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{{Infobox Story SMW
{{Infobox Novel|
|image = NA005 timescrucible.jpg
novel name= Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible|
|series = [[Virgin New Adventures]]
image= [[file:NA005_timescrucible.jpg|250px]]|
|range = Virgin New Adventures
series=[[Doctor Who]] -<br/>[[Virgin New Adventures]] |
|number in range = 5
number= 5 |
|number = 5
doctor=[[Seventh Doctor]] |
|doctor = Seventh Doctor
companions= [[Ace]] |
|companions = [[Ace]]
enemy= the [[Process]] |
|enemy = The [[Process]]
year= [[Earth]], [[London]], [[1991]] <br> The City / the TARDIS |
|setting= {{il|[[Gallifrey]]|[[London]], [[1990]]|[[SARDIT]]}}
writer= [[Marc Platt]] |
|writer = Marc Platt
publisher= [[Virgin Books]] |
|cover = [[Peter Elson]]
release date= [[February]] [[1992]] |
|publisher = Virgin Books
format= Paperback Book, 275 Pages |
|release date= 20 February 1992
isbn= ISBN 0426203658 |
|format = Paperback Book; 32 Chapters, 275 Pages
previous story= [[Timewyrm: Revelation]] |
|isbn = ISBN 0-426-20365-8
next story= [[Cat's Cradle: Warhead]]}}
|prev = Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)
'''''Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible''''' is the fifth book in the [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]] series, and the first in the three book long Cat's Cradle sub-series. It features the [[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Ace]], and was written by [[Marc Platt]].
|next = Cat's Cradle: Warhead (novel)
|series2= [[Interweaving with the New Adventures|''DWM'' "New Adventures order"]]
|prev2 = The Grief (comic story)
|next2 = Cat's Cradle: Warhead (novel)
|adapted from = Cat's Cradle (unproduced TV story){{!}}Cat's Cradle
}}
'''''Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible''''' was the fifth book in the [[Virgin New Adventures|New Adventures]] series and the first in the Cat's Cradle sub-trilogy. It features the [[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Ace]] and was written by [[Marc Platt]].


==Publisher's summary==
== Publisher's summary ==
''''You’re on your own, Ace.''''  
''"You're on your own, Ace."''


The TARDIS is invaded by an alien presence, and is then destroyed. The Doctor disappears.  
The TARDIS is invaded by an alien presence, and is then destroyed. The Doctor disappears.


Ace, lost and alone, finds herself in a bizarre deserted city ruled by the tyrannical, leech-like monster known as the Process.  
Ace, lost and alone, finds herself in a bizarre deserted city ruled by the tyrannical, leech-like monster known as the Process.


Lost voyagers drawn forward from Ancient Gallifrey perform obsessive rituals in the ruins.  
Lost voyagers drawn forward from Ancient Gallifrey perform obsessive rituals in the ruins.


The strands of time are tangled in a cat’s cradle of dimensions.  
The strands of time are tangled in a cat's cradle of dimensions.


Only the Doctor can challenge the rule of the Process and restore the stolen Future.  
Only the Doctor can challenge the rule of the Process and restore the stolen Future.


But the Doctor was destroyed long ago, before Time began.
But the Doctor was destroyed long ago, before Time began.


==Plot==
== Plot ==
''to be added''
The [[Seventh Doctor]] and [[Ace]] are disturbed by strange phenomena. Reality becomes temporarily distorted round them, and they receive illusions; [[Lynx (Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)|a silver cat]] appears and gets them to follow it back to [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]]. Once there, they discover they can't enter; the door is always on the next panel around, no matter which way they go. With difficulty, they manage to misdirect it and get inside. Once inside, the Doctor leaves Ace in the console room and goes deeper into the ship, seeking the source of the trouble. [[Process|Something]] has gotten inside, or is about to, and is corrupting the TARDIS, causing it to begin to fall apart. Ace receives a silver scroll from the console, just before the doors explode inward. As the TARDIS dissolves around her, she sees the crew of an incoming ship crashing into the TARDIS.


