The Sontaran Games (novel)

The Sontaran Games was a short novel by Jacqueline Rayner. It was the fourth Doctor Who Quick Reads release.

Publisher's summary
Every time the lights go out, someone dies...

The TARDIS lands at an academy for top athletes, all hoping to be chosen for the forthcoming Globe Games. But is one of them driven enough to resort to murder? The Tenth Doctor discovers that the students have been hushing up unexplained deaths.

Teaming up with a young swimmer called Emma, the Doctor begins to investigate – but he doesn't expect to find a squad of Sontarans invading the academy!

As the Sontarans begin their own lethal version of the Globe Games, the Doctor and Emma must find out what's really going on. But the Doctor is captured and forced to take part in the Sontaran Games. Can even a Time Lord survive this deadly contest?

Plot
The Doctor steps out of the TARDIS to find himself in a dark room. He pulls out a torch and turns it on to find a young woman standing in front of the Doctor who apologizes for scaring her. He tells her that he came from the planet Pootle which is known to have lovely beaches with deadly sharks that have guns and are three metres tall.

The girl tells the Doctor that he is in a place known as BASE: The British Academy of Sporting Excellence, confirming that the Doctor is on Earth. Just then, a young man named Sid enters the room and asks the girl, Emma, what she was screaming about. He shows concern after what happened to Laura and the others, but Emma replies that she can look after herself. Suddenly, the lightbulb turns on and Sid complements the Doctor for fixing the electricity, but he denies having done anything. The Doctor introduces himself to Emma and Sid before asking them what happened to Laura.

After dodging the questions about the TARDIS, the Doctor is told that BASE is a training ground for gifted athletes who are hoping to be chosen to take part in the Globe Games, a huge sporting event where teams from every continent on Earth compete in various sports, with Sid being a javelin thrower and Emma being a swimmer. While they're only allowed to train during the day, some people have done their own practices after the coaches have gone home, which may be why Laura decided to go swimming one night to be found dead in the water the next morning.

Emma explains that the night Laura died, the power went out, and every time the power went out on subsequent nights, someone else has died. So far, three people have died: Laura, Joe (a sprinter) and Andy (a discus thrower). The Doctor asks why the police haven't been called and why Emma and Sid haven't gone home, to which Sid replies that the teams will be picked soon, much to the Doctor's curiosity about them staying quiet about the deaths of three people. Despite this, the Doctor is thankful that no one will be getting in his way while he investigates the deaths.

Upon seeing the dead bodies of Laura, Joe and Andy, the Doctor is disgusted at Sid and Emma for thinking they would get away with covering up their deaths, but Sid is sure that their families would understand. Emma, meanwhile, is more regretful as she didn't think about any consequences and just went along with Sid's plans. She says that Laura was her biggest rival during the swimming practice sessions. The Doctor tells Sid and Emma to stay out of the changing room while he investigates.

Twenty minutes later, the Doctor exits the changing room to tell Sid and Emma that the deaths were caused by electrocution and that it wasn't an accident as there are electricity burns on the bodies of Joe and Andy as well. Sid asks Emma what she was doing on the night that Laura died, but Emma denies doing anything because the three dead people were doing different sports.

Suddenly, they hear a loud marching noise which the Doctor hopes is a marching band getting some late night practice. The trio investigate the noise to find out that its source is a group of Sontarans. Once the Sontarans have passed, the Doctor tells Sid and Emma to get everyone out of BASE before explaining that the Sontarans are from the planet Sontar and live only for battle. They are quite difficult to defeat and their only weakness is the probic vent on the back of the neck.

Emma asks why the Sontarans are in BASE, to which the Doctor assumes that their war with the Rutans has moved over to Earth. When asked about the Rutans, the Doctor explains that they are amphibious blobs that can change their shapes and live in water and on land like frogs.

Sid brings the Doctor to the common room where Jess, Karl and Holly are residing. They don't believe the Doctor's explanations about the Sontarans. Jess thinks that the Doctor is just trying to get them to leave BASE so that they'll lose their chance to become members of a team. Karl is more concerned with getting a good night's sleep so he can run in the morning. Growing frustrated, the Doctor tells them to leave so they can live, but Sid tells him that since they do different sports, they'd be likely to stab each other in the back.

The Doctor chews them out for covering up the three murders out of selfishness. Karl, Holly and Jess agree to go with the Doctor, but if they don't see any aliens, they will return to the common room. Holly suggests activating the fire alarm to get everyone to leave, but Jess tells her not to so that if the Sontarans kill them, she will get a place in the games. While the Doctor tells Holly that using the fire alarm is a good idea, it would cause a mass panic that would cause the Sontarans to shoot anyone that moves.

Just then, they spot a pair of Sontarans herding a group of students down the corridor. The Doctor tells the others to go in the opposite direction of the Sontarans so they can escape while he tries to rescue the rest of the students. As Karl, Emma, Jess, Holly and Sid rush off, the Doctor begins to follow the Sontarans.

Karl tries to open the fire exit, but the door won't open. The Doctor reunites with them to use his Sonic Screwdriver to open the door, but this fails too. When they return back downstairs, Jess grabs a chair from the common room and throws it at a window, but it bounces off without breaking the glass, causing the Doctor to realize that the Sontarans have sealed the building, leaving all of them trapped inside.

