The Sons of the Crab (short story)

The Sons of the Crab was the second short story published in the Doctor Who Annual 1966.

Summary
The Doctor arrives on the planet Wengrol in the Crab Nebula, inhabited by shapeshifters. Taken as a specimen by humanoid scientists who believe he is a shapeshifter who had stabilised in a single form, the Doctor finds the scientists unwilling to believe that he is an intelligent lifeform. Once the scientists realise their error, the Doctor is taken before Fomal, the Chief Yend.

Fomal also refuses to believe the Doctor is from another world and questions him about his stabilized shape and his box, which has also been brought into Fomal's quarters. As the Doctor attempts to convince Fomal, his statements distress Fomal enough to cause a momentary shift in his form. After the Doctor points out that Fomal is also a shapeshifter, Fomal begins to explain the downfall of the Yend.

A rogue star, Mortain, had entered their star system centuries before and bathed Wengrol in radiation. When paired with the genetic engineering of the Yend biologists, the radiation caused the shapeshifting mutation the Doctor has seen. Now the biologists are looking for a way to stabilize their forms and keep from shapeshifting.

Fomal asks the Doctor to take a case of one hundred unmutated Yend embryos away from Wengrol and to a new system free of Mortain's radiation. While the Doctor hesitates to take charge of a hundred lives, he also knows that unless he does, he will not be allowed to leave. As the Doctor ponders, mutants break into the laboratory and the scientists lose control of their forms. The Doctor takes the case from Fomal and retreats to the TARDIS. Once safely in the TARDIS, the Doctor examines the embryos and finds that they are all dead.

Characters

 * First Doctor
 * Fomal, the Chief Yend
 * Mernogil, Yend Biologist
 * Valkro, Yend Biologist

Discontinuity, Plot Holes, Errors

 * The Doctor is referred to throughout the story as Dr Who.
 * The Crab Nebula is treated like a separate galaxy.

Continuity
to be added