| CAT'S CRADLE: TIME'S CRUCIBLE by Marc Platt |
| Story 5 Synopsis: On ancient Gallifrey, a student named Vael is troubled by a vision of a blue box. Ace takes the Doctor to a cafe on Ealing Broadway, but the TARDIS summons them back, and the Doctor realises it's been invaded by something. Soon after he and Ace get inside, it seems to be destroyed, and they find themselves separated in a strange City. Ace meets the Phazels, who came from Gallifrey but are being threatened by a huge monster called the Process. It claims the Doctor was destroyed, and stole the Future, but when Ace eventually finds him, a shell of his usual self, he realises that the City is a SARDIT - his Ship represented in several time zones, explaining why Ace meets the Phazels after they've already met her. As the Doctor slowly returns to his senses, he is challenged by Vael, one of the Phazels, who is working for the Pythia, a Gallfireyan legend, eventually overtaken by Rassilon. Vael sides with the Process to usurp power, but ends up destroying the lamprey-like creature. Then, when he tries to prevent the Pythia taking over his mind, he ends up killing himself. The Doctor is able to put the TARDIS back together, and send the Phazels back home, inspiring Rassilon. But the Doctor suspects that his problems with the TARDIS are far from over... |
| Review:- Having put the Timewyrm away, the Doctor and Ace are thrust into another mad landscape, with Ace struggling on her own against weird and wonderful creatures and trying to find a way out... rather like she did in the preceding Timewyrm: Revelation, by unfortunate coincidence. After the wacky Ealing Broadway opening, things take a turn for the absurd as a temporal collision allows the Process out of its box. The grotesque worm-esque creature is believable as a form of evil, and the poor Phazels are further bossed around by their former cohort, Vael, a precocious smart alec whom they resent. In a classic illustration of the dangers of exclusion, Vael really makes them suffer for their treatment of him. Anyway, the Doctor's absence means Ace takes the lead, though she is thankfully less emotional than before, and despite her strange attraction to Shonnzi, spends more time trying to fathom out the City and the time phases. This allows for authorial showboating as events happen out of sequence, so consequences appear before events. It takes a while before the insectoid guards being the fate of the Phazels becomes clear, and the loss of Pekkary's eye later ties in with the all-seeing eye of the Sphinx, and the prophecy of the Pythia. The sections on ancient Gallifrey work well enough by being kept short and simple. It's easy to understand that Rassilon is the coming man, bringing science to end the days of superstition, but he is well shown by the Pythia to be less the hero than might be assumed. Her slow degeneration and loss of Vael might win sympathy, were it not made crystal clear at the end that her care for her charge is selfish, and it's not that surprising when he reacts angrily against her. Succession may seem an easy game, but it can so easily turn sour. When the Doctor does turn up, he takes a long time to rediscover his wits, which keeps the reader disconcerted, and the collapse of the SARDIT seems to be more a plot device than anything. The mystery of the missing 3rd Process, and the strange new object in the sky help lead the plot to its end, as the new Process is destroyed almost by mistake, thus saving everyone, though Vael's triumph is short-lived. As the opener to a series about the TARDIS, this seems to do all possible avenues, so it's hard to wonder what could happen next, in Cat's Cradle: Warhead. As it stands, this is a slightly complex tale that keeps a reader guessing, if not particularly entertained. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |