Doctor Who: The Treasures of Ar-Amed
By Curlyjimsam
Part One
"Well, this isn't Metebelis Three, is it?" asked the Doctor, rubbing his neck.
"I don't know, you didn't exactly tell me what to expect …" replied Jo, sounding frustrated.
The Doctor smiled at her. "You'll know Metebelis Three when you see it, Jo. Everything there is blue."
Jo giggled. The Doctor raised his eyebrows.
"Is something funny?"
"Oh no, Doctor, it's just the way you said it …" Taking a deep breath, Jo continued, "This place doesn't look very blue, does it? Even the sky's a sort of purple colour …"
"Precisely how I managed to deduce that this place isn't the one we were aiming for. Close the TARDIS door, Jo."
Jo shut the door of the police box lightly behind them. "So, where are we then?"
"Well, it's some sort of planet … I suggest we ask someone."
"But there isn't anyone to ask …"
"We'd better look then, hadn't we?"
The Doctor strode off down the beaten track that stretched out in front of them, Jo scurrying along at his heels. "What are these strange plants?" she asked, looking around wide-eyed at the pinky-red wheatlike vegetation that was growing in fields to either side of the path.
"Looks like some sort of crop. I suspect the natives use it to make bread or something."
"Urgh … red bread!"
"I should take you to the planet Quinnis; they have green bread there. And I've actually been to quite a few places where the bread's bright yellow, can you picture that?"
"I suppose on Metebelis Three the bread's blue, isn't it?" Jo asked cheekily.
"Now Jo, that's just getting silly. I say, look at those!" The Doctor was pointing towards a field a few hundred yards ahead of them, where the lush, rust-coloured grass was being grazed upon by a flock of small animals each with a thick fluffy coat of pinkish wool.
"What are they? Sheep?"
"Something not unlike them," replied the Doctor. "Walk carefully now, we don't want to scare them – for all we know, they might be the dominant species on this planet!"
But the sheeplike creatures showed no sign of intelligence, and most carried on chewing at the grass as they walked past, with those closest to the visitors bounding away in panic before resuming their meal.
"Perhaps not …" said the Doctor. "Hang on, this looks like it might be able to tell us where we are."
A perfectly ordinary looking man had appeared over the horizon, and was approaching them up the track. He was dressed in a white shirt made from some sort of plant fibres and loose blue trousers. His skin was fairly dark, and he had an impressive black moustache, but in general he wouldn't have looked at all out of place on Earth.
As the man drew close, the Doctor stopped, laying a hand on Jo's shoulder as he did so. He raised his other arm. The man greeted him in return with a grunt and a nod and carried on walking.
"Excuse me, my good fellow!" said the Doctor, turning back round to face the man's retreating back. The native seemed to decide he was unable to ignore him any longer and turned round to face him with a sigh.
"What you want?"
"I was wondering, could you by any chance tell me which planet we are on?"
"What? Didja say which planet?" The man clearly wasn't used to people asking this sort of question.
The Doctor was not flustered by this attitude. "Yes, if you don't mind."
"You aliens or summing?" the man asked sarcastically.
"You could say that. If you don't mind, we're in rather a hurry, so …"
"Well, I'm in an 'urry too, ain't I, so I s'pose I'd better answer your question. We's on Ar-Amed, ain't we?"
The Doctor smiled with dawning comprehension. "Thankyou very much, my good sir. We are indebted to you for your service."
"Thankyou!" Jo chipped in.
"A pleasure," replied the man, rolling his eyes. "Well, I'll be gettin' on my way, won't I?"
He turned to continue his trek up the path, but before he could get very far the Doctor called after him again. "Excuse me! Could you answer one more question?"
The man turned back round. "Aye?"
"Would you mind telling me what year it is?"
The man looked around as if he was expecting someone to jump out from behind a bush and announce it was all a big practical joke. "What year?" he repeated.
"Yes, if you could."
The man paused, then seemed to decide he may as well answer. "Well, it's the third year of the reign of Queen El-Medr, which makes it …" He scratched his head, immersed in some calculation, "… which makes it one thousand one hundred and twelve years since the coronation of Ar-Tarmak the Great. Now I'm afraid I've got to get goin' …"
He turned and stomped off without another word.
"Come on, Jo," said the Doctor quietly, steering her in the opposite direction. After he seemed confident that the man was out of earshot, he continued, "Just as I thought."
"What did you think?"
"If this is Ar-Amed and it's eleven hundred years since King Ar-Tarmak, then the natives haven't discovered space travel yet. No wonder that man seemed to think we were some kind of April fool!"
"You mean you knew we were on this Ah-Ra-Med place all along and you didn't say?" asked Jo incredulously.
"I had a suspicion. Modesty forbade me from voicing it."
"You were scared you'd get it wrong, weren't you?" Jo teased.
"Possibly." The Doctor smiled.
They continued up the track for a few minutes without talking. Jo broke the silence with a question.
"Did he say that this great king whatsit was called Ar-Tarmac?"
"Ar-Tarmak, yes," corrected the Doctor. "Put the stress on the last syllable."
"But like what they put on roads on Earth?"
"No, Jo, nothing like that at all."
"I didn't think so, 'cause they don't seem to have any tarmac here, do they? My shoes are getting all muddy!"
"The people of Ar-Amed are still relatively primitive in some respects, yes. But in others – well, you'll have to wait and see."
"Wait and see what, Doctor?" Jo seemed excited. "You mean it isn't all red fields and pink sheep?"
"Not entirely, no." The Doctor was smiling again. "You wait until we get to one of the cities. You'll be quite impressed, I think."