Minuet in Hell ( audio story ) Publisher ' s summary . The twenty - first century has just begun , and Malebolgia is enjoying its status as the newest state in America . After his successful involvement with Scotland ' s devolution , Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge - Stewart has been invited over to Malebolgia to offer some of his experiences and expertise . There he encounters the charismatic Brigham Elisha Dashwood III , an evangelical statesman running for Governor who may not be quite as clean - cut and wholesome as he makes out . One of Dashwood ' s other roles in society is as patron of a new medical institute , concentrating on curing the ills of the human mind . One of the patients there interests the Brigadier — someone who claims he travels through space and time in something called a TARDIS . Charley , however , has more than a few problems of her own . Amnesiac , she is working as a hostess at the local chapter of the Hell Fire Club , populated by local dignitaries who have summoned forth the demon Marchosias . And the leader of the Club ? None other than Dashwood , who seems determined to achieve congressional power by the most malevolent means at his disposal . . . Plot . It ’ s the very early twenty - first century , and the USA is about to admit its fifty - first state , Malebolgia . Two men are competing to become its first governor : former senator Waldo Pickering , and television evangelist Brigham Elisha Dashwood III . However , Dashwood is more than he seems : he is the head of the American branch of the infamous Hellfire Club , composed of the rich and powerful … all of whom are dedicated Satanists . Dashwood is also the founder of a psychiatric institution , the Dashwood Institute — and its newest inmate is the Doctor . If only he remembered who he was … and if only he didn ’ t believe he was in Hell … Elsewhere , Charley Pollard has also lost her memory , though bits of it begin to return . She is in a dormitory full of other girls around her age , including one Becky Lee Kowalczyck . They were brought here against their will , and are in the charge of Dashwood ’ s associate ( and secret mistress ) , Dr . Dale Pargeter of the institute . They will serve as hostesses — with all that that may imply — at the Hellfire Club . The next day , a group of VIPs tours the Institute , including Senator Pickering , and one Alistair Gordon Lethbridge - Stewart , who is here to assist with Malebolgia ’ s statehood process ( having successfully helped Scotland with a similar procedure ) . Dr . Pargeter shows them the PSI - 859 psionic matrix facsimile regenerator , the technological marvel that she uses to cure her patients , which stores and transfers memories , allowing the then - empty brain to have surgery without risk of personality damage . On the way out , they encounter two patients who were brought in the night before . One , dubbed “ John Doe ” , declares himself to be Gideon Crane , a reporter from the " London Torch " ; his lucidity gets him freedom from the cell . The other , dubbed “ Zebidiah Doe ” for differentiation , is the Doctor ; but he doesn ’ t remember himself , and the Brigadier has never seen the Eighth Doctor ’ s face . Both of them , however , seem to vaguely recognise him . He leaves before pursuing it further . As , elsewhere , the Hellfire Club prepares to literally summon up demons , “ Zebidiah ” is taken to the machine , where Crane is now assisting , and connected up — but his mind overloads the machine and causes feedback to strike them both . Zebidiah flees the facility , and runs into the Brigadier in an alley . They are chased by quite literal demons , dispatched by Dashwood , who has come to distrust the Brigadier . Elsewhere , Becky Lee and Charley escape the club ; Becky Lee makes a strange chant that disables a number of members . Becky says that she is a member of the Order of Saint Peter , which exists to fight supernatural evil ; however , she is also the granddaughter of Senator Pickering . They go to him for help . Meanwhile , Pargeter confers with Dashwood , and tells him about Zebidiah , which leads him to make new plans for the escapee . He calls off the demons , which have just cornered the Brigadier and Zebidiah . However , not realising the connections , the Brigadier returns the weakened Zebidiah to the Institute . He returns to his hotel and requests additional help from his superiors , who have secretly sent him to investigate Dashwood and the PSI - 859 machine ; but they are indifferent to the situation . Becky Lee shows Pickering a confiscated security tape from the club , which is quite incriminating . Pickering takes it to blackmail Dashwood , but Dashwood drugs him , and summons a demon named Marchosias to possess the senator , using the machine to extract Pickering ’ s mind first . He returns to Pickering ’ s home , where Charley ’ s memories have returned . In discussion , he tells them about Lethbridge - Stewart , who may connect Charley to the Doctor . Meanwhile , “ Zebidiah ” is back in his cell , as is Crane , and a few of his memories have returned . However , Crane believes that HE is the Doctor … and he has more of the Doctor ’ s memories than Zebediah does . Pickering smashes through Charley ’ s bedroom door and attacks her . Charley realises he is not actually Pickering anymore ; and she smashes a window and flees . With no idea where to go , she returns to the Hellfire club for clues . Meanwhile , Becky finds the Brigadier and exchanges stories with him ; he is intrigued by her story , and suggests that the Doctor may really be involved . The Doctor , however , is indisposed ; Crane is telling him a very convincing tale , in which Zebidiah was too close to the TARDIS when it crash - landed , and