The Last Time Lord and The Impossible Girl Classic Edition

by Smaug25

The Doctor and Clara Oswald. The Hybrid. They will laugh, cry, love but most of all, run. They shall run from the beginning to the end of time and beyond, and if anything tries to stand in their way, their worlds will burn. *STORY BEING RE-WRITTEN*

59. Doctor No More

AN: Heeellooo. It's been 2 months(ish) since the last chapter, but now I bring you the next one. Took longer than I wanted, because of a specific reason I will bring up at the end of this, but it is done. (FINALLY!) So, past all that jazz, sit back and please enjoy. :)

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Doctor No More

The room around the Doctor was filled only with the sound of his steady breathing, and the low humming pulse of the TARDIS. The Doctor, the 8th Doctor, was standing alone by the TARDIS console. This TARDIS interior was...bigger than the present design. Instead of coral, it resembled a sort of Victorian parlor, and the console in the centre of the massive room was surrounded by six or seven metal arches. A number of filled bookshelves lined the left side of the room, with a table and sofa chair sitting nearby. This wasn't even getting into the rest of the items in the room, being loose tools, stacks of candles, candelabras, statues with candles in their hands, and blue lights coming from the high ceiling, lighting up different points in the room, but putting the console itself under the brightest spotlight. The 8th Doctor flicked a couple of switches as he finished a cup of tea then looked into a nearby mirror, regarding himself with a squinting, soft frown. He looked like a man in his 50's, about 5 foot 8, (Maybe give or take a foot or two), brown hair hanging no lower than his ears, and his eyes…they were blue, and still alive with life, but they seemed rather…dim, nowhere near as bright as they were earlier in his life. His outfit was different as well. Brown boots, brown (Or green-ish?) pants and waistcoat, an ash grey shirt underneath, unbuttoned at the top and a blue scarf in the vacant space around his neck. On top of it all was a black (At least it looks black) coat, unbuttoned, and just like the rest of the ensemble…it didn't look brand-new, but it was not ragged, still worn with some form of grace. In amongst the silence, the Doctor had flicked another switch, this one for the scanner unit. The entire ceiling above him and throughout the console room lit up, showing the entirety of the solar system that gave birth to the Human race. It also gave birth to other races including the Silurians and the Ice Warriors, but that's a different matter, the voice of this Doctor echoed in his mind. The Doctor then flicked a few more switches adjacent to the scanner unit switch, and the view changed to the exterior view of the TARDIS, and the ship was standing on a barren red landscape, blowing with wind and covered in a jagged rock surface. The red planet. It's been a while. The Doctor spent the next few minutes suiting up into an orange spacesuit over his own clothes. Once it was fully equipped, his helmet on and oxygen supply functioning, the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and onto the planet surface. The glare of the Sun was the first thing the Doctor saw before a surprisingly strong gust of wind made the Doctor stumble back against the TARDIS doors. He then regained his footing and began to walk properly. The first thing that caught the Doctor's attention was the top of a massive standing rocket, bathed in the light of the Sun, already beginning to set. When the Doctor got closer and walked to the top of the nearby rocky bank, he looked down to see an entrance compartment attached to the bottom of the rocket. Connected to it was a modular walkway, linked to a large dome. This dome quickly proved to be the centre of this "Space Base", with five extra walkways that split off from the central dome. Four of the walkways were connected to separate smaller domes, whilst the last was connected to a structure that somewhat resembled a rectangle. The Doctor gave a smile, and-

Something pressed into the Doctor's lower back, something that felt very much like a gun. Then, a squeaky, monotone male voice spoke behind him. "Hands up." The Doctor wordlessly did so. "Rotate. Slowly." It ordered, and the Doctor turned around. What greeted him was…a robot. It was waist high, had two track wheels, and a thin metal skeleton for its spine and arms. However for the head, it was a large metal ball with a single white light in the centre- "Gadget gadget."

Good grief.

Central Dome, Mars Scientific Base

Almost forced into the central dome of the Mars base and freed of his space suit, the Doctor stood by himself in the centre of the white, almost silver-gray room, the crew of the base standing before him. The Captain, a woman in her late 50's, (Or early 60's) was about 5 feet…something with blue eyes and blonde hair. Well…it is a bit faded, but whatever. The Captain, whose name the Doctor did not know as of this moment, was standing in front of her crew, pointing a dark blue pistol with tiny matching blue lights at the Doctor, his eyebrows raised in a silent response.

"State your name, rank and intention." The Captain ordered. The Doctor stared back at the Captain with unblinking eyes and a slight smirk on his face, but he did not answer. "You do not want me repeating myself." The Captain warned.

"I would answer your demands, but it's rather difficult when there's a weapon pointed at my forehead." The Doctor retorted. Then, he frowned a little as if contemplating a deep question. "If you could just move it about five inches to the right…"

"Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Why would I not?" The Doctor retorted in confusion, not even needing to add in a shrug.

The Captain did not emote for a few moments, but when she did, it was a very muted sigh. "Why should I trust you with any answer you give?"

"Because, Captain, I give you my word. My answers will be completely and utterly honest. And when you're 40 million miles away from home, honesty is all you have."

For a brief second, a flash of a thought crossed the Doctor's mind as the Captain's expression remained unflinching and unchanging. A shadow of doubt gnawed at the self confidence holding his nervousness at bay. And then, the Captain's expression relaxed just a tiny bit as she lowered the gun before ordering, "Keep Gadget covering him."

Gadget?

"Gadget gadget." Came the squeaky, monotone male voice from the strange robot, and the Doctor slowly nodded.

Ah.The Doctor looked back to the Captain, who was looking at him with a patient look on her face. Compared, however, with the rest of the team in the room, two young women, two young men, one much younger than the other and an older man, possibly the same age as the Captain, were looking at him with varying expressions of confusion, curiosity, or in the case of the older man, a tiny bit of annoyance. Using the quick moment, the Doctor surveyed all of the crew members. They were all wearing different styles of clothing, be it the first woman who was blonde and wearing a similar green jumpsuit like the Captain, or jackets and jeans on the older man and the young kid, or the last two, who just wore…well, Boring clothes. "My name's "The Doctor"."

The Captain blinked. ""The Doctor"?"

"Hi." The Doctor greeted with a smile.

The Captain did not emote, and her earlier order played like an echo in his mind. "State your name, rank and intention." As he thought to himself, he heard a notification sound, something that sounded rather like the tweet of a bird but mechanized, and the Captain reached into her pocket to pull out a communicator, it's edges illuminated by, yet again, a dark blue light.

"Excuse me, boss." A female voice called out, and the Doctor swore he could see her rolling her eyes, even if she didn't actually do the expression. "Computer log says we've got an extra person on site. How's that possible?"

"Keep the bio dome closed. And when using open coms, you call me "Captain"." The Captain replied.

"Yeah, but who is it?" The woman asked, but the Captain only replied by pressing two buttons and sliding a finger across the side of the device. A series of beeps emerged from the device before it stopped making any noise and the Captain put it away.

Just before she could continue, however, a door opened in the room and an Indian man in simple jacket and jeans ran into the room with a bewildered expression on his face. "What the hell?" He muttered as he stared at the Doctor, his accent more British than Indian.

The Captain looked at the Doctor with a slightly apologetic look for a second, but all the Doctor did in response was cock an eyebrow back at her. Instead of a welcoming party, I become a circus attraction.

"It's a man." The newcomer continued, even if he was out of breath. "A man on Mars. How?"

"He was wearing this…thing." The blonde woman, her accent German, replied as she gave the Doctor's spacesuit placed on a nearby table a…intrigued yet puzzled look. "I have never seen anything like it."

"What did Mission Control say?" The man continued.

"They're out of range for 10 hours with the solar flares." The woman explained.

"Cut the chat, everyone." The Captain quickly ordered, and the two fell silent. "Carry on." She said to the Doctor, and he nodded.

"My intention is fun." He said simply, earning a couple of sniggers, and a scoff, but all the Captain did was cock an eyebrow at him.

"And rank?"

"I don't have one."

The Captain gave the Doctor a dull look before looking over to the older man. When the Doctor turned to look at him, he seemed like he had just given a silent scoff of disbelief. "How can he not have a rank if he's on Mars, Captain?" He asked rhetorically, his accent Australian, but not…stereotypically so.

The Captain crossed her arms, her expression changing only slightly, just enough to let the man know that she was listening. "What do you suggest?"

The man shrugged. "He can't be a World State flight, because not only do they have ranks, we would know about it also. Therefore, he's got to be one of the independents, yeah? Unless…" The man looked at the Doctor as his arms uncrossed and decided to hang loosely by his sides. "How did you get on Mars, exactly?"

"On my ship."

"And how far away is your ship from this base?"

"10 minutes."

"And did you come alone?"

"Yes. My ship requires one pilot only." Well technically it's 6, but let's not get into the details.

The Captain, for a brief moment, made her eyebrows raise up so high, the Doctor comically thought they might fall off, but then she returned to her nominal expression. "Looks like I'm taking your word for it."

"Gadget gadget."

