The Innocent (audio story)

 was the first audio story in the anthology Only the Monstrous. This was the first audio story to feature John Hurt as the War Doctor, his first time reprising the role in a full cast story since the 2013 50th anniversary special. It also featured Jacqueline Pearce in her debut as Cardinal Ollistra. It was notable for being the first Big Finish story to utilise a new series Doctor.

Publisher's summary
As the Daleks mass their time fleet for a final assault on Gallifrey, something ancient is waiting for them at Omega One. And a sacrifice must be made.

Arch-manipulator and Time Lord strategist, Cardinal Ollistra receives shock news of the Doctor's death.

Meanwhile, on the planet Keska, a parochial war has returned to plague a peaceful civilisation after decades of tranquillity. But how can such a war have any connection with the great Time War which, at any one moment in the whole of eternity, could threaten to tear the universe apart?

If only the Doctor were still alive.

Plot
The Daleks are massing for what they plan to be the final assault on Gallifrey. Massed in nearby space, they have brought their largest force yet: an entire fleet of time ships, accompanied by stealth ships. However, the Time Lords—under the command at the moment of the manipulative Cardinal Ollistra—are ready for them. Secretly, they have established an installation in space, and armed it with a devastating piece of equipment, ironically stolen from the Daleks themselves: a Time Destructor. Thanks to the First Doctor’s history with the Daleks on Kembel, its effects are known: it will age the Daleks and their equipment to the point of death and destruction by advancing local time. Unfortunately, it’s a suicide mission; the two Time Lords on the installation, Arverton and Bennus, must activate it manually, but that means it will kill them as well. Ollistra, then, is shocked when the victory is announced…by Arverton and Bennus, in person.

According to the soldiers, they were interrupted just before activation by an incoming TARDIS. The man who was once known as the Doctor—but has now foresworn that name—met them, and volunteered to take their place. Sending them away in their own TARDIS, he stayed to activate the destructor himself…and died in the process. Ollistra castigates them for this occurrence, telling them the Doctor is worth a hundred of them.

The War Doctor, though, is not dead. Caught in the destructor’s field, he managed to enter his TARDIS and escape; his previous experience on Kembel had shown him that a Time Lord can survive it for a time, though they are harmed in the process. He awakens on a strange, sunny world, and finds himself in the care of a young woman named Rejoice, on the planet Keska. He immediately passes out, and sleeps for about fifty days, before awakening again. Rejoice is alarmed by his lengthy sleep, but it appears to be an induced coma, which will help him recover from the effect of the time destructor.

Rejoice tells him that she knows nothing of the Time War, as it hasn’t touched Keska. However, Keska has its own war, against a race called the Taalyens. He tries to return to the TARDIS, but passes out again, and again sleeps for fifty days. While unconscious, he dreams of his recent encounters in the war.

When he awakens, the building is under attack, being bombarded by the Taalyens. Rejoice escorts him into the basement; he is still unclear on the nature of the war, and mentions the Daleks, but she has never heard of them. She explains more; Rejoice’s people and the Taalyens both originate on a world called Traan, but Rejoice’s people fled oppression and came to Keska. Now the Taalyens have tracked them here, adopting rocket technology left behind on Traan to create ships and weapons.

To Rejoice’s amazement, the TARDIS is unharmed; she had believed it destroyed. The Doctor intends to leave and return to his own war, leaving the Keskans and the Taalyens to sort out their own problems. However, he overhears a communication between Rejoice and her father, which indicates that the Keskans are woefully unprepared to fight the Taalyens; they have been a peaceful people until now. Afterward, the Doctor chooses to stay and help. He takes Rejoice via TARDIS to the governmental citadel, where the Keskan Collective—the governing body, of which Rejoice’s father is the chairman—are meeting. They are debating non-violent options, which include surrender and the concealing of a core group of survivors, until the Doctor interrupts.

The Doctor describes the likely battle plan of the Taalyens, and concludes that it will end in genocide. Rejoice suggests that he is only doing this to persuade them to join his larger war; he doesn’t deny that possibility, but also says that he is offering because they didn’t try to force him to help. He then reveals that he can use the communication satellites in orbit to save them.

Thran, Rejoice’s father, says that any decision taken must be made by the collective; the Doctor chastises him for waiting. He then enters the satellite control center, and begins to work—but then passes out again.

This time, he is out for a hundred days or more. [Editorial note: It is unclear at this point whether the Doctor sleeps for 100+ days at this time, or whether Rejoice, in describing it to him, is referring to the collective number of days he has slept since arriving. It seems unlikely that the invasion would not progress any further while he sleeps another 100 days.] He reprograms the satellites to create a defensive shield around the planet, but he refuses to press the button to activate it; he insists that it must be the Keskans’ decision. Then he passes out again, and has another flashback to the time destructor station. He is only out for a few seconds this time, but Thran has still not pressed the button; his indecision and usual reliance on the collective have stayed his hand, and he refuses to do it. Impulsively, Rejoice presses the button, activating the shield.

