Embrace the Darkness (audio story)

 was the thirty-first story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Nicholas Briggs and featured Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor and India Fisher as Charlotte Pollard.

It was the fourth in a series of six audio stories featuring the Eighth Doctor.

Publisher's summary
The Doctor and Charley travel to the remote Cimmerian System to unravel the mystery of its sun. But darkness has already embraced the scientific base on Cimmeria IV in more ways than one.

In a fight for survival, the Doctor must use all his wits against a deadly artificial life-form and an ancient race whose return to the Cimmerian System threatens suffering and death on an apocalyptic scale.

Part one
Haliard wins at draughts against Ferras, when Orllensa, their boss, returns from the cold outside the scientific base they're in. They were listening to a recording of Professor Astrov's instructions, but were ignoring it in favour of the game. They power up their ship, ready to leave the planet they're on (Cimmeria IV), but the base begins to shift, causing the power to fail. They begin to lose light, which is a problem, as they're on a planet with no sun. Ferras goes to get some lamps and something touches his arm- they send out a distress signal. An unknown voice whispers "embrace the darkness", and the three are attacked. The voice declares them to be safe forever.

On the TARDIS, the Doctor picks up a temporal energy discharge from a flotilla of type 70 TARDIS's. The Doctor tries to avoid them but the TARDIS becomes temperamental, and Charley comes to see what's happening. They end up in the Cimmerian system, and Charley accesses the TARDIS data bank to find out more about it. One day, the star suddenly vanishes, but the TARDIS has taken them to a time before that. The Doctor wants to find out why the sun disappeared, so they go back to when it happened. Then, everything goes haywire.

A droid notes in their mission log that there has been no response from the base, so they head towards the planet to investigate. Meanwhile, Ferras wakes up. Orrlensa is already awake. The Doctor and Charley have been brought somewhere by a matter transmitter, but are in a containment field. Ferras finds Haliard sobbing in pain. Meanwhile, the droid- a rescue operation droid (ROSM)- interrogates Charley and the Doctor. Charley is classified as a biohazard, and the droid, ROSM, is about to kill her. The Doctor argues for her life while Charley runs. Another ROSM finds Charley but she escapes in a pod that takes her to the Cimmeria IV base.

On the base, Haliard has stopped crying- he's gone, into the darkness. The Doctor travels with the ROSMs to the base as well. The ROSM notes that the base has been infiltrated by odd particles, which seem to be the cause of the problems facing the base crew. Charley is in the base- it's dark. She shines a light, but Ferras and Orrlensa can't see her, or any light. Ferras and Orrlensa's eyes are gone.

Part two
The Doctor and the ROSM keep trying to figure out what is happening on the base, while Ferras and Orrlensa describe the pain they're in. Charley's light dims- the shipmates say that the Cimmerians are taking the light, having been doomed by the ancients to live in perpetual darkness, as the Doctor recounted earlier. Charley's eyes are struck with pain as she cries out for the Doctor.

The Doctor keeps trying to tell the ROSM that the potentially mutagenic cells in Charley aren't as urgent a danger as the alien particles harming the people on the planet below. They disperse the particles, and the Doctor gets his sonic back as they enter the base. ROSM turns the lights on, and the Doctor runs off, finding Haliard laughing madly, screaming "embrace the darkness". The Doctor then meets Orrlensa, who says the Cimmerians took their eyes, and takes him back to where they were when she meet Charley. Charley meets Haliard, only partly able to see. The Cimmerians return, and Haliard runs screaming. The ROSM appears.

The Doctor and Orrlensa reach Ferras, and then they hear the ROSM, so the Doctor runs towards it and finds the ROSM with Charley, but the Cimmerian has been shot. The ROSM has decided not to kill Charley. The Cimmerian voices discuss something being prepared, and promise not to let the others leave. The Cimmerian looks childlike, with flat features. It didn't know what eyes were.

Haliard, meanwhile, is undergoing an identity crisis when he encounters more Cimmerians, who want to taste his eyes. The others hear his laughter, then his screams. The Doctor wants to go find him, but the ROSM declares war on the Cimmerians. ROSM takes them all back to the ship, as it calls more ROSMs. He brings the Cimmerian back to the ship too. Some ROSMs stay to rescue Haliard.

On the ship, Charley tries to warm up the Cimmerian. She thinks her eyes have been getting better since the Cimmerian spoke to her. Ferras explains that they were setting up EPUs on the planet, which are "energy protection units"- they were going to put up artificial suns. The ROSM demands the Cimmerian's give Haliard back, and when they refuse, it orders all assault units (other ROSMs) to go forth. However, they find they are unable to move as the Cimmerians are releasing more of their light-destroying particles, though they are slightly different particles from the ones before. The main ROSM can't remember what's happening; it's cognitive abilities damaged. They try to close the airlock door manually.

Orrlensa becomes angry that the Cimmerian is still alive. The ROSM is now improving, and places the Doctor and Charley in containment fields, and the second wave of particles are breaching the ship's defenses.

Part three
The Doctor decides he wants to find out why exactly the Cimmerians destroyed their sun, and talks to ROSM, convincing him to move the ship to a safe area. However, the Cimmerians stop the ship from leaving, and wake up Haliard. ROSM is still losing control of his functions, so the containment fields fail, and the Doctor and Charley go to the Cimmerian on the ship. However, it has gone, though Orrlensa and Ferras didn't notice it leaving, since they can't see.

