Publisher's summary
The faded glamour of a hotel in space, spinning in an all-but-forgotten orbit round the Earth, is host to some unusual visitors this weekend - including a party that claim to travel in a battered blue police box...
It is the year 2146. Answering a distress call from the dilapidated Hotel Galaxian, the TARDIS crew discover a games enthusiast is using the hotel to host a murder-mystery weekend. But it seems someone from his motley group of guests is taking things a little too seriously.
While the Doctor, Ben and Polly find themselves joining in the shadowplay, it becomes clear that a real-life murderer is stalking the dark, disused corridors of the Galaxian. But worse than this: there's a sinister force waiting silently in space for events to unfold. A terrible secret is hidden on board the Galaxian, and if it is discovered nothing - least of all murder - will ever be the same again. If this is a game, the stakes just got higher.
Characters
References
- Clockwork frogs are used as currency in the Alpha Mardis systems.
- The Doctor had previously seen an entire world devastated by the Selachians, although he had not yet met them.
- In a rarely seen gesture, the Doctor offers a silent prayer to 'the gods of his own people'.
Notes
to be added
Continuity
- The Selachians also appear in PDA: The Final Sanction.
- T-Mat equipment is mentioned. (DW: The Seeds of Death)
- The Doctor, Ben and Polly encountered Venusians, Draconians and Alpha Centaurans at a spaceport bar in an unchronicled adventure preceding this one.
- In the Doctor's pockets are (amongst other things) a bag of jelly babies and a yo-yo, both used frequently by the Fourth Doctor.
- UNIT - and the Doctor's mentions in the organisation's files - are mentioned, however the Doctor says he knows nothing of such an organisation (not having heard of it until DW: The Invasion).
- The Doctor refers to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as an 'old friend'. In MA: Evolution, the Doctor suspects they may have met before.
- The Doctor can feel the space station moving, even though no one else can. This is similar to his ability to feel the movement of the Earth. (DW: Rose)
- Among the alien menaces the Doctor has fought, Ben mentions the War Machines (DW: The War Machines), the Daleks (DW: The Power of the Daleks) and the Cybermen (DW: The Tenth Planet), and is about to mention more (but is interrupted), implying that additional adventures have taken place since he met the Doctor (which likely include: ST: Pluto and MA: Invasion of the Cat-People among others).
- The Professor X TV show is mentioned. (NA: No Future)
- The Doctor creates a temporary sonic device, used to unlock a door, and resolves to begin work on a permanent version when he got back to the TARDIS. The resulting Sonic screwdriver is later seen in PDA: Dreams of Empire (and onscreen in DW: Fury from the Deep), and possibly even earlier - in TN: Wonderland. (What happened to his previous sonic device used in MA: Venusian Lullaby is unknown.)
- Ben states that in his experience - computers do as they please. (DW: The War Machines)
- When seeing an outfit found in the TARDIS wardrobe consisting of a colourful patchwork shirt clashing with yellow trowsers, the Doctor thinks to himself that he would never wear such a thing, a notion obviously forgotten by the time his sixth incarnation came around...
Timeline
- This story occurs after DWA: The King of Golden Death
- This story occurs before PDA: Dying in the Sun