A Town Called Eternity (short story)

A Town Called Eternity was the second short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips and Side Steps. It was written by Lance Parkin and Mark Clapham. It featured the Fifth Doctor and Peri.

Part one
The Sheriff of Eternity and Jack are waiting for rustlers. They have men hidden away for an ambush. Suddenly, the hidden men are attacked by something with "teeth like knives, skin like a tree trunk and glinting, alligator eyes". The Sheriff and Jack are soon killed as well.

The Doctor takes Peri to the Wild West in the 1880s to see Peri's past. They enter the saloon, run by Josh Larson, and introduce themselves. Josh thinks that the Doctor is Dr Sebastian Rowley, whom they are expecting to arrive to investigate the recent strange deaths. The Doctor goes along with the assumption. The deputy Sheriff, Paul, comes in with a plaster footprint. The Doctor recognises it as a dinosaur called a deinonychus.

Peri, meanwhile, has gone for a walk with Josh, who, despite looking like a man in his twenties, claims to be one hundred and ten years old. He tells Peri of an elixir he bought when he was eighty. When he took it, he started becoming younger, and now only ages about a year for every ten. When Peri tells him she has a relative named Iziah Brown, he takes her to see the Brown family.

Paul tells the new Sheriff about the arrival of "Dr Rowley". The Sheriff asks for a description and recognises both the Doctor and Peri.

The Doctor is in a shop looking at fossils, and meets Sarah Brown, wife of Iziah Brown. She knows of Dr Rowley and is thrilled to finally meet him. She tells him of dinosaur bones found on her land and offers to take the Doctor there. However, the Sheriff enters, and the Doctor discovers he is the Master. The Doctor is locked up. When Paul tells the Master about Peri, the Master decides killing her will make the Doctor suffer, and he and Paul leave. Sarah shows up with explosives and frees the Doctor. However, they are confronted by the Master and hypnotised townspeople. The Master kills Sarah when he learns her last name, and gloats that he's just wiped Peri from history. He then tells the people that the Doctor is an imposter and has just killed Sarah Brown. The townspeople begin to attack the Doctor.

Peri has met Iziah Brown and is surprised to learn that he has six wives. She wonders which of them might be her ancestor.

As the Master gloats over the Doctor, the Doctor pulls at the mask that is covering the wounds the Master sustained on Sarn. The Master tells the Doctor he has found the Fountain of Youth, orders the townspeople to kill the Doctor, and leaves.

Iziah tells Josh and Peri his family's secret: they have found the Fountain of Youth.

Meanwhile, the townspeople have strung up the Doctor, and after fifteen minutes cut him down.

Iziah and his five wives take Josh and Peri to the cave where the fountain is located. The fountain is in an area littered with dinosaur fossils. As they approach it, the Master appears with half a dozen armed, hypnotised men. He herds Iziah's group away from the fountain and fills a bucket with the water. Before he can use it, Peri slams into him, spilling the water. All around them, the dinosaur fossils that the water touched turn into living dinosaurs...

Part two
to be added

Characters

 * Fifth Doctor
 * Peri Brown
 * Josh Larson
 * Iziah Brown
 * Sarah Brown
 * Simone Brown
 * Dana Brown
 * Millicent Brown
 * Venus Brown
 * Wanda Brown
 * Wanda Brown

Continuity

 * Peri recalls her visits to Sarn (TV: Planet of Fire), Mars (AUDIO: Red Dawn) and Gelsandor (PROSE: The Ultimate Treasure).