The Piggybackers (comic story)

 was a comic story published in Doctor Who Magazine in 2020, featuring the Thirteenth Doctor and friends.

Part one
Over a grainy black and white film, a voice informs you what to do if there is the flash of the atomic bomb. Duck and Cover. The film ends and a teacher tells her class that was an important film made by the government and that there will be a test later. The teacher, Edith Harcourt, asks her class what the first thing to do in the event of an atomic attack is, to which a voice calls out drop dead. Enraged, Edith demands who asked that and a kid, Tommy says how they would all just die. Another kid, Stevie, gets in a fight with him and Edith goes from anger to paranoia as she has never lost control of a class. Then a voice tells Edith that this isn't right and that it will help her.

The TARDIS arrives in Bridgeport, although Graham remarks that it doesn't look much like 51st century New Asgard. The Doctor dismisses it as the TARDIS' navigation system rebooting after battling a psychic squid, and much to Ryan's dismay, Yaz thinks it looks like 50's America. Graham and Yaz notice the locals acting strangely but the Doctor leads them into a diner where they are cheerfully greeted by a woman named Lizzie, which leads Yaz and Ryan to smile that it isn't Alabama. Lizzie says they don't get many visitors and Graham says their vehicle broke down. Lizzie says her husband could take a look at it, but the Doctor says it's a foreign job. Later, Yaz is amazed how the Doctor has managed to finish her third milkshake, when a news bulletin interrupts them to inform everyone how Russian ships are approaching and how president Kennedy says an attempt to cross the blockade will be an act of war. Graham whispers that it's the Cuban missile crisis in October 1962, and has to re-inform Ryan about it. Ryan asks if Graham remembers it, but Graham says he was just a toddler and learned about it in school. Yaz asks the Doctor if history is OK, and the Doctor replies that it is probably fine. An old man, starts talking about how this isn't going to be fine and it will be hell and the world will burn, before leaving. The Doctor says they should have a nosey around town, and Graham suggests meeting back at the diner in a few hours

The Doctor catches up with the man, Mr Endicott and says she is new in town and asks where the harbour is. Mr Endicott is confused at the Doctor's remark about being a boy, so she quickly corrects it to tomboy, before being informed the coastlines over 300 miles away, which the Doctor thinks odd since the town is named Bridgeport. They witness a shop keeper arguing with someone, and Mr Endicott tell the Doctor how everyone's preparing for the apocalypse.

Yaz and Ryan notice it start to get dark when they find parents crowded around a school, because they aren't letting the children out. Yaz and Ryan decide to go round back and enter through a window. Yaz decides to look upstairs while Ryan check downstairs and that the school is eerily quiet. Ryan hears a voice and heads towards it, shocked to see the classroom full of the children, but with their mouths removed. Edith says they have a latecomer, and orders Ryan in, demanding his name, with Ryan mumbling it won't happen again. Edith says it won't, and tells Ryan to sit down, now he also doesn't have a mouth.

Part Two
Graham strolls into Hank Daltons garage and proclaims he just met Hank's wife. They greet each other and Hank asks if he can help Graham. Graham says he just wants a look around and accidentally calls a car a classic before correcting himself and saying it will be a classic in the future. Hank observes that Graham's assuming there even will be a future, and Graham says they have to believe it will all work out in the end.

In the school, Yaz sneaks into the principals office and sees he has no mouth. She is told to be quiet by Tommy who tells her that he was sent to the principal for fighting, and he got lucky as everyone in the school has had their mouth removed and the windows are locked. Yaz takes Tommy to find Ryan but they witness Miss Harcourt leading the entire mouthless school to the exit, Ryan among them. The parents outside start shouting at her until Miss Harcourt says she taught them all and they should show her respect. She then removes all their mouths and continues on the march,

Graham asks Hank if anything unusual has happened lately as people can do funny stuff in a crisis. Hank observes Graham is more like a police officer than a tourist and they hear a siren. Graham wonders if it's the air raid siren, to which Hank says it isn't but it won't make much difference to the public. He collapses and Graham asks what's wrong when Hank starts glowing. He stuns Graham with electricity flying from the spanner and drags him away.

Miss Harcourt smiles upon hearing the siren, while the Doctor and Endicott note how the siren sounds more like it's alive, before nearly being trampled by a crowd of terrified people. The Doctor tells Endicott to get to the shelter but he refuses and says he will face the end on his feet. Meanwhile, Graham wakes up in a new location, tied up with what seems like tentacles. Hank tells him not to play the innocent as neither of them are what they appear to be, turning around to reveal his true form, a devil like creature, as Graham sees that Hank is monitoring all the armies involved in the crisis on screens.

Part Three
to be added

Characters

 * Thirteenth Doctor
 * Graham O'Brien
 * Ryan Sinclair
 * Yasmin Khan
 * Edith Harcourt
 * Abner J. Endicott
 * Lizzie
 * Tommy Dalton
 * Stevie
 * Stevie's sister
 * Samuel
 * Jackson
 * Betty
 * Hank Dalton
 * Principle Winters

History

 * The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in October 1962.
 * The crisis was, as of 2020, the closest the world had ever come to nuclear war.
 * Edith Harcourt has been teaching at Brideport Elementary School since 1914.
 * John F. Kennedy is the president in 1962, and Nikita Khrushchev is the Secretary.
 * The US Naval Blockade is erected.
 * Abner Endicott fought in France in 1917.

Foods and beverages

 * The Cuban Missile Crisis leads to panic buying.
 * The Doctor drinks three milkshakes, with an amazed Yaz wondering how "anyone can take that much lactose and live".
 * A store sells cans of beans for one dollar.

Places

 * Despite its name, Brideport doesn't have a port.
 * The Cuban Missile Crisis saw Russia planting nuclear missiles in Cuba, off the US coast.
 * Ryan and Yaz are relieved to know that they are not in Alabama.
 * Team TARDIS eat at Lizzie's Diner.
 * Hank Dalton runs an auto shop called Dalton's Motors.
 * The Doctor tells Tommy about Stockbridge, which doesn't have a bridge.

Miscellaneous

 * Edith Harcourt's class watch a video on the "Duck and cover" method.

Original print details

 * (Publication with page count and closing captions)


 * 1) DWM 549 (8 pages): Next: The Countdown!
 * 2) DWM 550 (8 pages): Next: Eve of Destruction!
 * 3) DWM 551 (8 pages):  Next: Zero Hour!

Continuity

 * Yaz initially believes that Team TARDIS have ended up back in 1950s America, prompting Ryan to say "here we go again". They later express their relief upon realising they are not in Alabama. (TV: Rosa)
 * The Doctor, while speaking to Abner Endicott, mentions having been a boy, to Endicott's confusion. (TV: An Unearthly Child, et al.)