Of the Mermaid and Jupiter (short story)

Of the Mermaid and Jupiter was the twelfth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Past Tense. It was written by Ian Mond and Danny Heap. It featured the Seventh Doctor and Bernice Summerfield.

Summary
The Doctor and Benny board the sea vessel Mermaid as it leaves Sydney harbour in October 1829. But the Doctor’s desire to experience a relaxing ocean cruise is soon disrupted when a storm hits, and as the Mermaid goes down, the crew and passengers are forced to abandon ship.

Luckily everyone survives, and, having reached the safety of a rocky outcrop, they are soon rescued by the Swiftsure. But while the passengers and crew of the Mermaid marvel and their luck, the Swiftsure hits some rocks that night, and promptly sinks. Once again all hands escape unharmed, and are rescued by the Governor Ready. Benny becomes suspicious, especially when she discovers the Doctor setting fire to the ship’s hold; she realises that it was he who arranged for the previous ‘accidents’ encountered by the other vessels.

Everyone abandons ship once more, and are soon picked up by the Australian Government cutter Comet. A furious Benny tries to confront the Doctor, but the manipulative Time Lord instead manages to persuade her to help introduce a quick-acting ‘dry rot’ to the ship’s timbers, and, as fighting breaks out between the crew of the Comet and the ‘jinxed Mermaid crew, the vessel sinks in a storm. Some hours later, the combined passengers and crews are rescued by the Jupiter.

As Benny angrily faces the Doctor once more, she learns that a dying woman named Sarah Rickley is travelling abroad the Jupiter; the woman once came to the Doctor’s aid, and so in return he has contrived for her to be reunited with her estranged son, Peter, who is a member of the Mermaid’s crew. Satisfied that, thanks to his actions, Sarah will now find the will to live, the Doctor is taken aback by Benny’s observation that he could have achieved the same objective merely by using the TARDIS.

Characters

 * Seventh Doctor
 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Sarah Richley
 * Peter Richley
 * Captain Samuel Nolbrow
 * Captain Frederick McIntyre
 * Captain John Scott
 * Captain Theodore Fraser
 * Professor Burroughs

Continuity
to be added