Disclaimer: Doctor Who doesn't belong to me, nor does anything related to it.

A.N. Yes, I do know how terrible I am at updating. I'm afraid I haven't been particularly inspired recently. Anyway, I'm now going to make an attempt to finish this fic in the next few weeks.

Enjoy!

Chapter Two - Something in the Water

The Doctor made it back to the TARDIS without incident, though the almost predatory stares of several of the women he passed along the way left him feeling a little paranoid. Nevertheless, now that he had changed into his usual brown suit and converse he felt shielded and a little more ready to do battle against the particular mystery of this world.

There was, he had decided, something in the water. Water tasted of water wherever you were in the universe. Sure, every now and then there might be a subtle difference in the taste, but a difference that was so blindingly obvious to a Timelord's taste buds had to be some sort of chemical substance. Apparently water on this planet was not simply H₂O. It was H₂O plus a little something extra.

He had begun to scan the immediate area for some sort of water distribution network before donning his suit. He had just returned to the console room, seated himself and put his feet on the console to relax when the TARDIS let out a whistle to indicate the area had been scanned successfully. His feet landed back on the floor as he jumped up to stare at the monitor.

There were tiny pipes everywhere, like twigs on a tree leading back to branches, or, in this case, larger pipes and reservoirs. But, as the old adage stated, 'All roads lead to Rome,' it seemed that all pipes led back to one central place. The main distribution site.

He had time for a little investigating, he figured. Rose wasn't going to get herself arrested, kidnapped or somehow find herself in another equally dangerous situation that quickly, surely?

It was impossible to go to the distribution centre directly as the crow, or in this case, other undefined, brightly coloured, feathered flying mammal flew and from where the TARDIS had landed it was impossible to see exactly where the building was situated. So after traversing the market place in what the Doctor assumed was right direction he laid his sonic screwdriver in the palm of his hand, setting it so that it would detect any large power source. Turning slowly a full three hundred and sixty degrees he then turned in the direction that the screwdriver was pointing when it was humming and almost vibrating in his hand. With a muttered "Ahoy," he strode towards his destination.

When he was about half a kilometre from the main gated entrance to the distribution centre he decided that the direct approach may not be the best idea. Nor, he thought, after viewing the worker's entrance when he got a little closer, which also had guards posted at it, was the back door option. He was pondering which entrance would be more effective for his purposes and had just begun to lean towards the worker's entrance (hired help was always so much more willing to talk than a fancy representative) when the ground underneath his right foot changed from the smooth stone path to something else. He looked down.

Well, the Doctor mused, it wasn't exactly an open window but it was close enough.

The metal grating moved easily for his sonic screwdriver, which for once, did not require any sonic power. He slid through the hole in the ground and landed with a splash in the water that lay in the large pipe. "Oh, come on!" he moaned as he looked at his trousers that were now soaked up to his knees and he lifted a foot out of the water to stare at his converse which, sadly, were anything but waterproof.

"Oh, come on!" "Oh, come on!" "Oh, come on!" The Doctor's voice echoed down the piping and he listened to his words fade away. He made his way onto a ledge that was above the water level and walked in the direction the water was coming from. He hadn't gone far when he turned a corner into a larger pipe. At the other end a man was staring back at him, a look that could only be described as befuddled, gracing his face.

"Who in the name of the Spirits are you?" the man asked, obviously wondering where this strange man wearing a suit had come from.

The Doctor used the time it took to approach the worker to formulate a response. The worker was wearing a collar around his neck so he was obviously a slave. And where there was a slave, there was usually a slave master. Funny thing was, he noticed as he exited the pipe and found himself in a large circular chamber, there didn't seem to be any women about. Men worked methodically around him, monitoring computer terminals and machinery. Water pumped through pipes in the centre of the chamber coming from the ground beneath them. "I'm new!" He pulled out the psychic paper and gave the man a flash of it before pumping his hand vigorously. "I was working with maintenance- there was a blockage in one of the pipes. Water wasn't getting through." He gave the other man a bright grin, "It's all fixed now though! I was told to come down here and collect samples of the water to compare to what was up there," he gestured back at the pipe, "just to check it hadn't been contaminated or anything."

