Nightshade (novel): Difference between revisions

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{{real world}}
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{{Infobox Story
{{Infobox Story SMW
|name= Nightshade
|image = Nightshade Cover.jpg
|image=Nightshade Cover.jpg
|series=[[Virgin New Adventures]]
|series=[[Virgin New Adventures]]  
|range = Virgin New Adventures
|number in range = 8
|adapted into = Nightshade (audio story)
|adapted into = Nightshade (audio story)
|number= 8  
|number= 8
|doctor=Seventh Doctor
|doctor = Seventh Doctor
|companions= [[Ace]]
|companions= [[Ace]]
|enemy= The [[Sentience]]  
|enemy= [[The Sentience (Nightshade)|The Sentience]]
|setting= [[Crook Marsham]], [[1968]]  
|setting= [[Crook Marsham]], [[23 December|23]]-[[25 December]] [[1968]]
|writer= [[Mark Gatiss]]  
|writer= Mark Gatiss
|publisher= Virgin Publishing
|cover= [[Peter Elson]]
|release date= [[20 August (releases)|20 August]] [[1992 (releases)|1992]]
|publisher= Virgin Books
|format= Paperback Book; 13 Chapters, 231 Pages  
|release date= 20 August 1992
|format= Paperback Book; 13 Chapters, 231 Pages
|isbn= ISBN 0-426-20376-3
|isbn= ISBN 0-426-20376-3
|prev= Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark (novel)  
|prev= Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark (novel)
|next= Love and War (novel)  
|next= Love and War (novel)
|series2        = [[Interweaving with the New Adventures|''DWM''{{'}}s "New Adventures order"]]  
|series2        = [[Interweaving with the New Adventures|''DWM'' "New Adventures order"]]
|prev2          = Memorial (comic story)
|prev2          = Memorial (comic story)
|next2          = Cat Litter (comic story)
|next2          = Cat Litter (comic story)
Line 25: Line 27:


== Publisher's summary ==
== Publisher's summary ==
''"I have done enough!"''  
''"I have done enough!"''


[[Ace]] has never known [[Seventh Doctor|the Doctor]] so withdrawn and melancholic. He is avoiding her company, seeking solace in the forgotten rooms and labyrinthine passages of his ancient [[the Doctor's TARDIS|time machine]].
[[Ace]] has never known [[Seventh Doctor|the Doctor]] so withdrawn and melancholic. He is avoiding her company, seeking solace in the forgotten rooms and labyrinthine passages of his ancient [[the Doctor's TARDIS|time machine]].
Line 36: Line 38:


== Plot ==
== Plot ==
=== Prologue ===
In a prologue, the [[First Doctor]] steals a [[TARDIS]] and runs away from [[Gallifrey]].
Eight old men on Gallifrey visit the cloisters. One slips away and steals a TARDIS; the leader of the group discovers it and disapproves.
=== Chapter 1 ===
December 22-23, 1968: WW1 veteran Jack Prudhoe dodges an argument with his wife Win and goes to the local pub. He reminisces about meeting her in 1916; then he sees what he believes, impossibly, to be the 1916 version of Win outside the window. He follows outside onto the moor in the rain, and into a shallow cave, where he is killed by something large and dark.  


Aging former actor Edmund Trevithick once played the adventurous Professor Nightshade on television. Now the series is being replayed on the new BBC2, and the BBC wants to interview him at Dalesview Residential Home, for old times' sake. As he goes to bed, his nurse, Jill Mason, is frightened by something monstrous outside. Later, something smashes Trevithick's window and menaces him.  
In the small [[Yorkshire]] village of [[Crook Marsham]], close to [[Christmas]] [[1968]], [[Jack Prudhoe]] is lured into the moors by a vision of his wife, [[Win Prudhoe|Win]], as she appeared when she was younger and dies mysteriously.


Lovers Holly Kidd and Vijay Degun work as technicians at Hawthorne and Cooper Space Tracking Station, a radio telescope near the village. Shortly after 5 AM on the 23rd, the telescope--trained on Bellatrix in the Orion quadrant--picks up alarming readings at the same time as a security breach alarm. Vijay finds the security guard missing and a hole in the fence, and then is chased back to the facility by something large and fearsome.
[[Edmund Trevithick]], the aging former star of [[BBC (in-universe)|BBC]] serial ''[[Nightshade]],'' watches an old episode of his show in his old folks' home. [[Jill Mason]], his nurse, informs him that the BBC will be visiting to interview him. That night, Trevithick sees one of the creatures from ''Nightshade'' break his window.


In the village, Betty Yeadon, the second wife of pub owner Lawrence Yeadon, has a mysterious chronic illness. Her situation--and her husband's unwarranted cheerfulness about it--is a hot topic of gossip.
The staff of Crook Marsham's new telescope, including young couple [[Vijay Degun]] and [[Holly Kidd]], stern and racist professor [[Thomas Edward Hawthorne|Thomas Hawthorne]], and Dr [[Christine Cooper]], are disturbed by a massive influx of strange readings coming from [[Bellatrix]].


A mile from the station, along the road to nearby St. Hilda's Monastery, homeless man Billy Coote witnesses the early morning arrival of the TARDIS.
[[Billy Coote]], a homeless man on the streets of Crook Marsham, sees the TARDIS materialize.
=== Chapter 2 ===
Ace reflects on the Doctor's recent spell of brooding. She discovers him in his nightclothes; unexpectedly he takes her on a search through the TARDIS, ending at a long-disused, stone-decorated tertiary console room. He relocates it to the main entrance. Ace discovers an old Coal Hill jacket, which once belonged to Susan, prompting the Doctor to snap at her before abruptly switching to a good humor. He dresses, then leads her outside.


Betty Yeadon wakes up from a nightmare about her dead brother, Alfie, who died in a WW2 ship sinking. She takes medication, and gets her stepson Robin out for the morning, before giving in to her fear in the pub.
In the TARDIS, the [[Seventh Doctor]] takes [[Ace]] to the tertiary [[TARDIS control room|control room]]. Ace is worried about how moody the Doctor has been acting recently. In the control room, she finds [[Susan Foreman|Susan]]'s old [[Coal Hill School]] uniform and tries it on, provoking anger from the Doctor.