The Doctor groaned, surprisingly bringing out an amused expression from the Captain and Ed. The Doctor then looked at the black haired young man sitting in a chair behind the robot, who had black hair and was wearing a strange controlling monitor strapped over his shoulders, topped off with a pair of almost skeletal gloves over his hands, the tips of which had the same blue glow as pistol in the robot's hand. "It's automatic response, is it not?" The Doctor asked the young man, who blinked at him amidst his attempt to give a stern expression, but it came off more like he couldn't stand a putrid smell in the room. "The monitor controls and sends signals as created by the gloves."

After a moment, he relented with a nod, his eyes starting to light up in excitement over what was clearly something made as a passion project. "You got it. To the right." He moved his right hand a little, and the robot, sparking and trembling from it's…questionable quality, moved a little to the right. "And to the left." He repeated the motion with his left hand, and the robot followed suit.

"No offence, but it looks like it will shatter at any moment." The Doctor commented, and the smile on the kid's face turned into as best a glare as he could manage, but it didn't faze the Doctor.

"Gadget gadget."

"And does it really need to say that?" The Doctor asked.

"I think it's funny." The kid responded, but the absence of the smile confused the Doctor.

"If you think it's funny, why aren't you laughing?"

"Roman." The Captain warned lightly.

"Sorry, Captain." Roman apologized, putting the robot back into focus on the Doctor.

"Tarak, Mia, help Yuri back into his suit. We need those solar panels on sleep mode before the night comes. And check the life support of the base as well."

"Yes, Captain." They said, jogging quickly out of the room.

"Steffi, put the Doctor's…spacesuit in one of the spare lockers. After that, go help Tarak and Mia with Yuri."

"Yes, Captain." The blonde German responded, who picked up the spacesuit from the table and moved out of the room.

"Why don't you take a seat, Doctor?" The Captain offered.

"Thank you." He answered, moving into a spare seat by the table, it's top previously occupied by his spacesuit.

"Ed, contact Maggie and Andy. They can come meet the newcomer for themselves." The Captain added, and Ed nodded with a smile as he pulled his communicator out.

He pressed a few buttons, but nothing happened. He tried again, but yet again nothing happened, and Ed frowned at the Captain, who just stared back at him dully, and he audibly groaned. "You disconnected them again, didn't you Captain?"

"No comment." She said, and he scoffed.

"This is going to take a minute and a half." He muttered as he moved to sit at one of the computer desks in the room.

"Dial up connection?" The Doctor asked, and the Captain shrugged.

"Mission Control said they ran out of money for the communicators." The Captain explained, but another scoff came from Ed.

"More like they made them cheap."

The Doctor nodded as he glanced at the Captain. "Begging your pardon, Captain. I now know the names of your crew, but I still don't know yours."

"You say that like you didn't know our names before arriving." Ed retorted before the Captain spoke, but when the Doctor didn't say anything in response, he paused in his work and looked over with a frown. "Did you really not know?"

The Doctor shook his head, and the Captain scoffed. "Oh, come on. We're the first off world colonists in history. Everyone on Earth knows who we are."

"I've been having a bit of trouble with memory lately." The Doctor admitted as he ran a hand over his face, before he hastily drew it away and clicked his fingers. "Did you go to Oxford?"

Adelaide blinked, her head moving back a bit in surprise. "No-"

"Worth a try." The Doctor grumbled before a static noise came out of Ed's computer, and he leant back in his chair with his hands up.

"I was just about to finish the connection." He grumbled/ranted before a Russian voice came in through the speaker.

"Hello? Am I on External Ten?"

"Yes, you are." Ed replied, clacking away at the keyboard for a moment before returning his gaze to the screen. "Sun's about to set in 10 minutes, Yuri. Better move quickly."

"Yes, sir."

"10 minutes?" The Doctor asked Ed, but he just shrugged.

"Give or take 30 seconds." Turning back, he quickly clacked away at the keyboard before pressing the "Enter" key and sitting back. "Connection to the Biodome is up and running. Just needs a minute or two to stabilize."

"Solar panel's on sleep mode, radial clamp's down. Base is ready for the night." Yuri reported.

"Good job, Yuri, now get back inside."

"Sir, one more thing."

Ed rolled his eyes. "Yuri, get back inside. You are using power and oxygen."

"Get this on camera." Yuri replied, obviously not listening before giving out a small grunt, and adding, "What do you think?"

Intensely curious, the Doctor got up from his seat and moved to the computer just as the Captain repeated his motion. The view was Yuri in a white spacesuit standing outside, and he had just placed a solar panel upon a tripod clamp, bearing the words, "No Trespassers". The Captain, for the first time since the Doctor's arrival, cracked a proper smile, and the Doctor chuckled, whilst Ed just ran a hand over his face. "Did you really waste an entire solar panel to do that?"

"Oh, lighten up. It's a joke. Get it? "Lighten up"?" Yuri asked rhetorically as he laughed, but Ed just shook his head.

"Yuri, get back inside the base. Bloody hell." Ed grumbled as the Doctor returned to his seat, the Captain back to her previous spot in the room whilst Ed looked at them with a slightly exasperated look on his face. "We've come all this way to a planet untouched by civilization and what does he do? Put up cheap jokes."

"Ed." The Captain interrupted calmly, and Ed blinked.

"Yes, Captain?" She pulled out her communicator and tapped it once. "Oh." Ed returned to the computer, typed in one more command code and moved towards the microphone. "Maggie, Andy, if you want to meet the only new Human being that you're going to see in the next five years…you better come take a look." A moment of silence passed as Ed looked between the Doctor and the Captain, and…suddenly, a sound passed through the speakers that wiped the smiles off their faces. It sounded suspiciously like an animalistic snarl, and yet it sounded somewhat muffled, as if the sound was played through water. Regardless, it made the Captain and Ed spring into action as the Captain moved quickly to the computer.

"Show me the Biodome." She ordered, and he quickly clacked away at the keyboard. "Biodome, this is Central Dome. Report immediately." No answer came through, and the Doctor moved over to join them, just as Ed brought up the video links for the Biodome's cameras, but they were all covered in static.

"Internal cameras are down. I'll bring up the exterior cameras." Ed reported as he returned to the keyboard, whilst the Captain tried again.

"Margaret Cain and Andrew Stone, this is Captain Adelaide Brooke. Report immediately." No response came from the monitor, not even the bone chilling snarl, but Ed brought up the exterior view of the Biodome, sitting in the dimming rays of the Sun. A light went off. Then another, then a third. Quickly, before their eyes, the lights within and outside the Biodome switched off, and the infrastructure was plunged into total darkness. "I'm going over. Ed, monitor the Biodome, and check their life signs on the scanner."

"Yes, Captain." Ed replied as Adelaide pulled out her communicator.

"Steffi, Mia, return to the Central Dome. Yuri, get to the Medical Dome. Tarak, meet us in the Biodome tunnel. And bring medical equipment with you." Adelaide put the communicator away before any response could be heard, and she turned briefly to Roman. "Send Gadget into the tunnel as well."

"Gadget gadget."

"Doctor, with me." Adelaide ordered as she started for the Biodome tunnel door, but stopped when the Doctor protested.

"Exactly why me?" He asked as she turned back to look at him.

"Because this all started as soon as you arrived." Adelaide answered simply. "So you are going nowhere but with me. As of now, Bowie Base One is under lockdown."

Biodome Access Tunnel

"You're serious, Captain?" Tarak asked, him and Adelaide walking with Gadget down the still lit tunnel, whilst the Doctor walked beside them, his gaze both fixed yet distant as he remained deep in thought.

"Yes." She replied, having caught Tarak up on the details, knowing for sure that Ed would be doing so to the rest of the crew. "It's rather humbling, isn't it? We are as of this moment the most famous people on Earth, figuratively speaking, and yet this man has troubling remembering our names. And I can't say I'm annoyed by it yet." She admitted, hearing Tarak give a grumbling shrug.

"Gadget gadget." The robot interrupted, and the Doctor turned to give it a disappointed glare.

"Definitely not one of the better robots I've seen in my life." The Doctor admitted.

A response came from the robot, but it wasn't the monotone voice. Instead, it was Roman. "Yeah, and he's not too fond of you. What's wrong with robots?"

"It's more the people than the robots. They always dress them up and give them silly names, almost as if they get pleasure from reducing them to something less."

"Yeah." Roman agreed, briefly surprising the Doctor. "Friend of mine, she made her domestic robot look like a dog-"

"Roman, these channels are open for essential communications only, not chatter." Adelaide interrupted sternly.

A small moment of sheepish silence passed before Roman's meek voice sounded from the robot. "Sorry, Captain."

"Hold on a minute." The Doctor muttered, but he didn't stop walking, and neither did the two beside him, or the robot for that matter. "Did you just say "Bowie Base One"?"

Adelaide rolled her eyes. "Yes, this place is called, "Bowie Base One."" She looked back to Tarak with a cocked eyebrow. "It's starting to come back to him."

"You're right. I'm…" The Doctor held a hand to his forehead with a scrunched expression, trying to sift through his suddenly muddled mind for the information regarding this…place. "Bowie Base One, established in the Gusev Crater on July 1st, 2058 by Humanity's first off world colonists." As he figuratively spat out the information, he glanced over at Adelaide with a frown. "How long have you been here?"

"17 months." Adelaide answered simply.

