The Deputy left the room and led them
out of the building. The Doctor was very
casual about it as if he had visited this place a hundred times. Merry felt excited about walking on the
ground of an alien planet. She looked
all around as they walked. Everything
was familiar, yet different. Outside, a
vehicle was waiting for them. To Merry,
it looked like an old fashioned carriage, but no horse pulled it. Merry could feel the motor under her seat as
the Doctor helped her in. A Weyk driver took them down the streets of the city.
“I remember a much busier place the
last time I was here,” the Doctor noted.
“It’s the plague,” Gweri said. “Many have died and those who are not sick
stay indoors now.”
They came to a stop several minutes
later in front of a large stone building.
“This is our school,” Gweri explained, “but recently, it was converted
into an orphanage. Hundreds of children
are there, their parents dead. Killed by
the plague.”
Merry and the Doctor got out of the
carriage and followed Gweri into the building.
The sounds of the children filled the building. Merry heard children crying, laughing and singing. The Deputy led them down a long
corridor. Merry peeked into the
rooms. She saw children of all sizes and
ages in the rooms. There were few
adults. Maybe one adult per room. Merry wasn’t too sure.
Gweri began to explain the situation
to the Doctor. The sick children were in
one wing of the school and all the well children were in another. They were all orphans. Daily more children arrived at the school
after their parents died. Some arrived
sick, some well. Merry was shocked.
An adult pushing a cart of food
walked past the visitors and into one of the rooms. The sound of excitement from the children
could be heard as the food arrived. One
of the doors on Merry’s left opened and a small child ran out of the room and
attached herself to Merry’s leg. The
Doctor and Gweri stopped their walking down the hall and turned to see Merry. She knelt down to the child.
“Hello there, what’s your name?”
Merry asked.
The child was silent. Merry looked into her face. Her black hair had a small streak of red in
it. Her eyes were violet and her face
was wet, like she had been crying. Merry
guessed the child was probably just two years old.
An adult stepped out of the room
where the child had just run out from.
She walked up to Merry and the child.
“I’m so sorry,” the adult said.
“Stjarna keeps trying to run away.
She has only been here for two days and she just doesn’t understand why
she can’t go home.”
“It’s alright,” Merry said. She knelt down in front of the child
again. “Stjarna, is that your name? It means ‘star.”
The tiny child put her arms around
Merry’s neck. Merry hugged the child and
picked her up and held her tightly. She
looked over to where the Doctor and Gweri waited. The Doctor smiled.
“Can Stjarna come with me for a little
while?” Merry asked the caretaker. “I’m
getting a tour of the city with the Mayor’s Deputy, Gweri. I’ll bring her back later, when my tour is
over.”
The care taker looked
concerned. It would be so much easier
for her to care for the other children if she wasn’t constantly keeping an eye
on Stjarna, but could she trust the alien stranger? Alien or not, Stjarna had become quite attached to the stranger.
“You don’t have to take her, but if
you want to, I think it would be very nice for Stjarna,” the caretaker said.
Merry smiled. She looked the child in the face and asked,
“Do you want to go with me and ride in a carriage?”
The child nodded. Merry held her close. “We’ll be back later.” She turned to face the Doctor. His smile was broad and encouraging. Merry smiled back. They followed Gweri through the halls and
then back outside. The Doctor talked
with Gweri and got as much information as he could about the situation. Merry was no longer listening. She was enjoying the feeling of holding a
child in her arms too much. She knew she
missed her children since they had died, but she had not realized how very much
her arms had ached for a child to be cradled in them. She talked quietly to the child. Stjarna listened to Merry and nodded her head
whenever she heard something she liked, but she never spoke. Merry felt so sad for the child. She thought how Stjarna must miss her mother
and father just as much as Merry missed Liam and Ailish. All of the children in
that school were orphans and Merry’s heart ached for them.
Stjarna enjoyed the ride in the
carriage. The driver took them to
another large building. It looked like a
hospital. Gweri and the Doctor got out
of the carriage. The Doctor lifted
Stjarna and held her while Merry got out of the carriage. Stjarna reached one of her small hands to the
curl of hair that hung down over the Doctor’s forehead. She twirled her fingers
through the curl with all the interest of a young child. The Doctor chuckled. He untangled Stjarna’s fingers from his hair
and he passed the child to Merry.
