Starborn Odyssey (The Starborn Odyssey Trilogy Book 1)

by Haines Sigurdsson

  We asked Blurg about the Sea Peoples and the Dolphin creatures we had seen on the island, but he repeated his previous lack of knowledge concerning them. He did feel that it would be best to contact the Drolpeg (which we called Fenninz) who traveled the sea, and probably they would know something of the Dolphins. His people had never been to the “big waters” for any reason in his lifetime, though they knew that they existed and traded quite frequently with those who lived near the sea. There were boats that traveled up a river to his home to trade with them.

  Our interpreters, after brief initial consternation, had hit upon the key to translation and had given us some basic guidelines to help us understand Blurg’s language. Peg was their word for people; Drol meant timid. Vortle meant mighty; Zor meant soft. (Thus, we were the soft people.) His language was very logical and therefore not too difficult to learn. I asked him what they would call the Sea People; he said their word for water or sea was Lapa, hence: Lapapeg. If the Dolphins turned out to be sentient, they would be, Dovpeg; Dov being Fish. If non-sentient they were simply Dov.

  Blurg had wondered why Hero hadn’t returned with us. The answer of course was that he had laid his eggs, and had to stay there until they hatched. They would take only six years to reach full maturity, and having come from a bad area of his planet, “at least for his people” he preferred to raise them in the new world, and start a colony of his own as the situation allowed. I couldn’t say that I blamed him, having seen how he had lived, first hand. It also turned out that he didn’t need to consume as much alcohol as we had first thought, as long as he ate lots of sugar.

  We made our first stop at the Reeshian colony and saw for the first time, how their garden plots looked in full growth. It was now midsummer there and the fields were alive with vegetation. We had to land much farther from the settlement than during our last visit so as not to damage their crops. The people working in the fields quickly gathered around our ship and cheered as Ian, Mogi and Blurg stepped down the ramp. They were welcomed like returning heroes with much more fanfare than I would have expected. A number of Blurg’s people were there working in the fields, using the Mulz as plow beasts. As I was told later, the Vortlepeg were the only ones capable of controlling the hefty cow-hippos. Summer was at least four months long on Snaz, even in a bad year, so they were able to replant for two complete growing cycles each year if they turned the fields quickly enough.

  Ian’s sister Meeza was among the first to get to us, and was extremely happy to see her brother, throwing her arms around him and smiling over his shoulder at me, warmly, as she did, as if in gratitude for returning him in one piece.

  Meeza was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen from any race. Her eyes were violet, and her hair was almost the same color. She was trim and shapely, and only about five feet tall, and wore the most perfectly fitted outfit that accented all of her features perfectly. She had an immediate air of sharp intelligence about her, too, and kindness that was made evident by her affection for her brother. As our eyes met, I knew I was in really big trouble.

  Did you ever notice how you never met anyone who attracts you, until you get engaged? I think it’s some sort of cosmic bullet set up by the Gods, for use only on those who have already made a commitment. Of course, in Meeza’s culture, this wasn’t a taboo; but in my own, it really pushed the envelope. I could tell that the attraction was mutual, and fought to keep a clear head through the introductions. She did however fall in alongside me as I began organizing the landing party’s activities.

  As we began unloading equipment, the teaching started immediately. These people drank up knowledge like a camel drank water after a month in the dessert. They had maintained their math and literary skills, as I said before, and lacked only the hands-on experience with the equipment they always knew was possible. We’d brought with us a number of land rovers to assemble so as to be able to get around the area and see what was nearby. From the air we had seen streams running down from the hills where the snow was melting in the warmth of the summer. Ian had promised to show me the sights in the mountains, where the water dropped several hundred feet from the high plateau north of the village. I had seen vids of such things and even seen some from the air while exploring, but never from ground level. I was looking forward to that excursion.

