Ruby Red (novel)

Ruby Red
Doctor:	Fifteenth Doctor
Companion(s):	Ruby Sunday
Main enemy:	Genetrix
Main setting:	Lake Peipus, Russia, 3 April 1242
Key crew
Publisher:	BBC Books
Writer:	Georgia Cook
Read by:	Millie Gibson
Release details
Release number:	71
Release date:	13 June 2024
Format:	Hardback, ebook; 208 pages Audiobook
ISBN:	9781785948992
BBC New Series Adventures
← Previous	The Ruby's Curse
Next →	Caged

Ruby Red is the seventy-first novel in the BBC New Series Adventures. It was written by Georgia Cook and published by Penguin Random House's BBC Books and BBC Digital imprints in hardback and ebook respectively, on 13 June 2024.

An original Fifteenth Doctor novel, it sees him and Ruby Sunday visit medieval Russia.

Publisher's summary

April, 1242: the Doctor and Ruby answer a distress call sent from medieval Russia. The signal’s sender? Ranavere, an alien girl forced to take part in a barbaric conflict between the armies of Estonia and Novgorod on the frozen surface of Lake Peipus. Ranavere wants to escape, but her distress call has summoned her warmongering sisters, intent on preserving family tradition whatever the cost. And as human battle begins, the Doctor and Ruby must face a more devastating threat – a monstrous entity with plans of conquest, growing stronger beneath the icy lake...

Plot

Prologue

A girl finds herself in a snowy woods and on the run. In the forest, she notes something in the ground. Getting to her knees, she digs around it. It's a metallic object the size of a helmet, with pulsating red lights inlaid. At that moment, two Valkyries approach, their glowing yellow swords lighting the woods. She sets off, not familiar with the direction in which she is running before she stumbles across something emanating a bright white light. She seems to think they've answered her call.

Chapter 1

Inside the TARDIS, Ruby Sunday is disappointed by the coffee made for her by the coffee machine, claiming it to taste like roast potatoes. The Doctor admits that he's quite pleased with it, but states that in order to fix it, he'd have to repair the flavour gauges, which would involve a long climb to the sub-engines. He decides to put it off, claiming he doesn't want to dirty his clothes. Ruby spots a flashing yellow light on the console, which a now very concerned Doctor claims to be a distress call. The two of them decide to answer it.

The Doctor explains that they are in Estonia in the 1200s, and that outside will be very cold. For this reason, he his getting a coat. At first, Ruby claims she doesn't want one but upon opening the doors, and feeling the deadly wind, the Doctor assumes she'd like one. Ruby braves the cold once more to find that the TARDIS has landed them on a lake. She braves the ice, surprised that it takes her weight. In the distance, she notices the girl running towards her. Following close behind are the Valkyries. Ruby calls out for the Doctor, who emerges from the TARDIS.

Chapter 2

Arriving just in time and, the Doctor tells the girl that, once in the TARDIS, she has to explain everything. However, the doors are neither opening inwards or outwards. He tries snapping his fingers but nothing happens. The ice beneath them is starting to crack.

Deciding this the best time to run, the girl tells them to run to the western bank but the Doctor thinks better and confronts the Valkyries, who Ruby now realises are women. They stop for him and he demands to know what they are doing. Without responding, one of them uses their glowing weapons to crack the ice beneath the TARDIS, causing it to almost sink beneath the water. Understanding that he is perhaps out of his depth, the Doctor advises them to continue their evasive movements. Noticing Ruby struggling, he tells her not to run but to shuffle. He tells her to shift the centre of mavity to her feet.

The Doctor offers Ruby his green fur coat as they continue to escape. He reassures her that if he's unable to enter the TARDIS, then the Valkyries most definitely can't, claiming must bigger blasters have tried. The girl points to the distance where her camp is situated. She states that they're too close to camp for the Valkyries to follow, yet still they persist. The Doctor gets fed up and presses his sonic screwdriver towards the Valkyries, causing the ice in front of them to shatter into a hole the size of a car. With the Valkyries giving up and heading back, the Doctor, Ruby and the girl, who now introduces herself as Ranavere (or Ran for short), continue to head to camp. Ranavere explains that the two Valkyrie are her sisters. The Doctor ponders why a thirteenth century girl doesn't question the word "blasters" but saves that discussion for another time.

Chapter 3

Ran explains that it was her distress signal they picked up, revealing the metallic orb that she had previously dug up. She explains that he had built it from scraps, which was easier since the portal mechanism hadn't disintegrated properly upon arrival. The Doctor tells her he can help her, explaining that he's from "everywhere", and that he and Ruby travel through time and space. The Doctor remains worried about the frequent earthquakes, which had not been helping with their current battle against the cracking ice.

