by Chance Maree
“They’re here!!”
“I see them!”
Cheers arose from the crowd.
“Everyone, move away from the platform!” Dr. Byrd herded stragglers by flapping his arms and making sounds that were strange, coming from a man.
The space shuttle landed smoothly, stirring little dust. Eternity fit snugly inside those moments before the doors opened and the newcomers stumbled their first steps on Ostara. Pots studied each animal face as people exited and toddled down the plank. Reptilia, Aves, Canidae, Felidae, and Ruminantia. Variations of the same nonhuman types, each and every one.
“You know, I might not recognize Spade.”
“There's more to people than appearances.”
He’s sounding more and more like Jacob lately. Pots still hated crocs. She stood on tiptoes, scratching at her arms and stomach. Josh shook hands with passersby and introduced himself to those who stopped to chat. With each load of arrivals, Pots grew more certain Spade could be on board. By dusk, her nerves were frayed. Neither Spade nor Captain Montalbam exited a shuttle that day. They'll be more tomorrow, she was told.
Pots's brother arrived the next morning, on the tenth shuttle. He was thin and ungainly with a face like an adolescent moose, but Spade was her baby brother, and Pots squeezed him tight, full throttle, reaching down to the heart and bones of the shy boy she remembered.
“You're killing me,” Spade gasped. He took a step back, presumably to have a better look. “My sister's a cow. This trip keeps getting better.”
Pots blinked tears away until she could see her brother clearly. “I'm a buffalo, you jerk.”
Spade laughed and punched her playfully on the shoulder. “I understand I have you to thank—for being here and all. It's been great—looking like a moose, but having to trade a get-out-of-jail card for a vasectomy was on the side of overboard.”
“Vasectomy?”
“Yeah,” Spade scratched his neck. “I assume shooting blanks won't be as advantageous with ladies here as it would have been on Earth.”
That wasn't part of the deal, Gunner! Pots put aside her anger, for the moment. “Are Mom and Dad…?”
“They were assigned to Ostara, but a date hasn't been set yet.”
Josh was shaking Spade's hand when it occurred to Pots that Josh was four years younger than her baby brother. The thought made her cringe.
Spade looked over his shoulder and waved to someone. “I have a surprise for you, sis.”
A tall, thick-necked man with features of a fully matured elk emerged from behind Spade. He appeared heavily medicated, but a look of recognition emerged through the cloudy expression. The elk lifted his front lip in a smile and spread open his arms. “Well, hello, darlin'.”
Pots's face was hot. She fought blacking out. Static roared in her ears. Gray and speckled dots like a sandstorm clouded her vision. Determined not to faint, Pots raised her chin and coolly said, “Victor. I thought you were dead.”
The elk pulled back his lips, widening a display of flat, grass-grinding teeth. “Now, sweetheart. Is that any way to greet your husband?”
CHAPTER 16
Ata
“My father returned from his visit to the People in the Canyon. He wants to see you immediately.” Ata spoke the people's language slowly, watching for signs that Tyr understood. “I do not like your mask,” she added, softening Tarq’s command with her daily chiding.
“I will be honored to meet your father.”
“I want to see you first, Henry Five.” Ata tried to lift the mask, to see if fear had opened wide his eyes. Her new friend gently blocked her hand.
“I'm Prince Harry to you, my lady. Tell me, please, about your father.” The mask hid everything, but Ata was learning to read other signs. The words he chose were exactly correct, which revealed he wasn't nervous. His voice was friendly and curious. Henry Five touched the end of Ata's nose with his forefinger. “Tell me in Earth language.”
Ata cleared her throat and spoke the foreign words that Henry Five had taught her. He laughed, a muffled sound, as Ata's tongue stumbled trying to express how big and strong and wise and marvelous her father was.
“Enough. I get it,” Henry Five laughed. “Tarq is a god.”
“He is my father.” Ata crunched up her forehead. What's a god? She would never understand Earth language. “We should go now.”
