The next morning, they launched the ship’s lifeboat and explored the immediate vicinity. When no immediate danger was found, they rowed ever further away. From the trees hung many kinds of fruit hung, which, once Baria had analysed them and pronounced them safe, they found were juicy and tasty. By using some of the equipment in the ship’s lockers, they felled a large tree, which they sawed into lumber to make three log rafts, and a number of spears and bows and arrows. They had just taken a dip when Zania let out a shrill scream, so Neiger ran off to assist her. He speared a scaly lizard that had been slowly approaching her. When she saw how small and harmless it was, she felt embarrassed, but thanked him anyway for his rapid action.
“I was just doing my duty, your Highness,” he answered.
“You can just call me Zania.”
“I will try, your Highness; excuse me, Zania, I mean.”
“Don’t just try, it’s an order!” she scolded him sternly, while he tried not to laugh.
“I promise,” he said, self-consciously.
Towards evening, warm sunshine splashed across the mirror-smooth surface of the lake and created a still, sleepy calm that flooded their senses with pleasure, so that yet again it wasn’t until long into the evening that they eventually went off to bed.
The following day, they made some fishing gear, which Grewerg and Gus used to pull up a few fish that they then roasted on a fire for lunch, to approval all around. When Shay and Esai were going out with the boat that afternoon in search of food, Baria asked if she could come along.
“Sure!” answered Shay, and when she gave him a sunny smile, felt that he’d gone to heaven.
As soon as they had poled away from the ship out into open water, Shay quickly took the oars and began rowing with determined strokes. Small shiny blue birds flew ahead of the boat, while serenades of clattering song sounded from the surrounding treetops.
“Watch out!” shouted Esai, as they were about to ram a fallen tree.
Blushing a bit, Shay heard Baria laugh cheerfully and wondered what she thought about the way he was behaving. The further they went, the tighter the vegetation, until finally they had to flounder through curtains of tight, succulent vegetation that was reminiscent of emerald-green tunnels. When they had filled a basket with fruit, nuts, and berries, they finally turned back, pleased and satisfied with their day.
Later in the evening, they held a general meeting and decided to improve and expand their living area, which resulted, one week later, in the construction of a wooden deck beside the ship, with a cabin containing a dozen or so berths. To make it more pleasing, they built some wooden boxes that they filled with mud, in which they planted flowers.
They had all seen the cage with the glowing creature, Xingezing, which resembled a woman in miniature, but none had become as fascinated as Allur had. In his spare time, he often sat, almost in a meditative state, beside her, watching her movements, while ignoring the others’ comments. One day, though, when Gus laughingly asked him what he saw in the flapping tweetie-bird, he thought that he had gone too far, so he told him to mind his own business and stay out of things he didn’t understand.
“OK,” said Gus, “You know what you want.”
“Yes, I should think so,” he answered, curtly.
Once he’d put Gus in his place, everyone else took note and left him alone with his reveries at Xingezing’s side.
CHAPTER 10
The days passed, one day much the same as the next, with the exception of short downpours, as they gradually becoming ever more familiar with their new surroundings. The children were the happiest ones; it was easiest for them to adapt. To play all day, at the same time as they could be with the adults, who now had all the time in the world for them, was beyond their wildest dreams. Even Zania quickly felt at home, while Flores, since neither Neiger nor Robina seemed to have anything against obeying her whims, quickly resumed some of the earlier diva-like habits she had been accustomed to during her earlier days. Many in the group regarded her behaviour with humour, although some of them, such as Kark, became increasingly irritated at her. One day, when she heard her ask Robina for a glass of water, she flared up and told her to fetch it herself.
“Why? Robina is happy to do it for me,” said Flores.
“Is that right?”
“Of course, as she always has.”
“But don’t you think anything has changed since you left Oboe, though?”
“Now I don’t really understand what you mean.”
“I’m sure you do. Can Her Highness in all seriousness claim that she hasn’t noticed that her old world no longer exists, and that she thus might adapt to a new one?”
“Yes, of course the circumstances have changed somewhat, but one is actually born a princess, for life.”
“Idiot, too, obviously.”
“How dare you!”
“I dare more than you think, my friend, including a real thrashing, which might come sooner than you think, if you don’t watch yourself. If you begin to behave like an ordinary person, I can relate to you accordingly, but not before. And, for that matter, it is remarkable that you, who consider yourself to be so high and mighty, have allowed yourself to sink to the level of socializing with a simple crewman.”
“That was rude!”
“Oh, you think so? I thought that your imperial types held yourselves above all the rest of us?”
“Now, I don’t want to hear any more of your insolence!” she shrieked, and ran crying below deck, so that before long Esai came above and in a gruff voice asked what was going on.
“I was just telling the truth, and someone who can’t tolerate hearing it should work on their attitude,” replied Kirk.
“You know that she’s had a hard time of it.”
