"As for making a difference, I don't think we influenced anything at all."

Years ago, an accident caused a Koteem waste ship to discharge deadly radiation into the atmosphere of the Veln homeworld. Since the incident the Veln race have mutated, becoming an ugly shadow of their former beautiful selves.

Now the Koteem are trying to put things right. But they must work covertly, as they are still the subject of much hatred among the majority of the Veln.

It is into this volatile situation that the Doctor and Nyssa stumble. Who is friend and who is foe? Who is beautiful and who is ugly? As the boundaries of acceptance shift, it all becomes a matter of perspective.

This is a very clever story from the pen (or keyboard) of busy Big Finish scribe Nicholas Briggs. Again he writes, directs and stars, the latter in the guise of the voice of the Koteem.

Why is it clever, you may ask? Well, because it tells the story out of order, without it seeming disjointed in any way. This is the beginning of a run of experimental stories from BF and with hindsight, this one probably worked the best.

We begin with Nyssa being interrogated, then learn how she was captured and eventually why. Along the way we are introduced to chief protagonists Lady Forleon, nicely played by Jemma Churchill, and Gilbrook, a tour de force from the excellent David Daker. His underplaying of the character makes him seem even more dangerous at times.

As has already been established, this is not a story with a beginning, middle and end, at least not where they should be! The end happens around part three, the beginning comes at the end and the middle kicks the whole thing off. Yet it still hangs together as an interesting and worthy piece of drama. And there is a killer twist that will really make the listener sit up and take notice!

All in all an excellent entry into the 5th Doctor's audio outings.