The Bird of Fire (short story)

Summary
The Doctor is disturbed from his rest by Tegan Jovanka when Kamelion raises the alarm that the TARDIS is about to have a collision. Joining Turlough and Kamelion in the console room, he sees the scanner shows no sign of an obstacle, just empty blackness. A small egg appears above the central rotor and grows quickly until it hatches into an angry, fiery bird. As the bird attacks and the room starts to heat up, Kamelion is overpowered and the others make their escape to elsewhere in the TARDIS. Unless they can do something soon the bird, a Phoenix, believed extinct by the Doctor, will kill them and rip the TARDIS apart.

From the secondary control room the Doctor searches for a nearby star to lure the Phoenix out of the main console room. He finds Rogos X, the largest star in the Vistarn system and races back to the main control room. He removes his jacket and walks into the console room, which is now like a furnace. He brings Rogos X up on the scanner. The Phoenix, drawn to the flame, leaves the TARDIS as it arrived.

Later the Doctor explains that what the Phoenix saw on the scanner was just an image of Rogos X projected onto the blackness of the vortex. With the Doctor once more in control of the TARDIS, he sets a course for the Eye of Orion.

Characters

 * Fifth Doctor
 * Tegan Jovanka
 * Turlough
 * Kamelion

Continuity

 * The TARDIS' secondary control room first appeared in TV: The Masque of Mandragora.