Besides the aforementioned, there is one more unique feature: from below the Utz's ear tuft on either side, hangs a long tube-like appendage, to well below the neck. The Utz are capable of both speaking and hearing through these, thus, carrying on three conversations at once, or singing in trio.
After a pause, Neuryzh said through his mouth, 'Tell me about the young human you've brought home.'
'I don't know if I was wise to. He's totally primitive. He had never seen nor heard of space ships travelling to his planet -- only a vague understanding that his ancestors arrived from somewhere else. Even my metzig torch was new to him. Conventional wisdom says we mustn't disturb their lifestyle by intruding with our higher technology.'
'So, what prompted you to bring him?'
'He's obsessed with a legend regarding some message written on gold tablets. He had dreamt about it, and then an elder of his village apparently had a dream that young Eetoo was to go off in search of them, as they, apparently hold the key to knowledge that will complete their understanding of the way things are.'
'When did he have these dreams?'
'When he was young, but apparently, he only heard of the elder's dream a day before we met.'
'So, he heard his elder's dreams that he is to go in search of something not to be found on his planet, probably not knowing how he was to do that, and the next day, you showed up in your spaceship.'
'That's about the size of it.'
'Remarkable. Can you tell me the nature of the legend?'
'It's associated with an ancient name I've heard in the story of a planet that was destroyed by water. The man, Noka, built a water ship, into which he placed specimens of all life forms to be found on his planet, and was able to repopulate the planet after the water subsided. Then, he gave books to his three sons.'
'Yes. I've heard of that story as well. In fact, it was regarding the planet of humanity's birth, wasn't it?'
They were now approaching the outskirts of their village. The sun was setting behind them.
Neuryzh said, thoughtfully, 'It's remarkable that that story would be resurfacing now, of all times.'
He was quiet after that. It wasn't the sort of quietness that should be interrupted by more questions.
3
That mountain next to us sure is steep! I think that the tops must be crystal or something. It looks as though all the mountain tops are that way. When we came in from the sky, I could see shiny crooked lines running all over the planet.
The other evening, before Heptosh left, I could hear, like wind or something howling through the top of it. I think it was wind -- it didn't seem very windy though. But it sounded musical! The top was glowing different colours as the wind blew past it, and it was coming out in different sounds at once, as though someone were playing a giant pan flute through more than one pipe at a time. It looks a bit like panpipes up there.
Heptosh says someone lives there.
He's supposed to get back today. He said it would be about sunset, and he wants me to be at the house when he gets back, so here I am.
This house is a bit like the ones we saw in Kalodzuland. The Difference is that the downstairs part where he keeps horses and machines is open to the sky. On three sides, the upstairs rooms overhang into the middle bit, with windows where they can look down into the stable yard in the middle. On one side, there's a veranda. The downstairs bit under that is closed in, and has a tile floor. You still come into the house through a stable door, and then into the living area through the door of the downstairs room. In there, there are stairs to the upper floor.
Heptosh keeps his -- what do you call it -- his carrier in the stable. That's a bit like the scooter thing we rode in Kalodzuland, except it's bigger, and people can sit beside each other instead of one behind the other. He didn't take it with him this time. He said he was going with his neighbour to the spaceport, someone with a weird name -- 'Noorish' or something. He's gone to talk about Kalodzuland. Maybe some people can go and clean the place up, and other people can go to live there.
I think I see him now. There's a carrier coming up this way. Hardly anyone lives up this way except him and his neighbour, the one he went with.
It is him. I've never met his neighbour yet. That other one must be him.
He's awfully big! I've never seen anyone so big. I can't really make anything out.
Heptosh is getting off. He sees me, he waves, I wave back.
He waves at his neighbour. The carrier goes on to the side of the mountain. It's hard to tell how he's driving it.
I'm not sure exactly where the neighbour's house is. I don't see any houses near here. There's just the side of the mountain that looks as though it's made of those six sided pillars.
He goes up to the mountainside and the tall front of the carrier is flat against the pillars and -- wow! He's going straight up, as though the mountain were lifting it like a plate of food! I don't see anything holding it though.
I'm standing here watching the carrier go straight up.
'He's a nice chap.' It's Heptosh. 'I'll introduce you to him sometime.'
We turn to go into the house. I'm still turning back to see the thing going up, up, up.
'So, what did you do while I was gone -- besides minding your sheep?'
'I meet neighbours.'
'You did, did you? How did you find them?'
'I hear them playing. I go, they ask me in. I swim with them. They have bees sting little boy. I help smoke the bees, give them honey.'
He looks at me a moment, and says, 'The b'n Shammah boys? They're nice neighbours. I wouldn't get too close to them though. The Akkadis are hard to get along with sometimes.'
We go through the big door.
'Let's see what we can make for supper.'
I follow him into the downstairs room. That's his cooking and eating area.
So Heptosh doesn't like that Akkad? I thought they were pretty good to me though. They said Heptosh was a good man -- but they hate other Nefzedis.
Heptosh fixes preserved meat with some carrots on his stove, and puts it on the table. We sit and start eating.