17 months. Why does that ring a bell? The Doctor muttered in his mind before he returned to the situation at hand, and suddenly started to ramble out a list of names, counting them on his two hands. "Captain Adelaide Brooke, Deputy Edward Gold, Tarak Ital, MD, Nurse Yuri Kerenski, Senior Technician Steffi Ehrlich." Then, he paused and began pressing two fingers of each hand into his temples. "Hold on, hold on, I've almost…Junior Technician Roman Groom, Geologist Mia Bennett." At that, he stopped. Quite literally he stopped walking, and his three newfound accomplices also stopped, looking at him in either complete confusion, or irritation in Adelaide's case.

"Okay, why did you pause on Mia?" Adelaide asked in an irritated order.

"27." The Doctor muttered as he gazed at the pair. "She was only 27 years old." Then, the Doctor stiffened up as if he was startled at his own words. "Wait, what does her age have to do with this?" He muttered as he continued walking.

"Doctor, what in God's name are you on about?" Adelaide ordered as she, Tarak, and Gadget resumed their movements to catch up with him.

"Are all the Dome tunnels like this?" The Doctor asked, and the change of topic took them a bit off guard. "How come you never brought bikes?"

"Bikes?" Adelaide and Tarak blurted at the same time.

"Bikes, skateboards, scooters, segues, or even those half-budget hoverboard...things." The Doctor finished with a grumble. "But what do we do instead? We walk. What if you have to deliver a message? Or move quickly to perform a birthday surprise, or an emergency rendezvous?" He looked over at them with wide eyes, almost as if he was pleading them to recognize what he was talking about. "Why no bikes?"

"Every pound in weight equals 3 tons of fuel-"

"Yes!" The Doctor blurted, making them jump a bit.

"What?!" Adelaide snarled, as the Doctor looked at her with a bright grin.

"Why walk?! We can run!" He said, beaming away as if it was obvious and immediately took off into a run down the tunnel, forcing the two of them to race after just to catch up.

"Doctor, slow down!" Adelaide ordered, and surprisingly, he did listen…somewhat. Instead of just slowing down, he stopped walking immediately, and the pair also stopped running. "Doctor…" But the Doctor didn't look at her, just staring ahead down the last stretch of the tunnel, the entrance to the Biodome in visible sight and…there was something else. It was hidden away in the shadows casted by the lights, but there was something there, and Adelaide looked back at Tarak, recognizing from his nod that he too saw it. "Tarak."

Tarak pulled out a flashlight and shone it down the tunnel, and immediately recognizable in the light was an unmoving body. A body of a young dark-skinned female, her forehead bearing a distinguishable bruise upon it. "Captain-"

"It's Maggie." Adelaide answered the unfinished question immediately and the three of them raced over to Maggie's unconscious form. When they reached it, the Doctor and Adelaide kept a small distance as Tarak placed a bag down upon the ground and opened it up.

"Tarak, quickly, is she dead? And no touching."

"I know the protocols, Captain." Tarak reminded lightly as he slipped on a pair of sanitized gloves, moving close but not close enough to touch the unconscious woman. "Maggie, can you hear me? It's Tarak. Maggie? Maggie?" Tarak called, but nothing happened. He pressed a glove covered hand to her neck, feeling the faint yet ever-present pulse working away. "I have a pulse. She's still alive. But if the bruise on her head means anything, she's currently got head trauma. Possibly worse." He added in a mutter as he pulled out his communicator and initiation a connection. "Yuri, it's Tarak. I've got Margaret Cain, head trauma. I need a full med pack and a stretcher."

"Med pack and stretcher on their way." Yuri responded, and Tarak cut off the connection as Adelaide initiated her own.

"Steffi, Mia, is the base in total lockdown yet?"

"Nearly there, Captain. One problem. The Biodome airlock is failing it's connection." Steffi replied.

"We'll check, but if nothing works, we're cutting the Biodome off from the base until this is over."

"Copy that, Captain."

"Ed, get to the Medical Dome and prep the Isolation Ward immediately."

"On my way, Captain."

Adelaide cut off her connection and pocketed the device as she cast a look back at Gadget. "Roman, keep Gadget on guard in this tunnel."

"Gadget gadget."

There was the hiss of a door opening and closing before a pair of footsteps came sprinting down the tunnel, until Yuri appeared in sight with a grey bag in his left hand and a white stretcher underneath his right arm. "Gloves on, Yuri." Tarak ordered, and Yuri complied without hesitation, slipping on gloves as they prepared the stretcher for Maggie.

"We're going into the Biodome. Get her into the Isolation Ward." Adelaide ordered, and they obeyed without a word, getting the two bags over their shoulders before hoisting the stretcher up and running back up the tunnel. As Adelaide and the Doctor casted a wordless glance at each other before resuming their walk up to the nearby door, her communicator rang in her pocket. "Steffi." Adelaide said as she checked the I.D.

"Captain, that sound you heard in the Biodome. I've run it through the diagnostics. According to the computer, it's Andy. It registers as the voiceprint of Andy Stone."

"Understood. Double check, thanks." Adelaide replied before cutting off the connection again as she opened the airlock access chamber for the Biodome. "Inside." She ordered simply, and the Doctor stepped inside, allowing her to close the door. Stepping to the computer console in the middle of the tiny white room, Adelaide quickly began typing at the computer and brought up a schematic map of the Biodome. The exterior airlock was on the opposite end of the dome to them, but there was a second signal as well, but it was faint. "Andy's still here. Most likely he'll be within the garden."

""Garden"?" The Doctor quoted, but Adelaide ignored him for the moment. "Captain?"

"I'm trying to isolate his life signal, but it'll need a moment." She clicked another button and brought out a microphone. "Andrew Stone?" She called, and they could barely hear her own voice echoing past the Biodome door. "Andrew Stone, this is Captain Adelaide Brooke. Do you copy?" No response of any kind, except for silence, and Adelaide put the microphone away before looking at the Doctor. "What do you reckon, Doctor?"

The Doctor moved up to the door, peering through the large circular window at head height, but all he could see was darkness. "Unable to respond, so…let's just hope he's only unconscious. What about the airlock door?"

Adelaide went back to clacking at the computer for a moment before grumbling to herself. "Unable to determine the problem."

The Doctor looked at her with slightly raised eyebrows. "Might just be a glitch." He joked lightly, and she sniggered for a moment.

"Still, not taking any chances." She brought the microphone back out and initiated a connection. "Steffi?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"Slight change of plans. We're going into the Biodome to find Andy, and then we are out. As soon as we're out of the Biodome tunnel, isolate it from the base immediately. Understood?"

"Understood, Captain."

"Air pressure stable." Adelaide muttered as she prepped the door to open. "Flashlight, Doctor." She tossed him one whilst keeping the other in her grasp. "Still nothing?"

"Nothing."

Before either of them moved, the computer sounded a notification, and Adelaide looked to find Andy's life sign past the centre of the dome, somewhere within the garden. "Found Andy, but…" Adelaide was at a loss, as the life sign readings said absolutely nothing. "The computer is acting like it knows Andy but can't recognize him."

"Either way, we won't know unless we find him."

"Agreed." Adelaide muttered as she pressed one more button. "Opening Biodome door now."

The white door before them swung open and they stepped cautiously through. What struck the Doctor was how the dome was quiet, but not silent. For some reason, he could hear birds tweeting, crickets chirping, even a bee or two, yet he couldn't see anything until they reached the lit computer, and Adelaide quickly restored power to the lights. And just like that, the Doctor suddenly understood. Biodome. Garden. "You're growing veg." The Doctor muttered, earning a confused frown from Adelaide.

"Yes." She responded simply.

"The very first Human grown garden on Mars." He looked at her with impressed astonishment. "Out of everything you could grow, you are growing veg!"

Adelaide sniggered, finally realizing just how odd it sounded, but only shrugged. "It's that lot. Last year for Christmas, we only had dehydrated protein, but this year they wanted the real thing. Hence why there's a food garden in here."

"And birds, and bees, even insects!" He blurted, and Adelaide sniggered harder as she pocketed her flashlight.

"All part of the project." Was all she said as she walked away from the computer, motioning for him to follow. "Let's keep an eye out for him. Andy is the only other person in here."

"You're being a little calmer than you were before." The Doctor pointed out as he pocketed his own flashlight.

"Whatever happened in here between Andy and Maggie did not affect the Biodome as a whole. The garden is still fine, and the birds are all still alive. So some of the fears can be put to rest." She added as her communicator went off in her pocket, and she pulled it out, answering after checking the I.D. "Yuri, how is Maggie?"

"She's safe inside the Isolation Ward. We're running diagnostics on her at the moment, but from immediate view, she is alive and well…minus the bruise on her head."

"Good to hear." Adelaide affirmed. "When she wakes up, ask her how she ended up in the tunnel. And report back when the diagnostics are complete."

"Will do, Captain."

The Doctor and Adelaide arrived at a small fork in the garden path, but they weren't even close to the centre of the dome. "Is it just me or is Andy going to jump out at any moment?" The Doctor asked as they looked around, but could see no sign of large movement by a Human. The only movement to be seen were the birds hopping about, or the crickets…Cricketing? "In all of this, one thing doesn't seem very clear to me." The Doctor said, but when he didn't continue, Adelaide looked at him with squinting eyes.

"What isn't clear?"

"Was it all worth it?" He asked, turning to Adelaide as he leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree.

