"Come on, Jen. Lesson time!" Jenny groaned, looking up at her father.
"Can't I take a break?" she asked.
"I've already given you the weekend off, it's time to get back to work!"
"I wouldn't call the weekend a 'break' considering that we wound up getting arrested five times and nearly got blown up."
"But that was the fun part of it!" Jenny rolled her eyes.
"All right, Dad," she sighed. "Give me a moment, I'll be right there. What'll we be learning about?"
"You're a Time Lady, Jen, and the most important thing any Time Lord ever knew were the Laws of Time. That's what we're going to talk about today."
"Is it easier than dimensional physics?"
"Far easier. But you need to always follow these rules, Jen, you need to. There are things in time that absolutely cannot be changed, and the consequences would be dire if you mess with it. We're also going to be working on that telepathic link. You've been doing brilliantly, I think we can work on that as well."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"So, where to now?" Jenny asked, about a month after their expedition to San Helios.
"We've been to Earth plenty of times," he shrugged. "Why not Mars?"
"Seriously?" Jenny grinned. "Brilliant! There're spacesuits in the TARDIS wardrobe, right?" He didn't even get to answer as she ran down the hallway, so he settled for giving a fond smile.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Outside, Jenny wearing a black spacesuit she had salvaged and the Doctor wearing an older, orange one, the duo looked around in awe.
"It's so red!" she exclaimed, turning around in circles, trying to take it all in. The Doctor laughed.
"It is the red planet, after all," he replied with a grin. "Come on! Allons-y, daughter dearest!"
He took off, walking at an impossibly fast pace for what he was wearing. Jenny rushed after him, eyes still lit up with awe at everything she was seeing. She felt a faint mental nudge from her father and did her best to quicken her pace.
They had started forging a telepathic link with one another a few weeks ago, the Doctor saying something about accelerated mental capacity due to the fully-grown cloning in the progenation machine and so anatomically her body was accelerating to its approximate age in appearance... Something along those lines. It gave her such an awful headache to hold anything resembling a conversation, but it was a start, and it made her feel closer to her dad. Closer to his expectation.
"Oh, beautiful," she whispered when she stood up next to her dad, gazing down at the base. There was a large circular dome with five outlying domes and a landing pad, a gorgeous silvery-white against the reddish brown rock.
Her dad said Gallifrey had crimson grass and an orange sky. Maybe he came here because it reminded him of home.
She turned to ask, then paused as something jabbed her in the back.
"Rotate slowly," came a metallic, robotic voice. It was nothing like the Cybermen or the Daleks, but what one would think of as a robot. It just... was. They turned around. "You are under arrest for trespassing. Gadget-gadget."
Jenny resisted the urge to burst out in laughter at the tiny, wide-eyed robot pointing a gun at them.
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"State your names, ranks, and intention," the blonde woman said, glaring at the duo as she calmly aimed a gun at the Doctor's head. The Doctor paused before answering.
"The Doctor," he said after a moment. "The Doctor. Fun."
"Jenny," Jenny said with a smile, seemingly unconcerned about the gun pointed at them. "Vigilante. Fun."
A dark-skinned man ran through the doors, staring at the duo in incredulity.
"What the hell?" he gasped. "It's a man. And a woman. A man and a woman on Mars! How?"
"They were wearing these," another woman said, holding up their black and orange spacesuits. "I've never seen anything like it.
"What did Mission Control say?" the man asked.
"They're out of range for ten hours," the woman replied. "Solar flares."
"If we could cut the chat, everyone?" said the woman with the gun, continuing to glare.
"Actually, chat's second on my list," her dad piped up. "The first being 'gun pointed at me head'. Which then puts my head second and chat third, I think. Gun, head chat, yeah. I hate lists. But you could hurt someone with that thing. Just put it down."
He could feel Jenny's amusement through their timid bond. The woman raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, you'd like that," she scoffed.
"Can you find me someone you wouldn't?" he countered.
"Why should I trust you?" the woman demanded.
"Because we give you our word," the Doctor said. "And forty million miles away from home, that's all you've got."
The woman frowned before lowering the weapon.
"Keep Gadget covering him," she said to another man, who was wearing a pair of thick metal gloves over his hand.
"Gadget-gadget," the robot said.
"Oh, right, so you control that thing," the Doctor said to the man. "Auto-glove response."
"You got it," the man agreed. "To the right..."
He shifted his hands to the right, and Gadget moved.
"Gadget-gadget."
"...and to the left."
Gadget moved to the left.
"It's a bit flimsy," the Doctor said with a critical gaze.
"Gadget-gadget," the robot protested.
"Does it have to keep saying that?" he asked.
"I think it's funny," the man said coldly, defending his toy.
"I hate funny robots."
"Excuse me, boss," said a female voice from a communicator. "Computer log says we've got two extra people on site. How's that possible?" The blonde spoke back into the comm.
"Keep the Biodome closed," she said. "And when using open comms, you call me Captain."
