Room with a Deja View (comic story)
Summary
A murder has taken place. Committed by a member of a species that lives in the opposite direction to the timeline. Who, from its own perspective, has not yet committed the crime in question.
A locked house murder mystery where the culprit is clear from the beginning. But the process is anything but. And the Doctor lands smack bang in the middle of it all.
Plot
Warning: Parts of this comic may read better backwards rather than forwards.
Inside the TARDIS the Doctor decides that for once he needs to be alone. Therefore, he moves the TARDIS to the death zone, the closest the universe gets to absolute nothingness, in order to meditate. At the same time, Tx looks down upon the dead body of one of the Krotonic species, Tx then kills him with a spanner, he sneaks up behind Tx, as he later sees him sending a distress signal.
It is this distress signal which disturbs the Doctor's meditation. Following it, he finds a space station in the middle of nothingness. After materialising, he runs out to find himself surrounded by armed guards of multiple species, who use foam to gag him.
Inside a medical room, the Doctor is confirmed to be clean by Inspector Mozz, a green tentacled gasbag from Gallibuitas Xenax. After being by Inspector Looz, who is of the same species as Mozz, they explain the situation to the Doctor. The space station is the great refuge from a plague which ravaged the galaxy centuries ago, passed through communication. However, a distress signal was sent from the station and a Krotonic creature was killed trying to stop it. The culprit has been identified as Tx and is in custody. However, he is a member of the counter family, whose lives run backwards. This has meant that they cannot understand him and for some reason he calls Mozz his mother. He is a walking paradox.
However, the Doctor works out how he can interrogate him through his TARDIS. Once the room is secured he concludes the interview and steps inside the TARDIS, meeting another version of himself along the way. Tx says he attempted to revive the corpse of the Krotonic communications guard. Tx knows nothing about the plague as his family never encountered it. Other beings apart from the doctor will come and they may be able to save the linear lifeforms. Tx sent the signal in order to save the linear life forms from the destruction which will be his ancestor's creation. This is because the counter family were born in the destruction of the space station. Tx knows this and did it in order to save them from creation. The Doctor says this is sending a signal from the perspective of linear lifeforms. Tx explains that when he leaves here he will receive a distress signal from the universe. He becomes angry when the Doctor suggests that he would stop his birth, claiming it is impossible. Tx explains that he was born one day ago from Mozz and Looz. Finally the Doctor commences the interrogation.
Outside, the Doctor explains to Mozz and Looz that he is not guilty of murder but saved the communications guard, as if he hadn't done this he would have died a long time ago and his action of sending the signal will save the station in the future. However, Mozz and Looz take the Doctor's notes as a full confession and are determined to execute Tx. The Doctor manages to convince them that Tx should be allowed to spend a last day with his family.
The next day Mozz and Looz come to execute Tx but are surprised to find the counter family so happy. The Doctor explains for them this is not a sad time but of birth. Mozz and Looz finally understand and execute Tx. He dies in the Doctor's arms getting Tx's blood splattered on his head. The Doctor then heads back to his TARDIS, telling the inspectors to prepare.
Just outside his TARDIS, the Doctor meets himself from yesterday who then takes that TARDIS back to the cell the day before. The Doctor enters the newly arrived TARDIS and dematerialises. He concludes that he needs to find someone to talk to, as the internal monologue isn't for him.
Characters
- The Doctor
- Exploits a loophole in temporal physics in order to get the full story about the murder.
References
- to be added
Planets
- to be added
Notes
- This one-shot comic is the first to be released in the same month as an issue of the Doctor Who Ongoing series also from IDW, in this case, IDW: Silver Scream. According to an advertisement in the comic, IDW intends to continue publishing standalones on a monthly basis.
- It was reprinted in the graphic novel Through Time and Space.
- There were two covers made for this issue.
- The anti-chronological plot structure of the story is reminiscent of the First Doctor comic strip, TVC: "Time in Reverse".
Cover Gallery
Cover A
Cover B
Continuity
- The Doctor is without a companion (and in fact this is one of a handful of Tenth Doctor stories in which he doesn't even work with a one-off companion), likely placing this in the post-Journey's End timeframe, although as with some of the other recent stories of this type, there is really nothing in the story to suggest it can't occur during one of the earlier companionless intervals.
- The Doctor meets himself in his current incarnation, breaking the First Law of Time. He previously met himself in this way in DW: Day of the Daleks, DWM: The Collector and BFA: The Company of Friends, and observed himself in DW: Father's Day.
External Links
to be added
