The Light Keepers (audio story)

The Light Keepers was the third story of The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles, produced by Big Finish Productions. It was written by Roy Gill, performed by Jacob Dudman and Simon Fisher-Becker and featured the Eleventh Doctor and Dorium Maldovar.

Publisher's summary
Dorium Maldovar has a problem. The self-styled 'Beacon People' are bad for business, and now they're in his shuttle park, digging for mysterious minerals.

When the Doctor crashes into his life once again, Dorium enlists him to find out what these scavengers are really up to inside their lighthouse.

But a lighthouse signals danger – and this beacon was placed to warn of something more ancient and powerful than anyone knows. Something that is returning...

Plot
In the Maldovarium, Dorium Maldovar is informed by the barhand Mervyn that the Beacon People are digging up the shuttle park. Dorium storms out to confront them and the leader, Fentiman, says that they will return the following day to continue their digging and one of them, a woman tells Dorium that they just want to keep everyone safe. After the Beacon People have left, Dorium sees a blue box fly towards the Maldovarium from the rift in time above called Geryon's Eye.

The box collided with the Maldovarium, causing serious damage but not actually killing anyone. The Doctor exits the TARDIS and is recognised by Dorium, who says that he owes 256,598 credits for the damage in addition to 12 credits for his outstanding bar bill, rounding it up to 260,000 credits in total. The Doctor turns to re-enter the TARDIS, claiming to be going to get his money, but Dorium uses his pendant to create a force field around it and tells him that it will remain impounded until the Doctor's debt has been paid.

Dorium takes the Doctor to his quarters and tells him about the Beacon People, the only other long-term residents of the planetoid who live at the Beacon and who have been mining the planetoid for centuries, causing tremors. Dorium asks the Doctor to solve the problem in a better way than "sterilising" them, the only other option he believes that he has, in return for his TARDIS. To ensure that the Doctor does not scarper, Dorium informs him that he will be joining him and that they will be travelling in his hovercar.

The Doctor and Dorium make their way to the Beacon, which is a shining colossus. The hovercar crashes and is upended, forcing the pair to walk the rest of the way as Dorium's data pad is cracked and cannot be used to contact the Maldovarium for alternative transport. They hide behind a rock when they see the Beacon People taking minerals to the Beacon and the Doctor wonders why they have shiny fragments attached to their jumpsuits, wondering if it is to do with myths about mirrors. The Doctor tells Dorium to wipe white dust on his face to cover up his skin colour and they follow the Beacon People inside.

The Beacon People place their rocks on a rotating conveyor which carries them upwards. The Beacon People go for food which tempts Dorium, but the Doctor takes him to investigate, discovering that the Beacon is able to move but has not done so for a very long time. Dorium takes a lift which takes several minutes to ascend and then waits for the Doctor, who climbs through a hatchway and then leads him on, noting that the colossus has been retrofitted with none of the gantries or conveyors being original. He wonders if the purpose of the lighthouse is to warn people of danger or to act as a guiding light.

A tremor hits and two Beacon People crumble to death after being hit by a wave of glowing liquid from the vat. The Doctor goes to save a woman, who says that she is called Plume and whom Dorium recognises as the woman from the shuttle park, who is hanging from a slippery ledge. The Doctor and Plume are about to fall when Dorium uses his pendant to hover them to safety, draining the device's power cell. Plume tells them that she and her people, whom she calls the "Light Keepers", have been making Lustre for the Light. Below, people in protective gear return the spilt Lustre to the crucible whilst guards identify that there have been two fatalities and search for Plume, whom they spot.

Plume runs with the Doctor and Dorium to her small living space in an adapted alcove behind a curtain. Dorium rests his aching legs and notices that, in addition to the imported risotto that he smelt earlier, Plume has posters stolen from the Maldovarium.

to be completed

Cast

 * The Narrator / The Doctor - Jacob Dudman
 * Dorium Maldovar - Simon Fisher-Becker

Uncredited cast

 * The Lux - Jacob Dudman (BFX: The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles)

Continuity

 * The Doctor mentions a bad-tempered Scottish girl (TV: The Eleventh Hour, etc.) and an archaeologist with really massive hair. (TV: Silence in the Library, etc.)
 * The Doctor says that it is especially robot dogs that like him. (TV: The Invisible Enemy, etc.)
 * The Doctor tells Dorium never to ignore a sinister crack, having previously had his own experiences with a crack in the universe. (TV: The Eleventh Hour, et al.)
 * The Doctor knows the Lux will arrive on New Earth and tells Dorium he's "got it covered." (AUDIO: Death in the New Forest, The Skies of New Earth, The Cats of New Cairo)
 * The Doctor informs Dorium that the man owes him. (TV: A Good Man Goes to War)