Here we are - The Waters of Mars.

A couple notes for this episode:

Warnings for the content of this episode - there is suicide talk and it occurs off-screen, so if that triggers you maybe skip this one or be careful!

This episode came out in 2009 so the Perseverance Rover wasn't an idea, but I included it anyway, alongside a rover called Leonardo which comes from the Tardis Wiki. There's also some climate talk - for context I'm a geologist/Earth scientist so have opinions.

Third remember this is a bit skewed as it is from the Doctor's pov and I am not saying suicide is okay in any way shape or form, at the end all I mean is Adelaide has her reasons for what she does

Have a great holiday season, whatever you celebrate!

Next up will be The End of Time two-parter.

Enjoy!

Robyn

The group were all shifting in their seats waiting impatiently for the next video title to appear on screen. They all had a bad feeling settling in the pit of their stomachs that this video wasn't going to be pleasant so they were all nervous to see who would be involved in it.

"Waters of Mars." Bill read out as the title finally appeared, tilting her head to the side in consideration. "We went to Mars, Doctor, but I don't think there was any water involved." Victorian explorers? Yes, but water like this title suggested? Not really.

She turned to the Doctor after having not heard a reply after a second, only to find the Doctor, wide-eyed staring at the screen with what could only be called dread on her expression. "Doctor?" She asked cautiously, accidently bringing everyone else's attention to the horror-struck Doctor.

"No, no, no, no, no. Please, no. Anything but this. Please, I know I was wrong. They don't need to see it! Please! No, no, no, no, no!" The Doctor was muttering to herself frantically, looking up to the roof as if talking to the Tardis, but as ever, the Tardis remained silent.

"Doctor? What's wrong?" River asked her wife gently, sharing a concerned look with Jack. Neither of them knew what the title could be referring too which was worrying in itself if it was terrifying the Doctor this much.

The Doctor only kept muttering to herself and the ever-unresponsive Tardis, "Please, I can't watch this! Please, no. Anything but this. No, no, no, no, no."

"Doctor, come on Doc. Just tell us, I don't think you have a choice here. Surely, it's not that bad?" Jack winced as he registered what he'd said, Last time the Doctor had reacted like this to a video it had been about her getting tortured for 4.5 billion years, it definitely could be that bad.

River shot him a glare quickly, before reaching over to grab her wife's hand and squeeze it in an attempt to help ground her. "Whatever it's about, we're here for you Doctor. Always."

River's quiet but sincere words silenced the Doctor, her face finally turning down towards the rest of the group with a troubled expression. She scanned the room with dark eyes, lingering for a while on the Master who raised an eyebrow in question. The Doctor quickly moved on before letting out a small sigh, the group needed a waring at the very least. "This video is bad. And I don't say that lightly. I made several mistakes, some of the worse mistakes of my life and several people paid for it. I regret what happened and would do almost anything to change it, but I can't and I have to live with it. I'm just sorry you'll have to see it."

The group was silent, taking in that speech from the Doctor, as their concerns only rose. This was serious then and they weren't sure how to react just now, unsure what they were actually going to be shown that the Doctor considered so bad.

"Well, with that ominous opening statement, let's start." Jack spoke up, breaking the awkward silence with an attempt to lighten the darker atmosphere. He earned a few smiles, but everyone was far too worried about what was coming to relax. They had definitely been lulled into a false sense of security after that last video and they were now paying for it. They could only hope they were prepared to deal with what they were going to be shown this time.

In the central dome an image of a young woman with a baby on her lap appears on static. Emily, talking on a monitor, greets her mum and says the little girl, Susie, says hello. She tells her mum about what's going on, saying she'd been gone for two years and she'd getting used to her being gone

The Doctor winced upon seeing Emily on screen, Adelaide's daughter. She'd ruined their family and Adelaide herself because of her own selfishness and desire to win, she'd given in to her insanity, she'd become like the Master in her grief and loneliness and this poor family had paid for it. She'd changed Adelaide's' legacy for the worst and there wasn't anything she could do to change that, and she'd regret that for as long as she was alive.

The screen starts to break up, and Emily declares it must be the solar flares as her mother, Adelaide, tells her to talk faster. The transmission gets cut off shortly after

The group all shifted uncomfortable, even without the Doctor's reaction at the start they were getting a bad feeling from the start of the video already, the transmission cutting of the family seemed foreboding and it was not helping the terrible pit building in their stomachs.

The Tardis materialises and the Doctor steps out wearing a red spacesuit as he declares it the red planet (Mars)

"Mars." Bill nodded at the screen taking in the familiar planet, her own adventure on Mars had been ... interesting, but apparently you could call it pleasant compared to this.

Both River and Jack were looking thoughtful, they were both trying to think of any significant incidents on Mars that the Doctor could have been involved in and that this video could be showing. The title was pulling at their memories but neither had quite connected the dots yet.

In the central dome a man in a white spacesuit leaves an airlock carrying a device with a solar panel (Ed), he tells a collage Yuri, that the sun is setting soon, and they'll lose light. Another person, Mia says that's it, as Yuri (on a monitor) says they only have one more thing but Ed orders them inside as they're using power and oxygen. Outside the airlock, Yuri holds up the solar panel to get it on camera – 'no trespassers' is written on it

"What are they up to?" Rose asked, unable to stop her curiosity even with the bad feeling surrounding this video.

The Doctor shrugged; she didn't really know all the specifics (she tried to avoid thinking about it most times). "Experiments. The base was an international venture to research more about Mars." No one missed the use of past tense, whatever happened this video, that base apparently wasn't surviving, which didn't bode well for the people they were watching.

Ed scolds them for wasting an entire solar panel to make it as Yuri tells him it just a joke. Ed isn't having it as he says they came all this way only to do cheap jokes, and it isn't funny but pollution

"No that's human nature." Mickey commented, "They'd have to get bored being up there with only a few other people, jokes are healthy."

ADELAIDE tells them all to get back to work after saying she expected better of Ed

"She's the boss then." Martha grinned, glad to see that a woman was in charge of this base seemingly. From the little they'd seen so far Adelaide didn't seem like she took any nonsense from her teammates.

The Doctor looks over a crater rim and down onto the base which is made of five outlying domes connected to a central one by walkways, he calls it beautiful

Several people shook their heads fondly at the Doctor's excitement over seeing the base on Mars, they were very easily entertained by science sometimes.

Something hits him in the back – he is told to rotate slowly and when he does, he finds a little robot (Gadget) which tells him he is under arrest for trespassing

"You've been arrested by a robot!" Donna laughed at the Doctor who just gave her a thin smile. She was far too focussed and worried about what was going to be shown to really enjoy anything, but she'd had years of practise pretending to be okay.

In the central dome, Adelaide points a gun at the Doctor who is now out of his spacesuit

"They really don't want any trespassers." Amy whistled lowly upon seeing the gun pointed at the Doctor.

"How many people can they be expecting, I mean they're on Mars!" Rory asked confused.

"Well, they have guns, so they clearly expected something." Amy countered.

No one noticed the dark expression on the Doctor's face.

Adelaide tells him to sate his name, rank and intention. The Doctor answers with the Doctor twice and fun for the last one

Everyone snorted at that, turning to face the Doctor who quickly schooled her face (while her intent had been fun, this whole mess had turned out to be anything but).

"I wouldn't describe your rank as Doctor." Martha smiled.

"Troublemaker, maybe." Rose added, sharing a smile with Martha.

The Doctor spluttered, "I don't make trouble!"

"Yes, you do Spaceman. "But maybe trouble-finder is a better description." Donna spoke up.

"I mean anytime there's trouble you do find it, Doctor." Clara added her own thoughts, the women all shared a grin.

The Doctor groaned, "You're all teaming up against me. This isn't fair!" The small smile on her face was real, even if a bit wobbly as she reminded herself that they would likely all be against her after they saw what she'd done later in the video, and this time it wouldn't be for a bit of fun or a joke.

Another man runs in – Tarak, shocked to see a man on Mars, asking how

"The Tardis." Ryan grinned. The group couldn't deny they enjoyed the space station staff's confusion a little, it felt nice to have the answers for once, even for something simple like this.

Steffi says they've never seen anything like what the Doctor was wearing. Tarak asks what mission control said but they're out of range for ten hours with the solar flares

The horrible feeling of something being wrong swiftly took over the group again. "No communications, great. I'm sure that's not going to come back to bite them later." Jack frowned with a glance at the Doctor whose expression was deceptively blank. That didn't sound good by anybody's standards.

Adelaide tells them to cut to the chase and the Doctor cuts in to talk mostly nonsense about the gun at his head and chatting, he asks her to put the gun down

"You love to ramble." Donna rolled her eyes at the Doctor who didn't even bother to protest, knowing it would do no good and that she really couldn't fake that much energy right now.

Adelaide says he'd like that

"I think most people with a gun being pointed at their heads would like the gun to not be pointed at their heads." Bill remarked.

The Doctor counters if she could find someone who wouldn't

Bill grinned at the Doctor who matched her thoughts, only to frown when the Doctor didn't even look her way; eye slocked on the screen with a schooled expression. Whatever this episode was going to show them was bad, the only time the Doctor had been like this in the room was with the Timeless Child mess and the Confession Dial, and neither of those had been pleasant. Things were going to get rough this video.

Adelaide asks why they should trust him and the Doctor gives his word, which this far from home is all they've got

"What are they expecting? A reference list or something?" Yaz asked, sarcastically.

"To be fair, how would you react to some stranger showing up at unexpectedly at your base on a supposedly uninhabited planet?" Graham offered a defence for Adelaide.

Yaz paused for a moment to consider that before sighing, "Okay, I get your point. I'd be hella suspicious. Still, I don't exactly know what she wants from him here."

"I don't think even she knows." Ryan shrugged; Adelaide was probably just trying to protect her team from the seemingly impossible stranger.

Adelaide tells Gadget to keep watching him, the Doctor comments on how Roman controls it with a glove

"That's awesome." Ryan remarked with a grin, his mind racing through to try and work out the mechanics of the thing. It was great to get a glimpse of what they could do in the future and how technology continued to evolve.

The Doctor comments that it is a bit flimsy and if it has to keep saying its name, Roman calls it funny but the Doctor hates funny robots

"Bad experience?" Clara raised an eyebrow; this Doctor was before her one(s) so none of her own experiences could be attributed to his dislike of robots here.

The Doctor just grimaced, she'd encountered a lot of robots over her travels, some friendly and some less than friendly. Give her a few minutes and she could have given a whole lecture on why she hated funny robots, but this wasn't really the time for that (as much as she'd like to delay the inevitable), instead she answered, "Don't ask."

Maggie (in the biodome) asks about the extra person based on the computer log, asking how it is possible. Adelaide tells her to keep the biodome closed and call her Captain on open comms (not boss)

"She's out of the loop." Mickey remarked, feeling a bit sorry for the young woman who just wanted info on what was going on.

No one noticed the Doctor's frown as she watched Maggie, Maggie who'd died at only 31, who's she'd been unable to do anything to save.

Maggie gets cut off, asking her friend if he can believe it. Andy doesn't care as long as they leave them alone

The Doctor watched the screen carefully, she'd never seen Andy before he'd been overtaken and from her memories this couldn't be more than a few minutes before the infection took over. At the very least, the video gave her the opportunity to see what had happened at the times/places she hadn't been there, not that was worth watching the horrors of this video.

Andy holds up a couple of carrots, as Maggie tells him they better plant more if there's an extra mouth to feed. Andy comments on it being the first garden off Earth and how they should have called it Eden

"First garden off Earth?" Rose asked, "I would have thought we'd try to colonise the moon first."