As they finally reach the shore, Ran stops them from going further, claiming they must change their outfits. Ran then pulls out a perception filter and with a press of a button, Ruby and the Doctor's clothes are changed to a more modest, fur coat ensemble, closely resembling Ran's own. She claims the perception filter won't work under close scrutiny. Together they walk through the woods and into camp, where the young sentry Onfim asks who the newcomers are. Ran tells him that they are scouts from Pskov. The Doctor explains to Ruby that in a few days, there will be a big "bust up" called the Battle on the Ice, between the Duchy of Estonia and the republic of Novgorod.

Ran takes them through the spiralling city of tents to her own on the outskirts, barely big enough for three people. She reveals to them that her full name is Ranavere Rentara. The Doctor explains that the Rentaras are group of interplanetary mercenaries and guesses that Ran has just turned sixteen. He further explains to Ruby that upon turning sixteen, a Rentara is sent by their family to a random battle on a random planet and told to survive on their own. Ran explains the structure of her family. Mother-Commander decides upon the time and place of your ritual, and only Sister-Generals have access to the time portals.

Ran explains that she sent the distress signal because she doesn't want to fight, and that her sisters had picked up on it too. She further explains that should she refuse the ritual, she would be cast out. The Doctor offers to "hop" Ran to the end of the battle in the TARDIS, but states that that's a plaster on a bigger problem. Ruby isn't sure that it'll work what with the TARDIS mysteriously locking them out. The Doctor admits that the TARDIS has been "a bit upset lately". Ruby reckons Ran's sisters will be waiting for them back at the TARDIS, but Ran states that even Sister-Cadets would have to return to the time portal after a while as part of their duties. The Doctor states its best to stay until the morning, to give the sisters time to get bored.

Chapter 4

In the night, as Rubvy sleeps, the Doctor and Ranavere talk about all matter of things, until a noise stirs them all. Outside, the Doctor discovers from Onfim that there is an ambush. Knowing that no such ambush took place to the Doctor's knowledge, he assures Onfim that he will get to the bottom of it. At the edge of the settlement, the Doctor is attacked by armoured warriors with swords. The Doctor manages to lift one of their helmets and sees a lifeless face with glowing, red eyes. Another earthquake rumbles, and another, and another. With the attackers in disarray from the earthquakes, the Novgorodian soldiers leapt forwards and slaughter the warriors. As the Doctor attempts to investigate a body, one of the Prince's soldiers instructs him to move to allow the Prince to investigate himself. The Doctor complies.

Back at the tent, the Doctor explains that the warriors were not from Earth, and had certainly been brought here by Ran's signal. He takes the metallic orb from Ran and slices it in half, giving one half to Ruby and the other to Ran. He explains that each half acts as a repellent against those warriors but only works once. Ran states that there are three orbs in total, one spatial, one temporal and one spatial-temporal. The Doctor states that it would have been the spatial-temporal that attracted the TARDIS. She explains that the other two are buried out in the woods. With two days until the battle, the Doctor decides that they should wait until light to try and find the orbs whilst also trying to work out what's wrong with the TARDIS, and also find out what's causing the earthquakes.

Chapter 5

At dawn, the three of them head out of camp. Ran hands them some shoe attachments that would help them walk on the ice. At the lake, Ruby and Ran set off to find the orbs while the Doctor braves the ice. Ran explains to Ruby that she doesn't have a home planet, instead she was trained on Training Ship 5F, circling the Elbus Nebula. This reminds Ruby of her own unknown origins. This thought is interrupted by wolves with red eyes. With the half-orbs in hand, the two run.

On the ice, the Doctor ponders loneliness. Upon reaching the TARDIS, he notes a strange groan emanating from the box. Immediately, however, a figure appears from behind the box wielding an energy blade. Meanwhile, with one of the wolves inches from her face, Ruby uses the half-orb to dissuade the wolf. With the other fast approaching a figure calls out to warn away the wolf. It was one of Ran's sisters, Cellisamere. Cellisamere explains that she and her other sister, Helgadane, had been fake-attacking Ran so that she would make it back to camp safely. Ruby explains to them that wolves do not have glowing red eyes, causing Ran to remember the Doctor stating that the soldiers with red eyes resembled humans. Cellisamere tells Ran that it is the work of a Genetrix.

Chapter 6

The Doctor dodges attacks from Helgadane outside his TARDIS on the ice. She threatens him to leave her sister alone, before the two properly introduce themselves. The Doctor notes that his TARDIS isn't charging.

