Lenya was well aware of her son’s infatuation with the Ocean Woman and she was equally unsure how to deal with it. She felt she could not restrict the boy’s access to her; that would make a bigger issue out of it then it currently was. She knew that he was learning her language and the Elders tacitly encouraged that, so if she interfered it would create a conflict within the Tribe. But she also knew he was going to get hurt.
When she spoke to Sefta on this, he was typically unconcerned. ‘So, how else is the boy going to learn? You think you tell him he’s going to get hurt, he will listen to you? Or do you think if he gets hurt then he has learned the lesson for himself?’
‘What if she abducts him?’
‘It’s possible.’ He seemed to consider it. ‘But I don’t think so. She has shown no harm to the boy; in fact she’s shown no harm to anyone, even on the first day when the Elders got angry with her.’
‘What could she do against a group of armed men with spears?’
Sefta laughed. ‘Those same armed men are scared witless of her. Look at her pelon; you really think she can’t look after herself?
Sefta looked at the worried face of his wife. ‘It will not harm the boy to learn of her world. At the moment he is our only real contact with her. It will give him special favour with the Elders. You need to think of that, Lenya. Myka is not like Rafta or any of the boys his age. Myka will one day have a position with the Elders. You think I don’t know that?’
Lenya looked at him; she had to admit she hadn’t realised her husband had that much insight. Sefta could see by the look on her face that he had surprised her.
‘And what of the Ocean Woman?’ he continued. ‘The worst that can happen is that he will lie with her. She is not from this tribe, so what does it matter?’
‘She is not from this world, Sefta.’
‘Yes, I know, but how could it harm the boy? I would not be too concerned.’
Lenya let the subject drop; how could she explain her concerns? The woman could take him away, and the boy would gladly follow.Perhaps that was what Myka was hoping for anyway, but she would never suggest that to her husband or anybody else, nor could she raise the issue with Myka for fear of putting the seed inside his head.
Elvene felt that it was time to explore the island, but she’d already learnt from Myka that there were some very dangerous life forms on the planet, which was no less than she’d expected, but being cognisant of them and being able to deal with them were quite different matters. She knew that exploring was best done in company with people who already knew the dangers, but on the other hand she had a strong desire to prove her independence.
She also wanted to be able to fend for herself. This was partly to prove to the Kiri that she was willing to make adaptations to their way of life and therefore gain greater acceptance. But she also wanted to demonstrate her autonomy and self-sufficiency. She felt the easiest way to start, was with fishing.
So one morning when Myka came to visit her, she indicated to him, using a mixture of his language and sign, that she wanted to fish.
‘Nungar wos pelay,’ was his response.
Nungar meant woman and wos was the opposite of yes, so it always indicated a negative.
‘Nungar wos pelay,’ translated to ‘women don’t fish.’
She shrugged her shoulders. ‘Why not?’
Myka likewise shrugged his shoulders. ‘Nungar wos pelay.’
We will see, she thought and merely gave him a smile. She indicated that she didn’t want to spend time with him today, and she could see him unsuccessfully try to hide the hurt from his face. She had so much control over the boy that under other circumstances it would have troubled her, but she was not about to indulge in sympathy for his feelings.
She watched him leave and wondered if he could resist the urge to look back, but he didn’t submit. She went inside the ship and said aloud, ‘I need to make a spear.’
‘What type of spear?’ Alfa responded.
‘Long and thin and strong, preferably with a sharp barbed point.’
‘You have a spear gun,’ he said.
‘Yes, I know, but I’m not sure.’
She was reluctant to show any technology to the Kiri at all, as they’d want to copy it, especially if the mechanics of it were readily apparent. Is that a bad thing? Possibly not. But at this stage of her relationship with them, her head was saying modest rather than extravagant. In fact, Elvene had the latest evolvement of a crossbow that was equally effective on land or in water, or in zero gravity for that matter. Despite being ancient technology, it was still considered a useful and versatile tool. But given her present objective, of wanting to prove herself to the Kiri, it would tend to defeat her purpose, at least initially.
She really didn’t have anything on board that met her requirements. So she was going to have to make herself one, and that meant going ashore to find suitable material. She examined the trees in her vicinity but they seemed inappropriate. Of course it occurred to her that Myka would know what to find and where to find it, but then she’d have to swallow her pride in order to ask him, and that would be giving him the wrong message entirely.
She had her ceramic knife that she kept sheathed in her boot, and she was almost certain the Kiri had nothing better themselves. It was a question of finding a sapling that was straight enough and long enough, and then could be whittled to a point. She knew that the concluding refinement lay in hardening it in a fire. She had her bracelets, which were almost a permanent fixture, and she normally wore her utility belt whenever she was away from Alfa, but, on this occasion, she had no intention of staying away for long, so she left it behind.