absorbed some of the Doctor ’ s memories . Zebidiah doesn ’ t believe it , but he agrees to use the machine to re - establish his own memories . When Pargeter comes for him , he doesn ’ t realise that she and Dashwood intend to split his mental capacity among twelve other patients … Charley is captured by Pargeter and Marchosias . She is put back in with the other girls ; but when Dashwood sees her , he separates her out to be a central figure in his rituals — the Queen of Hell , who will be possessed by a demon and married to Dashwood . Pargeter becomes jealous , and her jealousy is fed by Marchosias . Charley , however , is beginning to suspect that Marchosias is not what he seems … Becky Lee and the Brigadier return to the Institute . They are caught by Pargeter , and demand to see Zebidiah , but are denied . They see Pickering / Marchosias on television , withdrawing from the gubernatorial race . Becky Lee slips away , and meets Crane , who still thinks he is the Doctor . They come up with an escape plan . Meanwhile , Pargeter uses the machine on Zebidiah . At the Club , Dashwood displays Charley , and uses a device called a trans - D , which sends her through a dimensional interface to Hell … In the Institute , each of the dozen new patients believes he is now the Doctor . Becky Lee sets off a fire alarm . Gideon escapes his cell and heads to the laboratory . Pargeter meets Marchosias , who tells her the alarm is false , and that Dashwood has abandoned her for Charley . Pargeter leaves as Becky Lee arrives , and realises that Pickering is not himself — just in time to be knocked out by Marchosias . At the club — or rather , in Hell — Charley is surrounded by demons ; but they reject her , as they claim she is already dead . She awakens back in her body at the club . The Brigadier arrives to rescue her , and confronts Dashwood . Pargeter arrives as well , and the Brigadier and Charley escape as she occupies Dashwood , but he then expels her from the room . He prepares to make a public broadcast regarding securing the gubernatorial race . Crane finds Zebidiah , who claims to be an empty shell now . Crane genuinely wants to help Zebidiah re - establish his own memories ( as opposed to the Doctor ’ s ) , and hooks him back up to the machine ; but the minds already connected are not strong enough to trigger the machine . Crane connects himself — and Zebidiah forces him to stay connected . His memories of his life as the Doctor are stripped away , along with all the fragments in the other patients , and returned to Zebidiah , their rightful owner . Gideon and the others are knocked out , but restored to themselves . Moments later , the Brigadier and Charley arrive , and have a reunion with the Doctor . Becky Lee wakes up , and finds that Marchosias has chained her up in the club ’ s torture room . She tries to turn his fears against him , as she did to the other clubgoers on the first note , but he has no fears to exploit . Pargeter bursts in , angry and full of fear ; as Marchosias feeds on such emotions , he is enthralled , and pushes her to vent her rage on Becky Lee . Becky Lee is forced to turn Pargeter ’ s fears against her , and the woman ’ s heart gives out , and she dies . As Crane recovers , the Doctor rewires the PSI machine to return all its stored psyches to their proper owners , even over a distance of a few miles . Crane , with some residual memories from the Doctor , is able to operate the machine when signalled to do so . The others go to deal with Dashwood , and Crane sends Pickering ’ s mind back to his body . This expels Marchosias , just as he is about to attack Becky Lee with a chainsaw . Crane then sabotages the machine . The Doctor , the Brigadier , and Charley meet Dashwood at the broadcast studio , but the Brigadier collapses as they enter , apparently worn out . The stage manager , Scott , escorts him to the control room to cool off . The Doctor confronts Dashwood , who arrogantly brags about his plan ; but unknown to him , the Brigadier has activated the equipment , and Dashwood ’ s “ confession ” went out live on national television . In a single moment , he has destroyed his own career . While he won ’ t be arrested , the investigation that will surely result will spell the end of both the club and the Institute . Outside , they meet Becky Lee and Pickering ; and Becky has the trans - D device . Dashwood snatches it away and flees , threatening to send anyone to Hell if they interfere . Also , Charley realises that the displaced Marchosias has to have gone somewhere — and Crane is with the machine … They chase Dashwood back to the lab , and barely manage to save Crane from Marchosias , who takes form of his own . Dashwood intends to use the machine to place himself in Marchosias ’ s body and rule Hell . However , Marchosias is not a demon ; he ’ s a Psionovore , a creature from a realm of cometary dust , which feeds on negative emotions . Drawn to Earth by the Hellfire Club , he appeared as a demon to deceive Dashwood , giving him the design of the machine in order to stir up more trouble and give the Psionovores a continual feast . He ’ s feeding now , and Crane admits that he set the machine to overload . The Doctor and his friends flee ; Dashwood fires the trans - D at them , but its interaction with the adjacent PSI machine causes everything in the lab to be swept back through the dimensional gateway to the realm of the Psionovores . The others escape , but Marchosias and Dashwood are pulled in . The Doctor has a brief moment of reminiscing with the Brigadier , and then he and Charley leave so as to avoid any questioning . In the TARDIS , Charley asks what the Psionovores meant when they said she was dead — but he dismisses it as nonsense , and they are off again .