Traveler_Losing Legong

by Tim Dennis

  23

  Norte pushed Peto into the pilothouse and leaned in behind him, issuing orders. "Take us down. We're looking for a museum, something covering the period immediately after the diasporas. And make it somewhere isolated, somewhere we're not likely to be seen." Her head disappeared.

  Myles just stared at the not-Legong planet below, the without-Caldera, Tugot-Key-less, Bento-free globe.

  "C'mon." Peto said. "She said get going, so get going."

  He's nervous.

  Yes. But why?

  Myles tried to put thoughts of Legong out of his mind.

  Well, you're here now. May as well make the best of it.

  He concentrated on Norte's wishes and the ship responded, flashing images of cities and buildings.

  "They're weak." Peto said. "They're just like us, except they haven't had centuries of practice defending themselves against meteors."

  Myles looked at him, confused by the needless comment.

  He's afraid.

  Despite the constant threat of rocks from the sky, Legong was a peaceful place. There was no official police force, and the only enemy the 'army' had ever faced was those pesky tumblers.

  You're not the only beginner here. Everything Peto does, he's doing for the first time.

  "I don't know, Peto," Myles said. "Maybe they are weak. I just don't know. But they're more than 'like' us, they are us. We're cousins, in a way." The comment had a fraction of the calming effect Myles had hoped. Peto settled a bit, his knees bounced a little more slowly and his pupils narrowed.

  The ship slipped down into the atmosphere and a new tour commenced. This time it avoided deserts, taking them over dense equatorial jungles. There were places with trees on Legong, but this was a different experience altogether.

  "That's a lot of trees." Said Peto.

  As they crossed a broad ocean the ship slowed, approaching an enormous green delta. They then followed the path of the broad river, much wider and wilder than anything on Legong. As they moved inland the land on the northern side became hilly, to the south, mostly flat, covered with myriad lakes and smaller rivers.

  "That's a lot of water." Peto added.

  The ship slowed and lowered, and as they drew closer to the water the flow along the northern bank began to clear, highlighting the muddiness of the main channel. Soon one could see two distinct flows, a white, opaque stream clinging to the southern bank and a darker, clearer stream along the north. The river bent and split, the cloudy water coming in from a southern tributary, as the clear flow dipped, followed it south and then abruptly cut to the north, curving around a large city.

  "Wow!" Peto instinctively shrunk in his seat, hiding from view.

  "Take us across there, towards the cloudy river," Norte's head jutted into the pilothouse between Peto and Myles. "Put down somewhere out of sight."

  Before Myles could think it, the ship cut across a spit of land to the muddy waters of the southern tributary and dropped below tree-height. It picked its way from one body of water to the next until it drew even with a small village, and, finding an even smaller clearing on a rise overlooking the river's bend, settled onto the ground.

  "OK. Let's take a look." Norte said, disappearing from the pilothouse.

  "You can do that from here." Peto suggested. Myles was already out of his seat, following Norte down to the exit hatch.

  Norte and Myles stood in the full sun, surrounded by the most dense foliage they'd seen in their lives.

  "A bit different from our last stop." Myles said.

  Norte didn't bother responding, but she was every bit as fascinated as he. The tents in the rocky desert had seemed familiar. Most of Legong looked like that. This was something else altogether.

  "That settlement, on the other bank," Myles said, "all its needs is a City Center tower and it could be on Legong." That wasn't true at all, but Myles felt it might sooth Norte.

  Why do you want to sooth Norte?

  Peto slowly emerged from the ship's hatch. He stood, staring at the wall of green surrounding him. Norte took a few steps towards the trees. "That one." She said, pointing to a particularly old, twisted example of Earth flora. "Climb up there and tell me what you can see."

  "I'm not going up there." Peto said. "Why don't we use the pilothouse?"

  "Because the pilothouse only shows us what it wants us to see."

  True enough, but that's not really why Norte wants Peto to climb it. She's curious, like me.