Adelaide's squinting disappeared to be replaced by a mildly puzzled frown. "What was?"

The Doctor just spread his arms out, motioning all around them. "All of it. When you devote your whole life to a single goal…you have to ask if it was all worth it."

Adelaide took a breath as her shoulders slouched a little, putting herself more at ease. "It's been chaos back home. And it's been that way for 40 long years. The ozone layer weakened, global warming and the changing climate, the oil apocalypse. A couple of times we lost sight of the Sun, considering all the smoke in the air, and it always stayed, no matter how much we tried to clean it out. We almost reached extinction, and then…it seemed to slow down, like a bleeding wound running out of blood. Space colonization projects were greenlit, and Mars was the first choice. And then before I realized it, I was in a rocket being flown through space to a new world. One were we could stand on it's surface and see the Sun as clearly as each other. In the end…" Adelaide paused before she looked up at the Doctor and smiled before nodding, "yes, it was most certainly worth it." There was a small moment of silence as they resumed their pace before Adelaide spoke up again. "Back in the tunnel, you said that Mia was only 27 years old, but you made it sound like something bad had happened to her. What exactly did you mean?" But before the Doctor could reply, Adelaide's communicator sounded off, and she pulled it out to answer immediately. "Yuri-"

"Captain, we have a situation!" Came Yuri's voice, which was suddenly full of shock and terror, but he spoke so fast that the words were almost impossible to decipher. "I-It's Maggie!"

"Yuri, what are you…" They heard Tarak's voice in the background before trailed off, only to speak again with a very different tone of voice. "What in the hell?"

"Yuri, calm down and explain exactly what is going on." Adelaide ordered.

"Maggie's condition has…I-I don't know, I don't know what it is. Its just water, water pouring out!"

"Yuri, calm down." Adelaide ordered again, and they heard Yuri taking a deep, shaky breath.

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

Adelaide and the Doctor shared a concerned, confused glance but before Adelaide could speak again…a footstep sounded around them. Then another, then another, but it wasn't at an accelerated pace. It was like someone was walking towards them, their tone strangely calm. And out of the shadows, a man stepped forth, whom Adelaide immediately recognized as Andy Stone, and yet…he looked like he had just been drowned in water, his dark hair, jacket and loose jeans were completely drenched. And just like the description of Maggie, the skin around his mouth was cracked, exuding water, and his eyes were ice blue, almost alight in the dark like the eyes of a cat, but with a very different intent. The Doctor quietly took the communicator from Adelaide, who gave it up without a word as she stared wide eyed at…"Andy", and he held the device up to his mouth. "Yuri, does Maggie have ice blue eyes?"

"No, Doctor. W…why do you ask?"

"We're looking at Andy right now." Was all he said as he passed the communicator back to Adelaide, the pair of them watching as Andy…just stared at them, his head tilted to one side, regarding them with a somewhat animalistic curiosity. "Can you talk?" The Doctor wondered aloud, but no response.

"Steffi, Mia, prepare to lock the Biodome off from the base at my command. We're on our way back. Roman, get Gadget back into Central Dome immediately." She said, shutting off the communicator before another word could be spoken, keeping one hand on her pistol holsted at her belt.

"No sudden movements." The Doctor warned lightly, and they quietly and slowly began to step away. Andy, for a moment, didn't move. Then, the water pouring from his mouth stopped and he tilted his head to his left, his eyes squinting dead at them. There was a sound like cracking rubber, and they looked down to see his hands clenching into fists, and they looked back up to see the squinting turn into trembling anger. "Run." Was all the Doctor said, and they broke into a sprint back for the door, hearing the squelching footsteps of Andy running behind them as they reached the door, swung it open and stepped inside. Adelaide stepped to the computer, inputted a key code and instantly a loud, echoing bolting sound came from the door. Then, just as silence fell, a jet of water like a powerful water hose blasted at the window in the door, but nothing happened. No drops of water seeped through, and after a moment, the blast stopped. They cautiously peered back through the window to see Andy lowering his arm, before he stepped up to the window, and stopped. His head tilted to the side again, his shoulders slouching a little as he seemed to return to his intrigued state, the only thing moving on him was the constantly flowing water from his arms, his legs and his mouth. "Out of all things to possess a Human being, why water?" The Doctor wondered aloud, unknowingly earning a stare from Adelaide. "But then again…" He started before pausing for a moment, "Human beings are 60% water, which would make them the perfect host."

"What for?" Adelaide asked as the Doctor heard her taking her communicator back out.

"I'm not sure." The Doctor muttered. "Why choose this exact…" The Doctor wondered aloud, his sentence trailing off-"I remember!" He blurted, making Adelaide jump, almost dropping the communicator in her hands.

"For the love of-"

"You chose the Gusev Crater for the iceberg underneath, right?" The Doctor asked.

Adelaide squinted at that before she reconnected her device and spoke into it. "Ed, are you in the Medical Dome?"

"Yes, Captain. And before you ask, I can definitely confirm that Maggie, or whatever she is, is locked in the Isolation Ward. She's not getting out."

"Good, and keep surveillance until I get back." Then, she pressed another button, linking the device to all the crew before speaking again. "Everyone, listen to me. Whatever is happening to them is because of the iceberg beneath this base. So I will only say this once: Do not drink the water. Don't even touch it, not one drop. Copy?"

"Copy." The unified voice of her remaining crew sounded before she pocketed the device again.

"We need to get back now." The Doctor said to Adelaide, watching as Andy seemed to brace his hands against the door, and the running rivers from his arms seeped over the window, blurring his form away.

"I agree." Adelaide responded, before she pressed a few more buttons. "Door locked at maximum. Opening tunnel door now." The door behind them swung open with a hiss, and Adelaide stepped away, motioning for the Doctor to follow. "Sealing and locking tunnel door now." Adelaide said, before stepping away as she quickly completed her task, just as they heard loud sparks blowing from the door on the other side. "Come on." She ordered, and the two of them raced up the tunnel as fast as they could, barely reaching the midway point before they heard a loud spark go off like a bomb, and the door behind them swung open, a gust of smoke emerging with Andy's silhouette standing in the doorway for a brief moment. Then, he took off in a run, his gaze fixed unwaveringly upon them as he sprinted down the tunnel. "Gadget, get in the airlock now!" Adelaide called to the robot shuffling through the doorway.

"Gadget gadget." The robot responded as it got inside and moved straight to the other door, waiting patiently as the Doctor and Adelaide scrambled through the doorway and sealed the door behind them.

"Sealing tunnel door at maximum." Adelaide reported before she opened the Central Dome door and they waited nervously as the robot shuffled through before they followed behind. "Steffi, lock the tunnel down now!" Steffi inputted a code and instantly a large charcoal black door slid shut over the tunnel entrance, it's noise a loud "SLAM" that rang in their ears, before even more of the doors within the tunnel slid shut, their noises echoing beyond the first seal until utter silence fell. The room was only filled by the uneven breathing of the Doctor and Adelaide, whilst Steffi, Mia and Roman watched apprehensively. Then, they straightened up and looked to the door. "Steffi, is it sealed?"

"Yes, Captain. Biodome is officially off limits, and the base is under lockdown."

"Good." She said before moving over, sniffing a little and wiping the sweat off her brow with the back of her hand. "Bring up the cameras in that tunnel." She ordered as the Doctor followed her to stand behind Steffi, just as she brought up the live feed of the tunnel cameras, one of which was focused on Andy Stone.

"What is he?" Mia wondered with a shaky, fearful voice.

"He is infected." Adelaide responded as she brought out her communicator and linked it to the Medical Dome. "Ed, Yuri, Tarak, as of this moment, the base is under lockdown and the Biodome is off limits. This includes Andy Stone, who is infected just like Maggie, so don't get close to them. And Ed, is the water supplies in the Medical Dome all closed?"

"Affirmative, Captain." Came the response as Adelaide looked to Mia.

"Mia, how about the rest in this base?"

"All closed down, Captain. Any bottled sources of water have been placed in storage."

"Good work." She commented as she looked back to the screen. They watched as Andy did…nothing. He just stood there, his arms hanging limply by his sides, water running out of his sleeves and dripping onto the floor by his soaking feet. Then, his head turned to look at the camera and…still nothing.

"What is he doing?" Roman asked.

"I'd say he looks like he's racking his brain, trying to remember what a "Camera" is." The Doctor answered, leaning over Steffi's seat. "Or he might just be waiting." He added.

"Waiting for what?" Adelaide asked, and the Doctor looked at her with a light shrug.

"Just waiting. After all, what is more patient than water?" The Doctor asked rhetorically as he got back from the chair, clicking his back with a groan. "But why get a closer look at him? We've got one in Isolation." The Doctor offered, to which Adelaide nodded lightly.

"Quite right." She agreed before looking back at the three crew members before her. "Keep close watch on Andy. If he does anything at all, report immediately." They nodded, and Adelaide motioned for the Doctor to follow her out of the dome.

