I should have known better. Oh, I should have known better.
Jean Airey’s The Doctor and the Enterprise. Many years ago I tracked down a copy of this story, years later I found it online. A few years ago, I learned that Airey had written a sequel to her Trek/Who crossover story, entitled “The Lieutenant and the Doctor.” This story, I assumed, was about a character from tDatE–Dorcy Stephans, an anthopological expert aboard the Enterprise–who stowed away aboard the TARDIS (for the Doctor, tDatE takes place between “The Invasion of Time” and “The Ribos Operation”) to see the wonders of the Doctor’s universe.
On eBay I found a collection of Who fanzines up for auction. While “The Lieutenant and the Doctor” wasn’t online, I knew the fanzine in which it had seen print–Blue Guardian #13. And in this collection of Who fanzines, Blue Guardian #13. A quick confirmation e-mail to the seller, to confirm that the issue did, in fact, contain the story I was curious about. Then, with confirmation, the bid placed. And then, once the auction closed, I was one step closer to confirming my theory as to whether or not Dorcy Stephans became a companion to the fourth Doctor.
Well, you know what they say about assumptions.
Essentially, the story is a retelling of the last half of The Doctor and the Enterprise, but from Stephans’ perspective, set in a frame from around the time of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. (tDatE tells the story of Kirk’s final mission aboard the Enterprise, so “The Lieutenant”‘s frame is a few years after that.)
Oh, did I mention that Blue Guardian #13 is an adult fanzine? The centerpiece of the story is Stephans’ sexual encounter with the Doctor. My researches hadn’t turned that up…
Overall, it’s not a bad story, but it’s not a standalone–it needs too much knowledge of what happened when the Enterprise was tossed into the Doctor’s universe. As a piece of erotic fiction, the Doctor is pretty well miscast: there are Doctors I’m pretty sure were sexual with their companions–the second and Zoe, the fourth and Sarah, the fourth and Romana–and Doctors that were sexual with their former companions–I can so envision the eighth Doctor popping back to San Francisco to visit Grace from time to time, to say nothing of popping ahead and visiting Benny–but I have a problem envisioning the Doctor getting physical with a virtual stranger for entirely casual reasons.
I really should have known better.