  "And that's why Peto's going to climb it..." said Pig. Myles spun around. No Pig. Just Peto.

  Peto hesitated. Norte dipped into her implant. Myles watched Peto twist and grimace, like a child struggling against the inevitable submission to a parent's commands. Defeated, his shoulders drooped and he marched up to Norte's tree, looking for a place to start. He reached up, easily pulling himself into the lower branches. As he slowly climbed, Myles heard his muttering. Apparently Myles was to blame for whatever hell Norte ordered him into. Soon Peto was no longer visible, and Norte was keeping herself focused on her implant link with him, leaving Myles to himself. He took a few steps closer to the wall of trees.

  That's not just a ring of oaks, you know. If what we flew over was any indication, that sheet of green extends hundreds of kilometers in every direction.

  "Except for the river. And that city," said Pig. Myles ignored him. He looked up into the tree, wondering how high Peto had gotten, if he could see the city. He tried to connect to Norte and Peto's link.

  A horrific, inhuman screech pierced the forest and Norte snapped into a defensive position, hands out to meet the unknown threat. Screeching erupted all around them. Norte spun, peering into the dense undergrowth, stealing glances at Peto's tree as she stepped backwards towards the ship. The screeching induced a feeling of panic in Myles and Peto's own cries joined the cacophony. A savage rustling and snapping of branches preceded the appearance of Peto's body, dropping from the canopy and landing with a thud two meters from the tree trunk. Without taking the time to get up, he dug in his heels and propelled himself across the clearing, firing his pistol up into the trees. Norte ran to him, grabbing him under the arms, lifting and dragging him towards the ship. The leaves disgorged a phalanx of flying monsters waving great sails stretching more than a meter across. Instead of catching the wind, they produced it, beating sheets of red and yellow as they screeched through a split in the curved spike hanging from their faces. They weren't just jumping, they were flying, changing direction and even stopping, flapping all the time. They dived on Myles, swiping at him with terrible articulated grappling hooks. Each monster took its turn, blood-red on the approach, showing purple backs as they retreated back into the trees, turning the green to yellow and red and blue.

  "Tugot! Get in here!" Norte yelled, already inside the ship.

  Myles numbly turned in response to her voice. Her head looked quite odd, hanging out of the hatch like that.

  The wailing creatures changed their tone, still that screechy, grating cry, but in shorter bursts, perhaps even a little quieter. Three of the creatures had settled on the top of the ship, and while still large, perhaps half as tall as Myles himself, they'd folded their sails against their bodies, making them much less threatening.

  Flying animals. They're birds. These are birds. A completely different line of evolution, an ancient branch predating humans by what? Millions of years? Hundreds of millions?

  Norte watched for a moment longer. Somewhat surprised that Myles had not already been eaten, she cautiously dropped back onto the ground. "Myles, walk towards me slowly, no sudden moves."

  "They're birds." He said, not moving.

  "That's nice Myles, they're birds. Now come back to the ship."

  Myles backed towards Norte's voice, watching the flight of the magnificent, strange beasts as they one by one disappeared back into the foliage. Only when the last had gone did Myles duck his head under the curve of the ship's hull and climb back up inside.

  Norte sent Myles on up to join
Peto while she stayed in the basement to ensure the hatch closed itself. When she got upstairs she found Myles examining Peto's back and shoulders.

  "You'll survive the night." Myles said.

  "What the hell are those things?" Peto asked.

  "They're birds." Said Norte. "And we're not staying. Make the ship take us to somewhere without those things."

  In response to Norte's desire, the ship produced an educational sequence of images in the space around the table. It showed the travelers a globe, zooming in and out from one place and then another, adding images of birds of every size and description. Soon Norte was convinced the things couldn't be avoided, and suggested somewhere not too far away where the flying animals would be smaller and less aggressive.

