Post by Fitz Kreiner on Apr 23, 2010 23:16:06 GMT
Day one, The Village
Well, as you probably guessed, the black oval thing wasn’t anything serious. We watched it circle round before disappearing behind some of the grander palace things. By this time, it was huge, and I realised what it had to be before anyone said anything; it was a travel pod. See, I get this space stuff.
Rameso looked at the pod before turning to us and bowing. “I’m afraid I must take my leave of you Lord Doctor,” he said bowing slightly. “The Princess Theoris has arrived ahead of schedule. I am sure that you’ll find your way to your accommodation.”
“That’s ok Rameso old chap,” the Doctor said clapping the Anubian on its shoulder, which was somewhere near his head. “You get to what you have to do and we’ll see you tomorrow.”
I watched as Rameso walked purposefully away from us and back towards his council chamber. The Doctor had said that this is what they were which frankly astounded me. These palaces were huge! And each of them counted as an office and home for an Anubian and their family.
“Right then,” the Doctor made me jump by clapping his hands loudly just behind me. “Now we’ve got a little time to ourselves.”
I could feel the prickling at the back of my neck and I shot a quick glance to Tom, who returned it, before looking at the Doctor.
“So, there’s something fishy?” Tom asked. “A serpent in the garden or whatever the simile is?”
“Metaphor,” the Doctor corrected, “but no, the Anubians are what they say they are and what I say they are. If there is anything to worry about, it won’t be until the Drachnith arrive tomorrow or the day after?”
“I thought they were arriving in a few hours?” I asked.
“Guest villa,” the Doctor said aloud.
Before I knew what was happening, the floors were rushing past as the lift worked again and we found ourselves in what looked like a huge plaza, white faced stone villas with lawns, trees and shrubs leading off on wide roads. There were fewer Anubian civilians here, and one or two guards, and several cats. This must be near where we have been allocated to stay.
“No,” the Doctor continued as though he hadn’t noticed our moving, and now he was setting off at his usual brisk pace. “They’re arriving in about twenty-eight cycles. A day on Intheop is fourteen cycles, the same as Anubis.”
“And how long is a ‘cycle’?” Tom asked, just before I could.
“Approximately forty seven Earth minutes,” the Doctor replied.
“I guess because dog years are shorter than human years?” I offered.
“Good thinking,” the Doctor smiled, “but it’s the way that the universe works. The planet is a bit farther out from its sun than Earth is, but it’s compensated because that sun is larger and hotter. The Anubian year is actually equivalent to one point eight six five Earth years, give or take a minute or two.”
“Thanks for that,” I said, making a small note of it so I would remember it. Not everyone has days, weeks and years like we do, you forget that sometimes. “So which one’s ours?” I asked.
The Doctor, as he always does, was striding off ahead, purposefully towards what seemed a random villa. I guess villa is the right word; it must be as the Doctor used it. Or at least, the lift thing knew where to take us. He was heading towards an elaborate fronted building, palm trees lining the path to the door, which was covered with a curtain of wooden beads. White marble columns stood either side of the door, small cat statues either side of the columns. These Anubians love cats it seems, almost as much as the Egyptians.
“You sure this is the one?” Tom asked, setting off after the Doctor in long paces. That man has long legs! I had to jog to keep up with him.
“Trust me,” the Doctor replied over his shoulder.
It was then I spotted the two Anubian guards stood outside the doors. They were dressed in the short skirt and headdress that the others were, but I could see that these ones had daggers strapped to their left thighs. That sent alarm bells ringing in my head. Was this a guest villa or a prison dressed to look like a guest villa?
I skipped past Tom to catch up with the Doctor, who wasn’t too far ahead now. He had to have seen the daggers that the guards held. Strangely he didn’t seem too bothered about it. Getting level with him, I grabbed his arm and indicated them without trying to be too obvious to the Anubians. I’ve learnt to show maximum respect for alien societies after one near fatal slip up I made several months back.
“Don’t worry,” he said before I’d even had a chance to open my mouth. “They’re merely ceremonial.”
