The Sontaran Games (novel)

The Sontaran Games was a short novel by Jacqueline Rayner. It was the fourth Doctor Who Quick Reads release.

Publisher's summary
Every time the lights go out, someone dies...

The TARDIS lands at an academy for top athletes, all hoping to be chosen for the forthcoming Globe Games. But is one of them driven enough to resort to murder? The Tenth Doctor discovers that the students have been hushing up unexplained deaths.

Teaming up with a young swimmer called Emma, the Doctor begins to investigate – but he doesn't expect to find a squad of Sontarans invading the academy!

As the Sontarans begin their own lethal version of the Globe Games, the Doctor and Emma must find out what's really going on. But the Doctor is captured and forced to take part in the Sontaran Games. Can even a Time Lord survive this deadly contest?

Plot
The Doctor steps out of the TARDIS to find himself in a dark room. He pulls out a torch and turns it on to find a young woman standing in front of the Doctor who apologizes for scaring her. He tells her that he came from the planet Pootle which is known to have lovely beaches with deadly sharks that have guns and are three metres tall.

The girl tells the Doctor that he is in a place known as BASE: The British Academy of Sporting Excellence, confirming that the Doctor is on Earth. Just then, a young man named Sid enters the room and asks the girl, Emma, what she was screaming about. He shows concern after what happened to Laura and the others, but Emma replies that she can look after herself. Suddenly, the lightbulb turns on and Sid complements the Doctor for fixing the electricity, but he denies having done anything. The Doctor introduces himself to Emma and Sid before asking them what happened to Laura.

After dodging the questions about the TARDIS, the Doctor is told that BASE is a training ground for gifted athletes who are hoping to be chosen to take part in the Globe Games, a huge sporting event where teams from every continent on Earth compete in various sports, with Sid being a javelin thrower and Emma being a swimmer. While they're only allowed to train during the day, some people have done their own practices after the coaches have gone home, which may be why Laura decided to go swimming one night to be found dead in the water the next morning.

Emma explains that the night Laura died, the power went out, and every time the power went out on subsequent nights, someone else has died. So far, three people have died: Laura, Joe (a sprinter) and Andy (a discus thrower). The Doctor asks why the police haven't been called and why Emma and Sid haven't gone home, to which Sid replies that the teams will be picked soon, much to the Doctor's curiosity about them staying quiet about the deaths of three people. Despite this, the Doctor is thankful that no one will be getting in his way while he investigates the deaths.

Upon seeing the dead bodies of Laura, Joe and Andy, the Doctor is disgusted at Sid and Emma for thinking they would get away with covering up their deaths, but Sid is sure that their families would understand. Emma, meanwhile, is more regretful as she didn't think about any consequences and just went along with Sid's plans. She says that Laura was her biggest rival during the swimming practice sessions. The Doctor tells Sid and Emma to stay out of the changing room while he investigates.

Twenty minutes later, the Doctor exits the changing room to tell Sid and Emma that the deaths were caused by electrocution and that it wasn't an accident as there are electricity burns on the bodies of Joe and Andy as well. Sid asks Emma what she was doing on the night that Laura died, but Emma denies doing anything because the three dead people were doing different sports.

Suddenly, they hear a loud marching noise which the Doctor hopes is a marching band getting some late night practice. The trio investigate the noise to find out that its source is a group of Sontarans. Once the Sontarans have passed, the Doctor tells Sid and Emma to get everyone out of BASE before explaining that the Sontarans are from the planet Sontar and live only for battle. They are quite difficult to defeat and their only weakness is the probic vent on the back of the neck.

Emma asks why the Sontarans are in BASE, to which the Doctor assumes that their war with the Rutans has moved over to Earth. When asked about the Rutans, the Doctor explains that they are amphibious blobs that can change their shapes and live in water and on land like frogs.

Sid brings the Doctor to the common room where Jess, Karl and Holly are residing. They don't believe the Doctor's explanations about the Sontarans. Jess thinks that the Doctor is just trying to get them to leave BASE so that they'll lose their chance to become members of a team. Karl is more concerned with getting a good night's sleep so he can run in the morning. Growing frustrated, the Doctor tells them to leave so they can live, but Sid tells him that since they do different sports, they'd be likely to stab each other in the back.

