The Inquiry (audio story)

The Inquiry (identified on the cover simply as Chapter Three) was the third story of the first series of Big Finish's Gallifrey audio series. It was written by Justin Richards.

Publisher's summary
"Let those who have business in this place rise and state it to the Court of Enquiry."

President Romana has been called to account for her actions. But the only evidence that she has responded to a real and present danger has disappeared. To clear her good name she is dependent on the testimony of the very people who want to see her publicly humiliated and her power removed.

While Leela tries to discover truths of her own, Romana is forced into an uneasy truce with her rivals at the CIA. But at least she can be sure the inquiry will be handled in a fair and proper manner. Or can she? When the investigation itself triggers danger and time is — quite literally — running out for all of Gallifrey's power and knowledge, just who can Romana trust?

Plot
Darkel, inquisitor of the judicial inquiry into Romana's actions on Gryben, opens the court and invites those with business with the court to stand; Leela, K9 Mark I (who can also speak for K9 Mark II), Narvin and Torvald will all be acting as witnesses whilst Braxiatel presides over the inquiry. He and Darkel will, after the evidence is heard, cross-examine the witnesses whose accounts do not match that recorded by the Matrix and, finally, Braxiatel will make his ruling.

''During Project Alpha, Glower assures Narvin that Braxiatel's concerns of temporal energy waves and galactic destruction are entirely unfounded. Braxiatel calls them, asking them to stop after running a simulation predicting armageddon, but Glower continues working on the project. As the countdown approaches zero, Narvin says that they have a problem.''

In the courtroom, Narvin insists that the Timonic Fusion Device could not possibly have been built, but Torvald says that he saw the device himself. Braxiatel sees this as an ideal time to adjourn for the day and, afterwards, he visits Romana, Leela and K9 and says that he will speak with Darkel about her line of questioning. According to him, rumour has it that Narvin stopped Project Alpha just as Glower was about to test the device, after which Narvin was recruited by the CIA.

''Narvin stops the test and says that they have no choice but to inform the CIA of what he has just discovered. He suggests that they contact Braxiatel rather than the High Council.''

Braxiatel tells Romana that information on Project Alpha must be in the Matrix and leaves to meet with Narvin, who is with Torvald. He suggests that Darkel's line of questioning assume that the threat could be real so as to avoid the risk of Project Alpha being brought up and then heads off to another meeting. Torvald expresses his frustration about information being kept from him and Narvin tells him that they did indeed make a Timonic Fusion Device and accesses the Matrix, revealing that not only the President can do so.

At Romana's suggestion, Romana says that they will analyse the energy wave signature from the detonation, they might be able to trace the device. K9 Mark II links with the Matrix to find data on Project Alpha and detects another mind within the data, a mind which Leela guesses is Narvin. Aware of K9's presence, Narvin severs his link, but has located a data bomb within the information. K9 too locates it and finds that he has unwittingly activated its defences and it will explode in microspans.

Narvin assumes that the data bomb contains a virus which could destroy the Matrix due to the data being interconnected by the APC Net.

Braxiatel has K9 isolate the data bomb and stop the countdown but, once K9's power has been depleted, it will detonate. Although they have found data of the Timonic Fusion Device's explosion, Braxiatel knows that it was dismantled prior to detonation and leaves to have Narvin send a recovery team, wondering where this data could have come from. If the device was tested in secret, Narvin must know about it. Leela catches up with him and asks if the Matrix could reveal what happened to Andred; he tells her to ask Romana, but that the Matrix might have forgotten the information.

In court, Romana announces that the Timonic Fusion Device has been traced to Gryben, moved one day into the future after its dematerialisation during the Monan invasion and Braxiatel suggests that the Chancellery Guard take responsibility for recovering it. When Narvin questions this and refers to Andred as Leela's "late husband", Leela is suspicious of his choice of words.

Meanwhile, Leela is also looking through the Matrix in hopes of finding information on her missing husband, Andred. Later, she finds that his data slot is empty and was last accessed by Torvald.

The Timonic Fusion Device is collected from Gryben, after Romana presented evidence suggesting that the device didn't disappear and was only sent forward one day in time.

Using the artron imprint from the Matrix data bomb, Narvin identifies Braxiatel as the culprit. Braxiatel is also tracked to a museum, and is caught buying rare pieces of artwork for the Braxiatel Collection. He denies planting the data bomb, although he admits to considering the possibility if Project: Alpha was to continue.

The data bomb explodes, but it is not a virus as previously thought. Instead it contains the truth about Project: Alpha. According to the data, the test went through and the explosion destroyed the planet Minyos before anyone knew what was happening. The High Council covered up the incident, claiming that the planet was destroyed in a civil war. Braxiatel then planted the data bomb to ensure that the truth about Project Alpha would be spread throughout the Matrix for all to see if the High Council ever tried to kill him.

These events never happened, however, because the device was stolen right before detonation. Unwilling to admit to losing such a powerful weapon, the High Council launched a cover up, claiming to have dismantled the device. Because the Matrix exists outside relative time, it was unaffected by the changed events, and the data bomb which Braxiatel originally planted in the Matrix before history was changed remained intact.

Romana and Braxiatel travel back in time to set history straight, stopping the servitor robots from stealing the device in the first place and destroying the planet Minyos in the process. The trial is then considered redundant, and any charges are dropped.

Cast

 * President Romana - Lalla Ward
 * Leela - Louise Jameson
 * K9 - John Leeson
 * Cardinal Braxiatel - Miles Richardson
 * Coordinator Narvin - Seán Carlsen
 * Commander Torvald - Andy Coleman
 * Inquisitor Darkel - Lynda Bellingham
 * Glower - Daniel Hogarth
 * Archivist - Trevor Littledale
 * Glower's Technician - Stephen Mansfield
 * Servitor - Robert Dick

Continuity

 * Minyos (and Gallifrey's involvement) was first mentioned in TV: Underworld.
 * Braxiatel is caught collecting art for his Braxiatel Collection, breaking the laws of time. He claims he started the endeavour after witnessing how easily time can be destroyed with things like the Timonic Fusion Device. The Collection plays a large role in the Big Finish Bernice Summerfield series.
 * Braxiatel claims that he will receive a K9 unit as a gift from an old friend that he hasn't met yet. It is unknown whether this is true, yet it suggests that Braxiatel is knowledgable about his own future, revealing that he is breaking more laws of time than he has let on. Braxiatel becomes much more invested in bending the laws of time later in his life. (AUDIO: Resurrecting the Past, Escaping the Future)