Robin meets the Doctor and Ace, and refers them to a cafe for breakfast. The Doctor ruminates on retiring to Gallifrey, then leaves for the monastery to think, promising to meet at the pub at 8:30 pm. Ace sees Vijay come in and try to call Cambridge, but all lines are down.
[[Betty Yeadon]] wakes up from a nightmare in which her brother, Alfred, dies in [[World War II]]. Her husband, [[Lawrence Yeadon|Lawrence]], tries to comfort her, and she busies herself by doing her stepson [[Robin Yeadon|Robin]]'s laundry. She encounters a vision Alfred's ghost in the water when she does. Lawrence, concerned and unable to find the village doctor, sends Robin to retrieve Jill from the retirement home.


Betty goes to take a bath, but passes out when she sees what looks like her dead and rotted brother rise from the tub. At the same time, the tracking station detects more activity.
The Doctor and Ace arrive in Crook Marsham and encounter Robin, who directs them to a café for breakfast. At the café, the Doctor confesses that he is considering retiring from travel. He tells Ace that he needs time alone to think, and leaves her to go to the village's [[monastery]]. Vijay enters the café asking to use the phone, as the phones at the telescope are not functioning, but it seems that all phones in the village are down. Ace sneaks into Vijay's [[Land Rover]] to go to the telescope.
=== Chapter 3 ===
Ace discusses the telescope and current events with Mrs. Crithin at the cafe; she then goes outside and spots Vijay's car. Investigating it, she gets inside, but is forced to stay put and hide when he returns and drives away.


The Doctor walks to the monastery. In the greenhouse he meets the exceedingly jolly abbot Mervyn Winstanley, and asks to spend time at the monastery.  
[[George Lowcock]] and the rest of the local police force arrive at the retirement home to investigate Threvithick's broken window. They find no other trace of the culprit. Lowcock recognizes Trevithick from ''Nightshade.'' Jill discusses how every resident of the home except Trevithick will be leaving for Christmas. Robin arrives and brings Jill and Trevithick to the village pub.


Betty's vision continues, terrifying her and causing her to scream until she passes out. Lawrence sends Robin for a doctor, as the phones are still out.  
After returning to work, Cooper relieves Vijay of duty, and he goes to join Holly in his quarters. Ace, while snooping around the telescope grounds, encounters the telescope security guard's corpse, which then disappears in a flash of light. She goes into the observatory to inform the staff.


Trevithick and Jill meet a constable, George Lowcock, who expresses little expectation for the investigation. Robin then arrives, having been unable to find local physician Dr. Shearsmith, and gets Jill to go check on his mother. Trevithick accompanies them.  
At the monastery, the Doctor meets Abbot [[Mervyn Winstanley]], who gives him food, company, and records on the local history. In 1644, [[Oliver Cromwell]]'s forces took Marsham Castle, where a soldier was burnt up in a supernatural burst of light after seeing his dead family. The castle was destroyed soon after. Winstanley tells the Doctor that the site of the castle is where the telescope now is.


Ace, driven by Vijay onto the station grounds, finds herself trapped inside the fence. When she finds the hole in the fence, she discovers the decaying body of the missing guard. She runs into the station, startling Hawthorne and Cooper.  
Arriving at the pub, where he had agreed to meet back up with Ace, the Doctor is pushed into helping Betty once the locals hear that he is a doctor. He gives her smelling salts and discusses her nightmares with Robin, then heads to the telescope to find Ace. Lawrence and George leave to find help from another town. Robin, intrigued by Ace, follows the Doctor.


At the pub, Trevithick talks with Lowcock about the disappearance of Prudhoe and Shearsmith. They are interrupted by Betty's renewed screaming.  
As Hawthorne and Cooper interrogate Ace, believing little of what she says, another spike of odd readings comes through the telescope. They send Ace to retrieve Vijay and Holly; she interrupts the two of them naked in Vijay's quarters. Vijay gets dressed and comes to the control room, but Holly does not. The Doctor and Robin arrive having encountered Jack Prudhoe's corpse.


The Doctor reads a history of the area which implies that locals have been subject to terrible fears for centuries.
Betty sees Alfred again, and this time is killed by him. Trevithick, while reminiscing about his last day of filming, again encounters the creatures from ''Nightshade.'' Win Prudhoe is also a victim of this night's attacks. Billy Coote, who has been experiencing headaches and visions, goes to the monastery.
=== Chapter 4 ===
In 1644, Cromwell routes an army led by Prince Rupert near Crook Marsham. Survivors led by Sir Harry Crooke hide in the village's ruined Norman castle, hunted by Cromwell's man Philip Jackson. Cooke sees apparitions of his dead daughters, which turn into a fiery creature that consumes him; his men flee in terror, and are captured by Jackson. Jackson investigates the castle, but sees strange energies, and flees in terror just before it explodes and burns out of existence.  


Finishing the book, the Doctor inquires about the castle site; the abbot tells him that the telescope was built on the spot.
Holly, half-asleep, encounters her dead fiancé, James. She is almost taken in by the vision, but is interrupted by Vijay, who sees James as nothing but a cloud of smoke. Ace and Robin watch TV together, having been given the telescope's TV room to sleep in.
=== Chapter 5 ===
Hawthorne, a diehard racist, muses on the path that brought him here (including a bit of childhood trauma regarding the Tar Baby in the Brer Rabbit stories, which he associates with his perceived racial inferiors). He is interrupted by the arrival of the terrified and manic Ace.  


Intent on going through with his plan to retire, the Doctor returns to the pub to meet Ace, who isn't there; but on mention of his name, Trevithick and Lowcock press him into helping Betty, who is now sedated by Jill. He gets her to sleep peacefully. In the pub, he compares notes with Trevithick regarding the phone outage and the disappearances, but still doesn't want to get involved. He learns that Ace was interested in the telescope, and leaves to find her; Robin sneaks out to follow him.  
Lawrence and George return having not made it far out of the village. As soon as they left, they began to experience strong nausea, so much so that they could not continue driving. Lawrence finds Betty dead in their bed.


