by Wolf Golan
The angry Tribesman gestured him into the cellar, so Max slowly bent and climbed down. He found the ladder and made his way down. He reached the bottom and brushed some dirt off. He heard the gate close and lock with a wooden lever reinforced by sinew strings. The crowd disbanded and left.
Max looked around but saw mostly the blackness of the dirt. He noticed hot coals in a hearth in the middle, so he bent down and held his hands to it. He blew in his hands and continued holding them to the coals. He looked up to see a few more faces left, tribes people and children. “Hi,” Max waved. Again, there were no responses but only their solemn stares, Max smiled and turned back to the coals.
Maybe the other warrior men would’ve captured the rest of the crew by now? They’ll soon join me?
“Coo ku nu wa’,” a voice sounded.
Max looked around until he saw the boy kneeling down smiling between the bars. Max walked up to him, “Hey my old friend, how are you?”
“Deh mu’.” He said, smiled, and ran away.
Max sat crossed legged at the hearth and remained calm and still. His spectators soon left, and he was all alone with only the popping of the embers to keep him company.
Evening soon arrived, and it got dark, Max grew tired. Finding a cloth, he wrapped himself up with it, curled up by the hearth, and fell peacefully asleep.
He awoke to a cold dawn, shivering, but luckily someone had come down and stocked the coals, so they were red hot. Max warmed himself by it, keeping the blanket tightly wrapped around him. He noticed a plate of food by the hearth stones. He picked it up: a piece of meat with purple roots. He took a bite of the root and it tasted like sweet asparagus, then he tried the meat. It had a gamey, strong taste that was a bit unbearable, but he managed to eat it.
After breakfast, Max placed the plate on a rock in the corner and paced the pit. He soon heard voices. He came to the dirt wall and found a good footing. He hoisted himself up for a peek. A small group of humanoids gathered in middle of the road, began talking. They spoke to the angry Tribesman who took the belt. They pointed in the direction of the crash and shook their heads. The Tribesman turned to stare at Max’s cell and they locked eyes. The group disbanded. The Tribesman turned and walk away.
Max jumped back down and started to think.
“Ju jueewa’,” a voice sounded.
Max turned to see the boy returned. He pushed a blanket through the bars. Max walked over and grabbed it, nodding to him. “Thank you! Mahsi!” Max said. The boy smiled with his big jaw.
Max remembered he grabbed a couple of wheat bars from the shuttle. He dug in his pocket and found them. He handed one to the boy, the boy grabbed it and ran away. Max ate the other then, and continued pacing.
Evening came again, and a female humanoid opened the gate. She handed him another plate of food. Max took it and ate it. Max noticed some hay in the corner, so he piled them by the hearth to make a warm bed. It soon grew dark and Max saw the many glows of torches outside; he fell asleep to the sight of them.
Max awoke to another cold morning. The coals were again stocked and red hot again, with another plate of food. He was impressed with their upkeep. Max yawned, stretched, and stood up. He did a couple of pushups and more stretches. The day went on uneventfully, but Max jogged in place to rid himself of his restlessness. He put his feet under the bottom of the ladder to do sit-ups.
Some hours later, a couple of curious children came and stared at him as usual, but Max taught them Thumb War and played it a few times with them, sharing laughs. However, the kids soon grew bored and played elsewhere, Max was alone again. Later, he saw one of the males stretching the slings on a roof, readying it for a shot, but he did not go, only entered his house. Max was disappointed, he wanted to see it.
Max found himself lying on the hay with his legs crossed and feet bouncing in the air, clearly bored.
Evening came again, and Max awoke from a nap he did not realized he took. A tap on the bar came from above. Max peered up to see the boy between the bars. He gave him his last wheat bar and the boy smiled, took it, and ran away. Max laid back down on the hay facing the coals. When will this end?
Max awoke to a spear rattling the bars, he jumped up. It was another cold morning as usual. The coals were stoked again, but no food. That’s the first.
A guard opened the door and a woman bent down and handed him another plate of food. Max slowly took it but attempted to speak to her. “Can I have my belt back? The box on it? I can talk to you guys!” He gestured to his waist. She only smiled and said, “Yu Boo.” Bowing and walking way as the Guard locked the gate again.
