BASIC PLOT
Returning from the Cretaceous period, the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones journey to the present day, where Cybermen have been teleporting into labs and stealing technology.

DOCTOR
Tenth.

COMPANIONS
Martha Jones. This book was released before Smith and Jones was shown, making it her very first appearance (though set afterwards).

MATERIALISATION CIRCUIT
Pg 8 The TARDIS is on prehistoric Earth before the adventure begins.

Pg 20 In a carpark, London, present day.

Pg 87 In the Cybermen base, underneath the Millennium Dome.

PREPARATORY READING
This is a sequel to Doomsday and relies fairly heavily on Smith and Jones.

CONTINUITY REFERENCES
Pg 8 "A medical student, she had met the Doctor when terrifying alien forces had invaded the hospital where she was training." Smith and Jones.

Pg 11 "The good old Royal Hope. I'd like to see how everyone's doing. Last time I was there the place got kidnapped." Smith and Jones.

Pg 14 "The Cybermen actually had a hidden base inside the old Torchwood Tower on Canary Wharf before the big invasion." Army of Ghosts.

Pg 18 "And, all right, there was that unlucky business with Mount Vesuvius" Since this is before The Fires of Pompeii, this is either an unrecorded adventure or a reference to the Terry Nation short story Timechase.

Pg 19 "Not more of those ghastly metal men. I couldn't go through all that again." Doomsday.

Pgs 19-20 "The Cybermen were all sucked into the Void." Doomsday.

Pg 30 "The Doctor thought for a moment, remembering a website he'd seen on an Earlier visit to Earth. A website that dealt with the odd and the unexplained. Things like the Doctor himself, in fact." This is Clive's website, seen in Rose. And the phrase "the odd and the unexplained" is a reference to Spearhead from Space.

Pg 32 "She seemed to have got over the ordeal of recent events at the hospital" Smith and Jones.

Pg 36 "This box was seen inside the Torchwood Tower." Doomsday.

Pg 40 "They were all contaminated with Void material, and I fixed it do they'd all be sucked back into the Void." Doomsday.

Pg 41 "I told you, the gap into the Void is sealed forever." Doomsday.

Pg 42 "'My cousin - Adeola. She worked at Torchwood Tower. She never came home after...' Martha sighed. 'I just wondered if you might have seen her.'" Doomsday. But see Continuity Cock-Ups

Pg 58 "Reading between the lines, it seems clear that someone called the Doctor had a lot to do with defeating the invasion." Doomsday.

Pg 61 "I defeated their invasion by having them all sucked back into the Void and sealing the gateway between that dimension and ours forever." Doomsday.

Pg 66 Reference to Martha's parents (Smith and Jones et al).

Pg 86 "Promises made to inferior species have no validity." The Five Doctors (and The Eight Doctors).

Pg 89 "Some is our own Cyber-equipment, which we retrieved from the Torchwood Tower." Army of Ghosts/Doomsday.

Pg 92 "He had fought the Cybermen, although not very successfully, during the invasion." Doomsday.

OLD FRIENDS AND OLD ENEMIES
Pg 32 Rachel, a colleague of Martha's seen in Smith and Jones.

Pg 25 The Cybermen.

NEW FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES
Sheila Sarandon.

CONTINUITY COCK-UPS

• Pg 42 "'My cousin - Adeola. She worked at Torchwood Tower. She never came home after...' Martha sighed. 'I just wondered if you might have seen her.'" Martha already asked the Doctor about Adeola in Smith and Jones, so it's odd that she asks him again. And he apologises again (pg 43).

PLUGGING THE HOLES [Fan-wank theorizing of how to fix continuity cock-ups]

• Martha really misses her cousin and somehow suspects the Doctor knows more about it than he's letting on.

FEATURED ALIEN RACES
Pg 25 The Cybermen.

FEATURED LOCATIONS
Pg 1 London, present day.

Pg 8 Prehistoric Earth.

IN SUMMARY - Robert Smith?
Now that's more like it! This is precisely how to do a New Series Adventure, so it's ironic that it's not quite one of them. Surprisingly, the relatively heavy continuity works a treat, because it gives the book something to hang off and the implications from the TV show can be dealt with in detail, something where the books can excel. The Doctor and Martha shine, while the plot is deceptively clever and perfectly suited to its length. It flies by, but in its own sweet way it's superb. Welcome back, Uncle Terrance. Now if only someone were novelising the TV stories...