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{{Infobox Novel|
{{title dab away}}
novel name= Timewyrm: Apocalypse|
{{real world}}
image= [[Image:NA003_apocalypse.jpg|250px]]|
{{Infobox Story SMW
series=[[Doctor Who]] -<br/>[[Virgin New Adventures]] |
|image           = NA003 apocalypse.jpg
number= 3 |
|series         = [[Virgin New Adventures]]
doctor=[[Seventh Doctor]] |
|range          = Virgin New Adventures
companions= [[Ace]] |
|number in range = 3
enemy= the [[Timewyrm]] |
|number          = 3
year= [[Kirith]], (far, far future) |
|doctor         = Seventh Doctor
writer= [[Nigel Robinson]] |
|companions     = [[Ace]]
publisher= [[Virgin Books]] |
|featuring      = Second Doctor
release date= October, 1991 |
|featuring2      = Polly Wright
format= Paperback Book, 201 Pages |
|featuring3      = Ben Jackson
isbn= ISBN 0426203593 |
|featuring4      = Jamie McCrimmon
previous story= [[Timewyrm: Exodus]] |
|featuring5      = Victoria Waterfield
next story= [[Timewyrm: Revelation]]}}
|enemy           = [[Timewyrm]]
|setting        = [[Kirith]], [[far future]]
|writer          = Nigel Robinson
|cover          = [[Andrew Skilleter]]
|publisher       = Virgin Books
|release date   = 17 October 1991
|format         = Paperback Book; 23 Chapters, 201 Pages
|isbn           = ISBN 0-426-20359-3
|prev            = Timewyrm: Exodus (novel)
|next           = Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)
}}
'''''Timewyrm: Apocalypse''''' is the third book in the [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]] series. It was written by [[Nigel Robinson]]. It is the third book in the Timewyrm story arc, and features the [[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Ace]].


==Publisher's Summary==
== Publisher's summary ==
'''The end of the Universe. The end of everything.'''
''The end of the universe. The end of everything.''


The TARDIS has tracked the Timewyrm to the edge of the Universe and the end of time -- to the lush planet Kirith, a paradise inhabited by a physically perfect race.
[[The Doctor's TARDIS|The TARDIS]] has tracked the [[Timewyrm]] to the edge of the Universe and the end of time — to the lush planet [[Kirith]], a paradise inhabited by a physically perfect race.


Ace is not impressed. Kirith has all the appeal of a wet weekend in Margate, and its inhabitants look like third-rate Aussie soap stars.
Ace is not impressed. Kirith has all the appeal of a wet weekend in [[Margate]], and its inhabitants look like third-rate Aussie soap stars.


The Doctor is troubled, too: If the Timewyrm is here, why can’t he find her? Why have the elite [[Panjistri]] lied consistently to the Kirithons they govern? And is it possible that the catastrophe that he feels impending is the result of his own past actions?
[[Seventh Doctor|The Doctor]] is troubled, too: If the Timewyrm is here, why can't he find her? Why have the elite [[Panjistri]] lied consistently to the [[Kirithon]]s they govern? And is it possible that the catastrophe that he feels impending is the result of his own past actions?


==Plot==
== Plot ==
The [[Seventh Doctor]] is having flashbacks to his [[second incarnation]]. Certain that they mean something, he nevertheless can't figure it out. He allows the TARDIS to guide their flight, and it takes the Doctor and Ace to a planet called [[Kirith]], billions of years in the future, near the end of the universe. The Kirithons are a visibly perfect race, excelling in physical grace and mental prowess—but they are handicapped by their dependence on another race, called the [[Panjistri]], who for thousands of years have been their benefactors, providing everything they need. The Doctor and Ace meet an injured young Kirithon named [[Raphael]], and help him back to the nearby town, where they are received as guests. However, the next morning, Raphael's injuries are gone without a trace.


The town is led by the Procurator [[Huldah]], with his personal assistant, [[Revna]], who is of Raphael's generation and secretly loves him. Within the town is the seminary, an institution of learning led by Miril, who is Raphael's mentor and surrogate parent. Miril tells the Doctor about the Panjistri and the planet's history; but he doesn't remember his own childhood, or his parents. Something doesn't add up; there was allegedly once a nuclear war, but there is no fallout, no radiation. The Doctor concludes, ultimately, that the Panjistri are deceiving the Kirithons, and tampering with their memories—but, why? What are they hiding? Meanwhile, the Panjistri's leader, the [[Grand Matriarch]], is watching the Doctor's actions, with her servant [[Fetch (Timewyrm: Apocalypse)|Fetch]]—but even Fetch can see that something is wrong with the Matriarch, and her personality is changing.