“Thanks,” Max replied, unsatisfied.
He sighed and slouched, dismayed. He looked at his plate and a new entree was on the plate: a pink rounded vegetable. It had the texture of a potato but tasted bitter and sweet. Max threw it aside. Like his uncles who threw aside foods from other Native cultures in Alaska, he did the same.
An hour later, Max sat cross-legged in front of the coals again, when he heard the gate unlock. He looked up to see tribesmen, warriors, and an Elder. They yelled at him, “Gu juee!” Waving violently outward, they stepped back from the gate. Max slowly walked to the ladder and climbed.
He barely climbed because his back was sore from the haystack. When he reached the top, two warriors grabbed him by the arms and pulled him up and hoisted him to his feet.
The sunlight glare hurt his eyes from so many days in the pit, he shielded his eyes. The two warriors then pulled him to the Elder. The Elder wore a headdress skull of one of the hog creatures with grass sticking out, making him look like a Hammerhead Shark.
Max looked aside to see half the village staring at him. In the background, he saw women churning baskets and had tunics made of some kind of hide with wooden sandals. However, some women had leather, hard heeled boots, curiously enough. The warriors had chest pieces of wood and pants-cutoffs like the boy.
The boy stood under a tribesman who handed Max the Interpreter Box. Max grabbed it with glee, smiling blissfully over it. He examined it to see if it still worked, it did. He activated it: a small screen with a camera popped up to the awes and ‘ous’ of the humanoids. He aimed the camera to the tribesman and saw him in the black and white screen. The computer began analyzing him already.
“Say something, anything, it’s already reading your expressions to match them with common patterns of speech from millions of expressions across the universe.” Max explained, he only got blank stares. Max waved his hand inward trying to get the tribesman to talk. The tribesman remained motionless and was even getting a little angry at Max’s strange charade.
The boy started talking, “Lu uu coo boo ji.”
Max shifted the Box to him. The Box began reading his expression having picked up from reading the tribesman’. Max looked to the screen to see the boy’s mouth, eye-pupils, and face in closeup, divided into lines with his voice showing up at squiggly lines on a voice monitor below. The box’s voice sounded: “PROCESSING.”
Gasps and ‘awes’ were heard from the crowd because of the talking Box.
The boy continued to talk, and Max kept the Box trained on him. “CLOSEST LANGUAGE MATCH: QUITOR, ZYWARD SYSTEM: SECOND MATCH: POLYNESIAN, EARTH.”
Max’s eyes widen as he slowly lifted his head to them. “You guys are linguistically related to the Polynesians? Awesome!” he said smiling and looking at them.
The boy laughed as he started talking English through the Box. “You... strange, why you have funny things?” The boy said laughing.
Max grew a giant smile. “It’s working!”
Max pulled a small cord from the box and bit it as he rolled up his sleeve. He rolled it pass his right shoulder as spears neared his head warning him not to try anything, he put his hand up to show peace. He slid a scanner to a bar code tattooed to his shoulder and scanned it. The information began processing in his head.
After a moment, Max looked at the kid and said, “Can you understand what I’m saying?”
>
The boy smiled huge at him, “Yeah a little.”
“I’m Max. What’s your name?”
“Wadda rin.”
“Cool.”
“Max… funny name,” Wadda rin grinned and put his hand to his mouth.
The Angry Tribesman from a day before started talking fast to Wadda rin. The Box had yet to process a lot of words from the language, so some of it was still unintelligible. He could only hear a few words.
“What is he saying?” Max asked the boy.
“He doesn’t know what’s going on and it’s making him angry, he likes to know everything… eeuuri’” Wadda rin said.
Max eyed him for a moment then turned back to Wadda rin. “Tell him I’m from a place where we use funny things and learn things fast.” He pointed up. “I came from up there.”
Wadda rin turned and translated.
Max still fixed the Box on Wadda rin, so the more he talked, the more the machine read and the more its memory banks were being filled.
“Wadda rin, who are your people?” Max asked.
