After he went through all the local conditions, he spoke in an odd way.
“ …and I’m going to tell you this, but you have to promise you won’t take it seriously.” Portus spoke a bit softer.
She snapped back to the moment. “Tell me what? You know I love a good surprise.”
“Har! We all do. But, no. It’s not a surprise. It’s a rumor.” Portus let go of one of her hands and wagged a cautionary finger at her.
She smiled and let her tongue hang down to her chin; this happened when she wanted something enough to taste it. It wasn’t very polite in mixed company, but they were alone in the high canopy of the trees.
“Okay,” he said cautiously, as if testing the word. He linked with her hand again.
She nodded in anticipation, not able to help herself. Her precognition often ruined any surprise, but she was unable to cull his thoughts for once. His mind wasn’t shut to her, but her efforts to see the precise words were as futile as a walk in the spring mud. This made her even more anxious to learn what he was withholding.
Despite their isolation high in the trees, he leaned in and whispered in her ear. The big man had to bend down to her level to do it, but his breath was as tender against her ear as the wings of a blubberfly. “My friends in the bear village have heard a rumor from the wolves. The little carnies are going after a once-in-a-lifetime treasure.”
This was like an aphrodisiac to Shatzi. She didn’t pretend otherwise. She was part of the explorer guild—unencumbered female adults who left the safety and security of the tribal lands to interact with those on the outside. Sometimes this was quite dull, as with the pumpcorn trade missions. Or it was exciting, like the many jaunts to subdue dangerous wanderers. But every once in a while she would have to go far away on secret adventures with her hand-picked allies to retrieve items of special significance.
“Tell me what you know this instant!” she demanded as she salivated freely.
***
The next morning she had an unusual argument with Portus right before she left. It was over something inane—he wanted her to eat more to fuel up. She refused, and they butted heads which led to a brief but intense session of shouting. They made up immediately after that, as they always did, but it threw her mental preparations into the refuse chute. He knew her so well, however, that he got right to fixing it.
“Bring our love back,” he said with his typical sensitivity.
She repeated their oath of union. “I am you.”
He replied, “And I am you.”
Together they said, “We are one.”
It was enough to restore the balance. She needed to leave in a good mood. Portus insisted it was superstitious nonsense, but she counted on that positive psychic lift to help bring her back from her journeys. It was part of her departure ritual—inscribed in stone. Carrying any anger or ill-thoughts for Portus would only anchor her mind in the village, no matter where her body took her.
Before she left, he offered to accompany her, though they both knew it wasn’t possible. That was his superstitious habit, though she never complained. She reminded him, as per their dance, all the fighting-age males needed to stay in the village in case of a raid.
“I need to be sure the village is here when I bring back the treasure,” she said with a final smile.
She raced down the ladder and took off across the pumpcorn patch, but halted just before losing sight of her mate. It only took a couple of seconds to bolster her mood one last time. With a wave—and a telepathic burst message not suitable for children—she turned away from the village.
“I’ll bring back something wonderful,” she whispered.
Her first stop was the nearby Golden Village. Almost every adventure included her best friend from the golden bear tribe, Jaz. The makeup of the rest of her party would depend on who the two of them could round up in a short time.
As with most things on the eighth level, she didn’t have to go very far before things changed. The land of her people ended at an ancient growth of bamboozle. The twenty-foot tall shoots of narrow red and black stalks formed a fence of a sort, though untold trampling feet had established gateways every few hundred yards, so Shatzi had no trouble fitting through the opening. On the other side, she discovered her precognition had failed her.
***
Her mind should have easily picked up on the huge creature sitting directly in her path. It turned its massive head toward her.
“I was wondering when you’d be here.” Jaz the bearoid brushed her luxurious golden coat with a plastic brush. Shatzi almost asked where she’d found such a rare gift, but that question would have to wait.
“Well, that makes one of us. My energies aren’t aligning as they should. How could you know I’d show up, but I didn’t know you’d be here?”
Jaz used her mental speak, though she looked right at Shatzi as she conveyed it. I sensed your confused thoughts from far away, my dear friend. Are you feeling all right?
I’m fine, she replied also using her silent speech. I think this talk of treasure has me in a bad state. I couldn’t keep my hands off Portus yesterday as he talked about this big score. But today I couldn’t get away from him soon enough to come here with you. Isn’t that strange?
Mates, huh? Can’t live with ‘em, she said with an external laugh. Then, in normal speech: “If you get all weirded out for one treasure in your life, this is the one.”
“You are worse than Portus! What do you know?” Shatzi shot back, almost salivating again. She didn’t want to drool in front of someone who wasn’t her husband, though a best friend probably wouldn’t be insulted.
Jaz laughed gently. “Whoa. Settle down. I’ll tell you what I know while we walk. Have you given any thought to our party? I think you’re going to want Billy. I’ll explain on the way.”
Shatzi nodded as the fifteen-foot golden bear tumbled onto her four metal-wrapped paws. She was a model of bearish perfection, save two tiny mutant humanoid hands near her front shoulders. As far as Shatzi knew they were useless, though it would be rude to ask about a fellow mutant’s abilities or defects.