I let go of the Doctor’s sleeve, but was still rather wary as we drew level with the two guards. The dropped to one knee as we approached, still holding their staffs tall, and bowed their heads. It was as though we were royalty. It’s rather weird feeling like this. It’s good though, not to have alien races shooting at us.
“As you were, gents,” the Doctor said as we passed the guards and entered the villa.
I can imagine them giving each other the same confused glances that Tom and I often share. I do sometimes wonder just how much Tom knows being a Time Lord, but I think there’s still a lot of human in there too. He’s never spoken much about himself, all I know is that after we met he was hugely angry with the Time Lords, enough to turn his back on them and join the Doctor and me.
Anyway, that’s me going off on another tangent there for you. The villa; that’s what you want to know, or not, but that’s where we are. It was stunning. It had an open plan lounge and kitchen, wooden framed low seats, like in Rameso’s office. There was a small fire burning gently in a fireplace on the farthest wall from the kitchen. The kitchen seemed to have granite work surfaces and wooden cupboards. It looked like a mixture of ancient Egyptian and ultra modern. There was a stone sink with metal and marble taps.
“Not quite what I was expecting,” Tom replied from just inside the doorway. “Looks kinda old fashioned.”
“There’s probably less need for the useless amount of technology in your typical twentieth/twenty first century house,” the Doctor replied. “The Anubians are not a culture to sit for hours on end watching a television, they’ve a rich artistic culture, they engage in socialised activities and they spend a great amount of time working. It’s a true classic culture. Besides, their technology is highly advanced, there are probably more technological items about than you realise.”
I looked around. I couldn’t really see much. Not even a fridge/freezer. Not unless there was a cold room somewhere. I couldn’t see a computer terminal either. There were a few plants in the room, and what looked like papyrus tapestries hanging on the walls.
“Where?” I asked.
The Doctor walked over to the fire and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and dangled it in the flames. Smiling, he removed it and held it up to show the two of us. It wasn’t burnt, not even scorched. There was no sign that it had just been dangled in a fire.
“This fire,” he said, “may look like a fire and radiate heat like one when required, but it’s not real.”
“A hologram?” I asked.
“No, significantly more advanced than that,” the Doctor replied. “It’s a trans-mutational electron field. It can look, and act, like anything, but change its structural integrity thus eliminating any danger. You could fall into this fire and not even suffer a friction burn. Leave it on all night with clothes drying over it and not worry about them and your home catching fire.”
“Nice,” I said in a hushed whisper. “Is everything like this then? I mean, it’s not all like a holodeck is it?”
The Doctor and Tom both gave me a confused look. I like it when this happens, it’s not often I get both of them lost. Gives you a good little ego boost to know that you’re teaching an advanced alien a thing or two!
“Like off Star Trek,” I explained. “It’s a room which generates holograms to make a new environment, make things seem totally real, and it has these safety protocol things which means you can’t get hurt, like that fire, yeah?”
“Ah,” the Doctor smiled, “good thinking, but no, it’s a little different.”
“What about a cooker?” Tom asked.
He was now, predictably, in the kitchen. He was either looking for something to eat or something to make a cup of tea. Both he and the Doctor have this strange fixation with tea. Although it’s not necessarily a bad thing, I do like a nice cup of tea.
“Oh, I imagine it’s got one of those,” the Doctor said, skipping round the room and through to the kitchen.
I took the opportunity while they were fussing about what tea to make to explore the rest of the villa. At the back of the living room, there was the bathroom. I was astounded at that; it was a huge marble room with a bath set in the floor the size of a small swimming pool. It was already filled with water, which looked hugely inviting, although I’d not brought a swimsuit, and I’m no way going to be stripping off with the chance of the Doctor or Tom to walk in and catch me. There wasn’t a door, just another one of those bead curtains. I don’t think the Doctor would even notice, or he’d pretend he hadn’t, although Tom would probably get hugely embarrassed and disappear for a while.