==Characters==
In [[Gallifrey]]'s ancient past, the world was ruled by seeresses called the [[Pythia]], before [[Rassilon]] came and took power and initiated the age of reason. All [[Gallifreyan]]s are possessed of strong telepathic powers, so that no one is ever alone in his or her own mind, with the exception of the Individuals—rare men and women who can wall off their own thoughts. At the end of that dark era, the early experiments in time travel are taking place. The first time ship, the [[Time Scaphe]], is on an early voyage, carrying a crew that consists of a child Pilot named [[Shonnzi]], and five Chronauts: [[Reogus]], [[Vael]], [[Chesperl]], [[Amnoni]], and the Captain, [[Pekkary]]. Unknown to the others, Vael is an Individual whose ability to block his thoughts has mysteriously weakened; secretly, he was planted on the crew by [[508th Pythia|the reigning Pythia]]. Following a legend in a book of future history, she intends to make him [[509th Pythia|her successor]], the first male Pythia, though not even he knows this; and thus she wants him on the crew to ensure that future. Meanwhile, Rassilon plots the Pythia's downfall. Things are upended, however, when the Time Scaphe fails to return—for in the vortex, it has crashed into the Doctor's TARDIS, forcing him to break the laws of time in spectacular fashion.
*[[Seventh Doctor | The Doctor]]
*[[Ace]]
*[[Pythia | The Pythia]]
*[[Rassilon]]
*[[Process|The Process]]
*The Guards


'''Characters of the [[Time Scaphe]]'''
Ace awakens in [[SARDIT|a strange world]], a bizarrely empty city. Over time, she meets the Chronauts, who are also here; but things have changed for them. They are now the Phazels, slaves to the city's ruler, the Process. Vael serves the Process voluntarily, acting as a slave driver to the Phazels; and Shonnzi has disappeared. Ace learns that the city is divided into three Phases, each representing a different time, but all three existing side-by-side, with each slowly becoming the next. On this planet time is scattered, and one can walk from the future to the past and vice versa. In the beginning, the Process—a monstrous, mollusk-like creature—made itself and the world, and seeks to control the future; but the future was stolen by the Doctor. And now, the Process has killed the Doctor.
*[[Shonnzi]]
*[[Vael]]
**Agent of Pythia.
*[[Reogus]]
*[[Pekkary]]
*[[Chesperl]]
*[[Amnoni]]


'''Ancient Gallifrey'''
Ace meets the Phazels, Vael, and Shonnzi in all three periods, sometimes together; she finds that in the final phase, they all become the Process's guards, which enforce its will in all three phases. Worse, she as well will be one of those guards. As well, she finds that the Doctor is not dead after all; but his memories are stripped out, and he has grown weak. A future version of the Process returns from the third Phase to challenge its young self, as the homeostatic world it has built begins to change. She learns that the city is, in fact, the TARDIS, shattered and turned inside out. The scroll she carries are the TARDIS's greyprints—multidimensional blueprints—and the cat, as well as an apparition of the Doctor, are the TARDIS's imprint, its ghost, of sorts. Together, those entities and the greyprints restore the Doctor's mind, and he is able to regain some control over the dying TARDIS. At the end—and the beginning—as time is about to cycle again, he challenges the Process, which is now in three forms: old, young, and about-to-be-born. He is able to destroy it, and at the same time, challenge the ancient malice of the last Pythia as she tries to seize control of Vael and claim the TARDIS—and the future—for herself. As the TARDIS reconstructs itself on the Doctor's will, the last Pythia passes without a successor, but not before she [[Pythia's Curse|curses]] Gallifrey. She condemns the planet and its people to have no living offspring from the moment of her death forward. Her curse is effective, as even infants in the womb are immediately stillborn.
*[[Ao (Hero)|Ao]]