“Yeah, sure, and you mean that the rest of us haven’t?”
“Yes, but not like Flores. She actually has another background than ours.”
“Well, it taking a lover from amongst the commoners doesn’t seem to be such a big deal, why then is it so difficult when it comes to the rest of it?”
“That’s enough, now!” he said, angrily, and left her sitting there with her toes in the water, and whistling smugly to herself.
“Did you tell the bitch?” demanded Flores, when Esai returned.
“Certainly. She won’t be bothering you any more now.”
“Thank you, darling; I just can’t understand why she’s so cruel.”
“Me, neither, but you just have to try to ignore her and to live in the present and be happy. Let go of your previous life and habits. You have nothing to prove on this planet.”
“You make it sound so simple.”
“Well, it actually is,” he said, and kissed her tenderly, again and again.
When war had broken out in full force, claiming ever more victims, it influenced the psyches of the young people who had been conscripted to the point that most of them neither wanted nor had the energy to think of romance. But now, when everyone was experiencing at least some temporary sense of security, their feelings blossomed, as if following the laws of nature; such was the case with Shay, not least. When he was standing out on deck one calm evening, glancing out across the wetlands as dusk fell, he heard a rustling sound behind him, and turned to see Baria, her hair falling down onto her shoulders, coming towards him.
“May I have a few words with the captain?” she asked, when his eyes met hers.
“Of course, but just call me Shay.”
“OK. If I’ve counted right, it’s been seventeen days since we arrived.”
“That sounds about right, yes.”
“And how long are we going to remain here?”
“I actually haven’t thought about that.”
“But surely we can’t stay on the ship forever?”
“No, of course not, but on the other hand we’ve paddled in every direction without finding land, so where would we go? Do you have any suggestion?”
“I do, as a matter of fact,”
she answered, pleased, and seemed to enjoy having him under her hypnotic spell. “We could improve the settlement by building treehouses that we equipped with rope ladders as protection against any eventual enemies.”
“That’s maybe not such a dumb idea,” he said, thoughtfully, drawing his hands through his hair.
“Oh, how wonderful that you’re with me on this!” she exclaimed, and gave him an affectionate hug. Then, before he couldn’t respond with any counter-arguments, she disappeared below deck, leaving him there with his thoughts, thoughts that were now about more than just treehouses.
The next day he presented Baria’s proposal to the others, who reacted positively, so that construction began almost immediately. Once they had felled several trees and sawed them into appropriate lengths, they worked together to lift the timbers into a large tree and bound them securely into place with strong cord. Grewerg had ideas about how the work should be done, but Shay considered that he knew best, and consequently rejected all of his good advice. The next day, however, they were forced to conclude that the house had been poorly built, so they were allowed to take everything apart and begin over again. Even though everyone was enthusiastic and worked steadily, the construction work didn’t proceed so quickly. By the end of the third day, they had only managed to manoeuvre the floor beams into place.
Grewerg, at fifty-eight, was the oldest of them all; because of his age, he was often a stabilizing factor, someone who the younger ones could turn to near they needed help and advice. He had ash-coloured, grey-streaked hair, intensive, observant blue eyes, and a powerful square jaw, tipped with a small Imperial beard. He thought how strange life was, which had brought him, against all odds, to this strange place. When he’d left for Sernica’s airport to look for day labour, he hadn’t given a thought to the possibility that the Olegians would attack, and even less to the wild idea that he was going to launch with one of the city guard’s ships. Such was what fate had dealt him, and what he thought was strangest of all was how quickly and obviously one adapts from one situation to the next. The joy he had first felt at having escaped the Olegians had rapidly shifted into the continuous flow of ordinary life, with all its chores, and these days he was increasingly irritated at the state-of-affairs. It should go without saying that as one got older one gained in experience, experience that those who were younger should be sensible enough to make use of, he thought, when they were about to begin their fourth day of work on the construction site, and were sitting out on the deck eating breakfast. It would be so simple if they would just ask, and how pleased he would be to just tell them how to go about it, but apparently those of the younger generation weren’t interested in listening to those of the older one. Just look at that dandified Shay, who thinks he knows everything, just because he went to that fine officers’ college. Now the work was going to take much longer than it would have been otherwise, just because Shay always insisted on how things should be done.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Zania, who came and sat beside him.
“Good morning, Grewerg,” she said, happily. “It looks like it’s going to be a great day, doesn’t it?”
“Good morning,” he answered. “Yes, it does, and this weather is completely different from what we used to have on Sidian.”
“That’s for sure. Do you think we’re going to finish the roof today?”
“I doubt it,” he muttered in reply.
“Do you often long for home on Sidian?” she asked, after a moment’s silence.
“Yes, it’s been known to happen,” he answered, and looked out over the swamp with an empty look.
“Really! Not me. Not at all.”
