- 1852 -

- The Clementine -

"Donna?" The Doctor's face turned serious as he spotted Calypso crouched down next to Donna, who had sagged against the wall of the TARDIS. A small black jacket was clutched in her grasp, suggesting she had made it inside before the illness had struck her down. Her other hand was at her throat, and her mouth hung open in shock. "What's happened?" His screwdriver was out and he scanned for her vitals.

"I was bloody attacked." Donna said, but it was lacking her usual fire. "By a little green goblin. Where's he off to?" She looked around at the dark corners of the ship unsuccessfully. The Doctor raised his eyebrow and looked to Calypso.

"It's the same for all of them. Hallucinations about monsters." Calypso explained, she hadn't expected it would be so soon. And she was afraid of what it might mean that it could move so quickly. "They dream about them too."

"Hallucinations? Already? That's a bit quick." The Doctor frowned and turned his attention back to Donna, where she was still stubbornly gripping her neck. When he started to pull her arm down, she glared at him. "Donna, just move it for a moment." He said patiently, she considered ignoring him, but finally conceded, still pulling a face at him as she did so. Calypso hissed in her breath sharply, it was the same green mark as the others.

"Hang on…" The Doctor said, uncertainty in his voice. "That's…weird."

"Oh. Thanks." Donna muttered, slapping her hand back over the wound. "I feel real bloody reassured now!"

"And you said this is just like the others? There are more people on the ship with marks like this?" His attention was on Calypso now, he was no longer the silly Doctor, he was serious, and intent on an answer.

"Yes," She nodded, feeling the full weight of his focus. She was feeling just as frightened by Donna's condition as she was about the Doctor's uncertainty on the matter. "Almost a dozen have the same…green pattern." She was hesitant to call it gangrene since she knew it would only upset Donna further. Besides, it was like no rot she had seen before, if it stumped the Doctor, she doubted it was a simple case of infection.

The Captain appeared then, his attention also drawn by Donna's screams, knowing exactly what they meant. He surveyed the scene quickly before speaking, but his eyes sought out Calypso for answer.

"Again?" He asked. She only gave a short nod in confirmation; he knew it as well as she did. He looked decidedly more grim as he noted that Donna was the victim.

"Is no one going to find the cheeky little git that got me?" Donna was glaring up at both the Doctor and the Captain, since he was now available.

"And the hallucinations as well." The Captain said with a defeated sigh.

"Oi!" Donna sat up straighter, despite the Doctor's efforts to keep her reclined. "I'm not hallucinating! I saw a little…green thing. With…a crown." Her words grew more doubtful as she realized exactly how it sounded. "Well, not a crown. But scales. A big hard head." She smacked the Doctor with her jacket. "Don't you look at me like that. I saw it."

"We've searched this ship high and low. There is no such creature." The Captain said determinedly. The first few to fall ill had enticed the crew to search for the monster that the sick claimed plagued them. But none had been found. After, when they continued to speak of the monster, they suspected it was just the paranoia of the high fevers, fueling them to reiterate what they had already heard. Calypso had thought it was just the superstitious, blaming a phantom for the illness that struck them down. But she doubted that was the case with Donna. After all, she hadn't known what the others had seen, and she had only just arrived. How could she possibly be sick? What frightened her most was that Calypso thought she believed her.

"Why don't you show me the others." The Doctor interrupted before Donna could give the Captain a piece of her mind about how well she thought they had conducted their searches. "Donna, why don't you stay-"

"Not bloody likely." Donna said as she pushed his hands aside, using the side of the TARDIS and Calypso to help her stand. "I'm fine."

"Really though," He looked at her reproachfully. "I think you should take it easy. Calypso and I can find out what's going on if you just rest."

"Yeah," She said as she put her jacket on. "Nice try, spaceman." The Doctor looked as though he wanted to argue, but Calypso didn't think that was going to do any of them any good.

"It doesn't progress too badly on the first day." She offered, she knew rest would probably be better for Donna. But if she was being honest, she wasn't entirely sure she was ready to be left on her own with the Doctor just yet. "She should be okay, if we keep an eye on her."

"Alright," He said, after he gave Calypso a long look. "But if you start feeling anything, anything at all," His finger was pointed sternly at Donna. "You let me know. Got that?"

"Sure thing, dad." She glowered at him, but her answer seemed to satisfy the Doctor enough that he nodded to Calypso.

"Lead the way then."

"They've been blocked off in steerage, to keep them separate from the other passengers." She started to lead them back up the ladder, away from the damp storage in the lowest levels.

"And who did you say you were, again?" The Captain was following them closely, and had given more than one strange look back at the blue box that had appeared where he was fairly certain it had not been when they left port.

