In And Through The Body [ Doctor Who | sequel to A Man With Sins ]

THREE

I'd given him an hour, an hour worth of time to figure out as much as he could about this strange infection that was breaking out all across the base. I wasn't sure how long had passed since the Doctor had left with Adelaide to go to the sickbay, but I could tell the minutes were ticking away quickly. We'd heard nothing over the communicators since they'd left. Steffi and Roman had been monitoring the rest of the base while I kept my eyes glued to the computer screen, watching through the security cameras that were placed in nearly every part of this place. Suddenly though, the silence that surrounded us all broke violently. "This is Captain Brooke! I am declaring Action One!" Fumbling for the communicator that Steffi had given me, I nearly dropped it as I continued to listen. "This is Action One with immediate effect! Evacuate the base!"

Shaking my head, I pushed down on the button that allowed me to speak to the two of them, wherever they were. "Doctor, Doctor what does that mean? We can't evacuate this place. If the infection is coming from the water, we can't risk taking it back to Earth!" There was no response. "Doctor!" Slamming my hand down against the top of the desk, I felt my hearts start to pound faster and faster in my chest.

Steffi however, was already jumping into action. " I'll store the central computer. Roman, on your feet." Instantly Roman shot up with a look of disbelief.

"But we've come all this way!" He protested, and it took everything in me not to jump over the desk and slap him across the face.

"It doesn't matter how far you've come. What matters is that there is something very wrong going on here, and your Captain has raised the white flag." Glaring at Roman, he swallowed thickly as he finally moved and started to help Steffi.

There was a growl that left my lips, the Doctor was supposed to answer me when I attempted to contact him, and I had gotten nothing. The only thing I could think of, was that something bad had happened. I hadn't heard from him once since he'd left. "Steffi," Adelaide's voice echoed over the communicator. "what's your estimate on shuttle viability?" Running back to the computer I'd been at, I tried to find Adelaide and the Doctor somewhere on the screen, but I was having no luck.

"It's a nine month flight. It'll take us at least three hours to load up everything we need." Steffi, though panicked, kept her voice steady as she spoke.

"You've got twenty minutes."

Baffled, I shook my head and brought the communicator up to my lips. "How do you expect your crew, which is dwindling in number if I might add, to load up everything you'd need for a nine month flight in twenty minutes? Are you insane! What the hell is going on!"

"I don't have time to explain anything to you, Miss Cara. What I need is an open line of communication to my crew, like I said, you have twenty minutes."

Looking over at Steffi and Roman who seemed to be just as shocked as I was at the time frame they'd been giving, they didn't waste a single second as the bounced back into action. "Where is the Doctor?" I nearly yelled, "Where is he?"

"I'm here, Cara. I'm here." Finally, his voice echoed through the speaker. "Where are Andy and Tarak? Can you see them anywhere?"

Letting out a sigh of relief at the sound of his voice, I looked back at the monitor. "They're still in the hallway of the biodome, they haven't moved. Where are you?"

"We're making our way through to you, I'm not sure how long it'll take us to get there. They really should've invested in bikes."

"Bikes, really?" Laughing lightly, I shook my head. "A major crisis and all you can think about is how they should've brought bikes to Mars? Oh Doctor," I chuckled. "I love you."

It was only a few moments after I had spoken to the Doctor that he and Adelaide came busting into the central dome to join the rest of us. Nearly skipping across the floor, I made my way to the Doctor's side, yanking him against my chest in a tight hug. Of course, he hugged me back, resting his chin on top of my head as I nuzzled my face in against his chest. "I'm alright," he whispered, stroking my hair. "There's no saving the base, but you and I already knew that. Now it's a matter of not letting a single drop of water from here reach the earth, or it could be total destruction." Pulling back slightly, I looked up at him and nodded my head.