* * *
Heptosh took the seat next to Eetoo.
'Push gently on the control stick'
The carrier lurched forward.
'I said, gently! Now, pull it back.'
'Er -- okay...'
They stopped rather more abruptly than was comfortable.
'Okay, let's start again; this time, a bit slower.'
Eetoo finally managed to get the carrier moving forward at a moderate pace.
'Now, at the road, you'll need to turn the craft to the left.'
Eetoo began turning -- right.
'No -- left! But not just yet...'
Eetoo overcompensated, and the carrier began to spin. Heptosh grabbed the stick.
'Here. Let me steady it first, then try again.'
After a few more tries, Eetoo was steering the carrier down the road.
'How the carrier float -- not on the ground?' asked Eetoo.
'The same way as ships lift off, by means of... -- a little to the left there -- no, not too much -- now to the right -- er...'
The carrier was beginning to swing wildly back and forth so Heptosh again put his hand out to steady it -- too late. The craft was spinning around and round and suddenly stopped with a thump.
They were sitting on their side, Heptosh near the ground and Eetoo hanging by his safety strap. Heptosh unfastened himself, then undid Eetoo's strap and helped him down. They climbed out of the ditch and walked around to view the damage.
'This will be a job for Rov, the tinker,' sighed Heptosh. And it will cost.
The inner working were showing through the broken seam.
'Well, to answer your question then,' said Heptosh, 'see that big wheel inside? It spins around very fast, creating its own gravity. At the same time, those fan blades near the centre force the air through this vent, which gives it thrust. When the body tips in either direction, the f
orce of the air thrust drives it in the direction of the tilt, which it what sent it into the ditch just now.'
They began walking towards the market. Heptosh was still sighing. Eetoo had been silent since landing in the ditch.
'Can ride carrier find golden tablets?' he said suddenly.
Heptosh looked at him. Nothing about his expression showed that he understood the consequences and the expense of what had just happened.
'You have a lot to learn before you go off looking for those tablets -- a lot to learn.'
4
The sheep are okay. I think they're used to this place now. They'd have to go through this all over again if we moved back to Kalodzu-Famta.
I can see the top of the mountain from here -- the one the next door neighbour went up. I still don't see a house at the top, just crystal tops to the pillars. Where does he live?
People everywhere are so different.
Why doesn't Heptosh like the Akkadi? I wonder if his neighbour on the top of the mountain likes them or not.
I might visit them again. Maybe I just won't tell Heptosh about it.
Something's bothering the sheep. I'd better -- hold on -- that's Tsaphar! She's got Nakhan with her.
Tsaphar, out here?
'So this is what you do!' she says. 'I didn't know Mr. Heptosh had sheep!'
'They're mine,' I say.
'Where did you get them?'
Her Nephteshi is a lot better than Rav's and Shav's.
'I bring them from Kalodzu-Famta.'
Nakham is chasing one of the lambs. I'd better stop him.
'No! Stop!'
Tsaphar yells something at him in their language -- Akkadi, I guess. He stops.
'You're from Kalodzu-Famta?' she asks me.
'Yes.'
'Wow! What is it like there?'
'It's heavier there. It doesn't rain a lot like it does here, so I take the sheep far away. No ships, no -- er -- metzig torch, no -- ' I can't think of words for the fancy things they have and we don't.
'Oh look! Here's a tamarind tree. Let's get some tamarinds!'
I've never seen this kind of tree on Kalodzu-Famta.
She ties up her skirt and starts climbing. Nakham jumps on to a stump and up to a branch while Tsaphar catches hold of a branch and steps on a knot.
She's a bit taller than me. I think she's beginning to develop into womanhood.
I tie up my skirts and join them.
She shows me how to break the tamarinds open and eat them. They're really sour -- but nice.
'In Kalodzu-Famta, didn't they have some sort of war or something?' she asks.
I don't understand all the words she uses, but she talks slowly enough so I can get most of it.
'They fight bionics. Everyone die.'
'Everyone? You're still here.'
'No, no! Kalodzu people die. I Fa-tzi-zhi. We not know what happen in Kalodzuland. They stop coming.'
'What are bionics?'
'It's people. They put something in the skin and turn into machine. The soul, it die. Everyone, they turn into bionic. Cannot stop. Some, only arm turn bionic but heart not yet bionic, they know it's bad. They destroy finished bionics and kill them self.'
'That's horrible!'
'Heptosh, he go to see. His ship broken. He find me. I take him to Kalodzuland. We see, people, all dead. Bionics all broken. Only few bionics, but leader is good bionic. He give us ship.'
I've had my fill of tamarinds. I think they have too. We're getting down.
Nakham is going after one of the lambs again. Tsaphar is yelling at him.
Really, he's just a kid. I should let him play with the lamb. I go after it and catch it. It comes to me okay. As long as I'm holding it, it won't be scared of Nakham.
Nakham is delighted. So is Tsaphar.
The lamb seems to be warming up to him.
'Is Heptosh good to you?' asks Tsaphar.
'He, good. He bring me here, I need to find golden tablets.'