The Doctor realises that something wants to restore their eyesight, as Charley can see much better. He thinks it is the doing of the Cimmerian on the ship, but Orrlensa refuses to believe this. They spread out through the ship- Charley with Orrlensa, Ferras with the Doctor- to find the Cimmerian. Meanwhile, ROSM is contacted by Haliard, asking to let him in, but he refuses as it's too risky. Ferras tells the Doctor about their work, how they were attacked just as they were about to fire up the artificial suns using the EPUs. Orrlensa tells Charley about her string of bad luck- how, once, she had to kill a spy, and Charley tells Orrlensa that she feels at home with the Doctor.

They find the Cimmerian, but Charley leaves Orrlensa. The Doctor finds ROSM severely malfunctioning, and decides to try and turn on the artificial suns. Charley finds Orrlensa singing to herself, having found the cimmerian, which gave her back her eyes. The cimmerian tells them that the Solarians will come for them now to destroy them. He is exhausted. Meanwhile, the Doctor watches Professor Astrov's introduction video, using it to fix the EPUs. Haliard tells them their life support will be shut down.

Charley, Orrlensa, and the Cimmerian return, explaining what happened. The Doctor realises that the cimmerians destroy light to protect themselves, because if light is detected, the solarians will descend and hurt them. Haliard tells them to override ROSMs systems and open the airlock, but the Doctor realises that setting up the EPUs again will cause the solarians to come and destroy them all, so they can't leave. ROSM successfully rebooted it's system, and the suns are running. They detect Solarians entering the system.

Part Four
They contact Haliard, whose eyes are back. The Cimmerians healed him, body and mind: the Cimmerians are a race of healers. The cimmerian onboard heals Ferras, but the cimmerian is too weak, and dies. The Doctor tells Orrlensa to prepare for take-off and then use ROSMs weapons to destroy the artificial suns while he goes to give the dead cimmerian back to his people, and let Haliard in. However, ROSM refuses to open the door, so the Doctor sonics it. Haliard tells the Doctor that the cimmerians need several days before they can release more particles to take out the lights again, so they'll be safe from the solarians, and the Doctor tells him to make sure Charley is safe of he doesn't return.

ROSM says there is over an hour before they can leave. They see on a visual hook-up to a satellite that the Solarians are the people who were there when the sun went out. Haliard enters and offers to play draughts against Ferras again. Upon realising that the Doctor doesn't think he will return, Charley storms off and finds the Doctor, who is calling out for the cimmerians. Charley tells him off, and then a cimmerian appears. On the ship, they note that the Solarians are under two hours away, but they're getting faster.

The Cimmerian takes them through layers rock using their molecular powers, and takes the dead cimmerian from them, dispersing his molecules. The Doctor apologises, as does the cimmerian, who tells them of their people's legends. On the ship, Haliard realises that the Solarians have solar sails, which is why they're picking up speed. Haliard goes out to get the Doctor and Charley to come back. The cimmerian brings out a bubbling liquid of their history. They drink it.

They learn of a plague that killed millions of solarians that the cimmerians could not keep up with healing, and how, as long as there was light, the Solarians would come to them. The life was drained from the cimmerians, but they couldn't turn the Solarians away, so they shut off the sun to keep the Solarians away. They evolved, and no longer need light. They feel they deserve to die for not being able to heal the Solarians. Haliard reaches them, and brings the Doctor and Charley back to the ship. The Doctor promises to find a way to save the cimmerians.

Haliard, the Doctor, and Charley are back on the ship, and they blast off. They contact the nearest Solarian ship, but the ship starts firing at them, so they suggest shooting at the artificial suns. ROSM vetoes this as the suns are company property. They contact the Solarians again to surrender. The Doctor leads them to the TARDIS, but it's inside a containment field that ROSM refuses to shut off. The Solarians have boarded. They introduce themselves to the Solarians, who tell them that Cimmeria IV is their planet.

The Solarians are shocked to discover the Cimmerians are still alive after so many centuries without light- the cimmerians are the same species as the Solarians. The Solarians returned to find relics of their early civilisation, arriving for curiousity, not revenge. Meanwhile, Ferras is beating Haliard at draughts. ROSM is mostly done for, and the group are back on the planet's surface. They hope that the Solarians will be able to learn from their mistakes and mend their relationship with the cimmerians. Charley and the Doctor depart.

Cast

 * The Doctor - Paul McGann
 * Charley Pollard - India Fisher
 * Orllensa - Nicola Boyce
 * Ferras - Lee Moone
 * Haliard - Mark McDonnell
 * ROSM / Solarian / Cimmerian - Ian Brooker
 * Cimmerian Voice - Nicholas Briggs

TARDIS

 * Type 70 TARDISes emit a particular temporal energy discharge signature.
 * Charley knows how to access the TARDIS' databank.

Technology

 * ROSM is an acronym for Rescue Operational Security Module. It was designed by Professor Astrov.

Species

 * The Doctor is aware of other species who refer to themselves as the Solarians.

Planets

 * Cimmeria IV is located hundreds of light-years from Earth.

Culture

 * Ferras and Haliard play draughts.

Continuity

 * ROSM detects the anti-time infection in Charley's system but is unable to recognise it. (AUDIO: Neverland)
 * The Doctor runs into a flotilla of Type 70 TARDISes in the Time Vortex and steers around them. He later learns the reasons for their presence from Lady President Romana during the anti-time crisis. (AUDIO: Neverland)
 * The Celestial Toymaker would later refer to the Cimmerian in a riddle while Charley was playing his games in the Celestial Toyroom. (AUDIO: Solitaire)
 * After Charley escaped from the Ever-and-Ever Prolixity, a Viyran agent was stationed in the Cimmerian system to search for her. (AUDIO: The Fall of the House of Pollard)