Atoma and the Blockchain Game

by Gerard O'Neill

  “Might as well start on yours first,” she said.

  “What happens when we finish both packs?”

  “By that time, we had better have found something here we can eat,” she said.

  The backpacks on the suits contained micro-loc supplies, various packets, and tubes of food, and pressurized flasks of boosted-water. There was also a compact high-end medicine kit, and a stitch wand. The wand was the Swiss Army Knife of medical kits. It wasn’t near what a surgeon would like to have available for an emergency in the wilds, but it would be the next best thing.

  “I forgot I was carrying all that,” I mumbled.

  “Should we share the food with him?” She asked.

  “Of course we should,” I replied.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t, we don’t know if it mightn’t hurt him,” she said.

  “If he can’t eat our food, we probably won’t be able to eat his,” I told her. “And, that means we starve once our food runs out.”

  “Makes sense I guess,” she said.

  As he watched, she unzipped a silver bag and dropping small fingers of beef chew into her mouth.

  “Mmm,” she said to him with a smile.

  He gazed over at me, and Nako dropped one into my mouth.

  We chewed while he watched us.

  “It’s good,” I told him.

  He waved his hand in front of his face.

  “Do you think he’s waiting to see if it kills us?” I asked.

  He got to his feet and pulled a cylinder the thickness of one of his calves from under the saddle and placed it on the ground in front of the dozing beast.

  It opened its eyes and snorted in excited.

  The boy reached under the saddle and produced a rounded container resembling a gourd. He released a catch on the side and cap popped away to reveal a curved spout. He tipped his head back and drank. Then, he tipped a few drops of green colored liquid into his cupped hand, and we saw it had the consistency of milk.

  It didn’t look so good, and we refused the drink when he offered it.

  The boy set the gourd against a rock wall and went back to the tube he had left on the ground in front of the animal.

  The beast had remained fixated on the tube, sniffing and nudging it with his nose. Finally, the animal’s tolerance ran out. It brought up its big head and snarled its displeasure at having been kept waiting.

  The boy hissed at the animal. He squatted over the tube and pulled a lever on the side. The securing cap lifted, and the boy sprang to his feet as something dark and glistening slid out.

  The beast squealed in delight and dived on the giant slug.

  Its dinner was quicker and disappeared back inside the tube.

  Giant lips wrapped around the opening and the animal lifted its head to upend the tube. From inside the container came the sound of frantic scrabbling.

  The huge head shook and contents fell into its mouth. But the quivering dark body slipped from between the jaws. A long tongue flicked out as the slug bolted for the cave entrance, and just like that it was gone. Our mount slumped to the ground and began chewing, closing its eyes in ecstasy.

  When we returned to the cave, the boy was stretched out alongside the great leather back of the beast. He gestured that we should do the same, but we lay down next to the cold stone wall of the cavern.

  “What is that stink?” I asked Nako.

  “A smell like that can only come from something that looks like our horse,” she said.

  “That’s terrible,” I told her. “I can barely breathe.”

  She nodded her disgust and closed her helmet.

  When I did the same, oh the sweet oxygen that surrounded me. It was only at that moment I realized my rib cage was hurting so much from the constant effort need to suck in enough air.

  We lay across from each other and found comfort in each other’s gaze, even though it was through our visors. Day one was coming to an end on the planet Attaapa. We were fast asleep in minutes, but it would not be for long.

  33

  Village in the Valley

  There was no blackness to the night. Instead, a twilight fell over the land after the sun went down, and it lingered until morning.

  I stared at the patterns in the rock roof above me, shifting my head inside the helmet to get a better look. Beyond the bulk of the creature lying across the cave entrance, I could see the hillside was bathed in a light that was brighter than the Moon and had a purple tinge to it. I sat up and watched the long rib cage of the boy slowly rise and fall.

  I gazed down at Nako and saw her eyes open. I wondered how long she had been watching me.

  “There’s something bright outside,” I whispered over the radio.

  She deactivated her helmet and signaled to me to do the same.

  “I could see your mouth moving but couldn’t hear a thing,” she said. “Have we lost our radios?”

  “Seems like it,” I said. “And the HUD as well. At least we can still seal the suits and activate the helmet.”

  “Opening and closing the helmet and visor doesn’t need electricity,” she reminded me. “That’s a safety feature.”

  “Aren’t you even a little curious?” I asked her.

  “Go ahead,” she said. “I don’t want to risk waking that thing.”

  “That’s what I what I decided too,” I said.

  “I heard an odd sound outside,” she said. “It came from the forest, but it didn’t make that thing get to its feet, so I don’t think it can be too much of a threat.”

  “It must be the lights of a city not so far away,” she told me.

  “Could be,” I said. “I guess we are going to find out soon enough.”

  I lay on head back down on the rough mat and gazed at her. There was some comfort to be had in simply keeping your eyes on a familiar face.

  “How do you think his people will react when they see us?”

  “If they all react the way he did, we won’t have much to worry about,” she told me with a smile.

