The Monsters of Gokroth (audio story)

 was the two hundred and fiftieth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Matt Fitton and featured Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and the return of Jessica Martin as Mags.

Publisher's summary
The people of Gokroth live in fear of the monsters in the forest. Creatures with scales and fur, teeth and claws. But worse than these, perhaps, is the strange doctor who does unspeakable, unholy work in the high castle on the mountain... A doctor who's about to receive a visit from an off-worlder. Mags, formerly of the Psychic Circus. A native of the planet Vulpana... with a monstrous secret of her own.

Part One
The story opens with a young man named Wilric who argues with Mags about ascending a mountain to reach a castle. She agrees to go to the tavern with him before going to the castle. The town huddles in the village hall out of fear for the monsters. Chief Trella announces that they will stick together and should settle down. She promises to change the problematic situation of Gokroth as soon as possible.

Mags and Wilric have a conversation. She explains to him that she came to Gokroth looking to find a “cure” for her “condition” and that his mother, Trella, has helped her hatch a plan to get to the castle where Mags may find some answers. He warns her not to do it but she politely refuses, kisses him on the cheek and leaves. The Doctor approaches him after and asks about Mags. Wilric hurriedly leaves after the Doctor asks him about Mags.

Trella and Porrow discuss the transmitter they have discovered hoping a nearby ship will receive one of their transmitted messages that they have been sending out for some time now. The message they send out explains about the monsters terrorising Gokroth and a mysterious woman in silver frightens them all the while performs terrible experiments in her castle. Elsewhere the message is received by a mysterious alien man.

The mysterious alien man bypasses the warning of the planet being under quarantine and awakens something.

Dr. Maleeva summons her servant Gor and asks how the villagers are able to broadcast a distress signal. She informs him that next time he is in the village, find the source and shut it down. Next he presents to her one of the creatures he found and she begins to experiment on it, clearly causing the creature to suffer.

Wilric catches up with Mags and attempts to dissuade her again from going up to the castle and visiting Dr. Maleeva. A guard almost catches them since they are out past the planet-wide curfew. The Doctor catches up with Wilric just as the guards catch them after Mag slips away and with tell the guard they were just on their way home. As they walk back to the tavern, Wilric notices and points out the Doctor has aconitum (wolf’s bane) attached to his jacket and the Doctor replies that he needs it for hunting a “predator”. The Doctor asks Wilric if he can meet with his mother and he says she’s busy so the Doctor decides he will try in the morning.

Dr. Maleeva distresses in her laboratory when suddenly someone arrives. It is Mags. Gor answers the door and lets Mags in. Dr. Maleeva asks if Mags has decided about whether to accept her deal. Mags reveals that the villagers are very untrusting and terrified of Dr. Maleeva but Gor claims that what she is doing is for the good of everyone on the planet. The deal is for Mags to become Dr. Maleeva’s test subject as she is very keen on experimenting on a werewolf from Vulpana. Dr. Maleeva says she can stay the night and make her decision, which Mags is very hesitant about.

Parrow and Tellers talk and Parrow informs her that a visitor has arrived who he claims can help them, assuming he has received the distress call.

Mags decides to leave, knowing she will not be allowed to come back into the castle and to work with Dr. Maleeva. Gor sees her leaving and tries to persuade her to stay. Mags begins to suffer from her condition and runs off in pain.

Trella arrives and greets the guest who is the alien pilot, named Varron. He claims to be an expert on monsters and is looking to help with the situation. Suddenly they hear a crowd gathering in the village. Mags is found and encircled as she begins to transform into a werewolf. Fully transformed, Trella and Varron arrive and Trella tries to shoo it off from attacking Wilfric. Varron arrives to witness this and informs Trella he is ready to begin.

Mags, as a werewolf, has run off out of sight.

Meanwhile in the village, Trella announces to the people that Varron he is here to help. Varron claims that he will help but only for a price and demands half their food stock as well as unlimited refill, inciting anger in the villagers. Suddenly, a pair of spoons can be heard and the anger dissipates as the villagers become silent and turn to see the source of noise. It is the Doctor. He says that unlike Varron, he is happy to help with the monster problem and will do it for a cup of tea, announcing his displeasure in profiting off the misfortunes of others, so far so that when asked about his “qualifications”, he says hunting monsters is his “vocation”.