"I'm the Doctor." He shrugged it off as though that were all the explanation that was needed. The Captain waited, hoping there might be more, but when the Doctor offered nothing else, he just shook his head. The Doctor exuded the kind of authority that suggested sometimes there wouldn't be a satisfactory answer, and you would just have to accept that. The Captain seemed to recognize this fact. Or at the very least, he was prepared to wait until he found out what else the Doctor had learned about the disease. Those they came across did not question them, though they did gather a few odd stares, the Captain rarely made his way through the bunks that made up the passengers beds and homes for the months they would be at sea. As they finally reached the far end of the ship, where a heavy curtain was drawn across the ceiling, the mood changed drastically. Where the rest had been occupied with tasks, cleaning the floors, mending old clothing, those who lay beyond the thick tarp were the opposite.

The smell of staleness and sick washed over them as Calypso pushed back the fabric, bracing herself for the unpleasantness. These people were very clearly ill, the worst of them trembling with fevers that rose and fell without warning, sometimes unconscious for days at a time, only able to sip at water when it was forced into them. Donna's hand flew to her mouth, whether from the stench or the shock of seeing what she had to look forward to, Calypso wasn't sure.

"Oh these poor souls." She shook her head sadly as she wandered down the middle of the aisle.

"Right then." The Doctor said grimly. "Let's see what we have here." He stopped at each of the bunks, scanning with his sonic screwdriver and inspecting the source of the wound. Calypso made herself useful by replacing the damp cloths that helped to cool those that were radiating heat.

"Have you been treating them this whole time?" Donna asked her as she came by, Calypso gave a short nod. For fear of exposure, they had limited those who could come and go, hoping to reduce the chances of it catching. "But it's a sickness." Donna said, a little disbelievingly. "What if you had gotten ill?" Calypso realized that Donna was looking at her like she was worried, like she was afraid for her.

She shook her head. "That wouldn't happen." She said with certainty.

"Why, because you're from…Gallifrey?" She whispered the last word, sure to avoid the ears of the Captain. The Doctor did, however, notice, and gave them both a sharp look before returning to his work.

"Sort of." Calypso mustered a smile, but she felt a lump forming in her throat. It was because she wasn't real. That was always what plagued her. And she hated herself even more, looking into Donna's eyes and knowing that she didn't dare explain it. Couldn't bear the thought of how Donna would look at her once she knew the truth. "It's complicated."

"It usually is." Donna said wryly. "Still though, it's a bit upsetting to think this is what's going to happen." Donna swallowed once, looking at the man nearby who shook and whimpered in his sleep, fighting off his nightmare attackers.

"Of course not." Calypso grabbed Donna's hand reassuringly. "These people have been sick for a long time. Besides, the Doctor is here. He'll fix you. That's what he does, right?" Donna snorted, but she was somewhat mollified. Or perhaps she just didn't want to face the reality of what would happen if he couldn't help her. Neither did Calypso.

"These." The Doctor said finally as he stood up. "Are not infections. Or at least, that's not how they start." The Captain turned a sharp eye to the Doctor, waiting for him to explain. "These people have all been bitten. These are bite marks. Single set of fangs. Small spread."

"So there is something on the ship?" The Captain asked doubtfully.

"Glad to see you're keeping up." The Doctor nodded in his direction once before returning to his own thoughts. "And it's not hallucinations, they're memories. Flashbacks. All of a monster. A green monster. Who do I know that's green with fangs?" He asked, tapping his chin thoughtfully. Before any of them could ask another question, the ship listed sharply to the side, sending them all stumbling against the bunks. Calypso caught herself against the wall and grabbed for Donna's arm just in time to keep her from tumbling to the ground.

"Captain." The Doctor said warningly, he had stabilized himself without much effort, as though he were used to the floor rocking in an unexpected way. "I recall the sea being quite calm when we were up top, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes," He agreed, his face a mask of concern. "It was."

"Well, I guess we should go take a quick look then, yeah?" The Doctor nodded back the way they had come. "Come on then, Donna, Calypso. Allons-y." He grinned lightly, but Calypso couldn't quite find the energy to get excited. The last storm they had ridden through had been one of the more miserable points in her life. It had been in the first week before she had really gotten the hang of walking around on a tilting ship. The way the ship bounced and bobbed side to side had left her bedridden and very very ill. It was nice to know she at least had some normal qualities, such as seasickness. But it wasn't something she was looking forward to repeating.

The ship started to roll back and forth in a pattern now, making their way to the deck of the ship was an exercise in wobbling on unsteady feet until they could smell the fresh ocean air once again. When they did finally reach the last steps leading up, Calypso could tell there was something wrong. The skies above them, which had been a calm and unassuming gray before, were now blacker than coal. The heavy clouds swirled above them, rumbling angrily, but no rain fell. A sharp wind buffeted against her as she emerged onto the deck, and with the breeze she could hear the crew now shouting, barking out orders to secure the rigging and drop sail.