They passed by the lean-to that Henry Five had built for his own shelter. The first few nights, he had slept on the ground, covered only by a long blanket, called a cloak, that he often wore over his shoulders. Ata convinced a few of the families to give her friend some materials to construct a shelter. It was the ugliest structure she'd ever seen, but had kept Henry Five dry during the last rain.
They entered the ger of the council together. The elders sat in their places, forming a semi-circle in the middle of the sparsely furnished room.
“Henry Five. A strange name to match a strange face,” Tarq said, motioning for the boy to move closer onto the carpet. “Ata, my daughter, you may go back to your chores.”
Ata's feet grew roots. She clenched her hands into fists, then unclenched them, quickly, hoping her father hadn't noticed. “I should stay, Father, in case Harry needs help with our language.”
“I am told you taught Henry Five well,” Tarq replied. “Now, off with you, my sweet. Go and help your mother.”
Ata tried not to stomp or display displeasure as she exited. Obedience was not always easy. In this case, it was impossible. Ever since Kortu died, Mother was too depressing to be around. Her mood worsened after the baby was born too early. Instead of returning home, Ata tiptoed a wide circle around the outside of the ger. In the back, she found a gap between its wall and the ground. She lay down quietly and brought her ear close…
“I am five Earth years old.”
“You are tall for five. You look the same age as my son, Kortu.”
“I sorrow over your son's death.”
“Why? Did you kill him?”
“I did not.”
“Did you know him?”
“I did not.”
“Why do you sorrow?”
“Because I would like to have known him.”
“Where do your people come from?”
“A land, far away.”
“The People in the Canyon say you come from a world with a different sun. They said you can fly among the stars.”
“That is true.”
“Henry Five, are you a spy?”
“My people are watching you, but not with my eyes.”
“Since yesterday, my scouts counted ten more sky wagons coming to this valley. The People in the Canyon say that soon you will infest all the land, like skatins.”
“I do not know skatins.”
“Do you come to infest our lands, Henry Five?”
“I do not understand your question.”
“You will understand. Very soon. I am glad you are learning our language. Go now. Return here tomorrow morning. You will teach us your Earth language, and I will tell how we take care of skatins.”
Ata ambushed Henry Five as he emerged from the ger.
“We must go to your camp, right away.”
“Why?” Henry Five stopped abruptly and stared at her. Through the eyeholes of the mask, Ata saw his fear.
“We have to warn your people.”
Her friend laughed, an ugly sound. “You think they are in danger?” He switched to Earth language, the secret language between them that no one in the camp could understand, which made its sounds all the more sweet to Ata. “My people have powerful weapons.” Using her people’s language, Tyr added, “In the morning, I will give Tarq a lesson in Elizabethan English. You should come, too.”
“You don't know anything, Henry Five. The People in the Canyon will not allow us to be harmed.” Ata shook her head. “Teach Father some words early tomorrow morning. Then you and I will travel to Galileo, and we will warn them not to infest the land.”
“Ata, I won’t go back. I'll
live in the canyon, or wander the land, maybe follow the river to the sea, but I’ll never step foot in Galileo again.”
“Don’t worry. I can go to Galileo by myself,” Ata said, patting Tyr on the arm. “You stay here so Father can teach you about skatins…”
⁂
The next day, early in the afternoon, Ata and Henry Five arrived at Galileo. During their travels, Ata learned how to avoid being seen by patrolling drones, which seemed like the hide-and-go-seek games that she and her brothers used to play.
Henry Five still wore his mask, but he began to favor clothing donated by members of Ata's tribe. Seeing him dressed like Kortu didn't make Ata sad; the clothes made Henry Five seem less like a stranger. Ata held her friend's hand as they moved through Galileo like skatins, looking for the one person he said they could trust.
“We need to speak with the elders here. Do you have one named Rafiki?” At Ata's secret hiding place, the little elder with the tail had tried to eat her paint, but still, he looked intelligent and trustworthy enough.
