An Alex Hawk Time Travel Adventure (Book 1): A Door Into Time

by Inmon, Shawn

  “Never thought about it that way.”

  “I’ve had forty years to think about things.”

  “When does the tribe send another expedition to the karak-ta?” Alex asked, wondering if that might be the best way to get back near the door again.

  “Not for months. The tribe is careful to not take too many eggs or harm too many of the karak-ta. They want them to maintain a stable population.”

  The image of a huge pile of karak-ta falling dead at his feet flitted through Alex’s mind.

  I might have set their conservation plan back a few years.

  Alex sat up, found that the room wasn’t spinning, and accepted a bright green leaf from Malen-eh.

  “Attaboy,” Dan said. “Chew on that for sixty seconds or so and you’ll be feeling better than ever.”

  Alex bit into the leaf and made a face. It was so bitter, he almost choked.

  “I never said it tasted good, did I? Be a good boy, or she’ll wrestle you to the ground and make you chew it. Believe me, she could do it.”

  Alex looked Malen-eh over from head to toe. “I believe she could.” He forced himself to chew on the sour bitterness until he couldn’t take it anymore. Finally, he spit it out and looked at Dan.

  “Is that good enough?”

  Malen-eh laughed and said, “Dora bin conta la.”

  “That’s good enough,” Dan said. “She says she’s never seen anyone chew it that long.”

  Chapter Ten

  Near Death

  Alex spent the next few days in long huddles with Dan, trying to learn the language of the tribe. Since he had already learned several other languages in the Army, and since this was a relatively simple language, he picked things up quickly.

  When he wasn’t spending long hours learning the language, he prowled around his new home, learning the best ways up and down the cave system, finding the guard stations above the openings and in the trees. He wasn’t thinking of escaping—Dan had convinced him of the uselessness of that plan—but he was a trained military man. In a world where an attack from either man or beast could come at any moment, he was driven to understand his environment.

  The tribe had a communal toilet. Several levels up the granite face, there was a room where there were large holes in the floor. Men and women alike hovered over the holes, hanging on to grips built into the surrounding walls. Twice a day, adolescents carried bags of water up to the holes and rinsed them. The holes had cracks in the bottom which leeched the water and detritus away over time.

  That had been a hard adjustment for Alex. He had been raised to shut the bathroom door behind him. When he and Dan were in the middle of a lesson, he asked, “Why can’t we just sneak off in the woods and do our business?”

  “That is strongly discouraged. First, I’ve heard that you found out the hard way what happens when you pee on a tree with a tree roach living in it.”

  Alex remembered the massive bug skittering down the trunk at him and shuddered.

  “But,” Dan continued, “it’s just an overall bad idea. It attracts predators that we don’t need. Even the mighty Godat-ta would have trouble reaching us in the caves, but how many might die before everyone got to safety?”

  Alex could see the wisdom in that, but still had a hard time using the stone toilets when women were present.

  On his fourth day in Karak-ta, his modesty was tested and ultimately cast aside.

  He woke up in one of the communal sleeping chambers—where unattached men and women slept on mattresses stuffed with hay. As always, he kept his eyes closed for several moments, listening to the movements of people around him and acclimating himself to the new day.

  That was when the first disturbing rumble in his stomach presented itself.

  He sat upright on his mattress. One second later, he was hurrying along the corridors and ladders to the stone toilets. All of them were occupied, but not full. There was room for five or six people at each hole, but he had always waited until one was empty to use it. This morning, he did not have that luxury.

  Alex ran into the last hole, where an old man and woman were speaking in low tones.

  “Sorry to interrupt, but it’s an emergency,” Alex said, knowing they would not understand him.

  He pulled his pants and underwear down, grasped the stone grip and lowered himself over the hole. He voided his bowels with a push so mighty that the old couple, who had seen it all, looked over their shoulders at him in distress.

  Alex stayed in that position until his quivering legs threatened to give out on him. He reached for some of the leaves the tribe used for toilet paper and cleaned himself.

