The Transit of Venus (audio story)

The Transit of Venus was the seventh story of the third series of The Companion Chronicles, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Jacqueline Rayner, narrated by William Russell and featured the First Doctor, Susan Foreman, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright.

This adventure described the first place where the TARDIS materialised after the television story The Sensorites, at the end of which the First Doctor had promised to throw Ian and Barbara out. At the end of this adventure, the Doctor returned to his idea of throwing them out, thus leading directly into the events of the television story The Reign of Terror.

Publisher's summary
The year is 1770, and daring explorer Captain James Cook and his crew on the Endeavour are navigating the Pacific Ocean.

Into their midst come strangers: the First Doctor and Ian Chesterton, who are believed to have come from Venus. But the TARDIS is lost to them — along with both Susan and Barbara — and Ian makes an enemy of the ship's chief scientist, Joseph Banks.

Why is Banks acting strangely? Could it be that the travellers are not the only visitors from the stars?

Voyage of Discovery (1)
Ian Chesterton remembers the first time he assisted at the transit of Venus, the astronomical phenomenon happening the planet passes through the Earth's orbit. The last time it happened, he tells, it helped Captain James Cook to trace the route to Australia, and Ian was there to witness it.

It happened a short while after their departure from the Sense Sphere. Angry with them for doubting him, the Doctor had elected to cast off Ian and Barbara on their next destination, whatever it may be. As it happened, it was Earth, and despite Susan's protests, the Doctor urged Ian and Barbara out of the TARDIS - and on the deck of a 18th century ship. The sailors, afraid at the sudden appearance of the TARDIS and at the sight of a woman aboard, attack them instantly and in the following brawl, as he attempts to defend Barbara, Ian is knocked out unconscious.

When he recovers, Ian comes to know from the Doctor where they are and what happened: they are on James Cook's ship, the Endeavour, during his journey, only months before they discover Australia. When the sailors attacked them, Susan opened the TARDIS to give refuge to Barbara, but the sailors pulled the Doctor out of the ship and then tossed the TARDIS overboard, with Susan and Barbara still inside. Now, the Doctor and Ian are guests to Captain Cook, who thinks they are visitors from Venus, come to aid them in their pursuit. With nowhere else to go, the Doctor and Ian are forced to stay on the ship and accompany him.

In the following weeks, Ian works on the ship with the other sailors (without telling them about their future discovery), and strikes a friendship with Joseph Banks, the famous naturalist. He also starts having worrying visions. When they pass through Five Points Cap, a rock in the form of a hand seemingly waves goodbye to him; after that, he hears Banks first talking about the geographical position of Australia (which he can't possibly know, since the continent is yet to be discovered) and then a seagull seemingly calling him, moments before Banks shots it and starts reciting the verses from the yet unpublished Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Both times, Banks seems not to remember what he said when Ian tries to interrogate him. Ian proposes his theory to the Doctor, but he dismisses him. And then, one afternoon, as they contemplate the ever-nearer Easter Island, Banks once again begins to behave erratically and pushes Ian overboard, screaming to go and reunite with his friends. Before he goes down under the water, Ian barely manages to hear Banks calling for help.

Dangerous Endeavours (2)
Ian is saved and brought back on board, but nobody, not even the Doctor, believes his accusations towards Banks, and the botanist starts thinking he is delirious. He tries in vain to alert Cook, but the captain does not give credits to his words: he has too much faith in Banks (also due to past loyalties) to doubt him. The ship continues his voyage until he reaches Botany Bay, a coast of Australia, where Banks insists they disembark. On land, Banks begins to sing a song about Botany Bay as a place where convicts are transported - something he shouldn't know, since no Englishman has yet arrived there. Enraged, and suddenly convinced that Banks intends to poison everyone, Ian attacks the man.

He is then restricted, but thanks to the Doctor's intervention he is held only on 'cabine arrest' than as a prisoner. Some time later, a man falls sick on the ship, which convinces Ian of the truth of his theories about Banks, and later the ship gets stuck near the coast of Australia. Banks barges into Ian's cabin, but before Ian can attack him, mutters the words "Ian, follow me: I am your navigator". Recognising this was something he said about her when he and Barbara were confronting the Commander, Ian follows him out, and on the shore he sees Barbara waving at him, safe and sound. The next day, he and the Doctor are part of the group going on land, and they are reunited not only with Barbara, but with Susan and the TARDIS as well.

Susan and Barbara tell the others what happened to them. After the sailors tossed the TARDIS overboard, Susan was able to swim under the ship and attach a rope to it, so that the Endeavour dragged the TARDIS along with it. As they were busy cleaning the console room (which had been flooded with sea water), they followed the ship's progression on the scanner, as Barbara explained Susan who Cook was, what he was doing and where he was going; they even saw Banks throw Ian overboard and him shooting the bird. The Doctor and Ian understand what happened: Susan's lingering telepathic powers inadvertedly projected Barbara's thoughts, words and emotions in Banks' mind. Before he leaves, then, Ian goes and apologizes with Banks, telling them that they are going back to Venus, having completed their research.

Once they are back on board, the Doctor is so infuriated by what happened to the console room (which had been flooded twice) that he still decides to cast off Barbara and Ian at their next destination. But that, says Ian, is another story.

Cast

 * Ian Chesterton - William Russell
 * Joseph Banks - Ian Hallard

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Ian Chesterton
 * Susan Foreman
 * Barbara Wright
 * Joseph Banks
 * Captain James Cook

Continuity

 * Ian states that Susan told him and Barbara about her travels with the Doctor prior to their arrival in 1963. (TV: An Unearthly Child) He refers to Quinnis in the fourth universe (TV: The Edge of Destruction; AUDIO: Quinnis) and the metal seas of Venus (TV: Marco Polo) as well as the four time travellers' later encounters with the Daleks and the Thals on Skaro, (TV: The Daleks) the Voord on Marinus (TV: The Keys of Marinus) and the Aztecs in Mexico in the 15th century. (TV: The Aztecs)
 * Several mentions are made of the Sense Sphere and of the telepathic enhancement that Susan experienced there. (TV: The Sensorites) This story takes place immediately after that one, with the Doctor preparing to throw Ian and Barbara out of the TARDIS the next place they land.
 * Barbara repeats several times, "I am your navigator. I will lead you back," which is a close paraphrase of what Ian said about her in TV: The Sensorites. "This is our navigator. She is going to lead us back."
 * Susan continued to have trouble with these telepathic powers when the TARDIS crew visited Salem Village in 1692. (PROSE: The Witch Hunters)