The Doctor chews them out for covering up the three murders out of selfishness. Karl, Holly and Jess agree to go with the Doctor, but if they don't see any aliens, they will return to the common room. Holly suggests activating the fire alarm to get everyone to leave, but Jess tells her not to so that if the Sontarans kill them, she will get a place in the games. While the Doctor tells Holly that using the fire alarm is a good idea, it would cause a mass panic that would cause the Sontarans to shoot anyone that moves.

Just then, they spot a pair of Sontarans herding a group of students down the corridor. The Doctor tells the others to go in the opposite direction of the Sontarans so they can escape while he tries to rescue the rest of the students. As Karl, Emma, Jess, Holly and Sid rush off, the Doctor begins to follow the Sontarans.

Karl tries to open the fire exit, but the door won't open. The Doctor reunites with them to use his Sonic Screwdriver to open the door, but this fails too. When they return back downstairs, Jess grabs a chair from the common room and throws it at a window, but it bounces off without breaking the glass, causing the Doctor to realize that the Sontarans have sealed the building, leaving all of them trapped inside.

The Doctor tells the students to follow him to his TARDIS, but the power goes out on the way back, causing Sid to remember that someone dies every time the power goes out. Emma says that no none died when the power went out earlier tonight, but Jess assumes that someone has died and the body hasn't been found. Holly trips over what she thinks is a body but is actually a pair of rubber boots that the Doctor fell over when he stepped out of the TARDIS.

The Doctor shines his light on the head of a Sontaran, causing it to become dazzled and unable to see them. He then throws the TARDIS key over his shoulder to Jess so she can unlock the TARDIS door. As she finds the TARDIS' keyhole, however, a bright flash of light emits in the room. When the lights turn on, Jess is revealed to be dead with the melted remains of the key in her hand.

The Sontaran holds the Doctor at gunpoint and orders him to go with him, with the Doctor hoping that the Sontaran will forget the students if he can keep his eye contact on him. The Doctor tells the Sontaran that he is not one of the sports students, but he quite enjoys Darts which he begins explaining. The Sontaran demands the Doctor tell him why he is in BASE, to which the Doctor answers that he has come to fix things using his toolbox.

Suddenly, the Sontaran falls forward with a Screwdriver in his probic vent due to Sid stabbing it. The Doctor informs the students that the Sontaran is merely knocked out and that they should leave before he recovers. Jess is dead due to a massive electrical shock, just like Laura, Andy and Joe. The TARDIS may still have a charge, so the Doctor puts on some electrician's gear and uses the gloves to touch the TARDIS, causing a bright green spark to leap from it and arc through the air towards him. This ultimately means that the Doctor and the students cannot leave in the TARDIS.

The Doctor and the students hurry through the corridors when they hear a scream. Holly points out that the Sontarans are in the gym hall which has a viewing gallery so they can see what is going on without being spotted by the Sontarans.

When they reach the viewing gallery, they see a group of Sontarans guarding a group of people who are still in their nightclothes. One of the Sontarans is standing on a vaulting horse. After the Sontarans fire a warning shot at the students, the leader, Major Stenx of the Twelfth Sontaran Battle Fleet orders a young man named Jimmy to step forward for interrogation about the purpose of BASE. Jimmy tells Stenx that they are practicing for the Globe Games, which pleases Stenx as he thinks that the students will provide a challenge for his soldiers.

Jimmy tells Stenx that he is a hurdler who runs and jumps over hurdles. Stenx orders Jimmy to jump over a balance beam, but when he does so, he ends up landing on a mine which explodes, killing him. As the angered Doctor prepares to vault into the hall, Emma pulls him back so that he doesn't get caught and condemn them all to death. Major Stenx notes that Jimmy showed a good display of speed and skill, but failed to notice the explosive charge that Captain Skeed had placed in front of the balance beam. As the Sontarans begin chanting "Sontar-ha!", the Doctor and the students decide to investigate the swimming pool where Laura was killed.

