Search Worlds Without End

"In less than 25 years the Romans have invented electricity generation, airships, radio and who knows what else. Is that reasonable?"

Ancient Egypt, 41 BC. The Doctor and Peri watch as Cleopatra's pleasure barge glides up the Nile in preparation for her fateful meeting with Mark Antony. And an alien presence observes the TARDIS, waits for it to dematerialise, then pounces.

When the time ship lands, the Doctor and Peri find themselves in ancient Rome, in the tomb of Cleopatra. But something is very wrong. The tomb walls depict steam-driven galleys and other disturbing anachronisms. The Roman Empire is preparing for a devastating war -- using weapons from the future capable of destroying the entire world.

"There's no such thing as magic," the Doctor said.

But the land of Elbyon might just prove him to be wrong. It is a place, populated by creatures of fantasy, where myth and legend rule. Elves and dwarves live in harmony with mankind, wizards wield arcane powers and armoured knights battle monstrous dragons.

Yet it seems that Elbyon has secrets to hide. The TARDIS crew find a relic from the thirtieth century hidden in the woods. Whose sinister manipulations are threatening the stability of a once peaceful land? And what part does the planet play in a conflict that may save an Empire, yet doom a galaxy?

To solve these puzzles, and save his companions, the Doctor must learn to use the sorcery whose very existence he doubts.

"I might have known it," the Brigadier said tersely. "The Doctor and Miss Shaw have managed to lose themselves on an island that doesn't exist."
1934: Salutua, a legendary lost island in the Pacific. Millionaire Marshal J Grover's expedition arrives to uncover and exploit its secrets. But the task is complicated by a film star's fears and ambitions and a scientist's lethal obsession.

Nearly forty years later: UNIT headquarters, London. The Doctor and Liz Shaw are asked to identify a mysterious artefact and trace its origin. The trail leads them back in time to Salutua and a gigantic discovery. Meanwhile, the Brigadier faces an epidemic of UFO sightings and supernatural occurrences that threaten to bring about global panic. Only the Doctor can help him — but he's trapped on a mythical island four decades in the past.

"They're Menoptera," the Doctor exclaimed, "and this must be Vortis! But why are you treating them like this? They're a peaceful people, not slaves! What's been happening here?"

Many years have passed since the Doctor's first visit to the Web Planet, and he finds a very different world from the one he knew; a world now embroiled in a bitter interplanetary war between the opposing factions of a divided race.

To restore peace, the Doctor must first resolve a deadly ideological conflict, solve the paradox of the nature of life on Vortis, and finally confront the Gods of Light themselves.

As the stakes are raised, can the Doctor contain the ancient terror that threatens to devastate an entire star system?

"As a member of an inferior race, you either work to serve the cause of Averon, or die."

Sarah Jane is marooned on a slave world where the only escape is death. Harry is caught in the middle of an interplanetary invasion, and has to combine medicine with a desperate mission. And the Fourth Doctor lands on a world so secret it does not even have a name.

Why have the TARDIS crew been scattered across the stars? What terrible accident could have wiped the Doctor's memory? And what could interest the Time Lords in this war-torn sector of space?

At the heart of a star-spanning conspiracy lies an ancient quest: people have been making weapons since the dawn of time -- but perhaps someone has finally discovered the ultimate device of death.