Chapter 1
The last of the Time Lords stood by the console of the last TARDIS and smiled as his watched his current companion laugh. Despite his recent near death experience at the hands of a few humans on the planet Midnight he felt calm, relaxed and happy. He had decided to stay away from humans for a little while though and this had led to his current rant to Donna:
"No really; the problem with you humans is that you are everywhere! Once you start leaving Earth the rest of the universe is stuck with you!" Donna laughed again amused by the Doctors' petulant tone.
"So where are going next?" she asked her eyes shining in excitement,
"Well . . ." the Doctor started only to be interrupted by a beeping console next to Donna. He leapt forward arriving, in one step, just inches away causing her stepped back hurriedly,
"Oy! I've told you about personal space before!" she huffed at him. Not paying her any attention the Doctor stood at the console with a frown,
"Yea, ok, sure,"
"Doctor are you listening to me?" Donna increased the volume of her words – if there was one thing she really did not like was the feeling of being ignored – it was just rude!
"What? Donna yes, yes I remember personal space. Sorry," he said still not looking at her but staring intently at a screen the contents of which meant nothing to Donna.
"What's it say then?" she asked accepting his apology all-the-while knowing it would likely happen again in the near future.
"It is saying we should go HERE!" the Doctor bellowed while pressing buttons and then pulling what Donna secretly called the magic lever jump-starting the TARDIS into motion. The sudden start had her falling into him and banging her hip against the console. She bellowed out a startled angry cry but before the TARDIS had even started to rock back the other way she was smiling excitedly again.
The TARDIS rocked two or three more times with the Doctor holding her steady – a feat she always found surprising given their relative sizes. When the TARDIS finally stopped the Doctor let her go and smiled excitedly to her. He found her rapidly changing moods fascinating.
"So where are we?"
"We are on a planet very far from Earth where the inhabitants call themselves the Anins. Very dog like, actually. I've meet cat people. Didn't really get on with them. So I though I'd try dog people – you like dogs right? Not that they actually are dog people. Not like how cat people were cat people cause they were descendent from cats, these are aliens that just look a bit like dogs . . ." The Doctor trailed off aware that Donna was giving the look that meant she wasn't following what he was rambling on about.
"Come on then!" he said striding to the TARDIS door,
"Am I wearing the right clothes for this planet?" Donna nearly always asked,
"You'll be fine Donna," The Doctor said without looking and Donna huffed her disapproval – while not interested in the Doctor romantically every girl likes to be told she looks good once in a while. Dressed in dark blue jeans a light grey low cut (for her) t-shirt and a long light blue cardigan she wasn't wearing anything special so she was smiling by the time she reached the TARDIS door. The Doctor had already left and was looking around a smile and sunshine on his face.
"Oh it's beautiful,"
The TARDIS had landed out in the open where bright yellow knee high grass wavered in glittering golden orange sunlight. Trees, bushes and flowers coloured in strong dark shades spun in a circulating warm breeze.
"See it is late spring here. You're wearing exactly the right clothes." He said with a grin.
"Thanks," she said smiling back.
"So tell me about where we are?" she asked looking around again. She gasped again slightly as the breeze carried a sweet and pleasant smell.
"Well the Anins call it Tuin and it mirrors Earth's development quite closely. Well it should have . . . anyhow the Anins are a rather curious bunch – single gender species, unusual right?" Donna gave him THAT look,
"Right … how would you know, well it is, but instead of the usual Earth methods of asexual reproduction like fragmentation, parthenogenesis or agamogenesis these . . ." he had started walking but was stopped;
"Doctor!" Donna interrupted aghast,
"Donna?"
"I don't want to know how they reproduce."
"Oh," the Doctor looked disappointed,
"But its fascinating, not found anywhere else!" he whined,
"No!" she said with a warning finger, which she shook at him once before catching him up and then over taking him
"Ok well the star is a. . ." he was stopped from his scientific explanation by the look of impatience on Donna's face
"Well it emits a strong radiation also not found anywhere else." He paused to check if Donna was still interested
"Is it safe?" she couldn't help but ask,
"Yes . . . well you shouldn't stay here too long but yes it's safe. The Anins have adapted to the radiation in a strange way. A different level of radiation is emitted each day and the Anins must find another with the same amount of radiation. It's like the theory on Earth that everyone has a person they are meant to be with, a soul mate, on Tuin that soul mate is dependent on birthdays." The Doctor looked impressed with the system but Donna thought it was rather sad,
"What about love?" she asked,
"Love is a very human emotion," the Doctor said solemnly then continued,
"Some human scientists in your era believe love is simply pheromones, here its radiation." Her own experiences with love were not very successful so Donna decided to reserve judgement.
"Although the Anins have only one gender they do have two different subspecies," the Doctor said getting all animated again,
"What does that mean?" Donna asked distracted by a black butterfly-like insect flying in front of her,
"Well like on Earth you have homo sapiens sapiens and used to have homo habilis or homo neanderthalensis . . ."
