Hexagora (audio story)

 was the second story in the third series of The Lost Stories, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Paul Finch, from the original story idea by Peter Ling & Hazel Adair, and featured Peter Davison as the Fifth Doctor, Sarah Sutton as Nyssa and Janet Fielding as Tegan Jovanka.

Publisher's summary
When a newspaper reporter goes missing, the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa uncover a case of alien abduction. The trail leads them to the planet Luparis, and a city that appears to be a replica of Tudor era London.

What are the monsters that lurk in the shadows? And what is the terrible secret at the heart of Luparis? To save a world, the Doctor must try and defeat the evil plans of Queen Zafira.

And one of her plans is to marry him...

Part one
The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan relax in a villa outside of Brisbane following the events on Florana, but Tegan reads in a newspaper about how investigative reporter and school friend Mike Bretherton disappeared after reporting a meteor and enlists the Doctor and Nyssa's help in searching for him. A visit to Mike's apartment in the TARDIS reveals that Mike had been investigating a series of disappearances, after which the Doctor uses an ionograph to detect two space pods which travelled to Luparis, a tropical and supposedly empty planet. They travel there and find that Lupara greatly resembles 16th century London.

The trio meet Lord Jezzevar, one of the two current husbands of Queen Zafira, who invites them to a duplicate of the Palace of Whitehall upon learning that Nyssa is effectively a Trakenite royal. Knowing that they are unlikely to find Mike on their own, they accept and are given Zafira's hospitality. Nyssa goes riding with Jezzevar and the Doctor goes for a walk on the veranda with Zafira, who indicates that she is attracted to him and advises that he direct any questions about the city to Astorius, the Minister of Science and chief astrologer. Meanwhile, the impatient Tegan scales a gate and heads back into the city, finding the TARDIS gone and Mike living as Sergeant Zax, a member of the city watch.

Part two
Zafira and Astorius explain to the Doctor about how Luparis is rapidly cooling and that people are going into comas, leading them to start putting people into sleep pods. The sleep pods are arranged in pairs, one being for the husband and the other for the wife, but only one of each pair seems to be operational. The Doctor is also told that he will become Zafira's next husband and be known as her Consort Counsellor, prompting the upset Zellenger to engage him in a duel. Although the Doctor is able to disarm him, Zellenger has him arrested and condemns him to the sleep pods.

Mike arrests Tegan for walking the streets unaccompanied, but Lord Zellenger, head of security and another of Zafira's husbands, learns who she is and takes her back to the palace. There, she catches up with Nyssa, who informs her that Jezzavar is planning to rebel against Zafira and would like to install Nyssa as her replacement; he believes that Zafira is too soft on her people and intends to rule through Nyssa. They disguise themselves as maids, Anza and Eva, and run from a guard into the city. They find themselves in the nest of insect-like creatures, one of which tells Tegan that he is Mike Bretherton.

Part three
Tegan can’t believe that this creature is Mike. He eventually convinces her by saying things only the real Mike could know. Tegan realises it is him and asks him how this happened. He explains that this was done to them by the Hexagora. He was kidnapped because he was getting close to uncovering the truth while others just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they were taken from their bodies and put in the insects. They hear lord Zellenger in the distance and Mike leads them somewhere safe.

The Doctor is brought to the Nursery but Astorius refuses to cocoon the Doctor as he is supposed to be married to the Queen. When the guard protests, Astorius chides him for always obeying Lord Zellenger, reminding him who holds the real position of power. He tells him to put the Doctor in his solar.

The guard brings the Doctor into the solar room. He wants to get someone to stand guard over the Doctor but Astorius says it will not be necessary as he does not believe the Doctor will cause trouble. He is surprised by the Doctor when the Doctor contradicts him saying there likely will be trouble, so Astorius takes out a flint-lock pistol and assures the Doctor there won’t be. The Doctor comments about how they have taken even the technology of 16th century Earth, saying it is a very primitive tool for a race that travels by space pod but they are interrupted by a sudden commotion. The Guard (Mike’s body) explains to Astorius that a sleeper has been captured and brought back to the palace. Astorius demands the guard go help the others and he obeys.

