Penny Wise, Pound Foolish (audio story)

 was a 2011 Big Finish Productions audio short story, read by David Troughton.

Summary
Showing too much interest in a mining operation on an almost deserted planet leads the Doctor and his companions into danger.

Plot
Jack returns to his cabin on the planet Juno 10. The Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Heriot arrive and convince Jack to allow them to inspect the 20-metre wide hole that Jack is guarding on health and safety grounds. He permits them to advance and watches as the trio peer over the edge and a second hole opens behind them, and they fall in.

Returning to his cabin, Jack watches the trio on a computer monitor. Pondering as to how they're still alive. Zoe notes that the slimy ground they're on broke their fall. The Doctor thinks it is not a hole, but some sort of maintenance or supply tunnel. They hear a distant mewing noise and head off toward the sound, hoping it leads to a way out. In his cabin, Jack continues to watch them on his camera. He plots to kill all three, declaring aloud that they are in his caves. He programs a two minute system flush with hadron gas only to find that the load had already collected is already significant. He launches a rocket to deliver the collection but finds that the rocket faulters and explodes upon launch.

Exiting his cabin, he heads to the crash site. He enters the wreckage and see red eyes throughout the craft. Then the Doctor appears in the doorway and advances towards Jack with his companions. Zoe tells Jack that she accessed the rocket by bypassing a keypad and they then used the ejector seats to escape the crash. Jack names the creatures as Halflings, a hybrid species designed to mine branzine. Jack tells them that he is using the money he makes to buy further planets and carry on the mining process. The Halflings begins to surround Jack and the Doctor thinks of an idea. He asks Jamie to prepare Jack's transmat.

On Paradine Alpha - one of Jack's planets - Jack begins to wake up. He immediately becomes aware of where he is and rages in anger at his entrapment.

Characters

 * Second Doctor
 * Jamie McCrimmon
 * Zoe Heriot
 * Jack

Continuity

 * Zoe continues to display intelligence on a par with the Doctor. (DW: The Wheel in Space)

Timeline
to be added