*[[Dowtroyal]]
As the TARDIS is reconstructed, so is the Time Scaphe, and the remaining Chronauts—the youngest version, including the child version of Shonnzi—are able to return to Gallifrey, albeit more than a year late. Their older versions, deprived of existence by a changed past, vanish. The Doctor and Ace are free to travel again—but there will be consequences as yet. And in ancient Gallifrey, the great works of history still lie ahead for Rassilon, the stellar engineer [[Omega]]…and one [[The Other|Other]].
*[[Handstrong]]
*[[Logistomancer]]
*[[Loie]]
*[[Pelatov]]
*[[Prydonius]]
*[[Quartinian]]


*[[Soneuramos]]
== Characters ==
*[[Sphinx of Thule]]
* [[Seventh Doctor]]
*[[Taspar]]
* [[Ace]]
*[[Thrift]]
* [[508th Pythia|The Pythia]]
*[[Troppolsabler]]
* [[Rassilon]]
* [[The Other]]
* [[Process|The Process]]
* The Guards


==References==
Crew of the ''[[Time Scaphe]]''
*The [[Sisterhood of Karn]] and [[Lady Peinforte]] are both left overs of the Pythia's power.
* [[Shonnzi]]
* [[Vael]]
* [[Reogus]]
* [[Pekkary]]
* [[Chesperl]]
* [[Amnoni]]


===[[:Category:Astronomical objects|Astronomical objects]]===
Ancient Gallifrey
*[[Pazithi Gallifreya]] is Gallifrey's moon.
* [[Ao (Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)|Ao]]
*There has been a century-long siege of the [[Winter Star]].
* [[Dowtroyal]]
* [[Handstrong]]
* [[Logistomancer]]
* [[Loie]]
* [[Pelatov]]
* [[Prydonius]]
* [[Quartinian]]
* [[Soneuramos]]
* [[Sphinx of Thule]]
* [[Taspar]]
* [[Thrift]]
* [[Troppolsabler]]


===[[:Category:Biology|Biology]]===
== Worldbuilding ==
*[[Rassilon]] created the [[Loom]]s to save Gallifrey from extinction cause by Pythia's curse of sterility upon Gallifrey.
* The [[Sisterhood of Karn]] and [[Lady Peinforte]] are each leftovers of the Pythia's power.


===[[:Category:Books|Books]]===
=== Astronomical objects ===
*The [[Process]] is called '''Amphisbaena''' in the [[Book of Future Legends]].
* [[Pazithi Gallifreya]] is Gallifrey's moon.
*''[[Rassilon the God]]'' was written by Cardinal [[Borusa]].
* There has been a century-long siege of the [[Winter Star]].
*''[[Pelatov's Collected Sageries]]''


===[[:Category:Cults|Cults]]===
=== Biology ===
*The Pythia sends her [[Sisterhood of Karn | sisterhood]] to [[Karn]].
* Rassilon created the [[Loom]]s to save Gallifrey from potential extinction caused by Pythia's curse of sterility upon Gallifrey.


===[[:Category:Gallifrey|Gallifrey]]===
=== Books ===
*The Doctor has never travelled into Gallifrey's past.
* The [[Process]] is called "Amphisbaena" in the ''[[Book of Future Legends]]''.
* ''[[Rassilon the God]]'' was written by Cardinal [[Borusa]].


===[[:Category:Gallifreyan Chapter Houses|Gallifreyan Chapter Houses]]===
=== Cults ===
*The Doctor is one of 45 cousins of the [[House of Lungbarrow]].
* The Pythia sends her sisterhood to [[Karn]].
*[[House of Blyledge]]
*[[House of Fordfarding]]


===[[:Category:Gallifreyan culture|Gallifreyan culture]]===
=== Food ===
*[[Sepulchasm]] is a board game on Gallifrey.
* The Doctor and Ace order a [[moussaka]] and [[chips]], a [[baked Alaska]], a glass of [[water]] and a glass of [[milk]].
*[[Anmers-Tonastide]] was the Festival of the Timewright.
* The Time Scaphe crew live on dry [[biscuit]]s from the TARDIS [[food machine]].
*[[Kithriarch]] eqauls 'father' on Gallifrey before Rassilon.
*[[Treazant]] was the currency on Gallifrey.
*[[Pianalaika]] is related to music or bands.
*White sand was imported [[Mirphak 2]] to Gallifrey for the Games of Rassilon because it showed up the blood better.
*The [[Academia]] was a place of learning on Gallifrey.