Hawthorne and Cooper interrogate Ace, who reports the dead guard. They are interrupted when the facility gets another data burst, and Hawthorne sends Ace to get Vijay and Holly, who are in bed together. Vijay responds, but lets Holly sleep.  
[[Tim Medway]], the reporter from the BBC sent to interview Trevithick, enters the village while reminiscing about Christmas as a child. On the way in, he encounters the crashed coach bus containing Jill and many of her charges from the home. The driver, afflicted by the same illness George and Lawrence experienced, died in the crash. Medway drives the survivors to the monastery.


Betty awakens to another vision of her brother.  
Robin returns home to check on Betty. Lawrence blames him for her death.


Robin finds the Doctor to tell him about Ace, but before he can, they find a traumatized Win Prudhoe on the moor. She wanders away, and they find Jack's rapidly-decomposing body.  
Ace and the Doctor go to the monastery, where they find that the site of the telescope was also site to a now-abandoned quarry. After Jill and her charges arrive, the Doctor returns to the telescope. The Doctor suggests the history of the site and the mysterious readings might be related, and Hawthorne reacts disbelievingly and aggressively, culminating in him calling Vijay a slur and nearly resorting to violence. He returns to his quarters, where he encounters a tar baby and dies just as another surge of readings begins.


Trevithick meets the monster again as he walks home, recognizing it as an insect creature from the nightshade serials. It chases him, and even gives him a small injury, before Lawrence Yeadon's car runs it off. Lawrence says he and Lowcock couldn't get out of the village to go for help.  
Medway reports the bus accident to the local police, who are inundated with various missing person reports. He then goes to the pub to talk to Trevithick.


The Doctor and Robin break into the satellite facility and meet everyone but Holly. He quickly ingratiated himself to Cooper asa scientist and identifies the double-star nova that is causing the electronic chatter, and offers to help. He also reports the body of Jack, corroborating Ace's story about the guard.  
The retirement home residents gathered at the monastery, indulging in nostalgia, break into song. Ace and Jill watch all of them encounter visions from their past and burst into columns of light. Jill runs out of the monastery, while Ace runs up a stairwell. Robin arrives, and Ace brings him up with her. Winstanley enters the main hall of the monastery, where he sees the scene and believes it to be Jesus Christ. The vision tells him that he is forgiven, and he dies.


Holly dreams of her former lover, James, who died six years ago; she then awakens to an apparition of him in her bedroom.  
Trevithick tells Medway that he has been seeing the creatures from ''Nightshade.'' They go to the telescope, where the influx of readings causes the power to short out. Medway, disturbed by everything he has encountered, attempts to leave town and crashes his car. Vijay, Holly, and Trevithick theorize that they are being attacked by things they are nostalgic for or have strong memories and emotions of. The ''Nightshade'' creatures attack the telescope, forcing the three to split up.
=== Chapter 6 ===
Billy Coote is sleeping at the monastery, and musing about the headaches that started a few months ago, and about the erratic second sight he has had all his life. A strange wind begins to moan around him; down the hall, the abbot feels it too. At the station, Vijay interrupts Holly's visitation before it can devour her; he only sees it as a vaguely humanlike cloud.  


Ace and Robin sleep in the station breakroom; they are beginning to develop feelings for each other, and nearly kiss in the morning before being interrupted by the Doctor.  
The Doctor returns to the monastery. The Doctor tells Jill to gather all the survivors in the village somewhere safe. He encounters a vision of Susan, which he is able to resist after some temptation. Ace and Robin are hiding out in the stairwell. Ace confesses to Robin that she is a time traveller. They enter the attic, where they find a possessed Billy Coote; they then climb up to the roof.


Journalist Tim Medway comes to town to interview Trevithick. Trevithick, meanwhile, has stayed overnight in the pub with Lowcock and Yeadon, who are shaken by their encounter with the monster last night. In the morning, They compare notes, and suddenly Yeadon hurries upstairs to check on Betty. He finds her dead and decayed in bed, with the room mangled and the window torn out. Yeadon is hysterical; Lowcock sets Trevithick to watch him, then heads to his police station. Edmund decides to take Yeadon to Dalesview and leave him with another resident while Edmund recovers something useful--his old service revolver.  
A vision of Betty kills Lawrence.


The Doctor fails to repair the station radio, then interrogates Vijay and Holly about the apparition. Cooper gives him a walkie-talkie, and he takes Ace to the monastery; Robin returns home. As they go, Ace realizes she is beginning to resent the way the Doctor treats her, and to long for human contact--like Robin. Meant, Medway nears town, and finds that all radio stations turn to static a mile out. He encounters a crashed bus with a dead driver; the occupants are Jill and most of the Daleview residents, who were en route to visit various families for Christmas. Jill tells him of a sickly feeling that overcame everyone as they neared the edge of town, terminating in the fatal crash. He denies feeling anything, and helps them all to the nearby monastery. The Doctor and Ace arrive first, and begin researching more local history with the abbot, though not without some small tension between themselves. Ace finds record of an archaeological dig, Paleolithic period, at the station site, which was abandoned under mysterious circumstances.
Vijay and Holly find the abandoned quarry. Trevithick finds a mass of glowing light beneath the telescope.
=== Chapter 7 ===
Medway goes to the police station and meets Lowcock, reporting the bus accident. Lowcock sends an officer to deal with it, then takes Medway to meet Trevithick.  


The Doctor finished his research and gets a call from Cooper, asking him to return--new signals are building up. Ace asks to stay behind--secretly waiting for Robin--and though neither of them admit it, both are preparing for her to leave the Doctor. Leaving the monastery, the Doctor meets Jill and her charges, and learns of the accident.  
The Doctor encounters Coote in the attic and attempts to communicate with the Sentience possessing him, but it only says that it "needs." Ace, hearing the Doctor, attempts to help by detonating nitro-nine. The Sentience consumes the energy generated by the blast, and Robin, the Doctor, and Ace escape the collapsing monastery and return to the telescope.