In pursuit of the Timewyrm, the TARDIS brings the Doctor and Ace to the planet Kirith, billions of years in the future. A young man named Raphael, disturbed by recurring memories of a friend he has never known, has left the shelter of his home to be alone with his thoughts, but a storm is raging outside, and he loses his footing and falls into the sea. The Doctor and Ace rescue him and return him to Kirith town, where his teachers, Tanyel and Miríl, thank them for their help and show them to the seminary’s guest quarters. Tanyel, however, realises that despite the standing orders of the Panjistri, Miríl intends to question the strangers and learn as much as he can from them before, like all other visitors to this planet, they are taken to join the Brotherhood of Kandasi -- and are never heard from again. Meanwhile, the Doctor finds himself troubled by odd flashbacks to his second incarnation, particularly a memory from just after his first regeneration, of a brief meeting with an innocent young girl in an alien marketplace.
Ace becomes close with Raphael, and persuades him to help her investigate. They check out the Harbours of the Chosen, the facility where the Panjistri make landfall when they come from their island fortress, Kandasi. They find it to be a lab where genetic and biological experiments are conducted; and they find the Homunculus, a horribly misshapen hybrid creature in an experimental fluid tank. They are caught by the Panjistri [[Reptu]], the liaison between the Panjistri and the Kirithons, who says the Homunculus is the potential salvation of everyone. As they flee, Ace gives Raphael her backpack, which has canisters of Nitro-9 explosive; they split up. Raphael returns to the city and reports to Revna, only to find out that she is the one who told Reptu where to find them; he locates the Doctor and Miril, only to be betrayed again. All three of them are captured, and taken to the Harbours. Ace flees to a forbidden area called the Darkfell, where she meets a group of Kirithons called the Unlike, who have all been twisted through experimentation. They explain that the food the Kirithons eat, called ''zavat'', is the processed remains of their own dead, and is formulated to make them susceptible to memory manipulation. This is why they don't remember their true past, and why they have forgotten the many loved ones who were taken for experimentation. They also reveal that the Doctor has been captured; they agree to help her save him if he will in turn heal them and their home.


The next day, while Ace visits Raphael to see how he’s doing, the Doctor visits Miríl to learn more about the Kirithon. Some centuries ago, a race called the Panjistri landed on Kirith and uplifted the savage natives into a civilisation of peace and enlightenment -- or so they claim. In fact, the Doctor notes several inconsistencies in the official history, and when pressed, Miríl realises that he can’t remember any details about his own childhood. According to the Panjistri, Kirith was once home to another species which destroyed itself in a nuclear war, but when Miríl shows the Doctor the ancient ruins, the Doctor finds that they are mere centuries old and show no signs of radioactive fallout. For some reason, the Panjistri have consistently lied to their charges -- but for what reason? As the Doctor ponders his discoveries, his every move is being observed by the Grand Matriarch of the Panjistri, who believes his arrival signifies an end to the centuries of waiting she has endured. Her genetically engineered Companion, Fetch, becomes concerned when his beloved mistress’ entire personality seems to change; as the Omega Point approaches, she is becoming colder and more obsessive, and she insists that Ace be brought to her immediately…
At the Harbours, Raphael attacks Reptu, showing the first aggression any Kirithon has ever shown toward the Panjistri. He fails, however, and the Doctor is taken to Kandasi and abandoned on a hillside. He makes his way toward what is ostensibly the Panjistri fortress, outwitting traps along the way, as the Grand Matriarch watches. En route, he has another vision of his second incarnation, in which he met a little girl named Lilith in an alien marketplace. Meanwhile, Raphael uses Ace's Nitro-9 to escape the Harbours; he and Miril meet up with Ace and the Unlike. The Unlike want to destroy the Homunculus before they pursue the Doctor; while they argue, it feeds on their anger, and breaks free, forcing Raphael to kill it to save Ace. They return to the seminary, and with the Unlike, they recruit the staff to form a resistance movement. They manage to shut down the power in the city, and the food supply; in addition to causing unrest against the Panjistri, the lack of Zavat will cause some people to regain their suppressed memories. Revna takes advantage of the situation to undermine Huldah; and when the Panjistri inevitably come to suppress the uprising and restore services, Huldah is executed, and Revna is made Procurator. The rebels are forced to flee into the Darkfell.


