He stood up and said, “Prosmenete de moi; polla gar estin hatin’ hymin deiknyoimi an.”
He held out his hand to me, in an offer to help me up. I took it and stood, then turned to the Doctor. “I think he wants to show us around,” I said, and the Doctor nodded.
As we walked through the mass of tents again, I looked for my little girl from the day before. It wasn’t long before I saw her playing quietly in front of a tent near her mother. She smiled when she saw me.
I reached out and tapped Elasson on the shoulder. “Who is this?” I asked, pointing to her.
Elasson smiled, and laid his hand gently on the girl’s head. “Nama.”
I knelt to be on the girl’s level. “Hello, Nama,” I said.
She reached out hesitatingly towards my hair, and then drew back.
“It’s okay.” I took her hand and guided it to my hair. Smiling a delighted smile with two front teeth missing, she stroked it a couple of times more before running shyly back to her mother.
“Phere,” said Elasson, and I stood to take the Doctor’s arm again to follow.
He led us towards the door we had originally come in through, the one that opened to the outside. My heart rose hopefully. Would we be able to see August? I felt now that it was safe to let Elasson know about the other two members of the landing party—surely we could trust him not to tell Basilius.
The Doctor, however, was less sure.
“I don’t think we ought to let them know where the speeder is,” he said doubtfully as we crossed the threshold, as if reading my thoughts.
“I’m pretty sure they already know where it is. And don’t we need to check in on August and Ralston?”
“What we need to do is keep them safe. We’re not going to show anyone anything without asking the Captain first.”
There was no arguing with that voice, and I submissively fell silent. It was getting hotter, and I rolled up my sleeves, glad that I wasn’t wearing my leggings or jacket. The Doctor rolled his up too, and we walked on in silence.
Elasson walked a few feet ahead of us, stopping now and then to let us examine a plant, rock, or tree. Once we came upon a small pool of cool water in the shade of a couple of trees. The trees were short and light colored, with wide-spreading leaves similar to palm fronds. When we reached the pool he dropped to his knees in the warm sand and cupped his hands, dipping them into the water and drinking long and eagerly. After he had had his drink, he reached up into the tree and, smiling, pulled down one of the broadest and longest leaves and skillfully twisted it into a small cup. Filling it with water, he handed it to me with a slight bow.
I took it, as impressed with his skill as he could have hoped. As I began to drink the slightly warm but sweet and refreshing water, he made another cup and filled it for the Doctor, who thanked him and drank it in one gulp.
We continued on, more silent than ever. The sun was beating down on us, and we had come a good few hundred meters from the walls. I could tell that the Doctor was beginning to get tired and hot—he was walking more slowly, and his few words to me were somewhat abrupt. He also kept on rubbing his eyes and was almost constantly wiping the perspiration from his brow.
“Elasson,” I called after we had walked in silence for a few minutes.
He turned, and I again felt the awkwardness of the night before. But I looked up at the Doctor and then gestured to the ground in an attempt to tell him that we needed rest. The blank look on his face, however, told me that he did not understand.
Biting my lip, I knelt down and began to draw. He hurried to my side and watched attentively.
I hadn’t known the sand would be so hot, and I drew back at the first contact with it. But it wasn’t too hot to touch, and I began again, drawing a picture of the Doctor sitting down and the two of us sitting on either side of him, eating.
Elasson shook his head seriously, and drew a large sun in the sky above us, drawing hard, deep rays shining down on us.
“What are you doing, Andi?” asked the Doctor with some irritation, wiping his forehead again.
“I asked if we could stop to rest,” I explained, standing. “He says we need to find shade.”
The Doctor nodded, in no mood to talk. We continued on.
The terrain got more barren as we went further away from the village, and there was nothing but sand, rock and a few plants as far the eye could see. I would have grown sleepy if I had not kept walking the whole time.
I was looking down at the impressions my boots left in the sand, not paying attention to where we were going, when the Doctor squeezed my hand. “Am I seeing things, or is that the shuttle?”
