The Book of the Still (novel)

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The Book of the Still

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Companion(s):

Featuring:

Main enemy:

Key crew

Publisher:

Writer:

Release details

Release number:

56

Release date:

Format:

Paperback Book; 32 Chapters, 279 Pages

ISBN:

ISBN 0-563-53851-1
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You may be looking forthe titular book.

The Book of the Still was the fifty-sixth novel in theBBC Eighth Doctor Adventures series. It was written byPaul Ebbs (with the title page saying it is "from a story by Paul Ebbs and Richard Jones"), released6 May2002 and featured theEighth Doctor,Fitz Kreiner andAnji Kapoor.

Publisher's summary[[edit] |[edit source]]

The Unnoticed are bound to keep themselves isolated from all history, or face a complete collapse from existence.

The Book of the Still is a lifeline for strandedtime travellers — write your location, sign your name and be instantly rescued. Whenthe Unnoticed learn that within the book someone has revealed both their existence and whereabouts they are forced into murderous intercession to find it.

Fitz knows where it is, but then he's the one who stole it.Carmodi, addicted to the energies trapped in frequent time travellers, also knows where it is. But she's the one who's stolen Fitz.Anji, alone on adoomed planet, trying to find evidence of a race that has never had the decency to exist, doesn't know where anybody is.

Embroiled in the deadly chase,the Doctor is starting to worry about how many people he can keep alive along the way...

Chapter titles[[edit] |[edit source]]

  1. Epilogue
  2. Obligatory Spectacular Opening
  3. Oatmeal and Water
  4. Before All That
  5. Visiting Times
  6. A Different Quality to the Rain
  7. This Never Happened
  8. Dream Time Error
  9. And What Are You In For?
  10. Escape. Switch
  11. I Don't Do This
  12. Leaving Without Saying Goodbye
  13. Resonance Corridor
  14. Snatching Defeat From the Jaws of Victory
  15. Bad Guys Wear Black Hats
  16. Mob Dynamics
  17. Danger: Unexploded Planet
  18. Contact High
  19. Bollywood or Bust
  20. The Burglar's Excuse-Me
  21. Still Point
  22. Learning to Dance
  23. With One Bound He Was Free
  24. I Was a Canary for the Unnoticed
  25. Entry 3756
  26. Coming Down to Earth
  27. Are You Out of Your Mind?
  28. Sunburn
  29. Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
  30. Mind Bomb
  31. Dancing
  32. Prologue

Plot[[edit] |[edit source]]

An unknown figure falls through the skies ofLebenswelt, falling towards "The Library of Closed Books". Using astasis field, they tunnel through the various floors of the Library until they reach the exhibit forThe Book of the Still. Once they reach it, they use ananovirus that simulatesdysentery to take out the robotic guards and prepare to escape the Library using the same stasis field. Unfortunately, one of the robotic guards has survived and jams the stasis field. Guards surround the figure - who is revealed to bethe Doctor.

A young native of "Sirius One Bee" namedRhian Salmond (who declares that she is DEFINETLY NOT the kind of girl to be thrown in prison) is brought to a Lebensweltian prison. While waiting to be brought to her cell, she sees a prisoner being brought into the prison in a bag. After being processed and fed (an extremely meager gruel), Rhian is brought to her cell. Unfortunately, the prisoner in the bag (who seemingly scares the guards at the prison) is also in the cell. Rhian is thrown into the cell with the prisoner, who reveals himself to be the Doctor.

Shortly before the Doctor's attempt to steal the Book of the Still, he (along withFitz andAnji) arrive on Lebenswelt. Almost instantly, Anji is disgusted with the planet due to its filth. The Doctor notices an observatory tower (purposefully built to give the appearance of falling apart to thrill those who use it) and with his companions in tow, rides an elevator to its top. Once on the top, the Doctor spots the Museum of Locks (whichthe TARDIS's map of Lebenswelt has highlighted) before he has an epileptic fit. Fitz and Anji are just barely able to save the Doctor from falling off the tower. Once the Doctor recovers, he reveals that he could feel a "presence" in his mind and then demands that Fitz and Anji return to the TARDIS while he stalks off with the map.

