Ships (short story)
Ships was a Brief Encounter short story published in 185. It was the only such story to feature Dodo Chaplet and details a possibility for Dodo's post-TARDIS life quite different from that in the novel Who Killed Kennedy.
The title plays on the phrase "ships that pass in the night". It details an exceptionally brief encounter between Dodo Chaplet and Sarah Jane Smith in which they never recognise each other as people who know the Doctor.
Summary
Walking home from her secretarial job, Dodo Chaplet's mind wanders back to her days in the TARDIS. As she encounters reminders of her mundane existence on the way home, she increasingly castigates herself for having left the Doctor so abruptly. Lost in thought, she turns a corner and runs into a young woman. Their respective armfuls are dumped onto the ground. In the haste to collect their belongings, Dodo accidentally grabs the young woman's diary. It's too late to return it to her, though — she's long gone. Dodo examines it to determine something that might identify the owner. Luckily, there's an address — and the name S. J. Smith...
Characters
References
to be added
Notes
- Although Sarah Jane appears, she is by far the more minor of the two characters, and is never identified by her full forenames.
- The collision occurs on the corner of Primrose Avenue and Lowry Close in a "satellite suburb" of London.
- The Doctor Who Reference Guide sets the story for Sarah Jane as taking place after the television story The Hand of Fear.
Continuity
- Dodo mentions the way in which Cyril "died" in TV: The Celestial Toymaker and Steven Taylor's departure in TV: The Savages.
External links
- Ships at the Doctor Who Reference Guide