Today was Qu Pang's third day at Murdo. The first had been taken up with introductions to the key Committee members before a brief tour of Center, while Support Workers rushed to prepare a suitable sleeping room for him. Qu had spent most of yesterday closeted with Joan Whitney and the other senior Scientists, answering endless questions about his home and finishing with a formal dinner with the Committee in the evening.

Even though the settlement currently contained as many as one thousand inhabitants, everyone knew each other to a greater or lesser extent. There were no strangers - until now. Whether he liked it or not, Qu Pang was going to be the centre of everyone's attention for the duration of his visit.

Today, Billie had been given the task of showing him around the rest of the settlement, and allowing him to meet some of the many settlers who were eager to see the stranger. Billie was pleased, but surprised, to be asked. She had expected one of the Committee members to be given the task, however they were all involved in a meeting, locked away in one of the small rooms. Discussing the impact of Qu's visit, she suspected. His arrival was the most significant scientific event since the pod of whales that had stranded themselves on Scott's beach five years ago. Then, the Scientists among them had spent days and weeks, examining, dissecting, and measuring, first the carcasses and then the bones.

Qu Pang was probably more significant, in fact. Billie was very proud to have been given the job as guide.

At the moment though, she felt more like a bodyguard than a guide, trying to fend off the small crowd of interested spectators, who were following them around.

"We were established as a science research station right from the very beginning, you know," she explained, as she entered a low building. "This was one of the Research Laboratories." Five large metal objects, all a similar shape, were lined against one of the walls.

"What are those?" asked Qu Pang, staring.

"To be honest, we don't really know. None of these machines work anymore and most were ransacked during the first years after the Great Freeze - to help the colony survive. But through here," she opened a door proudly, "we have our Hydroponics Laboratory."

Long tables filled the room, each covered with trays of green plants. People moved about, bending over the trays and topping them up with water.

"'Hydroponics?'" queried Qu, unfamiliar with the term.

"I don't know, exactly." Billie shrugged. "An old word. Something to do with water. It's just been the 'vegetable laboratory' as long as anyone can remember. Of course we catch seals and fish for most of our food, but we need vegetables to stay healthy."

"What do you grow outside?" asked Qu, interested.

"Outside?" Billie looked confused. "How do you mean? The tables would blow over in the first big wind."

Qu smiled, then stopped as he realised she was serious. "I mean crops, in the ground. Like rice or wheat."

"I don't know what they are." Billie shook her head. "I don't think we have any of those things. Just what you see in here." She pulled a face. "You don't really eat plants that have grown in dirt, do you?"

Qu laughed, then was distracted by the sight of rows of small green trees about the size of young mangroves, growing at the end of the room.

"What are they?" asked Qu Pang, walking forward with interest. He had never seen trees grown indoors before.

"Lemon trees," Billie told him. She reached out and plucked a bright yellow fruit from one of the branches. "Here. Smell this. Isn't it wonderful?"

A wide smile spread across Qu's face as he sniffed the lemon. Billie held out her hand, and reluctantly, Qu gave the lemon back. But to his surprise, she pulled out a blade, sliced it in half and gave him one.

Billie sucked on her half and watched Qu give his half a tentative lick with his tongue. Instantly he screwed up his face, and Billie laughed. "It tastes sour by itself, but it goes beautifully with fish."

She let Qu look around for a moment, still clutching his lemon, before leading the way outside and along to a large building, followed by the small crowd. "This is the Chalet," said Billie, opening the door and ushering Qu inside. "Here we have some of our oldest relics," she murmured, hoping vainly to quell some of the excited chatter from her fellow settlers. "As an Explorer, I think you'll be interested in these."

She led Qu to a small room and then quickly shut the door behind them, before too many of her compatriots could follow them in.

