A Life in the Day (short story)

A Life in the Day was the ninth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: A Day in the Life. It was written by Xanna Eve Chown. It featured the Fifth Doctor and Peri.

Summary
Peri and the Doctor return, four weeks later, to a village they had visited "yesterday". The Doctor looks forward to watching a cricket match, but as they make their way to the village fête, a sharp, loud sound hits them. The Doctor thinks he can make out words in the sound they heard, but the message was too fast, so they head back to the TARDIS so the Doctor can build a contraption to slow down the transmission.

They exit the TARDIS, each wearing a device that will slow down the message. This time they are able to hear the words, and learn that a very tiny alien named Ba has been trying to communicate with them. Ba comes from a very short-lived species — they only live for twenty-four hours. Ba and his mother, who is long dead, were abandoned by the rest of their people, and Ba blames the Doctor. In the time that it takes the Doctor to ask Ba a question, weeks pass for Ba, making him very frustrated.

Ba tells his story to the Doctor and Peri telepathically, though Peri doesn't follow much of the details. The Doctor realises that Ba's ship must have entered the TARDIS "yesterday" and been trapped inside, though it's been four weeks since the Doctor and Peri were last in this location, and therefore several generations have passed for Ba's people.

Ba, the Doctor and Peri enter the TARDIS and search for the ship. They finally find it in the TARDIS laundry room, where it has been trapped for four weeks inside a basket of laundry. Ba enters the ship, which is the size of a cricket ball, and the Doctor opens the TARDIS doors to let it out. The ship leaves Earth, and the Doctor and Peri head for the cricket match.

Characters

 * Fifth Doctor
 * Peri
 * Ba

Worldbuilding

 * Peri thinks the Doctor is quoting the Beatles.
 * The Doctor mentions The Wizard of Oz.
 * Ba is an Arix.
 * Two old ladies on their way to the fête have a Tupperware box of cakes.

Continuity
to be added