World of Damnation (audio story)

Rykerzon is a maximum-security planetoid designed to hold the most dangerous criminals in the star system. The Governor plans to reform its inmates, with the help of the Kandyman. But two prisoners prove particularly troublesome: the alien fugitives known as the Eleven, and Miss Helen Sinclair.

The Doctor and Liv have finally tracked down their friend - but are they too late?

Plot[]

On the colony planet of Ryzerkon, long converted into a lunatic asylum, the Eleven is taken by a one of his violent moments of crisi. Helen Sinclair comforts him to sanity, something for which he is thankful. The two of them are watched with interest by the Governor of the prison and his aide, the Kandyman. The two of them decide to use the Eleven as an example for an important demostration soon to be given of their new methods to cure their "patients".

In another part of the prison, two guards, Ruzalla and Crahbead, are attacked by an unknown enemy; the first one is badly hurt, and requests medical help. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Liv arrive to the prison: the TARDIS has detected here traces of the Eleven's TARDIS. They just start investigating to see where they are, when they are trapped inside two transports cell and interrogated by the System. The Doctor is interrogated for supposed crimes, while Liv, taking advantage of the fact they landed in her own time of origin, has the System recognise her as a med-tech on a mission. She is then sent to assist Ruzalla and Crabhead.

Helen is separated from the Eleven and taken back to her own dome; the Governor informs her that the next encounter she'll have with the Time Lord will also be the last, since they are transferring them both. Helen once again tries to explain that what happened at their arrival on the planet was just an accident: their TARDIS had crashed, and she was scared of the powers the Sonomancer left her and couldn't control them. Still, the Governor insists on sending her away, thinking her dangerous.

Liv reaches Ruzalla and Crabhead and attends to the first's wounds. She has them tell her where she is and what it's going on. They are not guards, they are inmates, but that's part of the Governor's policy. He subjects the prisoners to the Kandyman's recipes, who makes them docile, and then lets the more "healed" of them run the prison, counting also on the fact they have nowhere to escape. Liv promises them a mean to escape if they help her find the Doctor; in return, she will also help Ruzalla free her partner, Jarl.

Meanwhile, the interrogation of the Doctor proves pointless. He is not guilty of any crime, so the System can't process him. The Kandyman, pretending to be the Governor, takes matters into his own hands, and transports the Doctor to a secret point of the prison. Here, the Doctor is left free, only to be attacked by a spider and imprisoned in his web. Before being trapped, he manages to understand that this spider feeds on psychic energy.

Helen sees the Eleven for one last time before they are separated. Over the time, they developed a strong bond, and now he seems to be really affectionate to her. He warns her about the Governor, who fears her power and wants her out of the way; on the other side, Helen encourages him to try and be a better person, as he seemingly has in the last times. Eventually, Helen is taken away by the guards, while the Eleven is left in the cares of the Kandyman, who starts feeding him various recipes, according to the tastes of every single incarnation. When "the Seven" takes control, though, the Kandyman recognises him as a friend; in fact, as the man who rebuilt him. Helen is taken to an isolate pod, and the Governor reveals his intention to eject her into space, thus proving the Eleven's words true. Enraged, Helen use the power she took from the Sonomancer to escape and reunite with the Eleven, just in time as he, assisted by the Kandyman, assaults the Governor as he is "welcoming" new prisoners: Ruzalla, Jarl and Crabhead (it is implied that this happened before the Doctor and Liv arrived). To her shock, Helen is told that the Kandyman and the Eleven were accomplices all alone in a plan to instigate a prisoner's revolt and take control. When the Eleven shoots the Governor dead, she also understands she didn't really change. She runs away, as the Eleven and the Kandyman notice the Doctor's presence.

Liv, Ruzalla and Crabhead are attacked by one of the spiders, and Crabhead is killed while protecting the retreat of the two women. Liv and Ruzalla find the Doctor and release him from the webbing, but they are trapped by the Kandyman (which the Doctor recognises from their previous encounter) in a room growing smaller and smaller. When they are about to be crashed, Helen comes out of a conduct and tells them to follow her to safety. They do so, but as they are moving, the Doctor confides worriedly to Liv he doesn't think she's the real Helen.

Cast[]

The Doctor - Paul McGann
Liv Chenka - Nicola Walker
Helen Sinclair - Hattie Morahan
The Eleven - Mark Bonnar
The Kandyman - Nicholas Rowe
Governor - Amerjit Deu
Ruzalla - Pippa Bennett-Warner
Crabhead / System / Jarl - Charlie Condou
Ludina Braskell - Beth Goddard

References[]

Rykerzon exists in the same century as Kaldor, which is similar to Colony 23.
After the Eleven, the Time Lord who lived the longest with regenerative dissonance killed himself in his eighth incarnation.
Old Earth and Colony Central are mentioned.
Technology used includes a faulty transmat and a life preservation suit.
Thought spiders exist mainly on lava worlds.

Notes[]

This is first part of a two-part adventure, carrying on in the following audio, Sweet Salvation.

Continuity[]

The Kandyman mentions his encounter with the Doctor's seventh incarnation on Terra Alpha. (TV: The Happiness Patrol)
"Classic retrograde behavior" is mentioned. (TV: Frontios)

External links[]

Official Ravenous 1 page at bigfinish.com