At the end of the swimming pool bath was a shower. It was set into an alcove and had great golden fish arcing out of the wall with a golden shower head set in the top of the alcove. I saw, when I got nearer, that these fish were also like shower heads. Go for an all round clean here, and there was me thinking dogs’ hated water! I suddenly got the stupid though that maybe we had to drink out of the toilet!
The upstairs was equally as impressive. There were three bedrooms up a marble stairway. Each had wonderfully and ornately carved wardrobes, with swirling patterns and wonderful engravings in the doors, hieroglyphics and carved cats and Anubian symbols. I don’t know if they’re merely decorative or if they say something and the TARDIS translation circuits aren’t working. The beds are huge as well; square wooden frames with very comfy looking mattresses, filled with something I have no idea what it is, and some very cosy looking sheets, pillows at the top.
It feels like hours since I got up in the TARDIS now, and this bed seemed to be calling my name. It was so tempting to just throw myself onto the bed and have a sleep, but I thought I’d pop back downstairs to see what the Doctor and Tom were up to.
I walked from the stairs into the living area to find the Doctor had inevitably disappeared and that Tom was now lying sprawled across one of the seats, effectively a backless sofa. He was lying on his back with his arms behind his head, his eyes closed and a goblet of something sat on the floor beside him.
“Tea?” I asked, nodding to the goblet, wondering if it was indeed tea.
“Erm, no, I’m fine, I’ve got this,” Tom replied reaching out and picking up the goblet.
“What is it?” I asked sitting down on one of the seats near Tom. They were really comfortable, more so than the ones in Rameso’s office.
“Dunno,” he replied downing the remaining contents. “Some sort of fruit juice. Fresh squeezed I think. It’s got some pulp in.”
“Any good?” I asked.
I was feeling drowsy and that ‘fire’ was so relaxing. So much so, a cat had wandered in and was curled up in front of it asleep. Another one had jumped onto the seat I was sat on and was brushing around my legs.
“It’s alright,” Tom said. I get the feeling he would have shrugged had he not laid back down.
“Where’s the Doctor?” I asked. As usual he was nowhere to be seen.
“Went off to chat to the guards as far as I know,” Tom said. I think he was starting to fall asleep, judging by his voice; probably all that mead he’d drunk.
“Did he say anything at all?” I asked.
“Not a jot,” Tom replied yawning. “You know him.”
I do indeed; he’s probably wandered off out somewhere and into trouble, that’s the Doctor all over. It suddenly hit me that if that was the case, then we should probably go looking for him. I said as much to Tom but only got the reply in the form of some soft snoring.
With Tom asleep, I decided to see if I could find the Doctor. He couldn’t have got too far, I wasn’t upstairs for long. I got up, upsetting the cat that had settled on my legs, and made for the door. The two Anubian guards were still there. I looked up and down the street but couldn’t see any sight of the Doctor. There was only one thing to do; ask the guards. They directed me towards the disk lift saying that he’d gone down to the market levels. Apparently all I have to do is to tell the lift where to take me, and it will take me there.
I’m starting to get used to these weird lift disks now and it didn’t take me long to get down to the market. And I thought the market town on Solaris 3 was big! This was massive, and the smells. They were indescribable; spices, incense and cooking meats of many different types. The smell was wonderful and made me realise how hungry I was. It was now hours since we’d left the TARDIS and my stomach was grumbling. That’s when it hit me that I didn’t have any money or any idea what the Anubians did for money either.
“Breathtaking isn’t it?”
The Doctor’s voice really made me jump. He has a habit of doing that, just appearing behind you when you’ve no idea he’s there. I nod in agreement and make an ‘mmm’ noise. I really can’t think of a thing to say about it to him at that time. It took me enough time to get my mind together to say something like;
“It’s fabulous.” A bit lame, I know, but at the time, it was one of those sights that took your breath away.
“It’s been some time, I’m guessing you’re hungry,” he said, smiling down at me.
“It’s like you read my mind,” I replied.
“Would you like me to?” the Doctor winked at me.
