Balloon Debate (short story)

Balloon Debate was the sixteenth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Companions. It was written by Simon A. Forward. It featured Sarah Jane Smith and K9 Mark III.
== Summary ==
The various companions the Doctor has known have all been brought together onto a collapsing TARDIS for their protection. K9 reveals that he can only support six of them surviving, and they each say their piece to democratically decide who lives after a suggestion by Mel. Adric dies in an accident. After a long series of debates (though Mel is not allowed to speak due to her positive attitude), the votes are tallied, and most of them die. In the aftermath, K9 reveals too much time has passed, and only two can survive. Another vote is held. The final survivors, Sarah and Victoria, are once again faced with a choice. K9 shoots Victoria, revealing her to be a disguised Kamelion. It's then revealed that this has all been a story Sarah has been writing in order to break her writer's block.
== Characters ==
* Sarah Jane Smith
* K9
* within Sarah's story:
** Susan Foreman
** Ian Chesterton
** Barbara Wright
** Vicki Pallister
** Steven Taylor
** Dodo Chaplet
** Polly Wright
** Ben Jackson
** Jamie McCrimmon
** Zoe Heriot
** Liz Shaw
** Jo Grant
** Harry Sullivan
** Leela
** Romana (first incarnation)
** Romana (second incarnation)
** Adric
** Nyssa
** Tegan Jovanka
** Kamelion (disguised as Victoria Waterfield)
** Peri Brown
** Mel Bush
** Ace McShane
== Worldbuilding ==
* In Sarah's story, most of the companions make a plea for survival, but a few, namely Harry, Leela, Jamie, Nyssa and Steven, offer to sacrifice themselves.
* In the story, Romana II mentions the Prydonian Academy.
== Notes ==
* Based on the characterisation of the other companions in her story, Sarah Jane appears to be intimately familiar with them. She is not known to have met, in any medium, any of the companions shown here other than Harry (Robot, et. al.), K9 (A Girl's Best Friend, et. al.), Susan, Tegan (The Five Doctors), Liz, Jo, Ace (Girls' Night In, which also contradicts Jo and Sarah's first meeting in Death of the Doctor), and Victoria (Downtime). She also fails to include Sam Jones (whom she met in Interference), Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith (both of whom she met in School Reunion), Martha Jones, Jack Harkness, or Donna Noble (the latter three having been met in The Stolen Earth/Journey's End), implying a setting before those stories.
* Sarah also fails to include any companions exclusive to non-televised media, or any of the members of UNIT aside from Liz and Jo.
== Continuity ==
* In the story, Jamie mentions fighting for the Bonnie Prince. (TV: The Highlanders)
Category:Sarah Jane Smith short stories
Category:K9 short stories
Category:Short Trips: Companions short stories
Category:Stories set in England