Raphael tells his story to Lord Procurator Huldah, who orders him to avoid the strangers and not to mention his peculiar memories to anyone else. As soon as Raphael departs, Huldah contacts the Panjistri, claiming that he has found another candidate for the Brotherhood. Raphael’s friend Revna also advises him to avoid the strangers, as they will only lead him into trouble, but Raphael is nevertheless drawn to Ace’s spirit and sense of adventure, and can’t see the harm in talking with her. He eventually tells her about his memories of a friend named Darien who seems never to have existed, and Ace decides to learn the truth. She convinces him to break into the Harbours where the Panjistri dock on the mainland after crossing from their island home of Kandasi -- but Revna, who has secretly been in love with Raphael for hears, has overheard their entire conversation. Jealous, she calls Huldah to warn him that Ace is leading Raphael into danger.
Ace and her friends take a Panjistri boat and set out for Kandasi; along the way, Miril is killed by a genetically-modified sea monster. On Kandasi, they reconnect with the Doctor, but find that the stronghold is empty; it contains only a transmat unit. The unit takes them to a huge space station near the planet, which the Kirithons have always believed to be a second moon—it is the true Kandasi. Here the Doctor reveals what he has learned: The Kirithons were created here, and never actually evolved. However, the station attempts to eject them as intruders; and though it is overridden by the Panjistri, Ace vanishes in the confusion. Reptu informs them that she has been taken to the Grand Matriarch. She will die, but in so doing, she will complete the Grand Matriarch's long plan to save the universe from its inevitable death. The Panjistri for millennia have accumulated the best and brightest of many sentient races, and combined their talents and experiences into a massive machine, the [[God Machine]], which will have the power to manipulate reality—and the wisdom to pull it off. Only one thing remains to be added—aggression. The Homunculus was to have provided this, but without it, Ace will substitute, as she is from Earth, a world known to have been warlike.


Ace uses her nitro-nine to break into the Harbours, where she and Raphael find a laboratory in which the Panjistri have been conducting genetic experiments -- and have bred a Homunculus full of pain and rage. The Panjistri Reptu confronts them, and claims that the Homunculus will be the salvation of them all, but he refuses to explain further and sets his Companions on them when they try to flee. Ace gives Raphael her rucksack, telling him to warn the Doctor while she leads the pursuing Companions away from him towards the poisonous Darkfell. Raphael gets back to the city and tells his story to Revna, but she does not believe him, and when she warns him to stay away from Ace he realises that it was she who betrayed them. Furious, he storms out on her, and, realising that he will never love her, Revna informs Huldah that Raphael has returned and is seeking the Doctor. Raphael finds the Doctor and Miríl in the seminary and tells them what has happened, but before they can do anything they are captured by the Companions.
The Doctor knows it will not work—all things, even the universe, have their time. But it's worse than that; for the Doctor himself has doomed it to failure. He explains that, after his [[Timewyrm: Exodus (novel)|last victory]] over the [[Timewyrm]], it hid in the one place he would never have expected: His own past. It entered his mind immediately after his first regeneration, when he was weak; and on an alien world, it passed into the mind of a young, impressionable girl named Lilith, whose telepathic powers were overwhelming. Now, five thousand years later, Lilith is the Grand Matriarch of the Panjistri—and her victory will give the Timewyrm power over the God Machine and all creation.


Ace loses her pursuers in the Darkfell, where she is contacted by a community of genetically mutilated Kirithon called the Unlike. These are the rejects of the Panjistri’s experiments; their leader, Arun, used to serve the Panjistri until she learned the extent of their deceit and corruption, at which point she became a subject of the experiments she had aided. Arun informs Ace that the miracle food zavát which has eliminated hunger on Kirith is in fact the processed remains of the Kirithons’ own dead -- and that consumption of it lowers the mind’s resistance to telepathic control, enabling the Panjistri to erase the Kirithon’s memories of those who have been taken as subjects for their experiments. Arun learns that the Doctor has been captured and taken to the Harbours, and agrees to help Ace rescue him if Ace in turn promises that the Doctor will help to reclaim the Darkfell, which was poisoned by the Panjistri in an attempt to wipe out the Unlike.
Lilith has started to shut down the station, and it will soon fall apart; but in the meantime, she has blocked access to her chamber. The Doctor and Fetch, Lilith's now-abandoned servant, make their way across the hull to Lilith's chamber, and break in; meanwhile, Raphael hears a voice, of a long lost friend…he makes his way through hidden passages to the vast chamber where the God Machine waits. Unknown to anyone, he merges with the machine, giving up his own life willingly…


