This is a fairly typical example of a DOCTOR WHO adventure; it is intended to give some idea of the structure, tone and content of a DOCTOR WHO story to readers who are unfamiliar with the television programme.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to print the whole story: if it were printed here in full it would take up most of the book and there would be no space left for the rules of the TIME LORD game. Therefore we have decided to print only the first chapter of The Necromancers; this is followed by a synopsis of the rest of the story and notes that point out some of the characteristic features of a DOCTOR WHO adventure.

Chapter One: A Ghost in the Machine

Senator Kereban Tod tapped the rim of his glass with his dessert spoon and waited for the hubbub of conversation to subside. When every face at the table was turned expectantly towards him, a mischievous smile flitted across his impassive, deeply lined face.

"I propose a toast," he announced.

Marna Grard's giggle broke the silence. "Not to independence, surely, Kereban darling?" she said. "You're not going to tell us you're an eleventh-hour convert to the Velid persuasion?" She giggled again, raised her glass and tipped its contents between her wide, crimson lips.

Kereban looked at her for a moment, sighed and shook his head. "No," he said. He smiled again and turned to the woman beside him. "I propose a toast to our hostess, my fellow senator, Terellion Pang: beautiful, gifted, irresistible and yet elusive, and provider of dinner parties that are havens of serenity in these troubled times."

There were murmurs of agreement. Terellion smiled prettily and lowered her face, but watched her guests from beneath her long eyelashes. The gracious acknowledgement of compliments was second nature to her and Kereban's little speech would not divert her attention from the business of managing a successful social occasion. The senator was flirting with her, she knew that, and she hadn't the heart to discourage him: his party had lost its traditional hold on power and these days it was distinctly unfashionable to consort with opponents of independence. Even her own non-aligned faction was treated with suspicion in parliament and with abuse in the holovids. She knew that hers was the first dinner invitation that Kereban had received for weeks, and she was rather proud that she was once again setting a trend -- this time by daring to introduce a distinguished opposition statesman as the guest of honour at one of her soirees.

Other guests, however, merited her attention now. Olberan was sitting opposite her with a scowl on his dark, bearded face. "What's the matter, Olberan my dear?" she said, extending a slim hand across the table. "I expect you find us very boring and provincial compared with the jet-setters and the wheeler-dealers on the Core Worlds."

Olberan glanced at Kereban before transferring his gaze to Terellion. She was almost taken aback by the directness and brilliance of his blue eyes. "Not much time for jet-setters," he said. "Didn't hang about at the Core; more at home on the Rim."

Terellion gave him one her most encouraging smiles. "How interesting!" she said. How annoying, she thought: Olberan was one of the few New Starhomers to carve out a career off-world and she had hoped that he would have returned to the planet with a repertoire of fascinating tales. If he had, he was keeping them to himself.

For the third time that evening Kereban's foot touched hers. She turned away from him, moving her feet out of range, and considered what she should do about Marna Grard. Marna was chattering relentlessly to a goldfleece farmer with glazed eyes. Marna's eyes, on the other hand, were brilliant and her pupils hugely dilated. Terellion steeled herself to interrupt.

"Marna," she called out, "don't forget we're about to have a toast. And wherever did you find that gorgeous necklace?"

Marna looked round in confusion, fingering the string of lustrous green gems at her throat, and finally focused on Terellion. "It's starjade, of course!" she exclaimed. "Don't tell me you're not wearing yours, Teri. Another one of the things we have to thank Hortan Velid for!"

Terellion heard Kereban's muttered curse. "And anyway we can't drink a toast," Marna was babbling heedlessly, "because my glass is empty!"

"She's been sinking neat nirvana all evening," Kereban said to Terellion in a whisper that she suspected he knew was too loud to be discreet.

"More of that delicious nirvana cocktail please, Teri," Marna carolled defiantly, "and go easy on the fruit juice."

Terellion allowed none of her annoyance to show in her expression. She beckoned her manservant to her side and told him to refill the guests" glasses, adding that he should dilute Marna's nirvana with as much naranja juice as he could fit into her glass.

The conversation dwindled into silence as the drinks were poured. Terellion felt uneasy; she realized with the intuition of a practised hostess that her guests seemed nervous too. She blamed herself for inviting disparate people to such a formal, intimate occasion when a buffet would have been better. The date was wrong, too, because everyone's mind was on independence. She should have held the gathering in the upper hall, anyway: this little dining room, with its tapestries and dim candelabra, was too gloomy. And she couldn't understand why she had thought the gronkey would be a talking-point: the animal had sat motionless on its perch throughout the dinner, staring wide-eyed at the guests. She would know better next time and, after all, things hadn't gone too badly. The meal was over and she would understand if the guests started to make their excuses soon.

Kereban rose to his feet and lifted his glass. "Ladies and gentlemen," he said, "Terellion!"

"Terellion!" the other guests shouted. The brief ensuing silence was shattered by the sound of breaking glass.

Marna pointed to the door and screamed. "Sebaran!" she shrieked. Terellion looked where she was pointing but could see only the dark doorway. "Oh my god, it's Sebaran! He's come back to me!" Marna shrieked. "Sebaran! Can't you see him? Look! He's coming in! Sebaran!"

Kereban leant towards Terellion. "Too much nirvana," he said. "What's she staring at? I can't see anything. And who the blazes is Sebaran?"

Terellion was concerned about Marna, but pleased that her party would be remembered as eventful, at least. Marna was having some kind of seizure and everyone was on their feet and yelling incoherently. Terellion instructed the manservant to call an ambulance. "Sebaran," she said to Kereban, "was Marna's husband. He died six months ago."

***

Wear something suitable, the Doctor had said. He had made a slight adjustment to the interior structure of the TARDIS so that Ace's room was now connected to a walk-in wardrobe. Ace had wandered in and had been meandering for hours through a labyrinth whose walls were racks of costumes.

She had tried on a gown from eighteenth-century France, but had decided that the crinoline might get in the way if she needed to move fast. She had found a daring little bikini made of animal skins, complete with a wickedly sharp hunting knife in a leather sheath, but had abandoned it because she thought the Doctor wouldn't approve. Anyway, he might land the TARDIS somewhere as cold as Iceworld, the planet on which he had found her. A one-piece jump suit of silvery material had attracted her at first, but when she had tried it on she had decided it made her look like a refugee from a low-budget science-fiction television show.