Robin returns to the pub, thinking about Ace. He learns of his mother's death, and Yeadon blames him for leaving, and punches him, then apologizes. He views the minimal remains, then admits to finding Jack in the same condition, then leaves. Lowcock and Medway arrive at the same time, and Trevithick reports Robin's story about Jack; Lowcock tells Trevithick about Jill's accident. Lowcock relocates Yeadon to a b&b, and Trevithick tells Medway what's been going on.  
The Doctor, Ace, Robin, Vijay, Holly, Trevithick, and Cooper reunite at the telescope, where the Doctor explains that the Sentience is a very old power consuming the life force of the townsfolk using their nostalgia as bait. It also is responsible for the effect that prevents people from leaving. The Doctor, Vijay, Holly, and Trevithick go down to the quarry to attempt to communicate again with the Sentience. The Sentience kills Holly, and Trevithick sacrifices himself so Vijay and the Doctor can escape.


The Doctor, Cooper, Vijay and Holly confer. The signals are building steadily, but they aren't coming from the nova. The Doctor discusses the history of similar, horrific incidents. Hawthorne doesn't believe it, and nearly starts a fight with Vijay before storming off. Suddenly the signal goes wild again.  
The town gathers in the church, where visions of dead soldiers appear, many of which wearing gas masks. George takes the mask off of one, revealing a perfectly blank face.


Musing about the Doctor and waiting for Robin, Ace briefly joins Jill and the seniors in the monastery great hall, but gets uncomfortable and steps out. Jill gets the residents singing to calm them, but then sees an apparition of one resident's long-dead husband. It is joined by many other ghostly figures. When the phantoms touch their respective victims, the seniors are consumed in a burst of light and corruption. Jill flees the hall. Ace meets her and sees the conflagration; a moment later, Robin arrives and Ace saves him from death. The creature chases Robin and Ace upstairs, but is distracted by the abbot on an upper floor.  
Ace purposefully summons a vision of her mother, then banishes it by refusing to believe in it or care about it. Inspired by this, the Doctor summons a "Susan" to communicate to the Sentience with. He directs it towards the supernova that the telescope had been monitoring, where it will be able to feast on energy to its heart's content. It willingly leaves.


Hawthorne broods angrily in his room.
Ace tells the Doctor that she'd like to stay with Robin. He says he'd like to show her one thing first, and she agrees; they go in the TARDIS to the same place in 1644, when the supernova first formed. They find that the Sentience has been trapped in a black hole after feeding off of it. Ace then asks to return to 1968, to which the Doctor doesn't respond.
 
Medway takes Trevithick to the telescope station, and Trevithick finishes his story en route. They arrive into the chaos of the control room, just as the fence breach alarm sounds again; Cooper goes to investigate. The Doctor realizes something is happening at the monastery.
 
An apparition in the form of the Tar Baby kills Hawthorne.
 
An apparition in the form of a mockery of Jesus kills the abbot.
=== Chapter 8 ===
With the signal surge over, the Doctor leaves for the monastery to check on Ace. The power goes out. Trevithick confers with Holly while Vijay and Medway search for candles; they find Hawthorne's remains, and Medway flees in terror in his car.
Ace and Robin commiserate while hiding, and kiss.
 
The Doctor arrives as the creatures fade from the monastery, and meets Jill running out, hysterical; she updates him, and he sends her to gather everyone safely in one place. He goes in to find Ace.
 
Trevithick confers with Vijay, and realizes the apparitions are all from the victims' pasts. Vijay's relationship with Holly is strained by her experience. As the power slowly returns, Holly finds the regular nova signal, plus a fainter but regular pulse in the background.
 
Medway gets sick as he tries to leave town, but the fatal incident happens when he nearly runs over Jill and wrecks, his car exploding.
 
Robin and Ace, in the tower now, see the explosion, as do the group at the station. They stay put and discuss the Doctor and Ace's life, and kiss again. They see Billy Coote approaching from further into the tower, and he appears possessed. At the station, the window explodes; half a dozen of Trevithick's Nightshade monsters are approaching. The trip flees further inside as the creatures invade, and are forced to split up Trevithick finds an elevator and battles a creature to get inside, then goes up. The creature clings to the bottom of the lift, then breaks through the floor; Trevithick shoots it, to no avail. He rigs a fire extinguisher to the creature, forces it back down onto the cable, sets the elevator going up, then shoots the extinguisher, setting the creature ablaze.
 
The Doctor arrives at the monastery just as sunrise arrives, and finds nearly everyone dead. He sees an apparition...of Susan, his granddaughter.
=== Chapter 9 ===
Ace and Robin climb to the roof to escape from Billy.  Meanwhile the Doctor realizes Susan isn’t real, and rejects the apparition, which turns into the burning cloud creature.  He runs for the stairs up to the tower.
 
Yeadon is assaulted by an apparition of Betty in the apartment over the pub.
 
Vijay and Holly awaken and go outside, and find Cooper beneath a vehicle, injured but alive.  The fence has been blown down—or rather, toppled by ground subsidence—and a “fairy ring” around the station is flattened and scorched.  They discover that the Paleolithic quarry beneath the grounds has been opened.
 
Lowcock tries to gather the residents into the
church as recommended, but finds that most of the village—including Win Prudhoe—have been consumed.  Only about sixty survivors join him and Jill in the church.
 
The Doctor gains the tower; his encounter with the Susan apparition has forced him to face the feelings that led him to want to retire, and he isn’t prepared for it.  In the tower, he finds Ace’s earring from Segonax on the floor, and then encounters the possessed Billy Coote, whose eyes have gone from normal, to all black, to transparent.  The Doctor tries to confront him, realizing he is mentally linked to something.  Ace and Robin hear him, but remain on the roof.
 
Trevithick awakens in the level 18 corridor, and takes the elevator back down, aiming for the control room on Level 8, which is the ground level (the lower levels are underground).  The elevator doesn’t stop, and through the hole in the floor, he sees a web of light. He manages to escape on level 5.  Vijay, Holly, and Cooper return to the control room to search for Trevithick, but get distracted by the energy readings, which now show a regular pattern.  Cooper realizes it’s coming from underground.
 
As the Doctor confronts the creature in Billy, Ace returns to the room to get climbing rope from her rucksack for Robin.  The creature says it is ancient and doesn’t know what it is or where it came from, but it is hungry for life energy.  Ace sets a rope, and Robin makes it to the ground.  The creature moves to consume the Doctor, and Ace rolls two globes of Nitro-9-A at it.  She descends the rope with the Doctor following, She makes it down safely, but the explosion in the tower causes the Doctor to fall.
=== Chapter 10 ===
Trevithick makes it up to Level 8, but passes out.
 