I looked up to see the grounded Apogee several meters away. My heart leapt in surprise, gladness and worry all at once. “If you’re seeing things, then we both are,” I answered. “I see it too.”
Elasson had turned back and was smiling as if proud of himself. “Kai hed’ oukoun he kibotos hymon he peteine?” he said, pointing.
It was a question, but I didn’t know what he was asking. The Doctor replied for me, “Yes, let’s rest there for goodness sake. I’m about to fall apart.”
“Don’t fall apart, not yet,” I entreated. “You haven’t showed me how to do percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.”
“Stop,” he said irritably, and I laughed softly and kept quiet until we reached the shuttle.
Elasson stopped and waited for us, clearly expecting us to rest inside the—he thought—deserted shuttle. I looked up at the Doctor to ask permission to reveal the fact that the craft wasn’t empty after all.
“If you think you can make it clear to him that he’s not to tell his brother, I guess it’s okay,” he acquiesced, and I stepped forward and tapped twice on the door. “August? Mr. Ralston? It’s me, Andi!”
There was a second of waiting, and then I heard the whoosh of the door unsealing and it slid open to reveal August, wiping his hands on his shirt.
I forgot Elasson for a second and hurried forward to embrace my brother. “Are you okay?” I asked. “I really missed you.”
“We’ve been fine here, just a little lonely,” he assured, laying his hands on my shoulders. His face was unabashedly pleased to see me, and full of curiosity. “What have you been doing? Who’s this?” He looked behind me where Elasson stood.
I turned to look at the native man, whose face was surprised and interested. “Tis houtos?” he asked.
I pointed at my brother. “August.” Then I turned to August. “And this,” pointing to our guide, “is Elasson.”
August stepped out of the shuttle and put out his hand towards the other young man. Elasson stared at the hand, and then looked at me.
“It’s a greeting. Like this.” Reaching my right hand out, I took August’s and shook it up and down slowly. Then I pushed August’s hand towards Elasson’s again, and gently lifted Elasson’s right hand towards it.
He seemed to understand now, and his hand clasped around August’s, shaking it gingerly.
“Alright, alright.” The Doctor pushed forward and stepped into the transport. “Old man needs shade, rest and food, if it’s not too much to ask. Where’s Ralston?”
“He’s in the back, in the reactor chamber. Since the radiation died down, we’ve been trying to figure out what happened to the reactor, and fix it if we can.” He led me into the shuttle and beckoned invitingly to Elasson, who had been watching in silence. “I’ve been communicating with Mr. Guilders and Lieutenant Commander Gleason, and Ralston’s been working.”
Sealing the door behind us, he called into the back, “We have company, sir.”
Ralston emerged from the little chamber, his face and clothes smudged with grease and perspiration. I noticed that he was limping considerably.
“How’s the ankle?” the Doctor asked, sitting down and wiping his face again.
“Fair, sir.” He sat down nearby and pulled a cloth out of his pocket to wipe his face. “The work is mostly the sitting-down type; the lieutenant has
been doing the running and heavy lifting for me.” He looked gratefully at August. “You may tell Captain Trent that he’s been very dutiful.”
Of course they were both very curious about Elasson and about all that had happened to us, and the Doctor let me tell most of the story uninterrupted. Ralston was excited by our description of the inhabitants and their civilization, and cursed his luck in having hurt himself. But I shook my head. “You’re not missing much,” I assured him.
“Especially in the dietary department,” the Doctor said, with a glance at Elasson. The young man was busy looking around carefully at everything, vastly interested. At first he’d been subtle about it, but as no one made a move to stop him, he grew bolder. At the moment he was bending over the instrument panels in the cockpit, studying the numbers inscribed on them.
“Oh yes, you said you were hungry,” August said apologetically. He started to get up but I caught his arm to stop him. I looked seriously at the Doctor.
