‘See, I told you had a knack for finding people’ the Doctor said, turning to his companions.
‘We need your help.’ said Amy, ‘Someone told us that you could possibly help us. Please, please say you can help us. Pretty, please.’
‘I would be happy to help you, but what do you actually want?’ said Aymar.
‘We want to talk to you about your great grandfather.’ replied the Doctor.
Aymar quivered at the mention of his great grandfather and did not respond immediately. He too looked around to see if anyone was watching before responding.
‘You better come inside, quickly through here.’ Aymar ushered the trio through a small wooden door.
Far above them in the sky, Dishi watched them enter, satisfied that the next part of his plan had been successful. He had followed them from above in his flying transporter.
Amy put her hand to her nose to protect herself from the stench pervading in the small house. It was a sweaty, musky smell. She was surprised to find that there were so many people in the house. She tried to count them all, but gave ups after reaching 16.
There were only two adjoining rooms in the house and each person seemed to be allocated their own space, which was marked out by lines on the metal floor. Amy estimated each area to be about 2 metre long and one metre wide. What was interesting was that each member of the family was doing something different in their space. Some were sleeping on a bed; some were eating food at a table; some were watching a TV screen while sitting on a sofa; while others seemed to be working on desk workstations.
She watched in astonishment as one of the boys in the family, who had been sitting on a sofa watching a TV screen, stood up and pressed a button on what looked like a remote control. Immediately the TV screen, which was attached to the sofa by an extendable arm, folded back into the left armrest of the sofa, which in turn disappeared into a hole in the metal floor. A desk and chair then emerged from the floor to take its place. The boy wasn’t pleased by this change and seemed to have pressed the wrong button. He pressed another button and this time the desk and chair disappeared into the floor and a small bed extended out of the wall instead. Three clear, perspex walls also appeared to enclose the boy’s area. This time the boy was happy with his choice and decided to lie down on the bed and go to sleep. As he did this the clear, perspex walls darkened to block any light coming in.
Aymar led them down through the maze of these customisable, personal areas until they reached what looked like a common area.
‘Ooh, it’s so congested in here and if you don’t mind me saying, what a pong! How do you all live in such a small house?’ said Amy.
‘This is how we’ve always lived here.’ said Aymar, ‘As you can see, we are not rich. We didn’t originate from the affluent eastern Earth families, but from the destitute western ones. That is why we live in this small house at the edge of the colony.’
‘But why are there so many of you?’ asked the Doctor.
‘We have 27 members of our family living here. Seven of our family members are over 20 and need constant supervision. We have six married couples who are between the ages of 16 and 20 and that leaves only eight of us under 16 to go and work to support the family. As the youngest, I am the head of the household and it is my responsibility to ensure the well-being of my family, until one of my younger brothers, sisters or cousins are ready to leave the newborn care centre.
‘Newborn care centres?’ wondered Rory.
‘All the babies are kept in care centres for three years, where they are given the love, affection, knowledge, interactions and environments to develop their minds at a rapid pace. When they reach three, they are at the peak of their brain power and take up all the senior roles in society such as politicians, traders, lawyers, headmasters, doctors, etc. ‘explained Aymar.
‘And so Aymar, what do you do for a living?’ asked the Doctor.
‘I also have a position of responsibility. A job that is very important to the smooth running of our society. I have total accountability for the sewage system.’
‘Ahh, the cornerstone of every successful civilisation, the sewage system, but it’ll hardly leave you smelling of roses, will it? What will be the next job you can expect to move onto?’
‘As we grow older, from 7 to 9, we go down the managerial ladder and do supporting roles to our younger superiors. I can expect to step down and do the more managerial tasks. Between 9 and 15, our people do normal everyday jobs such as teachers, programmers, nurses, farmers, engineers, tailors, builders, entertainers etc. I expect that I will probably do the more menial tasks like clearing blockages and general plumbing activities. Finally when I am 16, I hope to find a wife and settle down and have some children, so that they can look after us when we hit the dreaded 20’s. ‘
‘What happens then?’ enquired Amy.
‘We go to school to try and extend our brain power as best we can, while our children take up senior positions in society and look after us as we grow older. There is a strong emphasis on family in our society. That is why we have three generations living together in this house, sharing food, space and generally looking after each other. We may not have much but at least we are happy.’
‘Does your great grandfather live with you?’ questioned Rory.
‘He used to until a few years ago when he passed away at the grand old age of 63. People usually die here in their late thirties to early forties. The biggest miracle of all was that my great grandfather was as intelligent as I am today until the day he died. He did not need to go to school or be looked after. Unfortunately this made him a bit of a freak in this society and he was generally excluded from most things.’
‘But what happened to him to make him like that?’ asked Amy.
‘According to him, he found the fabled “Fountain of Maturity” in a cave. He drank from it and he claimed that it kept his brain working normally.’
‘That sounds exactly what we need. Did your great grandfather ever reveal where he found this fountain?’ said the Doctor.
