'Short Trips': 'Seven Deadly Sins' edited by David Bailey

The darker side of human nature is a terrible place. Its twisted pathways and dismal corners lie ready to lead even the most virtuous traveller astray. And when someone makes just one wrong step, the darkness is quick to close in and engulf them…

Between these covers, you will find seven tales of vice, exploring the dark places at the edge of the universe. The Doctor tries to stand against the tide, to bring even a chink of light, of hope, but what good is it when he cannot even save himself from the seven deadly sins?

Alone, these seven stories tell terrible tales of misadventure, misdeed and misery - together, they reveal an even darker story…

If there were no sin in the universe, there would be nothing for the Doctor to fight against. Wrongdoing, in one form or another, is what the Doctor sets out to stop. But the seven deadly sins are more than simply crimes or misconduct - they are pure, selfish emotions, unstoppable forces of desire. And humanity is nothing if not a slave to its desire.

Meet poor, dying Agatha, whose crippling envy of others' health is sending her mad; and the tribal chief whose burning hatred and craving for revenge is so powerful it twists reality. Witness the true-life crimes of Dead Man's Chestington and Black-Eyed Susan; and the hideous results of an eating contest gone horribly wrong. An old friend returns, and her inescapable infatuation reaches dizzying new heights - while the object of her affection makes his own tragic mistakes. And, throughout everything, there are those who are just trying to make a dishonest buck…

Seven Deadly Sins plumbs the depths of humanity's dark side. And it is also the tale of those who have travelled through time and space to hear the stories contained herein - and to relish the taste of their subjects' wretchedness…

Includes "Envy" by Tara Samms, "Gluttony" by Rebecca Levene, "Wrath" by Mark Wright, "Pride" by John Binns, "Sloth" by Gareth Wigmore, "Lust" by Paul Magrs and "Avarice" by David Bailey, plus linking material by Jacqueline Rayner.
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Foreword by David Bailey

All alone in his bedroom, a sleepless young man named Laurence reflects on how his involvement with a man called the Doctor led to his current predicament...
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Introduction by Jacqueline Rayner

Eight extremely wealthy people pay a visit to ‘The Purgatoria Experience’, a mysterious attraction run by a strange and ebullient showman which promises to provide each of them with an experience of misery and suffering - something thay have never have had before…

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor
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'Sloth' by Jacqueline Rayner

The first of the Showman’s customers explains why she is there: her husband, Loesin, is a lazy and slothful king, who cannot be bothered to do anything for his people of Granneth. Worried that his irresponsibility is causing their subjects to die, the queen asks the Showman to make her husband experience the misery of the common man, in the hope that it will force him into action. The Showman tests the king’s lethargy by locking himself and the monarch inside a room with a bomb – when the king refuses to move even when it means his own death, the Showman knows he must act, and he uses a machine to transform the king into a duke…

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor
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'The Duke's Folly' by Gareth Wigmore

Several years ago, when he and his granddaughter had just arrived on Earth and were exploring its history, the Doctor and Susan were rescued from the terrible events of the Indian Mutiny by the Duke of Chilgrove. When the Doctor, posing as the Earl of Foreman, later returns to Victorian England with Susan, Ian and Barbara, the late Duke’s son, David Warblington, asks him to be his guardian for a year; the Doctor agrees, but soon becomes concerned over the feckless young man’s infatuation with a girl named Joy St Peter. Worried that David will give up his dukedom for the girl, the Doctor sends Ian and Susan to America to check up on the St Peter family, while he and his ‘niece’, Barbara, watch over David. Ian and Susan have a number of adventures, in the process unwittingly earning themselves the names ‘Dead Man’s Chestington and Black-Eyed Susan, and find themselves wanted by the police for an inadvertent murder. However, just as they are about to give up their mission as a lost cause, Ian discovers that Joy’s father owns a tailoring business. Back at Warblington Place, David’s laziness results in the destruction of his family’s ancestral home, burnt down after he couldn’t be bothered to extinguish his cigar properly. Some time later, David marries Joy, and the two newlyweds decide to move to Okalahoma to start a new life. Disapproving of the young man’s attitude to life, the Doctor refuses to entertain Barbara’s remark that David’s outlook could be down to his father’s inadequacies as a parent; the Doctor tries to take the TARDIS back in time so that his companions can meet the Duke, but instead the uncontrollable vessel takes them to another world…

