In Australia, Doctor French refuses to heed the Doctor's warnings his new radio wave accelerator could spell disaster for Earth as well as for the alien cultures he hopes to contact with it. With no option left, the Doctor resorts to sabotage, but is caught before he can render the accelerator inoperable. His fears are borne out when the accelerator is tested for the first time. The accelerated radio transmission causes disastrous disturbances in the weather on a global scale and leads to Doctor French's own death. However, the Doctor is more concerned about the fate of the planet that the transmission was directed at. Travelling to Morrax, he finds the world devastated and is taken prisoner by the surviving Morraxian people. The Morraxian leaders vow revenge on the people of Earth and dis