"Yeah, but-" The voice was cut off as the man who wasn't holding the gloves spoke up.
"They can't be a World State flight, because we'd know about it," he deduced. "Therefore, they've got to be one of the independents, yeah?" He turned his questioning towards the Doctor and Jenny. "Was it the Branson Inheritance lot? They've talked about a Mars shot for years."
"Right," Jenny said with a nod. "Yes. Of course. You got us. So. I'm Jenny, this is the Doctor, who are you?"
"Oh, come on," the blonde scoffed. "We're the first off-world colonists in history. Everyone one planet Earth knows who we are." The Doctor stared, and Jenny felt a sense of dread somewhere in the back of her mind.
"You're the first?" he questioned suddenly. "The very first humans on Mars?"
Jenny froze.
"Bowie Base One," she said, suddenly finding it difficult to speak past the lump in her throat. "Founded July 1st, 2058. Established Bowie Base One in the Busev Crater. How long have you been here?"
"Seventeen months," the blonde said, looking confused.
"2059," she breathed. "2059, right now. Here. Oh."
"You're Captain Adelaide Brooke!" the Doctor exclaimed, smiling at the blonde. "And Ed. Deputy Edward Gold. Tarak Ital, MD. Nurse Yuri Kerenski. Senior Technician Steffi Ehrlich. Junior Technician Roman Groom. Geologist Mia Bennett. You're only twenty-seven years old."
Jenny restrained a flinch as she thought back. The first thing her dad had taught her was what he deemed to be important points in Earth's history; its creation (Racnoss), wars (World War III and the American Revolution, among others), and then, because they travelled through space and time, of course she should learn about the first off-world colony and its inhabitants...
They all died. A nuclear blast took out the entire base, because Adelaide Brooke set off the self-destruct, and nobody knows why.
She sounds like an amazing person.
She was. Never got the chance to meet her, but all those things she did...
"As I said, Doctor, Jenny, everyone knows our names," Adelaide responded coldly.
"Oh, they'll never forget them," he murmured. Jenny frowned slightly, the feeling of dread intensifying.
"What's the date?" she demanded. "Today? The exact date?"
"November 21st, 2059," Adelaide replied.
November 21st, 2059. That's when it happened.
It's such an insignificant date, in the grand scheme of things. But it's so important...
The little things are always important, Jen.
"Right," the Doctor said slowly, swallowing. "Okay. Fine."
"Is there something wrong?" Steffi asked.
"What's so important about my age?" Mia demanded.
"I... should go," the Doctor said, ignoring them. "We both should. We should go. And I'm sorry, I'm sorry with all of my hearts, but it's one of those very rare times when I've got not choice. It's been an honor. Seriously, a very great honor to meet you all. The Martian pioneers."
He quickly went around, shaking everyone's hand, Jenny right along behind him. They each gave a pat to Gadget since Roman was still wearing the auto-gloves.
Jenny turned and gave Adelaide a stiff salute.
"Thank you," the Doctor said, putting an arm around Jenny. "But... there's the other two. Margaret Cain and Andrew Stone."
Adelaide, who had remained remarkably unperturbed throughout all of everything, spoke into the comm.
"Maggie, if you want to meet the only new human being that you're going to see in the next five years, better come take a look," she said.
A roar came over the speakers, and Jenny shook her head.
"We should go," she said to her father. "We should really go."
"This is Central," Ed said, running over to a terminal. "Biodome report immediately."
"Show me the Biodome," Adelaide snapped, turning to him.
"Internal cameras are down," he replied. Adelaide sighed.
"Show me the exterior," she said.
An image of the Biodome came up, the lights going out one by one.
Vashta Nerada, maybe? I hope not.
"I'm going over," Adelaide announced, starting for the door. "Doctor, Jenny, with me."
"Yeah, I'm sorry," the Doctor repeated. "Er, I'd love to help, but we're leaving. Now."
"Take his spacesuit, lock it up," Adelaide ordered Mia. "This started as soon as you arrived, so you're not going anywhere except with me."
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They ran down one of the tunnels, Gadget toddling alongside them.
"What's so important about Mia's age?" Adelaide asked. "You said she's only twenty seven. Why does it matter What did you mean?"
"Oh, I just open my mouth and words come out," the Doctor said dismissively, although Jenny could see the pain in his eyes. "They don't make much sense."
"Telling me," Tarak snorted.
"Thank you, Doctor," the Doctor said sarcastically.
"Any time, Doctor," he replied.
"I hate robots, did I mention?" the Doctor muttered after a brief silence, looking back at Gadget.
"Yeah, and he's not too fond of you," Roman's voice said from the comm. "What's wrong with robots?"
"It's not the robots, it's the people," he said in faint disgust. "Dressing them up and giving them silly voices. Like you're reducing them."
"Yeah," Roman said. "Friend of mine, she made her domestic robot look like a dog."
Jenny thought of K-9 at the same time her father did.
"Ah, well, dogs," the Doctor said with a shrug. "That's different."
