The biting chill in the air as we mounted our bicycles on Saturday morning signalled that autumn had well and truly been replaced by winter. Thankfully, we'd not yet seen any hint of snow that might have otherwise deterred us from our plan to find Dr Stone.

Wrapped up in warm winter attire, it took me and Tobi around two hours to cycle the twenty or so miles to Rannik, where we secured the bicycles on the outskirts of the small coastal village and wandered towards the hint of civilisation that lay beyond.

The settlement had a low population density, and, given the average age of the people milling around between the sporadic shops or walking along the pebbly shoreline, it appeared to predominantly be a place where people came to retire.

We only had to ask a couple of locals the right questions to learn that Harold Stone was alive and lived the life of a recluse. Upon asking where we might find him, one of the shopkeepers guided us towards a winding path that led up to the top of a grassy crag overlooking the vast ocean. It took us about twenty minutes to reach the summit on foot, where we found a modest but well-kept solitary house with a simple garden. The tranquillity was occasionally punctuated with the sound of seagulls and the majestic blue sea lapping at the rocks below.

"I guess that must be it," I surmised, turning to Tobi. "Let's see if Dr Stone can shed any light on any of this."

After traversing the neatly laid path with my companion, my hand started shaking slightly as I knocked on the door of the house before us. My father had confirmed that the Dr Stone he had known had been amiable, but that had been over twenty years ago, and there's no way we could know whether this man would have the same temperament as he did back then.

Even if he turned out to be friendly, discussing anything like this with a total stranger was a risk.

That is, if he was even at home.

As we waited patiently, we heard some clicking noises from the other side of the door before it was opened somewhat tentatively. The elderly gentleman that opened it had very little hair, and what was left of it was greying. He was probably around seventy years old, with pronounced wrinkles that made it difficult to imagine what he would have looked like in his youth. Peering through his spectacles over our shoulders, relief visibly washed over him and he opened the door wider. As he greeted us with a warm smile, it made me wonder who else he might have been expecting to visit him in the middle of nowhere.

"Good morning," I endeavoured to match his pleasant expression.

"Good morning," he nodded at each of us in return.

"We're looking for a Dr Harold Stone," I explained.

"That would be me," he confirmed, looking a little perplexed. "Although I haven't been addressed by the title of doctor for many years. What brings you here on this fine day?"

"Dominic Andekas," I stated casually.

His face fell slightly, although he caught himself and tried not to show it.

"I'm not sure I follow you?" he said innocently, but concern laced his tone and gave him away.

"Twenty years ago, you entered his test result against the Katki template," I elaborated. "I found it in the logs."

"What of it?" he asked cautiously.

"I retested him, and I didn't get the same result," I told him bluntly.

Dr Stone's entire demeanour changed when he heard those words. Anxiety filled his eyes and his stance turned defensive.

"I think you should leave," he stated curtly, as he started to back into his house and close the door.

Leave?

This aged man was the only lead we had in our investigation, and I wasn't about to let him withdraw that easily.

Trying to keep my mounting anger under control, I wedged my foot in door to stop it closing. I knew I was being rude, and possibly intimidating given my size. But I wasn't intending to hurt him, and a lack of manners seemed somewhat inconsequential given the scale of the wider issue.

"Dr Stone, with respect," I said, attempting to keep my tone even. "We've made a considerable effort to find you because there are people out there who are being imprisoned in their own bodies and dying unnecessarily. Parents losing their children. Those that will grow up never knowing they had a sibling. A whole society which is being governed based on deceit, oblivious to the fact that they're being manipulated. I know that the Katki aren't violent, Dr Stone, and I think you do too. So, I don't plan on leaving here without some answers."

Something about what I said seemed to get his attention.

Reopening the door a little and peering at me through narrowed eyes, he appeared to be assessing to what extent he could trust my words.

"What makes you think that?" he asked hesitantly.

I removed my foot from Dr Stone's door and gesticulated towards Tobi, glancing at my companion as I did so.

"Because this one hasn't had any Ravim since he was given to me, and he's shown no signs of unprovoked aggression."

Dr Stone's full attention turned to the platinum blond for the first time since we arrived.

"You're Katki?" he probed.

"I am," Tobi responded, pulling down the neckline of his sweater to reveal his prominent tattoo, releasing it again after the doctor had inspected it to his satisfaction.

"What did you say your name was?" asked Dr Stone as his contemplative gaze drifted back to me.

"I don't think I did," I said, realising I hadn't introduced myself on arrival. "Matthew Sullivan," I added, extending a hand to him in an attempt to re-establish the manners I'd previously lacked. "And this is Tobi," I added, gesturing towards the blond man standing next to me.

His grey eyebrows immediately lifted in disbelief as he shook my hand in greeting, before shaking Tobi's hand and turning back to me.

