Defining Patterns was the nineteenth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Defining Patterns. It was written by Ian Farrington. It featured the Sixth Doctor.
Summary
The Doctor, Emily and Will have discovered a gap in UNIT's archives. Specifically, information is missing from September 1957.
They travel back to 1957. Emily and Will wait while the Doctor speaks to an MOD official; Emily is a little worried about getting stranded in this time. They discuss the coincidence of ending up in the same area of London in two different times.
By the time the Doctor returns, Will is napping. The Doctor introduces Emily to Ronnie Tillyard, who has been erasing records in America, and now in Great Britain, of the Doctor.
The Doctor and Ronnie work on the files while Will and Emily keep watch. The job is finished next morning, and Emily wants the Doctor's reassurance that they were doing the right thing.
Characters
Worldbuilding
- Emily's first encounter with the Doctor was in the 1990s, when he was in a different incarnation.
- Emily would rather be at the White Rabbit.
- In the 1950s, UNIT archives are kept in Whitehall.
- The Doctor mentions the Festival of Britain and the Stanley Matthews cup final.
- Will suggests ghosts as the cause of the archive disappearance.
- Emily calls Will "Columbo".
- The Doctor mentions Edward Grainger.
Notes
- This story is made up of the linking material from Short Trips: Defining Patterns.
- This story is the third in a trilogy of stories featuring the Sixth Doctor, Chaudhry and Hoffman. It comes after The Terror of the Darkness, in Short Trips: A Day in the Life, and Incongruous Details, in Short Trips: The Centenarian.