The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe have landed on a moving dome on the planet Mercury. While the Doctor and Zoe work out what the dome is, the TARDIS slides off the back of the dome. Before they can retrieve it, they are joined by Alison Kolitz, who thinks they are here to help.

Inside the dome, which is a scientific base, Alison explains that one day she found a shiny silver creature outside, on the dark side of the planet, and brought it in. As it warmed up, it started attacking the crew. One scientist, Oleg, seems to be unaware of what's happening around him, and just mumbles about "giants". The Doctor thinks that if they speed up the base to the dark side of the planet, the creature might become incapacitated. Another scientist, Chelo Chascarillo, contacts them from another room and is given the task of overriding the thermostats.

Wayne Songo'o, another scientist, bursts into the room and tells them that, while he was eating lunch with Guto, Guto was attacked by the creature. Guto then left the station through the airlock, without taking a space suit. Meanwhile, Chelo, watched onscreen by the others, heads for the thermostat controls, but is followed by the creature. After it attacks her, Wayne is assigned her task, and the Doctor and Jamie will act as a diversion.

Zoe accompanies Wayne, Alison gets Oleg into a space suit, and the Doctor and Jamie run from the creature into the room in which Chelo is sitting. As they get her into a space suit, the creature is right outside the door, looking in. Chelo begins speaking of "giants".

On the top of the dome, Zoe and Wayne see dozens of the creatures in the path of the station. One of them reaches the station and starts to flatten itself on the station. Inside, however, Chelo begins talking, and the Doctor realises the creature is talking through her.

The creature is a Mercurial. They live on the light side of the planet, but after the dome was built, they were attacked by "giants". This Mercurial headed to the dark side to warn the humans, but the extreme cold weakened it. When Alison brought it into the station, it tried to communicate, first through Oleg, then Guto, and finally, successfully, through Chelo.

The Doctor's plan is for the Mercurials to cover the dome and reflect power from the solar pylons onto the "giants". As they put the plan into action, however, the Doctor notes the Mercurials' reaction to the solar pylons, and realises that the pylons are the "giants".

With the threat over, the Mercurials retrieve the TARDIS and the Doctor and his friends leave. The Mercurials head back to the light side, and the Sunwatcher crew return to work.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Doctor had hoped that the base was run by static electricity.
The TARDIS crew wear their space suits on Mercury's surface.

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Jamie thinks they've run out of mercury again. (TV: The Wheel in Space)

Short Trips short stories

BBC Books

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Zodiac	The True and Indisputable Facts in the Matter of the Ram's Skull • Growing Higher • Twin Piques • Still Lives • Constant Companion • Virgin Lands • The Switching • Jealous, Possessive • Five Card Draw • I Was a Monster!!! • The Invertebrates of Doom • The Stabber • Introduction and links

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A Universe of Terrors	The Exiles • Mire and Clay • Ash • Face-Painter • Losing Track of Time • The Discourse of Flies • The Fear • Mauritz • The Comet's Tail • Long Term • Soul Mate • Whiskey and Water • The Death of Me • This is My Life • Gazing Void

The Muses	Introduction • Teach Yourself Ballroom Dancing • The Brain of Socrates • Mordieu • An Overture Too Early • Hymn of the City • Confabula • The Astronomer's Apprentice • Katarina in the Underworld • The Glass Princess

Steel Skies	Corridors of Power • A Good Life • Reversal of Fortune • Monitor • Dust • Light at the End of the Tunnel • No Exit • House • Deep Stretch • Inmate 280 • Doing Time • The Ruins of Heaven • Cold War • O, Darkness • Greenaway • Eternity

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Life Science	Syntax • Primitives • The Northern Heights • Observation • Mortal Thoughts • Lant Land • A Star is Reborn • The Southwell Park Mermaid • The Destroyers • The Reproductive Cycle • Jonah • Scribbles in Chalk • The End • The Age of Ambition • Echo • A Rose by Any Other Name

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Monsters	Best Seller • From Eternity • Last Rites • The Touch of the Nurazh • Flashpoint • These Things Take Time • Categorical Imperative • Trapped! • Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life • Screamager • The Colour of Monsters

2040	The Nuclear Option • Separation • Thinking Warrior • Observer Effect • Artificial Intelligence • Daisy Chain • Sustainable Energy • Culture War • The Baron Wastes • /Carpenter/Butterfly/Baronet • Outsourcing • Anteus • The Last Emperor • The Ethereal