To be completed

Characters

• Cellisamere
• Fifteenth Doctor
• Genetrix
• Helgadane
• Alexander Nevsky
• Onfim
• Ranavere Rentara
• Ruby Sunday

Referenced only

• Mother-Commander
• Previous Mother-Commander
• Donna Noble
• Melanie Bush
• Carla Sunday
• Cherry Sunday

Worldbuilding

Locations

• The TARDIS lands on Lake Peipus in the thirteenth century. The Fifteenth Doctor claims it to be the fifth largest lake in Europe with its deepest point being fifteen metres.
• Pskov is a city south of the Peipus encampment recently taken by the Novgorodian army.
• The Battle on the Ice was a huge battle on 5 April between the invading Duchy of Estonia and the Novgorod Republic, which marks the end of the Northern Crusades in the region.

Individuals

• The Battle on the Ice made Prince Alexander Nemsky a national hero.
• Ranavere explains that the Valkyries are in fact her sisters.
• Ran says five thousand people live in the camp.
• The Rentaras are a family of intergalactic mercenaries. At the age of sixteen, a child of the Rentaras are sent to a random war on a random planet and told to survive.

Fashion and clothing

• Ruby claims that her green coat makes her look like a "furry sprout".

Animals

• This is the first time Ruby has seen wild wolves.

Notes

• The placeholder title for this story's hardback listing on Penguin Random House's website was DW Original 1.
• A tweet from the Penguin Books UK account announcing the release of the digital version of the audiobook reading referred to this novel as Ruby Rose instead of Ruby Red.