The Doctor shrugged, "There was several attempts to colonise the Moon before this mission to Mars. Some more successful than others but things always ... got in the way." She glanced at Clara, both thinking about the fact that the moon had turned out to be a giant egg and had hatched in 2049, not even a decade before this mission.

He washes and takes a bit of the carrot as Maggie talks about the visitor having to be from the Philippines based on the stories of them building a rocket and Adelaide won't like them stealing her thunder. Behind her Andy starts jerking

"What's happening?" Someone muttered. No one answered, everyone just watching in confusion and horror as Andy seemed to change with Maggie still talking oblivious to the danger she was in.

Maggie keeps talking, oblivious, until she turns to him asking if he's okay. Andy turns around revealing white eyes and the skin around his mouth has big cracks in it as water dribbles out, Maggie screams

"Oh god." Martha muttered as the group all watched the screen in horror, apparently the action was starting immediately. They didn't know if that was a good thing or not. The Doctor grimaced darkly at the screen, the faces of those infected by the Flood would likely always haunt her, no one on that station had survived outside of herself.

"What is that? What's wrong with him?!" Donna turned on the Doctor, demanding answers.

"You just have to watch." The Doctor answered, not giving anything away. This was hard enough without having to explain it all now, they'd just have to watch it unfold on screen. No one liked that but they didn't argue upon seeing the deep tiredness on the Doctor's face, this wasn't something she was going to change her mind on.

Back in the central dome, Ed comments that the Doctor has to be independent as they'd know otherwise, he asks if it was the Branson Inheritance lot who've been trying to get to Mars for years. The Doctor goes along with the story introducing himself as the Doctor and asking who they are

"That'll confuse them." River smiled although it was weakened with her worry over what was going to happen this video. Something was pulling at her memory, telling her she needed to put the pieces together, but she hadn't quite managed it yet. "Most people don't turn up at a remote space station and have no clue who the people are."

"Most people aren't me." The Doctor joked, in an attempt to calm the group who were getting tenser by the second, they still had a while to go before her mistakes were shown after all.

"No, no they aren't." River answered fondly.

Adelaide is surprised he doesn't know who they are as they're the first off-world colonists in history and everyone on Earth knows who they are

"I'm pretty sure that's not true actually. The Moon was definitely inhabited first, though those missions didn't always last very long." The Doctor scrunched up her eyebrows in thought, "She probably just means Mars."

The Doctor asks if they're the first humans on Mars realising he is in Bowie Base One, founded July 1st 2058, and asks how long they've been there

River and Jack's heads snapped to face each other, both connecting the dots finally as the feeling of dread only intensified tenfold. They knew exactly why they'd gotten a bad feeling from this video, while they didn't know the details of the fate of Bowie Base One, they knew it had ended very badly, and to know the Doctor was involved somehow? Things were going to be even worse than they'd expected.

Oblivious to the two time-traveller's panicking, the rest of the group was watching intrigued and interested by the new information. "2058? That's only 38 years in the future, that's so close." Ryan spoke up wide eyed.

"There's a couple of rovers up there now, right?" Yaz turned to Graham and Ryan for confirmation.

"Yeah, Perseverance, I think is one. Isn't it studying the rocks and looking for possible water or something? And another one, Leonardo I think is up there too." Graham contributed, travelling with the Doctor had certainly left them all with a new appreciation for science and they'd all kept an eye out on developments in the Space field.

"Yes!" Yaz nodded, continuing on. "It's weird to think we go from that to an actual colonisation mission in less than 40 years. It seems so quick." The rest of the group seemed to share the same kind of awe from that, distracting them temporarily from the horror of what had happened to Andy, and Maggie's uncertain fate.

The Doctor remembers an article about it as Adelaide says it's been seventeen months

"Long time to be stuck with a small group of people on Mars." Rory muttered.

The Doctor realises it is 2059 and knows all their names and ranks, including Captain Adelaide Brooke, Junior Technician Roman Groom, and geologist Mia Bennett who is only 27 years old

"Fanboy much?" Nardole snickered with Bill joining in. Normally the Doctor would have rolled her eyes or made a comment at least but she was far too distracted with her thoughts on their terrible fates, which they were about to all witness (her for the second time).

He also remembers (but doesn't say) they all died in 2059

The mood in the room instantly plummeted as the Doctor introduced the group, his memories flashing back to their obituary's all saying they died in 2059. Whatever they were watching was going to apparently end in the deaths of all these people, and the Doctor was very likely going to be there for it all. A few couldn't help but think about is the mistake the Doctor mentioned had contributed to the deaths of the crew.

Adelaide says everyone knows their names, and the Doctor says they'll never forget them, asking the exact date – November 21st 2059, the date the Bowie Base is destroyed from a nuclear blast crater

"That's not good." Jack was serious in the way he inly was in severe situations, turning to five the Doctor a stern look, "You need to leave."

The Doctor grimaced, "You know it's too late for that."

"That's what I hate about this situation." Jack answered back. He knew all too well about dealing with delicate events like this, and he had a funny feeling the destruction of this base was a fixed event; he many not remember all his time with the Time Agency but he knew better than to mess with those kinds of events.

The Doctor says okay as Steffi asks if something is wrong and Mia asks why her age is important

"God, she's 27." Donna muttered, the fact hitting her (and many of the others) that those people were all going to die today, and most of them had barely started to live their lives.

The Doctor says he should go and he's sorry with all his hearts, but this is one of the rare times he has no choice. He declares it an honour to meet them all, shaking their hands and patting Gadget

The group all blinked, instantly off kilter. They'd never seen the Doctor just give up and retreat like that even in bad situations and it shocked them all even if they knew that's what the Doctor should do in this situation. Something must have also gone very wrong with his plans to leave otherwise they wouldn't be watching this.

He salutes Adelaide as he says thank you

"You're just going to leave knowing their all going to die?" Amy asked tone serious as she stared down the Doctor.

"It's a fixed point, Amelia." The Doctor grimaced. Amy's face softened at that comment, sharing a glance with Rory and River, they all knew what fixed points were like and how they shouldn't be messed with, but still ... it felt wrong to just leave like that.

The Doctor sighed, this event, this mess and her own stupid selfish decisions were part of the reason she'd been so firm on not avoiding fixed points. It had been a key part in her resonating for just giving in and dyeing as she was supposed to at Lake Silencio, but at the end of the day she hadn't. It had been the second time she'd messed with a fixed point in time, only that time it had gone far better than this time.

He then pauses asking about the other two who aren't there. Ed calls Maggie saying if she wants to see the only new human, she'll see in the next five years then to come look now. They only get a roar over the speaker

"And that's where you get distracted and don't get out when you should." Bill grimaced giving the Doctor a knowing look, they were predictable (sometimes) at least.

"Creepy noises, why do we always go towards the creepy noises?" Nardole shook his head, resigned despite his fear.

"Tell me about it." Rory sighed, giving Nardole a sympathetic look.

Mia asks what it was as the Doctor says he really should go

"You should." River gave the Doctor a look. The Doctor in turn put up her hands in surrender, pointing at the screen to remind River that this was in the past and she could do nothing about it now.

Ed asks the biodome to report immediately but the internal cameras are down. Adelaide demands the exterior ones which show the lights going out in the biodome. Adelaide says she's going over and the Doctor is going with her. The Doctor says he's sorry and would love to help but he's leaving now. Adelaide orders her crew to lock up his spacesuit as this started the moment, he arrived so he isn't going anywhere except with her

"Oh, and now you're a prisoner, because things can't get much worse." Martha sighed, rubbing her forehead.

"At least it's not entirely the Doctor's fault for once." Mickey offered with a shrug, the Doctor perked up at that pointing to Mickey and nodding. She'd tried her best to leave for once, but she'd been prevented which wasn't her fault – so River stop giving her that look!

As they move through a tunnel, Adelaide asks what is so important about Mia's age and why it matters

"That's going to be a fun one to talk your way out of." Yaz grimaced. It wasn't like the Doctor could tell the truth; she didn't think 'oh I'm focused on her age because you're all going to die today!' would go down well.

DOCTOR: Oh, I just open my mouth and words come out. They don't make much sense.

"You finally admit it." Rose grinned.

Tarak agrees with him which the Doctor thanks him for

"Oh, you're making friends!" Clara mocked good naturedly, although it left a bad taste in her mouth as she remembered they were all going to die within the day.

Gadget, who is with them, relays the scene back to the central dome as the Doctor repeats how he hates robots

"Don't let poor K9 hear you say that!" River smirked at her wife, trying to get the Doctor's attention as she'd been focused on the screen with a scary intensity and blank expression. It was concerning to say the least, especially knowing where she was. The Doctor didn't even give a sign she'd heard River.

Roman asks what's wrong with robots, and the Doctor says it is the people not the robots that are the problem – dressing them up and giving them silly voices, reducing them. Roman agrees saying a friend made her domestic robot look like a dog and the Doctor declares dogs are different

"Of course, it is." Rose shook her head fondly, aware of how attached the Doctor was to K9. She (alongside most of the group) could understand the Doctor's apprehension about robots, all having had a bad experience with them at some point; the Clockwork droids, Handbots and Vardy being a few examples (not to mention the Daleks and Cybermen, if they could simply be considered 'robots').

Roman explains about Gadget being adapted from a worker drone, as Adelaide tells them the channel is for essential communications only and Roman apologies, he just loves drones

"Yeah, we were getting that much, mate." Graham said.

The Doctor says he's read all about Adelaide but asks the one thing the articles never say, is the mission worth it? Adelaide declares they've had good results from the soil analysis but the Doctor pushes saying she sacrificed everything to get there, devoted her whole life to it

"You might want to be a bit more careful with your wording Doctor, you're already on thin ice." Jack raised an eyebrow at the Doctor. At this rate Adelaide was going to figure out something was wrong or ask how he had so much knowledge of things he shouldn't (especially as he hadn't originally known where he was or who they were). The Doctor gave a vague shrug, but her eyes never left the screen.

Adelaide explains it is chaotic on Earth with the climate, ozone, oil apocalypse and they almost reached extinction. Saying getting to fly above it all, stand on a world with no smoke, it is worth it

"Oil apocalypse?" Rory questioned, feeling nervous at the not so positive mention of the close future (or rather close from before he and Amy got sent back in time).

"Don't worry about it." The Doctor tore her eyes away from the screen to give Rory a small reassuring smile (which only wobbled a little).

"I feel like that's something we should be worrying about." Bill interjected, several people nodding along.

The Doctor's smile fell a little, glancing at the screen briefly, before almost visibly deciding this was something the group wanted addressed now. "I'm not saying climate change isn't something to be worried about obviously, I just mean there's nothing you can do in this room right now so don't dwell on it. The human race isn't always the best in terms of dealing with this crisis, but people are and do make a difference, people are speaking up and things are manageable if we actually listen to the scientists and work together to help." She glanced across the room, taking in all the listening faces (and ignoring the Master's roll of his eyes, she didn't want to deal with him any earlier this video than she had to). "And if that fails to comfort you; just remember the planet will be okay. It has survived periods of far more intense climate shifts and will always recover eventually. The human race (and other species) less so, but the planet will be fine, just not maybe humans."

"I ... That's ... You know I can't actually tell if that's comforting or not." Yaz decided.

The Doctor says that's the Adelaide Brooke he wanted to meet, Adelaide spots something and they run to the figure lying on the floor finding it is Maggie. The Doctor says not to touch her, Tarak tries to talk to her and declares she is breathing and alive, and he needs a med pack

The people on screen reaching Maggie brought the group back to an awareness of the actual danger in the video which they had briefly been distracted from. The group let out a breath upon hearing she was alive, they still had no idea what had actually happened to Adam to make him suddenly change like that but at least Maggie was alive, a dark part of their thoughts added 'for the moment', after all the entire station was supposed to be destroyed today.

