Glasgow Water Riots

Author: Jillybean

AN: It struck me – my one hundredth fic just had to be about my city, didn’t it?

AN2: For James.

I know this place.

Standing on the streets, I glanced down the long, baked stretch of cement and sandstone. No doubt about it, I was on Earth.

But where? And when?

Two students belted past me, screaming and shouting, waving their fists in the air as they sprinted up the hill. I stepped back, wondering what they were all about. A few years ago, I would have waited to find out. Right now I just wanted passage off this rock. Judging by the stretching skyscrapers growing out from the older buildings, I was in one of Earth’s more sophisticated time periods.

A niggling voice in my head suggested that I should probably get checked out by a medic.

“Hey!” One of the students halted his flight, stumbling towards me. “What the fuck are you doing?”

I blinked. Maybe not so sophisticated then.

“Come on, you eejit!” He grabbed my hand and pulled sharply.

And so I was running again. My feet thudded against the sticky tar, why was it so hot here? Lungs protesting, I tried to slow up as we reached the top of the hill, turning to see what exactly we were running from.

“Don’t stop!” My saviour exclaimed, grabbing my hand again to try and pull me on, but he too was stilled by the sight that greeted our eyes.

A huge battalion of armed police, hiding behind self-containing forcefields, marching forward like some huge, misshapen turtle.

“What the Hell is that?” I exclaimed.

“No time!”

I didn’t protest as he dragged me over a patch of dead, dry grass. We vaulted over a granite bench and followed his friend into a dark, circular building.

“Where-” I was shushed before I could start. My new friend tugged me through a maze of dusty old desks, pulling me to the ground as the doors opened.

Lying on the threadbare carpet, I got a chance to look at him as he pressed a finger to his lips. Sandy blonde hair and dark brown eyes, he seemed tanned and quite fit. Okay, so it had been a while, but I could see muscles underneath his sweat stained t-shirt.

The smell of unwashed man, old used carpets, and stale air was suffocating me as we wriggled under the desk. Our three bodies pressed close together as torch light played over the wall.

“Shall we get the infra red?” A voice gravelled, barely a few feet away.

“The heat’d interfere,” a second replied. “Come on. They’ll have buggered off by now anyway.”

I listened as their heavy boots arched away, feeling my heart beat in my mouth, my stomach flip-flopping. When I heard the doors close I counted to ten, before I opened my mouth to speak.

“Hi, I’m Rose.”

My new friend grinned at me, a smudge of dirt on his cheek. “Nice to meet you Rose, I’m James.”

James and his friend Chris were students apparently. And I was hiding out in the old Glasgow University buildings. Before the water riots.

Again, ‘apparently’. I had no idea what he was going out and I got the impression that if I told him I had just slipped through an inter-dimensional portal from the Pegasus galaxy he wouldn’t believe me.

Earth. The year 200,000. The date niggled in the back of my head.

“This is Hillhead,” James told me as we walked down what should have been a busy street. The cars were covered with a thick layer of dirt and the people were hanging around in the doorways of closed shops.

“Must have been some party,” James grinned at me. “If you can’t remember how you got here.”

“Oh it was,” I raised an eyebrow. Not the kind of party he was thinking of.

“Anyway,” James came to a stop outside the door leading up to an old tenement building. He typed in his key and then flung his weight against the faded green door to get it to open. “Where are you from?”

“Everywhere.” I followed him into the dark hallway, where it was only mildly cooler than it was outside. “I travel a lot.”

“Aye?” James waited for Chris to shuffle past him before he closed the door again, in much the same way he’d opened it. “Well I was born in Glasgow, and my Dad worked in the hydro plant all his life.”

“The . . . hydro plant?” Something clicked in my head. Water Riots, Glasgow, 200,000 – Platform Five.

“Aye, the one that’s on strike?” James hesitated, a fleeting expression of curiosity passing over his face. “Where are you from, Rose?”

“The past,” I admitted, sticking my hands in my pockets. “But also the future. I was in another galaxy the last time I checked.”

Chris and James stared at me.

“Just answer me this,” I held up my hand to stall their questions. “How long have the riots been going on?”

“We’re into week two,” James said.

He must have seen something in my face, because he lunged towards me as I fell to the ground.

“Will she be okay?”

“How the fuck should I know, Chris? What do I look like?”

“Well when are the paramedics gonna get here?”

“Chris . . .”

With some difficulty I opened my eyes. The sun streaming in the yellowed windows was blinding, and this apartment had no curtains. Batchelor pad. Wonderful.

“Oh God she’s alive!” Chris blurted, and I got the fleeting impression of motion as he leapt away from me.

Groaning, I sat up, my neck hurting. “How long was I out?” Kneading my fingers over the nape of my neck, I glanced around the Spartan living arrangements. Looked worse than that Area 51-esque cell the citizens of the Planet Ana-4 had stuck me in. I’d spent some time enjoying their hospitality, until two Frynians crash landed and helped me bust out. We’d celebrated over some whisky, the first time I’d touched the stuff since . . . well. Since him, really.

“A couple of minutes?” James watched me as I swung my legs over the side of the couch. “We called the ambulance but who knows how long it’ll . . .”

Two sharp knocks on the door and a call of “Ambulance!” cut him off.

I watched as he and his friend sheepishly let the green clad medics in. “You don’t have to bother, I’m fine,” I tried to wave them off as they approached.

“Sure you are. Sorry we took so long,” the older male said. “But the hover car’s radiator was fried. We walked instead.” He pinched the skin around my hand and shone a light into my eyes. “Dehydrated.”

“There’s a surprise,” his young colleague winked at me. “I’m Dan and that’s Alfie. What’s your name?”