  At the thought of there being others like the boy, I relaxed and closed my eyes.

  The animal was swift and yet the ride was smooth. The movements of the creature gave the impression there were two animals under us.

  “How many legs did you count when you were standing beside it,” Nako shouted in my ear.

  “I did not get past the feathers, the yellow eyes, and all the fangs,” I shouted back at her. “How many legs did you count?”

  “Six,” she yelled.

  My skin was ready to crawl off my body. I forced myself not to leap off its back. We were moving far too fast to make that possible even if I wanted to, and I did.

  “Oh, shit! You have me thinking we are riding a cockroach.”

  “It’s like an insect,” Nako shouted back. “All insects have six legs.”

  “Insects don’t have eyes like goats,” I told her.

  “It definitely has six legs,” she shouted.

  A gulag in Alaska no longer seemed such a bad place to be. No matter how bad things slaving in the freezing cold I was still on good old planet Earth. No matter how bad my treatment got, the guards would all be human beings who did normal human things like run from cockroaches rather than riding them.

  We had reached the top of a third range after crossing the second line of hills. Below us stretched a valley so wide I could barely see the hills on the other side. A haze hung over the valley, but we could clearly see a pattern of lines and circles, the unmistakable mark of settlement. Across the valley, thin columns of white smoke rose slowly into the air above distance neat squares filled with peaked structures.

  He urged our mount down the hill. The creature picked up the pace and soon we were moving at speed down the steep slope.

  Nako locked her arms around my waist. I, in turn, had my arms around the boy. If our mount was to make a sudden change in direction or come to a sudden stop, we would fly off its back and that would be it.

  I activated the helmet and heard N
ako do the same. It would save our skulls if we came off the galloping beast. At least we weren’t going to break our necks.

  I tightened my grip around the boy’s waist. It seemed as though it was the same width as my chest. Maybe I ought to stop thinking of him as a youngster. He was taller than most adults I had seen on Earth, and his back was wider and stronger looking than most Earthling men too. What if he was, in fact, a lot older than me? What if he was older than any Earthling? I must remember to find out how people aged on this planet.

  Yes, my jumbled thoughts were all about the moment, as we powered down the hill like an avalanche down a mountainside.

  At the bottom of the hill, we rode down a lane and came to a small bridge that crossed a meandering stream. The place looked so peaceful. There was not a sign of there ever having been a flood. The bridge looked very old and yet it was in very good condition. And close by grew very old trees, the trunks twisted by time forming intricate patterns as the branches wove a tapestry high over our heads.

  We had seen no one else on the road, yet it looked like it was well used. There were the groove marks in the pavement stones that bore witness to heavy wheels in times long past. Yet, old thought the stones must be the lines between them was so fine and unbroken, it seemed at first glance as though the surface had once been poured across the ground.

  Along the way, curious faces peered from the shadows between the trunks the long narrow trees that grew in scattered stands like crooked bamboo. Still, no one stepped out to greet us. As the plain opened up, we saw our first groups of the boy’s people. They scampered to the walls of the village ahead of us, running through the two tall towers that rose either side of the road, and calling out either in excitement or to warn of our coming.

  The beast stopped at the entrance to the village when a voice called out from a guard tower. The boy called out his answer, and we rode on through.

  On either side of us rose single-story buildings with high peaked roofs. Figures appeared in the awning made by the sweep of each rose that rose in a peak over the open doorways. They stared out us with eyes wide and mouths hanging open.

  “Someone has been ringing doorbells,” I said to Nako.

  “Why do I feel like I part of a circus?” She whispered in my ear.

  Before I could answer, she pointed at the head of our mount.

  “I told you!”

  The creature was trotting slowly, its head swaying from side-to-side. The plumage had flattened to reveal the very sight I had been dreading I would see. Four antennae poked through the feathers. Two pairs of glistening black aerials above either yellow eye. She might as well have been right. We were riding an insect.

  The buildings were long and narrow and made from bright green wood. Ceramic tiles covered the tall roof. At the highest point, the height of the roof was twice that of the walls, with a steep sweep from top to bottom and a gentle bow in the center. Each house was positioned at right angles to the road.

  One house had a roof taller than the rest. It was older than many of the others, with worn steps up to the front door. The boy didn’t look back at us but slid down to the ground and disappeared into the dark interior.

  34

  The See-er

  Ilyin knelt on one knee with his head bowed before old U-Sezu Okaitamani, the village see-er. It was a show of respect demanded by Kai custom for superiors of official standing. Ilyin glanced up when the moment was right, and seeing the old man nodded his approval, he jumped to his feet to explain his incredible discovery.

  “I was traveling back through the jungle with my trophy when I heard them screaming. They were surrounded by Screechers.”

  “You rescued them?” The old man asked.

  “Yes, U-Sezu.”

  Sezu was the name given to a teacher. Since Okaitamani was the most revered of the three See-ers alive in the valley, it was reflected by the title of greatest respect, U-Sezu. Respect for the hierarchy was inflexible in the valley.

