Timewyrm: Apocalypse

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Timewyrm: Apocalypse
Doctor Who book

Series	Virgin New Adventures
Release number	3
Featuring	Seventh Doctor Ace
Writer	Nigel Robinson
Publisher	Virgin Books
ISBN	ISBN 0-426-20359-3
Release date	October 1991
Preceded by	Timewyrm: Exodus
Followed by	Timewyrm: Revelation

Timewyrm: Apocalypse is an original Doctor Who novel, published by Virgin Publishing in their New Adventures range of Doctor Who novels.

Like all Doctor Who spin-off media, its canonicity in relation to the television series is unclear.

1 Synopsis
2 Plot
3 External links
- 3.1 Reviews

[edit] Synopsis

The Doctor and Ace follow the Timewyrm to the planet Kirith in the far, far future. There they find a peaceful, happy society that hides a dark secret.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Doctor and Ace tracked the Timewyrm to the planet Kirith in the far distant future. When they arrive, they rescue a young Kirithon man named Raphael, who had fallen into the sea. They took the injured man to a nearby town. At first, Kirith seemed to be a pleasant enough place filled with kind, friendly, and strikingly beautiful people. But the Doctor quickly became suspicious.

In Kirith town, the Doctor met a librarian named Miríl, who explained much of Kirith’s background. The Kirithons were once a backward and savage species, until benevolent aliens known as the Panjistri arrived. They shared their knowledge and technology with the Kirithons, and in exchange were given an island known as Kandasi, where they could pursue their studies in private isolation. The Panjistri also provided an endless supply of nourishing food known as zavát. Miríl revealed that, despite all they had learned from the Panjistri, the Kirithons were unable to leave their planet and explore the stars. Certain areas of study were forbidden to the Kirithons by the Panjistri, space flight being one of them. The Doctor studies first the library records and then a near by ruin before concluding that the Panjistri are lying to the Kirithons to prevent them from developing technologies that could be dangerous to the Panjistri.

Ace, meanwhile, was finding it difficult to spend time with Raphael. Revna, another Kirithon, seemed very possessive of Raphael and jealous of Ace. Lord Procurator Huldah, the liaison between the Panjistri and Kirithons, also warned Raphael to keep away from the strangers. Nevertheless, Ace’s persistence paid off. Raphael told her that he had a friend named Darien who years ago had been accepted into the Brotherhood of the Panjistri on account of his amazing musical talent. No one had seen him since, and more strangely, no one except Raphael even remembered him. Not even Revna, Darien’s older sister. Ace decided that they should investigate Kandasi to find out what happened. Reluctantly, Raphael agreed, and they went to the Harbours to sneak aboard a ship that traveled between Kandasi and the mainland. There were no ships at the Harbours, but exploring a base used by the Panjistri revealed strange biological experiments, and a huge, hideous Homunculus which was somehow being grown in a laboratory. The Panjistri soon discovered the intruders, and sent their vicious slaves, known as Companions, to apprehend them. They were forced to split up. Raphael returned to Kirith town, with Ace’s backpack, while Ace took refuge in the Darkfell, a creepy-looking forest where the Kirithons were forbidden to venture.

Ace discovered a small group of hideously disfigured people living in the Darkfell known as the Unlike. Their leader, Arun, explained to Ace that they were victims of advanced genetic experimentation who had escaped from the Panjistri. Arun also revealed to Ace the secret of zavát: not only did this ubiquitous food source make the Kirithons pliable and easy to control, but also it was made from the processed remains of dead Kirithons. Back in Kirith town, Raphael found the Doctor and Miríl in the library and told them what he and Ace had discovered. Soon thereafter, Lord Huldah arrived with four Companions to arrest the Doctor and Miríl. They tried to escape, aided by Raphael, but to no avail. Deep in the heart of Kandasi, the Grand Matriarch of the Panjistri and her Companion Fetch observed the capture of the Doctor with interest. But it was really Ace that they needed…

