System Shock was the eleventh novel in the Virgin Missing Adventures series. It was written by Justin Richards. It featured the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan. This novel is one of two novels in the series to feature Harry Sullivan, the only other being A Device of Death.
Publisher's summary
- "We're dicing with death on the information superhighway to hell."
A rebellion on another planet. A kidnapping in central London. The head of MI5 assassinated. A hostage siege suddenly and violently ended by the SAS. A computer CD slipped into the Fourth Doctor's pocket by a dead man...
It's 1998, and the global information superhighway is about to come on line. OffNet controls everything digital from cars to sliding doors, from interactive television to military command and control systems.
The Doctor and Sarah must join forces with an old friend in a race against time: to prevent the breakdown of technological society and foil an unconventional alien takeover bid.
Chapter Titles
- IF ...
- THEN ...
- 00 Begin Program
- 01 Meetings
- 02 Involvement
- 03 Search Patterns
- 04 Hubway
- 05 Office Work
- 06 System Crashes
- 07 Schedules
- 08 Set-up
- 09 Breaking the Code
- 0A Take-over Bid
- 0B Snakes Alive
- 0C Negotiation
- 0D Bugs
- 0E On the Tiles
- 0F Plans
- 10 Intelligent Systems
- 11 Escape Sequences
- 12 Voractyll Unleashed
- 13 Shutdown
- 14 Executive Conclusion
- Else ...
Plot
to be added
Characters
References
The Doctor
- The Doctor claims that 1998 is "not one of [his] favourites."
Foods and beverages
- 1997 was a bad year for ginger beer.
Literature
- A guard at Hubway reads the latest Stephen King novel.
TARDIS
- The Doctor blames the helmic regulators for the TARDIS missing the year that he was aiming for.
- The Doctor tells Sarah that the TARDIS is too advanced to be able to read a CD ROM.
Television
- Gibson watches Coronation Street while recovering in a hospital.
Notes
- After the BBC Past Doctor Adventures replaced the Virgin Missing Adventures, Millennium Shock was released as a direct sequel to this novel. This is the only such occurrence between the ranges.
- The image of Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor, is a drawing of a flipped publicity photo.
Continuity
- After leaving both the TARDIS and UNIT, Harry was posted to Porton Down where he became involved in highly classified work. (TV: Mawdryn Undead, PROSE: Harry Sullivan's War)
- Brigadier Winifred Bambera is still in command of the British divison of UNIT in 1998. (TV: Battlefield)
- Sarah has written articles for Metropolitan about "the dangers of meditation" (TV: Planet of the Spiders) and "the sudden evacuation of London all those years ago". (TV: Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
- The Doctor's CV states that he has obtained degrees from the Prydonian Academy (TV: The Hand of Fear, TV: The Deadly Assassin) and "Lister, 1888". (TV: The Moonbase)
- In her personal timeline, Sarah's last meeting with Harry took place only a month earlier. (TV: The Android Invasion)
- The 1950s BBC science fiction television series Nightshade is mentioned. The Seventh Doctor and Ace would later meet its star Edmund Trevithick in Crook Marsham in December 1968. (PROSE: Nightshade)