“We are Waywongs of the South Woodlands.” Wadda rin answered. “Forest Jumpers, people of the Ghrin and Hirzogs.”
“Ghrins…are those the huge creatures you carry on poles?” Max asked.
“Yes,” he nodded.
“I’m guessing Hirzogs are those pig-like creatures you eat and what you fed me last night?” Max winced a little at the thought.
“Yes!” Wadda rin answered excitedly. “… but some of your words I don’t know.”
“Yeah, sorry, my machine is still working, I’ll slow down.” Max replied.
A tribesman shook his head at Max in irritation and walked away followed by some warriors. Wadda rin pointed after them. “He go hunting for Pretocks.”
“What are Pretocks?”
“I show you!” Wadda rin ran off.
“Hey! Wait!” Max yelled, but it was too late, he was gone.
Wadda rin made his way around a house and jumped up to the crossbeam ledge to run inside.
Max turned to the Angry Tribesman still standing in front of him with the Elder in back, smiling a little now. He gestured to Max with his arm, a harsh expression. “Who are you? What do you want? What is strange thing you got?”
Max smiled nervously, “I’m just a traveler. I mean you no harm. This box,” Max held it up. “Helps me talk to you.”
The Angry Tribesman continued to study him, not entirely convinced yet. Max just remembered Alex and the crew, he shot the tribesman a look of shock, which startled him too. “Oh crap… I need to know if my people are safe?” He asked.
The Angry Tribesman looked at him blankly for a few moments. Max could tell they did not understand. “Did you see my people over there?” Max asked pointing north.
The angry tribesman looked at him for a few moments longer until he answered. “No, we did not see anybody by strange house.”
“Oh shit,” Max whispered. “Where’d they go…” He sighed and rested his hands on his hips, biting his lip. He was very worried. He looked over to see the Angry Tribesman speaking to the Elder in a low voice. He glanced at Max and then ran to a nearby house and leaped to the ledge, then climbed the crossbeams to the roof. He got to the sling and hit a lever and flew into the sky above the forest.
The Angry Tribesman came down on the distant forest top and bounced back into the sky, soon disappearing in the yonder blue. “So cool,” Max whispered. He snapped out of it and started talking to everyone. “Look! I have to get back to my crew!” He said with a worried look. He came to the Elder and the Elder smiled. “Rilat is going to your people, bi’ uu…see if they’re safe.”
Max exhaled in relief,“ Thank you.”
The Elder gently nodded.
The crowd disbanded, and the warriors eased off guarding him. The Elder turned and walked away, the show was over. A couple warriors remained and trained their spears on Max, but he waved at them in a gesture of peace, but they only returned mean stares. One of the warriors pointed to one of the houses. Max nodded and started to it.
Max made his way onto the ledge and crawled up. He mounted the ledge and turned to see the warriors relaxing their spears and walking away. He entered through a hanging skin-door to find a small, quaint dwelling. There was a bare window overlooking the rocky stream and meadow to the south. A fur spread out on the floor to the right before a table that looked like a kitchen.
Max saw a bowl and a small barrel of water. He ran over and dipped the bowl and drank: it was the freshest and tastiest water he had ever drank. He dipped again and again and drank and downed it. The floor was smooth. The logs had been sawed flat and burnished, and also made smooth by the constant trample of feet.
Max laid down slowly on the fur and let out a huge sigh, “Awww… God!” Max said, a much-welcomed break from the hard hay cushioned dirt floor.
“Funny one!” A voice sounded from the door.
Max sat up and then stood quickly. He opened the fur to see Wadda rin smiling. “Max?” He said.
“Yeah.”
“Pretock!” Wadda rin almost yelled, holding a big drum stick of a meat. Max took it and Wadda rin jumped down and ran away. Max took a bite: it tasted like a mix between fish and chicken. He wasn’t particularly fond of it but finished it quietly.
Evening came, and it got dark, Max peeked out a few times to see a guard by his door, so he figured he was ordered to stay inside, so he did.
During the night, Max looked out the window to the southern starry skies and wondered at them. The constellations were different with one thick string of stars. Interstellar travel to other worlds still fascinated him, though he was born in the early 24th Century, two centuries into the Great Space Rush, when so many worlds were discovered and every human being on earth found out they could be a billionaire.