The Doctor is alive, but his shoulder is dislocated; Ace and Robin are forced to reset it.  He then tells them that the creature—which he labels the Sentience—is ancient, with the Earth possibly having formed around it, and it feeds on energy.  Ace’s explosion saved them for now, but made the Sentience stronger.  They head for the telescope.
 
As it grows, the Sentience destroys the Monastery, then begins to tear apart the village, before moving in on the crowd in the church.  It finds root in the reactions of an old war veteran, then in Lowcock.
 
Vijay locates Trevithick and gets him back to the control room just as the Doctor, Ace, and Robin arrive; the group compares notes as the Sentience spreads over the moor and the village.  The Doctor concludes that it is emotion, memory, and belief which are feeding the creature, summoning it, causing it to grow.  He plans an expedition below ground via the quarry, and will take Trevithick, Vijay, and Holly with him, leaving Cooper to monitor via the equipment; but he forces Ace to stay behind, with Robin to look after her, telling her she is too important to lose.  Robin talks with her, and finally asks her to stay behind with him when the Doctor inevitably leaves.
 
The Sentience confronts the Doctor’s group underground; the Doctor warns them to clear their minds.  Holly is unable to do so, and it gets a foothold in her memories, then manifests as her dead fiancé again.  This time, she gives in and runs to it, but Vijay knocks her out in an attempt to save her; but unknown to him, the sleeping mind is more vulnerable, and the creature quickly devours her.  The Doctor, Trevithick, and Vijay flee the cavern, but encounter more of the nIghtshade creatures.  Trevithick realizes they can only exist because his memories give them form; and he chooses to sacrifice himself by attacking them, allowing the Doctor and Vijay to make it back to the telescope station.  Trevithick dies still fighting.
 
The Sentience’s apparitions begin to break into the church despite Lowcock’s efforts at coordinating a defense, though he begins to realize what is feeding them.  He finds a trapdoor into the crypt below, and gets everyone inside.  At the station, the Doctor admits his failure, and tells Cooper, Ace and Vijay about his vision of Susan.  Ace tries to summon the creature in the form of her mother, to determine their chance of success, and to illustrate her belief in the Doctor, who doesn’t believe in himself at the moment. It materializes, but she denies its reality, and without belief from her it is forced to retreat.  She then challenges the Doctor to face his past as she faced hers.
 
The Sentience now has enough strength to fully free itself from its prison in the earth.  The Doctor summons it back to him on the strength of his memories of Susan, and it takes her form again.  He forces it to confront its hunger, and then locks it onto the feed from the nova coming through the telescope.  Finally strong enough to depart, it leaves Earth along the signal, and heads for the star, a practically unlimited source of energy.
 
With the crisis over, Ace does something difficult:  She tells the Doctor she intends to stay behind.  He accepts it, and asks her for one last favor: A final trip in the TARDIS, as an experiment.  As they board, the Doctor surmises that the nova is 324 light-years away—thus, it happened 324 years ago—and the creature is moving back in time…
 
The Doctor lands in Crook Marsham in 1644, where Jackson’s and Rupert’s soldiers are being alternately terrified and killed in the castle. The Doctor and Ace deduce that the creature is arriving here from the future before homing in on the nova—and true to expectations, they witness the destruction in fire of the castle as the creature arrives.  It was the modern creature, not the historic, that destroyed the castle, before leaving Earth completely.  The Doctor and Ace follow it to the nova, then forward in time to the nova’s eventual consumption, then across space to a supernova in Andromeda..and forward again, in time to witness the conversion of the supernova into a black hole.  The Sentience, at last, is consumed by the black hole.
 
The Doctor prepares to take Ace back…but when she steps out of the TARDIS, she finds herself on an alien beach.  When she steps back inside, the TARDIS dematerializes…and the Doctor is nowhere to be seen.
=== Epilogue ===
Robin waits five months for Ace, but she does not return.  Eventually he moves on, to York and beyond, keeping in touch with Cooper, Vijay, and Jill as they pick up the pieces.  The telescope station is closed and later dismantled, and life in the village—such as remains—goes on.


== Characters ==
== Characters ==
* The [[Seventh Doctor]]
* [[Seventh Doctor]]
* [[Ace]]
* [[Ace]]
* [[Edmund Trevithick]]
* [[Edmund Trevithick]]
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* [[Tim Medway]]
* [[Tim Medway]]
* [[Billy Coote]]
* [[Billy Coote]]
* [[Esmé Holland]]
* [[Win Prudhoe]]
* [[Win Prudhoe]]
* [[Sentience|The Sentience]]
* [[The Sentience (Nightshade)|Susan]]
* [[Oliver Cromwell]]
* [[Oliver Cromwell]]


== References ==
== Worldbuilding ==
=== The Doctor ===
=== The Doctor ===
* The Doctor thinks of [[Susan Foreman|Susan]] almost every day now.
* The Doctor thinks of [[Susan Foreman|Susan]] almost every day now.
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=== Individuals ===
=== Individuals ===
* Ace's parents met on the dance floor of a sweaty [[nightclub]].
* Ace's parents met on the dance floor of a sweaty [[nightclub]].
* Ace decides to leave the Doctor for [[Robin Yeadon]].  
* Ace decides to leave the Doctor for [[Robin Yeadon]].
* Jack remembers trips to [[Ilkley Moor]] with Win.
* Jack remembers trips to [[Ilkley Moor]] with Win.
* Bayles began working as a [[butcher]] in [[1938]].
* Bayles began working as a [[butcher]] in [[1938]].
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* Mr [[Pemberton (Nightshade)|Pemberton]] was consumed by the Sentience.
* Mr [[Pemberton (Nightshade)|Pemberton]] was consumed by the Sentience.
* Dr [[Shearsmith]] was one of the first people to disappear.
* Dr [[Shearsmith]] was one of the first people to disappear.
* The [[Valentine Walton's son|son]] of [[Valentine Walton]] was killed in [[1644]].
* [[Sharon Tate]], wife of [[Roman Polanski]], was murdered by [[Charles Manson]] and his "family". Ace read about it in one of her [[Audrey Dudman|mother's]] True Crime books.
* [[James Reynolds]] was nicknamed [[Debbie Reynolds]]
* [[Thomas Edward Hawthorne]] once walked a hundred miles to hear [[Oswald Mosley]] speak.
* [[Peter Dimmock]] read [[football]] scores on [[Sportsview]].
* [[Tim Medway]] spent the last two Christmases alone, watching [[Alastair Sim]] on television.


