by Doctor Who
'Then to whom should I address myself?' the envoy said. 'Who is the leader now?'
A good question, one to which the citizens of Geath would apply themselves with vigour and enthusiasm over the coming days, as the election approached and the streets and squares filled once again with conversation and debate. For the moment, however, a temporary solution was required so that the visitor might be welcomed properly. Reaching a consensus via some means which Amy could not quite follow, the crowd pulled back and pushed Beol forward. The young man stood blinking at the envoy and then collected himself. 'Well. A most hearty welcome to you. I am... um...'
'Temporarily empowered,' whispered the Doctor in his ear.
'Yes, temporarily empowered to, ah...'
'Speak on behalf of the people of Geath,' the Doctor suggested.
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THE KING’S DRAGON
'Speak on behalf of the people of Geath, and,' a light went on behind Beol's eyes and he beckoned to Hilthe to join him, 'my esteemed colleague and I request the pleasure of your company in our hall.'
Beol took Hilthe's arm and, together, they led their guest up the steps into the council building.
'That's more like it!' the Doctor said, beaming at them like he was a match-maker and they were the couple going on the brochure. 'Next on the agenda —electoral reform.'
The travellers left the city in the company of the Teller, travelling in the old cart which had brought him, his brother, and the dragon into Geath all those months earlier.
'Why aren't you staying?' Amy asked the Teller.
'Now that your brother is... well, whatever he is now?'
'I think I've outstayed my welcome in Geath,'
the Teller said. 'Besides, who there is going to listen to a tale about a king and a dragon?'
They travelled along the wide road that led out of Geath and then, more bumpily, along a muddy track.
Rory, sitting in the back of the cart, caught a glimpse of metal beneath the canvas cover thrown over the Teller's possessions. His heart nearly stopped.
Surely the Teller hadn't been foolish enough to keep a scrap of Enamour? Would he
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DOCTOR WHO
even realise if he had? Glancing round to make sure that nobody was watching, Rory twitched the canvas aside.
Underneath lay the little satellite dish, black and silver and mercifully Enamour-free. Rory put the canvas back and said nothing. No harm done and, anyway, the Teller had earned it.
'Here we are!' called the Doctor from up front.
The cart trundled to a halt. They all clambered down and went off into the trees. Soon they saw the TARDIS, solid and safe, waiting patiently for them in the forest. The Teller stared at it and the Doctor preened.
'Oh, you just love this bit, don't you?' said Amy.
To the Teller, she said, 'What are you going to do now?'
The Teller shook himself. 'I don't know. Keep travelling, I suppose, keep telling stories...'
'You should make some up about a man who travels in time and space—'
'Doctor,' Amy said in a warning voice, 'it's not always about you.'
The Doctor looked at her as if he literally did not understand the words coming from her mouth.
'How?' said the Teller. 'How do you all fit in there?'
'Oh, you know,' said the Doctor, opening the TARDIS door and waving his hand about vaguely.
242
THE KING’S DRAGON
'Magic. Sort of. In all the ways that count.'
Inside the TARDIS, it was as peaceable and timeless as ever. On the monitor, Amy and Rory watched the Teller walk all the way round the blue box. He stopped in front of the doors and shook his head.
Then he burst out laughing.
Amy laughed too. 'I wonder what story he'll make out of all this?' she said. 'I wonder what it will come out like?'
'Farce, probably,' said Rory drily.
'Hey!' Amy punched him gently on the arm. 'I thought there were scary bits.'
'Of course, it's all a question of emphasis,' the Doctor put in quietly. 'If you think about it, a dragon can mean anything — facing your fears, maybe, or not being taken in by appearances...' He looked down at the TARDIS console and gave a secret sombre smile. 'It can even be a reminder that although it's within your power to force people to do what's best for them, you shouldn't.' His finger hovered over a button. 'Least, not often.' He hit the control, and the TARDIS dematerialised. Their last sight was of the Teller's expression: sheer joy at hearing the best sound in the universe.
The Doctor turned to his friends. 'Pockets,' he said briskly.
'Pockets?' said Rory.
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'I bet we all picked up a souvenir or two.'
One by one they checked. The Doctor placed the ring that had summoned the Herald onto the TARDIS console. Rory surrendered the circular tile that Hilthe had given him. Amy took out the spoon she had lifted from the gatekeeper's house. She held it for a moment, warm and tingling in the palm of her hand, and then shuddered and relinquished it.