Isolation Ward, Medical Dome

Walking straight inside to join the unnerved Yuri, the cautiously afraid Tarak and the ever-watchful Ed, Adelaide and the Doctor stood inside before the one of the isolation rooms in the ward, barred up by thick glass and steel, and a large door sealed at the room's entrance. Inside, sitting on the reclined bed and staring as if in a daze, was Maggie. Or at least…the water infected Maggie. Just like Yuri's description, there were cracks around the mouth as water dripped out, her sleeves, the bottom of her pants, her hair of thin dreads still wet, but not overtly so. And yet…unlike Andy, her eyes were…Human. They weren't ice blue, just brown, but...just for a second as Maggie's gaze fell upon the Captain and the Doctor, a tiny shade of ice blue appeared and then it disappeared. "Ed, is she still contained?"

"Confirmed, Captain." Ed responded.

"But the moment she heads for the door, we evacuate and seal this dome off completely, got that?"

"Yes, Captain." The crew in the room responded in unison.

"Has…" The Doctor trailed off, staring at Maggie as she…just did nothing. She sat there, looking between them all with a blinking frown, her movements, apart from the water, completely still. "Has she talked?" The Doctor asked, and nobody answered for a moment. He turned back to the crew, where Yuri just shook his head. "What happened?"

Yuri blinked a few times as he took a deep breath. "Well, she came to and sat up and just…she just held her head in her hands, like she had a migraine. Then she started to seize up and then…" Yuri just motioned silently to ever still Maggie, and everyone in the room looked back to her.

"Nothing? She said nothing at all? Not even on the way here, whilst she was unconscious?" Adelaide asked.

"Not a word." This time it was Tarak that answered, and Adelaide took one step closer to the glass, yet still keeping a considerable distance.

"Maggie? Can you hear me?" Adelaide tried, but nothing. She just sat there, blinking her eyes as if in a daze. "Do you know who I am, Maggie?" She tried again, keeping her voice soft but still, nothing happened. So, Adelaide hardened her voice into her natural commanding tone, but not raising the volume. "Margaret, I am your commanding officer, Captain Adelaide Brooke. Can you hear me? Can you tell me what happened?"

"Hoorghwall in schtochman ahn warrellinsh och fortabellan in hoorgwahn." The Doctor blurted out, and when he finished, he found himself clearing his throat for a moment as he looked back to the crew, his brow furrowing as they all stared at him as if he grew a second head. "What is it?"

"What language was that?" Adelaide asked, and he just shrugged as he turned back to Maggie.

"Ancient North…Martian." The Doctor ended his sentence in a murmur as he realised that Maggie, who had been sitting still for this whole time…was now looking at him. The crew realised it too, some of them, including Ed, uncrossed their arms and leaned a tiny bit forward, for now the only change on Maggie's face was the same curious look that Andy bore. But Maggie said or did nothing more, just staring at the Doctor with blinking eyes, almost as if she expected, or anticipated him to continue.

"She…no…" Ed trailed off as he studied Maggie's unchanging face. "It wasn't like she understood that, but more like…she recognized it, like she hadn't heard it-"

"For a very long time." The Doctor finished for him. "How old is that iceberg?"

"Thousands of years old." Ed reported.

"What's her diagnostic report, Tarak?" Adelaide asked, and the Doctor heard Tarak crossing over to a computer, followed by the clacking of a keyboard before Tarak began to speak.

"Right now Maggie should be experiencing hypothermia, not just because of the amount of water being generated but how it keeps her body temperature down. Pulse is low, her breathing is…well, it's…nonexistent."

"Come again?" The Doctor asked.

"Her lungs just…they aren't working. They filled with water, like all the rest of her vital organs. And her brain…well, her brain is…"

"Her brain is what?" The Doctor asked, and Tarak looked at him with a shrug.

"Her brain is calm."

The Doctor nodded, turning back to look at the ever still Maggie, just as he heard Ed say to the Captain, "Captain, a moment." Glancing out of the corner of his eye as Ed and Adelaide moved into an isolated corner of the room, they talked in somewhat hushed tones, but not quiet enough to escape the Doctor's ears. "It's an unknown infection, Captain, and it's spreading. That demands-"

"Action Procedure One, I know." Adelaide finished for him.

"But Captain, all of us have been drinking from the same source. And the infection, as it seems, originated within the ice field."

Adelaide looked at him with a nod. "Yes. We all could be infected, and we wouldn't know it." Adelaide scratched at her neck lightly with her fingers before she sighed and looked at him with a tired look. "Just when we came all this way, huh?"

"I know." Ed agreed with a light smirk, which Adelaide returned for a moment.

"Under regular circumstances, it would take three hours to load the rocket with what we need."

"We'll have to make do, Captain." Ed returned, and she cocked her eyebrow at him before slightly shaking her head.

"I'll put you in charge in the evacuation and preparing the rocket. I'll take the Doctor with me to the ice field. See if we can find out how this infection works."

Ed nodded as he clicked his neck and sighed. "Well then, here we go."

Adelaide nodded in return as she pulled her communicator out and linked it to the Central Dome, looking over at her uninfected crew within the same room. "This is Captain Adelaide Brooke. Due to the spread of an unknown infection, I am declaring Action One. Repeat to all crew members, I'm declaring Action Procedure One. Evacuate this base immediately." She put the communicator away as she looked at the remaining crew. "Any essentials in this dome, take with you on your way out. We are sealing this dome and the tunnel, and we are not coming back."

"What about-"

"There is nothing that can contain her or Andy on board the rocket." She said, immediately interrupting Yuri and Tarak's unified question. "Now get a move on." She ordered, and the pair of them including Ed sprang out of the room as the Doctor moved over to Adelaide. "Before you say it, yes, we will give you your spacesuit back, but first I need you with me to check-"

"The ice field." The Doctor finished, and Adelaide looked at him with an amused yet accusing glare. "No offense, but you weren't exactly quiet."

Adelaide relented with a sigh. "Point taken. Come on."

Ice Field Compartment

"What could be hidden in here?" Adelaide wondered as she and the Doctor stood by the safety railing that overlooked a giant slab of ice, with no edge or bottom in sight.

The Doctor shook his head. "Not "Hidden.""

"Imprisoned?" Adelaide asked with a frown.

The Doctor nodded. "This planet had it's own civilization, Adelaide. A fine and noble race called the "Ice Warriors", who built an empire out of the snow. What's to say they found something on this planet, deep within the water, and they froze it until they could destroy it?"

"Why didn't they, then?" Adelaide retorted, but the Doctor looked at her gravely. "What's that look for?"

"You are standing on top of a graveyard, Adelaide." The Doctor responded, and Adelaide found herself swallowing a knot in her throat at his grave tone. "Mars dried up, their empire fell into ruin and the bodies piled high. Those that survived either buried themselves away or fled to find a new home…or to fight a new war."

"A new war?"

""Ice Warriors" Adelaide. They weren't called that by coincidence." The Doctor then stepped away from the railing and towards a nearby set of computers, swiftly followed by Adelaide, as he tried to access the computer and-

"Access denied." A monotone female voice responded, and he groaned.

"Don't get ahead of yourself." Adelaide warned in a slight, teasing tone before she accessed the computers for him and they both set to work, looking for all the stored security camera footage, specifically that of the Biodome and it's adjacent tunnel.

When the Doctor looked over at Adelaide, he could see she was staring at the computer screen as she worked, but there was a small part of him that thought…she was staring straight through it, as if her mind was focused on something else. This thought started to nag at his attention more with each passing second before he blurted out, "What is it?"

"Why was Mia's age so important?" Adelaide asked, her tone emotionless and betraying nothing. The Doctor stopped working as she glanced at him and the expressionless face turned into a squinting frown. "You know more about me and my crew than you're letting on. Possibly more than that."

"What do you mean?" The Doctor asked, and Adelaide motioned to her computer screen. When he looked, he saw the skeletal figure of a man with two lights pinging within it's chest, like a heartbeat. "Adelaide, if you wanted to know what I was, you could have just asked."

"I assumed you were Human, but obviously, you're not." Adelaide put the scan details away before she looked at him, the same inquisitive, accusing frown on her face. "You didn't come here for sight seeing, did you?"

The Doctor briefly cast a look to her before he returned his gaze to the computer screen, and simply asked, "Do you believe in certainty, Adelaide?"

"Like fate?" Adelaide asked, and he shrugged lightly.

"Let's go with that. Do you believe?"

Adelaide shook her head. "I've never cared enough for destiny or fate, Doctor. We live in a universe too big for certainties, just coincidence."

"Then why are you here, Adelaide?" The Doctor retorted in a question, but Adelaide just growled lightly.

"I told you the truth already, Doctor."

"No, Adelaide, you have only told me part of the truth. I said that you devoted your entire life to this, so your life's pursuit didn't start with some oil apocalypse. Choices like this…they are inspired by something that happened when you were very young."

"A tragedy?"

"On the contrary, I think it was quite the opposite."

"What does this have to do with certainty, Doctor?"

"Not just certainty, but time also."

Adelaide frowned at him, her breathing slowing down until she was almost unable to hear each inhale and exhale. "What are you talking about, Doctor?"

"I'm talking about a fixed point in time, Adelaide. Everything around it is in flux, but just one moment, one decision must always happen."

"Which is what?"

The Doctor frowned, but it was soft, as if contemplating a distant memory. "I'm not sure. It-it-it's in there, somewhere, but…nothing. Nothing at all." He looked down with a sigh before he looked up at Adelaide, whose unbelievable frown had quickly turned into a blend of raptured confusion. "But whatever happens here had to start somewhere. Just one moment. When you decided on…all of this…" He motioned to the room about them for a moment before continuing, "how old were you?"