The Doctor and Astorius have a hostile talk fraught with tension. The Doctor reveals that he is aware that everything Astorius told him was a lie and that he suspects that the people in the chambers below are not citizens of Luparis who have succumbed to the cold but something else entirely, surmising probably the native species fallen at the hands of Astorius and his race’s aggression. Astorius confirms his suspicions. The Doctor continues, angrily explaining that the giveaway was that while he was talking to Lord Zellenger, Zellenger revealed that they had waged war with the Agellae of the Acteon galaxy and that the Acteon Galaxy species had never set foot in the Milky Way, so that they must have fought them somewhere else, as well as the fact that they are only occupying a small portion of Luparis as further proof. He further elaborates that if they had lived here by any substantial amount of time they would have spread out across the planet by now. He suspects that Astorius and his species’ next move is to take over Earth, accusing them of being a race of space-travelling conquerors. Astorius tells him, however, that the Agellae attacked first, and they are a race of hideous, moronic ape creatures. Astorius explains they had just colonised Zagara IX when they attacked, and the Doctor recalls that tragic event as hundreds of thousands of Agellae ships were ripped apart, with bodies and debris floating all around the planet. No one ever knew who had defeated them, until now as the Doctor realises. Astorius asserts that he is not a man of war and neither are his people. They are mostly farmers, scholars and such and are merely citizen soldiers, only taking up the call to arms when threatened. He further explains that Zagara IX was a paradise, uninhabited and fruitful, warm winds rippling across fertile meadows. They built a colony there that flourished, becoming the ideal environment for the next generation. Meanwhile the Agellae were seeking new conquests and decided to strike, but Astorius claims that when they attacked they had this time chosen the wrong species and most certainly the wrong Queen. The Doctor questions their innocence, asking Astorius to explain what happened here on Luparis. Astorius elaborates by mentioning that when the arrived, Luparis was a warm planet with no intelligent life, but the Doctor counters him by asking about the mountains in the East he noticed earlier, saying that looked a great deal like termite hills that one finds on Earth. He further surmises that when they arrived they discovered an intelligent insect species already living here and when they tried to exterminate them a war followed. Astorius takes out the flint-lock pistol and although the Doctor begs him not shoot, reminding him that he claimed to not be a man of violence, Astorius reveals that the Doctor knows too much and that this is the only solution, despite being a drastic one.

Mike escorts Tegan and Nyssa through the secret passageways. Nyssa asks how this happened but Mike can’t recall much, other than travelling through space at light speed, and then blacking out and awaking in his current insect-like body. They see the other insects and Mike comments that he is one of the only ones who seems to have almost full control of his new form, and excuses himself to go and try and help one of the other struggling insects. Tegan is in shock and Nyssa tries to calm her down by saying that the Doctor may be able to think of a way to fix the situation.

The Doctor is grateful that Astorius doesn’t shoot, but Astorius says they would only ever do so in self-defence and that by sparing the Doctor he hopes there won’t be any more trouble. The Doctor assures him there won’t. They then head to the nursery. Astorius reveals the real reason there is no monitoring equipment on the right hand chambers is because they are empty, which the doctor checks and confirms. When the Doctor asks about the use of flint-lock pistols and other archaic weapons, Astorius explains that much of their technology has been lost in the war and they make do with what they can find. He reveals that the chambers on the left contain strange insect-like creatures called "Hexagora" in hibernation, the species from the termite mounds. The Doctor reveals his knowledge about the Hexagora, how they travel in swarms across the cosmos under the leadership of a powerful Queen and notes he is seeing a pattern. Astorius reveals that they would move from planet to planet only to farm, never to enslave, only selecting planets that had no intelligent life. The Doctor, realising the Astorius includes himself in the pronoun, asks him about this and Astorius explains that they, the Hexagora, have always had the ability to disguise themselves and go unnoticed among a native inhabitants population, but it was only for reconnaissance reasons, and if the planet was not suitable they would simply scout out the next planet. Initially they had arrived on Earth in the 16th century and studied its history as well as then-current architecture and societal structure, scouting among the local natives inhabiting England but eventually Earth was found unsuitable and so they moved on to Luparis... except that they did not realise that Luparis was entering a period of its history with extreme cooling. The Doctor realises Astorius is telling the truth and asks for forgiveness but asks why he saw a human being in one of the chambers earlier. Astroius says that they only did it to trick him and that they are certainly guilty of that but they only did this because they feared the Doctor would disagree with them if he discovered the full truth. When the Doctor asks what this is, Astorius reveals that when they noticed the climate beginning to drop, they had originally thought about simply moving to another planet but they still had several young Hexagorans whom were not fit for space travel yet and were not sure if many other would be able to handle a second migration, having already just come out of a first massive one to Luparis. One by one they began to slip into unconsciousness due to the climate and to which no end was foreseeable. Queen Zafira contemplated many solutions, however, they agreed on only one way out. They sent a "scry-warp" into Earth’s atmosphere to observe humans living in polar communities in order to try and adopt their methods to survive, but soon realised that this was not possible since humans were mammals who possessed bodies better-adapted to cold weather since they possessed warm blood and could grow hair. Queen Zafira, he explains, was faced with no other choice, but the Doctor finished Astroius’ sentence by saying that the scry-warps were reprogrammed to select human targets. Hexagoran commanders would then travel in spacepods to earth and bring the chosen targets back. At first they would pick randomly, but the reason they began to target specific groups of humans like athletes was that they were found to have better standards and provide better material. He explains that when they targeted randomly, the humans abducted were not missed but when they began to target groups like athletes, people began to notice and so those people were abducted as well. The Doctor comments then that the cocoons are not for health but Astorius assures him they are, although now their primary function has become for mind-transference.

