The Dimension Riders (novel)

The Dimension Riders is the twentieth novel in the Virgin New Adventures series. It was written by Daniel Blythe, and featured the Seventh Doctor, Ace, and Bernice.

Publisher's summary
Someone here has been playing with time, Ace. Like playing with fire, only worse - you get burnt before you've lit the match.

Abandoning a holiday in Oxford, the Doctor travels to Space Station Q4, where something is seriously wrong. Ghostly soldiers from the future watch from the shadows among the dead. Soon, the Doctor is trapped in the past, Ace is fighting for her life, and Bernice is uncovering deceit among the college cloisters.

What is the connection with a beautiful assassin in a black sports car? How can the Doctor's time machine be in Oxford when it is on board the space station? And what secrets are held by the library of the invaded TARDIS?

The Doctor quickly discovers he is facing another time-shattering enigma: a creature which he thought he had destroyed, and which it seems he is powerless to stop.

Characters

 * The Doctor
 * Ace
 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Professor James Rafferty
 * Garvond
 * Epsilon Delta aka "The President"
 * Captain Romulus Terrin
 * Darius Cheynor
 * Lt. Albion Strakk
 * Amanda

Androids

 * Amanda is a cybernetic android built by the President.

Books

 * The Doctor first read about the Garvond in The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey.

The Doctor
The Doctor
 * His current body is aging rapidly.

Events

 * Amanda mentions; the Zygon Gambit, the Shoreditch Incident, and the events of Auderly House.

Foods and beverages

 * The Doctor likes almond slices.

Individuals

 * Ace still doesn't trust the Doctor.
 * Bernice lost her load of archaeological finds in the Doctor's original TARDIS.
 * Professor James Rafferty is Professor of Extra-Terrestial Studies at the University of Oxford.
 * Professor Rafferty knows the Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, Ian Chesterton and Professor Travers, and is also an old friend of the Doctor's.
 * The Doctor mentions Skagra.

Planets

 * The Doctor once thought about retiring to Florana.

Time Lords

 * "The President" (aka Epsilon Delta, The President of St. Matthew's College), left Gallifrey inspired by stories of The Master, The Rani and especially The Doctor. He's a Time Lord from the Ancient Time.

Time travel

 * Lt. Albion Strakk gets hit with a time beam giving him 10 years to live.

TARDISes

 * The TARDIS (from the alternate world) doesn't entirely trust the Doctor.
 * The President's TARDIS is a Type 102.

Continuity

 * The events mentioned by Amanda correspond to: DW: Terror of the Zygons (The Zygon Gambit), Remembrance of the Daleks (The Shoreditch Incident) and Day of the Daleks (Auderly House).
 * There are a few references to DW: Shada / WC: Shada / BFA: Shada.


 * Darius Cheynor reappears in NA: Infinite Requiem.

Timeline

 * This story takes place after DWM: ''Final Genesis
 * This story takes place before NA: The Left-Handed Hummingbird