The Doctor tells the students to follow him to his TARDIS, but the power goes out on the way back, causing Sid to remember that someone dies every time the power goes out. Emma says that no none died when the power went out earlier tonight, but Jess assumes that someone has died and the body hasn't been found. Holly trips over what she thinks is a body but is actually a pair of rubber boots that the Doctor fell over when he stepped out of the TARDIS.

The Doctor shines his light on the head of a Sontaran, causing it to become dazzled and unable to see them. He then throws the TARDIS key over his shoulder to Jess so she can unlock the TARDIS door. As she finds the TARDIS' keyhole, however, a bright flash of light emits in the room. When the lights turn on, Jess is revealed to be dead with the melted remains of the key in her hand.

The Sontaran holds the Doctor at gunpoint and orders him to go with him, with the Doctor hoping that the Sontaran will forget the students if he can keep his eye contact on him. The Doctor tells the Sontaran that he is not one of the sports students, but he quite enjoys Darts which he begins explaining. The Sontaran demands the Doctor tell him why he is in BASE, to which the Doctor answers that he has come to fix things using his toolbox.

Suddenly, the Sontaran falls forward with a Screwdriver in his probic vent due to Sid stabbing it. The Doctor informs the students that the Sontaran is merely knocked out and that they should leave before he recovers. Jess is dead due to a massive electrical shock, just like Laura, Andy and Joe. The TARDIS may still have a charge, so the Doctor puts on some electrician's gear and uses the gloves to touch the TARDIS, causing a bright green spark to leap from it and arc through the air towards him. This ultimately means that the Doctor and the students cannot leave in the TARDIS.

The Doctor and the students hurry through the corridors when they hear a scream. Holly points out that the Sontarans are in the gym hall which has a viewing gallery so they can see what is going on without being spotted by the Sontarans.

When they reach the viewing gallery, they see a group of Sontarans guarding a group of people who are still in their nightclothes. One of the Sontarans is standing on a vaulting horse. After the Sontarans fire a warning shot at the students, the leader, Major Stenx of the Twelfth Sontaran Battle Fleet orders a young man named Jimmy to step forward for interrogation about the purpose of BASE. Jimmy tells Stenx that they are practicing for the Globe Games, which pleases Stenx as he thinks that the students will provide a challenge for his soldiers.

Jimmy tells Stenx that he is a hurdler who runs and jumps over hurdles. Stenx orders Jimmy to jump over a balance beam, but when he does so, he ends up landing on a mine which explodes, killing him. As the angered Doctor prepares to vault into the hall, Emma pulls him back so that he doesn't get caught and condemn them all to death. Major Stenx notes that Jimmy showed a good display of speed and skill, but failed to notice the explosive charge that Captain Skeed had placed in front of the balance beam. As the Sontarans begin chanting "Sontar-ha!", the Doctor and the students decide to investigate the swimming pool where Laura was killed.

On the way to the pool, Holly explains that Andy's body was found close to the pool and Joe was Laura's boyfriend and might have been trying to find out what happened to her, much to the Doctor's surprise due to hi not being told that Laura and Joe were a couple. Despite Emma saying that the pool may not be important to their investigation, the group eventually reaches the pool room where Emma points out the exact spot in the pool where Laura was when she died.

The Doctor notices that the pool room is quite cold when they are normally very warm, to which Emma explains that the heating went out when the first power cut happened. As the Doctor looks around, Sid smells something that isn't chlorine which is used to keep the pool clean. Eventually, the Doctor finds the source of the smell under a grating. It's a severed hand with a gallon of chlorine tipped over it in an attempt to disguise the stench, which gives the Doctor the revelation that there were four deaths, not three.

An alarm activates, followed by a Sontaran saying that there are still humans in BASE that must be found. The Doctor figures that the Sontaran that Sid knocked out in the storeroom has regained consciousness. Emma opens the door only for Karl to run in and inform them that the Sontarans are heading their way. As they being making their way to the other exit, Holly slips on the floor, causing Sid to trip over her and hurt his ankle. Emma tries to help Holly up, but she is now dizzy. As the Sontarans approach the room, Emma jumps into the pool without making much more than a ripple.

Commander Skeed enters the pool room with his squadron and tells the Doctor that Stenx has ordered him to be punished and that him and the students will take part in the first ever Sontaran Games despite Holly and Sid's injuries. As they leave, the Doctor notices a dark shape in the pool, and is seemingly confused as to how Emma can hold her breath under the water for more than three minutes.

The Doctor, Sid, Karl and Holly are led back to the gym hall where Skeed asks what Sid's sport is, the Doctor replies that it's mainly throwing things, which Skeed states is not much use to him due to the removal of all missiles. Lieutenant Slorr says to Skeed that Major Stenx refused his weapon, to which Skeed replies by saying not to speak of Sontaran concerns in front of humans, allowing the Doctor to smile about their dissent.

Characters

 * Tenth Doctor
 * Emma
 * Sid
 * Karl
 * Holly
 * Jimmy
 * Jess
 * Sontar sand shrews
 * Major Stenx
 * Captain Skeed
 * Lieutenant Slorr
 * Lieutenant Skezz

Worldbuilding

 * The Sontarans who invade BASE are part of the Twelfth Sontaran Battle Fleet.

Continuity

 * The Doctor opens the TARDIS by clicking his fingers. (TV: Forest of the Dead)
 * Major Stenx, who is seen on the cover of the book, identified so as he is the only Sontaran to remove his helmet, greatly resembles General Staal, (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky) Commander Stark, (TV: The Pandorica Opens) and General Fesk. (AUDIO: The Eternity Cage)