Shortly after the Doctor tries to break into the Library of Closed Books, he is dragged before acourt. Though the Doctor tries to escape, his escape attempt is stopped by a security droid. To try to get the Doctor out of jail, Anji tries to buy him out (using a new movement that tries to deal with overcrowding in Lebensweltian prisons by letting prisoners be released if sufficient funds are raised) but discovers that the "funds" are actually certain vital organs. While meeting with Anji in prison, the Doctor reveals that he only has fragmentary memories of the break-in.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to "learn the local culture", Fitz takes a job from a newspaper advert that turns out to be a rather shady escort gig - one that usesfast-chain memory acids - named theIntrolnductions Escort Agency. In a simulation created by the runners of the escort gig (Svadhisthana,Darlow, and Darlow's hired muscleGimcrack), "Fitzgerald" saves a damsel namedCarmodi Litian from being married off to the evil Duke Doctori. Though Carmodi is nearly slain by Doctori, the duo are saved in the nick of time by Fitz'sjetpack-wearing adjutant Connery. Darlow soon discovers that Fitz - along with the real Carmodi Litian - have gone missing, along with a large chunk of his money (presumably swiped by Carmodi). In an attempt to find this missing money, Darlow looks through Carmodi's memories but soon stumbles onto something so horrible that it makes him throw up and destroys the equipment he is using.

Still in their cell, the Doctor and Rhian begin talking. It is here that the Doctor learns that Rhian is a non-linear anthropologist. He also learns that the Book of the Still is a lifeline for stranded travellers and that the Museum of Locks (which the Library of Closed Books is a part of) is a museum for elaborate security systems which just so happens to have the Book as the "bait" in one of its exhibits. As the Doctor and Rhian stand in the yard (and after talking to two ex-phDs), a sentinel crashes into a Warderbot. While in the hospital, the governor of the prison interrogates the Doctor and (not believing that it is a coincidence) sentences him with death. The attempted execution is stalled by a power failure long enough for the Doctor and Rhian to escape the prison. Once outside of the prison, Rhian slaps the Doctor and reveals that she did not want to escape.

After rooting through Fitz's room, Anji is able to find the advertisement for Svadhisthana and Darlow's operation. She travels to their base and sneaks up on them but is attacked by a rat and screams - leading her to be shot at by Darlow. She runs from them, but is cornered by the two. She escapes after kicking Svadhistana.

Gimcrack catches up with Fitz and Carmodi but the duo are able to escape after jumping out of the window of their apartment and a bystander points Gimcrack in the wrong direction. During Fitz and Carmodi's escape, most technology on Lebenswelt stops working. After losing sight of Gimcrack, Carmodi proposes to Fitz as a pretence to leaving Lebenswelt. Before the two of them can leave the planet, Carmodi returns to the apartment where she is found by Darlow and Gimcrack - who try to find out where their "Subject" is. Carmodi is able to escape from their clutches using a wire from her destroyed TV. Immediately after escaping, Carmodi (alongside Fitz) jumps into a cab. While the cab drives towards the spaceports, Carmodi has a seizure - which causes the driver to throw her and Fitz out of the cab - and starts talking aboutthe "Unnoticed" and the Book of the Still. On recovering, Carmodi finds that Fitz is missing. Fitz - whose brain has reverted to the "Fitzgerald" persona programmed by Svadhisthana - wanders through the streets of Lebenswelt looking for the Museum of Locks. Once inside, Fitz finds that the Museum's defences have shut down due to the power failure. He also finds the Book of the Still - returning to his normal psyche right before the base's defences power back up.

The Doctor is able to convice Rhian to join him in finding the Book of the Still. After fleeing from a restaurant after a broadcast shows that they are convicts, they hear a bus crashing nearby. Entering onto the scene, the Doctor and Rhian help to save the passengers trapped inside before they are attacked by swarms of bats. Meanwhile, Anji escapes her pursuers and returns to the hotel. Due to the power failures, she is unable to enter her room. Though she tries returning to the TARDIS, she finds that she has left her key behind. While wandering the streets of Lebenswelt, the Doctor suffers another epileptic seizure. He sends Rhian to find Anji. Alone, the Doctor is found by Gimcrack (who only knows of the Doctor as "Doctori") and gets punched in the face by the hired muscle.

