Killing Ground (novel)

Killing Ground
Doctor:	[[doctor::Sixth Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Grant
Main enemy:	The Cybermen
Main setting:	Agora: 2191
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::Virgin Books]]
Writer:	Steve Lyons
Release details
Release number:	23
Release date:	June, 1996
Format:	Paperback Book, ? Pages
ISBN:	ISBN 0-426-20474-3
Virgin Missing Adventures
← Previous	The Sands of Time
Next →	The Scales of Injustice

Killing Ground was the twenty-third novel in the Virgin Missing Adventures series.

Publisher's summary

"Imagine that you can live forever and life is totally free from pain. You can see all things with clarity, unblinkered by irrelevant details. You will never fear, never sicken, never lose control. That is what the Cybermen are offering."

The Doctor takes his new companion, Grant, back home to Agora -- only to find a world in the thrall of some of his oldest and deadliest foes.

The Cybermen have taken control and set up a breeding colony to propagate their own race. While the Doctor languishes in a cell at the mercy of the sadistic Overseers, Grant joins up with a group of rebels and works on a desperate rescue bid.

With time running out, the rebels move into action. But will their solution prove more deadly than the problem itself?

Characters

• The Doctor
  • Contemplates suicide.
  • Spends weeks in the TARDIS recovering from radiation poisoning sustained onboard the Selacian warcraft.
  • Doesn't have much faith in his new companion.
  • Is very good at resisting torture, and enjoys mocking his interrogator.
• Grant Markham
  • Has severe robophobia brought upon by early childhood memories of the Cybermen.
  • Had a recurring nightmare about being hunted by robots which was cured in MA: Time of Your Life.
• Jean Markham
  • Was shot dead by the Cybermen as punishment for the colony.
  • Was Grant's mother.
• Ted Henneker
  • Leads the Agoran rebels.
  • Helps create the Bronze Knights, cybernetically augmented volunteers designed to match a Cyberman's strength in combat.
• ArcHivist Hegelia
  • Is an expert on Cyberhistory.
  • Is one of the most respected ArcHivists from the ArcHive.
  • Undergoes the Cyber-conversion process to satisfy her curiosity about what the process feels like. She loses all interest in the question and destroys her notes following her total conversion.
• ArcHivist Graduand Jolarr
• Arthur Lakesmith
  • Was the original rebel leader.
  • Was mutilated as a warning to other colonists following a failed rebellion in 2176.
• Ben Taggart
  • Surrendered instead of sacrificing himself to detonate a bomb in Population Control.
  • Was Grant's father.
• Cybermen
  • Are CyberNomads who were affected by the war with Voga and consequently have more organic components than any other model since the CyberMondasians.
  • Periodically journey to the colony in a spacecraft similar to that seen in DW: Revenge of the Cybermen.
  • Use artificial emotional responses to intimidate opponents.
  • Can swim.
  • Cyber-leaders can send out a disabling pulse to all Cyber-technology upon death.

References

• Hegelia is from David Banks' Cybermen book.
• Reference is made several times to MA: Time of Your Life.
• The Bronze Knights' brutal crushing of Maddox's hands is an infamous reprise of Lytton's punishment in DW: Attack of the Cybermen.
• Grant comes face-to-face with his father in mid-conversion, a scene that brings to mind Natasha meeting her father as a glass Dalek in DW: Revelation of the Daleks and Lytton in DW: Attack of the Cybermen.
• A Selachian warship has been pioneered by the Cybermen (PDA: The Murder Game, The Final Sanction).
• The events of various Cybermen stories are mentioned: DW: Attack of the Cybermen, NA: Iceberg, DW: Revenge of the Cybermen and DW: The Moonbase.
• Reference is made to the Valeyard seen in DW: The Trial of a Time Lord.

Notes

• This book notes the second and final official appearance of companion Grant Markham in official media.
• The cover by Alister Pearson contains the only official image of Grant.

Continuity

• The Doctor exiled himself to Torrok after the events of DW: The Ultimate Foe and was forced to leave when the Time Lords revealed him to the Watchers in MA: Time of Your Life.
• The Cybermen are those of the post-Cyber Wars variant seen in DW: Revenge of the Cybermen, BFA: Sword of Orion and the Cyberman audio series.
• The Doctor refers to the painful beginnings of his third regeneration in the TARDIS. (DW: Planet of the Spiders)
• When discussing the subjects of government cover-ups with Grant, the Doctor mentions the Great Intelligence (DW: The Web of Fear), the Autons (DW: Spearhead from Space, DW: Terror of the Autons), the Axons (DW: The Claws of Axos) and the Zygons (DW: Terror of the Zygons)

Timeline

• Killing Ground occurs after: VG: Destiny of the Doctors
• Killing Ground occurs before: BFA: The Wormery

External links

• Killing Ground at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: Killing Ground at The Whoniverse