A Blind Eye (audio story)

A Blind Eye (identified on the cover simply as Chapter Four) was the fourth story of the first series of Big Finish's Gallifrey audio series. It was written by Alan Barnes and featured Lalla Ward as Romana II, Louise Jameson as Leela, John Leeson as K9 Mark II, Seán Carlsen as Narvin and Andy Coleman as Andred.
The final story of the first series, A Blind Eye wrapped up the Timonic Fusion Device storyline, heavily implying that Arkadian was responsible, and revealed that Torvald was actually a regenerated Andred. India Fisher featured as Cecelia Pollard, the sister of Charley who was first mentioned in Zagreus. Elements of that story and Neverland were referred to, mainly by the real Torvald.
== Publisher's summary ==
"You're fiddling at the outset of a conflict that will have profound consequences for this planet's history. You don't think that's dangerous?"
Earth, September 1939. With Europe sliding into war, a young Englishwoman, her loyalties torn, comes to a terrible decision. But what does the intergalactic secrets broker Mephistopheles Arkadian want with the fascist sympathiser Cecelia "Sissy" Pollard on the last day of her life?
Still searching for the facts about the Gryben debacle, President Romana makes a deal with the devil. So begins a chain of consequence that can only end in tragedy for the passengers aboard the Vienna to Calais Transcontinental Express — the woman called Leela included.
By journey's end, the truth will out — but at what cost to Romana and Leela? To Gallifrey's empire, even?
== Plot ==
On the evening of 3 September 1939, Romana meets with Mephistopheles Arkadian on the Transcontinental Express per a message that he sent her promising information. He says that there was a young Englishwoman who shot herself whilst in Munich in the hopes of showing the United Kingdom and Germany that war was futile. However, Arkadian sent the British consulate a telegram purporting to be from her sister, telling her that she was alive and inviting her home, and stopped her from killing herself. This woman is Cecelia Eriphyle Pollard, sister of Charley.
Her own first-class compartment having been "invaded by a family of trolls", Sissy joins Muriel Joy in another where Leela is asleep. She is awoken by the train's whistle, which she believes is the cry of a banshee, amusing Sissy.
Arkadian claims that his manipulating Sissy is a coincidence and that he was not originally aware that she was the sister of Charley, of whom he has heard rumours concerning her being a conduit of anti-time. She is, he claims, not important to the timelines and asks that she be permitted to live for only three more hours, offering to tell her who stole the Timonic Fusion Device in return. Romana agrees not to contact Narvin about Sissy's survival for three more hours and to give Arkadian five minutes to run away once she has. Narvin is, he reveals, already aware that he is in 1939.
Sissy is thrilled at the idea that Leela might be a vagabond queen with a horde of gypsies and is concerned when she notices that the train is slowing down. Romana enters the compartment and Sissy held by Leela, who notices her resemblance to Charley and gives away that they know her. Romana tells Sissy that they are there to protect her and, when the train stops, they find that it is Narvin who has stopped it. He boards the train and Romana goes to head him off whilst Leela attacks the conductor, trying to keep herself and Sissy from being in trouble for not having tickets, only to find that it is Torvald.
Romana finds Narvin looking for Sissy with a gadget which measures time displacement, the first reading seeming to correspond with Sissy's mass. However, it is now detecting something far heavier and heading in their direction which Romana identifies as an identical and accelerating train behind them. They rush off to save Leela and Sissy, although Narvin is surprised that Romana had brought Leela to the time zone.
Leela threatens to kill Torvald for killing Andred, which he insists was in self-defence. She senses that something is wrong and looks out of the window, seeing the other train approaching. The train collides with theirs as they hold on, but, when they open their eyes, everything is okay aside from Torvald and Ms Joy having disappeared. They find that they have been locked inside of the compartment.
Torvald and Ms Joy awake without Leela and Sissy and are joined by Romana and Narvin, whose displacement monitor suggests that Sissy is still in the compartment. Arkadian appears.
Sissy gives Leela her League of English Fascists badge, given to her by Oswald Mosley, and the two talk about Adolf Hitler and what he has said about the differences between different races and how they should be kept apart. Sissy says that her race is better than Leela's and that she would only drag hers down, which Leela counters by pointing out that she can pick the lock whilst Sissy cannot. They head off, Leela going first despite Sissy supposedly being the superior one.
Arkadian, who Narvin wants arrested, confirms Romana's belief that the other train was the same as this one, only from a time track in which it was delayed; the second train has caught up and Leela and Sissy are now aboard. The person responsible is Arkadian's colleague Erich Kepler, who Sissy likes to think is her boyfriend and who had been working to get her out of Munich alive. Erich betrayed Arkadian, hence why he was forced to send the telegram instead.
Leela and Sissy find that the other compartments on the second train are locked as well and that the people within seem to have been rendered unconscious by gas. They meet Erich, who scolds Sissy for leaving Munich and who Leela realises is not what he seems.
