Chapter Seven
The Waters of Mars: The Flood Begins

The walkways between the separate domes of Bowie Base One seemed to stretch endlessly into the shadows. When Clara observed the base from the top of the crater's rim, she felt gigantic. Now, practically swallowed in the expanse between the thick steel walls, she's a mere speck. Warily, she peered at the pipes hanging precariously from the ceiling above. They didn't seem secure enough to ease her worry.

The steel eyed captain, Adelaide, led the group. Along with the Doctor and herself, Adelaide ordered the base's medical officer to come along. Annoyingly, Clara couldn't quite place his name. At the same time, she didn't have the courage to ask. Oh, well. It would hit her, sooner or later...

Gadget, the robot, (whose name was quickly engrained in her memory for obvious reasons), rolled on its heavy treads by her side. Suddenly, the machinery on its arm sparked, and the hot prick of light almost seared her dress. She flinched.

"Gadget gadget," it droned, breaking the silence that settled on the group like a blanket.

The Doctor kept a few paces in front of her. His hands stuffed in the pockets of his pinstriped trousers, he glanced behind, his brow fixed in an irritated expression. Clara felt her dimples show. She pleasured in knowing she was not alone in disliking that clunky, repetitive hunk of metal. Five minutes next to that thing was nearly enough to drive her up the wall.

"What's so important about Mia's age, Doctor?" Adelaide questioned suddenly. "You said she was only twenty-seven. Why does it matter?"

He scrunched his brows together, calculating his response just as he spoke. "Oh, I just open my mouth and words come out. They don't make much sense."

"That's telling me."

The Doctor turned to smirk at the medical officer behind him, who decided to speak up for the first time. She grasped towards the recesses of her memory, in a struggle to remember his name. It started with a 'T,' didn't it?

Taj, Tra... Trak... Tarak? Was his name Tarak? Yes, she believed it was. Good.

"But... twenty-seven is young," Clara commented suddenly.

Adelaide narrowed her eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"For a Mars mission. That seems young."

"And you can talk," Tarak muttered.

"You all had to go through years of training for this, yeah?" Clara nodded towards the captain, ignoring what the medical officer said.

"Five years of training to be precise," Adelaide confirmed. "But Mia's a strange case. She submitted her application for candidacy when she was twenty. Only halfway through university. She was one of thousands to apply. There were so many promising applications that we had to choose by lottery."

"So you chose her."

"Yes, and I dare say we lucked out. She's a brilliant geologist."

"And what about you, Captain? Here on lottery as well?" the Doctor queried, hoping up beside them.

"No. No... I planned this mission, I chose the crew. I've waited for my whole life to reach this place."

"Really?" he replied, seeming a bit surprised.

The beginnings of a light migraine diverted Clara's attention from the rest of the conversation. She firmly pressed her fingers to her temples, attempting to stave it off. As she did this, she reflected on the day's events. When she woke up in her aunt's flat that morning, she never imagined she'd be standing in a Martian base in the future hours later. The longer she thought about this, the more awed she became. Yet, there was still a tiny shard of worry within her. By coming here, she chose to place her safety in the hands of a near stranger. He knew something was going to happen her, but wouldn't tell her. Was this life-changing decision really for the best, or did her idealistic fantasies of traveling the world hinder her judgement? After all, what did she really know about the Doctor?

Almost nothing.

Clara's mind soared back into the here-and-now when a strand of hair flew in front of her eyes. She reached up to tuck it behind her ear, and decided to tune back in on the Doctor's conversation with the captain.

"-one thing they never said. Was it worth it, the mission?" he asked.

"We've got excellent results from the soil analysis."

He glanced at Clara momentarily, seeming annoyed. She realized then he wasn't receiving the answer he wanted. "No, but all of it. Because they say you sacrificed everything. Devoted your whole life to get here."

Adelaide's countenance darkened. She tightened the grip on her metal torch. "It's been chaos back home," she finally relented. "Forty long years. The climate, the ozone, the oil apocalypse."

A lump caught in Clara's throat as she heard this.

"We almost reached extinction," the captain continued. "Then to fly above that, to stand on a world with no smoke, where the only straight line is the sunlight? Yes. It's worth it."

