by Wolf Golan
J.T. forked food around his plate as he sat on the log to reply. “It’s dangerous. No one ever uses them. We can signal pirates or one of UEF’s enemies. Stranded travelers usually just contact the planet’s locals before using them.” J.T. forked a big chunk of food in his mouth.
“It’s worth a try isn’t it?” Ryan asked.
“Let’s wait on it for now.” David replied turning to J.T.. who nodded chewing a mouth full of food.
The crew resumed their silent mediation and relaxation, watching the flames and listening to the low crackling of embers along with what sounded like crickets and an occasional squeak from a bird.
David turned to J.T.. “Can you do a Star chart?”
J.T turned to him as he swallowed his last chunk of food. “Yeah I can try.” He said throwing his ration plate into a bush, as it dissolved in seconds. He wiped his hands and grabbed his LU from the ground, punched in keys, and walked into the meadow. The remaining crew members waited with half-open eyes.
J.T. paced in the meadow holding up his LU to the night sky, burping once. Alex smirked as she rested on Max’s shoulder. He slowly walked back into camp and sat on his log. The LU made sounds of processing information and J.T. sipped his tea.
The Wangs got up and nodded to everyone before starting to their tent and going in to sleep. Alex got up and followed suit, slowly walking to her tent.
Max had learned the man who just awoke was a German Journalist. He came by Max hit some keys on a gadget, threw it down as frames exploded out of it forming a chair. He sat down. Max smirked at the sight as he sipped his tea, hugged his knees and staring at the fire.
The German man took out his camera and started adjusting it.
Max turned to him. “What’s your name?”
“Hubertus Breuer. I’m a German photojournalist for the New Worlds Times magazine based in New York. I was assigned to come out and do a story on Shin Bay’s new colony and the Settler’s reaction to the new planet.”
“Cozo man.” Max said smiling.
They traded smiles but soon turned their attention to Ryan who held up a cup. “Did someone test the water?”
“Yeah it’s clean. I tested it.” Alberta replied with eyes closed, laid wrapped in a blanket on top of a log resting her head on her hands against her jacket-pillow, obviously wiped.
Ryan nodded and gulped down the cup. Alberta opened and closed her eyes again in a second attempt to sleep.
J.T. had laid a blanket on the ground and leaned against a log, using his jacket for a blanket, attempting to sleep as well. His LU made sounds. He got up, turned, and picked it up to read it. David got up from his tent and came over, Max stood up, and Dallas came from around the fire to join them.
He squinted at it, confused.
David glanced at it then at J.T., repeating it a couple times. Dallas peeked at it from the side and Max stared at it from over J.T.’s shoulder.
“What is it?” David asked.
J.T. squinted harder but remained befuddled. “My LU couldn’t create anything.”
Dallas squinted at his screen for a few more minutes then, responded. “That’s nothing.” She said disparagingly. She walked a few steps away and stared at the fire.
J.T. studied it a little more. Dallas turned to see his determined efforts and it frustrated her. “J.T. it’s nothing. I’ve gone out on dozens of worlds and we’ve always been able to Galactically position ourselves every time!” She exclaimed narrowing her eyes. “We’re clearly in an uncharted area.”
She got up and started onto the glade to walk off her anger.
David insisted. “What is it J.T.?”
“Well,” he rubbed his mouth. “We’re definitely not in the Milky Way. My LU can’t create it from the constellations readings.”
David sighed and turned away. The crackles of the fire were heard, as no one made a sound. Some mumbles from the Wangs in their tents and Alberta’s light snoring. Ryan threw a twig down in anger and Max lowered his eyes to the fire, disenchanted.
“There’s nothing more we can do tonight.” David said. “Let’s continue in the morning.”
Ryan nodded. David turned to Max. Max slowly nodded too. The camp broke and the crew slowly made their ways to their tents or set them up with the gadgets. Max turned to see Hubertus crawling into his tent and turning on his reading lamp.
He turned right to see Alberta peacefully snoring on the log with the blanket squeezed around her.
