Deep Time (novel)

The Phaeron disappeared from the universe over a million years ago. They travelled among the stars using roads made from time and space, but left only relics behind. But what actually happened to the Phaeron? Some believe they were they eradicated by a superior force... Others claim they destroyed themselves.

Or were they in fact the victims of an even more hideous fate?

In the far future, humans discover the location of the last Phaeron road – and the Doctor and Clara join the mission to see where the road leads. Each member of the research team knows exactly what they're looking for – but only the Doctor knows exactly what they'll find.

Because only the Doctor knows the true secret of the Phaeron: a monstrous secret so terrible and powerful that it must be buried in the deepest grave imaginable...

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald join a scientific expedition that hopes to find out what happened to the Phaeron, by travelling to a wormhole they made.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor's TARDIS is aged billions of years.
The Phaeron exist simultaneously outside of time and space and at one with time and space.
The planet is caught in shifting time fields and experiencing time fluxuations. The Phaeron locate the TARDIS in the local space-time continuum and retrieve it. The planet exists at the bottom of a "time well" leading into Deep Time.
While the Phaeron did not have time travel, they could drill holes through the space-time continuum and created a network of wormholes.
Tibby says there's a genuine Phaeron icon on Ursa Minor.

Foods and Beverages[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor likes porridge, with a pinch of salt.
Clara likes Prosecco and drinks Champagne here. She and the Doctor both drink hot chocolate.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor mentions the events of PROSE: Royal Blood to Clara.
The Doctor mentions Clara's getting older and less attractive. (TV: The Caretaker)
Clara is reminded of the time she encountered a mummy (TV: Mummy on the Orient Express) and visited the Moon. (TV: Kill the Moon)
Astrogation clones were developed during the last Draconian War. (TV: Frontier in Space)
Mechonoid constructions being forgotten are mentioned. (TV: The Chase)
The Phaeron remember the coming of the Time Lords as the coming of the New Universe, similar to the Carnival Queen's story of when the Time Lords removed cacophony from the universe. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet)
The humanoid Phaeron claim to be the first species in the universe, but seem distinct from the first humanoids. (PROSE: Falls the Shadow)
The Glamour absorbs the heart's desire; Enlightenment was said to give someone their heart's desire. (TV: Enlightenment)

Additional cover images[[edit] | [edit source]]

Textless cover art

Editions published outside Britain[[edit] | [edit source]]

Published in the USA by Broadway Books in 2015 as a paperback edition. It used the same cover as the UK edition.
Published in Italy by Armenia in 2016 as a paperback edition.
Published in Germany by Cross Cult in 2016 as a paperback edition.
Published in the Czech Republic by Jota in 2017 as a hardback edition.
Published in China by New Star Press in 2019 as a paperback edition.