Blue Box

Kate Orman

2003

Peri and the Doctor had gone back to the States so that Peri could visit with her parents. However, the TARDIS' circuits proved as accurate as ever, leaving Peri in a snit. In an effort to make it up to her, the Doctor takes her out for a meal, but they don't even get the chance to eat their meals in peace before the Doctor disappears after receiving a message from one of the waiters. Not quite realising how long it would be until she saw him again, Peri returns to her hotel room to wait for him to contact her once more.

Then out of the blue the Doctor calls with a request that she hunts up a guy by the name of Robert Salmon with the rather worrying note that he may require them to steal something for him. Robert's an early computer freak, liking nothing more than raiding computer and phone systems, well known in the world of hackers and phreakers. But the Doctor's request puts him and Peri up against Sarah Swan, who had the reputation of Queen of the Phreakers. A woman who hated to be crossed. A woman who could make sure that you would never ever be able to use a phone normally again!

But just what was it that the Doctor wanted? As Peri and Bob dig deeper into the mystery, they have to employ the full powers of their computer systems to defend themselves against an increasingly vicious Sarah Swan.

When they finally made contact with the Doctor, the Doctor explained that an alien device had been broken up and lost. Most of this had been retrieved but the controller was still missing and its owners would take extreme measures to stop it falling into the hands of primitive Terrans.

Rather unusually for Doctor Who, the main point of view is not supplied by the Doctor or his Companion.

---