The Doctor's lips curled up. "Ah. That's the Adelaide Brooke I always wanted to meet," he breathed in awe. "The woman with starlight in her soul."

Adelaide tilt her head towards him, but then she saw something ahead that broke the delicate moment. "What's that?" she questioned, and began running forwards. Clara, the Doctor, and Tarak followed. A body lay on the floor, seemingly unconscious. Adelaide reached the form first.

"It's Maggie," she said when she recognized her fallen comrade. The worry was evident in her voice. She and Tarak fell to her knees, attempting to find any obvious ailment.

The Doctor reacted a little too harshly, in her opinion. "Don't touch her!" he demanded, towering nervously above them. Tarak's hands wavered over the body.

"What happened?" Clara murmured. She kneeled next to Captain Brooke, and stared at the Bowie Base One crew member. She was a pretty young woman. Definitely unconscious, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong on the surface.

"I know the procedure," Tarak declared then, breaking her train of thought. He placed a gentle hand on Maggie's shoulder, blatantly ignoring the Doctor's advice to not touch, and tried to wake her. "Maggie, can you hear me? It's Tarak. Maggie?" No response. He carefully rolled her on her back, and everyone relaxed when they noticed her chest still rising up and down. "It's okay, she's still breathing. She's alive."

The worry etched on Adelaide's face slowly began to dissipate. Tarak slipped a hand into his pocket and grabbed his communicator. It seemed like everybody on this base had one.

"Yuri, I've got Margaret Cain, head trauma," he spoke into the small device. "I need a full medpack."

A response immediately echoed from the Russian.

"I've got it. Medpack on its way."

By now, Clara nervously paced around the modular corridor as they waited for the medpack.

"I know CPR if that's any help," she spoke up hesitantly, looking from the Doctor to Adelaide to Tarak. "It's kind of a requirement, working in a day care facility..." she commented with a small laugh.

"No, like I said, don't you touch her!" the Doctor warned her in a fervent whisper, walking up right by her shoulder.

The Captain chuckled, still on the floor with Maggie. "You're not a scientist or an explorer, are you Clara?" she asked pointedly.

"I'm just a traveler. Of sorts."

"Just a traveler?" Tarak pointed out in doubt.

"I'm-"

"She's with me," the Doctor interrupted then, bounding into the conversation. "A friend. I'm sorry, Captain. I'm so, so sorry. We didn't know we'd land here today."

The captain's gaze narrowed. "You keep apologizing to me. Why?"

He kept eye contact with her, but did not speak a word. He somehow managed to keep his features completely void of unnecessary emotion, a skill that Clara noticed he was extremely proficient at. Perhaps too much so. Meanwhile, the same question Adelaide asked haunted her curious mind as well.

The sound of heavy footsteps clapping against the concrete floor alerted them that Yuri arrived with the medpack. An unwieldy stretcher board slung over his shoulder. Ed Gold, the second in command, followed in rear. Adelaide frowned when she spotted Mr. Gold.

"Don't touch her," the Doctor warned once again, watching as Yuri immediately fell to his knees in front of Maggie with the stretcher, and emptied a few supplies out from the medpack. "Use the gloves."

Clara, standing next to the Time Lord, frowned. "You keep telling us we can't touch her, but why not?" she asked.

Tarak continued to direct Yuri, seemingly paying no attention to the conversation happening above them. The Doctor sighed loudly, and ran his hand through the tangled mess of fluffy hair atop his head. His eyes were pained, torn between telling her the full truth or keeping quiet about it, which was probably due to the presence of Bowie Base One crewmembers around them...

"I- I can't tell you right now, Clara," he finally managed, "but she's dangerous."

Clara's lips quirked, confused. She took a breath to ask another question, when the two were violently snapped back into the natural flow of life by Captain Adelaide Brooke's soft spoken but commanding voice.

"We're going on to the Biodome. Tarak, with me. Yuri can take care of her. Ed, go back. Gadget, stand guard. Keep an eye on this area."

"Gadget gadget," the robot replied, controlled by Roman back at central. Adelaide walked up in front of the Doctor.

"And Doctor, what do you mean by that?" she questioned, staring right at him. "Why is she dangerous? If you know anything important, then-"

"Captain, you're going to need me," Ed suddenly spoke up. "Andy is the only other crew member out here, and if that wasn't an accident, then he's gone wild."

