At Childhood's End (novel)
At Childhood's End was a novel written by Sophie Aldred, detailing a meeting between Ace McShane and the Thirteenth Doctor.
Publisher's summary
Once, a girl called Ace travelled the universe with the Doctor – until, in the wake of a terrible tragedy they parted company. Decades later, she is known as Dorothy McShane, the reclusive millionaire philanthropist who heads global organisation A Charitable Earth.
And Dorothy is haunted by terrible nightmares, vivid dreams that begin just as scores of young runaways are vanishing from the dark alleyways of London. Could the disappearances be linked to sightings of sinister creatures lurking in the city shadows? Why has an alien satellite entered a secret orbit around the Moon?
Investigating the satellite with Ryan, Graham and Yaz, the Doctor is thrown together with Ace once more. Together they must unravel a malevolent plot that will cost thousands of lives. But can the Doctor atone for her past incarnation’s behaviour – and how much must Ace sacrifice to win victory not only for herself, but for the Earth?
Plot
Justine, a homeless teenager in London, is kidnapped by hooded figures.
Dorothy McShane wakes in a cold sweat from a recurring nightmare that she's had every day of the week so far. She tries to remember it, but can't. Frustrated, she gets out of bed and flicks through channels on her television. She sees Kim Fortune hosting his own show. He's interviewing a girl and her parents, describing how their daughter was almost kidnapped by aliens. The girl describes experiencing a nightmare eerily similar to her own, but what shakes Dorothy is that she lives in Perivale, near where she lived when she was taken in a time storm to Iceworld.
Dorothy drives to Chantelle's flat in her Hypergreen, and tells her about what she discovered. Chantelle tells her that she wasn't the first to ask around, and that she has heard some strange noises at night, not to mention the large amount of rats that there suddenly is. Sanaul calls her and asks her to turn on the television, where every channel is showing footage of a UFO that has appeared around the moon. Calling Will Buckland on the way, she drives to her workshop, picking up the Squidget before arriving at the British Space Defence Centre in Devesham.
Will meets her at the Centre, and takes her to a hangar at the back which houses the Virgil. She lets the Squidget take control of the machine, but it told by Sam O'Connor, the Mission Controller, that she needs to take a full medical examination before she goes up into space with Will.
to be continued
Characters
- Dorothy McShane
- Thirteenth Doctor
- Graham O'Brien
- Yasmin Khan
- Ryan Sinclair
- Seventh Doctor
- Chantelle
- Will Buckland
- Halogi-Kari
- Justine
- Kim Fortune
- Sanaul
- Sam O'Connor
- Squidget
- Kerry Eldon
- Andrew Eldon
- Tracey Eldon
- Sorin
- Aquillon
- Masst
- Elkon
- Wraith Queen
Worldbuilding
Culture
- Justine feels like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
- Ryan recognises Chantelle from Checkout Girls vs Sea Monsters and Alien Bike Riders.
- Graham recognises Chantelle from EastEnders.
- Graham compares Yaz to Gene Hunt.
- Dorothy compares Will's grin to a Cheshire Cat.
Individuals
- Yaz mentions Ryan's dad.
- Ace re-experiences a memory of her mother.
- When he believes he is about to die, Graham thinks of being reunited with Grace.
- Halogi-Kari employed Crozier to augment the Ratts' brains.
Species
- The Ratts can somewhat shapeshift between small rat and humanoid forms.
- The Astingir are similar to centaurs, but with small horse heads upon the human torso. Masst is unfamiliar with what a horse is.
- The Doctor identifies Halogi-Kari as a Harbinger, a "very rare and very powerful" race.
Technology
- Chantelle calls the Doctor's sonic screwdriver 'a magic wand'.
- Ace owns two Honda Fireblade motorcycles.
- The Wraiths were imprisoned in the Quantum Anvil, fracturing them into their possible futures.
- Ace is familiar with other bio-mechanical technology used by the Dragon on Iceworld, Zygons, and Axos.
The TARDIS
- Ace reminisces on the TARDIS' old control room.
Places
- Chantelle used to model clothes for Henrik's.
- China intends to launch a rocket to investigate the Wraith ship in lunar orbit.
- Obsidian Four is relatively near the Astingir Herdworld.
- The Hondopel Peace Corps are based on the planet Hondopel.
- Peerie Canto is in a triple star system.
Organisations
- Ace built the headquarters for A Charitable Earth next to the Tower of London so that she could keep an eye on UNIT.
- Ace was supposed to go to a meeting with the World Ecology Bureau.
- Various people recognise Ace from her charity, A Charitable Earth.
- Ace tells the Doctor she'd taken the money that would later be used to start her charity from her after an incident involving the Cybermen.
- Halogi-Kari was detained by the Shadow Proclamation.