On the way to the pool, Holly explains that Andy's body was found close to the pool and Joe was Laura's boyfriend and might have been trying to find out what happened to her, much to the Doctor's surprise due to hi not being told that Laura and Joe were a couple. Despite Emma saying that the pool may not be important to their investigation, the group eventually reaches the pool room where Emma points out the exact spot in the pool where Laura was when she died.

The Doctor notices that the pool room is quite cold when they are normally very warm, to which Emma explains that the heating went out when the first power cut happened. As the Doctor looks around, Sid smells something that isn't chlorine which is used to keep the pool clean. Eventually, the Doctor finds the source of the smell under a grating. It's a severed hand with a gallon of chlorine tipped over it in an attempt to disguise the stench, which gives the Doctor the revelation that there were four deaths, not three.

An alarm activates, followed by a Sontaran saying that there are still humans in BASE that must be found. The Doctor figures that the Sontaran that Sid knocked out in the storeroom has regained consciousness. Emma opens the door only for Karl to run in and inform them that the Sontarans are heading their way. As they being making their way to the other exit, Holly slips on the floor, causing Sid to trip over her and hurt his ankle. Emma tries to help Holly up, but she is now dizzy. As the Sontarans approach the room, Emma jumps into the pool without making much more than a ripple.

Commander Skeed enters the pool room with his squadron and tells the Doctor that Stenx has ordered him to be punished and that him and the students will take part in the first ever Sontaran Games despite Holly and Sid's injuries. As they leave, the Doctor notices a dark shape in the pool, and is seemingly confused as to how Emma can hold her breath under the water for more than three minutes.

The Doctor, Sid, Karl and Holly are led back to the gym hall where Skeed asks what Sid's sport is, the Doctor replies that it's mainly throwing things, which Skeed states is not much use to him due to the removal of all missiles. Lieutenant Slorr says to Skeed that Major Stenx refused his weapon, to which Skeed replies by saying not to speak of Sontaran concerns in front of humans, allowing the Doctor to smile about their dissent.

The Sontarans bring the Doctor and the students into the gymnasium where Major Stenx inspects Holly before saying that, as a female, she is inferior to the males, a point which is only proven when Holly falls over when she tries to disagree with him. Captain Skeed informs Stenx that only the Doctor and Karl are fit for their purpose. Karl tells the Sontarans that he is a runner, to which the Sontarans reply that speed is useful but not vital and that he will be used first.

The Doctor steps forward and tells them that he is not a human, prompting the Sontarans to surround him and asks is he if the shapeshifter, to which the Doctor replies that he is a shapeshifter in the sense that he only does it about once a century before telling Major Stenx (who he mockingly calls "Major Stinks") that he knows who he is looking for. Once the Doctor reveals that he is a Time Lord, Major Stenx becomes pleased as the Sontarans will soon bring him to Sontaran High Command so they can figure out his weakness.

The Sontarans lock the Doctor in an empty cupboard where javelins and bows are normally kept. After the Doctor tries and fails to escape using the Sonic Screwdriver, Emma knocks on the door but is unable to open it due to a deadlock on the door. She tells him that the Sontarans are bringing the students into the arena where sports events and pop concerts are held. Noticing a hunt of anger in Emma's voice when she tells him that Karl has been taken to the arena, the Doctor tells her not to be angry with Karl, to which Emma replies that she is angry with the Doctor for telling the Sontarans that she is a Time Lord.

The Doctor replies that he told them he was a Time Lord because he wanted to distract them to try and save Karl's life and he cannot let one person die in case he has to save someone more important. Just then, more Sontarans return to check if the Doctor's still locked up, much to the Doctor's concern due to there being no hiding places in the hallway. To his relief, however, he doesn't hear Emma scream when the Sontarans arrive.

Lieutenant Slorr opens the cupboard door and informs the Doctor that he is the first person to ever take part in the Sontaran Games and that he will die gloriously for the Sontaran cause. The Doctor is brought into the arena which has a force dome over it to prevent anyone from escaping. There is also a force-sphere containing all the javelins, poles, bows and arrows hovering above the arena so that they cannot be used against the Sontarans.