Soon they were on their way. Shatzi walked near the larger creature’s front so they could chat.
“Two cycles ago we cornered a wolfoid as he strayed into our territory. There was no question he was lost—maybe he got tangled in some wiper vines. We were more than willing to escort him to the border, but we asked a few questions along the way.” Jaz laughed from deep inside her ribs, and the resonance shook the ground.
“Our mind flurries encouraged him to speak the truth on our pleasant walk. We weren’t searching for any huge secret. We only wanted to know why he was on our land. He started by telling us about a hidden cache of aluminum hangers he keeps under his bedding. Then he mentioned an illicit desire for the mate of his brother. And finally, he volunteered his big secret that the wolfoid tribe was launching an outing in three cycles as commanded by something he called the Sacred Metal Box. They’re going to be rewarded with a treasure beyond their reckoning. Or so he believes.”
Shatzi’s broad shoulders slumped as they strode the farmland of the bear tribe. She hardly paid any attention to the endless rows of straw-bombs nearby. Setting foot on one of those explosive plants would be nothing compared to the disappointment she felt. Depending on wolfoids for anything was always a mistake. They were known as self-serving jerks, prone to talk big but never back it up. The lone wolf probably blabbed his nonsense to the whole level.
“I sense your disappointment, my friend,” Jaz began. “But I think this is real. Not two hours ago a large wheeled machine came out of a hole in the wall near our dens and drove through our respectable territory, then into the thief lands next to us, and finally out toward the Middle Grounds. I assumed you knew all about it and that’s why you came at the precise time you did. I don’t know if the wolfoid’s story is true, but the machine is real. Events have been set in motion we cannot ignore. If the wolf was truthful, there might even be a treasur
e beyond our imagination.”
Shatzi remained guarded. “So why do we need Billy?”
Jaz smiled at her. “So we can steal it, of course.”
***
The pair strode to the limits of bear territory, but Shatzi was on edge as they neared another border marker. The long, dense foliage was a barrage of colors, leaf sizes, and shapes, as if the original gardener decided to dump one of everything along the path. Some were outright deadly, though most were harmless. Knowing which was the key, and had they been going to one of the forest levels Shatzi would have found someone with top-notch plant identification skills.
“Where should we poke through?” Jaz said as they searched for one of the openings. “I just brushed my fur, so I’d like to avoid any dowzer shrubs. Remember the last time we were on the run from those froggies? I was washing the red goo off for several cycles.”
Shatzi laughed. Probably every citizen on Level 8 had a similar story about malicious vegetation.
“There—by that drainage ditch. It’s wide enough to walk through,” Shatzi said.
They hastened to the watery path through the foliage. It was a twenty-foot walkway under every color imaginable. She let her guard down just for a second to admire it, and that’s when an animal shot up from the water.
Shatzi lowered her spear and crouched in a fighting stance. Jaz reared up on her hind legs in preparation for an attack.
“Ah ha!” the lizard man shouted. “I knew it!”
Both women laughed and stood down.
“Tiam, you sly thing. You’ve just about given me a heart shock. What are you doing down there?” Shatzi said after the initial surprise.
The fluorescent blue aquatic man came out of the mucky water with a hiss, as was his customary way of laughing. And coughing. And sneezing. It was pretty much all he did, except when he talked.
“Hissssss. The wind carries tidings of an exploration party heading out for adventure. I wish to join.”
Shatzi looked at Jaz with a knowing smile. Somehow the lizard knew his friends would be along. But if Tiam—a lizard famous for long naps—knew, then who didn’t know she was putting together a team?
Shatzi had an impulsive desire to leave him. The pros and cons came out, though she tried to stack up the cons.
He was aquatic in a dry land.
He was lazy, and she needed go-getters.
He showed up without her knowing.
That last bit was what really yanked her braid.
Tiam had lots of pros, too, she admitted, and she couldn’t really blame him for just being there.
Shatzi sighed dramatically. “Fine. We’ll take you with us. We’re also getting Billy.”
“Hisssss. I figured. If the rumors of treasure are true, having a crafty thief at the end is almost as important as the brute force to get you there. Better to have him on our side, because everyone is going to be there, anyway.”
Tiam hissed again, though she didn’t know if it was a laugh or meant as a warning. The way he said “everyone” was disturbing, but she didn’t press him on it.
The blue lizard crawled out of the pool while holding up his brown loincloth. Tiam stood erect, like her, and came up to about her waist. He had bare webbed feet and almost-humanoid arms and hands. His head was a bit triangular and long, rather than round, but he would pass for humanoid at a distance.
In just a few minutes they were chatting and walking as if they were fast friends. They crossed the wide tracks imprinted into the dirt by the mechanical robot Jaz reported earlier. It had indeed come through and went off to points unknown. At least it would be easy to follow.
They continued their walk, but their heads were on swivels as any number of creatures would be lurking about the edge of the Middle Grounds. She used her spear as a walking stick but found herself gripping it furiously.It took everything she had to project an aura of confidence to her two associates, though privately she admitted she’d just been surprised twice in the same cycle. Once, sure. Everyone has a bad day. But not twice. Something was wrong with her psychic balance.
