Three Steps to the Left (short story)

Three Steps to the Left (short story)

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Three Steps to the Left
Doctor:	[[doctor::Seventh Doctor]]
Companion(s):	Ace (mentioned, doesn't appear)
Main setting:	Gibson Desert, Australia, 1979
Key crew
Writer:	Glenn Langford
Release details
Printed in:	DWM 198

Three Steps to the Left (short story) was a short story in the Brief Encounter range in Doctor Who Magazine. It was a pseudo-historical story that revolved around the actual historical event of Skylab's unceremonious 1979 return to Earth.

Summary

Paul Forbes is in trouble. Rather foolishly, he has chosen to drive across the Gibson Desert on an ill-advised summer trip between Darwin and Alice Springs. His Landrover doesn't like it. After it overheats near Barrow Creek, he is forced to stop in the blazing sun in the hopes that his engine will somehow cool down. In the distance, what he assumes to be a mirage forms before his eyes. Why, though, is it in the form of a British police box? A man pops out of the box and asks him to move three steps to the left. A baffled Forbes complies —just in time to avoid being struck by a chunk of falling Skylab. The man pops back inside the police box, muttering something about a person named Ace, who hates it when he does this sort of thing because she thinks he's just showing off.

Characters

• Seventh Doctor
• Paul Forbes
• Ace (implied to be in the TARDIS)

References

• Forbes drinks Coke.

Notes

to be added

Continuity

• The Doctor is specifically said to be wearing his dark coat and carrying a red-handled umbrella.

Timeline

• after BE: Dream a Little Dream For Me
• Before BE: Untitled

External Links

• Three Steps to the Left at the Doctor Who Reference Guide