The Madness of Werrun Koe was a story that I had kicked around ever since ‘Parent’s Night’ in which an earthquake hit the city of New Canberra, which was not in an earthquake zone. My original idea for that story involved Chrístõ finding out that the earthquake was not natural, but had been caused by some kind of alien weapon being tested. I couldn’t think of a good enough reason for an alien to attack a town like New Canberra, and in any case the story as it was, about Chrístõ’s personal efforts to rescue as many people as possible in the disaster was enough.

Coming back to it some time later, it began to come together. First of all, I made it deliberately personal against Chrístõ and Cal as Gallifreyan citizens living on Beta Delta IV. That made more sense than it being completely random. I introduced other targets, Adano-Menor in Penne Dúre’s empire, and a Ligyatta, “Gallifrey’s dominion planet in the Arina system.” And the culprit is a Gallifreyan who has gone rogue.

One particular point I wanted to get across was the possible conflict between the Earth Federation, Adano-Ambrado and Gallifrey. Such a conflict would be very upsetting for Chrístõ. After all, he has personal investment in all three places. He is of part Human parenthood and engaged to Julia, while living on an Earth colony planet. He is the nominated crown prince of Adano-Ambrado, and of course, his first allegiance is to Gallifrey. I fully intend that there will be a follow up story in which the tensions between Earth, Adano-Ambrado and Gallifrey will be examined further.

I was also looking for a way in which Savang’s advanced telepathic skills. I wanted it to be fairly spectacular. So Savang enters a TARDIS using the power of her mind to move her physically through empty space. She fights Werrun Koe’s paramour, another of the Sisterhood of Karn before the really big trick, shifting herself and Chrístõ out of Koe’s TARDIS and into the nebula, taking the chance that her husband and Cal could get them back into the TARDIS before they suffocated.

It’s an intimate moment between Chrístõ and Savang, a reminder that Savang’s mental illness was derived from her romantic obsession with Chrístõ. She isn’t obsessed with him now. But she is prepared to risk her life for him. A friendship has emerged from what had been a nightmare for them both.

The problem of Werrun Koe is settled. The bigger picture of intergalactic politics remains to be tackled.