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Publisher's summary
'The entire universe is at stake and I'm locked in here with another incarnation of myself, and not even one of the good ones!'
More than one TARDIS lands on a barren ice world. The Fifth Doctor, Adric, Nyssa and Tegan find a once ordered society on the verge of collapse, as rebels wage a dirty war with Scientifica, the ruling elite. All that stands between order and anarchy is the massed presence of an Adjudicator peacekeeping force.
But is peace the only reason for the Adjudicator garrison? What exactly has been discovered deep below the planet's surface? Who are the mysterious Ferutu? And why is telling a ghost story a criminal offence?
The Fifth Doctor sides with the cause of justice and fairness as always. But, as a threat to the universe unfolds, he finds himself in conflict with his past... and his future.
Characters
- Fifth Doctor
- Is only just getting over his recent regeneration.
- Seventh Doctor
- His favourite biscuits are Chocolate Hob-Nobs.
- Has to hide his emotions on seeing Adric again.
- Adric
- Nyssa
- Tegan Jovanka
- Chris Cwej
- Uses the alias Bruce Jovanka.
- Roz Forrester
- Is beginning to feel her age.
- Patience
- Adjudicator Provost-General Tertullian Medford
- A secret member of Unitatus.
- Ziyou Wanle
- A SAM drone, a mass-produced drone
References
- The TARDIS has a lightspeed overdrive.
- The Machine belongs to Patience.
- Tegan has seen Blake's 7 and can cope with the idea of transmats.
- Unitatus is what UNIT became; they use the old UNIT logo (a grid within a circle) as their herald.
- The colony has a Skybase in orbit.
- The Ferutu are beings from an alternate universe in which Gallifrey was destroyed shortly after Omega's experiments; they have supplanted the role of the Time Lords, and actively engage in protecting and shaping the universe. Their "technology" (if it can be called that) is more akin to magic runes.
- As the Seventh Doctor is able to keep them at bay with a chalk circle, they may be from the same universe as Morgaine and the others seen in DW: Battlefield.
- The Embodiment of Gris is mentioned by the Fifth Doctor.
- The Fifth Doctor never uses expletives.
- The Doctor disarms several fusion bombs by using his Sonic screwdriver to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow, an act he states is beyond the capabilities of the Humanian Era.
- The reasons that the Doctor seems to not remember meeting his past self in other multi-Doctor stories is discussed. In most of the televised adventures, it is credited to the Blinovitch Limitation Effect.
- This story explains what happened to the Doctor's children. They were culled but Susan Foreman was saved. This may explain the existence of John and Gillian.
- The Train Computer's statement "The lever you have pulled – “Brakes” – is not in service. Please make a note of it." is a reference to an episode of The Simpsons called "Marge Vs. The Monorail", where Homer's attempts to brake an out-of-control monorail are met with the same response.
Notes
- This is the only multi-Doctor story of either the Virgin New Adventures or the Virgin Missing Adventures.
- The Seventh Doctor comments about perspectives, and how "from a certain point of view, we're already dead. You. Me. Adric. Roz". When the book was published, the Eighth Doctor had begun his travels and NA: So Vile a Sin had been published showing Roz's death.
- This is one of the few attempts to explore the idea of multi-Doctor stories from the perspective of the future Doctor. The Seventh Doctor does attempt to get the Fifth Doctor out of the way and back to trying to get Tegan home, but he avoids answering the question about how much he remembers.
Continuity
- "Lightspeed overdrive" is first mentioned in DW: Logopolis.
- PDA: The Infinity Doctors reveals who Patience is.
- NA: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible and NA: Lungbarrow both gave some idea of the time from which Patience is from.
- This story begins a series of story arcs known as the "Psi Powers" arc for the Seventh Doctor continuing in NA: The Death of Art and ending in NA: Sleepy.
- The Fifth Doctor is still recovering from the effects of his recent regeneration. (DW: Logopolis, DW: Castrovalva)
- Both the Fifth and Seventh Doctors use a technique which they describe as being "beyond the science of the Humanian Era", namely reversing the polarity of the neutron flow. (DW: The Sea Devils, DW: The Five Doctors)
- The Seventh Doctor remembers the events of the novel from the perspective of the Fifth Doctor and uses this knowledge against his younger self. This is similar to CC: Peri and the Piscon Paradox, BFA: The Four Doctors and DW: Time Crash in which the Sixth, Eighth and Tenth Doctors respectively likewise remember the events portrayed from the point of view of their fifth incarnation.
- The Seventh Doctor describes his fifth incarnation as being "bland" and "not even one of the good ones." This reflects the Sixth Doctor's low opinion of his immediate predecessor immediately after his regeneration. (DW: The Twin Dilemma) Conversely, by the time of his tenth incarnation, the Doctor expressed a fond enjoyment of his time as the Fifth Doctor. He looked upon his fifth incarnation as a turning point in his life. According to the Tenth Doctor, it was during his fifth incarnation where he truly began to enjoy himself. (DW: Time Crash)
- The Fifth and Seventh Doctors would later meet each other again in BFA: The Sirens of Time and prior to the events of BFA: The Veiled Leopard. The latter encounter is not actually depicted but is witnessed by the former's companions Peri Brown and Erimem. Peri describes the Seventh Doctor as being "a kooky little guy in a weird pullover." She would later meet him more formally in NA: Bad Therapy.
Timeline
For the Fifth Doctor
- Cold Fusion takes place after ST: Resonance
- Cold Fusion takes place before ST: The Immortals
For the Seventh Doctor
- Cold Fusion takes place after NA: Return of the Living Dad
- Cold Fusion takes place before ST: The Nuclear Option