The Exiles (short story)

The Exiles was the first short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: A Universe of Terrors. It was written by Lance Parkin. It featured the First Doctor and Susan Foreman.

Summary
Susan and her grandfather have left their homeworld, and hope that their flight went unnoticed in the confusion. Susan knows her grandfather is a pioneer amongst their people, but he admits that he’s never actually piloted one of their time machines before. That job was always left to technicians. However, he feels sure that he can work out its principles.

Susan’s grandfather sets the machine in motion, and settles down to rest in the console room while waiting to see what will happen next. Unable to sleep, Susan explores the rest of the ship, and in the wardrobe room, she finds a full-length mirror -- and sees a pale-skinned young man reflected in it. The man steps out of the mirror, baring his fangs at Susan, but then vanishes after telling her that she is not the one.

Susan rushes back to the console room, where her grandfather theorises that, since they are now travelling through time, she encountered a brief echo of another era, an event from either the future or the past. It is just the first of many wonders and terrors of the outside Universe which he anticipates encountering in the years to come.

Characters

 * First Doctor
 * Susan Foreman

Continuity

 * The strange mirror with the same mysterious reflection would later be discovered by Ace. (ST: Echo)

Timeline

 * The Exiles occurs after ST: The Longest Story in the World.
 * The Exiles occurs before CC: Quinnis.