Seed of Chaos (audio story)

 was the third story of the audio anthology Charlotte Pollard: Series Two. It was written by Nicholas Briggs and featured India Fisher as Charlotte Pollard, James Joyce as Robert Buchan and Dan Starkey as Bertram.

Publisher's summary
Tube train trouble, the chaos begins, the Prime Minister arrives.

Plot
Woking is holding Charley, Robert, Bertram, Naomi and Rab at gunpoint, himself bleeding after Captain Warwick and his men wiped out the entire security team. Woking coughs up blood, causing Rab to faint before passing out himself, after which Charley uses Naomi's scarf as a tourniquet for him. Bertram speculates that the soldiers' behaviour, as well as that of many of the people of London, has been caused by something analogous to a virus at Embankment and the group flee, Bertram carrying the unconscious Woking.

The Identical Man in the London Underground begins building a pulse in order to prevent the escape of the "threats and accompanying humans".

The group reach the Underground and are shot at by the soldiers, who look much like zombies, before Bertram ruffles the door shut. The soldiers begin a molecular process which Bertram explains was what Charley and Robert saw at Trafalgar Square and which allows them to get through the door, but they are hit by a passing train and crushed to bits and, in Bertram's opinion, unlikely to reanimate. The train driver stops the train and shouts at the group whilst the Identical Men appear in the walls. Bertram absorbs the electricity in the tracks, allowing the humans to run to and get on the train, Naomi convincing the driver to let them do so.

Bertram asks the Identical Men to identify themselves and their aim, but they say only that Bertram is a threat and must be removed. He threatens to release the electricity that he has absorbed, which the group realise is the reason that the train is not moving. Bertram releases the electricity, impeding the Identical Men and restoring power to the train, which he grabs onto. Charley and Robert help pull him in and the driver says that they will be stopping at Embankment where he will contact the police. Disembarking at Embankment, Bertram reminds the group that the Identical Men are indestructible.

The Identical Man is unable to make contact with his factors.

The group head up the escalator out of Embankment and hear a strange noise which makes them all feel strange and which Bertram says is some kind of coded message. When the sound ends, everybody feels fine but Charley, who still feels unusual and who remarks on Naomi's lack of compassion towards Woking.

On the Lunchtime News, Lysette Allegro says that the head of the NHS has apologised for a rapid decline in hospital standards, that bread and milk deliveries have been unexpectedly interrupted and that the Prime Minister is concerned about the spike in road accidents in London.

Naomi takes the group to her studio where she is told off by Madeline, who refuses to believe her story about Embankment and of being kidnapped by the government. Charley tells Robert to call an ambulance for Woking, a task that he delegates to Rab due to his unfamiliarity with 21st century technology, and joins Naomi in talking to Madeline about what is going on.

Robert asks Bertram if there is any way that they could get back to the Prolixity and go somewhere more peaceful, something that Bertram says might be possible. Rab tells Robert that he has found that the strange events all relate to people who travelled on two particular trains which stopped at Embankment. When Robert mentions the sound that they heard at the station, Rab says that he does not know what he is talking about. Bertram finds this interesting.

Charley, Naomi and Madeline watch Naomi's recordings from the Underground and find that Naomi does not remember the sound at Embankment either. Madeline believes that they have faked the footage and goes to call the police before the power goes out across the city. Rab finds that those who had been on the trains included Diane Catlock, Karen McDonald and Daniel Montford of the National Grid switching centre, negligent nurses, people who caused traffic accidents and the man who caused the bread and milk shortage by accidentally erasing a delivery database.

The Identical Man says that the sustained pulse will begin.

Charley says that they have to stop trains from passing through Embankment which they might be able to do with Woking's assistance, prompting Rab to realise that he has forgotten to call for an ambulance. Madeline tells Naomi and Rab that she wants to put them in front of the camera as interviewer and expert witness but, before they do, Charley realises that the virus-like phenomena is causing people to stop caring and that both of them have been affected. Charley, Robert and Bertram, however, appear not to have been.

to be completed

Cast

 * Charlotte Pollard - India Fisher
 * Robert Buchan - James Joyce
 * Rogue Viyran - Dan Starkey
 * Naomi Davies - Deirdre Mullins
 * Woking - Kieran Hodgson
 * Rab - Ashley Kumar
 * Prime Minister - Pippa Haywood
 * The Identical Men - Colin McFarlane
 * Madeline - Karen Henson
 * Sergeant Hunter - Ben Crowe
 * Lysette Allego - Helen Goldwyn

Continuity

 * Bertram refers to the Viyrans' mission to contain the Amethyst Viruses. (AUDIO: Patient Zero)