‘No he didn’t and frankly I am glad about that. I wouldn’t ever want to end up being treated like he was. People here were so cruel to him and often made fun of him. I’m glad his secret died with him.’
‘There must be something. I am sure he would have left you some clue to where these caves were.’ said the Doctor.
‘Sorry, nothing.’ replied Aymar.
‘Do you have any of his personal belongings?’
‘The only thing he left me was his compass which he always carried with him.’
‘May I look at it?’
‘Sure, I’ll go and fetch it for you.’
Aymar went to the other side of the common area, where one of his cousins was working on a computer. He opened the desk drawer and pulled out a rather worn-out, old compass. He passed it to the Doctor who casually opened it. Just as he did this, the Doctor started to feel something happening inside him. He immediately held his head in agony and inadvertently let go of the compass. The compass fell onto the metal floor and its casing cracked from the impact. It now lay in several pieces on the floor.
~~~
'Doctor, what’s wrong?’ asked Rory.
‘I keep telling you Rory that my mind is reverting back in time.’ the Doctor replied, ‘I must however apologise to Aymar as I may have broken his great grandfather’s compass.’
Rory and Amy both noticed how the Doctor seemed to be placing an unnatural emphasis on the ‘r’ sound, when he spoke.
‘Why is he speaking like every “r” is repeated?’ whispered Amy to Rory.
‘This must be some of the weirdness he warned us about,’ replied Rory under his breath.
The Doctor immediately picked up all the pieces of the compass and to his surprise, he found a folded parchment of paper that had been placed carefully inside the compass case. He unfolded the paper to find some circles and numbers that have been drawn on it randomly.
‘Very interesting.’ the Doctor reached for his spectacles in the inside pocket of his tweed jacket and put them on to take a closer look. Aymar, Rory and Amy flanked the Doctor to see what was written on the paper.
‘I can’t believe this was hidden in the compass.’ said Aymar, ‘The pattern must have some meaning. What do these many circles represent and what are these numbers?’
‘That’s a very difficult question.’ said the Doctor in deep thought, as if he was calculating several chess moves ahead.
‘Doctor, I may be wrong but this reminds me of the scene we were looking at when we first arrived. You know, when I was holding hands with Rory.’ said Amy.
‘Gross!’ remembered Rory.
‘Actually, she’s right Rory. The circles represent the six suns on this planet and if I’m not mistaken then the numbers must be a date. Aymar, can I use your friend’s computer?’ asked the Doctor.
‘Yes, of course.’ replied Aymar, while waving away his elder cousin from the desk.
The Doctor in-putted some values for the numbers into the computer and suddenly the six suns of Guangzongshi appeared as 3D holograms in the room.
‘These are the positions of the six suns on this planet. Now, I just need to extrapolate where on the planet would the six suns have appeared in these positions on that precise date.’ explained the Doctor.
The Doctor keyed in some more data and the holographic image now displayed a map of the planet. The Doctor pressed a few more buttons and the planet rotated and zoomed in on a particular spot on the surface of the planet.
‘That’s it! That’s where we will find the Fountain of Maturity. That’s where we need to go. Amy, note down the co-ordinates. Aymar, go and find a map of Guangzongshi and Rory, you...oh never mind.’
‘Doctor, I can tell that those co-ordinates are in the Blue Mountains about 500km from here. You won’t be able to get there on foot. I can fly you there in my family’s old transporter. I’ll get the map.’ said Aymar.
‘That’s very kind of you, how long will it take us to....aaah, not again!’ said the Doctor. This time his whole body convulsed in pain as he fell onto his back.
~~~
The Doctor instantly sat back up and opened his eyes wide as if to get re-accustomed to his surroundings.
‘Doctor, are you okay?’ asked Rory.
‘Okay? Okay?’ the Doctor paused and then suddenly shouted, ‘Okay? Of course I’m “O” “K”. Were you expecting me to be anything else but Okay? Now Aymar, where is this transporter of yours? We must make haste; there isn’t a moment to lose.’
‘I have the map here, Doctor. This is a very treacherous area and even worse, those caves are the home of the “HuHows”. They are large, carnivorous beasts that are known for setting devious traps to catch their prey.
‘If they are like giant lemurs that yawn at you, then I think we have already met them. They’re so creepy.’ said Amy.
‘Yes, that’s them but they don’t usually come anywhere near the colony, unless of course they get a scent of the HuHow flower.’ added Aymar.
‘You mean it was no accident that we were attacked. I can’t wait to get my hands on whoever it was that gave Rory that flower.’ seethed Amy.
‘We’ll need to be very careful not to set off any of their traps.’ warned Aymar.
‘Yes, we will need to use plenty of shrewdness and guile. Fortunately, I am blessed with both.’ declared the Doctor.
‘That’s a total joke, what are you going to do? Negotiate with them?’ mocked Amy.
‘Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood; follow your spirit and upon this charge; cry “God” for Rory, Amy and the Doctor!’ the Doctor exclaimed.
Aymar led them into the back courtyard, where they found a small, metal flying car that had rusted so much that it was no longer apparent what its original colour may have been.