The Beast of Babylon (short story)
The Beast of Babylon was the ninth Puffin eshort released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who. It featured the Ninth Doctor.
It was later published in the short stories anthologies 11 Doctors, 11 Stories, 12 Doctors, 12 Stories and Thirteen Doctors, 13 Stories.
Publisher's summary
When a girl called Ali pockets a silver orb that falls from the sky, little does she realise it's her ticket to seeing the universe! Desperate to retrieve the mysterious object, the Ninth Doctor agrees to let her join him on a dangerous trip to ancient Babylon. Together they must join forces to stop a giant Starman from destroying Earth before it's too late!
Plot
The companion for the book, Ali, first meets the doctor while having a picnic with her family. The doctor spots the family while searching for a beast called the Starman and immediately warns them to leave the area since they are in danger. As the family go to pack away the star man appears and picks up the doctor and Ali can only watch as the doctor and Starman disappear in a whirlwind. Soon after she finds a small silver sphere on the ground that the doctor had been holding and decides to keep hold of it.
A few days later while standing and watching the lake Ali meets the doctor again. The doctor had returned to the planet in the TARDIS and asked Ali to return the silver orb. Ali is curious about the Starman and is reluctant to return it so decides to only return it if the doctor answers the questions she has. The doctor answers her questions and explains that the Starman is a being that can travel through space and time and is fuelled by the energy it drains from the stars it consumes. He also explains that the planet Earth is also at threat of being destroyed by the starman so he needs the orb to stop it. Ali soon manages to deduce that the doctor has a TARDIS and is actually a timelord, upon realising this she asks the doctor to let her come with him. While he is reluctant the doctor eventually agrees to let Ali come with him to save Earth.
While travelling in the TARDIS, the doctor explains that the orb he used on the Starman was made by the Exalted Holgoroth of All Tagkhanastria. The doctor stole the orb from Holgoroth while pretending to be an emissary from the crab nebula and used it to knock the Starman into the 26th dimension so it wouldn't cause any more harm. However, there is a much more powerful Starman heading to Earth which he and Ali must deal with so they use the TARDIS to travel to Earth, specifically a place called Babylon, in 2000 BC. As they travel the doctor and Ali talk about Rose (this book is set in the time between when the doctor first left Rose after she said she wouldn't travel with him in the episode ‘Rose’ and when he returns after a few seconds to try to convince her again). Ali believes the doctor should try to ask Rose to travel with him again.
The doctor exits the TARDS, asking Ali to stay inside where it's safe. Upon exiting the doctor meets Zabaia, the high priest of Marduk, who at first believes the doctor must be a messenger for the gods. One of the priests tries to enter the TARDIS and Ali kills them using her antendoes, believing she must protect the TARDIS like the doctor asked. Seeing this convinces Zabaia that the doctor is a spy and he is captured. The king of Babylon, Hammurabi, and his royal guard, Gurgurum, believe all non-Babylonians must be killed so the doctor is taken to them. Hammurabi is especially cautious as his priests have warned him of their gods abandoning the city and he fears his city may crumble.
The doctor is taken to his place of execution while Ali remains in the TARDIS. After a while of deliberation and some guards trying to break into the TARDIS, Ali goes in search of the doctor, killing any guards that cross her path. Meanwhile, the doctor tries to reason with Hammurabi, warning him of the Starman that is coming and how he can help by neutralising the best. Hammurabi believes the doctor lies and is a sorcerer so does not listen and is insistent on cutting out the doctor's heart.
While the doctor still struggles to escape execution Ali finds Gurgurum and kills him. Hammurabi and his people see this and believe Ali is the beast they were anticipating but the doctor explains she is not and is actully a species called a Karkinos. At that moment the actual Starman appears. The doctor believes there is nothing he can do, he has left the silver orb he needed to neutralise the Starman in the TARDIS. However he soon realises Ali is carrying the Orb as she approaches him.
With a struggle Ali and the doctor climb up the Starman, throwing the silver orb into its gaping mouth to get rid of it. Now the Starman has been neutralised the doctor returns Ali home thanking her for her help. The doctor, now convinced by Ali, returns to where he left Rose when he first met and then left her and tries to convince her to travel with him again and is successful this time.
Characters
- Ninth Doctor
- Ali
- Ali's dad
- Ali's mum
- Gilia
- Starman
- Zabaia
- Gurgurum
- Hammurabi
- Rose Tyler
- Mickey Smith
Worldbuilding
- The Doctor describes humans and meerkats as the only two "halfway sentient" creatures on Earth circa 2005.
- The Doctor mentions some of his previous companions; Susan, Barbara, Ian, Prince Egon, Jamie, Polly, Ella McBrien, Sarah Jane Smith and Leela. Egon and Ella are new companions referenced for the first time in this story; it is not known which Doctor they travelled with.
- The Doctor talked to the Exalted Holgoroth of All Tagkhanastria, pretending to be an emissary from the Crab Nebula.
- Karkinians come from Karkinos.
- Ali learnt about TARDISes and the Time Lords at college. She was taught they were extinct.
- The Doctor compares Ali's good observation skills to Sherlock Holmes. She does not know who he is.
- Gurgurum mentions the conquests of Eshunna, Elam, Larsa, and Mari as examples of Babylon's might.
- The Tigris and Euphrates rivers make up the borders of Babylon.
- The soil of Babylon is fertile, allowing lots of fruit trees, date palms, and fields of wheat to grow there.
Notes
- This is the second of the eShorts in which the Doctor is not depicted as travelling with one of his TV companions, the first being Spore. It is also one of the earliest depictions of the Ninth Doctor in an adventure with a non-TV companion, second only to What I Did on My Christmas Holidays by Sally Sparrow in publication.
- The final chapter retells the final scene from Rose, but from the Doctor's perspective.
- An audiobook of the story was read by its author, Charlie Higson.
Continuity
- The Doctor has just left Earth after defeating the Nestene Consciousness with Rose Tyler. He is convinced to return to Rose and ask her to be his companion by Ali. (TV: Rose)
- Ali believes the Doctor is in love with Rose. (TV: The Parting of the Ways et al.)
- The Doctor says he is only a warrior if he has to be. (TV: The Night of the Doctor)
- The Doctor mentions that he once had a hand similar to that of a crab, in a body "far far away". (PROSE: A Big Hand for the Doctor)
