Fear (audio story)

 was the second release in the first series of Big Finish Productions' Cyberman audio series. The events of this audio occur approximately 6 months after the previous story.

Publisher's summary
There is a conspiracy at the heart of Earth's Government.

The Orion War situation is worsening by the day. The human race is sleepwalking towards extinction. Now the time is right for the next phase of the Cyber plan to begin.

THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR...

Plot
Samantha Thorn is an undercover Android secret agent, who has managed to return home from her assignment on Earth. She posed as the girlfriend of Paul Hunt to gain information on the Scorpius project and if it posed a threat to them. Prime Reordin, leader of the Androids and her lover, believes that Scorpius is no longer a threat. Just then, a distress call is received from Tracking Station Beta-4, which is under attack by a single Earth Forces raider. Despite overwhelming opposition, the raider disables their defenses before Cybermen emerge to massacre the crew. As Androids cannot be converted, Cybermen simply destroy them. The Earth Government must be doing this in secret, but attempting to warn them would be dismissed as propaganda. It would be best if exposed by someone inside the government. Samantha returns to Earth and again goes undercover.

Back on Earth, Paul Hunt has become a political advisor to President Karen Brett and is deputising for her while she and the Vice President are touring, something that doesn’t sit well with Commander-in-Chief Liam Barnaby, as Hunt is not an elected official and should not be empowered to make decisions on behalf of the administration. Barnaby has discovered evidence of secret incursions into Android space without his knowledge and all broadcasts received from the Androids are being jammed and deleted without been listened to. Hunt dismisses this as Android propaganda and implies Brett must have a good reason for keeping her Commander-in-Chief out of the loop. To calm down, Barnaby programs a scenic route home, but is nearly driven off the road by an unknown car, which leaves before emergency services can arrive. All security footage of the incident is found to have been lost.

Determined to discover more about Paul Hunt, Barnaby accesses his personal files. Although there isn’t much, he learns that his former residence is now registered to a Samantha Thorne, who currently resides in Oceanic City. After visiting her, Hunt convinces Brett that Barnaby’s investigation into his past could endanger their attempts to achieve victory in Orion. Brett, under Hunt’s influence, blocks Barnaby’s attempts to hold an inquiry into Hunt’s past. Despite Barnaby’s concerns over Hun’s past or the continuing deterioration of the Orion war, she accuses him of letting his dislike of Paul Hunt cloud his professional judgement. She then informs him that the press have been informed that Barnaby is taking some personal leave, and has him escorted out of the White House.

Frustrated, Barnaby contacts Samantha Thorne once again, only to learn that she’s abused her position as a data entry clerk to hack into the White House security net and learn that he’s just been fired. However, she warns him that if he turns her in for the security breach, he’ll never learn the truth about Paul Hunt. After evading secret agents who had been following Barnaby, Samantha tells him to meet her later by the old docks where she will tell him about Scorpius. Barnaby meets Samantha later as planned, but he’s been followed and is hit by weapons fire. Samantha manages to get Barnaby to a jet-boat she prepared earlier and escapes, but not before been hit herself. As Barnaby passes out from the pain, he realises that Samantha’s wound should have been fatal.

Five days later, after healing, Barnaby awakens on the jet-boat with Samantha. Remembering what happened at the dock, he realises she is an Android, but is powerless to do anything: she is far faster and stronger than him, so escape or overpowering her are not possible. Earth is been flooded with refugees escaping the Orion conflict. These is an old penal colony on the Isle of White, which has been turned into a temporary refugee camp. Samantha has traced mysterious transmissions to the penal colony: a transmission made by Paul Hunt. The penal colony’s shore defences detect the boat, forcing them to abandon it and swim to shore. Barnaby does not trust her, but his preconceptions are shaken when a Cyberman walks past them on patrol and he recognises it from the hologram on Reticek IV. They are discovered by a Cyberman, but they claim to have wandered away from the rest of the refugees, and it herds them back to the camp. The refugees believe that they’re being taken to a medical base for vaccination shots and the Cybermen are soldiers wearing radiation protection suits. Barnaby and Samantha are taken into a treatment cell, where the first stage of Cyber-conversion begins and Barnaby’s emotions are suppressed. There is nothing to fear...

Cast

 * Paul Hunt / Android - Barnaby Edwards
 * Samantha Thorn - Hannah Smith
 * Commander Liam Barnaby - Mark McDonnell
 * President Karen Brett - Sarah Mowat
 * Prime Reordin / Security Chief / Computer - Toby Longworth
 * Beta 4 commander / Android / Lieutenant / Chief Justice Goran - Ian Brooker
 * Comp - Samantha Sanns
 * The Cybermen / The Cyber-Planner / Journalist - Nicholas Briggs

Government

 * Goran is the Chief Justice of Oceanic City.

Locations

 * Samantha still owns Hunt's apartment in the City of London, Greater Britannica, Europa.

Technology

 * The purpose of Scorpius was to locate and utilise Cyber-Technology to help humanity win the Orion War. Such technology has already been excavated on Earth prior to the start of the war.

Continuity

 * Prime Reordin and Samantha discuss the first attempted Cyberman invasion of Earth during the 1970s. (TV: The Invasion)
 * Barnaby mentions that Hunt correctly predicted that Karen would become President of Earth. (AUDIO: Scorpius)
 * Samantha refers to the Sword of Orion incident in the Garazone system in 2503. (AUDIO: Sword of Orion)
 * Barnaby tells Samantha that Hunt showed him and Karen a holographic projection of a Cyberman on Reticek IV. (AUDIO: Scorpius)