Elvene deliberately avoided the village and struck out to its right. She felt that it should be unnecessary to climb the cliffs but she soon found that it was almost unavoidable; the lagoon was one of the few areas where there was flat land. She found herself climbing over rocks riddled with rivulets and otherwise covered in vegetation that varied from broad ferns to slim tall trees, which spread out and intertwined at the top to form a canopy. The whole was riddled with creepers and vines, but no flowers that she could see. Myka had informed her that the most feared animal on the island was the igram, but they could not climb the cliffs very successfully, and in fact, on the ocean side, they were rarely seen at all. But he had also alerted her to the possibility of giant snakes and giant birds. There were no poisonous insects, apparently, but there were poisonous plants, which the Kiri milked in order to tip their weapons. There were also plants that moved and would trap you if you weren’t careful. In short there were many ways one could die in paradise.
Elvene was beginning to think that the whole exercise was a misguided idea and in fact she was starting to feel decidedly uneasy. What unsettled her more than anything else was that once she was out of earshot of the ocean, she was surrounded by silence. There were no bird or insect noises and not even a breeze to rustle the vegetation; it felt to her quite abnormal. Silence in space was normal, but silence in an environment that burgeoned with life was perverse. And Elvene always associated perversity with evil. After all, the greatest evils arose from the ability to make a virtue out of hate. But nature was neither perverse nor evil; it was just a perpetual playground for life against death. And Elvene was now in that playground with only a vague notion of the local rules. In all games, even games of life and death, ignorance did not constitute a right to reprieve.
Elvene felt the ground give way beneath her, like she had fallen through a trapdoor, and she felt herself sliding into darkness, then she was brought up short as she hit the bottom. She was in a pit. Her first thought was that the pit had been constructed. But by whom? Was it the Kiri or was it something else? She tried to climb out, but the dirt walls just crumbled and gave way; she couldn’t get any purchase. If it had been constructed, then it was a very cleverly designed trap. There was a smell of rotten flesh and she could make out bones and skeletal remains under her feet. Some of the bones seemed quite large, an
d some, she noticed, were shattered.
Myka was upset by Elvene’s perfunctory dismissal of him that morning, and he really didn’t know how to deal with it. He had been well aware that she had watched him leave, but he had been determined not to give her the satisfaction of looking back. All because she wanted to go fishing, he told himself. Small things became big issues without the least bit of thought. He thought about her request, thinking that it was not unreasonable, but he would have felt very strange taking her fishing; it was just too irregular. He was more concerned by what others would think. No one seemed to mind the time he spent with her, but to take her fishing would be very awkward, in his eyes as well as everyone else’s.
He went back later in the day, but she was not around and her ship appeared as stubborn as she was, with no sign of an entry in its black skin. He had no doubt she could see out of it even though he didn’t know how; she’d always come out to greet him when he approached. He decided the best thing he could do was to go fishing by himself – not out of contrariness, but because fishing alone was what he did when he wanted to take his mind off things. He realised for the first time that the women of his tribe did not have this option, and he also realised that she was not like the other women. Even the Elders seemed to recognise that. In fact, he thought, they didn’t treat her at all like the women in the tribe.
Myka stayed out till the sun sank behind the cliffs, and he made one more attempt to see her before returning home. Still no sign of her. She’s very stubborn, he thought. For the first time since he’d met her, he found himself worried. But then he dismissed his concerns and went home with a good catch of fish.
Elvene cursed the fact that she hadn’t brought the rappelling gun with her, which was what she called her crossbow cum spear gun. She had little doubt that with that device she would have been able to extract herself from this hole that she was now trapped in. In fact she felt downright stupid and her stupidity could cost her her life. She was well aware that no one even knew where she was, or where to start looking for her. In fact no one even knew that she’d left her ship. She had even left her utility belt on board, which contained night glasses and a comms link to Alfa. Alfa knew exactly where she was, but that was useless when there was no one he could communicate it to. The sun was going down; she could tell by the change in light, even though she hadn’t seen the sun since she’d fallen in. She was very hungry, which only served to remind her that she was probably waiting here to become something else’s dinner.
The fading light was not a good sign. She had night glasses for what was called short range warfare or close contact combat against marauders, but for all their worth they were of no use to her when they were still on board the ship. She couldn’t believe that she was so ill-prepared. If this trap had indeed been constructed by a nocturnal creature, then they would have a distinct advantage over her when they came to feed.
Myka ate with his family and was relieved to avoid any conversation about the day or the Ocean Woman. The fact that he had returned with a healthy catch of fish demonstrated that he’d spent the day fruitfully. But when they retired to their cave-like home in the cliff, he had to admit that he was baffled by her lack of appearance. He realised that it was the first time since she’d arrived that she had virtually spent the whole day inside her mysterious ship.
The cave was more like a series of short tunnels that connected different openings and chambers. Myka slept separately from his parents and his brother unless it was exceptionally cold when they would all sleep together. Other families slept nearby and it was very communal. It was rare for anyone to sleep outside. Beds were made simply from ferns covered in skins. It was found that this provided enough insulation against the cold ground and they covered themselves in more skins to ward off the night air. The nights rarely got very cold though, and in fact one of the advantages of the caves was that they were usually cooler than the outside air. Lamps from animal fat were used to light the caves, and usually a few of these were left to burn all night, so there was always a source of fire available if necessary.
