Doctor Who_ Winner Takes All - Jacqueline Rayner [0]
by Jaqueline Rayner
Rose and the Doctor return to present-day Earth, and become intrigued by the latest craze – the video game Death to Mantodeans. Is it as harmless as it seems? And why are so many local people going on holiday and never returning?
Meanwhile, on another world, an alien war is raging. The Quevvils need to find a new means of attacking the ruthless Mantodeans. Searching the galaxy for cunning, warlike but gullible allies, they find the ideal soldiers – on Earth.
Will Rose be able to save her family and friends from the alien threat? And can the Doctor play the game to the end – and win?
Featuring the Doctor and Rose as played by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper in the hit series from BBC Television.
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Prologue
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY‐ONE
Acknowledgements
About the author
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For Nick
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‘I thought I’d better call home,’ said Rose, wandering into the TARDIS’s huge, vaulted control room and waving her phone at the Doctor.
The Doctor had his arms crossed and was leaning with his back against a wall, staring across at the large, circular structure that sat in the centre of the room, on which a myriad of lights flickered and sparkled. His face shone green in the glow from a tall, thin column in the centre of the structure which indicated that they were in flight. Rose didn’t know where they were going, but perhaps the Doctor could tell from observing these things exactly where in the universe the time‐and‐space machine was taking them. He nodded at her. She felt slightly cheated, having geared herself up for – well, not an argument, just that flicker of displeasure that occasionally crossed his face when she mentioned family.
She pushed a bit further. ‘It’s just that my mum’ll worry. You know that my mum’ll worry. And I did promise. Sort of.’
He nodded again. ‘And you think she’ll worry less if you tell her you’ve been out facing aliens but at the moment you’re just spinning through the space‐time vortex.’
Rose frowned. ‘She’ll worry less if she thinks I’m not dead!’
The Doctor – her best friend, the Doctor, who outwardly seemed to be a striking, forty‐ish human with a soft northern accent, but was, she knew, actually a 900‐year‐old alien from some galaxy far, far away – could be a bit dismissive of her mum’s worries sometimes. She wasn’t sure if it was something to do with not being human, or just something to do with being the Doctor. She didn’t even know if he’d ever had a mum of his own. If you didn’t understand mums in general, there was no way you’d get Jackie Tyler.
‘I’ll just give her a quick call. Well, I say quick, she’ll keep me on for hours, wanting to know everything – she can talk for England, my mum can. Hope you weren’t planning to stop off at any planets this morning.’
He grinned. ‘My planet‐hopping can wait till this afternoon.’
She smiled back, and pressed the speed‐dial button that called her mum. She just had to accept that, through the Doctor’s genius, her ordinary mobile could now transcend space and time; if she thought about it too much her mind began to feel like it was overheating.
The phone rang six times before it was picked up, which surprised Rose. Her mum loved nothing better than a good old natter, and the phone was usually snatched up when it had barely got out its first brring. ‘Hiya, Mum.’ she said.
The voice at the other end was exuberant. ‘Rose! What are you doing? Where are you?’ Then a slight pause. ‘Are you still with him?’
Rose smiled. ‘I’m just hanging around in the time machine. And yeah, I’m still with him.’
The Doctor looked up at this and did a sarky wave that she knew was directed at Jackie. Rose waved back happily. ‘Mum says hi,’ she said, with her hand over the phone.
‘And are you planning on coming home any time soon?’ Jackie was saying. ‘Everyone misses you. Mickey misses you. I miss you. You know, one of these days you’ll decide to come home and it