===[[:Category:Gallifreyan history|Gallifreyan history]]===
=== Gallifreyan Chapter Houses ===
*[[Pythia | The Pythia]] were the ruler of [[Gallifrey]] before [[Rassilon]].
* The Doctor is one of forty-five cousins of the [[House of Lungbarrow]].
*Pythia came from before the [[Intuitive Revolution]] which heralded Rassilon's rise to power.
*The [[Pythia]] were psychics that could forsee Gallifrey's future, they were female.
*Ancient Gallifrey had an empire.


===[[:Category:Gallifreyan organisations|Gallifreyan organisations]]===
=== Gallifreyan culture ===
*The [[Court of Principals]] are an organisation on [[Gallifrey]].
* [[Sepulchasm]] is a board game on Gallifrey.
*[[Neo-Technologist]]s were alined to Rassilon.
* [[Anmers-Tonastide]] was the Festival of the Timewright.
* [[Kithriarch]] equals "father" on Gallifrey before Rassilon.
* [[Treazant]] was the currency on Gallifrey.
* [[Pianalaika]] is related to music or bands.
* White sand was imported from [[Mirphak 2]] to Gallifrey for the Games of Rassilon because it showed up the blood better.
* The [[Academia (Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)|Academia]] was a place of learning on Gallifrey.


===[[:Category:Individuals|Individuals]]===
=== Gallifreyan history ===
*[[Satthralope]] was house keeper in the Doctor's House on Gallifrey.
* The Pythia were the ruler of [[Gallifrey]] before Rassilon.
* Pythia came from before the [[Intuitive Revelation]] which heralded the rise of Rassilon to power.


===[[:Category:Languages|Languages]]===
=== Gallifreyan organisations ===
*[[Ace]] can swear in 11 alien languages.
* The [[Court of Principals]] are an organisation on [[Gallifrey]].
* The [[Council Police]] enforce the law.
* [[Neo-Technologist]]s were aligned to Rassilon.


===[[:Category:Locations|Locations]]===
=== Individuals ===
*Logistomancer is from [[A32K]]
* [[Satthralope]] was house keeper in the Doctor's House on Gallifrey.
*[[Aubert Cluster]] demand independence from the Pythia.
*[[Soonwell Valley]]
*[[Star Grellades]]
*[[Thule]] had an empire.


===[[:Category:Objects|Objects]]===
=== Locations ===
*Ace mentions the [[Hand of Omega]].
* Logistomancer is from [[A32K]].
* [[Aubert Cluster]] demand independence from the Pythia.
* [[Thule]] had an empire.


===[[:Category:Organisations|Organisations]]===
=== Objects ===
*The [[Core Sybilline]] is the ruling government of the [[Nest-Worlds of Klanti]].
* Ace mentions the [[Hand of Omega]].
* Ace finds [[Ian Chesterton|Ian]]'s [[Swiss Army knife]].