Trella sees the Doctor and, reluctantly, her son, off. Wilric believes he has the best recent knowledge of the forest to guide them. Varron decides to stick around anyway, curious as to why the Doctor refused to bring any weapons and sceptical all the same, intending to take care of the problem once he believes the Doctor will fail, and will doubling his price.

The Doctor, Wilric, Balva and another Gothrok native make their way through the forest and the Doctor asks that if they find any monsters to treat them “humanely”. He asks Wilfric if he likes Mags, to which he replies he does but not sure his mother would approve. They find they are being stalked. A lizard monster suddenly appears and they run, splitting into different directions. Wilfric and the Doctor find each other again but are attacked by another monster. It turns out to be Mags. Just then, Mags seemingly attacks the Doctor despite Wilfric warning him...

Part Two
The Doctor falls but Mags suddenly changes targets to Wilfric. Just then the Doctor pulls out a pocket watch and attempts to bring Mags back to sanity using hypnosis.

Varron drives a caravan into the village. Trella refuses to allow him room, but he shows her that he also does travelling shows. Attached is a trailer full of his collection of monsters that he has captured and tamed from hunting them through the nearest galaxies. He demonstrates his device that allows him to control them.

Meanwhile Mags has reverted back to her normal self. As she comes to, the Doctor explains he has been following her for a while when her ship was shot down. The Doctor asks Mags why she isn’t with the Psychic circus. Mags explains her transformations are getting worse and she it wasn’t safe to stay. As the Doctor confirms, she also cannot return to Vulpana because she has “the scent of the universe” and that her people will kill her since they don’t like anything that isn’t like them. She claims to have come here to get help from Dr. Maleeva, someone who is used to dealing with her kind, dealing with “monsters”. Mags then asks the Doctor why he was following her. He says he likes to deal with “unfinished business”. The Doctor then calls aloud that Wilfric can come out now. Wilfric is shocked that Mags wants the monsters to just kill her to end her predicament. The Doctor asks if Wilric noticed a path they can take to hide and follow Mags and the Doctor reveals that Mags can communicate with the monsters, so they will follow her while she tries to find out their secrets.

Dr. Maleeva is incensed about the current situation rhetorically asking why set up a quarantine if no one is going to follow it. She decides to leave the castle and figure out what is going on.

Varron, meanwhile, shows off his monsters in a circus-like performance.

The trio of Mags, the Doctor and Wilric arrive at a “village” where the monsters live and begin to observe them.

The Doctor comments about one of the monsters being a village “leader”, and as they listen in, they hear the monsters talking. Wilric cannot believe his ears, but the doctor merely chides him and his people for making false assumptions about the monsters, such as being inarticulate beasts.

They decide to move closer. The monsters loudly that they must obey the agreement and cannot kill. The Doctor bemusingly notes that they are beginning to form a civilised society, starting with being vegetarian. Mags believes she can live out here with monsters. They observe the monsters debating about eating humans, but cannot observe anymore as Mags begins to keel over in pain, trying to stop her transformation.

Varron is told to pack up his show as the curfew signal sounds and the crowd around his display of monsters disperses. Trella comments about her dislike for his creatures but Varron explains that the creatures have been cybernetically modified and as such will only obey him and will not harm them unless he commands them to. Dr. Maleeva arrives, upset about seeing off-world technology. Varron and Dr. Maleeva are introduced.

Mags begins to transform again, not able to control herself and warning the Doctor an Wilric to run away. The Doctor attempts to use the watch again but Mags smashes it. He tries to talk Mags out of it but doesn’t seem to be able to reach her. Just then the monsters take notice of the commotion and come after them. The monsters hear Mags’ transformation and decide to go after her, with one of the them commenting about how they should kill her.

Varron and Dr. Maleeva talk. Varron points out that she does not look like the natives and must from another planet. Trella already displeased with Dr. Maleeva’s presence, becomes angrier still. Gor tries to defend his mistress but Dr. Maleeva calms him down. Varron gives a demonstration of how he controls his creatures.