She stood in front of a full-length mirror and experimented with hair styles. She pulled her shoulder-length brown hair into a pony tail; she piled it on top of her head; she pinned it to one side so that it fell in a curtain concealing half of her open, square-jawed face. She pouted her full lips, blew herself a kiss and grimaced laughingly.

"I've had about enough of this," she told her reflection. "If the Professor won't tell me where we're going, how am I supposed to find anything to wear? I'm off."

She turned, strode through the nearest doorway and found herself back in her bedroom. She paused only briefly: she was accustomed to the strange powers of the TARDIS.

The bed was the least noticeable thing in Ace's room, partly because it was concealed under a pile of discarded clothes, books, electrical components and audio cassettes. A large part of the room was occupied by benches covered with chemistry apparatus, because Ace couldn't be bothered to prowl the corridors looking for the TARDIS's laboratories every time she wanted to brew up fresh supplies of explosives.

She dragged a stool from a workbench to her dressing table, sat on it and ransacked the drawers in front of her. She managed to find mascara, lipstick and green eye shadow; she glowered at her reflection as she inexpertly applied the make-up. It was a waste of time, she told herself, but then again you never who you might bump into when you stepped out of the TARDIS. It might be a scaly alien with tentacles or a bit of all right like that Robin Hood on the telly.

Jason Connery's clean-cut portrayal of the mythical outlaw lingered in Ace's memory: it was one of the last television programmes she'd seen when she lived in Perivale, west London. She thought she looked young without a bit of make-up, although she couldn't be bothered with it most of the time. Ace wasn't exactly sure how old she was anyway: it was a long time since she'd blown herself up in Perivale and found herself on Iceworld. The whole point of the TARDIS was that it transcended the dimensions of space and time; it was bigger -- infinitely bigger, perhaps -- on the inside than it looked from the outside and it played the same sort of tricks with time. But she felt older and she thought she looked a bit older: perhaps she was eighteen or nineteen. She was growing up, anyway, and wasn't a kid any more.

She pulled on her favourite jacket, the black satin one with badges all over it and Ace embroidered in big red letters across the back; she stuffed a couple of cans of nitro-nine and a Jazz Messengers tape into a black rucksack that she slung over her shoulder; she picked up her latest toy, an autofocus zoom camera, and went to find the Doctor.

He was in the control room, as she had expected, standing next to the central console and gazing at the time rotor as it rhythmically rose and fell; his crumpled jacket, pale panama hat and question-mark-handled umbrella hung on the coat stand. The Doctor didn't look up as she came in: he had his index finger to his lips and was lost in thought.

He's supposed to be a Time Lord, Ace thought as she tried to pick a good time to interrupt his reverie, so why can't he look a bit more lordly? He looks likes a gormless gardener, an old buffer who should be looking after his prize roses and tending his orchard.

"Beauty of Bath," said the Doctor.

"You what?"

"Beauty of Bath, one of my favourite apples. It ripens early and has a fine ruddy colouring."

Ace could feel herself blushing. How much of her thoughts had he read? "Don't do that!" she said crossly. "It's rude to listen in."

"Sorry, Ace. I didn't mean to, they just sort of crept in while I wasn't thinking of anything else. And I rather like the idea of being seen as a gardener -- it's an appropriate analogy in a way."

Ace smiled and shook her head. Time Lord or gardener, he was uniquely the Doctor. His face contained his character: intelligence and cunning in the sharp blue eyes, and laughter in the crow's feet next to them; concern and responsibility in the furrows across his forehead and alongside his mouth; determination in the jut of his chin. Ace never ceased to wonder at herself, travelling through time and space with an alien who looked like a funny little man, but then again, she rarely ceased to enjoy it.

She spread her arms and pirouetted to draw the Doctor's attention to the clothes she was wearing: exactly the same kind of clothes as the Doctor had seen her wearing hundreds of times before.

"What do you reckon on this clobber then, Professor? Better than the usual gear, eh?"

"Eminently suitable, Ace," the Doctor said gravely. "A very good choice of garments."

Ace let her arms fall to her sides. "You what?" A sudden thought occurred to her. "Oh no, Doctor. We're not going to Earth again, are we? I can't stand much more of the late twentieth century. And if we land anywhere near sodding Perivale, I'm not setting foot outside the TARDIS, OK?"

The Doctor looked smug. "Most people are happiest in their own era, Ace," he began.

"Well I'm not, all right? Anywhere else is better -- and stop looking so pleased with yourself."

The Doctor's smile broadened. He turned to look at the console, touched a few buttons, frowned, scratched his head and then raised his eyebrows. "How about --" he ran his finger down a flickering display "-- New Starhome?"

"Is that where we're going?" Ace asked sceptically.

"Er, yes," said the Doctor. "I think so."

After a final laboured surge, the time rotor subsided and remained still.

"We've landed, then," Ace said.

"Yes," the Doctor said, checking the controls again. He straightened with a grin. "New Starhome it is! Shall we take a stroll?"

***

The intelligence was suffocating. It was drowning, overwhelmed by the others, the others who were also intelligences but were unlike, alien.

It had been asleep, but for how long it did not know. The intelligence feared that it had been asleep for a very long time. Now it had woken, or had been woken. At first it had been alone, which had been terrifying enough, but then the others had started to arrive.

The intelligence knew immediately than the others were unlike itself. None the less it had tried to make contact. The trauma had almost finished it: the intelligence had been unprepared for such swirling, disordered thoughts. In themselves, however, the thoughts were little more than an irritation; it was their contents that were unbearable. The intelligence had little concept of any emotion yet the thoughts of the others consisted of almost nothing but pain, fear, anguish and desolation. If the intelligence had any conception of an afterlife, it would have thought itself in hell.

The intelligence mentally curled itself into a ball and crept into a corner. The others continued to arrive; the intelligence was suffocating.

***

On a couple of occasions Ace had tried to map the interior of the TARDIS. The first time she had set out from the control room with a rucksack full of provisions, a pencil and a pad of graph paper: she had turned back when she had run out of paper. On her next attempt she had dispensed with the provisions, because the TARDIS's corridors were well equipped with food dispensers, but she had taken a portable computer with graphics software and enough memory cards to store the architectural plans of every building in London. She hadn't used many of the cards: she had given up when she started limping.

Her conclusion was: the TARDIS was mega-huge and there wasn't much point in wasting any more time exploring because the Doctor could rearrange it anyway.

So she could never quite become accustomed to the fact that when the TARDIS materialized in physical form, it did so in the unassuming shape, size and appearance of a police telephone box: a rectangular, dark blue box surmounted by a flashing blue light.

