Publisher's summary
I'm playing with a fire so dangerous I could scorch eternity.
The last words of a dying alien send the Doctor and Bernice to thirtieth-century Earth in an attempt to avert an unspecified disaster. Before they can even unpack they’ve been arrested by the Adjudicators and sentenced to death by the Imperial army. Their attempts to prove their innocence take them from the mosaic planet Purgatory to a prison inside a star.
Meanwhile, Adjudicators Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej have their own problems. Investigating a series of apparently motiveless murders, they have stumbled upon a conspiracy with sinister overtones. On the run and out of luck, the only people they can turn to are their chief suspects: the Doctor and Bernice.
And as they run, someone is watching them. Someone who knows the Doctor of old...
Characters
- The Doctor
- Enjoys lapsang souchong tea.
- Bernice Summerfield
- Hates being called 'Bernie'.
- Is now 33 years old.
- Christopher Rodonanté Cwej
- Chris had a body bepple so that he looked like a teddy bear.
- Made (and painted) model space ships when he was young.
- Roslyn 'Sarah' Forrester
- Once ate someone's ID.
- Spent 2 years training on Ponten IV.
- Professor Zebulon Pryce
- Member of the University of Sallas.
- Driven mad by Icarons.
- Tobias Vaughn
- Has kept himself alive since his previous encounter with the Doctor using salvaged Cybermen parts.
- Fenn Martle
- Spent some time as Roz's lover.
- Was taking bribes.
References
Individuals
- Tobias Vaughn has kept himself 'alive' using Cyberman technology and also funded the BOSS, Professor Kettlewell and Think Tank's robotics research and also Whitaker's Time Scoop.
- Lady Genniploritreludar taught the Doctor stellar engineering at the Academy.
- The Divine Empress rules the Empire from her palace orbiting Saturn. She is extremely old with tumors covering her body, she is fully integrated into the computer systems that run the empire.
- Her full title is: Divine Empress, Glory of the Empire, Ruler of the High Court, Lord of the Inner and Outer Worlds, High Admiral of the Galactic Fleets, Lord General of the Six Armies and Defender of the Earth.
Locations
- Overcities are large tower blocks the size of cities which have large anti-grav engines allowing them to hover over the undercity below.
Organisations
- The Guild of Adjudicators is over 800 years old.
Spacecraft
- The Hith experimental craft uses Icarons to enter hyperspace.
Timeline
- This is set a few years following the Wars of Acquisition.
Notes
- According to Andy Lane in DWM 252:
"Early on in the writing of Original Sin, Roz Forrester was a man and an old tramp named Tom became the new companion."[1]
Continuity
- Vaughn scavenged Cyberman bodies from 1985 (DW: Attack of the Cybermen), 1986 (DW: The Tenth Planet) and the post-Cyber-Wars period (DW: Revenge of the Cybermen).
- The manner in which the Divine Empress is hooked into the computer system is extremely similar to the Controller in DW: Bad Wolf.
- The Divine Empress reappears in NA: So Vile a Sin.
- Vaughn funded:
- BOSS (DW: The Green Death)
- Whitaker's time scoop (DW: Invasion of the Dinosaurs)
- Professor Kettlewell's researches (DW: Robot)
Timeline
- This story takes place after NA: Human Nature
- This story takes place before NA: Sky Pirates!