A Christmas Treasury	Last Christmas • UNIT Christmas Parties: First Christmas • In the TARDIS: Christmas Day • Water's Edge • A Yuletide Tail • Spookasem • Christmas Special • Never Seen Cairo • The Man Who (Nearly) Killed Christmas • Last Minute Shopping • Every Day • The Eight Doctors of Christmas • The Little Things • UNIT Christmas Parties: Christmas Truce • The Clanging Chimes of Doom • Perfect Present • Present Tense • Goodwill Toward Men • It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow • All Our Christmases • Lily • ...Be Forgot • The Feast of Seven... Eight (and Nine) • UNIT Christmas Parties: Ships That Pass • Evergreen

Seven Deadly Sins	The Duke's Folly • That Which Went Away • Angel • Suitors, Inc. • The 57th • Telling Tales • Too Rich for My Blood • Seven Deadly Sins

A Day in the Life	After Midnight • Sold Out • Undercurrents • The Five O'Clock Shadow • The Sooner the Better • Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast • The Heroine, the Hero and the Megalomaniac • Waiting for Jeremy • A Life in the Day • Morphology • Making History • One Wednesday Afternoon • How You Get There • The Last Broadcast • The Terror of the Darkness • Visiting Hours • Before Midnight

The Solar System	Mercury • Venus • Earth • Mars • Jupiter • Saturn • Uranus • Neptune • Pluto • Sedna

The History of Christmas	The Lampblack Wars • Home Fires • The Feast • Rome • Set in Stone • The Thousand Years of Christmas • Presence • Danse Macabre • The Church of Saint Sebastian • The Prodigal Sun • Be Good for Goodness's Sake • Ode to Joy • Nobody's Gift • The Innocents • Comforts of Home • Christmas on the Moon • The Anchorite's Echo • The Revolutionaries • The Gift • Callahuanca • Not in My Back Yard • She Won't Be Home • Saint Nicholas's Bones • The Long Midwinter

Farewells	The Mother Road • Father Figure • The Bad Guy • Separation Day • The Very Last Picture Show • Into the Silent Land • Wake • The Velvet Dark • Life After Queth • Black and White • Curtain Call • Utopia • The Wickerwork Man • The Three Paths

The Centenarian	Prologue • Echoes • Direct Action • Dream Devils • Falling from Xi'an • Log 384 • The Church of Football • Incongruous Details • Ancient Whispers • First Born • Dear John • Checkpoint • Childhood Living • The Lost • Old Boys • Testament • Forgotten

Time Signature	An Overture Too Early • The Ruins of Time • Gone Fishing • The Avant Guardian • Second Contact • Resonance • Walkin' City Blues • The Hunting of the Slook • The Earwig Archipelago • DS Al Fine • Certificate of Destruction

Dalek Empire	Kalendorf • Natalie's Diary • Alby • Private Investigations • Suz • The Best Joke I Ever Told • Hide and Seek • The Eighth Wonder of the World • Mutually Assured Survival • Museum Peace

Destination Prague	Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna • Room for Improvement • Life from Lifelessness • The Long Step Backward • Strange Attractor • Gold and Black Ooze • The Dogs of War • Sunday Afternoon, AD 848,988 • Nanomorphosis • Spoilsport • War in a Time of Peace • The End of Now • Suspension and Disbelief • Leap Second • Lady of the Snows • The Time Eater • Fable Fusion • Men of the Earth • Across Silent Seas • The Dragons of Prague • Omegamorphosis

Snapshots	Golem • Indian Summer • All of Beyond • The Eyes Have It • The Misadventure of Mark Thorne • Attachments • There's Something About Mary • My Hero • Plight of the Monkrah • Remain in Light • In Case of Emergencies • Puppeteer • Osskah • Piecemeal • The Report • You Had Me at Verify User Name and Password • She Knew • The Glarn Strategy • Salva Mea • The Sorrows of Vienna • Fanboys