"This channel is open for essential communications only," Adelaide said firmly, glancing at the Doctor.
"Sorry," they both said.
"Was it worth it?" Jenny asked all of a sudden. Adelaide looked over in confusion. "I've read tons about you, Captain Adelaide Brooke. But they never said if you thought it was worth it."
"We've got excellent results from-" she started, but Jenny shook her head.
"No, no, they say you sacrificed everything, your whole life, just to get here."
"It's been chaos back home," she sighed. "Forty long years. The climate, the ozone, the oil apocalypse. We almost reached extinction. 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." Jenny grinned.
"I've always admired what you did," she said quietly. "The woman with starlight in her soul."
"What's that?"
They ran to a figure who was lying on the floor, face down, sprawled out like some discarded toy.
"It's Maggie," Adelaide breathed.
"Don't touch her!" the Doctor snapped.
"I know the procedure," Tarak said, and Jenny could practically hear the eyeroll in his tone. "Maggie, can you hear me? It's Tarak. Maggie?"
He turned back to them.
"It's okay, she's still breathing. She's alive. Yuri, I'm got Margaret Cain, head trauma. I need a full medkit."
"I've got it," Yuri said from the comm. "Medpack on its way."
Ed and Yuri arrived with a stretcher.
"Don't touch her," the Doctor ordered as they went to move her. "Use the gloves."
"Do what he says," Tarak agreed. "Get her to Sickbay. Put her in isolation."
"We're going to the Biodome," Adelaide said, standing up. "Tarak, with me. Yuri can take care of her. Ed, go back. Gadget, stand guard, keep and eye out."
"Gadget-gadget."
"Captain, you're going to need me," Ed said, taking a half-step forwards. "Andy is the only other crew member out here, and if that wasn't an accident, then he's gone wild."
"You've deserted your post," Adelaide said with a glare. "Consider that an official warning. Now get back to work. Doctor, Jenny."
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
"Andrew?" Adelaide called as they walked around the Biodome. Jenny was taking in the sights with wide eyes. "Andrew Stone? It's Captain Brooke. Andy, report. I need to see you. Where are you?"
The Doctor sonicked a terminal, sending the lights back on.
"What's that device?" Adelaide asked, looking at it.
"Screwdriver," he replied, tucking it back in his pocket.
"Are you the Doctor or the Janitor?"
"I don't know. Sounds like me. The maintenance man of the universe."
"You two stay with me," she ordered. "Don't step out of my sight. Tarak, go to External Door South. Make sure it's intact."
"Yes ma'am," Tarak said with a nod before leaving.
Jenny gently ran her fingertips over a flower petal.
"First flower on Mars in over ten-thousand years," she marveled. "And you're growing vegetables, too!"
"It's that lot," Adelaide said, exasperated, although there was fondness underlying the seriousness. "They're already planning Christmas dinner. Last year it was dehydrated protein, this year they want the real thing."
"It's Christmas," Jenny said with a grin. "Fair enough. Oh, you've got birds!"
"It's part of the project, to keep the insect population down."
"Good sign," the Doctor said with a nod.
"In what way?"
"They're still alive."
"Captain, good news," Yuri said through the comm. "It's Maggie. She's awake, she's back with us. Hey. How are you, soldier? Just take it easy. Can you remember what happened."
A much fainter voice, but definitely Maggie's, could be heard.
"I was... just working. Then I woke up here."
"What about Andy?" Adelaide questioned. "We can't find him. Was he all right?"
"I don't know. I just-"
"If you remember anything, let me know straight away," Adelaide ordered. "And keep the comms clear. Everything goes through me, got that?"
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They were still looking around the Biodome when an urgent voice came from over the comm. Yuri sounded near panic, and Jenny frowned slightly.
"This is Sickbay," he was saying. "We have a situation. Maggie's condition has- I don't know- I don't know what it is. It's water, just pouring out-"
"Yuri, calm down," Adelaide said calmly. "Just tell me what's happened to her."
"The skin is sort of broken around the mouth," Yuri said in a somewhat less panicky tone of voice. "And she's exuding water, like she's drowning."
Adelaide frowned, then spoke into the comm again.
"Tarak, this area's unsafe, we're going back," she said.
No response.
"Tarak? Tarak!"
"Where was he?" Jenny asked. Adelaide ran down own of the paths in the Biodome, and the two followed.
They skidded to a halt as they came to a dead end, and Jenny gasped when she saw Tarak on the ground, Andy's hand on top of his head. Water was pouring from both of them, and Tarak was shaking.
"Andy, just leave him alone," the Doctor warned.
"Step away from him," Adelaide ordered.
"We can help," Jenny begged. "We promise, we can help, just leave him alone." Andy didn't move. Adelaide, with wavering resolve, pulled out her gun.
"I order you to stop," she said. "Stop, or I'll shoot."
"Andy, I'm asking you to take your hand away from him and listen to me," the Doctor said.