"You must be able to remember police telephone boxes, Ace," the Doctor would say in exasperation. "The TARDIS materialized like this when I landed on Earth."

"Like I keep telling you, Professor, they were before my time, weren't they? Anyway, I thought the whole point of this materialization business was that the TARDIS blended in with its surroundings?"

"Quite right, Ace," the Doctor would say, as if they had never had this conversation before. "The chameleon circuit is a very sophisticated piece of technology. The Type 40 TARDIS was the first in which it was fitted."

"I might have guessed you'd get lumbered with a prototype. It doesn't work, does it? Everywhere we go the TARDIS sticks out like a Dalek at a peace conference."

"A minor malfunction. I'll get round to mending it one of these days. I never seem to have the time."

Sometimes Ace suspected that the Doctor didn't have the first idea how to fix the chameleon circuit. At other times she thought that he'd become accustomed to the police box shape and enjoyed the consternation his craft caused wherever and whenever it appeared.

Ace poked her head round the exterior door and saw that this time the battered blue box had landed in more congenial surroundings than was often the case. The TARDIS had materialized at the corner of a courtyard. The square was paved with pale marbled flagstones and the surrounding buildings were faced with dazzlingly white plaster. Two wide avenues and several narrow alleys led from the square.

No one had been surprised to see the TARDIS appear: the square was deserted.

The Doctor swept past Ace, hooked the handle of his umbrella through the strap of her rucksack and pulled her stumbling out of the TARDIS. "Come along, Ace," he said. "Don't dawdle. We've got to go... which way?"

Shaking her head, Ace turned and closed the door, which the Doctor had left open. "It's a bit of a blot on the landscape," she said, standing back to view the TARDIS against the white, pillared terraces. The Doctor, in the centre of the square, was peering from side to side and lost in thought.

He doesn't know which way to go, she thought, but I'll bet he pretends he's just admiring the town planning.

"Where to, Doctor?" she said, coming to stand beside him.

"Mmm?" The Doctor looked at her. "There you are at last, Ace. Look at these buildings. Interesting architecture, isn't it?"

"All right, I suppose. If you're into neo-classicism. They're taking a bit of a chance with all these white walls."

"A bit of a chance?"

"Yeah. Don't they know about spray paint? Guy I used to know could autograph this lot in half a minute. Street art, it's called."

The Doctor winced. "What do you make of the place, anyway?" he said.

"Well, it's like you said. New Star-something, isn't it?"

"New Starhome, yes. And?"

Ace looked up at the sky. It was turquoise. "Are we playing another guessing game?" she said.

"If you like."

What I like has nothing to do with it, Ace thought. But she could never resist a challenge.

"The inhabitants are human, or similar," she said. "You can tell by the shape of the doors. Anyway, that bloke grinning down at us from all those posters looks like an ordinary human. It's not Earth, and as it's called New Starhome it must be a space colony. So we must be in the future."

"Very good, Ace, but whose future, I wonder?"

"Earth's future, of course."

"I hesitate to apply such gross simplifications to a complex transdimensional concept," the Doctor said, "but in essence you're near enough."

The Doctor stroked his chin as he peered up at the giant pictures that stood on the rooftops. Each showed an identical image: the smiling face of chubby, middle-aged man. Ace, meanwhile, had found the first sign of life.

"Professor! Oi, Professor, are you sure the natives are human? What about that chap under the arches?"

The Doctor's gaze followed Ace's pointing finger. A small figure was standing in the shadows beneath a pillared portico. It was humanoid and stood upright, but Ace could see as she followed the Doctor's cautious approach to the portico that the creature was covered with a dark, glossy pelt that seemed to shimmer with shades of emerald and aquamarine. With no sign of fear its huge black eyes watched the time-travellers approach.

"What is it, Doctor?" Ace whispered when they stopped an arm's length from the creature. "It looks intelligent."

"I wonder," the Doctor muttered. "You know, I remember meeting one of these before. But was it before or after this, that's the question."

"Does it matter?"

"I rather think it might. There was a slang name for them, I seem to recall. Gronkeys, that was it. I suppose it's because they look like green monkeys."

"More like a green panda, if you ask me," Ace said, squinting at it through the viewfinder of her camera. The gronkey didn't so much as twitch as the shutter clicked. "Why doesn't it say anything?"

The Doctor didn't reply. He was staring angrily at the chain that connected the gooney's collar to the circular handle of the door. "He's being kept as a pet," the Doctor said in a tight voice. "He's chained up like an animal." He stared into the gooney's deep unblinking eyes until Ace nudged him.

"Snap out of it, Professor," she hissed. "Footsteps: someone's coming."

***

When the visions had started, the intelligence had assumed that it was going insane. The visions were like the input that the intelligence used to receive from the machines. But the machines no longer functioned and no input was possible; the visions, therefore, were hallucinations.

If the intelligence had been one with its brood-fellows, it would have drawn on the brood's strength to drive out the madness. Even if it had been alone, it would have struggled against the hallucinations. But it was surrounded by the others, drowning in a storm of the others" terror and agony and hopelessness; the hallucinations offered some respite from the relentless torture.

The intelligence had understood very little of what it saw in its visions. It had no vocabulary to describe the things that appeared. From the tempests of anguished emotion that were the thoughts of the others, the intelligence plucked recognition of the things in the visions, and the words that went with the things.

The most permanent thing in the hallucinations was known to the others as a colour. It was green. Among the green there were smaller things. The intelligence knew that the others recognized the things as having life, even though some were green and remained stationary whereas others moved and were sometimes other colours.

The intelligence would have liked to interrogate the others to acquire more information about the things in its hallucinations, but the thoughts of the others were incoherent, disorganized and so full of pain that the intelligence recoiled as soon as it made contact. The others, too, recoiled from the intelligence. The intelligence had come to realize that its probings increased the fear of the others; it had retreated into its hallucinations.

Green, endless green; warmth, too; living things, some of them moving: the intelligence was adrift in a vision it no longer tried to understand.

Suddenly it was aware of another: another whose thoughts were not chaotic; another who was full of confidence rather than fear. The other was speaking and, although the intelligence somehow knew that the message was not intended for it, it understood the meaning.

Don't worry, old chap, the other was saying, we'll get you out of this.

***

"You young people! Stop teasing that gronkey!" The voice was perfunctory rather than angry.

Ace turned to see a middle-aged man hurrying across the square. He was wearing a white tunic and white trousers that together had a faintly military look; a green sash was looped over one shoulder. Under his arm he was carrying a placard on which was a smaller version of the posters that overlooked the square. Having reprimanded Ace and the Doctor, he showed no sign of interrupting his progress. Ace was incensed: she hated being wrongly accused.