Merry and the Doctor followed Gweri
into the building. He led them to a room
and asked them to wait. Merry sat on a
chair with Stjarna in her lap. The
Doctor paced the room.
“Doctor? All the people here have black hair with a
color streak in it. Does the color mean
anything?”
“No.
It’s a genetic thing, like hair color on Earth. Humans have black, red, brown, blond and
white hair. These people have black hair
with a color streak in it. It’s passed
on generation to generation. When a
person with a blue streak mates with a person with a red streak, their children
could be red, blue or purple. Just like
humans and their hair colors.”
Merry smiled and looked at
Stjarna. “Can I ask you another
question, Doctor?”
“Sure,” he said. He seemed a little agitated, but not at her. At least she didn’t think it was directed at
her.
“This child’s name means
‘star.’ How do I know that?”
“I told you,” the Doctor said. “The TARDIS translates for you.”
“No, this is different. They told me the child’s name is Stjarna, but
I know the meaning of the word is ‘star’,” Merry said.
The Doctor stopped his pacing and
faced Merry. His shoulders slumped a
bit, “I don’t know.” He coughed.
Merry put Stjarna down and went to
the Doctor. “Did you just cough?” she
asked him.
“No.
It was just a tickle in my throat.
That’s all,” the Doctor explained.
Merry watched the Doctor a moment
longer before turning her attention to Stjarna, who was running around the
chairs and their legs. Merry laughed,
“She seems happy to be free to run around.
It can’t be fun for her in that orphanage. Are you sure you’re alright, Doctor?”
He nodded, but as soon as he did, he
coughed again, harder and longer this time.
Merry turned him around and laid her hand on his back. She couldn’t feel anything through his thick
velvet coat. Then she pressed her ear to
his back. She could hear it, the
rattling in his lungs. It was just like Peter
had when he was sick. She turned him
back to face her. “Doctor, you’re sick.”
“No I’m not,” he shot back at her.
“Yes, you are. I heard it in your lungs, just like Peter. We’ve only been here a few hours. How is it you’ve gotten sick so quickly?”
The Doctor slumped down into one of
the chairs. He looked very tired. “My physiology is different. I’ve got two hearts, to start with. I guess this illness progresses faster on two
hearted species.”
“You have two hearts?” Merry asked.
The Doctor nodded.
“No wonder,” Merry smiled.
The doctor looked up at her in
surprise. “What do you mean by that?”
“Two hearts. No wonder you are so kind.”
A smile spread across his face
before he began coughing again. The door
opened and several men came into the room, including the emerald green haired
man Merry had spoken with at the meeting with the Mayor. When they saw the Doctor coughing, they
rushed up to him. The green haired man
pulled out a curious instrument from his pocket and held it to the Doctor’s
head. He looked at its readings.
“He’s got it, Gweri. Let’s get him moved to a room.”
A bed was brought in. Merry took hold of one of the Doctor’s arms
and Gweri took his other arm. The Doctor
stood with their help and was able to get onto the bed. He couldn’t believe how fast this sickness
was attacking him. He felt weak and by
the time they had wheeled the bed out of the room, he had lost consciousness.
Merry watched in shock as they
wheeled him away. It had happened so
quickly.
The man with the green hair turned
to Merry. “My name is Doru,” he
said. I’m chief healer here.”
“My name is Merry and this is
Stjarna.”
Doru went to the child and placed a
hand on her head. “Yes, I know
Stjarna. Her mother and I were
classmates. Why do you have her?”
Merry picked up the child, “She was
in the orphanage and she same running to me to be held.”
“She was in the orphanage?” Then her family is dead?” Doru’s eyes lowered to the ground in sorrow.
“I’m so sorry,” Merry said quietly.
“This plague is so bad; we can
hardly keep track of who has died anymore.
I didn’t know about Stjarna’s family.”
Doru looked up at Merry, “I’m sorry to see the Doctor is sick. We had hoped he could help us, but now…” his
voice trailed off. “I’m afraid at the
speed the plague seems to be spreading through him he won’t live to see the sun
set.”
Merry stared in horror at the
healer. “What can we do?” she asked.
“Nothing. Unless you know where we can get some
inciver,” he sadly answered.
