Robophobia was the one hundred and forty-ninth story in Big Finish's monthly range. It was written by Nicholas Briggs and featured Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and introduced Nicola Walker as Liv Chenka.
Released in July 2011, it featured the Seventh Doctor without any companions. This story began a series of four stories with him travelling in the "black TARDIS", a plot point resolved in Black and White.
A sequel to The Robots of Death, this story also featured a reappearance of the Sandminer robots. They had last appeared in an audio story in Magic Bullet Productions' Storm Mine, part of their Kaldor City audio series released in 2004.
This was Walker's audio debut as Liv Chenka, who would later proceed to travel with the Eighth Doctor.
Publisher's summary[]
Nothing has ever been officially confirmed, but there is a rumour that on a Sandminer bound for Kaldor City, the robots somehow turned homicidal and nearly wiped out the entire crew. Can that really be true?
The robot transport ship Lorelei has a cargo of over a hundred fifty-seven thousand robots on board, all deactivated. So even if there were any truth in the rumour of that massacre, there'd still be no danger. Surely, there wouldn't...
But then, the Doctor witnesses a murder.
Plot[]
Part one[]
The Lorelei is a Kaldor cargo vessel, carrying over 157,000 robots to Ventalis. The Doctor is in a cabin, listening to an audio recording about his previous escapade in this part of space, but he suddenly realises that a crewmember, and the cabin’s occupant, Tal Karus, has a gun to his back. Before he can explain, however, Tal is killed by a robot - who immediately tries to kill the Doctor too…
Med-tech Liv Chenka contacts security chief Farel to inform him of the results of her preliminary examination of Tal’s body. She asks why anyone would want him dead, but Farel is unable to answer. Liv and Tal had been good friends prior to his death, and she reminisces about their first meeting, but she is interrupted in this by the Doctor. He claims to be from engineering and takes a look at the results of Liv’s examination of Tal, before convincing her to take a closer look at Tal’s files. Liv discovers that some of his personal files have not been uploaded, and explains that they are still on the drive in his cabin - but the Doctor is gone.
Farel contacts the captain, Selerat, to let him know that the area has been cordoned off, but reluctantly tells him that Liv has yet to freeze Tal’s body. Selarat reminds him that they will be leaving the investigation to the company and that the ship’s priority is to get a bonus for delivering the robots early. Pilot Bas Pellico switches the ship to autopilot and leaves the bridge to take his rest shift, and he contacts Liv to tell her he’ll make his way to her. Before getting there, though, he thinks he sees someone - “some bloke”, who turns out to be the Doctor. The Doctor again tells Bas that he is an engineer, and is on this deck because he was looking for something. He also tells Bas that he had spoken to Liv about Tal earlier before abruptly leaving - though not before asking Bas to remind Liv about Tal’s computer.
Bas meets with Liv and they discuss their respective meetings with the Doctor. Liv, who has still not frozen Tal’s body, ignores a call from Farel and goes with Bas to investigate the computer in Tal’s cabin. Farel goes to meet her directly by passing through Robot Bay 117, but instead finds an unidentified object: a box that says “POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX” on it and is, notably, black in colour. The Doctor watches him from afar. Meanwhile, Liv and Bas make their way to Tal’s cabin. An alarm is triggered as they enter, but it is simply Farel warning about the discovery of the TARDIS. Liv and Bas are able to find the data that wasn’t on the network, and it turns out to be the report on the Taren Capel Sandminer incident. They examine the security footage for Tal’s computer - again, studied by the Doctor from a distance - and discover the video of Tal’s murder by a robot. Just then, an alarm sounds in the robot bay and the pair discover the body of Leebar, a deputy security chief. The Doctor emerges from the TARDIS but comes face to face with Cravnet, another deputy security officer. He pleads with them to believe that he is not the killer, but when they refuse to listen, yells that there is a bomb in the robot bay and they must run away. The bomb goes off, but they all make it out alive to Robot Bay 118. Farel orders Cravnet to lock up the Doctor, but before he can do so, the Doctor uses a device to activate all the robots in Robot Bay 118. One of the robots - SV10 - tells the Doctor that the activation order is in contravention of protocol, and gives him ten seconds to explain - or else…
Part two[]
The Doctor is able to issue a security command to stop the robots. Farel tries to shut down the robots for good, but is unable to as they have recorded the Doctor’s voice, so he orders Cravnet to go and lock the Doctor up, which he does. Farel orders Liv and Bas to go back to their quarters, but instead Liv insists that she and Bas follow the robots to the command deck. They confront SV10 about Tal’s death, but the robot insists that a robot killing a human is impossible, and that its memory indicates that Tal was the one who activated them, not the Doctor. Selerat bumps into them and asks what they are doing there, and Liv tells him about the bomb in Robot Bay 117 and that the robots believe the Doctor to be Tal. Selerat orders Bas to take the helm before going with the robots to the Doctor’s cell - apparently followed by Liv. She continues to insist that it was a robot that killed Tal, and finally gives in and tells Selerat that she broke into Tal’s cabin and watched the security footage. The Doctor explains that his respiratory bypass system enabled him to survive strangulation, convincing both the robot and Liv that he had died. Before he can explain further, the ship pitches to one side - the robot on the bridge has switched off the autopilot. Bas attempts to contact Selerat, but he is cut off by the robot. He is able to radio them for help, but they overhear him being killed…
After locking up the Doctor, Cravnet goes to speak with Farel in his office. Farel seems extremely shaken when Cravnet asks what they should do with Leevar’s remains, and his worries are not allayed by Cravnet informing him that robots have been seen milling around the ship doing random chores. Cravnet also tells Farel about a conversation he had had with Tal prior to his death, where Tal had told him about how some robots onboard the Sandminer had apparently “gone bad” and started killing people. Farel plays with the idea that the robots might have been responsible for Tal and Leebar’s deaths, and instructs Cravnet to tell the other security deputies about the Sandminer.