Notes
- The story indicates that Chantelle had appeared on the show EastEnders at some point. Incidentally, Chantelle's original actress in Survival, Adele Silva, acted in the show herself in 1991. Silva's path of becoming a model when grown up is also mirrored in Chantelle.
- The novel acknowledges the many divergent portrayals of Ace's timeline in Doctor Who expanded media as visions that Ace experienced during her encounter with the Quantum Anvil during her youth; however, the novel's depiction of her departure from the TARDIS differs from all of them, creating yet another account of her future following her original television appearances (though not inherently contradictory, given suggestions in other narratives of tampering in Ace's timeline or alterations to her personal memories).
- The novel's events would ultimately be ignored by TV: The Power of the Doctor, which depicts Ace appearing to meet the Thirteenth Doctor and Graham for the first time in different circumstances. Though it is common for televised Doctor Who to ultimately contradict events that other media have depicted, it is notable for the show revisiting a specific plotline (Ace meeting the the Thirteenth Doctor and confronting the circumstances of her departure) of a relatively recent and high-profile publication.
- The two works do share similarities on their depiction of Ace: Both works depict Ace's departure as a result of a falling out with the Seventh Doctor, and both also depict Ace as owning a new baseball bat capable of enhanced damage capabilities. Both works also remain in compatibility with AUDIO: Quantum of Axos (released a month prior to The Power of the Doctor), where Ace has already met and made amends with a future (implied to be female) Doctor when she encounters the Tenth Doctor.
- The novel is also mentioned in a BBC America article titled, "13 OF THE DEEPEST CUTS OF WONDERFUL FAN SERVICE IN ‘THE POWER OF THE DOCTOR’" released only a couple days after the original broadcast of "The Power of The Doctor". The article mentions how the novel depicts the Seventh Doctor's Fallout with Ace and how it "oddly suggests" that Ace has met the Thirteenth Doctor and Team TARDIS before.
Continuity
- Team TARDIS know that the Doctor used to be a man. (TV: Spyfall)
- Ace is concerned that the Torchwood Institute (TV: Army of Ghosts, Everything Changes), UNIT (TV: The Web of Fear) or the Intrusion Counter-Measures Group (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) would be after her technology.
- The Tower of London used to be UNIT's UK headquarters (TV: The Christmas Invasion, The Power of Three, The Day of the Doctor, The Zygon Invasion / The Zygon Inversion) but has now been axed by the government. (TV: Resolution) A Charitable Earth's headquarters are established opposite the Tower.
- Ace refers to meeting the Cybermen during the Blitz. (PROSE: Illegal Alien)
- Devesham is home to the Space Defence Station. (TV: The Android Invasion)
- Ace recalls liberating Terra Alpha (TV: The Happiness Patrol) and Segonax. (TV: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)
- Ace remembers being taken by a time-storm by Fenric. (TV: Dragonfire, The Curse of Fenric)
- To convince Ace that she is the Doctor, the Thirteenth Doctor mentions Daleks (TV: Remembrance of the Daleks) and how Ace hates clowns. (TV: The Greatest Show in the Galaxy)
- The Seventh Doctor had some everlasting matches (PROSE: Doctor Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks)
- Sarah Jane Smith had previously shown awareness of Ace's charity work. (TV: Death of the Doctor)
- Yaz recalls Ryan's father defeating a Dalek with a microwave. (TV: Resolution)
- Ace previously met someone called Justine. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Warhead, Warlock)
- According to another account, Chantelle eventually died in the early 21st century due to her weakened immune system being caused by severe pollution. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Warhead)
- Ace arrives on a planet/spaceship that happens to be made of flesh. (PROSE: Love and War)
- When Ace touches the Quantum Anvil, she sees possible futures showing her living on Gallifrey, (AUDIO: Intervention Earth) a life where she and the Doctor travelled with a dark-haired woman (PROSE: Love and War, Deceit-Set Piece) and flirted with a young man (PROSE: Nightshade, Love and War, AUDIO: The Harvest), killing a Dalek while the explosion reflected in her black sunglasses (PROSE: Deceit, et. al), a life where she lived with an ancestor of Sorin (TV: The Curse of Fenric, PROSE: Set Piece) and got killed in a Nitro-Nine Explosion, (COMIC: Ground Zero) and a life where she grew old travelling with the Doctor. (AUDIO: Signs and Wonders)
- Chantelle recalls meeting the Seventh Doctor as a child. (TV: Survival)
- The Doctor remembers battling Morbius. (TV: The Brain of Morbius)
- The Virgil is the successor of the ill-fated XK-5 Space Freighter. (TV: The Android Invasion)
Audiobook
This novel was released as an audiobook on 6 February 2020 complete and unabridged by BBC Audio and read by Sophie Aldred.
External links
- Official At Childhood's End page at Penguin Books
- Official At Childhood's End audiobook page at Penguin Books
- Penguin Books's official podcast Sophie Aldred with Katy Brand interview about the book
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