Fear of the Daleks (audio story)

Why has Zoe Heriot been having nightmares about the Daleks? Who is the Doctor, a mysterious man from her past? When an evil scientist hijacks her mind to control a galaxy-conquering weapon, Zoe must stop him. First, she and the Second Doctor will face an enemy they had thought destroyed forever.

Plot[]

Part one[]

Zoe Heriot explains to her counsellor that she remembers her reoccurring nightmares about monsters and stowing away on the TARDIS to join the Doctor and Jamie on their adventures, despite the Doctor's efforts to convince her to leave by showing her his last encounter with the Daleks. After the Doctor realizes that showing her the Daleks may have frightened her, he assures her that the Daleks have been destroyed and admits that her intelligence could be useful.

The Doctor and his companions arrive in Lavonia, a city that is covered by a protective dome. While exploring, they see a news report of peace talks between the Xantha, an independent earth colony, and the Tibari, a race of humanoid fish-like aliens. After fifty years of war, both species have agreed to begin the peace talks.

A squad of Xanthan soldiers arrest the Doctor and his companions and bring them to Professor Atrika's underground laboratory. The Tibari scientist explains that his mind projector, which was created using Dalek technology, detected the Doctor and his companions when they arrived.

Atrika blows off the Doctor's warnings about allying himself with the Daleks and assures him that when the Xanthans and Tibari are united, he will create the largest empire in the universe. He plans to use the mind projector to project Zoe's consciousness to create an avatar that will assassinate the Tibari president, resulting in the Xantha and the Tibari blaming each other and soon dividing their forces, allowing the Daleks to move in and create Atrika's new empire. He also tells the Doctor that he plans to separate the Doctor's mind for the project, but the Daleks wish to test the device.

When the Doctor asks Atrika why he wants to end the peace between the Xantha and the Tibari, Atrika explains that he fought alongside Ram Vendel during the war, and once it was over, Vendel was elected president of Tibari while his contributions were forgotten about. Zoe is connected to the mind projector and then has a control chip injected into her brain, before she finds herself walking in the ship while her real body is still in the lab. Unable to call out for help, Zoe mentally cries out to the Doctor, which attracts the attention of the Daleks.

Zoe is forced to walk into the ship's corridor where she is captured by 2 Tiburi guards named Erebon and Merka. Atrika commands Zoe to tell the guards that she's a human stowaway who escaped from the battle of Barrier Colony 9. After hearing this, Erebon and Merka bring Zoe to President Vendel who shows fascination with humanity. Zoe tries to warn Vendel about Atrika's plan, but Atrika inflicts pain onto her to keep her quiet.

As Zoe is locked in a prison cell, a trio of Daleks enter Atrika's lab and approach the Doctor.

Part two[]

The Doctor tells the Daleks that they need both him and Atrika alive, as well as his companions so that the Doctor will co-operate with them. Atrika sees how dangerous the Daleks are, but still decides to inject a receptor chip into the Doctor's brain.

Zoe sees the Doctor's avatar next to her using the Sonic Screwdriver to open the cell door before promising to help Zoe resist Atrika's control. Just then, Zoe retrieves Atrika's trigger phase and rushes out while the Doctor is locked inside the cell. Zoe makes her way to the observation gallery, unseen by anyone else on the ship. When she reaches her destination, Zoe is psychically given a Dalek's gunstick which she will use to kill the President. Luckily, the Doctor manages to stop her and take the weapon from her, allowing her to resist Atrika.

The Daleks are injected with receptor chips, allowing them to appear in the gallery so they can order the Doctor to finish testing the projector so they can see if it is able to be used as a weapon. Atrika tells the Doctor that the Daleks will kill him if he betrays them, but upon hearing the Daleks' intentions of destroying both the Xanthan and Tibari homeworlds using the mind projector, Atrika transmits his confession to the Tibari before the Daleks kill him.