"What the devil is this madness?" The Captain scowled up at the sky, but wasted no time in rejoining his crew, adding his own orders to those of his men. The Doctor had wandered to the edge of the ship, looking over the water. She could hear something roaring from that side, as though a heavy rain were falling, but she could see no sign of the clouds opening up.

"I think maybe we should go back below." The Doctor's voice was alarming as she crossed the ship to follow his gaze, Donna closely behind. His hands were gripped so tightly against the railing all the blood had drained from them, leaving his skin a chalky white.

"What is it?" Donna asked, having to raise her voice to be heard. They took slower steps as they approached the Doctor, the violent tilting of the ship threatened to throw them to the ground, or worse, over the side completely. But they didn't have to reach the edge to see what so alarmed the Doctor, a particularly sharp dip in the boat made it easy to see. It was a giant swirling whirlpool. It was large enough that she couldn't quite breathe once she had seen it. The water churned and swirled in the center, vanishing deep below the gray waters. A lightning bolt tore from the sky and struck at the center, the thunderous boom that followed rattled through her body and made her ears ring. Then the ship righted itself again and it vanished from view, the dark clouds of the sky replacing it.

"Oh my god." Donna was gripping the Doctor's arm, the shock of the thing causing her to freeze. Calypso felt for the railing and had to hold herself upright for fear her legs would collapse under her. She couldn't speak, and she was still struggling to catch her breath. As the ship tilted again, she saw what was even more of a concern, they were already caught in it, they had spent so little time tilted toward the sky because they were already sinking, being sucked into the cyclone of water. She could hear the men behind her, shouting at each other, shouting at the gods, to anyone who would listen that would cause their sails to be strong enough to carry them away from the beast that was threatening to kill them all.

"That's not manmade!" The Doctor shouted as he scanned the center of the thing with his sonic, Donna busy trying to hold them both steady. "I can't tell what it is!" He almost sounded excited, but she couldn't be sure, the wind and pounding of the waves was making it more difficult to understand.

"I don't care!" Donna shouted. "Let's get back to the flipping TARDIS!" Calypso had to agree, as they were slipping further into the vortex, she realized that she could no longer see the ocean spread out before them. Now there was only the sky, and the impossibly high wall of water that was pulling them deeper and deeper. Waves splashed over the side as the crew still fought to pull the ship up over the ridge.

"Yeah," The Doctor agreed as a rogue wave caught them all and they desperately clung to the railing. "Best ride this out down below!" They all stumbled forward, making for the lower decks that would at least protect them from the worst of the wind and water.

"Picked a hell of a vacation spot, spaceman." Donna sputtered as they dropped down below the worst of it. Still struggling to stand upright on their way down.

"I always do." He gave a lopsided grin, but he now seemed focused on getting them back to the TARDIS. Calypso's stomach lurched with the ship, and then finally fell back when the bow took a sharp turn downward, as though instead of fighting the current, they were driving down into it. They could hear the passengers screaming in steerage as Calypso had to resist the urge herself, her stomach was nearly in her throat as they were seemingly making a rocky plummet down to the center of the whirlpool.

"Come on!" The Doctor urged them, dropping down the next ladder just as quickly as he had the first, water had started to stream in from above, waves crashing up and over the deck with no resistance. Calypso was battered into the walls as she stumbled forward finding the ladder. Trying to climb down quickly, she knocked her head sharply against the wood beams that supported the ladder. Her vision spun for a moment when she felt hands gripping her tightly as her fingers slipped from the last rung. "Got you, I've got you." The Doctor's voice was nearby. She shook her head to clear her eyes and used the ladder to get her bearings.

"I'm alright." She reassured him, pushing his hands away. "Let's keep going." She nodded. They only had one more level to drop before they reached the bottom of the ship, before they reached the TARDIS. The water that had spilled down was now making their way more slippery, so instead of walking, they were all sliding their way to the last ladder. The ship creaked and groaned around them, threatening to break apart in the violence of the waves.

"We're not going to make it!" Donna was shouting frantically, scrabbling to keep herself upright.

"We might if you leg it!" The Doctor yelled back, offering a gentle push forward which earned him a dark look.

"If I die at the bottom of the ocean, I'm gonna kill you!" She threatened him. The ship lurched and then they both went sliding into the wall, collapsing to the ground as they went. Calypso dropped to her hands and knees, hoping that she'd have an easier time if she gave up on the idea of standing. With more water pouring in and dripping along the overhead, the lanterns were starting to extinguish themselves, casting them in a growing gloom. Calypso felt a deep fear start to rise like bile in her throat.

