Ten Little Aliens (novel)

Ten Little Aliens was the fifty-fourth novel in the BBC Past Doctor Adventures series.

Publisher's summary
Far out in space, on the ragged edges of Earth's bloated empire, an elite unit of soldiers is on a training mission. But deep in the heart of the hollowed-out planetoid that forms their battleground, a chilling secret waits to be discovered: ten alien corpses, frozen in time at the moment of violent, bloody death.

The bodies are those of the empire's most wanted terrorists, and their discovery could end a war of attrition devastating the galaxy. But is the same force that slaughtered them still lurking in the dark tunnels of the training ground? And what are its plans for the people of Earth?

When the Doctor arrives on the planetoid with Ben and Polly, he soon scents a net tightening about them. And as the soldiers begin to disappear one by one, paranoia spreads; is the real enemy out there in the darkness, or somewhere among them?

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Polly comments that despite being telepathically linked, she can't hear the Doctor's thoughts. He apologises but says some secrets are his alone.
 * Can feel his regeneration coming but (like his tenth incarnation) is afraid of the change.
 * Ben Jackson
 * Polly
 * Roba

Soldiers

 * Haunt
 * Shel
 * Matthew Shade
 * Gisel Denni
 * Joiks
 * Mel “Frog” Narda
 * Tovel
 * Shade
 * Lindey
 * Creben

Schirr

 * deCaster
 * Pallemar

Continuity

 * The Doctor can sense his upcoming regeneration into his second incarnation (DW: The Tenth Planet) and as will be the case with his tenth incarnation considerably later in his personal timeline, is apprehensive about the inevitable change. (DW: The End of Time)
 * Reference is made to spectrox, possibly implying that it occurs in the same time zone as The Caves of Androzani.

Timeline

 * Ten Little Aliens occurs after: DWM: Food for Thought
 * Ten Little Aliens occurs before: ST: Five Card Draw