Chapter Forty (Doctor`s Point of View)

"SEE?" I pointed out. "There is no such gravestone that reads the cause of death natural! You have suicides, you have murders, you have people put down, you have electrocution, but you don't have old age or heart attacks!"

"Doctor, what are you trying to accomplish?"

"Solving a mystery, Dinky, that`s what I am accomplishing," I muttered. "But this makes no sense! How in the name of Gallifrey can they live for so long at one year of age`s appearance but NOT die, no matter what their age?"

"How can you not die?" Ditzy shot back sarcastically.

"Two hearts and I am a Time Lord, duh," I smiled. "But they said they are ordinary, no species identified." I grabbed my sonic screwdriver and scanned the area. "From what I know so far they are completely normal human beings!"

"But what is the sonic saying?" Ditzy asked.

"Just a bunch of question marks... this place and the beings occupying it are a total mystery." I sighed, hitting the center of my forehead with the screwdriver softly.

"What are you going to do when you find your answer?" Dinky asked.

"Well, once I finally get this screwdriver to stop showing me question marks at least, I will go and ask one more time the Mayor," I answered simply, keeping the sonic screwdriver pulsing.

"Why are you so set on finding this out, anyways?"

"You can`t just keep your species a secret. Secrets are secrets because they vowed not to tell or explain it to anyone else," I explained softly, still viewing the stones around me.

"Mary-Lou West of drowning... Kyle Clee of a potential suicide... Lilac Littlefield of a vicious murder," Ditzy began to read. "Hey, what if we go talk to their families? You know, ask for some details?" She then suggested.

I looked up from a gravestone below me and laughed slightly. "Why didn`t I think of this earlier, anyways?"

"I don't know," she laughed back, "but where do you want to start?"

I scanned the stones in the ground and a particular one caught my eye. It was only a name and a date, no cause of death. "Jennifer Allison, maybe..."

"And how do we find her family?" Dinky asked.

I smiled at her question, grabbing their hands. "You know, dears, there`s a grand old invention called a TARDIS, and it can travel through the vortexes of time and space. She died in 2000."

Ditzy laughed at my remark and began our walk to the TARDIS. "Why is it so bad that their species remains a secret?" she asked.

"Because secrets only tell the lie for when the truth is too difficult to say or understand," I shrugged. "Plus, I`m the Doctor, and I solve mysteries – I`m almost like a Sherlock Holmes!"

"Who`s that?" Dinky asked.

"Detective from Earth," I said. "The best as what he does... he always is and always will be."

They nodded at my brief explanation and I held the door open for them from the inside.

"What I still don`t get," Ditzy began to ramble on, "is why they wouldn`t like to express exactly how their planet got this way. It`s absolutely beautiful, don`t they want to boast it? And that`s another thing, too, how can this land be so perfect? And I thought the Mayor said 'this is a place of no secrecy and complete honesty.'"

I thought that over. "You know what, love, you`re absolutely correct!" I laughed.

Ditzy smiled and Dinky ran up closer to me. "Where are we going?"

"The year 2000, same place," I grinned madly to her, pulling levers as I spoke. "Watch her get buried, follow the parents back home."

"How will you know they`re her parents," Dinky asked.

"They are always the ones who cry the most during the burying ceremony," I frowned. "You two aren`t, like, sensitive to this kind of stuff, right...? I don`t really want to scar you or something. Because I think we all know you won`t be able to un-see it."

Dinky looked down as if she were ashamed, but Ditzy shook her head no. "I kind of am," Dinky then admitted. "But... I can manage."

"It isn't like we are right there in front of the grave, of course. We`ll hide behind a tree and watch, I guess," I laughed nervously.

"Yeah, we understand," Dinky smiled.

The TARDIS landed after a few more seconds and we quietly walked out, trying not to attract attention to ourselves. There was a sea of black-cloaked individuals sobbing around a hole and Dinky frowned.

"I guess this is them."

A man began to start talking as the tombstone was handed into the staff`s hands and was placed on the ground. Flowers were placed on top of the stone and I looked away, trying to focus on anything but the crowd.

"Are you alright?" Ditzy asked.

I shrugged in response and heard the pastor begin to say some prayers and that`s when I saw it.

Close in the distance there was a small speck of green disappearing. Green... grass? "Do you guys see that?" I asked. They shook their heads so I dismissed that thought.

Everyone began to walk away except for a middle-aged man and woman who stood there glued to the ground. "I can`t believe this," the woman whispers so quietly I almost couldn`t hear.

"Listen, Martha, just lighten up. She`s in a way better place now," the man said back. He didn`t seem fazed, so either he was shutting out emotions or didn`t care. Frankly, it could be either one of them.

I slowly walked up to them and cleared my throat. "Excuse me," I said, "do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"