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Deceit was the thirteenth novel in the Virgin New Adventures series. It was written by Peter Darvill-Evans and released in 1993. It features the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice. This was the first novel to crossover elements of Doctor Who Magazine's comic stories with the novel range. The events of Nemesis of the Daleks are directly referenced.
Publisher's summary
"Take Arcadia apart if you have to."
The middle of the twenty-fifth century. The Second Dalek War is drawing to an untidy close. Earth's Office of External Operation is trying to extend its influence over the corporations that have controlled human-occupied space since man first ventured to the stars.
Agent Isabelle Defries is leading one expedition. Among her barely-controllable squad is an explosives expert who calls herself Ace. Their destination: Arcadia.
A non-technological paradise? A living laboratory for a centuries-long experiment? Fuel for a super-being? Even when Ace and Benny discover the truth, the Doctor refuses to listen to them.
Nothing is what it seems to be.
Plot
Prologue: Five Years Ago
Bertrand wakes up to find the architecture in his room has changed again. He plugs into the Telepathic Net. The Net tells him the war is ending sooner than expected, but their plans will continue. Bertrand is aging and must train a successor. He presents a list of candidates, but they suggest a person from his past. She enters the room and kills Bertrand, taking his place.
Part One: Five Weeks Away
Someone watches a holovid message Britta Hoffmann is sending to her boyfriend Dimitri, telling him about her new posting. The individual deletes the holovid.
Starfleet Commander Celescu hangs up his fastline conversation when he can't get a straight answer out of Wynette Troheim, a Spinward Corporation executive, about his agent on Arcadia. Agent Defries requests from him a ship and troops to investigate. He reluctantly gives her the Admiral Raistrick and a crew of Irregular Auxiliaries.
On a planet that is not Earth, Francis, a scribe, is transcribing a book when a Humble Counsellor arrives at the gate. He requests to see the Highness, and tells Francis he should go to Landfall and become a Master.
Defries opens up a fastline with the Director of External Operations. She scrambles the connection and he sends her a cache of data on Spinward. He warns her about Spinward's influence, and ends the connection.
Francis escorts the Counsellor to the Throne Room. He finds the prince playing a game of forfeits. Francis tells him there's a Counsellor waiting and the prince goes to his throne.
An exhausted Defries reads up on the history of Spinward.
Francis takes the Counsellor to Prince Edward, and leaves through the wrong door. He finds himself in a chamber above the throne room, able to hear the conversation below. The Counsellor insists Francis be sent to Landfall, and Edward agrees. Then, the Counsellor tells him that a ship full of soldiers infected with a Dalek plague is coming, and they must all be killed.
The Auxies are getting drunk before they head out. Among them, Reynald Yesti finds a girl who didn't get picked for the trip. She's an explosives expert, and asks Yesti to come to her room.
Francis joins Christina on her trap, and the couple rides to a clearing in the woods. They leave the carriage and head to the waterfall. Francis tells her he has to go to Landfall, and questions why everyone on Arcadia lives such short lives. Christina says she'll talk to the prince about it.
Yesti is in the woman's cabin on the space station. She comes out of the washroom with nothing but a towel. She takes it off, then suddenly injects him with something. He falls over, unable to move, and she takes his ID chip from under his skin and exchanges it with her own. She tells him she's now Reynald Yesti, and he is Ace.
Lacuna and Lau-Po read Britta Hoffman's diary entry from her first days on the station. Lacuna orders further monitoring.
Characters
References
Biology
- Abslom Daak is a clone.
- Ace thinks about having sex with Daak.
- The Dalek plague used during the 22nd century Dalek invasion of Earth is mentioned in passing.
Corporations
- Interplanetary Mining Corporation makes an appearance.
Human colonies
- Earth colonies during the 25th century include Astral, the university planet Academia, Belmos, Thrapos 3, and Hurgal.
Individuals
- Bernice is haunted by the destruction of the Seven Planets.
- Ace is three years older than when she left the Doctor on Heaven.
Linguistics
- Cybershit and Dalek dung are expressions/expletives.
Military
- Ace has been trained in the Spacefleet in the Special Weapons Division.
Planets
- Arcadia was a Spinward colony.
Songs
- "My Dalek Lover is a Sex Machine" was a relatively popular song during the Dalek wars.
TARDIS
- The TARDIS is cured of the infection it reacquired in Tír na n-Óg.
- The Doctor ejected the zero room from the TARDIS, to destroy Pool.
Warriors
- Dalek Killers are almost mythical.
Notes
- A prelude to this novel was published in DWM 198.
- This was the first Doctor Who novel to exceed 300 pages in length.
- Author Peter Darvill-Evans was the range editor for the Virgin New Adventures line.
Continuity
- Abslom Daak died destroying the Dalek Death Wheel in COMIC: Nemesis of the Daleks, and was later saved by time-travellers in COMIC: Emperor of the Daleks!.
- The TARDIS was infected with protoplasm in PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark.
- A construct which is probably Pool would later appear in PROSE: Down.
- Ace would later find a fictionalised version of these events in the form of a novel entitled Deceit in the Land of Fiction library. (PROSE: Conundrum)