Before they can kill the Doctor and Zoe, the Daleks are engulfed by a black shadow. Atrika's avatar explains that he injected himself with a receptor chip before the Daleks shot him and he also transmitted his consciousness into the avatars of the Daleks, allowing him to control them. Before his mind dies, he tells the Doctor to inform Jamie that the experiment can be cancelled if he presses the mind projector's "Extricate" button before forcing the Daleks to feel the horror of everyone they have killed. With the Doctor and Zoe refusing to kill the, Atrika forces the Daleks' leader to kill the other 2 before self-destructing.

The psychic shield is lowered due to Atrika's death. Jamie receives the Doctor's instruction to press the "Extricate" button, causing the avatars to disappear from the gallery and the Doctor and Zoe return to their own bodies. President Vendel responds to Atrika's warning and the Doctor introduces himself to her and confirms Atrika's warning. Upon hearing this, Vendel decides to ensure peace between the Xantha and Tibari so they can be prepared to defend themselves from the Daleks. After using his Sonic Screwdriver to destroy the crystal that Atrika used to power his mind projector, the Doctor leaves with Jamie and Zoe.

Once she leaves the counsellor's office, Zoe hears the Doctor's voice assuring her that the Daleks have been destroyed for good. From that point onwards, she has no more nightmares, but she knows that the Doctor has been wrong about the Daleks in the past.

Cast[]

Zoe Heriot - Wendy Padbury
The Daleks - Nicholas Briggs

Worldbuilding[]

Cities[]

Lavonia was a city built inside a protective dome on an asteroid.

Empires[]

The Xantha Empire was a former Earth colony that was now independent.

Governments[]

The Tibari Republic was founded by fish-like amphibious humanoids.

Individuals[]

Professor Atrika, a Tibari scientist, planned to assassinate the president of Xantha so he could rule both groups, with the help of the Daleks.

Species[]

Lavonia was where the peace talks between the Xantha and the Tibari were taking place.
The Xantha and the Tibari share a common ancestry.

Notes[]

Fear of the Daleks clean — Textless cover art

This story was recorded at The Moat Studios.
This marks the first appearances of the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe in an audio drama.
While originally set for release in January 2006, it was announced on 1 February that the release of the first series of Companion Chronicles was to be delayed until 5 February.^[1] The announcement of their release came on 19 February^[2], however this followed a gap of communications since the original announcement that release was delayed, so it is difficult to pinpoint a more precise release date than February.
This story was told from Zoe's perspective.

Continuity[]

Zoe says that the Doctor, before letting her join him, showed her with the thought scanner the dangers she would encounter if she did come with him and Jamie. The Daleks were among those perils. (TV: The Wheel in Space)
The Doctor reassures Zoe some time after this adventure that the Daleks have now really met their final end at last, but Zoe is sceptical as he has said this before. (TV: The Evil of the Daleks)
- In between the events of The Evil of the Daleks and Fear of the Daleks, the Doctor already had an encounter with the Daleks in which they confirmed they survived the Dalek Civil War and defeated the rebels. (COMIC: Bringer of Darkness)
Dalek crystals are used in a similar fashion in AUDIO: The Apocalypse Element.
Zoe remembers bits and pieces of her adventures with the Doctor (in the form of dreams), despite the erasure of her memory by the Time Lords. (TV: The War Games) She would eventually get her memories back fully when she reunited with Jamie in the remembered TARDIS. (TV: The Mind Robber)
The Company would later gain access to records of Zoe's therapy sessions. (AUDIO: Echoes of Grey)
The Doctor implies he has a cup of tea in his pockets. (TV: The Witch's Familiar)

Footnotes[]

External links[]

Official Fear of the Daleks page at bigfinish.com
Fear of the Daleks at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
The Discontinuity Guide to: Fear of the Daleks at The Whoniverse

[1] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070201233238/http://bigfinish.com:80/

[2] ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070225185958/http://www.bigfinish.com:80

[1]

[2]

Tardis