by Nate Johnson
Deciding it really didn’t matter at the moment, he stepped over next to Intrepid and started drawing out a long line, laying down twig gates every foot until he dropped another stone and said, “Eundai.”
Both Grundal and Gryopic studied the model he had built for them in the dirt.
Gryopic leaned forward and whispered something in his father’s ear.
The older man nodded and looked up with a hopeful glint in his eyes. “These other worlds, are there Eundai?”
“No,” Nick said.
“You, the Eundai are the first ... smart ...” Amanda started to say. Then quickly turned to Nick. “They don’t have a word for people. Just Eundai.”
“How about non-animal,” Nick answered her in Eundai.
“Yes,” she said then turned back to Grundal. “The first smart non-animal we have found.”
“The first?” Grundal asked with a very surprised expression, glancing at his son to see if he had heard the same thing. “In all those worlds, No humans, no Eundai ... no others? No other star travelers?”
“No,” Amanda said, slowly shaking her head.
Grundal studied her for a long moment, then looked long and hard at the stones laid out at his feet. Suddenly, without warning, he stood up, grabbed the bag of tools and started to walk away, motioning Gryopic to follow.
Grynd fell in behind them like a puppy following his master.
Amanda and Nick watched them go, their jaws dropping at the sudden departure.
“Was it something I said?” Nick joked, “I washed this morning.”
Amanda shrugged. “I don’t know. We forget that he is a Headman. Maybe we don’t rate a goodbye.”
Nick looked down at the stones he had laid out. “Something set him off, that is for sure.”
Amanda stood up and joined Nick. “Don’t forget,” she said. “This is all new to him. A group of aliens, Star travelers, as he calls them, just dropped out of the sky. These strange creatures have a treasure beyond imagination and tell a strange story about a multiple planet Empire. I imagine it is a little overwhelming.
Nick could only nod at her assessment, but in the back of his mind, he was worried. But then, that was what they paid him for, he reminded himself.
The next morning, once again, the guard walked into their shack and told them that Grundal had sent for them. This time he indicated both Nick and Amanda.
“This isn’t right,” Doctor Simpson said. “You should not be allowed to monopolize all the interactions. I insist that I go with you.”
Nick laughed, “Nope,” he said, as he adjusted his sarong to make sure things were in place. The last thing he was doing was letting the Doctor anywhere near Grundal. Not until he had a better idea of things around here.
The group had spent all of yesterday going over the conversation from the previous morning. Analyzing and dissecting things a dozen different ways. But at the end, they realized they had not learned very much about the Eundai, and the Eundai had learned a great deal about them.
“See if we can visit the fields,” Professor Robinson said after them as they left the shack. “I want to talk to the farmers. That is where I will find the real language, the language of the people.”
“We will try,” Nick said to him before turning and following the guard.
This time, Gryopic sat next to his father on the bench, the bag of tools at his feet. Grynd however was not in attendance. A situation that made Nick’s stomach turn over. He preferred having that one in front of him instead of sneaking up behind him with a knife.
Well, at least they are not waiting with a guillotine or a chopping block, Nick thought, as he sighed with relief.
Grundal motioned them to the other bench, as if yesterday’s abrupt departure had never happened. “What is this?” he said pulling Nick’s portable welder out of the tool bag.
Amanda gasped when the Eundai inadvertently pointed it at her and pulled the trigger.
Thankfully, nothing happened. Nick sent up a silent thanks, the tool was keyed to his hand only. Unlike the flare gun, which could be needed by anyone. The welder was Nick’s and Nick’s alone.
Nick held out his hand for the tool and said, “It is a joiner of ... of...”
Amanda shrugged her shoulders.
Nick turned to Grundal. “Our word is ‘metal’.”
Grundal frowned, examining the tool more closely, then handed it over to Nick for a demonstration.
Nick smiled to himself at the comforting feel of the tool in his hand. Then glancing at Gryopic, he indicated the boy should pass over the tool bag.
The boy looked at his father for guidance who nodded his approval.
Once he had the tool bag back in his control, Nick reached in and removed a spare washer and a gray metal nut from the bottom of his bag from the spare stuff that had accumulated over the years.
Smiling at the Eundai, Nick showed them the two separate pieces. “Not Corona steel,” he said as he laid the washer on the dirt in front of him, he aligned the nut over the hole.
“Cover your eyes,” he whispered to Amanda, then held the gun next to the nut and quickly spot welded it in place.
The flash of the blue arch surprised the Eundai as both leaned back away. Several of the surrounding guards pulled their swords and stepped forward until Grundal waived them back.
Nick put the welding gun away and used a leather glove from the bag to pick up the welded nut and washer. The metal still glowed orange at the welding spots.
Gryopic, being a young boy, reached out to examine it but Nick quickly pulled it back and shook his head.
“Hot,” he said, “give it a minute then you can look.”
Gryopic pulled his hand back and watched, his brow narrowed in concentration.
Finally, when Nick felt enough time had passed. He slipped the part into his hand, shifting it back and forth until it was cool enough he could hand it to the young Eundai.
