“Much remains to tell you, but we don’t have the time, tonight. I’ll stay here and wait for you. Tomorrow, once we reach the Ladreti Khwa, I can begin to answer your questions.” Des vowed.
Anna nodded. “Tomorrow, my education begins. Tonight, I’ll buy a lot of vitamin pills. What else should I get?”
“We need meat and calcium. The last time our hunters took a takosund was over twenty annuals ago. They have grown big and dangerous. Meat would give us the strength to hunt again.”
“Meat, it is. I’ll return in four hours or when the money runs out, whichever comes first.” Anna reached over the refrigerator and felt for the hidden envelope. Ah… another three hundred in cash. She grabbed her keys on the way out. Metal, hmmm... She’d leave Andy one set and take the rest with her. She thought of her collected change and nodded. Metal was metal. She had a whole five gallon tub full of pennies. Plus, her “Extra’s” jar where she saved for special tidbits almost overflowed. It probably held twenty pounds of metal.
Anna swung by the ATM and took out two hundred and eighty dollars, sufficient to help but, not enough to worry Andy, if he noticed it. In the withdrawal line, she wrote down gas, movies, Chinese food and groceries. If Andy noted the time or the withdrawal, he’d think she just needed a pick me up eating splurge. Anna dug through her CD’s. She found the right one, ripped out the paper back, and pulled off the taped envelope, another five hundred in emergency cash.
Anna hit that super Wal-Mart like a mad shopaholic on a serious buying binge. Nothing quite shocked people as much as a sixty-three year old woman capering through the store at two in the morning.
The weekly sale featured One Source vitamins a hundred caplets with a free fifty to boot. Anna bought all sixty-two. She topped off the cart with assorted pork and ground beef in the family pack size. It took four more carts to finish the pork and ground beef. The night shift worked stocking the shelves and Anna took the product as fast as they brought it out.
When the beef and pork shelves stood empty, Anna stopped and pondered what to get next. The stockman leaned against his dolly and stared at Anna. He either had no more meat or he wanted to wait until after Anna left to bring it out.
What next? Chicken drums were on sale for a good price. But, chicken contained less protein than beef and so many more bones. Bones! Of course, calcium! The fifth and sixth cart cleaned out the chicken drums, thighs, and made a dent in the breasts.
The manager approached Anna as the cashier rang out the sixth cart. “Excuse me. We appreciate your shopping here. But, I need to ask why are you buying so much meat?”
Anna thought quickly and dug in her purse. She handed a membership card to the manager. “My brother and I have sponsored of the Good Shepherd Food Bank for over thirty-five years. They operate the central hub for distributing food to soup kitchens, meals on wheels, and food pantries throughout the state.” The manager nodded. Anna disliked having to lie. In this case, though, reality existed beyond the realm of believability. “Due to a computer error the food banks weekly meat delivery got canceled; they just realized this two hours ago when their delivery failed to arrive. My brother, I, and about ten other volunteers have spread out to all the local stores open at this hour to buy meat for the food bank. What we purchase will keep the bank operating until a new meat order shows up.” The manager handed back her membership card.
“Thank you for explaining it to me. If you give me your receipts from your previous purchases, I’ll give you the managerial discount, an opportunity to help so many seldom occurs.” The discount allowed Anna to get a seventh cart of chicken. Then the manager pointed out the weekly bargain prices for canned tuna and Vienna sausages. Anna wrote out a check for that cart. She profusely thanked the manager who unknowingly gave help to a starving alien race.
When Anna got home, she and Des loaded everything onto the grid as quickly as possible. Finally, Anna stood on a metal sheet surrounded by stacked boxes, tins of change, and bags on top of bags, on top of bags. She wrapped her arms tightly around her Golsidan tai’twain. She felt exhausted, exhilarated, and eager to go. Wolfe had called to Wolfe. Wolfe now stood ready and willing to answer. Anna welcomed the vibration that hummed its way through her bones. She reveled in the lights skin-tingling glow. She was exactly where she was destined and wanted to be.