The Unlike told Ace that their spies had witness the Doctor’s capture and seen him taken to the Harbours. Ace made a bargain with them: if they would help her rescue the Doctor, the Doctor would help cure them of the radiation poisoning inflicted on them by the Panjistri. In the Harbours, the Doctor, Raphael, and Miríl were stuck in a prison cell with no hope of escape. They discussed their predicament for a few moments before Reptu, a Panjistri, arrived. Reptu informed them that the Doctor would be taken to Kandasi to see the Grand Matriarch. As Reptu led the Doctor out of the cell, the Doctor bombarded him with questions. Beyond the hearing of Raphael and Miríl, Reptu admitted that the Panjistri had lied about Kirith’s history and were manipulating the development of the Kirithons. They boarded a small hovercraft for the journey across the water to Kandasi. When they arrived, Reptu’s Companion knocked the Doctor unconscious with a swift blow to the back of the neck.

Raphael and Miríl remained trapped in the prison cell, until Raphael realized that he still had Ace’s backpack. He rummaged through it to find more of her nitro nine. Finding four canisters, he set them all off against the door of the cell. It was blown clear off its hinges. The explosion attracted the attention of Ace and the Unlike, who were just about to enter the Harbours in search of the Doctor. At the insistence of the Unlike, who had previously worked as genetic scientists for the Panjistri, they sought out the Homunculus. Arun insisted that the creature be destroyed, but Raphael protested, arguing that the creature was a living being and should be helped, if possible. Arun and Raphael argued, with Ace in the middle, and the anger of their argument awakened and energized the Homunculus, which burst free of its tank. As the creature raged about the room, it briefly turned its attention toward Ace and prepared to attack her. She tried to fight it off physically, but it was enormous and oblivious to her attempts to injure it. Unthinkingly, Raphael grabbed a nearby gun and fired at the creature, destroying it instantly. He wanted to protect Ace, but was shaken to the core by the experience of killing.

Ace, Raphael, Arun, and Miríl set out to reach Kandasi and find the Doctor. They stole a boat and set out across the water to reach the mysterious island. Along the way, they were attacked by a horrible sea creature, and Miríl was killed. Meanwhile, the Doctor had a strange, half-real half-imagined conversation with his former self. The Second Doctor informed him that, long ago, after his first regeneration, he had briefly met and befriended a young girl named Lilith. That young girl, five thousand years later, was the Grand Matriarch of the Panjistri. When Ace and the others finally reached Kandasi and found the Doctor, they didn’t find any Panjistri. Searching around, the Doctor discovered a matter transmitter tuned to preset coordinates. Using the transmat, the Doctor and company found themselves on a space station 300,000 miles above the surface of Kirith. This was Kandasi. The Doctor explained that the whole of Kirith was simply one massive genetic experiment.

The group explored Kandasi for a short time before they were met by Reptu, who explained what the Panjistri were really up to. In order to extend the life of the universe past its natural point of collapse, which was rapidly approaching, the Panjistri planned to create a single organism which had within it the sum total of all life in the universe. The one attribute their God Machine lacked was aggression, the one attribute that the Kirithons could never develop. That was why the Panjistri were developing the Homunculus. With that experiment destroyed, Ace was the next best thing. She was taken to join the Panjistri, as so many Kirithons had been over the centuries. The Doctor suddenly realized the truth… the God Machine was a trick. The Grand Matriarch was in fact the Timewyrm, who used her control over time to hide in the Doctor’s own past. She had possessed the little girl Lilith five thousand years before, and was planning on using Ace to complete her God Machine, whereby she would achieve supreme power over the universe itself. The Doctor convinced Reptu that the Grand Matriarch must be stopped.

Raphael heard the phantom sound of his old friend Darien’s music, and was drawn down into the God Machine. Eager to save Ace’s life, Raphael offered himself to the God Machine. Exposed as he had been to Ace’s aggression, this was enough to complete it, and Raphael used his new powers to challenge the Timewyrm herself. The Timewyrm was defeated by her own creation. Defeated, but not destroyed…