Gone Too Soon (short story)

Gone Too Soon was the thirteenth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips and Side Steps. It was written by Christopher M. Wadley. It featured the Sixth Doctor and was notable for depicting what appeared to be the final death of the Doctor's old mentor, the Hermit.

Summary
The Doctor has seen a glimpse of the future, and learns that his present incarnation will end soon. For a while, he sulks in his TARDIS. Then he realises he should take advantage of the time he has left.

He journeys to a planet at the Dawn of Time and carves on a rock, "The Doctor was here."

Next, he spends eighteen days teaching himself to play the guitar. He travels to Hamburg and heads to a club. He stops a man named Stu, who is carrying a guitar, and convinces him to go home to his girlfriend, just for tonight. The Doctor enters the club, and when Stu's band grumbles about his absence, the Doctor offers to take his place.

The Doctor next travels to Bonn, Germany, in 1770. He enters a house, pretending to be with the doctor, and watches as a woman gives birth upstairs. When the medical staff has gone, he approaches the new mother and offers her money, telling her it will help convince her husband to keep the baby. He asks her what she will name the boy, and she replies, "Ludwig".

Lastly, the Doctor visits an old mentor, and stays with him until he passes away.

The Doctor now feels he is ready to face his end, and is thankful that he had time for "all the important things".

Characters

 * Sixth Doctor
 * The Beatles
 * Ludwig van Beethoven
 * The Hermit

Worldbuilding

 * The Doctor jammed with the Beatles in Hamburg in the 1960s before they were successful.
 * The dying old man the Doctor meets is heavily suggested to be the Hermit after running out of regenerations.

Continuity

 * The Doctor learned his death would occur soon after reading a book at House Osmo. (PROSE: The Book of My Life)
 * By another account, the Doctor's mentor, Azmael, died on Jaconda. (TV: The Twin Dilemma)