Thran thanks the Doctor, and offers to repay him. He offers to celebrate and make the Doctor the guest of honour. The Doctor declines, and tells him not to celebrate; the Doctor also refuses to give his name, which he has never given them until now. He then goes to rest.

Elsewhere, a high-ranked Time Lord named Seratrix contacts Ollistra from his TARDIS, stating he is returning to Gallifrey. She bids him a safe journey. As soon as the communication ends, he and his aide are interrupted by a Dalek ship in the vortex—not a time ship, but a real-space ship which has only momentarily jumped into the vortex. In that moment, it attacks, and knocks Seratrix’s TARDIS out of the vortex to coordinates unknown.

The Doctor remains on Keska for 134 more days, during which Rejoice visits him several times (seventeen, in fact). His recovery is proceeding well, though he thinks he is not strong enough yet to leave. Rejoice takes pity on him for the war and for his nightmares, but he becomes angry about it.

A Time Lady appears on Keska, having located the Doctor. She is Veklin, a servant of Cardinal Ollistra, and she has come to bring the Doctor back; he responds badly, especially when she calls him the Doctor. He rejects her orders to return, and goes out in a boat with Rejoice to get away from Veklin.

Rejoice asks him about his refusal to be called the Doctor, and why he won’t return. He dodges the first question, and then says that he wants to help only on his own terms—he doesn’t take orders. He mentions his past mission to prevent the rise of the Daleks, and admits that it may have led to the Time War. In return, Rejoice recounts some history of the Taalyen war, but admits that she had not been born yet, and doesn’t know much. He blames himself, and calls himself a monster, to Rejoice’s horror. “War is very simple, and all you have to do to wage it is become a monster. That’s what I am.” He loses his temper and knocks Rejoice from the boat, but instantly regrets it, though she handles it well.

The Time Lords intervene, trying to extract the Doctor back to Gallifrey. Rejoice insists on going with him against his orders, insisting that he needs someone to help him. He and Rejoice make it into the TARDIS, but it is not enough; Ollistra authorises use of extra power from the Eye of Harmony, and the TARDIS is pulled back to Gallifrey. The Doctor speculates that this indicates some desperation on the part of Ollistra, as diverting power from the Eye would weaken Gallifrey’s defences. Rejoice is discarded by Ollistra, and safely returned to Keska; the Doctor assures her she will be safe, and apologises to her. As she vanishes, she assures him he is not a monster. Ollistra remarks on Rejoice’s faith in him, and welcomes him home. “Home,” he says with disgust. “You’re welcome to it.”

Cast

 * The War Doctor - John Hurt
 * Cardinal Ollistra - Jacqueline Pearce
 * The Nursemaid - Lucy Briggs-Owen
 * Veklin - Beth Chalmers
 * Bennus - Kieran Hodgson
 * Arverton - Barnaby Edwards
 * The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs
 * Seratrix - Alex Wyndham

Continuity

 * The Daleks use a fleet of timeships (TV: The Chase et al.) and stealth ships. (PROSE: Engines of War)
 * Ollistra suggests the only way to defeat the Daleks is to wipe all of them from eternity. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
 * The Doctor blames himself for the Time War, citing being sent on a mission by the Time Lords to avert the creation of the Daleks. (TV: Genesis of the Daleks)
 * The Daleks identify the Time Destructor by its origin on Kembel, where it was used by the First Doctor to defeat the Daleks. (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan) The Time Destructor was previously employed by the Daleks in PROSE: Natural Regression.
 * The Daleks are preparing an invasion of Gallifrey. (PROSE: Engines of War, TV: The Day of the Doctor)
 * The Doctor has renounced his title. (TV: The Name of the Doctor, The Day of the Doctor)
 * The Doctor believes some Time Lords are no better than the Daleks. (TV: The Night of the Doctor)
 * The Doctor feels an aversion to pressing big red buttons. (TV: The Day of the Doctor)
 * Rejoice comments on the TARDIS' inside. The Doctor's companions have often commented on this. (TV: The Three Doctors et al.)
 * The Doctor says he no longer travels with companions. (PROSE: Engines of War)
 * The Doctor says he is rather fond of Earth. (TV: Doctor Who et al.)
 * The Doctor says that doing the unthinkable and necessary is his reason for being. (TV: The Night of the Doctor)
 * The Doctor wonders if he is a good man. His twelfth incarnation would ponder the same question. (TV: Deep Breath, Into the Dalek, Death in Heaven)
 * Ollistra and Veklin try to extract the Doctor in the same way that the Time Lords did before his first trial. (TV: The War Games)
 * The Doctor previously encountered Ollistra on two occasions during his eighth incarnation. (AUDIO: The Side of the Angels, Day of the Vashta Nerada)