  The colonists from the Andromeda had to get permission from the Reeshian Council to erect a small village just on the outskirts of their town, in which they could begin their new lives. Not all of the town’s people were really happy about it, but bent to the will of the majority. I hoped that the benefits of our technology would swing those who had objected. Ian said that the leader of the clan who objected most strongly was a man named Geeb Alori. He and his clan had a great deal of influence with many of their people, being fairly well to do by their economic standards. He was the holder of the contracts with the Vortlepeg for the use of their plow beasts, and didn’t like the idea that tractors could do three times the work in half the time. Even I could see where this would upset him, and made a point of seeing to it that he got one of the tractors himself. My father had told me once, not long before his death: When possible, try first to make an alliance with a potential enemy before the enmity has a chance to grow. Even though I didn’t like Geeb much, I really thought it best to not upset the status quo too much by taking his livelihood away.

  The equipment was going to affect the livelihood of the Vortlepeg as well, but they understood that they would be taught how to manufacture the equipment themselves eventually, so that pacified them sufficiently for the time being. They were truly the most industrious people I’d ever met.

  Besides the Mulz, the primary source of protein in the Reeshian diet were the rodent-like critters we called Rundles and Ratbits. There were also a variety of flightless birds, without feathers, that were served up when and if they could be found and caught; though they weren’t abundant. They tasted like chicken, our crew said jokingly. Apparently none of the Reeshian Yak had survived on New Reesh (which more and more was how I thought of Sne-az), but we would soon be able to bring some of those back from Olympus, at least for those who ultimately chose to stay.

  In time we would introduce the Reeshians to some of the other animals that we brought with us, but not until our livestock had time to multiply on Olympus, and our scientists could establish whether there would be any excessive impact to the habitat or environment of the world. (Although, it seemed to me, that New Reesh had already been impacted by so many foreign folks and creatures that a few goats and ducks would hardly make a difference).

  Ian and I had spoken extensively during the trip back to New Reesh about our respective cultures, histories, mythologies. Sadly, it turned out that, we knew more of the real Reeshian history than Ian’s village did, because of the materials recovered from the station on the moon, Remus, which we were still analyzing, converting to accessible formats when necessary, and translating.

  We did our best to make as much of that info available to the Reeshians as quickly as we could sort it out. Eventually they would know all there was in the files and records in the base computers. We did bring as many copies of the photo albums with us to New Reesh as we were able to get assembled, and unpacked them first. The people were fascinated by them. They had only a few scant pieces of art work before we landed, Ian reported, and were ecstatic at now being able to see some of their ancestors for the first time in a hundred or more generations. I had to admit that it was kind of a rush to be able to do that for them; for the adults as well as the children.

  After some hours of unloading and assembling the goods we brought with us, we were able to demonstrate some of the equipment, including a synthesizer, which with a few scoops of soil and rock produced some new fabrics for the women there. They were astounded that it could make cloth from rock, but not completely mystified; they were eager to understand the science behind it.

  Handing a bolt of cloth over to Mogi, Meeza turned to me and smiled. “Eric,” she sai
d, pronouncing my name well; and then she said something to me in a voice that was so calm and easy that I could not rightly explain why it made my throat constrict a little, making it impossible for me to immediately respond. I glanced at Ian, who knew more of our language. “She wants to show you the settlement,” he said.

  I nodded at Meeza in agreement, and her smile widened. She reached over, and I watched as if in slow motion as she took my hand, as if to lead me along. It was a friendly gesture only, but made my heart race nonetheless. I pulled my hand away, and gestured for Doc Lee and Brad, who were free just then, to join us. Meeza didn’t seem offended or surprised by me reclaiming my hand; she barely seemed to notice, and that bothered me too. She talked in that same calm and confident voice, showing us items of interest or introducing us to townsfolk as we passed. I caught the general gist of this tour, if not all the words.