Nyssa and Mike talk while Tegan sleeps. She apologises to him on behalf of Tegan and explains that Tegan told her that they were very intimate. She also explains that they had come here with the Doctor as Tegan insisted on coming when she discovered he had disappeared, showing that she still cares about him and holds feelings for him. She explains to Mike who the Doctor is and says that he might be able to fix this if they can find him. Nyssa suspects he is still in the palace and makes a plan with Mike to find him, using Lord Jezzavar.

Astorius explains that the material used for the cocoons is called "Hexian", from their home-world. They usually use it as food, but in difficult times they use it on Hexagorans husks too damaged to survive by draining the Hexagoran’s mind essence into their genetic memory pool, in which the memory nutrients of the Hexagoran is stored. The Doctor likens this to a pool of memories, and Astorius continues by explaining that the vast knowledge they have gathered over the aeons is stored in it, which is why they have been able to reconstruct almost perfectly the many palaces and buildings of 16th century London. He also explains that the minds of the humans are also in this pool while the Hexagoran bodies lie in repose in the cocoons in the palace. He also notes that the process for switching the minds between the bodies is quite harmless. Astorius continues, telling the Doctor that the reason the Queen would like to marry him is that due to the impending ice age, she believes mating with the Doctor will give her off-spring the ability to live much longer, through the ice age, as the Doctor had earlier mentioned that his people have the ability to live for millennia at a time. The Doctor berates Astorius, saying that his society is under immense stress, as it is the only reason that they have hatched such a heinous scheme but notes that he suspects Astorius has shared this information with him because it is troubling him. Astorius says the plan was just originally to occupy the human hosts until the young had matured but by then it was too late as the cold had so damaged their technology that for the swarm to move on was too difficult. The Doctor demands he reverse the process and return the captives but Astorius says it is not his decision to make. Meanwhile, they hear a commotion outside as a guard reveals to Zellenger that Astorius refuses to cocoon the Doctor. The two hear this and Astorius tells the Doctor to go find the only person who can protect him, Queen Zafira. The Doctor, infuriated, makes a run for it.

Jezzavar hosts a party as his house consisting of his fellow revolutionaries. He asks that although they had originally planned to overthrow tonight, and the wedding presenting a perfect opportunity, they delay the case given the circumstances. Just then Nyssa arrives and announces that she would like to aid them in their revolution.

Zellenger barges in on Astorius and demands the Doctor’s location, but he reveals that the Doctor has gone and says no more. Zellenger chases after him.

Tegan awakens to find herself alone with Mike. Despite him warning her she runs off to find Nyssa.

The Doctor, meanwhile, searches for the throne room but is spotted and chased by a pair of guards.

Tegan is pursued by Mike who tries to stop her from going. She insists on escaping and continues on.

The Doctor continues looking for the throne room but is found by Zellenger. He manages to incapacitate Zellenger by pulling a rug out from underneath him and makes a break for it. He finally finds the throne room but is stopped by an armed guard. He manages to outwit the guard and escapes.

The Doctor barges in on Queen Zafira and demands an audience with her. Zellenger catches up with him and demands the Queen order his arrest on him being a spy and an alien. The Doctor, however, reveals to the Queen that he would love to be her husband...

Part four
The Queen chides Zellenger for his ignorance and even reveals she was aware of his plot to frame the Doctor in the rose garden. She further belittles him for his jealousy and finally makes an official order that he is to be banished from the inner courts and denied entry to the royal hall and chamber and will sleep outside the palace for the next 25 years after which their divorce will be finalised and finally that despite his demotion he is to make sure nothing happens at the wedding ceremony tonight as minister of the guards. Despite his protests, he obeys. The Doctor thanks the Queen as Zellenger is dismissed and leaves but she turns to begin questioning him and his suspicious behaviour. The Doctor admits he tried to escape but then reveals he has spoken with Astorius and is aware of the current situation and problems facing the Hexagorans. He consents to having his "ability" put to their disposal.

