The Drowned World (audio story)

To the Elders of this ruined world, Sara is a ghost, a phantom that must be excised. She must prove her right to exist, and she does so with stories. Stories of a time when she travelled the universe with an ancient Doctor and his heroic companion Steven inside a magical space/time ship called the TARDIS.

And one story in particular could make a difference. The one about their trip to a world covered in water, where a human expedition is being wiped out. It's a battle to survive, as the travellers face the horrors of the drowned world...

Plot[]

The Rising Tide (1)[]

In a distant future where the world is ravaged by war and devastation, and where academics at Cambridge form a police force to investigate paranormal phenomena and decide whether they are dangerous, Robert – the academic who had visited the house on Ely Island – recounts his latest encounter with the entity living in that house, which has taken on the name and memories of Sara Kingdom. Following his previous investigation, aimed at ascertaining whether the entity was evil, Robert had not made any decision; instead, he had decided to ask the entity to tell him one of its stories, which he would then record on a phonograph (technology in this world seems to have gone back a few centuries) and report back to his bosses. The house asks him why his bosses shouldn't just come here, to which Robert is evasive: the house grants its guests' wishes, with almost unlimited powers, and is capable of reading minds, so Robert doesn't trust it (to the point that he has hidden this aspect of the matter from his bosses, the Elders). It also emerges here that Robert and his wife are trying to become parents, but without success so far.

The house begins to tell the story of the time when the Doctor, Sara and Steven landed in a laboratory whose floor seemed to be sloping downwards, due to an earthquake, the Doctor concludes. The three travellers find themselves on an asteroid, in a mining facility that appears to be surrounded and slowly being occupied by a mass of water, leading the Doctor to speculate that the disaster was caused by poor soil analysis before operations began. Driven partly by the Doctor's curiosity and partly by the desire to help any workers trapped there, the three begin to climb towards the exit above, but when they are almost there, a sudden tremor causes the room to tilt further, resulting in the TARDIS sinking into the liquid. Although shocked, the three continue on their way to the exit of the room, where they are greeted by a community of miners who mistake them for rescuers. They inform them that no, what has happened is not their fault; that there is no reason they can give for the disaster that is unfolding; and that the situation is desperate, because within twenty-four hours their life support systems will fail. They have sent out a distress call, yes, but they are off the usual space routes, so unfortunately it will take longer for help to arrive.

The Doctor suggests fixing the support systems so that they can all wait together for help to arrive, but Sara (who notices how scared the Doctor seems to be of water) objects: if they recover the TARDIS, they can save the men themselves and then take them away, wherever they want. With the help of three miners, Sara organises a TARDIS recovery expedition, which involves using a rope to hook onto the ship's doors, which Steven will then have to hoist with the help of the machinery. Everything seems to be going smoothly, but before the astonished eyes of the three, the rope begins to dissolve in the water until it disappears; the water itself begins to rise, and tentacles of water emerge from within, grabbing one of the men and stripping him to the bone. Deciding to save everyone, Sara (with the tacit consent of the other two miners) closes the door to the rest of the base, trapping herself and the others with the mass of liquid rising menacingly, determined to kill them. The Doctor contacts Sara through the base's communication system, telling her that there is a trapdoor under the water that would allow them to escape, but Sara rejects the suggestion. Summoning her courage, Sara prepares to defend the other two miners with her SSS pistol, determined to prevent anyone else from dying.

This is exactly the testimony of her character that Robert wanted. The academic then ends the recording and, after verifying that it worked (being an incorporeal voice, it was not certain that the voice of the house would be recorded), leaves to present it to the Elders. However, when Robert tries to play it back in front of them, nothing remains on the tape, neither his voice nor that of the house. Convinced that the house has erased everything, a furious Robert recommends that the house and the entity be declared dangerous and destroyed. He then returns to the house in person, where he confronts the entity and, refusing its hospitality, asks it to disperse and leave, as it itself had once said it could do. The entity agrees and, after admitting that it had tried to expand its powers to fulfil Robert and his wife's desire to have a child (succeeding: Robert is about to become a father), it evaporates, disappearing from the walls of his house and, apparently, ceasing to exist. This is the end of Robert's story and, as he sees it, the end of the house and the entity as well.