Major Stenx's voice echoes through the arena to tell the Doctor that if he survives the games, he will face the Sontarans in combat. The first event is a sprint along a one hundred meter track which will become lethal after 15 earth seconds. Before the event begins, Karl and four other students are herded over to the track. Once the students start running, the Doctor starts staying behind them, only for Karl to start slowing down until he is in last place.

Only two seconds before the track becomes lethal, the Doctor manages to grab Karl's arm and bring both Karl and himself over the finish line before a force field encloses the track which fills with orange gas. Stenx tells the Doctor and Karl that they are both loser for crossing the line at the same time, but the Doctor says that the one person who lost would be put to death, and since there was no one person who lost, they cannot kill them as that would involve them going back on their word which wouldn't be honorable. Stenx agrees and allows the Doctor and Karl to join the other runners.

The next event is the long jump. The Doctor and some other athletes are brought over to the long jump pit and are told to jump over a line that has been drawn along it. The first one to attempt the long jump is a girl who manages to clear the line. The second one, a proud male, tries to leap across the line, but he fails and is attacked Sontar Sand Shrews which will eat anything. This sight scares the next long jumper into not wanting to do it, but Stenx uses his swagger stick to bring her down.

The Doctor convinces the other two to jump across the pit by telling them to think about their family and friends watching them competing in the games. After the two athletes manage to jump over the line, the Doctor begins his attempt, but his heels land before the line, causing the sand shrews to jump out and lunge at his feet. Luckily, the sand shrews are unable to get through the Doctor's heavy boots, allowing the Doctor to jump over the line.

Next is the Tug of War against a large robot with black eyes on stalks. At first, it seems that the Doctor and the students are going to win, but then the robot pulls them closer to the red line after judging their strength. Once the first athlete is pulled over the red line, she is instantly disintegrated into a pile of dust. As he and the others continue pulling, the Doctor notices that the robot is feeling the Earth's gravity and it would be even stronger if they were set for Sontar.

Before the Doctor can try to get close to the robot, he notices Emma crawling towards the robot, unnoticed by the Sontarans. He then convinces everyone in the arena to start singing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" while secretly giving Emma instructions on what to do about the robot. Once Emma turns the robot's dial down, the robot flies over the line before exploding. Emma is nowhere to be found.

Suddenly, the Sontarans start floating above the ground, making it harder for them to aim their weapons. The Doctor believes that this is a result of Emma changing the robot's mass controls before he uses this distraction to run to the tunnel which is locked too. He then calls the Tug of War team over to him so they can stretch the rope across the stands so that Holly can use it to reach the sphere where the sports equipment is held.

The Doctor gives Holly his Sonic Screwdriver and tells her to push it through the forcefield's little white hole. Once the gymnasts pull the rope under the forcefield, Holly manages to make it to the top of the forcefield just as the Sontarans' suits begin returning their gravity to normal. Unfortunately, Holly becomes dizzy and drops the Sonic Screwdriver in front of Lieutenant Skezz. Before Skezz can pick up the Sonic Screwdriver, Karl sprints across the arena and picks it up.

One of the other athletes who took part in the hundred meter sprint, Freddie, takes the Sonic Screwdriver from Karl before handing it to another sprinter. Once it's in Sid's hand, Sid throws the Screwdriver at the sphere, causing it to disappear and release the javelins, bows and arrows. The Doctor manages to catch Holly as she falls whilst Skezz is hit in the back of the neck by a discus. He then tells the Sontarans to face him as he has won the games, allowing the students to throw the sports equipment into the backs of the Sontarans' necks, knocking them out.

The Sontarans' defeat causes the forcefield around the arena to disappear. As all the athletes leave, Karl and Sid take Holly to a hospital, leaving the Doctor alone in BASE. He returns to the TARDIS to find Emma kicking the toolbox next to it. Emma explains that she left the building, but then returned to find the Doctor due to having nowhere to go, only to be asked about the people who have died not just at the hands of the Sontarans, but also the one who died before the Sontarans arrived.

The Doctor also asks Emma about the electrician who was called by Sid who thought about calling the police, but was worried because he'd helped to cover up the deaths and if an electrician found out about the deaths, maybe no one else would die. But someone else found him first. He then inquires about one more death: Emma.

