It was another three days before the Doctor had gained enough strength that he was able to get out of bed. He was still weak and the wound in his arms still open but his fever had finally broken. He no longer felt as though he were burning up on the cold planet and his head and stomach had calmed allowing him to keep down solid food once more. Dustin determined that he wasn't able to work yet but he was no longer at risk of dying if he was left alone for long periods. Due to his improving health, Jack was finally giving his job of working beside the men to create clay homes for the people currently living in tents. The Doctor, on the other hand, would once again be working in a clinic this time aboard the airship. He was due to report in two days' time for his arm to be checked again and at that time they would determine when he was able to start working.
The next day, Jack was up with the morning bell getting ready for the day. He put his simple shoes on then picked up Carys from her place of rest putting her in her carrier. Once she was secured, he put a large shirt on over her to keep both of them warm during the day. There really had been no discussion the night before as the Doctor made a small pouch with several nappies for Jack to take with him to the worksite. While he would have been happy to take care of the baby, she couldn't go the long hour's Jack was away between feedings. He would have to take her with him so that she could feed until she was old enough to eat solid food.
Thankfully, no one on the planet questioned the fact that Jack could lactate. It was the fifty-first century after all and more than one man had given birth by then. The only thing they found interesting was that he willingly chose to feed the child. Even on this prison planet, it was very unusual for a man to choose to nurse a child when other options were available. Most who chose to carry a child to term either bottle-fed the child or found a wet nurse who could feed the child instead. On a rare occasion, the man carried the child rather than his wife, there was also a procedure that many women chose to undertake so that they could nurse while their husbands returned to work.
"We'll be back tonight," Jack promised as he gathered the pouch of nappies along with a second small pack that had his lunch in it consisting of a piece of toast along with a slice of dried meat and an apple.
"Be careful," the Doctor told them from where he was still sitting on the bed.
"I will be," Jack promised. He went over to the Doctor kissing him softly on the lips goodbye. The Doctor kissed him back then kissed Carys on her head through Jack's shirt. He watched as Jack left to work, closing the door behind him. Alone in the small home, the Doctor got slowly to his feet. He felt weak and pathetic as he moved towards the cupboards to get his own breakfast. He opened the cupboard to find a single banana sitting beside the small bag of rice and a few other items. It was more food than they ever had at one time on the planet meaning that their meals could be slightly larger. Still, the Doctor took only the banana choosing to eat it for his breakfast over anything else.
With Jack gone for the day and nothing else to do, the Doctor decided it would be a good time to explore the village and leave the small house for the first time since they arrived. He chose a direction at random but knew as he walked that he was heading towards the mysterious tower in the middle of the town. That light on the top of the tower had given them hope while they walked in the darkness searching for a new place to live but it had also piqued his curiosity about why it existed at all. It took him a while to get there due to his weakened state even if it wasn't hard for him to find as it stretched higher than anything else on this planet. The tower that was in the middle of the town was unguarded meaning that they either trusted the people to leave the tower alone or they didn't know what it was. That was alright by him as it allowed him to get closer to examine the large black column. The metal seemed to be shiny and smooth all around it with no access to the inside. He looked up the tower but it was also smooth as far as he could see and he didn't dare try to climb it yet. In his current state, he would probably fall and he wasn't quite sure if he had enough energy to regenerate.
"I'm being thick," he whispered. Unless this was just a really big pole, something he highly doubted, there had to be a panel low enough that someone could access it from the ground. He just had to figure out where that panel was. He blamed his tired mind and recovering body once more as it took him a long while to finally find the access panel. It was close to the ground and he sat down in order to look at the inside properly. He was quickly able to figure out that the tower was a carbon scrubber for the air. It removed the carbon replacing it with oxygen so that the citizens could breathe as there were no trees or water to perform the job. It was also quickly clear to him that the tower wasn't running at full capacity. He wasn't sure if that was on purpose or if the tower just hadn't been maintained during its long years of use. It would have been an easy fix with his sonic but he would still be able to do it without it, it was just going to take longer.
For now he closed the panel. He wasn't thinking clearly still and he didn't want to cause the tower to shut down because he made a mistake. He also needed access to a few tools that he didn't have. Once he was released to work, he would talk to Luke to see if he could obtain the tools that he needed as well as gain permission to work on the tower. He chuckled to himself at the last thought because he was going to work on the tower regardless. He would just have to be more careful about when he was working if Luke told him that he couldn't.
Dusting himself off, he started once more to explore the village. Most of what he found was houses but there was what looked to be a school near the edge by the market. There were children running and playing in clothing that actually fit them even if it was clear it was made out of old uniforms. Going closer to the market, he was surprised to see that the stalls were already open for the day and that people were shopping. Just like the old village, they had stalls set up for trade with extra blankets and items made out of clay. They also had a barber hacking at a man's hair with what looked to be a piece of sharpened metal from the airship. There was a tented area and looking inside he saw it was a small food market. There was a variety of vegetables, meats, rice, and beans, as well as loaves of bread. There was even a selection of what he could tell were homemade alcohols for sale. Those though couldn't be bought with the ration coupons but instead had to be traded for.
"Excuse me, can you tell me where the children got their clothing?" the Doctor questioned one of the two women working inside.
"Mrs. Snyder is a seamstress who lives at the edge of the town. She makes all the clothing for the children here as well as mends anything that you might need to be fixed," one of the women explained. She gave the Doctor directions to the home and he set off. He found it easily enough as she was sitting outside working on sewing a shirt with a needle made of bone. The work was slow as the needle was fragile and she had to be careful not to accidentally break it as she worked.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor. You must be the seamstress Mrs. Synder," the Doctor greeted her as he approached.
"I am. How can I help you, Doctor?" Mrs. Synder wondered.
"I have an infant daughter who is less than a month old. I was wondering if you had any dresses that might fit a child so young," the Doctor questioned her.
"I do, just a moment," she answered. Standing up she went into her house returning a minute later. She had two dresses in her hands as she handed them over to the Doctor. The dresses were simple ones that pulled over the child's head but had ties so they could be worn for several months. They were too big for Carys at the moment but if he tightened them a little using the ties they would stay on her even if they hung past her feet. That was all right, though, as she wasn't crawling yet and wouldn't get caught on the dress while trying to move.
"What do I owe you for the dresses?" the Doctor asked.
"I appreciate any donations of bone or old blankets and clothing so I can make more but I only ask that you return the dresses when your child outgrows them so I can pass the dresses on to the next child in need," she answered.
"Thank you. I will make sure to bring them back," the Doctor stated. He didn't plan on being in the village long enough to return the dresses but he would make sure she got them back, even if he had to use the TARDIS to return them. He took the dresses with him as he set out once more. He wanted to go greet Jack and see where he was working but exhaustion was quickly setting in. Feeling no better than an ape, he instead headed back to his home to rest while he waited for his lover to return.