Parking (planet)

Parking was an artificial planet built by the Galactic Heritage.

It was used as a spaceship parking lot by tourists planning on going to Dashrah, a planet located next to Parking. To prevent vehicle theft, or indeed customers leaving without paying their fee, spacecraft doors were stasis locked, and the vehicles themselves held in place by magnetic clamps. According to the Seventh Doctor, even TARDISes could not leave without these safeguards removed. (AUDIO: The High Price of Parking)

Early history
Parking was built by the Galactic Heritage over a period of three hundred years, during which a committee also deliberated on the name. Over the next 3000 years, as the area became more popular, new levels, with improved facilities, had to be added to accommodate for continual overflow.

Factions of the Lost
In the early days of Parking, a group of tourists came to Parking to visit Dashrah, but upon their return, could not remember where they had parked. At this point, there were no systems in place to help lost customers.

Initially, these visitors used their wealth to gain food and lodging among the staff, but eventually their funds ran out.

By the time the Seventh Doctor arrived on Parking, with Ace and Mel, these lost parkers had divided into three factions. The first, and the largest group, was the Tribe of the Lost, a peaceful nomadic tribe led by their Queen, Mother Regina. Next, a religious group split off, who believed that the original lost spacecraft was their Creator, and sought to find it once more. The third group, the Free Parkers, left to become revolutionaries, fighting against the Wardens, through non-violent protest and political campaigning, to free Parking from their rule. They sought to gain recognition as natives of Parking.

As a security measure, in the last few centuries before the Doctor arrived, all ships, and their occupants, were scanned on arrival.

As tensions rose, someone began to target customers, using a computer virus to override autopilot systems and blaming the deaths on the Free Parkers. Many ships began to explode on takeoff. The final words spoken by the ships' systems were always "Free Parking".

Kempton, leader of the Free Parkers, also became a deputee among the Wardens, acting as a spy. Unknown to both groups, he was actually allied with Seraphim, and sought to turn both sides against each other.

Arrival of the Doctor
The Doctor parked his TARDIS in the Northern Hemisphere of this planetoid. He and his companions were planning on visiting Dashrah, hoping to solve the mystery of the long-lost Dashrans. The Doctor, Ace and Mel were placed under arrest by the Wardens, after false information linking them to the Free Parkers was inserted into Parking's computer system by Deputee Kempton.

Meanwhile, Seraphim acquired the TARDIS from its parking spot (Continent T, Violet Zone, Bay Omicron, number 803), and had Kempton steal the Doctor's TARDIS key from his jacket, which was seized for "evidence". The Doctor and company escaped, but Ace and the Doctor found the TARDIS was missing when they returned to where it had been parked.

Mel was captured again by the authorities, but she found proof of Kempton's tampering, and convinced Cowley to investigate the matter further.

The Doctor sent Ace to the Orange Zone, typically unoccupied, to create an explosion in order to gain the attention of the Free Parkers. The Tribe of the Lost, accompanied by the Doctor, then followed them to their base in Bay Epsilon, in the lower levels, and ambushed the Free Parkers.

As the Doctor discovered that the Free Parkers were not responsible for the recent deaths, and Kempton revealed himself as their secret leader, more ships were targeted at once than ever. Customers began to leave in their ships in a mass panic, leading to more explosions. Kempton turned on his own people, brandishing a gun.

Bringing in weapons, Kempton convinced his rebels to bring violence to the Wardens' Lodge, against their original values. He was intentionally escalating the war. Meanwhile, Mel managed to teleport all remaining customers to Dashrah, leaving only the Tribes, the Wardens, and the TARDIS travellers themselves. (AUDIO: The High Price of Parking)