  It was during this tour of their settlement that I made a discovery that answered one of the many questions we had about the physical development of the Reeshians. Meeza took me to see how they made their flour for their bread, which was made from a type of nut much like a large four to five inch long wheat seed. It was one of their primary foods, Meeza explained, which could be eaten like a banana or dried and crushed to make flour. It was the process of breaking the seed open that I believe lead to the development of their hands. They held the seeds, which were about five inches long, with thumb on one side, one broad finger on the other, and the middle finger over the end, and struck the other end on a flat rock, which popped the seed open right down the side. The structure of their fingers was the same bone structure as ours, but they had two bones in each finger that opposed their thumb. I believe the seeds, called Sappa, were quite likely their primary food on their original home world (not unlikely, as we were in the same solar system, and the Reesians may have even brought the Sappa with them when colonizing New Reesh).

  I think their fingers developed to hold the Sappa. The bones for the equivalent of our third and little fingers were as opposable as their thumb when they held the seeds, and are probably the main reason for the difference between their hands and ours. I later asked Dr White about it and he agreed with my conclusion for the most part. He said that in fact it would have been much the same as the way bats and seals, with the same number of bones, made flippers or wings from what we use as individual finger bones. DNA switches just vary on when they trigger to get the desired results for ultimate survival, he said.

  At any rate, the bread made from those seeds was excellent, and the nuts before drying were every bit as tasty. Nature truly does its very best for native species on any world, it seemed to me in my limited planetside experience. Doc Lee laughed when I mentioned this to her. “I think you’re right,” she agreed.

  The first evening on New Reesh, Ian, Mogi, Meeza and I walked to my ship, the Homer, to collect some items Ian and Mogi had left there in the bigger unloading done earlier in the day. The stars were out as brightly as if we were out in space, and Meeza and I waited outside while Ian and Mogi ventured in to gather their things.

  Meeza asked if I could point out Earth to her. Conversation was limited and a little slow, but with the aid of what we had learned of each other’s languages and newly devised translator devises that worked to fill in the gaps, I scanned the sky for a couple of minutes, locating the constellations I knew would help me find Sol and attempted to answer as best as I could. Sol was not particularly spectacular, being a lesser star to begin with, but I showed her which one. She said that it was part of a constellation her people called the Tersine: a mythical six legged cat god of ferocious nature to which ancient peoples had to sacrifice animals to buy their safety. Each town had a guardian Tersine god that was feared and admired. A real Tersine, if one were to ever see one, was meant to be good luck.

  “We have some six legged cats on our new home world,” I told her. “They’re not mythical at all, they’re about two or three hundred pounds, four feet high and six or seven feet long, at least the ones we’ve seen, mostly black fur or at least very dark brown in color.” I gestured to show the size of the cat, and showed her the color by pointing it out on my clothing, hoping the translator was doing an accurate job.

  Meeza looked amused by this. “The Tersine in the myths are the size of your ship!” she told me, laughing.

  “I guess it’s like everything else; based on some distant memory, or some bit of truth,” I suggested. She nodded.

  After a moment, she queried, “I don’t suppose we can see your world from here?”

  “No; it’s way too small and dim to see; as a matter of fact, you can’t even see the largest planet in our solar system, and it’s ten times the diameter of Earth.”

  “Do you miss your world?” She asked

  “No; I’ve never been there, so it would be hard to miss it,” I said with a little chuckle. “It’s taken twelve generations of people living in an asteroid spaceship to reach this star, this planet.”

  “You lived your whole life inside of a ship? It must have been a terrible experience.” She looked absolutely stricken at the thought. “And what is an Asteroid?”

  “I don’t think you get the whole picture.” I smiled. “An asteroid is just a really big piece of rock floating out in space. Our ship is in an asteroid, miles long and miles across; it really wasn’t that confining. It was probably harder for the first generation, because they had lived on the surface of our home world. The ship’s living space was constantly expanding as we mined it for our needs, so for my generation we had lots of room. We also had a huge park, we called the Hydrop, that had an artificial sky and was remarkably like being outdoors.” I chuckled at the serious look on her face.

