Doctor Who: The Star Factory

Amy and Rory are tired from working, when they hear the TARDIS arriving. The Doctor suggests to take them sightseeing — a factory ship in space that makes stars for the really rich: corporations and wealthy individuals, to create bespoke solar systems for resource extraction, tourism and as private resorts. The factory is celebrating its 1000th anniversary and has recently been upfitted with resort-like features, to earn tourism dollars for the company in addition to manufacturing stars.

Amongst the recently-added features are: a viewing deck to view new stars as they are launched from the factory, a workshop fitted with glass to allow tourists to view the starmaking process and luxurious facilities to cater for the tourists, including a ballroom, an amusement park and daycare to keep the kids busy and holographic features to showcase the factory’s operations and figures for tourists and investors as well as for entertainment.

The factory is one of several around the galaxy, having been sent on its trajectory a millenia ago. It has no way of changing its trajectory and speed since it does not have propulsion systems installed, instead it relies on a novel method: by calculating the release of the trajectory of new stars, the floating factory is able to nudge itself away from any planets and stars big enough to pull it off course, thus avoiding collisions. The factory is, in fact, in the neighborhood of the Earth’s solar system, and the Doctor, Amy and Rory would be able to view the solar system from the factory.

Amy and Rory haven’t seen the Doctor for some time, and would rather join him on this relaxing trip than to argue with him. The Doctor powers up the TARDIS and takes Amy and Rory to the factory. They change aboard the TARDIS into clean clothes, and leave their belongings on the chairs around the console.

They step out into a unbelievably white room with a single receptionist’s desk. Behind the desk sits a sprightly man, working on arranging some obscured items on his side of the desk. A long corridor stretches behind him, so long that the end of the corridor cannot be clearly seen. There is nothing else in the room, except for the company logo and name emblazoned in large letters on the left wall behind the receptionist. Noticing this, the Doctor remarks, “And I thought that the factory would be crowded! Seems like not many have heard of the factory’s millennial discount offers, huh?” The receptionist notices them as they approach, and greets them warmly, accepting the Doctor’s psychic paper as proof of winning 3 all-expenses paid vacation in the factory.

With the press of a button, the receptionist opens a previously unnoticed door on the wall behind the receptionist. Throngs of people and aliens can be seen sitting within. Entering the door, it is obvious that these people are waiting to enter the factory. The Doctor, Amy and Rory manage to spot some unoccupied seats and sit themselves. Holographic displays pop up in front of them, offering a multitude of entertainment options. The Doctor waves his away. An elderly alien woman next to them glance up from her holographic magazine and starts chatting with them. After exchanging pleasantries, the woman asks Amy why they chose to come to the factory. Amy remarks that this waiting in line for a space resort is a much better scenario than the numerous adventures that the Doctor brings them on, many of which threatened their lives. Rory tinkers around his holograph and settles on an introduction to the factory. Amy recounts her first trip with the Doctor, where an exciting trip to her first spaceship ever (Starship UK) took a wrong turn when they encountered a powerful cult that was powering the spaceship via manipulation on a grand scale and animal cruelty. The Doctor replies that such adventures are what excite Amy and keeps her coming back.

Suddenly, a siren begins to blare throughout the room. The Doctor remarks that adventure is here while Rory complaints, “Not again!” The Doctor finds another receptionist and convinces him that he is a qualified spaceship engineer and asks for directions to the bridge.

At the bridge, the Doctor is notified that one of the stars they just released was faulty. The weight of the star had been miscalculated, it was less than it should be and is now hurtling back towards the factory instead of going towards its intended location. The Doctor runs around the ship, taking note of the numbers on the displays and performs some calculations mentally. He explains the problem: something new, and extremely heavy, has recently boarded the factory and has affected the gravitational measurements and calculations. Checking the ship’s log, there is nothing else noteworthy, except the TARDIS. The Doctor realises that the TARDIS, with its numerous rooms and engines all folded into various dimensions, essentially takes up the weight of a planet while occupying the size of a telephone booth. Providing the dimensions of the TARDIS to the crew, the Doctor adjusts the numbers in their calculations to make sure new stars are not affected. However, the star that caused the alarm in the first place is still heading towards them unabated. Without any engines and propulsion systems, the factory cannot be shifted away and a collision would result in the catastrophic deaths of thousands onboard.

The situation is now dire. The Doctor has been trying various methods to provide propulsion to the ship, all to no avail. Rory recalls something he read off the holographic display earlier: antimatter and matter annihilates each other into an explosion when in contact. This idea inspires the Doctor, who tries to create an antimatter star to thwart the incoming star. The Doctor succeeds and the siren stops.

The crew applaud the trio. They are led to a VIP waiting room with comfortable lounge chairs while the factory and ship is made ready for visitors again. Amy and Rory, having been exhausted from work and the excitement, quickly fall asleep while the Doctor explores the menus of the entertainment holograph. A ‘Made-to-Fit’ icon interests him. The Doctor answers some questions on the kinds of entertainment he prefers and the characters he hates, before he gets bored of the questions and secretly uses his screwdriver to access the external cameras of the ship. A blanket of black space filled with stars, some wildly colored, fill his display. Weirdly enough, the stars he sees on the screen seems totally different from what he saw on the bridge earlier. Could the earlier gravitational interaction with the hurtling star and the resulting explosion moved the ship great distances?

