Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion (19 page)

Suddenly there was silence. Powder smoke drifted in low clouds through the still air of the factory. The Brigadier and his few remaining men looked at each other in astonishment, scarcely able to believe that they were still alive. A voice cut through the silence. ‘Brigadier! Where are you, Brigadier!' came the Doctor's voice impatiently. ‘Are you all right?' The Brigadier ran for the Restricted Area.

Liz and the Doctor waited in the doorway. Behind them the Brigadier could see some kind of nasty oozy mess spreading over the floor. Tired but happy, the Doctor surveyed the scene. Behind him was the shattered tank, the dissolved monster and the remains of Channing.

In front of him the bullet-shattered factory, the collapsed Autons, and the soldiers who had died holding them back.

‘Glad to see you're all right, Doctor, Miss Shaw,' said the Brigadier.

‘I'm not sure if I am yet,' said Liz shakily.

The Doctor put a comforting arm round her shoulders. ‘I think we've won, Liz,' he said gently. ‘But the price has been very high.'

It wasn't until they were safely back at UNIT H.Q. that they realised it was really all over. When the Nestene
monster had died at the plastics factory, Autons all over the country had become instantly lifeless, as harmless as the waxworks they resembled. Much damage had been done, and many lives lost. But gradually the country was pulling itself together again, and soon a return to normal life would begin.

In the UNIT laboratory the returned warriors were celebrating in mugs of strong, sweet army tea. Proudly the Doctor was explaining the workings of his machine.

‘Basically, it's a sort of ECT machine – electro-convulsive therapy. Only much more powerful. You see, the Nestenes were held together and animated by that one central brain. In a sense they were all literally part of one vast creature. A creature that could split itself up, put fractions of its consciousness into different forms. It put just a tiny bit of itself into the Autons. Just enough so that they could move and think, in the simplest possible way. They weren't really alive at all.'

Liz shivered. ‘They were alive enough for me!'

The Doctor took a swig of his tea and went on. ‘It put a bit more of itself into the Replicas. They could pick up and reproduce the pattern of a human brain, and give quite a good imitation of a human being.'

‘What about this fellow Channing?' asked the Brigadier.

The Doctor rubbed his chin. ‘I think it put a tremendous amount of itself into Channing. He was the advance guard. He could think, and plan. I think he could even feel, in a way, though his emotions weren't really like ours.'

‘And that creature in the factory?' Liz asked.

‘Well, since the Nestenes are really just one creature,' the Doctor explained, ‘I suppose it was more comfortable
for them to have the part of them that was here all in one body. When Channing really got organised at the factory he set about creating a suitable receptacle. And as soon as it was ready they transferred all of themselves, or rather all of itself, all its vital energy, from the meteorite state into that one collective brain.'

‘Putting all their eggs into one basket?' said the Brigadier.

‘Just so,' said the Doctor. ‘And by giving the creature a kind of brain-storm, you might say I kicked over the basket.'

‘You said “the part of them that was here”, Doctor,' said Liz. ‘You mean there's more of it?'

‘Oh, I should think so,' said the Doctor cheerfully. ‘I don't suppose the Nestene brain risked all of itself on this planet.'

The Brigadier said: ‘Then they might try again?'

The Doctor looked thoughtful. ‘It's possible. But they've had a pretty severe setback. And since they seem to communicate by telepathy the rest of the Nestene brain will know how badly they were defeated here.'

Liz said practically: ‘Do they know how limited the range of UHF waves are? You practically have to stand on their toes for that thing to work.'

The Doctor nodded. ‘That is something I hope they haven't learned.'

The Brigadier said: ‘Doctor, if the Nestenes do decide to launch a second attack, can we rely on your help again?'

The Doctor gave him a quizzical look. ‘Do I take it that you're satisfied that I'm not an impostor?'

‘Oh, I think so,' said the Brigadier. ‘Two things combined to convince me, actually.'

‘Oh, yes?' said the Doctor curiously.

‘The brilliance of your scientific results was one,' said the Brigadier.

‘And the other?' said the Doctor, with a modest smile.

‘Your uniquely, aggravating temperament,' the Brigadier said crisply. ‘There couldn't be two like you anywhere, Doctor. Your face may have changed, but not your character!'

