Walking to Babylon (novel)

Walking to Babylon
Main character(s):	Bernice Summerfield
Main enemy:	WiRgo!xu and !Ci!ci-tel
Main setting:	Dellah, St. Oscar's University 2594 The People’s Worldsphere, 2594 Planet MD 20879, 2594 Earth, Babylon, 12th December, 1901 Earth, Babylon, 570 B.C.
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::Virgin Books]]
Writer:	Kate Orman
Release details
Release number:	10
Release date:	February, 1998
Format:	Paperback Book, ? Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-426-20521-9

Publisher's Summary

'I'm scared of letting all these people down. Like the whole human race. At least if I get blown up as well, they can say I died heroically. Assuming I ever existed at all.'

When Bernice Summerfield visits the People -- an incredibly advanced civilisation living in a Dyson Sphere -- she discovers that even in utopia, they still have their problems.

An illegal time travel experiment threatens a war which could destroy them all. Rather than risk it, the People and their ultra-powerful computer, God, are prepared to eradicate the source of the problem -- the ancient city of Babylon. But such action would involve the death of a quarter of a million human beings, and do incalculable damage to Earth's history.

Babylon -- and the human race -- have one hope. Benny returns to the cradle of civilisation to try and stop the interference. She has just one week to prevent a catastrophe that could mean she will never be born. Her only assistance comes from a Victorian linguist who has stumbled across the experiment himself. But he's no help at all -- even though he has a power neither of them suspects.

Characters

• Bernice Summerfield
  • Is studying some D'nasian poetry.
  • Once had sex with some Citdbtbeds.

• God
  • Speaks through Benny’s porter Joseph.

• John Lafayette
  • Is a time sensitive and thus was able to walk the Time Path.

• Clarence
  • Collects Benny from St Oscar's.

• Cin-ta!x
  • Spokesperson for the Temporal Interest Group.

• Ninan (High Princess)
  • Loved to hear of her guests' travels, but could never leave her temple.

• WiRgo!xu
  • Is a veteran of the People’s war with ‘them’.

• !Ci!ci-tel
  • Is a veteran of the People’s war with ‘them’.
  • Aged to death by temporal energy stored in John Lafayette.

• !qu-!qu-tala
  • The drone accompanying !Ci!ci-tel and WiRgo!xu, the drone is also a veteran of the war.

References

• The People can't develop Time travel because of their treaty with the Time Lords.

• Temporal Flexibility is the ability build up in frequent time travelers to not store up potential temporal energy (as a result of some forms of time travel).

• The Path is an unstable temporal path leading back to ancient Babylon.

• The People decide to send back a Singularity Bomb to shut down the path, which would also destroy Babylon.
• Bernice mentions the planet Jalkejai.

Notes

• This novel was adapted for Big Finish by Jacqueline Rayner, see Walking to Babylon (audio drama).

Continuity

• The People first appeared in NA: The Also People.

• Benny agreed to become an agent of The People in BNA: Oh No It Isn't!.

• The People make a deal regarding time travel in BNA: Dead Romance.

External Links

• Doctor Who Reference Guide - Detailed Synopsis: Walking to Babylon