The man grabbed the psychic paper and gave it a second cursory glance, just to check that the Doctor's story checked out. Then he handed it back to him with a grin. "I'm Emmanus," he introduced himself. "So, what'd you do to get yourself donated?"

The Doctor hadn't the faintest idea what the man was talking about and was fumbling for a reply when Emmanus explained himself. "You're not too old, you're not too young and you're not deformed. So you have to have done something to anger your mistress enough for her to donate you here!"

The Doctor grinned and shrugged. He was older than Emmanus thought. "It's just a temporary arrangement. As for what I did... well, I'm not sure." His grin widened, "Maybe I talked too much! Now, what's all this for!" He took Emmanus by the elbow and led him to the computer terminal. On the screen was a diagram of a central circle with five separate pipes stemming from it. Beside each representation of the pipes there were letters that formed different chemical compounds and numbers. There were three different compounds added to the water in all the pipes, except for the fifth, smaller pipe. For it, there were four.

Beside him, Emmanus was explaining everything. "This is the central well. We extract water from the ground here- that's the circle in the centre. Those three canisters above us add chemicals here to purify the water. The four pipes here," he gestured at the four larger pipes on the diagram, "distribute the water to the north, south, east and west of this region. The one you came out of was from was from the west. As you know the pipes branch off further up to supply water to every household," he smiled, proud of his description.

The Doctor rummaged around in the pockets of his suit. A yoyo, a bag of gummy bears and a first edition copy of War and Peace were among the items he produced, much to Emmanus's amazement, before he found what he was looking for. "Ah ha!" he pulled out a small, unused, glass test tube. Bending down into the well below him, he swiped the test tube through the water and filled it before replacing the rubber stopper on it. "Beautiful!" he looked closely at it and put it safely in his breast pocket.

"Now," the Doctor once again focused on the computer terminal, "what about this pipe? Something extra's been added to the water in it."

Emmanus stared at him. "That water goes straight to the Lady President's household! The reservoir's through there," he pointed at a large locked door. "We aren't allowed to go in. None of us know what they add to it. Some people say that the whole family suffers from a disease and they add the medicine..." he trailed off. The Doctor obviously wasn't listening. In fact, he was heading towards the locked door. He had pulled out a strange glowing device and was running it across the keypad that admitted entrance to the forbidden chamber.

He didn't expect the keypad to give a sharp bleep. He certainly didn't expect the door to spring open for the odd man in the suit.

As the Doctor pulled the door further open, Emmanus shouted after him, "Wait! Don't- " but it was too late. The Doctor was gone with a wave over his shoulder.

The door slammed shut behind him.

The Doctor had to admit, the set up was ingeniously simple. Once the water that went to the public was separated from it, the final fourth chemical was added to the water that went to the President's home. The mysterious substance ran from a pipe that was presumably connected to a container on the floor above this one.

He pulled a second test tube from his pocket and caught the chemical coming from the pipe before it reached the water. He corked it with a blue stopper to distinguish it from the regular water, for which he had used an orange stopper. He gave the room a second admiring glance then hurriedly left. If this room was forbidden to regular workers at the water purification plant then someone would probably have noticed that he had managed to enter it. He could talk his way out of a confrontation if he needed to, but it was better to avoid trouble when he had the luxury.

With another wave at a dazed Emmanus, he took off up the pipe he had emerged from at a run.

He made it back to the TARDIS without incident. The marketplace was empty in the light that came from the three moons. He left the samples in the safe 'hands' of the TARDIS and as she analysed each substance and separated them into separate chemicals the Doctor decided it might be time to head back to the hotel and find out what trouble Rose had undoubtedly discovered.

A.N. That was incredibly difficult to write. I'm not particularly pleased with how this turned out so if you have any comments on how I can edit and improve it please let me know. Other than that, let me know what you think anyway!

I do intend to have the next chapter up within the next ten days or so. Hopefully less.

Sweetdeath04