Cirrus@Austlit

'The Doctor attends a virtual-reality concert created by Diamond Sharp, the greatest rock star of his generation, while Mel sits in with the technicians, more interested in the technology than the performance. However, one of Diamond's horror icons unexpectedly bites him in half, and monsters from his earlier rock operas storm off the stage and begin to slaughter the audience members, who find themselves unable to escape into reality. Diamond's manager, Rolly, manages to reach an exit point and escape; however, once outside the simulation, he's more concerned with handling the negative publicity for this fiasco than in helping those still trapped in the deadly VR environment. Inside, the Doctor is assisted by a black skeleton whom he names Jack, and by Robin Pen, a critic who helps escort the surviving audience members to an exit point. Mel connects herself to the VR simulation when she realises that Rolly isn't going to help, and meets an avatar of the AI that controls Diamond's computer deck. The AI used to belong to a serial killer who forced it to kill innocent victims, and when it began writing music as therapy to atone for what it had been made to do, Diamond took the AI's songs and sold them as his own. When the AI decided the time had come for it to move on, Diamond put together this final concert, intending to slaughter his audience, blame the AI and retire on the profits. The Doctor has by now deduced the truth for himself and confronted Diamond, who tries to kill him using imagery from the Doctor's own memories -- specifically, reminding him of the time he was exiled to Earth and forced to dance to the Brigadier's tune. However, Mel learns that the skeleton Jack is another avatar of the AI, and demands that it overcome the limitations of its programming and refuse to obey Diamond's homicidal commands any longer. Jack steps in to save the Doctor from his bad dreams, and the Doctor sends Diamond into a coma by creating a scenario in which Diamond has become universally forgotten. The Doctor and Mel emerge from VR and convince Rolly to take on the AI as his new client; if he sells its songs to many artists instead of just one, he will become rich and famous.'

[The Doctor is the Sixth Doctor.]

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip16.htm). Sighted 20/5/11

'The Doctor and Charley witness a violent riot in a Melbourne bookstore over The Darvius Saga, a sci-fi bestseller published on Biblio-Tablets that lock onto a single purchaser's retinal pattern and cannot be read by anyone else. The publishers are offering a limited quantity of the book, and people have been killed trying to get their hands on a copy. While investigating, Charley makes contact with Professor Bruce Gillespie and his followers in the Movement for Real Literature, who claim that anyone who's tried to transcribe the book has mysteriously disappeared. The author, Nathaniel Clamp, then announces that he's written a prequel that will have an even more limited run, and Gillespie decides that Clamp must die. The Doctor has disappeared while trying to trace the signal that activates the Biblio-Tablets, and Charley, seeing the horrifying violence that has broken out because of the books, agrees to help Gillespie and his team assassinate Clamp. At the last moment, however, she is unable to go through with it, and instead shoots the gun out of Gillespie's hand. Meanwhile, the Doctor has successfully traced the signal to a warehouse, but due to a glitch in the TARDIS he has materialised one week later. After stealing a copy of the prequel and popping into temporal orbit in the TARDIS to read it, he visits the publishers' boardroom and finds that they are in fact monsters from the upper dimensions. The chairman, Mr Tluss, explains that he and his fellow directors are in fact in charge of a broadcast network back home, and that they've been stirring up riots and savage behaviour on Earth for the amusement of the masses in their home dimension. However, the Doctor then reveals that, while in temporal orbit, he arranged for the entire prequel to be posted on the publishers' website; it is thus available for everyone in the world to read, and there will be no further riots caused by its limited availability. Tluss apparently accepts that he's been outflanked, and agrees to leave the Earth in peace -- but in fact, he's realised that the Doctor tends to show up wherever there is trouble. As the Doctor and Charley depart, Tluss and his team prepare to seed listening posts and transmitters throughout this entire dimension in order to monitor the Doctor and broadcast his adventures back home, convinced that they'll make a killing in the ratings.'

[The Doctor is the 8th Doctor.]

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip12.htm). Sighted 19/5/11

'16 October 1829: the Doctor and Benny book passage aboard the passenger ship Mermaid out of Sydney, but show up late, delaying the vessel's departure. Perhaps due to the delay, the ship runs into a storm four days later that damages and sinks the vessel. The Doctor and Benny ensure that everyone evacuates safely, and three days later, the survivors are picked up by another ship, the Swiftsure. However, on the 28th, the Swiftsure runs into an unexpected current and is dashed against the rocks. Once again, the Doctor and Benny are instrumental in saving everyone's lives, and later that day, the survivors are picked up by the Governor Ready... which burns to the waterline two and a half hours later. However, Benny spotted the Doctor slipping into the cargo hold shortly before the fire broke out, and she realises that the Doctor has been sinking the ships deliberately. When the survivors are picked up by the Comet, the Doctor asks Benny to apply an acid to the ship's mast so it will snap during the next storm, assuring her that this is vital to the integrity of the Web of Time. Benny reluctantly does so, and on 3 November, the mast snaps during a storm and the ship sinks. By now, even though nobody has actually died, the crew of the Mermaid are considered to be jinxed; however, the Doctor and Benny intervene to ensure that the tensions do not lead to violence. Finally, in the early hours of 4 November, the many survivors are picked up by the Jupiter, a passenger liner en route for Sydney. Aboard the Jupiter is a dying woman named Sarah Richley, whose son, Peter, was a crewman aboard the Mermaid. She would have died without ever being reunited with her son, but when they meet aboard the Jupiter, their joyful reunion give her the strength to fight off her illness. She will survive for years to come. The Doctor admits to Benny that he owed Sarah a favour, but when Benny asks him why he didn't just transport Sarah directly to Sydney in the TARDIS rather than going to all this trouble, she is rather peeved to realise that it hadn't occurred to him to do so.'

[The Doctor in question is the Seventh Doctor. 'Benny' is Bernice Summerfield.]

Source: drwhoguide.com (http://www.drwhoguide.com/whotrip9.htm). Sighted 19/5/11