Notes:
*Featuring the First Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan
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'Wrath' by Jacqueline Rayner

The Showman‘s next client is a hard-nosed, no-nonsense woman named General Candy. The Showman deliberately annoys the General with his infuriating behaviour, insisting that she complete an on-line registration form. Barely containing her temper, the General grudgingly complies, and soon finds herself baring her soul as she fills in her details. However, when the computer then ‘accidentally’ sends all her private data to her troops and the newspapers, the General flies into a ferocious rage…

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor
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'That Which Went Away' by Mark Wright

Soon after the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe arrive in Ninth-Century Scandanavia, they are attacked by a tribe of warriors; Jamie is badly injured, but the trio are rescued by a rival tribe, whose drighton, Brior, takes them back to the safety of his village. Over the next few days, Jamie is nursed back to health, while Zoe enjoys the peaceful simplicity of life in the thanes’ village. However, the Doctor is ill at ease and suspects that something is wrong; he soon learns that the men of the tribe sneak out of the village late each night and return again in the morning. After the Doctor decides to follow them, he is horrified to see the tribe’s medicine man, Hefr, conducting a strange ceremony in which the warriors – and Jamie – drink blood and then transform into huge bears. The next day, the Doctor confronts Brior and declares the ceremony to be abhorrent; however, the leader explains that it is their way of protecting the village from the rival tribe, and it has helped Jamie to make a full recovery. Jamie tells the Doctor he wishes to stay longer, but the Doctor wants to leave - whether Jamie comes with him and Zoe or not. Vignor, the leader of the rival tribe, stages an attack on the village; many people are killed during the assault, including Brior’s son. Distraught with grief and rage, Brior instructs Hefr to conduct the ceremony so that he can gain revenge on Vignor; the medicine man refuses, but when Brior then threatens the lives of Zoe and his own wife, Aella, he is forced to agree. Transformed into bears, the thanes leave for their enemies’ village, and a fierce battle quickly begins. After Brior kills Vignor, the thanes turn back into their human form – all except Brior. Condemned to remain in the form of a bear, Brior chooses to leave the tribe and live in the wilds. After Hefr and Aella broker an uneasy truce with the rival tribe, Hefr destroys the items he used in the ceremony, putting an end to the transformations. Now back to his usual self, Jamie rejoins his friends as they leave in the TARDIS.

Notes:
*Featuring the Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe
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'Envy' by Jacqueline Rayner

The Showman’s next customer is actually one of his own people, a Time Lord named Tebediatroculozan, who was at the Academy with him. Tebediatroculozan was envious of his classmate’s popularity, and his jealousy increased when the Showman left their world to go on exciting adventures while he stayed behind to carry out nondescript work. Although the Showman initially shows off about his travels, he also points out that he has seen much pain, sorrow and death; however, his fellow Time Lord still wishes to experience the Showman’s life for himself – and so the Purgatoria machine is used once more…

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor

*Time-placing: the Showman (the Doctor) mentions a companion who crossed a universe to travel with him, which could be either Adric or C'Rizz; I'm taking it to be the former, as these stories fit better into the early part of the Eighth Doctor's adventures
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'Angel' by Tara Samms