Merry’s grip around Stjarna
tightened. “What is this inciver and how
do you know it will cure them?” Merry
asked. She was starting to feel slightly
hysterical.
“We can only guess,” Doru
explained. “We have some old documents
of a plague that seems very similar to this one we are experiencing now. The people were dying, but they discovered
inciver cured them. Apparently the plant
was available widely back then. They
left us drawings of the plant and instructions on how to prepare it, but the
plant is no longer found on our planet.
That’s why we’ve sent scouts and scientist into space, to see if they
could locate the plant. But, no one has
returned with anything or any news.”
Merry thought about the Doctor. His life was going so fast. She couldn’t let him die. “You said you have a picture of this plant. Will you show it to me?” she asked.
“Certainly. Come with me.” Doru led them down several halls. Once in a while he would point out one room
or another and explain the things they were researching or experimenting
with. Merry held Stjarna’s hand. The little girl skipped along down the hall,
humming to herself.
Doru finally opened a door and they
walked into a library. He pulled down a
book and started to flip through the pages.
Stjarna was getting restless.
Merry picked her up and held her close.
After several moments, Doru set the book down in front of her. He pointed to a picture. “Here is the inciver plant.”
Merry looked at the picture. “Inciver,” she whispered to herself. The word was familiar. “Inciver.”
She looked closely at the picture.
“Ginger!” Merry shouted. Her yell
startled Stjarna and Doru. “This is a
ginger root! No wonder you couldn’t find
the plant. What you’ve been looking for
is the root!”
Merry laughed. She quickly reached into her pocket and
pulled out a small, thin, black box. She
put it on the tabled in front of her and opened it. It was an herbal medicine kit that she
carried around with her. Inside were 10
tiny vials with various colored powders. Quickly she started to lift up the
vials, one by one and look at them. She
was sure one of them was ginger. When
she finally found it, she held up the tiny vial and examined it. There wasn’t much in there, but there was a
small amount of the yellow powder.
Merry looked at Doru
triumphantly. She noticed the window
behind him. The light outside was
changing.
“Is that sunset?” Merry asked.
“Yes it is,” Doru answered.
“Where’s the Doctor? Take me to him, quickly!” Merry jumped up. She stuck the black box into her pocket. She held the tiny vial of ginger in one hand
and grabbed Stjarna with the other. She
hoisted the child on her hip and ran out the door. Doru ran down several halls. Merry was very aware of the changing color in
the hallway due to the setting sun. She
ran faster. She had to get to the Doctor
right away. Finally Doru pushed open
some large doors.
“Where’s the Doctor?” Doru asked as
he walked in. The room attendant pointed
to a bed in a corner.
The Doctor lay on the bed. He looked deathly white. His breathing was shallow and labored and
growing slower by the moment. Merry set
Stjarna down. She went to the Doctor’s
bedside. She popped the lid off the vial
and stuck her little finger into the yellow powder. Then she gently put her finger, which was
covered in the ginger powder, into the Doctor’s mouth.
He suckled her finger for a moment
and then swallowed. Merry laid her ear
to his chest. Already his breathing
seemed less labored. She listened for
several moments to his double hearts beating.
The only time she had ever heard anything similar to the Doctor’s double
heart beats was when she was pregnant with the twins and could hear their two
hearts beating. She sat back up and
looked at him. His face had some color
again. The ginger was working.
Doru was staring in amazement. He walked up to the Doctor and pulled out his
scanner from his pocket. He placed the
scanner on the Doctor’s head again. “It
can’t be! He is getting better. This is impossible!”
Merry turned back to look at the
Doctor. “He loves the impossible,” she smiled.
“What did you give him?” Doru asked.
“Ginger root powder. Inciver is ginger. That is why the name was so familiar to
me. Back on Earth, I’m a nurse, but I’ve
studied some herbal medicine and remedies, too.
Ginger is an ancient plant had has long been used as a spice and a
cure. ‘Inci Ver’ is an ancient name for
ginger root.”
Next to her, the Doctor stirred, but
he didn’t wake up. Merry put a hand on
his head and began to stroke his head through the curls of hair. She leaned in close to his face. “Just rest Doctor. You are going to be just fine.” She kissed his forehead and then stood
up. “Come on Doru, we need to talk.”
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 5
No comments:
Post a Comment