The Doctor releases clockwork mice to distract the monsters so they lose their trail and the three can get away. Wilfric has trouble leading Mags away. The Doctor throws a stick and Mags chases after it. This seems to calm Mags down and transforms back to normal. The Doctor, meanwhile, says this shows that Mags can find a way to control it. The monsters continue to chase after them as they attempt to make their way back to the village.

Dr. Maleeva believes Varron’s display is disgusting but he points out her hypocrisy. Suddenly they hear the monsters coming closer. Trella runs off to make sure everyone is in curfew but not before reluctantly consenting to allow Varron to tackle the task, believing the Doctor has failed and has now perished. Dr. Maleeva insists she will accompany him. As she orders Gor to prepare their lab, Varron comments on her pathetic servant but she defends him, saying he is very helpful and reliable and she would be lost without him.

Trella finds the radio destroyed by Gor. She attacks Gor but Gor defends himself, accidentally hurting her and knocking her out. He flees, terrified of his actions and profusely apologising.

Varron demonstrates his circus of creatures. Dr. Maleeva wants to know more about them but Varron refuses to reveal all his secrets. He assures her that he is in full control though, and that it is his own design, offering to divulge it to her for a price. Varron says she should trust him a little more and that he is here to fix their monster problem. Dr. Maleena counters that she is tagging along merely to make sure he doesn’t “damage” the monsters. Varron is taken aback, wondering why she would want to do such a thing and if she is in league with the Doctor.

They stumble upon an abandoned village.

Varron releases his creatures on the village, looking for the monsters responsible.

Gor runs away lamenting his actions and hoping that Dr. Maleena, his love, will be safe.

Trella awakens, dazed, and sees the destroyed transmitter. She swears vengeance on Gor and leaves to get the guards.

The trio of the Doctor, Mags and Wilric follow the monster’s trail. Suddenly they see Varron’s cybernetic hybrids in the distance roaming the village when they begin coming their way. The monsters arrive to find their village destroyed, and are angered.

The Doctor suggests they retreat, but it is too late as the monsters and Varron’s creatures prepare to fight, with the trio caught in the middle...

Part Three
The monsters and Varron’s creatures fight but Varron’s army easily overpowers them as their cybernetic implants are revealed to be able to electrically shock the monsters. The Doctor, Mags and Wilfric then cross paths with Varron and Dr. Maleeva, as the Doctor and Dr. Maleeva hurriedly introduce themselves among the ensuing chaos.

Meanwhile Trella finds Gor and the guards arrest him. She accuses him and Dr. Maleeva of causing the problems and ruining their village as Gor profusely apologises, but to no avail.

The Doctor explains to Varron that the monsters are curious, not a product of evolution and also partially human. Varron reveals that the villagers believe Dr. Maleeva to be the one responsible for making them, tampering with their genetics and xenobiology. The Doctor explains he has been hanging around the village for a few days, observing the surroundings to find the truth and says that Dr. Maleeva seems to be a mix of Dr. Moreau and Dr. Frankenstein. Varron finds the Doctor’s knowledge useful and offers a partnership which the Doctor, disgusted, turns down.

Mags and Wilric talk about the monsters, Wilric wondering if they came before the current inhabitants. He tells her that they believe Maleeva is the one taking the monsters up to her castle and experimenting on them. Dr. Maleeva approaches them and not having heard them informs them that she is sceptical about the doctor but Mags jumps to defend him saying she trusts him while Dr. Maleeva is surprised, asking what happened to Mags’ trust in her.

Gor is locked up and the villagers crowd around him, tease him and leave. He reveals that they are not so smart, as they forgot to take his tools. He then unlocks himself.

Varron appears at the village claiming he has caught the monsters. Trella notices Gor has escaped. Incensed, she attempts to go find him but is then informed by a villager of Varron’s success and she walks out to the village gates to see for herself.