The cold look that crossed the captain's countenance then was enough to send a shiver down Clara's spine. "You've deserted your post. And interrupted me," she told him coolly. "Consider that an official warning. Now get back to work. Doctor, Clara?"

"Clara's not coming," the Doctor said.

Wham.

"What?" she cried, crestfallen.

"Go with Ed and Yuri, back to med bay. You'll be safer there."

"Well, what about you?" Clara challenged. "Will you be safe, out there? 'Coz I really don't think there's much of a difference between Time Lords and humans when it comes to-"

The Doctor practically rolled his eyes. "I'm not what you need to worry about in this base," he whispered. "Please... Go. You can help from there by keeping me updated on how Maggie's doing."

Clara's lips curved into a pout. Finally, she agreed.

"Fine."

She stepped behind with Ed and Yuri, who were busy loading the young woman's unconscious body onto the handheld stretcher. They secured thick white bands over her body to keep her secure on the long plastic board. A few meters away Captain Brooke, Tarak, and the Doctor prepared to step through the airlock and into the Biodome. The airlock opened with a mechanical hiss.

Before the Doctor stepped through the airlock, he turned back to her. "Clara, get your hands on a communicator, and I'll keep in touch!"

"Clara? You coming?" Ed's voice boomed. She spun around. He and Yuri were already a ways down the corridor, carrying Maggie on the stretcher. With a heavy sigh she sprinted after them, hearing the click of the airlock mechanism behind her.


"Andrew? Andrew Stone? It's Captain Brooke," she called out into the darkness of the Biodome. "Andy, report. I need to see you. Where are you?"

Biting his lip, the Doctor slipped his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. He moseyed over to a small computer terminal, and adjusted his screwdriver's settings appropriately. Within seconds all the lights in the dome began to flicker back on to revealed rows and rows of green vegetation. So many plants lined the inside of the Biodome it almost looked like a jungle.

"There you go," he declared smugly.

"What's that device?" Adelaide asked, impressed.

"Screwdriver."

She nearly chuckled. "Are you the Doctor or the janitor?" She pointed her light out into the distance, and began searching for Andy.

The Doctor thought about her last statement for a second, sizing it up as he took a gander around the large Biodome. "I don't know. Sounds like me," he murmured. "The maintenance man of the universe..."


Ed and Yuri quickly moved Maggie's unconscious body into containment behind a five-centimeter thick glass wall. This seemed a bit extreme to Clara, but Yuri informed her that it was necessary on Mars for safety's sake. "On a new planet, you never quite know what you're going to find," he said.

Thus, Maggie was to stay in there for twenty-four hours, even if she seemed physically and mentally healthy otherwise.

After Ed left to monitor Adelaide and the Doctor's progress in the Biodome, Yuri began working at one of the stations at the right of the room. She watched silently for a few minutes as he typed.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, curious.

"I am..." he began, typing away at the computer, "bringing Maggie's stats up on the monitor." He hit one last key and flipped the screen away from him to face Clara. "There you go. Her heart's beating steadily, and brain activity's growing stronger as well. She should regain consciousness anytime now."

She smiled sincerely for once in this mad adventure, and walked closer to the monitor to read more of the statistics. Her eyes flicked up at him. "You don't happen to have any drinking water over here, do you? I'm absolutely parched."

Yuri stopped for a second to think. Then he grinned, and ran over to the storage bins lining the wall. "Oh, I've got a bottle I filled just this morning." He scavenged through the bin, and after finding what he was looking for, passed a small metal canister over to her. Condensation dripped off the small screw lid, and it was shocking how light it was. "It's yours," he declared. "I haven't taken a single sip out of it."

"Thanks," Clara breathed, already starting to twist the cap off. She un-screwed it, and drained the entire bottle in one go. Yuri starred at her the entire time, his mouth wide open. "I told you, I was parched."

They suddenly heard a groan behind them. Yuri's eyes lit up.

"Mag's awake! I knew she'd be fine, she's a tough ol' girl." He bounded over to the containment window, and tossed his communicator to Clara. "Contact the Captain for me, please."

She barely caught it. She fiddled with the controls for a second before she hesitantly pressed one of the buttons. "Hello?"

