“Comprehend?” He spoke. He actually spoke to me, in English no less!
The whites of my eyes must have been as big as dinner plates. Whatever the device was, it acted as a translator. He sang his song; the device recorded it and then transformed it into human speech, but how? I completely froze, shocked. He stood there waiting until he again spoke to me.
“Comprehend?” He said again.
Come on Daniel. Your brain is working. Use it. Talk to him!
“Y-y-yes, I understand you! Uh, I mean . . . comprehend!”
My fears and hesitation slowly dispersed. If we could establish consistent speech patterns between each other there might still be hope for this mission and more importantly, my life. The two of us stared at each other. The scene was eerily quiet. Even Cessa was rendered speechless.
“Personal situation?” He asked.
This would take some time to perfect I could see. I wasn’t sure what he meant by personal situation. Maybe he was asking how I was feeling. It was as good a guess as any.
“Very well,” I said as I placed both of my hands flat together in front of me. “Thank you.”
In truth I was excited and terrified at the same time. I wanted to get out of this cage, but I didn’t want to give them a bad impression. I did my best to hide my fears and act as friendly as possible. The Dawnian seemed to understand what I said. We both looked at each other awhile longer and it occurred to me that he was probably feeling just as curious and excited as I was. Maybe he was having trouble finding the right words to say.
“My name,” I said patting my chest. “is Daniel. I am Daniel.”
“. . . Laraar,” He said after thinking over a moment. He moved his hands towards his female associate and said, “Idza.”
I repeated their names to them. “Laraar . . . Idza . . . ,” And he nodded his head to me, saying mine.
“Daniel.”
I waved my hand toward Cessa and told them her name. When the male looked at her his eyes narrowed and if I could have guessed, he wasn’t happy with her. They knew she was unhinged and a threat without the need for communication. Of course her actions up to this point didn’t help her cause any.
Laraar sat on the ground and motioned for me to do the same. I wasn’t sure why we were sitting until hours passed like minutes. The two of us ended up talking for hours. For the most part he asked me the questions though I wouldn’t go as far to call it an interrogation.
Where was I from? How did I get here? What is my home planet like? He coincidentally ignored crucial questions like ‘what was my mission’ or ‘was I dangerous?’ I got a momentary wave of deja vu as I recalled Raymond Erebos saying something similar to me.
I saw no reason to lie to him or speak untruthfully. I hoped he would return the favor so I could learn about him and his world. More importantly, I wanted his trust. If I wanted to find the empyreus on this planet I was sure I’d have to go through them.
I told him about Earth, though I didn’t mention the poverty, crime, and warfare that plagued half the planet. Instead I focused on the other half, the goodness that still remained and the people trying to make a difference. After a while I felt like the two of us were sitting together at a table, conversing with each other as if we were close friends. It wasn’t until he nodded at me and stood when I remembered where I actually was.
“Gratitude,” he said, inclining his head in a small bow before turning to leave. I pressed up against the opening of my prison.
“Wait!”
He slowly turned back to me. “Time . . .” The two of them turned and walked back into the forest, their songs mirroring each other. Cessa and I were once again alone as the golden sun lowered past the horizon covering us in darkness.
“You talk about the dumbest things,” I heard her say. She was back to her good ol’ self.
I rolled my eyes and ignored her. Nothing and no one could take away the excitement I was feeling. Yes, I was still caged like an animal, but the natives were interested in me. There was no poking or prodding, no experiments to test our biology. Instead they chose to sit and talk. The level of relaxation and calmness they expressed was the last thing I would have expected. In less than a day I felt like I was already forming a bond with Laraar. I wasn’t sure what to think of Idza. She stood behind us the entire time watching, listening, and seeming to concentrate on our interaction. The two of them must have been their race’s version of scientists.
At the same time there was some other part of me, call it the pessimistic part, which wondered if this was only the first stage in a line of interrogations, experiments, and research. Just because they were kind and respectable today didn’t guarantee they would be the same way tomorrow. There was a possibility that we were simply lab rats in the total equation.
No, I couldn’t think of it like that and that’s not at all what it seemed like.
“They seem peaceful and curious,” I heard myself say to Cessa. “If you can keep yourself from screaming and overreacting, we might be able to establish some kind of peace between our races.”
“Go ahead and try Daniel,” she said. “But if they let me out, the first thing I’m going to do is kill them for imprisoning me in the first place. Then I’m going to find my sword and kill whoever took it. All that matters is the job, not these disgusting aliens. We get out and find the empyreus. That’s all that matters!”
I dropped my shoulders in defeat and walked over to my cot. The day spent talking to Laraar was enough to tire me mentally and there was nothing to gain by talking to Cessa. I stared up at the stars as I drifted off to sleep and when I woke up the next morning there was no cold sweat, no tremble in my body or remnants of disturbing images in my mind. I felt good, refreshed and ready to live. Of course living would be difficult inside a cell, but one thing at a time. I was just happy I managed to elude my nightmares for a night.
The morning air was cool and the sun was just beginning its ascent when I smelled the rich aroma of smoked meat. My stomach seized up and growled at me like a vicious lion. I saw movement from one of the paths in the forest and stepped up to my opening to see a large metallic curricle hovering towards us. Laraar was moving behind it with a small pad in his hand that I assumed was a remote control device. He had a stern look on his face. I waved at him hoping to convey a welcomed greeting, but his expression was unmoving. Maybe he wasn’t looking forward to our second meeting as much as I was.
As Laraar approached I caught sight of another figure coming through the forest, a different looking Dawnian than Idza. The form was very masculine, muscles clearly defined. His eyes were glaring at me and his mouth was set in a tight frown. He carried a long staff that curved at each end. Tribal markings covered its smooth center. The material didn’t match the color of the trees, but instead was a rich, glimmering black.
The new Dawnian strode past Laraar and the curricle, straight to my cell. He raised both arms up, held his staff high and swung it forcefully into the cage. The attack caused the walls to tremble. As I watched the staff make contact I threw myself to the ground, half expecting it to go straight through the cell and hit me.
What followed was a sharp and out of tune musical pattern that was rushed and angry. I met his eyes and felt his hatred. I looked as his hands wrapped around the staff so hard I thought it might shatter. There was no doubt in my mind that this Dawnian wanted to kill me.
TEN
No matter which wall I backed into, the Dawnian would stride over and swing his staff into the wall. Eventually I just stood in the middle and he paced around me, taunting me, shoving his staff in between openings to try and hit me. I avoided each hit where I could and stood my ground. There was nothing I could do. Provoking him even more wouldn’t get me anywhere. Besides, Cessa was doing most of that for me, screaming for him to come and attack her and then throwing out a bunch of harmless curses that they couldn’t comprehend anyway.
I noticed a crowd forming just inside the tree line and counted six other Dawnian
s including Laraar. Most of them remained still and watched the interaction between us, but two of them were throwing their arms around and their song was louder than the rest. I had a strange feeling that they were egging their friend on, encouraging him to continue.
Laraar raised both of his hands up and a loud, thundering pitch erupted from his vocals. Everyone stopped, including my staff-wielding friend. Laraar lowered his voice and spoke out to everyone in the area. Within minutes the three aggressive Dawnians looked furious, huffing and puffing their breath out and pointing at me. Whatever Laraar said to them didn’t sit well. The one in front of my cell sighed and threw his staff into my bar one last time then moved off with the others. Laraar put his hand on the Dawnian’s shoulder as he passed, but it was shaken off.
As my new friend and savior approached my cell I bowed to him much the same as when I met him. I saw that he was wearing his translation device so I thanked him vocally too. He simply nodded in return and moved toward the curricle. He pressed his fingers onto a panel and the top of it opened up. Though I wasn’t tall enough to see what was inside it, my stomach instantly recognized the scent of food. I leaned against the front side of the cell. I felt like a caged animal with a slab of meat dangling in front of me.
