Trivia
The novel was controversial on its initial publication, being the first Doctor Who story in any medium to feature coarse language, drug use, and sex. This reflected the adult readership of the New Adventures, as well as the age of most Doctor Who fans at the time; prior to this, the novels had generally stayed within the same boundaries as the TV series. Aaronvitch noted that previous New Adventures had already alluded to characters having sexual relations and that all he did in this novel was put it "on screen". Complaints about swearing in latter New Adventures eventually resulted in the introduction of the substitute swear word "cruk", in the manner of television series such as Porridge and Red Dwarf.
The novel is set in an inter-planetary transport network that evolved out of the London Underground. Trains teleport through tunnels in the space-time continuum between fixed points at faster-than-light speeds. King's Cross station is the terminus for a Central Line that connects human colonies throughout the solar system. As the story opens, the network is about to be extended to its first extra-solar location, in Arcturus (this is called the "Stunnel", in imitation of the "Chunnel").
The novel continues from The Seeds of Death, with the Transit network as an offshoot of the T-Mat system. Though no Ice Warriors are encountered, the Doctor and Kadiatu explore one of their dormant nests. Ahistory by Lance Parkin describes the novel as taking place "at least a generation" after the serial, based on a "future history" document by Aaronovitch.
The mysterious hitch-hiker Francine encounters in cyberspace is the future "Merlin" Doctor, as he is described in Marc Platt's novelisation of Aaronvitch's serial Battlefield.
Read more about this topic: Transit (Doctor Who)
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