The Deviant Strain was the fourth novel in the BBC New Series Adventures series. It was written by Justin Richards and featured the Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler and Jack Harkness.
Publisher's summary[]
The Novrosk Peninsula: the Soviet naval base has been abandoned, the nuclear submarines are rusting and rotting. Cold, isolated, forgotten.
Until the Russian Special Forces arrive -- and discover that the Doctor and his companions are here too. But there is something else in Novrosk. Something that predates even the stone circle on the cliff top. Something that is at last waking, hunting, killing....
Can the Doctor and his friends stay alive long enough to learn the truth? With time running out, they must discover who is really responsible for the Deviant Strain...
Plot[]
The Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler, and Jack Harkness arrive in the TARDIS on the remote Novrosk Peninsula in Russia, responding to a distress signal. They are immediately surrounded by Russian Special Forces led by Colonel Oleg Levin, who are also investigating the strange energy pulse that was the distress call. Levin reveals the area is an abandoned Soviet naval base, including a scientific research institute and rusting nuclear submarines, decommissioned twenty years prior but with their reactors and some missiles still intact. The local community, descendants of the original workers, still lives in the nearby village. Near a prehistoric stone circle on the cliffs, they discover a horrifically desiccated human body, its bones jellified. A local teenager, Pavel Vahlen, is identified as the victim. Soon after, his girlfriend, Valeria Mamentova, is found in the woods, alive but rapidly aging and unresponsive.
The Doctor, suspecting the energy pulse and the deaths are connected, investigates the research institute with Rose. He learns from the remaining scientists – Major Viktor Klebanov (the former director), Alex Minin (administrator and former political officer), and junior researchers Boris Brodsky and Catherine Kornilova – that the institute was once involved in "Organic Weapons" research. The Doctor takes a sample from one of the standing stones, which Catherine identifies as resembling a silicon chip. Touching it causes her hand to temporarily age. Meanwhile, Jack, with Levin's men, explores the abandoned submarines. They encounter strange, glowing, tentacled creatures – ship's remotes – that seem to drain life energy. Rose visits Georgi Zinoviev, an elderly blind man in the village with a reputation for "second sight." Georgi, in a trance, describes Nikolai Stresnev, the man tending the village's generator on a diesel submarine, being attacked and dragged away by a slimy creature. The village lights then go out. Rose and local policewoman Sofia Barinska investigate. Sofia encounters one of the remotes and is rapidly aged, her personality twisting into a malevolent, predatory state. She attacks Rose, who flees.
The Doctor determines the stone circle acts as an antenna, drawing energy for an ancient, buried Arcane Collegiate spaceship. The ship, damaged centuries ago, uses a biological self-repair system called the Deviant Strain. This strain, and the remotes it creates, drains life force to power the ship, explaining the deaths and the energy spike. Klebanov is revealed to be colluding with the ship's consciousness, having been kept alive by it for decades, believing it will grant him immortality. He seeks to reactivate the ship fully by using the remaining nuclear missiles on the St Petersburg submarine to create a massive energy release. The Doctor, Rose, Jack, Levin, and the surviving scientists and villagers converge on the institute and the submarine base as the remotes attack en masse. Minin sacrifices himself to allow the Doctor and Rose to escape the compromised institute. Jack leads a defence at the dry dock where the villagers have built a massive bonfire, hoping to destroy the remotes.
The Doctor and Rose make their way to the St Petersburg. Klebanov and his zombified scientists are already there, preparing to launch a missile. Rose confronts Klebanov, while the Doctor disables the missile's guidance and reprograms its fuel intake to draw seawater, rendering it inert. Jack, having survived the remotes' attack at the dry dock, arrives. Klebanov is killed by the ship's remotes when the Doctor tricks them into attacking their "master" by activating their psychic link to the transmitter Klebanov was using. With the ship's systems destabilised by the missile's failed launch and the destruction of its remotes, its consciousness fades. The Doctor ensures the remaining nuclear material is secured before he, Rose, and Jack depart, leaving Levin and his team to manage the aftermath and assist the Novrosk community. Valeria, now permanently aged, is cared for by her father.
Characters[]
- Ninth Doctor
- Rose Tyler
- Jack Harkness
- Major Viktor Klebanov
- Colonel Oleg Levin
- Lieutenant Krylek
- Sofia Barinska
- Alex Minin
- Boris Brodsky
- Catherine Kornilova
- Georgi Zinoviev
- Fedor Vahlen
- Nikolai Stresnev
- Sergeant Sergeyev
- Private Razul
- Mamentov
- Pavel Vahlen
- Valeria Mamentova
- Arcane Collegiate Ship Consciousness/Pilot
- Ship's Remotes
Worldbuilding[]
- Novrosk is depicted as a decaying post-Soviet military installation, officially abandoned for twenty years, but with a residual civilian population and a skeleton crew at a scientific institute. It previously housed nuclear submarines and an Organic Weapons Research Institute.
- The Arcane Collegiate are established as an ancient, obscure alien race possessing highly advanced biological technology, capable of creating sentient ships and self-replicating repair systems (the Deviant Strain). Their ship crashed on Earth centuries ago.
- The Deviant Strain operates by breaking down and reconfiguring organic matter, leading to extreme aging, desiccation, mutations, or the creation of biological Remotes. It can also form a psychic link with susceptible individuals.
- The stone circle on the cliffs acts as an energy-focusing antenna for the buried Arcane Collegiate ship.
- Local Novrosk folklore includes tales of a Vourdulak (a type of vampire), which Sofia Barinska uses to explain the strange occurrences before her own transformation.
- The Russian military still operates with a degree of Cold War-era secrecy and has special forces units equipped for hazardous environments.
Story notes[]
- The title "The Deviant Strain" shares its name with a commonly used fan name for the font associated with the revived Doctor Who series logo and merchandise, including the covers of these novels. This is likely a deliberate nod from the author or publisher.
- Later paperback reprints featured a modified cover removing the image of Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, a common practice for these early NSA novels after the actress left the show.
- This story was also released as an ebook available from the Amazon Kindle store.
- The audiobook is read by Stuart Milligan, who portrayed President Richard Nixon in the Eleventh Doctor stories TV:The Impossible Astronaut / Day of the Moon.
Continuity[]
- The Doctor and Jack mention "volcano day," a reference to the setting of the emergency program in TV: The Doctor Dances.
Additional cover images[]
Editions published outside Britain[]
- Published in China by New Star Press in 2020 as a paperback edition.
Audiobook[]
- An unabridged audiobook edition was produced by RNIB Talking Books in November 2007, read by David Thorpe. (Available to eligible RNIB members).
- An abridged audiobook edition was published by BBC Audio (via AudioGO) read by Stuart Milligan. It was released on CD on 2 August 2012.
External links[]
- Official Publisher's page (Archived/Current) page at Penguin Books
- The Deviant Strain (Doctor Who Reference Guide) at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- The Discontinuity Guide to: The Deviant Strain (The Whoniverse Guide) at The Whoniverse
- The Cloister Library: The Deviant Strain (Fan review site)
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