CHAPTER 2
New Friends
As the lights faded away and disappeared, Anna struggled desperately to breath. Her headache pounded beneath her breastbone, while her heart tried to beat its way to freedom through her belly button. When her knees shook, her toes hurt, then a snap similar to your spine cracking. All of a sudden, her heart leaped back into her chest. Anna’s knees shook so badly that Desvren sat down and pulled her into his lap.
Anna mentally chuckled to herself. They say “It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s the landing. What went wrong?” Her teeth chattered, while her body felt on fire.
“Nothing went wrong, we gridded you here and a replicated version of your body to your bed at the same time which placed a huge strain on you. The medics will help me, help you. We will heal you, stay with me.” Anna felt Des’s lips on her cheek, and then his forehead touched hers and ah… Sleep, sweet sleep in safe arms.
Anna shivered so violently, she woke herself up. Desvren still held her in his arms. She felt exhausted. The only warm parts of her seemed to be plastered against Desvren, a warm spot on the back of her neck and one in the center of her spine. She stretched against Desvren. He stirred and she touched his forehead with her hand. She felt his exhaustion and his hunger. Rest, I will take care of you. Slowly, she wiggled backwards to the edge of the bed, she sent a last reassurance. Sleep. She removed her hand from Desvren’s forehead, turned, and sat up, right into the faces of the two Golsidans who leaned against the bed.
They glanced at each other for a second, then, looked back at Anna. They straightened up and took a step back. Anna stood up shivering. “Desvren’s hungry and I’m cold.”
“Desvren already ate his ration. Do you need an Isadi Suit?”
Anna shook her head. “No, I need a thick sweater. Desvren still feels hungry.”
“I am Liso. This is Tava. Feeling hungry is now the normal way of things. You sense Desvren’s hunger?” The question had an intensity to it.
“Yes, I feel his hunger. Where is the stuff we arrived with?” Her eyes followed the arm that pointed out the wide open door. There on the edge of a huge open space lay that odd assorted pile. Oh no, the meat. “How long did I sleep?”
“Only for two human hours, you need more rest.” Liso coaxed softly.
“In a bit, where’s your food processor?” Yes, Desvren had called it that.
“There.” Liso’s arm pointed to the wall.
“Hmm....” Anna’s muscles acted uncooperative. She felt as ungainly as a newborn colt. It took so much energy to move. Then, when she succeeded in movement everything went too fast and far. Anna stumbled over to look at the food processor, coming to a graceless, uncoordinated slouch against the counter. Her palms curled around the edge of a large stainless steel sink with a spray hose; but, oddly no faucet. A recessed platform about the size of a microwave oven formed a niche in the wall on one side of the sink. On the other side, lots of various holes in the wall lined up just above the splashboard, each circled with a different colored plastic. They ranged from baseball to basketball size in diameter. “Okay. Can you show me how to use this thing?”
“We already ate our rations for the day. We can take no more out of it.” Liso sounded sad. He seemed very thin, hollows accentuated his collar bones, his stomach carved in deeply under his rib-cage, and his cheekbones pushed up sharply under his skin.
Anna turned and staggered out of the open door. It only took a couple of minutes to find a bag of vitamins and one full of beef. She carried them back to the counter leaning precariously in one direction and then the other. Walking felt easier, standing up straight and hand motions still came with a degree of
awkwardness. Anna stacked the meat beside the sink and the vitamins back against the wall. “Which holes do I put the meat into?”
“You wish to put into the processor.” Tava asked. He walked up beside Anna and tilted his head.
“Desvren said you needed meat. So, I bought some and we brought it with us.” Anna watched as he pressed a small round button on the back edge of the counter. A lighted keyboard slid down from the cabinet over the sink.
Tava pointed at the keyboard. “You need to enter your clan name.”