And the adventure hadn’t even begun.
***
They neared Billy’s village not much later. Unlike her own tribal lands, the thief beasts weren’t into farming. Their homeland had become a forest of tall, thin pines. The frothy green canopy was high above and provided pleasant shade for the needle-strewn forest floor.
“It’s nice to be able to walk in the woods without worrying about tanglers, dowsers, or fungus,” Shatzi said.
“Hisss,” Tiam laughed. “The little thieves must come out here and trim the passion weed back.”
“Somehow I doubt Billy knows what a rake is,” she replied.
They all shared a laugh when they heard a cough intended to get their attention.
Shatzi froze and sought out the new minds. “Billy is here with his friends.” Her tone wasn’t defeat, exactly, but frustration. She realized Portus was wrong about one thing: not everyone loved surprises.
Ten long rows of raccoon people marched over a tiny knoll like a small army. Billy leaned against a nearby tree and pointed to Tiam. “I’m here because he said you were coming.”
“What? I, hisssss, just said I thought you were coming,” Tiam said while looking sheepishly at Shatzi.
“And who else, did he say, was coming? I only ask because everyone seems to know before I do. I’d like to be sure I have the right people for my party.” Shatzi laughed to hide her embarrassment.
One of the other thieves spoke. “The mechanical digger has been dispatched. It could be unearthing treasure this very minute. We are here to ensure Billy has a proper escort so he may retrieve the treasure for our people.” The regal tone was full of confidence despite the speaker’s small size.
The colorful tribe of little thieves was known for being tirelessly greedy but extremely careless with the loot they acquired. They bragged about every treasure they collected, then stashed even the most valuable technology in their little piles of dirt and trash. They claimed it was to protect it from raiders, but what it really did was destroy much of it.
Billy, she was happy to say, was something of an anomaly. He was brash, haughty, and a master thief, of course, but in all the times they’d gone on adventures together he’d never stolen from her. Somehow they’d forged a bond along the way, and had come to see each other as complimentary. Brains and brawn—though Billy would tell anyone he met he was the brains as well as the muscle.
“Uh, yeah. Shatzi is a genius at these things. She and I will bring back the treasure. That’s why she’s here,” he looked at her and secretly waved his hand as if to get her to agree to what he was saying. “Right, Shatzi?”
She nodded. She’d say whatever needed to be said to get her friend free of the grips of his people, though she had no intention of bringing back whatever “it” was, just so she could hand it off to a greedy pack of—
“Then go now. Hurry!” the representative of Billy’s tribe called out. “We shall defend this ground until you return.”
With those words, most of the raccoons disappeared. As in, poof, gone.
“How did you do that?” she blurted out before she could stop herself. To someone skilled in the mental arts, it was obvious. They’d been working together to create a hallucination meant for her party. Instead of ten neat rows, there was now only one ragged line of defenders.
Billy smiled and winked as he patted the bone knife in a sheath on his hip. “We weren’t sure if it was you, so the boys and I decided to do a little show of force. Level 8 has lost its mind over this rumor, and all attention is out in the Middle Grounds, you see? Now is the time you’d want to watch your valuables back home if you know what I mean. Keep the trash piled high, right?”
She took little comfort that they didn’t know it was her, specifically, coming into their lands. On a typical day, she would have anticipated their presence and cut through even such a convincing illusion as the one she’d just experienced.
***
They got out of Billy’s forest to find the light had dimmed.
“Should we wait until tomorrow?” Jaz asked.
“No,” Shatzi hurriedly replied. “There’s no time. I hate traveling at night, too, but if we don’t catch up to that mechanical digger, we’ll never know what it found.”
The foursome picked up their pace and headed back to the tracks they’d crossed earlier. She wished they could go faster, but the only way to make a lizard and a raccoon move with haste was to put them on the back of the bear. They were too proud to ask for a ride and Jaz was too distrusting to offer. Everyone was expected to carry their own weight.
The need for speed was unusual. Ordinarily they could take their time and rifle through boxes and huts as they searched for loot. Now they needed to be somewhere in a hurry, and she was stuck traveling with two of her slower explorer companions. There was no way to exchange them for faster allies, though she began the day intending to run miles out of her way to pick up Teullip, a cougaroid. That woman could run and fight better than anyone she’d met, including herself.
Minutes later she was back at the tire ruts. “Here they are. Go!” She ushered the group toward the Middle Grounds as she watched the open fields. At eight feet she had a considerably better view than her two little companions. Jaz was taller, but her vision was terrible.
The group ran ahead but didn’t get far before they stopped.
Billy sounded winded as he pointed to the ground. “Yuck,” he said.
A sickly pink worm had been sliced in half, and a pile of flesh and blood lay in one of the tire tracks. It was as big around as her thigh and had once been forty feet long. Both ends were wriggling, though the one with the toothy mouth was more lively.
“Keep moving. This is horrible,” she said, pushing her little friends along as her stomach lurched menacingly.
For ten minutes they ran the trail in pursuit of the strange machine. Each little rise held the prospect of revelation, but it failed to show.
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