Meanwhile, Carmodi finds Fitz and takes the Book of the Still from his. As Fitz follows Carmodi to a nearby wharf, he feels that he is missing something but is unable to put his finger on it. He also notices that Carmodi is paying a lot of attention towards the Book. Ignoring this (largely due to Carmodi rubbing her finger across his throat), Fitz joins his wife aboard a ship bought with Darlow's stolen credit chip. Before the ship can take off, it is found by Gimcrack (presumably shortly after punching the Doctor) who clambers on top of it and begins shooting into the cockpit. This shot activates the ship's shields - which toss Gimcrack off of the ship. He and Darlow (who have just arrived) watch as the ship leaves the atmosphere. While the ship is oribiting Lebenswelt, Fitz notices that Gimcrack's shot has damaged the ship's windscreen. Carmodi brushes Fitz off - claiming that the ship's defence grid should keep them safe - as she has greater concerns, due to the fact that the authorities have noticed the stolen chip that Carmodi used. Before they can be caught, Carmodi reveals that she intends on finding the "Resonance Corridor" - a point used by the Unnoticed to navigate through their own Wave Interrupters. To get through it, Rhian flies her ship right through an Unnoticed ship making planet-fall.

Though Anji finds Rhian to be a stuck-up student, she accompanies her to the wharfs to meet with the Doctor but they find no sign of the Doctor. To see if the Doctor has been taken offworld, Anji asks around the wharves (while pretending that the Doctor is her missing uncle) but finds no sign of the Doctor leaving in a ship. Anji does find "CreepyEyedBloke" and (with Rhian following her) follows him to a warehouse. Meanwhile, Darlow and Svadhisthana try to interrogate the Doctor but find him to be extremely unhelpful. As such, they attach a device to his head and begin zapping him.

While watching the docks, Anji and Rhian notice the Doctor and his captors (whom have just finished interrogating him). Seeing their chances of defeating at least Darlow and Gimcrack are slim, Anji calls the cops and sends them to a nearby wharf. Anji then breaks in and (using the threat of imminent arrest) makes Darlow hand over the Doctor. In the confusion, the three criminals escape into the sewers while Anji and company reach the TARDIS just as the Unnoticed ship enters into Lebenswelt's atmosphere.

After travelling through the Resonance Corridor, Fitz awakens and finds Carmodi mid-seizure. On recovering, Carmodi reveals that she has flown through the Corridor at least once before (though she refuses to reveal anything else). To make Fitz ignore this, Carmodi mentions the ship's food machine. This makes Fitz think of his flat, which causes a splitting headache that is only stopped by Carmodi's touch.

For a whole day, the Unnoticed's ship does nothing but sit in the skies of Lebenswelt. Despite this, riots begin due to its mere presence. The Doctor and his companions spend most of this first day trying to lift the TARDIS (which was flipped right onto its doors by the arrival of the Unnoticed's ship) back upright. After failing at this, the Doctor decides to get a better look at the ship using the observatory tower. The Doctor's observation reveals that the ship is covered in burns but is interrupted by the Mayor arriving at the tower. On noticing the Doctor, the Mayor's guards inform him that the Doctor is an escaped fugitive. The Mayor has the Doctor arrested and threatens to throw him off the tower as he believes that the Doctor is somehow responsible for the chaos. The Doctor calls the Mayor's bluff and when asked to explain himself, simply points to where three Unnoticed wearing black trenchcoats and black hats have materialized. The Doctor sends Anji to right the TARDIS back up while he negotiates with the Unnoticed. After asking for the Book of the Still, one of the Unnoticed releases an extremely diseased humanoid being from within their coat and has it sniff the Doctor. This reveals to the Unnoticed that the Doctor is a time traveller and they promptly fire at him. Instead of hitting the Doctor, their shots hit two guards (disintegrating their bodies and only leaving behind their shoes). Though seemingly angered by the deaths, the Doctor continues trying to speak with the Unnoticed. After the Unnoticed teleport a mysterious ball-shaped object onto Lebenswelt, the Doctor reveals that the Book of the Still is not on Lebenswelt anymore. As such, the Unnoticed bring out their "sniffer dog" (who backs up the Doctor's story before being tossed off the observatory tower by them) before leaving without their mysterious ball. When the Mayor asks the Doctor what the ball is, he simply says that it is "death".