'Golden tablets?'
'We have writing on clay tablet, they copy from stone tablets. Old Man Too Dha, he keeper of the tablets. He teach me Nephteshi. The stone tablet, they say...' I tell her what the tablet says, the same as I did for Heptosh.
'That's an interesting story! It reminds me a bit of one I've heard from my grandmother. A man with three sons built a boat because the planet would be flooded.'
'Yes, Old Man Noka. He have three sons, I son of Ham-Tep. Old Man Too Dha have dream I am son that must go to find the golden tablets.'
'Wow!'
'I dream about golden tablets when I am a small boy. I dream I find them. Then, Old Man Too Dha tell me he dream I must go, but don't know how to go to other planet. The gods send Heptosh. Heptosh, he help me. He teach me drive carrier. Some day he teach me fly the ship.'
'Mr. Heptosh is very kind to you. I like him.'
Then, she tells me a story. 'My people also travelled a long way. My grandmother told me that our fathers rode animals from the land of their birth to trade in the kingdom of Nephtesh. On the way, they bought a slave boy, and sold him in another city along the way. Later, that slave became a great wise ruler, and shut the door so the Nephteshi could no longer return to that land. But when my people finally arrived in Nephtesh, they were also made slaves. They took us all to different planets. The one where they took my great-grandfather, Shammah to was so bad, they all escaped on a big ship. They made the ship go as fast as they could, but they couldn't make it relocate. It just kept going, like, really fast the regular way…'
'Linear propulsion?' I say.
'Wow! You know so much! Yeah, linear what-you-call-it. But it was so fast, it felt like only several months, but it really took about a thousand years. We were really going nowhere, and we would have starved to death, but the Tzozks found us and brought us to live here. That was about two hundred years ago, and they gave Av Shammah this land.'
'Akkadi don't like Nephteshi and Nefzedi?'
'Hah! You heard my brothers talking!'
'Rav, he hate doctor's son.'
'Yeah. Rav thinks he's big. Akkadi boys are that way. They're all talk, no action. Just wait. He'll lose interest in Zukra and start talking about some different girl. He'll never gather the courage to fight Tash. He'd get in too much trouble if he did. Ima will never let it happen.'
'Who's Ima?'
'That's "Mother" in Akkadi.'
'But Rav tell you what to do -- very strong.'
She sighs, 'Yeah. That's why I came here.'
Aw! I thought she came because of me!
'You're not like them. I can tell. Oh! Another reason I came -- can you teach me how to smoke a beehive?'
'I can. There's a beehive that way. Should wait first. New beehive, not much honey.'
'How long?'
'When beehive 15 days old. I think ten more days, this one lots of honey. Come back then?'
Nakham's having lots of fun with the lamb. They're jumping all over the place together.
Tsaphar has a hard time getting Nakham away.
They're gone.
I can't wait for her to come back.
5
Heptosh stood and watched as his pupil pressed the stylus into the pin-bed of the computer. Eetoo had managed to impress four characters so far that the computer could recognise, copied from the slate Heptosh had written for him.
'Gently! You're pressing down too hard.'
Eetoo obeyed. But the angle was wrong, so the computer didn't recognise the character. Eetoo tried to go over it again.
'No, Eetoo, you must delete it before you try it again. Remember how I told you? Press along the frame in the two points that correspond to the location.'
Eetoo tapped on the frame directly below the mistake and to the right. The wrong character got deleted. He went back to the space of the deleted character, but too quickly, so he got that one wrong. This time, it was too late for Heptosh to stop him, and he was pushing down hard on the pins as though to force the correction over the
old impression.
Every time he made a mistake, he'd grunt, 'Uegh!'
'Stop! Stop! You're pressing way too hard! Here ...' Heptosh took the stylus and tapped on the two sides.
The pins failed to return to their 'up' position.
'I think you've destroyed some of the pins now. You have to be much more gentle! Take it more slowly. You only have to press the pin down so far, so that the switches on each side will make contact with those on the ones already down. If you press too hard, the sides bulge out so they won't fit back into their original position. Now, start again in this position. Carefully this time.'
Eetoo started again. He got two characters right, then, had to delete another. Again, he got the wrong coordinates, erased the wrong character. He went to rewrite that again, did it wrong, tapped the sides, only to delete another character again.
'Uegh! Uegh! Uegh!'
'You're doing it too fast, Eetoo. Look carefully where you tap -- Eetoo!...'
'Uegh! Uegh!'
Now he was pressing way too hard with the stylus again. Heptosh knew he had destroyed more pins.
Eetoo dropped the stylus and put his hands over his eyes in frustration.
Heptosh felt like doing the same.
'Why don't you take a rest. You've done enough practice for one day.'
6
Fa-tzi-zhi shepherd boy in his homespun tunic
young Akkadi boy, unclad
together they sit on a rock
surrounded by sheep, green grass, and the wood beyond
Nakham has been coming almost every day. The sheep are starting to warm up to him now. I wonder if he could help me take care of them sometimes? I'll see how he is with leading them into the corral.
Eetoo Page 6