The Power of the Mobox (comic story)

 was a comic story published in Doctor Who Magazine in 2019, starring the Thirteenth Doctor.

Part one
On the planet Acantha, the Thirteenth Doctor, Graham, Ryan and Yaz walk along discussing the Beatles, where Graham is saddened to learn that the Doctor has used up all the dates to see them. Yaz asks the Doctor how the planet was named if there is no intelligent life, to which the Doctor says that Acantha is rich in minerals, so it attracted a lot of attention over the years. Graham finds a collapsed mine nearby as Ryan gets shocked by static electricity, which the Doctor thinks is odd.

Suddenly, a ship hovers over them, telling them to stay where they are, and the Doctor discovers the ship contains Mobox. She tries to introduce herself but is cut off by captain R'Takk, demanding they explain what they are doing in the restricted area. Before the Doctor can reply, a mag-storm occurs and kills one of R'Takk's men, with the blast knocking Ryan off a cliff. R'Takk and the other Mobox grab the Doctor, Graham and Yaz and load them into the ship before flying off. Graham demands they go back for Ryan, but R'Takk refuses and tells his pilot, M'Kurr, to get back to Hub Town. The Doctor asks about the storms and R'Takk explains how they believe they are caused by the local magnetic field.

Later, at Hub Town, the Doctor learns the colony is run by both humans and Mobox, while R'Takk informs the trio that when the colony's owners, Icarus Incorporated, ran into issues, they sold the planet to the Mobox Empire. Before R'Takk can arrest them, however, the Doctor brandishes her psychic paper and demands to see the Mobox in charge. They go to see Governor K'Lass, who welcomes them in. He introduces his assistant, Rodney Minto, and Graham asks him to find Ryan. K'Lass agrees and tells R'Takk to take Graham and Yaz to find him, but wishes the Doctor to stay, much to her disapproval.

While on the search for Ryan, the group run into another mag-storm. With the ship being hit, M'Kurr declares they need to lighten the ship's load to stay in the air. R'Takk, Graham and Yaz throw everything they can out of the airlock, but M'Kurr informs them it is not enough. R'Takk then turns to Graham and Yaz and apologises, before seemingly incinerating them. He stares at the spot where they used to be as M'Kurr congratulates him on saving them.

Part two
Ryan regains consciousness after landing in a tree. After a quick check to make sure no bones are broken, he scales a rocky cliff to find two red-armoured people scanning the dead Mobox and the terrain. Ryan records some footage of them and witnesses them talking about an experiment related to the mag-storms. They go through a secret door in the rock face and Ryan follows, convinced the others are locked up inside.

K'Lass and Rodney show the Doctor around the colony. The Doctor starts talking to a woman, called Mother G, about travelling. As she departs, she grins and says "Don't mention it". The Doctor makes her excuses and runs off, which leads K'Lass to instruct Rodney to monitor all she does and to follow her.

R'Takk congratulates M'Kurr on landing them safely and heads outside. He opens his mouth and blasts Graham and Yaz back into existence. He explains he broke them down into energy and stored them within himself to lighten the ship's load, which Graham does not take a shine to. M'Kurr tries to convince them to stay on the ship, but Graham and Yaz insist on looking for Ryan and head off, with M'Kurr reluctantly following.

Meanwhile, the Doctor strolls through the colony, aware that she is being followed. She runs around a corner and Rodney follows, before being stunned to see she has vanished. Then, the Doctor leaps down onto him and asks him what is wrong. Rodney tells her that he thinks K'Lass is covering up something to do with the collapsed mine, so they go to a lift and reach the bottom floor. The Doctor sonics a panel and they go down even further, finding a secret door in the wall. There, they find more of the red-armoured people watching a ship enter a green room. Rodney says this is not the underground hub and the Doctor remarks that she thought so.

On the red people's ship, they detect Graham, Yaz and M'Kurr and activate another mag-storm, intending to leave it running. Yaz says they should find cover, and as they run, M'Kurr exclaims there is no cover. They would have stood a chance at the ship, but here they have no chance of survival.

Part three
The red-suited people watch the trio run for their lives on-screen, with one betting ten Mazumas that Yaz is the first to go down. Suddenly, Ryan appears behind them, brandishing his phone, claiming it to be a weapon, and forces the red-suited people to turn off the storm. Reluctantly, they do. Elsewhere, R'Takk is glad the storm has ended and tries to get Graham and Yaz to come back to the flyer when Yaz receives Ryan's video on her phone.

