A/N I don't own DW
Book of the Update: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Chapter 10: The Waters of Mars

"November 21, 2059."

The Doctor's face fell and he seemed at a loss for words. "Right. Kay, right."

"Is something wrong?" asked Steffi in confusion.

"What's so important about my age?" Mia wondered aloud, but the Doctor didn't answer either of them.

He swallowed. "We should…go. We really…should go," he took Rose's hand and grabbed Donna's arm to pull them away. "I'm sorry. I-I'm sorry with all of my hearts. But…it's one of those rare times when I've got no choice. It's been an honor," he said, dropping their hands to go and give a handshake to everyone in the crew, "A real honor…to meet you all. The Martian pioneers. Thank you." He patted Gadget the robot on the head and saluted Captain Adelaide.

Donna looked at Rose in bewilderment, but Rose just smiled sadly. She didn't know what was going on, but she had a feeling that this was one fixed point in time that wouldn't end too well.

"Hold on," The Doctor said, looking around, "There's the other two. Margaret Cain and Andrew Stone?"

Ed walked over to a computer and said to the webcam, "Maggie, if you want to meet the only new human being that you're gonna see in the next five years, better come take a look."

A growling sort of sound reached their ears and everyone looked at the speakers, suddenly put on alert.

"What was that?" Rose asked nervously.

The Doctor took a step back, running his hands over his face. "Ooohh, we really should go."

"This is central," Ed said to the webcam, "Bioderm report immediately." He pressed a few buttons and said, "Looks like the cameras are down."

"Show me the exterior," commanded Adelaide, and he pressed more buttons, showing them something on the screen that Donna, Rose, and the Doctor couldn't see.

"I'm going over," said Adelaide, "You three," she pointed at them, "are coming with me."

The Doctor walked over to them. "Yeah, no. I'd love to help, honestly, but I'm leaving. Right now." he attempted to take the suits from Steffi, but Adelaide stopped him and ordered her to lock them up.

"This started as soon as you arrived," she told them sternly, "so you're not going anywhere except with me." she walked out of the central compound and into the hallway. The Doctor looked at Rose and Donna before helplessly following her and they sighed, following him.

Adelaide led them down a long hallway, probably connecting two of the main areas together. "Why was it so important? About Mia's age?"

The Doctor looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but Rose quickly jumped in and answered for him, "It's not. He just opens his mouth and words come out. Does it all the time."

"Oi!"

"She's tellin the truth," Donna mumbled under her breath and the Doctor gave her a death glare.

Rose grabbed his hand and began to walk slower, effectively putting them slightly behind the others. "Alright, spill," she whispered fiercely, "What happens here that is so important as to become one 'a those fixed points you can't interfere with?"

He looked at her, sorrow in his eyes, and she knew. Her hands flew up to her mouth and she looked around her at the people in the expedition. "Today?" he nodded and she whimpered, "There's nothing we could do?" he shook his head and put his arm around her as she closed her eyes for a moment, breathing deeply.

"Is she all right?" Adelaide asked and Rose became aware that everyone was staring at her. She quickly pulled back and blinked away the tears forming in the corner of her eyes.

"Yeah," she said softly, "Yeah I'm alright."

Adelaide gave her a suspicious glance but let it slide, turning forward again and continuing her talk of the soil analysis. Donna looked at her questioningly, but the Doctor mouthed one word to her, something Rose couldn't make out, and Donna's eyes widened. She looked at Adelaide and Tarak and mimed something that looked like an explosion. The Doctor nodded sadly and Donna's face fell. She whimpered, her mouth open in shock and sympathy.

"What's that?" Asked the captain, shining her flashlight onto something a few feet ahead of them. "Maggie?"

There, on the ground before them, lay a girl's body, blood trickling from a wound on her head.

"Don't touch her!" the Doctor warned and Tarak snapped at him that he knew the procedure.

"Maggie? Maggie, can you hear me?" The crew members tried in vain to wake her up, deciding to call for the nurse with a full med pack. In just moments, nurse Yuri had come, followed by Ed, who Rose suspected might have been closer to Maggie than was probably allowed. They laid Maggie out on the stretcher they had brought and were ordered to take her back to the med bay and put her in isolation.

They headed on to the bioderm, leaving Yuri and Ed to take care of Maggie. When they were in what Rose thought looked a bit like an elevator, Adelaide got a call on her communicator: "We've identified the sound coming from the bioderm. Voice recognition says it's Andy Stone."

Adelaide took a shaky breath. "Double check please."

Steffi said she would and the line went dead. Once Tarak was satisfied with whatever he was doing on the panel on the wall, they moved forward into what looked like a dark and stuffy greenhouse.

"Andrew? Andrew Stone? It's Captain Brooke," Adelaide called out. She received no answer.

The Doctor walked over a ways and sonic'd a computer monitor, turning on the lights. "There you go."

"What's that device?" Adelaide asked and the Doctor held it up, showing it to her.

"Screwdriver."

"Are you the Doctor or the Janitor?" she asked sarcastically.

The Doctor grinned, looking at Rose. "I dunno, sounds like me. The maintenance man of the universe? What do you think?"

