The Sleeping Blood (audio story)

 written by Martin Day was the first story in the 2015 The Companion Chronicles audio box set The First Doctor: Volume One. It featured Susan. This was a rare example of a First Doctor-lite story, set before any other companions joined the Doctor. This unique setting gave Susan the kind of spotlight she had never enjoyed on-screen.

Publisher's summary
When the Doctor falls ill, Susan is forced to leave the safety of the TARDIS behind. Exploring a disused research centre in search of medical supplies, she becomes embroiled in the deadly plans of a terrorist holding an entire world to ransom — and the soldier sent to stop him.

The Sleeping Blood (1)
On a tropical planet, the Doctor accidentally cuts his hand with an unknown plant, oozing a strange liquid. In the following days, he develops an infection which only grows worse; the TARDIS' medical supplies seem to offer no remedy, and every search from the Doctor and Susan for some antibiotics proves useless. Eventually, the Doctor ends up being too weak and is confined to bed, shortly before they land again somewhere. A desperate Susan decides to venture outside and look once again for a cure.

She finds out they landed in what appears to be a deserted medical facility; after exploring the place, she manages to reach what looks like a storehouse, with various drugs disposed on shelves around her. As she searches for a catalogue, an A.I. activates and asks her how it can be of assistance. To Susan’s request, the A.I. informs her she is on Rua, that the place is a research centre, and in this time nobody uses antibiotics because they developed nanotechnology. Nanomachines are now introduced inside the body when someone requires medical assistance, and they immediately cure any possible disease or wound.

Their conversation is interrupted by a little spider-like robot with a camera on its head, with whom Susan attempts to interact, only for it scratching her hand. Electing to waste no more time, Susan grabs some of the drugs and goes to find her way back. However, before she reaches the TARDIS, she is found by Kendrick, a member of a security team armed with a sort of mechanical armour three-feet tall and heavily armed. He doesn’t harm her, and merely brings her to meet his patrol men. On the way, he explains to her that they are here to find and stop the “Butcher”, a hacker who has taken control of the nanomachines and now is blackmailing the people of Rua, after killing one or two politicians to prove how dangerous he was. Kendrick asks Susan whether she is working with the Butcher, and believes her when she says she is not.

With his team reunited, Kendrick begins to develop a strategy based on surprise, assuming the Butcher doesn’t know they are here. This is immediately proven untrue when the Butcher’s voice comes out of a speaker, asking them to leave or else they will die. To prove his point, the Butcher kills one of Kendrick’s patrolmen, by controlling the nanomachines in her body.

The Butcher's Citadel (2)
to be added

Cast

 * Susan - Carole Ann Ford
 * Kendrick/The Butcher - Darren Strange
 * Ian Atkins (uncredited)

Continuity

 * Susan refers to her and the Doctor's departure from Gallifrey. (TV: An Unearthly Child, The Name of the Doctor; AUDIO: The Beginning)
 * Susan refers to the Mary Celeste. The Doctor would later be indirectly responsible for the disappearance of its crew in 1872. (TV: The Chase)
 * The Doctor tells Susan that they must not interfere with the affairs of other races, echoing one of the main precepts of Time Lord society. (TV: The War Games) However, he will in time question this assumption. (AUDIO: Last of the Romanovs)