The Evolution Episode (short story)

The Evolution Episode was the first Doctor Who Adventures short story published in 2017. It was written as one of Jenny Flint's diary entries.

Plot
In the early hours of 12 December 1894, the Paternoster Gang are walking through Regent's Park towards the London Zoo, which is currently masked in a thick green-ish fog. The previous night an explosion was heard across London, and now Scotland Yard has ordered the gang to investigate. Tired, cold, and prevented from doing the chores she had been planning on doing this morning, Jenny is in a bad mood.

As they approach the zoo, the gang encounter a police sergeant who has been waiting for them. He begins to explain that three of the Yard's best men entered the fog and never returned, but is interrupted when a Mammoth comes charging out of the fog followed by three Neanderthals. Distracted by this peculiar scene, they don't notice the fog coming closer and enveloping Madame Vastra. She emerges resembling a savage animal, but Jenny is able to calm her with a gentle touch on the cheek.

Returned to normal, Vastra realises what is going on. She concludes that the explosion of the previous night was caused by a timeship containing alien zoologists who were studying the exhibits of the London Zoo crashing to earth. The temporal radiation leftover from the crash temporarily devolves anything that gets near to a primitive state. Furthermore, because Strax is a member of a clone race, there is nothing for him to devolve into and he is unaffected by the fog. Strax promptly marches into the fog and deals with the damaged timeship. The fog dissipates and everyone affected by it returns to normal.

Characters

 * Madame Vastra
 * Jenny Flint
 * Strax

Continuity
to be added