Arkadian declines to tell Romana who Erich really is, but says that he is working against all of their interests and that he was the one who put Sissy on the train. Sissy was drawn to the other train due to the draw of the time track to which she belonged and Leela was taken with her because, Ms Joy guesses, she had a hold of Sissy during the collision.
Erich has spent six months with Sissy to get her aboard this train and reveals that he is the first incarnation of Torvald. When Leela mentions the Torvald that she knows and that he is a commander, Erich presumes that she is talking about his next incarnation. Sissy attacks Erich with her spiked heel and she flees with Leela.
Romana agrees to return to the Capitol and leave the clean-up to Narvin, but Arkadian refuses to give her the information that he has until midnight per their deal. Narvin orders Torvald to escort Romana to the Presidential TARDIS against her will until Arkadian says that "Torvald" is the name of his accomplice.
Realising that Erich has not yet killed Andred, Leela considers killing him in order to save her husband's life. She and Sissy are attacked by a large, growling monster and run back towards Erich.
Romana does not believe that Torvald is a traitor to Gallifrey, describing him as being "far too wet", but Narvin says that there have been a number of irregularities in Torvald's movements and that he had been stationed in this time period prior to his regeneration. Arkadian approached Narvin some time ago and offered him proof of Torvald's treason, namely recordings from Bianca's Nightclub, in a meeting which Narvin chose not to share with Romana. Torvald says that they are wrong and takes Romana hostage, stunning Narvin with his staser.
Leela and Sissy barricade themselves against the monster, which Erich claims he knows nothing about. They find that the monster is Ms Joy, a Metamorph trader who paid Arkadian for Sissy as a Nazi collectible. Although she denies being a Nazi, Erich counters that she was a willing ally and turned a blind eye to the Nazis' actions. Ms Joy plans to gas her, have her taxidermed and sold, but Leela kills her by attacking her skull with a fire axe.
Torvald takes Romana to her TARDIS, where K9 Mark II belatedly warns her that the TARDIS is in an unstable timeline. Torvald says that he only wants Romana to listen, dropping his weapon, but says that she must first pilot the TARDIS to the other train. The train that they are currently on will melt from existence once the second train reaches its destination; she agrees to do so, but has K9 pause materialisation and demands to know why Torvald was interested in Sissy. He claims, however, that he cannot recall these events as Romana will go on to erase his earlier self's memories.
Romana reveals that she has actually materialised the TARDIS in front of the train and demands the truth. The train is about to crash, so Erich throws Sissy from it and tells Leela that she will have to jump. Torvald begs Romana to move the TARDIS as destroying the train will kill Leela; when Romana says that he does not care about her, he says that she is his wife.
Leela wakes up outside of the train with Arkadian, who tells her that Romana has Erich, who has broken his legs, and Sissy. A few hundred yards away, Romana tells Erich that Sissy has returned to Munich and demands to know his motive for his actions. He was seeking to prove a point about Charley, who was allowed to live despite history saying that she died on the R101 just because she was close to a friend of Romana's. This released anti-time, a phenomenon that he sought to replicate by saving Sissy in the hopes of blackmailing Romana to confess to violating Gallifreyan law for political gain and to have her deeds and acts of office undone.
Leela approaches the others and strangles Torvald before Romana reveals that he is Andred. Having learnt of an isolationist agenda written by neo-conservatives, Andred investigated its leaders and ended up in a shootout with Torvald, whom he killed. His own wounds caused him to regenerate and, when he was found by the rescue parties, he claimed to be Torvald so as to be able to infiltrate the group and later swapped Torvald's biodata extract for his own. He infiltrated the CIA but found no evidence of plotting within the organisation.
Andred apologises to Leela, saying that his regeneration impaired his thought processes and that he did not realise how he would hurt her until too late. She calls him her enemy and says that her husband, for whom she has grieved, is indeed dead and walks away. Erich laughs, knowing that Romana has to let him live so that he can be killed by Andred. She has Narvin burn out his memories of the past six months with a mind wipe, which proves to be a painful process.
Romana approaches Arkadian and, per their agreement, asks who faked the Timonic Fusion Device and tried to cause a war between the Temporal Powers. He claims that it was Torvald, who set the plan in motion long before he died by programming the Servitors to act following his death, but with Erich's mind wiped there is no proof. Romana thinks that the only person who would benefit from the war would be Arkadian, a theory which he tells her to prove.
Sissy writes a letter to Charley in which she admits that she has been selfish and that all the things that she will be told about her once she returns from her travels are true. She made bad friends, bad choices and turned a blind eye; she cannot return to England without being imprisoned and does not wish to remain as a dancing bear for her masters' amusement, so she has chosen to end her life. She shoots herself.
