Space Vikings! (comic story)

Space Vikings! was a comic story published in the Doctor Who Storybook 2010. It was written by Jonathan Morris. It featured the Tenth Doctor.

Summary
On the colony world of Lindis, two men see Viking-style ships descending from the sky. A swathe of angry Vikings with swords jump onto the land and begin to charge. Daffys tells Heggen to run to the village and warn everyone that the marauders have arrived.

Aboard the Viking mothership, whose interior is much more technological than its wooden exterior, an officer informs Lord Thorir that the looting and pillaging excursion is complete, and that all “suitable subjects” have been loaded into the ship’s hold. The Viking ships then depart for "Asgard". Thorir inspects the captives, his new subjects, and is pleased to see they are “healthy male specimens”. Among them is the Doctor, who insults Thorir by mocking his horned helmet. Thorir hits the Doctor, who is knocked unconscious for three hours.

When he wakes, the Doctor talks to his companion Bjorn. Bjorn asks the Doctor what his plan is, and whether getting captured by the Vikings was part of it. The Doctor asks Bjorn to tell him more about the space Vikings, and Bjorn explains. Forty years ago they began raiding the outer settlements on Lindis, kidnapping men but leaving women and children unharmed. A month ago they kidnapped Bjorn’s brother Sven. Bjorn is then interrupted by a loud clang. The Doctor identifies this as the ship’s retro-rockets, and determines that the ship is coming in to land. He and Bjorn hide while their Viking captors unload the rest of the prisoners, and when their backs are turned the pair sneak out of the ship.

Outside on "Asgard", the Doctor and Sven hide on top of a rocky ledge. Looking down, the Doctor sees everyone being led to "Valhalla", the halls of Asgard. He is bewildered, and wonders why somebody is trying to re-create a Norse myth. Bjorn then spots his brother Sven in the crowd, and is shocked to see that he has been turned into a Viking.

The Doctor fixates on the horns on the Vikings’ helmets, saying that real Vikings never wore horns. He theorises that these horns are acting as antennae, picking up command signals to remotely control the individuals wearing the helmets. Bjorn leaps into action, jumping down to his brother and pulling his helmet off. A sudden electrical charge comes from the helmet, frying Sven’s brain and killing him instantly. The Doctor comforts Bjorn, saying his brother was lost already, and there’s nothing Bjorn could have done to save him. Examining the removed helmet with his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor sees that Sven’s brain had been completely overwritten with cerebral implants. He vows to put a stop to whoever is responsible.

The Doctor instructs Bjorn to put on the broken helmet and appear to be under the Vikings’ control, so that he can pretend to escort the Doctor into Valhalla as a prisoner. Once inside, the Doctor is shocked to see Valkyries – another false Viking myth. A giant green face appears in the main chamber, as if a projected hologram, and Thorir says “all hail our great and glorious god Odin!” "Odin" announces that he has sensed two unauthorised entities in the chamber, and instructs his Valkyries to seize them. The Valkyries surround the Doctor and Bjorn, and begin to sing at such a piercing pitch that the pair are forced to cover their ears.

Once subdued, the Doctor and Bjorn are escorted to a dungeon, where the Viking escorting them announces that they will be converted. The Doctor sees a number of cryogenic stasis pods, and surmises that “Valhalla” is built on the remains of an old spaceship. He asks the Viking why they want to transform innocent people into homicidal maniacs, and the Viking replies that it is the will of Odin. During this exchange, the Doctor quietly unlocks his handcuffs with the sonic screwdriver. Once his hands are free, he puts the screwdriver to the Viking’s helmet and jams the signal by which he is receiving orders. With no more orders to follow, the Viking simply falls to the floor.

The Doctor goes to a computer to examine the ship’s flight logs, and discovers that twenty years prior a systems malfunction had caused it to crash-land on Asgard while the crew were asleep in their cryo-pods. A green hologram of a Viking and Valkyrie appear, and they begin singing. The Doctor learns that the ship’s original crew were touring opera performers, and that the holograms were their press kit. He discovers that the opera they were due to perform was over a month in duration, and the helmets they brought with them were designed to electronically deliver their lines to them when they forgot. Odin’s hologram then appears, angrily informing the Doctor that it allocated the parts of the opera to new performers, as it was programmed to do. The Doctor theorises that Odin was damaged during the crash and is now malfunctioning. Rather than simply helping the cast rehearse, he is brainwashing them into believing they are the opera’s characters. Bjorn then asks why Odin is continuing to capture people and create more Vikings, and Odin declares that he is preparing for “the ultimate battle of good and evil”. The Doctor clarifies – the Odin computer is preparing an army ensemble for the final act of the opera.

The Doctor turns to the computer panel and attempts to reverse the conversion process. Thorir then enters the room, and on Odin’s command he swings an axe at the Doctor, missing, and instead destroying the computer. With the computer damaged, all of the captives are freed from Odin’s control. However, the crashed ship Valhalla has now become unstable, and is about to explode. The Doctor urges everyone inside to flee to the longboats. They get outside, and as they continue to flee the Valhalla explodes.

The Doctor and Bjorn board a longship with the other captured colonists to return to Lindis. The Doctor assures Bjorn that everyone is now free from Odin’s control.

Characters

 * Tenth Doctor
 * Bjorn
 * Thorir
 * Odin
 * Sven
 * Daffys
 * Heggen

Worldbuilding

 * These events took place on a wednesday, suggesting Lindis had a similar week to Earth.
 * The Doctor suggests that Thorir, because of the horns on his helmet, could go to a fancy dress party as a cow.
 * The Doctor mentions Gallifrey.
 * The Halls of Asgard in Valhalla are part of Norse mythology, as are the myths of Valkyries, and the belief that Viking helmets had horns.
 * The mind-control helmets communicate with Odin via Wi-Fi.

Continuity

 * The Doctor continues to travel alone, making temporary friends instead of being accompanied by a full-time companion. (PROSE: Scared Stiff, et al.)