The Doctor, Raphael and Miríl are taken to the Harbours, where Raphael attacks Reptu in anger; he is easily knocked aside, but this still marks the first time a Kirithon has shown aggression towards a Panjistri. The Doctor is taken to Kandasi, where he is abandoned on a hillside and left to make his own way towards the Panjistri’s home, the Skete. The Grand Matriarch and Fetch observe his progress and place obstacles in his path to test him, but the Doctor uses his wits to avoid their traps -- and when he is attacked by violent clones of Ace, Miríl and Raphael, he refuses to give in to his aggressive impulses and kill them. The disappointed Grand Matriarch disposes of the clones, allowing the Doctor to live until the time comes for him to repay her for five thousand years of suffering. Meanwhile, as the Doctor ponders what the Panjistri could do over centuries if they can grow a clone of Ace in just a few days, he experiences a vision of his second incarnation -- a representation of his own buried memories, which are reaching out to his conscious mind through the TARDIS telepathic circuits. The Second Doctor has a reminder for his future self -- a memory of his encounter with young Lilith in the alien marketplace, and of what he unwittingly did to her…
The Doctor confronts Lilith, who promptly kills Fetch. Fully in the thrall of the Timewyrm, she gloats over the Doctor as she prepares to add Ace to the God Machine…but it's too late. Raphael, having learned independence and aggression from Ace, has given the Machine what it needed, and now its power is absolute. It expels the Timewyrm from Lilith's body, and regresses her to innocence before she dies. It returns the Panjistri to Kirith, along with the Doctor and Ace; the Panjistri will be forced to live alongside their creations. Then the station explodes; even the God Machine acknowledges that its power is too much.


Raphael finds some nitro-nine canisters in Ace’s rucksack, and uses them to blow open the cell door. In the ensuing confusion he and Miríl are reunited with Ace and the Unlike, and tell them that the Doctor has already been taken to Kandasi; they must find some way of crossing to the island without alerting the Panjistri. Before leaving the Harbours, Arun tries to destroy the Homunculus, but Raphael protests, insisting that it cannot help what the Panjistri have created it to be. As they argue, the Homunculus breaks free of its restraints, and to his shame, Raphael is forced to kill it to save Ace’s life. Ace and her friends return to the seminary, where Tanyel refuses to believe their claims about the Panjistri -- until one of the Unlike presents himself to her and she recognises Kraz, her lover, whose existence she had forgotten. Realising that everything they have said is true, Tanyel organises the teachers into a resistance cell and helps Ace to access the computers which control the city’s essential services. Ace shuts them all down, depriving the city of power and food -- and as the citizens march upon Huldah’s office to demand an explanation, the lack of zavát causes the memories of their lost loved ones to return. As Huldah struggles to deal with the unprecedented situation, Revna deliberately withholds vital information from him to make it appear that he cannot handle his duties. The Panjistri are thus forced to quell the rebellion themselves, and Ace, Raphael, Miríl and Arun are able to steal one of their transports in the confusion and cross to Kandasi unnoticed. The Panjistri put down the uprising with a brutal display of force, reinstall the computer systems, kill Huldah for his incompetence and promote Revna in his place. Tanyel, Kraz and the surviving rebels flee into the Darkfell to carry on the fight.
However, when the Doctor and Ace return to the TARDIS, they see that it is still reading the Timewyrm's existence. Ace remembers that Raphael was horrified at killing the Homunculus, and realises that the God Machine did not actually kill the Timewyrm, simply banished it. The hunt is [[Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)|not yet over]].