“But you can’t really mean that? You had a life of luxury, with everything one could dream of?”
“That’s perhaps true, Grewerg, but not the freedom to live my own life. What good is it to sit in a palace if one is confined and restricted?”
“Yes, that’s probably true,” he nodded.
“What did you work with on Loria?” she asked, next.
“I had several different occupations, but for most of my life I was a sailor.”
“That sounds exciting?”
“You think so,” he said, laughing, “Sure, one has maybe had an adventure here and there at different times in one’s life.”
“You have to tell me all about that!”
“I’d be happy to, but it’ll have to be some other time, for the others are coming now.”
As soon as they’d finished eating, they loaded the boats and casted off to the building site to continue the work that, despite a number of setbacks, was slowly but surely progressing. Two days later, the house was finally finished, and the prospective occupants drew straws to see who would get to move in. To their surprise, Hug and Lidia were the lucky winners, so as soon as they could gather their personal belongings, they could move into their new home.
During the following weeks, more houses were constructed, until finally everyone who wanted one had their own dwelling. The next step was to connect the treehouses with rope bridges, so that they could easily keep in touch with each other. Shay considered it his duty to protect the ship, with all of its equipment, and thus chose to live in the manoeuvre centre, as did Allur, Caver, and Grewerg. Baria, Anderika, Kark, and Selis lived in the shelter up on deck, while the cargo bay was turned into a common room that everyone had access to whenever they wished.
Zania had been assigned a house situated in a large, knotty tree close to Hug and Lidia’s house. When she had moved in, she went over to visit them, and found Lidia sitting and cleaning fish down on the dock. After greeting each other, Zania sat down beside Lidia and tried to think of an excuse for not helping her, when Lidia said that it didn’t matter.
“What?” Zania asked, surprised.
“I understand that we’ve had completely different upbringings and that you’re trying to change. That’s enough for me.”
“But how in the world did you know what I was thinking?”
“I’m pretty good at reading people’s thoughts, something I’ve been good at for as long as I can remember.”
“Wow! And what am I thinking now?”
“It’s difficult for me to know on command, but I would imagine that you’re feeling a bit lonely and would like to have someone you could talk to.”
“You really are a mind-reader,” Zania responded, amazed.
“Call it what you like. I’d be happy to be your friend, but I’ll never agree to be your servant.”
“I really had no intention of that. I’ve long left that habit behind now.”
“OK, then we know where we have each other. If you like, I can brush your hair and then do it up for you.”
“Please! But only if I can return the favour.”
As dusk fell, when Hug returned from his day of fishing with Caver, they were still sitting there, giggling and chatting as if they’d known each other all their lives.
In addition to Shay, Allur was the one who took command most often, and showed a real talent for leadership. In contrast to Shay, he was always encouraging, and usually had something good to say to each of them, even the grumpy Grewerg.
“I can’t understand why you praise him,” muttered Kark, one day. “Do you really think he’s worth your appreciation?”
“Yes, one can’t get enough praise. If one deserves the compliment, then one is spurred on to even greater things and, if not, one at least tries to live up to them.”
“I hadn’t seen it that way,” Kark said, reflecting.
“Believe me. People long for appreciation as much as a camel out in the desert longs for water.”
Later in the evening, when Baria went out on deck for a breath of fresh air, she saw Shay sitting on his haunches, washing himself, and thought he looked so incredibly beautiful, with his well-trained body and dark hair glowing in the evening light of the setting sun, that she was speechless. When she was about to turn away, she stumbled slightly, which made a small scr
aping sound that caused him to look up. “What’s happening to me?” she thought, blushing, as she moved back to the doorway. “He must think that I must be totally man-crazy, the way I’m standing here so shamelessly staring at him.”
The next day she tried to avoid him as best she could, but just as a zebra can’t hide its stripes, two people in love cannot keep their feelings secret. Those around them saw that they were attracted to each other long before they admitted it to themselves. When Shay, a week later, saw her standing and looking out across the water, he got up his courage to go up to her.
“It’s a beautiful evening,” he began, hesitantly.
“Yes, really,” she answered, smiling.
“You seem to have lived a varied and active life in the city guard?” she suggested, after a moment’s silence.
“Yes, that’s probably true, but it’s beginning to feel like I’ve had enough adventure for a while. And what did you do before?”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing that would interest you,” she said, tilting her head elusively to one side.
“Oh, yes,” he said, eagerly. “Of course, I am!”
“I’ve mostly sat huddled up in a laboratory with my research.”
“Don’t even try. I don’t believe that for a second.”
“OK, you asked for it,” she said, then proceeded to tell him about her life, in detail, as the rays of the setting sun glittered and sparkled on the calm surface of the water all around them.
When it eventually was time to retire for the night, he asked her if she wanted to accompany him on a fishing trip the next day, to which she agreed, without a moment’s hesitation.
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