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Henry Five said, pulling Ata down another pathway.
“You have to have elders.” Perhaps Henry Five was too young to know the hierarchy of his tribe. Ata decided to change the subject. “Where are your animals?”
“We don’t have elders, Ata.” Henry Five kept close to a high, flat wall. “And everyone had to…butcher their animals before they were allowed on the…sky wagon.”
“Ah,” Ata said, not understanding the Sky People at all.
Henry Five pointed, “There she is. There's White Buffalo Woman.”
The White Buffalo Woman was known to Ata’s tribe. She was with Kortu when he died. Ata took small steps towards the woman. Of all the people in Galileo, why does Tyr want to see her? A snort erupted from the woman’s big black nose. Ata froze.
“Tyr?” White Buffalo Woman looked over Ata's head. “Good gravy! What are they feeding you? I can't believe how much you've grown…”
Tyr? Ata shook her head. Her friend had too many names.
“Pots, I don’t want the commander to know I’m here. Can you hide us?” Henry Five asked.
Kortu would not have been such a coward.
The White Buffalo Woman pointed them to a strange looking ger with brown walls that were smooth, towered straight up, and were hard as rock. White Buffalo Woman found an opening and urged them inside. It was a place the likes of which Ata had never seen before.
Everything within the strange ger was strange and dazzling. The Earth people began to speak too rapidly for Ata to understand, so she set about touching and smelling everything, trying to imagine their world, a place far away, among the stars.
“Ata,” White Buffalo Woman called. “Come, meet my friend, Casey.”
“Casey,” Ata repeated. What strange names they all had. Casey was female. Ata reached out and rubbed the woman's huge swollen belly. “I hope your baby is a girl.” The woman smiled as though she understood.
From the shoulders down, Casey looked like a normal pregnant woman, but her face was big, round, and furry. She had pointed ears with tufts of hair on the tips, a split upper lip, and a pink nose with long whiskers. Her eyes were large, and green, and beautiful. Ata gave the woman's stomach another kindly pat.
The pregnant woman suddenly placed her own hand low on her groin and, with a gasp, sank to the floor. “My water broke,” she cried. Ata was surprised by the fear in the woman's voice. Are they all cowards? In her camp, women were not afraid of having babies.
White Buffalo Woman held her hand over her ear as though it were hurting. She spoke quickly and Ata couldn’t understand a single word. Henry Five wanted to run away and hide, but Ata refused, so he left without her. Ata stood by Casey's side and watched White Buffalo Woman prepare for the birth. An ugly man came. He had thick, rough gray skin and cold eyes.
Ata thought it seemed strange—all the fuss. The baby slipped out in blood, just as the ones at home always did. It was a baby girl, with large, dark eyes like Ata’s. The baby didn't look like her mother at all.
“My baby looks human.” Casey held the crying infant like something broken.
No one spoke. Ata examined the baby girl, who moved only a little as if to get more comfortable. “She is pretty!” Ata said, smiling. Taking the baby's tiny hand in her own, Ata counted five little fingers. Except for the extra finger, the baby looked no different than those born to women in Ata’s tribe.
The Sky-people appeared surprised, as though they had never seen a baby before. But then, Ata could hardly tell what these people felt—strange were the expressions on their unusual faces. The baby squirmed, looking so sweet and vulnerable that Ata hoped the baby, at least, would be spared from the extermination.
CHAPTER 17
Commander Gunner Dovmont
During his morning meditation, Gunner chose a quote from Lao Tzu: “To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders.” His schedule included several meetings that day, and a quiet mind would serve him well.
First Lieutenant Krull set his tray besides Gunner's in the mess tent. “They call this breakfast,” he grumbled, pushing a bowl of oatmeal paste out of the way. Krull threw a handful of protein strips into his month. His jaws made a snapping noise and he swallowed the strips whole.
Gunner grunted.
“The engineers had a breakthrough yesterday. The latest ore sample worked. They'll test the first set of replacement parts out of the repro machine later today.”