“Dad, I was thinking—do you think it’s really kind for us to eat our food in front of Elasson? He’ll be curious, and if he tastes any—” I left my sentence meaningfully unfinished.
The Doctor laid a hand on his stomach and looked at the young man’s lean frame. “I suppose it would be a bit cruel,” he had to admit. “But I’m hungry, Andi. I can’t go much longer without some nutrition.”
“I can take him in the back and let him look around in the storage chambers,” August offered. “Then you can let me know when you’re done, sir.”
“I’ll go with you,” I offered, standing up.
“But don’t you want something?” was August’s concerned remonstrance.
I looked at Elasson again. Despite the slight growling of my stomach, I shook my head. “I’ll eat when we get back.”
The Doctor nodded. “Thanks, Andi.”
I turned to our guide. “Elasson,” I called. He turned and came towards me, an inquiring look on his face. “Come on,” I said, walking backwards a few steps and beckoning. “I’ll show you back here.”
He began following readily, and my brother led us into the little storage chamber to the left of the reactor chamber.
It had some of Whales’ and the Doctor’s instruments, but mostly there were half-empty crates and deserted objects from past missions that no one had bothered to remove.
Elasson was properly interested, and darted from object to object, delicately lifting an empty bottle to look into it, or kneeling to study a piece of steel plate from some forgotten gadget. Now and then he looked back at me as if asking permission to touch something, to which I always smiled and nodded.
As Elasson explored, August turned over an empty black crate for me to sit on. Finding one for himself, he pulled it next to me and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want some food?”
I smiled. “I’m okay. Do you think you can get the reactor fixed?”
“Fixed, yes.” August glanced over to where Elasson was digging through a crate of batteries. “But we still can’t figure out what’s causing it. It might just break down again if we try to take off.”
I bit my lip. “As far as I can tell, the Captain hasn’t given much thought to the problem of getting away. He seems more concerned with making friends with the people here, and assuring them that we’re peaceful.”
“I suppose that’s important.” August was learning not to doubt the Captain’s decisions, or at least if he did, to keep it to himself—a lesson Crash would do well to think about.
“Yes, but even if we come to an understanding with them and they’re willing to let us do as we want, what then? We have no way to get off. They can’t send another shuttle for us.”
“Of course not. Until we know what the problem is, it wouldn’t be safe.”
“We’ll just get more people stranded.”
Our conversation was interrupted by a spoken word. “Español.”
We both turned, startled, to see Elasson seated cross-legged on the floor, an electronic book in his hands. He too seemed surprised by the spoken word, and nearly dropped the book.
Getting up, I hurried over to him. “Where did you get that?”
Looking up, he handed it to me and cocked his head, furrowing his eyebrows.
I studied the words, and tapped my finger on the screen. “This is a book,” I said, more to myself than to him. “But you’ve switched it to Spanish. Let me see if I can change it back…”
August had risen and walked over to me, and now leaned over me to look at the book.
Everything on the screen was in Spanish, so it was hard to find the menu. When I did, I fumbled until I found the “language” option, and then tapped the word “Ingles.” The words went back to English again, and I navigated to the title page. “The History of the World,” I read aloud.
“Ambitious title,” August commented.
Elasson reached his hand out for the book, but just then my wristcom picked up a general message from Whales. “Doctor Lloyd, this is Prescott Whales. The Captain wants everyone back at once, someone’s hurt.”
XI
August straightened up. “We’d better go see what’s happening.”
“Come on,” I said to Elasson, and we hurried out of the room, I with the book still in my hand. I found the Doctor raising his wristcom to his lips, asking, “Who’s hurt?”
“Just get back here right away.” The com beeped off, and we were left to wonder.
“Are my instruments back there, Andi?” he asked soberly, standing up.
“Yes sir, I’ll—”
“No, I’ll get them, thanks.” He strode into the back room.