Laraar produced two containers that were grey in color and brought one to me. He turned it vertically and slid it inside my cell and I hastily grabbed it. Heat emanated from it and I looked for the clasp or button that would open it.
When I finally figured out how to get it unlocked I stared at the items in front of me. An enclosed cylinder with purple colored liquid was accompanied by a bowl holding a mashed substance, somewhat reminiscent of potatoes but the consistency was more like pudding. Last but not least there was a piece of some sort of meat, very brown in color and covered in what looked like fat. Honestly it looked more like something I would see in a bathroom than on a dinner plate and the thought almost made me heave. I looked at Laraar and he gave me an almost pleasant smile.
“Ingest.”
He carried the other container to Cessa who refused to take it. With a sigh and a frown that spoke disappointment to me, he lowered himself to the ground and set the food inside her cell where she completely ignored it. Assuming she was as hungry as I was her stomach must have been cramping terribly. The thought occurred to me that not only did I have to set a good example for Laraar, but I needed to do so for her.
Without utensils, none that I could find anyway, I placed my finger in the potato pudding. I forced my eyes to stay open and tried to keep an open mind as I put my finger in my mouth and sucked the food off of it. The taste was bitter like biting a lemon, but when the sensation faded what was left was a taste that reminded me of green vegetables such as peas or cucumbers.
The meat was soft and didn’t alleviate my previous thoughts of it looking like shit, but thankfully it didn’t taste like it . . . not that I knew what shit tasted like. It was lightly salted, but beyond that very bland. I tried my best to not grimace as Laraar stood there like a statue watching me eat. After I finished the meal I washed it down with the drink, which wasn’t that bad. If I had to guess I would say that I was drinking their version of milk. The purple liquid was thicker than water and was neither sweet nor sour. I drank half of it before I set the container away from me and placed my hand on my stomach. Though my stomach was satisfied with the intake, the taste was at best average.
Laraar clapped his hands together and smiled like a giddy school boy who had just been given a new shiny toy. I obviously pleased him. Go me.
I gazed over in Cessa’s direction, turning a corner of my mouth up and raising my eyebrows, essentially saying, ‘There! I did it, I’ll bet you can’t’! She got the message right away and gave me her famous look of death before stomping over to her box. If Laraar was the giddy school boy then Cessa was the fussy toddler. As she finally ate, she showed absolutely no hesitancy in letting Laraar know how disgusted she was with her food. She gagged, spit, and threw half of her meat outside the cage.
I was amused by her behavior, but our host was not. He walked over to pick up the wasted meat and took it back to his curricle placing it in a side compartment that might have been a waste bin. He reached into the curricle again and I hoped to the stars above that Laraar wasn’t presenting us with dessert. He didn’t. What he pulled out was worse.
Laraar approached me with Cessa’s sword. She grew frantic, slamming into the wall and shaking her cell hysterically.
“Give me my sword you alien piece of shit!”
Ignoring her he unsheathed her sword, running his finger slowly over the edge of the blade. He looked at me quizzically.
“Intentions?”
Eventually we would have to explain ourselves and the reason we traveled here. It seemed like that time had come. I could have given him multiple explanations, but I wanted to keep it simple for now, something he would easily comprehend. The weapon was Cessa’s and I knew what she intended to do with it, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt if I altered the truth slightly. Whether he chose to believe me or not would be another matter.
“Defense. Protect,” I said to him, which was true enough. Cessa was technically sent to make sure I accomplished my mission.
He seemed to ponder over it a moment, looking at the blade. He held it in various positions, even swung it a couple times in the air testing its motions. Once he was finished he sheathed it again and sat on the ground, laying the sword on his lap. I sat in front of him and waited for him to say or do something.