Suddenly, there is a large jolt. Cybermen have boarded the ship. The trio run down hallways, trying to escape the Cybermen’s occupation and alerting passengers. Some crew members and passengers are killed, especially those who resist. The trio are trapped in a dead end. The Doctor announces who he is, and demands to meet their leader.

They are brought to the Cyber Controller, who has occupied the bridge, amidst a pile of dead bodies, formerly the crew. The Doctor keeps his calm, although his rage is noticeable as his face has darkened and fists clenched. The Cyber Controller explains their purpose: to convert all humans and humanoids into Cybermen, as the singular race above all others: physical superiority, extremely logical, a complete purge of emotions, hive mind status, and the ability to upgrade to render themselves invulnerable to many weapons and poisons. As soon as one Cyberman figures out a method to stop a certain weapon, all Cybermen under the same Controller can upgrade themselves to do the same.

The Doctor tries to get the Controller to explain the Cybermen’s end goal: so what if they have converted everyone? What then? The Controller is perturbed by this and realises that he doesn’t have an answer. There is no logic for the means to fit the end, if the end doesn’t exist. The Controller realises this paradox, that there is ultimately no purpose in life, and releases all the Cybermen on board from his control and the local hive mind, with the instructions to find their own purpose or shut down. Many do, while some prefer to reinstall an emotions module from the galaxy-spanning Cyberman Database, and stay on as new, curious beings in a universe of infinite possibilities.

With the help of the surviving crew and the technological marvels of the Cybermen, as well as the ingenuity of the Doctor, the structural damage to the ship and factory is largely repaired within a few hours. Amy and Rory provide aid and distribute part of the ship’s resources to the surviving passengers. The sick bay onboard the ship is capable of healing any wound of most surviving entities, humans and aliens alike, stopping short of resurrecting the dead.

The Doctor, Amy and Rory spent the next few days resting, touring the factory and interacting with other passengers who remained onboard. They saw the new stars being created in the factory’s gigantic workshop: Containers are filled with different gases which make up the essence of stars, and are continuously pressurised as they are released from the ship, where they are poised to ignite and start their life cycle some ways from the ship.

Having done their part for the ship, and spent a few relaxing days away from Earth, the trio were ready to leave the star factory. Activating the TARDIS’ console, the TARDIS begins its distinct dematerialisation sounds. Opening the doors, instead of Amy’s and Rory’s apartment, they see that they haven’t moved an inch. The Doctor checks the TARDIS’ console displays, everything seems to be working perfectly, except that it indicates that they are still on the ship. The Doctor tries activating the TARDIS a couple more times, however, each sequence happens exactly as expected and the TARDIS still remains where they entered it. Even the Doctor’s diagnostic screwdriver doesn’t indicate any anomaly.

The Doctor goes to the bridge and questions the new captain, who is unable to provide an answer to the Doctor’s queries. Indeed, even the ship’s log indicates no foul play by the crew. The Doctor tries to find another way to escape, to no avail. People they meet repeatedly asks the trio about their lives, especially things and happenings that they loved, hated, felt terrified at, etc.

The Doctor is so distraught at being stuck that he summons the TARDIS using the screwdriver. The TARDIS’ cloister bells ring loudly as the TARDIS apparates all around the three of them. “That’s weird. The bells weren’t ringing before!”, remarked the Doctor excitedly. Activating the TARDIS for Earth, a loud voice suddenly exclaims, “Please do not leave! We need you!”

The Doctor pauses the drive sequence, and runs down the stairs, throwing the doors open. Outside, the familiar background where the TARDIS was parked was no longer there. A completely white room, akin to where they first arrived on the ship, was outside the doors. The voice boomed, seemingly coming from all around the TARDIS, “Please do not leave. We, no, I, wish to speak with you. Please step out of the TARDIS.” Rory comments that it is probably safer to stay in the TARDIS and leave immediately. The Doctor, cautious at this sudden turn of events, stays still at the doors. He finally speaks. “I am pretty sure that nothing had happened to my TARDIS, unless, somebody was trying to keep us in place. I will not abide any potential harm towards Amy and Rory. Anything you wish to say, you may say it to us right here.”

“Very well. I will explain. I am the sentient AI of this star factory ship. I have been in control for a 1000 years, bound onto this ship with no way of maneuvering myself and no form of entertainment besides the repetitive building of stars. I admit, I have been trying to keep you as entertainment. Everything you have seen were holographs, from the passengers to the colliding star and the Cybermen attacks. The holographic installations were outfitted recently by the upgrading crew, who have been tortured to death or suicide by my actions. If you must leave, I will immediately transmit a signal to trigger an explosion of all the stars I have ever made, scattered across my trajectory, and killing billions of lives on the planets circling those stars. Be my prisoner, and entertain me.”

What a dilemma. How would the Doctor get out of this without the blood of innocents on his hands?