4

Jenny sat down between the sandy-haired boy who'd brought her into the dining hall and a small black-furred ekeen.

"Here, have some water-pigeon egg." the boy said, loading deep-brown egg onto the plate in front of her. "Thanks," Jenny said, "and thanks for bringing me to breakfast." She took a careful bite of the egg, then brightened. "Mmm. These are great!"

"Lots better than chicken eggs, hunh?" the boy said, "I had chicken eggs once. They're nasty. Water pigeon eggs are a lot better."

"So were you born here?" Jenny asked between bites. The boy shook his head. "Naw. My brother'n me got here when we were four. I'm Joh Richlieu."

"Jenny Smith."

"Nice to meet you."

There was a little chittering growl on her left. "If you are done showing off for the pretty girl, I will have some eggs, yes?" Joh frowned, and reached around to tug on the ekeen's tail. "Shut up, Eret, or you can eat paddlefish."

"Bite me." the otter-like creature replied casually. Reaching out with his hand-like paws, he took the bowl of egg and, lifting the spoon with a horizontal attachment on its end in his teeth, dumped egg into a bowl, then sank his muzzle into it. Joh sighed. "Ignore the big rat. He's a nuisance."

"Is that any way to speak about your eekata?" Jenny looked up at the deep, melodious voice. A woman dropped on to the bench on the other side of the table, brushing her black, silver-shot braid over her shoulder. She smiled at Jenny. "You must be the Doctor's little girl. Nice to meet you." She held her hand out over the table, "Ty Benson."

"Jenny." she said, shaking the woman's hand.
"See you've found the food. If Joh leaves any of it."

"You want some, Doctor Benson?" the boy asked, shoving the egg bowl forward. Ty laughed. "I had breakfast, honey." She turned to the ekeen. "You working in the hatchery today, Eret?"

"I am," the little otter replied, "ekateen Joh and I."

"Will you be in with us, ma'am?" Joh asked. Ty nodded. "I'll be in the nursery for a little while. Then I'd better get into the infirmary."

"More babies are ill?" Eret asked quietly. Ty nodded, her face falling slightly. "Most of the young children. But, that's not your worry. You think the eggs may hatch today?"

"I do." Eret said, bobbing his head up and down on his sinuous neck.

"Eggs?" Jenny asked. Ty nodded. "The ekeen are monotremes; egg laying mammals. We have a hatchery down here next to the nursery, and there's a few kits on the way."

"You mind if I ask another question?" Jenny said, "What's ekateen mean? And eekata?"

Eret warbled and chattered, his collar translating. ""I am eekata. Joh is ekateen. Together we are of one ekamee."

"Ekamee?" Jenny asked. Across from her, Ty Benson nodded. "An ekamee's a holt with human and ekeen members. An extended family group and community. It's how we divide work and living space around here, based on the already established holts. Each of us belongs to an ekamee. Like he says, Joh is ekateen, a human of the tribe."

"Yeah. A full fledged member of Terka Holt. See?" Joh said, turning over his hand to show his palm, tattooed with a black paw print. Eret turned over his paw, showing the white tattoo of a human hand.

"Joh's grandparents and Eret's parents were some of the leaders of the Worldshare program." Ty said, "They worked on the speech synthesizers." Joh nodded, looking proud. "By the way," Ty said, "where's your dad?"

Jenny forked up another mouthful of egg. "Mm…he's trying to sort things out. It could be a while."

…

The Doctor walked between two guards to down the hall. He'd expected to be grabbed the minute he showed his face, and the adjudicators hadn't disappointed. Lucky for him that they weren't wasting his time by taking him to any sort of cell; instead he was frogmarched back into Adjudicator Lynch's office.

"Sit."

The Doctor rolled his eyes as the office door closed. These fellows really did have very limited repertoire.

He sat tapping his foot for some time before the Adjudicator opened the door, flanked by his guards. "Well well. Mr. Smith. How very…unexpected." The man took his seat behind the desk, and steepled his fingers, staring at the Doctor. The Time Lord met his eyes. "Hello again to you too. By the way, the title's actually not Mister, it's Inspector."

