Square One (Gallifrey audio story)

Square One (identified on the cover simply as Chapter Two) was the second story of the first series of Big Finish's Gallifrey audio series. It was written by Stephen Cole.

Publisher's summary
"It's too late... time is coming for us!"

In a climate of unease and mistrust, the great time-travelling powers of the universe are holding an historic temporal summit. The meeting will take place on a planetoid impervious to outside attack or internal subversion in any way.

But while President Romana walks a knife-sharp political tightrope into dangerous territory, Leela and K9 find themselves attending the summit in unexpected roles. They are hunting for evidence of Free Time activity, but find instead terrors of a different kind — time and time again...

What impossibility stalks the planetoid? Who is manipulating time? Can Leela and Romana discover the truth — or will they find themselves sent back to square one for all eternity?

Plot
Romana, Leela and K9 Mark II are in the Presidential TARDIS, trying to navigate through the shifting time field but unable to get through a defence shield without the correct codes. As the time distortion catches up with them, Leela says that "it is happening again".

At an earlier time, Romana and the High Monan reach an understanding about the debacle on Gryben. Afterwards, Romana checks with K9 that the communication between the two was secure as Liaison Officer Hossak will be speaking to the High Council tomorrow about the temporal summit and nobody can know what Romana is planning to do.

At a special meeting, Hossak explains to Romana, Braxiatel and Narvin that potential axis powers have been wary of attending a summit after the Temporal Peace Conference on Archetryx which was followed by invasions by the Daleks. However, those who have already pledged to attend will be doing so on a synthetic planetoid in neutral space, the heads of state sending lesser politicians and appearing as holograms; Romana informs Narvin that she will be sending him to the summit with Hossak as his aide.

Leela can tell that Romana has little enthusiasm for the summit and senses that she is keeping something from her. Romana has spoken with Braxiatel and, worried about Free Time, she has decided to send Leela and K9 Mark I to the summit to keep an eye out and to attempt to identify their benefactors amongst the Temporal Powers. Leela is to pose as an exotic dancer and, on the planetoid, meets her colleague, Baano.

K9 Mark II informs Romana that the entertainment troupe have arrived on the planetoid and that the other K9 had not been detected due to him being doctored in accordance with security regulations. He will be able to detect any attempt to tamper with the secure network.

A servitor shows Leela and the dancers to their rooms and Baano tells Leela that Narvin has selected her as his dancer. In their room, K9 tells Leela that the servitors confiscated his blaster, fitted his sensors fitted with a limiter and prevented him from making recordings. He can, however, view security footage alongside his counterpart in the Capitol.

Hossak officially begins the summit. They discuss a former Temporal Power who accidentally wiped themselves out with time travel, with Flinkstab of Nekkistan believing that they should observe said Power's mistakes prior to their extinction whilst Narvin disagrees, leading to a squabble amongst the delegates which is interrupted by the virtual appearance of Romana, who admonishes them before Hossak adjourns the summit for the day. Romana and K9 Mark II discuss the six other generic speeches that she has put into the holographer, giving K9 the choice of which to use in the future. She goes into the Presidential TARDIS, asking K9 not to disturb her.

At the bar, Narvin joins Flinkstab, who says that V'rell of the Monan Host was correct earlier when he mentioned his world being created by a temporal catastrophe; ten versions of the planet throughout history appeared at roughly the same coordinates before being stabilised into one super-planetary system by the most advanced Monans who then discovered time travel. Narvin suggests that he and Flinkstab discover if the initial time distortion was the source of power of the Monan timeships, implying that they could erase the Monan Host to the benefit of Gallifrey and Nekkistan. Flinkstab goes to relax, sharing a rumour that a consignment of servitors has gone missing.

After a long day, K9 Mark I suggests that Leela searches the delegates' rooms using the codes that K9 Mark II has shared with him, but they are interrupted by Baano, who has brought Flinkstab for a dance from Leela. Baano and Lexi head off to dance for Pule of Unvoss, leaving Leela to entertain the lecherous delegate. However, she refuses and kicks him out, K9 apologising for not being able to help deal with him. She decides to wait until tomorrow to search the rooms.

