Dead Time (audio story)

 was the first story in the audio anthology Stranded 2, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Matt Fitton and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor, Nicola Walker as Liv Chenka, Hattie Morahan as Helen Sinclair, Rebecca Root as Tania Bell, Tom Price as Andy Davidson and Joel James Davison as Robin Bright-Thompson.

Publisher's summary
The Doctor wants to take the TARDIS on a test flight. But he has rather more passengers than he'd like. Soon, the crew are stranded once again in an uncertain future. One where planet Earth appears to be dead. And very soon, so will any visitors...

Plot
In the still-restoring TARDIS, the Doctor finds his psychic paper in an old jacket and Helen is unable to locate her bedroom. After receiving a text message from an annoyed Tania, the pair go to see her at a nearby pub where Liv is explaining the truth about herself and her companions to her and Robin.

Tony, Ron, Aisha and Zakia return home to 107 Baker Street, discussing the Rarkelians' attack. When alone, Tony and Ron talk about whether or not they should tell the sisters about their pasts and wonder what the Brig would think.

The Doctor offers to take Tania on a trip in the TARDIS with him, Liv and Helen, promising Robin that he could come next time. Before the TARDIS can set off, however, police cars blockade the street and Andy insists that he join them in the ship, something that the Doctor is unhappy with. The Doctor sets the coordinates for Rarkelia to find answers, but finds that the TARDIS is only capable of moving in time and instead arrives in the same spot several million years later. Robin emerges after landing, having stowed himself away in a cupboard.

Helen and Robin stay inside the TARDIS whilst, on the surface of a desolate Earth, the Doctor and Tania explore and Liv takes care of a shocked Andy. When Robin goes missing, Helen searches for him without success and finds that he has left the ship.

Liv tries to get answers from Andy about his connection with Tania and learns about the group that he belongs to. The two find and enter a bunker which seems to scan Andy. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Tania overlook the former location of London and Tania admits to being part of the group, also asking about regeneration. Liv and Andy find a control hub and are flee from an armed robot, unaware that they are being watched by Robin. Helen reaches the Doctor and Tania and tells them about Robin's disappearance.

Robin enters the machine and communicates with the holo-system interface, which has taken the form of Andy and identifies itself as Earth Endstation 6 and the time as the Third Glorious Empire. The station has a record of Robin in a database containing information of people of significance and tells him about Deus Ex's mission to prepare Earth for a new age of the Human Empire.

Liv and Andy reach the Doctor, Helen and Tania and tell them about the robot. To stop it, they fan out to distract it before the Doctor and Tania hit it with rocks. Meanwhile, the interface tells Robin that he is already part of Deus Ex and that he is part of "the template" before locking him in the medical bay to be scanned and "made well" through enhancement.

The Doctor takes apart the robot and Helen and Tania discuss Liv, Helen saying that she was happy for the pair and welcoming Tania to the family. Tania then notices Robin's footprints. The Doctor identifies the robot, stamped with the words "Deus Ex", as one of several primitive maintenance bots containing poison nanobots which will soon be released to decontaminate the planet. Faced with an army of them, the Doctor and Liv head to the station to check the countdown whilst Helen, Tania and Andy try to enter the TARDIS, finding that it has locked them out.

The Doctor bypasses the station's entry filter and antirad wash and is refused information by the interface due to his species. When the Doctor asks when the new humans and Deus Ex will be arriving for their decontaminated world, the interface seems to malfunction, saying "gone" and "no contact".

Andy confesses to Tania that Torchwood had shut down months previously and that he had arrested his own girlfriend.

The Doctor learns that the human race has somehow been wiped out and that the station has been awaiting orders for six million years. Robin approaches them, his scan having been completed, and the three head for the TARDIS with part of the station's hard drive. When they arrive, the TARDIS doors open, the Doctor explaining that it had refused to open whilst Robin was missing as it wanted them all to be together. The Doctor connects the hard drive to the TARDIS and performs life scans before dematerialising.

Back in 2020, Robin tells Liv and Tania that the TARDIS had hoovered up all of the radiation energy. Whilst the others head home, Andy stays in the TARDIS with the Doctor and learns that the TARDIS's ability to time travel is now functional, although it will not be able to move in space, and offers to assist in supplying any technology that the Doctor might need. At Baker Street, Helen hears Robin shout at his father and learns that they are moving to Scotland because of Ken's work. Robin asks if the Doctor will say goodbye, but Helen says that he is busy.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Paul McGann
 * Liv Chenka - Nicola Walker
 * Helen Sinclair - Hattie Morahan
 * Tania Bell - Rebecca Root
 * Sergeant Andy Davidson - Tom Price
 * Robin Bright-Thompson - Joel James Davison
 * Aisha Akhtar - Amina Zia
 * Zakia Akhtar - Avita Jay
 * Ron Winters - David Shaw-Parker
 * Tony Clare - Jeremy Clyde

Food and drink

 * Liv buys lemonade for Robin and tea for Tania.

History

 * The Doctor believes that they have travelled between six million and six-and-a-half million years into the future.
 * Liv guesses that they are a few million years after Kaldor.

Locations

 * Tania mentions Epping Forest.
 * Helen mentions her bedroom, Liv's bedroom, the swimming pool and a games arcade in which she and Liv once had a dance-off.
 * The Doctor last wore a particular jacket at La Scala in 1831 or 1832.

People

 * Robin claims that he called his father.
 * Helen was supposedly "winging it" when teaching Robin about Reagan and Gorbachev.

Torchwood

 * Andy alludes to the Tenth Doctor's involvement in the creation of Torchwood.
 * According to Andy, Torchwood has been gone for several months, since the Cardiff Bay Incident.

Other

 * Helen has a TARDIS key.

Continuity

 * The Doctor says that the TARDIS is not yet up to making him a new sonic screwdriver. It would later produce ones for his eleventh and twelfth incarnations. (TV: The Eleventh Hour, Hell Bent)
 * The Doctor finds psychic paper in his old jacket pocket. (TV: The End of the World, et al.)
 * Ron Winters and Tony Clare refer to their days at UNIT and wonder what the Brig would make of all this. (AUDIO: UNIT Dating)
 * Andy tells Liv that a future incarnation of the Doctor would cause the creation of an organisation he is a part of. (TV: Tooth and Claw)
 * Liv tells Andy that she met the Doctor's wife. (AUDIO: The Sonomancer, et al.)
 * Andy recalls having travelled in time before. (AUDIO: Goodbye Piccadilly, Parasite)
 * Liv says that her sister is the robotics expert. (AUDIO: Escape from Kaldor, et al.)
 * Liv thinks they're a few million years after Kaldor. (TV: The Robots of Death)
 * Andy confesses to Tania that Torchwood has been gone for months since the “trouble in the bay” and that he had to arrest his girlfriend. (AUDIO: Thoughts and Prayers)