“Daniel . . . Reason . . . Defense,” he said to me and I was astonished at how well he understood me. The translation wasn’t perfect, but so far we seemed to be in sync with each other and our expressions.
“We were unsure of the danger,” I said, repeating myself a couple of times emphasizing unsure and danger.
“Not . . . threat?”
“No threat. Curious. I want to learn about you and your world.” I reached my arms out wide letting him know I was opening myself to everything he was willing to teach me and I found myself nervous about what would happen next. The two of us seemed to be making a lot of progress in getting to know each other and maybe it was a fool’s hope, but I wondered if he might trust me enough to let me out of my cell. I was starting to grow restless. This wasn’t the first time I had been locked up, as my nightmares often reminded me. I had been doing a good job of keeping those thoughts behind closed doors despite not having my meds, but there was a lot of weight and pressure against them and they could burst open at any time.
Laraar stood up and returned the sword to his curricle then touched the controls, activating and sending it on its way back to what I assumed was their settlement.
As the curricle disappeared into the trees another group of Dawnians came towards me, though I couldn’t tell if it was the same people grouped together as before. Laraar welcomed them with a short note then walked up to my cage and unlocked my door. I couldn’t believe it. Had he read my mind? Immediately I felt relieved that I was being released. That’s until the group surrounded me and two of them grabbed onto my shoulders.
“Laraar? What’s going on? Explain,” I said.
“You . . . curious . . . want . . . learn,” he sang, then paused a moment. “Earn.”
They led me into the forest, with Cessa behind me screaming to let her out and not leave her behind. I looked back towards her and her eyes were wide and gleaming with tears. I actually felt sorry for her. No matter what we went through, her expression wasn’t anger, but fear and desperation. The only thing she didn’t want more than being locked up was being locked up alone. As the two Dawnians continued to drag me along, I wondered if I would prefer to be back in my cell.
She was out of sight within a minute and we were fully immersed in the forest that surrounded our holding area. The grass was tall, surrounding the path we walked along. I saw now that the path itself was outlined with sticks and branches. As we walked deeper into the forest I couldn’t help but
stare in awe at the trees and plant life. Every other tree was a different shade of brown and grew in varying directions. One of them stood as tall as a statue, its branches hanging down to the ground creating an umbrella effect. Another one grew completely sideways, but strangely didn’t look strained as it hung above the ground.
Small animals were running through the brush and up the trunks, not all that different looking from the animals on Earth, with the exception of a couple extra limbs. They squeaked and chirped and bugs buzzed all around us, though they were too fast to see or describe. I could have sat on the ground and immersed myself for hours just watching the sheer beauty of it all unfold.
I activated my bionic eye as we continued and the discomfort was light. I tracked the route we were taking as the path forked. We followed it to the right. My eye detected more movement farther in the forest, and registered that we were now over 33 meters from where they kept me locked up. Up ahead of us outside of the forest, a large number of signatures registered in my sight. My counter went past one hundred and I grew restless as I heard a group singing a tribal chant.
The group of Dawnians ahead was standing in a semi-circle around a ring of gleaming sand. The sun literally caused it to sparkle as if covered by diamonds. In the middle of the ring was my friend, the one who egged me on by smacking my cage with his staff. Beside him were the two that were encouraging him from the forest border. Everything suddenly made sense. He had come to my cage this morning to size me up and intimidate me. I knew now what Laraar had meant by earning my place among their people. I was about to be tested, but how and to what degree? There was one of me and three of them. Surely they wouldn’t force me to fight them. I almost wished Cessa was here. With all her pent up rage and anger she would have been helpful in a fight.
The hundreds of Dawnians stared at me as I approached the ring. Some were taller than others, fatter or skinnier, but all were united in song, melodies and harmonies mixing together to create a soundtrack for this event. My competition looked unbelievably bored in the middle of the ring.
Energize (From the Logs of Daniel Quinn Book 1) Page 9