  She and Myles climbed into the pilothouse, leaving Peto to sooth himself in the living space. They watched as the ship lifted from the clearing and followed the river upstream through broad forests. They must have covered several hundred kilometers before the hills returned, growing into low mountains which they skirted by following the river north-west. Soon they were upon another, higher range of mountains and the ship climbed to reveal the continent's end; a narrow isthmus running away to the north-west into a horizon-spanning ocean. As they followed it the isthmus broadened, a spine of mountains pocked by alpine plateaus. A one point the land split, a rolling plain extending into the ocean to the north-east. The ship stayed with the high country, finally dropping into a plateau with a chain of lakes surrounded by a ring of mountains.

  The sun was lower now, and lights along shores revealed small settlements, growing larger on the western edge where the largest lake filled with islands. Forests, thinner than the one previous, climbed the mountains. Grasslands covered the flats between mountain top and lake.

  The ship settled below a ridge, perhaps ten kilometers west of the lakes, giving an unobstructed view of a sparkling island city. This time Norte asked the ship to reconnoiter, and giving her exactly what she wanted, it displayed the variety of wildlife they would be likely to encounter. Mostly small four legged furry creatures, the expected birds, and some almost familiar reptiles. Seeing nothing too threatening, she headed for the exit hatch. Myles watched from the pilot house as she dropped out and hiked up the ridge behind the ship, leaving Peto in the basement, listening suspiciously. At the sight of Myles scampering down the stairs Peto dropped out to the dusty ground. Myles followed and with the dust came a shortness of breath. As Myles adjusted to the thin air, Peto huffed and puffed his way up the slope. Norte had already topped the ridge. Her chest heaved, the lowering sun giving her brown hair an auburn tint. Peto joined her, his pistol taking on the similar hue, both of them silouetted against the deep, dark blue and fading orange sky. Norte raised a viewer to her face. Myles, still a few meters below them near the ship, turned to the distant city below. The buildings became less distinct as the shadow of the mountaintop crept out into the lake. As if to match the city lights, stars appeared above the distant horizon.

  There must be a hundred thousand people down there.

  Silhouettes.

  Myles felt a surge of panic and tried to connect to Norte with his implant. Despite the darkening sky she and Peto were clearly visible atop the ridge, perfectly back-lit for any viewers in the settlements nestled into the hillsides below. Failing to connect, he forced himself up the ridge as rapidly as the altitude allowed, waving his arms as much for balance as emphasis.

  "Your... silhou... ettes... people..."

  Norte took note of the western sky and stooped, instructing Peto to do likewise. Myles stood a moment longer, catching his breath. Squatting gave Norte and Peto a primative, animalistic quality, and while Peto appeared brutish, Norte wore it well, her uniform a smooth second skin allowing Myles to imagine every muscle and curve. For a moment he felt alone, just he and she, light-years from home, the only two Legongs on a mysterious foreign planet.

  Peto set his pistol down and pulled out his own viewer. He scanned the villages and the island city. "Piles of rocks. It's just piled up rocks."

  Myles patted himself down, and finding no viewer, looked from Peto to Norte with anticipation. Norte handed him hers and took a few steps back down the craggy hill so as not to cast a shadow.

  Myles located Peto's 'piles of rock.' "They look, those larger buildings, they're kinda institutional looking. You can see patterns. Around the stone things are smaller buildings, a few medium sized and a bunch of smaller ones. It looks like neighborhoods, like Caldera, as if those stone structures are CityCenter buildings."

  Peto scanned with his viewer to see what he was talking about. Myles did the opposite, focusing on Peto's rock piles. They were actually squat towers, some terraced, some smoother-sided with stairs leading up. Most were topped with additional structures, galleries or apartments with multiple openings. These structures were only weakly lit, and as the sky continued to dim they faded into dark patches between the more active seeming neighborhoods, if that's what they were.

  "Look at the roads." Norte said.

  Peto shifted, Myles stayed focused, peering at the stone structures, not knowing how to get the viewer to enhance the image.