Max leaned over his feet and pushed himself up, groaning. Slowly, he made his way to his tent and peeked in, Alex slept soundly.
He took out his gadget and spoke: “Stretcher.” The gadget made a sound then transformed into a mini-gun. He laid out his jacket out on the ground and ran the gun over the torn sleeve. The pierced needle and thread into the jacket sowing it back in seconds. He finished, and the jacket was good as new with the threads not showing, only small holes.
Max bend down, kicked off his shoes, and crawled in. He gently rested on the blanketed pad and sighed with relief.
Alex sat up with bushy hair, scooted herself to the door, and left to the woods. A few minutes later, she came back, sitting, kicking off her boots, and flopping herself down by Max. Max reached for his bag, pulled out a double-barreled pulse-machine gun with a six-inch clip, and half foot handle.
Gently, Max laid it to this left, before padding his pillow and lying down. Alex already let out a snore and Max smiled at it.
Chapter 3
Max opened his eyes to a sunlight glare.
He could hear Alex snoring and was surprised he awoke before her, it was usually the other way around. He opened his eyes with some blinks, and slowly and quietly, grabbed his gun and crawled out of the tent.
He came out and the pure forest breeze hit him, and it was joy. He covered his eyes and squinted until he saw a beautiful, pristine forest around him, with a rippling river beyond a tree line aside the camp. He saw pieces of the river through the branches and wanted to see it all, but he had a mission.
He bent down put his boots on, hit a button for a large lace to fasten itself around it, and threw his jacket on. He hoisted his gun over his back and it shot a strap around him.
Max saw the entire camp still asleep and dead quiet, only last night’s campfire letting off small thin smoke lines.
He walked into the glade.
He tiled his head up to see pure untouched trees unlike any he saw before. He ‘knew’ they had never experienced the poisonous effects of the Industrial Age and was glad about it.
What a beautiful world.
Max tightened his strap and continued across the glade. He checked his belt and turned his head up to see David.
“Whoa!” Max jumped.
Max held his heart as David grew a small grin, biting on a twig.
“You scared the hell out of me.”
“I can’t believe I surprised a UEF Soldier.” David smiled in pride.
Max calmed down. He turned to see a young beautiful, skinny Asian woman standing next to David, straight healthy black hair with dark, piercing eyes.
“You were just going to leave without telling anyone?” David took the twig out of this mouth.
Max returned a calm stare. “I just wanted to do it and not talk anymore.”
David slowly nodded, then bobbed his head left. “This is my student Jenny Chang. Jenny this is Max Wilkes, former UEF soldier.”
“Oh wow!” Jenny said raising her eyes. “I feel safe already.” She giggled and extended her hand. Max took it with a smirk and shook.
“What are you doing up so early?” Max said turning to David.
David stared up at the forest tops before answering. “Never been good at sleeping, besides, I love mornings when camping.” David finished examining the forest ceiling and turned to Max. “You eat anything?”
“No, I got a few things in my bag.”
“Oh no! You should really eat something before you go!”
Before Max could answer, he s
potted something beyond them. It appeared to be a humanoid peeking at them from the foliage across the meadow.
“Don’t move.” Max whispered.
“What?” David asked.
“There’s a Local behind you guys, don’t turn around or you’ll scare-”
They both turned, and the boy disappeared into the foliage with a branch springing back and forth. Max ran pass them and started across the meadow. He sprinted pass the ship and hit a button on his Aero boots, small wings clicked out, but nothing happened. “Dammit!” Max shouted.
Max reached the foliage and jumped onto it. He exploded through the bushes and landed on the forest floor, but no boy. The boy ran ahead in a loose buckskin like garment with legging cutoffs and a thick poufy head of hair bouncing up and down as he ran into a meadow. Max deactivated the boots.
“Hey! Wait!” Max yelled resuming his pursuit.
The boy entered the meadow under the morning light.
