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Summary
A fault develops in the controls of the TARDIS, and Dr Who tells John and Gillian that as a result the time and space machine will materialise prematurely. Above the surface of a barren asteroid, a rock hurtling through space collides with the spinning TARDIS, sending the craft plummeting down. The TARDIS smashes into the surface of the asteroid, damaging the controls, and Dr Who fears that they could be marooned there permanently. They discover, on leaving the TARDIS, that the asteroid has low gravity, and also that they may not be alone, since a small rocket ship has come to rest some distance away. The three are making their way towards it when a large, scaly creature reminiscent of a dinosaur comes into view and bears down on them. The gravity level, however, allows them to make a big leap towards the rocket, which they now perceive to be damaged as well, most likely from a similar crash landing to their own. They climb in through its hatch before the creature is able to get there. Relief is short-lived, though, since a diminutive, humanoid astronaut with a bald head and large eyes flourishes a tubular ray gun and threatens to reduce them to atoms.
Dr Who calms him down, explains that they too have crashed in this wild place, and suggests that they work together to achieve their respective escapes. The astronaut tells them that his name is Grig, and reveals that he is from the planet Theros, where a mysterious disease has broken out and is gradually weakening most of their race. Grig, one of those unaffected, had set off into space at the request of the President in the hope of discovering a planet where an antidote was known, but his ship was forced down onto the asteroid after encountering a storm of meteorites. The craft’s systems were affected, and he is therefore stranded. He asks if they might all escape in the old man’s ship, but the Doctor discloses that the controls of the TARDIS are damaged too. The reptile outside attacks the rocket, shaking it and battering its hull still further, so Dr Who sets about fixing the instruments in the hope of lifting off before the creature wrecks the craft. Just as destruction seems inevitable, Dr Who completes his work and the ship blasts off, escaping both asteroid and monster. Unfortunately, the TARDIS has been left behind as well. The Doctor and his grandchildren, resolved to help the Therovians if they can, now head for Theros with Grig.
They find that the situation has worsened, and that the President himself is now very ill. There is one glimmer of hope though: the oldest and wisest member of the Therovian race, Wopan, has learned that a certain moss, to be found only on a planet called Ixon, may provide the antidote they need. Dr Who, John, Gillian and Grig leave forthwith on their new quest. After many weary days of space travel, Grig’s ship touches down on Ixon, a bleak and forbidding wasteland of ice. As they open the hatch to leave the craft, they find a group of flint-eyed, sharp featured warriors awaiting them, one of whom informs them that strangers are not welcome, and that they are to be taken to the Great Ixa for questioning.
Dr Who points out to his group that they are outnumbered and have no choice but to comply, and that in any case it might be as well to put the Therovians’ plight to the ruler of this planet and ask for help in locating the moss. With the grim soldiers, they board an open-topped metal car and are soon skimming across the hard-packed ice. The vehicle enters a large cavern hung with sumptuous drapes. On a high-placed throne sits a truly forbidding figure, robed and crowned. Dr Who explains the situation that has led to their visit to Ixon, and surprisingly the Great Ixa agrees to the moss being collected, so perhaps appearances are deceptive. Ixa informs them that the moss grows only in a network of underground caves connected by tunnels, and that the travellers must gather it themselves, since the Ixons have always been superstitious about these particular tunnels and few have ever ventured into them. One of the metal cars and some warmer clothing are provided for the use of the visitors, though, together with directions to a particular cave mouth and the tunnels. Clad in their borrowed furs, Dr Who and his party set off in their transport. The Great Ixa watches them go with a mirthless smile. He has another, hidden agenda.
Some way into the tunnels, the track that the travellers have been following ends and they are obliged to finish the journey on foot. Dr Who remarks that the temperature has not risen at all – Ixon must be a solid ball of ice. Passing into a large cavern with a yawning crevasse across it, they see the exuberant moss growing all along one of the pitted walls and begin to gather as much of it as they can carry back to their vehicle between them. The Doctor suddenly notices a long-horned bison-like creature that has entered the cavern and is watching them intently, prior to making its charge. Grig proves surprisingly wiry for such a small being. Having seized the animal by the horns, he single-handedly pitches it into the crevasse. The four make for the ice car, each with an armful of moss. On their return a group of Ixon guards are waiting and conduct them back to Ixa’s throne. The Great Ixa laughs scornfully at their foolishness. Now they have collected the moss, he intends that the Therovians should pay for it with all their wealth.
Dr Who denounces Ixa as a treacherous villain, strikes a handful of his everlasting matches and sets fire to the drapes looped across the cavern wall. The heat throws up a thick cloud of smoke from the ice, which enables the Doctor and his companions to evade the guards, commandeer an ice carriage and head for Grig’s spaceship. The Ixons open fire as the travellers climb aboard carrying the moss, but Grig succeeds in lifting off before his craft is damaged. Many days later they arrive back on Theros, where scientists set about extracting the antidote from the moss. The resultant liquid restores the Therovians. Grig returns Dr Who and his grandchildren to the asteroid where they left the TARDIS, and after the Doctor has effected repairs to his craft and farewells have been made Grig watches as the machine whirls away into space.
Characters
Dr Who, John, Gillian
Therovians: Grig, The President and Wopan, the oldest living Therovian
The Great Ixa, ruler of the planet Ixon; Ixon soldiers
A dinosaur-like creature that inhabits a barren asteroid
A shaggy monster living in the ice tunnels on Ixon |
References
TV Comic issues 684 to 689
Notes
A rather more concise tale than its lengthy predecessor. Dr Who and his grandchildren are more firmly settled into their characters now too. These are the personas they occupy for the remainder of the Neville Main stories.
Continuity
There are no references to the preceding tale. The Doctor does not appear to be attempting to return John and Gillian home as he said he was going to do at the end of the Klepton story. In fact, the impression is conveyed that John and Gillian have now rather settled into their new roles as time and space travellers.
External Links
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