The Sirens of Time (audio story)

The Sirens of Time is the first in the series of Doctor Who audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions. Written and directed by Nicholas Briggs, the four-part story features the Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Doctors, with Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy each reprising their roles from the original television series.

Publisher's summary
Gallifrey is in crisis, facing destruction at the hands of an overwhelming enemy. The Doctor is involved in three different incarnations - each caught in a deadly adventure, scattered across time and space. The web of time is threatened - and someone wants the Doctor dead!

The three incarnations of the Doctor must join to set time back on the right track - but in doing so, will they unleash a still greater threat?

Part 1
A TARDIS arrived on Gallifrey, flown by Coordinator Vansell. He claimed the planet is in terrible danger and the Lord President learned he was right. Their planet was under siege by an unknown species. In the Doctor's TARDIS, he was having trouble. The ship was pulled towards a planet because of a gravitational pull. A Time Lord tried to communicate with the Doctor, but could not and the signal was cut off.

Leaving the TARDIS, the Doctor heard a distant voice. A girl called Elenya was trapped in quick sand. He told her not to struggle as he hacked his way through the undergrowth with his umbrella. A mysterious woman appeared and laughed at the Doctor. He went in aid of the trapped girl. Using his umbrella, he pulled the girl out of the bog and onto a safe patch of land.

Sancroff, who was a prisoner of Ruthley in her home, was waiting for her return. She told him that she hated her job, which was to keep him there. She reluctantly helped him into his bed. Speaking through a communicator with guards hovering above the planet, she lied that there were no visitors on the surface. The Doctor found himself locked out of his TARDIS. Elenya explained about her arrival. She was a geologist and all of her crew had been killed. A ship suddenly came through the planet's atmosphere and crashed to the surface.

The Doctor and Elenya were walking across the surface to find civilisation. The Doctor searched the area and found a light through a window. Another ship came crashing down. One ship came towards them and they ran away. On the communicator, the assassins had arrived to kill Sancroff. Ships were arriving all around the Doctor and Elenya. They investigated the ship wreckage and found the remains of the crew. The Doctor deciphered that the creatures were actually being born. Ruthley asked for the Doctor and Elenya to be killed, but the assassins refused.

The Doctor and Elenya met up with the creatures. They began a mind scan, which was extremely painful. When they awoke, Sancroff was with them. He explained that the creatures were Drudgers. Elenya finally woke up and wondered who the man was. He introduced himself. Suddenly, another creature arrives and destroys the Drudgers. Ruthley explained that they had come to kill them all. She had done a deal with them. They were called assassins.

The Drudgers return fire, but nothing seemed to be working. The assassins were converging on the main building. The Doctor, Elenya and Sancroff entered Ruthley's room. The Doctor began to ask questions. They found a film of Ruthley speaking to the assassins. They didn't listen to her, and shot her because she was a witness. The Doctor tried to create a barrier, but the creatures found them though. They learnt that Sancroff was a war criminal, and was now sentenced to execution.

Part 2
Inside a German U-Boat, Captain Walther Schwieger and his second in command can see a merchant ship approaching. They decide whether or not to send a torpedo at it.

On the merchant ship, the arrives and the Doctor arrives. He's searching for a signal of some kind. It finally locks on and the Time Lords try to contact him. The message is unclear, but they apparently want him to renter the TARDis because time is running out. The Doctor tries the lock, but the ship won't open, he calls for Turlough and Tegan, but they don't open the door. A woman by the name of Helen appears. She asks what he is doing on board the ship. Suddenly, there's a large explosion as a gun from the U-Boat hits the side.

Aboard the U-Boat, the Captain sees two survivors, they bring them board. The Captain is surprised that the Doctor can speak german. They are both placed inside a cell. Helen is worried whether the Doctor is maybe a hun spy. The Doctor is even more worried about his message from the Time Lords. He tries calling to the Germans to free him.

British destroyers are gathering on the water surface and so the German Captain decides it is time to escape the area. The Doctor wishes to speak with him. He tries to persuade him that he is actually a German spy and has found secret documents aboard the ship, which is now reduced to wreckage. The Captain does not believe him. He orders Schmidt to return him to his cell.

Back in the cell, Helen watches as Schimdt suddenly become possessed by some force and tries to kill the Doctor, who deduces that it is the Time Lords who are trying to kill him for some strange reason. The Captain arrives and orders Schimdt to be tied to his bunk.

The Time Lord President is unsure of Vansell's actions to try and stop the Doctor. Using someone by time distortion wasn't the best idea. Vansell disagrees and counters that the Doctor must be stopped for the sake of time.