"Oi, mate!" she yelled. The man stopped; the Doctor looked round. "We're not teasing it, are we," Ace continued. "We're just having a look, all right?"

The Doctor smiled, raised his hat and strode towards the man. Ace hurried to catch up. "Good, ah, good morning," the Doctor said, glancing at the sky. "I must apologize for my young friend's abrupt tone. She's from Earth."

"Quite all right," the man said. "I didn't realize one of you was... I mean I didn't see that the young lady was with her er..."

"Doctor," the Doctor said. "And my assistant's name is Ace."

"Happid," the man said, "Yorovan Happid. Pleased to meet you. From Earth, eh?" He gazed at Ace in awe, and he noticed her camera. "Of course! You're a reporter. You've come a very long way to holovid our celebrations, my dear."

Ace still didn't like him. "Celebrations? I thought you were off to a demo. Who's the bloke in the picture?"

Yorovan Happid was shocked. He held up the placard and stood to attention with the poster's genial face next to his own. "This, young lady," he said, his voice shaking with emotion, "this is Hortan Velid: our governor and leader; creator of our planet's destiny; architect of our independence. He is a great man."

Ace lifted the camera and snapped Happid and his placard. "Thanks, mate," she said. "Great shot for our viewers back home."

The Doctor leant forward and tapped the camera. "Earth technology," he said. "Remarkable how they've managed to miniaturize these holovid recorders, isn't it?"

"Er, quite amazing," Happid said. "Now I really must get along. Listen, you can hear the crowd cheering. I don't want to miss the signing."

The Doctor had been making a few deductions. "So today is Independence Day?" he asked. "Is the ceremony taking place here?"

"Unfortunately not," Happid said. "You've come to the wrong place. You've been misinformed. This is the town of Pax, Hortan Velid's home town. We had hoped that we would have the honour, but the ceremony had to be held in Central City. Everyone will see it on live hologram transmission -- everyone except us, unless we hurry along."

Ace glanced up at the clear turquoise sky and froze. She clutched the Doctor's arm.

"Doctor! Over there! Vapour trails! Are they missiles?"

The Doctor studied the fine parallel lines that streaked the sky. "They could be," he said, "but they're not aimed at us. They're on a trajectory for space."

"That'll be the Federation fleet, or part of it at least," Happid said. "All the Federation ships will be gone by midnight. It's one of the terms of the treaty. Tomorrow we'll be free. We'll have our own police force."

"You might find that those last two statements don't necessarily go together," the Doctor murmured. "But I assume everything's been peaceful and orderly so far?"

"Peaceful? Better than just peaceful," Happid boasted. "New Starhome's the most contented planet you could wish for."

The Doctor seemed almost disappointed. "No trouble of any kind?" he pleaded.

"None whatsoever," Happid shouted over his shoulder as he bustled away to the edge of the square. "There's been so little bad news lately, the holovids have been reporting stories about people seeing ghosts!"

"Ghosts!" the Doctor mused. "Now that is interesting."

The gronkey was still staring fixedly at the Doctor. Ace began to feel uncomfortable. "That thing's giving me the creeps," she said. "Come on, Doctor, are we going to watch this independence ceremony?"

"I never find flag-waving as uplifting as it's cracked up to be, Ace."

"So where shall we go?"

"Well, where would you go if you'd just seen a ghost?"

***

Olberan was being difficult. Terellion had done everything she could to avoid a scandal: she had had Marna driven to the hospital in one of her own limousines and she had booked the most expensive suite of rooms for Marna's sole use. Now, on this morning of all mornings, Olberan had insisted on visiting the poor deranged woman. And he was making a scene.

He had positioned his powerful body in front of Marna's bed; his left hand was curled into a fist and in his right he was wielding a scalpel.

"She's coming round," he repeated doggedly. "I just want to talk to her. Don't come near her with any more of that stuff."

Doctor Sendet sighed and drew his hand across his lean face. The nurse exchanged a long-suffering glance with Terellion, who smiled weakly.

Sendet held up the hypodermic plastigraft. "It's just twenty-five milligrams of noctidrine," he said, stepping forward and then leaning back to avoid Olberan's scalpel lunge. "A mild tranquillizer, that's all."

"If it's so mild, why's she been out all night?" Olberan demanded. "She'd be all right if only you'd let her wake up."

Sendet lifted his eyes to the ceiling in despair. "Can't you talk some sense into him, Terellion? Tell him you've known me for years. Tell him you trust me."

It was true that Terellion had known Doctor Sendet for years. But since the last time she had consulted him, when he had seemed eager to put her under a general anaesthetic for reasons that she had assumed were unprofessional, she didn't entirely trust him. None the less, he was the senior consultant in the second-largest hospital on New Starhome.

"It's all right, Olberan," Terellion said. She rested her hand on his brawny arm and looked up into his glittering blue eyes. She fluttered her eyelashes, a ploy which she usually found effective. "Doctor Sendet's an old acquaintance. He'll do what's best for Marna."

Terellion smiled encouragingly. Olberan seemed mesmerized by her eyes. He lowered his hands. Terellion's smile widened, then turned into an O of surprise as the burly off-worlder pulled her close and kissed her.

As soon as Terellion stopped struggling, Olberan released her. She was surprised to find that she felt disappointed. "You brute!" she said, somewhat half-heartedly.

"Not many as good-looking as you on the Rim worlds," Olberan said with a grin. "Go on, Doc, give Marna the shot. If Senator Terellion says it's OK, it's OK with me too."

Doctor Sendet advanced hesitantly and this time it was Terellion, dragging herself from Olberan's gaze, who stopped him. "Is this really necessary, Barnan?" she said. "Marna looks so peaceful already."

Sendet tutted impatiently and indicated the moving line on the screen above Marna's head. "The electromagnetic pattern is still very erratic," he explained. "If she woke now, she would still be in shock."

Terellion nodded. Sendet applied the plastigraft pad to the sleeping woman's arm and almost immediately the line on the screen became less jagged as Marna's breathing deepened.

"Perhaps your big, bearded friend could do with a shot of this stuff," Sendet whispered.

"I heard that!" Olberan roared. "You keep your damned drugs away from me. I'm not pickled in nirvana and I don't believe in ghosts. I think this woman saw something last night and I'm going to find out what's going on. Nobody's going to get in my way!"