He came to what appeared to be a giant sling. The sling was suspended by elastic hide fixed between two distant logs in the distant treetops. The boy grabbed the ends of the rope and hit a lever planted in the ground, shooting him into the sky. Max stopped and wondered, as the boy turned into a little speck flying through the sky and descending on the distant forest tops beyond.
Max ran into the meadow and came under an overarching tree. He slid his gun around and switched it to Grappling Mode, aimed it at the top and shot. He heard a thud and hit a button on the gun, the rope reeled him up the tree. He flew toward the tree and hit the log running and sprinted up the tree.
The gun sucked the rope in and pulled Max all the way to the hook. He found himself 4 stories up. He took out his knife and slammed it into the tree, for a handle. He then turned toward the direction the kid flew and pushed a branch aside.
The kid was still a speck in the distance as he descended again on the forest top, before bouncing back into the sky from an explosion of chickadees.
“What the hell?” Max whispered.
The kid became a barely visible speck going up and down across the forest. Max noticed a beautiful mountain range beyond but had not time to enjoy the scenery. He had to find the kid and the settlement.
He loosened the rope and bounced back to the ground. He landed.
Max hit a button and the hook deactivated its tips, so Max pulled the string and the hook came off and dropped down to him. He reeled the roped back in.
“Max!” David yelled. Max turned to see David’s tiny figure standing among the brushes.
“Stay there! I’ll return! Tell Alex I’ll be back!” Max yelled back.
“Okay! Be careful!” David replied.
Max turned and started after the boy across the meadow into the deep forest. He did not know what was out there and felt idiotic, but the boy was the first local they saw, and Max had to contact him. Max threw his gun behind his back and started after the boy.
He ran but was as vigilant as he could be.
Eventually, Max got tired, but unsure of his environment, he slammed himself against a tree. His sweat already running over his eyes making him blink and his jacket becoming heavy. Should I leave my jacket? A marker? He decided ‘No’ and left his jacket on as he slowly turned and resumed jogging.
The forest sounds were familiar and yet they were not: chirping of chickadees and the occasional rustle of leaves on the forest ceilings, but yet it was not earth. Max had to remember that. He jogged along and tilted his head up to look for the trampoline devices, but saw nothing, only branches.
The sunrays came through treetops like any forest and felt warm, it was a welcoming feeling after a cold night in the tent. Max look around for any movement with his PM-10 ready at a quick grab, but he saw nothing. Max jumped across a small stream, dodged some low bush, and started up an incline. Panting as quietly as he could, he summated the small hill and continued down the other side, looking to-and-fro, only more forest ahead. Max reached the bottom and negotiated some pokey willows, and then started into a clearing. He checked his watch: 10AM Earth Time.
Max had left camp at 8:30 AM, so it had been an hour and a half. He started into his jog again. After another half hour of jogging, he stopped and rested on his knees, pouring with sweat. Taking out a cloth, he wiped his face and head, then leaned up to look around: only more trees, scattered bars of sunrays, and the chirping of forest chickadees, a calm forest. The mission resumed with Max climbing another large hill.
Max rested halfway up and leaned on a tree, wiping more sweat away. He looked around but still not a soul, only the same forest sights and sounds, but with added sounds of a small brook and rustling of leaves indicating a small breeze. Max tilted his head to the forest ceiling to see the birds, he made out tanagers and more chickadees fluttering and dancing about the branches of the ceiling. He wondered how they could resemble Earth birds so closely. Max continued his climb, but slowly.
After reaching the top, he bent low to traverse the ridge as stealthy as possible. Soon small bellows of smoke were seen through the branches, rising into the sky. Max looked lower to see they were coming from wooden homes with logged rafters. At closer examination, it appeared to be a little village with humanoids like that of the little boy who flew away. They were going about daily activities.
Max rose higher to see the female humanoids hauling water from a nearby stream in clay pots. Other older humanoids and male humanoids packed wood in from the forest on their backs while others carried large dead animals suspended by poles. The dead animal looked like an elk, but with shaggy forelocks, bigger eyes, and spots of reptilian skin. He noticed the giant feet of the humanoids, as they hopped back and forth to their raised homes.
