Welcome to Valhalla, we have everything you need...!
The Doctor is wandering around Valhalla, the capital of Callisto which is one of the moons of Jupiter. He's wondering around, looking for a job because... Well, who knows, really? Also, it's the third time he's gone into one of these job agencies.
Turns out the Doctor doesn't want to go about travelling any more, and settle down with a travel lodge. Interesting people can come to visit him, as opposed to the other way around. Someone else can be in charge.
In the meantime Jevvan is working down in the ducts, grumbling to her co-workers that her Earth family forgot her birthday, and one of them, Gerium, makes fun of a third, Tin-Marie, that she believes giant termites are moving things.As a powerspike puts her in the dark, literally, she manages to stumble into the Doctor.
He tries to convince her that she should leave, because Things That Go "Bump" in the Night aren't always the friendliest. She refuses, and quite frankly doesn't trust the stranger out of nowhere. She goes and finds Tin-Marie, dead.As the Doctor mutters to himself it's her own fault, and how she could've walked away, and how things are always the same with these kind of people, and that it's someone else's problem. ... Oh ... Who is he kidding?
As he consoles her, they reach up top, and ... the planet is empty. Save for that gigantic swarm of termites which for some reason are devouring everything. They make a break for it to a local café, where the Doctor, inadvertently, gets in touch with the Registry. Who, already knows more about him. The Doctor knew this though. He also knows the Registry isn't human. As Gerrium manages to join the duo in the café through a duct, they learn that there is a complete evac taking place.
The three get chased by the swarm, to the pick up, where they miss the last flight off of the planet! And a phone goes off (in fact, all phones go off) until the Doctor answers.The Registry will see him now.
The Doctor, Gerrium and Jevvan make a quick break for the TARDIS, with The Swarm on their heels. This goes well until the drones take the entire TARDIS with them. With some quick thinking and jigglery-pokery the Doctor manages to disguise himself as a termite general using a Perception Filter. He barely avoids being eaten for not knowing the Trust Password Our Mother (The Registry) gives to her minions on a daily basis.She joins her drones, and recognizes the Doctor as not one of her young. The Doctor, being very capable of Talking Your Way Out convinces her not to kill him.
He frees Laxton, the Mayor Pain of Valhalla, who's been taken away as livestock. The Doctor discloses to the queen he knows what she's doing, which is turning all of Valhalla's human populous into a Slave Race. Which in turn would turn into a war with Earth with Mutually Assured Destruction as a result.
She catches the Doctor in the act of betraying him, just as Tin-Marie is about to undergo Body Horror, and the Doctor proclaims Our Mother dead, causing the termites to follow their instinct and fly off in search of new queens.As Jevvan manages to wake all of the wrapped up prisoners through their comms, the Doctor has his final words with Our Mother, in which he expresses his weariness with time itself, but he can't retire because of his enemies.
He invites Jevvan on a trip to Earth, hoping to do her a favour, and maybe travel a bit. She turns him down, because she wants to do more than "hops". She wants to see the parts in between locations.
The Doctor, who sounds heartbroken as she walks away, laments on his solitude.
- Adipose Rex: Our Mother.
- Air-Vent Passageway: How we're introduced to Jevvan.
- Artifact Title: The Doctor comments on the lack of Valkyries.
- Artificial Gravity: The TARDIS' interior is flipped upside down at one point, so the Doctor, after climbing to the console, turns it around.
- Asteroid Miners: Callisto is supposed to have been a rich gas supply, until Earth mined it dry.
- Bazaar of the Bizarre: Valhalla.
- Big Brother Is Watching You
- Big Creepy-Crawlies
- Body Horror: The termite prisoners.
- Busman's Holiday: Subverted, it seems like this trope, but the Doctor actually specifically came back to this time to Set Right What Once Went Wrong.
- Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit":
- The Doctor: "Some mice."
- Call-Back:
- The Doctor has some Everlasting matches.
- Call-Forward: The Doctor survives a lethal shock. He'll do it again one day.
- Character Development: The Doctor at one point uses a saying, and he doesn't botch it up. This is a bit different from his earlier self.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: The Doctor.
- Continuity Nod: The Doctor's resumé reads: "For sale, Doctor. Six previous owners, roughly 900 years on the clock."
- Darker and Edgier: The Doctor has a very subdued and quiet voice, which he rarely raises. It makes him sound very world weary. The cover artwork, and the fact he's alone, would suggest this is the period of his life shortly before his regeneration.
- The Dog Bites Back: Laxton brings an end to Our Mother. And dies because of electric shock backlash.
- Don't Look Down
- Extreme Omnivore: The termites take apart everything.
- Forgotten Birthday: Jevvan's.
- Future Slang: "Skrom"
- Heroic BSoD: The Doctor seems to be going through one, seeing as he's travelling solo without Ace (and Hex)
- Homeworld Evacuation
- Human Resources
- Keystone Army: The termites.
- Master of Unlocking: Supposedly Gerrium.
- Mix-and-Match Critters: "Spice" are mention by one of the superstitious duct workers, which are supposed to be mice cross-bred with spiders.
- Mother of a Thousand Young: Registry.
- No Name Given: As per usual the Doctor doesn't give out a name. It's played a bit darker in this adventure.
- Noisy Robots: How Tin-Marie DOESN'T find her end.
- Perception Filter: The Doctor borrows one from the TARDIS to make him seem like a termite.
- Properly Paranoid: Tin-Marie.
- Puppet King: Mayor Laxton.
- Regularly Scheduled Riots
- Separated by a Common Language: The word "Torch" is used for a flashlight.
- Sherlock Scan: The Doctor surmises Jevvan's past in one sentence.
- Slave Race: The Doctor found something similar to a grey sports almanac in regards to Valhalla.
- Standard Snippet: Ride of the Valkyries shows up as a ringtone. The Doctor's pleased with this.
- The Swarm
- Too Dumb to Live: Gerrium using the phone in the diner.
- Uplifted Animal: The Doctor thinks the wildlife might be this.
- Wretched Hive: One of the locals describes Valhalla this way.
- You Are Number 6: Every citizen is identified with a barcode.