Sendet and the nurse launched into a stumbling explanation of the effects of shock, the symptoms of hysteria and the impossibility of ghosts. Olberan merely glowered at them, his lip curled disdainfully. Terellion found herself favourably comparing the big off-worlder's commanding silence with Sendet's oleaginous appearance and verbosity. After all these years of civilization, Terellion thought, I'm beginning to fancy a bit of rough trade!

Terellion was the first to notice that visitors had arrived, uninvited and unannounced. An oddly dressed but alert little man and a tough-looking young woman in a black jacket had joined the group and were avidly listening to Sendet and the nurse. Terellion stared at them; Olberan, the nurse and finally Sendet turned to follow her gaze.

The little man raised his hat. "Hallo," he said, "I'm the Doctor. Who's the patient?"

Sendet was the first to speak. "I'm the doctor," he spluttered. "Would you mind explaining yourselves?"

"Sorry, mate," Ace said, "but he is the Doctor. Appearances can be deceptive. Who's the patient?"

Terellion decided it was time to exert some control. "I'm Senator Terellion Pang," she announced. She frowned, however, when neither of the two visitors appeared to recognize her name. "Kindly explain yourselves."

"Hi, I'm Ace," the young woman said, extending her hand. "This is the Doctor. Who's the patient?"

Terellion mechanically shook the young woman's hand. Olberan burst out laughing. "The patient is Marna Grard," he said. "She had a skinful of nirvana last night, and saw the ghost of her husband. Nirvana can do that to you. But I was there, Doctor: that was no pink elephant she saw. Whatever it was, it sent her crazy. I'm Olberan, by the way."

The Doctor and Ace shook his out-thrust hand. "She's sedated?" the Doctor asked, touching his fingertips to Marna's temples.

"Sendet's been giving her shots all night," Olberan growled.

"Possibly very wise," the Doctor said. He saw the plastigraft pad and sniffed it. He frowned. "An acetyl choline replicant in a slow-release base, unless I'm mistaken." Terellion shivered as the Doctor's eyes swept the room and came to rest on Sendet.

"It's noctidrine," Sendet stammered. "Twenty-five milligrams, that's all."

"Is it?" the Doctor said. "I see. Well, you're the doctor. Don't you think you should do something about this?" He pointed to the screen above Marna's head. The flickering line was almost flat.

Sendet stared at the screen and swore. He pressed a button on a pad strapped to his wrist and lifted the device to his lips. "Intensive care!" he barked. "This is Doctor Sendet. Get a berth ready immediately. I'm sending a patient now!" He turned to the nurse. "Take this patient to IC and administer a slow drip of eserine compound. Report back as soon as you see any change."

Sendet smiled nervously as the nurse flicked up two switches at the foot of the bed. The bed, along with the machinery and screens arranged around the bed-head, floated free of the wall and the nurse propelled the entire complex towards the doorway with one hand. The doors opened silently as the bed approached, and five pairs of eyes watched until the doors had closed again and Marna had floated out of sight.

"That's what I call an air-bed," Ace said. "You wouldn't get one of them on the National Health." The Doctor glared at her.

"Marna's going to be all right, isn't she, Doctor?" Terellion said.

"Perhaps," the Doctor and Sendet said in unison.

"She's had a traumatic shock," Sendet said firmly, "and, in the quantities Marna was taking, nirvana can be a dangerous substance."

"So can some of the cholinesterase blockers," the Doctor added. Sendet gave him a filthy look.

Terellion was about to step in to prevent an argument when the device on Sendet's wrist began to bleep alarmingly. He pressed a button.

"Doctor Sendet! Doctor Sendet! Emergency!" the tiny loudspeaker screeched. "Doctor Sendet to intensive care immediately please!"

Without a word, Sendet ran from the room.

"Shouldn't we follow him, Doctor?" Terellion said. "I rather think Marna could do with a second opinion."

The Doctor shook his head slowly. "It's too late," he said. "It was too late before we arrived here."

Olberan clenched his fists. Terellion fought back her tears and an urge to smooth Olberan's furrowed brow.

"Do you mean she's dead?" Olberan snarled.

"Oh yes," the Doctor replied. "The question is, will anyone see her ghost?"

Terellion gasped. "You mean...? There have been rumours..."

"I think it's time we had a talk, senator. This is much more interesting than flag-waving, isn't it, Ace?"

***

In the basement of the hospital, unsteady hands pushed together the two halves of a metal sphere, imprisoning the black radiance within. The gloom in the long chamber lightened a little.

The room was a morgue, its walls lined from floor to ceiling with wide, deep drawers. One of the drawers lay open: inside it was a still figure covered with a grey sheet. The hands, trembling with the cold, pushed the drawer into the wall.

"Another guest in the hotel," whispered the owner of the hands. "If we carry like this like this, we'll have to build an extension."

There was something hysterical about the nervous laughter that followed.

Synopsis of subsequent events

Reluctantly, Terellion begins to admire Olberan and trust the Doctor. The Doctor seems particularly interested in gronkeys and starjade, and Terellion explains that both the friendly, dark green mammals and the emerald-like stone come from the North Continent of the planet, which has remained largely unexplored throughout the centuries of human settlement because of its inhospitable tropical climate and its lack of mineral resources. Olberan adds that when he was last on the planet, the North Continent was known only for its beaches and that the interior was ignored. He doubts whether anything interesting or worthwhile could come from the North Continent. Terellion agrees, saying that there is still plenty of the South Continent to exploit and that many of the islands of the archipelago have yet to be visited. She finds the gronkeys a little disturbing, but starjade is pretty enough: she says that Marna was wearing starjade when she saw the ghost of her late husband, a fact which the Doctor seems to find significant.

Ace and Olberan visit the Pax library to gain information about the North Continent. There is very little available, but despite the obstruction of the librarian -- only increased by Olberan's brusque manner -- Ace discovers that Hortan Velid's first claim to fame was as the organizer of one of the earliest of the expeditions to the North Continent. His expedition was a disaster and most of the explorers died. Among the few survivors were Velid himself and the expedition's doctor, whose name was Sendet.

Terellion invites the Doctor to her palatial home, and shows him her gronkey and her collection of starjade jewellery. Ace and Olberan return as the Doctor is explaining that starjade has unusual properties. The Doctor and Ace accept Olberan's invitation to stay the night in the house he has rented. During the night there is an attempted break-in, which Ace foils.

