Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space ( novel ) Doctor Who and the Invasion from Space was a forty - six - page novella published in 1966 in the same format as the " Doctor Who " annual releases . It stands as the first officially published original ( i . e . non - TV - based ) long - form text story to feature the Doctor . It proved to be an anomaly of " Doctor Who " prose fiction . No other original fiction books would be published until 1980 , when the children ' s " The Adventures of K9 " short story series debuted . After that , only the novels " Harry Sullivan ' s War " and " Turlough and the Earthlink Dilemma " followed in the 1980s . It was not until 1991 ' s launch of the Virgin New Adventures line that the Doctor himself returned to original fiction published as a standalone novel . " Invasion " is further unusual for being the only original First Doctor novel ever published in which he is not travelling with at least one of his televised companion s . Publisher ' s summary . The Doctor is joined at the beginning of the story by the Mortimer family , who are fleeing the Great Fire of London . They then land on a spaceship driven by a super - computer and carrying survivors from Andromeda who are planning an invasion of the galaxy . Summary . The TARDIS is being buffeted by a space storm : to add to the Doctor ' s annoyance , he is accompanied by Helen and George Mortimer and their children , Ida and Alan . The TARDIS had previously materialised in a pig sty during the Great Fire of London on 2 September 1666 : the Doctor reluctantly rescued George , a swineherd , and his family from the flames , and now they are convinced he is a warlock , possibly come to conduct them to hell . When the storm has passed , the TARDIS has materialised on a planetoid that should be too small to retain its breathable atmosphere : the Great Spiral Nebula of Andromeda , the galaxy called M . 31 on Earth , fills much of the sky . The travellers are welcomed by blond humanoids ( George mistakes them for angels ) who call themselves Aalas , and invite them to meet the One . The party descends into the ground : the Doctor realises that the planetoid is a vast space vessel . Nearer the planetoid ' s centre , where gravity is lighter , they are taken to a room with a glass - like panel , behind which the One hails them as Men of the Milky Way . The One explains that it was made by the Men of Andromeda , extinct for millions of years , and that , to the Doctor ' s incredulity , it now rules the galaxy . The Doctor ' s attempt to look behind the panel is painfully rebuffed , and the party is led away to a beautifully prepared meal . The Aalas explain that all the food has been been synthesised , as they sustain themselves by electricity and radiation : the Doctor realises they are androids . They explain that the One is the entire vessel : it made them and they believe it to be omnipotent . At the One ' s command , they carry the protesting Doctor back to the screen room , where the One has succeeded in opening and examining the TARDIS . It has identified it as a space - time vessel , but notes that it is inert without a missing component , which the Doctor proudly informs it is himself : his " spirit and nature are built into it " . The One agrees and instructs him to demonstrate its operation . On the Doctor ' s refusal , it begins to gibber and malfunction . Recovering quickly , it apologises , explaining that the Doctor ' s disobedience is the first it has experienced in a billion years . The One tells him that that it is leading a migration from Andromeda to the Milky Way , which will take another three hundred million years to arrive . The TARDIS technology would enable the journey to be made instantaneously . To obtain the Doctor ' s cooperation , it offers access to its Diagrams of power , which map the entire Milky Way throughout its lifespan . The Doctor deliberately reiterates his defiance and , taking advantage of the One ' s subsequent breakdown , which also incapacitates the Aalas , he runs into the TARDIS and dematerialises , leaving the Mortimers to their fate . The TARDIS takes him to many of the million worlds of the One ' s armada , dizzying him with the variety of the Andromedan life flourishing on them , and eventually returns him to the One ' s audience room . Defeated , the Doctor supposes that the One has retrieved him , but the One , amused , says that the power that brought him back will be its main ally in securing the Doctor ' s compliance . It explains that the Andromeda galaxy is approaching a region of space inimical to life , necessitating the migration . On arrival , the species of the Milky Way will be exterminated , to make room for the Andromedans . Accepting that the technology of the TARDIS cannot be used or duplicated , the One instead resolves to keep the Doctor ' s brain alive for the duration of the voyage for its knowledge and insight . It also expresses pleasure at the behaviour of the primitive Mortimers , and the Doctor realises that the force that drew him back was his subconscious loyalty to them as fellow living beings . When the Mortimers are brought back to the TARDIS , he prepares , without much hope , to attempt another escape , but Ida , enraged that there is no more jelly to eat , throws her bowl at the One ' s screen in a tantrum , breaking it and damaging the circuitry behind it . The One , psychologically unable to cope with physical violence against itself , goes into a terminal breakdown , shutting down the Aalas . The Doctor attempts to take the Diagrams of power , but they dissolve into light at his touch . The Andromedan armada is left to drift , unnavigated , through space . Reflecting that the One only fought to protect its own , as it had been programmed , the Doctor leaves in the TARDIS with the Mortimers . " What ' s a galaxy ? " asks Ida . " That ' s the prettiest word I ever heard . " " Do you know , " replies the Doctor , " one of these days I ' m going to have a look for myself . " References . " to be added "