"Neanderthals?" by now the trees and bushes had become sparser and Donna could see a built up area far ahead.
"Yes the evolution of the Anins split into two sub species although a better description might be an example of two different breeds of dogs …" without talking about how they reproduced the Doctor wasn't sure how to continue,
"Mams and Gele?"
"Yes like Labrador Retrievers and Springer Spaniels very different appearance but the same species able to interbreed . . ."
"Oh don't start all that breeding stuff up again honestly what is it with you today?" The Doctor was spared from answering by the welcoming growl of a native,
"Welcome strangers!" Donna's first thought was 'dog people' and she fought not to stare. Four aliens were walking towards them. Wearing a light brown poncho like top and darker brown trousers two stood as tall as Donna's shoulders and the other two a lot smaller. Short light white hair covered all their exposed skin, they had a slightly elongated nose, Donna corrected herself, and they had short snouts with a black button nose (one hole rather than two). Unable to help herself she stared at their ears – long haired and floppy.
Donna exchanged a look with the Doctor – she was staring at a Springer Spaniel in human form.
The only difference was instead of dog-like warm brown eyes the aliens had startling snake eyes hard like stone with two blinking eye lids. The four aliens walked right up close to them moving their heads with jerky motions and sniffing the visitors exactly like she had seen inquisitive dogs do. Their eyes made Donna feel slightly uneasy but she thought it might be because they didn't seem to suit the rest of the features.
"Hello I'm the Doctor and this is Donna,"
"We are An-vil and Jen-os," the one closest to Donna said touching an arm and then pointing towards the other one standing way to close to Donna,
"These are our children, Jen-vil and An-os," Jen-os said and despite a deep growling voice Donna heard the parental pride,
"Beautiful day isn't it?" Donna said stepping back slightly,
"We are indeed grateful for Sa-ra," Jen-os replied raising both arms and face towards the bright orange star overhead,
"Have you come to trade?" An-os asked with a youth's higher pitch,
"Oh yes, could you point us in the direction of the market?" the Doctor asked cheerfully. Both children turned and pointed back the way they had come,
"Path is clear to follow: stay straight and be led to the best market on all of Tuin," An-os said,
"Thanks to both and your parents," the Doctor said and bowed his head causing the younger aliens to laugh,
"We must continue enjoy your time on Tuin, a new and exciting place to be,"
"Really?" the Doctor asked with a knowing hint,
"Oh yes the changes the royals have introduced are great." An-vil said happily,
"What changes are those?" the Doctor asked,
"They have brought together Mams and Gele and we do not fear so much for our children's futures."
"What do you mean?" Donna asked,
"Before when Mams lived only with Mams many did not find their halves – to have a Gele as their other half was seen as unforgivable despite it not being a choice. Many died without the joy of parenthood."
"I see," Donna wondered if it was her biological clock or if everyone today really was going to talk about breeding.
"Very silly," An-os said and the three others nodded their heads,
"We celebrated the birth of new royal Mams, Das and Den and of the joining of Thori and Tian," An-os said jumping up and down,
"We did not win the lottery to attend the great party at the palace but we enjoyed our day very much," Jen-os said and the other three all agreed energetically,
"We really must be off now but the town below, Han-os-ana-as, is a very friendly place and all will happily answer your questions," An-vil spoke firmly and the two children raced off leaving their parents to run after them growls and squeals of family joy following them,
"So they were Mams?" Donna asked trying not to laugh,
"Yes," the Doctor said seriously and as they turned to walk along the path they both laughed loudly,
"Springer spaniels?" Donna asked,
"Don't tell me the Gele look like Labradors?"
"Actually more like Dalmatians." The Doctor said with a straight face. Donna however laughed with incredulity,
"Dalmatians? How is that even possible on another planet?"
"Oh it's to do with the few life particles found at the beginning of the universe it's complicated,"
"Then stop right there," Donna said not ready to listen to another science spiel.
The Doctor grinned at her.
"So Dalmatians?"
"Yes white with light brown spots, very short hair, usually thinner than Mams and with shorted fur and a more elongated snout."
"Right they also have a problem with personal space?"
"No actually like the Dalmatian's on Earth the Gele are more cautious around strangers and very brave. Both are loyal to those who earn their trust."
"Right so single gender," Donna asked finally curious,
"You didn't want to hear about it earlier," the Doctor said petulantly,
"I still don't I was just wondering can I refer to them as he, or she or it?"
"Whichever you like the TARDIS will translate it so they understand it – did you notice none of them said I or me?"
"No,"
"Oh … well they don't have personal pronouns but don't worry the TARDIS sorts it all out for you."
"Right but it is rude to refer to them as it?"
"Not really unless you are using the term derogatorily?"
"Course not,"
"Anything is fine then," The two shared another laugh as they made their way slowly down the stony path.
Word Count 2114