“About the reactor,” Ralston said hurriedly, “tell the Captain that the hole was burned from the inside. I can’t for the life of me figure out what caused it. I can repair it, but unless we can figure out why it happened, and how to prevent it, I certainly wouldn’t advise take-off.”
“I’ll tell him,” I promised, then turned to August. “I wish we didn’t have to leave you.”
“I wish you didn’t have to go,” he replied. “But we’ll be okay.” He hesitated, and glanced at Elasson. I thought I could interpret the troubled look on his face.
“You’re wondering what I think about these—aliens,” I said.
He nodded. “Back on the ship—”
I interrupted. “I still don’t know. I don’t know what to think.”
“What do you mean?”
“Andi,” the Doctor called, emerging from the storage chamber. “You sure you don’t want anything to eat?”
I shook my head. “I couldn’t stand to eat in front of him… where is Elasson?”
“Elasson!” called the Doctor impatiently. The young man rose from where he had been kneeling and looked at us. He had been examining the synthetic material that covered the seats.
Ralston opened the door for us, and I tugged on Elasson’s sleeve to show him that we needed to go. Submissively, he stepped out and waited for us.
“What’s that?” the Doctor asked, eyeing the book that was still in my hand. I had forgotten I was holding it.
“It’s just a history book. I found it in the storage chamber.” I started to set it down, but the Doctor reached for it.
“I’ll take it. Might want to read later.”
“But you hate history,” I protested, handing it to him.
“Not as much as I hate sitting around with nothing to do.” He stuffed it unceremoniously in his black shoulder bag, which he had brought out of the storage chamber for his instruments. Then he shook hands with August and Ralston and prepared to exit. “Take care of that ankle,” he instructed on his way out.
“I will, sir,” Ralston said.
I hugged August tightly. “I’d hoped to spend time with you on this landing,” I whispered.
He hugged me back without replying. “Be careful.” Disengaging my arms gently, he smiled. “I’ll see you later.”
“Come on, Andi,” called the Doctor, not unfeelingly. “We need to star
t back.”
“Bye.” Quickly, I ran out the door and heard it close behind me.
“Tell him we need to get back right away, and that he can’t tell anyone about them,” the Doctor instructed, shifting his bag.
Apparently I was the appointed communicator. Dropping to my knees in the now thoroughly heated sand, I began to draw, figuring it out as I went. I pointed to the wall far in the distance and then drew the three of us running towards it. I drew quickly, hoping he’d understand urgency. He put his hand over mine as I was in the process, and nodded seriously. That had been easy.
But then as he wiped it away and was about to hurry off, I put a hand up to stop him and began drawing again. Licking my dry lips, I drew a picture of the Apogee and August and Ralston standing inside it. He pointed over his shoulder and nodded.
Next I drew Basilius sitting in his chair, and Elasson, cap on his head, standing before him. Then I reached up and soberly laid a hand over the real Elasson’s mouth. With my other hand I pointed to the picture of the two men in the shuttle. Then I shook my head vigorously.
He nodded. Then he reached down and put a large X over the picture of himself.
Satisfied that he knew what I was saying, I stood up quickly. “Let’s go.”
The long tramp back was even hotter than the one we had taken that morning. The Doctor, refreshed by his rest and snack, and also worried, moved very quickly, his long legs striding rapidly towards the walled village. Having eaten nothing all day except a bowl of green leaves and a crisp cracker of strange bread, and also not being used to this much physical exertion, I was beginning to get very tired, and very hot. The black soles of my boots were slowly heating with every step on the sun-baked sand. And we were only about half way to the village.
I had no time to meditate or philosophize; I had to focus on keeping up. I lagged behind with Elasson, who was looking at me concernedly.
I forgot where I was, and forgot his presence. There was nothing except sun, and sand, and heat, and the crunch of my boots on the ground. Tramp, tramp, tramp; the rhythmic motion in the hot sun. My eyelids drooped over my itching eyes, and I tramped on, conscious of nothing but more sun and sand as far as the eye could see.
Firmament: In His Image Page 8