Continuity

• Ruby is offered a coffee from the TARDIS coffee machine, but claims that it tastes like roast potatoes. The TARDIS coffee machine was previously mentioned in Orphan 55 ^[+]Loading...["Orphan 55 (TV story)"] and was introduced as part of the main console unit in The Star Beast ^[+]Loading...["The Star Beast (TV story)"], where the Fourteenth Doctor offered Donna Noble a coffee.
• When the Doctor gets locked out of the TARDIS, he tries clicking his fingers. To his disappointment, it doesn't work. River Song taught the Tenth Doctor this trick in Silence in the Library ^[+]Loading...["Silence in the Library (TV story)"]. The Eleventh Doctor's companion Valarie Lockwood would refuse a TARDIS key and would use snapping as her method of entering the TARDIS, as seen in Broken Hearts ^[+]Loading...["Broken Hearts (audio story)"].
• Upon explaining how to navigate across the ice, the Doctor tells Ruby to "move [her] centre of mavity to her feet". After mishearing the Fourteenth Doctor and Donna's usage of "gravity", Isaac Newton had accidentally coined the term "mavity" in Wild Blue Yonder ^[+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"], which had caused a ripple in the timeline, in which everyone bar the Doctor had always called it "mavity".
• The Doctor claims that bigger blasters have tried to get into the TARDIS and have failed. The Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness once watched behind the TARDIS forcefield as a group of Daleks failed to blast them in The Parting of the Ways ^[+]Loading...["The Parting of the Ways (TV story)"]. Later, the Twelfth Doctor revelled at how the Daleks' attempt to destroy the TARDIS with a blasting weapon had only resulting in the TARDIS using the Hostile Action Displacement System to relocate itself safely in The Witch's Familiar ^[+]Loading...["The Witch's Familiar (TV story)"].
• Ruby remarks on how the Doctor's sonic screwdriver doesn't look like a screwdriver. Previous sonic screwdrivers have been tube shaped devices that broadly resemble screwdrivers from Earth, such as the one used by the Second Doctor in Fury from the Deep ^[+]Loading...["Fury from the Deep (TV story)"], whereas the one used by the Fifteenth Doctor is described by Ruby as "curved", as first seen in The Church on Ruby Road ^[+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"].
• Ran uses a perception filter to change Ruby and the Doctor's clothes into something more modest. The TARDIS used similar technology to aid it in blending into its own surroundings. When the Tenth Doctor, Martha Jones and Jack Harkness had to blend in during the reign of Harold Saxon, the Doctor fashioned wearable TARDIS keys that placed a perception filter over them. It made passersby aware of them but disinterested in their existence, as long as the three of them didn't bring too much attention to themselves, as seen in Last of the Time Lords ^[+]Loading...["Last of the Time Lords (TV story)"].
  • A similar technology was used by the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald to change their clothes so they could visit Tasha Lem in The Name of the Doctor ^[+]Loading...["The Name of the Doctor (TV story)"] whilst being simultaneously naked, as per the rules of The Church.
• A similar city of tents by the name of Hooverville was visited by the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones. It was located in Central Park, New York City, and was where the broke, poor and destitute went to support one-another, as seen in Daleks in Manhattan ^[+]Loading...["Daleks in Manhattan (TV story)"].
• The Rentaras and their traditions are not too dissimilar to that of the Slitheen family, a known criminal family from Raxacoricofallapatorius. The Ninth Doctor stopped them from turning the Earth into molten slag in 2006, as seen in World War Three ^[+]Loading...["World War Three (TV story)"]. Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen would later explain to the Doctor in Boom Town ^[+]Loading...["Boom Town (TV story)"] that she was made to take part in her first hunt at the age of thirteen. Had she not, she would have been fed to the Venom Grubs.
• The Doctor tells Ruby that the TARDIS has been "feeling a bit upset lately", in reference to the strange groan that could be heard eminating from the TARDIS. It was heard a handful of times:
  • After Donna spilt her coffee on the TARDIS console, it had performed a crash landing on a spaceship at the edge of the universe. Upon exiting, the TARDIS sent out a jet of flames, and later groaned in a way the Fourteenth Doctor didn't understand, as witnessed in Wild Blue Yonder ^[+]Loading...["Wild Blue Yonder (TV story)"].
  • The same noise came from the TARDIS when Ruby and the Fifteenth Doctor exited the TARDIS, finding themselves on Abbey Road in 1963, in The Devil's Chord ^[+]Loading...["The Devil's Chord (TV story)"].
  • Upon showing Rogue around the TARDIS, the Doctor became aware of the same groan, but joked that it was because the TARDIS didn't like assassins, as seen in Rogue ^[+]Loading...["Rogue (TV story)"].
  • The Doctor would later find out the cause of the noise in The Legend of Ruby Sunday ^[+]Loading...["The Legend of Ruby Sunday (TV story)"].
• Ruby is once again surprised at how well the Doctor could blend in without being noticed or stopped. This was a well-known trait of the Doctor. The Third Doctor, shortly after regenerating, managed to verbally force his way into UNIT headquarters in spite of his new appearance in Spearhead from Space ^[+]Loading...["Spearhead from Space (TV story)"]. Sometimes, this was managed through the talking down to or one-upping of those in power, such as the Thirteenth Doctor's ability to walk straight into Jack Robertson's hotel to investigate the overgrown arachnids in Arachnids in the UK ^[+]Loading...["Arachnids in the UK (TV story)"]. The Tenth Doctor even managed to persuade Yvonne Hartman to halt one of her Ghost shifts by bluffing her, after giving up on his repeated warnings, in Army of Ghosts ^[+]Loading...["Army of Ghosts (TV story)"].
• When Ran tells Ruby about not having a home, Ruby resonates with it, recalling her foundling origin. We first hear her story in The Church on Ruby Road ^[+]Loading...["The Church on Ruby Road (TV story)"].
• On the lake, the Doctor notes that he rarely has silent moments like these, but soon remembers why that is. River Song reminded the Eleventh Doctor that he needed a companion to stop him from losing control in The Angels Take Manhattan ^[+]Loading...["The Angels Take Manhattan (TV story)"]. Similarly, after the Time War, the Ninth Doctor travelled for a long time without a companion, as seen in Sphere of Freedom ^[+]Loading...["Sphere of Freedom (audio story)"] et al, before being warned to find a companion by former-companion Liv Chenka in Flatpack ^[+]Loading...["Flatpack (audio story)"]. This point was proven true when the Doctor relapsed during Dalek ^[+]Loading...["Dalek (TV story)"], which saw the Doctor attempt to murder a Dalek in front of Rose Tyler's eyes.
• The Doctor utters “contact” when he makes telepathic contact with the Genetrix, as he first did in TV: The Three Doctors ^[+]Loading...["The Three Doctors (TV story)"].
• The Genetrix notes the Doctor has been restarted before, alluding to his lives erased by the Division as first revealed in TV: The Timeless Children ^[+]Loading...["The Timeless Children (TV story)"].
• Ruby worries snow falling may be a sign of a memory of the past chasing them into the future, as first occurred in TV: Space Babies ^[+]Loading...["Space Babies (TV story)"].

Audiobook

• An audiobook was released by Penguin Random House through their BBC Digital Audio and BBC Physical Audio imprints, read by Millie Gibson. It was released digitally on 27 June, and on CD 1 August. The reading was produced by Audio Always with sound design by Oliver Denman.

Gallery

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  Ruby Red promo image

• 

  Promotional image for all three novels

• 

  Promotional wallpaper

• 

  Audiobook cover

External links

• Official Ruby Red (Hardback) page at Penguin Books
• Official Ruby Red (Ebook) page at Penguin Books
• Official Ruby Red (Audio Download) page at Penguin Books
• Official Ruby Red (Audio CD) page at Penguin Books