The Taking of Chelsea 426 (novel)

Published in September 2009, The Taking of Chelsea 426 was one of the last set of three original novels published featuring the Tenth Doctor in the standard BBC New Series Adventures line.

Publisher's Summary
The Chelsea Flower Show – Hardly the most exciting or dangerous event in the calendar, or so the Doctor thinks. But this is Chelsea 426, a city-sized future colony floating on the clouds of Saturn, and the flowers are much more than they seem.

As the Doctor investigates, he becomes more and more worried. Why is shopkeeper Mr Pemberton acting so strangely? And what is Professor Wilberforce’s terrible secret?

The Plot
They are close to finding the answers when a familiar foe arrives, and the stakes suddenly get much higher. The Sontarans have plans of their own, and they’re not here to arrange flowers..

On the colony of Chelsea 426. An eager women by the name of Alice Wendall asks the professor Wilberforce about the discovery of ammonia in the atmosphere, which the professor knows about, and he responds by attacking her with a flower of the colony. She is later seen with him and asks him about the Newcomers, in which, the professor states will number in the thousands.

Two children, named Jake Carstairs and Vienna Carstairs are watching all the Newcomers landing on the colony, as they watch in the hotel room, they figure their father, Mr. Carstairs will be angry because they were up there. As they start to leave, their father states he's not had a good rest for a fairly long time, and when they come down, he discovers they went up the elevator, so he scolds his children, stating he hopes there isn't a mess remotely anywhere. As he's talking a man in a blue suit called the Doctor walks in, asking if they have any rooms, which they do. They ask for his name, and he replies "The Doctor" only to be asked for his full name, where he uses his fake name "John Smith". The family is distrustful of the Doctor, and as they give him the room, Mr. Carstairs wants some cleaning supplies, so he gives his kids a ten dollar bill, and after this, the Doctor asks if he can join. Even though distrustful, they allow it.

The Doctor is walking with the kids and asks them about the town, and they respond with the colony rules stating many strict, harsh rules, that the Doctor mocks with some jokes, and the kids are amused by that. As they enter the shop, Mr Pemberton is telling his employee Wallace Fitch to get some supplies, while muttering about mice. The man is calm with the children, but the Doctor proves to be a strange fellow to him, and he reluctantly asks about him, and the Doctor tells him he's the Doctor. The man is still very strange man to Mr. Pemberton, who tells the kids it will cost them twelve dollars, but they only have ten, so they promise to pay him back, which he agrees to. When the Doctor and the kids leave, he says things that suggest he knows who he is.

The kids are leaving when the Doctor spots a television with a man familiar to him, which the kids state to have been in cryogenics for five hundred years, and that's when the Doctor realizes it was a man named Mr. Smalls, who has shown dislike to. He is ranting about the Newcomers and what they will do to the colony, and he even insults the mayor for lack of support agains them. Meanwhile, Mr. Pemberton tells professor Wilberforce about the Doctor, and he shows awareness of the Doctor, clapping in joy. The Doctor is sitting next to some Major who is telling stories about his past, and Mr. Carstairs asks the Doctor if the Major is bothering him, as he and others are bored of his speeches, but the Doctor is fine with him.

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Vienna Carstairs
 * Jake Carstairs
 * Wallace Fitch
 * Bess Carstairs
 * Brian Carstairs
 * Mr Pemberton
 * Professor Wilberforce
 * Alice Wendell
 * Zack
 * Jenny
 * Field Marshal Henry Whittington Smythe
 * Mr Smalls
 * Mr Sedgefield
 * General Kade
 * Colonel Sarg
 * Commander Strom

Story Notes

 * This book continues the theme set by the BBC Tenth Doctor Adventures line for 2009 in featuring returning monsters from the TV series. It also continues a series of novels in which the Doctor travels without a companion.
 * David Llewellyn also wrote the Torchwood novel Trace Memory.
 * The title is a reference to the novel and film The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. The number is also reminiscent of The 456, an alien race introduced a few months prior to the book's release in TW: Children of Earth.
 * The Doctor cannot stand pears (Page 21), a fact which was also revealed in a deleted scene for DW: Human Nature.

Continuity

 * The Sontarans last appeared on screen in DW: The Sontaran Stratagem / The Poison Sky and SJA: Enemy of the Bane. They last appeared in print in NSA: The Sontaran Games.
 * The events of DW: The Two Doctors and The Time Warrior are mentioned.
 * Chelsea 426 was founded by the Interplanetary Mining Corporation (DW:Colony in Space.)
 * The Doctor mentions a Krynoid (p. 84)

Timeline

 * The Taking of Chelsea 426 occurs after: DW: Dreamland
 * The Taking of Chelsea 426 occurs before: NSA: The Krillitane Storm
 * According to The Doctor (on page 54) it is early in the 26th Century ("...about due for the Third Renaissance...").