Ace and her friends are attacked by a genetically augmented sea monster on their way to Kandasi, and to Raphael’s horror Miríl is swept overboard and killed. The survivors reach Kandasi and are reunited with the Doctor, but when they finally reach the Skete they find the village to be deserted. In the middle of the village is a large, empty hangar, which the Doctor identifies as the terminal of a powerful transmat unit -- and when activated, it transports them all to the planet’s supposed moon, in fact a space station where the Panjistri are conducting the greatest experiment of them all. The Kirithon did not evolve as natives of Kirith, but were created here, in the laboratories of the Panjistri. Before the Doctor and his friends can confront the Panjistri, however, the station attempts to eject them into space, and in the confusion Ace is separated from the others. Reptu rescues the others, but will not reunite them with Ace, who has been taken to the Grand Matriarch to fulfill her role in the Panjistri’s grand design -- and die in order to save the Universe.
== Characters ==
* [[Seventh Doctor]]
* [[Ace]]
* [[Timewyrm]]
* The [[Grand Matriarch]]
* [[Arun]]
* [[Darien]]
* [[Fetch (Timewyrm: Apocalypse)|Fetch]]
* [[Huldah]]
* [[Kraz]]
* [[Miríl]]
* [[Raphael (Timewyrm: Apocalypse)|Raphael]]
* [[Reptu]]
* [[Revna]]
* [[Tanyel]]
* [[Second Doctor]]


For millennia, the Panjistri have collected specimens from all the species of the Universe, and have distilled them into one physically and mentally perfect race -- and from this species they have further selected the best and brightest, and combined them into a single gestalt organism which is now near completion. The Homunculus was created to supply the gestalt with the rage and aggression which had been bred out of the Kirithon, but now that it is no more, Ace will have to take its place -- and once she is absorbed into the gestalt, it will reach the Omega Point of total experience, and become a god with the power to avert the oncoming Big Crunch and prevent the end of the Universe. But as the Doctor knows, everything must pass on eventually to make way for something new, and the Universe is no exception -- and in any case the experiment is already doomed, thanks to his own unthinking actions in the past. When he last fought the Timewyrm he left it in a weakened state, in which it could be easily defeated -- and it thus broke the laws of Time and travelled into the Doctor’s past, before their “first” meeting, to shelter in his mind while he was still disoriented by his first regeneration. Without realising what he was doing, the Second Doctor passed on the infection to the innocent young telepath Lilith -- who has since grown up to become the Grand Matriarch of the Panjistri. Once the God Machine is complete, the Timewyrm will achieve total control over all time and space…
== Worldbuilding ==
=== The Doctor ===
* The Second Doctor has in his pockets a pair of [[conker]]s, a [[yo-yo]], a bag of glass [[Marble (toy)|marbles]], an old [[banana]] skin and a needle and thread.
* The [[Second Doctor]] sends his seventh self a warning about the Timewyrm.
* The Doctor has met [[Pope]] Clement and [[Alexander the Great]]. He lent his ticket to the [[British Museum]] to Marx.
* The Doctor has visited prehistoric [[Africa]].
* The Grand Matriarch states that the Doctor is "not only a [[Time Lord]]".


Reptu doesn’t believe the Doctor’s claims until Kandasi suddenly shuts itself down -- the Grand Matriarch no longer requires the Panjistri’s services. As the panic-stricken Panjistri struggle to maintain the failing systems, Raphael is lured away by a distant fluting sound which reminds him of his friend Darien. Fetch arrives in a state of shock; his beloved mistress has dismissed him from her service and sealed herself and Ace behind a force field in her quarters, where she is torturing Ace to break down her resistance before adding her to the gestalt. The Doctor and Fetch spacewalk around the exterior of Kandasi and break into the Matriarch’s quarters, but they are unable to resist her telekinetic powers, and she callously kills Fetch for his betrayal and forces the Doctor to watch as she prepares to add Ace to the gestalt. But she has left it too late -- for the gestalt has summoned Raphael to itself, and his experiences with Ace have given him the qualities it requires to reach Omega Point. Raphael gives himself up to the gestalt, which achieves apotheosis. As the Doctor and Ace watch, the new God Machine expels the Timewyrm from the Matriarch’s body and regresses her to her youth, allowing her to die as the innocent she was before she met the Doctor.
=== Energy and radiation ===
 
* The planet Kirith has high levels of [[artron energy]].
The God Machine banishes the Panjistri from Kandasi and destroys the station; from now on they will be forced to live alongside the Kirithon and use their knowledge to atone for the crimes they have committed against their creations. The God Machine then sets off to explore what’s left of the Universe, and the Doctor and Ace depart, satisfied that the Universe’s last days are in good hands. But as they go, they see that the time path indicator is still active, and too late, Ace recalls Raphael’s horror when he was forced to kill the Homunculus. He did not kill the Timewyrm, merely banished it -- and it’s still out there somewhere, waiting to strike again.
 