=== Locations ===
=== Locations ===
* [[Marsham Castle]] was built in [[1156]].  
* [[Marsham Castle]] was built in [[1156]].
* The Doctor lands the TARDIS in an [[Planet (Nightshade)|alien planet]] with a dusky [[purple]] [[sky]] and three [[moon]]s.


=== Species ===
=== Species ===
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=== Astronomy ===
=== Astronomy ===
* The characters refer to features of space such as [[Andromeda (galaxy)|Andromeda]], [[Bellatrix]], [[black hole]]s, [[supernova]]e and [[galaxy|galaxies]].  
* The characters refer to features of space such as [[Andromeda (galaxy)|Andromeda]], [[Bellatrix]], [[black hole]]s, [[supernova]]e and [[galaxy|galaxies]].
 
=== Food and beverages ===
* The Doctor drinks either [[ginger beer]] or (less likely) [[Guinness]].


=== Television series ===
=== Television series ===
* ''[[Nightshade (series)|Nightshade]]'' was a series produced by the [[BBC (real world)|BBC]]. [[Edmund Trevithick]] starred as the titular professor from [[1953]] to [[1958]].
* ''[[Nightshade (series)|Nightshade]]'' was a [[science fiction]] series produced by the [[BBC (in-universe)|BBC]]. [[Edmund Trevithick]] starred as the [[Professor Nightshade|titular professor]] from [[1953]] to [[1958]].


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
* ''Nightshade'' was the first licensed ''Doctor Who'' fiction written by actor-writer [[Mark Gatiss]], who would write and appear in several of the independent spin-off productions before finding fame in the TV series ''The League of Gentlemen''. In the 2000s and 2010s, he would write episodes for the ''Doctor Who'' revival and play [[Richard Lazarus]] in ''[[The Lazarus Experiment]]''.
* ''Nightshade'' was the first licensed ''Doctor Who'' fiction written by actor-writer [[Mark Gatiss]], who would write and appear in several of the independent spin-off productions before finding fame in the TV series ''The League of Gentlemen''. In the 2000s and 2010s, he would write episodes for the ''Doctor Who'' revival and play [[Richard Lazarus]] in ''[[The Lazarus Experiment (TV story)|The Lazarus Experiment]],'' [[Gantok]] in ''[[The Wedding of River Song (TV story)|The Wedding of River Song]]'', and [[Archibald Hamish Lethbridge-Stewart]] in ''[[Twice Upon a Time (TV story)|Twice Upon a Time]]''.
* The novel was later re-released by BBCi on the official Doctor Who website in ebook form. It was accompanied by extensive notes and commentary from the author and new illustrations from artist [[Daryl Joyce]]. It became inaccessible in 2010.
* The novel was later re-released by BBCi on the official Doctor Who website in ebook form. It was accompanied by extensive notes and commentary from the author and new illustrations from artist [[Daryl Joyce]]. It became inaccessible in 2010.
* This novel was adapted [[Nightshade (audio story)|into audio]] by [[Big Finish]] in 2016.
* This novel was adapted [[Nightshade (audio story)|into audio]] by [[Big Finish]] in [[2016 (releases)|2016]].
* Characters named Dr Shearsmith and Mr Pemberton are mentioned (but do not appear), a possible reference to Gatiss' fellow ''The League of Gentlemen'' co-creators and co-stars [[Reece Shearsmith]] and [[Steve Pemberton]].
* Characters named Dr Shearsmith and Mr Pemberton are mentioned (but do not appear), a possible reference to Gatiss' fellow ''The League of Gentlemen'' co-creators and co-stars [[Reece Shearsmith]] and [[Steve Pemberton]].
* The character of Professor Nightshade was inspired by [[Bernard Quatermass]].
* The character of Professor Nightshade was inspired by [[Bernard Quatermass]].
* A [[Prelude Nightshade|prelude]] to this novel was published in [[DWM 190]].
* A [[Prelude Nightshade (short story)|prelude]] to this novel was published in [[DWM 190]].


== Continuity ==
== Continuity ==
* [[PROSE]]: ''[[Set Piece]]'' explains why the Doctor's shoulder area is such a tender place.
* [[PROSE]]: ''[[Set Piece (novel)|Set Piece]]'' explains why the Doctor's shoulder area is such a tender place.
* The interaction between the Doctor and Ace in this novel explains some of the events in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Love and War (novel)|Love and War]]''.
* The interaction between the Doctor and Ace in this novel explains some of the events in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Love and War (novel)|Love and War]]''.
* [[PROSE]]: ''[[Happy Endings]]'' reveals that Robin Yeadon married Ace's mother, [[Audrey Dudman]].
* [[PROSE]]: ''[[Happy Endings (novel)|Happy Endings]]'' reveals that Robin Yeadon married Ace's mother, [[Audrey Dudman]].
* This story suggests that [[Susan Foreman]] was not the Doctor's biological granddaughter. It was later confirmed in the novel [[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow]]''.
* This story suggests that [[Susan Foreman]] was not the Doctor's biological granddaughter. It was later confirmed in the novel [[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]''.
* This story takes place contemporaneously with several sequences of [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Left-Handed Hummingbird]]'' in which the Doctor and Ace likewise visit England in [[December]] [[1968]].
* This story takes place contemporaneously with several sequences of [[PROSE]]: ''[[The Left-Handed Hummingbird (novel)|The Left-Handed Hummingbird]]'' in which the Doctor and Ace likewise visit England in [[December]] [[1968]].
* The prologue gives a different account of the Doctor's departure as compared to other sources. One distinction is that Susan does not leave with him. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor]]'')
* The prologue gives a different account of the Doctor's departure as compared to other sources. One distinction is that Susan does not leave with him. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Name of the Doctor (TV story)|The Name of the Doctor]]'')


== Associated Images ==
== Images ==
The e-book version published by the BBC on their website included several illustrations by [[Daryl Joyce]]. Titles of illustrations are as they were on BBC's site.
The e-book version published by the BBC on their website included several illustrations by [[Daryl Joyce]]. Titles of illustrations are as they were on BBC's site.