At the Central Middlemarch Hospital, Mrs Marion Connors, a lonely and bitter woman suffering from a brain cyst, whiles away her final days, jealous of the attention given to those around her by their loved ones. But Marian is able to project her astral form, and she uses it to take over the bodies of her bed-fellows for her own ends. One morning, she is visited by a man named the Doctor and his assistant, Jo Grant; the Doctor notes that Marion exhibits strange blisters on her belly, which are somehow related to whatever person she is influencing at the time - to the Doctor they look like time equations, something he is particularly interested in. That night, Marion finds herself drawn to the Doctor, and she takes over his body; the following morning, the Doctor visits Marion once more, and tells her that he is concerned that an alien force is taking her over, getting steadily stronger as she gets weaker. After the Doctor shows Marion how to find freedom, she dies that night, allowing her astral form to ascend to the stars. The Doctor is sad to lose the equations that would have enabled him to leave Earth in his ship, but he is happy to know that life goes on, no matter what attempts to prevent it…

Notes:
*Featuring the Third Doctor and Jo

*Time-placing: the Doctor is still stuck on Earth due to his exile by the Time Lords
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'Lust' by Jacqueline Rayner

The Showman’s next customer is Fiorla, a vampire queen; this creature rules her own world, but currently wants nothing more than to sink her teeth into the Showman’s neck and feast on his blood. Initially the Showman teases the queen, but when he eventually kisses her, she bites him, tastes his blood, and, in a frenzy, launches herself at him…

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor
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'Suitors, Inc.' by Paul Magrs

When the Doctor, Romana and K-9 arrive on Earth in the year 1999, Romana leaves the Doctor to his own devices and sets off for the hairdresser’s. However, her relaxing session is rudely interrupted when her fellow customers talk about the latest craze, ‘Suitors’ - otherwise know as ‘Erotic DoctorBots’ - and K-9 then finds an advert in ‘Cosmo’ showing various adverts depicting models that look just like the Doctor. Astonished and angry that the Doctor has somehow become a sex symbol, Roman returns to the TARDIS to tell him what has happened; but instead of showing concern, the Doctor is delighted to learn that he has finally earned the recognition that he thinks he deserves. Over dinner Romana tries to convince the Doctor that someone is messing with time; meanwhile, K-9 detects anachronistically advanced energy readings emanating from a nearby factory, ‘Wildthyme Unlimited’. Elsewhere, two of the Doctor’s former companions, Sarah and Harry, having become suspicious over the elevated status of their old friend and the mysterious disappearance of several old ladies who bought DoctorBots, break into the factory. They are quickly captured and brought before the factory boss, Iris Wildthyme – an old ‘acquaintance’ of the Doctor’s; it seems that Iris’s cat, Binky, is from a race of sentient cats, who have captured her TRADIS and are forcing her to abduct little old ladies and then transport them to their home planet of Pussyworld for their delectation. Having unveiled a robotic version of the Third Doctor, Iris them sends Sarah and Harry to the cells; however, they are both rescued by the real Doctor, posing as one of his robotic selves. Meanwhile, Romana and K-9 determine to rescue the Doctor and put an end to the situation as quickly and efficiently as possible. But when they reach the factory, they can only look on as the Doctor, Sarah, Harry and Iris are transported to the Pussyworld – it seems that things are not going to be as straightforward easy as they had hoped…

Notes:
*Featuring the Fourth Doctor, Romana, K-9 MkII, Sarah, Harry and Iris Wildthyme
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'Pride' by Jacqueline Rayner

The Showman meets a proud and haughty nobleman named Pooh-bah, a construct originally engineered as a performer in ‘The Mikado’ in a theme park. When Pooh-bah and his fellows had delusions of grandeur they escaped from their park, only to be hunted down and disassembled by their human masters. While conflict still rages, Pooh-bah is now the ruler of his manufactured people; however, he still retains his feelings of superiority, and he asks the Showman to let him experience negative emotions in the belief that it will make him even more perfect. The Showman complies, but tells Pooh-bah that he is in for a shock…

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor
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'The 57th' by John Binns