Meanwhile, Anji rallies the mob into righting the TARDIS by pretending that it is an alien ship. Though she is able to right it, she is thrown into the TARDIS's console while trying to enter it. Once she has recovered from the pain of landing directly on the TARDIS's console, Anji steps out of the TARDIS to find the Unnoticed ship missing and the mobs dispersed. Unfortunately, she also finds Gimcrack's fist flying into her face. She is taken away by Darlow to be interrogated.

After convincing the Mayor not to have him taken away for "further questioning", the Doctor reveals that the bomb is an extremely powerful bomb that could destroy the entirety of Lebenswelt. While the Doctor examines it, the bomb begins to pulse with energy. Upon this happening, the Doctor throws himself from the balcony onto an elevator and begins to run down the street. Assuming that the Doctor was in league with the Unnoticed (something that Rhian vehemently disagrees with), the Mayor has his guards beat the bomb with their batons. This does little to stop the bomb. Right before the bomb explodes, the Doctor materializes his TARDIS around it. This damages the TARDIS and (when Rhian finishes banging on the doors of the TARDIS), the Doctor falls out into her arms seemingly burnt to death.

The Doctor's injuries are revealed to be way less severe than Rhian assumed. Due to saving Lebenswelt, the Mayor effectively pardons the Doctor and lets him look over security footage of ships leaving. From this, the Doctor learns that Fitz has left Lebenswelt for Antimasque. The Doctor hires a Light-One ship to Antimasque and brings Rhian along with him. During the voyage, the Doctor has extremely disturbing nightmares and nearly strangles Rhian while still waking up from one.

As Carmodi and Fitz travel to Antimasque, Fitz's fast-chain memory acids begin to wear off and he realizes that something is off with Carmodi's "love" for him. Carmodi is forced to reveal that she is only attracted to Fitz due to the rare particles emanating off of him due to his travels through time. Seventeen days later, the two arrive on Antimasque. While Fitz's view of Carmodi is shattered, the memory acids still have vague effects on him - suppressing his memories of being a time traveller and keeping him vaguely in love with Carmodi.

Shortly after Carmodi and Fitz arrive on Antimasque, the Unnoticed arrive on the planet. To compound their problems, Carmodi soon discovers that the Book of the Still (which she sees as a way to end her addiction to time travellers) has been stolen from their safe. Despite this, the two visit a ball. Unbeknownst to them, the Doctor and Rhian are also at the ball. At the same time, Anji (who was also brought to the ball by her captors) begins to experience a version of reality which mirrors classic Bollywood tropes due to her captors injecting memory acids into her bloodstream. While dancing to "escape her evil Uncle Abdul", Anji's memory acids begin to completely wear off. As this begins, everyone in the ball begins to swap partners due to a dance called the "Burglar's Excuse-Me". Right before everyone can be reunited, the Unnoticed burst through the ceiling. Once the Unnoticed land in the ballroom, a cordon of armed waiters surround them. The Doctor attempts to get through this cordon but the waiters somewhat rudely stop him from doing so. As such, the Doctor (along with everyone else) is effectively trapped in the ballroom as the waiters and the Unnoticed begin firing at each other. During the chaos, Darlow's gang reaches Anji and gets the Book of the Still (though they are unable to leave due to the chaos). Meanwhile, Fitz hides with Carmodi and attempts to get her to flee with him. Unfortunately, she has other things on her mind and runs directly into the chaos. The Doctor nearly touches her but he is thrown out of the ballroom before this can happen. Carmodi then throws herself in front of the Unnoticed and asks them to take her home.