The Ghosts of Christmas	Faithful Friends: Part One • But Once a Year • For the Man Who Has Everything • Tell Me You Love Me • The Cutty Wren • Do You Dream in Colour? • The Nobility of Faith • 24 Crawford Street • The Sommerton Fetch • Faithful Friends: Part Two • Dear Great Uncle Peter • Do You Believe in the Krampus? • They Fell • The Christmas Presence • Snowman in Manhattan • The Crackers • Jigsaw • Dr Cadabra • Far Away in a Manger • All Snug in Their Beds • Decorative Purposes • The Stars Our Contamination • Keeping It Real • Christmas Every Day? • Faithful Friends: Part Three

Defining Patterns	Machine Time • The Time and Tide • Losing the Audience • One Card for the Curious • Séance, or Smoking is Highly Addictive, Don't Start • The Celestial Harmony Engine • Mutiny • Numb • Closing the Account • The Great Escapes • Loose Change • Lepidoptery for Beginners • One Step Forward, Two Steps Back • Homework • The Devil Like a Bear • Stanley • Twilight's End • The Book of My Life • Defining Patterns

The Quality of Leadership	From Little Acorns • One Fateful Knight • The Slave War • Goths and Robbers • Good Queen, Bad Queen, I Queen, You Queen • The Price of Conviction • God Send Me Well to Keep • Peaceable Kingdom • Rock Star • On a Pedestal • Clean-up on Aisle Two • The Spindle of Necessity • Epilogue

Transmissions	Doctor Who and the Adaptation of Death • Policy to Invade • Only Connect • Gudok • Generation Gap • Lonely • Blue Road Dance • Tweaker • Link • Driftwood • Methuselah • Nettles • Larkspur • See No Evil • iNtRUsioNs • Breadcrumbs • Transmission Ends

How the Doctor Changed My Life	Homework • Change Management • Curiosity • Potential • Second Chances • Child's Play • Relativity • Outstanding Balance • The Last Thing You Ever See • The Shopping Trolleys of Doom • The Final Star • The Man on the Phone • The Monster in the Wardrobe • Suns and Mothers • Taking the Cure • Those Left Behind • Evitability • £436 • Time Shear • Running on Empty • Swamp of Horrors (1957) - Viewing Notes • Insider Dealing • The Andrew Invasion • Stolen Days • Lares Domestici

Christmas Around the World	Planet of the Elves • Exclave • A Visit from Saint Nicholas • Instead of You • Christmas Every Day • Mirth, or Walking Spirits • Do You Smell Carrots? • The Doctor's Cross Word • Dateline to Deadline • Autaia Pipipi Pia • No Room • Interesting Times • Revellers of Doom • Lost and Founded • The Best of Days • Conscription • Christmas in Toronto • Companion • Illumination • White on White

Indefinable Magic	Phoenix • The Power Supply • Favourite Star • Hiccup in Time • Shamans • The Fall of the Druids • Priceless Junk • Have You Tried Turning It Off and Then Back On Again? • The Reign Makers • Pass It On • The Science of Magic • Hello Goodbye • Trial by Fire • Death Sentences • Once upon a Time Machine • Mardi Gras Massacre • Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Re:Collections	I Was a Monster!!! • Apocrypha Bipedium • Face-Painter • The Glass Princess • The Ruins of Heaven • The Thief of Sherwood • The Age of Ambition • The Dead Man's Story • Flashpoint • Thinking Warrior • All Our Christmases • Suitors, Inc. • How You Get There • Venus • The Lampblack Wars • Life After Queth • Checkpoint • The Avant Guardian • Museum Peace • Midnight in the Café of the Black Madonna • The Glarn Strategy • Dear Great Uncle Peter • Losing the Audience • The Spindle of Necessity • Lonely • Lares Domestici • Lost and Founded • The Fall of the Druids

Retrieved from "https://tardis.wiki/w/index.php?title=Mercury_(short_story)&oldid=3723846"

