Dark Side of the Moon (audio story)

Dark Side of the Moon was the third and final story in the audio anthology Seabird One, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Alfie Shaw and featured Angela Bruce as Brigadier Bambera, Alex Jordan as Sergeant Savarin and Yemishi Oyinloye as Dr Louise Rix.

Publisher's summary
A new British space station, the Britannia, is due to be launched at the end of the week, but Bambera, Rix and Savarin fear that some kind of psychic entity is trying to sabotage it. Is it really the spirit of Helena McNamara, deceased astronaut and old friend of Rix? And does it speak the truth when it warns that something terrible is waiting for humanity on the dark side of the moon?

Plot
DI Lees interviews Colin Carter, who insists that the Britannia space station is a way for the BSP to send supplies to their alien masters and that the launch of the Britannia must be stopped to save Earth. It was for this reason that he stole a car. He claims that the aliens murdered him and Tim Hartfield in January the previous year whilst they were on the Titania, a space shuttle taking them to a base on the dark side of the Moon, and that he is not Colin Carter; he is Helena McNamara.

Brigadier Bambera, Sergeant Savarin and Dr Rix watch the interview, sent to them anonymously from Scotland, and discuss whether it is a hoax. Rix knows Helena, however, having attended university with her, convinced her to join BSP and buried what remains were confirmed to be hers. Bambera sends her to Space Control to give the Britannia another look over, sending Savarin to Deptford in her place, and meets with Dame Lydia to discuss the matter; Lydia oversaw the inquiry into the Titania disaster, during which neither Bambera's predecessor nor Torchwood find anything unusual.

Savarin finds that everybody in Deptford has been killed, aside from a missing Private Henderson, and calls in Bambera. The CCTV has been wiped, rifles and an Omega 4 explosive (the activation code for which is only known to Savarin, Rix and the quartermaster) have been stolen and it seems that some of the dead had shot one another. When the CCTV is restored, they watch Henderson steal the weapons as Private Chavda initiates the massacre.

Rix angers Professor Fenning and Dr Hollands by having the modules properly examined before being loaded into the rocket, scanning the systems and insisting on interviewing the astronauts to ensure that there has been no alien tampering. As Professor Fenning argues with her, they are attacked by gunfire in which Fenning is killed and Rix and Private McManis find and kill the attacker: the cleaner Irena Kravitz, who says with her dying breath that she is Helena McNamara. Rix calls Bambera and Savarin, who have traced the Jeep that Henderson left in, only five miles away, and Henderson's corpse.

Dr Hollands demands that Lydia removes UNIT from Space Control due to their incompetence but, when Lydia agrees to do so and offers no replacement, she reluctantly allows them to stay. Meanwhile, Savarin finds the rifles at the site that Henderson's body was found, but the bomb remains at large. He locates DI Lees, who is in a coma after collapsing at a petrol station in London, and Carter, who died in the interview room. It seems that Helena used DI Lees to get to London before jumping into Private Chavda. Bambera gets a call from somebody who tells her that they sent the tape, that Helena is right and that, if Britannia leaves Earth, it will be the end. When the call ends, she tries unsuccessfully to have it traced.

Rix tells Savarin that she is sure that Kravitz was Helena given that she called her "Lou", a name that she only ever allowed Helena to call her, but he hopes that she is wrong. Helena talks to Rix through DI Lees and convinces her that it is her before asking how she can activate the bomb to destroy the Britannia. Rix refuses and DI Lees dies. Rix says that Helena must only be able to inhabit nearby bodies and that it is possible for them to trap her. Savarin and Rix search Space Control for the bomb and, when they fail to find it, the rocket's launch sequence begins.

Rix takes Private McManis to the basement and finds the bomb has been armed. Helena, possessing Savarin, points Savarin's gun at Bambera, but she fights her and tells her that she can destroy the Britannia if the people are allowed to leave. She suggests that Helena possesses her to drive out to the launch site and trigger the explosion with the heat of the engine. Whilst Dr Hollands protests, Helena agrees and Bambera orders Rix to bring the bomb from the basement. Dr Hollands refuses to allow anybody to leave so Helena possesses her instead and heads off.

Bambera calls Helena and has Rix reveal that she has swapped the Omega 4, having decided that Helena is not really her friend as she never visited her in all the time since her death. The rocket lifts off and Helena dies. Geneva prepares for what might be found on the dark side of the Moon, but they find that there is no moonbase there as Helena had claimed. Private McManis tells Bambera that there is a phonecall for her, one which turns out to be from the person who called her before; they tell her that the pictures from the Britannia cannot be believed and that the Grey Men are coming.

Savarin is receiving medical care and speaks with Rix, confirming her suspicion that he is gay and prompting her to ask Private McManis out on a date. Bambera tells Lydia what Rix's theory is; that "Helena" was a native of the dark side of the Moon who jumped aboard the Titania to keep others from finding its habitat or offspring. Lydia agrees to look into the person who called her, who must be quite high up to have access to police recordings and the Britannia feed.

Unaware to Earth, the Britannia has spotted a moonbase and the astronauts are being told by mission control to wait for relief. The astronaut Patricia reveals she's possessed by Helena McNamara and the order did not come from control, and the aliens did this "last time" as well. The aliens board the ship, stating they have been preventing all transmissions reaching the BSP and they are planning new ways to kill humans as their first attempts split Helena's mind from her body. They kill Helena and James with new rifles, and report to the Supremacy that the next stage of the invasion can begin.

Cast

 * Brigadier Winifred Bambera - Angela Bruce
 * Sergeant Jean-Paul Savarin - Alex Jordan
 * Dr Louise Rix - Yemisi Oyinloye
 * McManis - Lorne MacFadyen
 * Dame Lydia Kingsley - Liz Sutherland-Lim
 * Professor Ian Fenning - Wilf Scolding
 * Colin Carter - Simon Ludders
 * DI Alison Lees - Simone Lahbib
 * Dr Megan Hollands - Debra Michaels
 * Trooper 1 / Astronaut 1 / UNIT Medic - Homer Todiwala
 * Trooper 2 / Astronaut 2 / Cleaner / Helena - Tracy Wiles

Worldbuilding

 * Alison Lees is a Detective Inspector.
 * DI Lees says that one can get seven years imprisonment for threatening the life of a police officer.
 * Private Smith was one of the fourteen who died at Deptford.
 * Irena Kravitz is a cleaner.
 * DI Lees is taken to St Gart's after collapsing at a petrol station.
 * Bambera mentions The Charge of the Light Brigade.
 * Bambera and Savarin drink a lot of coffee.
 * Carter kissed both Sabrina McGregor and her twin.
 * DI Lees has a daughter called Sylvia.
 * Rix and Helena met at St William's University on the second day of freshers', being the only two girls at SpaceSoc.
 * Rix and Helena saw Aliens three times in its opening week.
 * The Eagle Teams are snipers.
 * Seabird Four is a man. He reports that the admin block is clear.
 * Seabird Six is a Scottish woman. She reports that Space Control's upper floor is clear.
 * Savarin is gay.

Continuity

 * The usual British Rocket Group has been replaced with the BSP. They have been active for at least a year.