  “Wooh,” he said out loud. “Wonder what caused that?”

  He had no more pulled his pants up than he was again pushing them down around his ankles and repeating the same exercise.

  The old couple did their best to keep a straight face, but Alex heard the quiet giggles as they walked away.

  “Some things are funny no matter where you are, I guess,” Alex said ruefully.

  Half an hour later, after he had voided more diarrhea than he would have thought possible, he finally managed to get his pants up and belt buckled.

  Whatever that was, I never want to do it again.

  He hobbled his way to where there would be food for breakfast, still not liking the way his stomach felt. When he got there, he looked at the cold meat left over from the night before and immediately turned back to the toilets.

  He made it there before vomiting, but it was only through sheer strength of will. When he had thrown up more than he would have thought possible, he started back to the sleeping chamber, but ran into Dan halfway there.

  “Not sure I’m gonna make my language lesson today, Teach.”

  “Oh,” Dan said, laying a hand against Alex’s clammy face, then touching the glands in his throat. “I was hoping you would get a pass on this, but you look like death.”

  “Death would be a major improvement. A free pass on what?”

  “There’s no name for it, because it’s possible you and I are the only ones who have had it. I suffered with it right after I first got here. I didn’t mention it to you because I hoped it was just me. Diarrhea?”

  “If you want to call cleansing your insides with a firehose ‘diarrhea,’ yeah.”

  “Have you vomited, too?”

  “I think I saw my toenails come up in the last round. I am wiped out. I’m going to go lay down.”

  “That’s a good idea, but don’t go back to the communal room. It’s too far from the toilets.”

  “Oh, I don’t think I have anything left to throw up or crap out.”

  “You’d think that, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately, the human body is capable of handling extremes. If your case is anything like mine, you’ve still got several days of this ahead of you.”

  “Days? No way. I don’t have anything left inside me.”

  Dan threw Alex’s arm around him and led him to a small, clean chamber with a sleeping mattress, a jar full of water, and shelves filled with small pots and bags.

  Alex laid down on the bed and Dan scooped out a ladle of water. “Drink this. Any time you’re not throwing up or on the pot, you need to be drinking something. It’s the only way to stay ahead of it.”

  Alex drank half of it, then waved it away.

  “I’ll be back with Niten-eh. She nursed me through this forty years ago. She’ll have some idea what to do for you.”

  Alex collapsed back on the mattress in complete misery. He tossed and turned, searching for an elusive, comfortable position.

  Finally, Dan returned with a woman half a head taller than him, her long gray hair twisted into one long braid down her back. She looked Alex over, poked and prodded him, then spoke quietly to Dan.

  “Niten-eh says she will stay with you until you are either better or you have died.”

  “That’s quite a bedside manner she’s got,” Alex said.

  “She’s going to make up a potion of herbs and ro
ots for you. It will taste so bad, you might think dying is preferable, but force it down. It will give you the best chance to get through this.”

  “I don’t think it’s that bad. I must have eaten something that didn’t agree with me.”

  The thought of food was too much for his stomach, so he immediately rolled onto his side and threw up again. Niten-eh was prepared, though, and had a large wooden bowl ready to catch it. When Alex was done, she handed the bowl to Dan, who carried it away.

  Alex collapsed back on the bed, suddenly feverish. He gave in to the sickness. It washed over him in waves, overwhelming him.

  Alex slept, more in a coma than a normal sleep.

  Malen-eh, who had just finished nursing her husband back to health from the wolf attack, came and stayed. They turned Alex over, cleaned him up after he soiled himself again and again, and forced water and the medicine down him in whatever amounts they could.

  After lapsing in and out of consciousness for two days, Alex woke up and seemed to have his wits about him. Dan was standing at his feet, with Niten-eh and Malen-eh on either side of him.

  “Dan, I don’t know. I think I might be done for. I don’t think I’ve got the strength to make it.”

