The Wreck (audio story)

 was the first story in the audio anthology Lady Christina: Series Two, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by James Goss and featured Michelle Ryan as Christina de Souza, Warren Brown as Sam Bishop and William Gaminara as Alfred de Souza.

Publisher's summary
When Christina joins her father on a cruise off the coast of Zanzibar, she is surprised to meet his new fiancée Bunny. But Lord Alfred has his eyes on another trophy altogether. An underwater shipwreck, containing treasures as deadly as they are beautiful... Are the de Souzas ready to pay the price to bring them to the surface?

Plot
Celebrating their engagement on a private yacht off the coast of Zanzibar, Lord Alfred de Souza and Bunny Warren are surprised by Christina's unexpected arrival. She knows that the yacht was bought with money from several different charities and offers to help her father find the lost shipwrecks in the sea nearby. Whilst Bunny remains on the yacht, Christina and Alfred dive down to the coral reef and find a wreck embedded within. Nearby, they find a spacecraft.

Christina returns to the yacht and tries to contact UNIT without success, which Alfred decides would be a bad idea anyway and that they should have a look tomorrow for artefacts that they could remove. Christina disapproves and, when she wakes up in the morning, realises that her father has drugged her to keep her from getting in his way. She joins him late and sees that he, Costas and the crew have found the bodies of slaves and intend on bringing two preserved bodies to the surface. After he does so, Christina, who deems her father's actions grotesque, realises that the bodies are covered in rubies, emeralds and amethysts. Alfred tries to remove a few of them.

Bunny takes a photograph with the bodies and bumps into them with her back and legs. Later, she shows Christina that the skin where the bodies hurt her has become dry and bruised and that there are jewels beneath. Alfred will not allow Christina to call UNIT and does not call a doctor despite her concerns; she eventually defies him and tries to contact UNIT, but they do not answer her calls. Hoping that there might be something to heal Bunny, Christina and Alfred dive again and enter the craft, finding no crew aboard and realising that they were blind. They find a device which shows Christina that the ship "made a stab" at making carbon-based life after looking at the coral and skeletons.

When Christina and Alfred return to the yacht, they find Bunny in a daze and she shatters when Alfred shakes her. Christina manages to call UNIT and suggests that she and Alfred bury Bunny and the bodies at sea, but he refuses. Sam arrives and, after learning that her father has been infected just like Bunny was, Christina keeps Alfred's condition from him. The two of them take the bodies to the ship and Christina tells it to go home. After they return to the surface, the ship flies off and Sam decides that he will have the area marked as off-limits.

Christina and Sam discover that Alfred has left on Sam's motor boat and Christina admits that he is infected. She is not worried about him, however, and says that he has got what he always wanted; he is going to become very rich at last.

Cast

 * Lady Christina de Souza - Michelle Ryan
 * Lord Alfred de Souza - William Gaminara
 * Bunny Warren - Rosa Coduri
 * Sam Bishop - Warren Brown

Worldbuilding

 * Whilst Christina's mother was still around, Alfred had affairs with au pairs, secretaries, yoga instructors and horse trainers.
 * Alfred gave Bunny Christina's mother's ring.
 * Bunny sleeps on Alfred's shoulder when they go to the opera.
 * Bunny gives Christina some olives.
 * Bunny was a dancer when she met Alfred. She was going to have to retire after getting a hairline fracture on her ankle.
 * Christina mentions Darth Vader.
 * In the holidays, Christina went to ski camp and language schools and learnt French.

Continuity

 * Alfred has money troubles. (TV: Planet of the Dead)
 * Sam has met Christina before. (AUDIO: Death on the Mile)