“My clan name?” Anna reached with her mind, searching for an explanation. The answer flooded through her; the name of your family, kin, and those who shared your occupation. “My family name is Wolfe.” She looked at the keyboard. Its surface lay hidden beneath a layer of ideographs. None of which looked even vaguely familiar. Somebody help me, her mind screamed. I have meat, lots of meat. I need to figure out how to use this processor before it spoils. She took a long, slow, deep breath. Okay, think, look, learn. She studied the ideographs again. Nothing looked like Wolfe to her. She shook her head. She closed her eyes and counted to twenty; then, scanned them again. Nope, still nothing. “Nothing here looks like my family name. I don’t understand any of these symbols.”
“That will change soon enough.” Anna turned to look at the one who spoke from the doorway. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Liso and Tava do a sketchy bow.
“Hi. Can you teach me this before the meat goes bad? I feel lost.” Anna gestured at the keyboard and shrugged.
“What is your clan name?” Jao asked.
“Wolfe.” Anna answered and smiled at him.
He shook his head. “Wolfe? Can you describe it to me?”
“It’s my name, my brother’s name, our family name. We chose it, when we turned eighteen. The name also belongs to a predator that runs in packs, but occasionally survives by itself or in pairs.” Anna tried to explain.
“Does your family possess a banner? I think your people call it that. Like this?” He pointed to his shoulder.
Anna contemplated the badge on his shoulder, shaped like a shield, showing a spaceship circling above a planet. “You mean a family crest. I drew one up for my nephew Anthony. A sort of chose your own name; draw your own crest thing.” Anna shrugged. “But, I don’t have it with me.”
“Can you picture it with your mind and show it to me?”
Anna nodded. She closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment. Then, she reached out and touched his hand. She sent the images to him; a wolf in front of a backdrop of mountains and trees, howling into the cool autumn sky; a long bow and sword crossed with a scythe leaning against a plow; a fork in the wooded path leading to the places less traveled, and a view of the night sky with the constellation Orion directly overhead. It only took a couple of heartbeats to show it as it resided in her mind. A well-known image created by her imagination and drawn, slowly and patiently, by her own hand, an image she found easy to picture with her eyes closed. Anna felt him stiffen and gasp at the very beginning of the sending.
She removed her hand and stepped back. “I’m sorry. Did I do something wrong?”
“No. You send very clearly and loudly.” Jao glanced over at Liso and Tava. “You both saw it.” They nodded, standing with their bodies tense and their hands clenched together in front of them. “In our history sometimes clans die out, some recently, some long ago. The mind images that you sent seem very similar to the banners of three of our dead clans; Cansiu, Perhisu, and Torxisa, which happened to be our brother clan.”
“I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry about the clans dying out. Why the images seem similar, I can’t explain.” Anna shrugged. “Can you help me? Which of these buttons should I push? I want to put this meat in and get something back out for Desvren.”
Jao looked Anna in the eye for a long moment and then nodded. “I am Phsatorae and I say that this shall be how you enter your name. Watch and learn.” He punched in a sequence of four ideographs. First, the one that looked like a stick figure of a badly overloaded pack horse; next, the assorted knifes one; then, the star field one; and last the black one with an open mouth on it. “Now, where the screen glows place your hand.”
Anna put her hand on the glow. It flashed brighter from right to left, and then dimmed.
“The meat goes in this hole.” Jao pointed to the biggest hole.
“Good.” Anna started to unwrap the meat. She put the plastic in the sink. The hamburger, she simply dropped down the hole. The Styrofoam went into the sink too. When she finished with that bagful, she asked where the Styrofoam and plastic went.
“If you know not where something goes place a tiny portion in the small yellow hole. The processor then tests it and lights up the appropriate hole. Wash the blood down the meat hole. Blood holds a lot of nutrition and shouldn’t be wasted.” The Phsatorae said.
Anna rinsed off the plastic and stuck a small piece in the yellow hole. A faint brrr… noise sounded. After a moment, the processor spit the plastic back out at her. She caught the plastic, as the far edge of the counter slid out of sight. Revealed beneath it lay a line of six holes. The first one glowed a bright pink. The Styrofoam went into the fourth under the counter hole. The plastic bags went in the sixth. The vitamins went in the meat hole.