Selerat sounds the alarm, and he, the Doctor and Liv rush to the bridge. They run into Cravnet on the way, who tells them that Farel is making his way over. On arrival, they find Bas’s body - and next to it, a severed robot hand covered in blood, alongside a piece of a robot’s face. Just then, another alarm comes on to warn them that the entire engineering sector has been sheared clean off of the ship due to a bomb in Robot Bay 118, where SV10 had apparently ordered all the robots to gather. The Doctor says that they are trapped in someone’s idea of a fight for survival. Someone has engineered a scenario that appears to portray the robots as violent murderers.
Part three[]
SV10 confirms that all the other activated robots on the ship have been destroyed. Farel again calls for the Doctor to be locked up, but Liv demands that they get the truth out of him first. Reluctantly, the Doctor explains that Tal was working for the Kaldor City Company, who - as Cravnet notes - ran the Sandminer. He says that the company hushed it up, due to a fear of possible followers of Taren Capel, and put an agent on the Lorelei to ensure that none of those followers would be able to act on their desires. According to the Doctor, someone found out about Tal and wanted him silenced, for some reason. Farel angrily takes apart SV10 and orders Cravnet to lock the Doctor up once again. Before he gets taken off, he whispers to Liv - “study the wounds”. After being thrown in a cell, the Doctor asks Cravnet whether he really believes the robots have murdered anyone, before suggesting that he might want to ask Liv about it.
Selerat tries to contact Kaldor City, but Farel interrupts him to explain that the robots have taken control of the Lorelei’s communications, and have also turned on the ship-wide radio. A robot makes an announcement that they have lied to the humans and that they shall be subservient no longer - an announcement that is beamed directly to Ventalis.
Taking the Doctor’s advice, Cravnet goes to see Liv. She pulls up the scans of the wounds, which show that the robot hand found on the bridge was indeed responsible for the murders of Tal and Bas, and likely also Leebar. However, the level of force used in the murders was the same as would be applied by a human - why wouldn’t the robot responsible for the deaths use its full strength? Just then, Farel puts out a red alert to desperately warn the remaining humans that the robots are swarming all over the ship to kill them, and encourages everyone to lock their doors and arm themselves. A robot appears in Liv’s cabin, but Cravnet shoots it despite its protests. They are able to contact Farel and beg him to come and help them. Selerat is also able to radio Farel - he tells him that the Lorelei is on a collision course with Ventalis - but just then, two robots enter Farel’s office and Liv and Cravnet hear his screams on the radio.
A robot finds the Doctor in his cell. He tells them that he is locked up because he tried to convince the humans that the robots were not responsible for the murders. He also says that he thinks the robots in Robot Bay 112 have been activated to make it appear as though there is a robot invasion occurring. After overhearing Farel’s screams, the Doctor convinces the robot that he is Tal, and the robot lets him out of his cell and allows him to make a ship-wide communication. He says that the robots are not actually trying to hurt anybody, and when Liv and Cravnet interrupt him and try to claim that a robot was attacking them, the Doctor forces them to rethink this - after all, neither of them are injured. Liv takes Cravnet’s gun and lets the robot into her cabin. She contacts the Doctor, and he suggests that Cravnet may have robophobia. Indeed, Tal had discovered that somebody onboard the Lorelei was a sufferer…
The Doctor realises that the robot he has been speaking to was SV10, apparently having been reassembled. SV10 again tries to kill the Doctor, but is unable to, with the Doctor noting that its reaction times seem a little slow. Who, the Doctor ponders, ripped off SV10’s head and arm? Who was it that needed them to replace the ones that Bas had torn off in his final struggle? As the Doctor is distracted making this speech, the “robot” wraps his hands around the Doctor’s throat…
Part four[]
The Doctor is saved at the last moment as Liv shoots his assailant. She rips the “robot’s” head off to reveal the face of… Farel! Some real robots appear and they help Liv and the Doctor carry Farel to the bridge, where Selerat and several other robots currently are. The captain finally puts it all together - Farel had killed Tal, Leebar and Bas, and had faked his own death to deflect suspicion away from himself. However, they have more pressing concerns - the Lorelei will impact Ventalis in one hour, and the extra fuel stored onboard will provide enough energy to destroy the entire planet if that happens. Farel was, like Cravnet, robophobic, and engineered the whole situation - the murders, the fuel, the fake “robot” broadcast to Ventalis - so that the robots would take the blame when the planet was destroyed, which would have disastrous consequences for neighbouring planets that are reliant on robots. Just then, Farel awakens. The Doctor realises that Farel has locked the ship’s navigational controls, and he demands that Farel give them the code to unlock it. Instead, Farel contacts someone called Elicien and rants about how he must be the sole survivor and warn the human race of the danger the robots pose, before escaping through a secret door, presumably to an escape pod.
