| THE GENOCIDE MACHINE by Mike Tucker |
| Story 7 Synopsis: The rainforests of Kar-Charrat are visited by looters, but they are attacked by a strange machine, and all bar the team leader, Bev Tarrant, are slaughtered. The Doctor arrives on the planet to return some library books - the library contains all the information of the universe, which they are storing in a new Wetworks data facility. Whilst the Doctor is shown around, Ace goes back to the TARDIS. Outside, she meets the wounded Bev, but both are tracked down by the Daleks. They duplicate Ace, and she is mistakenly brought into the library by the Doctor. He becomes curious about a local artefact, the ziggurat. But on examination, he finds it open - and Dalek facilities inside, including duplication equipment. He hurries back to the library, but the duplicate has already lowered the library's temporal defences, allowing the Daleks in. They try to download the data from the wetworks into a Dalek, but it goes haywire. They use Ace as bait to force the Doctor out of hiding, so they can use his neural pathways to provide a clearer download. This works, with the Doctor all but burned out. Ace and Bev try to escape, but meet the haywire Dalek. It is killed when a Kar-Charratan enters its casing and drowns it. The Doctor finds himself transferred into the wetworks, learning that the Kar-Charratans, being a liquid species, have been brutally assaulted by being used to store data. He is downloaded back to his body, where he gives the Chief Librarian what for. The 2nd Dalek to download all the knowledge also turns hostile to the Daleks. The Doctor gets Ace to blow up the wetworks machinery, as he arranges a data transfer to release the Kar-Charratans back into the atmosphere. The Daleks are unable to stop him. Their mission fails. The Doctor advises the abandoning of the library, allowing the Kar-Charratans to live in peace. Bev is able to leave in her ship. The Doctor contacts the Time Lords to come and sort out the library. |
| Review:- Back in sound, the Doctor's deadliest enemies launch a fiendish plan to accumulate the knowledge of the universe... After decades of destruction, there is always a need for new ideas of evil, new plans for conquest. This story does at least deserve commendation for making knowledge the root of the struggle, as the most incredible store of information becomes a target for the Daleks. The notion that the Doctor has a history here for helping out with the Time Lords' provision of a temporal barrier to protect the library is credible, and enhances the idea that the Time Lords do sometimes interfere with the noblest of reasons. Ace finds a new friend here, with Bev Tarrant practically auditioning for the chance to become a companion sometime. She does return in Dust Breeding, of course, and has latterly joined forces with another acquaintance of the Doctor, Bernice. Here she loses her salvage team and her lover, before not contributing much to the rest of the drama, beyond befriending Ace. The small cast becomes rather silly, when chief librarian Elgin constantly cuts off his assistant, Prink, before he speaks, and calls Prink a chatterbox when he clearly isn't. This presumably makes it more surprising when Prink gets a moment of glory in part 4, although the joke has become too tiresome for that to save it. Elgin's supposed villainy doesn't really work, either - he is guilty of ignorance perhaps, but mass murder? The idea of a species reduced to liquid form allows for a bit of thinking about alien-ness, but the persecution angle is a sloppy way of dealing with it. The Dalek plan is impressive, waiting like tacticians for a Time Lord to arrive, then using that to gain access to the library and download the information. Perhaps they are unlcuky in using the Doctor, although the download clearly is beyond their reach, for which they pay the price. The chatty inclusion of the Emperor rather devalues its currency, and the Daleks, constantly double-checking their plans. The most ruthless species in the universe? Only if it's OK with the boss... Sophie Aldred's bonus turn as her own Dalek duplicate comes across as an excuse to show her off, and then capitalise on the character, rather than a crucial element of the plot. At least the Doctor gets to use his wits, surviving apparent death, and discovering the truth about the ziggurat. His moral stance seems a bit too harsh, though, however well-meant. To be fair, it's a simple enough story, fairly engaging to listen to. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |