The Graves of Mordane (novel)

The Graves of Mordane is the second book in the Darksmith Legacy series.

Publisher's Summary
The Doctor has discovered the Darksmiths' Eternity Crystal and is determined to destroy it before it falls into the wrong hands. But to find out more about the Crystal, the Doctor must travel to Mordane, the peaceful cemetry planet. But once the sun goes down, Mordane turns into a planet of nightmares. Will the Doctor manage to hold on to the Crystal and fight off the living dead? This amazing ten-book series follows the Doctor on his exciting journey to discover the origins of the so-called Eternity Crystal and the powerful artisans who created it - the Darksmiths. Continue the amazing adventures online at www.thedarksmithlegacy.com

Story Synopsis
The surviving crew of the spacecraft 'Elizabeth the Fourth'(Captain Gomez, Catz and Chandra) have survived on the planet of Mordane, a dead world and the final resting place for the dead of many species for two days. At night the dead have started to come alive. In their search for spare parts needed to repair their ship the crew have taken to sheltering in Plastic Survival Pods when night comes. Meanwhile the Doctor is trying to find the TARDIS in Hanger 7 on the Moon. He manages to escape the Darksmiths' Agent who is waiting to reclaim the crystal the Doctor has hidden in a stasis box onboard the TARDIS, and by logically convincing him he is NOT Brother Varlos (who is old and grey), makes a dash for the TARDIS. As he sets the co-ordinates for Mordane, following the Agents mention of the Mordane incident that led to the Crystal being hidden on the Moon, the Agent launches itself at the TARDIS and holding tight disappears with it. As the TARDIS prepares to land, the Agent is thrown off and the Doctor is unaware that he has carried his pursuer with him. Damaged on landing, the Agents begins its self repairs. Soon after arriving, the Doctor teams up with the crew. He suspects the damage to their ship was deliberate, and offering to help seeks safety from the night in some nearby catacombs as the dead awake and pursue them.The Doctor and Catz get seperated and Catz goes deeper into the tunnel until she finds a specific tomb, that of her grandfather. When the Agent reappears the Doctor learns that Brother Varlos undertook the Darksmiths greatest challenge - to create a device capable of recreating life from dead matter. Constructed on Mordane, the machine was left oncomplete and uncontrollable when Brother Varlos stole the Eternity Crystal. The dead cells of the deceased are reanimated but not regenerated. Trapped by the zombies the Agent helps the Doctor escape where Catz finally discovers her grandfather's sarcophagus. Catz's grandfather was King Morrish a'Jethwa of the Folflower Royal Family and ruler over the five planets of the Folflower system. Catz believed she would find a torc in the sarcophagus, but it has been removed.Catz believes Chandra has betrayed her and got there first. Chandra has been explaining to Captain Gomez, that he knew about Catz's other agenda, to locate her grandfather's sarcophagus and the torc, a torc that he now holds having picked it up earlier when trapped in the catacombs. The torc offers them a protection against the zombies and they fly by helicopter to rescue the Doctor and Catz. The Doctor is able to repair the ship then asks for Catz's help to locate Brother Varlos's machine and with the torc for protection the Doctor and Catz, racing against the oncoming night, sets about deactivating the device. The Darksmiths are worried they have lost a trace on the Eternity Crystal, the Agents shuttle pod without the Agent has been returned and the Agents last location, on the planet Mordane means the machine may be fully activated, leading to the dead being reanimated on a million worlds. The Doctor inserts the Eternity Crystal which he has been carrying in his pocket but realises a fault lies with an overloaded distributor box. Racing off to repair it with his sonic screwdriver, Catz helps the Doctor carry out the repairs and they watch as the pursuing zombies are turned to dust. The Doctor explains that the dead were being continually reanimated by a signal bouncing back from an orbitting satellite on a nightly basis. The Doctor has ended the signal Mordane is returned to being the peaceful planet it once was. The Doctor says his farewells and returns to collect the crystal only to discover it has gone. Taken by the Agent both have returned to the Darksmiths' homeworld on Karagula. Somewhat reluctantly, even fearful, the Doctor sets the TARDIS on a course for Karagula he must ensure the Crystal doesn't fall into the wrong hands...

Characters

 * Captain Gomez - female captain in her 50's, of the ship 'Elizabeth the Fourth', snores
 * Caroline 'Catz' - female teenager
 * First Officer Jitan Chandra - dark skinned male who sleeps in an upright cross-legged position
 * Darksmiths - of theplanet Karagula, artisans and creators, capable of manipulating the physical world, taking the raw fabric of reality, breaking it down and reassembling the subatomic particles. Space and matter are their toys.

Continuity
to be added