Andy finally released Tarak and looked up at them. Jenny stared at his transformed features, milky white eyes and cracked skin all around his mouth, which was full of something akin to black gelatin, and water dripping everywhere...
"There now, that's better, hm?" the Doctor said lightly. "So you must be Andy. Hello."
Tarak slowly got to his feet, and they saw that he, too, had been transformed.
"We need to go," Jenny said, grabbing her father's hand.
They ran for the nearest airlock, Andy and Tarak behind them. Plants turned into blurs, and the door slammed shut just as Andy fired a jet of water at them from his mouth.
"Oh," Jenny said faintly. "That's new."
"Captain, we need you back here," Steffi said through the comm, sounding worried.
"Just tell me that Maggie is contained," Adelaide said. "Can you confirm, Ed?"
"Confirmed," Ed replied. "She's locked in."
"Keep surveillance till I get back," Adelaide ordered. "And close down all water supplies. All pipes and outlets. Don't consume anything. Have you got that, everyone? That's an order. Don't drink the water. Don't even touch it. Not one drop."
"Can you talk?" the Doctor asked through the glass, looking at Tarak and Andy, who simply stared back. He turned back to Jenny and Adelaide. "Human beings are sixty percent water-"
"-which makes them the perfect host," Jenny finished, then looked at him. "That's also new." The Doctor nodded his consent.
"What for?" Adelaide asked. "Why would it need us as hosts?"
"I don't know," the Doctor said dully. "I never will. Because I've got to go. We've got to go. Whatever's started here, I can't see it to the end. I can't."
She wasn't entirely sure if he was trying to convince Adelaide or himself.
"Is this airtight?" she asked in a light tone, hiding her nervousness as Andy and Tarak began blasting water at the doors.
"Yes, and therefore watertight," Adelaide replied with a nod.
Bang.
"Depends on how clever the water is," she replied.
"They're fusing the system," Adelaide gasped.
"Abandon ship!"
And they were off running again as the doors burst open.
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They ran towards where Gadget was standing guard. The Doctor pulled his sonic out of his pocket.
"Doctor, we haven't got time," Adelaide said, looking at him.
"They can run faster than us," he explained, sonicking Gadget. "We need a lift. Jen, Adelaide, get on behind me."
"That thing goes at two miles an hour," Adelaide pointed out, but doing as he said anyway. Jenny wondered how they even managed to fit, but it all worked out.
"Not anymore," he said with a grin. "Trust me."
"Gadget-gadget," Gadget said brightly.
"Gadget-gadget," the Doctor agreed. Flames shot from the robot's exhaust pipes, and they went off with a screech, leaving burning tire marks behind them.
"The Central Dome airlocks have got Hardinger seals," Adelaide explained as she pushed Jenny's hair out of her face. "There's no way they can get in.
And again, Jenny wasn't sure who she was trying to convince.
They made it into the next airlock before Andy and Tarak arrived.
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"We're safe," Adelaide said as they kept walking, Gadget trailing alongside. "It's hermetically sealed. They can't get in."
"Water is patient, Adelaide," Jenny said quietly. "Water waits. Water wears down the cliffs, the mountains, the continents, the whole entire world. Water always wins."
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"Biodome tunnel is out of bounds," Adelaide said into the comm. "Andy and Tarak are infected. Repeat, infected. Make no contact. And if they make the slightest move, tell me. I'm going to the Medical Dome."
"Blimey, it's a distance," the Doctor said as they walked. "You could do with bikes in this place."
"Bikes are good," Jenny agreed.
"Every pound in weight equals three tons of fuel," Adelaide pointed out. They shrugged.
"Yeah, I know," the Doctor sighed. "But- bikes."
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"Has that door got a Hardinger seal?" Adelaide demanded of Ed as they went into the Dome.
"No, just basic," he replied, slightly confused. Maggie was behind a glass wall, in quarantine, also transformed.
"Then the moment she heads for the door, we evacuate. Got that?" Ed nodded, moving over to a screen.
"Pulse is low," he said, looking at the data. "Electrical activity in the brain seems to be going haywire."
"Can she talk?" Jenny questioned.
"Don't know," he replied with a shrug. "She was talking before we noticed the change, but-"
"Maggie, can you hear me?" Adelaide asked. "Do you know who I am? It's me, your commanding officer. Captain Adelaide Brooke. Can you tell me what happened?"
Maggie remained motionless, not paying them any attention.
"Hoorghwall an schtochman ahn warrelinsh och fortabelln on hoorgwhan," Jenny said, and Maggie's head snapped up to look at her. Jenny was aware she messed up a few of the words, but she wasn't as fluent in Martian as she was in Gallifreyan or English.
"What language is that?" Ed asked.
"Ancient North Martian," she responded.
"Don't be ridiculous," Adelaide scoffed.
"But..." Ed said slowly, looking between Maggie and Jenny. "It's like she recognized it."
"And her eyes are different," the Doctor commented. "They're clear, like she's closer to human."
