Placebo Effect (novel)

Publisher’s Summary
It is 3999. An artificial planetoid, Micawber's World, is hosting the Intergalactic Olympic Games, and athletes from all the worlds in the Galactic Federation are coming to take part. But when the Doctor and Sam arrive, murders soon begin...

The Doctor finds himself drafted in to examine some bizarre new drugs that are said to enhance the natural potential of the competing athletes. But what is their real purpose? Why are members of the Security Forces disappearing randomly? And just why is Chase Carrington, manufacturer of the drug, so protective of his company’s secrets?

Watching and waiting, at the very heart of Micawber’s World, is a race of parasites the Doctor has fought before. The Wirrn have come to the Milky Way from Andromeda, determined to spread their seed throughout a whole new galaxy, and it seems to Sam that the Doctor’s hands are too full to pay their threat full attention...

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Is now at least partly aware Sam had "a bit of a crush on him".
 * The Doctor states "I've never had a faith, as such. I had a House. And a birthsign. And a Chapter to be loyal to." (His house is House of Lungbarrow, his birthsign is Crossed Computers and his Chapter was the Prydonian)
 * Sam Jones
 * Sam recalls to herself being chased by Daleks, Zygons or Psionovores.
 * Another reference to Sam's middle name being A (for Angeline).
 * Kyle Dale
 * Member of the Church of the Way Forward.
 * Stacy Townsend
 * Is working in an office on the planet Antares.
 * Ssard
 * Works at the Martian Commission on Io.
 * Susan Dallion
 * Quartermaster Sargeant in the Space Security Service.
 * Chase Carrington
 * Dallion
 * Duchess of Auckland
 * Green Fingers
 * Lukas
 * Miles Mason
 * Ritchie
 * Sox
 * Sumner
 * Talon Chalfont

Planets

 * The Wirrn are from the Andromedan Galaxy.
 * Coscos, Salostophus, the rimworlds of Golos and Vysp are all part of the Andromedan Galaxy.


 * Earth is the centre of the Galactic Federation.
 * Terrorists and criminals are imprisoned on the planet Desperus.
 * Liasici was destroyed in a war 'years ago' by the Argolin.
 * Sam mentions Mu Camelopides moon.
 * Kolpasha is the Fashion capital of the Federation.
 * Foamasi can live on Livista or Tyrexus.

Species

 * How the Foamasi can fit into human sized bodies despite their size: "Our skeletons have hollow bones with double-joints every few centimetres. This means we can compact our natural forms quite comfortably inside a full replica-human bodysuit for up to eighteen hours at a time."
 * Jadeans are genetically engineered, and cannot have their minds read by telepaths.
 * The Teknix are a cloned species, bald and very efficient.
 * The Foamasi Ambassador says he works for: Martians, Pakhars, humans, Cantryans, Chelonians, the Tzun, Lurmans, Vegans, but won't work with the Daleks.
 * Cows have been exported all over the galaxy.
 * Security officer Gar is a V'orrn.
 * Other species mentioned include Doradan, Hiind, Morrain, Parad, and Saurian.

Continuity

 * Stacy and Ssard (and the adventures they had) featured in the Radio Times comic strips series.
 * The Doctor last encountered Ice Warriors en masse in NA: The Dying Days.
 * The Wirrn first appeared in DW: The Ark in Space.
 * The Foamasi first appeared in DW: The Leisure Hive.
 * The planet Golos appears in BFA: Bang-Bang-A-Boom!.
 * Sam mentions "Only magicians could take me to Victorian London or twenty-second century Borneo." referring to EDA: The Bodysnatchers and Alien Bodies respectively.
 * The Doctor states "I've never had a faith, as such. I had a House. And a birthsign. And a Chapter to be loyal to." In order this refers to: NA: Lungbarrow (House), DW: The Creature from the Pit (Birthsign) and DW: The Deadly Assassin (Chapter, first mention).
 * Sam recalls leaving the Doctor in EDA: Longest Day, seeing him again in Dreamstone Moon and her time spent away from him in Seeing I.
 * The Doctor states he saw the birth of mankind as single celled amoeba, which is probably DW: City of Death.
 * The Galactic Federation, Space Security Service and Guardian of the Solar System all first appeared in DW: The Daleks' Master Plan

Timeline

 * This story takes place after EDA: Seeing I
 * This story takes place before EDA: Vanderdeken's Children