Inmate 280

"What did it feel like to kill a man?"

Writer: Cavan Scott

Format: Short Story

Released: December 2003

Printed in: Short Trips: Steel Skies 10

Featuring: Seventh Doctor, Eighth Doctor

Synopsis

There are many places that most of us can never see: places that are sheltered, locked away, cordoned off from the outside world. But to the Doctor, and those who travel with him in his TARDIS, there is no such thing as a locked door. Anywhere in space and time is open to them to visit – even if sometimes it might be better to leave such places well alone.

Steel Skies is a collection of stories based in enclosed and artificial environments: places constructed to keep the dangers of the universe outside, perhaps, or to keep their inhabitants locked in. It is divided into four sections, each exploring a different kind of confinement:

Section One, Flight, comprises four tales of travellers who left their homes for far-away destinations – to explore, to start a new life, or to fight for the survival of their species.

Section Two, Frontiers, explores the corridors, living quarters and ventilation shafts of four futuristic environments – designed to shelter men, women and children from harsh natural forces, or from the threat of nuclear war.

Section Three, Incarceration, tells four stories of punishment and imprisonment, from San Francisco's infamous Alcatraz, to the cage of a flightless angel in the dilapidated ruins of Heaven. 

Section Four, Isolation, deals with the loneliness and despair of being cut off from the world outside, by physical or mental incapacity, by the ravages of war, or caught between destinations aboard the TARDIS itself. 

A recurring theme in all four sections is the effect of the Doctor's arrival in these enclosed environments – sometimes positive, sometimes less so.

Verdict

Inmate 280 was a good story in the end to continue my way through the Steel Skies edition of Short Trips! I think this jumped up a rating on the final page which is a pretty impressive feat as I must admit I’m not normally the biggest fan of stories in this prose range where the focus is on what is essentially a random character with no connection or history with the Doctor, or at least a character from the Whoniverse, extended or otherwise. That was the case here with Travers as we learned of his time as the last correction officer on the famous prison that is Alcatraz. That’s a fun setting to explore and I really did like the unique and historic nature of it. It’s a place I would love to visit as a tourist for its history and standing in America, so it seems ripe for the Doctor to be present. Two Doctors in fact! I don’t think it was the right move to disguise that Fells was the Seventh Doctor all along because if we knew earlier (or rather had it confirmed because it was pretty predictable) then it would have been preferable to know the Doctor was present. We all knew who he was but not having that confirmation just kept the doubt lingering in my mind. That was just a tad unnecessary in my opinion. I thought Travers was a decent character and struggling with him coming to terms for killing someone was a strong emotional story across the adventure. Being in that situation is not something I can imagine but I’d like to think that I would also have the courage and determination to pull that trigger in that moment. Saving your own life is something that will provide immense strength and it was intriguing for others to look on at Travers as they could clearly see that was his first kill. A life to save his own is certainly a powerful thing and I can only think that situation is where I could take a life. He was telling his story in the modern day which was good and the listener actually turning out to be the Eighth Doctor was a great twist. I must admit I didn’t see that coming and it was nice to know that the Doctor was looking back on his life and checking in with Travers. That was pretty admirable and just nice. It was also good to highlight in just a line or two that the Eighth Doctor felt strongly about looking back and showed despite just one regeneration between bodies, a lot had happened. The duration of these incarnations are shrouded in uncertainly given the Wilderness Years and that was exploited well here in a very subtle way. I can absolutely get on board with that. The threat provided by the Thekron was just fine and it did seem very Seventh Doctor for him to have trapped the creature below the fault line of Alcatraz at San Francisco. I’m also fascinated by the setting given the two incarnations of the Doctor who featured and the link to The Movie. That’s fun to think about as the point of these two Doctors converging. Feeding on negative energy or emotion is not a new or unique concept, but going to a prison the scale and seriousness of Alcatraz is a good place to do it! Did the Doctor not think ahead though of where he was trapping the Threkron? That seems like an oversight. I thought the action at the ending providing some ambiguity and allowing the Seventh Doctor to escape was pretty good and I liked that the Eighth was revealed to basically bookend things.  

Rating: 7/10