For a moment the Doctor looked offended, then he caught Liz's eye and grinned.

The Brigadier went on: ‘I am prepared to offer you the post of UNIT's Scientific Adviser – since Miss Shaw here doesn't seem to want it. What do you say?'

The Doctor looked thoughtful. ‘I really think we ought to discuss terms first, old chap.'

‘Terms?' said the Brigadier. Liz could tell from his voice that he thought the honour of working for UNIT should be reward enough.

‘Terms?' the Brigadier said again. ‘Well, I think you'll find the salary adequate.'

‘My dear chap, I don't want money,' said the Doctor indignantly. ‘Got no use for the stuff.'

The Brigadier looked puzzled. ‘Then what do you want?'

‘Facilities to repair the TARDIS! Equipment, a laboratory, somewhere to sleep. Oh, and I insist that Miss Shaw stays on here to help me.'

He looked appealingly at Liz. So did the Brigadier.

‘Well, Miss Shaw?' he said.

Liz took a deep breath and then nodded. ‘I must be raving mad,' she said. ‘But all right. If you really want me to.'

The Brigadier said: ‘There you are, then, Doctor.

Anything else?'

‘Good heavens, yes! Do you realise I'm stranded here with nothing more than I stand up in?' The Doctor looked guilty. ‘Come to think of it, most of that isn't really mine. Oh dear, and there's that car, too.' He looked appealingly at the Brigadier. ‘You know, I really took to that car. It's got character.'

‘No, Doctor,' said the Brigadier firmly. ‘The car must go back to its owner.'

The Doctor sighed. ‘Yes, yes, I suppose it must. But there's no reason why you shouldn't find me another one like it, is there?'

The Brigadier looked as if he was about to explode when the Doctor said gently: ‘It would help to persuade me to stay, you know.'

‘Oh, very well,' growled the Brigadier.

Liz couldn't help smiling at the Doctor's air of childlike pleasure.

‘Oh good,' he said happily. ‘When can I go out and choose it?'

‘Not just yet,' said the Brigadier patiently. ‘At the moment you have no official existence, Doctor. I must fix you up with a full set of papers first.' He turned to go, and then stopped. ‘By the way, Doctor, I've just realised. I don't even know your name.'

The Doctor looked from the Brigadier to Liz Shaw. All in all he was quite looking forward to his stay on Earth. Naturally, he wouldn't be there for long. In spite of the Time Lords he'd soon manage to get the TARDIS working and be off on his travels. For instance, he could try reversing the polarity of the neutron flow in the dematerialisation circuit…

He was brought out of his daydream by the Brigadier's voice. ‘Well, Doctor?'

Ah yes, a name… he thought. Just for the time he was here. No question of telling them his real name, of course. Time Lord names have an almost mystic importance, and are usually kept closely-guarded secrets. Anyway, they'd never be able to pronounce it. A name… thought the Doctor. Something simple, dignified and modest. He didn't want to draw attention to himself. The Doctor's eyes brightened. He'd got it – the very thing! He turned to the waiting Brigadier.

‘Smith,' said the Doctor decisively. ‘Doctor John Smith!'

Doctor Who
and Terrance Dicks had a busy year in 1974. The conclusion of the eleventh season in June, script edited by Dicks, saw the departure of Jon Pertwee's Third Doctor and his replacement by Tom Baker. A few days before Baker's debut story, ‘Robot' (written by Dicks), began in December, the Doctor made his West End debut in
Seven Keys to Doomsday
– also scripted by Dicks. And the Target division of Universal-Tandem Publishing followed its republication of three 1960s novelisations the previous year with the first two new titles on Thursday 17 January, one by Malcolm Hulke, the other by Terrance Dicks.

Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion
and
Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters
retold the first two adventures of the Third Doctor, ‘Spearhead from Space' and ‘Doctor Who and the Silurians', which had been broadcast four years earlier, between 3 January and 14 March 1970. Malcolm Hulke novelised his own scripts, but Terrance Dicks was adapting the work of Robert Holmes, which he had script edited. The interior illustrations (used in this edition) were by Chris Achilleos, who also drew the cover artwork.

This new edition re-presents that 1974 publication. While a few minor errors or inconsistencies have been corrected, no attempt has been made to update or modernise the text – this is
Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion
as originally written and published. This means that the novel
retains certain stylistic and editorial practices that were current in 1973 (when the book was written and prepared for publication) but which have since adapted or changed.