===[[:Category:Races and species|Races and species]]===
=== Organisations ===
*[[Process|The Process]] is an [[wikipedia:annelid|annelid]] with [[wikipedia:lamprey|lamprey]]-like mouths at each end (termed "mouthfeet"). It moves by using alternating mouthfeet to pivot its body, moving not unlike a [[wikipedia:Slinky|Slinky]].
* The [[Core Sybilline]] is the ruling government of the [[Nest-Worlds of Klanti]].
*The Guards are described as bipedal red insects, with twenty-four "optic nodes" instead of eyes. The Process can speak through them.
*[[Menti Celesti]] are "capricious and all-powerful" and "who saw all things but did nothing".
*[[Tafelshrew]] is a rodent from Gallifrey.
*Gallifreyans  battled the [[Gryffnae]] and hunted the [[lacustrine Sattisar]].
*There is a plague of [[batworms]] on the [[asteroid archipelago]].
*Pythia had a [[Grelladian]] guard.
*[[Jagdagian]]s were performers in circuses.
*In a market [[PenShoza]] traders displayed fresh consignments of workers from [[Oshakarm]] and the [[Star Grellades]]


===[[:Category:Theories and concepts|Theories and concepts]]===
=== Species ===
*The Doctor mentions Blinovictual Theory, most likely a reference to the [[Blinovitch Limitation Effect]].
* [[Menti Celesti]] are "capricious and all-powerful", "who saw all things but did nothing".
* [[Tafelshrew]] is a rodent from Gallifrey.
* Gallifreyans battled the [[Gryffnae]] and hunted the [[lacustrine Sattisar]].
* There is a plague of [[batworm]]s on the [[asteroid archipelago]].
* Pythia had a [[Grelladian]] guard.
* [[Jagdagian]]s were performers in circuses.
* In a market [[Pen-Shoza]] traders displayed fresh consignments of workers from [[Oshakarm]] and the [[Star Grellades]].


===[[:Category:Plants|Plants]]===
=== Theories and concepts ===
*[[Madevinia aridosa]]
* The Doctor mentions Blinovictual Theory, most likely a reference to the [[Blinovitch Limitation Effect]].


===[[:Category:TARDIS|TARDIS]]===
=== TARDIS ===
*[[Banshee Circuits]] are what the TARDIS uses to survive when everything else fails, it uses whatever resources are available, people, places, dreams etc.
* [[Banshee Circuits]] are what the TARDIS uses to survive when everything else fails. It uses whatever resources are available: people, places, dreams etc.


===[[:Category:Vehicles|Vehicles]]===
=== Vehicles ===
*The Hero's ship is called the ''[[Apollaten]]''
* The Hero's ship is called the ''[[Apollaten]]''.
*[[Time Scaphe]] is a time machine powered by thought.
* [[Time Scaphe]] is a time machine powered by thought.


==Notes==
== Notes ==
* This is the first novel in the Cat's Cradle trilogy.
* This is the first novel in the Cat's Cradle trilogy.
* This story was adapted from an [[Cat's Cradle (unproduced TV story)|unproduced television story]].
* Unusually, this story was published in Hungarian as ''Az Idő Fogságában''. The cover reused Tim White's cover for ''The Santaroga Barrier'' by Frank Herbert.
* ''Time's Crucible'' leads directly into ''Warhead'', implying that the Doctor was planning to deal with the [[Butler Institute]] after having a meal with Ace in [[Ealing]] before the Process broke into the TARDIS.