"Not close enough for me," Ed said darkly. The Doctor ignored him and turned back to Adelaide.
"Where do you get your water from?" he asked.
"The ice field," she replied. "That's why we chose the crater. We're on top of an underground glacier."
"Tons of water," Jenny said sarcastically. "Marvelous."
"But every single drop is filtered," she protested. "It's screened. It's safe."
"Looks like it," the Doctor mused.
"But what if there was something frozen down there?" Jenny asked. "Something viral trapped in the ice for millenia."
"Look at her mouth," he continued. "All blackened, like there's some sort of fission. This thing, whatever it is, it doesn't just hide in water. It creates water. Tell me what you want," he asked Maggie.
"She was looking at the screen," Yuri spoke up for the first time. "At Earth. She wanted Earth. A world full of water."
"Captain," Ed said quietly. The two turned around so they were facing away from Maggie, although everyone could still hear what they were saying.
"I'm sorry, but it's an unknown infection," he said quietly, "and it's spreading. That demands Action Procedure One."
"Do you think I don't know that?" Adelaide hissed.
"I think you need reminding," he said, and she sighed.
"Yeah."
"Well, at least I'm good for something."
"Now and again," she agreed. He laughed.
"That's almost a compliment," he said, still chuckling lightly. "Things must be serious."
"Action Procedure One, that's evacuation, right?" Jenny asked. Adelaide nodded.
"We're going home." She grabbed the comm and started issuing orders, broadcasting to the whole base. "This is Captain Brooke. I'm declaring Action One. Repeat to all crew members, this is Action One with immediate effect. Evacuate the base."
A flurry of activity promptly crackled through Adelaide's comm unit.
"I'll store the central computer. Mia, strip the cargo down to essentials. Roman, on your feet."
"But we came all this way-"
"And you can kiss that robot goodbye. It's too heavy. Now shove it in storage and hurry up."
"Steffi, what's your estimate on shuttle liability?" Adelaide asked.
"It's a nine month flight. It'll take us at least three hours to load up everything we need."
"You've got twenty minutes," Adelaide responded. "And give me a report on Andy and Tarak."
"Still in the Biodome tunnel. They're just standing there, like they're waiting."
"Keep an eye on them. And make that twenty minutes fifteen. Ed, line up the shuttle. Go straight to ignition status."
"But what about Maggie?" That was Yuri.
"She stays behind," Adelaide said, and while her voice was steady it was easy to see the pain in her eyes as she said that. "We've got no way to contain her on board. Close this place down. I want the power directed to the shuttle."
"Captain," Jenny started, but Adelaide guessed what she was going to say and answered.
"Your spacesuits will be returned, Doctor, Jenny," she said. "And good luck to you."
"The problem is," the Doctor said slowly, "this thing is clever. It didn't infect the birds or the insects in the Biodome, it chose the humans. You were chosen. And just like Jenny said, Adelaide, water can wait. Tarak changed right away, but when Maggie was infected it stayed hidden inside her-"
"-no doubt so it could infiltrate the central dome-" Jenny continued.
"-which means any one of you could be infected," the Doctor finished, and Jenny almost grinned, but it still didn't change that nagging feeling of dread. This was a fixed point. Something would still happen to make Adelaide Brooke give the order for Action Five, to send this building crashing to the ground and melting into dust, and they couldn't change it.
"We've all been drinking the same water," she breathed.
"And if you take that back to Earth," the Doctor said quietly. "One drop. Just one drop."
"But we're only presuming infection," she said, refusing to believe that they'd die, needing to keep on fighting. "If we can find out how this thing got through, when it got through... Yuri, continue with Action One. I'm going to inspect the ice field."
"Right," the Doctor said as she left. "We should leave. Finally, we should leave." Jenny nodded her agreement. "No point in us seeing the ice field. No."
They took off after Adelaide, calling her name.
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"All I'm saying is bikes," the Doctor said as they finally caught up with Adelaide. "Little foldaway bikes. Don't weigh a thing."
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"I've heard legends," Jenny said as she stood next to her father, looking over at the ice. "Legends of Mars from long ago, a mighty race who built an empire out of snow. The Ice Warriors."
"I haven't got time for stories," Adelaide said as she checked a terminal.
"But maybe they found something down there," she continued. "Used all their power to freeze it." Adelaide sighed.
"Doctor, Jenny, we need to find any sort of change in the water process. We've got to date the infection."
"Access denied," the computer said, and Adelaide glared at it.
"You don't look like a coward," she continued. "Neither of you. But all you've wanted to do is leave. You know so much about us."
"You're famous," Jenny said, trying to deflect the question, but Adelaide plowed onwards. The Doctor sighed.
"This moment, this precise moment in time, it's like- well- I mean, it's only a theory, what do I know, but I think that certain moments in time are fixed," the Doctor said.
"Tiny little points," Jenny continued. "And everything else is in flux, things can change, but those little moments can never change. Here, now, it's one of those moments. This needs to happen."