Adelaide's eyes widened but the confusion faded into a soft look of shock. "I…I was 10."

"And what happened?" For a few moments, Adelaide did not respond, her eyes almost glazed in a blur as she stared at the Doctor, but not focused on him. The Doctor blinked and when he shuffled one foot closer to Adelaide, the glazed blur over her eyes disappeared in an instant. "Adelaide, what happened?"

She blinked, looking over to the computer for a moment. Then, after a few moments of patient silence, she looked back to the Doctor. "I remember…waking up in my bed…and the room was shaking. Just as I thought an earthquake was happening…it just stopped. And then I noticed, that while the time said it was 8 in the morning, it was pitch black. At first, it was silent. Nothing happened, and I almost went back to sleep. And then…I heard screaming, out in the street. So, I got out of bed and I went to the window. I saw panic in the streets, people raiding shops and burning. And then, I looked up to the sky." Adelaide smiled softly as she glanced down for a moment, then her gaze went off to the side and, to the Doctor's brief concern, her eyes began to leak for just a moment. "I lost count of how many planets there were in the sky. 7? 8? 9? 10? I don't know. And then…something came to the window. It…was not Human, that I know. But nobody knew what they were, or what they were called. I just remember seeing this giant…tank…thing, with one blue eye as it hovered before my window. And it stared at me." She added in breathless enraptured awe. "It looked right into me. And then…" She paused and looked at the Doctor before simply shrugging and added, "it simply went away." She smiled, and for a brief moment, the smile grew into a warm grin. "I knew that night, I would follow it, out as far as I could go." But then the smile quickly grew sorrowful and her voice drew low, almost like a whisper. "I never saw my parents again that day. Or the day after that." She wiped at her eyes for a moment and gave a sniff before she looked back up to the Doctor. "All of this, Doctor, all that I have done, I did it for them."

"To make them proud?"

Adelaide shrugged. "At least, I hope I did." She shared a small smile with the Doctor for a moment before returning to the computer. "There's still nothing on here. No report, no journal entry log, nothing." Leaning against the computer with her hands, Adelaide contemplated a few ideas before she tried again. "Maybe it happened in the moment." As she clacked away at the keyboard, she spared a glance to the Doctor, whose expression was…unreadable. "What's on your mind, Doctor?"

But Adelaide did not get an answer to her question. Instead, a response finally came from the computers, and it was stock security footage from the Biodome. "This footage was today." Adelaide breathed out in a mutter as she pressed play. The camera was anchored up high in the Biodome wall, and on the screen, they could see a man working away in a garden, whilst the shadow of another figure came up to a stop a sizable distance behind him, holding something in their hand. Then, the figures features became clear, and a voice came through the speakers of the computer.

"Excuse me, boss."

"Maggie." Adelaide breathed out as the left hand of Maggie rested on her hip, her right holding her communication device up to her mouth.

"Computer log says we've got an extra person on site. How's that possible?"

"Keep the bio dome closed. And when using open coms, you call me "Captain"." Adelaide's voice replied.

"Is that what I-"

"Not now." The Doctor warned, and Adelaide quickly went silent.

"Yeah, but who is it?". A series of beeps emerged from the device, and Maggie regarded it for a moment with an incredulously frustrated expression, waving her arms up in the air before she pocketed the device. "Disconnected. She's cut me off. Can you believe her? It's like we're just gardeners."

"As long as they leave us alone, that's fine with me." Andy replied as his back turns to the camera, reaching and pulling at something before a couple of freshly grown carrots come into view, held up in the warm grasp of his right hand. "Oh, you little beauties." Andy half moaned in awe, earning an exasperated look from Maggie.

"Grow up, Andy." Maggie retorted as she pulled out a small device and started to scan some of the freshly planted vegetation. "Besides, we'll have to plant some more if there's an extra mouth to feed."

"We should've called this place "Eden"." Andy continued, ignoring Maggie's comments. "Very first garden off Earth." Just as Andy reached for a nearby water tap, a small alarm went off in the footage screen, but Andy and Maggie did not hear it. It was a small, blaring red danger icon that said, "CAUTION: REPLACE FILTER. CAUTION: REPLACE FILTER". "Everything brand new." Andy continued, running the carrots underneath the water before switching the tap off, turning the carrots around and pointing the end towards his mouth.

Then, the Doctor paused the footage, watching as Adelaide looked at it in soft despair, but he carried on nonetheless. "So that's where it all started. One filter breaking before anybody could have known."

Adelaide looked over with a frown, before the frown became a distant, deducing squint. "But that means the infection only came from that tap. The rest of us can't be infected. We can leave." Adelaide moved away from the computer in an instant, pulling her communicator out of her pocket and initiating a connection as the Doctor followed her to the exit of the dome. "We're clean, Ed. How're we doing?"

"Rocket's active, Captain."

"Good. We're on our way back. And make the progress fast."

"Yes, Captain."

---

"You were right, Doctor." Adelaide said as she shut the door to the dome behind them, her and the Doctor back into the tunnel, staring at the door to the centre of the base.

"About what?"

"Bikes!" Adelaide blurted, and the Doctor smiled. Then, as Adelaide wiped some sweat from her brow, she took a breath before she spoke again. "Once we're back, you can get your suit back and leave. Only problem is I'll have to disable the lockdown."

"And let Maggie and Andy loose." The Doctor continued for her. "But I'm not leaving just yet, Adelaide."

"Why?" She asked, coming to a stop, and so did he.

"Every moment you spend here leaves you and your crew in danger. I told you before, "What is more patient than water?" I should've said, "Water always prevails". It has survived on Mars, so why should a lockdown mean anything?" The Doctor thought for a moment with squinting eyes before he asked, "How many space suits do you have?"

Adelaide scoffed. "We have enough. But the problem is they are linked to the power of the base. We can't even leave the crater before their power shuts off."

"Leaving you to starve without air." The Doctor grumbled, knowing his TARDIS was too far away from the crater for them to make it.

"One other problem, Doctor. If my crew is to leave in our rocket, we need to deactivate the lockdown beforehand."

"Then let me find Maggie and Andy." The Doctor offered, and Adelaide relented with a nod of her head. "But I will need my suit back."

"Fine."

---

Re-entering the Central Dome, the Doctor and Adelaide found it in utter chaos. The entire crew rushing about the room, grabbing packs of protein, oxygen membranes, belongings, whilst Ed was clacking furiously away at one of the computers, it's screen showing a lit schematic of their rocket. "Ed, how's the rocket?" Adelaide asked as she walked over to the computer.

"Rocket has power, fuel jets cooling and active in 30 seconds." Ed reported.

"Then get to the rocket and get it ready to leave." She ordered, and Ed immediately got up from the seat and to join the revolving chaos that was the rest of the crew, quickly leaving the room with their gathered supplies, whilst the Doctor re-dressed himself into his spacesuit, minus his helmet.

Moving to one of the computers in the room, the Doctor quickly checked for Maggie's presence, and to find Andy. Checking through the cameras in the Biodome tunnel, the Doctor could see traces of water on the floor, almost like tracks that led off to the tunnel walls, but still, there was no sign of Andy Stone. When he checked for Maggie through the cameras, he found her opening the exit door to the Medical Dome, promptly stepping into the airlock. Lockdown means nothing to water. The Doctor muttered in his mind as he tried to check for any sign of Andy, but there was still nothing, even as Maggie moved into the Medical Dome tunnel, walking towards the wall and then, just like Andy, she disappeared. "Adelaide!" The Doctor called, and the Captain quickly came running over, breathless from her packing of additional supplies.

"What is it?"

"Maggie's disappeared too."

"Where did she go?"

"She walked into the Medical Dome tunnel, moved to the wall and then…nothing."

Adelaide thought for a moment before her eyes widened. "They're using the maintenance shafts to move around the lockdown." She realized, just as the Doctor brought up the security cameras in the docking compartment, linked with the active rocket.

One camera showed Ed climbing into the cockpit of the rocket, and the others showed either empty rooms or the crew loading their supplies into the cockpit before climbing out again. Switching the view through multiple cameras, they watched the crew running down the hallway before one of the live feeds showed something right into the middle of a hallway, close to the docking compartment's entrance. It was a large steel grate, an entrance guard to a maintenance shaft, dripping with water…and the shadows of the crew were getting closer to that room. The Doctor instantly hit the microphone, specifically connecting it to the compartment, and ordering, "Don't go to the entrance! Andy is already there!"

"We're coming to help! Keep back from him!" Adelaide called, and they turned from the computer to make for the respective entrance…only to stop as a single drop of water came down from the ceiling. After only a split second, one drop turned into two, then three, until a soft curtain of trickling water began to drip from the ceiling. "Doctor, how can water get through-"

"Water always prevails, Adelaide." The Doctor reminded as the soft curtain started to intensify, transforming into an onrushing shower that slowly but surely began to move to them,

As they turned around, they saw the same water shower had started near the Biodome airlock. Another shower started by the Medical Dome airlock, and when the Doctor turned to look at Adelaide, she was looking at him with a cold, determined gaze. "Get out of here."