Yuri says the med pack is on its way, in the central dome Ed wants to help but Steffi reminds him in the absence of the Captain (Adelaide) he is in charge and he needs to stay in the Dome, its too late as he is already gone

"They're getting separated, and we don't know where Andy went." Clara announced with worry in her eyes. The feeling of dread had started creeping around again.

Ed and Yuri arrive with a stretcher and the Doctor tells them to use gloves and not touch her, Tarak backs him, telling them to put her in isolation. Adelaide declares they are going to the Biodome and Tarak should come with her as the others leave and Gadget keeps an eye on the area. Ed argues against the order to go back as if Andy has gone wild, they will need him, Adelaide orders him back giving him an official warning for deserting his post

"She's serious about her job." Donna said.

"She likely needs to be in this sort of field. And he did abandon post, that can be dangerous in emergency situations like this." The Doctor shrugged, she felt an all-new understanding and sympathy for Adelaide, having noticed that a lot of people (namely humans) treat her less serious now because of her perceived gender. To get to where she was, and be in charge of the base and mission, Adelaide would have had to not only be the best but likely work that much harder just to prove it.

Steffi has run the sound they heard from the Biodome through diagnostics and it's Andy

"What the hell has happened to the guy?" Amy asked, she was already on edge because of the Doctor's reactions to and behaviour throughout the video so far, the lack of answers and clear danger really wasn't helping calm down. No one had any answers for her, and the one person that did refused to say anything.

They enter the Biodome and call out for Andy, asking where he is. The Doctor sonics the computer and the lights go back on; Adelaide asks what the device is and the Doctor declares it a screwdriver

"I'm not sure she'd going to take that as an answer." Martha raised an eyebrow at the Doctor who didn't even glance her way.

Mickey shrugged, distracting Martha from the Doctor's lack of answer/expression; "I don't know. She's in a stressful and mysterious situation she might just go with it. Plus, the Doctor's already proven to be a weird one."

Adelaide asks if he is a janitor or Doctor, and the Doctor says it sounds like him – the maintenance man of the universe

"Another title to add to your long list." Jack joked, nudging the Doctor slightly. The Doctor only grimaced, thinking of a different title she had tried to claim during this video.

Adelaide orders the Doctor to stay with her and not leave her sight as she tells Tarak to check on the external door. The Doctor congratulates them on growing the first flower on Mars in ten thousand years

"Ten thousand years? Are you saying there were flowers on Mars ten thousand years ago?" Bill asked, curiosity winning out over everything else.

"Oh yes, very nice place back then. Snow-capped green hills, lovely canals and greenery. Shame it all fell apart." The Doctor answered almost absentmindedly, unable to hide a grimace as she mentioned the canals, water had been the whole reason this mess occurred after all.

Adelaide shares the group is already planning Christmas dinner an they'll have real vegetables for the first time

Everyone was thinking the same thing even if no one actually voiced it; no one on that base was going to live to see Christmas.

The Doctor is distracted by the fact they have birds, and Adelaide says its part of a project to keep the insect population down. The Doctor calls them a good sign

"Why are the birds a good sign?" Ryan blinked not understanding what the Doctor was talking about.

"Well, they're still alive, aren't they?" It was Nardole that actually answered, the Doctor far too focused on the screen again. "The thing wasn't just trying to kill everything."

"If it wasn't trying to kill everything, what does it want?" Rose declared quietly, the tension in the atmosphere rising again.

Adelaide asks how and the Doctor says they're still alive, Yuri calls on the comms with good news

"Good news would be nice for a change." Rory sighed, that was different from how things normally went.

Amy snorted darkly, "Don't worry, I'm sure it won't last long."

Maggie is awake and back with them, she asks Maggie what happened but Maggie can't remember saying she was working then woke up there. Adelaide asks about Andy but Maggie still remembers nothing and Adelaide orders her to let them know if she remembers anything. Ed asks Yuri to ask Maggie is she knows how she ended up in the tunnel

The group all let out a breath at seeing Maggie up and seemingly okay, even if they could feel apprehension and dread sinking further into the pit of their stomachs – something was wrong.

"That's a good point. They were in the dome when Andy attacked her. Did he drag her out there?" Martha theorised; face scrunched up in thought.

"Why though? Why attack her and then leave her there for them to find?" Rose questioned. Then she and Martha exchanged a look both reaching the conclusion at the same time.

"Unless it's a trap." Martha finished for the pair. The group turned back to the screen with apprehension, something was very wrong.

Adelaide reminds them to keep the comms clear and everything should go through her. Maggie asks to be let out as she's just groggy but Yuri reminds her of the rules, twenty-four hours in isolation. Tarak calls for Andy and finds him on his back, soaking wet

"Oh god." Mickey muttered, watching the screen with growing horror.

"Don't get any closer." Rory added, his own horror clear. The picture of not-Andy dripping like that was terrifying to say the least and they still didn't even know what was wrong with him or what 'he' wanted.

Yuri is watching a man speaking Russian on a monitor and Maggie asks if is it her brother, it is but just a repeat due to the solar flare. Yuri talks about her brother makes her laugh, and his husband spends money like an idiot

Several people let out little smiles at the very causal mention of the gay couple, it was nice to see it so casually mentioned like it didn't matter (because it shouldn't) in such the near future.

Behind Yuri, Maggie starts to jerk and twitch

"Oh no." Rose muttered, eyes widening. Something was wrong with Maggie too.

Yuri is still talking about her family as Maggie's lips crack and she stops jerking

No one could enjoy the story, all far too focused watching Maggie's transformation in fascinated horror.

Maggie asks where he lives and Yuri tells her adding it is by the Caspian Sea and pulls up a map to show her. Maggie is fascinated by the water, declaring Earth is so much water

"They're fascinated with water." Donna muttered mostly to herself, eyes scrunched up in thought, that was interesting even if she still didn't know why. The Doctor was just watching the screen with a carefully schooled expression; she hadn't seen this the first time around and it was horrible to watch especially knowing the outcome.

Yuri still hasn't noticed, and Maggie declares it has so much beauty

The Master spoke up for the first time in a while (several people mourned his silence), "There are so many better planets than Earth." He manged to inject a lot of disgust into the final word, earning glares from all of Earth's inhabitants and a sigh from the Doctor.

Maggie's voice has changed, as if she's more than one person. She says they will like the world and Yuri finally turns around and sees Maggie with water pouring out her mouth

"It's an infection." Martha realised, going all doctor and analysing everything they'd seen so far.

"And she's talking in the plural." Jack added, nodding along as he tried to scroll through his mental list of creatures he had run into/knew about for any matches.

"That's why Andy left her there." Clara announced, "He infected her and left her there for the others to find, so she could find out some information and infect others."

"But what's their end goal?" Amy joined the conversation, "They aren't trying to kill everyone yet, just infect them. But what's the point?" The group were all thinking about that, mentally coming up with theories and dismissing them just as quickly.

The Doctor watched in fascination, starting to fidgeting in her seat; she loved seeing her friends like this, it was one of the reasons she travelled with people (though she would prefer they didn't have to theorise about an alien species because they were in danger). She was impressed by how quickly they were piecing things together, although they did have the advantage of seeing everything going on and not being in actual physical danger. Still, she couldn't decide whether she wanted them to keep taking and delay the inevitable or she just wanted it all to be over with as quickly as possible.

"The water!" Donna announced (loudly) suddenly, drawing the room's attention to her. "They're dripping water, Maggie was obsessed with the water on Earth when Yuri mentioned it, and Andy became infected after washing the carrot. Something's wrong with the water on Mars." She finished her reasoning to find everyone nodding along with her, eyes wide as they realised that she was likely correct, it explained far too much.

"They want to go to Earth." Yaz announced, significantly quieter than Donna but still audible to everyone. "That's why their infecting everyone, so they can get back to Earth and the water there." The group was quiet after that, the significance of what was going on hitting them. If those things got to the water on Earth everyone would get infected very quickly and no one could do much to stop them.

Yuri calls the others declaring they have a situation in the sickbay, and she doesn't know what's wrong with Maggie but there's water pouring everywhere. Adelaide tells her to calm down

"I don't think that's going to help much." Bill grimaced.

"Would you be calm in that situation?" Ryan asked her.

Bill shook her head immediately, "No, I'd get the hell out of there."

Yuri describes Maggie saying the skin is kind of broken around the mouth and she's exuding water like she's drowning

"She's brave to just stay there and actually be able to explain what's going on." River said. Yuri may be brave, but that bravery wasn't going to do anything to save her.

Adelaide calls to Tarak saying the area is unsafe, Tarak doesn't answer and the Doctor asks where he is

"God, it's spreading quickly." Rory muttered, the group all having figured out that Andy had likely infected Tarak already.

Ed tells Yuri to keep Maggie contaminated and seal the door at maximum, he's on his way

"He's ignoring orders and running straight into the danger zone." Rose grimaced, that wasn't going to end well.

In the biodome, Adelaide and the Doctor see Tarak on his knees with Andy's hand on his head, water is pouring out of both of them

"Too late." Mickey commented quietly as the pair on screen found Tarak with Andy. The situation was deteriorating very quickly.

The Doctor asks Andy to leave Tarak alone and Adelaide tells him to step away from Tarak. Adelaide calls out orders threatening to shoot him, while the Doctor promises to help if he leave him alone

"Two very different approaches." Amy joked even as she grimaced. "I don't think he's going to listen to either though."

The Doctor asks Andy to take his hand away and listen, Andy releases Tarak

"I stand corrected." Amy muttered; she really hadn't thought that would work. The grimace the Doctor sent her told her that t hadn't.

The Doctor tries to talk to him but Tarak finally looks at them, revealing he's been transformed too

"Far too late." Mickey repeated his words from moments before.

"Run." Martha said, glancing at the Doctor in the room in concern.

The Doctor says they have to go, and they run, reaching the airlock before the two chasing them. They escape into the airlock just before Andy fires a jet of water at them

"Thank god." Clara muttered as they saw Adelaide and the Doctor reach the airlock before Andy could get them. The tension in the room was high, but the pair were at least safe for the second from Andy. Still the rest of the group was all split up, some not even aware of the danger they were in, and the infection seemed to spread quickly.

Things weren't looking promising for anyone. It didn't help that they knew the fate of the station and people, usually they didn't know how an adventure ended unless they were involved, but this time they all knew the eventual outcome, and it didn't make watching the video better or less stressful.

Ed reaches the sickbay and in the central dome Mia asks what happened to Maggie, asking Yuri what she is

"I don't think Yuri has any answers to those questions." Bill muttered, quite frankly they'd all appreciate answers to those questions too.

Steffi tells Adelaide they need her back and Adelaide just wants to know that Maggie is contained, Ed confirms she is locked in

"They have all three of them contained at least." Ryan said.

"For now." Yaz added darkly.

Ryan immediately turned to give her a look, "Did you have to add that?"

"Yes."

Adelaide tells them to keep surveillance on and to close down all water supplies and not consume anything, repeating to not drink or even touch a drop of water

"Smart but not a good long-term plan." Martha nodded at Adelaide's orders. It made sense for the moment, an would give them a chance to try and figure out some sort of plan but they couldn't last very long without drinking, especially if they would have to be running to escape.

The Doctor reminds her humans are sixty percent water which makes them a great host, Adelaide asks what for

"Nothing good." Graham said. The group all grimaced at the reminder of their water content; that wasn't a good thing to remember when faced with a water virus/infection like the others were displaying.

DOCTOR: I don't know. I never will. Because I've got to go. Whatever's started here, I can't see it to the end. I can't.