In Hub Town, the Doctor and Rodney watch more people coming out of a ship, carrying a dead Mobox. They agree to take it to the incinerator and get some lunch, leaving the Doctor and Rodney to board the ship and take it to where it came from. Meanwhile, the red people realise that Ryan is bluffing and he orders them to take off their helmets. However, they reveal that they are normal people. Ryan's phone then goes off, blowing his idea, and is about to be killed when Graham, Yaz and R'Takk barge in.

The Doctor and Rodney arrive in a huge building and they find a huge containment facility full of Mobox being tortured. Rodney says they are being studied, revealing his true nature at last. He assumes that the Doctor belongs to a rival company, telling her that he let her live to see what Icarus Inc. had achieved. The Doctor realises that these are the 600 Mobox who supposedly died in the mine accident. Rodney explains that Icarus Inc. is harnessing the power inside the Mobox, namely their internal furnaces, and they sold the colony to the Mobox to bring them here. He goes on to say how they will breed Mobox and sell power to the galaxy at an affordable rate.

The Doctor angrily states that she will tear down the obscenity and Rodney with it as Rodney fires his gun. It does nothing, and the Doctor explains she drained the power pack with the sonic screwdriver back in the alley. Rodney orders security to kill the Doctor as she bumps into Graham, Ryan, Yaz and R'Takk coming through an open door, telling them to reverse back into the room where the red people were. The Doctor realises that the red-suited people control the mag-storms using a Gravitron, a device that can manipulate weather patterns. R'Takk angrily tries to kill one of the red-suited men until the Doctor calms him by informing him that Mobox are in there. She deactivates the neutraliser cuffs, freeing the Mobox.

Rodney tries to access the control room when the guards run past, exclaiming the Mobox are free. The others take off with them, with Rodney yelling that they are all fired. Yaz tells the Doctor that the Mobox are going to go ballistic, but the Doctor uses the Gravitron to generate an anti-gravity field so everyone can calm down. Rodney floats into the room, telling the Doctor that she has made a powerful enemy and Icarus Inc. will hunt her down and kill her. However, R'Takk grabs him by the arm, informing Rodney that he is a law officer. Yaz asks the Doctor how far the gravity field reaches, and the Doctor says not very.

In Hub Town, however, K'Lass is floating in his chair and calling for Rodney, exclaiming that something is wrong with his office. Elsewhere in Hub Town, humans and Mobox float freely, while Mother G, still on the ground, sighs. Back at the mine, the Mobox load the red-suited people and Rodney onto ships to take them to prison and R'Takk asks how he can thank the Doctor. She replies that he should give the conspirators a fair trial and to make sure this does not destroy the trust between the humans and Mobox.

Characters

 * Thirteenth Doctor
 * Graham O'Brien
 * Ryan Sinclair
 * Yasmin Khan
 * R'Takk
 * M'Kurr
 * Nil'So
 * K'Lass
 * Rodney Minto
 * Mother G

Popular culture

 * Ryan compares himself to James Bond.
 * The Doctor jokingly tells Rodney that she wanted to mimic Batman by "leaping down and surprising people in alleys.
 * Ryan’s ringtone is the theme music to Fireman Sam.

Technology

 * Ryan uses his phone.

Terminology

 * Graham says he and Yaz will make their way back to Ryan "by Shanks' pony".

Medical symptoms

 * Rodney has high blood pressure.

Original print details

 * (Publication with page count and closing captions)


 * 1) DWM 540 (8 pages): Next: The Enemy Below!
 * 2) DWM 541 (8 pages): Next: Into The Darkness!
 * 3) DWM 542 (8 pages): The End.

Continuity

 * Graham asks the Doctor to take him to see the Beatles at the Cavern Club, but she is unable to because she has "used up all the dates". The Doctor has, indeed, seen the Beatles many times before: the Sixth Doctor partied with them (PROSE: Gone Too Soon), the Eleventh Doctor and Amy Pond met one of their members, Ringo Starr (GAME: City of the Daleks), and the Tenth Doctor took Martha Jones (COMIC: Signs of Life) and Donna Noble to see them on stage. (COMIC: The Time of My Life)