| COLDHEART by Trevor Baxendale |
| Story 31 Synopsis: Compassion materialises in an ice mine, on the planet Eskon. Fitz is attacked by vicious bat-like creatures, and he, Compassion and the Doctor are rescued and taken away as guests to the city of Baktan. They learn that Eskon is a hot, desert planet with a cold core. The Eskoni are troubled by slimers, genetic mutants living outside the city. The Doctor suspects there might be something deep underground causing the problem, and on an expedition with Compassion, finds a giant, wounded Spulver worm. The pus from its wound is leaking into the Baktan water supply, causing Eskoni to mutate into half-Spulver, half-Eskoni hybrids. By detonating explosives to unleash a massive ice floe, the Doctor is able to generate enough water to flush the Spulver worm out of the system, as well as creating a huge above-ground lake to provide a fresh, clean water supply for Baktan. As the Eskoni recover, the Doctor and Fitz leave in Compassion. |
| Review:- Still on the run, the Doctor and his friends find themselves on a troubled world of ice and fire, where mutants threaten stability... Like his previous EDA, The Janus Conjunction, Baxendale keeps it simple, and yet manages to create something with huge scope for terror. Here, the planetary quirk is the ice underground and deserts above, whilst the gruesome body horror concerns a dangerous infection that results in seemingly-ordinary people slowly turning into grotesque slimy sub-humans before their eventual wormy deaths. By keeping it simple, he ensures the reader can always understand what's happening and why. Fitz takes more of a back seat than usual, and even then he finds time to stand up for the near-mute Florence, and support the unfortunate Ckeho. His early leg injury prevents him from too much derring-do, though he sees more of the Slimers than the Doctor does. His friendship with Florence is more platonic than usual, and her final cry in death is heart-breaking. Compassion, on the other hand, is all action, gung-ho when trekking up from the depths after a nasty fall, efficient in beating off knivors, and able to store the thermium bombs as well as race into the trouble zone with the Doctor aboard. Her ruminations on existence and the importance of life set up her final rescue of the Doctor, although she seems to accept his lessons rather grudgingly. As for the Doctor himself, he's rather by-numbers, beseeching the Council, dogmatic against Tor Grymna, but also ruthless in the latter's death. His mission of exploration to find the problem shows his earlier diagnosis of the Slimers to be correct, and his method owes something to his usual approach. His regrets at being unable to stop Revan and rueful realisation at the number of fights he's had show that this is a more difficult adventure than usual, and perhaps his efforts with Compassion are to allow him some sense of triumph. The local Eskoni are pretty much typical of the form, their camel-esque appearance given lip service to, but rarely made memorable to the reader. Grymna provides a credible mouthpiece for arguments about rejection of those in need, arguments the Doctor is easily able to quash. The hypocrisy of Grymna counterpoints the single-minded need for revenge by Revan, and an inability to listen to reason and the idea that there might be a better answer. Perhaps the only tiresome parts are where the Doctor and Compassion refer to their ongoing flight from the Time Lords, which is pretty irrelevant. The travellers' arrival in the ice mine provides the best usage of a walking TARDIS during this all-too-brief phase in the Doctor's adventures. Things would take a less promising turn in the following book, The Space Age. But Coldheart, like its predecessor, revels in its dramatic planet-changing finish, which solves the long-term problems of Baktan as well as the short-term. Repeating themes can be wearisome and disappointing, but it works well enough here. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |