Does anyone realize how hard it is for a Star Wars fan to write 'robot' instead of 'droid'? It's like trying to break a bad habit. :p
Enjoy!
Tarak and Adelaide led the Doctor, Rose, and Jenny to the bio dome. Each dome was connected by a dark, metal, eerie looking corridor. The Doctor's mind was racing as he tried to determine what might be happening here on Mars, how he could get Jenny, Rose, and himself off this planet, and if there was any way to stop the Base from blowing up without ripping a hole in Time.
"Mia's age, why does it matter," Adelaide asked as they fast walked to the bio dome, "what did you mean?"
"Oh, uh," the Doctor stuttered nervously, trying to come up with a response.
"He was just impressed," Jenny lied smoothly, and the Doctor looked at his daughter gratefully. "Who wouldn't be?" she continued, this time with a genuine smile, "a woman that young making it to Mars . . . wow." Adelaide nodded, accepting their answer for now.
"GADGET, GADGET," said the awful robot in its awful funny robot voice. "I hate robots," the Doctor said with a roll of his eyes. "Did I say?" he asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, and he's not too fond of you," Roman Groom, the junior tech said petulantly, "What's wrong with robots?"
"Frankly, I agree with the Doctor," said Rose with a laugh that the Doctor thought sounded fake, "I don't like 'em much either. Big, metal, emotionless . . . things," she added with a small shudder. The Doctor looked at her in concern.
"It's not the robots, it's the people," the Doctor explained after a moment, "dressing them up and giving them silly little voices. It's like you're reducing them," he finished with a scowl.
"Yeah," said Roman conversationally, "I know what you mean. I had a friend who dressed her domestic robot like a dog. But I adapted Gadget from the worker drones. Those things are huge. They built this place when the shell was lowered down from orbit. They've got a strength capacity of-"
Adelaide cut him off. "This channel is open for principal communications only," she chastised him.
"Sorry."
"I've read a lot of stuff about you Adelaide, but one thing they never said: was it worth it?" the Doctor asked. Could it be that seeing new worlds was worth losing your family, your life? More to the point was he worth giving up a whole life? Of course, Adelaide wasn't going to answer that last question, but still. He glanced at Rose for a moment.
"We've got excellent results from the soil analysis," Adelaide answered, dodging the question.
The Doctor shook his head. "No, but they say that you gave up everything. Devoted your whole life to get here."
"It's been chaos back home," Adelaide said, "Forty long years. Climate and ozone and the oil apocalypse, we almost reached extinction," she said in disbelief.
The Doctor was pretty sure he heard Jenny whisper to Rose, "Oil apocalypse?" "I don't know! By this time I haven't been down there in what? Fifty years?"
"And to fly above that," Adelaide continued, not having heard Rose's comment, "to stand on a world with no smoke, where the only straight line is the sunlight. Yes," she finally answered with a smile, "it was worth it."
The Doctor grinned. "There's the Adelaide Brooke I always wanted to meet. The one with starlight in her song."
Suddenly a lump became visible just a few yards away. A suspiciously human looking lump. The Doctor felt his hearts drop as they ran up to her and found Maggie lying on the ground unconscious with a bloody gash on her forehead.
"It's Maggie," Adelaide breathed in horror.
Rose and Tarak knelt by the woman. "Don't touch her!" the Doctor warned.
"Maggie, can you hear us?" Rose asked gently, but to his relief, didn't touch her, instead Tarak rolled the limp woman on to her back.
"She's still breathing," Dr. Tarak informed them. "Yuri," he said into his communication device, "I've got Maggie Cane, head trauma. I'm going to need a full med pack."
"I've got it," said Yuri, "med pack on its way."
To the Doctor's relief it didn't take long for Yuri and Ed to come with the med pack. "Don't touch her," the Doctor and Jenny warned in unison.
"Do as they said," agreed Tarak. Sure, now he agrees not to touch her, "Get her to the sick bay. Put her in isolation," he ordered.
"I'm going on to the bio dome," Adelaide stated, "Tarak with me, Yuri can take care of her. Ed, back to the dome, Gadget stand guard and keep an eye on this area."
"Captain, you're going to need me," Ed protested calmly, "Andy is the only other crew member out here. If this wasn't an accident, then he's gone wild."
"You deserted your post, consider that your official warning," Adelaide said coldly, "now get back to work." Ed didn't look at all pleased, but he said nothing.
Adelaide began walking towards the bio dome. "Doctor, Jenny, with me. Rose, you can go with Yuri," she called over her shoulder. Rose glanced at the Doctor, who nodded.
"Captain," came Steffi's voice over the communications device, "that sound, I've run it through diagnostics, and according to the computer, it's . . . it's Andy," she said with a hint of fear. "It registers as the voice print of Andy Stone." Adelaide stiffened noticeably.
"Understood," the captain said, "Double check, thanks."
The Doctor looked at Jenny. This was bad, very, very bad, but he couldn't help but think that this was great, brilliant, fantastic, molto bene! He was talking to Adelaide Brooke. The Adelaide Brooke. Jenny smiled at him reassuringly. He smiled back, because he could tell that she was just as thrilled as he was.
"Air pressure holding," Tarak said, pulling the Doctor out of his musings. The door to the bio dome opened to reveal a beautiful outer space garden full of trees and bushes and vines and flowers.
"Andrew?" Adelaide called hesitantly, "Andrew Stone? It's Captain Brooke. Andy, report, I need to see you. Where are you?" she called.
The Doctor walked up the computer and used the sonic. The lights flickered on. "There you go," he said proudly.
"What's that device?" Adelaide asked warily.
The Doctor showed her his perfectly harmless sonic screwdriver. "Screw driver," he answered.
Adelaide rolled her eyes. "Are you the Doctor, or the janitor," she asked sarcastically.
"Oi," Jenny said indignantly, "I have one too, you know; a screwdriver doesn't automatically make us janitors." The Doctor smiled, mildly amused at his daughter defense of the tool she hadn't been too fond of until she had one of her own. She already had a setting for cleaning mirrors.
"You stay with me," Adelaide ordered him, "Jenny, you go with Tarak. Tarak, keep an eye on her. Go make sure the doors are still intact." The Doctor didn't like the idea of being separate from his daughter in a potentially dangerous room on a certainly dangerous base, but he didn't see what he could do about it, so he said nothing.
Well, nothing aloud. Jenny, he warned, be careful.
Sure, Dad, she replied and he could practically see her roll her eyes in his head.
The Doctor walked up to a particularly beautiful pink flower. "Quite an achievement," he said in admiration, "the first flowers on Mars in over ten thousand years." Ahh, humans. They were like a breath of fresh air. So determined, so strong, so . . . human.
To his surprise he heard the sound of birds chirping and he looked up to see small song birds perched in the rafters. "You've got birds!" he exclaimed in astonishment.
Adelaide shrugged. "It's part of the project," she exclaimed, "they keep the insect population down."
"Captain, good news," said the voice of Yuri through the communications device, "it's Maggie. She's back with us," he announced happily.
The Doctor looked over at Adelaide. "Ask him of Rose is okay," he asked a bit more nervously than he'd like. Adelaide looked at him like he was crazy, but did as he asked.
"Rose wants me to tell you that she is not fine at all. In the five minutes it took us to get to the med bay she unearthed a closet full of . . . Daleks?" responded Yuri uncertainly, but the Doctor could hear the amusement in his voice. He was also pretty sure he heard a muffled thud. "Ow," complained Yuri, "Apparently, I wasn't supposed to tell you that I was under instructions."
The Doctor grinned, but Adelaide rolled her eyes and frowned. "Yuri, how many times do I have to remind you people? This channel is not for mindless chatter! What about Andy? Was he alright?" Adelaide asked.
"I don't know," came the sound of Maggie's bewildered, "I just . . ."
"If you remember anything, tell me," the captain instructed gently. "And keep the coms clear," she ordered, her voice becoming stern once again, "All communications come through me."
Jenny and Tarak were making their way through the surprisingly large bio dome looking for Andrew. Both were carrying torches and calling for the missing man. It didn't take too long for them to stop at the sound of trickling water.
They turned and found the source: Andy. He had his back turned to them and he was soaking wet; water was pouring off him.
"There you are," Tarak said in relief and began walking towards him. Jenny shook her head and laid a hand on his arm.
"I don't think we should," she warned, "Look at him. Doesn't anything about his appearance strike you as odd?"
Tarak shrugged. "He's fine. Andy, you alright?" Andy said nothing. "Andy," Tarak called again, but didn't walk any closer, "Andrew, look at me," he ordered. Finally Andy turned around and Jenny and Tarak jumped in surprise as he faced them.
Something had obviously happened to him. His eyes were now a grayish color with small black pupils, and his mouth was . . . cracked with water coming out of it.
"Run!" Jenny ordered, and Tarak nodded numbly, running back to the corridor that connected the bio dome to the main dome. They didn't even notice he'd dropped his communications device until it was too late.
Rose was standing next to Maggie, separated by a window, as Yuri was watching a recording, presumably of one of his family members. "Is that your brother?" Maggie asked kindly.
"It's only a repeat," explained Yuri," the solar flares are still up." He looked at Maggie in concern. "Are you okay?" he asked the recovering crew member in concern.
"Yeah," Maggie replied with small smile. Rose looked at her sympathetically. Twenty four hours stuck in the med bay under quarantine would be torture for her. The few times she'd ended up in Torchwood's med bay even for just a couple of hours had been bad enough.
"You'll be out and about in no time," Rose told Maggie with a gentle smile, "back to the gardens." She looked thoughtfully at the woman. "I never got to see what it looked like. The bio dome, I mean," Rose clarified. "I bet it's beautiful."
Maggie grinned proudly. "Oh, it is," she confirmed with a hint of wistfulness.
Rose's eyes widened in concern as Maggie started to shudder and convulse. "Maggie," she called in concern, "are you alright?"
Yuri looked away from his video and rushed to the window. "Maggie!" he exclaimed, "Maggie! What's happening? Can you hear me?" Just as suddenly as it started, Maggie stops shaking and her shoulders slump, hiding her face.
Rose almost didn't notice as Yuri reached for the door. "No!" she exclaimed suddenly , and Yuri jumped back like he's been burned. "You can't go in there," she warned, slightly nervous herself, "Look at her. It might not be safe," she whispered harshly. Yuri didn't look completely convinced, but nodded and back away from the door.
"Where does your brother live?" Maggie asked suddenly, still not raising her head.
"By . . . by the Caspian Sea," he stuttered in surprise. Rose watched suspiciously.
"Near the sea," Maggie repeated, and water her water began to slowly trickle out of her mouth, "Earth has so much water."
"Maggie," Rose called hesitantly, "that's no you, is it?" When she got no response she turned to Yuri. "Contact the Doctor and Adelaide. Tell them what's going on. Now!"
"We should like that world," Maggie said in a deep voice that was not her own, and suddenly she looked up and Rose jumped back in horror. Maggie's face was cracked, as if it was dried up, but it couldn't be; water was trickling over it, and out of it.
"Captain, Doctor," Yuri called nervously through his communications device, "Maggie's condition has changed. It's water . . . just water, pouring out!"
"Yuri calm down," Adelaide said, taking it all in stride, "just tell me what's happened to her."
Yuri took a deep breath. "Her face, it's sort of . . . broken, out of the mouth, and she's exuding water, like she's drowning," he finished, his voice becoming slightly panicked.
Jenny and Tarak had run to the med bay as fast as they could, barely out running Andy. They burst through the doors panting, trying to catch their breath, only to realize Maggie was in the same condition. "What are you doing here?" Rose demanded in concern, "I'm not exactly sure if it's safe in here," she said cautiously.
"No better than where we were," Jenny retorted with a sad shake of her head, "Andy is in the same condition." Rose nodded, and walked over to Yuri, who looked rather shaken.
"You alright?" Rose asked him. He nodded.
"Yuri, tell the Captain we're okay," Tarak ordered, "I dropped my comm." Yuri did as Tarak asked and Jenny smiled as she heard the relief in her dad's voice. He was so over-protective at times.
The Doctor and Adelaide reluctantly decided to head to the med bay, since Jenny and Tarak already knew Andy's condition, and Maggie was showing the same symptoms.
"Close down all water supplies, Adelaide ordered after seeing that Maggie was contained, "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."
The Doctor observed Maggie carefully. "Can you talk?" he asked her curiously.
"She was talking earlier," Rose informed him as she walked up to him and threaded her fingers through his, "even after she'd . . . changed." So, maybe it just didn't want to talk.
Jenny walked up to the glass and turned to the Doctor. "Humans are sixty percent water, right? So if these things are made of water . . ."
"That makes them the perfect host," the Doctor confirmed grimly.
"But why?" Adelaide asked in frustration. This was hard. One of the hardest things he'd ever done. Standing here, talking to these people that he admired so much, and knowing they were going to die, probably because of these things, and there was nothing he could do.
"Hopefully we will never know," the Doctor muttered under his breath. "We have to go," he said in a louder voice, "because whatever started here, we can't see it to the end," he said sadly, and gripped Rose's hand a bit tighter.
"Do you think she can get out?" Jenny asked, eyeing the door and thin glass window warily.
The Doctor shrugged. "Water is patient. It can wear down cliffs and mountains. Water always wins."
"The moment she heads for the door we evacuate, got that?" Adelaide ordered.
"Her pulse is low," Tarak said, looking at her vital signs on the computer monitor, "but her brain waves are going crazy."
"Maggie can you hear me?" Adelaide asked. "Do you know who I am?"
Maggie slowly turned to face her. "I'm your commanding officer, Captain Adelaide Brooke," Adelaide continued, "Can you tell me what happened?"
Deciding to act on a long shot the Doctor spoke to Maggie briefly in a language she might understand. Her eyes widened and she turned away from Adelaide and face him.
"What language is that?" Ed asked, astounded.
"That was Ancient North Martian," Jenny informed them. "Not one of my strengths, unfortunately. Thankfully, I have a wonderful translator," she said with a grin referring to the TARDIS, but to anyone else the Doctor knew it looked like she meant him.
"Don't be ridiculous," scoffed Adelaide.
"It's like she recognized it," Ed said curiously, staring at the creature behind the glass.
Rose nodded in agreement. "Wait, hold on. Look at her eyes, Doctor. They look almost normal." The Doctor looked closer and could see that it was true.
"Looks closer to human," he observed. That could be good. Maybe it could be reversed. Oh, wait. Even if it could, it wouldn't make a difference. Everyone would still die.