==Characters==
*[[Seventh Doctor |The Doctor]]
 
*[[Ace]]
 
*[[Timewyrm]]
 
*The [[Grand Matriarch]]
:*States that the Doctor is "not only a Time Lord".
:*Is 'possesed' by the Timewyrm.
 
*[[Arun]]


*[[Fetch (Timewyrm: Apocalypse)|Fetch]]
=== Technology ===
* Raphael uses a [[delta wave augmenter]].
* The Panjistri are trying to build a [[God Machine]] to prevent the [[end of the universe]].


*[[Huldah]]
=== Food and beverages ===
 
* The Doctor drinks spiced [[wine]] on Kirith.
*[[Miríl]]
 
*[[Raphael]]
 
*[[Reptu]]
 
*[[Revna]]
 
*[[Tanyel]]
 
==References==
* The [[Second Doctor]] sent his seventh self a warning about the Timewyrm.
 
* The planet Kirith has high levels of [[artron energy]].


==Notes==
== Notes ==
* This is the third novel in the Timewyrm tetralogy.
* This is the third novel in the Timewyrm tetralogy.
* In this novel are several flashbacks to the [[Second Doctor]] era.
* This is the only novel in the Timewyrm tetralogy not to share its name with a book of the [[Bible|Christian Bible]].
** However, "Apocalypse" is another name used for the Book of Revelation. This would effectively mean this story has the same namesake as [[Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)|its direct sequel]].
* The prologue is a brief summary of the events of the television story ''[[Logopolis (TV story)|Logopolis]]''.


==Continuity==
== Continuity ==
* Other stories set at distant points in the future include: [[DW]]: ''[[Frontios (TV story)|Frontios]]'', ''[[Utopia (TV story)|Utopia]]'' and [[EDA]]: ''[[Hope]] ''and the story [[of the City of the Saved...]]
* The [[Rill]]s are mentioned. ([[TV]]: ''[[Galaxy 4 (TV story)|Galaxy 4]]'')
* Ace mentions that she thought she saw [[Lynx (Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)|an animal]] in the TARDIS. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible (novel)|Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible]]'')
* The Second Doctor recalls [[Dalek]]s, ([[TV]]: ''[[The Power of the Daleks (TV story)|The Power of the Daleks]]'') [[Cyberman|Cybermen]], ([[TV]]: ''[[The Tenth Planet (TV story)|The Tenth Planet]]'') and smugglers ([[TV]]: ''[[The Smugglers (TV story)|The Smugglers]]'') when remembering his travels with [[Ben Jackson|Ben]] and [[Polly Wright|Polly]].
* The Doctor compares the retroactive surgery to the [[Alzarian]] healing factor. ([[TV]]: ''[[Full Circle (TV story)|Full Circle]]'')
* The Doctor saved two plays by [[Aristophanes]] from burning in the [[library of Alexandria]], he sponsors Aristophanes and meets him in his current incarnation. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Mask of Tragedy (audio story)|Mask of Tragedy]], [[The Library of Alexandria (audio story)|The Library of Alexandria]]'')
* While resisting the urge to fight back against feral clones of Ace, Raphael, and Miríl, the Doctor proclaims that he will not revert to being a savage again. ([[TV]]: ''[[Survival (TV story)|Survival]]'')


==External Links==
== Cover gallery ==
*{{dwrefguide|who_na03.htm|Timewyrm: Apocalypse}}
<gallery position="center" captionalign="center" hideaddbutton="true">
*{{whoniverse|NA03.php|Timewyrm: Apocalypse}}
File:NA003 apocalypse.jpg|Original cover
*[http://web.archive.org/web/20030213071752/www.geocities.com/rico.briggs/aplp.html Bewildering Reference Guide to '''Timewyrm: Apocalypse'''] via [http://www.archive.org/web/web.php Internet Archive: Wayback Machine]
File:NA003 apocalypse textless cover.jpg|Textless cover
</gallery>


{{Virgin New Adventure Series Box | before = [[Timewyrm: Exodus]] | after = [[Timewyrm: Revelation]]}}
== External links ==
{{dwrefguide|who_na03.htm|Timewyrm: Apocalypse}}
* {{whoniverse|na03|Timewyrm: Apocalypse}}
* [http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/cloister/timeapoc.htm The Cloister Library: '''Timewyrm: Apocalypse''']
* [http://www.oocities.com/rico.briggs/aplp.html Bewildering Reference Guide to '''Timewyrm: Apocalypse''']