Several people raised eyebrows at that, glancing at the Doctor in surprise. They hadn't expected the Doctor to still be trying to leave, normally when they were this far involved in a situation their curiosity and desire to help people took over and stopped them being able to leave, despite the danger. Whatever was going on with Bowie Base One, it was serious enough that the Doctor was going against what they normally did, which was very worrying, especially taking into account that their attempts clearly hadn't worked.

Andy and Tarak start pouring water at the sealed airlock

"They're trying to get out." Nardole pointed out.

"Kind of noticed that Nardole." The Doctor remarked back.

"Just thought I'd mention it, it wouldn't be the first time you've missed the obvious after all." Nardole snarked.

"Ooh, burn!" Bill snickered.

The Doctor confirms its airtight, Adelaide says it is and also therefore watertight, the Doctor argues it depends how clever the water is

"Thank you for that ominous statement." Rose grimaced, rolling her eyes at the Doctor's apparent need for dramatics.

Adelaide realises they're fusing the system as they hear a bang

"Now might be the time to run." Jack decided, glancing concerned between the Doctor in the room and the screen. He had the horrible feeling the worst was still to come, and it was going to hit hard.

The Doctor shouts to abandon ship as they run out the walkway just in time for Andy and Tarak to get through the airlock and chase them

"Well, that didn't last long." Rory sighed, of course with their luck the infected staff couldn't remain trapped for any longer than five minutes.

They reach where Gadget is standing guard and the Doctor garbs his sonic screwdriver. Adelaide argues they don't have time but the Doctor counters the others can run faster than them so they need a lift

"What are you up too?" River asked her wife confused by her actions on screen. It wasn't often the Doctor gave up on the running. The Doctor simply waved to the screen in answer, all would be explained in a moment.

In the central dome, Roman gets a jolt from whatever the Doctor is doing

The Doctor winced at that, having not thought about how it might affect Roman, being far too focused on getting away from the infected staff members.

The Doctor tells Adelaide to get on Gadget behind him, she does but Adelaide says it only goes two miles an hour, the Doctor says not anymore and to trust him

"You increased its speed." River realised, turning to her wife with an approving look, that was a clever idea. The Doctor gave her a small proud grin before her attention was stolen back by the video.

Flames come out of Gadget's exhaust and Roman shakes likes he's being electrocuted before Gadget zooms off leaving burning tyre marks

Several people winced as they saw poor Roman being affected by the Doctor's adjustments to Gadget, but they were happy to see the pair get out of their and further away from the infected people.

"Guess robots aren't so bad after all." Mickey grinned at the Doctor pointedly, the Doctor rolled her eyes a bit before turning back to the screen again.

Adelaide shares that the central dome airlocks have Hardinger seals so they won't be able to get in

"That's what you thought about the other doors too." Ryan muttered with concern. He didn't understand what Hardinger seals were but based on Adelaide's hope it was likely good enough to stop the infected getting through, or so they could hope.

The Doctor urges them on as Adelaide says she thought he hates robots; the Doctor says he does. They get into the airlock just before Andy and Tarak arrive

The group all let out a breath at seeing the pair get away and seal the airlock before they were caught. They were still in lots of danger and missing plenty of answers but they were (hopefully) in less imminent danger than they had been moments prior which with these adventures was often something to celebrate. There were still other members of the base in danger too though.

In the airlock, Adelaide declares they are safe as the others can't get in. The Doctor declares water is patient, it waits, he says it wears down clifftops, mountains, the whole world and always wins

"Very dramatic." Nardole commented.

"And ominous." Bill added, the pair sharing a glance before they both turned to the Doctor.

"Not very helpful." The Doctor sighed at the pair; she hated when they teamed up against her.

"Neither was your statement." River joined in with a smile. The Doctor had to resist the urge to throw her hand up in the air as everyone started teaming up against her again.

Adelaide declares the Biodome tunnel out of bounds as Andy and Tarak are infected, she says to make no contact and tell her if they make even the slightest move

"So that's three infected, and what?" Yaz mentally tallied up the staff members on base and did the mental math, "And six not affected, not counting the Doctor. That's not very good odds with a third of the station being infected."

"You really did the maths for that." Ryan grinned at her.

"Oh, shut up." Yaz shot back as Graham sighed, he didn't know how he dealt with the two of them sometimes (especially when the Doctor joined in their antics).

Adelaide declares she is going to the Medical Dome

"Time to get some answers." Donna nodded approvingly, very eager for some herself. They may have theorised what the water infected people wanted, but confirmation would be nice and they still didn't know what they actually were or where they had come from.

In another tunnel, the Doctor complains it is a distance and could of with bikes to get around. Adelaide argues every pound in weight equals three tons of fuel, the Doctor says he knows but still argues for bikes

"At least it keeps you fit, walking everywhere." Rory shrugged.

"I mean it's a given that they're in decent shape if they're on this mission." Amy argued, "They would have had to go through training before being allowed to go."

They reach the sickbay and Adelaide asks if the door has a Hardinger seal – it doesn't. Adelaide says the moment Maggie heads for the door, they evacuate

"They'd have to be fast if Maggie is anywhere near as quick as the other two." Rose said with a bit of worry, they'd barely escaped Andy and Tarak and no one knew if that luck would hold up twice.

Ed says Maggie's pulse is low and the electrical activity in the brain is going haywire. Adelaide asks if she can talk, but Yuri doesn't know as she was talking before the change

"Interesting." Martha muttered, "This is probably the only time they're going to get a chance to get some answers with minimal danger. They just need to be careful and not push it." Things could very quickly go wrong if they kept pushing it and didn't retreat at the first sign of danger.

Adelaide tries to talk to Maggie, asking what happened. The Doctor speaks up in another language which sounds like nonsense

The room all turned to stare at the Doctor, bewildered by the seeming gibberish he'd just come out with. Only the Master seemed to recognise the language and understood what the Doctor had said.

The Doctor blinked upon seeing the whole room's attention on her, "What?"

"What the hell was that, Spaceman!?" Donna exclaimed voicing the thoughts (if not the exact wording) of the group.

"It's Ancient North Martian. Thought it was worth a shot, not that it's used much anymore." The Doctor answered with a vague shrug, she wasn't surprised that River and Jack had never heard it – not many people spoke it anymore. The group just gave her incredulous stares before deciding that was just typical Doctor behaviour and it was better to not question it any further.

Ed asks what language it is and the Doctor shares it was Ancient North Martian even as Adelaide says not to be ridiculous, Ed says it looked like Maggie recognised it

"So, whatever it is, it's old and Martian. Or at least been around on Mars long enough to have heard it before." Clara theorised; the group was all watching the screen carefully trying to piece together the missing pieces of the puzzle in a way to distract themselves from the foreboding feeling still eating away at them. They hadn't seen the Doctor's big mistake yet and it was making them more and more nervous as the danger got worse.

The Doctor says er eyes are different, clearer like she'd closer to human. The Doctor asks where they get their water from and Adelaide shares it is from the ice field and they chose the crater as it is on top of an underground glacier

"There's glaciers on Mars?" Ryan asked, wide eyed. He hadn't been expecting to learn as much about Mars as he was during this video.

The Doctor nodded, "Oh yes. They're deep underground in your time but there used to be massive glaciers on the surface."

The Doctor is not happy with all he water so close, Yuri argues every drop is filtered and screened so it is safe

"Clearly not." Amy snorted.

Ed suggests something was frozen down there, a viral life from stuck in the ice for years. The Doctor points ou Maggie's mouth which is blackened like a fission, saying whatever it is doesn't hide in the water but creates it. He wants to know what she wants, Yuri says she was looking at the Earth and wanted it – a word full of water

"Okay, they know what they want now. Just need to figure out how to stop them now." Mickey nodded, it was always an important step to figure out what the 'enemy' wanted, because you could then stop them from getting it.

Adelaide and Ed separate for a prove conversation. Ed says he's sorry but it's a spreading unknown infection which demands Action Procedure One

The tension in the room rose again, "I don't like the sound of that." Bill declared, when people started talking in hushed tones about procedures like that, it was rarely anything good.

Adelaide knows that already, but Ed thinks she needs a reminder saying he's good for something. Adelaide says now and again and Ed declares it must be serious as that is almost a compliment. The Doctor cuts in asking if Action One means evacuation, it does. Adelaide declares they're going home, activating Action One with immediate effects – evacuate the base

"But isn't that what the things want? They want an opportunity to get to Earth and the evacuation is going to give them exactly that." Rory shook his head at Adelaide's decision.

"Yes, but what else is she supposed to do? They can't stay around long term if the water is infected." Martha argued with a concerned look. Adelaide was stuck between a rock and a hard place; on one hand they couldn't stay around with this threat, but on the other they would have to be very careful with the evacuation to avoid bringing any of the infected home. Then the group all remembered that no one was making it home – they all died. The evacuation must have gone very wrong.

Steffi says they'll store the central computer and tells Mia to strip the cargo to essentials, and Roman to get ready. Roman argues they came all this way

"You did and you spent 17 months there but this situation is too dangerous to stick around for." Clara declared.

Steffi adds he can say goodbye to Gadget too as it is too heavy, telling him to hurry up

"Poor gadget." Yaz frowned, that robot had saved the Doctor and Adelaide's lives and they would just have to abandon it.

Adelaide asks Steffi for their estimate on the shuttle viability, and Steffi says it will take them at least three hours to load up everything for the nine month flight

"Nine months?!" Bill exclaimed wide-eyed, "Yeah, no thanks, not for me." Several people were rapidly nodding their heads in agreement. Nine months on s space ship with a small group of people was a serious commitment. At least the Tardis was huge and they had several stops, and could stop when they wanted too – apparently, they were travelling in luxury.

Adelaide says they have twenty minutes and asks for a report on Andy and Tarak. Steffi reports they're both just standing in the Biodome tunnel, like they're waiting and Adelaide tells them to keep an eye on them

"Waiting on what?" Rose asked concerned. The group was all thinking the same – were they waiting on Maggie? As she was the only one not completely trapped at the moment.

Adelaide says to make the twenty minutes fifteen and tells Ed to line up the shuttle. Yuri asks about Maggie and Adelaide says they will leave her behind as they can't contain her on board, she then orders them to close the place down

The room shared uneasy looks as the group on screen started preparations. They all understood the need to leave Maggie behind as much as they hated the idea, but they were all more concerned with the impending destruction of the base and deaths of the remaining crew. No matter the preparations the group were undertaking none of them were getting out of their alive, they could only watch to see how the cards would fall.

The Doctor tries to cut in but Adelaide cuts him off saying his spacesuit will be returned to him and good luck. The Doctor continues, saying the thin is clever as it only infected the humans, not the birds or insects. The water can wait, Tarak was changed immediately but when Maggie was infected it waited so it could infiltrate the central dome, which means ...

Martha's eyes widened as she understood what the Doctor was trying to hint at, "It could be dormant in any of them. They've all been drinking the same water for a while. Unless there's an actual trigger, anyone could be infected and you wouldn't know until they become active. Any of them could be sleeper agents." The group all shared worried glances – because things could just keep getting worse and worse apparently.

Adelaide reaches the same conclusion – any of them could be infected as they've all been drinking the same water. The Doctor adds they could take it back to Earth, even one drop

"You need to figure out if there's a trigger and who is infected before you leave." River declared giving the Doctor a worried look.

"They don't have time to waste." Jack disagreed, shaking his head. He knew they had to stop the infection spreading to Earth but they were on a very tight time limit with the evacuation and temporarily trapped infected. The group were worryingly starting to see why no one had made it off of Mars; time was ticking and they had far too much to do.

Adelaide argues they're presuming infection but what if they could find out how it happened and when. She orders Yuri to continue, saying she will inspect the ice field

"Splitting up is maybe the only way they'll have a chance of figuring everything out." Rory grimaced.

"It's also the best way to get into trouble. Have they never seen a horror movie?" Amy argued.

