The Oracle of Delphi (audio story)

 was the thirty-third Bernice Summerfield audio story released by Big Finish Productions. It was the fifth story of the seventh season.

Publisher's summary
430 BCE. Greece is in turmoil: Athens is at war with the Spartans, the Athenian women possessed by a horrifying cult... and then Bernice Summerfield strolls into town.

Benny's on a desperate mission to save the Braxiatel Collection, millennia in the future. But she's only gone and lost her husband - last seen skinny-dipping somewhere near Delphi.

She needs help, and it comes in the shape of a talkative bloke called Socrates.

Together they must find Jason, survive the fate awaiting Athens and ensure that the future is saved. But divine powers are at work in Ancient Greece. Powers the archaeological record neglected to mention...

The Oracle will see you now.

Plot
Using a Time Ring from the Braxiatel Collection to travel to 430 BCE Greece, Benny locates the cavern of the Oracle of Delphi and Jason goes skinny-dipping. The cavern is empty, however, and Benny finds that Jason has disappeared in her absence. She follows the trail of two horses to Athens where she meets Socrates and learns that Jason has been seen in the company of Lady Megaira, who has enslaved him and been using him to report what is said about her cult at the assembly. In the morning, Benny goes to the assembly disguised as a man and warns them of the oncoming plague in addition to asking about Jason, but she gives herself away and is expelled.

Jason reports news of the plague breaking out at Piraeus to Megaira and is forced into telling her about Benny, whom he briefly saw at the assembly but was unable to make contact with. Benny and Socrates, disguised as a woman, attend one of Megaira's cult meetings at which they are served wine and all of them, bar Socrates, become slaves to Megaira. He reveals himself after Megaira says that women must rule, after which he carries the enslaved Benny back into the city whilst the cultists chase them. Benny tries to kill Socrates before falling unconscious, waking up free from control the next morning and uses the part of Megaira that remains in her head to track her down.

Benny arrives at Megaira's home and learns that she is a time sensitive who knows about her and Braxiatel. Megaira explains that she is a Spartan who caught the eye of the Athenian chief when she was made to entertain his soldiers and married him, having twin sons before the political situation made the marriage inappropriate and she was exiled. Unable to return to Sparta, she found a stone in the desert which gave her the power to see the future and showed her the plague, which she decided not to warn the men of Athens about due to her hatred of her husband. She and her cult, however, have been drinking a vaccine in wine twice daily and intend to hand over the city to the Spartans so that Megaira will be able to return home.

Megaira has Jason take the plague to the assembly, pretending that it is a cure, and promises Benny that she will release him if she agrees to help her change time, revealing that she reached out to her through time to bring her here. Benny knocks her unconscious and finds Jason being attacked by Socrates. She saves him and learns that Jason saw Braxiatel in Megaira's mind when she attempted, but failed, to hypnotise him, leading him to pretend to be under her control in order to investigate. Socrates goes to help with the plague and Benny and Jason ask Megaira about the stone, which she says is called the Stone of Barter and is still in the desert. Megaira dies and Benny and Jason return to their time as Benny knows where the stone is.

Cast

 * Bernice Summerfield - Lisa Bowerman
 * Jason Kane - Stephen Fewell
 * Socrates - Paul Shelley
 * Megaira - Brigid Zengeni
 * Plato - Scott Handcock
 * Athenian Women - Sharon Gosling, Amanda Lindsay
 * Additional Voices - Sophie-Louise Dann

Worldbuilding

 * Bernice and Jason use their time rings to travel back in time.
 * Socrates survives the plague that befalls Athens.
 * Only men are allowed in the Assembly.
 * After Megaira takes Jason, Benny spends a week looking for him before finding Socrates.
 * Megaira is the Oracle of Delphi. She became a time sensitive when she found the Stone of Barter in the desert. She saw the future, including Benny and the tall man who holds time in his hands.
 * Benny's Greek is a little off, mistakenly saying "Porcupines" for "Gentlemen" and writing "Sex, Benny" instead of "Love, Benny."
 * Peter is being cared for by Adrian.
 * Jason says that he knows judo.
 * Erato is the muse of love.

Continuity

 * Bernice and Jason were given the time rings by the Seventh Doctor. (PROSE: Happy Endings) They last used them to escape the Grel. (AUDIO: The Grel Escape)
 * The war between Athens and Sparta ended in 421 BC. (AUDIO: Mask of Tragedy) However, they were at war again by 410 BC. (COMIC: The Chains of Olympus)
 * Bernice and Jason are on a mission from Bev, and Megaira mentions Bernice leaving her son in the care of a dog . (AUDIO: Summer of Love)
 * Megaira tells Benny that Peter will kill somebody close to her. (AUDIO: The End of the World)