia. The Doctor enters her cell and takes her for a stroll, explaining that his people have the Derilobians best interests in mind and are helping keep them safe from the Daleks. He leaves her in a cell with the woman behind the vidcasts, which she says are the result of a quantum visualiser which she built. Having seen alternative timelines, the woman knows that Bliss is important.

Bliss and the woman, in another timeline, watch what is happening on a quantum visualiser before it cuts out, that timeline having come to end. In this world, Derilobia is at peace and is invited by the woman, Deepa, to study at Luna University and make better use of her aptitude with applied quantum mechanics, as are her friends. According to Deepa, time is becoming unhinged around Bliss, but she does not listen and refuses her offer. Deepa leaves the visualiser with her.

to be completed

Cast

 * The Doctor - Paul McGann
 * Bliss - Rakhee Thakrar
 * Calla - Anjli Mohindra
 * Deepa - Nina Wadia
 * Ryall / Sythes - John Scougall
 * Spaceport Announcer / Robot Com / Theseus Coms - Tracy Wiles
 * Major Tamasan - Adèle Anderson

Continuity

 * In an earlier timeline, before the Time War, Bliss studies robotics and computer science. This is the same Bliss who was kidnapped by the Nine. (AUDIO: Companion Piece)
 * The Doctor regains his memories of former companion Sheena, who was erased from history during an adventure aboard the Theseus. (AUDIO: The Starship of Theseus)