Pay the Piper was a comic story published in the 468th issue of Doctor Who Magazine. The story ends on a shocking twist as the Doctor loses the TARDIS after putting it up for auction in a plan to save Clara.
Summary
Part 1: Pay the Piper
The Doctor and Clara have arrived at the Temple of Infinite Profit on the Seventh Moon of Koth, maintained by the money-worshipping religious order known as the Mandalax Tide. This religious order has a collection plate the size of Birmingham, and it has acquired a Matter Translation Portal. On the psychic paper, the Doctor has received a message from the other side of the portal reading, "Have you heard the Piper pay?" Sensing the fear and desperation in the message, he and Clara enter the portal.
They emerge in the Obsidian Mainframe, where people can submit goods from anywhere in the galaxy; these goods are converted into energy, sold, and turned back into matter in a portal to the buyer. The Doctor and Clara are similarly information as opposed to matter right now, though death in the Mainframe applies to the real world as well.
Using his psychic paper, the Doctor is able to determine the approximate location of the message sender. As Londi Kalo drives the time travelers in his taxi, the Doctor expresses dislike for the money obsession prevailing in the Mainframe, though Clara points out the importance of money for healthy living.
Meanwhile in the Nucleus of the Obsidian Mainframe, Norbo Lakka attempts to welcome Donaria Strul, a wealthy, proud being who claims to despise flattery. Donaria's eyes appear to have the ability to immediately recognize individuals' species and places of origin.
The Doctor traces the message to Auction House #9999, an infamous building where people have been rumoured to enter without exiting. Londi, having already agreed to a full day with the Doctor and Clara, nervously enters alongside them.
Inside the Auction House, the travelers observe several bidders, including holographic heads of bidders who cannot afford being there in person. The Doctor repeats the physic paper's question to Steward Hazz, who gives him and Clara masks and escorts them to the Incognito assembly. The masks are actually encryption screens that block any form of identity trace, as no one wants to be seen there...
Mr Minus appears at the front of the room, selling a group of five telepaths known as the Kindred of Fel. To save the creatures from becoming food (the power of telepaths can supposedly be transferred by eating), the Doctor bids an absurdly high amount on them. Telepathically communicating with the Kindred, he discovers that Mr Minus took them from their home world and disallowed them from hearing each other, putting them in a state of perpetual loneliness. The Doctor threatens to have Mr Minus arrested, but Mr Minus responds by automatically engulfing his hand in fire. He repeatedly swipes at the Doctor, getting him into pieces and eventually destroying him altogether...
Part 2: Sweet sorrow
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