The near future: a man in a psychiatric hospital claims to be an alien time-traveller called ‘the Doctor’ He once adventured across countless galaxies, fighting evil The past: an asylum struggles to change Victorian attitudes to the mentally ill It catches fire in mysterious circumstances Now: a young woman takes an overdose and slips into a coma She dreams of death falling like a shroud over a benighted gothic building Caroline ‘Laska’ Darnell is admitted to the Retreat after her latest suicide attempt To her horror, she recognises the medical centre from recent nightmares of an old building haunted by a ghostly dog with glowing eyes She knows that something is very wrong with the institute Something, revelling in madness, is growing ever stronger The mysterious Dr Smith is fascinated by Laska’s waking dreams and prophetic nightmares But if Laska is unable to trust her own perceptions, can she trust Dr Smith? And, all the while, the long-dead hound draws near This is another in the series of adventures for the Eighth Doctor THE SLEEP OF REASON MARTIN DAY DOCTOR WHO: THE SLEEP OF REASON Commissioning Editor: Ben Dunn Editor & Creative Consultant: Justin Richards Project Editor: Jacqueline Rayner Published by BBC Worldwide Ltd Woodlands, 80 Wood Lane London W12 0TT First published 2004 Copyright © Martin Day 2004 The moral right of the author has been asserted Original series broadcast on the BBC Format © BBC 1963 Doctor Who and TARDIS are trademarks of the BBC ISBN 563 48620 Cover imaging by Black Sheep, copyright © BBC 2004 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham Cover printed by Belmont Press Ltd, Northampton Thanks to Ian Abrahams (always Mausoleum’s biggest fan), Ian Atkins, Bob Baker, Terry Barker, Paul Cornell, Diane Culverhouse, Russell T Davies, Paul Ebbs, Sarah Emsley, Sandy Hastie, Mike Heales, Jill James, Rebecca Levene, Sean McCormack, John McLaughlin, Steven Moffat, the late Dennis Potter (who would, of course, have made a much better job of chapter one), Eric Pringle, Jac Rayner, Helen Raynor, Justin Richards and Keith Topping Dedicated, as always, to Helen Contents Prologue: Dreams Never End (The Secret of Patient # 1759) 1: Do You Remember the First Time? (A Brief History of Self-Harm) 2: Suicide Isn’t Painless (In Fact It Hurts Like Hell) 11 3: Architecture and Morality (Angel of Death) 17 4: There’s a Ghost in My House (Frontier Psychiatrists) 29 5: Caroline Says (I’ve Got My TV and My Pills) 41 6: Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity (Communion) 49 7: I’ll Be Your Mirror (Reflect What You Are) 61 8: Cellar Door (The Place You Fear the Most) 75 9: The Stolen Child (World Full of Weeping) 89 10: Mad World (The Start of the Breakdown) 99 11: Spy vs Spy (Life’s a Riot) 107 12: A Million Manias (Torment) 119 13: My Life in a Bell Jar (Where is My Mind?) 125 14: Basket Case (Where’s Your Head At?) 133 15: A Hideous Strength (Dominion) 141 16: The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum (Kill Your Sons) 145 17: Matters of Life and Death (Chiaroscuro) 157 18: The World, the Flesh and the Devil (O King of Chaos) 165 19: No Alarms (No Surprises) 169 20: No One Here Gets Out Alive (A Person Isn’t Safe Anywhere These Days) 179 21: The Sweet Unknown (Mausoleum) 187 22: Time’s Tides (The Sleep of Reason) 193 23: There by the Grace of God (The Dream of Reason) 201 24: This is the Way the World Ends (The Tooth) 211 25: Soldier Girl (She’s Leaving) 215 26: Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) 223 Epilogue: P.S Goodbye (Cuckoo’s Nest) 225 Beware the Sholem Luz – Made mighty by madness, Birthed in fire, Reborn in terrible destruction Graffito etched into wall of Bethlehem Royal Hospital (‘Bedlam’), c 1790 ... trust Dr Smith? And, all the while, the long-dead hound draws near This is another in the series of adventures for the Eighth Doctor THE SLEEP OF REASON MARTIN DAY DOCTOR WHO: THE SLEEP OF REASON. .. Anywhere These Days) 179 21: The Sweet Unknown (Mausoleum) 187 22: Time’s Tides (The Sleep of Reason) 193 23: There by the Grace of God (The Dream of Reason) 201 24: This is the Way the World Ends (The. .. every tired protest of aching muscle and fatigued sinew If anything the building slipped further and further away, almost sliding into the darkness at the back of the hill – as if the ground were