As the Doctor and the Queen walk, she explains the two major problems. The first is that while Hexagorans can live for approximately five centuries, humans can only last about one, so it will be necessary to change host bodies a great number of times while the ice age endures which would involve abducting more humans. Her second one is that as the climate cools, their technology is beginning to degrade and that they can only now risk the occasional space pod flight, and even that is not insurance, they are now trapped on Luparis and the only way to survive is remain in the mammal bodies.

Tegan finally arrives outside followed by Mike. He asks her why she travels with the Doctor saying that’s not the Tegan he remembers, a Tegan who runs away, and that it is not the Tegan he was in love with. Tegan is slightly shocked and rebuttals but they are interrupted by a far-off voice announcing the wedding of the Doctor and Queen Zafira. Tegan decides to go save the Doctor thinking that he is in trouble. She decides to see if all the sleepers will work together to help her gain entrance after Mike warns her that she won’t stand a chance alone.

The Doctor is curious as to why their technology is being so badly damaged by the weather, however, the Queen explains that it is not the technology itself but their knowledge. They proceed into the inner sanctum. She shows him the genetic memory code, shaped like a giant tear drop. As they succumb to the code, so do they, and it becomes more and more difficult to access the knowledge of their ancestors and as such it is harder to do things like build the advanced weapons that they used to stop their aggressors, etc. The hexian itself is malfunctioning and hence why many of the sleepers are awakening. She reveals the way by which only she can access, which is to use a special device that allows her to access the genetic pool. However, she is able to do this less and less with each passing day and is soon nearing a point where she will not be able to at all, and thus will be useless to her people. She asks if the Doctor can fix it but he explains that given the situation it would be easier and less time-consuming to simply fix the space pods and send the Hexagorans to another warm planet to colonise instead. The Queen fears this plan because it means that the Hexagorans will have to travel unguarded and alone a few at a time rather than together as a swarm and is worried about either being attacked or losing the precious members she has left. She reveals that by mating with the Doctor and producing an off-spring that will be able to out-live the coming ice age is the best strategy and further reveals that it is not just the doctor, but they will use him and his TARDIS to invade Gallifrey and acquire more Time Lords to mate with the other Hexagorans. The Doctor refuses but the Queen silences him, saying that he has asked enough questions and that he will now act the part of a good husband and ready himself for the marriage and follow and obey every order she gives him from now on. She then sends him away.

Tegan tells Mike the sleepers must distract the guards while she slips in.

Zellenger opens the gates for Consul Nyssa and Jezzevar and they are told they are to leave their weapons at the gate while Jezzavar teases Zellenger about his lost position in the Queen’s favour inciting further animosity between the two. They then proceed through the gates.

The Doctor enters the Chapel guards and is greeted by Astorius, who also serves as the Archbishop. He explains to the Doctor that despite his apparent "betrayal", his actions are tolerated by the Queen because he is viewed as a balancing force in matters.

Meanwhile, Mike manages to get his wings to work and flies Tegan over the gate.

The parties install themselves in the churches for the marriage. The Doctor and Nyssa are reunited. The Doctor is then asked to come to the front.

Mike and Tegan manage to land albeit very clumsily. Mike is injured and when they hear Zellenger coming, he goads Tegan into fleeing while he is found. Tegan comes out holding a pitch-fork and threatens Zellenger who likewise threatens her. But she reveals that Jezzavar has something big planned and so Zellenger runs off to warn the Queen.

When Astorius asks if there is anyone who disagrees with the marriage, the Doctor objects. First on the grounds that this whole ceremony is wrong and that they are replicating a ceremony and culture that they have no understanding or appreciation for and secondly because he has no best man. The queen orders Jezzavar to fill this position. Astorius asks the Doctor to present the ring. Jezzavar claims to have one but instead pulls out knife and attacks them. Zellenger attempts to stop him and it is revealed that Jezzavar was attempting to kill them, start a coup and install Nyssa as the Queen. He then takes the Queen hostage at knife-point. Mike bursts in and manages to distract him while Astorius pulls out the flint lock pistol and advises Jezzavar to release the Queen. He concedes. She berates him for what he has done and orders him to be put to death when the doctor realises something. He tries to explain that the failure of being able to access the memory pool has to do with the foreign bodies they have been inhabiting for so long. He explains that their race has always been accustomed to acting as a "hive-mind" but they are not used to using bodies not equipped with telepathic sensors and so the Hexagora are no longer a collective but are beginning to think individually, hence the jealousy, betrayal and all other negative features manifesting itself. She accuses him of just trying to save the humans but he assures her that the reason they haven’t been able to access the memory is because they are no longer recognised as Hexagora by the pool, acting as a single hive mind and collective. He says that if they go back to their original bodies then they should be able to access the memory pool once again and find the knowledge to repair their space pods which they can then repair and use to return the humans to Earth and find another safer planet. When asked about what to do with Jezzavar, the Doctor says that it doesn’t matter since Jezzavar is just the victim of the mentality of the body he inhabits as he is acting like "a true Elizabethan".