The Doctor found himself at a loss for words, just staring at Adelaide as if she had grown two extra heads. "Adelaide, your crew is in danger. I am not leaving them." He responded, his voice whilst loud and clear to him, was somewhat muffled to Adelaide, but she understood him nonetheless.

"Doctor, you are the only one who can leave here uninfected. As much as your help has been appreciated, I am not going to let you die. I am giving you a chance to walk away."

"I am not leaving you to die, Adelaide."

"Then I am making it an order, Doctor. Get out of here." Before the Doctor could retort, another shower of water started in the middle of the room and it began to spread it three different directions, one of them moving towards "him and Adelaide, and they were forced to move away. The Doctor was clear to move to the exit airlock, but Adelaide was caught between the water and the communications alcove. "Doctor, get out! Now!" Adelaide ordered before she slammed the entrance shut.

"Adelaide!" The Doctor called, but it was fruitless as the water spread throughout the room, forcing him to put his helmet on and move into the airlock, closing the door shut behind him. Suddenly, after all the chaos and the noise inside the dome, the Doctor found the sudden transition jarring, or was it unnerving? Nevertheless, the Doctor moved to the outer door of the airlock, and raised his hand to the small terminal and pressed a button to activate a voice link to the currently occupied alcove. "Talk to me, Adelaide. Why are you doing this?"

A response of shaking breath came from the speaker, albeit slightly muffled for him, but when she spoke, he heard her fine enough. When he looked to the communication monitor, he could see her clearly. Her expression was that of…apologetic sadness. "When you leave, don't try to re-enter the base."

"Adelaide."

"The entire base will be under lockdown, the exit airlocks deadlock sealed. The rocket won't leave."

"Adelaide, talk to me!" Adelaide looked at him, her expression unchanging, as he said, "I'm trying to help, so why are you refusing it?"

Adelaide sighed. "You told me that nothing is more patient than water. Andy and Maggie could have taken over this base at any moment, but they didn't. But I think I've figured it out. They wanted to hijack the rocket, to leave this planet."

"And what brought you to that conclusion?"

"You said yourself. Mars is a graveyard. There's nothing here for this…lifeform to live. But on Earth…" Adelaide did not need to finish her sentence, for the Doctor already understood. "I don't need to be in the compartment to know what's happening to my crew. As soon as they see Andy, he turns them. No longer a tidal wave, but a flood. One that I will not allow to leave this base."

"You don't have to do this." The Doctor replied in a pleading tone. "There is another-"

"How far away is your ship from here?" Adelaide interrupted.

"…some minutes. 6. 5, maybe." The Doctor replied.

"I will give you 5 minutes to get to your ship and leave."

"Please, just listen to me, Adelaide. Don't do this."

Adelaide frowned. "I haven't even told you what I'm going to do." Then, after a moment, the frown faded away. "You already knew, before you even came here."

"No, I didn't." The Doctor fervently denied, but Adelaide shook her head.

"I think the reason why you came is because something happens here. Something you wanted to change." A moment of silence fell as Adelaide turned in her seat to look behind her, where the water was piling up in the room beyond. The alcove itself was fine and dry…for now. "I've figured out what happens here, but I want you to say it." Adelaide continued as she turned back to look at him. "What happens here that you wanted to change?"

The Doctor sighed, lowering his head, unable to speak as he tried to collect himself. But Adelaide said nothing, allowing him the moment as he swallowed a knot in his throat before looking back up. "There are five standard action procedures for Bowie Base One, all only allowed under your command. The first is Action One: Evacuation. But the final one, Action Five…" He paused to take a breath before continuing, "There is a MOAB bomb at the heart of the Central Dome. No one ever knows why, be it on Earth or otherwise, but on the 21st of November 2059, Captain Adelaide Brooke activate the device, taking all her crew members and the base with her."

Adelaide did or said nothing for a few moments, staring at the Doctor as the information sank into her mind. Then, her eyes widened, and her head looked away as she audibly gulped and gave out a shaky breath. Then, she looked back, regarding the Doctor with an expression of almost guilt-like despair. "I'm sorry, Doctor." The Doctor frowned softly for a moment before Adelaide continued. "If I acted faster, I could've saved everyone."

"Adelaide." The Doctor warned, but there was no threat in his voice.

"I can't save my crew or myself…but I can save someone." Adelaide then moved her hand out of reach, and the Doctor promptly heard a hissing sound in the airlock, the sound of the inner door locking and the outer door unlocking.

"Adelaide, I am not leaving this base without you."

"I'm sorry, Doctor, but you'll have to." Adelaide responded. "I'm making the countdown five minutes for you to escape. This is my final order. Doctor…get out."

With that, Adelaide cut the communication link and the screen turned into static for a moment before being replaced with a black, silent screen. The door before the Doctor hissed and swung open, but just as he was reluctantly stepping out, a monotone female voice spoke out of the airlock speakers. "Implementing Captain's protocol. Action Five device now active and primed. Action Five device now active and primed. Countdown has been set for T-minus 5 minutes."

The Doctor drowned out the computer counting down, and the short walk back to the TARDIS was silent. Too silent. The Doctor wasn't even sure what was worse. Listening to the crew screaming and crying in terror and pain, or absolute deafening silence. Quickly, the Doctor chose the latter. He had no idea if they were pleading for his help, for Adelaide's help, or if they were damning him. A large part of him wanted to turn back, to run back to the base and to help them survive. But he didn't. He kept on walking, each shamefully echoing footstep grinding into the rock and dust of the planet surface as he quickly came in sight of the TARDIS. He opened the doors, stepped inside and slipped his helmet off. Then, he just stood there, letting his helmet fall to the floor, and his brain went into overdrive. He crossed over to the TARDIS console, and then stopped. It should be easy, shouldn't it? Pilot the TARDIS into the base, rescue the crew and take them back to Earth. Simple, right? But as the Doctor reached for the materialization lever, he stopped yet again. After all, history says the entire crew died on Mars. Not a single survivor, and no one ever knows what happened. Time around him flew by as his fist clenched and unclenched, wanting desperately to grasp the lever, but he couldn't. His arm lowered and he sighed, one of his hands reaching for the destination keyboard, inputting a set of co-ordinates for the next destination. The Doctor then stopped and looked at the co-ordinates inputted. He let out a deep breath, realizing immediately what the destination was without saying a word. His other hand went blindly to the lever and just as he grasped it, the TARDIS suddenly rocked and rumbled, sending him stumbling away from the console to the floor. As the Doctor looked to the doors, he felt a cold chill of realization, for they were still open, and he could see outside, muffled by the TARDIS for the sake of his hearing, Bowie Base One had erupted into fire and chaos. He had spent too long wondering and standing still, and the countdown was over. The TARDIS around him rumbled and shook like an earthquake, sending him tumbling back to the floor as he tried to stand, watching as the chaotic explosion drew nearer and nearer. The Doctor gave a last-ditch effort to stand up, reaching for the lever and pulling it before flicking the console switch to remotely close the doors, but it was too late. The fire had already gotten inside, engulfing the console room in flames and striking straight at his vulnerable head, the force sending him to the floor. The chaos, the force of the explosion, the sudden paralyzing pain quickly became too much even as the TARDIS herself fought back against the fire, and the Doctor found himself slipping into unconsciousness.

---

A footstep echoed through the TARDIS. The Doctor, lying on the floor in a bloody, broken mess, tried to move. No, he couldn't, the pain was too strong, his body was too broken. No. His voice echoed in his mind. I'm not dead. Yet again, the man tried to move, even just a single inch, but he failed, letting out a tiny, whimpering groan as he did. His eyes flittered open just a tiny bit, able to see shapes swimming about in his vision. No, they're not moving. It's…my TARDIS. I just…can't see right now. The Doctor tried to blink, to clear away the haze in his eyes, but it didn't work. For a single second, he thought he could see a light, but it was gone quicker than it had appeared. Have my body given up? Is this life the last I will ever have? The Doctor tried to blink again, and this time, he succeeded…but only just. The vision cleared away just enough. He could see the inside of his TARDIS, but it was a wreck, a ruin. The flames had done their work, but his nose was too broken for him to smell any smoke. He could see, curling up against the ceiling, a writhing dark mass, too dense for him to look through, and when he blinked again, the writhing mass became clearer. Smoke. Is that how I shall go? Suffocating whilst I can't- His thoughts were cut off as the doors creaked open. The flickering light of a flame shone its way through his ship. Then it moved, and a footstep against the floor rang through the room. The Doctor groaned at the sound ringing in his vulnerable ears as the footsteps drew closer until he could see…someone. It was a woman, clothed in red, but her features were undeterminable to him. And then, she spoke.

"Here you are, at last."

That voice. I…I know her.

"We always knew in our bones that you would return, one day."

The voice…was certainly familiar to the Doctor. Both authoritative, stern and yet, it also calmed him. "I…" The Doctor tried to speak, but all that came out was a blood coughing groan, and he felt a hand on his shoulder, seeing the blurry mass of the woman kneeling beside him.

"You have so little breath left. Spend it wisely, Doctor."

"O…" The Doctor tried to speak as he saw the shadows of other forms entering the TARDIS, and the woman spoke again.

"Prepare the elixirs. His change will need our help." She ordered to the other forms behind her, their faces too cloaked in shadow, but hers, just for a moment became clear.