{{NA}}
{{TitleSort}}


{{prose stub}}
[[Category:Seventh Doctor novels]]
[[Category:Seventh Doctor novels]]
[[Category:Virgin New Adventure Novels]]
[[Category:NA novels]]
[[Category:1991 novels]]
[[Category:1991 novels]]
[[Category:Timewyrm arc]]
[[Category:Stories set in the far future]]
[[Category:Far future stories]]
[[Category:Second Doctor novels]]
[[Category:Multi-Doctor novels]]

Latest revision as of 23:22, 13 December 2023

RealWorld.png

Timewyrm: Apocalypse is the third book in the New Adventures series. It was written by Nigel Robinson. It is the third book in the Timewyrm story arc, and features the Seventh Doctor and Ace.

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

The end of the universe. The end of everything.

The TARDIS has tracked the Timewyrm to the edge of the Universe and the end of time — to the lush planet Kirith, a paradise inhabited by a physically perfect race.

Ace is not impressed. Kirith has all the appeal of a wet weekend in Margate, and its inhabitants look like third-rate Aussie soap stars.

The Doctor is troubled, too: If the Timewyrm is here, why can't he find her? Why have the elite Panjistri lied consistently to the Kirithons they govern? And is it possible that the catastrophe that he feels impending is the result of his own past actions?

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Seventh Doctor is having flashbacks to his second incarnation. Certain that they mean something, he nevertheless can't figure it out. He allows the TARDIS to guide their flight, and it takes the Doctor and Ace to a planet called Kirith, billions of years in the future, near the end of the universe. The Kirithons are a visibly perfect race, excelling in physical grace and mental prowess—but they are handicapped by their dependence on another race, called the Panjistri, who for thousands of years have been their benefactors, providing everything they need. The Doctor and Ace meet an injured young Kirithon named Raphael, and help him back to the nearby town, where they are received as guests. However, the next morning, Raphael's injuries are gone without a trace.

The town is led by the Procurator Huldah, with his personal assistant, Revna, who is of Raphael's generation and secretly loves him. Within the town is the seminary, an institution of learning led by Miril, who is Raphael's mentor and surrogate parent. Miril tells the Doctor about the Panjistri and the planet's history; but he doesn't remember his own childhood, or his parents. Something doesn't add up; there was allegedly once a nuclear war, but there is no fallout, no radiation. The Doctor concludes, ultimately, that the Panjistri are deceiving the Kirithons, and tampering with their memories—but, why? What are they hiding? Meanwhile, the Panjistri's leader, the Grand Matriarch, is watching the Doctor's actions, with her servant Fetch—but even Fetch can see that something is wrong with the Matriarch, and her personality is changing.

Ace becomes close with Raphael, and persuades him to help her investigate. They check out the Harbours of the Chosen, the facility where the Panjistri make landfall when they come from their island fortress, Kandasi. They find it to be a lab where genetic and biological experiments are conducted; and they find the Homunculus, a horribly misshapen hybrid creature in an experimental fluid tank. They are caught by the Panjistri Reptu, the liaison between the Panjistri and the Kirithons, who says the Homunculus is the potential salvation of everyone. As they flee, Ace gives Raphael her backpack, which has canisters of Nitro-9 explosive; they split up. Raphael returns to the city and reports to Revna, only to find out that she is the one who told Reptu where to find them; he locates the Doctor and Miril, only to be betrayed again. All three of them are captured, and taken to the Harbours. Ace flees to a forbidden area called the Darkfell, where she meets a group of Kirithons called the Unlike, who have all been twisted through experimentation. They explain that the food the Kirithons eat, called zavat, is the processed remains of their own dead, and is formulated to make them susceptible to memory manipulation. This is why they don't remember their true past, and why they have forgotten the many loved ones who were taken for experimentation. They also reveal that the Doctor has been captured; they agree to help her save him if he will in turn heal them and their home.