'What are we going to do with the stuff, Doctor?'
she said. 'Are we going to destroy it?'
The Doctor shook his head. 'You can't destroy knowledge,' he said softly. 'You can't unmake it; you can't un-know it. You can only use it - and do your best not to let it use you.' He dug deep into his pocket again. He pulled out a fork and threw it on top of the little pile of treasure. Then he turned away and set to at the controls, pulling and pushing indeterminate levers and buttons. A silver haze surrounded the objects and they disappeared from sight.
'Goodbye Enamour,' said Rory, his tone a combination of relief and regret.
Amy took hold of his hand. The TARDIS moved on.
Only the metal remained, glowing palely in the vacuum of space.
244
Acknowledgements
Grateful thanks to Gary Russell, Steve Tribe, and particularly Justin Richards for advice and enthusiasm. Big thanks also to Oli Smith for chat and encouragement during writing. And thank you, as always, to Matthew.
245
Coming soon from BBC Audiobooks: The Hounds of Artemis
by James Goss
When the TARDIS arrives in Smyrna in 1929, the Doctor and Amy find themselves in the middle of an archaeological dig. Soon a terrible chain of events is set in motion, and the Doctor is confronted with an ancient evil...
The Ring of Steel
by Stephen Cole
On Orkney in the near future, the construction of dozens of new electricity pylons is met with local resistance. Just as the Doctor and Amy arrive, the protestors are terrified to see the pylons come to life and begin to walk...
Available on CD from www.bbcshop.com and all good booksellers. Pre-order your copy now!
Also available to download from www.bbcaudiozone.com and other audio digital retailers.
Available now from BBC Books:
Apol o 23
by Justin Richards
£6.99 ISBN 978 1 846 07200 0
An astronaut in full spacesuit appears out of thin air in a busy shopping centre. Maybe it's a publicity stunt.
A photo shows a well-dressed woman in a red coat lying dead at the edge of a crater on the dark side of the moon
— beside her beloved dog 'Poochie'. Maybe it's a hoax.
But, as the Doctor and Amy find out, these are just minor events in a sinister plan to take over every human being on Earth. The plot centres on a secret military base on the moon — that's where Amy and the TARDIS are.
The Doctor is back on Earth, and without the TARDIS there's no way he can get to the moon to save Amy and defeat the aliens.
Or is there? The Doctor discovers one last great secret that could save humanity: Apollo 23.
A thrilling, all-new adventure featuring the Doctor and Amy, as played by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.
Available now from BBC Books:
<
br /> Night of the Humans
by David Llewellyn
£6.99 ISBN 978 1 846 07969 6
250,000 years' worth of junk floating in deep space, home to the shipwrecked Sittuun, the carnivorous Sollogs, and worst of all — the Humans.
The Doctor and Amy arrive on this terrifying world in the middle of an all-out frontier war between Sittuun and Humans, and the countdown has already started. There's a comet in the sky, and it's on a collision course with the Gyre...
When the Doctor is kidnapped, it's up to Amy and
'galaxy-famous swashbuckler' Dirk Slipstream to save the day.
But who is Slipstream, exactly? And what is he really doing here?
A thrilling, all-new adventure featuring the Doctor and Amy, as played by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.
Available now from BBC Books:
The Forgotten Army
by Brian Minchin
£6.99 ISBN 978 1 846 07987 0
New York — one of the greatest cities on 21st-century Earth... But what's going on in the Museum? And is that really a Woolly Mammoth rampaging down Broadway?
An ordinary day becomes a time of terror, as the Doctor and Amy meet a new and deadly enemy. The vicious Army of the Vykoid are armed to the teeth and determined to enslave the human race. Even though they're only seven centimetres high.
With the Vykoid army swarming across Manhattan and sealing it from the world with a powerful alien force field, Amy has just 24 hours to find the Doctor and save the city. If she doesn't, the people of Manhattan will be taken to work in the doomed asteroid mines of the Vykoid home planet.
But as time starts to run out, who can she trust? And how far will she have to go to free New York from the Forgotten Army?
A thrilling, all-new adventure featuring the Doctor and Amy, as played by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.
Available now from BBC Books:
The TARDIS Handbook
by Steve Tribe
£12.99 ISBN 978 1 846 07986 3
The inside scoop on 900 years of travel aboard the Doctor's famous time machine.