The Unnoticed take their former canary (alongside Fitz) back into their coats. They then seemingly depart Antimasque and leave behind another bomb. At first, the Doctor thinks there is nothing he can do and (after some useless attempts to destroy the bomb) resigns to die. Soon, though, he realizes that the Unnoticed's ship has not left the orbit of Antimasque and is waiting for a "Resonance Corridor" to slip over ships. The Doctor uses musicians to replicate the Resonance Corridor's tone and allows the tourists to leave the planet. The Doctor tries to get Rhian to leave while he stays behind to see if he can save the planet. While Rhian plays to stay, both she and the Doctor are knocked out by Gimcrack before either can set out to the ballroom where the bomb is in. Rhian awakens some time later to find a despondent Doctor standing near the bomb. He reveals that the Unnoticed have set off their bomb and that the tablet he was using to hold the musicians' melody has been stolen. Believing that he will soon die along with all life on Antimasque, the Doctor decides to learn how to dance from Rhian. While the Doctor is initially extremely rusty, he soon is able to pick up the basics and masters ballroom dancing. Meanwhile, Darlow's men attempt to leave but are held up when Anji's memory acids lead her to pick up a rifle - making the three crew members worried that she will take the tablet and possibly turn it off. Before the bomb can explode, they warp the Doctor and Rhian onto their ship. Though the Doctor tries to get Darlow to send him back to Antimasque so he can stop the bomb, Darlow commands Gimcrack to kill Anji as an example to the Doctor.

Before Gimcrack can kill Anji, the Doctor gets in front of him. The two briefly fight before Rhian grabs the dropped rifle and gets everyone to stop fighting. She reveals that she has read through the Book of the Still and believes that her missing time traveller father used it. While the Doctor still wishes to save Antimasque, Rhian no longer wants to do this. When she shows the Doctor Entry 3756 of the Book, the Doctor becomes convinced of this as well and lets the ship depart while the Unnoticed's bomb destroys Antimasque. While the ship departs, the Doctor watches the destruction of Antimasque with tears in his eyes. Shortly after leaving the destroyed planet of Antimasque, the Doctor asks Rhian about her father (a worker at a company utilizing time travel who vanished when Rhian was six) before flipping through the Book and finding Rhian's entry. While he looks through the Book, Anji's memory acids wear off. She is enraged by what has happened to her and plans to attack Darlow and his men before the Doctor stops her. Once Anji's anger ebbs, the Doctor begins thinking over Rhian's entry - which holds the coordinates for the Unnoticed's tent city. According to the Book, the city is stationed in the photosphere of Earth's sun.

Fitz and Carmodi are brought by the Unnoticed to their nomadic home base, dubbed the "Tent City" by Carmodi due to its nature as a collection of massive tents. By this point, Fitz's memory acids have almost completely worn off though he still has some affection for Carmodi. While within a cell in one of the tents, Carmodi explains that she is a time-sensitive "canary" that the Unnoticed created as a way to warn them of time sensitives and time travellers (who they fear due to their paradoxical nature). Soon, Fitz (who reacts extremely negatively to the naked form of the Unnoticed) and Carmodi are brought to a meeting-place of Unnoticed. While there, Fitz finds out exactly where the Tent City is and is extremely shocked by this news. After recovering from a screaming fit brought about by the last of his memory acids and shock from the knowledge that he is only a few feet (if that) away from the surface of the Sun, Fitz is left alone with Carmodi. This lasts for a brief moment before one of the Unnoticed arrives and reveals that they know that Fitz isn't a time sensitive. As such, they take Carmodi away to where the other time sensitives are. Meanwhile, after Darlow and his companions have been tied up, the Doctor begins to approach the Sun. Svadhisthana becomes extremely hysterical due to this and asks to be knocked out - which Gimcrack gleefully does.

Having been brought before a crowd of Unnoticed and their time-sensitives, Fitz is sniffed by one of these sensitives. This reveals that Fitz's death would be unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Before Fitz can be executed, the Unnoticed hear an alarm clanging and flee with basically all of their time sensitives. Fitz is left alone with a despondent Carmodi (who has been returned to her natural state). Carmodi reveals that the Unnoticed have found out that Lebenswelt was not destroyed - which could possibly spell their doom.