Shocked, Emma asks the Doctor how he knew about her death, to which the Doctor replies that Emma gave herself away by talking about seeing Laura's body floating in the pool despite saying that she hadn't seen any dead bodies. He then brings up the severed hand he found by the pool and the length of time that she was under the water, before saying that he remembers her asking about the Rutans, which threw him briefly, only to realize that she wanted to find out how much he knew about them and he then tells her about the facts that Rutans don't like heat and they can absorb electricity and use it to kill. And when the Sontarans said they were looking for a shape-changer, the Doctor's suspicions were confirmed: Emma is a Rutan.

The Rutan explains that the Rutans' war against the Sontarans is coming towards Earth which they are going to need, but they needed the humans to wipe each other out by using the Globe Games as a chance to convince the nations of Earth to go to war with each other by causing a few scandals and murders. The Doctor says that the Rutan needed to practice being human, which is why it decided to become a swimmer. So it hid in the pool until the real Emma came along and was killed by the Rutan who took her apart and copied her body.

The Rutan admits that it took some time to copy Emma's movements. Laura found it and joined it in the pool thinking it was Emma, but when she saw Emma's hand, she began to scream, which prompted the Rutan to kill her with electricity, causing the first power cut. After hiding Emma's hand in the drain, the Rutan killed Joe due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. After seeing the electrician, the Rutan knew that it had to kill him as well. It was unable to kill the electrician until he removed his heavy boots.

Once the TARDIS is brought up, the Doctor walks around the back to find the body of the electrician. The Rutan explains that it electrified the TARDIS to prevent the Doctor from finding the electrician's body and that it would be put to death if it didn't complete its mission. It thanks for the Doctor for helping to defeat the Sontarans before admitting that it didn't think that he would help in wiping out the humans.

When asked by the Rutan why he didn't say something despite knowing the truth, the Doctor laughs and admits that he is a fool for thinking that the Rutan might have changed its mind after helping him defeat the Sontarans, even admitting that it showed concern for Holly when she was hurt. He says that he thought that if he treated it kindly, it might have realized that his way was better and stopped killing people, even going so far as to give its life for everyone before he realized that the Rutan absorbed the power after it helped to destroy the robot during the Tug of War.

The Rutan explains that it changed into a Sontaran so it could get out of the gym and the robot's explosion made it revert to its original form before launching it across the arena where it hid until the Doctor defeated the Sontarans. The Doctor tells the Rutan that it doesn't seem sorry for the deaths of the six people that it killed to which the Rutan replies that its superiors will kill it if it doesn't win the Earth for them.

The Rutan refuses the Doctor's offer of a second chance in the TARDIS before shedding its disguise and saying that it plans to kill the Doctor and take his TARDIS. As the Rutan seemingly reconsiders the Doctor's offer, Major Stenx appears with the tip of a javelin still in his probic vent. When the lights go out, the Doctor can see the Rutan drawing in power from BASE's electricity. As Stenx tries to shoot the Rutan with his swagger stick, the Rutan electrocutes the javelin still in his probic vent, killing him.

The Doctor tries to tell the Rutan to contain the power, but the Rutan is dead, having been killed by Stenx's blasts. However, it is still draining power from BASE and pouring it into the Sontaran. The Doctor clicks his fingers and steps into the open TARDIS door and manages to dematerialize the TARDIS before BASE explodes. He whispers to himself that he wishes he knew what Emma had decided as he doesn't give second chances very often.

Characters

 * Tenth Doctor
 * Emma
 * Sid
 * Karl
 * Holly
 * Jimmy
 * Jess
 * Sontar sand shrews
 * Major Stenx
 * Captain Skeed
 * Lieutenant Slorr
 * Lieutenant Skezz

Worldbuilding

 * The Sontarans who invade BASE are part of the Twelfth Sontaran Battle Fleet.

Continuity

 * The Doctor opens the TARDIS by clicking his fingers. (TV: Forest of the Dead)
 * Major Stenx, who is seen on the cover of the book, identified so as he is the only Sontaran to remove his helmet, greatly resembles General Staal, (TV: The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky) Commander Stark, (TV: The Pandorica Opens) and General Fesk. (AUDIO: The Eternity Cage)