The Graves of Mordane (novel)

The Graves of Mordane is the second book in The Darksmith Legacy series.

Publisher's summary
The Doctor has discovered the Darksmiths' Eternity Crystal and is determined to destroy it before it falls into the wrong hands. But to find out more about the Crystal, the Doctor must travel to Mordane, the peaceful cemetery planet. But once the sun goes down, Mordane turns into a planet of nightmares. Will the Doctor manage to hold on to the Crystal and fight off the living dead?

This amazing ten-book series follows the Doctor on his exciting journey to discover the origins of the so-called Eternity Crystal and the powerful artisans who created it - the Darksmiths.

Continue the amazing adventures online at www.thedarksmithlegacy.com

Story Summary
The surviving crew of the spacecraft 'Elizabeth the Fourth' have survived on the planet of Mordane, a dead world and the final resting place for the dead of many species for two days. At night the dead have started to come alive. In their search for spare parts needed to repair their ship the crew have taken to sheltering in Intelligent Plastic Survival Pods when night comes.

Meanwhile the Doctor is trying to find the TARDIS in Hanger 7 on the Moon. He manages to escape the Darksmiths Agent who is waiting to reclaim the crystal the Doctor has hidden in a stasis box on board the TARDIS, and by logically convincing him he is NOT Brother Varlos (who is old and grey), the Doctor makes a dash for the TARDIS. As he sets the co-ordinates for Mordane, following the Agents mention of the Mordane Incident that led to the Eternity Crystal being hidden on the Moon, the Agent launches itself at the TARDIS and holding tight disappears along with it.

As the TARDIS prepares to land, the Agent is thrown off and the Doctor is unaware that he has carried his pursuer with him. Damaged on landing, the Agents begins its self repairs.

Soon after arriving, the Doctor teams up with the survivors. He is suspicious of the explanation to the ships damage and believes it was deliberate, he offers to help, and as night (and the zombies), approaches they seeks safety in some nearby catacombs. The Doctor and Catz get separated and Catz leads the way deeper into the tunnels until she finds a specific tomb, that of her grandfather. The Agent suddenly appears and the Doctor learns that Brother Varlos undertook the Darksmiths greatest challenge - to create a device capable of recreating life from dead matter. Constructed on Mordane, the machine was left incomplete when Brother Varlos stole the Eternity Crystal with the dead cells of the deceased being reanimated but never regenerated.

The Agent helps the Doctor and Catz escape when the zombies close in on them and Catz discovers her grandfather's sarcophagus but the torc she has been looking for, on its lid, has already been removed. Catz believes First Officer Jitan Chandra has betrayed her and got there first.

Chandra has been explaining to Captain Gomez, that he knew about Catz's other agenda, to locate her grandfather's sarcophagus and the torc, a torc that he now holds having picked it up earlier when they were trapped in the catacombs. The torc offers them a protection against the zombies and they fly by helicopter to rescue the Doctor and Catz. The Doctor is able to repair the ship then asks for Catz's help to locate Brother Varlos's machine and with the torc for protection the Doctor and Catz, racing against the oncoming night, sets about deactivating the device.

Back on Karagula, the Darksmiths are worried they have lost a trace on the Eternity Crystal, the Agents shuttle pod without the Agent has been returned and the Agents last location, on the planet Mordane means the machine may be fully activated, leading to the dead being reanimated on a million worlds.

The Doctor inserts the Eternity Crystal which he has been carrying in his pocket but realises a fault lies with an overloaded distributor box. Racing off to repair it with his sonic screwdriver, Catz helps the Doctor carry out the repairs and they watch as the pursuing zombies are turned to dust. The Doctor explains that the dead were being continually reanimated by a signal bouncing back from an orbiting satellite on a nightly basis. The Doctor has ended the signal and Mordane is returned to being the peaceful planet it once was. The Doctor says his farewells and returns to collect the crystal only to discover it has gone. Taken by the Agent, both have returned to the Darksmiths' homeworld on Karagula.

Somewhat reluctantly, even fearful, the Doctor sets the TARDIS on a course for Karagula he must ensure the Crystal doesn't fall into the wrong hands...

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Captain Gomez
 * Caroline (aka 'Catz')
 * First Officer Jitan Chandra
 * Darksmiths
 * Darksmith Agent

The Books

 * The Darksmith Legacy's overall story was devised by Justin Richards who contributed four of the ten titles.
 * The Darksmith Legacy was certificated to 13, with under 13's needing parental approval.
 * This first book in the series was released along with the second before the remaining titles saw a monthly release throughout 2009.
 * Each book in the series had a foiled cover with illustration by Peter McKinstry
 * Interspersed with the main fiction is;
 * TARDIS Data Bank (extra information on 'Mordane + Planet of the Dead' and 'Places of Burial')
 * Activity pages x4 (The puzzle solutions give the reader the chance to think like the Doctor!)
 * The Story so far, next installment cover preview and opening preview.

Interactive Website Content
By visiting the website and participating in the Quest participants can unlock additional content like computer wallpapers to download. The Quest itself features; games - (like finding a specific target in an image, by using the sonic screwdriver as a detector, to hone in (to register 100 on the scale). Once located the 'Target' then provides additional information used in further puzzles involving both words and numbers.

Continuity

 * Peladon was a planet visited by the Third Doctor in DW: The Curse of Peladon and DW: The Monster of Peladon.