Compassion (Doctor Who)

Compassion
Doctor Who character
First appearance	Interference: Book One
Last appearance	The Ancestor Cell
Portrayed by	Jackie Skarvellis (voice)
Information
Affiliated	Eighth Doctor
Species	Remote
Home planet	Anathema
Home era	1996

Compassion (or Laura Tobin) is a fictional character in the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels based upon the British science fiction television series, Doctor Who. Compassion was originally from a people known as the Remote, a splinter group of the time travelling voodoo cult Faction Paradox. The Eighth Doctor met her in the novel Interference: Book One by Lawrence Miles, and she went on to become one of his companions.

Laura Tobin was born on Earth in the 26th century; her name was first mentioned by her sister Alison in the Bernice Summerfield novel Ship of Fools by Dave Stone set in 2593, although Laura did not appear herself. As stated in Interference, Laura became one of the members of a Remote colony established by Faction Paradox on the planet Ordifica in 2594. When the Time Lords attacked Ordifica two years later, the survivors were evacuated by the Faction to the 18th century to establish a new colony.

The Remote, although originally human, are sterile. When one of them dies, a replacement is created from raw biomass and its personality reconstructed from the memories of the people who knew the deceased. Hence, each iteration is not quite the same as the previous one. Laura Tobin was "remembered" several times through the centuries, until the iteration that would be named Compassion emerged in the late 20th century, meeting the Doctor and his companions in 1996.

Compassion often appeared disdainful of the people around her. Her name came from Laura's sarcastic comment that "Compassion" was her middle name. She frequently responded to any observation with the dismissive remark, "Obviously."

The Remote also have the ability to pick up transmitted signals and use them to give themselves purpose. When Compassion had travelled in the TARDIS for some time, the signals of the Doctor's time machine began to turn her into a living TARDIS. The Doctor had previously encountered a living TARDIS in the novel Alien Bodies by Lawrence Miles, a Type 102 which came from his relative future. When Compassion began to evolve, the Time Lords realised that she was meant to be the prototype of the future Type 102s and sought to capture her in attempt to create that new class of time ship. They also believed that she might have the ability to close the Eye of Harmony on Gallifrey, the Time Lord homeworld. When the Doctor's TARDIS was lost for a time, the Doctor and Fitz travelled in Compassion while fleeing from the Time Lords.

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