Every time, Anna tested a portion, the processor asked her to name the product for future reference. So, it learned and matched the physical pattern with the appropriate name. Anna decided to have it test Vienna sausages, before she put them down the meat hole. If possible, she planned on calling them up on occasion. Some junk foods belonged everywhere, even on space ships. Anna kept at it until she felt like she understood the process well-enough not to forget anything.
“All right, how do I get food back out? Desvren feels hungry.”
The Phsatorae turned and stared at her. “You feel his hunger? Can you describe what he hungers for?”
Anna nodded and reached for Desvren with her mind. What do you want to eat? She queried his mind. The images flew back to her. “A purplish gel like paste called leka, a golden yellow flaky meat called takosund, and a pale blue drink called lysordi.”
“You possess a tai’twain bond with Desvren?” The Phsatorae glanced at Liso and Tava, who each nodded.
Anna stood up straight. “Yes. I am Desvren‘s tai’twain. Please, show me how to get him food.”
The Phsatorae blinked and nodded. “First, the intake needs to be shut off. Press the small round blue button on the back edge of the counter. “
Anna complied. The counter top slid back out over the hidden holes.
“Now, you need to push this button on the counter.” He pointed to the yellow one behind the sink. When the touch screen glowed and beeped, Anna automatically raised her hand. She stopped just short of touching the screen, and looked over at the Phsatorae.
“Yes, correct, press hand to glow. Then, enter your family name.”
After Anna finished entering her name, another keyboard slid down from the cabinet. She understood some of this one. Pictographs covered it.
The Phsatorae pointed to them, as he named them. “Takosund meat, gesar fruit, mewu eggs, tasmewu, renkumon, lysordi drink, tienara nuts, korftu, unripe greal …”
Anna lost track long before he finished. “Okay. I got some of that. So, I press the keys I want?”
When he nodded, Anna pressed the three Desvren wanted slowly one after the other. The recessed platform made a whining noise. The food slid out of its side on a tray with the utensils included. “Neat. How do I order a full Golsidan meal?” She looked over at the Phsatorae who blinked a couple of times. He pointed to the pictograph of a rounded plateful. Anna pulled out Desvren’s food. She pushed the full meal button. She pulled out that plateful and pressed it again. When three full platefuls rested on the counter, she picked up two of them and turned to Liso and Tava.
She held the plates out to them. “Please, you helped Desvren help me, didn’t you?” Their eyes widened and they nodded
. “Then, please accept this gift as a sign of my appreciation.” They both looked at the Phsatorae. Anna kept her eyes on them, waiting for a reaction. Their eyes came back to her.
“Thank you; we accept these most gracious gifts. These hold more food than we have had all week.” Liso smiled shyly.
“Then, eat slowly and enjoy friends.” They reached out and took the plates. Anna held the other full plate out to the Phsatorae. “Please accept a gift for the teaching.”
He slowly blinked his eyes. Then, he reached out and grasped her hand. Anna felt his mind query hers. Why?
Because you helped me and you need food. I possess a lot of food. Meat fills most of those bags behind you. After Desvren eats, I plan to put them through the processor. I couldn’t eat all that food. Well, I could. But, it would probably take me a couple of years. Please accept a gift.
He released Anna’s hand and nodded. “Thank you.” He accepted the plate.
Anna took Desvren his food and slowly feed him. He ate without waking up. She wanted to lie down. But, she needed to finish the meat. So, she brushed a kiss onto Desvren’s brow and got back up.
When she got the hang of it, the processing went quickly. Anna finished up and sent a query to Desvren. Hungry again?
Yes. Please? So, she ordered up what he imaged her. She brought it over and fed him. Then, she went back and rummaged through the boxes until she found her blankets. Anna curled up to Desvren, wrapped the blankets around her, and fell asleep.
A worried Liso shook her awake. “Forgive me. You are ill and I am sleeping off a full stomach.”
Phwolfe Song (Golsidan Revival Series Book 1) Page 3