Black hair…that leads to…white? Blonde? Her eyes…blue. "O…Ohila?" She smiled, then, without another word, the Doctor's body went limp and his eyes flittered shut. He felt his body shifting and moving, being lifted up and then…nothing. The silence dragged on for minutes on end, his body screaming in protest at the pain, and then…it began to fade. Slowly, the speed never increasing, but the pain began to dull. The ringing in his mind grew quiet with each second, and he felt proper feeling returning to his body, the sharp needles of pain beginning to drift away. Then, the Doctor began to groan, his body feeling like it weighed half a dozen tons, before a soft hand on his shoulder caused him to grow still, and his eyes, weary and a tiny bit blurry, opened. This place, wherever he was, was dark, rocky and barren. But there were lights, the orange flames flickering in the darkness, but even with flame…this place was cold. Not ice cold, but cold, yet not unwelcoming. Even before the Doctor fully opened his eyes, he could already guess where he was. "Sorry." He apologized with a cough and a groan. "Didn't have a nice sleep last night." He quipped lightly, but no response came, at least for a few moments, and he took the silence to look down at himself, realizing that his spacesuit was removed, but the attire underneath was battered, but not completely ruined, the spacesuit having borne the full force of the explosion. "Surprised I haven't regenerated yet."

"You are regenerating." A woman responded as she took her hand away. "Whatever happened to you has taken its toll. You will regenerate, but it will not be a pleasant one. Judging by how quickly your…"State of Grace" started, then you have mere minutes before it is over and the pain of your injuries return. Actually…" The woman paused, squinting at him for a moment before continuing, "you have a little under 4 minutes."

""4 minutes"?" The Doctor repeated incredulously before his eyes widened in horror. "That's ages." He muttered as his eyes began to blink rapidly, and the pace of his words quickened. "What if I get bored, or need a television, couple of books? Anyone for chess? Bring me knitting."

"You have so little breath left. Spend it wisely." The woman advised.

"I…hang on." The Doctor stopped as he stared at her, his eyes squinting, his face frowning before the earlier thought completed itself in his mind. "Ohila? Is it you?" He muttered, and she smiled, but offered no other response. He placed a hand down beside him, just now realizing he was propped up against a rock wall, and he used it to slowly stand up. The woman, Ohila, offered a hand of assistance, but he waved it away. "Am I back on Karn?" He asked, standing up with a groan as his body ached, the bones in almost every part of him clicking from the toil. "Yes, that's where I am." The Doctor concluded as he spotted other red cloaked women in their surroundings, but they all stayed silent, and he smiled humorously, albeit it was more grim than humorous, and it did not reach his eyes. "You're the Sisterhood of Karn. Keepers of the flame of utter boredom."

"Eternal life." Ohila corrected.

"That's the one." The Doctor retorted sarcastically.

"Mock us if you will, Doctor, but your regeneration is inevitable. Our elixir, however, can make it…easy for you." The Doctor squinted at her, but she just softly raised her eyebrows in response. "Time Lord science is elevated here on Karn. The change doesn't have to be random. And you can choose it, only if you think carefully on it." As if on cue, another member of the Sisterhood, her hood covering her features, came walking up, her hands holding a chalice. The Doctor could tell immediately that their "Elixir" was in this chalice, if the overflowing steam was any indication. "Fat or thin?" She offered, but when the Doctor didn't respond, she tried again. "Young or old? Man or woman?"

The Doctor just squinted at her. Then, he began to pace back and forth in the cavern-like temple, his eyes fixed on Ohila, enraptured, intrigued but untrusting. "Why would you do this for me?"

"You have helped us in the past." Ohila answered, but he just frowned.

"You were never big on gratitude." The Doctor retorted.

"Gratitude is not our primary intention, Doctor." She retorted back. "The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords threatens all of reality. You are the only hope left."

"No." The Doctor denied as he tore his gaze away from Ohila, looking at anything but her stern eyes. "It's not my war. I will have no part of it."

"You can't ignore it forever."

"Yes, I can." The Doctor retorted.

"This is not the time for childishness." Ohila warned, and the Doctor halted his pacing to look at her.

"No. I will help where I can, I will not fight."

"Because you are a good man, as you call yourself?" Ohila retorted.

"I call myself "The Doctor"."

"It's the same thing in your mind."

"I'd like to think so." The Doctor replied with gritted teeth, and Ohila growled.

"You are wasting your time. There is no escape from the Time War. You are a part of this, Doctor, whether you like it or not."

"I would rather die."

"You are dying already. How many more will let join you?" When the Doctor didn't respond, Ohila gave out a breath and straightened herself back up. "Doctor, the universe needs your help, begging for it, just as we are now. Everything that is and ever will be stands on the brink. Will you let it fall?" The Doctor responded, but not with words. He looked up at her, glared, gritted his teeth, and then, he relented, his shoulders slouching for a moment before he turned his gaze to the steaming chalice. "Fast or strong? Wise or angry? What do you need now?"

The Doctor's response was simple, decisive and immediate. "Warrior." He spoke in a hushed whisper, but Ohila heard perfectly well.

""Warrior"?" She repeated.

He nodded as he gritted his teeth and let out a harsh breath. "I don't suppose there's a need for a doctor anymore. Make me a warrior now." Ohila nodded and silently motioned for her fellow Sister to bring the Chalice over, and the Doctor took it into his hands, too many emotions flickering across his face. Despair, shame, anger, and acceptance among others. When he looked up, Ohila was still here, along with a few more Sister's, and the Doctor clenched his jaw, his fingers trembling as he felt the cavern temple closing in around him. He needed to be alone for this. "All of you, get out. Get out!" He roared, and wordlessly, Ohila's expression unchanging, she bowed her head and moved to leave with her Sister's. Just before she stepped out of sight, the Doctor called, "Will it hurt?"

There was a small moment of silence, then Ohila drew in a breath and answered, "Yes."

Good. The Doctor straightened himself up, his hands threating to drop the chalice and spill the steaming Elixir onto the rocky ground at his feet, and he took in a deep breath. "Ian, Barbara, Jamie, Alastair, Sarah, Romana, Ace…friends and companions I've known, I salute you. Susan…I'm sorry for everything. And Adelaide…I know. I'm sorry I couldn't do more." As he took another deep breath, albeit a trembling one, he blinked and whispered, "Physician, heal thyself." He then raised the chalice to his lips and drank. As his shaking hands dropped the chalice, spilling the last few drops onto the ground, he saw his hands beginning to glow. The pain from much earlier, nulled in his state of grace, returned in force, his body doubling over as a chocking gasp of pain escaped his throat before his entire vision was drowned into the golden light, his entire body morphing and changing…and then he collapsed to the ground. Minutes later, he awoke. His mind, for the first time that day, was empty. The first thing to greet his vision was a concerned Ohila, gazing at him silently before nodding and smiling softly as he began to move. Without a word, he stood up and watched as one of the Sister's brought over a mirror. He was younger, much younger, but this form already felt weary. His new brown eyes seemed sad, like that of an old man, but without the wrinkles and the grey hair. The man quickly lost interest in his own reflection as he nodded and stepped away from the mirror, taking a deep breath as he spoke his first words. "Doctor no more."

---

AN: Okay, a few things to address. First up: How come it took longer than I expected? Well, since this chapter starred Paul McGann's 8th Doctor, and he unfortunately only has one TV movie and a short webisode in terms of "Canon", it required me to listen to some Big Finish to get a sense of who 8 is. And just to quickly address what I am considering "Canon" for this story, it's perfectly simple…or at least as simple as Doctor Who can be.

Classic Era Who

Paul McGann's TV movie

Modern Era

The Sarah Jane Adventures

Class

Torchwood

I'll quickly say in regard to Torchwood, I am only considering the first three seasons canon. "Why not Miracle Day?" Well the whole main premise of "Miracle Day" was about the world becoming immortal and Jack isn't. While it's a cool idea, I don't think it fits into this story considering both Jack and Clara were made immortal by Bad Wolf, and if Jack's immortality can be changed/questioned/meddled with, why not Clara's? That is not really a story point I am interested in, so to make it work, I've decided to cut "Miracle Day" from canon.

Anyway, the other thing I wanted to address is that Series 12 has come to an end. (Except for the festive special yet to be released). I'll try to avoid a lot of spoilers for those that haven't seen it. So, apparently as the only person that loved Series 11, I…kind of found Series 12 to be a step down. I mean it isn't my least favorite season, (I'm looking at you, Series 5, and we'll get to that one later), and there are episodes that I loved/really liked. Both parts of "Spyfall", "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror", "Fugitive of the Judoon", "The Haunting of Villa Diodati", "Ascension of the Cybermen". Those episodes I either really enjoyed or loved. A couple of the others I found to be…okay. "Praxeus" I thought was okay and "Can You Hear Me?" had an amazing villain performance by Ian Gelder. "The Timeless Children" I found to be half in half and then ended…well, it just ended. So *Shrugs* I found it to be a bit meh/mixed. And then there was "Orphan 55". Let's just say…I'm not sure what was worse. "Orphan 55 or Love and Monsters". *Cough* Excuse me.

Anyway, past all of that rambling, thank you so much for reading and leave a review if you wish. :)