"You're Elijah's boy?" he clarified, and I nodded in response as he examined my features more closely. "Ah, I see the resemblance now," he smiled as he opened the door wider. "The two of you had better come inside. It seems we have a lot to discuss."

The elderly gentleman turned and disappeared inside his house, leaving the door open for us to follow, which we did, closing it securely behind us to keep the bracing ocean breeze at bay.

After removing our shoes, we found ourselves inside the lounge of a humble cottage with wooden floors and an oak dresser in one corner. A fruit bowl with a few apples sat in the centre of a simple coffee table, alongside a large candle, and a well-kept kitchenette was visible through the door furthest from us. The crackle of the log fire that Dr Stone was attending to brought my attention to the stark temperature difference between the frigid winter air we'd been exposed to moments before, and the welcoming warmth of the immaculate home we were now standing in.

"You boys look like you could use a hot drink," Dr Stone said as he waved us further inside and indicated a small but comfortable sofa that Tobi and I could sit on.

"Thank you," I replied.

The elderly man pottered off to the kitchenette as we sat on the sofa, returning shortly afterwards with some herbal teas and a few pieces of shortbread on a plate, which he set down on the coffee table next to the apples.

"How is your father?" he asked amiably as he sat in the armchair opposite us. "It must be around twenty years since I last saw him."

"He's doing very well," I acknowledged. "In fact, he was selected to receive a Katki from the Andekas, which he then gifted to me," I elaborated, gesticulating towards Tobi.

"I see," he replied, nodding. "And from what you said earlier, you decided not to give Tobi the Ravim. Does your father know what you've done?"

"No," I shook my head. "I didn't know whether he'd approve."

"I can understand that," Dr Stone concurred. "I remember your father being very loyal to the Andekas."

"I supposed you must be too," I surmised carefully, knowing I was treading on thin ice. "After all, you falsified one of their test results."

"I wasn't given much choice," he assured me with a sigh. "Rachel desperately didn't want her son to be taken from her, confessing everything to me when I told her Dominic's test result. Before that, I had no idea what the template represented. I just believed the propaganda like everyone else. She threatened my family if I breathed a word to anyone, even to her husband, that her beloved son was Katki."

"Thomas doesn't know?" I asked, surprised that Dominic's mother would withhold such vital information about her son from her own husband.

"Not that I'm aware of," Dr Stone confirmed. "I didn't feel comfortable keeping the information from Thomas, and I wanted to say something twenty years ago. But I couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to my family, so I did my best in the situation I found myself in. Despite my promises to keep things quiet, though, as time went on, Rachel got anxious about me speaking up. She eventually gave me a significant payment to retire somewhere remote. Which is why I live out here."

I could understand Dr Stone's dilemma. There was no authority he could have gone to with this information, even if he did have corroborating evidence. Thomas and Rachel Andekas, and back then, their parents, controlled our entire society. Trying to make any of this public knowledge would have been likely to result in Dr Stone being branded a traitor and arrested.

"What made you test Dominic?" asked Dr Stone, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"The way he was looking at one of my friends," I admitted.

"A male friend, no doubt?" the elderly gentleman probed, as he gave me a knowing look, and I nodded. "So, you know what the Katki template is testing for," he continued. "How did you figure it out?"

"Conversations with Tobi after it was clear he wasn't aggressive," I told him, stealing a quick glance at the platinum blond.

Not wishing to disclose any more detail as I had with Seren and Peter, I changed the subject.

"You said Rachel threatened your family," I recalled. "Where are your family now?"

"My wife passed away around three years ago," he replied solemnly. "My daughter Elizabeth lives nearby, in the main part of the village with her husband Simon."

"I'm so sorry to hear about your wife. I guess you want your daughter to stay close to you because of Rachel?" I surmised.

"Of course," he replied.

I sighed in frustration.

"What the Andekas are doing isn't right, Dr Stone," I thought aloud.

"I agree with you," he concurred. "But they're powerful and too engrained in society for any of us to take on."

My irritation with the whole status quo was starting to bleed through.

"I know," I grumbled, shaking my head in exasperation. "I'm just frustrated with why it has to be this way. I don't even understand how our people have even ended up in this situation."

"I wondered the same," our host replied. "I've been spending some time during my retirement years doing some research on that very question and put together various pieces of the puzzle together along the way. I'm not sure I have all the answers, but from the information I've gathered on this, I can tell you what I think might have happened, if you're interested?"

His admission took me by surprise. I hadn't expected him to be able to give me any answers, but if he was offering a hypothetical explanation for all this, I certainly wanted to hear it.

"I'm very interested," I assured the older man as I sipped my tea and took a piece of shortbread from the plate on the table. "Please tell us what you know."