Naked apart from a tattered green velvet loincloth, tied and nailed to the huge cross hanging above the dais, is the unconscious form of the Doctor.
The Pillar supplies Cupid with energy. Angel, the winged lady of mystery from the catacombs below the city, is stealing energy from the Pillar. And now Mammon, the charming and sophisticated owner of Club Feel, is stealing from the energy Angel's stealing from the Pillar. How much stress can one Pillar be expected to take?
And to make matters worse, the one man who could fix this mess is just a little hung up right now...
So it's up to our heroes, Jadi Morok and Angela Ferris, to save the day. With the help of a free-lovin' journalist and the mysterious River, can they untangle the web of mystery and rescue the Doctor - and maybe save the city as well? Or will Mammon and his sadistic torturer Ryan Purity have their way with them, too?
It is a time of change. A whole race could be reborn. New life could be discovered. The TARDIS may be about to change its crew. And someone will never be the same again.
This story contains adult material that is violent and potentially disturbing in nature. No responsibility is taken for anyone who is subsequently disturbed by the content of this story.
Club Feel is repeatedly referred to in the narrative as Club Feels [though this may be because of the faulty sign mentioned in the last chapter].
The Doctor’s note doesn’t tell River where he is [it’s written on the back, or maybe it's slightly psychic].
Technobabble
Angela runs an internal diagnostic to test for Attenuated Nerve Syndrome in her synthetic and organic navigation systems, motor systems and I/O facilities. Her anomalous organic signature is a cute ickle baby screwing up her cyberware.
Plot Victims
An unexplored event twenty-five years earlier where the Doctor first encountered Mammon.
Doctor Who In-jokes
Mammon declares, "Resistance is utterly useless, Doctor!"
"Look me in the eye. Pull the trigger. End my life."
"River! Baby! Long time no see. How are things?"
Indorelty (Street) is an anagram of Tyler Dion, moderator of other IAs.
Angela's middle name is Q (owing to a lack of response on the IA mailing lists as to what it stood for).
Fashion Victims
LUKE! And, to a lesser extent, DiscoPurity.
Double Entendres
River knocks out Jadi and steals his clothes. "No hard feelings, fella?" leading to "As soon as we are somewhere safe, I want my trousers back." (Ch. 2)
Bearing in mind Purity’s blond hair and blue eyes, his first name is probably short for Aryan.
River and Jadi are at it again: "Help me get the Doctor up." (Ch. 6)
"How do you think I got so good at 'distracting' guards?" Luke asks. (Ch. 9) Actually, Luke is a walking single entendre.
Will: "A what*? Jadi: "Grow up. An anchor." (Ch. 10)
Dialogue Disasters
"I suppose I'm a hard one to convince, but frankly, I don't care what you say. I'm a madman at heart." (Ch. 6)
Angela’s pregnancy immediate brings back clear memories of the Otherverse: "Of course, last time this happened I hadn't had a singularity bomb integral to my design removed to fuel an interuniversal jaunt." (Ch. 8)
"Cruk, I wish I still had that gun I dropped stopping River from falling." Us too, Jadi. (Ch. 8)
The Doctor gets pretentious for no good reason (as Mammon rightly points out). "The light that is in me is darkness." (Ch. 10)
Dialogue Triumphs
"Now remember, pain is all in the mind. Say goodbye to your mind, Doctor." (Ch. 2)
The Doctor, mid-crucifixion, suggests an alternative form of interrogation. "We could sit down, have a cup of tea..." (Ch. 4)
Jadi explains how he knows the Doctor. "I once had a bounty on him. Our relationship has matured a lot since then." (Ch. 4)
Ray and River’s home and the Olympus Mons West transit station on Mars, around 2099 (Luke dodged the draft of the Thousand-Day War "twelve or thirteen years ago")
Cupid, a floating city above the planet Venus, the following few days
Kapone, in an unspecified century [Jadi and Angela’s home time].
Future History
Unwritten Adventures
An unexplored event twenty-five years earlier (~2075) where the Doctor first encountered Mammon.
The Doctor and River have both, independently, taken the TARDIS to earlier periods in Cupid’s history.
Chapter 2 won the 1998-1999 alt.drwho.creative Adric Award for best Round Robin chapter.
The Bottom Line
Dark and violent, this story concentrates heavily on a small group of characters, telling a fairly simple story in an interesting, non-linear way. Good stuff.
