The Doctor ran around the console of his ship, hitting controls and muttering to himself. Lady Christina stood by door, her eyes wide. "You know, when you said that your little blue box was your ship, I thought that sounded strange, but that's nothing compared to what it actually is."
"Oh, come on, it's not that bad. You'll get used to it!" the Doctor exclaimed. "After all, you just got off a flying bus that was sucked through a wormhole into a dead planet filled with metal carnivorous stingrays and talking flies."
"I suppose…" She turned around, taking in the sheer size of it all-the coral wall designs, the branch-like pillars, the chairs and the great circular console in the center. "Has it got a name? The ship, I mean,"
"Of course it does! I didn't tell you? Could've sworn I told you. She's called the TARDIS: Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. Ooooh, and she likes you, too! Hasn't made that purring noise since R—" He swallowed.
"What do you mean, she likes me?" she asked, climbing the steps onto the platform.
The Doctor stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Well, the TARDIS is alive, so she tends to form opinions on who I bring in here. Normally she doesn't say anything, but every now and then she'll tell me she approves of someone."
"Ahh, so I'm privileged, is that what you're saying?"
"Kind of, yeah."
Christina smirked. "So, maybe you'll want to keep me around, huh?"
He looked at her sternly. "You're having difficulty understanding the word 'one' in 'one trip,' aren't you?"
"I like to think that it's not too late to change something until it's already happened," the thief said, tilting her head and smiling serenely. The Doctor shook his head. He flipped a few more switches and then spun in a circle, a broad grin upon his face.
"So, one trip in all of time and space, where do you wanna go?"
"Well, you're the expert, Mr. Time Lord," she replied cheekily. "Where do you think we should go?"
"Weeeeell…" He ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up in even crazier angles. "I've been thinking of going to Raxacoricofallapatorius to check up on an old friend, or maybe to the Hemilligor asteroid belt-supposed to have a fantastic view of the Deku palace coming around soon-no, wait, you're human! You'll like this little sight a bit more!" The Doctor raced around the console, pulling levers and fiddling with knobs and even pulled out a hammer and wacked a few buttons. He turned back to bemused thief with a wild look. "Hold on tight!"
Christina yelped as the whole room jerked to the side and started to hum and shake. She dove to the railing on the platform, gripping the metal with all her strength for fear of being thrown across the ship and breaking her neck. "You'd think a living ship like this would travel a bit more smoothly!"
"Nah, where's the fun in that?" he called back, rolling across the floor.
After a few more moments of shaking, the TARDIS came to a shuddering halt and Christina breathed a sigh of relief. "Where are we then?"
The Doctor straightened from the floor, brushing off his coat and running his hand through his hair again. "Go outside and see! No, wait, don't do that, you'll suffocate and die. Here, go through the door over there, down the hall, first door on the left. You'll find a rack of spacesuits. The orange one's mine, you can have one of the white ones. Hurry up, bring 'em here, don't just stand there! Rassilon," he muttered as Christina ran off in the direction he'd told her. "She really can't take a hint."
Ten minutes later, both the Doctor and Christina were wearing their space suits and ready to leave. The Time Lord was wearing his usual orange suit, but Christina had somehow found a royal blue one (from where, he had no idea) and was fiddling with her gloves with a smug look on her face. The only thing she said when he asked was: "I don't like white-it's too flashy."
Smiling, he turned to the thief. "Are you ready?"
"Never been more."
"Then allons-y!" he cried, and flung open the doors of the TARDIS with a flourish.
Christina felt her jaw drop as she stepped down from the police box. "The red planet," the Doctor said behind her. She swallowed nervously and, not wanting to take her eyes off of the amazing scene before her, whispered, "We're on Mars?"
"Yup, your own little Mars. I've seen a lot of planets, but this one has always been one of my favorites. Also, it's pretty close to Earth, so instead of going home and saying, 'I've been to Covarash Palvoon,' you get to say, 'I've been to Mars!' and everybody gets real impressed," he replied enthusiastically.
"If they even believe me. Mars…" the Lady murmured. She turned around in a slow circle, admiring the great red dunes that rose in towering peaks all around her. The rock formations were fantastic, forming great pillars and cave-like structures that all glowed a dim crimson in the light of the sun. There were no clouds or vegetation, just the raw and rugged scenery that seemed to stretch on forever. Christina started to walk forward, only to gasp in surprise when she found that it felt she was walking in water rather than through air. After a few steps, however, she grew used to it and began to amble over to a nearby cliff, grinning the entire time.
"Are you coming, or what?" she called over her shoulder.
"Gimme a minute, will you? I have to lock the TARDIS!"
"Well hurry up then!"