== Cast ==
* President Romana - Lalla Ward
* Leela - Louise Jameson
* K9 - John Leeson
* Coordinator Narvin - Seán Carlsen
* Commander Torvald - Andy Coleman
* Arkadian - Hugo Myatt
* Cecelia Pollard - India Fisher
* Ms Joy - Susan Engel
* Erich - David Warwick
* Waiter - Daniel Hogarth
== Crew ==
* Cover Art - Lee Binding
* Director - Gary Russell
* Music and Sound Design - David Darlington
* Producers - Jason Haigh-Ellery and Gary Russell
* Writer - Alan Barnes
== Worldbuilding ==
=== Art and entertainment ===
* Arkadian mentions Twister, Risk and shove piggy shove.
* Ms Joy says that Sissy has been watching too many of Alfred Hitchcock's films.
=== Food and drink ===
* The waiter brings Romana and Arkadian grilled Dover sole and a red chianti.
* Torvald says that Sissy's breath smells of rotten beetroot.
=== Individuals ===
* Arkadian says that Sissy is not carrying Joseph Goebbels' love child.
* Arkadian mentions Nepenthe.
* Sissy fancifully suggests that Ms Joy is a British spy, the "Mata Hari of the pensionable classes". She is actually a trader of memorabilia and souvenirs of the great dictators. She sells stormtroopers' uniforms, reconditioned Panzers and first editions of Mein Kampf to despots and tyrants in the frontier worlds.
* Sir Oswald gave Sissy a League of English Fascists badge and made her the League's official observer in Munich. She sent him messages of all the things Adolf Hitler has been doing for Germany.
* Leela recognises "Hitler" as an evil name and says that the Fourth Doctor often talked about the terrible things he had done. Sissy once sat beside him and talked with him.
=== Locations ===
* Sissy boarded the train at Lausanne.
* On 2 September, Sissy was given an apartment in Munich on the Hofmannstraße. The Goldbergs were marched out shortly before.
* Romana says that nothing in the Twelve Galaxies could convince her to permit Arkadian's scheme.
* Romana mentions the Alps, which Narvin says are in the opposite direction.
* Arkadian has recordings of Torvald's indiscretions in Bianca's Nightclub.
* Sissy and Torvald had a box at Nuremberg.
* Sissy was a participant in the Nazi hunting parties in the Black Forest.
=== Miscellaneous ===
* Sissy supposes that Leela is a Slav and says that she is wearing Romany clothing.
* Leela believes that the train's whistle is a banshee's shriek.
* Narvin says that the era c.1939 is subject to the strictest of embargoes, although this does not apply to the President of the High Council.
* Sissy smells incense and peppermint.
* Torvald says that he spent six months with Sissy, going to party rallies and receptions, laughing at her Jew-hating jokes and watching her "whore [herself] out to anything in jackboots".
* Torvald introduced Sissy to the Bavarian Circle.
* Leela says that she does not have the strength of a mountain gorilla.
* Torvald calls Romana "imperiatrix".
* Sissy says that she is as popular as a dose of strychnine.
=== Science and technology ===
* Narvin has a displacement monitor which detects time displacement.
* Torvald mentions the mind probe.
* Romana goes to the train in a Presidential TARDIS which disguises itself as a ventriloquist's booth in the baggage car.
* Romana uses the brand new Type 70A TARDIS. Initially excited to use the new "pause materialisation" feature, she is dismayed that the pause lasts a mere two microspans.
* Torvald asks for a painstop.
== Notes ==
* A Blind Eye was recorded at the Moat Studios.
* This is the only Gallifrey audio drama to take place entirely on Earth.
* This story was originally released on CD and download. It is now available as a download only.
== Continuity ==
* Romana and Leela both refer to their meeting with Charley. (AUDIO: Zagreus)
* Mephistopheles Arkadian, when talking to Romana, talked about the rumours about anti-time and how Charley was apparently a conduit for it, and without Charley Gallifrey wouldn't exist. As the fact of the survival saving the Web of Time couldn't be a paradox. (AUDIO: Neverland)
* Erich tries to sell Cissy Pollard, because Romana turned a blind eye to Eighth Doctor saving Charley, and the anti-time, which came from her. Erich wished to let anti-time out by letting Cissy survive, by stopping her from committing suicide, unless Romana resigned. (AUDIO: Storm Warning to Neverland)
* Arkadian tells Torvald, Romana and Narvin about a discussion that he had in Bianca's nightclub relating to Torvald. (AUDIO: The Wormery)
* Leela mentions the damage that the separation of the Tesh and the Sevateem caused her people. (TV: The Face of Evil)
== External links ==
Category:Series 1 (Gallifrey) audio stories
Category:Stories set in 1939
Category:Audio stories set on Gallifrey
Category:Stories set in Vienna
Category:One part audio stories
Category:2004 audio stories
Category:Romana II audio stories
Category:K9 audio stories