Ships (short story)

Ships was a Brief Encounter short story published in DWM 185. It was the only such story to feature Dodo Chaplet and details a possibility for Dodo's post-TARDIS life quite different from that in the novel Who Killed Kennedy.

The title plays on the phrase "ships that pass in the night". It details an exceptionally brief encounter between Dodo Chaplet and Sarah Jane Smith in which they never recognise each other as people who knew the Doctor.

Summary
Walking home from her secretarial job, Dodo Chaplet's mind wanders back to her days in the TARDIS. As she encounters reminders of her mundane existence on the way home, she increasingly castigates herself for having left the First Doctor so abruptly. Lost in thought, she turns a corner and runs into a young woman. Their respective armfuls are dumped onto the ground. In the haste to collect their belongings, Dodo accidentally grabs the young woman's diary. It's too late to return it to her, though — she's long gone. Dodo examines it to determine something that might identify the owner. Luckily, there's an address — and the name S. J. Smith...

Characters

 * Dodo Chaplet
 * Sarah Jane Smith

Continuity

 * Dodo mentions the way in which Cyril "died" in the Celestial Toyroom, (TV: The Celestial Toymaker) and Steven Taylor's departure from the TARDIS. (TV: The Savages)