Ten Little Aliens (novel)

Ten Little Aliens
Doctor:	First Doctor
Companion(s):	Ben, Polly
Main enemy:	The Ten-Strong, a faction of Morphieans, Marshal Nadia Haunt.
Main setting:	unnamed planetoid
Key crew
Publisher:	[[publisher::BBC Books]]
Writer:	Stephen Cole
Cover by:	Black Sheep
Release details
Release number:	54
Release date:	3 June 2002 7 March 2013 (50th Anniversary Edition)
Format:	Paperback Book, 320 Pages (50th Anniversary Edition)
ISBN:	ISBN 0-563-53853-8
BBC Past Doctor Adventures
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Ten Little Aliens was the fifty-fourth BBC Past Doctor Adventures novel. It featured the First Doctor, Ben Jackson and Polly Wright.

Publisher's summary

2002 BBC Books edition

Far out in space, on the ragged edges of Earth's bloated empire, an elite unit of soldiers is on a training mission. But deep in the heart of the hollowed-out planetoid that forms their battleground, a chilling secret waits to be discovered: ten alien corpses, frozen in time at the moment of violent, bloody death.

The bodies are those of the empire's most wanted terrorists, and their discovery could end a war of attrition devastating the galaxy. But is the same force that slaughtered them still lurking in the dark tunnels of the training ground? And what are its plans for the people of Earth?

When the Doctor arrives on the planetoid with Ben and Polly, he soon scents a net tightening about them. And as the soldiers begin to disappear one by one, paranoia spreads; is the real enemy out there in the darkness, or somewhere among them?

2013 BBC Books edition

Deep in the heart of a hollowed-out moon the First Doctor finds a chilling secret: ten alien corpses, frozen in time at the moment of their death. They are the empire's most wanted terrorists, and their discovery could end a war devastating the galaxy. But is the same force that killed them still lurking in the dark? And what are its plans for the people of Earth?

Plot

to be added

Characters

• First Doctor
• Ben Jackson
• Polly

Soldiers

• Marshal Nadina Haunt
• Eiji Shel
• Adam Shade
• Gisel Denni
• Dav Joiks
• Mel "Frog" Narda
• Ralph Tovel
• Stace Lindey
• Joseph Creben
• Dax Roba
• Cellmek
• Ashman

Schirr

• DeCaster
• Pallemar

References

Individuals

• Polly comments that despite being telepathically linked, she can't hear the Doctor's thoughts. He apologises but says some secrets are his alone.

Locations

• Earth colonies include Toronto, New Jersey, and Beijing Minor.
• The Schirr homeworld was renamed Idaho.

Species

• Earth's empire annexed the Schirr homeworld.
• Schirr terrorists use Morphiean magic against the empire.

Technology

• Imperial soldiers use websets and Kill-Droids in their training.
• the Schirr use crystals with cartographic information in them to pilot their ships.

Notes

The cover of the 2013 edition.

• The novel's title is based on the Agatha Christie story Ten Little Niggers.
• The book was re-released with a new cover in 2013 for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary.
• The story is set in May '90, but the millennium and century are unspecified. aHistory places the year as circa 2890, as it is set during a time when Earth's empire is strong.

Continuity

• The Doctor can sense his upcoming regeneration into his second incarnation, telling Ben that he will soon feel a new person. (TV: The Tenth Planet) As will be the case with his tenth incarnation considerably later in his personal timeline, he is apprehensive about the inevitable change. (TV: The End of Time)
• The Kill-Droid reminds Ben of the War Machines. (TV: The War Machines)
• Creben refers to spectrox. (TV: The Caves of Androzani)
• Haunt says to the Doctor that the pioneers used to say that our destiny is in the stars. The First Doctor said this in TV: The Reign of Terror.
• The spacesuits worn here are the ones later seen in TV: The Moonbase.
• In order to stop Polly from looking at his thoughts, the Doctor produces the image of a penny farthing, the same way he did in TV: The Space Museum.

External links

• Ten Little Aliens at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
• The Discontinuity Guide to: Ten Little Aliens at The Whoniverse
• The Cloister Library: Ten Little Aliens