She heard a click as the other communicator responded, and a muffled voice. She couldn't understand anything at first, but the signal quickly became stronger.

"-it to me! Clara?"

It was the Doctor. He must have managed to snatch Adelaide's com.

"Hello, Doctor! Tell Captain Adelaide that Maggie is awake."

The com muffled again. She vaguely heard the Doctor exclaim something in the background. And then she heard Adelaide's voice.

"I'm here. That's very good news, Clara, thank you for telling me. Can you ask if she remembers what happened?"

Clara turned to the the glass window. Maggie now sat upright on the small cot. She nodded, apparently hearing the question.

"I don't remember anything," she said loud enough for the com to pick it up. "I was just working. Then I woke up here."

"What about Andy?" Adelaide asked. "We can't find him. Is he alright?"

"I don't know, I just-"

"If you remember anything, let me know straight away."

As Adelaide finished her sentence, Clara heard Ed start in from the central dome.

"Yuri, does she know how she ended up in the tunnel?" he asked.

"And keep the coms clear," Captain Brooke requested. "Everything goes through me, got that?"

"Adelaide," the Doctor's voice cut through in the background. "I really, really need to be able to speak with Clara if a situation arises."

"That's fine, Doctor," she replied. "But it will still go through me."

With that, the communicator slipped into silence. Clara held it for a few extra seconds to make sure. She peered at Maggie in containment. The woman looked rather groggy, but awake enough to be responsive. Her dark skin shone with the sheen of sweat. She wore a navy green jumpsuit much like Steffi's. It must have been uniform, then.

"You okay?"

She made a slight smile. "Yeah. Who are you?"

"I'm Clara- Clara Oswald. You're Maggie?" she asked, nodding towards her.

"Yes, Margaret Cain." She laughed quietly. "Everyone does call me Maggie, though."

"So," Yuri cut in suddenly, walking up to the glass next to Clara. "Your Doctor. He's quite protective. You together?"

"Oh, no," she chuckled. "I actually just met him today."

"Where, out on the surface? You're on another planet!" Maggie teased, grinning.

"Well, now I'm on another planet," Clara murmured quietly. "It's a long story. But enough about me and the Doctor, what about you and Mia, Yuri?"

Yuri seemed shocked. "What?"

Maggie smirked. "Yes, what about Mia?"

"I saw the way you and her held hands the whole time when I was getting ready to go to the Biodome," Clara stated.

He blushed, and began spluttering. "Well, I- Come on, it's not like I can ask her out here on Mars! If Adelaide knew, she'd put us on separate shifts for the next three years. Can't have the risk of extra mouths to feed on a stay this long."

Clara laughed, and flicked her sight over to Maggie, who only nodded.

"Trust me, she would," she agreed. "Now, what about that long story of yours? Go on, let's hear it."

"I'm not sure you'd believe me, really. It sounds batty. But if you insist..."


"Doctor, do you know where Tarak went?" Adelaide called as she emerged from a pathway behind one of the many trees. The beam of her flashlight hit the Doctor in the back, and glared off of his bright blue suit. "Doctor? Are you okay?"

"Hm?" he turned around quickly, and saw the worried expression on her face. "Oh no, I'm fine. I'm just thinking."

She waited for him to continue, but nothing came. "About what?"

"Oh, just about- stuff. Real complicated stuff, a lot of confusing, timey-wimey stuff," he said quickly, "you wouldn't understand."

Captain Brooke blinked at him but left it at that. She shook her head, and began to search to find where Tarak went off to. The Doctor knew she was better off, unaware of the things to come, but he still couldn't deny he felt guilty about it. It was moments like this that made him hate knowing what lies in the future.


"So you're trying to tell me the man is an alien who travels through time and space in a ship that's bigger on the inside?"

"Yes," Clara laughed at Yuri, who was currently gob smacked. "I said you wouldn't believe it."

"But how would you run into someone like that?" Maggie queried. "It sounds like he doesn't stop much!"

"Well, I told you how I was from the past, and you saw my mobile. Said it was practically an antique. We just hit New Years Day, year 2000 from when I left," she explained. Her knees starting cramping, so she paused as she shifted her weight off of her knees and sat back against the glass of the containment chamber. She glanced to her side where Yuri sat in the same position, and cleared phlegm from her throat loudly. She heard a rustling noise, but payed no attention as she told her story. "I was in New York City, do they- do they still have the Times Square celebrations in your day?"

