Ten Little Aliens was the fifty-fourth novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Stephen Cole, released 3 June 2002 and 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
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
References
Locations
- Earth colonies include the Little Europe star system, the Indochina system, the Thai system, the Commonwealth Belt, planets Toronto, New Jersey, the Argentines, Buenos Aires, Paris II and Beijing Minor.
- The Schirr homeworld was renamed Idaho.
Culture
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
- This adventure is set between The Smugglers and The Tenth Planet. It is the only novel in a very small number of stories to feature the First Doctor travelling with Ben and Polly. The Three Paths, a 2006 short story, establishes a solid narrative gap between the two TV serials which allows for this.
- The novel's title is based on the Agatha Christie story Ten Little N*ggers.
- The book was re-released with a new cover on 7 March 2013 for the Doctor Who 50th anniversary.
- The story is set in May '90, but the millennium and century are unspecified. The reference book aHistory places the year as circa 2890, as it is set during a time when Earth's empire is strong.
- The spacesuits worn here are the ones later seen in the television story The Moonbase.
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 France. (TV: The Reign of Terror)
- In order to stop Polly from looking at his thoughts, the Doctor produces the image of a penny farthing. (TV: The Space Museum)
- The Doctor mentions civilisations which eat the bodies of the dead in order to remember them. (PROSE: Venusian Lullaby)