Everything you need to know about the TARDIS is here -
where it came from, where it's been, how it works, and how it has changed since we first encountered it in that East London junkyard in 1963.
Including
photographs,
design
drawings
and
concept artwork from different eras of the series, this handbook explores the ship's endless interior, looking inside its wardrobe and bedrooms, its power rooms and sick bay, its corridors and cloisters, and revealing just how the show's production teams have created the dimensionally transcendental police box, inside and out.
The TARDIS Handbook is the essential guide to the best ship in the universe.
Available now from BBC Books:
Nuclear Time
by Oli Smith
£6.99 ISBN 978 1 846 07989 4
Colorado, 1981. The Doctor, Amy and Rory arrive in Appletown — an idyllic village in the remote American desert where the townsfolk go peacefully about their suburban routines. But when two more strangers arrive, things begin to change.
The first is a mad scientist — whose warnings are cut short by an untimely and brutal death. The second is the Doctor...
As death falls from the sky, the Doctor is trapped.
The TARDIS is damaged, and the Doctor finds he is living backwards through time. With Amy and Rory being hunted through the suburban streets of the Doctor's own future and getting farther away with every passing second, he must unravel the secrets of Appletown before time runs out...
A thrilling, all-new adventure featuring the Doctor, Amy and Rory,asplayedbyMattSmith,KarenGilanandArthurDarvil in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.
Available now from BBC Books:
The Glamour Chase
by Gary Russell
£6.99 ISBN 978 1 846 07988 7
An archaeological dig in 1936 unearths relics of another time...
And — as the Doctor, Amy and Rory realise — another place. Another planet.
But if Enola Porter, noted adventuress, has really found evidence of an alien civilisation, how come she isn't famous? Why has Rory never heard of her? Added to that, since Amy's been travelling with him for a while now, why does she now think the Doctor is from Mars?
As the ancient spaceship reactivates, the Doctor discovers that nothing and no one can be trusted. The things that seem most real could actually be literal fabrications —and very deadly indeed.
Who can the Doctor believe when no one is what they seem? And how can he defeat an enemy who can bend matter itself to their will? For the Doctor, Amy and Rory —and all of humanity — the buried secrets of the past are very much a threat to the present...
A thrilling, all-new adventure featuring the Doctor, Amy and Rory, as played by Matt Smith, Karen Gilan and Arthur Darvil in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.
Coming soon from BBC Books
The Only Good Dalek
by Justin Richards and Mike Collins
£16.99 ISBN 978 1 846 07984 9
Station 7 is where the Earth Forces send all the equipment captured in their unceasing war against the Daleks. It's where Dalek technology is analysed and examined. It's where the Doctor and Amy have just arrived. But somehow the Daleks have found out about Station 7 — and there's something there that they want back.
With the Doctor increasingly worried about the direction the Station's research is taking, the commander of Station 7 knows he has only one possible, desperate, defence.
Because the last terrible secret of Station 7 is that they don't only store captured Dalek technology. It's also a prison. And the only thing that might stop a Dalek is another Dalek...
An epic, ful -colour graphic novel featuring the Doctor and Amy, as played by Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in the spectacular hit series from BBC Television.
Coming soon from BBC Books:
The Bril iant Book of
Edited by Clayton Hickman
£12.99 ISBN 978 1 846 07991 7
Celebrate the rebirth of the UK's number one family drama series with this lavish hardback, containing everything you need to know about the Eleventh Doctor's first year.
Explore Amy Pond's home village, Leadworth, read a lost section from Churchill's memoirs that covers his adventures with the Doctor, and learn all about the legend of the Weeping Angels. See how the Doctor's costume evolved, how the monsters are made and discover the trade secrets of writing a thrilling Doctor Who script. Plus interviews with all of the key players and a few secret celebrity guests...
Including contributions from executive producer Steven Moffat, stars Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, and scriptwriters Mark Gatiss and Gareth Roberts, among others, and packed with beautiful original illustrations and never-before-seen pictures, The Brilliant Book of Doctor Who is the ultimate companion to the world's most successful science fiction series.
BRAND NEW DOCTOR!
EXCITING NEW ADVENTURES!
SERIES 5 DVDS AVAILABLE NOW!
INCLUDING, EXCLUSIVE TO DVD, THE SPECIAL FEATURE: The Monster Files
TheDoctorWhoConfidentialteamgetthelow-downonthenew Doctor'sarch-enemies,withcastinterviewsandunseenfootage!