"Where is that?" Maggie asked.

"What, New York City?" Clara clarified, but didn't turn to look. "Does it not exist anymore?"

"Where is that?" she repeated in a bored tone.

Yuri heaved a large sigh as he clambered up to his feet. "Maggie, you know where New York is, right on the east coast of America!" He typed a bit on the computer, and then pushed the monitor so that she could see it. "Here!"

"It is near the sea," Maggie stated in monotone, and it was then that Clara began to worry. From what she knew of Margaret Cain, this was not her personality. She wasn't one to speak like this. So she slowly looked behind her, and what she saw made her knees go weak.

"Yuri..."

"Well, technically it's more an ocean," he continued.

"Earth has so much water," Maggie droned on.

"Yeah, just look at her," he breathed in awe, staring at the screen where not a picture of Earth sat. "Forty million miles away."

"Yuri!" Clara called again, although this time in greater urgency.

"It has so much beauty..."

She ran over to him, gripped his shoulders, and wheeled him around to face the containment chamber. He made a sort of gagging noise at the back of his throat as he saw what she did.

Maggie was no longer Maggie. Her eyes were lifeless, and the skin broke around her mouth as if baked for weeks in the hot desert sun. Water poured openly like a sprinkler valve from in between her blackened lips, flowing down the front of her heavy clothes to the floor. Clara and Yuri stared in fear, standing next to each other as the last support the other had. The voice of Maggie- or whatever she was now- became layered and harmonious, as if the voices of many converged on one.

"We should like that world."


The Doctor heard Clara's distress call from rows away. He ran- no, he sprinted for dear life- over to where Adelaide stood, trying to calm a woman in hysterics. He hoped above everything else that she was okay.

"Clara, just calm down. Tell me what happened to her!" the Captain requested.

The Doctor descended upon Captain Adelaide and wordlessly yanked the communicator out of her hand. He began to pace away, and put the com up to his lips. "I'm here, Clara," he said. "It's okay, I'm coming to get you as soon as I can. But you need to take a deep breath- come one, do one with me- and tell me... what happened?"

Her response came fearfully, sprinkled with an occasional sob. "It was Maggie, we were just talking, and- and she just- sort of went completely wild, and her skin's all-"

The com link hit a patch of interference, and then the Doctor could hear Yuri. His voice wavered slightly, but remained strong. "The skin is sort of broken around the mouth," he began, "and she's exuding water like she's drowning."

The Time Lord's face darkened at this news. He took a cautionary breath. "Thank you, Yuri. Now give the communicator back to Clara, I need to talk with her."

"Yes, right away."

He waited for a few seconds for Clara to pick back up, and glanced sternly towards Adelaide. She almost appeared pale.

"Doctor?"

"I'm here. Now listen, I-"

"Doctor, what's happening? What's wrong with Maggie?" She sounded calmer now, although adamant.

He sighed. "I'll tell you later." He could almost hear her frown.

"Tell me now," Clara begged. "And them. Please."

"Clara, I-"

"Please! This doesn't only involve us, this involves them too!" she pointed out desperately. "That's surely not fair. You can't keep them in the dark, if you've got even the smallest idea what's going on."

The Doctor fell silent, and the com link followed. He closed his eyes, mulling his options over. Would he tell her? Would he tell Adelaide? Could he?

Could he tell anyone the truth?


"You can't keep them in the dark, if you've got even the smallest idea what's going on," Clara finished, satisfied. The man did not respond at first, but she expected that. She heard footsteps. The Doctor was moving. But where? Away from Adelaide and Tarak?

"What's happened to Maggie," he said finally, "is the beginning of The Flood." Clara could practically hear the capitals in his sentence.

"And what's that, exactly?" she asked warily.

"The Flood... it is-"

Before the Doctor could complete his thought she heard something loud blast through the com link, as loud as a canon blast. Except it didn't sound like a canon, exactly. It sounded like water. The Time Lord shouted in surprise. And then the communicator went completely silent, the Doctor not responding any more, not even to Clara's screams.