Drift (novel)
- You may be looking for the titular formation of snow.
Drift was the forty-ninth novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series. It was written by Simon A. Forward, released 4 February 2002 and featured the Fourth Doctor and Leela.
Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]
White: the perfect camouflage for ghosts.
White consumes the New Hampshire landscape, and troops move in on a survivalist cult following a spate of unnaturally severe blizzards. The Special Forces group, White Shadow, are searching for the missing fragments of a US Air Force jet, which crashed while engaged in top-secret test flights over the region.
The Doctor and Leela have arrived at quite literally the wrong time. Thanksgiving is approaching — traditionally a holiday all about home and family. But this year, all that is lost.
Lost: like the local community, in the grip of something far more sinister than a harsh winter. Like young Amber Mailloux, victim of a broken home that won't even settle in one place. Even White Shadow is lost, out of its depth and up against an enemy that not even the Doctor can find in this world of white.
An enemy that promises the bleakest of midwinters for the people of New Hampshire and, before springtime, the end of life on Earth...
Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]
Chapter One[[edit] | [edit source]]
Seeking to introduce Leela to the Native peoples of North America, the Doctor materializes the TARDIS in New Hampshire but soon finds that he has arrived hundreds of years later than he had intended to do. He also loses the TARDIS in a snowstorm. While trying to find the TARDIS, the duo runs into a pack of starving coyotes that run straight past them - scared out of their wits by something unseen. After climbing up a hill, the Doctor spots a group of soldiers.
In the town of Melvin Village, a young girl named Amber Mailloux waits for her father to arrive home for Thanksgiving. After arguing with her father-in-law (Makenzie Shaw), Amber runs out into a snowstorm. Unbeknownst to Amber (along with her mother and father-in-law), her father (Curt Redeker) crashed his car near several other crashed and abandoned cars while driving towards Melvin Village from his home in Oklahoma. Curt meets the same pack of coyotes and (after Curt smashes one of them in the head with a glass bottle) they run off, leaving Curt alone in the snowstorm.
The soldiers sighted by the Doctor are White Shadow - a Special Forces group. They are in Melvin Village to assault a home used as a base by an unnamed cult. While walking towards the home they are shot at by the cult but once inside, they find the home completely abandoned.
Chapter Two[[edit] | [edit source]]
Thinking that the Doctor and Leela are members of the cult, White Shadow holds the duo at gunpoint as soon as they walk towards them. A brief standoff ensues but the Doctor is able to convince the captain of White Shadow (Morgan Shaw) that he works for UNIT.
As Amber Mailloux walks in the woods, she finds a parachute. Unbeknowst to Amber, she is being watched by two mysterious people (Parker Theroux and Melody Quartararo) who take an interest in her find.
With his deputy Laurie, Makenzie discovers the remains of the cars. He soon discovers that one of them belongs to Amber's father (who is completely missing) and, as he calls out to Laurie, discovers that she has also gone missing.
Chapter Three[[edit] | [edit source]]
Though he had to ditch his car, Curt Redeker managed to escape the snowstorm and make his way to a convenience store. He calls Martha from the store but gets yelled at and hung up on by Martha. Shortly after making the call, Martha follows Amber out into the woods but is found by Parker and Melody.
The Doctor and a Lieutenant named Joanna Hmieleski search through the house to find any trace of its inhabitants. Using his fatherly charm, the Doctor convinces Hmieleski to tell him about White Shadow and its mission. While ostensibly hunting down a cult, they are actually working to recover the engine of an experimental plane augmented with alien technology. While they are talking, they are interrupted by another Lieutenant - Kristal Owl Eye Wildcat (a member of the Pasamaquoddy tribe) who (either in or recovering from a trance-like state) reveals that the engine (dubbed the "Stormcore") is on the move.
Chapter Four and Five[[edit] | [edit source]]
Members of the cult that White Snow have been hunting are moving through the woods nearby with the Stormcore. Mitch Lagoy and Emilie Jacks watch as the leader of the cult (Crayford Boyle) flees from something in the woods. He is found by Emilie and begins babbling about "closing the gate" before something can pass through. This makes Emilie think that her leader has been lost.
Makenzie begins looking for Laurie and (begrudgingly) Curt. He soon finds that the cult hideout is nearby the road of abandoned cars. Meanwhile, Martha is interrogated the two CIA agents about the parachute that her daughter found, though she is unable to reveal much about it to them. Parker and Melody are also unable to disclose much.
After briefly meeting with the Doctor and Hmieleski, Leela rides out with Kristal into the woods while the Doctor stays behind in the cult house.
Instead of killing her former leader (and lover), Jacks leaves him behind with the Stormcore. Kristal detects Crayford using her psi powers and chases after her with Leela on a snowmobile. While running, Crayford falls and accidentally brings the attention of a massive force that Kristal describes as "Death's pale horse".
Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Fourth Doctor
- Leela
- Amber Mailloux
- Martha Mailloux
- Bertelli
- Charlene Lowell
- Crayford Boyle
- Dermot Beard
- Emilie Jacks
- Gary Wentz
- Hal Byers
- Irving Pydych
- Joanna Hmieleski
- Kristal Owl Eye Wildcat
- Laurie Aldrich
- Melody Quartararo
- Mitch Lagoy
- Makenzie Shaw
- Morgan Shaw
- Parker Theroux
- Paul Falvi
- Spence
Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]
New Hampshire[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Melvin Village is a small village. It has a small police force and several shops.
- Tribes native to New Hampshire (and the surrounding area) include the Pasamaquoddy of the Abnaki and the Penacooks. Before the settling of New Hampshire, its land was a part of the Algonquin nation.
Organisations[[edit] | [edit source]]
- White Shadow is a paramilitary group whose main purpose is to cannibalise or repurpose alien technology.
Foods and beverages[[edit] | [edit source]]
- The Fourth Doctor drinks twelve single malt Scotches with water to protect himself from infection by the creature. He notes that he is usually prefers ginger pop. He can purge the alcohol from his system at will.
Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]
to be added
Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Leela refers to Neeva, a prominent, antagonist figure within the Sevateem in her debut story, TV: The Face of Evil [+]Loading...["The Face of Evil (TV story)"].
External links[[edit] | [edit source]]
- Drift at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: Drift at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: Drift
- Interview: Simon A Forward
- Outpost Gallifrey - Interview: Simon A. Forward (archived)