By the time the Doctor reached her, Christina had already reached the edge of the cliff, only to find out that it was in fact a crater. Inside it were five outlying domes and shuttle pads connected to a central dome by modular walkways. She looked at him with wide eyes as he came over looking annoyed. "I didn't know there were people on Mars," she said.
"People on Mars? What do you—"he broke off as he peered over the rim of the crater. "Oh, beautiful," he breathed, awed. The both of them were so occupied by the marvel in front of them that they failed to notice the noise of an approaching being until the Doctor felt something jab him in the back.
"Rotate slowly."
They did. To their surprise, a little robot stood in front of them. Christina would have like to ask what it was, but her attention was firmly held by the dangerous looking instrument held in its hand. It spoke again.
"You are under arrest for trespassing. Gadget, gadget."
The Doctor pretended not to notice the exasperated look that his companion was giving him as they were propelled into the crater.
The two of them were forced into the central dome, where they quickly took off their suits under the careful scrutiny of the little robot and placed them in a compartment in the wall. Once done, they walked down several hallways until they reached what appeared to be a command room filled with people. A blonde woman with her hair wound tightly into a bun and dressed in a combat uniform strode up to them and pointed a gun at their faces.
"State your name, rank, and intention," she ordered.
The Time Lord assumed a thoughtful expression. "The Doctor," he said slowly, "Doctor. Fun."
Christina snickered before schooling her features back into neutrality. "Lady Christina de Souza. Professional thief. Sightseeing, I guess."
Just then, a dark-skinned man ran into the room from behind several partitions, panting. "What the hell?" he exclaimed. "It's a man. And a woman! On Mars. How?"
"They ver vearing these things." A young woman with brown hair in a ponytail and a heavy Russian accent held up the suits that the Doctor and Christina had been wearing. "I have never seen anything like it."
"What did mission control say?" another man asked.
"They're out of range for ten hours with the solar flares," the woman holding the suits replied.
"If we could cut the chat, everyone," snapped the woman with the gun.
"Actually," the Doctor interrupted, "Chat's second on my list, the first being the gun pointed at my head. Which then puts my head second and chat third, I think. Gun, head, chat, yeah. I hate lists," he muttered to himself. "But you could hurt someone with that thing," he continued, gazing at the woman sternly. "Just put it down."
"Oh, you'd like that," she responded.
"Could you find me someone who wouldn't?"
"Why should I trust you?"
"Because I give you my word," he said. "And forty million miles away from home, my word is all you've got."
"And you?" her attention snapped to Christina, who had been hoping to be ignored and let the Doctor do the talking. "You just admitted to being a thief. Why shouldn't I toss you in an isolation block?"
"I'm not gonna cause any trouble," Christina said, shaking her head. "He won't let me. And besides, it looks like I was an idiot and left my gear on the bus, so I'm not even properly equipped to break into anything. Not that it looks like there's anything worth stealing here anyway," she added, looking around the room.
The woman paused, considering, and with a huff of irritation lowered her gun and turned to a young man standing on the side, who was wearing a type of suit that covered his hands formed a vest-like protection over his chest as well. "Keep Gadget covering them," she commanded him.
"Gadget, gadget," the robot said.
"Oh right, so you control that thing. Auto-glove response," the Doctor said.
"You got it. To the right," the man said, turning his right hand in that direction. The robot also turned right, saying "Gadget, gadget," as it did so. "And to the left." He moved his other hand, and the robot copied him, once again saying "Gadget, gadget."
"Is that its name?" Christina asked, peering at the robot.
"Yup!" the man answered cheerfully.
The Doctor grunted. "Does it have to keep saying it?"
"I think it's funny," the man said.
"I hate funny robots, "the Doctor said, making a face.
A voice crackled out of a speaker in the device held in the commanding woman's hand. "Excuse me, boss," a girl said. "Computer log says we've got two extra persons on site. How's that possible?"
"Keep the Biodome closed," the blonde woman barked. "And when using open comms, you call me Captain."
"Yeah, but—" the voice was cut off as the captain ended the conversation with a flick of her thumb.
An older man stepped forward and started speculating, while Christina sighed and folded her arms. "They can't be World State flights, because we'd know about it. Therefore, they've got to be independents, yeah?" The Doctor started to fidget impatiently. "Was it the Branson inheritance lot? They've talked about a Mars shot for years."
The twitchy alien lost patience and interrupted him. "Right, yes, okay, you got us. So, I'm the Doctor, and you are?"
"Oh, come on," the captain scoffed. "We're the first off-world colonists in history. Everyone on planet Earth knows who we are."
"You're the first? The very first humans on Mars? Then this is—"
"Bowie Base One," they concluded in unison.
"Um, hello?" Christina said. "Care to fill me in? Bowie what now?"
The Doctor turned back to her. "Number one," he said. "Founded July 1st, 2058. Established Bowie Base One in the Gusev Crater."
"Sorry, did you just say 2058? We're in the future?"