The German commandant can see smoke on the horizon, claiming it is British ships approaching.

In his cell, the Doctor is wondering why the Time Lords want to kill him. He tells Helen that he needs to return to his TARDIS. Helen can sense that it's important to him somehow.

Schmidt is now awake and can hear voices in his head. It is the voice of Vansell and he is telling him to grab a weapon and to kill the Doctor.

The Germans discover that the ship is large and is coming towards them at a speed that they wouldn't be able to match, let alone outrun.

Schmidt has now entered the cell with a gun which is pointed at the Doctor. The Doctor tries to reassure him that they do not know each other and reasons why he should kill him. The Lord President is still trying to stop Vansell, realising that the Doctor knows what he must do. There's a shot, which the Germans in the control room can hear. The Captain goes to see what has happened.

Helen has managed to take the gun, but Schmidt collapses, a side effect of the time distortion. The Captain and crew arrive, but Helen has them at gunpoint. The Doctor is hoping to discover his ship again.

The Doctor navigates the U-Boat to the position of the TARDIS. He escapes the ship and jumps into the water. The British ships are closing and the U-Boat goes back under.

The Doctor reaches his ship, but has no luck in opening the doors. He is trapped, floating at sea.

more to be added

Cast

 * The Fifth Doctor - Peter Davison
 * The Sixth Doctor - Colin Baker
 * The Seventh Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
 * Commander Raldeth / Schmidt - Andrew Fettes
 * Coordinator Vansell - Anthony Keetch
 * The President - Michael Wade
 * Elenya / Helen / Ellie / Knight Commander Lyena - Sarah Mowat
 * Ruthley - Maggie Stables
 * Sancroff - Colin McIntyre
 * Commandant / Lt Zentner / Pilot Azimendah / Sub-Commander Solanec - John Wadmore
 * Captain Walther Schwieger / Edifice Captain / Knight 2 - Mark Gatiss
 * The Temperon - Nicholas Briggs
 * Delegate - Nicholas Pegg

Astronomical objects

 * Calfadoria
 * The Kurgon Wonder was created as a result of the Knights of Velyshaa attempting to capture the Temperon.

The Doctor

 * The fifth, sixth and seventh incarnations of the Doctor make telepathic contact with one another to apprise all of them of the situation. They trigger it with the spoken command "Contact".

Individuals

 * Tegan and Turlough are trapped in the Fifth Doctor's TARDIS when he arrives.
 * The Sixth Doctor mentions that he knows Hadene Lestrade.

Organisations

 * Coordinator Vansell is a member of the Celestial Intervention Agency.
 * The Galactic Wonders Commission decides which objects are Wonders of the Universe.

Species

 * The Knights of Velyshaa appear.
 * The Temperon is a legendary time beast. It is a 'cousin' of the Chronovores.

TARDIS

 * TARDISes have time cores.
 * Cloister Bell

Theories and concepts

 * The Laws of Time (supposedly) stop the Doctor's incarnations from meeting.

Sirens' altered timeline

 * The Fifth Doctor accidentally prevents the U-20 from sinking the RMS Lusitania in the Atlantic Ocean on 7 May 1915. This allows Eric Charles Vincent to kill Alexander Fleming before he discovered penicillin.

Continuity

 * The Fifth and Seventh Doctors previously met each other in PROSE: Cold Fusion and would later do so again prior to the events of AUDIO: The Veiled Leopard. The latter is not actually depicted but is witnessed by the former's companions Peri Brown and Erimem. Peri describes the Seventh Doctor as being "a kooky little guy in a weird pullover." She would later meet him more formally in PROSE: Bad Therapy.
 * The Sixth Doctor recalls climbing the Himalayas during his first incarnation. (TV: Marco Polo)
 * The Knights of Velyshaa are mentioned and a Knight appears in AUDIO: Invasion of the Daleks.
 * Vansell reappears in AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element and AUDIO: Neverland. Following his death in the latter story, alternative versions of Vansell appear in NOTDWU: He Jests at Scars..., AUDIO: Reborn, AUDIO: Disassembled and AUDIO: Forever.
 * According to PROSE: Instruments of Darkness, Evelyn Smythe was in the TARDIS while the Sixth Doctor was at the Kurgon Wonder.
 * The method by which the Doctors telepathically contact one other ("Contact") was first seen in TV: The Three Doctors.
 * Sancroff is mentioned by Kalendorf in AUDIO: Dalek War: Chapter Four.