Nyssa and Tegan view the genetic pool and she asks Nyssa where the Doctor is. Nyssa explains that once Astorius switched back bodies and accessed the pool, he didn’t even need the Doctor’s help to rebuild the pods. The Doctor then routed the reverse coordinates of all the abductees that Astorius had kept and re-calculated, being able to help send the humans home and luckily because they have all been unconscious the whole time, they won’t remember anything. She also reveals that Tegan must have really liked Mike and tells her that he specifically requested to be sent home last. Tegan runs off.

Mike (having been restored to his body) and Astorius chat while they send the humans back to Earth. Tegan arrives and The Doctor politely persuades Astorius to come along and assess the memory pool to give Tegan and Mike some time alone. He offers her a chance to come back home and he’ll put on the BBQ for the two of them. She says she will someday and will come see him soon.

A woman named Beth (the body that had previously served as Queen Zafira’s vessel) wakes up to find her husband (who’s body had been used as the vessel for Lord Zellenger) and tells him the strangest thing happened and she feels like she’s been asleep for ages. He laughs, and after she asks whether they’re going to watch the Queen’s jubilee which he again laughs at, they lovingly embrace.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Peter Davison
 * Tegan Jovanka - Janet Fielding
 * Nyssa - Sarah Sutton
 * Queen Zafira/ Bev - Jacqueline Pearce
 * Mike Bretherton - Toby Hadoke
 * Lord Jezzavar - Richard Mark
 * Lord Zellenger/ Bill - Dan Starkey
 * Astorius - Sean Brosnan

Continuity

 * The Doctor, Nyssa and Tegan spend several days on holiday in Brisbane, Australia following their ordeal with the Elite on Florana. (AUDIO: The Elite) The three of them and Turlough would subsequently visit Brisbane during World War VI in the early 51st century. (AUDIO: The Butcher of Brisbane) Later in his personal timeline, the Doctor would return to the city on 22 September 2006, where he would be reunited with Tegan, approximately 22 years after she had left the TARDIS following an encounter with the Daleks in London in 1984. (AUDIO: The Gathering)
 * The Doctor tells Lord Jezzavar of the destruction of Traken in 1981 while Nyssa obliquely refers to the death of her father Tremas. (TV: Logopolis)
 * Nyssa mentions the time of Malador. (AUDIO: The Guardians of Prophecy)
 * Tegan refers to the Great Fire of London in September 1666. (TV: The Visitation)
 * The Doctor tells Queen Zafira that he has previously visited the Palace of Whitehall. He did so in November 1688 during his second incarnation in the company of Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot (AUDIO: The Glorious Revolution) and again, during his fourth incarnation, in 1588 in the company of Leela. (AUDIO: The Devil's Armada)
 * The Doctor mentions that he has witnessed humans thriving during one of Earth's Ice Ages. (TV: An Unearthly Child)
 * Tegan refers to Nyssa being brainwashed by the Elite on Florana. (AUDIO: The Elite)
 * The Doctor has been reluctantly engaged before. (TV: The Aztecs) He would get engaged to a royal monarch again, (TV: The Day of the Doctor) as well as, accidentally, to Marilyn Monroe. (TV: A Christmas Carol)
 * The Doctor would again encounter aliens snatching human bodies. (TV: The Unquiet Dead)
 * The Doctor and Nyssa have visited a planet resembling a period of England's past. (AUDIO: Spare Parts)
 * The Doctor once sparred with Errol Flynn. He would mention this again in his twelfth incarnation during his duel with Robin Hood. (TV: Robot of Sherwood)
 * The Doctor mentions that his home planet Gallifrey is located in the constellation of Kasterborous. (TV: Voyage of the Damned, The Day of the Doctor)
 * The Doctor is forced to wear a wedding suit, complete with trunk hoes, cartwheel ruff and tights. He wore a similar costume under different circumstances when attending a party at Cranleigh Hall. (TV: Black Orchid)
 * The Doctor has visited other planets in the Acteon galaxy before, such as Metebelis III. (TV: The Green Death, Planet of the Spiders, Hide)
 * The Tenth Doctor later mentioned he would be rubbish at weddings, especially his own. (TV: Blink)