Black Snow is a short story written by David Bishop. Released in 1999, it is part of the Doctor Who anthology Perfect Timing 2 and shows the Doctor visiting the Brigadier.
Characters[]
- Seventh Doctor
- Ace
- Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
- Sir Terrance Adams - a former war artist turned anti-nuclear protestor who merged with the Brigadier back in 1959
- Mary Fisher - a lost young girl, possibly created by Terrance
- Mike Watkins
Plot[]
As a police sergeant named Mike Watkins dies to an unknown horror, the TARDIS materializes in the village of Exford during a biting Winter night. Somewhere within the small Exmoor village is the Brigadier (who has called the TARDIS to Exford). While arriving, Ace hears the screams of the dying Mike Watkins and finds that the village is completely deserted. While wandering the streets, the Doctor notices Lethbridge-Stewart staring down at them from a pub known as the White Hart (which Ace entered shortly beforehand in the hopes of finding something to drink).
After leaving the White Hart due to the decrepit state it is in, Ace finds a lost girl wearing a bloodstained cardigan asking for her missing mother and talking about "bad men". Once a disheveled Lethbridge-Stewart steps outside, the little girl dubs him one of the "bad men" before vanishing. Soon, the Doctor and Ace are inside with Lethbridge-Stewart. He explains to them that the people of the village vanished over several days and that he was called to help out an old friend named Terrance Adams (who Ace remembers disappeared forty years ago). After sending Ace out of the pub, the Doctor asks to talk with Terrance. Once upstairs (where Terrance is supposedly staying), the two discover that his bed is empty. The Doctor hypnotizes the Brigadier and has him tell him how he first met Terrance.
Forty years ago, the British government was testing a mysterious weapon in the then-abandoned village. A young Lethbridge-Stewart was guarding the village when he found Sir Terrance trying to sketch the village before the bomb hit. The two were trapped in the blast radius as the bomb went off. While the two talk, Ace sees the snow outside turning black and finds a "monument" outside which she quickly discovers is a bomb. She rushes inside just before it explodes.
On awaking, Ace finds that the Brigadier has been reduced to a young soldier. She also discovers that the extremely ancient Sir Terrence Adams is sitting in the bed. Sir Terrance hints that he has, in some way, been controlling the events within the village. The Doctor is forced to ask Terrance where they are. To show him, he brings the Doctor and Ace into an astral vision showing events in the past. Specifically, it shows that the British government tested a device similar to an electromagnetic pulse but for living creatures on the (then-deserted) village of Exford. When the blast hit Sir Terrance, it destroyed his body and merged him with Lethbridge-Stewart - making him into nothing more than a voice in the back of Lethbridge-Stewart's mind. After showing them this, Ace and Sir Terrance argue before the Doctor convinces him to let go. Once back in the real Exford, the Doctor and Ace walk back to the TARDIS. Though Ace has a few questions about what happened (such as if the girl and the monument were real), the Doctor doesn't give an answer before they leave.
In-universe continuity[]
- The events of Battlefield are explicitly mentioned, placing this story after them.
Sources[]
- drwhoguide