PARENTHOOD
Chapter Sixty Nine "Okay, all aboard!" the Doctor said as the family members who were going with him climbed into the TARDIS. "I found the perfect place to go so hopefully we'll all have fun today and..." He trailed off when he heard his children giggling while Sokanon whispered to them about the room. "And Soki here has stumbled onto my other selves or rather the heads of my other selves that I use whenever I need advice from myself and this has tickled her fancy so much that I'm sure she'll be hanging out in there 24/7 now," he said as the children laughed. "I just think it's cool that you get to talk to yourself as heads," Sokanon said. "Okay, well could you please refrain from going back there until we get back so I don't have to stand around listening for my other selves to stop cooing over you lot," he said as everyone laughed. "Right, here we go, hitting the high road for fun and adventure!" He released the handbrake and the TARDIS flew off into the vortex. Meanwhile, while the Doctor was flying, Sokanon led the others back to the room. She opened the door and led them over to the Seal of Rassilon. The heads were inanimate again and they stared at them in wonder. "They talk?" Chaska said. "You have to step on this picture in front of them," Sokanon said, pointing to the seal. "Then they come to life like magic." "I knew it!" They looked over when the Doctor entered with the rest of his family. "See, couldn't stay away from it," he said. Everyone stopped and stared at the heads. "Okay, that's creepy especially since he's there," Rose said, pointing to Nine's head. "God, Bro, I thought I knew a lot about you but I didn't know you talked to severed heads of yourself," Awinita said, making a face. "Wait, you have a room like this?" she said to Doc, "or you?" she said to Nelak and Dex. The three men coughed loudly and shifted their feet as everyone laughed. Sokanon frowned when she heard the squeaking again. "Hey, what's up there?" "Just bats," the Doctor said, shrugging. "Bats?" Donna said as she backed away. "You got real live bats in here?" "Yeah, but they won't hurt ya, relax," the Doctor said. "They're mainly here for mood." "Well, it's working," Rain said, looking around. "You know about this room?" Rose asked her. "Uh, no," Rain said. Everyone stared at her in shock and looked at the Doctor. "Okay, I tell my wife a lot of things but not everything. I didn't think she'd be comfortable if she knew I had a room with talking heads in it. Hmm, Talking Heads, brilliant band...anyway, observe." He stepped onto the seal and instantly the heads came to life. "Okay, here's some of my family since my daughters just had to come in here," he said, gesturing to them while they stood and stared at them in stunned silence. "Okay, this is incredibly creepy," Tara muttered to Awinita who nodded in agreement. They glanced at Alan when they heard him snicker and saw him standing with Dex, Doc and Nelak. They were nudging each other and giggling at everyone else's shocked faces. "Well, it's about time you showed us someone other than yourself," Two said. "Gets boring staring at your pretty face all day." The Doctor blushed when everyone laughed at that. "Yeah, well, gotta go, flying the TARDIS," the Doctor said hurriedly as everyone snickered. He practically pushed his family out the door and shut it behind him. "Right, let's go have some fun," he said to them. "Anything you say, Pretty Face," Donna said. The Doctor eyed her as everyone giggled. They headed back to the console room except for Namid. The Doctor looked down at him. "Wotcha, my little starshine," he said to her. "Hi, can you help me?" "I don't know, can I?" She giggled and took his hand. "Come and help me, Pretty Face," she said. "Oh blimey, now everyone's gonna be callin' me that," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes. He followed Namid back to her room and watched as she grabbed her Little Mermaid tote bag from the side of her night table. She reached in and pulled out an Ereader that the Doctor had got for her when he realized that not only could you read books on it but it had a voice that could read to you. To his dismay though, he soon realized that the voice was electronic and sounded like a Dalek but Namid enjoyed it and after he drilled a couple of holes into the top and threaded a sturdy ribbon through the holes, he made a sort of necklace out of it so she could wear it around her neck. She was able to operate the buttons on the bottom by touch after she memorized their location; the only thing she needed help with was selecting a book from the menu. "I wanna listen to Peter Pan, Daddy. Could you select it for me?" "Why? You gonna ignore me the whole day and listen to the Dalek read to you?" he asked as she giggled. "I can do both," Namid said. He had to admit she was right. She had a talent for hearing what was going on around her and following the story at the same time. The Doctor brought up the menu and scrolled down through the novels he had uploaded for her. Most of them were classic children's stories that he thought she might like along with newer ones like the Harry Potter series. He found Peter Pan and found where she had put her bookmark, marking the place where she had last stopped. He winced when the Dalek voice immediately started reading the words aloud. "Oh, Rainbow, I gotta find a new one for ya, one with a voice that doesn't grate on your nerves," he said as he slipped the ribbon around her neck. Once that was done, he took her hand and led her back to the console room. Alan groaned when he heard the voice reading to Namid. "Oh no, not the cyborg," he said as everyone laughed. "That thing is so annoying." "Trust me, I'm gonna find a replacement with a more normal sounding voice," the Doctor said. The TARDIS landed and everyone walked towards the front door. They stepped out into an alley and looked around but they couldn't see any sign of a circus or funfair. Up ahead they saw people walking along the pavement so they decided to ask which way to go but the moment they stepped out onto the