The boy stared at the welded part for a full minute before trying to separate the two pieces. When he couldn’t pull them apart, he handed it to his father.
Grundal’s face scrunched up into a tight grimace as he tried to twist the pieces apart. When they refused, he nodded and gave the part back to Nick.
Amanda kept shaking her head. “You are showing them too much,” she said in standard.
Nick shrugged his shoulders and removed a bolt from the bottom of his bag and threaded the nut and washer onto the bolt. Then, holding it up on display, he gave the nut a good spin and watched it climb down the bolt.
Gryopic yelled with obvious glee to see such a strange contraption. Nick smiled to himself and handed the toy to Gryopic.
Both the boy and the father spent several minutes sending the nut up and down the bolt.
“Simple things can seem amazing,” Nick muttered to Amanda. “I think we have just been upgraded to Wizard class.”
Amanda’s lips formed a firm straight line at her obvious disapproval.
Grundal watched his son continue to play with the toy then instructed him to take it to his Placher and show him. The boy smiled as he scampered off.
The Headman watched his son leave, then turned back to Nick and Amanda. He studied them for a long moment, then shifted to address Amanda.
“You cover your upper body with cloth,” Grundal said to Amanda.
Her eyes grew big and her cheeks turned a pretty shade of pink as she glanced at Nick. He could tell that she was confused and desperately trying to come up with an explanation.
Nick decided it was probably best if he answer.
“Male humans find the upper body of a female very enticing. In our worlds the females keep themselves covered except with their mate.”
Grundal’s eyes narrowed as if this sounded like the stupidest thing he had ever heard.
“Show me,” he said with a wave of his hand.
“What? No!” Nick exclaimed as a sudden urge to protect Amanda flowed through him. How had they even gotten on this subject? Hi
s fists clenched as his shoulder muscles bunched, ready to attack.
Grundal’s eyes narrowed into what Nick was pretty sure was a look of pure anger. He was rather confident that Grundal did not have a lot of experience being told no.
The sudden tension between them surprised them both as they continued to stare at each other.
“Maybe I should?” Amanda said to Nick in standard, as she laid a restraining hand on his arm. “Don’t forget, we’ve been studying them for nine months. It seems only fair.”
Nick shook his head, “Nope, not going to happen.”
“Think of it like my cat watching me take a shower. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“No it’s not,” Nick hissed at her. “These are intelligent beings.”
“It isn’t exactly male intelligence that makes a woman keep herself covered,” Amanda said with a little laugh.
Nick continued to slowly shake his head, unable to wrap his mind around the idea of her exposing herself to this alien.
“Besides,” she added. “It’s not your choice. You might be in charge of the mission, but you can’t dictate what I wear and don’t wear. If I want to walk down the street stark naked. You don’t get to say otherwise.”
Nick looked at her for a long moment. How wrong she was, he thought, but then decided to keep quiet. Some battles were best left unfought.
“You don’t have to do this,” he said.
“It’s okay,” she responded with a slight smile. “Just imagine if they had landed on our world. We’d have them in a lab and be poking and prodding them with a dozen different instruments. It makes perfect sense.”
Nick looked at her for a long minute as his heart fought with his mind. What she said did sort of make sense, and if she was alright with it then who was he to stop her? But still, it took every bit of his strength to turn his back on her and Grundal.
Gritting his teeth, he waited. He could hear her untie her belt then pull the clothes up over her head. Imagining her standing there naked was tearing his insides up. The fact that this alien lizard was looking at her felt wrong. Everything about it felt as if he had failed her somehow.
Every heart beat felt like an eternity. Every second crawled by at a snail’s pace. Finally, Grundal grunted and said, “Turn.”
Nick sighed internally and started to swing his legs back over the bench.
“Not you,” Amanda hissed at him as she stood there with her serape held up to her chin, her bare back facing Grundal. The look she shot him would have killed a Valerian buffalo at a thousand yards.
Nick swore under his breath and instantly jumped back into his previous position.
After a long minute, Amanda told him he could turn back around.
“Well?” he asked her.
“What,” she replied. “Like I said, my cat watching me take a shower. I’m about as ‘enticing’ to him as a fence post.”
Nick laughed with relief.
Grundal studied them for a moment then asked him, “Is she of normal appearance?”
Nick slowly shook his head, “Very above average,” he said, “Very high status, Almost of perfection.”
Grundal nodded, Amanda blushed.
“And him,” Grundal asked her, pointing at Nick. “He is larger than the other male. Is he of normal size and appearance?”
She continued to blush and glanced up at him for a moment. “No, he too is above average, considerably.”
Nick laughed and leaned over to whisper. “Why was that so hard for you to say?”
She smiled back at him as she slapped his arm and indicated he should be paying attention to Grundal.
The alien continued to study them for a long moment, his brow knit in concentration.
“If you are both above average in appearance, you travel the stars together. Why are you not paired? You are the bigger stronger male, you should have the female of your choice. Surely the other female cannot be a better selection?