The Doctor declares he should leave again, and there is no point in him seeing the ice field, he chases after Adelaide

"Your curiosity and need to investigate and get involved is going to be your downfall." Clara stared the Doctor down; for some reason this mess was giving her a similar feeling to the mess she and Eyebrows had dealt with in that underwater mining base, and she hated that.

The Doctor met her eyes for the first time in a while, uncharacteristically serious and answered with an ominous statement that sent chills down the spines of the group, "You have no idea."

He tells Adelaide about the bikes again, foldaway ones that don't weigh much

Yaz snorted, "You're going to die on that mountain."

In the sickbag Yuri wheels his trolley of medical supplies to the door and apologises to Maggie as he turns off the power and seals the door. Maggie shorts out the isolation room door

"Great she's escaped already." Mickey sighed.

"I mean we were expecting it." Rose shrugged, a worried look on her face despite the seemingly unaffected attitude.

"It's still not good news. It might be a while before any of the crew notices giving her time to free the others." Donna frowned. Things weren't looking good. Anytime they thought the situation couldn't possibly get worse they were proven wrong.

Roman says Maggie won't be able to get past the Hardinger seal on their side even if she gets past the medical dome, right? Ed isn't confident and says the camera is down, they've lost her. Maggie escapes the isolation chamber and calls out to Andy an Tarak hear her, moving down the tunnel

The group all grimaced as Maggie made her call, with Andy and Tarak apparently understanding the scream and moving somewhere with purpose.

"At least they know she's escaped." Graham tried to find a silver lining in a frankly terrible situation.

Bill snorted, "Maybe, but they're practically challenging the universe with that comment about the others escaping."

At the water extraction module, the Doctor talks about legends of Mars from long ago and the Ice Warriors who built an empire of snow

Those that had encountered Ice Warriors before, namely Bill, Clara and Jack all grimaced at the reminder of the Martian warriors, they weren't exactly pleasant to encounter.

Adelaide says she doesn't have time for stories

"Stories are important." Amy muttered, glancing at her husband, daughter and daughter-in-law.

The Doctor says maybe they found something there and used their wisdom to freeze it. Adelaide says they need to find any change in the water process and date the infection. Adelaide says he doesn't look like a coward but all he wants to do is leave and he knows a lot about them

"She's suspicious." Ryan said.

"Who wouldn't be with the Doctor's behaviour?" Yaz asked incredulous.

The Doctor argues they're famous but Adelaide is suspicious he knows more. The Doctor declares this moment in time, that in theory certain moments are fixed, and while other moments are in flux and anything can happen, those fixed moments have to stand. He adds this base on Mars is a vital moment, and what happens must always happen

"A fixed point." River grimaced. They were always tricky to navigate as a time traveller and her own experiences with them didn't give her any confidence for how this video was going to play out (the Doctor's behaviour about their 'death' might be starting to make a bit more sense depending on how this played out – she had a sneaking suspicion about how it was going to end but she was sincerely hoping she was wrong).

Adelaide asks about it and the Doctor says he thinks something wonderful happened that started fifty years ago, Adelaide says she never told anyone about it

"Good job on not making the human suspicious." Nardole deadpanned, the Doctor just rolled her eyes while Bill cackled.

The Doctor continues saying she told her daughter, who might tell the story to her daughter about the day the Earth was stolen and moved across the universe. Adelaide says she saw the Daleks, she looked up and the sky had changed, everyone was running and scheming and her father grabbed her

Rose, Martha, Mickey, Donna and Jack all shared a glance, thinking back to that mess. It had been a tense and frightening day mixed with the joy of reunions and new friends, but still they'd be glad if they never got a repeat. The rest of the group perked up, not aware of what had actually happened despite how much it seemed to have been mentioned it – they were hoping they would be shown that video at some point soon.

In a memory, her father hides her in an attic, telling her to stay there and he's going to find her mother but he's coming back. Adelaide says she never saw him again

The group all grimaced; even those that hadn't been there didn't need to know any details outside of the Daleks being there to know what had happened.

Adelaide adds she didn't see her mother again either, neither were found. She went to the window and everyone was screaming but she saw the sky and it saw her, and she knew she would follow it. The Doctor adds not for revenge and Adelaide agrees as what would the point of it be

Several people blinked at that surprised, "Well that's a nice change. Twenty first century humans never fail to surprise." Jack shook his head with a fond smile. It was nice to see people looking to the sky in wonder instead of in fear or for revenge, especially after an event such as the Dalek invasion.

The Doctor says that's why she's remarkable and how you create history

"That's really going to confuse her." Rose shook her head but couldn't hide her own smile.

Adelaide asks what he means. The Doctor tells her to imagine she starts a journey that takes the human race across the stars, she inspires her granddaughter so that in thirty years Susie Brooke is the pilot of the first lightspeed ship to Proxima Centauri. Then her children and their children continue across the stars. Only a Brooke would fall in love with a Tandonian prince and start a whole new species. Everything starts with Adelaide, fifty years ago to now

"Oh, so you're just giving up on the whole 'normal person, nothing to see here' thing and just giving her answers she shouldn't have?" Amy raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, thinking back to all the times the Doctor had told her they 'didn't interfere with history', another brilliant example of the Doctor not keeping to their own rules. The Doctor just shrugged, not looking away from the screen, too caught up in Adelaide's altered fate. She would have died that day regardless of what she'd done, in a way by telling her so much she ensured that despite trying to alter history.

Adelaide asks who he is and why she is telling her this, the Doctor says its for consolation

"Because that's not a worrying statement at all." Martha sighed; really, they shouldn't expect anything different from the Doctor.

The maintenance log pops up on screen to find Andy logged in yesterday for maintenance. A water filter was bust and the spares sent don't fit. The Doctor declares it is just a tiny filter that allowed the flood

"It's always surprising how a small thing can have such a large impact." Graham shook his head in disbelief.

Adelaide says it means the infection arrived today and the water cycles out the biodome after a week so the rest of them aren't infected. She tells Ed they're clean and can leave

The group all cheered at that, thankful for that bit of good news. They were surprised by how quickly they'd gotten an answer, but no less thankful. They were still tense though as they all realised that even with this knowledge, something else must have gone drastically wrong to prevent them being able to successfully evacuate, and anyone would bet it had something to do with the three infected.

Adelaide asks how it is going and Ed declares the shuttle is active but if they want food they'll have to carry it by hand and start loading now

"You have to carry a lot of food if the journey is for nine months. They better get moving and quickly." Clara worried, her words felt a bit pointless as they clearly weren't ever going to need the food as they all died.

In another tunnel Adelaide admits the Doctor was right about the bikes

The Doctor grinned triumphantly although the grin lasted less than a second, guilt and dread quickly overwhelming any more positive feelings. Adelaide, nor anyone else on that base, deserved the terrible fate that befell them.

In the central dome, Adelaide gives the Doctor his spacesuit and tells him to go to his ship and save himself while she saves herself. She knows what the moment is – the moment they escape

Everyone winced at Adelaide's words, she was so determined to try and save her team and it was all going to end in vain. The only thing they could do was watch as the disaster unfolded, all still on edge to see this big 'mistake' that the Doctor had mentioned at the start – it had to be something big to make this already disastrous situation worse and have the Doctor so distraught.

Ed tells them to stay focused and Mia and Roman are packing protein packs

"Sounds like thrilling meals for nine months. Space travel is sounding less and less appealing." Bill made a disgusted face.

"I think we've been spoiled with the Tardis." Yaz agreed.

Donna snorted, "And no one ever thought anyone would ever say that."

"Hey!" The Doctor protested, as defensive as ever when it came to the Tardis.

Ed tells them to hurry up. Andy and Tarak have climbed on the roof of tunnel one and are walking to the dome, no one notices, and an alarm sounds

"They're free and far too close for comfort." Rory muttered, the group's concern skyrocketing as they saw the infected getting closer to the rushing group without anyone having a clue.

They're all working together to pack all they need and get ready to leave as Andy and Tarak lie face down on the dome

"What are they doing?" Ryan asked confused by the weird behaviour of the infected people.

The group all looked as confused as Ryan, until Amy's eyes lit up, "They want to go to Earth!"

The room turned to look at her, not connecting the dots as she had. "We already worked that part out?" Ryan said, although it came out more like a question.

Amy shook her head, "No, well yes. They want to go to Earth so of course they aren't going to try and stop the evacuation. They want the evacuation to go ahead, they're probably trying to lure them away so they can sneak onboard or infect the rest of the group." The rest of the group nodded along finally connecting the dots as Amy had, they turned back to the screen as the tensions rose.

Adelaide asks what the noise is, telling them to all shut up. Ed declares it is the module sensors and the cameras are down but there are two signals right above them – they know they're on the roof, and Yuri asks how they got inside the dome

"I think the more important question is what are you going to do about them?" Mickey grimaced. How they got in was less important, they needed to figure out how to get out of there without the rest of them getting infected.

Ed says they used the maintenance shafts, Mia argues they don't have spacesuits but Ed argues they breathe water and Yuri adds they have internal fission to counter freezing

"Stop debating the logistics and biology of the infected and get back to the evacuation. You don't have any time to waste." Martha shook her head.

Mia says they're safe, and they can't get through, right? The roof creaks

"I think they definitely can." Rose muttered watching the screen with concern.

Roman says it is airtight, but Ed doesn't know if they ca get through. Adelaide tells them all to listen to her and keep working if they don't want to starve, telling Roman to watch the ceiling and Ed to fire up the shuttle

"At least some one has a good head on their shoulders." Jack sighed, glad that Adelaide was taking charge in a sensible way, even as he sat there tense waiting for the final nail on the coffin that they all knew was to come.

"She was a brilliant Captain. There was a good reason, several actually, that she was chosen as the head of the mission." The Doctor said, face blank as she watched the screen. Jack glanced over at her but she didn't look away from the screen, there were several things unsaid in that sentence but no one was able to read between the lines, still it was enough to worry them.

Ed argues he can carry more than the others but Adelaide says it is an order and he goes. The Doctor continues standing there, holding his spacesuit as he remembers the history of the end of the base, finally he turns and leaves

The group watched the screen in tense silence, they hated watching the Doctor try to walk away as much as they knew they needed too. It went so against they're normal thing of helping people even when the situation seemed impossible and it was enough to make them uncomfortable. They felt a bit like they were watching one of those animal documentaries where they knew the fate of the gazelle once the lion got a hold of it and could do nothing about it.

The computer declares access denied as Adelaide asks the Doctor to tell her what happens, he is in an airlock waiting for permission to leave. The Doctor says he doesn't know but Adelaide says he does

"She's figured out you know something now; she's not just going to let that go." River spoke quietly to her wife, eyes full of understanding and sympathy for Adelaide who was fighting a losing battle.

"She needs too." The Doctor answered back equally quiet, neither of the pair taking their eyes off the screen.

"Would you?" River asked. There was no answer needed, both knowing full well that neither of them was capable of leaving anything alone even when logic dictated they should.

Adelaide says to tell her as the Doctor says she should be with the others. Adelaide demands to know saying she could increase the pressure in the airlock and crush him

"Resorting to threats, she's desperate." Clara grimaced; she couldn't help but feel sympathy for the captain who was just trying to protect her crew.

"Of course, she is. She's in an impossible situation and a stranger shows up with answers, you'd want to know them too." Donna spoke up, calmer and quieter than she normally was. She knew that this was set not too long after her own (forced) departure from the Doctor and couldn't help but feel a bit of guilt, she knew what the Doctor was like when they were on their own and she had a feeling this was going to show the effect the time alone had had on his mental health (and it wasn't going to be pretty). She knew logically that she hadn't chosen to leave him and it was partially his own damn fault, but the guilt still sat uncomfortably in her stomach.