"Didn't I tell you that the TARDIS travels in time?"
"Yes, but you just said we were on Mars! You didn't mention anything about going to the future as well!"
The Doctor looked insulted. "Did you not want to travel in time?"
"I wouldn't have said no, but it's a little disconcerting to hear that not only am I on a different planet, I'm in a different time as well." She looked at him reproachfully. "You could have warned me."
The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "Well," he started, but the Russian woman cleared her throat. "Right! Bowie Base One. Wait," he said, gazing intently at the people in the room. "You've been here how long?"
"Seventeen months," the captain replied.
"2059. It's 2059, right now. Oh!" he yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "My head is so stupid, you're Captain Adelaide Brooke! And Ed. You're Deputy Edward Gold." He pointed to the older man. He began listing other names: "Tarak Ital, MD." The dark skinned man. "Nurse Yuri Kerenski." A quiet man gave him a bemused look. "Senior Technician Steffi Ehrlich." The Doctor waved his hand at the woman holding the suits. He spun around to the boy controlling the robot. "Junior Technician Roman Groom. Geologist Mia Bennett," he said to a pretty mocha-skinned woman. For a brief moment, he was so very excited. To meet the people who had set the precedent for space exploration, who would usher in a golden era for the human race! But then images began flashing through his mind, images of articles about these people. Obituaries. He refocused on the geologist. "You're only twenty seven years old."
"As I said, Doctor, everyone knows our names," Adelaide said.
He looked at her sadly. "Oh, they never forget them." More images were blinking through his head, pictures of disasters and mushroom clouds. Suddenly he glanced around. "What's the date, today?" he asked urgently. "What is it? Tell me the exact date."
"November 21st, 2059."
Then, he remembered. "Bowie Base Destroyed. World in Mourning. Nuclear blast crater- November 21 2059." He had been heartbroken when he read that article. "Right… Okay, fine."
"Is there something wrong?" Steffi asked.
"Doctor, why do you need to know the date?" Christina was frowning at him.
"What's so important about my age?" Mia inquired, confused.
"I… We should go. We should really go," the Doctor said, striding towards the door, only to look back at them with an expression of intense sorrow on his face. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry with all of my hearts, but it's one of those very rare times when I've got no choice." He darted back towards them to shake all their hands. "It's been an honor. Seriously, a very great honor to meet you all. The Martian pioneers. Oh, Christina, you have no idea how lucky we are. Oh, thank you. Ah." He started to shake Roman's hand, but he had the auto-gloves on, so he patted Gadget instead. The robot responded with a "Gadget, gadget." He then turned back to the captain and saluted her. "Thank you," he repeated. "Christina, we should really—wait, there's the other two. Hold on…" He thought for a second. "Margaret Cain and Andrew Stone."
Ed grinned and switched on the comms, saying "Maggie, if you want to meet the only new humans that you're going to see in the next five years, better come take a look."
A feral roar came over the speaker, causing the members of the expedition to give each other alarmed looks. "What was that?" Mia asked nervously.
"Oh, I should really go…" the Doctor said softly. Christina hurried over to him and whispered, "What's going on? The look on your face when they told you the date, and that weird sound—is something bad going to happen? Like on San Helios?"
He nodded slowly.
"But this is Mars," the thief protested. "Nothing big like that can happen here. Not so close to home."
"This is the future," the Doctor said. "You don't know what's going to happen. Many of humanity's defining moments are based off of tragic ones."
"What does that mean?" she tried to ask him, but the Time Lord's attention was focused on Captain Brooke and Ed. They were leaning over a computer, and the deputy was attempting to establish communication with the biodome, but without success. "Internal cameras are down."
"Show me the exterior."
The screen flickered on to show the lights going out one by one in the biodome. Adelaide looked up and said, "I'm going over. Doctor, with me."
The Doctor walked over anxiously. "Yeah, I'm sorry. Er, I'd love to help, but we're leaving right now. Christina, let's go."
Adelaide turned to Steffi. "Take their spacesuits, lock them up. Kerenski, Gold, watch her," she ordered, nodding her head at Christina. "This started as soon as you two arrived, so you're not going anywhere except with me, and I'm not taking both of you."
"Doctor…" Christina said, biting her lip.
"It's alright, just stay here. I'm sure you'll be fine. If anything does go wrong though, head straight for the TARDIS, you hear me? No matter what, if something bad happens, do whatever you have to do to get back."
"But what about you? Will you be alright?"
"I'll be fine, too. After all, it could be nothing, right? Just interference." He didn't look like he thought it was interference. The Time Lord was pale and wore an uneasy expression. "I've been in a lot of situations like this—I'm sure I'll be fine. Be right back, okay?" Before Christina could argue, he had run out of the room with the captain, the doctor, and the robot.