==Continuity==
== Continuity ==
* The Doctor says he's never been to [[Alaska]], however [[BFA]]: ''[[The Land of the Dead]]'' is set there.
* Ace returns to [[Perivale]] three years after she left in [[1987]], ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Gods and Monsters (audio story)|Gods and Monsters]]'') setting that part of this story in [[1990]].
* No natural born child exists on Gallifrey since Pythia's curse...however; [[MA]]: ''[[Cold Fusion]]'', [[PDA]]: ''[[The Infinity Doctors]]'' and ''[[Lungbarrow]]'' question this.
* The Doctor claims that he has never been to [[Alaska (state)|Alaska]]. In reality, he visited the state in his [[Fifth Doctor|fifth incarnation]] ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Land of the Dead (audio story)|The Land of the Dead]]'') and visits it again at some point during his [[Seventh Doctor|seventh]]. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge (audio story)|Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge]]'')
* Ancient Gallifrey is also seen and described in [[EDA]]: ''[[Interference - Book Two]]''.
* No natural born child exists on [[Gallifrey]] since Pythia's curse; however, [[PROSE]]: ''[[Cold Fusion (novel)|Cold Fusion]]'' and ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'' question this.
* The Sisterhood of Karn first appeared in [[DW]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius]]''.
* Ancient Gallifrey is also seen and described in [[PROSE]]: ''[[Interference - Book Two (novel)|Interference - Book Two]]''.
* Lady Peinforte mentioned mysterious secrets about the Doctor in [[DW]]: ''[[Silver Nemesis]]''.
* The [[Sisterhood of Karn]] first appeared in [[TV]]: ''[[The Brain of Morbius (TV story)|The Brain of Morbius]]''.
* Ace doesn't like black cats, which were prominent in [[DW]]: ''[[Survival]]''.
* The [[508th Pythia]] hears distant thoughts from [[Sosostris]], who would appear in [[PROSE]]: ''[[All-Consuming Fire (novel)|All-Consuming Fire]]''.
* This is the first time it is suggested that the TARDIS is to be piloted by six people, this is shown on screen in [[DW]]: ''[[Journey's End]]''.
* Lady [[Peinforte]] mentioned mysterious secrets about the Doctor in [[TV]]: ''[[Silver Nemesis (TV story)|Silver Nemesis]]''.
* Ace has, on previous explorations of the TARDIS, found the courtyard that was a central location in [[DW]]: ''[[Logopolis (TV story)|Logopolis]]'' and the room of [[cricket]] supplies seen in [[DW]]: ''[[Castrovalva (TV story)|Castrovalva]]''.
* [[Ace]] does not like black cats, which were prominent in [[TV]]: ''[[Survival (TV story)|Survival]]''.
* The Doctor observes that the "State of Grace" circuit of the TARDIS needs looking at, likely referring to the notoriously inconsistent state of [[Temporal grace]].
* This is the first time it is suggested that the TARDIS is to be piloted by six people. This was later referenced on screen in [[TV]]: ''[[Journey's End (TV story)|Journey's End]]''.
* Ace finds [[Ian Chesterton|Ian]]'s Swiss Army knife.
* Ace has, on previous explorations of the TARDIS, found the courtyard that was a central location in [[TV]]: ''[[Logopolis (TV story)|Logopolis]]'' and the room of [[cricket]] supplies seen in [[TV]]: ''[[Castrovalva (TV story)|Castrovalva]]''.
* The Doctor eyes window display mannequins "with a mix of curiosity and suspicion", telling Ace, "Never be certain of what you think you see." ([[TV]]: ''[[Spearhead from Space (TV story)|Spearhead from Space]]'')


==Timeline==
== Cover Gallery ==
*This story occurs after [[BE]]: ''[[Cathedral Heart]]''
<gallery position=center captionalign=center hideaddbutton="true" >
*This story occurs before [[DWM]]: ''[[A Cold Day in Hell!]]''
NA005 timescrucible.jpg|Original cover
 
NA005 timescrucible textless cover.jpg|Textless cover
==External links==
Time%27s Crucible Hungarian.jpg|Hungarian edition
*{{dwrefguide|who_na05.htm|Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible}}
Time's Crucible Hungarian textless cover.jpg|Hungarian edition textless
*{{whoniverse|NA05.php|Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible}}
</gallery>
*[http://www.oocities.com/rico.briggs/cruc.html Bewildering References guide to '''Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible''']