There are sixty research stations on the inhospitable planet of Fraternity, and the fifty-seventh is run by Professor Sarah Emmins. Together with her husband, Doctor Stuart Gorey, and assistant Ian Bird, they carry out research into the flora and fauna of the planet. However, one day, after Ian returns to the base, he is followed back by a duplicate of himself. The scientists are initially suspicious, but when tests show nothing out of the ordinary, they soon accept the second Ian as part of the team. Head Office is still concerned, and sends an independent advisor called the Doctor and his assistant, Nyssa, to investigate. However, the suspicion and questioning only serves to anger the duplicate, who then takes a gun, captures Sarah and holds her hostage in an airlock. The duplicate believes that it is an ambassador created by the planet, and after its mistreatment, it demands to talk to the team’s head of research. The Doctor tries to reason with the creature, but it refuses to listen, and opens the airlock to let in the vicious storm raging outside; Greg and the Doctor rush to save Sarah, but Greg loses his life, and the duplicate vanishes. Some time later, the Doctor and Nyssa make their report to head station, who recommend that the project be scaled back, even abandoned. After their ordeal, the Doctor and Nyssa decide to take a holiday.

Notes:
*Featuring the Fifth Doctor and Nyssa
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'Avarice' by Jacqueline Rayner

The Showman’s next client is Tabitha Dunhut, an obnoxious, money-obsessed woman. After his attempts to teach the woman the value of beauty over money prove fruitless, the Showman learns that the only reason she is there is because she is treating the facility’s exploitation of extreme suffering as a management training course…

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor
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'Telling Tales' by David Bailey

Some time ago, Laurence encountered the Doctor, a mysterious man whose involvement with strange goings-on at the factory where he worked resulted in the accident that left him confined to a wheelchair. Laurence tried to cope with his new situation, helped by his carer, Ellen; however, to Laurence’s dismay, Ellen soon left to get married, having fallen in love with one of the UNIT soldiers involved in the incident. Laurence’s new carer never arrived, and no-one visits, leaving him all alone… Elsewhere in time and space, the Doctor, having left Varos, discovers that something has been following the TARDIS, riding its coat-tails and sending back information through the vortex. With Peri’s help, the Doctor locates where the signals have been directed, but when he arrives on the planet, he is furious to discover that its inhabitants have been watching his adventures for entertainment. The Overseer in charge explains that millennia ago the planet fell out of the universe, and its new position in the time / space vortex enabled it to see and reach any point in space; the Overseer’s people are immortal, and they spent many centuries in locating the planet so that they could watch as many ‘stories’ as they liked. When they eventually grew bored, one of their number, Lotu, built a machine that would allow them to feel the ‘stories’, and the popularity of experiencing someone else’s pain and misery soared. The Doctor is outraged to learn that he has been watched ever since he fled from Gallifrey, and that Lotu used the device to increase the level of threat and complexity of his adventures; one incident of this meddling led to Laurence’s accident, and when the machine was subsequently switched off, Laurence became trapped inside. The Doctor demands that the machine be stopped, but the Overseer responds by offering him a deal: the machine uses a live person as a component, and the current operator, Lotu’s brother Shen, is now dying – if the Doctor takes over, the population will stop using the machine. Having agreed to take over at some point in the future, the Doctor visits Laurence and explains that he will be able to free him from the machine, but not until he is ready to take over the machine. Laurence understands, and asks the Doctor to stay a while to keep him company; the Doctor is happy to oblige, and recounts a story from his future, which he saw in the machine…

Notes:
*Featuring the Sixth Doctor and Peri
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'Gluttony' by Jacqueline Rayner

