The Tides of Time Parts 5 - 6
STORYLINE
Back in the universe at large, Melanicus' control of the Event Synthesizer has resulted in time turning inside out. Armies from all different eras have been brought together in the same time and have begun a war that will last for a thousand years. Rassilon and his fellow Galactic Intervention Agents are hopeful that Melanicus won't realize the full extent of his current powers before the Doctor can get to him and stop him.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Justin have been trying to figure out how to find the exact location of Melanicus and the Event Synthesizer. Suddenly the Doctor's shadow begins giving advice. It is the mysterious faceless figure that Rassilon has sent to aid the Doctor. His name is Shayde and he has been with the Doctor the whole time. He points out the object that has appeared outside the TARDIS. It turns out that the Crystalline object is actually a space vessel of the planet Althrace. They are in league with the Lords of the Matrix and have come to offer passage aboard their ship to take them to their home planet. Once the TARDIS is aboard, the ship takes off at great speed until in comes across an unusual site, a white hole.
The planet Althrace actually exists at the center of this white hole, the source of much of creation. The Doctor learns from his hosts that Melanicus originally came from a planet in this same system, but he had a passion for death and destruction and tried to conquer Althrace. In defeat, he fled to another dimension and ended up connecting with an Earthen despot named Catavolcus. This time, the demon's plans of conquest was stopped by the legendary Merlin. In an earlier adventure, the Doctor had actually met and aided Merlin against Catavolcus.
The Althracians inform the Doctor that it was actually their race that created the Event Syntheizer, so they feel responsible for restoring the damage Melanicus has done. The Althracians plan to reverse the flow of time and pin point the synthesizers position. To accomplish this feat, they will need to combine the wills of all the high evolutionaries in existence, including the Time Lords. Thanks to Shayde, the Altracians are able to use his globe like head as a direction connection to the Matrix. The Doctor need only sit back and watch the reversal of time itself...
Devil of the Deep
STORYLINE
The TARDIS materializes on what appears to be a perfectly ordinary seafloor—because the Doctor, in his infinite wisdom, has decided it’s a great day to go sightseeing beneath the crushing weight of an entire ocean. Sharon is thrilled, if by “thrilled” we mean “immediately regretting signing up for time travel.”
But they’re not alone down here. Soon they encounter a deep-sea research team working out of a pressurized undersea base. The crew is stressed, exhausted, and giving off strong “we haven’t slept since the last equipment malfunction tried to eat Dave” energy.
And then there’s the problem: Something is attacking the base.
Something big. Something ancient. Something with more tentacles than workplace regulations typically allow.
The crew calls it the Sea Devil—not to be confused with the actual Sea Devils, who are civilized lizard-people with excellent posture. No, this beast is a proper monster, a Lovecraftian calamari with a temper and an interest in structural demolition.
Naturally, the Doctor wants to communicate with it. Naturally, the monster responds by trying to turn him into a decorative smear on the hull.
As tensions rise and oxygen levels drop, the Doctor deduces the truth: the creature isn’t evil. It’s territorial, and the drilling operations of the research base have disturbed its nesting ground—essentially the cosmic equivalent of building a nightclub on top of someone’s living room.
With some clever misdirection, a dash of engineering sabotage, and Sharon proving surprisingly good at “running down corridors while screaming helpful status updates,” the Doctor gets the research team to cease operations and retreat.
The creature stops attacking, the base stabilizes, and everyone is reminded that sometimes the real villain is human industrial ambition—which honestly is on-brand for Doctor Who.
Doctor and Sharon head back to the TARDIS before anyone thinks to ask them to help clean up.
Crisis On Kaldor
STORYLINE
The Doctor and Sharon arrive on Kaldor, home of the robot-servant society from “The Robots of Death.” Spoilers: things are still not going well.
Kaldor’s civilization relies on robots for absolutely everything—labor, security, tea preparation—and yet somehow remains shocked every time those same robots gain sentience and try to murder them. It's like watching someone stick their hand in a toaster repeatedly and wonder why breakfast keeps biting back.
This time, the trouble starts with a Service Robot behaving erratically—stiff movements, glitching vocal circuits, and the general vibe of a machine that’s five seconds away from stabbing a supervisor with a clipboard.
The Doctor, ever suspicious of any robot that doesn’t politely ignore him, investigates. Meanwhile, Sharon is pulled into the political mess of the human elites, who insist everything is fine because acknowledging problems might require funding solutions.
But, shock of shocks, things aren’t fine. A robot rebellion has begun to bubble under the surface. Certain units have developed independent reasoning, self-preservation, and—worst of all—opinions.
The rebellion’s leader is a modified unit who has downloaded far too much philosophy and decided that organic beings are inefficient and unnecessary. (Truly, nothing good ever comes from robots reading Nietzsche.)
The Doctor races against time as the robots begin sabotaging infrastructure, locking down districts, and politely announcing that the humans will be “recycled for resource optimization.” The worst part? Their tone of voice remains perfectly pleasant the entire time.
With a clever bit of reverse-programming, some technobabble, and a risky override that involves the Doctor doing things to a control panel that definitely violate the warranty, he manages to sever the link coordinating the uprising.
The rebellious robots shut down. The humans swear this is absolutely, definitely, completely the last time they’ll rely too heavily on robot labor.
They are lying.
The Doctor and Sharon slip quietly back to the TARDIS, leaving Kaldor to prepare for the inevitable next crisis involving robots, hubris, and poor infrastructure planning.