Mags tries to persuade the Doctor to do something but he assures her that Varron is unlikely to kill them. The villagers demand to have the monsters killed, but true to the Doctor’s words, Varron refuses n the grounds that the monsters would make an excellent addition to his collection. Wilfric informs Trella that the monsters killed Balva and the other Gokroth native. Trella soothes him, happy that her boy has returned safe. Varron demands his payment. Mags begs the Doctor to let her help but he assures her she will when the time is right. Varron then demands to know what Dr. Maleeva and the Doctor think of his capture, insisting he will “accidentally” release the captured monsters if his demands aren’t met.

Dr. Maleeva asks to be able to take them back to her lab but Varron insists that she will just test on them. The Doctor says he sympathises with the monsters and sees no reason to hurt them as there is nothing to prove that they have done anything wrong, merely, the villagers have assumed this. However Trella, fed up, says that Varron has saved them and then orders the Doctor and Dr. Maleeva to be locked up as they have caused the village nothing but trouble. Varron commands his creatures to take the Doctor and Maleeva to the prison cell.

Mags and Wilric argue, Mags accusing Wilric and his people of always mistreating the monsters thinking that all they want to do is kill them. She wants to help the Doctor but can’t figure out what to do. As they search his house, they hear a noise in the back room and go to investigate.

The Doctor is locked up by Trella. Trella accuses him of working with Dr. Maleeva, which she denies, and then says she is going after Gor. Maleena shows great concern for him, demanding that Trella not hurt him.

Mags searches the back room and discovers Gor. He attempts to run away but Mags stops him. He explains what has happened and how he was locked up. When she tells him that Maleeva is locked up he runs away to save her and Mags runs after him.

The Doctor and Maleeva are locked away, and Maleeva desperately tries to scrape away at the ground to make a tunnel. The Doctor, meanwhile, explains he has faith the villagers will make the right decision but Maleeva asks the Doctor rhetorically if he’s even met the villagers, implying they’re not a smart bunch.

Varron tells Trella that he will reduce his fee in exchange for being allowed to keep the monsters and integrate them into his collection. The villagers are ecstatic.

Gor arrives and seeks to free Maleeva but the villagers don’t take kindly and go after him. Mags follows him and sees him and cries out for the villagers to leave him alone saying he is harmless. Suddenly she is electrically shocked and restrained by Varron.

Gor calls out for Maleeva and she yells back but Gor is disabled by Varron. The Doctor wonders where Mags is.

Varron forces Mags to transform, expressing his interest in having her as part of his collection and part of his real interest in the deal. Trella arrives but Varron packs up, and claims that he is taking Mags as part of the deal. Before Trella can do anything he drives off with Mags in tow in his caravan.

Meanwhile the imprisoned Doctor and Maleeva think of a way to escape. Wilric arrives and tells them what has happened: Varron has captured and escaped with Mags while Gor has been killed by the villagers. Maleeva flies into a crying rage, screaming how Gor was harmless and that the villagers are all blind fools, knocking the food tray Wilric brought them to the floor. Wilric, enraged, reveals that they will ask Varron to take Maleeva as well since she’s also an alien and when the Doctor requests for Wilric to let them out, he simply says that he will let him know if Mags returns, that the village is safe thanks to his mother Trella and departs. The Doctor then reveals it’s time they escape, Maleena, upset, asks how, and he reveals with the help of some... spoons.

Varron talks with Mags, revealing he knows she is from Vulpana. He muses about whether he can implant some cybernetics into Mags that will allow him to make her transform as will since she reveals she cannot control it. They arrive at his ship but find it damaged and unable to take off.

Meanwhile the Doctor has managed to remove the bolts to their cage using a spoon, wire and battery pack and they escape.

Trella rouses the villagers to take up arms and storm and burn the castle for causing them so much fear from having the loose monsters.

The Doctor and Maleeva arrive and she panics at seeing the villagers prepare to storm her castle. Mags and Varron are en route back to the village when the caravan breaks down. Mags exclaims that the locks have field, and the caravan has power relays with the ship, the ship providing power and luckily that means the power to Mags restraining collar is also gone. Deactivated, Mags removes it and prepare s to escape as Varron now has to deal with his captured creatures awakening, no longer under his control since his controls for their cybernetic implant controls have lost power.

