The Ghost Factory (comic story)

Summary
The Doctor and Heather respond to a distress signal. It comes from the Nurburr Asteroid, a small rock in space housing a robot making factory. It is protected by a Tisk forcefield dome secure enough to keep out even a Dycoatean jelly flea. They meet Watnul, the asteroid's the only inhabitant. Having lived alone on the asteroid for years, he continues his centuries-old family business of building the most intelligent serving robots in the universe. However, recent strange noises have frightened him. The Doctor, Heather and Watnul, follow the sounds to the bottom level of the factory, an area closed for decades, where faulty parts were sent. Behind the waste inferno door, they find a large, menacing robot. The Doctor deduces it couldn’t have got through the forcefield from outside. It must have been built inside the dome, inside the factory! The robot, like Watnul was an engineer that had landed on the scrap heap and made itself out of spare bits. It was lonely, locked away in the lower level. Watnul is impressed by its genius. On discovering it feels lonely, the Doctor encourages Watnul and the robot to become friends.

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Heather McCrimmon
 * Watnul
 * Scrap Robot

Original print details

 * Publication with page count and closing captions


 * 1) DWA 139 (4 pages) NEXT WEEK: Danger for the Doctor and Heather at Sky City.

Continuity

 * The Tenth Doctor is seen wearing his blue suit and brown coat.
 * The Tenth Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to track and trace a distress signal and open door panels.

Timeline

 * This story takes place after DWA: Night of the Burnt Toast
 * This story takes place before DWA: Skydive!