"What needs to happen?" Adelaide asked softly, having turned away from the screen.
"I don't know," the Doctor said with a shrug. "I think something wonderful happens. Something that started fifty years ago, isn't that right?" The captain didn't try to keep herself from staring now.
"I've never told anyone that."
"You told your daughter," he countered. "And maybe one day she tells the story to her granddaughter. The day the Earth was stolen and moved across the universe."
Susie Fontana Brooke, in an interview, she said what inspired her to go into space.
What did she say?
She said that her grandmother told her mother a story, and her mother told her the story. That when the Earth was stolen, she looked up, and she saw a Dalek. And the Dalek looked at her, and then it flew away. Didn't say a word, didn't chase after her. And she knew she would follow it, because she wanted to see what else was out there.
She sounds remarkable.
She was remarkable.
"I saw the Daleks," Adelaide said quietly. "We looked up. The sky had changed. Everyone was running and screaming. And my father took hold of me. He hid me in the attic and said he was going to find my mother. I never saw him again. Nor my mother. They were never found. But out on the streets, there was panic and burning. I went to the window, and there, in the sky. I saw it, Doctor. And it saw me. It stared at me, right through the window, and then it simply went away. I knew, that night, I knew I would follow it."
"But not for revenge," Jenny said quietly.
"That's what makes you remarkable," the Doctor agreed. "And that's how you create history."
"What do you mean?" Adelaide asked.
"Imagine it," Jenny began. "If you began a journey that takes humanity to the stars. It starts with you, and then you in turn inspire your granddaughter."
"In thirty years," the Doctor continued, "Susie Fontana Brooke is the pilot of the first lightspeed ship to Proxima Centari. And then everywhere, with her children, and her children's children forging the way. To the Dragon Star."
"The Celestial Belt of the Winter Queen, the Map of the Watersnake Wormholes. One day, a Brooke will even fall in love with a Tandonian prince, and that's a whole new species."
"But it all begins with you, Adelaide. From fifty years ago to right here, today."
"Who are you?" Adelaide demanded. "Why are you telling me this? Doctor, Jenny, why tell me?"
"As consolation," the Doctor replied.
A maintenance log came up on the screen.
"Andy Stone," she said, looking back at the terminal. "He logged on yesterday."
"Maintenance log, twenty-one-twenty, November 2059. Number three water filter's bust." Andy held up a round filter. "And guess what? The spares they sent don't fit. What a surprise. Over and out."
Jenny stared.
"A filter!" she exclaimed. "Just one filter, one break in the dam, is all it takes for the river to come crashing through."
"But that means the infection arrived today," Adelaide gasped. "The water's only cycled out of the Biodome after a week. The rest of us can't be infected." She grabbed the comm. "We can leave," she said. "Ed, we're clean. How are we doing?"
"Shuttle's active," came Ed's voice. "Stage one. I haven't got enough time to convey the protein packs. If you want food you're going to have to carry it by hand. Start loading right now."
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"You were right, Doctor," Adelaide called as they again found themselves running down a corridor.
"About what?" he asked.
"Bikes!"
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Adelaide gave the Doctor and Jenny back their spacesuits.
"Now get to your ship," she said. "I'm saving my people, you two save yourselves. I know what this moment is. It's the moment we escape." But it's not. "Now get out."
"Everyone, stay focused," Ed called.
"I'll swap them round," Mia was saying. "Roman, what about you?"
Roman was carrying a large container.
"Protein packs thirty to thirty six," he replied.
"Hurry up, Roman."
"Ditch the central containers, we don't need them."
"Units forty one, forty two, and forty three."
"Unit forty one is here."
"Roman, try to condense the oxygen membranes. We can lose ten pounds. Faster, come on! Ed, how's the fuel jets?"
"Cooling down in about thirty seconds."
"Captain, we've got all the hard drives."
Bang. Bang. Bang.
"What the hell's that noise?" Adelaide snapped. "Mia, you lot, shut up."
"It's the module sensors," Ed said. "The cameras are down, but there's pressure on top of the module. Two signals right above us."
"That means they're on the roof?"
"How'd they get outside the Dome?"
"Maintenance shafts."
"The shaft's open and they haven't got spacesuits."
"They breathe water."
"But they'd freeze."
"They've got internal fission."
"But we're safe. They can't get through, can they? Can they?"
"This place is airtight."
The roof creaked.
"Can it get through? Ed, can it get through?"
"I don't know! Water isn't motile, but it's persistent."
"Everyone, listen to me. That's ten feet of steel-combination out there. We need all the protein packs or we're going to starve. Now keep working. Roman, watch the ceiling. Ed, get to the shuttle, fire it up."
"I can carry more than this lot, Captain."
"That's an order!"
"Captain."
Jenny took her father's hand as they stood, unmoving, in the midst of the chaos. Because they had to leave, even if it broke their hearts.
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"Tell me what happens," Adelaide demanded of the Doctor and Jenny, having trapped them in the airlock.