I had to say it; “alright smart arse, what am I thinking now?”
He gave me one of those light warning looks, probably in relation to my language. It’s odd, the Doctor gets rather weird about swearing; the worst thing I’ve ever heard him come up with is ‘oh sausages’, or something along those lines. I don’t think that swearing is an alien thing to Time Lords, because I’ve heard Tom swear like a trooper. Maybe the Doctor just thinks it’s unfitting for a lady to swear or something.
“I’ve found a rather interesting little place you might like,” he said, “if you want to try some local cuisine?”
Of course I did! I’ve always been up for trying new things, otherwise I’d have stayed on Earth; I’d have backed straight back out of the TARDIS, turned and ran, not stayed put and travelled through time and space! I’ve gone for everything I could, I’ve eaten Moldovian curry, poached Gumblejack, roast Horoxic and drank Alpha Centaurian blue wine.
“Sure,” I grinned.
I could sense another culinary adventure on the way as the Doctor lead me through the stalls and throngs of people. I think it’s probably more apt to call the Anubians people; they are people after all, just not human people. And they’re very friendly people it seems. Already I’m feeling relaxed here, even if we do get some odd stares by some Anubians and their children often point at us and ask their parents questions.
One thing I’m noticing more and more is the abundance of gold, I ask the Doctor about it because there seems to be more gold here than I’ve ever seen on Earth.
“Oh, that,” he replied thoughtfully, “Praxi Anubia, Anubis’s moon, has a core of solid gold, a bit like Voga, and the Anubians mine it for the obvious uses.”
We’d reached our destination by the time he’d finished his little history lecture. It was a small stall, blue canvass roof and sides, a speckled grey Anubian stood behind it. He was quite large, and I don’t mean tall, and I think he was old as well, as some of his fur was lighter around the eyes and his mouth. He was wearing a plain light blue smock, with what I took to be stains of grease and juices from the food stuffs he was cooking over large black griddles. Meats and vegetables were sizzling on them as we approached, and they smelt divine.
“What do you fancy?” he asked me, pointing to the menu.
The menu was scrawled onto a dark slate that was hung from the wooden frame of the stall. It was written in Anubian Hieroglyphs, which, as with most forms of alien writing, twisted and changed into English. It’s something to do with the TARDIS telepathic circuits or something; it does the same with language as well. Anyway, it may have changed to English, but it was still talking about stuff that I had no idea what it was.
“I don’t know, you choose,” I said, not able to make head or tails of the different foods on offer.
Smiling, the Doctor turned to the Anubian cook and ordered two hot meat sandwiches on some deliciously crispy fresh baked bread stuff. I suppose the nearest I can get to it would be to say braised steak and caramelised onion sandwich in a crusty French loaf. There were spices and herbs flavouring it that just added that exotic alien flavour. The bread was like nothing on Earth, and the meat had an intriguing flavour of whatever animal it had been.
“What do you think?” the Doctor grinned at me.
Trust him to ask me a question when I had a mouthful. “Bloody lovely,” I said, quickly chewing my mouthful and swallowing it. Even the Anubian seemed pleased to know that he’d served a food fit for an alien guest and handed me across a goblet with a ruby coloured liquid inside. I guessed it was wine or something.
It seemed the Anubians’ had got used to us now, we were just part of the crowd, albeit small ones. A few children scampered past me waving small bronzed staffs as they ran, laughing and cheering. It really was wonderful, like those clichéd scenes you read about in books, but this was happening. It made me smile none the less. It seemed to be a pattern that I’d seen about the universe, well the places I’d visited.
I felt rather pleased at this self realisation and turned to the Doctor to discuss it with him. I was just in time to see two of the steel grey furred guards appear behind him, looking very official, baring their teeth in what looked like a snarl. They moved either side of the Doctor and grabbed him by the arms.
“You will accompany us,” one of them growled as they literally lifted him off the floor!
The Doctor looked down at me astounded; he seemed as shocked as I was at this, as much as I could tell from his face as he disappeared into the crowds of Anubians.