Meanwhile, as the ship approaches the Sun, the Doctor tears the Book of the Still apart and makes a sort of glider out of its pages. Before the ship explodes, the Doctor piles everyone inside of the glider and uses their weight to float to the Tent City. Once inside, the Doctor uncharacteristically snaps at Anji to collect the pages of the Book and Darlow points a gun at her face to make her do this. While Darlow is able to get Anji and Rhian to collect all of the pages, they are able to escape the mobsters and begin wandering through the corridors of the Tent City alongside the mobsters. Meanwhile, Fitz fully regains his memories of the Doctor as Carmodi begins seizing due to the presence of a time traveller of his caliber. Once Carmodi stops seizing, Fitz tries to use her abilities to bring him to the Doctor. Soon, the Doctor finds one of the Unnoticed's ships - with all of the Unnoticed milling around it. He finds his companions in the glider and soon (quite literally) runs into Fitz. Upon finding Carmodi, he begins strangling her to Fitz's horror.

Once the Doctor touches Carmodi, time (along with the bodies of everyone in the Tent City) become fluid. While this allows Fitz to remove a "Mindbomb" implanted into the Doctor's head by Darlow, it also causes the mob boss to merge with his henchmen. Once time returns to normal, the Doctor tries to negotiate with the Unnoticed for information - interrupting their attempts to leave the Tent City as it begins to collapse. The Doctor's questionings are briefly interrupted by Rhian before she runs into the Unnoticed's ship in an attempt to find her future self. While the Doctor is able to learn that the Unnoticed have learned that they are walking paradoxes, he is interrupted again by the combined mass of Darlow, Gimcrack, and Svadhisthana firing at him with a laser pistol. Before Darlow can shoot the Doctor, Fitz gets in his way (getting grazed by his shot). While the Doctor kicks Darlow's gun out of the way, Rhian seemingly meets her own self - and Carmodi - within the ship. Anji is able to bring Rhian and Carmodi outside. Once outside, Rhian reveals that the Unnoticed's paradoxical nature is because they created themselves - and that the merging of Darlow, Gimcrack, and Svadhisthana formed them. Thus, everyone within the Tent City is within a closed loop. Though the Doctor is disgusted by this and tries to stop it, Gimcrack closes the loop out of sheer spite by touching one of the Unnoticed.

Once the loop is closed, the Tent City phases out of reality and the Doctor and his companions (alongside Carmodi and Rhian) are flung into the Vortex while desperately grasping onto the Book. Before the Book exits the Vortex, Rhian loses her grip and is sent falling back through the Vortex. Once the Book lands on Lebenswelt, the Doctor reveals that he managed to break the loop - to the detriment of Carmodi, whose Still Point has been broken. Seemingly enraged by this, she stalks off and leaves the Doctor and his companions alone.

After flying through the Vortex, Rhian ends up in a jail cell on the Unnoticed's ship. While the Doctor tries to save her by materializing the TARDIS in the cell, he immediately leaves when he discovers a time bomb - left behind by Carmodi when she visited the jail cell to pick up Rhian. While doing this, Carmodi leaves a note behind explaining this to the Doctor.

Characters[[edit] |[edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] |[edit source]]

People[[edit] |[edit source]]

  • Albrecht was a "non-linear anthropologist" who wrote about the culture of "Seekers" and "Finders" that revolves around the Book of the Still. While trying to reach the Dream Time on the planet of Hej, he accidentally erased three of his own ancestors after crossing song-lines. He was saved due to his forethought, having time-coded his later life decisions.

Materials[[edit] |[edit source]]

Locations[[edit] |[edit source]]

  • Lebenswelt is an extremely wealthy Earth colony which, despite its extreme wealth, is filled with filth and grime due to nobody actually wanting to clean up the filth and grime of the streets. The largest city on the planet is also called Lebenswelt and has a Gothic aesthetique. Red, bat-like creatures tear each other to shreds in the atmosphere as the people of Lebenswelt mindlessly party.
  • The planetPorconine is uninhabited.
  • Sirius One Bee (presumably Sirius 1B) is a human colony world. Rhian Salmond is a native of the planet.
  • In an effort to bring the Book of the Still onto Lebenswelt and into the Museum of Locks, the entire planetoid that it was previously on was bought.

The Unnoticed[[edit] |[edit source]]

  • The Unnoticed use a "Wave Interrupter" to destroy all methods of communication (along with higher technology) and make their assaults on inhabited worlds go unnoticed by the larger universe. Their ships are warped constructions without any form of symmetry.

Notes[[edit] |[edit source]]

to be added

Continuity[[edit] |[edit source]]

External links[[edit] |[edit source]]