The little boy from before, stood in the middle of the dirt road speaking to an adult and pointed toward the ship. Max studied them.
The humanoids soon hopped on the raised homes and grabbed a hold of ropes suspended to the houses but sprung from nearby trees as giant slings. They soon shot themselves into the forest, toward Max. He rolled behind a tree stump and hid. He soon heard whizzes above him as they flew over and onto the trampolines attached to the treetops. Max figured they were flying to the crash site to investigate the boy’s accounts. He was worried about his crew but remained still.
A couple of the humanoids came down onto the trampolines and bounced on them, sending countless leaves fluttering down. Max whispered into his watchcom, “you guys there? This is Max!” He said, but it was dead. He saw a crackdown the glass and knew it was busted. “Rats,” he whispered, taking it off and throwing it aside. He sighed and stared aside, thinking.
He looked up to see one of the humanoids coming down at him swinging on a rope like Tarzan. “Aaahhh!” Max yelped, as he jumped and dodged him. The humanoid brushed Max, but Max got to his feet and started to run when another came swinging from the opposite direction. Max dodged him by jumping aside, then another came from the other direction. Max somersaulted backward and dodged him, but as he landed, he dangled and lost his balance stumbling down the hill.
Max tumbled and rolled down the giant hill and his gun dug into his back a few times and caused a streak of pain, he yelled. He hit a stump and had the wind knocked out of him but went by it and continued rolling. He rolled and tumbled more, and a willow stuck him in the back, as he yelled out again. He finally reached the bottom and rolled onto some wet moss. He attempted to get up but felt the sharp spear points on his back. He looked up to see their spears at him, and bows being stretched toward him. He smiled nervously and raised his hands.
# # #
Max was being led to the village by the warriors. Max thought their language strange, lots of vowels. They had tan skin and he thought they bared a strong resemblance to the Polynesians back on earth. However, their thick black intertwined dreads, protruding jaw, and elongated dirty feet distinguished them. They had their own unique smell and it did not bother Max at all.
The group crossed a stream and Max leap over it. A humanoid woman sta
red at them passing as she held a jar of water on her shoulder, ready to haul it back up. Max and the group reached the small incline and started down the middle of the village.
They prodded Max a couple of times, as he winced from the pokes. “Ouch! That hurts!” He snapped, but all they did was return solemn stares. Max saw the raised homes up close: four-to-five feet high, crossed beamed with logs, moss and mud as mortar, and neatly peeled logs for rafters. Max noticed some roof ridges flatted at the ends to act as blastoff platforms for giant slings.
The smell of the village was of fresh foliage and clean dirt with clean logs, Max loved the smell and it reminded him so much of his own Native camps he spent childhoods summers, on the outskirts of Birchville, but it did not small as fresh as this village. The skinned animal carcasses, hanging from poles outside some of the homes resembled fat reptilian hog like creatures. Some of the humanoids cooked the meat above firepits in front of the homes. There hides of other animals hung too.
They started talking again behind him, so Max attempted to reach for the Interpreter Box on his belt, when spears and arrows came at his face. He slowly raised his hands and kept walking. Max was amazed by their use of bronze spears, usually indigenous peoples used flints or obsidian? They led him farther down the main dirt road, black and wet from rains and the grass beaten down on the sides.
Nearly a hundred had gathered around him. He soon spotted the boy kneeling out of one of the houses, only watching.
Another speared poked him in the back again. “Oww!” He said. “Calm down guys! I sure wish you’d let me scan your language with my Interpreter Box.”
They finally stopped at one of the houses at the end of the road. There were bars of wooden beams all around the bottom of the home and a gate in front. One opened the gate. Max heard a tap on his Interpreter Box. He looked down and a spear was tapping it. He turned to see an angry Tribesman nodding to it. Max reached down and unloosed his belt, then gave it to him.