| ZETA MAJOR by Simon Messingham |
| Story ? Synopsis: The Doctor is assailed by mental images of a vast black wave. He pilots the TARDIS accordingly, then collapses. Tegan and Nyssa leave to get help, finding themselves aboard a vast tower. Tegan is found by workmen, who think she is a spy. She is teleported away. The Doctor awakens and finds Nyssa, as well as huge quantities of anti-matter crystals. They get onto a transport ship, where they meet Tegan again, who seems out of sorts. The Doctor is aghast that the Morestran Empire is split between warring factions, and that they have spent 2,000 years constructing a gigantic energy tower. Tegan attempts to assassinate a high-ranking official, but the Doctor stops her, realising she has been hypnotised. They narrowly escape punishment. The Doctor deduces she was hypnotised by Kristyan Fall, a top secret Church spy. They are imperilled again, but Fall arrives, and in the confusion, Tegan is rescued. The Doctor travels with Fall back towards Zeta Minor. Nyssa is sent to the Sorenson Academy to find out about the Energy Tower, and succeeds in learning that it won't work. She is caught and sent to the Zeta Project, where slaves have anti-matter crystals sewn into their bodies. The Doctor and Fall transmat onto the Tower. Fall is degenerating into an anti-man when they reach the TARDIS. By the time Tegan arrives with a spaceship, Nyssa has also degenerated, and is one of only a few survivors. Zeta Major is destroyed, and they head for Zeta Minor, where the mining extraction took place. The Doctor lands there in the TARDIS, Fall struggling to keep control. Learning that Nyssa is infected by anti-matter, the Doctor finds her, and they drop down into the anti-matter pool, now the size of a lake. They subsequently emerge, cured, as Nyssa has the equations for the Energy Tower. She, Tegan, Fall and the Doctor travel there in the TARDIS. Fall tries to take over, but is killed. The Doctor and Nyssa use the equations to send the anti-matter on the Tower back to its universe. This done, they leave, with the Morestran Empire shattered by the final conflict. |
| Review:- Sequels can be tricky things. This book is a sequel to the TV serial, Planet Of Evil. Set 2,000 years later, it reveals that far from helping the Morestrans at the end of the previous story, the Doctor doomed them to a life of tyranny. His visit has become the stuff of legend, and the Church hold sway over the huge Morestran Empire. A huge tower has been built to fulfil the aim of finding energy from the kinetic force of planetary movement. But something is wrong... quite a few somethings in fact. This is not the first time this Doctor has been given a sequel to an adventure of his predecessors (see The Sands Of Time for example), but from a less-regarded story, Messingham nonetheless fashions a deep and interesting discussion about the nature of belief. Morestra seems to have been a religious society, and rather than working hand in hand with science, it has taken over completely, so that Science is seen as just a Cult option. Added in are elements such as superspy Kristyan Fall, aka The Zero Man. He could probably have fitted in nearly any book, but he makes for a useful protagonist here. The starting point was the Doctor's suggestion to Sorenson of deriving energy from the kinetic force of planetary movement. Perhaps he should have explained in more detail, because Sorenson doesn't appear to have known how it could be done, and has doomed the Morestrans to two millennia of tyranny, as the Church built a gigantic Energy Tower, without checking it would work. Surprise, it won't, so they fall back on Plan B, and wouldn't you know it, it involves going back to Zeta Minor to nick more anti-matter crystals, despite it being dangerous and stupid. The story develops at a hearty pace, although the involvement of the Doctor and his friends happens quite sparsely. Firstly, Tegan is separated from her friends, and then later, Nyssa is separated from the others instead. By the end, all three regulars have been given chances to show what they can contribute, whether Tegan's plucky humanity, Nyssa's scholarly investigation, or the Doctor's efforts to avert an immense catastrophe. Though we meet occasional good guys, it's pretty clear that neither the Church nor the Empire are nice people. The book concludes after a bloody and brutal war, with both sides struggling to claim even a Pyrrhic victory. Those whom our heroes have influenced are left to spread the message, but it is suggested that they'll just start all over again. Messingham makes occasional pointed comments about how silly the Doctor's initial suggestion to Sorenson was, but since he's fashioned a tidy little thriller out of it, maybe he's not so harsh after all? Overall, it's a good sequel, and a good book in its own right. Though it's a lot more fun if you watch the original story beforehand. |
| Disclaimer: I've read it. |