Whodunnit? (comic story)

 was the first part of the two-part fourth story of the Doctor Who: The Eleventh Doctor comic story series published in 2014. It introduced the Doctor's companion, ARC.

Summary
Alice Obiefune always wanted to see a space station – one of those proper ones. Maybe with an exotic matter wormhole nearby, if it's not too much trouble.

The views are breathtaking... but so is the formless creature creeping through the station, stealing voices and inflicting comas on those research scientists unlucky enough to be caught.

Tracking the temporal trail of the slippery SERVEYOUinc incorporation, has the Doctor found more than he bargained for? And will this entity from between the stars be the death of them all?

Plot
The United System Research Base is situated on a satellite orbiting an orange planet. Dr Janet Rutherford presents her research to the stations Chief Administrator Peter Cartwright. He has to approve her project on teaching toluan salt-beetles adapt to unknown threats. Her main point is that one cannot destroy something they do not understand. Cartwright's deputy, Rodney Mellors is not impressed, but Dr Rutherford dismisses his opinion, appealing to Cartwright. Her disrespect earns an immediate rebuke from the station's chief of security August Hart.

Cartwright attempts to calm the rising tensions, but is suddenly recalled due to an incident with Dr Ballard. He departs in a hurry, taking Hart with him and leaving Mellors in charge, to the dismay of Dr Rutherford. Before leaving, Hart fires his gun destroying the beetles' hive and points out that he did not need to understand them. As Pamela helps Dr Rutherford to extinguish the fire, Mellors more or less promises to shut down the project with his report. Angry, Janet mumbles that he better watch his back.

As Mellors walks through the station's corridors humming to himself, he hears something behind his back. When he turns to find the source of the sound, he gets very scared and cries for help.

In London, young Alice and her mother visit the grave of her father Ijezie Uwaebuka Obiefune. Ada senses something worries Alice and tells her never to keep something wrong to herself: when you keep to to yourself, the wrong goes on. Alice admits that her schoolmate Maddie Potter taunts her saying her parents should go back where they came from and that Maddie's father said it was good riddance that Alice's father died. Ada asks if Alice told their teacher about this. Alice did, but the teacher dismissed it as simple teasing. Alice says that this so unfair she sometimes wants to go away into space and never come back. But Ada asks what will then happen to those who have to stay behind.

In the TARDIS, John Jones performs his latest work-in-progress for the Eleventh Doctor and Alice. He invites their criticism but then asks them to be slightly less brutal. Alice asks when the Doctor is going to bring her back for her solicitor's appointment to discuss the situation with her landlord. The Doctor suggests to take a holiday first. But Alice doesn't want to run forever. After a short but heated argument about the nature of the Doctor's companions past and present, he seems to give up and agree to take her back home. Jones immediately asks if he can use Alice's toilet. When the TARDIS materialises, the monitors are malfunctioning, but Jones does not wait and walks out the door. When he calls Alice in surprise, she peeps out too, only to find the TARDIS in a huge hangar surrounded by armed men led by August Hart who orders to use deadly force at the slightest sign of resistance.

Alice recognises Hart, but he does not recognise her or the TARDIS. Using this, the Doctor produces his psychic paper, where Hart reads that he is an inspector from the Ministry of Science. The Doctor then introduces Alice as his Information Storage and Retrieval Assistant Specialist and Jones as his intern. Hart tells his men to stand down and apparently expects the Doctor to take over the murder investigation.

The Doctor is immediately intrigued and eager to start. But Alice takes him aside and asks how it is that they were going back to her apartment but instead landed somewhere completely different. Avoiding eye contact, the Doctor explains that the TARDIS sometimes does not follow instructions, for instance, to avoid a paradox. He continues hypothesising that it would be a paradox if he and Alice were to stop travelling together in the TARDIS before they actually met Hart another time because during their first meeting he remembered meeting them before. This mutually awkward conversation is cut short by Hart, insisting to proceed.

Hart brings the Doctor to the med-bay with four people in coma, one of whom is Mellors and another is Dr Ballard. Doctor is happy to have a murder mystery without anyone dying, but before leaving Hart reassures him that he will pull the plug on the lot as soon as the paperwork is done. The Doctor takes out his sonic screwdriver and starts investigating.

Characters

 * Eleventh Doctor
 * Alice Obiefune
 * John Jones
 * ARC
 * August Hart
 * Dr Janet Rutherford
 * Rodney Mellors
 * Peter Cartwright
 * Pamela
 * P. Lars
 * N. Chen
 * Dr Ballard

Flashback: London, 20th century

 * Ada Obiefune
 * Alice Obiefune

Original print details
to be added

Continuity

 * The Eleventh Doctor and Alice Obiefune discuss her dispute with her horrible landlord. (COMIC: After Life)
 * The Doctor tells Alice he's taken a lot of "strays" over the years. The TARDIS, in the form of Idris, also referred to the Doctor's companions as "strays." (TV: The Doctor's Wife)
 * The Doctor uses his psychic paper. (TV: The End of the World et al)
 * The Doctor says running away worked for him (AUDIO: The Beginning, TV: An Unearthly Child et al) and for a lot of other people. (TV: The Rescue et al)
 * The Doctor took a lot of stowaways over the years. (TV: The Time Meddler, The War Machines et al)
 * Upon seeing the inside of the United System Research Base instead of Alice's apartment, John Jones asks if she has redecorated. Several incarnations of the Doctor, including the Eleventh Doctor, often used the same phrase when seeing the TARDIS of his future incarnation or some other room. (TV: The Three Doctors, The Five Doctors, Closing Time et al)
 * The Doctor and Alice previously met August Hart on Rokhandi World, which is for him ten years in the future. (COMIC: The Friendly Place) This is why they recognise him, but he does not recognise them.