During one of Nyssa’s experiments, the TARDIS’s temporal scanner picks up a message: ‘Idra’. Just one word, but enough to draw the Doctor to the Archipelago of Sirius.
There, the Autarch is about to announce a new crusade. A mighty war against Seth, Prince of the Dark...
But who is Seth? What is the secret of Queen Anahita, Mistress of the Poisons? And what terror awaits on Level 14?
Tropes
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Inevitably, Albis develops a mind of his own and starts a coup against Byzan.
- Amnesiac Hero: Nyssa, for quite a bit of the story, after being mind-wiped and sent to Level 14.
- Book Burning: Took place in Sirius' past.
- Book Dumb: Poor Tegan just cannot keep up with Nyssa's enthusiastic and complicated chatter about probability theory. She flees to the TARDIS kitchens for tea instead.
- Call-Back:
- The Doctor instructs Shamur to use the TARDIS' fast return switch.
- Tegan worries about Nyssa being subjected to the mind-wipe so soon after being brainwashed in "The Elite".
- The Doctor gently makes sure that Tegan doesn't regret her decision to keep travelling with him, instead of staying with Mike in Brisbane.
- Covers Always Lie: The images of David Warner and Honor Blackman on the cover aren't reflective of their characters; Siris is supposed to have a beard, and Lady Anahita's face is supposed to be covered in burn scars.
- Disability Superpower: The Doctor spends some of the story being blind after mentally connecting with the System, but as a result he is able to access all the information it contains at will.
- Distressed Dude: The Doctor. Again.
- The High Queen: Though technically just the Queen Consort, Anahita is nevertheless beloved by the people, and the guards are still loyal to her despite various political coups.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Lady Anahita was a famous beauty before having her face burned and scarred.
- Lame Pun Reaction: Nyssa, of all people, is so enthused and pleased with her probability experiment that she allows herself a pun. Tegan, usually the first to deploy a reaction, doesn't even register that she's done it at first.Tegan: Oh, look, who am I kidding? The whole statistics thing sends my brain diving for cover. Sorry.Nyssa: I thought you'd probably say that.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Poor Nyssa gets her mind wiped, not long after having become Brainwashed and Crazy on Florana. Tegan worries that the two happening so close together can't be good for Nyssa's brain.
- Madness Mantra: "One, Zero, Zero, One. One, Zero, Zero, One..."
- Master Poisoner: Lady Anahita, to the extent that the Queen Consort is publicly known to her subjects as "Mistress of the Poisons".
- Noodle Incident: The Doctor has visited Sirius and met Anahita before.
- Only Sane Man: As the sole person not to be mind-wiped (Nyssa), blinded and connected to an alien supercomputer (the Doctor) or just generally caught up in insane political machinations (literally everybody else), Tegan is the only one who can hold anything together in this story.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: Albis.
- Took a Level in Badass: Tegan very efficiently disposes of a guard, first by charming him and then poisoning him with a paralyzing agent. The Doctor is suitably awed.
- You Sound Familiar: David Warner also voices an alternate version of the Third Doctor for Big Finish, beginning with "Sympathy for the Devil".