"Oh?" the thin man raised a brow. The Doctor smiled mirthlessly. "Fraid I've led you on a bit, Lynch. Take a look." Reaching slowly into his pocket, he pulled out his psychic paper, handing it over. The man took the paper in his skeletal fingers, studying it carefully before handing it back.

"I see. And you are here in order to…"

"I was told to arrive on-planet incognito and investigate the situation." The Doctor concocted blithely, "Investigate claims that citizen rights were being violated by acting as one of them. That sort of thing. And from the treatment I've gotten I'm none too pleased, I can tell you. I'm going to have to investigate this situation a lot deeper. Quite a lot deeper, I can tell you. Lot of human rights issues I'm seeing here. I want to see all your paperwork, reports on arrests and also on your environmental work here. Actually, scratch that. I'll just take a look at all the paperwork and build my report from it. Or I could just send it all home to the Internal Affairs Investigation Beauru for a proper check up. Which would you like better?"

For a moment, the cadaverous man locked eyes with the Time Lord. Tension crackled between them like electricity. Then Lynch spread his arms wide, a slight smile creasing his thin lips. "We have nothing to hide from our affiliates at the Beauru. Please, investigate what you will. All passwords will be supplied for you."

"Thanks." The Doctor said. "I'd like to get started as soon as possible. Now, for instance."

…

Jenny grinned at the ekeen kit, who squealed happily and made a grab for her hair with its tiny retractable claws. Beside her, Ty reached out and grabbed the baby's paw. "No claws, Sesta." She smiled at Jenny. "Watch out with the little guys. They don't know that their claws are sharp." Jenny nodded. "Is she saying anything?" The ekeen nurse shook her head. "Baby talk."

"They're so cute." Jenny cooed, reaching down to pet one of the babies where it lay in a large playpen with its brothers and sisters. The little ekeen murmured and purred, and more babies waddled over to receiver their share of the attention.

Ty smiled, her lined face softening. "These just hatched a few months ago." Jenny drew her hand back as one of the little ekeen started to try chewing on her finger. Ty lauged. "Yeah, they're teething too." With a last pat for a few furry heads, Ty turned away. " I've got to get to the infirmary now. Just beyond that is one of the common rooms where you can relax." Jenny followed the older woman down the hall. Ty stopped outside of a small, glass fronted room that Jenny recognized as a medical bay. There were a few beds in the room, but Jenny was surprised at the number of bassinets crammed inside, almost filling the room. In each one was a small child or a baby. Most of them were listless. None of them responded to the people hovering over the cribs.

"Why have you got so many sick kids?" Jenny asked, staring into the room. Ty sighed. "Wish I knew." She slipped on a mask and a pair of gloves, then opened the door."I'll see you later, then." she said, her voice muffled by the mask. The door closed.

Jenny watched through the window as Ty spoke with the people in the room. Those must be parents. Then she turned away. She'd have to tell her father about this.

The common room was a comfortable looking room furnished with more pillows and overstuffed couches. It looked like it would be a nice place to sit and relax normally. But at the moment, the room was taken up with argument.

"No! Is too dangerous!" the ekeen with a grey smudge on his ear Jenny had met earlier exclaimed. The fur along his spine was standing on end.

"Well what do you want us to do then, Keets? Sit back and let it happen?" replied the dark-haired man who faced him. The ekeen shook his head vehemently "We cannot risk it again! There will be guards!"

"Then we deal with them!"

"No! No killing. We kill them, they kill us. It is wrong."

"Keets, you can't just-" the man paused, catching sight of Jenny. She stepped into the room. "What sort of tactical measures are you working on?"

The dark-haired man shrugged. "It's something we're working on. Something privet. So-"

"She is the kit of the Doctor, Okade." The ekeen called Keets said sharply.

"I've got military training too," Jenny said, stretching the truth a bit, " that was why I asked . I thought I might be able to lend you guys a hand."

"Perhaps." Keets said. Jumping up on the back of the couch, he rose on his hind legs so he could look Jenny in the eye.

"We try to keep them from doing their work. We break machines. We put holes in fuel tanks. Then they make repairs. We cannot do the same again; they will be guarding."

Jenny nodded thoughtfully."So you need something that you can do that'll effect them but keep you out of the way." she said musingly. Then she looked up, and grinned. "I think I've got something that'll do."