Most obviously, measurements are given in the then-standard imperial system of weights and measures: a yard is equivalent to 0.9144 metres; three feet make a yard, and a foot is 30 centimetres; twelve inches make a foot, and an inch is 25.4 millimetres.

Although he stuck very faithfully to the narrative of the television episodes, Terrance Dicks took the opportunity to greatly extend the characterisation, expanding certain scenes and filling in background detail for several of the story's protagonists. Notably, he includes a prelude, adapted from scenes featured at the conclusion of ‘The War Games', Patrick Troughton's last serial as the Second Doctor. It had been five years since this story had been seen on UK television, so it was important to give younger readers a succinct explanation of exactly why the Doctor spends the first half of the story in a hospital bed, unrecognised by the only man he knows. This recap of the Doctor's trial replaces televised scenes showing staff at a UNIT tracking station monitoring the incoming ‘meteorites'.

The coincidence of the Doctor's arrival in the midst of this meteorite shower is strengthened by having poacher Sam Seeley witness not just the landing of the Nestene spheres but also the materialisation of the TARDIS. A scene in which Seeley is stopped by a UNIT patrol in Episode 1 is replaced with Seeley escaping discovery by a nervous soldier in the third chapter. Dicks adds colour to the relationship between Seeley and his wife in
Chapter 3
, and gives an insight into the poacher's dreams of fame and fortune in
Chapter 5
. Similarly, he gives the senior hospital
staff a range of fearsome reputations and rivalries barely glimpsed on screen. At the plastics factory, Harry Ransome (John Ransome on TV) and George Hibbert's partnership is more thoroughly explored, with a description added of the electronic talking doll, even giving it a few lines sadly denied to its television counterpart. And readers get a glimpse of Hibbert's discovery of the first Nestene sphere and his subsequent manufacture of – and domination by – Channing. Mullins the hospital porter, General Scobie and even the shortlived police officer who dies in the first wave of Auton attacks in
Chapter 10
are each given extra moments – aghast at the effects of a call to the press, yearning for a straightforward cavalry charge, longing for a holiday – that could not be incorporated into the TV episodes.

There are many small changes to the action, too. The opening moments of Episode 2 are revised slightly to form the cliffhanger ending to
Chapter 4
, and the soldiers' discovery of an intact Nestene sphere in
Chapter 6
is extended so Captain Munro can gallantly share the honour with his corporal. Forbes's grisly fate, too, is given more detail – on screen, the unnamed corporal is simply forced off the road by an Auton.
Chapter 7
bypasses a brief scene in which the Doctor berates the concierge on duty at UNIT's main gate, in favour of an internal phone call to the Brigadier. Although the Brigadier doesn't discover how the Doctor located UNIT's top secret base in print, readers have already seen the Doctor consult his TARDIS detector during the previous chapter; on screen, the Doctor answers the Brigadier's question and shows him the detector. The Doctor's claim to have passed his driving test ‘on the Mars to Venus route' is new to the novel, although it fits well with the Third Doctor's regular boasts and anecdotes in other
TV stories. On his visit to Madame Tussaud's, the Doctor's plan to arrest the waxworks and take them back to UNIT for testing is invented for the book.

The launch of the Nestene assault is greatly extended. On television, the conditions of early morning location filming restricted the attack's representation to the sound of a window smashing, a policeman and several pedestrians and cyclists being shot down, and a group of Autons progressing eerily down a now-deserted street, while the Brigadier reports Autons coming to life all over the country. In print, Terrance Dicks is able to add waves of attacks across London, the police deluged with calls, televised public warnings, and the declaration of martial law. He shows the effects of the placement of Auton duplicates in positions of authority, and describes how the Replicas begin to be uncovered. UNIT's operation at Auto Plastics is also revised to allow a lengthier standoff with the Regular Army troops, before General Scobie's duplicate is destroyed. Once inside the Restricted Area, Dicks has the Doctor contemplate climbing into the Nestene tank, before Channing's arrival brings events back in sync with the TV original. On screen, Liz is slower to realise that the power lead has detached from the Doctor's device, and it is only the Doctor who is grabbed by the Nestene's tentacles.