Transit
“Oh no, not again…”
It’s the ultimate in mass transit systems, a network of interstitial tunnels that bind the planets of the solar system together.Earth to Pluto in forty minutes with a supersave non-premium off-peak travelcard.
But something is living in the network, chewing its way to the very heart of the system and leaving a trail of death and mutation behind it.
Once again a reluctant Doctor is dragged into human history. Back down amongst the joyboys, freesurfers, chessfans, politicians and floozies, where friends are more dangerous than enemies and one man’s human being is another’s psychotic killing machine.
Once again The Doctor is all that stands between humanity and its own mistakes.
References
Books
Kadiatu’s great grandmother of the same name wrote The Zen Military.
There is an opera based on The Doctor.
Conflicts
The Thousand Day War was fought with the “Greenies”.
Ubersoldaten were augmented soldiers that fought in the Thousand Day War.
Currency
Moneypens are used to transfer currency.
The Doctor
The Doctor refers to his third, fourth and fifth incarnations’ liking for wine, beer and cricket respectively.
The Doctor gets drunk celebrating the universe’s birthday with Kadiatu.
Events
Earth’s official First Contact with aliens is embodied in the Arcturan Treaty of 2085.
Individuals
Kadiatu dreams of Pythia. She is related to Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart.
Jargon
“Personspace” refers to the area of space explored by humans.
“Catfood-monster” refers to a homeless person.
“Joyboy” refers to male prostitutes.
“NAFAL” means to “not-as-fast-as-light”.
Planets
Benny once attended a conference at the Institute of Human Ecology on Cygni VI.
Benny picked up a digging mantra on Proxima IV.
Politics
A President runs the Union of Solar Republics and is based in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Transport technology
The “botched” Zygma energy experiments of the thirtieth century are mentioned.
Notes
This novel is often noted for its multiple use of expletives, the word”fuck” is used fourteen times in this novel.
A prelude to this novel appeared in DWM 195.
The novel is based on an idea that Ben Aaronovitch submitted to The Doctor Who production team for Season 25.[1]
Continuity
Kadiatu reappears in Set Piece, The Also People and Happy Endings (also a brief cameo appearance in The Dying Days). She also reappears and meets Benny once again in The Final Amendment.
The Doctor’s house last appeared in Cat’s Cradle: Warhead.
The infection of the TARDIS is referred to once more. This occurred in Cat’s Cradle: Witch Mark.
The Doctor dreams of Ace running like a cheetah, (Survival) but says she was always a wolf to him. (The Curse of Fenric)
The Doctor taunts a possessed-Benny by saying he never built her a boom-box. (Silver Nemesis)
FLORANCE appears again in Sleepy and Seeing I.
The unknown future incarnation of the Doctor that first appeared in Marc Platt’s novelisation of Battlefield reappears here in a cyberspace encounter with a supporting character.
The Doctor mentions that he has visited”all three Atlantises.” (The Underwater Menace, The Dæmons, The Time Monster)
The Doctor calls the entity”Fred.” He’d previously attributed this name to a Robot Yeti (The Web of Fear) and Romana I. (The Ribos Operation)
The Doctor, if he has to die, wants to do so alone and believes it would be best if all traces of him were erased. The Doctor’s next incarnation would share this belief. (Scherzo) This would eventually change by his eleventh incarnation. (while he explained his actions after having the idea to use the Teselecta, he is describing his choice to send the invitations while he still believed he was going to die.) (The Wedding of River Song)
