Attack of the Snowmen ( short story ) Attack of the Snowmen was a December 2011 online short story published on the BBC ' s Doctor Who Website as part of the 2011 Adventure Calendar . Summary . A missing businessman , odd snow , and a strange man in a bowler hat drag the Doctor and his snowbound friends into an alien mystery . Plot . Part one . Businessman Geoff Bluth is caught in a snowstorm and can ' t find his hotel . While on the line he stops to ask a mysterious man in a bowler hat and grey pinstriped suit what street they are on . He screams . . . Over a week later , the town is still snowed in and the power and all phone service is out . The roads across Europe are blocked and the petrol stations are out of fuel . Louie Rollins has borrowed his neighbour ' s daughter ' s snowboard and is using it to make his way into town . As he reaches his Aunt Rachael ' s house , he zigzags around the numerous snowmen outside , clipping one and careening , narrowly managing to reach the door to crash into the kitchen , amusing Aunty Rachael . Millie comes in and the three chat until Millie ' s phone rings . It takes a moment for all three to realise that the battery is dead and there ' s no reception . Millie answers , then rushes to the door to let in the Eleventh Doctor . They catch up , and he tells them that he was on the way to visit the creation of the Salcreyan Nebula when the TARDIS was dragged off course by something alien and powerful . His scans didn ' t find anything , so he asks them if they ' d noticed anything unusual since the beginning of the storm . Rachael mentions the missing businessman , and Millie has noticed that the snow is still light and fluffy and hasn ' t melted even though daytime temperatures have been above freezing . The Doctor examines the snow , which looks and smells like snow , but he says he has a very sensitive tongue that can tell by taste that there are trace amounts of phosidium , a substance that shouldn ' t exist on Earth or in this solar system . The Doctor bids them goodbye , planning to use the TARDIS to track down any more concentrations of phosidium , but Rachael doesn ' t care to just sit and worry . She declares they ' re coming with him , and the Doctor just smiles . They head off , but Millie drags behind , thinking she saw something odd about a snowman . The Doctor catches sight of his TARDIS and a man in a bowler hat and pin - striped suit . A power line falls to the ground , sparking . As the trio backs away , Millie screams as a snowman with glowing red eyes rises and glides toward her . Part two . Rachael turns at her daughter ' s scream , and the live cable leaps at her . Louie tackles his aunt out of the way as the Doctor reaches for his sonic screwdriver and uses it to disable the wire , which explodes and falls to the ground , lifeless . They run for where they heard Millie ' s scream . The Doctor tries to hide a small amount of blood , but Rachael spots that he ' s hiding it . She blames herself for insisting on coming . Louie and the Doctor comfort her . There aren ' t any footprints but theirs , so the Doctor says they stick with the plan , back to the TARDIS , to track Millie and the phosidium . They reach the TARDIS and the Doctor insists that they change into warm , dry clothing while he runs the search . The Doctor runs down his search results with Louie and Rachael . He explains that Millie , having travelled in the TARDIS , has trace elements of chronon energy that he could trace . He ' s traced her to a building that Rachael identifies as an old manufacturing plant , and he ' s pretty sure because there ' s a concentration of phosidium there , too . Louie asks if they ' ll take the TARDIS , but the Doctor pauses . He suggests that they may have taken Millie as bait for him , so it ' s best not to risk it . Besides , he has an idea . Millie wakes , cuffed to an angled table . There is a man her mother ' s age on a similar table next to her . He ' s very pale and doesn ' t answer her . She looks around and works at freeing her hands from the cuffs . She is interrupted by a door opening to reveal a thin man in a bowler hat . He taunts Millie , who pretends not to know which Doctor he means . He removes his hat to show he ' s an alien with horns on his head . He threatens her and the doctor , then leaves the room . The Doctor has brought out Rory ' s hoverboard s . Rachael is a bit apprehensive , as she can ' t even roller skate . Louie asks if the boards will be all right on the frozen river , but the Doctor seems to hear a different " River " , and crashes his board . Millie has reached her tube of chapstick , and the lubricant allows her to get out of the cuffs . She makes sure the man is alive , and promises to go for help . He says his name is Geoff . She runs off , before the alien returns . He needed her for bait , so he calls to activate the sentries . Snowmen all over Europe show red eyes and levitate . Millie makes it outside , but needs to duck and hide from a sentry snowman . Rachael and Louie don ' t know how to stop or get off the boards and go back to the Doctor , so they decide to use the snowmen to help stop . They as for the snowmen , and two of them rise into the air with eyes ablaze and they feel a heat wash over them . The Doctor scrambles to his feet and grabs his hoverboard just in time to see them disappear . Part three . The bowler hat alien , Fashieth , quarrels with a similar alien , Hazneer . Hazneer says that the others of their kind are negotiating with the Zu ' nar and shoring up their military defences . Fashieth believes that all twelve should be here to capitalise on the rare chance at the Time Lord . They know that Millie has chronon energy . Hazneer berates him for losing her , when the sentries bring in Louie and Aunty Rachael . Rachael is relieved to hear that Millie escaped , but not for long , as they began to scan Louie . The aliens find that children are more resilient than adult humans . They pass the information on to the Zu ' nar , then reveal to their captive humans that they ' re planning to sell human children to them . Fashieth orders the sentries to kill the adults . Millie evades the sentry and runs for the woods . She makes it a little way into the woods but is forced to hide due to the sentries . As the snowman that attacked the others advancing , the Doctor decides to use the woods , after all . He finds Millie just as she ' s about to move . Later , he finds a side door , but the lock is rusted and his sonic screwdriver won ' t work to open it . He begins to pick the lock with a piece of wire . Hazneer stops the sentries from killing the adults , as Rachael could be useful to keep Louie in line . Fashieth observes that Geoff is nearly dead and has him removed . He says the Doctor is here , but they ' ll let him think he ' s unobserved as they summon the others . The Doctor hears a woman in pain and follows the sound . The aliens are gloating about their plan as the Doctor appears and calmly states that it ' s illegal . He assures Rachael that Millie is safe , then identifies the aliens as Scrollnée , and wonders how got into slave trading . They reveal that they ' re the former rulers , who were deposed and killed in a Scrollnée uprising . Now they are the Council of the Dead . They don ' t fear the Judoon , because their wealth has bought them weapons and armies . The remainder of the Council arrive and seize the Doctor . They strap him into one of the machines . They reveal that they ' re looking to steal the Doctor ' s regeneration energy so that they can bring their dead bodies back to life . The machine starts to drain his energy , he begins to lose consciousness , and yellow light starts to come from his fingertips . The TARDIS arrives , and Millie steps out , holding an egg shaped device . She asks them to stop , but the Scrollnée ignore her . She presses an indentation on the device . They scream , and lose control of theories dead bodies , which fall to the floor , twisting as they fall into dust . Rachael and Millie release Louie and the Doctor , as the Doctor confesses that he knew it was the Council and set up this plan . He deactivates the snowmen sentries and says the Zu ' nar will withdraw once he ' s explained the truth . Millie looks around for Geoff , crestfallen , as she ' d promised to save him . The Doctor says he ' d found him in the corridor . He ' s still alive and they get him to a hospital . Several days later , the snow is melted , and the Doctor takes Millie and Louie to see the Salcreyan Nebula .