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{title dab away}}
 {{real world}}
-{{TitleShortStory}}
+{{Infobox Story SMW
-{{Infobox Short Story|
+|series=[[Short Trips (series)#In print|Short Trips short stories]]
-name=Mercury|
+|doctor = Second Doctor
-series=[[Short Trips (series)#In print|ST short stories]]|
+|companions=[[Jamie McCrimmon|Jamie]], [[Zoe Heriot|Zoe]]
-doctor=Second Doctor|
+|setting=
-companions=[[Jamie McCrimmon]], [[Zoe Heriot]]|
+|writer = Eddie Robson
-year=|
+|anthology=Short Trips: The Solar System
-writer=[[Eddie Robson]]|
+|release date = 22 October 2005
-anthology=''[[Short Trips: The Solar System]]''|
+|prev = Before Midnight (short story)
-prev=none|
+|next=Venus (short story)
-next=Venus (short story)|
+}}{{dab page|mercury}}
-|}}
 '''''Mercury''''' was the first short story in the [[Short Trips (series)|Short Trips]] anthology ''[[Short Trips: The Solar System]]''. It was written by [[Eddie Robson]]. It featured the [[Second Doctor]], [[Jamie McCrimmon]] and [[Zoe Heriot]].
 == Summary ==
-''to be added''
+The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe have landed on a moving dome on the planet [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]]. While the Doctor and Zoe work out what the dome is, the TARDIS slides off the back of the dome. Before they can retrieve it, they are joined by [[Alison Kolitz]], who thinks they are here to help.
+Inside the dome, which is a scientific base, Alison explains that one day she found a shiny silver creature outside, on the dark side of the planet, and brought it in. As it warmed up, it started attacking the crew. One scientist, [[Oleg (Mercury)|Oleg]], seems to be unaware of what's happening around him, and just mumbles about "giants". The Doctor thinks that if they speed up the base to the dark side of the planet, the creature might become incapacitated. Another scientist, [[Chelo Chascarillo]], contacts them from another room and is given the task of overriding the thermostats.
+[[Wayne Songo'o]], another scientist, bursts into the room and tells them that, while he was eating lunch with [[Guto]], Guto was attacked by the creature. Guto then left the station through the airlock, without taking a space suit. Meanwhile, Chelo, watched onscreen by the others, heads for the thermostat controls, but is followed by the creature. After it attacks her, Wayne is assigned her task, and the Doctor and Jamie will act as a diversion.
+Zoe accompanies Wayne, Alison gets Oleg into a space suit, and the Doctor and Jamie run from the creature into the room in which Chelo is sitting. As they get her into a space suit, the creature is right outside the door, looking in. Chelo begins speaking of "giants".
+On the top of the dome, Zoe and Wayne see dozens of the creatures in the path of the station. One of them reaches the station and starts to flatten itself on the station. Inside, however, Chelo begins talking, and the Doctor realises the creature is talking through her.
+The creature is a [[Mercurial (Mercury)|Mercurial]]. They live on the light side of the planet, but after the dome was built, they were attacked by "giants". This Mercurial headed to the dark side to warn the humans, but the extreme cold weakened it. When Alison brought it into the station, it tried to communicate, first through Oleg, then Guto, and finally, successfully, through Chelo.
+The Doctor's plan is for the Mercurials to cover the dome and reflect power from the [[solar pylon]]s onto the "giants". As they put the plan into action, however, the Doctor notes the Mercurials' reaction to the solar pylons, and realises that the pylons are the "giants".
+With the threat over, the Mercurials retrieve [[the TARDIS]] and the Doctor and his friends leave. The Mercurials head back to the light side, and the Sunwatcher crew return to work.
 == Characters ==
@@ Line 20: / Line 35: @@
 * [[Jamie McCrimmon]]
 * [[Zoe Heriot]]
+* [[Alison Kolitz]]
+* [[Oleg (Mercury)|Oleg]]
+* [[Guto]]
+* [[Wayne Songo'o]]
+* [[Chelo Chascarillo]]
-== References ==
+== Worldbuilding ==
-''to be added''
+* The Doctor had hoped that the base was run by [[static electricity]].
+* The TARDIS crew wear their [[space suit]]s on Mercury's surface.
 == Notes ==
@@ Line 28: / Line 49: @@
 == Continuity ==
-''to be added''
+* Jamie thinks they've run out of [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] again. ([[TV]]: ''[[The Wheel in Space (TV story)|The Wheel in Space]]'')
-{{prose stub}}
+{{ST prose}}
 {{TitleSort}}
 [[Category:Second Doctor short stories]]
-[[Category:Stories released in 2005]]
+[[Category:Short Trips: The Solar System short stories]]
-[[Category:ST short stories]]
+[[Category:Short stories set in the Sol System]]
-[[Category:Stories set in the Sol System]]
-[[Category:Stories set in the 21st century]]

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Latest revision as of 17:47, 29 February 2024

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