  “Knock it off, soldier,” Dan said intently. He looked at Alex, who was haggard, had a gray complexion, and needed a shave. He softened. He kneeled close to Alex. “Listen, I felt the same as you. I was asking them to just kill me to put me out of my misery, but luckily no one could understand me.”

  “Did you get better on your third day?”

  “I can’t lie to you, man. I didn’t.”

  “Fourth?”

  Slowly, Dan shook his head.

  Alex started to curse but lapsed back into his coma.

  For two more days, it was more of the same. His body rejected everything Niten-eh tried. Malen-eh turned to dipping a rag into the water and dribbling it down his throat a few drops at a time to keep ahead of the horrible dehydration he was suffering.

  On the fifth night, Alex tossed and turned, throwing off his blanket and anyone who tried to hold him down. Malen-eh’s husband was summoned to hold him quiet and keep him from hurting himself. He held him down through the night until the first rays of light showed in the east.

  Lanta-eh, the young girl of the prophecy, came into the room and kneeled gracefully beside Alex. She held her hands palm down over him and chanted. They were not words in any known language, just sounds. Nearly a song, with a cadence that rose and fell.

  Slowly, she lowered her hands until she touched Alex’s sweaty, feverish chest. She quieted, kept her eyes closed, but nodded to herself.

  A moment later, she smiled at Malen-eh and Niten-eh and slipped away.

  Alex stopped fighting, his thrashing relaxed, and he slipped into a normal sleep. He slept through the entire day almost without moving. When the sun dipped below the horizon, Niten-eh found that she could get a few drops of water past Alex’s chapped lips.

  Alex sat up again, looking around but seeing nothing.

  “Mindy? I’m sorry I’m late. I’ll be there soon.” He laid down, rolled over, and was out again.

  The night was much quieter. Niten-eh was sent to her own bed, as was Malen-eh. Dan sat alone with Alex, watching him.

  In the deepest quiet of the night, when even the frogs had quieted, Dan realized that Alex was looking at him and that his eyes were clear.

  “I’m still here,” Alex said.

  “I never had any doubt,” Dan answered quietly.

  “That makes one of us. What the hell was all that?”

  “No idea, really. All I can think is that during whatever time has passed between our time and this, new strains of viruses and superbugs have been created. Maybe it’s even part of what killed off most of the world’s population.”

  “That I can believe,” Alex said, trying to sit up.

  “Whoa, brother. Not yet. You were close enough to death to smell its fetid breath. It’s going to take you some time.” Dan pulled a ladle of clear water from the jar and handed it to Alex. He tried to drink it too fast and ended up choking himself.

  “Slowly, right? There are no hit times here. Nothing that needs to be done right now. Relax. Take it easy. Let Niten-eh take care of you. She’s been with you since the beginning, almost never leaving. She’ll nurse you the rest of the way back to health.”

  “I had nightmares, but every time I woke up, there were people here. Why would they do that for me?”

  “They say you and I aren’t part of the tribe, but they treat us like we are. Maybe we’re like pets to them. Ugly, short, white-skinned pets.”

  “You make us sound so appealing. How could they resist us?”

  “One thing, though. Your clothes were ruined. They burned them to get whatever bad juju you might be carrying with you.”

  Alex lifted the blanket and peered at his nakedness.

  Dan reached behind him and gave him a set of clothing like the tribe wore—a cotton shirt and kilt that dropped below the knee.

  “Your boots are still in good shape, if you want them, but they made you a pair of moccasins. I wore my old army boots around here for two years after I got here, but once I tried on a pair of mocs, I wondered why I had bothered.”

  Alex’s eyelids grew heavy and his head started to nod.

  “Listen. Just lay back and do what Niten-eh says for the next few days. For now, get some rest.”

  That last was unnecessary. Alex was already asleep.

  Chapter Eleven

  The Oath

  Alex was slow to earn back his strength. He had never been truly sick before and so expected to jump right up and go back to life as normal.

