Mars (WiDW short story)

Mars was the fourteenth and final short story exclusively published on the Who is Doctor Who? website on 21 December 2005 by the BBC webteam to coincide with the broadcast of The Christmas Invasion. After Mars, the content on the Who is Doctor Who? website shifted to more interactive fiction, with live-action webcasts, video games, and even an alternate reality game.
== Plot ==
Writing on Who is Doctor Who?, Mickey Smith confides that he now thinks that Rose is gone for good, stung that after months of not hearing from her, she had turned up, talking about the world being in danger and that the the Doctor needing her help, and she had then left as suddenly as she had returned, leaving himself and Jackie standing alone in the road. Since then, Mickey notes, Rose hasn't made contact and he fears she's dead.
Mickey does explain that talking about Rose isn't why he's returned, but rather Daffodil has informed him about the Guinevere probe, which he admits to not having thought much of when he saw it on the telly, as his experiences with the "truth" makes a mere probe going to Mars seem unassuming. However, after Mickey had examined the Guinevere website, he became incredibly suspicious due to the motives behind the probe not aliging with the technology onboard and the involvement of the PM Harriet Jones. Mickey, powerless to investigate his suspicions any further, has no other choice but to wait until Christmas Day for more news, and in the meantime, tells his readers to remember the shop dummies and the aliens invading London, no matter what "they" claim.
== Characters ==
* Mickey Smith
* Daffodil
=== Referenced only ===
* Rose
* The Doctor
* Jackie
* Harriet Jones
== Worldbuilding ==
* Mickey states that Rose going away is the "usual story".
* Mickey writes that Rose had said that it was a "life and death" situation.
* Mickey mentions that the suspension on Mini is "knackered".
* Mickey reads that the Guinevere probe is being sent to Mars for soil samples, so is suspicious when he learns that the probe has "stuff about talking to aliens" on it.
* Mickey knows how Harriet Jones became PM, while cover-up attempts were released to claim that the the spaceship that collided with the Big Ben was a hoax and the deaths of the previous PM and the Cabinet were all accidents.
** Mickey also knows that Harriet met the Doctor and fought the Slitheen with Rose.
* Mickey bets that Harriet never mentions fighting the Slitheen on Question Time.
* Mickey has links to news clips of previous invasions on his website, the links of which mention: security camera footage, a camcorder, the News 24 report on aliens landing, and world news reports.
* Mickey leaves a note for the Doctor at the bottom, asking him to bring Rose back, as he and Jackie can't go through another Christmas like last year's.
* There is an advert for the GEOCOMTEX website.
== Notes ==
* Mickey mentioning that he and his readers have to wait until Christmas Day for new information about Guinevere One is a reference to when The Christmas Invasion was first broadcast. In-universe, Mickey had no more reason to believe that there would be news on Christmas than on any other day.
== Continuity ==
* Mickey's last encounter with Rose was in The Parting of the Ways.
* Jackie is also known as "Jacks". (TV: Aliens of London, PROSE: Downtime: Child of the New World)
* Daffodil previously contacted Mickey in PROSE: The Doctor Was Involved in the Dummy Massacre)
* Mickey mentions the Dummy Massacre (TV: Rose, PROSE: Dummy Massacre, etc.) and the London UFO crash/Cardiff Earthquake. (TV: Aliens of London, World War Three, Boom Town, PROSE: Cardiff Earthquake)
* Harriet Jones also appeared on Question Time in another universe. (AUDIO: The Endless Night)
* Jackie and Mickey went through Christmas 2005 without Rose. (TV: Aliens of London, etc.)
== External links ==
Category:Who is Doctor Who? short stories
Category:Stories set in 2006
Category:Mickey Smith short stories