The Doctor says she won't as she didn't shoot Andy earlier, he loved her for that. He tells her to imagine she's somewhere where she knows something, like Pompeii

Donna shot the Doctor an unreadable look, thinking back to her own time in Pompeii. The Doctor met her eyes with her own unreadable look that only concerned Donna more. This situation was very like Pompeii, but the large difference was that no one was there to help the Doctor or keep them from doing anything tremendously stupid.

Adelaide asks why it is relevant. The Doctor continues saying imagine she was at Pompeii and tried to save them, but in doing so you make it happen. He adds that anything he does just makes it happen

"You were always a part of the story, so no matter what you do that's how it will end. Fate, a fixed point, inevitable, destiny, whatever you want to call it – it will always happen." The Doctor spoke up, eyes glazed even as they rested on the screen. She seemed barely aware that she was speaking, concerning the rest of the group. Things seemed to be coming to ahead and they were all dreading whatever the Doctor had done that she regretted so much.

"But sometimes you allow one disaster to happen to prevent an even worse one." Donna whispered; voice unusually calm as if she was dealing with a wild animal in distress. The Doctor's head snapped to face her again, both still lost in memories of Pompeii. Of how they had chosen to allow Vesuvius to erupt like in history in order to prevent a larger disaster killing everything. The choice of everyone on the planet or twenty thousand innocent people.

"But is it worth it? Are the lives lost to a small disaster less worthy of loving than those that were saved?" The Doctor whispered, hoarse and face reflecting an ancient grief that they rarely saw. Usually, the Doctor did so well at pretending, at being almost normal, and not showing truly how old they were.

"No life is worth less than another." River interjected calmly, hand moving to rest gently on the Doctor's leg even as the Doctor's head whipped away from Donna to face her. "But we grieve and we move on because what else can we do? In those dark moments all you can do is celebrate those lost and those you saved. There are always going to be bad days and bad decisions but you can't linger on them or they'll overwhelm you until you can never see the good in anything again."

"It's hard Doctor." Jack spoke up this time, his tone matching the others as he offered the Doctor a bittersweet smile. "No one's denying that, but it needs to be done. It's time to move forward. You can't forget the past but you also can't live in it. Live for the future." The Doctor audibly swallowed, closing her eyes for a moment as she took a deep breath to steady herself. Unsure what to say, she just turned back to the screen; maybe they'd understand more when they saw. When they finally saw what she'd done.

Steffi calls for Adelaide and the Doctor says they're doing Action One, but there are four more standard action procedures, asking what action five is - detonation

"Why is the final option for humans always complete obliteration of everything?" The Doctor tried to joke, smile paper thin and tone not quite right but the others appreciated she was trying about as much as they hated the fact that she was still trying to hide from them. "I mean the Osterhagen Project," She nodded at Martha, "The Tsuranga," She nodded at Yaz, Ryan and Graham, "And here. I swear humans just love explosives."

"Like you can say anything." The Master chuckled from his corner. The Doctor met his eyes, both for once wearing similar looks of madness barely contained behind calm facades. The Master had been watching the video quietly, not particularly bothered by another one of the human's little projects ending in disaster. He was far more interested in why the Tardis was showing them this, why the Doctor seemed to fear this video and the mistake she had mentioned.

DOCTOR [on monitor: The final option. The nuclear device at the heart of the Central Dome. Today, on the twenty first of November 2059, Captain Brooke activates that device, taking the base and all her crew members with her. No one ever knows why. But you were saving Earth. That's what inspires your granddaughter. She takes your people out into the galaxy because you die on Mars. You die today. She flies out there like she's trying to meet you.

"Perseverance even in the face of the unknown and destruction." Nardole muttered, "Only humans."

"She's not going to take that well." Amy grimaced, recognising the look on Adelaide's face. Plus, who would react well to being told they were going to kill themselves and everyone they were responsible for especially as they were so close to escaping?

Adelaide refuses to die even as the Doctor says her death creates the future

"That's not much consolation at the moment Doctor." Rory muttered quietly; it was moments like this that reminded the group how in-human the Doctor truly was. It also made them so thankful that they weren't in the Doctor's shoes, unsure how they'd be able to deal with such an impossible situation.

Adelaide asks why he won't help them, why he won't change it if he knows all of that. The Doctor says he can't

"A fixed point." River said knowingly, glancing at the Doctor out of the corner of her eye. This wasn't going to end well; she had a very bad feeling.

Adelaide asks why he can't find a way; the Doctor apologises but can't. Sometimes he can and does, most times he can save someone but not them. He says she wondered all her life why the Dalek spared her but he thinks it knew that her death is fixed

The group grimaced, watching the screen with conflicted emotions. They'd known since near the start how this one was going to play out but they still hated to see it happen. It was so against everything they stood for, normally they managed to save someone (as the Doctor had said) but this time no one could be saved, no one should be saved; and that was horrible to just have to watch.

"I really need to get you new cue cards." Clara shook her head, taking a leaf out of the Doctor's book and trying for humour to deal with her emotions. "You can't just tell people they're death is 'right'." The Doctor didn't even glance away from the screen.

Adelaide declares he'll die here too and who will save him. The Doctor says he won't and Captain Adelaide Brooke will save him. She releases the airlock even as she curses him

"She's far too good." Martha said, thankful that she had released the Doctor even as the group was already mourning the staff's deaths.

"She always does what is right." The Doctor seemingly agreed, although there was an edge to her words that unsettled the group. The Doctor's expression far too dark and guilty for comfort.

Water starts pouring through the storage area ceiling as Roman shouts to warn them

"Just what you need." Mickey grimaced. Why, for once, couldn't something go right? They all knew logically that the situation had to deteriorate enough for Action Five to be the only option but they had all been holding on to some faint hope that it wouldn't get that bad.

Mia shouts for Adelaide and tells them to get back. Adelaide orders them to abandon the section and get to the shuttle. Yuri closes the storage area door where the water is. Mia asks if the water touched her but Yuri says he's safe

The room watched tensely as the group on screen escaped the water temporarily, all waiting for the other shoe to drop even as they dreaded the fall.

Steffi presses if the water touched Yuri, and Yuri claims they are dry. Adelaide tells them to grab every pack they can and go round through another section

No one knew what to say as they watched the slow downfall of Bowie Base One. They were all impressed by how determined Adelaide was even tough she now knew their ultimate fate, she was still problem solving and trying her best to get everyone out safe, likely holding on to some hope that the Doctor was wrong.

Steffi shots for them to hurry up as they transfer oxygen to the relevant section but the dome ceiling cracks and Steffi is trapped behind a curtain of water

"No." Someone muttered, even as it seemed inevitable that Steffi would be the next to be infected, they hoped she would be able to escape.

The other shout for Steffi to get back and they move back into the communications alcove. They shout to shut the door and Roman says they'll come back for Steffi

"I think it's too late." Rose said quietly, hating the words even though she knew they were the truth.

Adelaide says they'll open the access panel and get Steffi out the back but Steffi shouts it is inside

The group all grimaced knowing that it was far too late for Steffi now. As horrible as it was, the group needed to leave her if they wanted a better chance of escaping themselves.

Adelaide shouts they're coming and for Steffi to hold on

It was admirable to see the crew's dedication to each other, though after 17 months together plus nine months in a shuttle and however long training it would be expected they had some sort of relation to each other and had come to care for the others. In a way it only made it all the more horrible to watch as they tried desperately to save Steffi from her fate.

The Doctor leaves the airlock as the other realise the access panel is fused and they can't open it, Steffi says they can't move as they're back up against monitors. She pressed a button and a message plays from a little girl in German – her family

"Her poor family." Yaz said, "They're never going to know what happened to her. None of their families are." That was often the hard part of these adventures, sometimes there was people you couldn't save and their families would likely never know what had truly happened to their lost loved ones.

Water pours onto Steffi as the Doctor slowly walks back listening to the little girls' message. Adelaide tells them to get out when Steffi doesn't respond to their calls. Mia leaves and Steffi emerges from the communications alcove – she'd been transformed

"Now there's four of them, against five uninfected. The odds are getting further weighed against them." Jack grimaced.

"Where's Maggie?" Bill suddenly asked, drawing the room's attention to her. "We've seen Tarak and Andy, but Maggie's nowhere to be seen."

"That's not good." Ryan declared. The room all wondering just when Maggie was going to show up, because knowing their luck and how this mess was to end, it was inevitable that she would show up again.

Adelaide tells Ed they're going the long way and how they're doing. Ed declares the systems are all online with no delay and they'll fly, the shuttle engines fire up

"They need to get out of there quickly." Graham said even as he knew they weren't going to get out of there.

The Doctor is outside the base, walking silhouetted against the shuttle exhaust

The group watched; glad that the Doctor was away from the base, and therefore away from the infection and upcoming detonation but also hating that they could just walk away while everyone else was slowly infected as they made a futile attempt to escape.

The group moves through the base keeping an eye on the ceiling as they try to move quickly. Roman looks at the ceiling and a drop of water falls on his face

"Oh no." Rory muttered.

"It's only a drop. Surely that's not enough?" Yaz tried to argue even as she grimaced.

Amy shook her head with a frown, "A few drops off a carrot was enough to infect Andy at the start. I think it's too late for Roman." The group all grimaced at that.

"That makes it five to four. They're officially outnumbered and out of time." Mickey declared, getting no enjoyment from the terrible realisation.

Adelaide calls for Roman to come on but he says they better go, Adelaide presses for him to move but Roman is insistent for them to go without him

"He knows he is compromised and doesn't want to infect the others." Rose realised; eyes sad as the group watched waiting for the transformation that was imminent.

"They're not going to take that well." Martha frowned thinking about how hard they'd tried to save Steffi.

"They don't really have a choice." Donna grimaced.

Roman apologises then starts jerking as Mia calls for him. Yuri says to leave him even as Mia argues against it and shouts for Roman. The uninfected are moving to Section F

The group grimaced as Yuri had to drag Mia away from poor Roman, they knew the remainders of the crew weren't going to take it well but it still hurt to watch. The numbers of the uninfected were dwindling rapidly and the time to try and escape was rapidly closing. They could do nothing but watch as the last members made their hopeless dash for a shuttle that was never going to take off.

Yuri apologises. Maggie enters the shuttle and aims a jet of water at Ed, he closes the bulkhead but not in time. Ed calls Adelaide to say the shuttle is down, Adelaide asks what he means

"And there's Maggie." Bill grimaced hating how she was right.

"They were smart enough to split up." Clara realised. "Andy and Tarak would work to infect as much of the crew as they could while Maggie would try and deal with Ed at the shuttle."

"They're really determined to get to Earth." Graham joked, although it fell flat.

Ed declares he's compromises and it was Maggie, Adelaide tells him to get out of there but Ed says it is too late

"Six down, that only leaves three left – Yuri, Mia and Adelaide." Mickey ticked the people off on his fingers. The group were all thinking the same, would everyone get infected before Adelaide activated Action Five? They could only hope for that small mercy.

Ed activates the autodestruct as he tells the others the things want the ship to get to Earth and they have no choice

"It's the right choice." Jack nodded approvingly even as he frowned. It was the right choice but still a horrible one to make. If Ed hadn't destroyed the shuttle than the infected would be able to reach the Earth, however it also meant -.

"They're all stranded now. No other way off of Mars." Martha sighed, hating how powerless she felt to help these people even though she knew it was all in the past (/in the future – actually would she live long enough to learn about this mission in her own time and have to sit quietly knowing the fate of all these people? That was a horrible thought she was going to put to the side for now to save a meltdown) and that she wouldn't actually be able to do anything but it was still horrible to only be able to watch.

