Made of Steel (novel)
Made of Steel was a novella written by Terrance Dicks. It was the second Doctor Who Quick Reads release, and is notable for being the first appearance of Martha Jones in any medium, predating the broadcast of Smith and Jones by a month.
Publisher's summary
A deadly night attack on an army base. Vehicles are destroyed, building burned, soldiers killed. The attackers vanish as swiftly as they came, taking highly advanced equipment with them.
Metal figures attack a shopping mall. But why do they only want a new games console from an ordinary electronics shop? An obscure Government Ministry is blown up — but, in the wreckage, no trace is found of the secret, state-of-the-art decoding equipment.
When the TARDIS returns the Doctor and Martha to Earth from a distant galaxy, they try to piece together the mystery. But someone — or something — is waiting for them. An old enemy stalks the night, men no longer made of flesh...
Plot
In the MegaTech Centre, Trevor the nightwatchman is enjoying his cheese and onion sandwich when suddenly, a humanoid creature made of metal appears in front of him and kills him with a blaster mounted on its wrist. As a second Cyberman appears behind the first one, the two proceed to smash open the glass cases separating them from the electronic devices sold in the centre.
Hearing the sound of shattering glass, Kevin emerges from the storeroom armed with his truncheon, only to find himself facing the Cybermen who are standing over the dead body of Trevor. Kevin tries to run away but the Cybermen gun him down as well.
The next morning, the police issue a statement about how the MegaTech Centre has been robbed of some of the latest hi-tech equipment despite the alarms failing to go off. They also explain the death of the two guards, with the older one having died of what is described as a massive shock to the system caused by an unknown force. The younger one is revealed to have still been alive when found before dying in hospital while talking about silver giants.
Another attack takes place in Whitehall where the only survivor, a research assistant, has been talking about silver giants before being moved to a sanatorium. A search reveals that highly secret equipment, such as a decoding machine, is missing.
In a military camp, Dexter Hanson is standing guard at the main gates of Chadwick Green. Half an hour before he can be relieved, Dexter sees a silver humanoid inside the gates. He tells the figure to halt before he fires at him, but the figure replies by firing its blaster at him. Dexter dodges the blast before opening fire, only for the figure to shoot him. The sound of gunfire alerts everyone else in the camp. As the corporal rushes into action with his automatic pistol, the Cyberman kills him. Another Cyberman appears behind the first Cyberman and they both kill the other soldiers one by one, even managing to destroy an armored vehicle with a heavy mounted machine gun. Once the soldiers are dead, the two Cybermen proceed to break down the door to the nearest lab.
The Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones are in prehistoric times feeding a dinosaur which the Doctor has called using a bugle-shaped object. The dinosaur, an Apatosaurus, eats the palm fronds that Martha is holding before it is chased off by a Tyrannosaurus. The Doctor and Martha rush into the TARDIS and dematerialize before the Tyrannosaurus can devour them.
In the TARDIS, the Doctor decides to stick to watching David Attenborough. Martha tells the Doctor that she wants to go to the Royal Hope Hospital so she can see how everyone else is doing after it was placed on the moon, so the Doctor obliges with her request.
Chapter Titles
1. The Raiders 2. Field Trip 3. Crisis Conference 4. Homeward Bound 5. Cybermen 6. Reunion 7. Caught 8. Arrest 9. Interrogation 10. The Doctor Takes Charge 11. Hostage 12. Attack 13. Battleground 14. The Gateway 15. Arrival 16. The Gateway Opens
Characters
- Tenth Doctor
- Martha Jones
- Kevin
- Trevor
- Dexter Hanson
- Harris
- Major Tom Burton
- Captain Sheila Sarandon
- PC Wilkie
- Rachel Swales
- Cyber-engineer
- Cyber leader
- Fanshawe
References
- The MegaTech Centre was the biggest and best computer and electronics store in Britain, possibly the world. It stocked everything from PCs to the latest MP3 player.
- Trevor drinks tea and eats cheese and onion sandwiches.
- The Doctor mentions David Attenborough and Radio 5 Live.
- Martha jokes the Cybermen aren't customers of Teleports R Us.
- The captain compares the stay-behind Cybermen group to the Nazis that called themselves Werewolves after World War II in 1945.
Notes
- This was the first BBC Wales-related work to be written by prolific Doctor Who writer Terrance Dicks.
- This is the first time the Cybermen have featured in a prose piece since the beginning of the revived series. They would not appear in text again until Plague of the Cybermen featuring the Eleventh Doctor. The Cybermen had, however, featured in past novels such as Killing Ground, Illegal Alien and Iceberg.
- This novella was also released as an ebook available from the Amazon Kindle store.
- Because this novel refers to the events of Smith and Jones, and The Lazarus Experiment, but was released well before either, it slightly spoiled these episodes. This wasn't the first time prose from Dicks had spoiled a televised story; his novelisation of The Five Doctors was also released in advance of transmission.
- The Torchwood episode Cyberwoman also focuses on the issue of Cybermen left behind after the events of Doomsday.
- The character Rachel Swales may be intended to be the same person as Julia Swales from the episode Smith and Jones.
Continuity
- Martha met the Doctor when alien forces had invaded and "kidnapped" the Royal Hope Hospital, where she was training. (TV: Smith and Jones)
- Martha's journey of "one trip" became the first of many. (TV: The Shakespeare Code, Gridlock et al.)
- The Cybermen's base in Torchwood One and their exile to the Void is mentioned. (TV: Army of Ghosts/Doomsday)
- The Doctor remembers finding websites dedicated to finding him. (TV: Love & Monsters)
- Martha's cousin Adeola worked at Torchwood and never came home after the Battle of Canary Wharf. The Doctor remembers killing her and several of her colleagues. (TV: Army of Ghosts)
- The military know that the Doctor has a companion, usually a young attractive female. (TV: Army of Ghosts et al.)
- The Doctor uses power from the TARDIS. (TV: Utopia)
External links
- Made of Steel at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: Made of Steel at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: Made of Steel
| |||||||||||||||||