== External links ==
{{dwrefguide|who_na05.htm|Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible}}
* {{whoniverse|na05|Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible}}
* [http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/rsmith43/cloister/crucible.htm The Cloister Library: '''Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible''']
* [http://www.oocities.com/rico.briggs/cruc.html Bewildering References guide to '''Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible''']
{{NA}}
{{NA}}
{{TitleSort}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:Seventh Doctor novels]]
[[Category:Seventh Doctor novels]]
[[Category:Virgin New Adventure Novels]]
[[Category:Cat's Cradle arc]]
[[Category:Time Lord novels]]
[[Category:Time Lord novels]]
[[Category:1992 novels]]
[[Category:1992 novels]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1991]]
[[Category:Stories set in 1990]]
[[Category:Rassilon novels]]
[[Category:Rassilon novels]]
[[Category:Stories set on Gallifrey]]
[[Category:Novels set on Gallifrey]]
[[Category:Stories set in alternative timelines]]
[[Category:Stories set in alternate timelines]]
[[Category:NA adaptations of unproduced television stories]]
[[Category:Stories set in the Dark Times]]
[[Category:Stories set in London]]

Latest revision as of 13:34, 17 March 2024

RealWorld.png

Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible was the fifth book in the New Adventures series and the first in the Cat's Cradle sub-trilogy. It features the Seventh Doctor and Ace and was written by Marc Platt.

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

"You're on your own, Ace."

The TARDIS is invaded by an alien presence, and is then destroyed. The Doctor disappears.

Ace, lost and alone, finds herself in a bizarre deserted city ruled by the tyrannical, leech-like monster known as the Process.

Lost voyagers drawn forward from Ancient Gallifrey perform obsessive rituals in the ruins.

The strands of time are tangled in a cat's cradle of dimensions.

Only the Doctor can challenge the rule of the Process and restore the stolen Future.

But the Doctor was destroyed long ago, before Time began.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Seventh Doctor and Ace are disturbed by strange phenomena. Reality becomes temporarily distorted round them, and they receive illusions; a silver cat appears and gets them to follow it back to the TARDIS. Once there, they discover they can't enter; the door is always on the next panel around, no matter which way they go. With difficulty, they manage to misdirect it and get inside. Once inside, the Doctor leaves Ace in the console room and goes deeper into the ship, seeking the source of the trouble. Something has gotten inside, or is about to, and is corrupting the TARDIS, causing it to begin to fall apart. Ace receives a silver scroll from the console, just before the doors explode inward. As the TARDIS dissolves around her, she sees the crew of an incoming ship crashing into the TARDIS.

In Gallifrey's ancient past, the world was ruled by seeresses called the Pythia, before Rassilon came and took power and initiated the age of reason. All Gallifreyans are possessed of strong telepathic powers, so that no one is ever alone in his or her own mind, with the exception of the Individuals—rare men and women who can wall off their own thoughts. At the end of that dark era, the early experiments in time travel are taking place. The first time ship, the Time Scaphe, is on an early voyage, carrying a crew that consists of a child Pilot named Shonnzi, and five Chronauts: Reogus, Vael, Chesperl, Amnoni, and the Captain, Pekkary. Unknown to the others, Vael is an Individual whose ability to block his thoughts has mysteriously weakened; secretly, he was planted on the crew by the reigning Pythia. Following a legend in a book of future history, she intends to make him her successor, the first male Pythia, though not even he knows this; and thus she wants him on the crew to ensure that future. Meanwhile, Rassilon plots the Pythia's downfall. Things are upended, however, when the Time Scaphe fails to return—for in the vortex, it has crashed into the Doctor's TARDIS, forcing him to break the laws of time in spectacular fashion.

Ace awakens in a strange world, a bizarrely empty city. Over time, she meets the Chronauts, who are also here; but things have changed for them. They are now the Phazels, slaves to the city's ruler, the Process. Vael serves the Process voluntarily, acting as a slave driver to the Phazels; and Shonnzi has disappeared. Ace learns that the city is divided into three Phases, each representing a different time, but all three existing side-by-side, with each slowly becoming the next. On this planet time is scattered, and one can walk from the future to the past and vice versa. In the beginning, the Process—a monstrous, mollusk-like creature—made itself and the world, and seeks to control the future; but the future was stolen by the Doctor. And now, the Process has killed the Doctor.

