Repercussions... (short story)

Repercussions... was the seventeenth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Repercussions. It was written by Gary Russell. It featured the Eighth Doctor and Charley Pollard.

Summary
Charley falls asleep while reading a book in the TARDIS. When she wakes she is surprised to discover she is no longer on board the TARDIS, but an airship. Wandering around the ship, Charley finds a bar filled with people. Talking to the bartender, she learns the passengers are all on a journey. While awaiting the Doctor's arrival, she talks to people. Each tells the story of how they came aboard the airship. Charley comes to understand that all of the passengers have been removed from their own timelines to protect the Web of Time.

Charley wakes back in the TARDIS to find the Doctor waiting for her. He tells her the airship was the heart of the time vortex, and since no time passes there, the passengers will never know that they're in limbo, forever heading towards a destination they will never reach. The Doctor tells Charley that it was the best solution he could come up with; they could not be permitted to cause further damage to the Web of Time. The Doctor and Charley set off in the TARDIS for another adventure, leaving Charley with a better understanding of whom she is travelling with.

Characters

 * Eighth Doctor
 * Charley Pollard
 * Tianna
 * Tramp
 * Grant Markham
 * Sam Jones

Worldbuilding

 * The Doctor says that he visits the airship from time to time to remind him of his responsibilities as a time-traveller.
 * The TARDIS contains a Louis XIV chair and a copy of Bartholomew's Gazetteer of the Stars.
 * T'rss is a Martian spirit.
 * Gallifreyan vampires don't usually drink human blood.

Continuity

 * The R101 and Ramsey the Vortisaur are mentioned. (AUDIO: Storm Warning)
 * Cybermen and the Garazone system are mentioned. (AUDIO: Sword of Orion)