Houdini and The Space Cuckoos (short story)

Houdini and The Space Cuckoos was a December 2012 online novella serialised on the Doctor Who website as part of the 2012 Adventure Calendar. This story can be downloaded as a PDF file from the Doctor Who website's "Fun & Games" section.

Part One
The Eleventh Doctor is narrating his adventures to an imaginary companion called "Bob". He tells about how he has been trapped in a glass box in spaceship orbiting Earth. Once the aliens start pouring a liquid into the box, the narrative switches to how he got there.

In New York City, 1920, Harry Houdini is about to do his act in the Golden Horse Theatre. After getting into a locked safe, Harry discovers that the Eleventh Doctor has connected the TARDIS and the inside of the safe. The Doctor needs help to stop an alien invasion and takes Harry to the lobby of the theatre. There, they are met by a group of reporters. Harry assumes they are interested in him, but the Doctor reveals that they are actually possessed by the aliens.

Part Two
After being mobbed by possessed reporters, Harry realises getting out of a crowd is the same as getting out of handcuffs and slips out. He and Doctor escape, where the Doctor explains the Cuculus and their plans. They run into a policeman who has also been possessed and narrowly manage to escape him as well. In their escape, they are nearly run down by a carriage pulled by a possessed horse.

Part Three
After escaping the carriage, the Doctor decides that running away is pointless and they should try to be captured to be brought to the Cuculus ship. After activating his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor and Harry are teleported to the Cuculus ship. Harry easily escapes from his cell and goes in search of the Doctor. When he finds the Doctor in the glass box, it's revealed that the Doctor was pretending to talk to "Bob" in order to stop the Cuculus from reading his mind and finding out about Harry. Harry opens the deadlock seal, freeing the Doctor from the cage. They run to the centre chamber, where the psychic crystal is kept. The Doctor reverses the crystal, returning all the Cuculus minds into the Cuculus bodies and freeing the humans. The Cuculus return the Doctor and Harry to the lobby of the Golden Horse Theatre. The Doctor slips Harry back into the safe, allowing him to complete his act. Once people started coughing, the Doctor realises that they have been infected with a virus and the Cuculus plan to kill humanity.

Part Four
When people start collapsing, the Doctor says that the disease could be cured with something from the Cuculus ship. Harry reveals that he brought back a crystal as a souvenir. Using the sonic screwdriver, curing the people and eventually causing the crystal to explode into a cloud of dust. Once everyone has been saved, the Doctor admits that he already knows how Harry does his tricks and that he's already met him later so that Harry can teach him how to do it.

Characters

 * Eleventh Doctor
 * Harry Houdini

Continuity

 * Harry has met the Doctor, in various incarnations, many times before. (AUDIO: Smoke and Mirrors, Harry Houdini's War)
 * The Doctor describes himself as "Explorer, time traveller and wearer of fine hats", referencing his fez (TV: The Big Bang), Tricorn, (TV: The Curse of the Black Spot) and Stetson (TV: The Impossible Astronaut).
 * The box the Doctor is trapped in has a deadlock seal. (TV: Bad Wolf, et al.)
 * The Doctor connects the TARDIS and the inside of a safe using Block Transfer Computation. (TV: Logopolis)
 * When Harry suggests the Cuculus were Martians, the Doctor says that Martians are reptilian instead. (TV: The Ice Warriors, et al.)
 * The Doctor is wearing a "I died at Lake Silencio and all my wife got me was this lousy t-shirt" shirt. (TV: The Impossible Astronaut, The Wedding of River Song)
 * The Doctor criticises a horse's bad language. (TV: A Town Called Mercy)
 * The Doctor causes artificial snow again. (TV: The Runaway Bride)