The Drowned World (2)[]

Twelve years have passed. The world outside has fallen prey to a terrible disease characterised by extreme drowsiness, which has caused every social structure to collapse. Robert returns to Ely's house, bringing with him his lifeless daughter, who has fallen prey to the disease. He begins to tell her the rest of Sara's story, describing how the agent suddenly sees a window that, if broken, will lead to the outside of the ship. Aware that this could be their only salvation, he breaks the glass separating them from the outside, and she and the two surviving miners slip out into the rarefied atmosphere of the asteroid, where there is very little air, and begin the climb towards their companions. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Steven are frantically working on the base's systems, trying to reactivate them so they can open the doors and try to give Sara and the others a way to safety.

Evoked by Robert's story, Sara's voice makes itself heard in the house. Together, the two comment on what has happened to the world; it emerges that Robert, although still angry with the house, has come here because he hopes that with its powers, the house can cure his daughter's illness. The house reads his daughter's mind and discovers that the little girl wants to know how the story continues, so it continues with the narration. After climbing the wall for what seems like hours, Sara and the two miners finally reach a hatch large enough to squeeze through, but the controls do not respond. Even banging on a window downstairs, it is not possible to make the others inside understand what they need. Sara then returns to the water room and, trying to avoid the tentacles as best she can, manages to get back in touch with the Doctor just long enough to tell him to open the hatch and save the two miners. It is the last thing she manages to do before being grabbed by a water tentacle and dragged under.

Robert desperately asks the house to save his daughter and cure the disease; the house responds by admitting that yes, it did erase the tapes, but because it wanted the Elders to come to it, to get to know it. After so long, the house, which has spent centuries fulfilling the desires of others, has a desire of its own – and Sara's story expresses it. The agent had survived the water, unlike the miners, because the entity of the asteroid (which was rebelling against the miners' work, whose activity was ruining its ecosystem) had seen in her mind her sense of guilt, embodied by the figure of her dead brother, Bret Vyon, and her desire to make amends. Upon coming into contact with her, the water spared her, and then the Doctor personally negotiated a “truce” with the asteroid, so that it would leave the miners alone until help arrived and allow the travellers to recover the TARDIS. The three had then left, but Sara was left bitter by the miners' lack of gratitude and suspicion towards her for having survived the water when so many of them had not. The house now feels the same way, having granted so many wishes only to end up alone. Now, however, it offers Robert a choice: it will try to save his daughter if he stays with it, living in the house. Once again, Robert must make a choice.

Cast[]

Sara Kingdom - Jean Marsh
Robert - Niall MacGregor

Crew[]

Cover Art - Simon Holub
Director - Lisa Bowerman
Executive Producers - Nicholas Briggs and Jason Haigh-Ellery
Music and Sound Design - Richard Fox and Lauren Yason
Producer - David Richardson
Script Editor - Jacqueline Rayner
Writer - Simon Guerrier
Sara Kingdom created by Terry Nation

Worldbuilding[]

to be added

Notes[]

"The Drowned World" is the name of a 1962 science fiction novel by J.G. Ballard.
Unusually, the frame story takes place over the course of approximately twelve years.
This audio drama was recorded on 26 March 2009 at the Moat Studios.
This story is set between episodes seven and eight of The Daleks' Master Plan.
This story is told from Sara's perspective.

Continuity[]

Robert once again relates the story of the Doctor, Steven and Sara's first visit to the intelligent house in Ely a thousand years earlier. (AUDIO: Home Truths)
Sara once again mentions to Robert that during her travels with the Doctor and Steven, she visited Hollywood in 1921, (TV: The Daleks' Master Plan) that a small boy, who was also named Robert, died in her arms on Mars (PROSE: The Little Drummer Boy) and that she encountered a withered old man who was trapped in the workings of a clock. (AUDIO: The Guardian of the Solar System)
Sara and Robert discuss her visit to the intelligent house in Ely a thousand years earlier. (AUDIO: Home Truths)
Robert's daughter remained with him in the house for ten years before deciding to leave to explore the outside world. (AUDIO: The Guardian of the Solar System)

External links[]

Official The Drowned World page at bigfinish.com