"Except the Tardis." Donna spoke up, glancing at the Doctor like many others in the room had. The Doctor didn't take her eyes off the screen despite feeling the weight of the room's eyes on her.

Ed says he hates the job and she never game him a chance, could never forgive him. His eyes change as he says see you later

"He's out of time." Amy said as she noticed his eyes change. A few people in the room had managed small smiles at Ed's final words, his own attempt at humour and to reassure poor Adelaide but all they could do was watch the inevitable.

He hits the destruct button and the shuttle blows up, the blast knocking the Doctor off his feet and wreaks havoc in Section F of the base

They grimaced as the blast made visible damage to Section F where the last three uninfected had been trying to navigate. They now had nowhere to go to escape, the last thing they needed was for anything else to go wrong but that was what had happened. A few people winced at the size of the blast which had been enough to knock the Doctor to the ground, that can't have been pleasant.

In Section F, Yuri shouts that they're losing oxygen

"Because things can't get any worse." Rory sighed, that was oh so typical. Nowhere to go, water people after them and they were losing oxygen – sounded like a brilliant day on Mars.

Yuri continues saying the hull is broken. Outside the base, the Doctor is stuck in memories about being the last of the Time Lords, and it is just him and the Tardis. The Time Lords all died, all of them, and he's the last of them. He turns around and returns to the base.

The room recognised that the Doctor was going to go back as soon as he looked back at the Base and pulled himself to his feet; there was no way he could just abandon them despite knowing how it should play out. They all shifted uncomfortable with the development; they'd almost resigned themselves to the fate of the last three and now the Doctor was going against his own words and interfering, it gave them some hope which they didn't want. The Doctor's words and tone almost made them uncomfortable; those more familiar with the Doctor's darker moods glanced at her, recognising that her mental state in the video was not in a good place which meant this wasn't likely to end well.

"The last?" Ryan asked quietly, he winced as he realised, he'd actually spoken out loud having not meant to break the tense silence. The Doctor's face was carefully schooled blank, briefly glancing at the Master and then at Martha and Jack before turning to answer Ryan's question.

"This was before I knew that Gallifrey hadn't been surprised and I'd witnessed the Master die not too long before. As far as I was aware back then I was the only one left, and I'd just lost Rose, Martha, Mickey, Jack and Donna in one go so I'd been travelling on my own for a while. My mental state wasn't in a good place. I can freely admit that, I don't do well on my own after things like that." She refused to meet anyone's eyes, her hands fidgeting as the shame started to overwhelm her. She had no excuses for the mess that was about to happen, she'd allowed herself to wallow in her misery instead of doing something about it and it had led to one of the biggest regrets of her life. She'd given into the madness that lingered in her mind and ended up like the Master, which never gave her a good feeling.

The Doctor arrives at Section F and tells Mia to take the sealant and fix the leak and then Yuri to open the emergency oxygen. He continues saying the dome still has integrity, ten feet of steel-combination from Liverpool, brilliant workmanship

"Not as good as Yorkshire steel." Yaz tried to joke, hoping for a positive response from the Doctor who seemed to keep curling in on herself with every passing minute. No such luck.

Adelaide says it cannot be stopped and he shouldn't die with them. The Doctor argues that he was told recently by someone that he was going to die, and they will knock four times which means it isn't now that he dies as no one is knocking

The Doctor grimaced in memory of how the Ood's prophecy/words had lingered over her. Pinstripes had been so scared of death, whereas Chinny and Eyebrows had last longed for it. She wasn't sure where she stood anymore. She no longer held Pinstripe's fear, but her time in the movie room with her friends and family surrounding her had also helped deal with the lingering desire for the end.

Eyebrow's regrets had lingered into her current regeneration, as they tended to, which hadn't helped to begin with but her time with her friends had helped her at least push it away, until the Master's revelations and her time alone in the prison cell. The prison cell had given her far too much time alone with her thoughts which was never good for someone as old as her, being so old only meant she had more regrets and mistakes than most, and they tended to be the thoughts you lingered on when you were alone.

"They?" The Master asked, eyes sharp and dark as he glared at the Doctor until she met his gaze. He knew logically that the Doctor must have regenerated not too long after his 'revival' and trip back to Gallifrey but he didn't know any details (which always frustrated him).

The Doctor hesitated, but did give in under the weight of his gaze, "The Ood. They told me that he will knock four time and I'd die, and you know what Pinstripes was like. Overly dramatic and far too vain, he was scared of death." She tried to act nonchalant, eager to distract from the details of that particular regeneration, it had been a messy one and not all too pleasant to remember between the Master and Gallifrey. The Master gave her a dark look that told her he knew exactly what she was doing but for once didn't pry any further, likely far too eager to see what she was about to do onscreen, he had always loved her darker moments.

Andy hits the bulkhead door three times and the Doctor says that is all he is getting before electrifying the bulkhead as water and electricity are a bad mix

"Smart." River nodded, "Though I doubt it would stop them for long." She had edged closer to her wife in anticipation as she felt dread curl in her stomach. Whatever mistake the Doctor kept referring to. It was about to happen and she had a good guess as to what it involved., and she wanted to be close for the inevitable fallout.

Adelaide argues there is no way to fight them, the Doctor proposes heat as it worked against the Ice Warriors and should work against the flood. He tells them to ramp up the environmental controls and steam them

"Good tip for fighting aliens on Mars. Heat is usually the answer apparently." Bill joked, thinking back to her own trip to Mars with the Victorian explorers and Ice Warriors.

Adelaide reminds him he said they died for the future and human race

"Not really the time to break that to Yuri and Mia." Rory winced, feeling sympathetic for the pair. That was the last thing you wanted to hear when you were in serious trouble – that it didn't matter what you did as you were going to die anyway, but don't worry! It's better for the human race! Yeah, that wasn't exactly comforting after everything they'd been through.

DOCTOR: Yes, because there are laws. There are Laws of Time. Once upon a time there were people in charge of those laws, but they died. They all died. Do you know who that leaves? Me! It's taken me all these years to realise the Laws of Time are mine, and they will obey me!

There was silence in the room, tension heavy in the air, as the group slowly all turned their eyes to land on the Doctor who was curled up on herself, head on her knees. Jack tried to reach out to put a comforting hand on her knee but she flinched away. Even those that hadn't seen the Doctor like that before or hadn't known Pinstripes recognised that the Doctor on screen was unstable. As much as the thought hurt; they couldn't help but think that when the Doctor gave into her madness like that it was so much easier to see how the Master and her ad ever been friends.

"Doctor ..." Jack spoke softly, not reaching out again despite the way his hand twitched as if he wanted to do so. His time travelling as a Time Agent, with the Doctor and on his own had given him a vast knowledge of the universe and experiences that most never got, and he could understand all too well what the Doctor was feeling but he also knew how dangerous both those ideas and the Doctor themselves was.

The Doctor's head shot up, eyes dark and face angry as she went on the defensive like an injured animal that had been cornered. "What, Jack?! Want to tell me that I was wrong, that I was stupid and that the consequences for trying to change a fixed point like this aren't horrific?! You think I don't know that! You think I don't know exactly how dangerous that was! How stupid it was! I regret it! I regret not leaving as soon as I could! I regret everything about that day! But most importantly I regret that they died and I could do nothing! That I went against everything I stood for because I was selfish and needed a win! So, what are you going to say Harkness? I already know the consequences of my choices and I'll always have to live with them ..." The Doctor broke off, her anger fizzing out as soon as it had started only to be replaced with anguish.

Jack's face was impossibly sad and sympathetic which only served to make the Doctor feel worse. "No Doctor. You know better than anyone the consequences, you just need to learn to actually live with them. I get where you are, more than most ever could. We see such horrible things sometimes out there and we only want to help people, that's not wrong." He was struggling to try and articulate what he wanted to say, he glanced at River for help.

"You were trying to save them Sweetie. That's not wrong, it's never wrong to try and help. You just went about it the wrong way, but you weren't in a good place mentally and you recognise that. You know what you're like on your own which is why you travel with people, you have your ways to cope with everything, you recognise your triggers and try to deal with them and that's half the battle sometimes. We all have bad days, love. It's just that a bad day for us can have large consequences for others if we're not careful." River tried to comfort her wife, heart aching as she recognised how this day had been eating away at the Doctor. The way the Doctor glanced up at her, eyes shining, made her look so much younger than she was. Recognising the honesty in her eyes, the Doctor glanced around the room, expecting disgust and horror from the group, only to find understanding and sympathy. It eased some weight in her heart that she hadn't even noticed had been weighing her down for years.

The Master broke the peaceful moment. He chuckled, arm thrown casually over the back of his armchair and one leg crossed over the other, a picture of causal arrogance. "Well, I for once, love it when you're like this dear. The madness looks so beautiful on you." The Doctor shivered at his purr, head snapping away and back to the screen, she didn't want to deal with him, she couldn't deal with him right now.

"Shut up!" Jack snapped at the Master, several others glaring angrily alongside him.

"Oh, but isn't she just beautiful when she gives in to the darkness, Captain? Shows you we aren't so different after all." The Master kept going, unrepentant and enjoying himself far too much.

Jack practically snarled, ready to lunge over and punch him again. He likely would have if the Doctor hadn't garbed him by the elbow, holding him back despite how light the touch was. She shook her head at him, a wordless 'he's not worth it', that Jack wanted to ignore but a stern look from River cooled his anger for the moment even as the Master kept chuckling. Another time.

Alarms sound and the controls spark as Adelaide says the environmental controls are down and she's sorry but history has other ideas

"She's accepted it." Rose muttered sadly. The sight on screen wasn't pretty – the Doctor giving into his madness, a Captain accepting death, and the two remaining members of crew slowly dying.

"No." The Doctor shook her head which felt heavy with guilt and regret, "She just understand the weight of history and time."

The Doctor declares he isn't beaten yet and he'll go outside to find the heat regulator but his spacesuit helmet is broken, he repeats his words saying they have spacesuits in the next section. Water starts pouring in the ceiling

No one spoke up even as they all thought the same – the situation was only worsening and the ending was inevitable so despite the Doctor's words the group certainly was beaten. They also didn't want to mention how unnerving the Doctor on screen was, especially when they glanced at the Doctor in the room with them who just looked so sad as she watched her past self.

The Doctor says they aren't just fighting the Flood, but time itself and he will win. Maggie is in the water extraction module and makes a high-pitched noise, the glacier starts to crack

"What is she doing?" Donna asked bewildered, there was no way for them to get back to Earth now so why were they still attacking? No one had any answers for her.

Yuri says something is happening at the glacier and the Doctor tries to think about what they have – not much is the answer. He asks what is in Section F and Yuri tells him it is just storage. The Doctor asks wat is stored and leaps onto the atom clamps when mentioned, he asks who needs them and then declares he loves a funny robot

"Hypocrite." Martha rolled her eyes fondly at the Doctor's turn in attitude towards robots, it seemed he had a plan.

The Doctor opens the unit to reveal Gadget, he puts on the auto-remote gloves after giving it something to hold

"How is gadget going to help?" Ryan asked confused, he was a bit fond of the robot at this point (as well as very curious about how it worked) but he couldn't figure out what the Doctor's plan was.

"And what did you give it?" Mickey added with a nod at Ryan. The Doctor just gave a sad smile at the pair before waving at the screen in answer.

Adelaide presses a button on the computer keyboard and the monitor lights up with warning. The Doctor steers Gadget through fire and water as the computer declares it is implementing Captain's protocols. The Doctor asks what she is doing

"What she needs to." Amy grimaced, recognising the steel and determination in the captain's eyes. The Doctor had told her exactly what was supposed to happen and with no way off the planet and unknown threats incoming she was going to do what she was supposed to do.

