| DECEIT by Peter Darvill-Evans |
| Story 13 Synopsis: All seems peaceful on Arcadia, but Earth suspects the Spinward Corporation are hiding something there, and send in a team of Auxiliaries to investigate. Ace wangles herself on board, where she finds they have a secret weapon: Abslom Daak, the Dalek Killer. She also makes contact with the Doctor, who has had to put himself into neutral to try and free himself of an infection. She gives him the boost to set him off again, and he restores the TARDIS, setting course for Arcadia. Bernice leaves before him, and finds herself kept prisoner, where she meets a distressed little girl, Elaine, who witnessed her big sister having her brain removed. The Doctor meets a young Scribe named Francis, and they are urged towards Landfall. Bernice is also sent there, by transmat. Ace's ship is attacked, and only a few survive. She also makes it to Landfall, but sees the TARDIS despatched by rocket to the space station above the planet, so she steals another rocket to follow. The Doctor and Francis meet up with Bernice and Elaine, and all are transmatted to the space station. There they find Lacuna, the demented mouthpiece for the Spinward Corporation, which is really a huge gestalt creation called Pool, formed from thousands of brains culled from the Arcadians at a set age. Pool plans to create its own universe, but the Doctor shows that it's not possible. Lacuna thinks Pool can use the TARDIS, but the Doctor dupes Pool into going inside, and then he shuts off the connection, breaking Lacuna's link with Pool, and leaving the Spinward Corporation stuffed. He then sends Pool into the Vortex. Ace decides to rejoin the Doctor and Bernice in the TARDIS, though they suspect she has an ulterior motive... |
| Review:- The Editor steps forward to try his luck, and turns in a modest little space opera, with many plays on the book's title... This was the penultimate book in a short sequence described by Darvill-Evans as the Future History Cycle, and it settles an ongoing issue about the TARDIS, as well as reintroducing a new, revamped Ace. The former is handled quite simply, and I think it's arguable to what degree the problem had been noticed by anyone. An odd mention here and there does not an ongoing arc make (as the New Series is apt to prove). The latter is the real star issue, though. Ace is now 3 years older, and rather wiser in the ways of space. She seems remarkably cocksure given her lowly status, so it's a wonder that she isn't a Captain leading a mission, rather than just one of the 'grunts'. Her travels with the Doctor work against her, as she presumes that Abslom Daak (the other guest star) is the real thing, despite several moments when she is nearly told the truth. It is hardly fair of her to blame the Doctor for manipulating her, when she made the mistake in the first place. Though Daak proves a great asset, and sometimes a liability, Ace's attempts to keep him alive arguably work against her goal. It's arguable whether Daak's bomb would have been a more effective end for Pool than the Doctor's idea. But it's the cheek of losing the choice that makes it sting. The Doctor and Bernice take almost a back seat, by comparison, especially compared with the villainess of the piece, Lacuna. Introduced with almost no depth, her attitudes become clear as the book progresses, but she never comes across as a valid threat - not compared to Pool, or even the Humble Counsellors. Though she may be effectively a mouthpiece, a cipher, she proves a terror to Britta. Pool may be something of a cliche, the collective intelligence derived from stolen brains, and its nature being kept secret for long enough helps things. The brutal effect that Elaine witnesses is probably a more effective a way of drumming up interest than some other. Its doom is quite obvious once someone gets to explain it, and the Doctor's TARDIS-based solution is perhaps becoming a little too familiar from other NAs (Genesys, for instance). Arcadia is a world richly depicted, and the set-up with the gulled populace is easy to follow, if not to empathise with. Once the cracks start to appear, it's no surprise when the Doctor deduces the whole planet is on borrowed time. Though the conclusion suggests that things will now improve without Pool holding everyone back, it's debatable whether it will. Indeed, the idea of a society unwittingly gulled by aliens in a faraway land, with culls at a later age, is incredibly reminiscent of John Christopher's classic sci-fi book trilogy, The Tripods. Though not nearly so desperate. Overall, this is quite a thoughtful and imaginative tale that asks a lot of its audience, but makes sure they can still manage it. Whether it was a successful experiment is another matter. It brings back Ace and that's perhaps enough. |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |