The Best of Days (short story)

The Best of Days was the fifteenth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Christmas Around the World. It was written by David Cromarty. It featured the Seventh Doctor and Ace.

Summary
The TARDIS lands in Rome on December 17th 47 BC. The Doctor wants to show Ace the holiday of Saturnalia when slaves are given a day to be the masters and the masters act as slaves. The citizens are giving each other effigies of the god Saturn but Ace is given a pebble by a small girl, Rhea. They visit the Temple of Saturn where there are curious energy readings. Later they intervene in a fight between a slave, Marcus and his master, Aullus. Aullus invites them to a feast in his house but when they get there Marcus reveals his plan to return Saturn to power over the other gods. Marcus's stone statues of Saturn suddenly come to life and, at the slave's command, kill Aullus. The Doctor tells Ace to return to the TARDIS but as she passes the Temple of Saturn the giant statue of the god comes to life and grows to twice its size. The Doctor has told Ace about the myth of Saturn's death and how he ate all of his children to prevent them from overthrowing him. When his wife Rhea replaced the last child, Jupiter, with a stone, Saturn regurgitated Jupiter's siblings and the gods rose up and replaced their father. Ace tries to throw the pebble that Rhea gave her into the statue's mouth but Saturn catches and crushes it. Saturn then orders Marcus to kill Rhea but the Doctor arrives and tells the slave that Rhea is really the god's wife in the form of a little girl. Saturn and Rhea are forbidden to kill each other, which is why they are using others to do their work. The Doctor flings a bottle of poison at the giant statue who shrinks and becomes inanimate again. Rhea vanishes back to wherever god-impersonating aliens go to and the Doctor and Ace return to the TARDIS while Marcus is left to be dealt with by the authorities.

Characters

 * Seventh Doctor
 * Ace

Continuity
to be added