| THE INFINITY RACE by Simon Messingham |
| Story 61 Synopsis: The small plastic ship leads the TARDIS crew to Selonart, and a seemingly abandoned yacht. Alas, it has not been abandoned - the crew have all been killed. They find one survivor, a native named Bloom. The TARDIS is knocked into the sea. All are pursued through the ship by the killer, and escape in a lifeboat, after the Doctor has been unable to prevent the engines from exploding. Back on the mainland, the Doctor and co are accused of the murders of the yacht's crew. But the Governor is persuaded to release them by a competitor in the race, Count de Vries. He wants Bloom dead. Before they can be released, they all escape, and the Doctor and Anji find they are free to go, whilst Fitz & Bloom are fugitives. They are press-ganged into working on another of the yachts, as Bloom is so valuable. The Doctor and Anji are joined by Major Kallison, who has a top secret mission of assassination. She takes the Doctor to see an unusual formation of ice, whilst Anji is left behind to persuade the Governor to call off the race, and get everyone off-planet. He won't even see her. Diving, the Doctor sees that the ice is a chronometric lattice, and soon the whole planet's surface will be covered by it. The ice is creating timebergs - the native Selonarts are all part of a huge eco-system which will eventually evolve this ice - but some protagonist is forcing the issue. The Doctor finally confronts the Count, knowing that this is the person that Kallison has been sent to kill, and that it is Sabbath. Still trying to impose a single order on Universal history, he is less than chuffed when the Doctor tells him that Kallison has evolved as an anomaly. Her society should have died out, but now hasn't, and they want to stop Sabbath, who has pledged to end history. Sabbath has made an alliance with the Warlocks of Demigest, and when the Doctor tries to kill Sabbath with a bomb, it is Warlock power that saves him. Trapped on board Sabbath's ship, Jonah, the Doctor and Anji are less than chuffed when Fitz brings another Warlock on board, throwing Sabbath into confusion. Connecting with Bloom, the Doctor uses Fitz to help rescue all on board, then capsize the ship. Sabbath is a prisoner on Demigest. Bloom tells the Doctor that the parallel problem started in Siberia has been solved. So, Anji & Fitz ask to be taken home. |
| Review:- At last, what happens next. Curiously, after a book which suggests that Earth's history has been altered, we get a book set nowhere near Earth. Selonart and Demigest are our new planets, both well realised, and home to identifiable native aliens. The 14th Trans-Global Regatta appears to be the infinity race of the title - but that's just a bluff, for an actual race against infinity, which is what Sabbath mentioned last time. Bloom, the enigmatic 3rd Generation Selonart native has the power, and wins the day. He and the other Selonarts are well characterised, and imaginative. The Blockheads not only gives a sort of visual clue, but as a derogatory term draws strong racial allusions. The Warlocks, on the other hand, remind me of the Zzinbrizzi jackals from Prime Time. Still... The Doctor absolutely rockets through this book, deep-sea diving, casually rigging up a bomb to stop Sabbath, indignant in protecting Bloom, determined to create the right ending for the struggle. This is a guy approaching 40, and fresh as a daisy. Curious though is his memory - he can deep-sea dive, and is very clued up on Demigest. Fitz starts off attacking Bloom, but anyone can make a mistake, and he sticks by the big guy, which is repaid in yet another "I'm going to kill you now, because I don't know you're a regular character, and the audience will get scared" scene, when Bloom saves him. The first to see that the ice does strange things, he is cruelly press-ganged, stuck with another attractive psychopath, then nearly falls into the ice and oblivion, when Bloom saves him again. His subplot of growing as a person in Time Zero appears to have slipped a little, but he's still an all round hero. His encounter with the Warlock on the Bronstein ship is marvellous, as he tries to warn and is ignored. When he sees another Warlock capsule on Sabbath's ship he is just a bystander, but through the Doctor's auspices, he saves the day. Nice work. Anji gets a little stuck, as the "trapped in a decadent society where the power's off, and rioting ensues" was only in The Book Of The Still, 5 books ago. She gets in with the other Selonarts, and gets onto the life-cycle element first. But still wants to go home. Sabbath gets an even bigger role than either Camera Obscura or Time Zero. There is little doubt who Count de Vries is, and when it transpires than Kallison isn't planning to kill the Doctor, but rather Sabbath, things really hot up. His surviving the bomb is amazing, and his realisation that his associates have double-crossed him, not to mention Kallison's origins really fires him up. If he had been the Master, he would have had a last-minute plan to eliminate the Warlocks, though. Does he survive on Demigest? We shall see. Kallison gets a clever introduction, and the usual assumption that she is to kill the Doctor is nicely subverted that she isn't going to do that. Her assistance is useful, and the dossier she is given may have told the Doctor about himself. Still, she is unlucky that her efforts to underline the Doctor's attack on Sabbath are interrupted by the hopeless Governor. The governor is a really weaselly fool, and an object lesson that power corrupts. Luckily, his power is soon withered away. I liked this book, and I am keen to see what happens next. Surely the quantum chaos arc can't be finished? With a run of books dealing with Earth and time travel, it seems that this is just barely starting... |
| Disclaimer: I own a copy. |