The Hunting of the Slook (short story)

The Hunting of the Slook was the eighth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Time Signature. It was written by Marc Platt. It featured the Seventh Doctor.

Summary
The Doctor and the TARDIS are feeling the effects of an anomaly in the Time Vortex. The Doctor hears a familiar tune. Out in the void, there are dozens and dozens of dead spacefish. The Doctor sees a spacecraft that grabs hold of the TARDIS.

Inside the ship, The Klicklighter, Oli Pelhedly is filming a documentary with his director, Alex Voorspuy. Oli is on a search for Slooks, legendary creatures that he believes are real.

The TARDIS is quarantined, and from inside the Doctor tries to make contact. After he has been disinfected, he is allowed to exit his ship while Captain Luisa covers him with a gun. Some spacefish came aboard the ship with the TARDIS, and crewman Cyrus gets too close. He is frozen, all time drained away from him, just like the spacefish.

Oli and the Doctor talk about the Slooks, with Alex's cameras present as usual. The Doctor wants Oli to end the expedition, telling him that he heard the Slook singing in the void.

When Oli is called away to investigate a possible sighting, the Doctor heads to the TARDIS to search for the music that is so familiar. One of Alex's cameras follows him, and he grabs it and reprograms it.

The Doctor shows Oli what the reprogrammed camera recorded: Luisa and Alex conspiring to cathc one of the Slooks. Oli is unsurprised but doesn't want to call off the search.

When the ship finally encounters Slooks, Oli is entranced. The Doctor tries to stop Alex from catching one, but when he fails he heads for the TARDIS. He takes the TARDIS outside the ship to try to scatter the Slooks. They start singing, but the ship harpoons a Slook. It drags the ship, and there are tears in space due to the singing. On board the ship, time slows. Two men in grey take all the recording equipment off the ship, removing any trace of the Slooks.

When the Slooks are gone and their song has ended, time flows again. The two grey men try to take the Doctor's music from him, he retreats to the TARDIS, gloating that even if they take the music from him, it is also in his memory. As he gets away, he realises that they will soon be looking for him.

Characters

 * Time
 * White Tulip
 * Black Rose
 * Seventh Doctor
 * Oli Pelhedly
 * Alex Voorspuy
 * Captain Luisa
 * Heinz
 * Cyrus Nguema

Continuity

 * The Possibility Tree's branches form the omniverse, (AUDIO: Auld Mortality) which the Doctor travels through. (AUDIO: Paper Cuts) Time's roses grow on the branches (PROSE: Lungbarrow, AUDIO: Auld Mortality) and Time's music resonates forever through them. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, AUDIO: The Gift) As a whole, they are Time. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible, Lungbarrow)
 * The Doctor tells of his visit to Torcaldi. (PROSE: The Ruins of Time)
 * The Doctor has a hopelessly haphazard filing system, but the Doctor refuses to get a secretary. (AUDIO: Paper Cuts) Long ago, Susan had been able to easily understand the system because she could get into her grandfather's head. (AUDIO: The Beginning)
 * The Doctor suspects that Black Rose and White Tulip will come back for his brain. (PROSE: DS Al Fine)