The Dark Path (novel)

The Dark Path was the thirty-second novel in the Virgin Missing Adventures series. It featured the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield. This novel features one of the earliest encounters with the Master and the Doctor, greatly expanding on their history and life on Gallifrey.

Publisher's summary

 * "He's one of my own people, Victoria, and he's hunting me."

Darkheart: a faded neutron star surrounded by dead planets. But there is life on one of these icy rocks - the last enclave of the Earth Empire, frozen in the image of another time. As the rest of the galaxy enjoys the fruits of the fledgling Federation, these isolated imperials, bound to obey a forgotten ideal, harbour a dark obsession.

The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria arrive to find that the Federation has at last come to reintegrate this lost colony, whether they like it or not. But all is not well in the Federation camp: relations and allegiances are changing. The fierce Veltrochni - angered by the murder of their kinsmen - have an entirely different agenda. And someone else is manipulating the mission for his own mysterious reasons - another time traveller, a suave and assured master of his work.

The Doctor must uncover the terrible secret which brought the Empire to this desolate sector, and find the source of the strange power maintaining their society. But can a Time Lord, facing the ultimate temptation, control his own desires?

Plot
to be added

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Jamie McCrimmon
 * Victoria Waterfield
 * Koschei
 * Ailla
 * Epilira
 * Gillian Sherwin
 * Terrell
 * Viscount Gothard
 * Vocano
 * Salamanca
 * Pack-Mother Brokhyth
 * Hakkauth

Books

 * Victoria is trying to get Jamie to read Robinson Crusoe.

The Doctor

 * The Doctor hasn't seen Koschei in two hundred years.
 * The Doctor is recognised as a Noble of Draconia.
 * The Doctor and Koschei went to 'school' together.

Individual

 * Jamie McCrimmon isn't afraid of heights.

Koschei

 * Koschei persuades Terrall to use the Darkheart to destroy Terileptus (home planet of the Terileptils.)
 * Ailla is Koschei's companion. He thinks she's human, but she is a Time Lord sent to keep an eye on him.

Organisations

 * The Federation succeeded the Earth Empire.
 * The Adjudicators on the planet Darkheart still believe in Earth's and humanity's superiority (within the galaxy at large).
 * The Adjudicator's Lodge contains murals depicting the conquering of Solos and the destruction of Mondas; Terall is also working on one depicting the triumph over the Cybermen with the glittergun.
 * The Adjudicators have access to logs from the Britannicus Ice Base, showing the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria.
 * Koschei has visited the Skonnon Empire.

Planets

 * The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria have just departed Vortis.
 * Victoria Waterfield is tempted by Koschei to eliminate Skaro from time and space.

Psychology

 * Victoria gets hypnotised by Koschei.

Species

 * There is a portrait of the Second Doctor in the Emperor's palace on Draconia commemorating his help in saving the planet from a plague.
 * The Veltrochni previously triumphed against the Tzun confederacy.
 * The Doctor (in talking about their recent trip to Vortis) refers to the Animus as Lloigor.
 * Epilira is an Alpha Centauran who was a cultural advisor on the ship Piri Reis. Following use of the Darkheart he was removed from existence.

TARDIS

 * The Doctor says the time path indicator was last active when the TARDIS was being followed by Daleks. (DW: ''The Chase, The Daleks' Master Plan)
 * Koschei's TARDIS is a type 45 with user definable macros for easy navigation.
 * The Doctor can use Koschei's TARDIS to remotely control his.

Technology

 * The Darkheart is the technology of the Chronovores (or their technology prior to their evolution to their form as Chronovores).

Theories and concepts

 * Koschei considers the Blinovitch Limitation Effect while pondering saving Ailla's life.

Time Lords

 * Ailla regenerates after being hit with a disrupter.

Transport technology

 * Telefrag is a Marine Corps term for transmatting somebody into the exact same coordinates as somebody else (the result is 'splat').
 * The Doctor turns a recycling plant into a transmat.

Continuity

 * The Doctor and Victoria and Jamie on separate occasions mention seeing the Daleks' "final end" in DW: The Evil of the Daleks.
 * The Second Doctor and Jamie discuss Edward Waterfield and Ruth Maxtible's time machine and "where it led them." (DW: The Evil of the Daleks)
 * The Second Doctor states that they "...don't want to crash into [the other time machine]...," something that he would later do in his fifth and tenth incarnations, at the same time. (DW: Time Crash)
 * The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria just left Vortis. (MA: Twilight of the Gods)
 * Victoria compares the temperature outside to that of Tibet. (DW: The Abominable Snowmen)
 * The Doctor mentions the Daleks, Cybermen (DW: The Tomb of the Cybermen) and Ice Warriors. (DW: The Ice Warriors)
 * The Darkheart has the ability to make humans immortal and alter DNA, similar to the Miracle. (TW: Miracle Day)
 * When Jamie asks Hakkauth if he can really shape shift, he says that it is only a hologram and says, "I am no shapeshifter like the Rutan..."
 * The Doctor and Clark discuss a Marines Corp term, "telefrag," which is when one teleports in occupied space and the space goes 'splat.' The Doctor would later disintegrate an Ood when he materialised in it. (DW: The Doctor's Wife)
 * Ailla is shot accidentally, then put in a body bag, only for her to regenerate later. Nearly identical events would happen to the Seventh Doctor. (DW: Doctor Who )
 * The Doctor and Sherwin discuss the events of MA: The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
 * The Tzun first appeared (and the Veltrochni were mentioned) in NA: First Frontier.
 * The Earth Empire's hold over Solos is seen in DW: The Mutants.
 * Mondas was destroyed in DW: The Tenth Planet.
 * The glitter gun was first mentioned in DW: Revenge of the Cybermen.
 * The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria visited the Britannicus Ice Base in DW: The Ice Warriors.
 * The fall of the Earth Empire occurred in NA: Original Sin.
 * The incident the Doctor mentions with the time path indicator and the Daleks was DW: The Chase.
 * The time path indicator is used again in NA: Timewyrm: Revelation when the Seventh Doctor and Ace use it to track the Timewyrm.
 * An alternate version of Koschei appears in PDA: The Face of the Enemy.
 * Prior to attempting to merge his TARDIS with the Darkheart, Koschei tears out the recall circuit. (DW: Arc of Infinity)
 * Koschei loses multiple regenerations. (DW: The Deadly Assassin, The Keeper of Traken)
 * Ailla works for the CIA and knows of the Doctor. She tells him he has to return the TARDIS to Gallifrey. (DW: The War Games)
 * After seeing all the death and destruction, Victoria decides to leave the TARDIS the next time they land on Earth. (DW: Fury from the Deep)
 * This is Jamie's first experience using Transmat. (DW: The Seeds of Death)
 * Ben and Polly told Jamie about the Doctor's regeneration. (DW: The Tenth Planet)

Timeline

 * The Dark Path occurs after MA: Twilight of the Gods.
 * The Dark Path occurs before CC: The Emperor of Eternity