A Handful of Silver is a short story written by Mags L. Halliday. Released in 1999, it is a part of the Doctor Who anthology Perfect Timing 2 and tells of the Doctor encountering a Time Lord from his past once again.
Characters[]
- Third Doctor
- Jo Grant
- Ailla
- Ka'eal - a Drahvidian Science Officer
- The Command Officer
Plot[]
Shortly after stealing some components from an "impregnable" vault on Cassius5 (a planet at the edge of the Earth Federation), Ailla feels a stabbing pain while leave. Ailla realizes that this means that a time disturbance is nearby and returns to her base in Trade Base 6-7-4-alpha. Meanwhile, the Doctor (having seemingly repaired his TARDIS' dematerialization circuit) travels with Jo to the edge of the Federation in the 33rd century. By sheer chance, the TARDIS materializes effectively right next to Ailla. While she is standing nearby the TARDIS, she is found by the Doctor - who initially assumes she is still working for the Celestial Intervention Agency before learning that she has been stranded in the Federation. As such, the two of them work together to build a device to find the time disturbance.
While the two of them work on the device, a Drahvidian ship lands nearby in hot pursuit of a time machine. The Doctor, Ailla, and Jo hear the Drahvidians firing at the time machine and step outside to investigate. While making their way towards the time machine, the Drahvidians decide to retreat and fire at the time machine with their ship's laser. The Doctor (who lost his Imprimatur) and Ailla are captived by the ship but find that its interior is mangled and scorched. Despite this, the two of them steal some components (including a dematerialization circuit) before leaving - right before the Drahvidians fire on the ship.
While the Doctor is leaving, Ailla is able to convince him to hand over the dematerialization circuit by holding Jo hostage. Though Jo is embarrased by this, the Doctor reassures her to not feel bad about this. Meanwhile, Ailla uses the dematerialization circuit to finish building a time ring.
In-universe continuity[]
- For the Doctor and Jo Grant, this story takes place shortly after The Daemons.
- Ailla originates from David A. McIntee's novel The Dark Path. For her, this story takes place twelve years after this novel
- The Drahvidians were first mentioned in The Brain of Morbius. They reappeared (in extremely different forms and under the name Dravidians) in Justin Richards' novella The Planet of Oblivion. The name Drahvidians is also used in Lawrence Miles' novel The Hour of the Geek.
- The Rassilon Imprimatur was first mentioned in The Two Doctors.
- Time rings first appeared in Genesis of the Daleks.