At the Harbours, Raphael attacks Reptu, showing the first aggression any Kirithon has ever shown toward the Panjistri. He fails, however, and the Doctor is taken to Kandasi and abandoned on a hillside. He makes his way toward what is ostensibly the Panjistri fortress, outwitting traps along the way, as the Grand Matriarch watches. En route, he has another vision of his second incarnation, in which he met a little girl named Lilith in an alien marketplace. Meanwhile, Raphael uses Ace's Nitro-9 to escape the Harbours; he and Miril meet up with Ace and the Unlike. The Unlike want to destroy the Homunculus before they pursue the Doctor; while they argue, it feeds on their anger, and breaks free, forcing Raphael to kill it to save Ace. They return to the seminary, and with the Unlike, they recruit the staff to form a resistance movement. They manage to shut down the power in the city, and the food supply; in addition to causing unrest against the Panjistri, the lack of Zavat will cause some people to regain their suppressed memories. Revna takes advantage of the situation to undermine Huldah; and when the Panjistri inevitably come to suppress the uprising and restore services, Huldah is executed, and Revna is made Procurator. The rebels are forced to flee into the Darkfell.

Ace and her friends take a Panjistri boat and set out for Kandasi; along the way, Miril is killed by a genetically-modified sea monster. On Kandasi, they reconnect with the Doctor, but find that the stronghold is empty; it contains only a transmat unit. The unit takes them to a huge space station near the planet, which the Kirithons have always believed to be a second moon—it is the true Kandasi. Here the Doctor reveals what he has learned: The Kirithons were created here, and never actually evolved. However, the station attempts to eject them as intruders; and though it is overridden by the Panjistri, Ace vanishes in the confusion. Reptu informs them that she has been taken to the Grand Matriarch. She will die, but in so doing, she will complete the Grand Matriarch's long plan to save the universe from its inevitable death. The Panjistri for millennia have accumulated the best and brightest of many sentient races, and combined their talents and experiences into a massive machine, the God Machine, which will have the power to manipulate reality—and the wisdom to pull it off. Only one thing remains to be added—aggression. The Homunculus was to have provided this, but without it, Ace will substitute, as she is from Earth, a world known to have been warlike.

The Doctor knows it will not work—all things, even the universe, have their time. But it's worse than that; for the Doctor himself has doomed it to failure. He explains that, after his last victory over the Timewyrm, it hid in the one place he would never have expected: His own past. It entered his mind immediately after his first regeneration, when he was weak; and on an alien world, it passed into the mind of a young, impressionable girl named Lilith, whose telepathic powers were overwhelming. Now, five thousand years later, Lilith is the Grand Matriarch of the Panjistri—and her victory will give the Timewyrm power over the God Machine and all creation.

Lilith has started to shut down the station, and it will soon fall apart; but in the meantime, she has blocked access to her chamber. The Doctor and Fetch, Lilith's now-abandoned servant, make their way across the hull to Lilith's chamber, and break in; meanwhile, Raphael hears a voice, of a long lost friend…he makes his way through hidden passages to the vast chamber where the God Machine waits. Unknown to anyone, he merges with the machine, giving up his own life willingly…

The Doctor confronts Lilith, who promptly kills Fetch. Fully in the thrall of the Timewyrm, she gloats over the Doctor as she prepares to add Ace to the God Machine…but it's too late. Raphael, having learned independence and aggression from Ace, has given the Machine what it needed, and now its power is absolute. It expels the Timewyrm from Lilith's body, and regresses her to innocence before she dies. It returns the Panjistri to Kirith, along with the Doctor and Ace; the Panjistri will be forced to live alongside their creations. Then the station explodes; even the God Machine acknowledges that its power is too much.

However, when the Doctor and Ace return to the TARDIS, they see that it is still reading the Timewyrm's existence. Ace remembers that Raphael was horrified at killing the Homunculus, and realises that the God Machine did not actually kill the Timewyrm, simply banished it. The hunt is not yet over.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

Energy and radiation[[edit] | [edit source]]

Technology[[edit] | [edit source]]

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

  • The Doctor drinks spiced wine on Kirith.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • This is the third novel in the Timewyrm tetralogy.
  • In this novel are several flashbacks to the Second Doctor era.
  • This is the only novel in the Timewyrm tetralogy not to share its name with a book of the Christian Bible.
    • However, "Apocalypse" is another name used for the Book of Revelation. This would effectively mean this story has the same namesake as its direct sequel.
  • The prologue is a brief summary of the events of the television story Logopolis.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cover gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Original cover

    Original cover

  • Textless cover

    Textless cover

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

v • e
Virgin Books New Adventures
Seventh
Doctor
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
Bernice
Summerfield
1997
1998
1999
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