Trella berates Varron as the monsters awaken. The monsters begin to talk and an astonished Trella cannot understand. Wilric tells her that they discovered this earlier and that the monsters that killed Balva and Porrow earlier were punished themselves by the monster’s village chief for doing something against the rules.

The Doctor and Maleeva escape towards where the Doctor thinks his TARDIS is, saying he needs to retrieve something that can help remedy the situation, except when he explains this to Maleeva she panics and says that it is not where he thinks it is because she had it moved to the castle because she could not allow the villagers to have any contact with off-world alien technology. The Doctor, confused, asks Maleeva to explain why she is here and what she is doing. She finally reveals the truth that she brought the monsters with her.

At station Zeta, Maleeva was excited to begin working in xenomedicine, but to her horror she found the hard way that the station really existed to take in patients and genetically alter them to become warriors. Having had enough, she sedated the monsters and stole an escape ship, bringing them to the planet of Gokroth. The Doctor berates her for her carelessness in considering the safety of the natives of the planet, to which Maleeva reveals that there were, in fact, no natives before she arrived and that the current “natives” of Gokroth were actually created by her...

Part Four
The Doctor is shocked and decides tells her they need to get to her castle now.

Trella incites the masses, saying the monsters are not the real enemy but Maleeva. She then tells them to free the monsters from Varron’s trailer.

Varron uses an emergency power-pack to reactivate his creatures and commands them to protect him, however, there is not enough power and one of the creatures accidentally goes haywire and ends up killing a lizard monster. The monsters are enraged but the monster village chief tries to remind them that they must not kill humans. Varron commands his creatures to continue to protect him while Wilric is knocked out by one of them. Mags berates Varron and tends to Wilric.

Trella commands the villagers to smash the newly-discovered ship of Varron, claiming technology to be bad and that they must destroy it completely.

The Doctor asks why Maleeva came here and she says that the morphic fields on the planet helped the creatures and her research. The planet allows for accelerated mutation and evolution. She explains Gor was a pilot and helped her with the whole operation but she never understood why.

Trella talks with the monsters, accepting them as fellow Gokroth kin. They decide to destroy Varron’s ship and then the scientist’s castle.

Mags helps Wilric recover. Confused, he believes they are still fighting the monsters and Meleeva, and Mags asks him to trust her and leads him to the castle.

The Doctor and Meleeva enter the depths of the castle. She explains that originally they were able to start turning the monsters back into humans thanks to the morphic fields. The Doctor, however, questions how she could have known their new form would have been stable. She didn’t, so to keep them isolated and observe their behaviour she and Gor built the village and implanted false memories into them because she feared the truth would be far too traumatic. Only the most ingrained mutants that they could not convert back remained in the forest and were what originally became the feared “monsters” that the villagers feared as did Maleeva. Maleeva reveals she chose not to intervene in order to continue to observe the progress of her experiments. At one point she was sure of their stability and Gor took them back to his world where there were human settlers for them to live with. Hence the fear the villagers had about people disappearing.

The Doctor explains to her that she has created a society living in mortal dread. Maleeva, collapses to the ground in frustration, unsure of what to do. The Doctor praises her, saying that the first real step to progress is admitting this. The Doctor says he will see what he can do.

Varron, meanwhile, sacrifices his still functioning cyborg creatures to try and keep himself alive. Suddenly he finds a service tunnel access attempting to escape the monsters chasing him, bringing along his few still functioning cyborgs.

Trella, the villagers and the monsters, after destroying the ship, begin to head towards the castle.

Mags and Wilric hurry towards the castle but Wilric suddenly painfully transforms into a monster. Mags tries to console him, telling him to focus on something to help him retain his humanity and hold back his transformation. Mags, trying to help him, begins telling him a story, the story of what happened to her. As he calms down, she helps him up and they continue towards the castle, as she continues to tell the story

The Doctor convinces Maleeva to give the people back their memories and reprograms her machine to send out a signal that helps to stabilize them and will slowly return their memories. Just then they hear a crash upstairs as one of the castle windows is shot in with an arrow.

