Sphere of Freedom (audio story)

 was the first story in the audio anthology Ravagers, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Nicholas Briggs and featured Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor, Camilla Beeput as Nova and Jayne McKenna as Audrey. This story marked the first time Eccleston reprised the role of the Ninth Doctor for Big Finish.

Publisher's summary
On the Sphere of Freedom, the Doctor is about to shut down an evil Immersive Games business empire. He's assisted by a valiant galley chef called Nova. But his plan spectacularly fails... And who exactly is Audrey?

Plot
On the Sphere of Freedom, the Ninth Doctor communicates with a woman called Nova whom he is waiting on to escape a series of drainage tunnels. She explains she is running as fast as possible as he waits outside the TARDIS for her after promising, explaining that they have stopped some force "unless something goes very, very wrong". Nova surfaces one block away from the TARDIS and the Doctor warns her to be careful of the gamer guards, but she explains that with the damage to the central arc they have caused, they will be hunted down in ten minutes. While waiting, a woman tries to sell a gaming headset to the Doctor, but he turns her down. Just as the alarms go off, the TARDIS detects time eddies - the things they have been attempting to prevent. Nova explains that she did everything the Doctor said and does not know what went wrong, but just as she arrives and the Doctor reaches out for her hand, she disappears.

The merchant attempts to resume her conversation with the Doctor. She realises he has lost his friend, explaining that she is just an elderly gamer called Audrey that is looked down upon; she knows the Doctor must be new if he does not know her. The Doctor explains to her his current predicament, and when questioned about Nova, says that she works here as a chef but is no friend of his and just someone he happened to be working with over a spot of bother. He explains that the time eddies should not be occurring and that his trouble started with the planet Earth.

Flashing back to before these events, the Doctor flies the TARDIS, hearing his own voice in his head. He follows a time eddy to 1959 London, in which eighty Roman Centurions have been seemingly displaced in time to Piccadilly Circus. Captain Halloran of the British Army listens to a radio broadcast calling the events the work of bombs, being pleased at the cover story. The Doctor arrives, pretending to be from the War Office. Halloran cannot believe he is being faced with real Romans, even in the wake of 300 dead civilians, and suspects it to be the work of the Russians. Exasperated, the Doctor takes a walk with Halloran.

Observing the scene, the Doctor and Halloran are stopped by Lieutenant Farraday, but the Doctor's credentials let him through. He tries to explain how the Romans are just confused and alarmed, but Halloran suggests shooting them. The Doctor realises the Centurions cannot understand the instructions of Halloran's men because they are not speaking Latin, and the army plans on sending in a tank to deal with them. The Doctor, thanks to the TARDIS's translation circuits, is able to communicate with one scared Roman named Marcus Aurelius Gallius who was due to follow Boudica's forces at Colchester and believes he is in another realm fighting spirits. The Doctor explains he can help and stop them getting wiped out, but negotiations go awry when they decide to attack anyway. Halloran ends up lightly injured and the century retreats into the West End. The Doctor tells the British troops to stop marching so they can go undetected and uses his sonic screwdriver to tend to Halloran and detect time particles on the Romans that he followed to land there. He realises he can follow this source to stop the situation from ever occurring, so heads back to the TARDIS, followed by Farraday. Although the Doctor does not wish for his help, another time eddy arrives and hits Farraday before he can escape to the TARDIS.

Farraday gets lost in the time eddy and is transported to a futuristic arena. The Doctor, meanwhile, lands somewhere else and due to inopportune circumstances ends up meeting Nova, which Audrey comments on back in the present. The Doctor continues recounting his story to Audrey. He asks Nova about where he is and she tells him he has landed on the Sphere of Freedom and that the central arc controls everything for all gaming experiences. He convinces Nova to take him inside.

Once inside, the Doctor realises that the central game, Fugitive, a game reserved for rich aliens, is emanating time eddies and causing problems all throughout history. In the present, Audrey presses him for details which he explains. The Doctor goes into the TARDIS and when he comes out, three weeks have passed according to Nova. The Doctor gives her a device he rigged up, saying that her job is to plant it in the sphere. The Doctor explains in the present again to Audrey that the plan succeeded, however, Nova was swept up in a time eddy as had happened merely moments ago. The Doctor and Audrey talk some more and as they do he becomes even more suspicious of her as she is not all she appears to be. At last Audrey reveals her deception and the Doctor is transported in his TARDIS to a supernova which Audrey reveals through their communication link is actually alive. After confirming this with a scan, the Doctor tries to find out Audrey's plans but she merely strands him somewhere else with a time eddy.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Christopher Eccleston
 * Nova - Camilla Beeput
 * Farraday - Ben Lee
 * Audrey - Jayne McKenna
 * Captain Halloran — Jamie Parker
 * Marcus Aurelius Gallius — Dan Starkey

Continuity

 * The Doctor is able to speak Latin to the Roman Centurions due to the TARDIS' translation circuits. He would later use this ability to communicate with the people of Pompeii when taking Donna Noble there in his tenth incarnation. (TV: The Fires of Pompeii)