He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not (audio story)

He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not was the first of three special Big Finish Productions set during the Last Great Time War in conjunction with the Time Lord Victorious series. It was written by Carrie Thompson and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor.

Publisher's summary
On the desert world of Atharna, the Doctor’s life is about to be changed forever.

Looking to visit one of the Seven Hundred Wonders of the Universe, he’s quickly embroiled in a web of deceit. Worse than that, this Wonder of the Universe is missing, and the Doctor is about to encounter one of his most dangerous and duplicitous adversaries.

The Doctor is about to meet Brian.

Plot
Felicity and Sophie, two fugitives, are reached and attacked by Brian, an Ood assassin sent by Felicity's father. Felicity and Brian hurt each other in the following fight, leaving Sophie to escape unharmed.

The Doctor decides to go to Atharna, the water planet, to see a mighty statue, but when he arrives, he finds out that Atharna has become a barren, desert planet. He stumbles across Felicity and Brian, who pretend to be the only survivors of a crashed spaceship after some pirates attacked them. The Doctor offers to help them reach the nearest town, Moslin, so they can be treated properly and cured.

Meanwhile, Sophie arrived at Moslin and met the local Marshal, Katherine, and the bartender Samson. He tells them she is on the run from an assassin bent on killing her and her wife Felicity, and asks for help. Katherine orders Samson to hide her in the cellar of his tavern, as she prepares to welcome the assassin and make sure he doesn't harm her.

The Doctor, Felicity and Brian arrive in the town, and the Doctor leaves his two companions in the hands of the local doctor, Craddock, as he goes informing local authorities about the theft. While he speaks to Katherine, he gathers Sophie is also there, hidden in the cell, and makes her come out. Thinking she is another survivor of the attack, he starts informing her about her "companions", but Sophie quickly reveals the truth: Felicity is an artificially born daughter of a wealthy man, who had her designed so she would love him more than anything else; after she and Sophie fell in love and ran away, he sent Brian out to kill Sophie and bring Felicity back to him. The Doctor apologises and offers his help to save the girls from Brian.

In the meantime, Brian has snatched Felicity's gun, and threatened to harm her if she does not help him. Craddock then brings them to the tavern, where they also meet Katherine and Samson. Katherine informs them she sent the Doctor away (when he is actually hidden with Sophie in the cellar), and then tries to take the gun away from them. Brian, however, does not carry any weapons. The two travellers end up take one room for both, under the pretence Brian is Felicity's bodyguard, foiling Samson's attempt to keep them separated.

Brian and Felicity, despite Samson's attempts, end up in a same room. Brian, at the end of his patience, decides to kill Felicity. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Sophie head to the Sheriff's office, followed by the Sheriff herself, where they try to come up with a plan to residue Felicity.

To be continued...

Cast

 * The Doctor - Paul McGann
 * Brian - Silas Carson
 * Samson - Jack DeVos
 * Katherine - Pauline Eyre
 * Felicity - Misha Malcolm
 * Craddock - Martin McDougall
 * Sophie - Melanie Stevens
 * The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs

Continuity

 * Katherine jokingly quips if the Doctor was raised in a barn (TV: Listen)