The Black Hole (audio story)

 was the third story of the second series of The Early Adventures, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Simon Guerrier, narrated by Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling and featured the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.

The story is notable in that it offers an alternate account of the Second Doctor's history with regard to The Two Doctors to the Season 6B theory, explaining why the Doctor was working for the Time Lords and why Jamie was aware of their existence. This puts it at odds with the earlier novel World Game, which takes place, and therefore places The Two Doctors, after The War Games.

Publisher's summary
On a research station near a black hole, time keeps standing still. Investigating the phenomenon, the Doctor, Jamie and Victoria discover a power far greater than any of the monsters that have challenged them on their travels... The Doctor's own people.

With the safety of thousands balancing out the need to flee, and from his home planet working at his side, the Doctor reluctantly finds himself involved in a race against time.

But nothing is ever as simple as it appears. And if you can use the Doctor's compassion against him, you have the makings of a perfect trap...

Part one
Jamie, Victoria and the Doctor are traveling inside the TARDIS when it is mysteriously drawn off course and lands them in a mysterious space station. Venturing into the station, they find it is packed with people but a mysterious time anomaly, that freezes everyone for a few seconds, occurs but doesn't affect them, mystifying them. They decide to go look for whomever is in charge to find out what's going on. Eventually they stumble on the central control room and meet Commander Flail, who, after the Doctor reveals he is aware the effects must be caused by a near-by black hole, holds them at gun point. After she explains the situation, the Doctor offers his help but is nervous as they discover that the black hole was likely to have been "artificially created", which is supposedly impossible. The Doctor claims he has "specialist equipment" in the TARDIS that he needs to get in order to help them. Flail accompanies them, keeping them at gun-point, when another time anomaly hits partially freezing her and freezing everyone else, but she is still able to move and fires blasts at them as the Doctor makes a run for it and instructs Jamie and Victoria to follow suite.

Inside the TARDIS the Doctor explains to the two that there are people who can control black holes, his own people, and that is why they must leave but after Victoria tries to argue with him about how they would be abandoning all the helpless people on the station, he has a change of heart and they go outside to be greeted by Flail. The Doctor reasons with her after his display and they make a plan for him to find the person responsible for this, whom she knows, on the lower deck laboratories because the three of them are immune to the time dilation. After some protest from Flail whom they leave behind since the dilation affect her as well, they reach the lab and meet Pavo of the Chapter 9 police force, who tells the Doctor that just by being on the station he has already broken a law and reveals that their punishment is death...

Part 2
They stop Pavo by pointing out that he is also in violation of protocol as well and Pavo reveals that someone else is controlling the black hole and that currently the station is in a 'quantum mixed state' with the people phasing in and out because their probability of existing is being lowered as the state is being tampered with by the black hole. They create a plan to try and stabilize the black hole, involving the Doctor going into the center of the black hole. They decide to use Commander Flail's help and split up, the Doctor in the TARDIS while Victoria goes with Pavo in his TARDIS and Flail remains in the space station with Jamie. The operation commences but Pavo, linked to his TARDIS as the Doctor explains, falls ill due to the harsh effects of the black hole on his TARDIS. The operation is a success but Pavo and Victoria are left in a terrible state.

A week later they materialise inside a library inside the station and meet with Pavo where they confirm that everyone on board the station has been saved and things have returned to normal. They had hoped bringing Victoria to the library would help her regain her senses. It seems Pavo sacrificed his TARDIS to save them and the symbiotic link had caused permanent damage to him as a result, while Victoria is in a near catatonic state. Pavo explains to the Doctor that the Stattenheim remote he had hooked up and that changed his TARDIS interior's appearance means that their people now have dual control of his TARDIS much to his annoyance. Pavo explains that to complete his mission he is to go and arrest genetic engineer Joinson Dastari. The Doctor, claiming to be an old friend, convinces Pavo to let him go in his place and perhaps settle the situation in a more fair manner. Jamie and the Doctor leave to fulfill the task after Pavo promises to take care of Victoria for the time being. Pavo and Victoria then do some research into where the black hole may have come from, reading logs, entries and accounts by previous station inhabitants for clues about time distortions and any other related phenomenon. Victoria, using the principles of reasoning that she learned from her father, manages to deduce that the black hole did not simply arise out of nowhere but may have been created over a period of time. Suddenly they are interrupted by Commander Flail who contacts Pavo over the terminal screen interface and asks him if they are ready, with two ominous, shadowy figures lurking in the corner of her office, which Pavo says they are indeed. Victoria, by now, has figured out the plan and Pavo reveals his true identity to her and that the entire operation was a set-up to trick their people into thinking the Doctor is the real culprit, throwing off any suspicion directed at him, and he is free to continue his research on the black hole as he has sent the Doctor and Jamie into the middle of a Sontaran battle with no hope of survival. He finally reveals to Victoria that he only pretended to be Pavo, points his weapon at her, and that he has had many disguises over the years but he first met the Doctor while posing as a monk...

Part three
to be added

Cast

 * Jamie McCrimmon/The Doctor - Frazer Hines
 * Victoria Waterfield - Deborah Watling
 * - Rufus Hound
 * Commander Flail - Janet Dibley
 * The Seeth - Anthony Keetch

Narrated by David Warner

Uncredited

 * Pavo - Anthony Keetch

Continuity

 * The Doctor's companions tease at how he landed the TARDIS the correct way up this time. The console room is still a mess from the previous landing. (TV: The Ice Warriors)
 * When Jamie asks why he, the Doctor and Victoria, are unaffected by effects of the black hole warping space and time, the Doctor says that travelling in the TARDIS grants them a "different relationship" with time (TV: Flesh and Stone) along with some immunity (TV: Reset) or sensitivity.
 * Victoria recalls encountering evil scientists, including Theodore Maxtible (TV: The Evil of the Daleks) and Eric Klieg. (TV: The Tomb of the Cybermen)
 * The Doctor tells Jamie and Victoria that if they encounter his people, it will mean the end of their travels together. The Doctor wonders if he will be arrested by the Time Lords. (TV: The War Games)
 * Victoria asks the Doctor if he ran away from his people. (TV: An Unearthly Child, AUDIO: The Beginning et al.)
 * After these events, the Doctor and his friends have their memories erased, which is why Jamie does not know of the Time Lords when the Doctor summons their aid. (TV: The War Games)
 * The TARDIS' interior is modified to contain a dual control with Gallifrey. (TV: The Two Doctors)
 * Victoria is studying graphology in the library. (TV: The Two Doctors, AUDIO: Helicon Prime)
 * Victoria talks about how her father was a scientist. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)
 * The Monk says he first met the Doctor when disguised as a monk. (TV: The Time Meddler)
 * The Monk engineers a Sontaran attack. Jamie mentions meeting the Sontarans a couple of weeks ago, before returning to where they originally landed. (TV: The Two Doctors)
 * The Monk thinks Dastari could provide a good distraction for the Doctor and Jamie. The Doctor says that as he was busy with the Sontarans, they will pop back and visit him later. (TV: The Two Doctors)
 * Pavo is able to regenerate into a female form. (TV: The Doctor's Wife, Dark Water, Hell Bent, Twice Upon a Time)
 * Jamie asks if it is the Daleks controlling the black hole, since in a previous encounter they could already travel through time. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)