  She looked even more concerned. “You’re laughing at me,” she said. “I just have a hard time imagining how you managed to get here, and I had no idea how long the trip really was. I didn’t mean to say anything bad about your asteroid ship or your way of life.” She smiled a little sheepishly, and then with a bit of boldness, “Maybe you could take me there so I can see for myself how you lived?”

  I was sorry she thought I was laughing at her, but wasn’t sure how to respond to her request. I really would have enjoyed showing her my world and yet a feeling of foreboding invaded my visions of such an excursion. I found myself answering in a too-formal and measured tone: “Perhaps the opportunity will arise during our stay here, or you may choose to make the trip back with us, when the time comes.” Despite the cool words I was thinking vividly of what might happen if she came back with me . . . and I immediately felt guilty. I was sure that I was blushing.

  Meeza apparently saw something of my emotional turmoil in my expression. “Have I said something wrong?” She asked.

  I wasn’t sure what I should say; but I felt that a flat denial would seem phony, so I opted for something close to the truth. “I am enjoying your company more than I should, having just gotten engaged,” I said. “I was just feeling a little bit guilty for it, though it is no fault of yours; and I hope I’m not offending you by enjoying your company so much.”

  “Is it considered bad to have friends and relationships when you are committed to share your life with another in your culture?” She asked, puzzled.

  “Generally in our culture, it’s considered inappropriate; it’s not illegal and some couples have different rules, but we have never discussed the possibility of any other involvement. I guess I and my people have a lot of new experiences coming our way.” I shrugged, trying to shake off my awkwardness. I hadn’t ever experienced being truly attracted to anyone other than Nettie—my best and oldest friend!— and I was determined to learn to deal with it, just as we learned to deal with other planetary dangers. I looked at the beautiful, self-assured creature next to me, and felt a rush of panic. “I do apologies for being so silly,” I said quickly. “I hope I haven’t made you feel uncomfortable.” The translator was slow in processing so much information so rapidly and there was a gap before she could respond.
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br />   Meeza looked keenly at me, surprised but not offended. She said, haltingly, “And I was embarrassed by my attraction for you, so suddenly, and for that matter, overwhelmingly. It’s not usual for me. Perhaps the attraction will wear off after a while . . .” She looked down at the ground at then back to eye contact. “But I really don’t think so,” She concluded, making my heart leapt.

  I became suddenly and acutely aware that Ian and Mogi had stepped from the ship with bags on their backs, and were watching us with surprise evident in their expressions. If you’ve never been really embarrassed, then you could not possibly understand our feelings at that exact moment. I’m rarely speechless, but that time pretty much took the proverbial cake and dumped a bucket of water on it. Meeza seemed about as stunned as I was.

  We all looked at each other for a long moment, then as one we all began to laugh almost hysterically. Extreme stress can do that to you; at least it was all out in the open.

  We followed Ian and Mogi back to the village, staying a little way back, to talk. Mogi had suggested a walk to a nearby stream to sit on the bank and listen to the water flow. It sounded nice to me so off we went, away from civilization for a while. Meeza told me that it was acceptable to have other relationships in her society, but only by prior agreement between the participants, so it was rare. She wasn’t involved with any one person at the moment, so it wasn’t an issue for her, but she wished I was free to do as I desired.

  We sat on a large rock by the water; it was an unusually warm night, and there were chirping noises all around us that Meeza said were gobs; they were like frogs for all appearance except for the violet eyes which protruded on short stalks. She said they were harmless but uneatable, even poison at certain time of the year. Ian and Mogi left us alone and went a little way down stream. Meeza put her hand on mine; it was warm and a thrill ran through my body. I knew I was done for before I even had a chance to resist. I also knew that I would have to be honest with Nettie when I went back, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I would have to be honest about. And then, probably most alarmingly, I didn’t think about Nettie again.