Donna snorted. "Sounds just like you, spaceman."

Adelaide ignored them. "You three stay with me. Tarak, go through external door south. Make sure it's intact" He nodded a "yes ma'am" and left.

"Captain," Said a heavily accented voice through the comm, "It's Maggie – she's back with us."

Adelaide sighed in relief. "What about Andy? We can't find him. Was he alright?"

"I don't know," Maggie's voice said, "I just…"

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

"I will call you if there is any change, Captain," Yuri affirmed before hanging up.

They were walking through the bioderm, making awkward stabs at conversation, for maybe ten minutes before Adelaide received a call from Yuri, who was babbling things too fast to be coherent.

"Yuri, calm down," Adelaide commanded, "Tell me what's happened to Maggie."

"The skin is…sort of broken around the mouth. And she's exuding water, like she's drowning."

Adelaide switched the channel on the comm, "Tarak, this area's unsafe. We're going back." There was no answer. "Tarak? TARAK!" She yelled, lowering the comm.

"Where was he?" Rose asked and Adelaide turned and ran the opposite way they had been going, probably to where Tarak had been, followed by the Doctor, Rose, and Donna.

They stopped short near a little open space in the potted trees surrounding them. There, by a small waterway, stood a man holding onto the face of a man kneeling on the floor. Water was pouring from his hands and dripping from his clothes and hair.

The Doctor gripped Rose's hand protectively and shined his sonic toward the pair, slowly moving toward them. "Andy?" he said softly, "Just leave him alone."

Adelaide pulled out a gun, pointing it at the two men. She began to speak as if they were under arrest or something, but the Doctor butted in, saying that he could help them, no problem, until their words blended to become a big jumbly mess.

"SHUT IT!" Donna yelled, and they stopped, looking at her. "Look," she gestured toward the two men. The man standing had released the other's face and the one who had been kneeling was slumped on the ground, water pooling around him.

"You must be Andy," Rose said softly, looking right at the man standing up. He didn't respond, just looked at her, water running out of his gruesome mouth. She took a slow step back. "I think…I think maybe we should go," she mumbled and Adelaide turned and ran. Andy began to run as well.

"Ooh, let's go," the Doctor said, grabbing Donna by the arm and pulling them both after Adelaide. They ran past lots and lots of trees and plants, over a bridge, and past more plants until they reached a door. Adelaide frantically typed in the passcode. "Set the seal to maximum!" The Doctor cried when they had finally gotten it open and they all rushed inside.

The creatures that used to be Andy and Tarak stopped outside the door and stared at them through the small window, attempting to shoot a jet of eater through the glass. Donna jumped back in surprise, but no water came through. When they saw that nothing happened, Andy lowered his arm and stared at them, walking closer.

"Can you confirm that Maggie is contained?" Adelaide asked through the comms and Ed answered with a yes. "Keep her contained and close down all water supplies. Don't consume anything. Do you got that? Everyone, that's an order. Don't drink the water. Don't even touch it. Not one drop."

Donna had been staring at Andy the whole time Adeaide was talking. "Doctor, can they talk?" she received no answer; Andy just kept rubbing his mouth against the window, as if he were trying to eat it.

"Human beings are 60 percent water, which makes them the perfect hosts," The Doctor said, watching Andy with his eyes wide.

"What for?" Adelaide questioned and he shrugged.

"Dunno. Never will. Because we've got to go," he said firmly, tightening his grip on Donna and Rose. "Whatever's started here, we can't see it to the end."

Andy suddenly lunged and slammed his whole body into the door, smiling gruesomely. The creatures began to shoot water at the seals of the door.

"This thing's airtight, yeah?" Rose asked and Adelaide nodded. "So it's got to be watertight?"

Something on the wall sparked and the door shuddered. "Abandon ship!" The Doctor yelled, pushing them all out of the other side and into the main hallway. They began to run, and Rose was glad that she had kept in shape while in Pete's world; she had forgotten how much running came with travelling with the Doctor. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the creatures had broken through the door and were following them at an alarming speed, gaining ground by the second.

When they finally reached the door, the creatures couldn't have been more than two yards away, still running full speed ahead. Adelaide quickly typed in the passcode and the door swung open. They all poured in and the Doctor slammed the door shut, just in time for the creatures to smack into the metal casing.

"We're safe," Adelaide said, "This door is hermetically sealed; they can't get in."

"Water is patient, Adelaide. Water just waits…it wears down clifftops, mountains, the whole of the world. Water always wins. Come on." He opened the opposite door and they walked out into another grand corridor.

"Seal off passage 1A. Andrew and Tarak are infected, I repeat, infected," Adelaide said into her comm, "No contact. If they make the slightest move, tell me. I'm going to the medical dome."

"Blimey," Donna said as they started down the impossibly long hallway, "It's a distance. You could do with bikes in this place."

"Every pound of weight equals three tons of fuel!" Adelaide said indignantly and Donna threw her hands up.

"A little fold up bike, s'all I'm saying."

A/N Don't you absolutely LOVE my new cover? It was made for me by the fantastic Emilie Brown – shoutout to her and her lovely art :)