Meet the Martians
*
Disclaimer: Clearly, I don't own Doctor Who or any of the rights to it, or I wouldn't be writing random fanfictions about it, I'd be writing episodes for TV! 8D
Author's note: This fic is set just after the Doctor asks Donna to travel with him in the Christmas special (at the start of series 3). Donna accepts instead of refuses and here's what happens...
"So, Space Man," Donna said brightly as she stepped into the control room of the TARDIS, "Where are we going?"
The Doctor leaned against one of the less touchy controls and said, "Well, you're only limited by the whole of Time and Space, so... take your pick."
Donna frowned at him, looking as though she was thinking hard about something. "Tell me, Space Man, are you really a Martian?"
The Doctor groaned. "No, I am not a Martian. I am a Time Lord. You know what – I know just the place to take you! Just the place!" And he began running around the control panel of the TARDIS, flicking switches, turning wheels, punching buttons, and whacking seemingly random places on or near the TARDIS controls, all the while calling, "Martians, Donna? You want Martians? Well, you'll get them! Hahaha!"
Soon enough, with much screeching, groaning and vworp-ing, the TARDIS stopped moving. "There we go!" the Doctor enthused. "We've landed!"
Donna picked herself up from the floor of the TARDIS. "Is it always this rough?" she whined.
"What do you mean, rough? That was a perfectly fine flight, wasn't it, old girl?" the Doctor said from behind her.
Donna whipped around, realised he was talking to the TARDIS, not her, and asked a new question. "Where have we landed, anyway?"
The Doctor abruptly looked up. "Oh. Right. Yes. We're on Mars!" he announced grandly.
Donna kept a tight grip on the Doctor's arm as they walked down the hallway from where the TARDIS was parked. They joined a large group of people walking from a terminal farther back.
"Doctor," Donna queried eyeing the people around them, "Why are these people... human? Don't tell me humans colonise Mars in the future."
"No, no, no, these guys are just visitors, like us. Look behind you."
Looking round, Donna asked, "Is that... like an airport check-in?"
"Yes," the Doctor replied simply.
"Oh." Donna mused for a moment. "When do I get to see some real Martians?"
He rolled his eyes. "Humans, always so impatient," he muttered. "Must come with having such a short life-span." In a slightly louder voice he said to Donna, "Just wait, I'm taking you to them."
Showing his psychic paper at the exit, the Doctor led Donna out of the spaceport and to an observation deck, surrounded by a clear atmospheric shield, allowing them to see out across the landscape of Mars.
Donna gaped as she took in the vast, sprawling cities, all under clear atmospheric domes, their inhabitants nothing but specks in the distance as they went about their daily business. The characteristic red haze of Mars swirled as gas around the domes, and the actual surface of the planet – red rocks and dust, for the most part – could be seen in between the great domes and the clear, above-ground tunnels that linked them together.
"The cities..." Donna said in awe, "They're like a giant chain of interconnected domes and tunnels... This is really Mars?"
The Doctor nodded.
"Wow... But when do I get to see the Martians?" she whined impatiently, sounding awfully like a small child.
"Those little dots down there," the Doctor pointed to the tiny specks in the faraway domes, "... most of them are Martians."
"Great, but I want to see them for real," she nagged.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Look around you then," he said. "They've just come in through the side door."
Donna twisted around eagerly, only to be disappointed. "There's no-one there."
Sighing, the Doctor replied, "No, the other side door."
Donna whirled around, and screamed. There were four of them. They were about three metres tall and massively rotund; one was purple, one was green, one was yellow and the last one, a bit smaller than the others, was red. Atop their heads were strange-shaped antennae – one had an inverted triangle bobbing over its head, one had a spiral, another a straight line, and the last, smaller one had a circle. Simultaneously, they all smiled at her and raised their left hands in the universal 'peace' greeting.
Frozen in horror, Donna whispered, "Teletubbies," and she bolted from the room, screaming.
"Donna?" the Doctor spun towards her. "What the –" But she was already gone.
"Sorry," he said shortly to the Martians, and sprinted after her.
It was a difficult trip back to Earth. First the Doctor had had to find Donna – she'd gotten herself lost – drag her back to the TARDIS, and then he had to try to concentrate on flying the TARDIS with Donna screaming and wailing from a corner of the control room.
When they landed, the Doctor cornered Donna and asked her with genuine concern, "I see I can't just take any given human on a trip with me, and that's fine. I probably shouldn't take any. But just tell me, Donna, why did the Martians frighten you so much? You were fine with the Racnoss and the Huon particles, the Martians are positively cute by comparison! Why are they so terrifying to you?"
In a barely controlled voice, Donna said, "They. Are. Freaking. Ten-foot tall Teletubbies!!!!!!" And with that she barged past the Doctor, and ran screaming out of the TARDIS.
The Doctor stood there for a minute, perplexed, while he tried to remember if he'd ever seen or heard anything about these 'teletubbies'. After a solid ten minutes of hard thinking, the Doctor's face lit up and he burst into laughter. He was still laughing as the TARDIS dematerialised.
Author's note: This was just something I thought of when I was supposed to be doing schoolwork. Love it, hate it: no matter, R&R anyway! :D