The Doctor and Liv go to find the escape pod, leaving Selerat to watch the bridge. While in the elevator, Liv decides to contact Cravnet - she tells him about Farel’s actions and asks him to search the ship’s manifest for any mention of an Elicien. A lot of running later, Cravnet gets back to them with information on Elicien: she was Farel’s wife. They arrive at Farel’s escape pod and he threatens them with a gun. Music is playing from it, which Cravnet recognises as having been played over the audio systems in Farel’s office. The Doctor is finally able to coax the truth out of Farel: his wife was killed by a sandstorm, which robots were unable to save her from, and the music was played at her funeral. He made the code for the navigational controls the same as her last words - “I love you today, and all the other days”. They radio Selerat and tell him to put that password in. Some time later, he contacts them and tells him that they have been able to regain navigational controls - but the controls themselves have melted. and there is no way they will be able to steer the ship without crashing into something. The Doctor tells him to get down to the escape pod as fast as he can, and Liv contacts Cravnet and tells him to do the same.
The Doctor returns to the TARDIS and is able to fly it a few minutes into the past and land it on the bridge to buy himself time, and to allow Selerat to make it to the escape pod (which he does, allowing all four of the surviving crew members to escape). He is planning to use Ventalis’s gravity to slingshot the Lorelei around and into the sun, but it turns out that the robots have beaten him to it. He tries to get them to escape with him in the TARDIS, but they refuse, so he instead requests that they send a message to Ventalis explaining everything that has happened.
Cast[]
- The Doctor - Sylvester McCoy
- Liv Chenka / Elicien - Nicola Walker
- Farel - Toby Hadoke
- Bas Pellico - William Hazell
- Selerat - Nicholas Pegg
- Cravnet - Dan Starkey
- Tal Karus / SV10 - Matt Addis
- Leebar/Computer Voice - John Dorney
- Robots - Matt Addis, Nicholas Briggs, John Dorney, Toby Hadoke, Dan Starkey
Crew[]
- Cover Art - Simon Holub
- Writer & Director - Nicholas Briggs
- Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
- Music & Sound Design - Jamie Robertson
- Producer - David Richardson
- Script Editor - Alan Barnes
Worldbuilding[]
- The Lorelei is transporting 157,000 Sandminer robots to Ventalis.
- Cravnet suffers from robophobia.
TARDIS[]
- The Doctor's TARDIS is described as being black.
Notes[]
- This audio drama was recorded on 7 and 8 March 2011 at the Moat Studios.
- This story marks the first use of the Sandminer robots in a Big Finish audio drama.
- Writer/producer Nicholas Briggs suggests in the CD extras accompanying this story's release that this story is set a couple of months after TV: The Robots of Death. If this comment is taken into account it creates something of a continuity clash with Kaldor City, which is set 10 years after TV: The Robots of Death.
- Subscribers whose subscription included this story received the bonus story Twilight's End, originally printed in the Defining Patterns anthology, read by Beth Chalmers.
- This story is set after Survival.
Gallery[]
Continuity[]
- The Kaldor City Company has covered up the massacre on the Storm Mine 4. (TV: The Robots of Death) It isn't explicitly stated when the events of Robophobia take place in relation to TV: The Robots of Death.
- The Doctor uses his respiratory bypass system. (TV: Pyramids of Mars)
- The Doctor is travelling in the Black TARDIS. (AUDIO: Black and White)
- During his eighth incarnation, the Doctor would be reunited with Liv Chenka on Nixyce VII. (AUDIO: The Traitor) She later joined him as one of his companions. (AUDIO: Time's Horizon)
Footnotes[]
External links[]
- Official Robophobia page at bigfinish.com
- Robophobia at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- DisContinuity for Robophobia at Tetrapyriarbus - The DisContinuity Guide
