𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙊𝙛 𝙏𝙞𝙢𝙚 ✧ 𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠 Ⅱ [✓]

The Waters Of Mars Pt. 3

"Steffi, what's your estimate on shuttle viability?" Adelaide asks.

"It's a nine-month flight. It'll take us at least three hours to load up everything we need."

"You've got twenty minutes. And give me a report on Andy and Tarak."

"Still in the Biodome tunnel. They're just standing there, like they're waiting."

"Keep an eye on them, and make that twenty minutes fifteen. Ed, line up the shuttle. Go straight to ignition status."

"Doing it now."

"But what about Maggie?"

"She stays behind. We've got no way to contain her on board. Close this place down. I want the power directed to the shuttle."

"Of course, the only problem is..." the Doctor starts but is cut off by Adelaide.

"Thank you, Doctor. Yours and {Y/N}'s spacesuits will be returned. And good luck to you both."

"The problem is, this thing is clever. It didn't infect the birds or the insects in the biodome, it chose the humans. You were chosen. And we told you, Adelaide, water can wait. Tarak changed straight away, but when Maggie was infected it stayed hidden inside her, no doubt so it could infiltrate the Central Dome. Which means..." {Y/N} trails off.

"Any one of us could already be infected. We've all been drinking the same water."

"And if you take that back to Earth, one drop. Just one drop" the Doctor shakes his head.

"But we're only presuming infection. If we can find out how this thing got through. When it got through. Yuri, continue with Action One. I'm going to inspect the ice field."

"Right. We should leave. Finally, we should leave. Yuri, me old mate, no point in us seeing the ice field. No point at all. No. Adelaide!" the Doctor and {Y/N} run to catch up with Adelaide "all I'm saying is, bikes. Little foldaway bikes. Don't weigh a thing."

*Time skip*

"They tell legends of Mars from long ago, of a fine and noble race who built an empire out of snow. The Ice Warriors" {Y/N} says.

"I haven't got time for stories" Adelaide says.

"Perhaps they found something down there. Used their might and their wisdom to freeze it" {Y/N} continues.

"{Y/N}, Doctor, we need to find any sort of change in the water process. We've got to date the infection."

"Access denied."

"You two don't look like cowards, but all you've wanted to do is leave. You know so much about us."

"Well, you're famous" the Doctor says.

"It's like you both know more."

"This moment, this precise moment in time, it's like. I mean, it's only a theory, what do we know, but I think certain moments in time are fixed. Tiny, precious moments. Everything else is in flux, anything can happen, but those certain moments, they have to stand. This base on Mars with you, Adelaide Brooke, this is one vital moment. What happens here must always happen" {Y/N} says.

"Which is what?"

"We don't know. We think something wonderful happens. Something that started fifty years ago, isn't that right?" {Y/N} asks.

"I've never told anyone that."

"You told your daughter. And maybe one day she tells the story to her daughter. The day the Earth was stolen and moved across the universe. And you" the Doctor says.

"I saw the Daleks. We looked up. The sky had changed. Everyone was running and screaming. And my father took hold of me. I never saw him again. Nor my mother. They were never found. But out on the streets, there was panic and burning. I went to the window, and there, in the sky, I saw it. And it saw me. It stared at me. It looked right into me. And then it simply went away. I knew, that night, I knew I would follow it."

"But not for revenge" the Doctor says.

"What would be the point of that?"

"That's what makes you remarkable. And that's how you create history."

"What do you mean?"

"Imagine it, Adelaide, if you began a journey that takes the human race all the way out to the stars. It begins with you, and then your granddaughter, you inspire her, so that in thirty years Susie Fontana Brooke is the pilot of the first lightspeed ship to Proxima Centauri. And then everywhere, with her children, and her children's children forging the way. To the Dragon Star, the Celestial Belt of the Winter Queen, the Map of the Watersnake Wormholes. One day a Brooke will even fall in love with a Tandonian prince, that's the start of a whole new species. But everything starts with you, Adelaide. From fifty years ago to right here, today. Imagine" {Y/N} says.

"Who are you? Why are you telling me this? {Y/N}, Doctor, why tell me?"

"As consolation" the maintenance log pops up on screen.

"Andy Stone. He logged on yesterday."

"Maintenance log, twenty-one twenty, November 2059. Number three water filter's bust. And guess what? The spares they sent don't fit. What a surprise. Over and out."

"A filter! One tiny little filter and then the Flood" the Doctor says.

"But that means the infection arrived today, and the water's only cycled out of the biodome after a week. The rest of us can't be infected. We can leave. Ed, we're clean. How are we doing?"

"Shuttle's active. Stage one. I haven't got time to convey the protein packs. If you want food you're going to have to carry it by hand. Start loading, right now" Ed says.

"You were right, Doctor."

"What about?"

"Bikes!"

*Time skip*

Adelaide gives the Doctor and {Y/N} their spacesuits.

"Now get to your ship. I'm saving my people, you save yourselves. I know what this moment is. It's the moment we escape. Now get out."

"Everyone, stay focused" Ed says.

"I'll swap them round. Roman, what about you?"

"Protein packs thirty to thirty-six."

"Hurry up, Roman" an alarm sounds.

"Ditch the central containers. We don't need them" Adelaide says.

"Units forty-one, forty-two and forty-three."

"Unit forty-one is here."

"Roman, try to condense the oxygen membranes. We can lose ten pounds. Faster, come on! Ed, how's the fuel jets?"

"Cooling down in about thirty seconds."

"Captain, we've got all the hard drives."

"What the hell's that noise? Mia, you lot, shut up."

"It's the module sensors. Exterior twelve. The cameras are down, but there's pressure on top of the module. Two signals right above us."

"That means they're on the roof?"

"How did they get inside the Dome?"

"They used the maintenance shafts."

"The shaft's open and they haven't got spacesuits."

"They breathe water."

"But they'd freeze."

"They've got that internal fission."

"But we're safe, they can't get through, can they? Can they?" the roof creaks.

"This place is airtight."

"Can it get through? Ed, can it get through?"

"I don't know! Water itself isn't motile, but it has some sort of persistence."

"Everyone, listen to me. That's ten feet of steel-combination up there. We need all the protein packs or we're going to starve. Now keep working. Roman, watch the ceiling. Ed, get to the shuttle. Fire it up."

"I can carry more than this lot, Captain" Ed says.

"That's an order!"

"Captain" the Doctor and {Y/N} continue to stand there, holding their spacesuits, and remembering how history recorded the end of Bowie Base One. Finally, they turn and leave.

---

~Bread 🍞