Myka actually liked the musty smell of the cave mixed with the smell of smoke and human sweat. It was the smell of home and safety, of being part of the tribe with all the night’s dangers kept without. Even the night’s spirits seemed to know to stay outside, or as Myka liked to believe, the portals to their home were guarded by the good spirits which seemed to mix with the smoke and flame. It was such a feeling that allowed him to sleep peacefully every night. Even during the stormy season, the cave was a refuge that felt unassailable to the extremes of weather outside.
So he found it very disturbing when he awoke from a nightmare that involved the Ocean Woman. He saw her trapped in a pit that was made by the night render. In fact the dream was almost like a vision, as if he was a spectator, and not involved in the dream at all, which he found most unusual. He just saw her there unable to get out – where the render was he had no idea, and that is what troubled him most of all. Myka had once witnessed the results of a human trapped in a night render’s hole and it was one of the most horrible deaths he’d ever seen. It absolutely terrified him to think of Elvene in that condition; his only hope was that on this occasion his dream was wrong, or that the hole was a disused one that had been abandoned.
After the sun went down, Elvene started to shiver and tremble, yet logic told her that it wasn’t really cold. She would have preferred some moonlight at least, but she couldn’t even see much of the stars because of the canopy above the ground. She had a terrible feeling that something truly baneful was about to come, and that it would take all of her resolve to remain in control. Elvene sometimes thought that she was as readily acquainted with fear as anyone could be; she’d had to deal with it so many times as a Corps officer. But few things in her experience had prepared her for this night, and she knew that her very survival over the next few hours would largely depend on how she handled her fear.
It started with a noise where before there had been none. Noises are amplified at night and, in this instance, more so because the surrounding environs had been so quiet for the whole day. It was a rustle and a dragging sort of noise, of something moving over rocks and through foliage. It seem to clatter a bit and worst of all, it took its time, but got louder by the second. In response Elvene’s heart pumped so loudly she was sure it could be heard. Out of sheer instinct, she moved as deeply into the hole as seemed possible; she was half crouched with her arms against the wall behind her. She believed she was facing the direction from which the creature was advancing.
She never got a clear look at it, even when it finally crested the rim of its pit. It was just black against black, but she thought she saw something being waved like a large arm and then two antennae. She wondered how it sensed if there was anything in the pit. She did not move and found that she was holding her breath; the only noise was the hard thumping of her heart. But of course the creature knew that there was something in the pit because the trap had been broken, so it started to make its way over the side. When it entered, she could see nothing because it blocked out whatever of the night sky had been visible; she could only hear the sound of earth cascading down the wall in dribbles.
Elvene moved for the first time. She really only had one means of defence and that was the stun guns that were actually in her bracelets. They could be used individually or in unison. If she grabbed something she could even create a discharge between them. They were mind-activated in the same way that prostheses were; they were actually connected by her own nervous system into her brain.
It was hard for her to tell where the animal was; sound was all she had to go on and it was misleading because it was just a trickle of rocks from the top of the pit to the bottom. She had to guess, but that wasn’t terribly hard at such close range. She raised both hands in front of her, palms outward, and fired. Her first thought was that she really needed night glasses, as the flash was blinding.
A sheet of blue plasma reached out in front of
her, sizzling and crackling as it cooked all moisture in its path, and, for a brief moment, illuminated something monstrous that looked to her like the face of a giant crab. It had a huge clawed arm out in front as if to ward off the light, and in the face of the discharge it made no sound at all. Elvene maintained the discharge for as long as possible, but its effect was not quite what she desired. In response, the creature went into convulsive spasms, lost whatever footing it might have had, and fell directly on top of her. It was obvious that the animal wasn’t dead, and, in its convulsions, managed to grasp her left thigh with its giant claw. Elvene was beyond feeling any pain and didn’t even notice. She put both hands against its shell and followed with another discharge. The animal convulsed again, ripping her leg open in the process, and then it stopped, a dead weight lying on top of her.
Elvene found that she couldn’t move and slowly became aware of a dull pain in her left leg. This is great, she thought, I’m going to die in a pit in the middle of a jungle under a giant, dead, man-eating crab. She tried to push against the thing, but a jab of pure pain shot through her entire body. Unknown to her, she passed out.
Myka found it very difficult to go back to sleep after his dream; a part of him even wanted to go outside and look for her, but he knew that was impossible. He found himself becoming very impatient for the dawn, and the longer he stayed awake the more troubled he became. Eventually he returned to sleep, almost against his will, and he had no further dreams. But when the dawn finally arrived, he was out of the cave in a flash.
Myka grabbed his canoe and went straight to her ship; there was still no sign of her. This time, however, as foolish as it seemed, he called out in her language, ‘Elvene, are you home?’
Elvene Page 5