A composer called Maurice Ravel is hard at work playing his piano when his housekeeper Bishop arrives to start cleaning. Ravel requests Bishop to water his terrarium, but Bishop confesses that she is rather afraid to as she swore she saw something move inside before. Ravel assures her there is nothing to be afraid of. At that moment, something hissing emerges from the terrarium and attacks Bishop while Ravel watches on silently…
At the Aeolian Hall, The Master (wearing a mask to disguise his face) arrives and informs the usher on duty that he is searching for a particular gentleman, which has led him here. After a rather sinister conversation, the usher warns The Master that the Hall has police who would like to know that he is up to no good. Before anything can become of it, Ravel arrives and sees the usher away. He introduces himself to The Master, and The Master introduces himself as Vanhouten. The Master takes note of Ravel’s watch, which Ravel states was a gift. The Master asks Ravel to take a note to the hypnotised Inspector Quick in the stands. Once Ravel leaves, The Master asks himself quietly who Ravel truly is and how he came into possession of a watch with the Gallifreyan Prydonian Seal…
In the stalls, Ravel encounters Inspector Quick and hands him a rather peculiar clockwork policeman toy with a great similarity to Quick. Ravel winds the key and suddenly Quick faints in front of him…
Elsewhere in the theatre, Litefoot arrives at the theatre and takes his place in a theatre box. He discovers that he is sharing the box with Ravel, both men introduce themselves. Ravel mentions to Litefoot that he had just watched a policeman faint…
Later that day, Ravel has invited Litefoot to his apartment. Litefoot is fascinated by all the paraphernalia Ravel keeps, particularly a rather large terrarium full of sand. He also takes note of the countless clockwork toys dotted around the room. Ravel shows him a sheet of music of his latest composition Gaspard De La Nuit. He admits that he took the title from a poem that he read that continuously haunts his mind – images of gibbets and grotesque dwarf men. He shows Litefoot a clockwork toy of a rotting horse dying hanging from a gibbet – which is a scene described in the poem. Litefoot suddenly begins to feel faint and begins to hallucinate a gibbet with Ravel hanging from the noose…
At the Red Tavern, Inspector Quick arrives to speak with Ellie. He asks to know where Litefoot is, as something bad is happening. He cryptically asks her if she has ever met anyone who could convey people to do as they command and they would obey without question. Before Ellie can answer, Jago arrives begging for help. Jago shows Ellie a note addressed to him from ‘a true friend’ stating that Litefoot has been kidnapped and taken to a certain address provided. Ellie turns to Quick…only to discover that he disappeared when Jago arrived.
Elsewhere, Litefoot is walking through a rather gloomy forest. He shouts out to the nothingness around him asking why he has been brought here. He hears a voice call his name and discovers Ravel alive but hanging from a gibbet’s noose.
Jago and Ellie lockpick their way into Ravel’s apartment. They do not see anyone in the room, so they assess the area to look for clues to where Litefoot could have been taken. They hear a faint hissing noise coming from under the sand in the terrarium. Suddenly, a huge caterpillar-like creature pounces out of the sand and scuttles out of the door. Ellie pokes Litefoot’s walking cane into the sand and discovers a piece of chamois leather inside covered in blood. They hear someone calling out and the two, believing they have been caught in a trap decide to face the danger head on.
Litefoot talks with Ravel. Ravel is surprised that despite hanging from a noose, he is still alive. He has tried but failed numerous times to escape. Litefoot is confused and wonders if this entire scenario he is caught in can even be true as he remembers meeting Ravel and visiting his home prior to wandering into this waking nightmare. But the important question Litefoot poses is that if Ravel is here…who is the man Litefoot met the night before? Ravel explains that the Ravel Litefoot met was an imposter. But Litefoot counters this logic by stating that this is the first time he and the real Ravel have met, so how could he know his name. Ravel further explains that a mysterious stranger told him. Litefoot eventually deduces that they are in a fantasy world based on the poetry Gaspard De La Nuit, which is the title of the composition Ravel is currently working on. Litefoot theorises that this world was created by an alien being that Ravel is working with. Ravel understands his logic but corrects his one deduction by stating the true enemy is the fake Ravel roaming London now.
Jago and Ellie discover a man tied up in another room. He introduces himself as Maurice Ravel and explains that he was being held captive by a demon – a person who looks exactly like him in every detail. Prior to being captured, Ravel met a man who wished for him to introduce him to a certain individual, but when the man realised that Ravel couldn’t help him…he took on his appearance, captured him and began masquerading as Ravel.
