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{{Infobox Short Story|
{{title dab away}}
story name=Constant Companion|
{{real world}}
series=[[Big Finish - Short Trips]]|
{{Infobox Story SMW
doctor=[[Second Doctor]]|
|range                  = Short Trips (series)
companions=[[Jamie]], [[Zoe]]|
|series in range        = Short Trips: Zodiac
year=|
|series number in range = 1
writer=[[Simon A. Forward]]|
|number in series      = 5
publication=[[Short Trips: Zodiac]]|
|doctor                 = Second Doctor
previous story=[[Still Lives]]|
|companions             = [[Jamie McCrimmon|Jamie]], [[Zoe Heriot|Zoe]], [[Marmaduke (Constant Companion)|Marmaduke]]
next story=[[Virgin Lands]]|
|setting                =  
|}}
|writer                 = Simon A. Forward
|anthology              = Short Trips: Zodiac
|release date          = 6 March 2002
|series                = ''[[Short Trips (series)|Short Trips]]''
|prev                  = Still Lives (short story)
|next                   = Virgin Lands (short story)
}}
'''''Constant Companion''''' was the fifth short story in the [[Short Trips (series)|Short Trips]] anthology ''[[Short Trips: Zodiac]]''. It was written by [[Simon A. Forward]]. It featured the [[Second Doctor]], [[Jamie McCrimmon]] and [[Zoe Heriot]].


==Summary==
== Summary ==
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoë visit a strange world where spring, summer and autumn all seem to be occurring at once. There, just outside the TARDIS, the Doctor finds a cat-like creature which he impulsively decides to take aboard the TARDIS and name Marmaduke. After some weeks of having the cat claw up the TARDIS corridors and shred the clothing in the wardrobe, the Doctor begins to suffer telepathic fits and finds that he can’t keep Jamie and Zoë’s thoughts out of his head. Concluding that Marmaduke must be responsible, he tries various methods of getting rid of it, but the cat always comes back -- and the world where he first found it seems to have disappeared. Realising the truth, the Doctor re-sets the co-ordinates and materialises on the cat’s homeworld several centuries in its future. The “planet” is in fact a pocket dimension inhabited by a powerful telepath who was exiled from her own people; the cat is an extension of her id which she created as a companion, but it became too much for her to handle. When the Doctor arrived she influenced him to take it away, but since the cat is a part of her mind, her powers have waned without it, and the Doctor simply had to travel into the future until she was no longer able to shield the planet from his view. The woman accepts the cat back with good grace, admitting that she was lonely without it... and as the Doctor departs, he realises that he will be somewhat lonely without it as well
The Doctor, Jamie and Zoe find a cat-like creature when [[The Doctor's TARDIS|the TARDIS]] lands on a strange planet. It is well-cared for but they can't find its owner; the Doctor decides to take it with them. They name the "cat" [[Marmaduke (Constant Companion)|Marmaduke]] because he is [[marmalade]]-coloured.


==Characters==
Jamie is amused when Marmaduke becomes lodged in the temporal relay circuits and the Doctor has to get him out. It wasn't the first time that Marmaduke had caused trouble. He shredded much of the clothing in the [[TARDIS wardrobe]]; he clawed holes in Jamie's [[bagpipes]]; he played with [[the Doctor's recorder]] and scratched the Doctor when he reached for it; he sharpened his claws on the TARDIS walls.
*[[Second Doctor]]
*[[Jamie McCrimmon|Jamie]]
*[[Zoe Heriot|Zoe]]


==References==
Then the Doctor starts behaving strangely. He answers Jamie and Zoe's remarks or questions before they can say them out loud. Marmaduke is amplifying his [[telepathy|telepathic]] abilities. When the travellers return from an escapade one day, they find the [[control room]] in a mess. The Doctor decides they must get rid of the cat.
''to be added''
 
They try to return to the world from which they took Marmaduke, but it is gone. Instead they travel to another planet and leave Marmaduke in a basket on a porch. When they sneak back into the TARDIS, Marmaduke is waiting for them inside.
 
They try many ways of getting rid of Marmaduke: putting him on a [[train]], leaving him on a hyperspace cruise liner, depositing him with a rescue centre, and leaving him with the Sisterhood. Each time, when they return to the TARDIS, Marmaduke is waiting for them.
 
The Doctor finally figures out how to get Marmaduke back where he belongs. They land back on the planet and encounter an [[Old woman (Constant Companion)|old woman]]. She calls Marmaduke an Id-cat. She is a telepath who sought solitude to escape from all the other thoughts in her mind, but because she was lonely, she invented Marmaduke. He amplifies her powers, so the Doctor has brought him back centuries after they first picked him up — when the old woman can no longer mask her presence as she did before.
 
The Doctor returns to the TARDIS, wondering if he has just defeated a menace — or lost a [[companion]].
 
== Characters ==
* [[Second Doctor]]
* [[Jamie McCrimmon|Jamie]]
* [[Zoe Heriot|Zoe]]
* [[Marmaduke (Constant Companion)|Marmaduke]]
* [[Old woman (Constant Companion)|Old woman]]


==Notes==
== Worldbuilding ==
Noticeably takes place somewhat after '[[The Final Sanction]]'
* Marmaduke destroys Jamie's [[bagpipes]] and plays with [[the Doctor's recorder]]. He sits on Zoe's [[computer]] keyboard.


==Continuity==
== Notes ==
''to be added''
* The stories in ''[[Short Trips: Zodiac]]'' are inspired by the signs of the [[zodiac]]. This story's theme is {{w|Leo (astrology)|Leo}}.


==External Links==
== Continuity ==
''to be added''
''to be added''


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{{ST prose}}
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[[Category:Doctor Who short stories]]
[[Category:Second Doctor short stories]]
[[Category:Short Trips: Zodiac short stories]]
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