Question Mark Pyjamas (short story)

Question Mark Pyjamas
Doctor:	Seventh Doctor
Companion(s):	Ace, Bernice
Main enemy:	Garpol
Main setting:	Ararax XIV Heritage Centre
Key crew
Writers:	Robert Perry, Mike Tucker
Release details
Part of:	Decalog 2: Lost Property
Release date:	20 July 1995
Virgin Decalogs
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Question Mark Pyjamas was a Virgin Decalogs short story published in Decalog 2: Lost Property in 1995. It featured the Seventh Doctor, Bernice Summerfield and Ace. It was the only story written by Robert Perry and Mike Tucker to feature this line up of Doctor and companions to be published during the Virgin Publishing era of Doctor Who novels. They later wrote several featuring the Seventh Doctor and Ace.

Summary

The Doctor, Benny and Ace visit Ararax XIV and are surprised to see that, though it is a desolate asteroid, there are buildings on it — buildings that belong on other planets. They are even more surprised to see the Doctor's Kent house here as well.

A robot takes them to the office of Garpol, owner of this asteroid and of the not-yet-open Ararax XIV Heritage Centre, for which he has brought these buildings to Ararax XIV. Garpol extols the wonders of his heritage centre, but when the Doctor and his friends want to leave, Garpol orders security robots to take them to the house where they will act as part of the exhibit.

In the Doctor's house, they are forced to act as a "typical" family, with the Doctor and Benny as parents to Ace. Garpol continually issues them instructions via a loudspeaker. They have dinner, then Ace is instructed to go to bed. The Doctor asks for and receives permission to read her a bedtime story. As he reads to her, he slips in instructions regarding a snowdome. Then he and Benny watch a little television and go to bed.

The next morning, after breakfast, the Doctor is instructed to mow the lawn and Ace is told to play outside. Benny cleans up inside, wondering why the Doctor isn't doing anything to get them out of here. The yard is surrounded by security robots. The Doctor, as he mows the lawn, suggests to Ace that she rides the bike in the shed. The bike turns out to be a motorcycle, and Ace escapes the security robots and heads for the TARDIS.

Inside the house, the Doctor offers to show Benny the wine cellar, which lifts her spirits considerably. The wine cellar seems larger than it should be, but the Doctor says it isn't another TARDIS.

The TARDIS is no longer where it was, but Ace gets the robots to give her a map of the heritage centre, and she heads for where she thinks the TARDIS may be. When she finds it, she escapes from the robots; inside the TARDIS she applies the snowdome to the console. Meanwhile, the robots, not having been field tested yet, cause more destruction to each other than to their surroundings.

Benny and the Doctor continue along the wine cellar and eventually end up inside the TARDIS. The Doctor explains that the snowdome opened a dimensional link between the TARDIS and the wine cellar. He plans to notify the proper authorities of Garpol's thefts.

Characters

• Seventh Doctor
• Ace
• Bernice Summerfield
• Garpol
• Blint

Worldbuilding

Buildings

• Buildings stolen by Garpol include a Martian dwelling, a Gond hut and a benefit office from Inter Minor.

The Doctor

• The Doctor has occasionally mentioned his granddaughter to Benny.
• The Doctor reads Ace The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe while working in some hypnosis.

Foods and beverages

• The Doctor suggests some tea after a meal to his companions.
• Benny drinks several cups of coffee before and during breakfast.
• Benny takes a bottle of red wine from the wine cellar.

Individuals

• Ace never liked mornings either in Perivale or Iceworld.
• Benny idly wonders what the Doctor's home on Gallifrey was like.

Objects

• Garpol bought a lawn mower off a Metatraxi.

Organisations

• The Doctor is on the board of governors of the Braxiatel Heritage Trust. He notes to Ace and Benny "Irving can sort this mess out.".

Television

• The Doctor and Bernice watch Professor X.

Vehicles

• Benny thinks the Doctor's Harley Davidson sounds like the royal beast of Peladon.
• The Doctor bought the Harley Davidson in his third incarnation.

Notes

• The Doctor's House first appeared in the comic story Fellow Travellers but was described in more detail in print in the novel Cat's Cradle: Warhead.
• The stories in Decalog 2 have a common theme of homes owned or acquired by the Doctor. The home in this story is his Kent house which has been transported to Ararax XIV.

Continuity

• Ace was last in the Doctor's house in PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Warhead.
• Ace left Iceworld in TV: Dragonfire.
• Ace encountered Fenric in TV: The Curse of Fenric.
• Ace refers to recent adventures with the Monk. (PROSE: No Future)