In the dreamworld, Ravel has finished explaining the same story the other Ravel has just told Jago and Ellie. He remembers meeting the imposter in Paris before he assumed his identity and how the imposter was intrigued by his pocket watch. Litefoot looks at the watch and even notes that it looks familiar to him as well. They met up afterwards and dined in a café, at which time the imposter gave him a book of poetry, which just so happens to be Gaspard De La Nuit. Eventually, the imposter wanted something from Ravel, which he could not provide. In retribution, the imposter assumed his identity and travelled to London to carry out Ravel’s duties while he was trapped inside a dreamworld created by the imposter.
Jago and Ellie are ransacking Ravel’s apartment in hopes of finding a clue to Litefoot’s whereabouts. Jago looks through the terrarium and discovers that it is deeper than it looks, and even has copper wiring! Ravel warns Jago to put down the terrarium by pulling a gun on him. Jago is not surprised in the slightest as he found Ravel’s explanation from earlier to be false and even assumes that he is not the real Ravel – to which ‘Ravel’ confirms and reveals that he is not even human. He explains that the caterpillar creature that escaped was a dune caterpillar with some genetic modifications that made it much larger and ferocious. He further explains that the two friends will be bargaining tools for Litefoot. Before he can further explain, Ellie kicks him in a rather…vital area, knocking him out. With their enemy down, Jago takes another look at the terrarium and discovers a few buttons underneath it. He presses a button, and the sand blows around in the room and engulfs the two friends…
Litefoot and Ravel try to dispel the imaginary world by thinking of other things. But Litefoot cannot help but wonder why the dreamworld is assuming this form, considering its the knowledge of the poem that binds them to this world. Ravel tells Litefoot that he got the watch from a mysterious stranger called ‘The Doctor’, a name that Litefoot is familiar with. The strangest thing is it had instructions to not be opened until 1909 and Ravel cannot recall ever meeting anyone by that name, but The Doctor was certain he had met him. The ground beneath them begins to shake and the air begins to fill with sand, suddenly a huge worm beast appears and both men disappear into the sand…
Litefoot and Ravel are transported back to Ravel’s apartment reunited with Jago and Ellie. Realising that there are two Ravels present, Ellie arms herself with a vase and keeps watch over the fake one. Once she is distracted however, the fake Ravel awakens. Exasperated, Ellie arms herself with the Fake Ravel’s gun and orders both Ravels to stand against the wall. But Fake Ravel is one step ahead and opens a secret panel in the wall and escapes through it into the other room with the real Ravel in tow. Worst of all is that he has locked them all in the room.
Fake Ravel finishes locking the adjacent room in the apartment. He is delighted as he believes his new captives will help him find what he seeks. Suddenly, they are confronted by Inspector Quick walking into the apartment, whom Fake Ravel is surprised to see as he thought he got rid of him at the Aeolian Hall…
Jago and Litefoot try and fail to find a way to open the secret panel. Litefoot is quizzical as to who Fake Ravel intends to meet up with. With no other options, Jago shoots the lock on the apartment door, which swings open to reveal…Litefoot albeit with missing hands. Fake Ravel has transformed into an exact duplicate. Litefoot deduces that is why he was invited around, so he can utilise Litefoot’s form after studying his mannerisms. Fake Litefoot explains that he is in the employ of a very sinister man who has a detailed plan in the making to get back at a particular individual, and this man is paying a great sum for his services. Litefoot deduces that Fake Litefoot’s employer is hunting The Doctor, after seeing Ravel’s watch which was gifted to him. Quick enters and explains that Fake Ravel sat down and began to play Gespard De La Nuit in its entirety, which is impossible as it is not completed yet. So the real Ravel slammed the piano lid on his hands and broke them off, revealing the Fake Ravel to be a clockwork machine. With this revelation, the clockwork man begins to open to reveal a small worm-like creature with a man’s face. The creature bemoans how this has not been entirely profitable for him and jumps out of the window to the streets below to escape.
At a restaurant, The Master is in his private booth ordering his usual meal from a hypnotised waiter called Luigi. Luigi leaves a parcel for The Master. The Master is intrigued as the parcel begins to open from the inside to reveal the alien worm from the mechanical man. The Master is impressed by the fact the alien was able to post himself and invites the creature to join him for dinner. The creature explains that he has been tracking The Master via the artron energy he left across the city and deduced that he was looking for The Doctor as he too uses the same energy source for his TARDIS. The creature too is looking for The Doctor for his own employer and suggests that they pull their resources to track him down. He suggests that they use Jago and Litefoot as bait to trap him as they are his allies in this time. The Master is delighted to learn he has a way to ensnare his greatest enemy and informs the creature that he played his trump card too early…he simply asks how the asparagus is tasting. The creature now realises that The Master has poisoned him with a drug that simulates death by shutting down his optic and motor neurons. The Master summons Luigi to dispose of the creature by throwing it into the furnace. He prepares to leave…he must keep a date with Jago and Litefoot…