"I don't know," the Doctor said.
"Yes you do," Adelaide scoffed. "Now tell me."
"You should be with the others."
"Tell me! I could ramp the pressure up in that airlock and crush you."
"Except you won't. You could have shot Andy Stone, but you didn't," Jenny countered.
"Imagine- imagine you knew something," the Doctor said. "Imagine you found yourself somewhere. I don't know. Pompeii. Imagine you were in Pompeii."
"What the hell's that got to do with it?"
"And you tried to save them," he continued. "But in doing so, you make it happen. Anything I do just makes it happen."
"Captain, we need you right now."
"I'm still here."
"You're taking Action One," the Doctor said. "There are four more standard action procedures. And Action Five is?"
"Detonation," Adelaide said.
"The final option. The nuclear device at the heart of the Central Dome," the Doctor said.
"Today, on the twenty-first of November, 2059, Captain Brook activates that device, taking the base and all her crew members with her," Jenny continued. "No one ever knows why. But you were saving Earth. That's what inspires your granddaughter."
"She takes your people out into the galaxy because you die on Mars. You die today. She flies out there like she's trying to meet you."
"I won't die," Adelaide snarled. "I will not."
"But your death creates the future," Jenny said weakly.
"Help me," Adelaide begged. "Why won't you help? If you know all of this, why can't you change it?"
"We can't."
"Why can't you find a way?"
"I'm sorry," the Doctor said. "We can't. Sometimes I can, sometimes I do. Most times we can save someone, or anyone. But not you. You wondered all your life why that Dalek spared you. I think it knew. Your death is fixed in time forever. And that's right."
"You'll die here too, both of you."
"No," Jenny said, her voice now trembling. "Because Captain Adelaide Brooke is going to save us."
A long, long pause.
"Damn you."
The doors slid open.
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"Water! We've got water!"
"Get back! Captain! Don't touch it!"
"...abandon this section...to the shuttle."
"Did it touch you?"
"I'm dry."
"Take every pack that you can get."
"...transferring oxygen to Section F...redline stock..."
"Steffi, come!"
"Get back!"
"Steffi!"
"Steffi, get back!"
"Close the door!"
"Captain!"
"We'll open the access panel, get you out through the back."
"It's inside!"
"Steffi!"
"Get back!"
"We're coming! Hold on!"
"We can't get through!"
"I can't move!"
"Steffi! Can you hear me?"
"Oh my god."
"Get out."
"We're going 'round the long way."
"Need air in Section F."
"Locking chamber three. Locking chamber four."
"It's going to get through."
"Keep moving!"
"Gate six is open."
"Roman, with me."
"You'd better go."
"Don't just stand there! Move."
"You'd really better go without me. I'm sorry, Captain. Just one drop."
"Roman! Roman!"
"Leave him, come on."
"We can't just leave him!"
"Come on."
"Let me go! Roman!"
"Captain, the shuttle is down."
"What the hell do you mean?"
"Compromised. It was Maggie."
"Get out of there."
"Too late. They want this ship to get to Earth. Got no choice. Hated it, Adelaide. This bloody job. You never gave me a chance. You could never forgive me. See you later."
"We're losing oxygen! The hull is broken!"
Jenny fell to the ground, partly from the blast and partly from the emotions threatening to overwhelm her mind.
Painlossangerpainpainpainimu stwinimustwin
She slowly pushed herself onto her knees to see the Doctor already on his feet and looking back towards the Base.
"Dad," she gasped. "You can't. It's fixed, we can't change it."
He wasn't listening, and her eyes squeezed shut yet again.
I'm not just a Time Lord, I'm the last of the Time Lords. They'll never come back. Not now. I've got a TARDIS. Same old life, last of the Time Lords.
Links can be accelerated by extreme emotion.
And they died, and took it all with them. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed, gone forever. The Time Lords kept their eye on everything. It's gone now. But they died, the Time Lords, all of them, they died!
I'm the last of the Time Lords.
"Dad, please," she begged. "You can't do this! You can't!"
It was all she could do to drag herself into the TARDIS and curl into a ball on the floor as her mind was battered senseless.
...can't be stopped... don't die with us...
...going to die...knock four times...
...no way to fight them...
...heat...
...for the future...the human race...
Please, Dad! Doctor! Don't do this! No, please! No!
There are laws. There are Laws of Time. Once upon a time, there were people in charge of those laws, but they died, they all died. Do you know who that leaves? Me! It's taken me all these years to realize that the Laws of Time are mine, and THEY WILL OBEY ME!
...environment controls are down...
...not beaten...not beaten!...fighting time itself...
...Action Five...
If I have to fight you as well, then I will.
Nuclear device now activated and primed. Entering final process.
She looked up and wiped what tears she could from her face, staring as Gadget rolled in through the door, the TARDIS key in one of his metal hands.
"Gadget-gadget," it said, wheeling around the console.
Jenny staggered to her feet and began to help Gadget fly the TARDIS.