<gallery position=center captionalign=center hideaddbutton="true" >
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
File:Nightshade e-book cover.jpg|E-book cover, designed to resemble the Past Doctor Adventures.
File:Nightshade Cover.jpg|Original cover
File:Vijay investigates.jpg|Vijay investigates  
File:Nightshade Textless Cover.jpg|Textless cover
File:Tertiary console room.jpg|Tertiary console room
File:Nightshade e-book cover.jpg|E-book cover, designed to resemble the ''Past Doctor Adventures''
File:Vijay investigates.jpg|Vijay investigates
File:Tertiary console room02.jpg|Tertiary console room
File:Rising from the deep.jpg|Rising from the deep
File:Rising from the deep.jpg|Rising from the deep
File:Winstanley's study.jpg|Winstanley's study
File:Winstanley's study.jpg|Winstanley's study
Line 254: Line 198:
* [http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/cloister/nights.htm The Cloister Library: '''Nightshade''']
* [http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/cloister/nights.htm The Cloister Library: '''Nightshade''']
* [http://www.oocities.com/rico.briggs/tsha.html Bewildering References Guide to '''Nightshade''']
* [http://www.oocities.com/rico.briggs/tsha.html Bewildering References Guide to '''Nightshade''']
* [http://www.drwhoguide.com/whona08p.htm Prelude to '''Nightshade''' as published in DWM #190]
* [https://doctorwho.guide/whona08p.htm Prelude to '''Nightshade''' as published in DWM #190]


{{NA}}
{{NA}}
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[[Category:NA novels]]
[[Category:NA novels]]
[[Category:1992 novels]]
[[Category:1992 novels]]
[[Category:Stories set on Gallifrey]]
[[Category:Novels set on Gallifrey]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1644]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1644]]
[[Category:Pseudo-historical stories]]
[[Category:First Doctor novels]]
[[Category:First Doctor novels]]
[[Category:Multi-Doctor novels]]
[[Category:Multi-Doctor novels]]
[[Category:Ace novels]]

Latest revision as of 20:18, 3 November 2024

RealWorld.png

You may wish to consult Nightshade for other, similarly-named pages.

Written by Mark Gatiss, Nightshade is the eighth instalment in the series of Virgin Publishing's Doctor Who paperback novels. A New Adventure, it features the Seventh Doctor and Ace.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

"I have done enough!"

Ace has never known the Doctor so withdrawn and melancholic. He is avoiding her company, seeking solace in the forgotten rooms and labyrinthine passages of his ancient time machine.

Perhaps he will find the peace he yearns for on his favourite planet, Earth, in the second half of the twentieth century — in the isolated village of Crook Marsham, to be precise, in 1968, the year of peace, love and understanding.

But one by one the villagers are being killed. The Doctor has to act, but for once he seems helpless, indecisive, powerless.

What are the signals from space that are bombarding the radio telescope on the moor? What is the significance of the local legends from the Civil War? And what is the aeons-old power that the Doctor is unable to resist?

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

In a prologue, the First Doctor steals a TARDIS and runs away from Gallifrey.

In the small Yorkshire village of Crook Marsham, close to Christmas 1968, Jack Prudhoe is lured into the moors by a vision of his wife, Win, as she appeared when she was younger and dies mysteriously.

Edmund Trevithick, the aging former star of BBC serial Nightshade, watches an old episode of his show in his old folks' home. Jill Mason, his nurse, informs him that the BBC will be visiting to interview him. That night, Trevithick sees one of the creatures from Nightshade break his window.

The staff of Crook Marsham's new telescope, including young couple Vijay Degun and Holly Kidd, stern and racist professor Thomas Hawthorne, and Dr Christine Cooper, are disturbed by a massive influx of strange readings coming from Bellatrix.

Billy Coote, a homeless man on the streets of Crook Marsham, sees the TARDIS materialize.

In the TARDIS, the Seventh Doctor takes Ace to the tertiary control room. Ace is worried about how moody the Doctor has been acting recently. In the control room, she finds Susan's old Coal Hill School uniform and tries it on, provoking anger from the Doctor.

Betty Yeadon wakes up from a nightmare in which her brother, Alfred, dies in World War II. Her husband, Lawrence, tries to comfort her, and she busies herself by doing her stepson Robin's laundry. She encounters a vision Alfred's ghost in the water when she does. Lawrence, concerned and unable to find the village doctor, sends Robin to retrieve Jill from the retirement home.

The Doctor and Ace arrive in Crook Marsham and encounter Robin, who directs them to a café for breakfast. At the café, the Doctor confesses that he is considering retiring from travel. He tells Ace that he needs time alone to think, and leaves her to go to the village's monastery. Vijay enters the café asking to use the phone, as the phones at the telescope are not functioning, but it seems that all phones in the village are down. Ace sneaks into Vijay's Land Rover to go to the telescope.

George Lowcock and the rest of the local police force arrive at the retirement home to investigate Threvithick's broken window. They find no other trace of the culprit. Lowcock recognizes Trevithick from Nightshade. Jill discusses how every resident of the home except Trevithick will be leaving for Christmas. Robin arrives and brings Jill and Trevithick to the village pub.

After returning to work, Cooper relieves Vijay of duty, and he goes to join Holly in his quarters. Ace, while snooping around the telescope grounds, encounters the telescope security guard's corpse, which then disappears in a flash of light. She goes into the observatory to inform the staff.

At the monastery, the Doctor meets Abbot Mervyn Winstanley, who gives him food, company, and records on the local history. In 1644, Oliver Cromwell's forces took Marsham Castle, where a soldier was burnt up in a supernatural burst of light after seeing his dead family. The castle was destroyed soon after. Winstanley tells the Doctor that the site of the castle is where the telescope now is.