“When will we be independent?”
“From Earth? I say we need two years. Their time. We haven't found materials yet for bio-nanos, coms, and processors.”
“They don't have two years.”
Krull stopped eating. “I suspected as much, but it still hurts to hear you say it.”
“Come on, George. Save that kind of talk for when we're farting around in some old soldiers' home.”
“If we survive, it'll be due to you, Commander. You're the only one with the gonads to do what needs to be done.”
Gunner cleared his throat. “Captain Briggs says all hell is breaking loose on Earth. People are doing the math. Best case, if they deploy all the conventional ships through the wormhole, only half the population will escape in time.”
“How do you want to handle it?”
Gunner stood and left his tray on the table. “Increase production of low-tech solutions. I don't want a catastrophe if technology breaks down.”
Krull walked with Gunner toward the communications headquarters. “These new arrivals are a pain in my ass. None of them are applying for the low-tech jobs. They've threatened to bring a list of complaints to you.”
Gunner grinned. “So what did you do?”
“I acted scared. Thought I'd buy some time—let them think I was working on it.”
“We needed engineers, builders, and craftsmen, and those Earth wonks sent bankers, CEOs, and business air bags. Assign the newcomers the low-tech jobs. They've enjoyed the last of their privileges—now they're going to work.”
“Even the reptilians?”
“Especially them.”
The sound of children screaming caused both men to sprint towards the community center. A burly, broad-shouldered and scaly figure was lumbering in circles through the middle of the square, opening and closing his mouth so a flap of skin attached to his jaw spread open and expanded like a colorful sail. “Grrrr,” he said, sending children running and screaming like flocks of sparrows.
.
“Captain Briggs,” Gunner called. “How soon will the new recruits be ready?”
Briggs saluted, “I'm toughening them up, Commander.” The children with faces like pups and kittens and fledgling birds and lizards swarmed Briggs, yelling, “Do it again, Captain! Do it again!”
“Later, you vermin,” the lizard-faced Briggs hissed. “Just you wait! I'll catch a kiddie to eat next time, I will.”
⁂
After First Lieutenant Krull and
Captain Briggs clasped hands and pounded one another on the shoulders, the three long-time comrades continued to Gunner's headquarters.
Krull sprung one more item on the commander before the meeting. “Some of our citizens are building riverboats. They intend to paddle their way to Goody.”
“Let them. Work assignments will be same in every city.” Gunner yawned. “Has everyone been given shelter?”
Thomas nodded. “Newcomers and military are in tents. First arrivals have moved into the new building constructs. Except for Pilot Pots. She refused to move.”
Briggs inserted, “Before my second foot touched down on Galileo, I was welcomed by Pilot Pots. She requested assignment on Alpha Horizon.”
Gunner stroked the bottom of his chin. “She'd leave so soon—after all the trouble I went through to bring her brother and husband to Ostara?”
Krull shook his head. Thomas coughed.
Briggs looked confused. “Do you want Pilot Pots back on Alpha Horizon?”
“Up to you, old friend,” Gunner said. “I'm content, either way.”
⁂
Gunner's mind remained still and the universe yielded to him, at least throughout the morning. He was discussing coordination and delegation of manufacturing among the cities when Lieutenant Thomas excused himself to listen to a message on his com. When Thomas re-entered the tent, he was smiling.
“May I make an announcement, Commander?”
Gunner nodded.
“Chief Engineer Casey Wu has delivered our first baby. It's a girl. Mother and baby are doing well.”
Men and women in the room cheered. Gunner stood. “Lieutenant Thomas, please express our congratulations to Engineer Wu.”
“Commander,” Thomas whispered in Gunner's ear, “A native girl, the chief daughter, has requested a meeting with you.”
“By all means, invite her in.” Gunner had seen security feeds of Tyr in Galileo with a native girl in tow. This should be interesting, he thought. The commander turned to his first lieutenants and engineers. “Ladies and gentleman, this meeting is adjourned until 1300.”