K9 escorts Leela to the showers where she finds Lexi's corpse, K9 deducing that she was murdered in a frenzy. Servitors arrive and, believing that Leela is the murderer, attempt to arrest her. K9 tells her not to resist and, at her command, goes to search the delegates' rooms. She is imprisoned and visited by Hossak, who is angry with her for bringing further disrepute to Gallifrey and potentially ruining the summit, but Leela insists that Flinkstab is responsible. After Hossak leaves, Leela shouts that she has to speak to Romana and experiences time distortion.

Leela and the dancers are taken to their rooms by a servitor and, shortly after, Leela feels a sense of déjà vu. At the summit, Narvin disagrees with V'rell and Flinkstab about the lost Temporal Power and starts coughing, Hossak using the opportunity to make his point more gently and agreeably. On Gallifrey, K9 Mark II informs Romana that the summit is going smoothly, which surprises her as she had expected Narvin, V'rell and Flinkstab to be fighting by this point. She leaves K9 in charge of the holographer and goes into the Presidential TARDIS.

Leela decides not to search the entertainers' possessions, feeling sure that she will find nothing, and goes with K9 to access the delegates' rooms. They enter Flinkstab's room and find holo-prints of Lexi's mutilated body in the showers; K9 says that they are anomalous, having somehow been taken the following morning despite time travel being impossible on the planetoid. Leela takes the pictures and goes in search of Lexi whilst K9 makes contact with his counterpart.

K9 Mark II receives Leela's request for communication and the two units exchange their mistresses' messages in code. Romana tells Leela that there has been no sign of temporal manipulation and that she will make a personal appearance soon. Leela decides to stay close to Lexi by performing the fire dance.

At another summit, Braxiatel speaks with a Monan and is interrupted by Romana, who says that Leela has been in contact and that she is heading to the planetoid in person. She announces to the group that she is departing and that Braxiatel will speak for her from now on.

Narvin speaks with Hossak, implying that the time that she spent with the Monans after Archetryx had left her with Monan sympathies, before going to speak with Pule.

While investigating, Leela realises that she is reliving the same day again. The whole planetoid is experiencing time slips, although Leela is the only one who realises it.

Narvin gets accused of killing Pule of Unvoss after Pule's drink explodes. Romana, weary of the events on the planetoid, decides to investigate in person. She gets attacked by a servitor robot, who turns out to be Baano, one of the exotic dancers on call. Baano agrees to reveal her employer in exchange for amnesty. It was V'rell's plan to kill Pule of Unvoss.

Liaison Officer Hossak brandishes the device she used to turn time back. She had been shaping the summit to her ends, and she now planned to turn back time yet again, erasing Romana in the process. Romana then unveils that the whole summit was a sham, and the real summit elsewhere.

Cast

 * President Romana - Lalla Ward
 * Leela - Louise Jameson
 * K9 - John Leeson
 * Cardinal Braxiatel - Miles Richardson
 * Coordinator Narvin - Seán Carlsen
 * Liaison Officer Hossak - Jane Goddard
 * Baano - Lucy Campbell
 * Flinkstab of Nekkistan - Daniel Hogarth
 * V'rell of the Monan Host - Daniel Barzotti
 * Pule of Unvoss - Joseph Lidster
 * Servitors - Robert Dick

Continuity

 * Romana mentions the Time Lords' refusal to use force on Gryben. (AUDIO: Weapon of Choicd)
 * The events of AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element are mentioned.
 * It's mentioned that Cardinal Braxiatel has been busy elsewhere; though it's possible that this is because he was organising the real summit, another possible explanation for his absence is revealed in AUDIO: The Inquiry.
 * One of the delegates at the summit is a Virgoan. (PROSE: Stop the Pigeon)
 * The timecode on the holo-prints was made with a beryllium chip. (TV: Doctor Who)
 * Flinkstab murdered a dancing girl on Coralee, the human colony visited in PROSE: Storm Harvest.
 * When Romana confronts Hossak, she asks how many times Hossak has reversed time, to which Hossak replies "three times", a reference to TV: The Horns of Nimon