Pisces: The Stabber

"I think the fish are talking to me."

Writer: Joseph Lidster

Format: Short Story

Released: March 2002

Printed in: Short Trips: Zodiac 12

Featuring: Sixth Doctor, Peri

Synopsis

Take a TARDIS trip through the constellations, as the Doctor travels to twelve thrilling tales inspired by the mystical zodiac. 

Telepathic fish, miniature lions and twin planets are the least of his problems, as the Doctor – all eight of him – faces the Capricorn Killer, endures a mind swap with the Machiavellian Master, and dances with Death herself. 

And that's not the half of it – as the two K9s can attest.

Verdict

The Stabber was a good little story to conclude my reading of the Zodiac edition of Short Trips! I don’t think it’s any secret that I haven’t enjoyed this collection for the most part compared with other editions and I think things will only get better with the other books in this range that I currently own. I don’t think the Zodiac theme was presented very well throughout, but I did think the Pisces sign was utilised brilliantly here with the strong fishy theme. I thought it was actually one of the better representations of the star sign but I would be lying if I expected a story with this title to be about giving fish vaccines! That’s not the kind of stabbing I was expecting and it certainly caught me off guard. That wasn’t in a bad way at all as I found Tom to be a really interesting character. I’m no dabbler in drugs of anything beyond paracetamol so I think I’d have had a much different reaction to accidentally injecting myself with the fish vaccine, but here Tom liked how he was feeling! I thought it was sad that he needed a drug to smile at his wife as he left for work, but it soon became clear that he was struggling with his job. I can relate to that at the moment as pressure is a very real thing, but he really didn’t seem to like it at all. My jobs comes in swathes of momentum and I’m lucky enough to mostly work from home, but the idea of a mundane job like vaccinating thousands of fish a day does sound boring. I could imagine that is difficult to get out of bed for! Him taking three extra shots of the vaccine because it made him feel good was never going to end well, I could see that coming a mile off. What I didn’t see though was the effect being a hallucinogenic one that allowed Tom to communicate with the fish! The poor salmon were explaining how they were being hurt by the vaccine and the unnatural growth. It was hard to not feel sorry for them as all they wanted was to be released and freed. Of course, that was never going to happen because with them being farm bred they were not protected from any diseases. They needed to become immune and that’s where Tom fitted in. I thought the distress call bringing the Sixth Doctor and Peri around was intriguing because to reach them that is quite a distress call! Peri ridiculing the idea of Tom communicating with the fish was amusing because the Doctor knew that was exactly what the case was going to be. That’s so typically sixth incarnation and it was great characterisation. I thought the Doctor confronting Dr Harden about his formula was good and it made sense that the inventor hadn’t had full time to test it fully, specifically regarding the side effects. The Doctor was somewhat sympathetic to him because he was answering to someone else and was under financial pressures. The simplicity of the resolution was slightly underwhelming in my opinion as the Doctor had just jigged up an antidote to the formula to save the fish handlers from hallucinating and the fish from talking to people. I was a little surprised that Tom didn’t seem that happy at the idea of being cured and actually succumbed to the fish again in trying to inject Peri with the drug, but she cleverly turned it on him to make him drink her own cup that actually had the antidote inside rather than more of the drug. The inner thoughts of the fish as things went wrong and Tom lost communicating with them which meant no release and reprieve was coming. That was certainly emotional for them but now Tom was set to continue with his job as normal. Maybe Mary will be able to move back down South now Linda is better? That’s a nice thought. Overall, a good little read to conclude a whacky and questionable collection of stories!

Rating: 7/10