The Fear (short story)

The Fear was the seventh short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: A Universe of Terrors. It was written by Alexander Leithes. It featured the Fourth Doctor and K9.

Summary
The Doctor and K9 are in the TARDIS console room. Everything is working perfectly. This worries the Doctor.

Suddenly, everything is black, and the Doctor is falling. At first, he is afraid, then he embraces his fate and closes his eyes and spreads his arms wide...

Instead of an impact, the Doctor finds that he is in a cave with several humanoids who are missing limbs. Also in the cave is a creature with teeth and claws. The Doctor is afraid, but after the creature bites off his right arm, he calmly wraps the stump in his scarf...

The Doctor is now in a wheelchair, being tended by two nurses. His right arm has been restored to him, but he is now an old man. The Doctor is not even afraid this time, and jokes with the nurses. He wonders what defences he will need against whatever intelligence is doing this to him.

Next, the Doctor is in a padded cell. He starts singing, just a single note, over and over again. Suddenly a cowled humanoid figure appears in the cell and angrily asks the Doctor what he's doing.

The entity explains to the Doctor what it is, but is angered by the Doctor's flippant replies. The entity represents all the people who have felt fear because of the Doctor's actions. The entity is attempting to make the Doctor feel fear, and can't understand why it hasn't worked so far.

The Doctor insists that everything he has done has been for the best. The entity does not agree. It attacks the Doctor again, with creatures, an ocean of blood, and maggots, and then senses a small thought in the Doctor's mind — he is afraid of losing his mind.

The Doctor, however, continues to argue with the entity, and gets it to admit that everything is in its mind. Therefore the Doctor himself is also in its mind. He argues that he is fragment of the entity's mind, and that it is actually condemning itself when it tries to condemn the Doctor. While the Doctor argues, a blinding white light appears. The entity is trapped between two states: condemning itself to eternal insanity or letting the Doctor go. The Doctor walks through the white light.

Characters

 * Fourth Doctor
 * K9 Mark II
 * Entity

Worldbuilding

 * The Doctor is drinking tea when everything goes black.

Continuity
to be added