No Future (novel)

No Future is the twenty-third novel in the Virgin New Adventures series. It was written by Paul Cornell, and features the Seventh Doctor, Ace, and Bernice.

Publisher's summary
This time, anarchy's real. There are power cuts and Wilson's resignation, a great upheaval of unease. But now there's real fear too. Real panic. And that's not how it's supposed to be.

Somebody has been toying with the Doctor's past, testing him, threatening him, leading him on a chase that has brought the TARDIS to London in 1976 -- where reality has been altered once again.

Black Star terrorists foment riots in the streets. The Queen barely escapes assassination. A fearful tension is rising. Something is going to happen. Something bad.

Meanwhile, Benny's the lead singer in a punk band. Ace can't talk to her or the Doctor without an argument starting, so she's made murderous plans of her own. The Doctor's alone -- he doesn't know who his enemy is, and even the Brigadier has disowned him.

As usual, it's up to the Doctor to protect the world. And he can't even protect himself.

Characters

 * The Seventh Doctor
 * Can erase memories by touch.


 * Ace
 * Was once marooned on an ice planet.
 * During a dream Death tells her all Eternals have a champion.


 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Is the lead vocalist in Plasticine.
 * She also writes some of the music.
 * Calls the Brigadier 'Sir', despite hating being brought up in the military.


 * Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
 * Is into Buddhism, was introduced to the Eight Fold Path by the Doctor.
 * Uses his meditation techniques to combat the Vardan mind control.
 * Dies but is brought back by a 'wish' granted by the Chronovore Artemis.


 * Mike Yates
 * Believes in Black Star's goals.
 * Has doubts about renewing his UNIT status.
 * Knows of Hamlet Macbeth.


 * Danny Pain
 * Aka Danny Paprpski.
 * Saves the world by throwing a piece of the Monk's TARDIS (disquised as a desk and the papers inside) out of the window and signing a piece he then gives the Doctor.


 * Mortimus
 * Thinks he gains Ace as an ally.
 * Has taken on the mantel of Death's champion.
 * Use the alias Robert Bertram to run Priory records and invents CDs a decade early.
 * Supplies UNIT with virtual reality technology and is appointed scientific advisor.

Culture

 * The Doctor first heard Benny's voice at a party in Finchley.
 * Black Star is a group of anarchists it developed from the 'Angry Brigade'. It was created through Mortimus's time interference.
 * Black Star bombed Big Ben's face in 1976.

Races and species

 * Artemis the Chronovore is released by Ace.
 * The Vardan Mediascape was created by the Vardans using the same technology as that which generated the Land of Fiction.
 * The Mediasphere grants access to it.


 * Mortimus trapped Artemis using the blood of races whose destinies have been altered by the Time Lords: Minyans, Silurians, Daleks, Humans, and Mandrels.
 * Mortimus used Artemis has been using her to give Morka the power to kill the (alternate version) of the Doctor, resurrect the Garvond, empower Huitzilin, and restore the Land of Fiction. He also used her to release the Vardans' home planet from the time loop that the Doctor trapped following their attempt to invade Gallifrey.


 * Vardans are ridiculed as the only race to be outwitted by the Sontarans.

Theories and Concepts

 * Death and Time are referred to as Eternals.
 * The Doctor's future self broke the First Law of Time by leaving himself messages.

UNIT

 * UNIT Broadsword is UNIT's intelligence wing and Special Ops division.
 * UN Resolution 2245 allows UNIT to use "ultimate force" against hostile extra-terrestrials.
 * Spontaneous human combustion is ten more times likely to happen to a UNIT operative than a normal person.

Continuity

 * NA: Blood Heat, The Dimension Riders, The Left-Handed Hummingbird, Conundrum are the previous novels in the Alternate Universe Arc.


 * DW: Battlefield is chronologically (for the Doctor) the last time he met the Brigadier, however this story (and consequently his first meeting of the Doctor) is in his own personal future.


 * DW: The Invasion of Time was the first story to feature the Vardans, a single Vardan is mentioned in Return of the Living Dad as being a survivor of this invasion attempt.


 * Following DW: The Daleks' Master Plan the Monk is carrying a degree of baggage, his previous appearance and previous meeting of the Doctor was in this story.


 * The memory blocks the Doctor puts in place in the Brigadier's mind are removed in NA: Happy Endings.


 * Danny Pain and the rest of Plasticine reappear (a bit older) in Happy Endings.
 * Big Ben is attacked again in DW: Aliens of London.

Timeline

 * This story takes place after NA: Conundrum
 * This story takes place before DWM: Time & Time Again