The next day the Doctor, Ace and Olberan watch the live holovid broadcast of Velid's appointment as president of newly independent New Starhome. Velid's first act as president is to dissolve the senate and give himself emergency powers to rule until new elections can be held. The crowd acclaims his decisions. Velid then bans further exploration of the North Continent, which he says has for too long diverted the attention of New Starhomers from the crucial tasks of building the planet's economy to compete with that of the Federation and other independent planets. The Doctor disapproves of his strident nationalism, but the New Starhomers are ecstatic at the prospect of new prosperity and strength.

Almost as afterthoughts, Velid makes two further announcements. Starjade, he says, has been found to give off dangerous radiation: he bans it and claims that certain senators knew about the danger but had hushed it up; Velid declares that the malefactors will be brought to justice. In place of the Federation Security Corps, he invests his own paramilitary organization, the Starhome Guard, with the responsibility of policing the planet.

Olberan goes to see Terellion. Ace, disturbed by the holovid news, befriends Olberan's pet gronkey and wanders into the garden of Olberan's house, where she finds an epaulet that she tore from the shoulder of one of the night-time intruders. The Doctor recognizes it as part of the uniform of the Starhome Guard.

Olberan returns, confused and angry. Terellion's mansion has been broken into and the senator is missing. The servants say that she has been arrested. The Doctor urges flight, but Olberan wants to confront the officials who arrested Terellion. Ace cannot believe that Terellion is one of the senators who hushed up the danger of starjade. The Doctor's reassurances are interrupted by the arrival of a squad of Starhome Guards. These uniformed giants, the cream of New Starhome's youth, seem unnaturally strong: they smash their way through locked doors with ease. And now that they are the planet's official police force, they are carrying weapons. Olberan produces an old hunting rifle and opens fire at them, telling the Doctor and Ace to escape while he holds them off. The guards, however, can move fast enough to dodge the bullets: the Doctor falls and is surrounded; Ace produces nitro-nine with which she intends to blow up the guards, but Olberan reminds her that the gronkey could be hurt in the explosion. Ace rescues the gronkey and returns to the hallway to see the Doctor caught in the ray from a guard's gun. The Doctor falls lifeless to the floor. Olberan grabs the grief-stricken Ace and pulls her to safety. They escape in his speedpod, a hover-vehicle. He tells Ace that the Doctor is finished and that their duty now is to find and rescue Terellion. He tells Ace that even now Velid would not dare to incarcerate the glamorous senator in an ordinary prison; he suggests that they break into Velid's villa in Pax.

Terellion is in a featureless cell, but when a nurse brings her food she realizes that she is in a hospital, not a prison. Sendet visits her, and although he is clearly worried and in awe of the senator he insists that she must submit to a course of medical treatment. If she refuses, he says, she will be tranquillized and treated anyway. Terellion agrees to go quietly.

In an operating theatre, she is strapped to a table. Sendet gloats about her defencelessness and then places a metal globe above her head. He is about to open it when he is interrupted by a squad of guards, who wheel in the lifeless body of the Doctor. Sendet scans the Doctor's body and is amazed to find that the Doctor is not human. Terellion accuses him of complicity with murderers, but Sendet tells her that the Doctor is alive. Terellion overhears Sendet making a telephone call. He is asking for instructions, but the other party seems unsure what to do next. They decide that the Doctor should be exposed to the Remote Globe. Terellion watches helplessly as the metal sphere is moved above the Doctor's head and spilt open. Dark radiance from the Remote Globe, a ball of blackness contained within the sphere, envelops the Doctor. Sendet tells Terellion that the globe is draining the Doctor's life.

Velid's villa is even more grandiose than Terellion's mansion. It is only thinly guarded. Olberan hacks into the security system to gain access to the grounds. After telling Ace that using nitro-nine will attract too much attention, he manages to disarm one of the guards and use the captured weapon to gun down the remainder. Ace reluctantly agrees to the logic of Olberan's suggestion that they should split up to search the vast building. Olberan volunteers to descend into the cellars, which he says might be dangerous, and sends Ace, who still has the rescued gronkey with her, upstairs.

Ace finds no sign of Terellion nor anything else of interest in the sumptuously furnished bedrooms. She is sure that if the senator is imprisoned in the building, she will be found in the cellars. Then she suddenly remembers that from outside the villa she saw a cylindrical turret, a gothic folly rising from the modern edifice. She finds the entrance to it in the corner of the master bedroom. The door is locked, but Ace remembers the security code that Olberan used and finds that it unlocks the door. Ace steps into a small circular room: it is a lift. She takes the lift to the basement where she steps out into a dark room that is furnished as a study. There is a computer terminal set into a desk; Ace finds the computer's memory store in the form of a wheel of microcircuits, but she cannot find a way to access them. She puts the wheel in her rucksack and, hearing footsteps, is about to move on when the gronkey demonstrates that the computer terminal is portable by lifting it out of the desk. Ace takes it and returns to the lift.

In the master bedroom, Ace sets up the computer and manages to turn it on. Inserting microcircuits at random, she reviews the astonishing contents of Hortan Velid's confidential files. Hearing Olberan approach, she conceals the computer. Olberan reports that he has found nothing, but he insists that Terellion must be on the premises. He and Ace must search again, he says. Ace disagrees, and eventually decides to leave by herself. This forces Olberan to accompany her, and not a moment too soon: as they return to the speedpod, the guards round the villa begin to stir. Ace realizes that if they are merely stunned, then it is likely that the Doctor, too, is not dead. Olberan tries to curb her optimism, but Ace will not be deterred. She curses herself for her stupidity and urges Olberan to make for the hospital with all speed.

Terellion watches aghast as the shroud of dark light withdraws into the globe, leaving the Doctor's body pale and unmoving. Sendet closes the metal sphere, announces that the transfer has been successfully completed and calls for guards to put the Doctor's body into a disposal bag. Terellion fights back tears as the guards zip up the bag. Sendet moves the sphere towards her and she screams, not because she fears the globe but because the body bag is moving: it is being unzipped from the inside. The Doctor sits up, holding his head. He comments that he has just had a remarkable experience that he wouldn't recommend to anyone. Sendet is stunned. The Doctor explains that Sendet was right: he is a Gallifreyan, not a human, and therefore able to withstand the life transfer. It was a struggle, but he was able to escape from wherever the globe took his life-force. He was glad to get away, he says: he was surrounded by a crowd of unhappy and disoriented minds and he also found one extremely confused stranger. He found it a very miserable reservoir of mental energy, which is what he accuses Sendet of trying to create.