“Rose Tyler.”

“Been off planet recently?” Dan asked, running a small stick up and down my back.

“Yeah.”

“Huh.” Dan shook the stick, and then showed the display to his mate. “No wonder you conked out.”

Alfie’s grin faded away and he sat back, evidently content to stop running tests on me. “Rose. Is it possible that you could be pregnant?”

Possible? I don’t know. I’ve been abandoned, experimented on, hit on, abused, loved, used and user for so long now that I couldn’t tell you if it was possible. Besides. I haven’t had a period since God knows when, but time travel does that to you.

“Have you been to a doctor?” Alfie continued, raising an eyebrow at me.

“No I haven’t.” I cleared my throat. “I should get an appointment. Shouldn’t I?”

“Yes you should, it would avoid accidents like this. Your blood pressure’s very low and you’re extremely dehydrated. How far along are you?”

“Couple’a years?” I leaned back, enjoying the shock on their faces. “Now if you’ll excuse me gentlemen. I - ” I stood and instantly fell back down, queasiness overcoming me. Black spots danced around the faces before me, teasing me.

“Why don’t we take you back down to the hospital with us?” Dan said, resting a hand on my shoulder. “It might be a good idea to get you checked out properly.”

“You don’t have an ambulance,” I muttered.

“No but it’s only a ten minute walk. Come on.”

I grimaced as they heaved me to my feet, keeping a tight hold on my arms as I was escorted down the dry streets.

“So, Ms Tyler,” Kirsten walked towards me, digital chart in hand. “We have no idea who you are, you can’t tell us your age, nor your medical history and you have no idea when your last period was.” Kirsty set the chart on the bed and folded her arms. “I tested you for drugs.”

“Clean as a whistle,” I faked a smile in her direction.

“Doctor Murdoch wants to speak with you.” Kirsty pulled the dusty curtains to escape outside. “He’ll be here in just a moment.”

“Good for Doctor Murdoch,” I muttered as the nurse left. Shrugging out of the hospital shift I quickly redressed, scanning the data on the pad. It was useless to try and ignore the crazy mish mash of emotions that the results of my scan announced. Pregnancy was something I didn’t need right now . . . something I couldn’t handle. And pregnant with . . . well nine strands of DNA could mean anything. For all I knew I had a plant growing inside of me, and I’d seen it happen. When I hooked up with that Jarall chick, she got impregnated by this huge Venus Fly Trap thing. We’d gone to a hospital somewhere across the galaxy. That was the kind of place I needed to be, not the kind of place where the police were running the streets and they were calling specialist doctors.

Sticking my head outside the curtains, and trying not to sneeze as I brushed past the filthy fabric, I took my chance and escaped into the A & E ward. And who should be sitting on the chairs but James, looking distinctly nervous.

“Rose!” he jumped to his feet, frowning as I hushed and hurried him out of the hospital. “What’s going on?” He asked when we were on the oppressive streets. “Are you okay?”

“Nope.” I frowned, staring up at the azure sky. “Where are all the space ports?”

“You got that much money on you then?” James snapped at me.

It’s at times like this I really wish I’d found my own sonic screwdriver.

“Look, what’s wrong with you?” James rested a hand on my arm. “Are you pregnant?”

“Yes,” something clicked and I smiled prettily at him. “James, could I go back to yours for a bit?”
“You mean Chris’s,” James told me, obviously not fooled by my simpering. “Look I hung around because I was worried about you. You have no idea where you are and you keep asking about really obvious things. I don’t know where you think you’re going but you’re not going to get out of this solar system for anything less than a gold mine.” He stared resolutely at me as I digested this information. “Rose, if you’re pregnant, you’ll be in serious trouble. There’s no water here.”

“Yeah, why is that?”

“The strikes.” James groaned aloud when he saw my clueless look.

“Don’t look at me like that!” I snapped. “As it turns out I missed my one chance to find the father of this child by a few days. He was on Platform Five when it collapsed and I can’t believe I was so close . . .” I hesitated, realising what I’d just said.

“Where is he now?” James asked.

“Hah.”

James stood in the street with me for some time, probably wondering what this strange human girl was doing travelling through time and space.

“You shouldn’t go back to the hospital,” he said at length. “They’ll probably want to dissect you or something. No one likes aliens much at the moment.”

I’ll have to carry to term. Or get an illegal abortion . . . but for Gods sakes how long would that take? I hadn’t . . . not with . . . for a very long time . . .

“I need a place to stay and work.”

“You’ll be lucky.” Sticking his hands in his jeans, James sighed deeply. “You’ve no clue about this place. Everyone in Scotland works, or has family who works in the hydro-plants. And everyone’s on strike. Earth has no clean water and it’s all because of us.” He frowned, staying quiet as two armed police officers strode past. “People are dying because of us.”

“Why are you striking?”

“Because we don’t want to be slaves any more. Before Platform Five did its thing people thought that there was no water shortage; that the workers weren’t dying like flies because they were overworked and underpaid. But now the lid’s been blown off the whole thing.” He ran his hands through his hair. “But there’s no jobs anywhere, Rose. We’re all skint.”

I kicked at a clod of dried earth. “All right then. I guess I’ll have to sneak on board the next flight outta here.” With a sunny smile I shook his hand. “Thanks for everything, James, it’s been real nice.” When did I become such a sarcastic bitch? I was starting to sound like him.

“Rose . . .” he sighed, cutting himself off. “Good luck,” he said seriously.

I didn’t say thanks, though I think it might have been polite. Without much thought or a glance behind me I headed off down the street. He could have been just another blip on my radar, another human in another time. Maybe I would have remembered him, maybe I wouldn’t have.

But as it turns out, he changed my life.