Trella sees the machines inside the castle and incites the villagers and monsters to get rid of Maleeva forever but suddenly they begin to mutate and become monsters again. They see Wilric and prepare to go meet him.

Meanwhile Wilric has transformed and Mags becomes scared. The Doctor comes out to greet them. He explains what has happened and explains that the villagers will revert to being monsters before stabilizing as humans again. The Doctor instructs them to return to the castle and check the machine while he stalls the monsters. Reluctantly they agree.

The Doctor shows the transformed villagers that they are the same as the monsters they feared and helps the “monsters” to realize that they are all one people. Slowly the monsters begin to realize this and slowly start to revert back.

Mags and co arrive at the castle but notice that a hole has been made already and the castle set on fire, except it wasn’t by the monsters. Mags charges ahead, transforming into a werewolf.

Varron traps and confronts Maleeva inside the burning castle. She berates him for capturing the creatures that he puts on display and using as a personal army, confronting him by saying that he killed these creatures already when he captured and enslaved them, taking away their ability to choose and that they are nothing but cybernetic corpses now. Suddenly Mags arrives and attacks Varron, stealing his controls.

The Doctor tries to convince Wilric to hold the people back but he wants to warn the Doctor. Maleeva arrives and panic-stricken explains to the Doctor that Varron is intent on destroying the whole place and that Mags has transformed into a werewolf and is attacking him. She also says that her lab is full of volatile chemicals and is about to explode.

Varron and Mags fight and the Doctor arrives, explaining to him that Mags is not acting like a wild creature but is actually in control. Varron tries to get his creature to attack Mags and the Doctor but it turns on him and drags him to the basement as it screams in agony.

The Doctor believes Mags has come into control of her werewolf side but she doubts that. They realize they have more pressing issues and attempt escape.

Trella and Wilric join them.

Deep in the cellar of the castle, Varron attempts to reason with the his creature but it screams in pain and cannot seem to forgive him, killing him.

The Doctor and Mags arrive and find both Varron and the creature dead. The Doctor surmises that the creature must’ve had its cybernetic brain burnt out and was acting on pure instinct in its final minutes. Just as the castle is about to explode, the Doctor finds the mysterious wooden blue box he was looking for, and dragging Mags inside, they escape just in time as the castle explodes.

Maleeva addresses the whole village, explaining that both memories they have are real and that she will do her best to help everyone, both the creatures in the forest and the village people. The village people are confused about what to do.

The Doctor arrives, impressed by Maleeva’s newfound attitude, and when the village people (who have fully reverted back from their monster forms) ask him what they should do, he merely mentions that, as they have just seen, they are the same as the “monsters” they fear, so maybe they should start from there. Trella then says to the villagers that they should gather up their harvest and bring some food to the monster’s village, as they are probably very hungry. Wilric suggests they invite the “monsters” to the village for a feast, however, Trella says that they will take things one step at a time.

The Doctor and Mags prepare to take off and Wilric asks Mags if she will stay. Mags reveals, however, that she has been offered another choice, and starts after the Doctor and although Wilric is disappointed he wishes her good luck.

Inside the TARDIS, Mags asks comments about this being the way Ace and the Doctor travel around. Having officially been offered a chance to travel with the Doctor, she agrees and he gives her the choice to pick where to go for their next adventure, as an official member of the TARDIS crew...

Cast

 * The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
 * Mags - Jessica Martin
 * Dr Maleeva / Balva - Victoria Yeates
 * Varron - Jeremy Hitchen
 * Trella / Lizard-Monster - Abi Harris
 * Wilric - Dominic Vulliamy
 * Gor / Bear-Monster / Porrow / Varron's creature - Andrew Fettes

Continuity

 * Ace is currently "somewhere else" and has been for some time. (AUDIO: Dominion)
 * Mags left the Psychic Circus after her transformations started to become a danger to both the performers and the audience. (TV: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy, COMIC: Hill of Beans)
 * Gokroth has morphic fields, which the Doctor encountered previously on Lucifer. (PROSE: Lucifer Rising)