"There," she said.

~~~

Qu Pang stared at the ancient machine standing in pride of place on a small platform.

It had a curved top, with two glass tubes running around the edge; from the floor on one side, right around to the floor on the other. The word "Wurlits--" was written in the middle. Other words were written in small boxes just above, on the front of the machine.

"What is it?" he whispered.

"Our ancestors," came the rather surprising reply. "Not our actual ancestors, of course," Billie hastened to explain, "but a list of their names." She stretched out a finger and traced over the words. "See? There's my name, 'Clapton'. There's Joan's, 'Whitney', and there's 'Presley'. You can see, all the Families are there."

Qu Pang peered over her shoulder. "So these names are still used today?"

"Yes," Billie nodded. "Every adult has a job title of course, like Scientist or Researcher, Support Worker, and so-on, but the Family names are really important. They tell us who can have children together and who can't." She blushed faintly.

"How do they do that?" Qu Pang didn't understand.

"Well, my full name is Billie Steppenwolf-Platter-Presley-Ross-Stones-Clapton. That's my mother's, father's, and their mother's and father's, Family names. I can't have children with any man who has one, or more, of those names - that's the law."

Qu Pang found himself nodding, that was a clever way to minimise inbreeding in such a small community.

A shadow crossed her face for a moment. "It's hard though - hard to find a suitable partner, once you want children."

Qu found himself nodding again. Although the population was about one thousand, less than a third appeared to be of breeding age. Apply the Family name rule and the pool of potential mates shrunk even further.

He moved on.

There was a small display cabinet next to the machine, containing a flat black card of some unknown material with 'Google Play' written on it, a book made of what looked like antique paper, with 'Safety Rules and Regulations' written on the front, and a faded picture of a wooden building surrounded by white foam with the words, 'Discovery Hut' written below.

"All from before the Great Freeze," announced Billie, proudly. "Did you know, this whole area used to be covered in ice and snow all year round? Now we only get snow in the winter."

"What's snow?" asked Qu Pang, feeling fascinated but rather dazed by all this new information. So many strange and wonderful things to tell everyone when he returned home! He already had lemon seeds - he wondered whether he could capture some of this 'snow' to take home in a box.

~~~

It wasn't until the fifth day that Qu Pang began to feel uncomfortable. He had expected to be the centre of attention at first, naturally the arrival of a stranger would be exciting, but then he realised the women were staring at him with heightened interest, especially the young, unattached ones. They glanced down with flushed cheeks when they saw he noticed them, but as soon as he looked away, they were staring again. He couldn't go anywhere without one or two offering to accompany him, eager to show him some part of the station or its surrounds that he hadn't yet seen. Smiling and eagerly taking his arm. Glaring at each other when they thought he wasn't watching.

All except Billie, who suddenly appeared uncomfortable around him. Not quite meeting his eyes. If he hadn't known better he would have thought she was ashamed of something. Perhaps she was embarrassed on behalf of her friends.

Flattering as the attention was, maybe it was time to think about leaving. He'd had a wonderful time here and there was still so much to learn, but... it would be a long trip back to Port Wetlands. A good month or more of hard sailing, tacking into the wind this time.

Come to think of it, he hadn't been down to check on Sea Dragon for a couple of days. He'd just check everything was still in working order and then he'd request a meeting with the Committee, to tell them it was time for him to go home. He'd miss Billie and some of the others; still, now he had made contact with the settlement, perhaps he could make a return journey next year, even bring an expedition with him.

It took him a while to realise the sea was empty. At first he thought he'd made a wrong turn, gone to the wrong cove. But he hadn't. He was in the right place but Sea Dragon had vanished.

His first fear was that she had sunk. He raced out into the sea, wading up to his chest, peering frantically into the water, but she wasn't there.

Someone had taken her. Dripping wet, he pelted up the path to Center and burst in, interrupting Joan Whitney and Ernest Presley in the middle of a conversation.

"Where is she?" he shouted. "What have you done with Sea Dragon?"

Qu's heart rose into his mouth when Joan flushed awkwardly and couldn't meet his eyes. What had they done with his boat? But Presley turned to face him with a placating smile.

"There's no need to get upset, Explorer Pang," he soothed. "Please calm down, your boat is with the Scientists - in the Science Laboratory."

"You had no right to move her without my permission!" stormed Qu. "You have no idea what damage you might have done. Take me to her! Now!"

"Of course, Explorer," murmured Presley. "If you would like to follow me?" He led the way, but as they neared the laboratory building, his steps, which had begun so confidently, began to slow. Perhaps he was starting to feel the waves of anger being broadcast from Qu. Presley opened the door and stood back to allow Qu to enter.

Qu took one step inside and froze. He could have sworn his heart stopped beating for a moment.

There was Sea Dragon, carefully laid out on the floor. All hundred and twenty pieces of her, painstakingly deconstructed.

Two people were bending over what had been the main sail. "We haven't damaged anything," said one, looking up a trifle anxiously. "We've been very careful," said the other. "It's a wonderful machine you have here - so much for us to study!"

"And perhaps even more importantly," said Presley from behind him, in a self-satisfied voice, "your seed will be in high demand. We've calculated that you can safely mate and produce children with ten of our young women."

Presley misinterpreted the utterly blank look on Qu's face. "And if that works out, maybe one or two more," he beamed.