Danse Macabre (short story)

Danse Macabre was the eighth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: The History of Christmas. It was written by Joff Brown. It featured the Third Doctor.

Summary
The Doctor, as usual trying to find a way to break his exile, finds a power source to boost his TARDIS, and sets the controls to find a larger power source. The journey knocks him out, and he awakens in the arms of a woman wearing a mask. Her name is Emma Hamilton and she tells him he is at a masquerade ball in Naples.

On his questioning her about a source of power, she takes him to meet Horatio Nelson. Nelson and the Doctor don't get along, each trying to outdo the other with stories of their exploits. The Doctor soon realises that there are several aliens present at the dance, who now surround Nelson and his men. A fight ensues, and Nelson has the Doctor tied up, assuming he is part of the assault.

When Emma's husband unties the Doctor, he heads for the TARDIS and reconfigures the circuits, allowing the humans and aliens to understand each other. The leader of the aliens, Griz Ressin Duccar Tayn, explains that they are here to retrieve the source of their power, which is contained in the necklace worn by Emma, which has been in her husband's family for generations. The necklace is given to Tayn, and when the king of Naples arrives and orders the aliens killed, Nelson and his men side with the aliens. The Doctor uses martial arts on the king, and the aliens leave with their artefact.

The Doctor, with very little power left in his TARDIS, heads back home, after promising to take Nelson on a trip with him one day.

Characters

 * Third Doctor
 * Emma Hamilton
 * William Hamilton
 * Lord Nelson
 * Griz Ressin Duccar Tayn

Worldbuilding

 * Emma is dressed as Minerva.
 * Nelson prefers beer over wine.
 * The Doctor boasts that he has been to the Moon and Venus.
 * He also boasts that he has met Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great.
 * The Doctor quotes a line from William Shakespeare.
 * Nelson's ship is the Vanguard.

Continuity
to be added