Adelaide Brooke

"Damn you."

- Adelaide to The Doctor

Captain Adelaide Brooke (born 12th May, 1999 - died 21st November, 2059) was a short-lived companion of the the Doctor. She was head of Bowie Base One on Mars in the late 2050s. In the year 2059, the base came under siege by a water-based entity called the Flood. (DW: The Waters of Mars)

Early Life
Adelaide was born in Finchley, North London on 12 May 1999. She was a child during the Daleks' abduction and invasion of Earth in 2009. Her father told her to stay in the house while he searched for her mother, but neither of her parents were ever seen again (possibly becoming victims of the Daleks' Reality bomb test) and were presumed dead. The young Adelaide was spotted by a lone Dalek, but it deliberately spared her. The event inspired Adelaide to go into space travel. She was later raised by her grandmother. (DW: The Waters of Mars)


 * The Doctor believed the Dalek recognised her as she was a "fixed" point in history.



Establishment of a colony on Mars
She studied at Cambridge University, and achieved a first honours degree in combined Physics and Mathematics. She transferred to Rice University in 2017, where she earned her doctorate degree in Physics. Following her fellowship at Rice, she began working at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Despite her young age, she would be selected by NASA to head Project Pit Stop, establishing a refuelling base on the moon.

At the age of 42 (presumably in the year 2041), she was part of a three-man mission to Mars. She was the first woman to land on the planet. Afterwards, she would push hard for Martian colonisation.

In 2058, when Adelaide was now a mother, and a grandmother, she led an international team to Mars, the first Human colony on the planet. She found fame on Earth as a result. She had contact with Earth due to video link. (DW: The Waters of Mars)

Meeting the Doctor
In 2059, after the first 17 months of success, two of her crew were taken over by the Flood. At that very same moment, the Doctor had arrived at Bowie Base One. She tried to contain the infection, and after realising this was impossible, ordered the evacuation of the base. Adelaide soon became suspicious of the Doctor's actions and comments, especially the mention of how her granddaughter would follow her into space travel and Human history would be shaped by the Brookes. She eventually forced him to tell her the truth: Bowie Base One was going to be destroyed, and the crew killed. As this was a "fixed" point in time, he could not save her.

While she struggled desperately to save the colonists, when the Doctor returned to help she became resigned to detonating the base. However, the Doctor successfully saved her, Mia Bennett, and Yuri Kerenski, returning them all to Earth. Realising that her survival would alter her granddaughter's life and thus Human history, she became angry with the Doctor, especially after he arrogantly dismissed the problem and referred to her fellow survivors as "little people". In order to get the timeline back on track, she committed suicide. (DW: The Waters of Mars)

Legacy
Her granddaughter, Susie Fontana Brooke, would be inspired by her memory and go into space. Piloting the first lightspeed ship to Proxima Centuri. The rest of her family would follow as well, with one descendant falling in love with a Trandorian prince and creating a new species. (DW: The Waters of Mars)

But, as shown at the end of The Waters of Mars, the timeline was still incorrect, as Adelaide died on Earth, there were two survivors but her granddaughter still carried on her with grandmothers legacy.

Behind the Scenes and Trivia

 * Adelaide is one of only a few companions to die and the second to die without being "reborn" somehow in the new series (such as Captain Jack or Astrid Peth).
 * Adelaide is one of the oldest companions the Doctor has had.
 * Adelaide is the first companion to commit suicide.
 * Adelaide went to the same university as Liz Shaw did.
 * The character's full name was not revealed until the episode aired.