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 has attracted a lot of attention over the years. Graham finds a collapsed mine near which 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 are showing the Doctor around the colony, who starts talking to a woman 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 ships load, which Graham doesn't take a shine too. M'Kurr tries to convince them to stay at the ship, but Graham and Yaz insist on looking for Ryan and head off, with M'Kurr reluctantly following.

The Doctor is strolling through the colony, aware that she's being followed. She runs round a corner and Rodney follows, and is stunned to see she has vanished. Then, the Doctor leaps down onto him and asks him what's wrong. Rodney tells her that he thinks K'Lass is covering up something to do with the collapsed mine. They go to a lift and reach the bottom floor. The Doctor sonics the panel and they go down even further, and find 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 isn't the underground hub and the Doctor remarks she though it wasn't.

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 are watching the trio run for their lives on a 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 suit people to turn off the storm, which 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 are watching more of the 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 have realised Ryan is bluffing, and he orders them to take off their helmets to reveal they're normal people. Ryan's phone then goes off, blowing his idea and is about to be killed when Graham, R'Takk and Yaz barge in.

The Doctor and Rodney arrive in a huge building, and they find a huge containment facility full of Mobox being tortured. The Doctor realises that they are the Mobox who supposedly died in the mine incident, and Rodney says they are being studied, revealing himself at last.

Characters

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

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!

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)