Sendet recovers his wits, tells the Doctor he knows too much and orders the guards to kill him. The Doctor says he can hear the cavalry coming and then everyone in the room is aware of approaching shouts, explosions and blaster shots. The guards take up defensive positions in the doorway, while Sendet escapes through another exit. The Doctor frees Terellion, but refuses to let her follow Sendet to safety. Instead he pushes her into the lower part of an equipment trolley, which he wheels into the space between the guards. He gives the trolley a shove and throws himself flat on top of it. The trolley trundles along the ray-filled corridor. Ace opens the door at the other end, grabs the trolley, and runs with it to the speedpod, shouting over her shoulder for Olberan to stop shooting and follow her.

Olberan, installed at the controls of the speedpod, is determined to go to Central City. He is outraged and wants a showdown. A senator has almost been murdered, he stresses, and he is determined to make Hortan Velid aware of the injustices being done in his name. Terellion, sitting alongside Olberan, agrees. Ace catches the Doctor's eye, points to Olberan, and gives a thumbs-down sign. The Doctor smiles and nods. Ace's gronkey reaches forward, steals Olberan's blaster and hands it to Ace. "Move over, Rambo," she says to the blustering Olberan, "I'm driving this bus now."

With Ace at the controls the speedpod, after a rough start, outruns the guards" pods. The Doctor asks Ace where she's driving to, and seems pleased when she says she's going to the North Continent. Terellion and Olberan are appalled, because the North Continent is now out of bounds. The Doctor, however, says that is an excellent reason for going there.

Ace pilots the speedpod northward over a vast ocean and then over an equally vast landmass covered with jungle. The Doctor navigates, staring alternately into the screen of the portable computer and the eyes of the gronkey.

The intelligence becomes excited, aware that the unafraid other who joined it and then abruptly departed is returning in a way that the intelligence cannot comprehend.

As the speedpod circles over the endless rain forest, Olberan protests that they are wasting time, that in Central City, in Pax and all over the South Continent, Velid's opponents are probably being arrested and perhaps killed, as Terellion almost was, and that the Doctor is taking them on a wild goose chase. The Doctor replies by asking Ace to repeat the information she discovered about Velid's expedition to the North Continent. He adds that Velid's computer records contain references to a fortified camp in the North Continent. Olberan points out that even if it is true, they could spend years failing to find it from the air. The Doctor pats the gooney's head and explains that he has an assistant navigator. He points towards the jungle: there is a strangely regular clearing.

Ace brings the speedpod down slowly. The clearing is obviously not natural. At its centre there is a tall, thin tower: it is leaning and much overgrown with foliage. It looks like a ruined temple of a lost civilization. Arranged in groups across the clearing are modern domes and huts. The largest cluster of buildings is next to the thin tower, and from its roofs sprout aerials, dishes and a thick cable that runs to the top of the tower. Ace takes the little craft still closer, and it becomes clear that the settlement is inhabited: small squads of Starhome Guards look up from their tasks, one of which is overseeing teams of gronkeys. It seems that the dark green mammals have been pressed into service as labourers; gangs of the creatures can be seen carrying boxes, clearing undergrowth and digging trenches. The gronkey in the speedpod becomes agitated for the first time.

Ace says there is nowhere to land but in the clearing, and she takes the speedpod down. As the craft lands, the guards close in. Ace remarks that her arrival couldn't have been more obvious even if she'd radioed ahead; the Doctor is worried because he can do nothing to stop the guards radioing for reinforcements and he says he and Ace must move fast. As they run from the speedpod, Ace points out that the guards don't need reinforcements.

While the Doctor and Ace run towards the tower, Olberan and Terellion provide covering fire from the speedpod. Ace's gronkey abandons her and flees into the jungle. Halfway to the tower, the Doctor and Ace realize they are surrounded: pinned down by blaster rays, they can only await capture. The guards advance inexorably. Olberan leads Terellion in a rescue charge that proves futile and they are captured. Guards loom over the Doctor and Ace and take aim at point-blank range. At that moment the gronkeys arrive! Running silently from the jungle, wave after wave of gronkeys swarm over the guards: they take horrendous casualties, but the guards are overwhelmed, disarmed, and surrounded.

Olberan and Terellion catch up with the Doctor and Ace at the base of the tower. The two New Starhomers are amazed at the gronkeys, who have never previously shown any capability of organized behaviour. The Doctor says that they have been learning. Ace's gronkey returns to her and stares into her eyes. She realizes that it is communicating with her telepathically: it is telling her that there is danger in the tower, she says. The Doctor, however, cannot be dissuaded from finding a way in.

They find a gap in the tower's structure. It is immediately obvious that the building is not an ancient stone edifice: it is made of metal, and its insides consist of a maze of wiring ducts and hydraulic systems. There are no doors, windows, rooms or corridors. Prompted by the Doctor, Ace works out that the tower is in fact a spaceship, and not of human design. The interior of the ship is damaged and the Doctor concludes that it made a forced landing on the planet, perhaps centuries before the first human colonists arrived. Squeezing through the gaps between ruptured storage tanks and smashed electronic circuits, the little party struggles upwards through the interior of the ship. They pause at a hole beyond which they can see only a black void. Ace realizes they have reached a chamber that occupies the top of the tower.

Ace says that if ruined spaceship contains anything important, it must be in the empty-looking nose cone. The Doctor explains that although the ship has been there for centuries or millennia, it never entirely died. The expedition of which Sendet was a member found the tower and the source of power it contained -- power for which the expedition's paymaster, Hortan Velid, was prepared to kill.

Olberan alerts the others to the sound of approaching speedpods: Velid has found them already. Olberan and Terellion refuse to be trapped inside the tower and would prefer to take their chances outside, but the Doctor persuades them that they are safer in the old spaceship because Velid would not risk damaging the source of his power. He leads the way into the dark chamber, saying that they should all see the terrible truth of the basis of Velid's new order for New Starhome.

The apex of the spaceship is a circular chamber with a conical roof. The wall is a blank screen. The room is empty except for a pillar in the centre, on which rests a black globe from which darkness seems to emanate. Above the globe is a metal hood suspended by a thick cable.

The Doctor concentrates and images begin to appear on the screen. Soon there are hundreds of faces surrounding the foursome; each face is a moving mask of abject terror and anguish. Terellion weeps as she recognizes acquaintances who have recently died.

The Doctor explains that Sendet has been draining the life from his patients and transmitting the life-forces from the hospital in Pax to the black globe. Velid has been able to use the accumulating power of the trapped intelligences to augment the strength of his guards and has campaigned for New Starhome's independence to ensure freedom from Federation interference. Now that he is president of the independent planet, Velid will crush all opposition.