It still amazed Max Wilkes and he felt privilege to live in such a time. He smiled at the thought, as he gently fell asleep.
Chapter 4
“Max! Wake up!” Max heard as he was being shaken awake. He made out Wadda rin’s puffy head above him.
“Yeah! Wadda rin I’m awake!” Max said gently shooing him away. “I’m awake…”Wadda rin ran away.
Max slowly got up, and stretched, half-awake. He yawned as he walked out the door.
Wadda rin stood in middle of the road with a small band of Waywong Warriors with the Angry Tribesman from yesterday, as their leader. He appeared to be the Leader, the Chief.
Max hopped down and walked up to them.
“He wants to talk to you more,” Wadda rin said pointing to the Leader.
“Ask him if he knew where my friends went?” Max asked.
“I can understand you too now.” The Leader replied.
“You can?” Max looked at him wide-eyed.
“Yes, a little.”
“I’m Max Wilkes. I come from faraway. What is your name?”
“Rilat,” he answered.
“Hi Rilat. I’m sorry for coming into your camp like this, but my ship crashed, and I have people here. Did your warriors know where they went?”
“My warriors went to your camp, but no one was there.”
“Rilat look, I have to go back right now!” Max pleaded. “Please give me back my weapon and let me go. I have a partner among them, a girlfriend, a woman. I’m very worried about her.”
Rilat only returned another serious stare. Max turned to Wadda rin below. “Wadda rin tell them! I got to get back!”
“I understand you too now, you don’t have to talk to him anymore.” Rilat answered. Max turned to him. “We will gather a small group of warriors to go with you, it is not safe.”
Max’s franticness turned to curiosity. “Not safe?”
Whistling’s were soon heard over the skies. Max looked up but saw nothing, but soon, hundreds of flaming arrows began raining down. Max grabbed Wadda rin and ran for his house to duck under it for cover. Some Waywongs were hit and dropped to the ground dead. “Rourds!” Wadda rin
screamed. “Run Max! Run!” Wadda rin ran out from the house down under the next.
“Hey wait!” Max yelled after him, but he was already gone.
Rilat and the warriors already had run to nearby houses for cover. Women grabbed children and ran for cover and screams were heard. Max ran out from the house and kept under the roofs for cover to pursue Wadda rin. He soon saw Wadda rin emerge from under a house. “Wadda rin!” He yelled. He turned to Max. “Can you get my gun?!”
“Rilat has your weapon!” He answered. “Come with me!”
Wadda rin ran out into the road. “Wait look out!” Max yelled, but he saw no arrows raining down anymore, so he ran out and followed Wadda rin across the road.
Wadda rin ran to a house in middle of the village and hopped on its ledge, Max climbed up it. Max looked to see another barrage of arrows coming. Women and children continued to scatter, and some were running into the woods.
“What’s going on?” Max shrieked.
“Rourds! They’re coming!” Wadda rin answered.
“Rourds?” Max asked.
“Warrior Creatures from Nah koo!” Wadda rin explained as he disappeared into the house. Max furrowed his eyes confused, as he followed. Max dashed through the fur door to see a frightened and startled Waywong woman and a toddler hugging her leg: Rilat’s family. “It’s okay! We’re friends!” Max raised his hands. “Do you know where my weapon is?”
She pointed to a small drawer in the corner. Max gestured to it to Wadda rin. He ran over and checked, then pulled it out. Max ran over and grabbed his Pulse Machine Gun 10 Millimeter-PM-10. Wadda rin already ran out the door and Max ran to catch up, but turned to Rilat’s frightened family, “You better run into the woods miss.” Max nodded and ran out.
The village was disserted. The Waywong women and children had fled into the forest and Waywong warriors began lining up in formations on the road. Wadda rin ran up to them, but Rilat gestured him to the other side of the road. Max hopped down and ran over and came to Rilat’s side, he didn’t react, so Max stood still. They waited in deathly silence with bows trained at the foliage to the south. Max glanced to the side to see Rilat’s family fleeing into the woods as the last family to do so.