  "Yeah." Peto showed somewhat less stress than previously, perhaps even a hint of excitement. He held his viewer in one hand, picked up his pistol with the other.

  "What?" Asked Myles.

  "Solid, homogeneous surfaces are only necessary for wheeled vehicles." Norte answered.

  "Wheels?" Myles asked.

  "I told you." Said Peto, standing up beside her. "They're backward. Never recovered from the diasporas."

  Myles found this highly doubtful, but decide now was not the time. Norte registered the dought in his face. "That's enough sight seeing," she said. "We've got work to do." She and Peto started making their way back to the ship. Myles struggled to his feet and followed.

  24

  Norte and Peto sat in the kitchen, images of the lake with its islands and city laid out on the table before them.

  "Come here, Tugot." Norte commanded. "You're part of this."

  Myles stood opposite, reading everything upside down.

  "There's a cluster of buildings here." Norte indicated a collection of four small buildings astride a road leading out of the mountains towards the lake. "The ship indicates it's uninhabited at this time of year. We'll move the ship there-"

  "How'd you get the ship to show you that?" Myles asked.

  Norte looked up at him, immensely pleased with herself. "It does what I ask of it. Most of the time." She continued with her plans. "Tugot, you'll wait there with the ship while Peto and I go collect a ground vehicle."

  "That's still five kilometers from the lake," Myles pointed out, "then that long causeway to the city-"

  "We're not going into the city right away. There is a collection of vehicles here," Norte indicated a larger settlement, on the near shore before the causeway. "We'll go that far, then return with the vehicle. If all goes well tonight, we'll enter the city tomorrow night. We look like them, we'll be in one of their vehicles. Should be no problems. Right?"

  Peto nodded absently. Myles thought she was crazy, felt certain they'd be found out before getting within a kilometer of the lake, but he had his own curiosity to satisfy. "OK." He said.

  Myles couldn't be certain if it had followed his wishes or Norte's, but the ship set itself down on the north side of the road leading to the village, behind two buildings in a crook where the road curved. Norte paused, instructing Peto as he Makered a wall between the buildings, effectively screening the ship from the road. When that was finished they disappeared into the night. Myles stayed in the pilothouse, watching their progress.

  It took a half hour for Norte and Peto to walk the three kilometers from the hiding place to the outskirts of the village by the lake. They were on the plain now, unable to see anything but the soft glow of the isnald city reflected int he waters of the lake. Through her increasing command of the ship's functions Norte had succeeded in locat
ing a storehouse of vehicles, just north of the village along the shoreline road.

  "We should cut through here, out of the light, behind these houses." Peto unholstered his pistol, Norte made him put it back. She left him trying to conceal himself in the shadows while she studied the layout.

  The buildings of the hamlet where she had hidden the ship were wood framed with ceramic tiles on the roof, the ones of the village were different. Several courses of closely fitting stone blocks formed a foundation rising to about waist level, above that the walls were made of an irregular brick, the whole building being roofed with dried grass laid over poles. A couple dozen of these structures spread back from either side of the road, interspersed with gardens of herbs and flowers. The sky was cloudless, but also moonless, leaving the buildings as standing shadows, what little light shone from them adding to the starlight to make it just possible for Norte to see to walk. Which, to Peto's horror, was exactly what she did. He followed her, sprinting from shadow to shadow, using his viewer to help him see.

  "Get up!" she whispered. "You think they don't have night-viewers? All that sneaking around is making you look suspicious."

  Peto reluctantly rose and joined her. She strode down the middle of the dark street towards the crossroads. On the lake-side of the intersection stood two larger buildings, one of stone, the other wood and tile. Time was a luxury she felt lacking, so she made no attempt to guess at their purpose and turned down the road to the left.

  Dwellings on this stretch clustered on the roadside away from the lake, while along the shore were several smaller buildings, round, each with one low door. Light and conversation leaked out of several of the openings and Peto once again melted into the shadows. This time Norte followed.

  "I said put that away."