Ace meets the Phazels, Vael, and Shonnzi in all three periods, sometimes together; she finds that in the final phase, they all become the Process's guards, which enforce its will in all three phases. Worse, she as well will be one of those guards. As well, she finds that the Doctor is not dead after all; but his memories are stripped out, and he has grown weak. A future version of the Process returns from the third Phase to challenge its young self, as the homeostatic world it has built begins to change. She learns that the city is, in fact, the TARDIS, shattered and turned inside out. The scroll she carries are the TARDIS's greyprints—multidimensional blueprints—and the cat, as well as an apparition of the Doctor, are the TARDIS's imprint, its ghost, of sorts. Together, those entities and the greyprints restore the Doctor's mind, and he is able to regain some control over the dying TARDIS. At the end—and the beginning—as time is about to cycle again, he challenges the Process, which is now in three forms: old, young, and about-to-be-born. He is able to destroy it, and at the same time, challenge the ancient malice of the last Pythia as she tries to seize control of Vael and claim the TARDIS—and the future—for herself. As the TARDIS reconstructs itself on the Doctor's will, the last Pythia passes without a successor, but not before she curses Gallifrey. She condemns the planet and its people to have no living offspring from the moment of her death forward. Her curse is effective, as even infants in the womb are immediately stillborn.

As the TARDIS is reconstructed, so is the Time Scaphe, and the remaining Chronauts—the youngest version, including the child version of Shonnzi—are able to return to Gallifrey, albeit more than a year late. Their older versions, deprived of existence by a changed past, vanish. The Doctor and Ace are free to travel again—but there will be consequences as yet. And in ancient Gallifrey, the great works of history still lie ahead for Rassilon, the stellar engineer Omega…and one Other.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Crew of the Time Scaphe

Ancient Gallifrey

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Astronomical objects[[edit] | [edit source]]

Biology[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Rassilon created the Looms to save Gallifrey from potential extinction caused by Pythia's curse of sterility upon Gallifrey.

Books[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cults[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Pythia sends her sisterhood to Karn.

Food[[edit] | [edit source]]

Gallifreyan Chapter Houses[[edit] | [edit source]]

Gallifreyan culture[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Sepulchasm is a board game on Gallifrey.
  • Anmers-Tonastide was the Festival of the Timewright.
  • Kithriarch equals "father" on Gallifrey before Rassilon.
  • Treazant was the currency on Gallifrey.
  • Pianalaika is related to music or bands.
  • White sand was imported from Mirphak 2 to Gallifrey for the Games of Rassilon because it showed up the blood better.
  • The Academia was a place of learning on Gallifrey.

Gallifreyan history[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • The Pythia were the ruler of Gallifrey before Rassilon.
  • Pythia came from before the Intuitive Revelation which heralded the rise of Rassilon to power.

Gallifreyan organisations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Individuals[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Satthralope was house keeper in the Doctor's House on Gallifrey.

Locations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Objects[[edit] | [edit source]]

Organisations[[edit] | [edit source]]

Species[[edit] | [edit source]]

Theories and concepts[[edit] | [edit source]]

TARDIS[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Banshee Circuits are what the TARDIS uses to survive when everything else fails. It uses whatever resources are available: people, places, dreams etc.

Vehicles[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • This is the first novel in the Cat's Cradle trilogy.
  • This story was adapted from an unproduced television story.
  • Unusually, this story was published in Hungarian as Az Idő Fogságában. The cover reused Tim White's cover for The Santaroga Barrier by Frank Herbert.
  • Time's Crucible leads directly into Warhead, implying that the Doctor was planning to deal with the Butler Institute after having a meal with Ace in Ealing before the Process broke into the TARDIS.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Cover Gallery[[edit] | [edit source]]

  • Original cover

    Original cover

  • Textless cover

    Textless cover

  • Hungarian edition

    Hungarian edition

  • Hungarian edition textless

    Hungarian edition textless

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

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Virgin Books New Adventures
Seventh
Doctor
1991
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1995
1996
1997
Bernice
Summerfield
1997
1998
1999
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