Prologue

This story is a sequel to the Big Finish Fifth Doctor audio, The Gathering , and also refers to the related audios The Reaping (Sixth Doctor), and The Harvest (Seventh Doctor). I provide a brief synopsis here. Spoilers abound.

What has gone before:

The Reaping: This takes place in the 1980s. The Sixth Doctor and Peri visit Peri's Baltimore home and find Cybermen in the offing. The Doctor defeats the Cybermen, but several people die, including the father of Peri's best friend, Kathy Chambers. Kathy's brother Nate is partially converted into a Cyberman. The Doctor has to leave to follow another thread of the problem. Peri goes with him. When they return, they find that Peri's house has blown up and her mother is dead. Heartbroken, Peri decides never to return home.

The Gathering: This takes place in 2006. Having left Peri and Erimem to enjoy themselves in Monte Carlo, The Fifth Doctor is tracking down odd energy surges. The first one he checks is in 80s Baltimore, but his successor incarnation is already involved. The next is in Brisbane. He tracks the location to Chambers Pharmaceutical Company. Kath Chambers has kept a few pieces of Cyber technology, hoping to cure her brother. With the assistance of an unusually skilled computer tech called James Clark, Kath has developed this alien tech into a sophisticated medical system that she believes will be able to cure all ills. She only needs two more things: one, a highly intelligent human mind to fuse with the Cyber tech to provide it with complete functionality; two, a first patient who cannot be cured by any other means. She finds the first in her receptionist, Eve Morris, who has an IQ of 140.

The Doctor discovers that the patient candidate is Tegan Jovanka, who is dying of an inoperable brain tumour. Furthermore, the tumour is of alien origin. Tegan is not at all pleased to have the Doctor land in the middle of the life. She knows that means trouble, and she's right. In turn, he doesn't think much of the life she has chosen to lead. She runs her father's animal feed company, and lives a life dedicated to work and appears to have no life outside of it. She's even driven away her boyfriend, one Michael Tanaka.

Alarmed by the Doctor's arrival, Kath Chambers and James Clark force the issue and kidnap Tegan and Eve. Eve is subjected to the Cyber technology and made the heart of System. Tegan refuses to be cured by alien technology and would rather die in peace. Clark and Chambers accept the Doctor in her place. Dr. Chambers is aware of his ability to regenerate and thinks she could learn how to cure death itself with what they learn from him. While being examined by System, the Doctor discovers that the Cyber tech it is based on came from highly advanced Cybermen, and that it also includes Gallifreyan technology. Believing he may die, he makes System promise to find a cure for Tegan. And knowing he may live, he also gets System to help him set a trigger in his mind to induce amnesia so that he won't remember these events when it might interfere with his personal timeline and cause a paradox.

James Clark escapes with a full copy of System, including the data retrieved from the Doctor. The Brisbane installation is destroyed. Tegan Jovanka refuses the Doctor's help and sends him away, knowing that she will die soon.

The Harvest: This takes place in 2012. The Seventh Doctor finds a hospital with some very unusual patients. It is run by a highly advanced computer system that supports all hospital functions. Users address it as System, or even affectionately, as Sys.

While this story picks up many threads, including those of the televised episodes, it is first and last the story of one Tegan Jovanka. She's sent the Doctor packing. She has a stunning apartment, a devoted boyfriend, and less than a year left to enjoy them.

On to the story!