Earth Aid (audio story)

Earth Aid was the sixth and final story release in the second series of The Lost Stories, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was adapted by Andrew Cartmel and Ben Aaronovitch, from the original script by Ben Aaronivitch, and featured Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor, Sophie Aldred as Ace and Beth Chalmers as Raine Creevy.

This story was originally intended to be the first story of the original Season 27, but was cancelled along with other planned stories when Doctor Who itself was cancelled in 1989.

Publisher's summary
Welcome aboard the Space Vessel Vancouver. Its mission: to guard a vast shipment of grain from Earth to the planet Safenesthome.

Its Captain is called Ace. She seems a little unsure of herself. In fact, some might almost think she was new to the job...

Its medical officer is called simply "the Doctor", and he's perhaps not all he seems.

When mysterious ships target the Vancouver, Ace and the Doctor are pushed to the limit. Meanwhile, there's something nasty in the grain containers. And it's not very happy....

Part one
Ace captains the Vancouver but, barely able to conceal her ignorance of what the job entails, tells the Doctor that she does not believe that she can maintain the ruse. The Doctor says, however, that the ship has almost reached its destination and that, if there is to be any trouble, it will happen soon. The ship loses contact with the Lilliput, a ship carrying grain, and Ace has Shepstay prepare a shuttle and boarding party so that they can investigate. The Doctor and Ace go one way whilst Lieutenant Baraki goes the other.

The Doctor and Ace find a freshly-served meal laid and investigate Baraki's report of detecting a running shower, but nobody is inside. The two groups reconvene on the bridge before going to the gym and finding Victor Espinosa using a rowing machine, apparently suffering from post-traumatic stress. Victor leads them to the armoury and starts shooting at them, asking to be left alone, until Ace shoots his gun from his hands. From the Vancouver, Yanikov reports that they have company and that Ace should return. On the Vancouver, Shepstay informs Ace of an approaching vessel.

The Lilliput is due to deliver five containers of grain and machinery to Safenesthome, but Victor came aboard with six containers. The Doctor and Baraki cut their way into the sixth container with a cutting torch and find it empty. The Doctor detects non-human proteins, however, and locates an old-fashioned safe which he cracks his way into, finding Raine inside. She asks what took him so long.

Part two
Raine explains that, whilst investigating her father's death, she flew to Johannesburg to break into a hotel safe to recover documents that had been left for her but which had apparently fallen into the wrong hands. She was then locked inside that very safe with an oxygen cylinder and life support unit and realised that it had been a trap, although she does not know who did it or why. To get Victor out of the sick bay where he has barricaded himself, the Doctor asks for him to allow Raine inside due to her headache, after which Baraki holds him at gunpoint.

The Doctor tells Ace that Raine is on the Lilliput and that they will likely soon encounter old enemies. Baraki is suspicious of the Doctor and orders him to return to the Vancouver, but he ignores her and suggests that they go to investigate the grain silo. When the approaching spaceship accelerates and changes course, Ace contacts the Doctor for advice. The Doctor, Raine, Baraki and Victor find the Metatraxi hanging upside down and trapped by organic secretion. They admit to having kidnapped Raine and want revenge for their humiliation.

At the Doctor's suggestion, Baraki stands guard with the Metatraxi whilst reinforcements to take them aboard the Vancouver arrive. The Doctor and Raine head to the grain silo to find out who hanged the Metatraxi up. Meanwhile, the approaching ship sets itself on a collision course with the Lilliput's grain silo.

Part three
Baraki updates Ace and gets permission to bring the Metatraxi aboard the Vancouver. The third ship, a Metatraxi one, attaches lines to the Lilliput and Ace has Shepstay detonate missiles in view of the ship as provocation, causing them to detatch and instead engage with the Vancouver.

The Doctor and Raine enter the grain silo and find the Grubs eating the cargo, their spores having found their way into the grain, and learn that they trapped the crew and Metatraxi when they tried to stop them. When the Grubs state that they will have to similarly detain the Doctor and Raine, the Doctor tricks them by convincing them that a particular area of the grain is especially delicious. He plans to escape the container and lock the Grubs inside, but the door shuts on them before they can leave.

Part four
The Doctor determines that it was Victor who locked the door and Baraki confronts him, forcing him to open it. The Metatraxi launch missiles into empty space just as the Vancouver did and Ace leaves Shepstay to pilot the Vancouver whilst she takes a shuttle to the Lilliput, planning on having both ships jump to escape the Metatraxi. She is reunited with the Doctor and Raine and has the Doctor perform the jump to the destination, where the Doctor gathers a resin which will release the crew of the Lilliput. He suggests that Baraki distract the Grubs with rice, fruits, nuts and seeds.

Victor is uncuffed by Baraki and starts unloading the equipment; after the Doctor finds him with a device capable of communicating with a sentient planet, he frees the Metatraxi and uses the device on Baraki. Shepstay and Yanikov depose Ace as captain, locking her in the brig before a Metatraxi warfleet arrives. The Great Mother, through Baraki, tells the Doctor that she birthed the Metatraxi to rid her of the Grubs after they devoured her forests and poisoned her waters. The Doctor is taken to the Arena of Death to face death by taunting and is accused of putting others in peril and letting them die.

Ace, freed by Raine, challenges the Metatraxi ship to single combat, but they leave after finding out that she is a girl. The Great Mother welcomes the return of the Grubs, ordering the Metatraxi to make peace with them, and Baraki arrests Victor once more. Raine hopes that the Doctor's lie that he knew what he was doing the whole time will be the first of many.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
 * Ace - Sophie Aldred
 * Raine - Beth Chalmers
 * Victor Espinosa - Paterson Joseph
 * Shepstay - Nadine Marshall
 * Yanikov - Basher Savage
 * Lt Baraki - Ingrid Oliver
 * Metatraxi - John Banks
 * Grubs - Alex Mallinson

Worldbuilding

 * The Doctor and Ace have tea and scones with jam. They both pronounce the word "scone" differently.
 * Raine tells Baraki that she is a journalist.
 * The Doctor has heard rumours that the Metatraxi have developed a rudimentary form of time travel.

Continuity

 * The Doctor, Ace and Raine previously encountered the Metatraxi in the Kafiristan in the Middle East in October 1989. (AUDIO: Crime of the Century)
 * Ace mentions that she almost became a cheetah on one occasion. (TV: Survival)
 * The Doctor mentions that he has previously encountered another sentient planet, namely Symbios during his sixth incarnation in 2010. (AUDIO: The Crimes of Thomas Brewster)
 * Ace is once again angered at being called small. (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks)
 * Raine mentions that it's usually her that rescues the Doctor from a safe. (AUDIO: Crime of the Century)