"Donna! Don't be so dramatic!" The Doctor chided her. Calypso could still see them both and she scuttled forward, not wanting to find herself in the dark alone. "If you're dead at the bottom of the ocean, so am I."

"Oh you'll wish you were-" And then the whole ship rattled with a final dramatic BANG that jarred Calypso's teeth in her skull and dropped them completely flat against the floor. With a low groan the ship leveled itself once more, the sharp tilt finally evening and with a few gentle wobbles, they stopped moving. Calypso thought she had stunned herself when she realized that the rest of the lanterns had fallen dark and she just couldn't see. But that wasn't totally accurate, there was a strange green glow coming from above, but it was so faint it didn't illuminate anything, only make her more aware of the claustrophobic darkness that she was trapped in.

"Doctor?" She said cautiously.

"I'm here. Donna, you alright?" He pulled out the screwdriver once again and offered some light with it.

"No." She said sullenly, rubbing her chin.

"Well…" The Doctor looked up to try to see through the hatch above them. "I don't think we're sinking anymore." The hall around them was now slightly more crooked than it had been, evidence that they had struck something.

"Well what the hell happened?" Donna asked, pulling herself to her feet.

"It feels like we crashed." Calypso said, despite knowing how silly it sounded. They can't have crashed, there was nothing to crash into. They were in the middle of the ocean. But the fact remained, that they had clearly run adrift of something, and the ship was no longer rocking gently to the oceans waves.

"Yeah. It sure did." The Doctor offered her a hand up when he realized she was still crouching on the ground. She accepted it but immediately dropped her own as she got her bearings. He looked back briefly, but said nothing, much to her relief. "Let's go take a look then, shall we?"

"What? After we just threw ourselves down here?" Donna looked rather annoyed at the idea.

"Yeah, yeah. Come on." He was already climbing back up, ignoring her glare. As they reached steerage they found themselves fighting swarms of passengers, also trying to escape the ship, or at least find what had happened. She quickly lost track of the Doctor, and then Donna as well, but they were all headed in the same direction, so she pushed on, needing to see what had happened. She followed the group until they reached the main deck and let out a low breath. Her thoughts of crashing, or even where the Doctor was, were completely erased. Because above her head, she could see only one thing. The ocean.

She blinked, uncomprehending. People around her screamed and howled, but she banished their concerns. What was she seeing? She was breathing air, she knew that much because she had literally gasped when she had looked up into the wall of water above them. It was dark and green, and illuminated by some light that she couldn't see. But it only penetrated so deep before the dark murky waters swallowed it up and left her feeling completely buried. She could see no hint of sunlight down here, it was crushingly obvious they were nowhere near the surface. They had sunk. But where was the question she wondered now. She was jostled by a few panicked passengers, clutching at her and raving about the end of days. She pushed them away, shaking herself sternly. She certainly didn't feel dead.

She had to see what else there was, and so she struggled her way through the people, gaining a position against the rails where she could see out further into this underwater bubble. It stretched out wider than she had seen the whirlpool, softly glowing globes dotted around the edges where air met water, and further out into the distance. The ship itself had run aground on dark rocks that jutted out from the sand at odd angles. It looked just like a beach she would have seen back in England, except they were nowhere near England, or shore. Some of the rocks were flatter than others, looking as though they had been smoothed that way. It was a pattern, a path. It led away from the ship and into the distance, if she squinted she thought she could see a shape somewhere out there, a thing. Though she couldn't identify what it was.

"Interesting, isn't it?" The Doctor suddenly appeared at her side, frowning at the same shape she was looking toward.

"What is it?" She asked, curious if she had struck her head harder than she thought.

"I have no idea." He shook his head wonderingly.

"Oi! You two! Having a laugh leaving me behind like that?" Donna popped up behind them, looking like she had needed to elbow several people on her way. "If you needed alone time, you could have just asked."

"Donna." The Doctor silenced her with a warning, and Donna saw Calypso's attention flash back to their surroundings, intentionally ignoring her jab.

"No need to fratch." Donna huffed, clearly not happy with either of them.

"Hang on," The Doctor pulled out his sonic and pointed it at the rocks below. "What's that…" Calypso saw it too, the stones that surrounded them were moving. Rocks shifted beneath her watchful eyes, but not all of them. And then she realized they weren't rocks at all. They were creatures, disguised to blend into the surrounding rocks with their gray mottled skin that was slick like wet stone. In their arms, they held horn shaped tools, but by the threatening way they held them, Calypso guessed they were guns.

"You will release the hostage, or your ship and all those aboard, will be dismantled." The one nearest to them spoke, its wide glassy eyes regarding them with disdain.

"Dismantle? Well that sounds interesting." The Doctor said with a frown. "Anyone know anything about a hostage?"