The Showman’s final client is the most celebrated chef in the galaxy, Gilbert Fleshman. The Showman is initially full of praise for the man’s work, but then points out how his recipes have resulted in the mistreatment of animals, the extinction of entire species, the destruction of economies and the obesity and deaths of countless people. Fleshman protests, remarking that he is a proponent of his recipes, and that he himself looks wonderful; however, the Showman responds by noting the amount of operations, organ replacements and cosmetic surgery that he has had to prevent his body from falling apart from gluttony. Having tempted the chef with incredibly rare ingredients and asked him to make him a meal, the Showman learns that his client wishes to experience misery in order to make comfort eating more enjoyable…

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor
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'Too Rich For My Blood' by Rebecca Levene

Chris asks the Doctor to take the TARDIS to a famous eating competition that is to be held at the Intergalactic hotel in Las Vegas. While Bernice head off to play poker with the Doctor’s money, Chris settles down to watch the hotdog-eating contest. One of the competitors, Jimmy, easily outpaces his rivals, but once he has eaten all the food on offer, he shocks the audience by biting off the hand of the person next to him. To Chris’ horror, the victim becomes as hungry as his attacker, and he turns on the competitor next to him. As the infection spreads through the patrons like wildfire, panic breaks out, and Chris quickly finds himself leading a small group of survivors towards the exit, only to find it locked. Meanwhile, in the casino’s control room, the Doctor has seen the infection and has deliberately closed down the building to prevent it from spreading. Bernice wins her poker game, and her winnings include the chance to join ‘The Big Game’ being held upstairs; she soon learns how serious this new game is: anyone losing forfeits their life. The Doctor discovers that the staff and owners of the casino are aliens in disguise, having crash-landed in their space ship in Roswell many years ago; the aliens reveal that they sold their disabled vessel to the gangster who founded Las Vegas, and have enjoyed life in the city so much that they never want to leave – even though the serum they take to survive in Earth’s atmosphere accelerates their metabolism and shortens their life-span. Chris is furious to learn that one of his fellow survivors gave Jimmy a drug to ensure he would win, which he obtained from one of the Big Game players as a down payment to cover gambling debts. Back at the Game, only Bernice and a man named Chulk are still left in; after a tense game, Bernice wins, and she looks on in surprise as her opponent reveals himself to be an alien in disguise. Knowing that the rules state he must forfeit his life, and that the serum he traded is responsible for the patrons’ cannibalistic state, Chulk allows himself to be devoured by the infected people downstairs. After the alien’s bodily enzymes have cured the humans, the Doctor instructs the casino’s bosses to erase the traumatic events from everyone’s memory, and then leaves in the TARDIS with Chris and Benny.

Notes:
*Featuring the Seventh Doctor, Bernice and Chris

*Time-placing, the Doctor is traveling with Bernice and Chris, but not Ros or Jason; Chris does not seem traumatised from the events of 'So Vile a Sin', so I am assuming that Ros is elsewhere for this story, and am therefore placing it after 'Avarice'
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'Conclusion' by Jacqueline Rayner

The Showman – the Doctor – watches with pleasure as his seven customers leave, each of them now a better person after their recent experiences. When the Overseers then arrive and demand to know why the transmissions of their stories have ceased, the Doctor calmly remarks that one of his customers has just freed all their slaves, and that he himself has just destroyed their indestructible machine. He explains that by carefully choosing seven clients who represent the seven deadly sins, he was able to cause the machine to experience multiple overloads, the cumulative effect resulting it its total destruction. When the Overseers vow revenge on him for breaking his contract with them, the Doctor points out that he has just made seven very powerful new friends, who would immediately retaliate should anything happen to him. Satisfied that without their story machine, the Overseers now have a future of misery ahead of them, and a taste of their own medicine, the Doctor bids them farewell.

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor
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Afterword by David Bailey

Alone and trapped in an endless night, waiting for the time when the Doctor will return to rescue him, Laurence decides to use his imagination to free himself, dreaming that he is travelling through space and time sharing adventures with the Doctor…

Notes:
*Featuring the Eighth Doctor

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Publication Date:
March 2005


Notes:
*Published by Big Finish