Arriving at the pub, where he had agreed to meet back up with Ace, the Doctor is pushed into helping Betty once the locals hear that he is a doctor. He gives her smelling salts and discusses her nightmares with Robin, then heads to the telescope to find Ace. Lawrence and George leave to find help from another town. Robin, intrigued by Ace, follows the Doctor.

As Hawthorne and Cooper interrogate Ace, believing little of what she says, another spike of odd readings comes through the telescope. They send Ace to retrieve Vijay and Holly; she interrupts the two of them naked in Vijay's quarters. Vijay gets dressed and comes to the control room, but Holly does not. The Doctor and Robin arrive having encountered Jack Prudhoe's corpse.

Betty sees Alfred again, and this time is killed by him. Trevithick, while reminiscing about his last day of filming, again encounters the creatures from Nightshade. Win Prudhoe is also a victim of this night's attacks. Billy Coote, who has been experiencing headaches and visions, goes to the monastery.

Holly, half-asleep, encounters her dead fiancé, James. She is almost taken in by the vision, but is interrupted by Vijay, who sees James as nothing but a cloud of smoke. Ace and Robin watch TV together, having been given the telescope's TV room to sleep in.

Lawrence and George return having not made it far out of the village. As soon as they left, they began to experience strong nausea, so much so that they could not continue driving. Lawrence finds Betty dead in their bed.

Tim Medway, the reporter from the BBC sent to interview Trevithick, enters the village while reminiscing about Christmas as a child. On the way in, he encounters the crashed coach bus containing Jill and many of her charges from the home. The driver, afflicted by the same illness George and Lawrence experienced, died in the crash. Medway drives the survivors to the monastery.

Robin returns home to check on Betty. Lawrence blames him for her death.

Ace and the Doctor go to the monastery, where they find that the site of the telescope was also site to a now-abandoned quarry. After Jill and her charges arrive, the Doctor returns to the telescope. The Doctor suggests the history of the site and the mysterious readings might be related, and Hawthorne reacts disbelievingly and aggressively, culminating in him calling Vijay a slur and nearly resorting to violence. He returns to his quarters, where he encounters a tar baby and dies just as another surge of readings begins.

Medway reports the bus accident to the local police, who are inundated with various missing person reports. He then goes to the pub to talk to Trevithick.

The retirement home residents gathered at the monastery, indulging in nostalgia, break into song. Ace and Jill watch all of them encounter visions from their past and burst into columns of light. Jill runs out of the monastery, while Ace runs up a stairwell. Robin arrives, and Ace brings him up with her. Winstanley enters the main hall of the monastery, where he sees the scene and believes it to be Jesus Christ. The vision tells him that he is forgiven, and he dies.

Trevithick tells Medway that he has been seeing the creatures from Nightshade. They go to the telescope, where the influx of readings causes the power to short out. Medway, disturbed by everything he has encountered, attempts to leave town and crashes his car. Vijay, Holly, and Trevithick theorize that they are being attacked by things they are nostalgic for or have strong memories and emotions of. The Nightshade creatures attack the telescope, forcing the three to split up.

The Doctor returns to the monastery. The Doctor tells Jill to gather all the survivors in the village somewhere safe. He encounters a vision of Susan, which he is able to resist after some temptation. Ace and Robin are hiding out in the stairwell. Ace confesses to Robin that she is a time traveller. They enter the attic, where they find a possessed Billy Coote; they then climb up to the roof.

A vision of Betty kills Lawrence.

Vijay and Holly find the abandoned quarry. Trevithick finds a mass of glowing light beneath the telescope.

The Doctor encounters Coote in the attic and attempts to communicate with the Sentience possessing him, but it only says that it "needs." Ace, hearing the Doctor, attempts to help by detonating nitro-nine. The Sentience consumes the energy generated by the blast, and Robin, the Doctor, and Ace escape the collapsing monastery and return to the telescope.

The Doctor, Ace, Robin, Vijay, Holly, Trevithick, and Cooper reunite at the telescope, where the Doctor explains that the Sentience is a very old power consuming the life force of the townsfolk using their nostalgia as bait. It also is responsible for the effect that prevents people from leaving. The Doctor, Vijay, Holly, and Trevithick go down to the quarry to attempt to communicate again with the Sentience. The Sentience kills Holly, and Trevithick sacrifices himself so Vijay and the Doctor can escape.

The town gathers in the church, where visions of dead soldiers appear, many of which wearing gas masks. George takes the mask off of one, revealing a perfectly blank face.

Ace purposefully summons a vision of her mother, then banishes it by refusing to believe in it or care about it. Inspired by this, the Doctor summons a "Susan" to communicate to the Sentience with. He directs it towards the supernova that the telescope had been monitoring, where it will be able to feast on energy to its heart's content. It willingly leaves.

Ace tells the Doctor that she'd like to stay with Robin. He says he'd like to show her one thing first, and she agrees; they go in the TARDIS to the same place in 1644, when the supernova first formed. They find that the Sentience has been trapped in a black hole after feeding off of it. Ace then asks to return to 1968, to which the Doctor doesn't respond.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Doctor thinks of Susan almost every day now.
  • The Doctor's departure from Gallifrey was observed.

Individuals[[edit] | [edit source]]

Locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Species[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Sentience absorbs the energy from Ace's Nitro-9.

Astronomy[[edit] | [edit source]]

Food and beverages[[edit] | [edit source]]

Television series[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Images[[edit] | [edit source]]

The e-book version published by the BBC on their website included several illustrations by Daryl Joyce. Titles of illustrations are as they were on BBC's site.

  • Original cover

    Original cover

  • Textless cover

    Textless cover

  • E-book cover, designed to resemble the Past Doctor Adventures

    E-book cover, designed to resemble the Past Doctor Adventures

  • Vijay investigates

    Vijay investigates

  • Tertiary console room

    Tertiary console room

  • Rising from the deep

    Rising from the deep

  • Winstanley's study

    Winstanley's study

  • Escape from danger

    Escape from danger

  • Medway in York

    Medway in York

  • The tar baby

    The tar baby

  • Attacked!

    Attacked!

  • Billy

    Billy

  • Beyond the grave

    Beyond the grave

  • Susan

    Susan

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

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1997
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