Card Conundrum was the second story of The Many Lives of Doctor Who, published in 2018.
Plot
The Doctor's adventures are not always based in planets and starships. Sometimes, they get weird. Such as when his second self, Jamie, Ben, and Polly were menaced by an insectoid species that resembled playing cards.
Reflecting on what a good team those three humans made, the Doctor remembers Jamie and Ben tackling down the playing card aliens, shrinking them down to the size of cards. When the TARDIS team meets up, the leader of the aliens tells the Doctor to choose. And based on his choice he will live or die.
Gambling on the basis of his captors being insectoid, the Doctor choose correctly and is returned his TARDIS.
The Doctor fondly remembers his second self and his nomadic lifestyle. But all good things come to an end. The Time Lords caught up to the Second Doctor and not only forced him to regenerate but exiled him to Earth in its 20th century.
Characters
Worldbuilding
- The insectoid species are said to resemble playing cards.
- One of the insectoids says a word that Jamie interprets as either "die" or "diet.
- A one in 13 chance is about 7.6923 percent.
Continuity
- The Twelfth Doctor repeats the newly-regenerated Second Doctor's words: "life depends on change and renewal." (TV: The Power of the Daleks)
- Jamie says "look at the size of that thing" and the Doctor reaffirms this comment. (TV: The Moonbase, The Evil of the Daleks, The Two Doctors)