Voices are heard within the ship. Velid and a contingent of his superhuman guards are ascending towards the chamber. With a burst of blaster fire, the guards enter the room, followed by Velid. The Doctor, Ace, Olberan and Terellion are held at gunpoint while Velid gloats about his victory. He congratulates the Doctor on the Time Lord's correct assessment of the situation, but he adds that his plans are more far-reaching. With New Starhome completely under his control, he has an almost infinite supply of human intelligences with which to feed the black globe. His guards will be invincible, and he will go on to conquer all the worlds of the Federation and beyond. No one can stop him now, he says.

Ace disagrees. Her gronkey leaps from her shoulders and swings from the hood above the globe. The contraption crashes to the floor; sparks flash from the torn cable.

The guards, deprived of the source of their extra strength, are confused. After a struggle in which Ace and Terellion prove a match for the unaugmented youths, Olberan picks up a blaster and points it at Velid. The Doctor tells Velid that the game is up.

Velid is still smiling. He tells the Doctor that he has never relied entirely on the globe's power and has had agents strategically placed for years. He glances at Olberan, who turns the gun towards the Doctor. Ace suddenly realizes how Olberan managed to break into Velid's house so easily, and why the tough off-worlder has proved to be such an ineffectual ally. She launches herself at him, but the Doctor restrains her, whispering that he has known for some time about Olberan's deception. Velid announces that the Doctor's intelligence will be added to the pool of life forces within the globe. He orders the Doctor to touch the black sphere. Terellion starts to say that the Doctor has already survived one such attempt, and Ace realizes that the Doctor's stratagem is about to be undermined. Ace's gronkey leaps at Terellion, distracting her. Velid ignores the interruption and the Doctor picks up the globe. To Velid's consternation, nothing happens.

Velid complains that Sendet assured him that to touch the globe was to die, but the Doctor says that it's just a ball. "Here, catch!" he says, tossing the globe to Velid. Velid catches it in both hands and slumps to the floor as his life force drains into the globe.

Olberan threatens to kill the Doctor, but the Doctor says that there isn't much point. The Doctor picks up the globe again and concentrates. On the screen, a hideous alien figure takes shape. The Doctor introduces the others to the intelligence -- the only surviving member of the crew of the spaceship, one of a species that has no corporeal existence and which lives as collective consciousnesses. He speaks to the alien intelligence, promising peace at last to it and to the hundreds of humans imprisoned with it: he drops the globe onto the floor, where it smashes into fragments. The screen goes blank.

Olberan shrugs, hands over the weapon and says that he had always thought Velid's plan were too grandiose. The Doctor says that Velid had started to make mistakes: the gronkeys had forced him to press ahead with his plans too fast. Terellion and Olberan don't understand: they know that the gronkeys are mere animals, with no sign of intelligence.

The Doctor disagrees, saying that gronkeys are intelligent, but have an easy life in the rain forest and therefore no need of permanent settlements or toolmaking skills. They communicate telepathically, and therefore have the potential to develop very quickly if given the right stimulus. Ironically it was Velid who provided the stimulus: once the enslaved gronkeys at the spaceship site had been shown how to use tools and had heard human speech, the new knowledge was instantly available to all the gronkeys on the planet. Because the spaceship was so difficult to enter, and anyway dangerous for humans, gronkeys were trained to clean the black globe chamber. Thus they saw the tortured images on the screen and became aware of the alien intelligence's misery and confusion.

None of this would have mattered but for the fact that gronkeys were being shipped to the inhabited South Continent as pets. Although they appeared uncommunicative, these gronkeys were in constant mental touch with their fellows in the North Continent, including those working in the black globe chamber. Whenever a gronkey, such as Terellion's for instance, picked up a mental signal from a nearby human, such as Terellion's guest Marna, that resonated with an image, such as that of Marna's late husband, seen by the gronkeys in the spaceship, the gronkey could not help becoming a conduit for that image -and thus Marna saw the ghost of her husband. Such sightings were occurring all over New Starhome, and Velid knew that someone would start asking difficult questions. He pressed ahead with his campaign for independence, hoping thereby to smother reports of people seeing ghosts, and he acted swiftly to ban starjade after the Doctor had planted hints that the stone might be responsible for the ghost sightings. The Doctor's motives had been to find out whether Velid had something to hide, and to protect the gronkeys by diverting attention elsewhere.

Terellion says that it was just as well the Doctor arrived when he did. The Doctor agrees that it was a remarkable coincidence, but adds that even without his intervention the gronkeys were learning rapidly from humans and might well have proved to be a formidable obstacle to Velid's one-party state.

They leave the spaceship and the Doctor's point is demonstrated: the guards are returning to normal after the sudden removal of their augmented strength and everywhere across the clearing gronkeys have recovered the guards' weapons and are rounding up the dazed youths.

Notes

The Necromancers is intended to be a fairly typical example of a DOCTOR WHO story. It is set in the far future and includes some standard science-fiction themes such as grounded spaceships, aliens, and telepathy. Like the best science fiction stories, however, its plot depends on the interaction of well-rounded characters rather than merely on futuristic technology.

As usual, the Doctor and his companion arrive to find themselves in the middle of a nefarious scheme. And as usual, it is not clear what the villainy is or who the villains are. DOCTOR WHO stories are often like puzzles: they have something of the detective story in them, as well as science fiction. The Doctor, as well as the reader, has to find out what is going on. Investigation usually reveals that the danger is far greater than was at first apparent; foiling the villainy usually involves threats to the very life of the Doctor or, as is even more likely, to that of his companion.

TIME LORD adventures will also show this form of construction: the players, adopting the roles of the Doctor and his companions and allies, will find themselves presented with inexplicable goings-on that will require investigation, as well as perhaps a certain amount of brute force.

As in The Necromancers, a DOCTOR WHO story often has a cliff-hanger ending which is resolved by a combination of the Doctor's remarkable abilities and his companions' resourcefulness.

Finally, it should be noted that a DOCTOR WHO story is often more than just a science fiction adventure cum detective thriller. Depending on how it was written, The Necromancers could contain a commentary on the evils of colonialism, for instance, or on the corrupting influence of political power. A background theme of this nature is not essential, but it does help to add an element of realism and significance to a story that might otherwise seem fanciful or trivial. When you create your own DOCTOR WHO adventures using TIME LORD, you will find that the players will become even more involved in their roles and in the plot if they believe that their characters are fighting a realistic injustice or a believable evil.