Amanda slowly shook her head. “We are seriously going to have to work on that sexist attitude,” she whispered to Nick.
“But I thought you didn’t want to make any changes,” he whispered back at her with a smile in his voice.
“Shut up and answer the man’s question. And be careful what you say, very careful.”
He laughed and turned back to Grundal.
“In our worlds,” Nick said. “It is more than appearance, It is the status of the mind, and the status of the heart, but also the status of the family. Plus time. Time to determine if the pairing will work. Amanda and I are from different statuses. Her standing is much higher than mine. It would never be allowed.”
“The family is not that important,” Amanda hissed to him in standard.
“Maybe not in your world,” He hissed back.
Grundal watched them interact, his eyes shifting from one to the other as he watched them banter.
“I see,” The alien said with a secret smile, as if he saw much more than either of them.
Chapter Fifteen
Amanda stepped out of the back room and looked around their shared quarters.
“Where’s Nick?” she asked Doctor Simpson.
The woman was bent over her small testing kit at the table. As always, deep into studying some plant or animal part. Copying her observations into her tablet.
Amanda wondered what the woman would do when her tablet lost its power like the rest of them.
“I don’t know,” the woman said without looking up.
Amanda felt a shiver go down her spine. Nick missing wasn’t normal. For the last five days, they had been together. Usually spending the morning with Grundal, then the afternoon the four of them discussing what was said and learned.
But this morning, there had been no summons. The young female who brought them their morning food had told them that Grundal had left the city with Grynd and his other advisors. Something about a tour of the fields.
Amanda shook her head as she tried to calm her racing heart. The idea of Nick off doing something without her, made her insides clench up into a tight ball.
What if something happened to him? What if he inadvertently did something to offend someone? There were enough swords and staffs around and Eundai males who knew how to use them. Nick couldn’t win every fight. He wouldn’t catch them by surprise again.
Stepping out of the house, she found Professor Robinson sitting on a chair, leaning back on two legs, his shoulders resting against the wooden wall.
He spent almost all of his free time out here, she realized. Listening to the Eundai as they went about their daily tasks.
Looking up, he squinted against the morning sun and gave her a reassuring smile. Once she smiled back to him, he turned to follow the conversation of two young women carrying a water bucket back to their home.
“Have you noticed?” he said. “Their language is very straight forward. No hominins, each word has only one meaning. I couldn’t be sure before. But now I am. It makes it very simple to learn.”
Amanda nodded, she and Nick had discussed the same subject the day before. It was obvious that the Eundai were a homogenous group. No foreign invaders bringing in new language or ideas. It was one of the reasons that he had been able to pick up the language so quickly.
“Do you know where Nick is?” she asked the Professor.
“He left a bit ago, down that way,” he said pointing towards the East Road. “Said he was tired of being cooped up and wanted to explore.”
“What?” she exclaimed. “He can’t just go walking around.”
The Professor laughed, “That’s what I said. But he just smiled and asked, why not? In all honesty, I couldn’t come up with a good reason.”
“But what if something happens?” Amanda said. “We need to stick together.”
The Professor folded his arms over his chest and gave her a long, examination. “He’s a big boy, Amanda. Believe me, if anyone could take care of themselves. It would be our Nick.”
See it isn’t jus
t me, she thought. But the Professor doesn’t understand, none of them understood. She didn’t really understand herself, but she just felt better about things when she knew where everyone was. Especially Nick.
Sighing to herself, she started towards the East Road.
The Professor chuckled to himself as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes
Amanda made it to the East Road and came to a halt. Which way? she wondered. Glancing to the right, she saw the East Gate open, farmers coming in, wagons loaded with food to feed the city, pulled by the lumbering lizard like draft animals the Eundai used. Others, leaving empty, headed back to the fields.
It was amazing she thought. Organized, efficient, no one directing or telling them what to do. The Eundai just knew. Each had their assigned role, their proper task and carried it out without complaint or any issue.
A small homogenous organization that had grown up over centuries, she realized, confirming her earlier thought.
Nick wouldn’t have left the city. Not without telling her. Setting her shoulders, she turned to the left, into the city.
But he could be anywhere, she quickly realized as she glanced down each side street. Had some Eundai family taken him in, feeding him, staring at the big alien sitting at their table?
Or was he already on the other side of the city? Walking the back roads. Her heart raced as she realized just how separated they were.
You’re being ridiculous Amanda, she told herself. But still, her pounding heart wouldn’t settle down.
Once she came to the plaza, she decided to take the North Road. The West Road led to Grundal’s house. They had traveled that path. The South led back closer to their own home. Nick would want to get as far away as possible, so the North Road it was.
Just as she was about to give up, realizing that it would be impossible to find him, a sharp TANG sound rang out from a side road. She immediately thought of old videos. Men pounding metal with huge hammers. A blacksmith’s, she realized. Exactly the kind of place Nick would go.
Racing, she followed the sound to a large building with smoke rising from a central chimney.