Because no matter what, the Doctor was her father, and she would always be there to save him.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
The Doctor lead Mia, Yuri, Gadget, and Adelaide out of the TARDIS onto a snow-covered street.
"Isn't anyone going to thank me?" the Doctor asked into the silence. The only noise was Gadget, shutting down. The Doctor cast a brief glance at the robot. "He's lost his signal. Doesn't know where he is."
"That's my house," Adelaide said after a moment.
"Don't you get it?" the Doctor laughed. "This is the twenty-first of November, 2059. It's the same day on Earth, and it's snowing. I love snow."
"What is that thing?" Mia stammered, staring at the TARDIS in horror. "It's bigger- I mean- it's bigger on the inside. Who the hell are you?"
She had been backing away as she spoke, but then she turned and ran.
"Look after her," Adelaide said to Yuri.
"Yes ma'am," Yuri said with a nod.
"You saved us," Adelaide said when it was just the two of them.
"Just think though," he said with a grin. "Your daughter, and your daughter's daughter, you can see them again. Family reunion!"
"But I'm supposed to be dead," she pointed out.
"Not anymore," he countered.
"But Susie, my granddaughter. The person she's supposed to become might never exist now."
"Nah!" the Doctor said dismissively. "Captain Adelaide can inspire her face to face. Different details, but the story's the same."
"You can't know that," Adelaide said coldly. "And if my family changes, the whole of history could change. The future of the human race. No one should have that much power."
"Tough."
"You should have left us there."
The Doctor sighed.
"Adelaide, I've done this sort of thing before," he explained. "In small ways, saved some little people, but never someone so important as you. Oh, I'm good."
"Little people?" Adelaide's tone was bordering on furious now. "What, like Mia and Yuri? Who decides they're so unimportant? You?" The Doctor ignored her.
"For a long time now, I thought I was just a survivor, but I'm not," the Doctor said smugly. "I'm the winner. That's who I am. The Time Lord Victorious."
"And there's no one to stop you," Adelaide said. It wasn't a question.
"No."
"This is wrong, Doctor." She still argued, trying to make him see sense. "I don't care who you are. The Time Lord Victorious is wrong."
His expression turned cold.
"That's for me to decide." He glanced over at the door. "Now, you'd better get home." A pause. "Oh, it's all locked up. You've been away. Still, that's easy."
With a flash of the sonic, the door creaked open.
"All yours."
"Is there nothing you can't do?" she asked.
"Not anymore."
Adelaide walked inside. The Doctor watched her go.
A bang. A flash of light. He spun to face Adelaide's house.
In his head, he could see her place of death changing from Mars to Earth.
I don't care who you are. The Time Lord Victorious is wrong.
"Are you happy now?"
He turned around again to see Jenny looking at him. Her tears were long gone, but her eyes were rimmed red and he could feel pure fury coming from her.
"Is this what you wanted?" she snapped, moving forwards so she was inches away from him. "I can't even remember how many times you told me that you can never change a fixed point, and now you've just gone and done as you pleased? The Time Lord Victorious?"
"Jenny-" he started, but she shook her head.
"No," she said, her voice trembling. "No! This isn't right, Father. This is madness! You're insane!"
The Doctor sank to his knees in the console room as Jenny tore blindly through the snow.
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She didn't know how long she'd been walking. She just knew that it was a mistake to go out in the middle of a winter's night wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Her face was coated in frozen tears. Snow was soaking her shirt and freezing her hair, and her teeth were chattering as her entire body shook with cold. The streets were empty.
"The song is ending."
She spun around, eyes wide, adrenaline, temporarily wakening her numbed senses. It was an alien, that was obvious, with a oval, mottled head and slanted, milky eyes. Tentacles dangled from where its mouth should be, and it took her a moment to recognize it. Her brain had slowed down in this frigid whether. Ood. Yes, that's what it was. It was an Ood.
"I- I- I'm sorry?" she chattered.
"The song is ending. You must go back."
It vanished in a flurry of snow, but she looked back in the direction she had come.
It was cold, and she was cold, and there was no longer nauseating madness pressing around at her from all corners.
She had to go back, because who knew what would happen if her father was left to his own?
She had to go back, because if she didn't he'd be alone and she'd be homeless. 2059, would Martha or Donna or anybody even be alive?
She had to go back, because he was her father, and she needed to be there for him, no matter what.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Okay. Okay. I apologize. I'm aware I'm late. Again. As some of you might know, there was kind of a hurricane a couple weeks ago on the East Coast, and I was so busy with that and school and overall lifethat I hadn't even started the chapter, which I realized on Friday when I went to update. But really, I'm giving you twenty page chapters. That should make up for any delays that happen. Just saying. So... Yeah. That's about it. Lots of angst for you. Glad everybody has been enjoying the story so far! Only two more chapters left until we reach Matt Smith's era. As a reminder, you should also go and vote on the poll I've put up on my profile page.
Um... yeah.