  There were no mirrors in the caves, but when Alex first looked down at himself, he reeled. His knees were knobby, his hip bones stuck out, and he could have played the xylophone on his ribs. He had never been heavy, but he found himself emaciated. He guessed he had lost thirty or more pounds in less than a week.

  For a few days, he stayed close to home. Dan continued their interrupted language lessons and Malen-eh brought him more food at each meal than he could eat. Slowly, he recovered from having spent an extended time living on death’s door.

  Malen-eh showed him a special place to spend time while he got his strength back. It was the highest of the caves inset in the rock wall. It was small—barely ten feet across. It was a spot often occupied by the oldest members of the tribe. When Malen-eh led him up the ladder, she spoke to the grayest-haired members of the tribe, who pushed aside and shoved a chair to the front for Alex.

  When he sat in the chair, the most astonishing view revealed itself. He could see the open field directly below him, but also the ring of trees where the blinds hid the guards around the clock. Beyond that, the grass of the open field rippled like waves in the wind. Before the geography faded beyond the curvature of the earth, he saw hills rise on the left and right.

  If I’ve got to be a patient for a while, this is a good place to do it.

  While he sat and watched the beauty and drama of this wild earth, he also saw visitors who didn’t appear to be from Winten-ah. Something about them—the weapons they carried, the way they dressed, the way they moved—told him that these were outsiders.

  When Dan came for his lessons that afternoon, Alex asked about them.

  “Those are our trading partners, seeking the karak-ta eggs.”

  “Still? How long do the eggs stay good?”

  “They know how to process them and keep them good for almost two weeks. There’s no instant communication like a telephone here, so they find ways to extend their shelf life.”

  “Or the Internet.”

  “The what?”

  “Oh. Right. 1980. Sorry. Never mind. What kind of things do we trade for?”

  It went unnoticed by both of them that Alex had already begun to think of the tribe as we.

  “Sometimes it’s raw material that we can’t find around here. Other times it’s a finished product
that we don’t make. Sometimes it’s an animal we might use as livestock.” He pointed to a man and woman emerging from the woods hauling a small wooden cart behind them. “Today, it’s dogs. Or, at least, what you might think of as dogs.”

  Alex strained forward to see what might be evident in the back of the cart, but there was nothing visible.

  “Let’s go look!”

  “Niten-eh will have your hide. You’re supposed to be resting.”

  “I’ve been resting for days. I’m going stir crazy. Even this view isn’t enough to keep me immobile forever.”

  Dan sighed, shook his head at Alex’s stubbornness, and said, “Let me go down the ladders in front of you, so if you faint and fall, I can catch you. Or, more likely, we can both tumble to our deaths or at least a few broken bones far below.”

  “You’re such a downer,” Alex said, struggling slightly to rise from the chair.

  “One other thing,” Dan said. “I call these creatures ‘dogs,’ and they are pretty close, but if you’re expecting a tail-wagging Labrador or cute little Pomeranian, you need to adjust your expectations. These animals have evolved quickly. They are built to survive in this world. And, they’re intelligent.”

  “Like a border collie? Those are so damned smart.”

  “No, that’s not what I’m saying. They’ve evolved. They’re not smart like a breed was in our time. They’re intelligent like a five-year-old kid.”

  They had been walking along the ledge toward a ladder, but that stopped Alex cold.

  Dan turned to face him. “It’s not like they can speak, or anything like that, but they do understand hand signals and they can problem-solve. Plus, they bind themselves to their human for life. They are a big responsibility. Kinda like adopting a kid.”

  “I gotta see these things. Lead on.”

  They arrived at the bottom of the wall just as the wagon rolled up to it. Kids who had been playing a rough and tumble game of tag recognized the couple and came running and screaming up to them like they were the ice cream truck in the neighborhood Alex grew up in.

  Alex, meanwhile, had expended what little strength he had to get to the bottom and leaned against the wall, huffing and puffing.