Parasite (novel)


 * You may be looking for an examination of the general concept of parasites.

Parasite was the thirty-third New Adventures novel. It featured the Seventh Doctor, Ace and Bernice Summerfield. This was author Jim Mortimore's third of four novels for the Virgin New Adventures novel range. He later contributed to Virgin's Bernice Summerfield novels, both of BBC Books' novel ranges and Big Finish Productions' Doctor Who audio story range.

Publisher's summary
"Change, Benny. It's the most terrifying thing of all."

"And that's what's happening to you, is it, Doctor?"

"It's what's happening to all of us."

The TARDIS has arrived in the Elysium system, lost colony of distant Earth and site of the Artifact: a world turned inside out, a world of horrific secrets.

For more than a century scientists have studied the ecosystem flourishing within the Artefact. Now the system is in collapse and even the humans trapped inside are changing into something new and strange.

With the members of one expedition murdered, those of another fighting for their lives and a solar system on the brink of civil war, can the Doctor, Ace and Benny survive a journey to the heart of the Artefact in their search for the truth?

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Ace
 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Benjamin Green (aka 'Midnight')
 * Mark Bannen

Biology

 * Ace injects Benny with poison to save her from a parasite.

The Doctor

 * The Seventh Doctor momentarily begins a regeneration and glimpses his Eighth self.
 * The Doctor gets shot through the heart.

Foods and beverages

 * The Doctor carries instant soup in his pockets.

Individuals

 * Some of Bernice Summerfield's early history is revealed:
 * When Benny was young she ran away from her foster parents in a landing boat. It crash-landed outside a monastery on Olundrum VII.
 * On a dig on Auriga she fell down a cliff (breaking both her legs in the process) thirty km from the dig site. It took her a month to crawl back to the site.


 * Ace suffers radiation poisoning.
 * Bernice gets a hairline fracture to the skull, requiring the pressure to be relieved...via drilling into the skull.

Planets

 * The Daleks used slythers during their assault on Lan Beta.
 * Elysium is an Earth colony with at least one ocean.

Theories and concepts

 * The Universe has eleven dimensions.

TARDIS

 * The Doctor's TARDIS telepathic circuits translate alien languages for the Doctor and his companions.

Continuity

 * Mark Bannen is the son of Alex Bannen from PROSE: Lucifer Rising.
 * Benny's adventure on Auriga is detailed in BFBS: Steal from the World. (though there the planet is called Capella Four).
 * The Daleks used slythers on Lan Beta. (TV: The Dalek Invasion of Earth)
 * The Doctor recalls that he was once trapped inside a newborn planet. (TV: Underworld)