pavement and looked around, they noticed they were in a quaint looking small town with old fashioned looking shops. Intrigued, they decided to explore the town for a moment before asking for directions. Both human and aliens were walking the pavement, going in and out of the shops. "Where are we?" Tara asked. "Believe it or not, this is Mars in the year 4360. The humans came here and terraformed it and in a hundred years or so, the air had enough oxygen that the red sky was replaced by blue and now it rains and snows just like on Earth. But, the Earthlings that came here got nostalgic for their home planet which is why we're seeing the small town mock-up here. But if you go far enough, you can still see traces of the red planet in the red mountains and some red deserts, the rest has been taken over with green vegetation. They split up into different groups and started going into the shops. Alan was walking with Rose when he suddenly heard a robotic voice behind him and he groaned as he looked behind him and saw Doc leading Namid. "Oh no, we have to listen to Cyborg Pan while we shop," he said as Rose chuckled. "Be quiet, Silly Alan," Namid said. "I don't like the robot voice, it's annoying. It's ruining a perfectly good story," Alan said as they walked. They headed into a sweet shop and looked around. "Ooo, what do they have?" Alan said as he walked up to the glass display case, leaned over and peered in. "Ya'nala, you want some sweets?" Doc asked. Namid thought while she listened to her novel. While she thought, she heard Alan ask for a sack of salt water taffy and her face brightened. "That. I want salt water taffy like Uncle Alan's getting," she said to Doc. "Okay," Doc said, leading her over. Alan let out a melodramatic sigh and put his head on Rose's shoulder. "Why did the cyborg follow me?" he asked as Namid giggled. "I never thought I would hear a Dalek doing storytime but there you are, a Dalek is reading Peter Pan to me." "Can't be worse than some things you've encountered, Alan," Rose said. "No, I've encountered worse but none as annoying as the cyborg back there," he said as Doc order a sack of licorice for him and a sack of taffy for Namid. Doc looked down when Namid tugged on his trouser legs. "Could you get something for Daddy? Do they have jelly babies, he likes those and Mummy likes lollies, do they have those?" Doc glanced down through the case and saw both. He ordered a sack of jelly babies and a huge all day sucker. The man behind the counter gave him the sacks and Doc handed her the sack of taffy. Namid reached in and popped a pink taffy into her mouth before she took Doc's hand. As they walked, Doc looked around and saw Alan and Rose following them. "I thought you couldn't stand the cyborg?" he teased. "Nah, I like following my niece, she always finds interesting things," Alan said. As they stepped outside, Doc saw the Doctor, Rain, Sokanon and Chaska across the street in a small park ordering lemon ices from a man in a wooden booth. The four of them looked both ways and crossed over once Doc told Namid what was going on. "Mummy, Daddy!" Namid said as they looked her way. "I got sweets for you!" Doc handed the Doctor the sack of jelly babies and Rain the lollipop. "Thank you, baby," Rain said. "Yes, love my jelly babies," the Doctor said, popping one in his mouth. "Do you want a lemon ice, Mi-mi?" Rain asked. She nodded and ordered for her while Doc, Alan and Rose waited to order. While they were doing that, Chaska and Sokanon had a couple of pieces of jelly babies while they drank their lemon ice. While they sipped their drinks, they suddenly noticed someone shuffling by the park. He was pale, nearly albino with a bald head and blue eyes. He was wearing a leather jacket and trousers with black boots. In his hand was a wicker basket that was filled with food and other items. What disturbed the children was the blank look on his face while he shuffled along. Chaska and Sokanon shared a look and walked out of the park, intending to follow the man. They walked onto the pavement and noticed the man was shuffling very slowly. "What's wrong with him?" Sokanon said as they walked behind him. "Dunno. He looks weird like he's sleepwalking." "Kids!" They turned and saw Alan behind them, a stern look on his face. "Stop following him," he said to them. "But there's something odd about him, Uncle Alan," Sokanon said. "We were gonna ask if something was wrong." "No, that's final. Stay away from him." "Why?" They noticed Alan gazing at the man with an angry look on his face. "Because there's nothing you can do for him, kids," he said angrily. "He's a Quek, part of a slave race. The reason why he looks so weird is because he's been brainwashed from birth to serve someone. He's basically mindless." "Then we need to help him," Sokanon said, starting after him. She gasped when Alan grabbed her arm. "No! Don't! I'm dead serious. If you try to help, he'll think you're interfering with his master's wishes and he'll attack and possibly kill you. There's nothing you can do, okay? As much as I hate to see it, you have to leave him alone. They're bred to serve and nothing else and their brainwashing is so entrenched there's no way you could convince them otherwise." By this time, the others had come out of the park. The Doctor glanced at the Quek and nodded. "Yes, I'm sorry, kids. I know you wanna help but Alan's right. Their race is basically mindless and even if they didn't attack us, we still couldn't get through to them." "That's terrible, Daddy," Sokanon said. "I know, sweetie, but there are some races in the universe that are bred to be slaves and nothing else. There's nothing we can do for him, okay?" Sokanon nodded but the Doctor noticed that he and Chaska were still looking at the Quek with a worried look on their faces and he smiled at that. He turned and urged them to do the same. Namid took hold of Rain's hand and Doc got on her other side while Sokanon walked beside the Doctor and Alan and Rose, Christopher and Chaska followed behind them.
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