Mia realises it is Action Five and the Doctor says he will fight her too if needed. The countdown starts at 100 as the nuclear device is primed and active

"Not a lot of time." Rory muttered, 100 seconds wasn't long for the Doctor to attempt whatever plan they had in mind and get out of there.

Gadget zooms forward across the sands of Mars as the infected people add their voices to the sonic cracking the glacier. Gadget reaches the Tardis

"Oh!" Ryan realised exactly what the Doctor's plan was, feeling a bit stupid for not figuring it out earlier. "You gave Gadget the key to the Tardis." The Doctor nodded once; expression schooled blank as she watched the last part of the disaster unfold on screen.

Gadget raises the key to the Tardis lock and the Doctor declares they are in as the countdown reaches 43

The room was tense, several people bouncing in their seats as time ticked quickly down. It had taken Gadget a while to reach the Tardis, how long would it take for the Doctor to get it to work the Tardis to pick them up? Clearly the Doctor had succeeded as she hadn't been killed in a nuclear blast on Mars but it must have been tight.

The Doctor uses Gadget to set the Tardis controls and it starts to materialise in the area as the countdown gets low. It reaches 0 and Bowie Base One explodes

The group watched the base blow up in a spectacular explosion, unable to hold back winces as they thought about the six people that they knew for sure were dead - a mystery that Earth would apparently never solve. There thoughts couldn't help but linger on the last three remaining; they knew the Doctor had to survive but surely, they hadn't just abandoned the other three even if they were supposed to die.

The Tardis materialises on a snow-covered street on Earth, the Doctor leads Adelaide, Mia, Yuri and Gadget out

The group let out a breath, glad the three had survived although confused and worried. A fixed point was serious and the Doctor had just messed with one, there was no way there weren't going to be consequences.

The Doctor asks if anyone is going to thank him

The Doctor herself winced at that comment, scowling at her past self on screen. It was such an arrogant thing to say – she'd gone against everything she stood for and was just acting like she hadn't gone insane and done something terrible. A small part of her still couldn't help but be proud that she had saved them, unsure she could have dealt with the guilt of just leaving them behind even though she knew she should have. The guilt for the effects of her decision was heavier though.

Gadget shuts down and the Doctor explains he lost his signal and doesn't know where he is. Adelaide realises they are outside her house and the Doctor tells them it's the same day – 21st November 2059 on Earth, and it's snowing

"That is going to be very hard to explain." Rose winced, feeling sympathetic for the three. It had been hard to explain where she'd disappeared to for a year the first time she'd gone with the Doctor. These three would have to explain what had happened to the base and the rest of the crew, and the Doctor showing up and saving them in the Tardis, that wasn't going to be fun.

"That's an understatement." Bill snorted. "How can they explain getting back on the same day their base exploded despite the shuttle also exploding which should have stranded them on Mars. Let alone the nine-month journey which they accomplished in less than an hour or so." She didn't mention that half the crew was also now missing (dead).

"They've got to hope UNIT is still around for when they mention the Doctor." Rory grimaced, they'd likely not have any joy in explaining everything unless UNIT got involved once the word Doctor was mentioned and cleared everything up/sweep it under the rug. Though the public would likely want to know too, that was going to be a giant mess for someone to deal with.

Mis asks what the Tardis is and who the hell he is, running away from them

"Fair reaction after the day they've had." Mickey nodded. "I can relate." After all he'd run away the first time he'd been faced with the Doctor too, and look at him now.

Adelaide tells Yuri to look after her, and Yuri runs after Mia

"Good idea." Martha nodded approvingly, it was safer to have someone with Mia after everything that had happened to them, it wouldn't be good if she was on her own and started going through shock.

Adelaide declares he saved them

"She doesn't exactly sound thankful." Yaz frowned, Adelaide's tone ringing all the wrong bells in the back of her head. Something was still very wrong here; the Doctor's grimace only made the dread curl tighter around her.

The Doctor tells her to think about it, she can see her daughter and granddaughter again. Adelaide argues she is supposed to be dead and the Doctor says not anymore

"Because you meddled with a fixed point." Graham clarified. Many of the newer companions were still a bit unsure on why that was such a bad thing, they got the whole 'certain things are supposed to happen and you can't change them' thing but this seemed good – the three of them had survived and could go home to their families. Yes, they shouldn't be alive and things had been altered and there would be a mess to explain to the public, but they were alive and (if they were believed) people would know what had happened on Mars.

The Doctor nodded; expression blank as she recognised Graham's confusion. "Just watch." She managed to choke out solemnly. Those more familiar with the consequences of fixed-point alteration shared concerned glances.

Adelaide continues saying her granddaughter, Susie, may not become the person she is supposed to now

"You potentially altered the course of human history." Bill realised; eyes wide as she linked that thought with every movie she'd watched about similar ideas – those had never ended well. The Doctor managed a small fond smile as she recognised where Bill's train of thought had gone; it wouldn't give her the exact right idea thinking about those movies made by unknowing humans but it would give her an idea of the weight of the Doctor's mistake.

The Doctor waves her off saying she can inspire Susie in person now, the story stays the same with some different details. Adelaide declares he can't know that and if her family changes, the whole history can, including the future of the human race. She says no one should have that much power

"No one should." The Doctor agreed, a silent almost promise hidden in her words. Adelaide had recognised that immediately but it had only hit the Doctor what she had done after Adelaide's choice.

"But you do know that. You know it won't completely alter human history, right?" Ryan asked, a bit more uncertain as he finished his sentence.

"Yes, like I said. The details will change but the idea stays the same, you still make it out into the stars. But her point still stands; no one should have that power." The Doctor was solemn and serious. Maybe there was a reason Gallifrey had been so firm on the rules for no interference; if they had Time Lords interfering left, right and centre it wasn't hard to believe one would eventually go rogue and completely alter everything.

Adelaide declares he should have left them there

The group all winced at that. They understood Adelaide's reasoning and the logic of it, she was right after all, but it was still a horrible thing to say and to suggest. Especially, as it wasn't only her life the Doctor saved.

The Doctor says he's done this kind of thing before, he's saved some little people but not someone as important as her, he's impressed with how good he is. Adelaide isn't happy with the term little people, saying like Mia and Yuri, and asking if it's him who decides they're so unimportant

"No. No, no, no." The Doctor rapidly shook her head, eyes closed. "That wasn't what I meant. No one is unimportant. Everyone is important to someone." She desperately tried to clarify, much saner than her counterpart on screen but Adelaide could not hear her.

The Doctor declares that he thought he was just a survivor for a long time, but he's really the winner – the Time Lord Victorious.

"No. No I'm not." The Doctor glared at the screen, she just wanted this to be over with now. She didn't think she could deal with watching her past-self much longer before she tried to figure out a way to cross timelines and punch him. She quickly buried the thought that her past-self was wrong in several ways – ones she never could have known at the time.

Adelaide says there is no one to stop him

"There's us." Donna declared; eyes serious in promise as the Doctor gave her a thankful look. There was a reason she always travelled with people, a reason she chose her companions carefully, they had to be able to stop her after all.

"And we're not going anywhere." Yaz offered her own promise, face determined as she looked to the Doctor who nodded her thanks.

Adelaide continues that it is wrong and she doesn't care who he is, but he's wrong. The Doctor declares that's for him to decide and she better go home. He realises it is locked up as she'd been away but quickly fixes it by using his sonic screwdriver to open it

"Always the sonic." Clara shook her head, going for the age-old strategy of humour to deal with the tension.

"Well, it's not like she had her keys!" The Doctor protested, thankful for Clara's attempts to distract her even if it didn't work so well.

Adelaide asks if there is nothing he can't do, and the Doctor says not anymore

"Oh, there's a lot this idiot can't do!" Donna announced, everyone quickly latched onto her words in an attempt to distract themselves and comfort the Doctor, offering their own suggestions for things the Doctor couldn't do.

"They can't dance."

"Definitely can't be undramatic."

"Terrible with social cues."

"Horrible fashion choices."

"Don't get me started on their taste in food."

"They're a right idiot sometimes."

"Hey!" The Doctor gave out feeble protests, almost glowing with the joy of her friends and family not hating her for her mistakes. She's been so scared that they'd turn away from her after seeing this, but she should have known better, they were a family and that meant dealing with each other's trauma and helping each other cope. Maybe the Tardis had the right idea with making them watch these videos, it would give them the chance to support each other and actually communicate for once in their lives. Teach them to deal with their trauma instead of brush it aside.

Adelaide goes inside, closing the door and drawing her gun. Outside we hear a shot and see the blast light up the window. The Doctor spins around and in his mind, the historical record changes Adelaide's place of death from Mars to Earth but her granddaughter still goes into space. Adelaide's words about the Time Lord Victorious being wrong reverberates in his head

The nicer atmosphere in the room plummeted instantly as the group recognised what Adelaide had done. A few let out a small breath at seeing that history remained largely unaltered, with Susie still going into space even.

River reached out silently to grab the Doctor's hand and squeeze it tightly, knowing that Adelaide's death had to have hit the Doctor hard. They would certainly blame themselves, and in some way, they did have a large hand in Adelaide's fate having altered a fixed point enough that fate decided to step in and ensure Adelaide's death. But at the end of the day, it had still been Adelaide's choice, not that it was necessarily a wrong one from Adelaide's view as she knew she was supposed to die for the better of humanity but it was a hard situation.

A few people in the group couldn't help but quietly think that the Doctor had altered it all for the better; at least this way Yuri and Mia survived and Erath got to learn what had happened on Mars as well as the potential danger there, and they still made the same path into space as before. But no one was going to voice that thought. They recognised that the main issue with this video (and likely the reason they'd been shown it) was the Doctor's precarious mental state and the idea of fixed points.

The Doctor turns to see an Ood look at him, he says he has gone too far, and asks if it is time, is it his death?

"Just about." The Doctor whispered quietly to herself. It wasn't long at all after this that the Master was revived and she ended up ding to save Wilf – a decision she had never regretted despite her dramatics at the time. She was thankful no one had heard her, all too focused on the last moments of the video.

The Doctor falls to his knees as the Ood vanishes. After a moment he gets up and gets in the Tardis, the cloister bells toll and the Doctor says no

The Doctor's denial and tone on screen gained the Doctor in the room many confused and concerned looks, it was a stark change to have the Doctor so firmly denying the idea of their death compared to the two regenerations they'd seen on screen. But no one wanted to poke that with a stick just yet, all wanting a bit of a moment to breath after the mess of that video.

The Doctor glanced around the room, waiting for someone to speak, to say anything quite frankly. She was thankful when Amy finally broke the silence several moments later, "So that's why you were so fixed on dying at Lake Silencio." She started, glancing at River and Rory before turning back to the Doctor, "You had experience with fixed points enough to know you couldn't avoid it so you gave in."

"Yes." The Doctor admitted, not quite liking how Amy phrased it but not wanting to fight about it.

"But you still got around it. So that's at least two fixed points you've altered." Amy continued.

"That's not a good thing!" The Doctor protested, not seeing Amy's point at all now.

"It means, idiot, that things don't go completely to disaster when you mess with fixed points so stop worrying." Amy gave her a stern look.

"You still shouldn't do it." The Doctor argued, mostly because she could but also to try and get the point across. Just because the universe hadn't burned down (and the time it had collapsed they'd fixed it) didn't mean it was something you should just casually do. He didn't like that spark in Amy's eyes; things never went well when she got ideas like that.

The Doctor glanced around the room again, able to feel the tension slowly leaking out of the room as they caught their breaths after that video. "One more and then a break?" She offered, it wasn't as many videos as they normally dd between breaks but they were stressful ones and she had an odd feeling the next one wasn't going to be great either. Seeing the round of agreeing nods she received she turned back to the screen expectantly, anticipation building as they waited to see what they'd be shown next.