  The See-er peered through the doorway at the figures astride the bulk of the jigatsu.

  “They look like they are lost,” the old man observed, nodding his head again.

  “What can we do to help them?” Ilyin asked.

  “It is best to lock up outsiders, so they can be observed. Until we can be sure they are not here to do us harm—until they answer all questions to our satisfaction. That way, if they are spies we will find out.”

  “I was going to leave them on the first range of hills, but the one who sits at the back of my steed asked for refuge.”

  Okaitamani snorted.

  “That is the way a spy wiggles their way inside our walls.”

  “The girl spoke with a strange inflection, but her words were clear,” he said quietly to Ilyin.

  “You must have imagined you understand her language,” the See-er said. “She’s obviously not from anywhere on the green belt.”

  “But she used the old tongue, U-Sezu.”

  The See-er waved his hand in the air from side-to-side.

  “That doesn’t make sense at all. How can you explain such a thing?”

  The old man glared at the warrior boy with eyebrows raised.

  “That was your imagination talking. One or two words in her tongue that sounded similar to what you hoped to hear, and your imagination filled in the rest.”

  “They used the right words at exactly the right time,” Ilyin said.

  The old man waved his hand in front of his face.

  “Our language is confined to the Kai lands in the belt. Our code is complex. Each valley has their own distinct words and phrases. That is how we recognize our own. It isn’t just the words but how and when they are said.”

  “Please, look after us in your gentle way,” Ilyin said suddenly.

  The old man stared in surprise at the boy.

  “They used that exact phrase?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did she say anything else?”

  The boy shook his hand.

  “That was all I understood.”

  Okaitamani had known Ilyin since he was a baby. The warrior boy was raised, to tell the truth as was his father and mother before him. The boy’s uncle had taken the boy and his mother into his own home following the death of his younger brother at the hands of the enemy. The uncle was a champion warrior who had trained the boy well. Ilyin had earned respect for the strong character traits he already exhibited.

  If the stranger used the old Kai phrase, it could not be a coincidence.

  “I had better talk to them,” Okaitamani said.

  Ilyin signed in relief. Without the okay of the See-er, the two girls could stay in the village no longer than it took for the orange sun to sink twice behind the hills.

  “What is your impression of them so far?”

  “U-Sezu, I don’t think they are all that smart.”

  “Most people don’t turn out to be as smart as you thought they were,” the old man said.

  He paused at the doorway and turned to Ilyin who was following close behind.

  “And sometimes, you discover they are smarter than they first let on.”

  The first of the villagers to approach us was a group of small children. They gathered around the beast to stare up at us in silent awe. The bravest of them was a girl clutching the hand of a smaller child. Their eyes were huge as they stood by our feet, staring up wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

  I poked my tongue out. When nothing happened, I did it again.

  The small child giggled. It was the shrill sound of a morning bird, enough to stir the others from their solemn state. The children began to cackle and hoot like a gaggle of geese. The sound being shrill and harsh to our ears.

  “There’s nothing quite as much fun as freaking the locals,” Nako said.

  “Look, he’s coming out of the house,” I told her.

  A bent ancient being had walked outside with the boy following close behind. The old man stood under the awning of his house, leaning his weight on a long
blood-red staff, his still bright intelligent eyes appraising us. Although he grasped a stick in a bony hand, he didn’t seem to need it to stand upright. There was not a lot of flesh on the skinny body, but it still looked strong. He had the same straight hair as the boy. Without a hint of gray, it hung in a straight cut to his shoulders.

  He spoke a few words and stared up at us, waiting for our reply.

  “What’d he say?” I asked Nako.

  The old man gestured for the children to move out of the way as he drew closer, squinting up at Nako. There was a faint smile on his face. He looked at her with the eagerness and fascination of a child observing an ant’s nest.

  He spoke again, and when Nako didn’t respond he turned to me and started all over again.

  “Nako, they sent us here because they knew we can survive. They knew about the atmosphere, the climate, the geography, and the people. This world must have a link with Earth they haven’t told us about.”

  The old man frowned and stepped forward to try again, and his voice was louder than before.

  “I think he just asked me where we come from,” Nako said with a gasp.

  35

  Ilyin

  “I am Okaitamani. I am known as U-Sezu in this valley.”

  He narrowed his eyes against the bright sky so he could make out the details of the outsiders. They were as small as the young children that surrounded him. He could see though they were probably the same age as the boy.

  The boy was right. The girls staring faces looked blank. Perhaps they were not as bright as he had hoped they would be.

  “Who are you?” He asked again.

  He watched the girls turn to each other.

  They had not answered the question nor had they introduced themselves. They showed no understanding of local etiquette. They lacked basic manners, and that all by itself that meant they must be stupid.

  A long time ago, a lack of manners could end an adult’s life in an instant. The Kai lived in the green band, and they really could not live elsewhere on Attaapa. That made manners, respect, and allegiance to society, as important as a healthy body and a good brain. They were clearly not Kai.